No more bailouts for factory farms

Heh, yeah... (4.00 / 3)

But we're the unrealistic "commies" and socialists, eh?

That's why "goverment" health care is evil, or something...

We've always been at war "TheLawOfSupplyAndDemand".

;-P

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 20:25:10 PM CDT

the most depressing aspect (4.00 / 3)

of it is the total bipartisan consensus supporting this way of doing business. We won't get ag policy reform in my lifetime at the state or federal level.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 20:31:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nor in mine, either... (4.00 / 2)

But I sometimes like to think I will.

Anyways...

This is my dream.

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 20:55:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What a blog! (4.00 / 3)

I love the "Rub my tummy or else" pic!

Seriously though, Jay, you can live like that. In Alaska, as much as people bash Sara Palin, you are allowed to live in the outback at a subsistence level. Subsistance hunting is possible there, down here, at least in Oregon, you'd have a hard time of it the way the game laws are written, even fishing. It could be done, but with much more difficulty.

In Alaska though, you could get way off the beaten path, so far out they have to have a bush plane to get in. I don't think there are any or very much in the way of property taxes, and you get the oil payments which would go a long way towards buying staples.

You could do that a bit easier in Missouri, but there are more in the way of taxes you have to pay there though. That's the problem, no matter where you go, you have to have some ammount of money to pay taxes, and for certain utilities, supplies, etc. No hope for barter for those.

The other thing to remember when having those dreams is the dark side of paradise. That's an extremely difficult and dangerous way to live. I was watching a program on Mountain Men. 50% of mountain men died their first year. Lots of them died from bear attack. Because the way they made their living, trapping beaver, they were prone to run into brown bears and grizzleys. There were also things like blood poisoning, injuries, fire, etc.  

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 09:54:14 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Heh, thanks... (4.00 / 2)

Yeah, I know... I've always been much more of a 'dreamer' than a 'doer', anyways.  Sadly.

But maybe I can find that island...

:)

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 14:16:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're tired of being pissed off? (4.00 / 2)

I'm tired of being pissed on.

As they say at Calculated Risk, "Time for the pitchforks and torches!"

Re. roughing it in Alaska. Don't forget gold panning for money. Yes, that's still possible too. I'll lend you my gold pan* for a share of the profits, lol.

But be more careful than that kid who ate the wrong berries and died, slowly. He made a movie, but I forgot the name of it. Maybe you heard of it.

* Helped a friend drive her car back from Anchorage to Seattle. Along the way (somewhere) we stopped in a bar for dinner and there I met an old sourdough. We started gabbing over drinks, and eventually he invited me back to his cabin. The place was an utter disaster from an Architectural Digest standpoint, dark, smelly, and generally cluttered and disorganized. The only spot of interest, and kept immaculately clean, was his gun cabinet full of rifles; maybe 10 or 15 of them. (The roof was entirely covered with elk antlers.)

I mentioned panning for gold along the way south, and this old guy told me to save my money of those useless newfangled pans. They were worth a shit, in his opinion. Then he proceeded to root around for five minutes or so and came up with a died-in-the-wool gold pan. "Don't worry about the rust, doesn't hurt a bit," he said. Then he gave it to me.

Many miles and a day later we stopped to give the pan a workout in a creek alongside the road. I'd been told to look for the black sand. That was where the gold would be. So I gave it a try, but the mosquitoes got to me before I got to the gold.

Yankee Frugality: use it up, wear it out, make it last, or do without.

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by: Anonymous Bosch @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 11:04:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

We had a friend who hit if big in Alaska (4.00 / 1)

gold. Harold used to pan, and actually made money off of it. Not a lot, but he was only paning on weekends. That was when he was in California.

BTW, you can pan down here in the lower 48. We had another friend who used to pan alot up the Clackamas river system. But you really need to know what you're doing, unless you're just interested in being in the great outdoors. Even then it's no where near a sure thing.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 17:38:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Economics is the way to expose the failure (4.00 / 4)

of industrial farming.  Horror stories of inhumane treatment or pollution only go so far with the general public.

But when you talk about their tax dollars going to bailout major corporations then you have a story that everyone understands.

This is how the factory farms will eventually be shut down, not for the sake of the animals but largess for corporations.

Keep up the good work.

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by: OrganicGeorge @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 07:48:45 AM CDT

Economics is the way to expose the failure (4.00 / 3)

I hope you are right, but what kind of outrage have the bailouts provoked so far? None that stopped them at least.  

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by: lavendula13 @ Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 11:12:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]