In work, the greatest satisfaction lies
the satisfaction of stretching yourself,
using your abilities and making them expand, and
knowing that you have accomplished
something that could have been done only by
your unique apparatus.
This is really the center of life,
and those who never orient themselves in this direction
are missing more than they ever know.
Kenneth Alsop
The Boston Marathon Terrorists: Some Brief Comments
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Chechen immigrant brothers, as I write the former, the younger (19), captured this evening, and the latter (26) killed overnight in a shootout with police, are considered the principal suspects in this week's fatal bombings . Primarily Muslim Chechnya was annexed by Russia in the nineteenth century; Chechnya has unsuccessfully sought and fought for independence in the post-USSR era, and the resistance has transitioned to a more radicalized, fundamentalist Islamic nature; AEI has a good, more detailed retrospective here. Perhaps the most familiar American reference had to do with the in-air bombing by Chechen female terrorists wearing undetected explosives around their waists and chests; almost overnight the TSA started screening female travelers more intimately.
The older brother reportedly had athletic aspirations and wanted to compete for an independent Chechnya, America otherwise, not Russia. He also posted videos supportive of his Islamic beliefs. Some anecdotal comments suggest that he hadn't really assimilated into the American melting pot.
A couple of observations:
- I seem to recall as the US pursued the Al Qaeda hierarchy, there was a lot of discussion of decentralized cells, operating independently, if the hierarchy fell. It's not clear to me why a Chechen immigrant would target his new home, which competes against Russia on the global stage, i.e., the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I'm not an expert in profiles of murderers, but the feeling of isolation is troubling; were his religious beliefs radicalized? His uncle in Maryland seems to believe so, but that may be an inference. He did seem to be sympathetic to armed struggles against "infidels" elsewhere in at least one video, but the evidence is at best sketchy at present. I will point out that nails, pellets, etc., used in the Boston bombs are similar in nature to the IED's used in Iraq and elsewhere, and I had read rumors the surviving brother could have been wearing a suicide vest. However, we haven't seen (at least yet) the kind of messaging, claims of responsibility, etc., that often accompany such attacks.
- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who reportedly is being treated for two gunshot wounds and is in serious condition, deserves a fair trial, and the victims and surviving family members deserve their day in court if and when the suspect is found guilty.
One of the anti-free market legacies of the central planning FDR Administration is the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, in essence this gives the government the authority to seize, without any provision for payment, significant percentages of raisin crops (nearly half in 2003); farmers who do not go along with crop confiscation are fined. (It's not just raisins where the Feds manipulate supply: milk and some 35 different fruits, vegetables, nuts and specialty crops.) California produces nearly all domestic raisins and 40% of global supply; the government may allocate stolen crops, say, to the student lunch program or export them at nominal prices. In theory, growers are entitled to some prorated residual profits after costs for any sales of legalized plunder; in reality, there is little or nominal payment. Who knew that to get to the nation's farms, you have to drive the road to serfdom? (HT Gary North whom discussed the issue in a recent minor post.)
In 2003-4, the Hornes were required to surrender between 30-47% of the crops; they banded together with other growers and sold independently of the government scheme. They then got hit with nearly a half million dollar fine. The Hornes sued USDA on constitutional grounds of taking of property without required just compensation. The Court of Appeals ruled against them on a legal technicality, sidestepping the constitutional issue. SCOTUS agreed to hear the case.
If you want a classic example of cronyism, consider small grower Osborn's discussion of GAP:
The Food and Drug Administration publishes a series of guidelines for growers to reduce the risk of pathogens in fresh fruits and vegetables. Collectively these guidelines are referred to as Good Agricultural Practices or ‘GAP’.
Right now, GAP certification is mandatory for the huge industrial mega-growers, and mostly voluntary for small local market growers like us. Making GAP certification mandatory for small local market growers would serve no purpose because we are not the ones with the chronic sanitation problems. Since the GAP certification is expensive and is a huge administrative boondoggle, as long as small grower’s voluntary compliance works, there is no need to require our mandatory certification.
But there is a move underway to force small local market growers of lettuce and spinach into mandatory certification. California has its own GAP regulations for lettuce and spinach called the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA). The move would use – you guessed it – a USDA marketing order to force all lettuce and spinach growers nation-wide to comply with the LGMA, and would put all those growers under the jurisdiction of something called the National Leafy Green Vegetable Board. Just like the Hornes.Citrus and other produce producers do fine with the law of supply and demand without federal government market manipulation. There are thousands of products and services that manage to cope with issues like overcapacity without incompetent government micromanagement (a clear violation of equal protection); what is more constructive is for the government to open new markets for American crops, e.g., liberalized trade agreements. Let's hope that SCOTUS does the right thing and rules against the USDA, restoring a measure of economic liberty.
By the way, the video below is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that liberal SCOTUS has generally upheld anti-liberty government nonsense like mandatory taxes on commodity producers to fund generic advertising campaigns. According to Parsons:
Over the years, the federal government and state governments have passed laws authorizing producers of various agricultural commodities to assess and collect mandatory fees in order to pay for the generic advertising of their products. These programs are commonly called “checkoffs,” referring to a bookkeeping mechanism indicating the regular payment of fees in order to support an obligation such as union dues. The advertising created and paid for with these fees has featured some of the most memorable commercial messages of our time. Through marketing funded by producer checkoffs, we have been reassured that cotton is “the fabric of our lives,” taught that pork is “the other white meat,” encouraged to “behold the power of cheese,” and asked to confirm that we have, indeed, “got milk” in our refrigerators. The popular Claymation commercial featuring the California Raisins singing “Heard it through the grapevine” was created by the California Raisin Advisory Board. In Louisiana, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries secured the enactment of an industry checkoff for alligator products.
Evangélicos
As a conservative Catholic, I absolutely loathe with a passion self-professed Christian leaders and others whom have distorted Jesus' teachings through the presentist cultural prism: I recently watched one of those contrived television dating shows where one of the contestants implied that she was saving herself (i.e., virginity) for marriage. The matchmakers treated it more as a liability than as an asset. A large percentage of births are illegitimate, and millions of babies a year, decades after inexpensive birth control and condoms have been readily acceptable, are killed in elective abortions. Divorce has become more the rule than the exception.
I particularly despise alleged believers whom parrot pretentious sophistic nonsense like Jesus never discussed abortion, homosexual behavior, etc., so they are free to believe what they wish. When it came to stopping a crowd looking to stone the adulteress or prostitute, Jesus was not endorsing sexual promiscuity or sending mixed messages. He refused to water down His teachings to win popularity. He explicitly rejected political involvement. He made reference to criticisms made against Him that He associated with the wrong type of people, ate or drank too much, etc. He prayed and taught; He was not a social worker with an agenda. He lost His temper at the money changers in the Temple. He was inflexible on the issue of indissoluble traditional marriage. The idea that Jesus is some clay figure that progressive Catholics could mold to accommodate their concessions to the permissive, progressive culture and for political ambition is a state of denial.
I'm sure that Pope Francis is well aware that Protestant inroads into heavily Catholic Latinos. Elizabeth Dias' recent article on US evangelical Latinos should be a wake-up call to the ineffectual American hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The views and practices of Latino Catholics largely track the culture, despite explicit, unambiguous teachings on matters like abortion and traditional marriage. Evangélicos, on the other hand, not only are significantly more socially conservative, they are less ambivalent about practicing their faith.
Now this is a political blog; Democrats largely see Latinos as part of their civil rights constituency. To be honest, almost every Latino I knew in school in Texas was a Democrat; but except for Sen. Tower, Dems dominated state politics (the GOP was very unpopular in former Confederate states after Reconstruction). The real battle was between conservative and liberal Democrats. What happened in Texas was as conservative Dems were marginalized by largely liberal/progressive national Dem leadership, most but not all conservative Dems, including myself, jumped parties. But to be honest, none of my Latino friends were conservative politically other than perhaps social conservatism, hard work ethic, entrepreneurship, etc.
Dias has a follow-up post on whether evangélicos provide an opportunity for the GOP to make inroads into Latinos:
As my cover story “The Latino Reformation“ this week suggests, Latino evangelicals are a group that has strong conservative social values—meaning the Republican Party should find them very attractive. They prize the nuclear family. They are largely against abortion and gay marriage. They also tend to be wealthier than Latino Catholics, and they are more likely to have been born in the United States.
Republicans have lost a net 30 points among evangélicos since the 2004 presidential campaign. George W. Bush got 69% of the Latino evangelical vote in 2004, and Mitt Romney only had support of 39% of Latino evangelicals in 2012.My personal feeling was, just like McCain hurt himself in the general election by embracing Bush in the primaries, the immigration stuff was absolutely lethal to Romney. The battle over unauthorized immigrants was probably seen as a proxy for Latino acceptance in general. Deporting American kids or splitting families? How could a party professing family values actually think such a thing.
Dias basically thinks the world is complex: before you can "educate" Latinos on GOP issues as Michael Warren suggests, Latinos should not be stereotyped by either party. My "gut feeling" is that we have something like a 40% D - 30% R - 30% I breakdown. You cannot simply run the same 3-decade platform. I think a campaign with the right tone and message puts those independent voters into play. It's more than gimmicks, like naming a Latino to the ticket or Cabinet. I think, for instance, we have to talk about things like making it easier to start a business, the failures of progressive policies, and public education reform (going beyond vouchers and charter schools). The GOP has to show it's flexible in accepting people with mixed views. Just a few thoughts....
My Greatest Hits: April 2013
- Enough Already With Politically Correct Feminism
- Miscellany: 11/18/12
- Miscellany: 4/01/13
- Miscellany: 4/06/13
- Miscellany: 4/07/13
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Kiss, "Shout It Out Loud"
