Alternative Power sources - Is Jim Ledford really a farmer or just a hired hand?

Author

Is Jim Ledford really a farmer or just a hired hand?

Sheldon Harper

2006-01-24, 2:21 am

Sheldon Harper <sharper@nonsense.com> wrote in
news:Xns9749C3E1CEF34sheldharp@208.49.83.94:

> Jim Ledford <jimled@bellsouth.net> wrote in news:43C69E69.9BDE9097
> @bellsouth.net:

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> I question the truthfulness of the statement that you are a farmer.

> How many acres are you farming and what are the crops you harvest?

Since Jimmy refused to answer a reasonable question I did a little looking
and found this discussion by Jimmy a while back:

"I've since sat down and finished up the Farm books
for this year and didn't make it. I'll have to take
about $400.00 out of the lawn care business for seed
and herbicide in order to plant next year's crop.
the tax man is the biggest problem. fuel went up
about .45 cents a gallon, seed went up 2.50 a bag
and lime went up 5.00 a ton. the land taxes quadrupled
and that's what killed me in Farming. as a result I
went and had a talk with tax-guy and he was nice enough
to explain how the county really wants to get rid of
Farming. see, the tax-guy can get more tax from an acre
of land with 4 $500,000.00 homes with guy-type families who
always do as they are told verses one Billy-Bob who questions
every word out of tax-guy's snake like mouth as well as says
things to cause tax-guy to feel bad about [it's] parasite way
of life. people ought to EARN their own living.

"I had breakfast with an old Nortel worker-bee friend and
talk about beaten down. he got laid off in the last part
of 2001 and since then he's lost his house, most all of his
toys and his wife. he was some kind of pissed off. said
to tell the federal government thanks for sending his 60,000
dollar a year job to india, said to tell the federal
government thanks for letting lots of Mexicans in who work
for nothing and then said to tell the county government
thanks for doubling his property tax which contributed to
the losing of his house. I ran out of time to listen before
he got around to giving any kind of thanks for his wife leaving.
sad how greed of the rich has caused so much suffering over the
last 4 years for the middle class worker-bee. I feel their pain,
I'm dealing with my own but I'm not ready to make guy-type noises
about it yet. besides how will that help?"

Funny, his taxes only doubled but yours quadrupled? Sounds to me like
you've been underpaying for years.

http://tinyurl.com/75bkw

> Note the limited use of caps in Jimmy's post. He uses a capital "I"
> and the "F" in farmer so they appear to be important to him where
> nothing else is.

True then as now. Of course we still don't know if he actually owns
the place, or just works for someone else. It sounds, at best, like
a marginal operation in a year when he says he has a bumper crop but
blames everyone else for his troubles. His primary income comes from
doing lawn care work, according to his own report. Working for those
Yankee devils in $500,000 houses in your neighborhood, Jimmy? Do
you solicit tips from your real benefactors, those Yankee street
light huggers you work for, Jimmy? Hell, you don't have proper
control of your own life, let alone your usenet posts.

So much bragging, so little to brag about.

Don't forget, Jimmy, God made the tax collectors. You're supposed to
be able to deal with the problems thrown your way without complaint.

But then you're just a phoney loon who spews bible but doesn't live
it yourself, a classic Pentecostical XXXXXXX.

Larry Caldwell

2006-01-24, 1:21 pm

Sheldon Harper wrote:

> True then as now. Of course we still don't know if he actually owns
> the place, or just works for someone else. It sounds, at best, like
> a marginal operation in a year when he says he has a bumper crop
> but blames everyone else for his troubles. His primary income
> comes from doing lawn care work, according to his own report.
> Working for those Yankee devils in $500,000 houses in your
> neighborhood, Jimmy? Do you solicit tips from your real
> benefactors, those Yankee street light huggers you work for,
> Jimmy? Hell, you don't have proper control of your own life, let
> alone your usenet posts.

If you think most farmers make a living off the land, you don't know
much about farming. The Farm Price Index has been below 1.00 every
year but one for the last 25 years. That means the cost of production
has exceeded gross farm income. For the big operations, the difference
has been made up by farm subsidies. For small operators, the
difference has been made up by jobs in town. In many cases, nothing
would make ends meet. That is why the USA has lost 780,000 farms in
that same 25 years.

I feel kind of weird about defending Jim. He got crossways with drugs
and booze, probably spent time in prison, and finds himself middle aged
and mowing lawns. He went through a conversion experience with some
cult that thinks Jesus runs the world, and won't shut up about it. He
does tend toward the obnoxious side of things, but he doesn't deserve
personal attacks. Give the guy a break.

Sheldon Harper

2006-01-24, 3:21 pm

"Larry Caldwell" <larryc@teleport.com> wrote in
news:1138121856.889107.172660@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Sheldon Harper wrote:

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> If you think most farmers make a living off the land, you don't know
> much about farming.

I believe I know a good bit about farming.

> The Farm Price Index has been below 1.00 every
> year but one for the last 25 years. That means the cost of production
> has exceeded gross farm income. For the big operations, the difference
> has been made up by farm subsidies.

Which is one of the things that makes Jim's criticism against subsidies
so assinine. One of the things that's going to become necessary is
price controls on or subsidies for fuel used in farm operations if
we are to be able to at least partially feed ourselves as a nation. We
do all sorts of manipulations to the future price of farm goods, but
what's needed is some stability in the resources going into farming,
for at least one year at a time.

> For small operators, the
> difference has been made up by jobs in town.

Half a century ago they were affectionately called "gentleman farmer"
because some other career provided their primary income. With
mechanization most family farms became a part time operation instead
of a full time one. My first father-in-law was a tenant farmer in
Georgia and he made out very well all the way through 1963 or so
when the owner sold the land for development. That wife died,
unfortunately.

The profitability problems range back at least as far as the early
1950's perhaps longer. I became aware of some previously profitable
farms shutting down operations by 1951. A local farmer who had such
a large far-flung operation that he visited his remote fields by
Piper Cub shut down in 1958. He and his family did quite well
selling the fields to developers, well enough indeed that future
generations will be able to live of the income the money generates.
The replacement agricultural products are being produced in the
third world. The only question is whether they have a right to
the better life they have because now they export food to the US.

I think that so long as we are able to maintain what amounts to the
best overall standard of living in the world, why not?

> In many cases, nothing
> would make ends meet. That is why the USA has lost 780,000 farms in
> that same 25 years.

New Jersey has the moniker "Garden State" but now that's purely
historical.

> I feel kind of weird about defending Jim.

Then don't do it.

> He got crossways with drugs
> and booze, probably spent time in prison, and finds himself middle aged
> and mowing lawns. He went through a conversion experience with some
> cult that thinks Jesus runs the world, and won't shut up about it.

One of the real problems is that he doesn't live what he preaches.
That's not acceptable under any circumstances. Actually that's only
a small attention getting aspect of the overall scenario. (Images
of the Peanuts character "pigpen" with a tornado of trash swirling
around him spring to mind.)

> He
> does tend toward the obnoxious side of things, but he doesn't deserve
> personal attacks. Give the guy a break.

He brings these things on himself. Don't forget yesterday's post about
"laying a trot line....." He's a slightly below average troll regardless
whether he's anyone's friend, Jesus included. Sounds to me like he
needs a conversion all right, a real one next time, into a civilized
human being, well beyond the hypocrite he clearly is today

There are some in my family (there but for the grace of God go I) who
had a tough time with booze. Fortunately they recovered and are leading
wholesome lives without spewing nonsense. There was a time I attended
12 step meetings for friends/family of alcoholics 5 times a week, so I
know a little about the process and the possibilities, including the
fact that Jim remains what we call a "dry drunk" who needs a lot more
help than he's acquired so far. JUst to clarify this a bit more, I
could, if I cared to, leave Jim alone, but Jim is not going to be
able to leave everyone alone because he's still so wound up in
loathing, a simple substitution for self-loathing.

Jim thinks it is enough to stop using substances, but that's really
only the first step, there are at least 12 more needed in order to
achieve some form of serenity. He keeps getting the wake up calls
and works hard at ignoring them.

I need mention that you are apparently inadvertantly what's called
an "enabler." Jim needs to stand on his own two feet and always
act responsibly while accepting full responsibility for his actions
whenever he screws up, as we all do sometimes. It is an unfortunate
facet of Jim's condition that trying to help him by covering for him
and helping him to absolve himself of responsibility always leaves
him worse off for such efforts. Jim's condition drives him to seek
out others who will attempt to help him just as you have here.

Thanks for the note, Larry, it helps people understand the root
issues and these things deserve an airing now and then. I know
there are 12 step groups available everywhere in the US and
I would think that someplace in the alt.support.* groups are
those who have a much better capacity to help Jim than you or
I can muster. But really, the besty help is local to Jim, in
face to face meetings, and getting a 12 step sponsor who won't
abide the games Jim and his ilk participate in.

Religion is fine, but as Jim demonstrates, for substance abuse
it usually isn't quite enough all by itself.

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