Livestock “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL JUNE 15, 2011 •
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Digest I Volume 53 • No. 6
Cowboy Makeover by Lee Pitts
he American rancher had to be forced into the chair at the beauty salon with a wild rag stuffed in his mouth and a pair of hobbles on his ankles so he couldn’t run away, but the career bureaucrats and professional meeting-goers were finally successful in completing the makeover. It was expensive and they had to be real sneaky about it, but those performing the makeover have finally managed to change two of the most iconic figures in our nation’s colorful history, the cowboy and the cattleman, into “stakeholders” and “producers.” There’s just one BIG problem with this makeover: the American consumer doesn’t want to buy her beef from a “stakeholder,” or even a “producer.” No, according to market researcher Mary Love Quinlan, they want their beef from a “rancher,” or even better yet, from a “farmer.” Ms. Quinlan found that women make up to 93 percent of food purchases and they don’t like words such as “feed additive” on the package. They hate hormones and the title “cattle feeder” turns them off. In fact, they don’t like industrialized agriculture very much at all. So why is the NCBA trying to change today’s rancher into exactly that kind of “stakeholder” that the consumer doesn’t want to do business with?
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
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“Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.” Makeup and Mirrors We warned you about the merger of the NCA with the checkoff and all the bad things that could happen as a result (those things are now happening) so let us now warn you about a group called the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). This group is composed of 33 organizations such as the National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau, NCBA, National Milk,
the Soybean Association, Grains Council Poultry & Egg, several state soybean associations, the National Pork Producers Council and other checkoff groups. Although these organizations say they have different viewpoints on some issues, they have this in common: they’re all cheerleaders for the kind of industrialized agriculture the consumer doesn’t trust. As critics of factory farms, genetically modified seeds, hot-
house hogs, downer cows and hormone fed steers appear on the daytime TV shows and book bestseller lists, those pushing industrialized ag realized that they’re losing the public relations war. In other words, they need a makeover. How ironic then that the group that changed ranchers into stakeholders and producers, chose the trusted words “farmer” and “rancher” when they went looking for their own new name. But instead of looking for alternatives to hormones, GMO’s, 10,00-head dairies, lake-size manure lagoons and other things the consumer doesn’t want her food associated with, the USFRA wants to continue to do all those things while hiding behind the good name and image of the American farmer and rancher. Members of USFRA say they want to build trust in our current continued on page two
Now the real work begins — Reform of excessive litigation pay-outs by KAREN BUDD-FALEN
he American public has been asking for legislative reform of a system that pays taxpayer dollars to environmental “nonprofit” attorneys who charge $650 per hour to bring cases for statutory procedural violations, and we finally have it. On May 25, 2011, H.R. 1996, the Governmental Litigation Savings Act of 2011, was introduced to stop the deficit bleeding and level the playing field for all who seek to sue or need a permit from the federal government. But the simple introduction of this bill in the U.S. House of Representatives is not enough and we need your help. This bill has 18 sponsors, but needs many more and we need to get Congress to hold hearings to learn the true extent of the abuse. This is a call to action and a request for your help. The Governmental Litigation Savings Act of 2011 (“GLSA”) has five major sections. First, this Act eliminates the false distinction in net worth between a “for profit” organization and a “nonprofit public interest” organization. Currently, under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), a for profit entity or person with a net worth over $7,000,000 is ineligible to recover attorney fees for litigation against the federal government. However, an entity that
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has been determined to be “nonprofit” is not bound by this restriction. Thus, even though tax documents show a great many environmental and animal rights groups are worth far in excess of $7,000,000, these groups can “recover” attorney fees for suing the federal government. In other words, these “non-profit” groups get paid by the American taxpayers to sue the federal government which results in families losing their homes and businesses. Under the existing EAJA, groups like the Sierra Club, who reported its worth as $56,527,055 in 2007 can receive tax payer money to sue the federal government, but a company with the same net worth cannot. Similarly, if the compensation package for the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council is $432,959.00, do they really need the American citizens funding their litigation agains against the American government? Second, the GLSA places a cap on both the hourly fees that attorneys can charge and on the amount of money that can be awarded to an individual group in a year. Under the GLSA, the hourly fees charged by attorneys is capped at $175 per hour and that cap can only continued on page three
by LEE PITTS
Inspired
’ve always wanted to deliver a commencement address, no, not to college or even high school graduates because there is nothing I could tell them that they don’t already think they know. I’d like to address someone more on my intellectual level, like a class of graduating sixth graders. Here’s what I’d say to them. I promise to make this short if you’ll just put down your cell phones and stop tweeting, texting and Facebooking long enough to listen. I really have only one thing to tell you that I wish someone would have told me when I was your age and it is simply this: find something to be inspired by. Every day. The world doesn’t need any more greed, egotistical celebrities or even ambition. No, what the world is sadly lacking today is inspiration. It is the number one cause of greatness and is the secret to a rewarding and happy life. My advice to you: Find those things in life that make you tingle all over. Perhaps I inspire too easily and I can’t really describe the feeling, but you know what I’m talking about. It’s whatever turns you on or gets you going in the morning. And I’m not talking about caffeine, drugs, nicotine or alcohol. That’s adrenalin, not inspiration. Whatever you do while under their influence you can do ten times better without them. There is inspiration all around us and you may find your daily dose in a song, photo, painting, beautiful flower, newborn foal, a great bronc ride or a graduation speech. Whatever it is that makes you want to tackle the world, do great things and live a life of goodness. I’m not about to suggest what you should be inspired by because, thankfully, it’s different for everyone. For example, I was inspired to be a writer by a sportswriter named Jim Murray and a columnist named Erma Bombeck. But you probably have never heard of either continued on page seven
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