Even though Judge has few friends in the environmental community, I kept an open mind about the process, because one of Rebuild Iowa's nine task forces was dedicated to Environmental Quality and Review.
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Jacob saw his first real fireworks display and loved it at first. We were watching from the 12th floor of a building right on the waterfront, so it was spectacular. Unfortunately, he was coming down with a fever and by the end was pretty unhappy. He is fine again now.
The following diary was written on June 12 for the Northern Agrarian Monthly (you should all check it out) after my farm had over 10 inches of rain in about 36 hours. I was rather bummed out as I wrote, because it was raining again and I had already had around $100,000 worth of damage. Farming is not all fun, don't ever let anyone tell you it is easy, yet we keep on keep'in on. As for now, reconstruction will all need to come out of my pocket. My $1,000,000 farm insurance policy does not cover it, FEMA, no way, USDA is supposed to have money for environmental protection reconstruction since we are in a federal disaster area, but no one knows how much, when, or who will get it. Most WI money for building manure storage areas goes to the biggest farms as they have the most manure. Since I only milk 45 cows I am hardly a blip on the screen.
It is difficult to feel good this 4th of July given the mess the Bush/McCain Republicans have led this nation into. This year alone 438,000 people who lost their jobs. We are well into the Bush's SECOND recession (first president ever to preside over two recessions) with almost no recovery between them. We are officially in a bear market. Food prices are rising worldwide. Oil is at record highs suggesting Americans will have a very, very tough winter. The deficit is WAY above where it has ever been before and no end in sight. And I am not even going into the inept, idiotic and completely useless Bush/McCain Iraq war.
WHY IS IT SO EASY TO FORGET? Why is it that we can lose our compassion for ppl so easily? As easy as a new more glammed-up headline coming across our television...that's how easy it is. I don't only blame us but I blame the MSM who constantly bombard us with mind numbing articles ripe with sterotypes, war/hate mongering phrases and pundit opinions that DO NOT INFORM US OF THE REALLY IMPORTANT ISSUES! HUD in LOUSISIANA is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4600 public housing subsidized apartments.
Strange week. Saw my first McCain ad this week...and it is clear he is running as a Democrat. Healthcare, alternative energy, environment...all Democratic talking points. We have gone from Democrats feeling like they have to run as Repub-Lite to Republicans trying to hide behind a Democratic facade. You even have a Republican running for Senate in Oregon trying to claim (falsely) that Obama supports him. This is desperation for the Republicans! It sounds like racist attacks have failed them, though I am sure they will try more as time goes on.
Meanwhile yet more polls show Obama ahead in Virginia and Missouri, tied in Florida, AHEAD IN INDIANA (wow!) and within 1-2 points of McCain in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia. Each and every one of these states was solid Bush in 2004. Now they are either leaning Obama or effectively tied.
This fabulous tip was in the latest e-mail update from the Center on Sustainable Communities (a great non-profit organization, by the way):
Flood Clean-up
Stay away from bleach
Our first instinct is to bring out the chlorine to disinfect and kill mold. But a study conducted by Professor Jeffrey Morrell, Dept. of Wood Science, Oregon State University found that bleach "doesn't eliminate the surface micro flora." It doesn't kill the roots of the mold, only bleaches it so we think it's been cleaned away when it hasn't. So not only is it ineffective, its fumes are harmful to both humans and the environment.
Try This Instead
Mix:
2 ounces of borax and
1 cup of white vinegar
Spray on the mold, let sit for up to 60 minutes and then wipe the area. The mixture will prevent mold from growing back.
Bleeding Heartland has been sparring with some Iowa Republican bloggers about the appropriate policy responses to the recent catastrophic flooding (see this post and this follow-up).
The floods in the Midwest have continued and I include some information where I can in the Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin sections. Best of luck to all readers in the hard hit areas.
This week I return to an issue I discussed before: Republican cronies litterally killing our troops with no government oversight. This week Democratic Sentor Bob Casey is demanding an investigation of the electrocutions due to bad wiring that have been plaguing our military bases managed by a Hallibruton subsidiary. More below.
Yesterday, the Washington Post timidly reported that floods in Iowa and other Midwestern states may not be "natural" disasters . However, scientists have long warned that worsening floods are the predictable result of human intervention - of floodplains covered with impermeable concrete and stripped of vegetation; of river channels forced up and out of their beds by constricting artificial levees; of sprawling development offering more victims to raging rivers. The article's thesis is neither new nor controversial, but the story does include a revelation that deserves immediate, national attention.
Between 2007 and 2008, farmers took 106,000 acres of Iowa land out of the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to keep farmland uncultivated, according to Lyle Asell, a special assistant for agriculture and environment with the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR)...
And sometimes it happens because it's just time. Sometimes the force of the universe sweeps us up with it even we aren't expecting it. This is bigger than we are. I believe it's going to happen and here's why.
This morning as I sat in what I would wish to think of as my safe little sanctuary from danger, I watched you mount the stairs and ascend into Air Force One. The television announcer spoke of your impending trip to the Midwest. As one with family in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, I was grateful for your travel.
In what could be the final nail in the coffin of John McCain's hopes (such as they were) in the state of Iowa, we discover that yesterday's photo-op in the flood-ravaged areas came AGAINST the request of the state's governor, who was worried (as with Obama's canceled visit), that it would divert local resources:
An aide to Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain ignored the governor's request to cancel a campaign visit amid a massive flood recovery effort in the state.
"As a courtesy — and as we did for Senator Obama — we privately made an effort to make sure that Senator McCain knew that state and local resources were still being deployed to support the flood fight and that now may not be the best time for a campaign trip," Dillon said in a statement.
But old Johnny just couldn't resist the opportunity to exploit this tragedy for political gain. But wait, there's more...
The traditional media rarely discusses extreme weather events in the context of global warming. However, as the Wonk Room Global Boiling series has documented, scientists have been warning us for years that climate change will increase catastrophic weather events like the California wildfires, the East Coast heatwave, and the Midwest floods that have been taking lives and causing billions in damage in recent days.
Today, the federal government has released a report that assembles this knowledge in stark and unequivocal terms.
The traditional media rarely discusses extreme weather events in the context of global warming. However, as the Wonk Room 
