By Dick Hagen
The Land Staff Writer
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What a spring and kudos to you Minnesota farmers. I doubt if you ever have planted this much crop this early and this easily. There just weren't any serious challenges from Mother Nature.
That May 9 frost sent shivers for a few days but virtually no lasting damage to crops anywhere.
This note on quickness: May 20 my neighbor pulled in with his 24-row rig and in four hours planted 70 acres of navy beans at the Little Ponderosa (our little hobby farm). A couple hours later a Case-IH hitched to a 91-foot wide Sanders roller showed up. How long to roll 70 acres with a 91-foot wide rig? 48 minutes. Or about three innings of Twins baseball, which I watched as that Quad Track unit dashed across the field.
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Like many of you I'm paying more attention to the U.S. Constitution these days. It seems our Washington, D.C., lawmakers tend to insulate themselves more and more from grass roots America. Maybe that's why this Proposed 28th Amendment to our Constitution is making the rounds.
It reads: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to U.S. Senators and Representatives. And Congress shall make no law that applies to U.S. Senators and Representatives that does not equally apply to the citizens of the United States."
Now isn't that just plain common sense? For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens have no idea that members of Congress can retire with the same pay after serving only one term; that they didn't pay into Social Security; that they specifically exempted themselves from many laws they passed (such as being exempt from prosecution for sexual harassment), while ordinary citizens must live under those laws.
The latest is to exempt themselves from the healthcare reform. That simply insults American taxpayers. Have we created an elite that is above the very laws they write? The self-serving nature of elected officials sometimes seems totally out of touch with reality.
State Representative Doug Magnus talking with some of us at Farm Bureau's Day on the Hill at the State Capital in February commented, "30 years ago Johnny Cash and Bob Hope were everyone's favorites. Today we're out of cash and don't have any hope. We're going to reform state government somehow. I can't tell you how, but it will happen because it has to happen."
Well said, Mr. Magnus. Judging from early voting, in parts of America voting out incumbents seems a popular choice. But then what happens? Who knows, however a growing number of Americans are willing to take that political gamble. As most are saying, "It can't get any worse." Perhaps.
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May 17, the first day of the one-day special session, State Sen. Steve Dille cast his last vote in the Minnesota State Capital. After 24 years as a legislator, Dille said he was going home to produce food, fuel and fiber for the hungry around the world. Very likely some more vet work also since he's a licensed DVM. My congratulations to Dille and other long-time legislators now retiring.
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Also my thanks to a talented and generous gentleman by the name of Gerit Lamain, retiring after 26 years as director and leader of the Woodbury Chorus and Orchestra.
This is a voluntary group that each Saturday morning did two- to three-hour rehearsals preparing for concerts throughout central Minnesota. The purpose: to raise money for the local food shelf. Eventually about 26 of us Renville County folks started singing and traveling with this remarkable group, which often numbers 70 to 75 voices and a 12 to 14-piece orchestra.
Good things happen when you get people together who simply want to do something because it's right. Since 1985, this group has generated more than $270,000 from church audience concerts. That's enough money to buy over 1.350 million meals. And it all happened because of Gerit Lamain, born and raised in Holland who remembers all to well the fear of living in a land taken over by Nazi soldiers.
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I'm wrapping up with a prayer that commentator Paul Harvey had shared on his radio show. It received a larger response than any other he aired.
His prayer that day: "Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and travel. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
"We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and call it lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possession and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
"Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today: cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"
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Dick Hagen is staff writer of The Land. He may be reached at dickhagen@rswb.coop.
