The Farm Bill/ The "Food Bill"

With trepidation I said yes to a brief phone interview concerning The Farm Bill. Being misquoted on something that I think is tricky but very important brought about this hesitancy, but agreeing that there needs to be a change and that subsidies done right can be very helpful to lots of people pushed me to risk misquotation. I also think that it is important to realize that Montana is still small and mid-size farms - with a few exceptions, and the trends are obviously going bigger and bigger, but right now we still have hope for the family farm...my hope is that putting energy into changing the Farm Bills distribution of money can bolster local economies, small/midsized farms, and the food stamps program - basically getting money to folks who NEED it instead of those who have enough. I hope we can encourage the gov't to be what it is supposed to be: a safe guard within our Capitalist system to look out for the little guy - a little equality for all!


The article is from the U of M newspaper called The Kaimin.

One piece that is a bit off talks about having a hard time selling to companies. I was referring to the possibility of our last elevator in Fort Benton being shut down, being replace by a high speed shuttle loader - I know that this move will reduce our options as farmers, cut jobs at the local elevator, and further the trend of killing off local economy. I did mention the local company Montana Flour and Grains, run by two brothers, who are currently building an elevator to handle more grain, but I don't think I saw it in the article. They are mainly organic buyers, yet are doing both, and don't see much difference between organic and non-organic dry land grain...besides the market price.

Here is the link - cut and paste! because I still haven't taken the time to figure out how to make a link!
http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/news/news_article/farm_bill_helps_fund_us_food_production/

This Friday - Rally - Rios Montt

Dear NISGUA friends,

As many of you know, Amnesty International's Program for International
Justice and Accountability has been working for a few months now on
supporting the legal efforts to hold Rios Montt et al responsible for
genocide, particularly the case being pursued in Spain.

This Friday, April 20, people in Denver, Chicago, Houston, and New York City
are planning rallies outside Guatemalan consulates. Below is a press release
from Amnesty International followed by the times and locations of the
rallies. More info from Amnesty International is at:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/international_justice/

In Solidarity,
Andrew de Sousa, NISGUA

--------

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212/633-4150
Monday, April 16, 2007

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS SET FOR U.S. RALLIES ON APRIL 20 TO PRESS
CASE AGAINST RIOS MONTT IN GUATEMALA

(New York) - In 18 cities across the United States on Friday, April 20,
Amnesty International USA activists will hold rallies and other protests to
press the Guatemalan government to bring former General Efraín Ríos Montt to
trial on genocide, torture and other human rights abuses or extradite him to
Spain to face the charges.

Thousands of activists are expected to turn out for rallies outside
Guatemala's consulates in Miami, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, San
Francisco and New York City. Delegations of AIUSA leaders and volunteers
will meet officially with Guatemalan diplomats at the embassy in Washington,
D.C., and at the consulate in New York City to press their call for action
in the Rios Montt case.

The National Day of Action for Guatemala is part of an international
campaign to bring Ríos Montt and his co-defendants to justice. The campaign
emerged in support of the efforts of a group of survivors from Guatemala,
led by Nobel laureate and current presidential candidate Rigoberta Menchú,
to file a suit against Ríos Montt in Spain.

In July 2006, Spain's National Court issued international warrants for the
arrest of Ríos Montt and several other former senior officials, charging
them with genocide, torture, terrorism and illegal detention.

According to Vienna Colucci, Director of AIUSA's Program for International
Justice and Accountability, "As Guatemala's courts review Spain's request
for Ríos Montt's extradition, the complainants, lawyers, judges, witnesses
and local human rights organizations involved in bringing the suit are
coming under mounting pressure and intimidation. The U.S. rallies are aimed
at demonstrating that the world is watching what is unfolding in Guatemala."

>From 1982 to 1983, Ríos Montt headed the Guatemalan military government,
which carried out a scorched earth campaign of murders, torture and other
human rights abuses that were the most extensive in Guatemala's 36-year
internal armed conflict. Ríos Montt remains a powerful force in Guatemalan
politics today. In January, he announced his plan to run for Congress,
asserting that a Congressional seat would provide him with parliamentary
immunity from prosecution.

Film screenings, talks and discussions by Guatemalan survivors and other
events will take place in Milwaukee and Stevens Point, WI; Detroit; St.
Louis; Albuquerque, NM; Portland, OR; Seattle; Minneapolis; Oklahoma City;
and Lexington, KY.

WHO: Hundreds of activists and supporters of Amnesty International USA
WHAT: National Day of Action for Guatemala, demanding legal action in the
case of former Gen. Ríos Montt
WHERE: Rallies and other protests at seven Guatemalan consulates and the
embassy in Washington, DC
WHEN: Friday, April 20, 2007

# # #


Houston: meeting w/ consulate at 9.30am; rally 9.30-10.30am at 3013 Fountain
View Dr
Chicago: meeting w/ consulate at 12pm; rally at 11.30am at 203 N. Wabash
Avenue
Denver: meeting w/ consulate at 4pm; rally at 12pm at 820 16th Street
NYC: rally at consulate, 1,000 expected (part of the Get On The Bus effort -
www.gotb.org )

Consulate meetings (no rallies) are being planned in Washington DC, Miami,
San Francisco, Los Angeles.

Kim Fabricius

"Strictly speaking, all believers are theologians, because all believers, willy-nilly, think about God."

(I would add that even if you are an "unbeliever" you are a theologian...maybe even more so that many "believers".)

"It is the theologian’s job to help us.........die better"

(that's what I say 10 times in the morning upon rising)

“Christians would rather die than think – and most of them do.”

"Ultimately, of course, theologians do not know what they are talking about. So they should ...... not talk too much."

(O.k. so I realize I am humoring myself by splicing these a bit - they are all in full at the bottom of this post)

Here is one I am not mess'n with and I really like...

"I often think that books of theology should contain occasional blank pages, to signal the reader to pause, in silence and wonder."

...

Well Eric - you are probably the only one who reads my blog! And if that is true, it is worth having it. In the event that someone mistakenly trips into our plasterings than whoot-a-whoot-a!



Eric, thanks for your comment and I will harp on in joy and possibly in the spirit of "willy nilly" and the pursuit of "to die better".

Sarcasm aside (not to far) I will say that I deeply agree that bad theology has driven our human history head on into some poor displays of pure evil...and is currently doing the same and is of utmost importance to be privy - fighting for the good standing up to the bad.

With that said, as a result of your comment, I looked up Mr. Kim Fabricius finding myself to have two thoughts.
One, wow what a guy.
Two, self declared brainy theologians strangely evoke the image of a dusty walled-in library cubicle that somehow is like time and eternity: square, dusty, caffeinated and if you step into it you will surely never die, but will have the ever present notion of bad gas.
(I say this in with the deepest respect.)

So I post a bit about him below and post up front the comment that Eric left - I post because I really do appreciate what he has to say.
I especially chuckled that he was "blasted into faith reading Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans." Blasted!

Also want to point out that he is into baseball and cappuccino and then baseball again!!!...the second baseball, rather than a mistake is simply important to note because he is most likely hopped up on caffeine at this point breaking free of his academic theological cubicle skin becoming one wild-swing'n-willy-nilly-who-ya-daddy- who dies with the best theology wins!!!!!
But then it goes on to say that he is in to cats... and then baseball again!! I'm not sure how to interpret this one.

Cats have never given me a hankering for baseball.

With that said, here is the bio...


Kim is a minister at Bethel United Reformed Church in Swansea, Wales, and he’s United Reformed chaplain to Swansea University. He was born in New York in 1948, and, after spending most of the 70s wasting his youth (which he reckons is better than having done nothing with it), he was blasted into faith reading Karl Barth’s Commentary on Romans. This led him pretty directly into ministry, which Kim describes as “that wonderful vocation provided by the good Lord for displaced Christian intellectuals who are useless at proper work.”

He studied English literature at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and then took an MA (Theology) at Oxford University in 1981. He’s married to Angie, and they have two kids in their late twenties, Karl and Katie.

Kim’s favourite theologians are Barth, Bonhoeffer, Yoder, Hauerwas, John Webster, and Rowan Williams; and his interests include running, baseball, rugby union, cappuccino, baseball, Indian food, cats, and baseball. He often contributes posts to Faith & Theology, including the ever-popular “ten propositions” series, listed below:


...6. Theology (with Aquinas, Calvin, Barth) is thus a very spiritual matter, and a very practical, very ethical matter. In fact the theologian, as a student of the humanity of God, is the quintessential humanist. She will have in her sights not only God but also the good, God in his perfections and humanity in its perfectibility, i.e. she will be concerned with human flourishing. And as humans can only flourish in community – in the polis – a question that one should always ask about a theologian is: How does her theology politic?

7. All good theology is always contextual theology. Which is not to say that the context sets the agenda of the theologian, because contexts never come neat, they are not self-interpreting: the theologian must be an exegete not only of the text but also of the context. Rather it is to say that the theologian works at the interface of text and context, and seeks to address specific text to specific context. The letters of Paul – all occasional, none systematic – are the paradigm for the theologian.

9. Strictly speaking, all believers are theologians, because all believers, willy-nilly, think about God. The only question is whether we think well or poorly. It is not the theologian’s job to think about God for us, it is the theologian’s job to help us think about God better, so that we may believe, pray, live and die better. Dorothy Sayers said that “Christians would rather die than think – and most of them do.” The theologian is out to make Ms Sayers a liar.

10. Ultimately, of course, theologians do not know what they are talking about. So they should exercise meticulous word-care – and not talk too much. I often think that books of theology should contain occasional blank pages, to signal the reader to pause, in silence and wonder. There will be no theology in the eschaton. Before the divine doxa, we will confess, with St Thomas, “All my work is like straw.” Karl Barth famously said that when he gets to heaven he will seek out Mozart before Calvin. Quite right – and presumably he spoke to Calvin only to compare errors. Me – I’ll be heading for the choir of angels, to find Sandy Koufax, to see how he made the baseball sing.

Latin American News Review

check out this site -

http://lanr.blogspot.com/

I haven't figured out how to make links - so you'll have to do it the hard way.

Editorial I wrote on Guatemala last summer:

After my trip to Guatemala last summer I wrote a bit. It was published in Fort Benton's widely read paper "The River Press".

Tacy, I believe you are a Wendell Berry fan - I quote him and he uses fecundity, the word of the month, a good one for those who are fond of spring.

Those of you who live or are privy to Guatemala, let me know if I'm fouled up on any of my facts.

Here tis.

During the summer celebration, I attended the reconciliation event on the levee across from Rita and Stu Elliot’s. The cavalry, sitting a-top a group of tired horses, spoken words from both Native American and white man, and the art of a young representative of the Nez Perce tribe were all participants in the ceremony of further reconciliation and trail dedication.
I had just returned from an educational trip to Guatemala through the University of Montana and Augsburg College. We focused on the interconnectedness and inseparability of social and environmental justice. As a result my experience on the Fort Benton levee was heightened – for reconciliation in all of the Americas, with all the truly “native” people, is deeply needed.
Thousands in Guatemala have been killed, have lost their land, and live in fear. This was a result of a 36-year civil war, started by the United States government who had economic interest in a banana company.
If you hunker down in a college classroom the word “post modernity” is sure to sneak up on you. What is it? Well, to return the favor, I will sneak up on it by defining its predecessor, modernity. Modernity, in my own words, is the era in which the conquering European (carrying Christianity in tote) made a lot of mistakes by employing the world view, “we are better than you and are going to take your land and tell you how to be, because you’re wrong and were right”. The Post Modern man/woman has realized that there are a whole lot of other (valid) cultures and (valid) ways of life that look very different from the pale-faced blokes from Europe – (Praise the Lord!) And yes, this even goes for the understanding and expression of God.
I am presently staring out my window at our peas and their pods in our garden – the lack of rain has us with some dry peas and a surprisingly early completion to harvest. My family, myself, and all of us surrounding Fort Benton, exist on this land that was at one time freely roamed by a different people with different ways, who are no longer able to roam because one nation conquered another. I am thankful for the freedoms we have to work hard, to raise peas, wheat, and whatever else we may choose. But I question, what should I do with a freedom that comes at the expense of the freedom of others?
Globalization, the interconnectedness of life in this age of technology, and the corporations that financially take advantage of this continues the age-old injustices, sucking those, without the competitive capital edge, dry – the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. There are 12.7 million people in Guatemala and 6% of those own all the land. Land is continually taken from the indigenous and given to the racially upper class, the Spanish. They also have no representation in their government.
The European expansion, Guatemala, and corporate power may seem distant to our Fort Benton farming community but it is not. The world population is rapidly increasing and becoming more and more connected, yet Fort Benton and towns of the like are shrinking. The family farm is few and far between, and it doesn’t matter because Walmart will sell it cheaper...
A favorite writer of mine Wendell Berry says,
"I would argue that, at least for us in the United States, the conclusion that ‘there are too many people” is premature, not because I know that there are not too many people, but because I do not think we are prepared to come to such a conclusion. I grant that questions about population size need to be asked, but they are not the first questions that need to be asked. The “population problem,” initially, should be examined as a problem, not of quantity, but of pattern. Before we conclude that we have too many people, we must ask if we have people who are misused, people who are misplaced, or people who are abusing the places they have….I would argue that it is not human fecundity that is overcrowding the world so much as technological multipliers of the power of individual humans. The worst disease of the world now is probably the ideology of technological heroism, according to which more and more people willingly cause large-scale effects that they do not foresee and that they cannot control.” (Home Economics, p149-50).
Guatemala and Fort Benton are two peas in a pod, both part of the Americas, both connected to new and old “natives”, and both feeling the effects of unjust patterns. The new frontiersman is the CEO, saddling up the next airplane to gallop at 700 mph into the world’s developing nations to reap cheap labor and natural resources at minimal cost. The “place” and people of Fort Benton and the “place” and people of Guatemala are not the priority – profit is.
I hope we can face injustices of the past and present, realize their magnitude and find the energy to alter our personal and societal paths. I was able to meet some of these poor and oppressed people and I suppose that gets a guy to write articles like this.

Damn Theologians

In response to my "damn theologian" comment...

I'll comment on my own blog to say that theologians we all are - but self proclaimed buggers I'll say are taking a huge risk, especially systematic ones - like anyone with enough ball who gets out there and stands for something they have come to believe in, they are the easiest to critique - and for that I will say they should be those whom we most honor.

I say this toward the theologian who is both honest and organized with the workings out of their belief, owning it for themselves not simply repeating what they have been told, putting it out there for all to point at, able to participate in healthy critical conversation that, instead of being a head ache, is intrinsic to this working belief.

I am thankful for these people who have decided to face the theology that has been handed to them their entire lives, and quite possibly decide they don't believe any of it, but find the time and space in themselves to work things out and find the good and true for themselves, often coming back to pieces of that traditional theology or finding that it is just a heck of a stab at something that language utterly fails to completely express, allowing it to set fire to their eyes, opening themselves to the wonder of the reality around them, even finding the space for doubt and despair.

The opposite I suppose is the act of deeply pocketing ones disbelief and cynicism and actually falling prey, being a victim of, the very theology that you internally disagree with, having no defense against it, resulting in being formed by it - ceasing to wonder, ceasing to see, ceasing to live.

I don't believe in a literal hell, but I do believe in hell and I think it exists now as we cease to wonder, see, and live - a result of submitting to the status quo - drying up our inner creative, questioning, gift of a human being selves, like the "theologian", go down the path of open eyed wondering certitude that brings both life, and criticism - in Jesus' case crucifixion, in Martin Luther Kings case assassination. But what incredible LIFE came as a result of their honesty. In both these cases fundamental to "open eyed wondering" naturally included those who were outcasts, oppressed, and nobodies in society - "wonder" is real only when all of reality is real which includes suffering. And isn't it funny that when the examples of history really stand up for this honesty, this life, "loving thy neighbor" (all of them), that trouble is right around the corner.

"damn theologians"...as one who doesn't believe in a literal hell, we can rest assure that no one is going to burn in a pit after they die, whew! finally someone said it! - so rather I say damn theologian as simply a playful conversation starter!

This turned out a little longer than I planned - a bit of unorganized rant it is - if you stumble through it I hope you are able to find what I am trying to express.

The News - Big Time?...Halliburton!...Big Time!

I'm not sure why I'm posting this. Maybe it is simply good gossip. But I don't think so.
Using the shallow definition of "politician", I will say that the politicians love that this happened.
Personally I think Cheney is a mess of untruths politically and personally - that mess though carries a lot of weight and has been the foundation that has lied to the world resulting in the Iraq war - So I think any news that cracks into this person and de-thrones him/her is good. He needs to be relinquished of his position of authority.
I think using profanity is fine - but I think it is more than just profanity in this case - he messed up and dropping the F bomber is the best he has in defense. He has really really really messed up and needs to be held accountable. Swear all you want cheney - but it won't make up for innocent lives sold for capital gain. (Can I say that?)


Cheney Dismisses Critic With Obscenity
Clash With Leahy About Halliburton

By Helen Dewar and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 25, 2004; Page A04

A brief argument between Vice President Cheney and a senior Democratic senator led Cheney to utter a big-time obscenity on the Senate floor this week.


On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.

"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, yesterday confirmed the brief but fierce exchange. "The vice president seemed to be taking personally the criticism that Senator Leahy and others have leveled against Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq," Carle said.

As it happens, the exchange occurred on the same day the Senate passed legislation described as the "Defense of Decency Act" by 99 to 1.

Cheney's office did not deny that the phrase was uttered. His spokesman, Kevin S. Kellems, would say only that this language is not typical of the vice presidential vocabulary. "Reserving the right to revise and extend my remarks, that doesn't sound like language the vice president would use," Kellems said, "but there was a frank exchange of views."

Gleeful Democrats pointed out that the White House has not always been so forgiving of obscenity. In December, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry was quoted using the same word in describing Bush's Iraq policy as botched. The president's chief of staff reacted with indignation.

"That's beneath John Kerry," Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said. "I'm very disappointed that he would use that kind of language. I'm hoping that he's apologizing at least to himself, because that's not the John Kerry that I know."

This was not the first foray into French by Cheney and his boss. During the 2000 campaign, Bush pointed out a New York Times reporter to Cheney and said, without knowing the microphone was picking it up, "major-league [expletive]." Cheney's response -- "Big Time" -- has become his official presidential nickname.

Then there was that famous Talk magazine interview of Bush by Tucker Carlson in 1999, in which the future president repeatedly used the F-word.

Tuesday's exchange began when Leahy crossed the aisle at the photo session and joked to Cheney about being on the Republican side, according to Carle. Then Cheney, according to Carle, "lashed into" Leahy for remarks he made Monday criticizing Iraq contracts won without competitive bidding by Halliburton, Cheney's former employer.

Leahy, Carle said, retorted that Democrats "have not appreciated White House collusion in smears" that Democrats were anti-Catholic for blocking judicial nominees such as William H. Pryor Jr. Democrats demanded that Bush disavow the allegations by conservative groups, but the White House did not.

The Democratic National Committee has declared this to be "Halliburton Week" to portray administration ties to the controversial company. "Sounds like it's making somebody a little testy," Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said.

Republicans did their best to defend the vice president. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), while pointing out that he was unaware of the incident, described Cheney as "very honest" and said: "I don't blame anyone for standing up for his integrity."

There is no rule against obscene language by a vice president on the Senate floor. The senators were present for a group picture and not in session, so Rule 19 of the Senate rules -- which prohibits vulgar statements "unbecoming a senator" -- does not apply, according to a Senate official. Even if the Senate were in session, the vice president, though constitutionally the president of the Senate, is an executive branch official and therefore free to use whatever language he likes.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

To all you city slick'n sluckers!

So, did you know that baby chicks are delivered through the United States Postal Service!

My uncle Ron and I have, like the vanguard-ians that we are, ordered and received our baby chicks (25 a piece this year), carrying on a dying tradition that my Grandpa Bailey lived for.
At quarter to six this past Tuesday morning the local mail man called my Uncle saying that he had a truck full of peepers. These 'lil fellers had been born two days before, shoved in a box and mailed to Fort Benton Montana! And they all survived...amazing, peeping their tunes to the letters and packages.

I admit that i am a bit more of an idealist than a realist... shouting from the hill tops that I think all should turn back to the small farm - then I myself feel confined to the little lives that my idealism has made me responsible to.

Instead of letting a huge corporation sling slices of chicken from cage to MacDonald drive-thru for me to buy and eat with such minimal time that my engine doesn't even need to be shut off...I must feed the dang little things everyday, slowly and meticulously caring for them. Water too!

I must be there for them every single day!

Within that I feel there are so many deeply GOOD things that cannot be gained by shooting through the fast food drive through - this of course goes way beyond health to the roots of our humanity
(I hope someone is laughing at how lofty I can even make raising a chicken - but laugh on! And be a shallow-fast-food-eating-lifeless-ninny!).

My wing flapping idealism knows that being linked to the disciplines that come with life, the constraints that come with the mailed box of chick, are part of that which our society is loosing and is being injured in the process.

So, in my idealism, I will proudly proclaim (I think my uncle Ron would agree) that our world would be a better place if more people participated in the process of life, the process of raising animals - and know that that is where their food comes from.
Essentially if more people were connected to their own food, kicking the feet out from under their idealism with the necessary scoop of the chicken poop, I think a lot of our world problems would simply go belly-up.

This especially for those damn theologians out there!

(PS: Theologian Eric Meyer and I are having back room theological email debates...soon to be posted - i'm sure you are all sweating with suspense!)

So, spring has sprung again!
After my last spring sprunging email it snowed a foot! Good 'ol montana.

But I took the long way from Great Falls to Fort Benton this evening as the sun was setting - this path goes through the town of Highwood skirting the Highwood Mountians, and I'll say again that spring is kick'n in. It is one of my favorite drives - things are greening up and the mountians themselves are still covered in snow - lots of wild life and absolutely no cars - not one in 60 miles.

"THE VIOLENCE OF LOVE", Oscar Romero

"The violence we preach is not
the violence of the sword,
the violence of hatred.
It is the violence of love,
of brotherhood,
the violence that wills to beat weapons
into sickles for work."

OSCAR ROMERO, NOVEMBER 27, 1977


This is the mission entrusted to the church,
a hard mission:
to uproot sins from history,
to uproot sins from the economy,
to uproot sins wherever they are.
What a hard task!
It has to meet conflicts amid so much selfishness,
so much pride,
so much vanity,
so many who have enthroned the reign of sin among us.

The church must suffer for speaking the truth,
for pointing out sin,
for uprooting sin.
No one wants to have a sore spot touched,
and therefore a society with so many sores twitches
when someone has the courage to touch it
and say: "You have to treat that.
You have to get rid of that.
Believe in Christ.
Be converted.

JANUARY 15, 1978

(and one more that Bush, Cheney, and their puppeteer followers should understand)

A society's or political community's reason for being
is not the security of the state
but the human person.
Christ said, "Man is not for the sabbath;
the sabbath is for man."
He puts human beings as the objective
of all laws and all institutions.
Humans are not for the state;
the state is for them.

JANUARY 15, 1978