OFF TO A GOOD? START

Only eight days into the new year, and already we are knee deep in the politics of choosing the next president. It’s a dirty business, full of partial truths, innuendos, and out and out lies. My stomach turns over when I read the vitriolic comments on the internet. It seems few can have reasonable discussions without name calling, even the so-called intellectuals. Very tiresome. Worse still, it’s only the beginning. Somehow we must slog through the muck until November.

At least we can be grateful that the Iowa caucuses are over. In a state of some 3,000,000 people, 91 % of whom are Caucasian, less than 150,000 or maybe 4 % of the population voted, 25% for Mitt and 25% for Rick, who is, politically speaking,  far right of the far right.

And speaking of Iowa, did you read that some farmers are selling their Iowa farmland for as high as $13,000 an acre? Iowa farmers are the state’s new millionaires because corn and soybean prices have gone through the roof. A farmland  bubble or will it last?

Just to start you thinking, here are a few things that have happened under President Obama administration: *Energy producing plants must begin preparing to produce 15% of their energy from renewable sources, *Vaccination programs have been expanded, *We now have a State Children’s Health Insurance Program that covers health care for 4 million more children,  and *Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research.

On my new Wildlife calendar this year is a picture of a polar bear with her young cub who’s chances of survival are less than 40% and decreasing because the arctic ice is melting faster each year. Polar bears do not hibernate like brown bears so they are forced to swim longer and longer distances to find food.

One last thought. As I write this, the outdoor temperature is 60 degrees. Louie and I jumped at the chance to take advantage of the strange but great walking weather. The park was full of little people. Louie loves those children and you could almost see him smile as he sat patiently letting their tiny, little fingers poke and pet him.