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Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 - 29 December 1926) is generally considered the German language's greatest poet of the 20th century; born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke.
- 1 Sourced
- 1.1 Rilke's Letters
- 1.2 Das Stundenbuch (The Book of Hours) (1899-1903)
- 1.3 Das Buch der Bilder (The Book of Images) (1902)
- 1.4 Neue Gedichte (New Poems) (1907-1908)
- 1.5 Der Panther (The Panther) (1907)
- 1.6 In Celebration of Me (1909)
- 1.7 Duino Elegies(1922)
- 1.8 Sonnets to Orpheus (1922)
- 1.9 Imaginärer Lebenslauf (Imaginary Life Journey) (September 13, 1923)
- 1.10 Letters to a Young Poet (1934)
- 2 External links
- Just as language has no longer anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connexion with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle.
- Worpswede (1903)
- Du im Voraus
verlorne Geliebte, Nimmergekommene,
nicht weiß ich, welche Töne dir lieb sind.
Nicht mehr versuch ich, dich, wenn das Kommende wogt,
zu erkennen.
- You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don't even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of the next
- You Who Never Arrived (as translated by Stephen Mitchell) (1913-1914)
- You who never arrived
- Ach, die Gärten bist du,
ach, ich sah sie mit solcher
Hoffnung. Ein offenes Fenster
im Landhaus—, und du tratest beinahe
mir nachdenklich heran. Gassen fand ich,—
du warst sie gerade gegangen,
und die spiegel manchmal der Läden der Händler
waren noch schwindlich von dir und gaben erschrocken
mein zu plötzliches Bild.—Wer weiß, ob derselbe
Vogel nicht hinklang durch uns
gestern, einzeln, im Abend?
- You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
in a country house-, and you almost
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,—
you had just walked down them and vanished.
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
were still dizzy with your presence and, startled,
gave back my too-sudden image. Who knows?
perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us
yesterday, separate, in the evening...
- You Who Never Arrived (as translated by Stephen Mitchell)
- You, Beloved, who are all
- Schon ist mein Blick am Hügel, dem besonnten,
dem Wege, den ich kaum begann, voran.
So fasst uns das, was wir nicht fassen konnten,
voller Erscheinung, aus der Ferne an—
und wandelt uns, auch wenn wirs nicht erreichen,
in jenes, das wir, kaum es ahnend, sind;
ein Zeichen weht, erwidernd unserm Zeichen...
Wir aber spüren nur den Gegenwind.
- Already my gaze is upon the hill, the sunny one,
at the end of the path which I've only just begun.
So we are grasped, by that which we could not grasp,
at such great distance, so fully manifest—
and it changes us, even when we do not reach it,
into something that, hardly sensing it, we already are;
a sign appears, echoing our own sign...
But what we sense is the falling winds.
- Spaziergang (A Walk) (March 1924)
- Already my gaze is upon the hill, the sunny one,
- I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone
to truly consecrate the hour.
I am much too small in this world, yet not small
to be to you just object and thing,
dark and smart.
I want my free will and want it accompanying
the path which leads to action;
and want during times that beg questions,
where something is up,
to be among those in the know,
or else be alone.
- I Am Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone, st. 1 (as translated by Annemarie S. Kidder)
- The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.
- Wendung (Turning Point) (as translated by Stephen Mitchell)
- He was a poet and hated the approximate.
- The Journal of My Other Self
- Death is the dies of life which is turned away from us.
- Letter to W. von Hulewicz
- Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.
- As quoted in Sunbeams : A Book of Quotations (1990) by Sy Safransky, p. 42
- Everywhere I am folded, there I am a lie.
- As quoted in News of the Universe : Poems of Twofold Consciousness (1995) by Robert W. Bly, p. 125
Rilke's Letters
- Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further.
- Letter to his wife, reprinted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne (1952, trans. 1985). (June 24, 1907)
- Ideally a painter (and, generally, an artist) should not become conscious of his insights: without taking the detour through his reflective processes, and incomprehensibly to himself, all his progress should enter so swiftly into the work that he is unable to recognise them in the moment of transition. Alas, the artist who waits in ambush there, watching, detaining them, will find them transformed like the beautiful gold in the fairy tale which cannot remain gold because some small detail was not taken care of.
- Letter to his wife, reprinted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne (1952, trans. 1985). (October 21, 1907)
- Painting is something that takes place among the colors, and ... one has to leave them alone completely, so that they can settle the matter among themselves. Their intercourse: this is the whole of painting. Whoever meddles, arranges, injects his human deliberation, his wit, his advocacy, his intellectual agility in any way, is already disturbing and clouding their activity.
- Letter to his wife, reprinted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne (1952, trans. 1985). (October 21, 1907)
- Just as the creative artist is not allowed to choose, neither is he permitted to turn his back on anything: a single refusal, and he is cast out of the state of grace and becomes sinful all the way through.
- Letter to his wife, reprinted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne (1952, trans. 1985). (October 23, 1907)
- He [Cézanne] reproduced himself with so much humble objectivity, with the unquestioning, matter of fact interest of a dog who sees himself in a mirror and thinks: there's another dog.
- Letter to his wife, reprinted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne (1952, trans. 1985). (October 23, 1907)
- Not since Moses has anyone seen a mountain so greatly.
- Quoted in Rilke's Letters on Cézanne, foreword (1952, trans. 1985).
- What is required of us is that we love the difficult and learn to deal with it. In the difficult are the friendly forces, the hands that work on us. Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are.
- Selected Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke (1960)
Das Stundenbuch (The Book of Hours) (1899-1903)
- Extinguish my sight, and I can still see you;
plug up my ears, and I can still hear;
even without feet I can walk toward you,
and without mouth I can still implore.
Break off my arms, and I will hold you
with my heart as if it were a hand;
strangle my heart, and my brain will still throb;
and should you set fire to my brain,
I still can carry you with my blood.
- Translated by Annemarie S. Kidder
- Ich bin auf der Welt zu allein und doch nicht allein genug,
um jede Studen zu weihen.
Ich bin auf der Welt zu gering und doch nicht klein genug,
um vor dir zu sein wie ein Ding,
dunkel und klug.
Ich will meinen Willen und will meinen Willen begleiten
die Wege zur Tat;
und will in stillen, irgendwie zörgernden Zeiten,
wenn etwas naht,
unter den Wissenden sein
oder allein.
- I am too alone in the world, and yet not alone enough
to make every hour holy.
I am too small in the world, and yet not tiny enough
just to stand before you like a thing,
dark and shrewd.
I want my will, and I want to be with my will
as it moves towards deed;
and in those quiet, somehow hesitating times,
when something is approaching,
I want to be with those who are wise
or else alone.
- Number 2 (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- I am too alone in the world, and yet not alone enough
Das Buch der Bilder (The Book of Images) (1902)
- Aus unendlichen Sehnsüchten steigen
endliche Taten wie schwache Fontänen,
die sich zeitig und zitternd neigen.
Aber, die sich uns sonst verschweigen,
unsere fröhlichen kräfte—zeigen
sich in diesen tanzenden Tränen.
- Out of infinite longings rise
finite deeds like weak fountains,
falling back just in time and trembling.
And yet, what otherwise remains silent,
our happy energies—show themselves
in these dancing tears.
- Initiale (Initial) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- Out of infinite longings rise
- Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los.
- Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Let thine shadows upon the sundials fall,
and unleash the winds upon the open fields.
- Herbsttag (Autumn Day) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
- Der Abend wechselt langsam die Gewänder,
die ihm ein Rand von alten Bäumen hält.
- Slowly the evening changes into the clothes
held for it by a row of ancient trees.
- Abend (Evening) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- Slowly the evening changes into the clothes
Neue Gedichte (New Poems) (1907-1908)
- Wie soll ich meine Seele halten, daß
sie nicht an deine rührt? Wie soll ich sie
hinheben über dich zu andern Dingen?
Ach gerne möchte ich sie bei irgendetwas
Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen
an einer fremden stillen Stelle, die
nicht weiterschwingt, wenn diene Tiefen schwingen.
Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,
die aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.
Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?
Und welcher Geiger hat uns in der Hand?
O süßes Lied.
- How shall I hold on to my soul, so that
it does not touch yours? How shall I lift
it gently up over you on to other things?
I would so very much like to tuck it away
among long lost objects in the dark,
in some quiet, unknown place, somewhere
which remains motionless when your depths resound.
And yet everything which touches us, you and me,
takes us together like a single bow,
drawing out from two strings but one voice.
On which instrument are we strung?
And which violinist holds us in his hand?
O sweetest of songs.
- Liebes-Lied (Love Song) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- How shall I hold on to my soul, so that
- Diese Mühsal, durch noch Ungetanes
schwer und wie gebunden hinzugehen,
gleicht dem ungeschaffnen Gang des Schwanes.
Und das Sterben, dieses Nichtmehrfassen
jenes Grunds, auf dem wir täglich stehen,
seinem ängstlichen Sich-Niederlassen—:
in die Wasser, die ihn sanft empfangen
und die sich, wie glücklich und vergangen,
unter ihm zurückziehn, Flut um Flut;
während er unendlich still und sicher
immer mündiger und königlicher
und gelassener zu ziehn geruht.
- This difficult living, heavy and as if all tied up,
moving through that which has been left undone,
is like the not-quite-finished walk of the swan.
And dying, this slipping away from
the ground upon which we stand every day,
is his anxious letting himself fall—:
into the waters, which receive him gladly
and which, as if happily already gone by,
draw back under him, wave after wave;
while the swan, infinitely calm and self-assured,
opener and more magnificent
and more serene, allows himself to be drawn on.
- Der Schwan (The Swan) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- This difficult living, heavy and as if all tied up,
- Die nächste Flut verwischt den Weg im Watt,
und alles wird auf allen Seiten gleich;
die kleine Insel draußen aber hat
die Augen zu; verwirrend kreist der Deich
um ihre Wohner, die in einem Schlaf
geboren werden, drin sie viele Welten
verwechseln schweigend, denn sie reden selten,
und jeder Satz ist wie ein Epitaph
- The next tide will erase the way through the mudflats,
and everything will be again equal on all sides;
but the small, far-out island already has its
eyes closed; bewildered, the dike draws a circle
around its inhabitants who were born
into a sleep in which many worlds
are silently confused, for they rarely speak,
and every phrase is like an epitaph.
- Die Insel I (The Island I) (as translated by Cliff Crego)
- The next tide will erase the way through the mudflats,
Der Panther (The Panther) (1907)
- Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehen der Stäbe
so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält.
Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe
und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt.
Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte,
der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht,
ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte,
in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht.
Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille
sich lautlos auf—. Dann geht ein Bild hinein,
geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille—
und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.
- His tired gaze - from passing endless bars -
has turned into a vacant stare which nothing holds.
To him there seem to be a thousand bars,
and out beyond these bars exists no world.
His supple gait, the smoothness of strong strides
that gently turn in ever smaller circles
perform a dance of strength, centered deep within
a will, stunned, but untamed, indomitable.
But sometimes the curtains of his eyelids part,
the pupils of his eyes dilate as images
of past encounters enter while through his limbs
a tension strains in silence
only to cease to be, to die within his heart.
- As translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
- His tired gaze - from passing endless bars -
In Celebration of Me (1909)
- I am so afraid of people's words.
They describe so distinctly everything:
And this they call dog and that they call house,
here the start and there the end.
I worry about their mockery with words,
they know everything, what will be, what was;
no mountain is still miraculous;
and their house and yard lead right up to God.
I want to warn and object: Let the things be!
I enjoy listening to the sound they are making.
But you always touch: and they hush and stand still.
That's how you kill.
- Translated by Annemarie S. Kidder
Duino Elegies(1922)
- Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
- First Elegy (as translated by Stephen Mitchell)
- Yes, the springtime was in need of you. Often a star
waited for you to espy it and sense its light.
A wave rolled toward you out of the distant past,
or as you walked below an open window,
a violin gave itself to your hearing.
All this was trust. But could you manage it?
Were you not always distraught by expectation,
as if all this were announcing the arrival
of a beloved?
Sonnets to Orpheus (1922)
- A tree ascended there. Oh pure transendence!
Oh Orpheus sings! Oh tall tree in the ear!
And all things hushed. Yet even in that silence
a new beginning, beckoning, change appeared.
- Translated by Stephen Mitchell
- They more adeptly bend the willow's branches
who have experience of the willow's roots.
- Sonnet 6 (as translated by Edward Snow)
- When you go to bed, don't leave bread or milk
on the table: it attracts the dead.
- Sonnet 6 (as translated by Edward Snow)
Imaginärer Lebenslauf (Imaginary Life Journey) (September 13, 1923)
- Erst eine Kindheit, grenzenlos und ohne
Verzicht und Ziel. O unbewußte Lust.
Auf einmal Schrecken, Schranke, Schule, Frohne
und Absturtz in Versuchung und Verlust.
Trotz. Der Gebogene wird selber Bieger
und rächt an anderen, daß er erlag.
Geliebt, gefürchtet, Retter, Ringer, Sieger
und Überwinder, Schlag auf Schlag.
Und dann allein im Weiten, Leichten, Kalten.
Doch tief in der errichteten Gestalt
ein Atemholen nach dem Ersten, Alten...
Da stürzte Gott aus seinem Hinterhalt.
- First a childhood, limitless and without
renunciation or goals. O unselfconscious joy.
Then suddenly terror, barriers, schools, drudgery,
and collapse into temptation and loss.
Defiance. The one bent becomes the bender,
and thrusts upon others that which it suffered.
Loved, feared, rescuer, fighter, winner
and conqueror, blow by blow.
And then alone in cold, light, open space,
yet still deep within the mature erected form,
a gasping for the clear air of the first one, the old one...
Then God leaps out from behind his hiding place.
- As translated by Cliff Crego
- First a childhood, limitless and without
Letters to a Young Poet (1934)
- Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism : they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.
- Letter One (17 February 1903)
- No one can advise or help you — no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.
- Letter One (17 February 1903)
- A work of art is good if it has grown out of necessity.
- Letter One (17 February 1903)
- I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself and to explore the depths where your life wells forth.
- Letter One (17 February 1903)
- If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.
- Letter One (17 February 1903) as translated by M. D. Herter Norton (1993)
- Irony: Do not let yourself be governed by it, especially not in unproductive moments. In productive ones try to make use of it as one more means of seizing life.
- Letter Two (5 April 1903)
- No experience has been too unimportant, and the smallest event unfolds like a fate, and fate itself is like a wonderful, wide fabric in which every thread is guided by an infinitely tender hand and laid alongside another thread and is held and supported by a hundred others.
- Letter Three (23 April 1903)
- Read as little as possible of literary criticism - such things are either partisan opinions, which have become petrified and meaningless, hardened and empty of life, or else they are just clever word-games, in which one view wins today, and tomorrow the opposite view. Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism.
- Letter Three (23 April 1903)
- Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
- Letter Four (16 July 1903)
- Variant: Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. (as translated by Stephen Mitchell)
- If you trust in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, not in your conscious mind perhaps, which stays behind, astonished, but in your innermost awareness, awakeness, and knowledge.
- Letter Four (16 July 1903)
- Sex is difficult; yes. But those tasks that have been entrusted to us are difficult; almost everything serious is difficult; and everything is serious. If you just recognize this and manage, out of yourself, out of your own talent and nature, out of your own experience and childhood and strength, to achieve a wholly individual relation to sex (one that is not influenced by convention and custom), then you will no longer have to be afraid of losing yourself and becoming unworthy of your dearest possession.
- Letter Four (16 July 1903)
- Physical pleasure is a sensual experience no different from pure seeing or the pure sensation with which a fine fruit fills the tongue; it is a great unending experience, which is given us, a knowing of the world, the fullness and the glory of all knowing. And not our acceptance of it is bad; the bad thing is that most people misuse and squander this experience and apply it as a stimulant at the tired spots of their lives and as distraction instead of a rallying toward exalted moments.
- Letter Four (16 July 1903)
- The great renewal of the world will perhaps consist in this, that man and maid, freed of all false feelings and reluctances, will seek each other not as opposites, but as brother and sister, as neighbors, and will come together as human beings.
- Letter Four (16 July 1903)
- Through such impressions one gathers oneself, wins oneself back from the exacting multiplicity, which speaks and chatters there (and how talkative it is!), and one slowly learns to recognize the very few Things in which something eternal endures that one can love and something solitary that one can gently take part in.
- About Rome
- Letter Five (29 October 1903)
- As bees gather honey, so we collect what is sweetest out of all things and build Him. Even with the trivial, with the insignificant (as long as it is done out of love) we begin, with work and with the repose that comes afterward, with a silence or with a small solitary joy, with everything that we do alone, without anyone to join or help us, we start Him whom we will not live to see, just as our ancestors could not live to see us. And yet they, who passed away long ago, still exist in us, as predisposition, as burden upon our fate, as murmuring blood, and as gesture that rises up from the depths of time. Is there anything that can deprive you of the hope that in this way you will someday exist in Him, who is the farthest, the outermost limit?
- Letter Six (23 December 1903)
- Love is something difficult and it is more difficult than other things because in other conflicts nature herself enjoins men to collect themselves, to take themselves firmly in the hand with all their strength, while in the heightening of love the impulse is to give oneself wholly away.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- People have (with the help of conventions) oriented all their solutions toward the easy and toward the easiest side of the easy; but it is clear that we must hold to what is difficult; everything alive holds to it, everything in Nature grows and defends itself in its own way and is characteristically and spontaneously itself, seeks at all costs to be so and against all opposition. We know little, but that we must hold to what is difficult is a certainty that will not forsake us; it is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.
To love is good, too: love being difficult. For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- Young people, who are beginners in everything, cannot yet know love: they have to learn it.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- Love is at first not anything that means merging, giving over and uniting with another (for what would a union be of something unclarified and unfinished, still subordinate?), it is a high inducement to the individual to ripen, to become world, to become world for himself for another's sake. It is a great exacting claim upon him, something that chooses him out and calls him to vast things.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- The demands which the difficult work of love makes upon our development are more than life-size, and as beginners we are not up to them. But if we nevertheless hold out and take this love upon us as burden and apprenticeship, instead of losing ourselves in all the light and frivolous play, behind which people have hidden from the most earnest earnestness of their existence — then a little progress and alleviation will perhaps be perceptible to those who come long after us; that would be much.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- Young people -it is obvious -cannot achieve such a relationship, but they can, if they understand their life properly, grow up slowly to such happiness and prepare themselves for it. They must not forget, when they love, that they are beginners, bunglers of life, apprentices in love- must learn love, and that like all learning wants peace, patience, and composure.
- On young couples who have not yet matured enough to recognize and respect each other's solitude
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- Someday there will be girls and women whose name will no longer mean the mere opposite of the male, but something in itself, something that makes one think not of any complement and limit, but only life and reality: the female human being.
- Letter Seven (14 May 1904)
- It seems to me that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension, which we feel as paralysis because we no longer hear our astonished emotions living. Because we are alone with the unfamiliar presence that has entered us; because everything we trust and are used to is for a moment taken away from us; because we stand in the midst of a transition where we cannot remain standing. That is why the sadness passes: the new presence inside us, the presence that has been added, has entered our heart, has gone into its innermost chamber and is no longer even there, - is already in our bloodstream. And we don't know what it was. We could easily be made to believe that nothing happened, and yet we have changed, as a house that a guest has entered changes. We can't say who has come, perhaps we will never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters us in this way in order to be transformed in us, long before it happens. And that is why it is so important to be solitary and attentive when one is sad: because the seemingly uneventful and motionless moment when our future steps into us is so much closer to life than that other loud and accidental point of time when it happens to us as if from outside. The quieter we are, the more patient and open we are in our sadnesses, the more deeply and serenely the new presence can enter us, and the more we can make it our own, the more it becomes our fate.
- Letter Eight (12 August 1904)
- If only we arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us that we must hold to the difficult, then that which now still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust and find most faithful.
- Letter Eight (12 August 1904)
- There is probably no point in my going into your questions now; for what I could say about your tendency to doubt or about your inability to bring your outer and inner lives into harmony or about all the other thing that oppress you - : is just what I have already said: just the wish that you may find in yourself enough patience to endure and enough simplicity to have faith; that you may gain more and more confidence in what is difficult and in your solitude among other people. And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.
- Letter Nine (4 November 1904)
- All feelings that concentrate you and lift you up are pure; only that feeling is impure which grasps just one side of your being and thus distorts you. Everything you can think of as you face your childhood, is good. Everything that makes more of you than you have ever been, even in your best hours, is right. Every intensification is good, if it is in your entire blood, if it isn't intoxication or muddiness, but joy which you can see into, clear to the bottom.
- Letter Nine (4 November 1904)
- It must be immense, this silence, in which sounds and movements have room, and if one thinks that along with all this the presence of the distant sea also resounds, perhaps as the innermost note in this prehistoric harmony, then one can only wish that you are trustingly and patiently letting the magnificent solitude work upon you, this solitude which can no longer be erased from your life; which, in everything that is in store for you to experience and to do, will act as an anonymous influence, continuously and gently decisive, rather as the blood of our ancestors incessantly moves in us and combines with our own to form the unique, unrepeatable being that we are at every turning of our life.
- Letter Ten (26 December 1908)
- Art too is just a way of living, and however one lives, one can, without knowing, prepare for it; in everything real one is closer to it, more its neighbor, than in the unreal half-artistic professions, which, while they pretend to be close to art, in practice deny and attack the existence of all art - as, for example, all of journalism does and almost all criticism and three quarters of what is called (and wants to be called) literature.
- Letter Ten (26 December 1908)


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Pets, Pets, Pets
Thisis an equal opportunity, "bipetual" appeal, seeking two separate homes for a special needs dog and a special needs cat. Neglect manifests itself in various ways. Too often pets are abandoned because of either diagnosed or undetermined health issues.
Sometimes a cast-off pet is lucky enough to cross paths with those willing and able to invest the resources and care into discovering the reason behind its medical mystery. (Always a dilemma. Rescuers debate whether to extend themselves to a debilitated few or concentrate on the healthy horde, also homeless. It is difficultto strike the right balance.) Once an ill animal is on the road to recovery, the rescuers must find a "furever" friend to take over the labor of love, so they can continue to help future pets in need. Such is the case with both "Phelps" and "Slim Jim". Perhaps their stories will reach out to that special someone.
Meet "Phelps": Named for the Olympic gold medalist, "Phelps" is a Retriever mix, about 7 years old (approx. 65 lbs.) that swam across the Babylon canal to Mayhew Ave. in May. He remained an unclaimed stray at Babylon Shelter, listed in "Pets" many times, until Last Hope took him in August. He is a sweet dog, housebroken in the kennel. Phelps likes most other dogs, is excellent in the car, and would be good with older kids. Last weekend he paraded around Tanner Park at the Adoption Fair.
Phelps had a large tumor on his right hock that was aspirated so slides could be tested twice while he was at the shelter. Both times the biopsy came back benign; but as is often the case, when Last Hope had the growth surgically excised in August, the pathology report showed it as malignant- mast cell grade II (2 out of 3) . Presently Phelps is fine but there is a chance the tumor will come back because it was on the leg bone, a tricky spot to get the wide margins needed for complete removal.
Mast cell tumors in dogs are quite common, accounting for about 20- 25% of all canine skin tumors. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice. Since there is such a range in both grade and stage, prognosis varies. The lower the grade, the better the prognosis, but dogs with tumors on limbs like Phelps appear to have a better prognosis than those who have them on other parts of the body.
Following the operation Last Hope was advised by two veterinarians to see if Phelps might be a candidate for a free clinical trial of Palladia, an experimental pill for mast cell tumors. The oncologist didn't feel he was because he hadn't had a reoccurrence. Uncertain benefit would have to be weighed against a life long drug with the risk of side effects. Meanwhile some owners can afford expensive radiation treatments right after this diagnosis, but that window of opportunity is passed, and, more important, thousands of dollars for radiation is not an equitable use of limited rescue funds.
Phelps is a happy and lovable dog. Presently he is on prednisone and Claritin daily to help fight secondary effects of the tumor and to alleviate allergy "hot spots" that have cleared up beautifully. Last Hope will provide all medical care while Phelps is in foster care, and will cover the cost of additional surgery if his tumor reappears the first year he is in a permanent adoptive home. If interested in meeting our K-9 gold medalist who will dive right into your heart, please contact inquiry@lasthopeanimalrescue. org or call 631-957-0023.
Meet "Slim Jim": This emaciated, declawed gray tabby turned up in the middle of a Lindenhurst street. His declawing suggests that at one time he was someone's indoor pet. A man who confessed not to like cats complained that he had been hanging out for some time, usually in the road, so a veteran caregiver whisked him to her vet. He tested negative for FeLV/FIV. Super affectionate Slim Jim, middle-aged or more, weighs 5 lbs. He should be at least double that.
Hyperthyroidism was suspected. It's a common condition in mature cats when too much hormone is produced, many times because of a benign tumor on the gland. Cats eat well but continue to lose weight. Because he was such a "lovable skeleton", Slim Jim's godmothers at Babylon Town Shelter had a full blood panel done. His thyroid values and white count were quite high.
Slim Jim is now on an antibiotic, then twice a day methimazole which is the pill that reduces the amount of hormone. So far he likes his Pill Pockets. He will need this thyroid drug plus periodic blood tests for the rest of his life to regulate this condition. (His saga is similar to Kember the German shepherd profiled in "Pets" Beacon 9/10/09. Keep in mind, dogs tend to have the opposite issue, under producing the hormone.) I have spoken to several multi-cat owners whose hyperthyroid cats were well-maintained with oral meds for years. There is also a topical version of the drug that you rub on the cat's ear.
Some owners opt for alternative
methods that can cure hyperthyroidismboth
initially more costly and risky. A skilled surgeon can remove one or both lobes; or the cat can be treated with radioactive iodine. Afterwards, the cat must remain hospitalized one to three weeks while the radioactivity decreases to a safe level. Both these options are beyond the budget of a shelter or rescue group.
Slim Jim is looking for someone kind who has managed a thyroid cat previously, someone who doesn't mind pilling and petting a presently bony cat. Thecaretaker godmother will provide his adopter with several starter bottles of the thyroid meds. Call 631-661-6164 or Dina the vet tech at Babylon Shelter 631-643- 9270 to see our feline "ThinMan".
Also for Adoption at Babylon Town Shelter Lamar St. W. Babylon: Small dogs-the sweet female Schnauzer mix pictured last week has now been groomed. She acts like a puppy in the yard. Also a wavy Dachshund/ Terrier. Full Size Dogs: "Hallie" the Pit mix in Cage 38; "Bernie" the senior but peppy Rottie/Shepherd Cage 8. Cats - friendly "Winston" from an eviction; "Leo"- the amiable tabby in the lobby.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A unique long island Computer and Web design firm. We started our business in the basement of our house over 15 years ago.
You're a smart businessperson and you know you can't grow your business unless you put yourself "out there". Having a website available for your prospects to visit to learn more about you is not only the best way to do it, it's become the standard way. And here's what it has to do to help you grow:
It must not only list your features and benefits, it must reflect you, your values, your principles, and the compelling reasons why your company is the right choice to deliver your products and/or services.
We're getting smaller to grow larger!
Smart businesses like yours and ours don't let ego get in the way, so we've moved our Long Island-based
Computer and web design business back into our home and created an environment in which our people use the same tools we deliver to clients to enable them to work from wherever they like. Tools like Microsoft SharePoint! We've developed efficiencies and processes that assure our clients of excellent business results with minimal business overhead.
This means we still offer the same reasonable rates we did before the economy started falling down around us. We're still not the lowest cost in town, but our clients appreciate the extra value we provide, the personal relationship we develop with them, and the quality we bring to our work, which includes
Top-drawer Graphic Design
Exceptional web development skills
Business-driven web architecture
Ecommerce Stores
Clients who have been with us over the last fifteen years when we first started working from our house, through our offices in Holbrook, Patchogue, and Bellmore have grown to trust Gigabytz to consistently deliver excellent customer service, drive more business for them, and find innovative ways to fulfill even their most unusual creative requests.
You + GigaBytz = An even larger you
Whether yours is a small company, a midmarket corporation or a mammoth enterprise Gigabytz has served clients like yours over the years and has consistently exceeded their expectations. The best way to assure yourself that Gigabytz is your best choice is to first browse through our portfolio here at our website, and then allow us to introduce you to some of our existing clients, most of whom consider us to be an extension of their own company, an honor we cherish. Then sit down with us to discuss what you want and need in your website and allow us to provide you with a project quotation at no cost and with absolutely no obligation on your part. We are confident you'll want to join the growing family of happy Gigabytz clients.


text:
Cresheim Valley Drive from Germantown Avenue to Cresheim Road will be closed to traffic for two days of roadway work on Tuesday, October 30 and Wednesday, October 31, weather permitting, Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson announced today.
Detour signs will be posted to direct traffic around the work area using Allens Lane and Germantown Avenue. Cresheim Valley Drive is expected to reopen to traffic on Wednesday night, October 31. After this two-day closure, it is expected that the contractor will resume their scheduled roadway work using single-lane closures during the off-peak hours of 9 a.m. To 4 p.m., using flag persons to direct motorists. Overall construction is expected to last until January 2013.
The Streets Department thanks the citizens in advance for their patience and cooperation during this project.


text:
Gangstacidity: Girl Stabs Another Girl For Stepping On Her Shoe In Delaware
Delaware State Police say a 15-year-old girl was stabbed several times during a fight in the parking lot of Christiana Mall.
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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text: Wow. It's almost a year since I posted anything here on the Postkiwi blog. I've come back to start a new series on books I'm reading in relation to my work as Uniting Learning Network Director for the Uniting Church in Australia, NSW/ACT Synod. First on the list is Steve Taylor's Built For Change: A Practical Theology of innovation and collaboration in leadership. Steve recently took up the role of Principal at the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa's Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, based in Dunedin. That's where I trained as a minister (1989-1991). Previously Steve was Principal and Director of Missiology at Uniting College of Leadership and Theology in Adelaide. This book's grounded in the change process he led while Principal in Adelaide, and extends to stories of innovation and change in Australia and New Zealand.


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'I am a bowler and I know what I am capable of doing'
Seamer Irfan Pathan says his chat with team mentor VVS laxman inspired him to produce a match-winning performance for Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians.
It was Irfan who stopped the rampaging Keiron Pollard from turning the game in Mumbai's favour in the last over, returning impressive fugures of 2/10 and securing a stunning win for his side.
"Today, I had a good chat with Laxman bhai before the game. He said, 'No matter what you do outside the park, you need that fire and aggression between the 22 yards; that's what counts'. That struck me. His words have always helped me out and they did today again," the left-arm seamer said after the game.
Please click NEXT to read more
Image: Irfan Pathan
Photographs: BCCI
'This performance is going to take me a long way in the tournament'
He said this performance will inspire him to do better in the coming matches.
"I didn't bowl much in the previous games and I thought I might not bowl even today. But then, Pollard got going and that gave me an opportunity to bowl. This performance is going to take me a long way in the tournament. Coming back from injury is never easy, but when you start giving performances like this, the process of regaining your rhythm gets faster," he was quoted as saying by IPL's official website.
Seeking to make a comeback to the national team Irfan said he was all fired up ahead of the game against MI.
"I am a bowler and I know what I am capable of doing. To be a bowler, you have to have that fire. If you don't have it, you might as well just go and bat. I understand that you must earn the trust of your captain and show that you are improving continuously."
Please click NEXT to read more
Image: Irfan Pathan celebrates after dismissing Kieron Pollard
Photographs: BCCI
'I tried to keep my head clear'
Irfan was satisfied that his yorkers landed on the right spot during his crucial spell.
"There were a couple of people – Shikhar and Sammy – who wanted to tell me things and help me form plans. But I tried to keep my head clear. Then Steyn came to me and said, 'Whatever you do, just make sure you focus all your energy in that'.
"Also, after Steyn bowled the 18th over, Shikhar told me I will be bowling the final over. That gave me the time to get prepared mentally. I decided to go with a clear plan of bowling the best yorkers I could and leave the rest to the batsman. Fortunately, most of the balls pitched nearly there and thereabout."
Please click NEXT to read more
Image: Irfan Pathan
Photographs: BCCI
'With Pollard's wicket, I thought the job was half done'
With Mumbai needing 20 runs in the final over, Irfan said getting Pollard out first ball made it much easier for him.
"They needed 20 runs from the last over, but guys like Pollard need just three balls to get 18 runs. Getting him out the first ball made the remaining five balls much easier.
"However, they could win it with a couple of sixes and fours and so I knew it wasn't finished. But yes, with Pollard's wicket, I thought the job was half done."
Image: Irfan Pathan
Photographs: BCCI


text:
2009-03-05 / Opinion
Thanks to the snow warriors
We have to send a shout out to the wonderful men and women who helped us all get through the storm this weekend. While we are sure there are instances in which people were frustrated by what seemed to be snow covered and icy roads, the work of those who cleared and plowed those roads were remarkable considering the challenges of this March Monster.
You must be an online subscriber to view this story.


text:
- Commentary
By Cody Willard
Here's the transcript to this week's Live Q&A chat from TradingWithCody.com. If you like this Q&A format, be sure to check out my new book, "Everything You Need to Know About Investing." on sale this weekend only for 99 cents.
Q. Hi Cody, I would like to ask your advice in how to start investing. I mean, I don't have too much money, but I'm saving. What I actually do is buy and hold, because slippage can eat my savings. And then I read you saying "Buy this, trim your gains, use options," and it drives me nuts because I can't do that.
A. OK, let's talk this through some. First off, as I've said before, but I probably need to make clear more often, is that you can just use common stock instead of options whenever you see me do an option buy. That is, if I send out a note that I'm adding to my AAPL long position by buying call options, then you can simply emulate that strategy by buying some AAPL common. There's nothing wrong if you're a starting-out investor and growing your income and have upside for the future, with just owning even a few shares of AAPL common. Say you have $3,000 or five shares of Apple Inc. as your largest position; well, sometimes you can sell one share when you see me trim and sometimes you can buy that one or two shares back when you see me get aggressive buying Apple calls. Finally, it can be frustrating to see other people with more capital be able to invest/trade/move it more effectively than you can … and I used to feel the same way when my hedge fund was just getting started and was tiny, and I would lose some profits through slippage and overtrading on little capital and what not. Know your own portfolio, your own income levels, your own future earnings power and your own tolerance for risk, and that will always be the best determinant of your strategies.
Q. How do you keep your head straight amid all the talk about macro, the fiscal cliff, China slowdown, the elections etc.? I find that there's so much noise it paralyzes you when one person says up and another says down. Do you listen to this at all or just focus on the fundamentals and technicals?
A. Every macroeconomic/global headline that you read about in the mainstream newspaper and/or on the TV is almost wholly coming from someone who wants you to not focus on what's important, because they have some vested interest in lying to you about what matters. The EU debt crisis doesn't exist except when it's in the headlines, you know? Meanwhile, Japan and China and Taiwan are really getting serious about war. But you won't see that in the headlines unless/until it's already factored into the markets. Let's talk about Akin's idiotic rape comments and not focus on the fact that both parties have added $7 trillion to our national deficit with bank bailouts, handouts and other forms of corporate welfare over the last five years alone.
Q. Just as a general comment I have to say I am really impressed with the quality of your research, Cody. It is very clear and concise, as well as easy to understand. I also like the focus of the portfolio on revolutionary trends that haven't fully developed yet. Surely that is where the biggest gains are to be made in investing. Overall, I think your subscribers should be very pleased with the value they are getting from your efforts here. I know I am.
A. Thanks so much for the kind words. I try very hard to deliver a value-add product for every level of investor, and getting feedback like that sure helps me figure out whether I'm on the right path.
Q. Hey Cody, do you ever trim smaller positions or mainly just the ones at the top that are the biggest?
A. Yes, I trim positions from the bottom too. Trimming and trading in general are always more of an art than a science.
Q. I've recently read several articles regarding the impact of lockup expirations on recent IPOs including Facebook. "Other much-ballyhooed IPOs with imminent lockup expirations include consumer-reviews site Yelp, software company Splunk and private-equity firm Carlyle Group. Do you see any investment ideas here? What about the next lockup expiration for FB in October? Would you look to trade around FB if it rallies in coming weeks before the next lockup?
A. See, I already calculate all the outstanding shares and as much of the options for FB as I can, and so does the rest of the Street when we calculate its forward earnings multiple and whether insiders, early investors, employees or eventually the general public own those shares. Well it won't affect FB's stock price and its valuation over the next two to five years, which is what my time frame for this investment is. Those shares coming public in the lockup expirations might or might not overwhelm the buying demand for shares from the general public in the very near term, but trying to game that is just a guessing game of gambling approach to investing. The more you read about the coming FB expiration and the more you see current shareholders panic about it, the more likely that weakness is already more than priced in. Facebook's stock price this time next year will be wholly dependent on how well it executes and grows its top line and bottom line and will have nothing to do with lockup floats and whatnot.
Q. Cody – nice call on trimming up AAPL a couple of days ago. Given the yesterday's test, today's rise, the upcoming launch and the Fed minutes signaling additional easing soon, are you still expecting $700 before the new iPhone? Thanks!
A. Yeah, I still expect $700 for AAPL before the new iPhone hits, but as you know I'm trimming my AAPL down because I was a buyer much lower and it's still my biggest position.
Q: Thanks Cody – Any thoughts on your expectations for BRCM, INVN and QCOM as we head into the iPhone launch as well?
I don't think anybody's making any real money these days trying to game the iPhone suppliers into an iPhone announcement. I'd rather just trade the AAPL than the derivatives of the iPhone these days.
Cody Willard writes Revolution Investing for MarketWatch and posts the trades from his personal account at TradingWithCody.com. At time of publication, Cody was net long Apple, Facebook, and Broadcom. Follow Cody on Twitter at twitter.com/codywillard. Cody's new book, "Everything You Need to Know About Investing,", is available in digital and in paperback.


text:
(Reuters) - Netflix is ramping up its original programming lineup with four new television series and one miniseries from Disney's Marvel unit, known for its success with "The Avengers" franchise based on super hero comic books.
This is latest bid by the Internet movie and TV show streaming service to lure subscribers with original programming. Its success with series such as political satire "House of Cards" and dark prison comedy "Orange is the New Black" helped its customer base rise to 31.1 million U.S. streaming subscribers last quarter.
The deal with Marvel will start in 2015, the companies said in a press release and last "multiple years." Each of the four series will focus on Marvel characters, "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones", "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage."
Netflix and Marvel were unavailable for comment on financial details on Thursday.
Marvel has committed to a minimum of four 13-episode series and has also agreed to make a mini-series called "The Defenders."
The series will be produced by Marvel Television and ABC Television Studios. Marvel currently produces a show called "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." for ABC.
Netflix has said it will double investments in original programming in 2014, when it will air second seasons of both "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black." Spending on original shows is expected to remain below 10 percent of its global content expenses.
This is Disney's second high profile tie-up with Netflix. Last December, Disney became the first major studio to choose Netflix over cable TV networks for a large-scale movie licensing deal that will bring live and animated Disney, Pixar, Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm movies to the service starting in 2016.
Netflix shares rose $3.37 or 1 percent to $339.00 per share, while Disney shares fell 49 cents or 0.7 percent to $68.48 per share.
Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Alden Bentley


text:
|Topic Review (Newest First)
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jonathan
Date: 4/11/2008 10:44 am EDT
Menards has added the raw tile in three the colors they stock plus the 5 special order colors to their Special Order Program.
You'll need to visit the flooring desk and ask them to look-up the special order colors.
The special order raw 12x12 tile come in boxes of 13 tiles.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Haley
Date: 4/10/2008 12:09 am EDT
I am located in Wausau WI. The menards here only carries three colors (beige, camel, moss) with no ability currently to special order the other colors or have samples. I contacted the menards in Eau Claire and they have the three colors (beige, camel, moss) on display with the ability to order all off the colors but do not have samples of the five other colors. I have looked at the colors on line but they do not do justice to the real thing. The camel looks different in person as opposed to the pic on the website. I like the five other colors on the website however do not want to order them without seeing them personally. Also does avaire sell matching tiles that could go on a vertical surface such as a wall or do they contract with someone who carries tiles that are similar? Thanks much.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jonathan
Date: 4/10/2008 11:18 am EDT
I apologize, but at this time, there isn't a better mechanism for sending out special order samples. For those that are pretty sure which color they want, ordering a box confirms that color (and then you have your first box). If you are not sure which color you want, I'd agree that ordering a full box of each color isn't the most cost effective solution.
We're looking at other mechanisms for samples, but don't have anything implemented yet.
Where are you located?
|Avaire Archive
Author: Haley
Date: 4/9/2008 1:36 pm EDT
Do I have to do this process for all five colors that are not currently displayed at the menards? How much will this cost me to do? Thanks much. Haley
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jonathan
Date: 4/8/2008 11:19 pm EDT
The process for obtaining samples of the other 5 colors sold via special order at Menards is as follows: Order a 5 pack of the color you are considering through the flooring department desk.
|Avaire Archive
how to get the other colors
Author: Haley
Date: 4/8/2008 9:38 pm EDT
We are interested in purchasing the avaire tile for our bathroom remodeling project however the menards located by us only carries three colors without the ability to special order or obtain samples of the other five colors that you have on your website. I can order it from a store other than menards in another state but would end up having to pay 157.00 in shipping costs! How can I get samples of the other colors or how can I order the other colors through menards? Please advise. Thanks you for you time. Haley
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Doctor Omega
In Normandy, France in 1905, the narrator, Denis Borel, lives in a small cottage, retired from the hectic life of Paris. Alone except for the company of a manservant and a gardener, he spends his days playing his beloved Stradivarius violin and enjoys his solitude and music. Then one night, as he sits in his gazebo thinking about music, a strange light fills the night sky and a thunderous roar shakes the valley. He learns from a neighbor that a hanger...


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Updated: April 15, 2014
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published in Nov. 2013 a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of anthropogenic (i.e., human-made) methane emissions in the United States (Miller et al., 2013). The analysis used measurements of regional atmospheric methane concentrations to estimate and characterize total methane emissions for the U.S. One of the conclusions of the study, directly related to animal agriculture, was that "…emissions due to ruminants and manure are up to twice the magnitude of existing [i.e., US EPA] inventories," This conclusion created a justifiable concern among animal scientists and deserves a closer look.
We contacted the authors and in a series of conversations concluded that their complex and important analysis had one significant drawback - the method used to differentiate methane emissions from "ruminants" (the term used by the authors also includes manure emissions and emissions from non-ruminant farm animals and wild ruminants) from other anthropogenic sources. In a nutshell, the study assumed that methane emissions over states with large animal industries, but fewer other sources of methane, are emissions from ruminants. There are apparently large uncertainties in this kind of approach. By the authors' own words "The uncertainties on the sector-based [methane] budget estimates are large…" and as a result, "…the atmospheric methane…estimates by source sector [for example, ruminants vs. other methane sources] often have larger confidence intervals [i.e., low reliability of the prediction]".
We evaluated the validity of the conclusions regarding methane emissions from ruminants by Miller et al. by utilizing a relatively simple "bottom-up" method based on current livestock inventories and enteric or manure methane emission factors (see Hristov et al., 2014). Our approach took into consideration the number of animals in each of several cattle categories (beef cows, dry and lactating dairy cows, beef and dairy heifers, steers and heifers on feed, bulls, and calves) and feed consumption and methane production rates per unit of dry matter intake for each animal category.
As with every indirect method, this "bottom-up" approach has to use a series of estimates (with their own uncertainties), which are, however, based on research data from animal measurements. Animal scientists have generated large datasets of enteric methane emission rates per unit of feed or energy intake and although there is animal-to-animal variability, average methane production rates are representative for the majority of ruminant production systems. Since methanogenesis in the rumen is substrate-dependent, methane production data derived from studies utilizing respiratory chambers (or other techniques) are representative of field emissions. In other words, a ruminant animal cannot produce more methane from ruminal fermentation (lower gut fermentation is a minor contributor to methane emissions) than what fermentation of the ingested feed will allow.
A methane dataset we have generated for a recent FAO report (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and similar meta-analyses by others have yielded a relatively close range of methane production rates per unit of feed intake. For cattle fed forage/concentrate rations (most dairy cows in the U.S.), for example, these rates are on average around 20 g of methane/kg dry matter intake. Cattle fed diets with a greater proportion of concentrate feeds, such as grain-finished feedlot cattle, will produce less methane because starch yields less fermentation gases than fiber.
A recent chamber study by Hales et al. (2013; J. Anim. Sci., 91:819-828) reported emission rates of around 7.8 to 12.8 g/kg dry matter intake for cattle fed 90% concentrate/10% forage diets. Based on these resources, methane production rates were assumed at 8 to 13 (cattle on feed) or 20 (all other categories) g/kg feed dry matter intake. Minimum and maximum emissions were estimated with a range of ± one standard deviation (for most animal categories: ± 4 g/kg). Contributions to methane emissions by other ruminants or non-ruminant herbivores (sheep, goats, wild ruminants, horses, etc.) are small in the U.S. and were not included in our analysis.
In addition to emission rates, another important factor in our analysis was feed intake. For most animal categories feed dry matter intake was based on the beef (2000) and dairy (2001) National Research Council (NRC) requirements and ranged from 3.8 (calves < 500 lbs live weight), to 9-10 (cattle on feed or other steers and heifers > 500 lbs), 11 (beef cows), and 22 kg/d (dairy cows).
For animal inventories, we used the USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service livestock inventory estimates for 2013. Total cattle inventories in 2013 were 89,299,600 head (including 29,295,200 beef cows, 9,219,900 dairy cows, and 13,351,700 cattle on feed, among other categories). This is down about 7-8% from the 97,003,000 to 96,035,000 total cattle inventories in 2007-2008, the years the Miller et al. analysis was based on.
Using USDA-NASS cattle inventories and the above estimates for dry matter intake and emission factors, total U.S. methane emissions from enteric fermentation were estimated at approximately 6.2 tera grams (Tg; i.e., 1012)/yr (min = 5.0 and max = 7.5). In the most recent US EPA publication (DRAFT Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas 6 Emissions and Sinks: 1990 - 2012) methane emissions from enteric fermentation, i.e. rumen and large intestinal microbial fermentation, were 6.71 Tg in 2012 and were slightly higher, 7.00 Tg in 2008. Of the 2012 emissions, 71.3% were from beef cattle, 24.8% from dairy cattle, and the remaining 3.9% from swine, horses, sheep, goats, bison, and mules and asses. Thus, ruminant methane emission estimates calculated using our "bottom-up" approach were comparable to the current US EPA estimates. Our estimates were also independently verified by our collaborators using enteric methane prediction equations proposed by Moraes et al. (2013).
The Miller et al. analysis also included manure methane emissions. We used USDA-NASS inventories for cattle, swine (59,387,000 market swine and 5,834,000 breeding swine), and poultry (a total of 8.562 billion birds) and IPCC (2006; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Chapter 10. Emissions from livestock and manure management. Guidelines for National Greenhouse Inventories. Vol. 4. Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use) manure methane emission factors [from 0.02 (most poultry categories), to 1 (beef cattle), and 53 (dairy cows) kg/hd/yr] to estimate emissions from manure management. Using this approach, manure emissions in the U.S. were estimated at 1.60 Tg/yr, which is lower than the current, 2012, US EPA estimate of 2.52 Tg/yr (2.5 Tg in 2008). We have to point out that the US EPA figure is perhaps more realistic and representative of manure systems in the U.S. than our estimates based in IPCC emission factors.
Based on our analysis, the conclusions by Miller et al. that US EPA estimates for livestock methane emissions are grossly underestimated appears to be unsubstantiated. Methane production in the rumen must come from fermentation of dietary substrate (mostly carbohydrates) and emission rates are established and relatively well-studied by the animal science community. Feed intake can also be reliably predicted based on animal requirements and national cattle inventories are accurate.
Thus, we are confident that enteric methane emission estimates derived using our "bottom-up" approach, which are similar to current US EPA data, are accurate and more representative of actual methane emissions from livestock than the Miller et al. estimates, which are based on uncertain assumptions regarding methane source differentiation. There needs to be more research to more closely link "top-down" and "bottom-up" inventories. Both techniques are important and using them together can assist in reducing the error associated with estimates of greenhouse gas emission by ruminants. We also find a need for a more detailed inventory of manure systems for all farm animal species and categories, which will help to more accurately estimate greenhouse gas (and ammonia) emissions from animal manure in the U.S.
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OSWEGO, NY – For the first time in Oswego Kartway's history, a traveling tour series will officially take on the Bullring when the RMR Outlaw Series comes to the Port City this Saturday.
The Kartway's normal Friday night championship series will not be in action Friday in order to prepare for the 11-division tour type series to take on the Kartway the following evening.
"The Kartway decided to try something new this season after Rich Murtaugh approached us over the winter," said Oswego Kartway co-promoter Dan Kapuscinski. "We are hoping that bringing in the RMR Outlaw Series will help us to expose our track and our facility to some new competitors, which will hopefully join us for some more of our weekly shows through the year and especially our year-end Kartway Classic. The weather looks to be perfect and Jim Losurdo will no doubt have the track in top shape."
Losurdo will serve as the race director on Saturday night with Kapuscinski running the AMB MyLaps in the scoring tower, the same roles they take on each Friday night.
The highlight of the evening's racing schedule will be the Heavy division, with a guaranteed $500 winner's prize to be awarded courtesy of Fishel Motorsports. The RMR Outlaw Series Heavy division consists of both Flathead and Animal engines with a weight of 370 pounds. Any competitors with an Animal engine must run a 3-hole .312 Gold plate.
Second through sixth place finishers in Heavy will receive 100% pay back.
Joining Heavy as adult divisions on Saturday will be Sr. Champ, Clone Light, Clone Heavy, Clone Super Heavy, BSP Clone, Light, and Open.
Clone Light, Clone Heavy, and Clone Super Heavy must run a drum clutch but have the option of running the larger pipe. Clone Super Heavy weight is 425 pounds with driver weighing at least 200 pounds.
All clone classes must purchase their fuel from the station directly in front of Oswego Speedway on Route 104. 87 octane will be the required fuel, and this is the same process used for the Kartway's Classic event.
Junior divisions will consist of Purple plate, Blue plate, and Gold plate.
All junior divisions can compete with a Clone, Flathead, Animal, or LO206 engine.
Visit www.richardmurtaughracing.com for a full break down on weights and plates for those divisions.
Adult divisions in action Saturday night will receive 100% pay back on entries. Junior divisions will receive 25% pay back.
The RMR Outlaw Series is solely responsible for class structure, class rules, tech, and purse payouts.
Pit gates will open for competitors on June 28 beginning at 3:30 p.m. with a driver's meeting at 5:30 p.m. and hot laps at 6:30 p.m.
All divisions will run time trials, one heat race, and a main event.
Entry fees will be $50 for senior classes, $40 for junior classes, with all those in attendance in the pit area required to purchase a $20 pit pass.
Transponders will be required in order to be scored. Those who do not have their own transponder can rent one from the Kartway for $10.
Spectator admission is $5 per car load.
Kartway events run May through September on most Friday nights, culminating with the Fall Frenzy 200 Championships on September 20.
For more information on Oswego Kartway visit online at www.oswegokartway.com, LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoKartway, or FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoKartway.
To speak with a Kartway representative call Oswego Speedway at (315) 342-0646.
Tentative RMR Race Lineup:
– Blue
– Clone Heavy
– Purple
– Heavy
– Gold
– Clone Light
– Clone Super Heavy
– Light
– Sr. Champ
– Open
– BSP Clone


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Governor Corbett: New Alternative, Clean Energy Investments to Improve Environment; Encourage Domestic Energy Usage
Jan 28, 2014, 11:58 ET
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett announced today that Pennsylvania is expanding its commitment to advance clean and alternative energy sources with the investment of more than $4.5 million in grants through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
"Energy equals jobs, and today's investments continue my commitment to grow Pennsylvania's diverse energy industries," said Corbett. "The expansion of alternative energy is resulting in cost savings for businesses and residents, new job opportunities, and a cleaner environment."
The Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) approved seven projects today through the state's Alternative and Clean Energy (ACE) Program in Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Lebanon, Montgomery, Northampton and Philadelphia counties. The CFA investments are projected to result in more than $16.7 million in additional economic investments.
The approved projects include funding for six compressed natural gas fueling stations. The proliferation of fueling stations is expected to result in reduced emissions, fuel savings and the utilization of domestically produced natural gas.
"We have an available, abundant, domestic, economical and clean-burning supply of natural gas throughout Pennsylvania," said Corbett. "Increasing the number of natural gas fueling stations in the state will grow the industry, boost employment and result in a better environment."
The ACE Program provides financial assistance in the form of grants and loan funds that will be used by eligible applicants for the utilization, development and construction of alternative and clean energy projects in the state.
For more information about the CFA and a complete list of approved projects, visit www.newPA.com or call 1-866-466-3972.
Media contacts:
Valerie Caras, Governor's Office; 717-783-1116
Lyndsay Kensinger, DCED; 717-783-1132
Editor's Note: CFA project approvals funded through the ACE Program:
Alternative Energy Production Project:
Philadelphia County
ENER-G Rudox, Inc. will receive a $500,000 grant for the installation of a 265 kW combined heat and power (CHP) system at the Cathedral Village retirement community located in the City of Philadelphia. The $3,217,728 project will also replace inefficient lighting and HVAC systems that have exceeded their life span.
The 265 kW CHP system, lighting upgrades and HVAC upgrade will all help to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs. The CHP system is fueled by natural gas and will offset 1,158,538 kWhs of electricity and 6,140 MMBTUs of heating and cooling. The lighting and HVAC upgrades will reduce electrical use by 830 MWhs.
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Projects:
Columbia, Cumberland and Lebanon Counties
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores will receive an $885,910 grant for the construction of a public CNG fueling station located in Mifflin Township, Columbia County, a $924,809 grant for the construction of a public CNG fueling station located in Jonestown Borough, Lebanon County and a $924,809 grant for the construction of a public CNG fueling station located in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County.
Love's will install two dual high flow dispensers for heavy duty, Class-8 tractor trailers and one dual hose dispenser for light-duty and private vehicle use at each site. Totaling $13,462,799, the projects include costs of running natural gas to the sites to ensure adequate supply and pressure to meet the demand of the commercial vehicles.
Chester and Montgomery Counties
Silvi Concrete will receive a $244,222 grant for the construction of a public CNG fueling station at its concrete plant in Downingtown. Transitioning to a CNG fleet will lower operating costs for Silvi Concrete and allow them to widen their customer base radius to deliver concrete products. The Downingtown concrete plant CNG renovation will work in conjunction with CNG transitions at another southeast Pennsylvania plant in Limerick.
Constructural Dynamics, Inc., a subsidiary of The Silvi Group will receive a $244,222 grant for the construction of a CNG fueling station located at its concrete plant in Limerick Township. This will provide Silvi with numerous support sites for its CNG fleet and the flexibility to be fueled at any plant prior to being loaded for concrete delivery.
Northampton County
Waste Management of Pennsylvania, Inc. will receive an $806,248 grant for the construction of a public CNG filling station with one public fast fill pump at the Grand Central Sanitation facility in Pen Argyl. The station will also contain 52 private time-fill pumps to support its 55 vehicle fleet of waste collection vehicles. The company anticipates reducing diesel consumption by 241,150 gallons in year one and 602,530 gallons annually by sixth year.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor


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Hello, and welcome! I'm so glad you've come by to check out what I'm up to because that might mean that we're walking the same path. And I love company on the trail.
i offer my personal experiences with living a new paradigm to serve as a model of whats possible.
While you are here, be sure to look around and take in the various ways I may be able to support you to take the road less traveled in your own life.
My favorite way is by taking you into the raw and real truth of my own personal experience of waking into a conscious being from being quite asleep, raising kids, running companies, and being in relationship/community, and stepping into the new paradigm.
If you want to experience your own awakening and integration with as much ease as possible, get my raw and real love letters delivered to your inbox every Sunday, by using the form above to sign up.
During the week, I share with you the practical tools that support my ability to run two companies, raise my kids and still have the time and energy for self care and extended community.
I offer my personal experiences with living a new paradigm, road less traveled life to serve as a model of what's possible when we allow all of ourselves to show up fully in family, life and business.
If you want to check out my creds, you can read about all that here.
"What a blessing to find a trained lawyer, a killer business strategist and a successful online and offline marketer all rolled into one beautiful and authentic person! Alexis, thank you for bringing your unique and powerful skills and clear insights into my life. I thank my lucky stars I got access to you before the TV Networks sweep you away!"
"I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to Alexis for helping me create and launch a 6-figure program this year. I had been struggling with how to design it and the right way to get the message about it out to people. In no time at all, she showed me exactly what to do. She is truly brilliant at helping entrepreneurs design high income businesses, without giving up their heart or values? I love that!"
"I just got off the phone with Alexis and my head is bursting with ideas. In just a quick 30 minutes, she was able to hone in on the heart of what I am creating in my business and shared some excellent suggestions regarding things that I simply hadn't thought of before (and quite honestly couldn't see myself.) I got more from Alexis in this short call than I have from day-long trainings I've attended in the past, she's simply awesome."
"Alexis has this amazing gift as an entrepreneur; she can look at your business and see all the moving parts and then at the same time see how it all relates to the big picture of how you will make money now and in the future. When you are working with her, you know you have tapped into pure entrepreneurial brilliance!"
"Alexis Neely is a top-notch business strategist. She connects at a heart level while using her brilliant legal and business mind to guide her clients into smart action mode. In less than 30 minutes, she had deftly shifted me into crystal clarity about my online business launch, who I best serve and how to best serve them. Thank you, Alexis, for empowering me to help more people!"
"Because of you, we work with clients only 3 days a week, and are able to enjoy life. I use your system every day and I am proof that it works."
"Two consults this morning. Used the Phase 1/Phase 2 approach that was recommended by Alexis and I scheduled both to start with Phase 1 when I return from California. Also, signed a new client yesterday just before our priestessmind call. Three new clients in the last 24 hours."
"Alexis Neely has an uncanny ability to unearth the precise sweet spot between an entrepreneur's interest & skills, the market's needs & appetite, and the emotional blocks that can can hold you back from taking action. If you feel like you have a gift or a calling inside of you that's itching to get out (or get out in a bigger way) – Alexis can pop that cork. She helps you clarify the "truth of who you are" and use that information as a springboard to build a business model that serves both your life and your calling."
"I used to credit the Money Map with my first $20,000 month, but now I credit it with helping me to achieve my first $40,000 month.
With the skills I learned with Alexis, I've created a business model that is on track to generate a quarter million dollars in revenue in 2014, all while working only 25-35 hours per week."
"Finally, a program that makes my right brain embrace my left brain! I am good at making money, in fact I can "smell" the money in business and know where to find it. Budgeting for it, and KEEPING it, however… not something that interested me that much. Until the Money Map to Freedom program. When you know where your money is, the peace of mind that you gain from being released from fear of where it is or is coming next, allows you as a Creator to focus on bringing your great work to the world."
"I feel blessed to have found Alexis' website in 2011 when I left corporate law to return to my 'soul's work.' When I saw your Estate Planning Bootcamp for Attorneys I jumped in with both feet! What? CLE with SouL! It changed my life profoundly to be in your world and watch you stand fearlessly in your power while owning your leadership among attorneys with this body of work. I was then transformed by your Money Map to Freedom when it truly inspired my love affair with Money! Alexis, you kindled my flame when it was dull and inspired me through your powerful voice. I'm happily living my purpose now as I followed my dream inspired by you."
"The questions you ask are as always powerful and insightful. You uncovered in under a minute the gist of my own fears and concerns. And more importantly, provided clarity in the next steps I should take."
Eyes Wide Open Collective
Alexis Neely is the founder and CEO of Eyes Wide Open LLC, a company that guides you to a new relationship with time, money and how you get paid so you can step into the new economy with absolute clarity around how to earn what you need, when you need it, on demand, while you do your most meaningful work in the world.
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Alexis Neely company, Family Wealth Planning Institute, offers consulting to boomers and their millenial, gen-x and gen-y kids to heal the inter-generational divide that is created due to poor communication around money and values.
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Nuclear energy isn't clean or a solution
Uravan, in southern Colorado, was once a bustling uranium mill town in the remote West End of my home county. There, employees transformed uranium ore into green sludge, not knowing that it would be used in the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now, Uravan is a deserted cleanup site, too hazardous for anyone to live in. Chainlink fence encloses ponds full of radioactive salts.
In the surrounding hills, thorium still laces the ground where cattle graze, and tailings heaped outside of open pit uranium mines continue to leach runoff into the San Miguel River.
So it was with some consternation that I learned recently about the resurgence of uranium mining in the West End. After 20 years of dormancy, new owners of the Cotter Corp. have been granted a permit to mine uranium in San Miguel County. Apparently, there's a sudden demand for yellowcake, a 300 percent price jump, and President Bush says, "It is time for this country to start building nuclear power plants again."
Industry spokespeople at a Uranium Expo recently held in Grand Junction, Colo., agreed that we're on the precipice of a "Third Uranium Boom," claiming "the sky is the limit," as they urged investors to get back in the game. Even some environmentalists support a resurgence of nuclear power as the only antidote to global warming. After all, nuclear energy does not involve burning fossil fuels, and in that sense, it's "clean."
But to say that nuclear energy is clean is to use one of those over-simplified, fuzzy euphemisms. It's true that we'd solve the problem of emissions by going nuclear, but then we'd increase the problem of what to do with radioactive waste and the risk of a nuclear meltdown, two reasons why building nuclear power plants was phased out by the 1980s.
As my neighbor put it when I mentioned the country's renewed interest in uranium, "Didn't we learn anything the last time?"
Industry pundits say we have made advancements. A geologist at the Expo said the atomic-power business has seen a continual evolution of design and safety for 30 years. Yet if one examines the record of the Cotter Corp., the same problems persist. Cotter is an affiliate of General Atomics, whose recent attempt to import 10 million pounds of radioactive soil from New Jersey and to store it at Cañon City has been forestalled by the Colorado Legislature.
Why? Because radioactive waste is hazardous, and no one wants to live near it. That is why Nevada is adamant about never opening the federal repository planned for Yucca Mountain.
In Colorado, Cotter Corp. has accumulated 140 violations of environmental and public health regulations since it began operating in 1959, most recently because an employee ingested uranium when a pipeline broke at the Cañon City mill. And since General Atomics manufactures weapons, will depleted uranium from Colorado be used in weapons and expose our troops to radioactive dust, which happened in the first Gulf War? As for the risk of a meltdown, a simple failure of communication nearly caused one at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island, which doesn't give one faith that it couldn't happen today. "To err is human," as Shakespeare wrote.
It is equally disconcerting that the Bush administration has ordered our national laboratories to begin research on new nuclear weapons designs and to prepare the underground test sites in Nevada for nuclear tests, if necessary, in the future. If we are serious about stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, do we want to be exporting more yellowcake?
Nuclear energy is not our only option to our mainstays, coal and oil. Besides solar, wind, biomass and small-scale hydropower, there is Jimmy Carter's seemingly forgotten suggestion: energy conservation. This can be achieved through economic incentives, as is done now in Aspen, where households that consume more energy pay higher taxes. Conversely, businesses that convert to alternative energies, for example the New Belgium Brewing Co. of Ft. Collins, which generates electricity from brewing waste, should be granted tax exemptions.
America is an inventive nation, but resorting to nuclear power isn't inventive; it's just plain backwards.
Rhonda Claridge is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of NewTowncarShare News (newtowncarshare.info). She lives and writes in Telluride, Colorado.
Note: the opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of NewTowncarShare News, its board or staff. If you'd like to share an opinion piece of your own, please write Betsy Marston at [email protected].


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ST. MARY'S CITY, MD – The York College Spartan men's basketball team opened their Capital Athletic Conference title defense with a hard-fought 58-50 setback at #25 St. Mary's College on Saturday afternoon in St. Mary's City, MD.
The Seahawks improve to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the league while the Spartans fall to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The Seahawks threatened to blow the Spartans out early as they sprinted out to a 19-4 lead just over eight minutes into the game. York committed five turnovers on the Seahawk run which led to eight St. Mary's points.
The Spartans battled back with a 9-0 spurt to cut the Seahawk lead to six but St. Mary's scored seven of the next nine points to push the lead back to 11 at 26-15 with 1:07 left in the half. York got a Julian Watson (Odenton, Md./Arundel) three and a Todd Maciejewski (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) lay up to head to the locker room down 26-20 after the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Seahawks were able to keep the Spartans' at bay in the opening ten minutes of the second half as York would get close and St. Mary's would answer back. The Seahawks led 40-33 when the Spartans embarked on a 12-3 spurt that gave York a 45-43 lead, remarkable considering the Spartans were down big so early in the tough road contest.
The game then went back and forth over the final seven minutes of the game as there were four lead changes and three ties. Senior Mitch Kemp (York, Pa./York Suburban) gave the Spartans their last lead of the game when he drilled a three pointer with 4:35 left in the game. Unfortunately for York, their would be their last points of the game as the Seahawks closed out the contest on a 9-0 run.
After Kemp's three, the Spartans went 0-for-5 from the floor including 0-3 from three while the Seahawks salted away the win with a pair of three pointers and a 5-for-6 performance from the free throw line.
Nick LaGuerre led the St. Mary's with 14 points in his 35 minutes of work. Nine of LaGuerre's 14 points came in the game-opening run for the Hawks. Jeff Haus added 11 points, four rebounds, and two blocked shots. Donn Hill and James Davenport each contributed 10 points. Devin Spencer chipped in with eight points, eight rebounds, and seven assists for the Seahawks.
Watson poured in a game-high 18 points while he also a career-high tying seven rebounds. The senior point guard was 7-for-13 from the floor including 3-for-4 from three. Watson also had three assists as he played all 40 minutes for York. Watson is now 19 points away from becoming the 21st member of the York College men's basketball 1,000 career point club.
Maciejewksi was the other Spartan in double figures with 16 points while he also had six rebounds. Maciejewski was 6-for-11 from the floor and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
The Spartans shot 38% for the game from the floor while they converted 5-of-17 (29.4%) from three. St. Mary's shot 36.2% from the field in the win while they also made 8-of-27 (29.6%) from three. St. Mary's held a significant edge at the free throw line as they were 16-for-22 (72.3%) from the stripe while York made only eight trips, converting seven (87.5%).
The Spartans outrebounded the Seahawks 36-30 but York committed a season-high 20 turnovers in the loss. St. Mary's turned the Spartan miscues into 21 points.
The Green and White returns to action on Wednesday night when they travel to Penn State Abington to face the Lions in a non-conference contest. Game time is slated for 7:00 pm.
Julian Watson photo courtesy of David Sinclair (www.davidsinclair.org)


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Art is subjective, but we think we can objectively say that Massachusetts has the best art in the entire solar system. After all, it's home to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, one of the world's most impressive collections of fine art; Mass MoCA, the country's most fertile site for large scale new art; and the "small but big" Worcester Art and Fitchburg Art Museums. Plus, there's a whole Museum of Bad Art, and one that's free if your name is Isabella. Wake up your soul at the Jacob's Pillow dance festival, catch yourself clapping inappropriately loud for the world famous Boston Symphony Orchestra or banging your head (in a good way) in the birthplace of hardcore punk. And don't leave without experiencing some drama (also in a good way) at one of our amazing theaters, from The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in The Berkshires to Worcester's majestic Hanover Theatre to Boston's storied theater district. You can also visit the Massachusetts Cultural Council website for more information on the arts in Massachusetts.
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California's agricultural industry teeters on the brink of losing yet another hard-fought battle that was only recently won.
If passed by the State Legislature, Assembly Bill 923 (AB 923) would repeal the "tractor tax" sale tax exemption that was voted into law only two years ago. The sales tax exemption currently on the books allows growers to purchase farm machinery, diesel fuel and other items without paying a sales or use tax.
The alarm bells should be screaming throughout our industry. If we allow the liberal Democrats to ramrod this legislation down our throats we will have lost a battle that gave California agriculture one very important step toward economic parity with other states, helped us cope with low prices and import competition ands gave us at least a ray of hope for the future of agriculture in this state.
But it's not just about taking one step backwards. AB 923 would take the estimated $80 million in "savings" from the repealed sales tax exemptions and use it to help offset the cost of providing health insurance to farm workers.
Not so pretty
It's not as pretty as it sounds. First of all, in order to qualify for a bit of compensation in the form of a tax credit, growers would have to come up with at least 75 percent of the premiums on qualified health care plans. That's an economic impossibility for many small and medium sized agricultural operations, if not the larger ones. Secondly, the grower would have to actually make a profit to get the tax credit. So, not only would this bill take a very significant tax break away from those growers who need it most, it's a double whammy in that it would give little, if any benefit back to most of those same growers.
Are you keeping track? That's two steps backwards.
Now, here's the third step in the wrong direction. AB 923 represents the worst of what's wrong in Sacramento. In 2001, the sales tax exemption was the result of a deal made between the liberal Democrats and the rural Republican legislators. Before the agreement was made, there were not enough votes to pass the state budget, so the urban legislators offered an olive branch to their rural counterparts in the form of the "tractor tax" exemption. Without that concession the Democrats did not have enough votes to pass the 2001 state budget. Now they want to take it back without any regard to how much sense it makes, let alone what havoc it will wreak on an industry that is already on the verge of a full-blown economic crisis, in many commodities.
The sales tax exemption was passed into law in 2001 for very good reasons, and those reasons are still just as valid today as they were then. Other states that compete with California for a share of food and fiber sales do not tax their farm equipment sales. Doing so in California would place a tremendously unfair burden on our growers. Additionally, we've seen our markets eroded by cheap imports from other countries and suffered tremendous economic difficulties as a result. Reinstating the "tractor tax" would only further hinder our ability to compete for world markets in the future.
Wake-up call
This ongoing debacle in Sacramento should be a sobering wake-up call to everyone involved in California agriculture. Although farm organizations' opposition has closed the progress of AB 923, it is being pushed by Ritchie Ross, a campaign adviser to many Democratic legislators, and a supporter of the United Farm Workers Union. He brought forward last year's mandatory arbitration for farm labor union contract negotiations, and likely has a whole storehouse full of ideas like that and AB 923 just waiting in the wings to foist upon agriculture.
If we allow our legislators, particularly farm area Democrats, to continue to ignore the critical needs of our industry and renege on past promises, we'll be doing more than taking a few steps backwards — we'll be packing our bags along with our tractors and heading for the state border where things may not be perfect, but at least they're competitive.