Here's to commonsense...

Earth Day was yesterday. And I didn't blog about it because, well...I forgot. It's not that I'm inattentive to what it was all about. Or that I don't care about the environment. I do care. I recycle. I drive a four-cylinder car and a four-cylinder pickup (which I'd love to trade in for an eight-banger monster, and an extended cab and Godzilla-sized tires), and I turn my thermostat down in the winter and sweat a lot in the summer...

But you can't forget. Not if you make your living in agriculture. I'm an attentive watcher from the sidelines, but my necessary vehicle is a computer keyboard, not a tractor. If I were a dairyman facing a tax on my cows because they produce methane from both ends, I'd be angry and fearful for my future and the future of agriculture. There's been talk of a cow tax, and the EPA - at least somebody in the EPA - is toying with the idea.

A recent report in the New York Times observes that there is probably more smoke than fire in the cow tax issue. Peter Gregg, speaking on behalf of the New York Farm Bureau, said, “You could take all of our cows together and they probably wouldn’t have the same effect on the atmosphere than the average traffic jam on the Tappan Zee Bridge.”

Having suffered through a number of those Tappan Zee jamups, I can honestly say I'd rather be surrounded by thousands of cows than a bridgeful of stalled New York drivers gunning their Jaguars and their BMWs and honking their horns and spewing their stinky exhausts and waving with one finger to the folks around them.

Yes. Give me cows anytime over those drivers.  Cows are more polite. And they smell better.

Common sense clearly doesn't apply in traffic jams. It doesn't always apply in politics, either, especially when it comes to environmental issues. Let's hope it applies to a cow tax. So let's give a cheer for common sense when it comes to cows, and a loud belch or two in support. And any other noise you might care to make.

Wait a minute...could they tax us?

Next Wednesday I'm scheduled for a full day in the office to take a stab at reporting on some of the markets that Millie Bunting has been watching for more decades than I feel comfortable mentioning without her permission. When Millie looks at the market reports she sees trends, old friends and new, fascinating stories from just yesterday and long ago, auctions that have opened in the last few years and others that are gone for good. She makes sense of the 200 pieces or so that come in every week by email and fax, and turns them into a finished puzzle. Me, I look at the market reports and I see a bunch of numbers. But Millie wants a day off every now and again, and I've been tagged as an understudy, emphasis on under. So think of me come Wednesday. And wish me luck.

This is how they do "Got Milk?" in Ontario...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFf6E-42Se4 (Thanks, Tracy.)