As the daughter of a western Kansas farmer who began irrigating out of the Ogallala Aquifer in the 1960s, I realize what a financial boon irrigation has been. Few people worried then about the aquifer’s depletion, although, as far back as 1899, a government topographer sent to survey the High Plains concluded that withdrawals from the aquifer “…of an amount sufficient for irrigation would rapidly result in exhaustion of the stored supply.”

Now a recent Kansas State University study has put numbers to what should have been obvious all along: in 50 years, if no cutbacks are made, the aquifer will be 70% depleted. By 2110, only 13% will remain. Most farmers will have been forced to stop irrigating long before that time. In response to this dire warning, the governor-appointed water vision team recently released a draft plan that proposes to extend the aquifer’s usable lifetime by 25 years.

This is a very meager goal for an aquifer whose spring-fed streams and rivers have sustained human life for thousands of years, and for a water plan that claims Ogallala Aquifer conservation as its primary goal. To reach the goal, the draft calls for only a 20% reduction in aquifer withdrawals which would not begin until 2065—this although the K-State study that spurred the governor’s “call to action” warned that “the time to act will soon be past.”

For farmers who want to secure their children’s and grandchildren’s financial future, the discussion over Kansas’s 50 year water plan offers them a choice between handing down whatever profits they’ve managed to retain after the aquifer is depleted or handing down profitable land. “Cash is like water,” my own farming father said often. “It will trickle through your fingers. Land is solid. It will always be there.” Whether that land will have enough water left under it to remain productive is what hangs in the balance now.

The K-State study’s authors advised that the more drastically aquifer withdrawals are reduced now, the more corn will be harvested over the aquifer’s lifetime. They focused on corn because it and the cattle it feeds are the mainstay of the current economy. But the first thing this debate should bring into question is the wisdom of continuing to anchor the economy of a dry region in a crop that demands two or more feet of water each growing season.

The draft Water Vision asks readers to suggest “potential partners.” And one of the plan’s key action items is to “ensure water conservation is properly evaluated…when providing financial assistance.” But the plan does not mention that farmer’s primary partner, the federal Farm Program, is currently paying them to waste rather than conserve water. For the sake of the state’s economic and water future, Kansas’s 50 year water plan should demand that the federal government stop insuring corn when irrigated. It should also ask that corn be excluded from the ethanol mandate, which, after it went into effect in 2007, drove up corn prices and resulted in Kansas farmers’ planting over 500,000 more acres of corn.

In place of corn subsidies, the government should provide generous financial incentives for a return to dry-land crops and grazing. This is where Kansas agriculture is headed regardless—the only choice being between a soft landing now and a crash landing later. If both the state and federal governments continue to encourage farmers to pump water until it is gone, the farmers will have no way of supplementing their dry-land crops during droughts or increasingly hot summer weather. A water plan that truly comes to grips with this truth could keep thousands of farms from going bankrupt and taking the Kansas economy along with them.

Now that the ethanol juggernaut has been unleashed, most seem to believe that it cannot be stopped. Farmers, the Vision plan implies, should curtail withdrawals by a small amount sometime in the future and accept that the water will one day be gone. But Senators Diane Feinstein (D-Calif) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla) don’t seem to think such a reversal is impossible. In December, they introduced the bipartisan Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act, which would exclude corn as a means of satisfying Renewable Fuel Standard requirements. This bill would greatly reduce aquifer depletion, yet it is languishing in the Environment and Public Works Committee as legislators, afraid of alienating their constituencies, choose instead to position themselves for the mid-term elections.  But what if Kansas farmers took the long-term view and spoke up?

It is not easy for any business person to accept less profit in the near term in order to guarantee that there will be a long term. But most farmers didn’t enter their profession in order to make quick profits. They have a long family history on the land. They are being called upon to make this tough decision in the interests of protecting that legacy. To let the governor’s vision team know that you want their final plan to discourage the federal government’s continued role in aquifer depletion, send your comments to Tracy Streeter, Director, Kansas Water Office, 900 SW Jackson St., Topeka 66612, [email protected].

Julene Bair is the author of “The Ogallala Road: A Memoir of Love and Reckoning.” She now lives in Longmont, Colo. www.julenebair.com

Dear Dave,
What’s your advice on asking for a raise at work when you have more responsibility than a co-worker but the same title on paper? After being with my company four years, I feel like I should make more money and I have the right to complain about this.
Vanessa

Dear Vanessa,
Sorry, no. You don’t have a right to complain. You agreed on your pay, and you are doing your job the way your character and integrity tell you to do the job. If someone else is a slacker in the same position, that doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of your personal compensation.

I’ve got several people at my company who hold similar positions and make similar money. Some of them have been here for years, while others are relatively new. I don’t pay people for how long they’ve been in the building, and I don’t want anyone on my team who doesn’t give 100 percent. Now, that may be a different issue than pay, but at the same time I don’t want someone who gives 50 percent and I pay them 50 percent. I want everyone at 100 percent, but that kind of thing isn’t your problem. It’s the company’s problem, because she works for them and not you.

If you honestly feel like you deserve a raise because of your effort and performance, that’s fine. Sit down with your leader and make a logical and reasonable argument for why you deserve more money. But don’t bring up your co-worker and what he or she makes in the discussion. That’s just not relevant. What is relevant is your worth and the value you bring to the organization.

But a comparative analysis with someone else on staff just isn’t a good idea. I’d stay away from that, Vanessa.
—Dave

Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He has authored five New York Times best-selling books: Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover, EntreLeadership and Smart Money Smart Kids. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 8 million listeners each week on more than 500 radio stations. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.
 

A century ago when this state consisted mainly of farm and ranch families, it was a common sight to see neighbors helping neighbors. They swapped farm machinery. They loaned labor back and forth to work harvest thrashing crews. A barn raising presented another opportunity for friends to help build and support the community.

Since Kansas was settled, farmers and ranchers have supported their communities. They’ve always appreciated main streets that are bright, clean and well maintained. They’ve actively participated in the school system, served on the county planning board, taught Sunday school and worked with other community organizations and activities. Farmers and ranchers have been part of the fabric that has made Kansas the viable state it is today.

Some people have the mistaken belief that government can control the economy and provide a better life for its citizens. This is unrealistic. Both for theoretical and practical reasons, governments are unable to control the economy or create jobs.

Kansans know this. Our communities have never stood idly by and waited for the federal government to care for them. Instead they have formed alliances to tackle community issues, foster business development and ensure an environment where they will continue to grow. Consider towns storm-ravaged by tornadoes like Greensburg to see evidence of this.

Still, with the number of farm families dwindling each year, it is not enough for rural Kansas communities to have and follow a strategic plan for economic development. Such communities must not forget they need institutions that bring farmers into the communities on a regular basis.

This means places where rural and townsfolk can gather. This means a place where they can talk about mutual interests – children, the high school football team, the remodeled library – just about anything that relates to the welfare and well-being of the area.

Restaurants, grocery stores, a church – active participation in the school system and involvement in farm and community organizations are all ways to rekindle interest. Leaders must, however, be willing to live in and become part of the community.

Vibrant communities thrive and grow when farmers retire in their towns or become actively involved in local affairs. Farmers, ranchers and businesses remain the key to growth and vitality in any rural area.

Agriculture has always been the crucial ingredient driving the economic machinery of our state. Kansans are proud of the leadership our agricultural community provides. Working together rural and urban, with progressive community leadership, we can improve our standard of living and the quality of life in Kansas.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

You have until probably Nov. 2 to like your legislator and your governor.

After that, it gets a little shaky.

Because on Sunday, Nov. 2—or, rather make that Monday, Nov. 3, the day before the general election—the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) will announce the state’s official revenue estimate for the rest of this fiscal year and make its projection for the next fiscal year.

That CREG projection is undoubtedly going to be that Kansas has barely enough money to make it through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2015.

So, if you are one of those Kansans who doesn’t pay state income tax—say you own a company and have adjusted its business paperwork so the money it makes is “pass-through” money that isn’t taxed—or maybe you are a wage earner and paid a little less income tax this year due to those tax cuts…enjoy it.

While some news media are looking into the future with official projections of a state budget deficit a year away, most who live paycheck to paycheck are going to see changes in their lifestyle shortly after the new legislature is sworn-in in January.

Because the immediate problem is taking what is now predicated to be a slim $29.4 million ending balance for the fiscal year we’re living in now and actually getting through the fiscal year with that small cash balance.

The $29.4 million figure is what’s predicted now by legislative staffers, but the November CREG figure is likely to be less, which means that those newly elected legislators are going to have to be voting on some pretty ugly legislation while they’re getting used to their new jobs and figuring out just what they are supposed to be doing in Topeka for the winter.

Because the state constitution prevents a below-zero budget balance, lawmakers are likely to have to quickly either raise money or cut spending—likely in the current fiscal year. Which means the governor is going to have to come up with spending cuts in an already anorexic state budget or raise money, and that money is likely going to come from you.

Now, this whole vote-for-me, give-me-your-money deal might not be necessary if Gov. Sam Brownback’s experiment with economics works: If every Kansan who saved money from the tax cuts spent that saved money on stuff that the state taxes. They haven’t done it yet…in fact, sales tax revenues have so far been below expectations. Maybe people will loosen up this fall, buy more merchandise, maybe drink more liquor and possibly start smoking, because the state tax on cigarettes is relatively high, so it’s (initially) a money-maker for Kansas.

But this is going to be interesting, this budget mess. Cutting spending is always tough, except for the occasional robbing of the highway fund, which already contractors are girding to defend from such tactics. Cutting money for K-12 education is going to be difficult, because the Kansas Supreme Court is already considering whether the state is spending enough money to provide children a suitable education.

So, what’s left? Squeezing a few bucks out of other agencies, or maybe thinking up a tax on something that a relatively small percentage of Kansans will feel? Put a small sales tax on services? Watch the lawyers and the accountants march on the Statehouse in crisply starched shirts that they send out to be laundered.

This might just be the politically best couple months that all those folks running for the Legislature and the governor’s office have before the hard numbers are produced that mean they have to do unpleasant things.

So, if you are running for office, or voting for people who are running for office, this is the couple months that will seem like that first date that went just right…until it’s time to drop you off at the door…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Are you a warrior? I don’t mean a soldier fighting battles overseas. I mean a man who fights for his family and home in the everyday struggles of life. Today we’ll meet a man from rural Kansas who has long had a heart for men who wrestle with the challenges of today. He has developed a curriculum with tools which can help men in the battles of everyday life.

Lonnie Berger is a longtime staff member with The Navigators, an international Christian organization working in discipleship and leadership development. He is also the author of this new curriculum for men called Every Man A Warrior.

Lonnie grew up in rural Kansas. His family farmed near Waterville, a rural community of 664 people. Now, that’s rural. He went to K-State and joined the staff of The Navigators.  His first overseas assignment was as an undercover missionary in Romania, which was under communist rule at the time.

“Our dormitory caught fire and I found myself jumping out of a burning building,” Lonnie said. “That’s the most James Bond thing I’ve ever done.” While in Romania, Lonnie also met another missionary named June. The two fell in love and were married in 1984. At that point they moved to Omaha.

Lonnie served in various roles with The Navigators, such as trainer, administrator, counselor and consultant. Through the years he saw that men had a real need for assistance, not only with theological issues, but with the practical side of life.

“Men spend 90 percent of their time and energy dealing with issues of money, marriage, raising children, sex, moral purity, work, going through hard times and making their life count,” Lonnie said. “We need a Bible study to help men succeed in their daily lives.”

For years, he prayed for the development of such materials, and in May 2009, he felt God’s call to write them himself. He called the curriculum Every Man A Warrior, Helping Men Succeed in Life. It is a story-based Bible-study curriculum. Each section begins with a true story of a real man dealing with real issues.

“I think a man wants to fight for something worthwhile,” Lonnie said. “We want to fight for truth and righteousness and protection of the vulnerable. We don’t want to just waste our lives or to let life pass us by, we need to fight for our families and marriages.”

Lonnie decided to field-test his first draft. “I thought we’d have 20 guys who would be interested, but we had 63 that first year,” he said. It went so well that they went out for a larger field test in the second year. That test attracted more than 500 guys in 20 states.

For printing the books, Lonnie approached NavPress. “This won’t sell,” he was told.  “Eighty-five percent of all Bible studies are bought by women. But if you want to raise the money and take the risk, we’ll help you.” Lonnie set out to do so. He was told to print 2,000 copies, but he opted for more.

In year one, more than 7,000 copies were sold. In year two, some 17,500 copies were sold.

“Men have a real hunger for help in the practical areas of life,” Lonnie said. More than 400 churches are now using Every Man A Warrior in some way. Many use it as a cornerstone of their men’s studies programs.

Trans World Radio, which does international broadcasting, is now translating 22 of the lessons for broadcast overseas. They will be translated into 72 languages.

Lonnie continues to travel full-time for The Navigators, working with men’s discipleship programs.

“God wants men to know answers to the problems we face,” Lonnie said. For more information or to purchase books, go to www.everymanawarrior.com.

Are you a warrior? No, not in Iraq or Afghanistan. I mean, are you a warrior for families and marriages and children right here in this country? We commend Lonnie Berger for making a difference by developing this curriculum which can help men succeed in their everyday battles of life. This curriculum can help make every man a warrior.

The canning kettles at my house have been steaming this time of year. I’ve been canning green beans from my garden and last night I made several jars of pickle relish. I can’t wait until the pears and peaches and apples are ready to preserve in their time.

I am a canning enthusiast and I love to help people learn to preserve food properly and safely. However, I was surprised at the number of errors I noted while judging food preservation exhibits at two recent county fairs. One of the biggest mistakes was the assumption that a sealed jar lid is the only goal – that as long as the jar is sealed, the food inside is safely preserved no matter how the food was handled or processed.

That assumption can be wrong– maybe DEAD wrong.

“Just because the lid sealed, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s safe.” It’s a phrase I repeated numerous times during the fair judging.

A jar lid seals when the oxygen is driven off with heat and a vacuum seal is formed. This creates the ideal environment for the growth of the deadly botulism bacteria which grows only in the ABSENCE of oxygen. The food must be heat-treated to temperatures hot enough and long enough during canning to kill botulism spores or otherwise the sealed jar may become a dangerous food safety hazard.

The only methods recommended for canning foods at home are boiling water bath canning for high-acid foods and pressure canning for low-acid foods. Following tested, research-based instructions from reliable, up-to-date resources is vital to ensure that the foods are processed properly for safety.

Old-fashioned methods like open kettle canning or unusual techniques like canning in the oven, sun or dishwasher might set a seal, but remember– just because the lid seals there is no guarantee the food inside will be safe without adequate heat processing.

Likewise, using untested canning information from online recipe-sharing sites or outdated books may be a recipe for disaster. It takes precise scientific testing to determine the right amount of time and heat needed for each food to reach adequate processing temperatures.

The latest science-based canning guidelines also recommend adjusting processing time and/or pressure for altitude– usually more time and higher pressure settings for higher elevations.

Kansas altitudes range from below 1,000 feet to just over 4,000 feet, so knowing your altitude is critical for making required adjustments. Most Ellis County locations are at about 2000 feet in elevation, requiring pressure canning at 11 or 12 pounds pressure instead of 10 and adding time to boiling water bath canning methods (follow specific canning guidelines for each food.) Not adjusting for altitude will lead to under-processed food, which can allow for growth of the botulism bacteria.

Once again, just because the lid sealed, it doesn’t guarantee the food is safe without proper processing for your altitude.

Canning is an enjoyable kitchen activity, but it is one based more in science than in art. Tested canning recipes must be followed exactly for the product to be safe.

Canning time is not a time for personal creativity!

It is unsafe to make up or modify canning recipes by changing ingredients, processing times or even canning jar sizes.

Salsa is a perfect example– did you know there are no reliable tested guidelines for canning salsa in quart jars? And yet, I saw several quarts of salsa at the recent fairs where I judged. And talk about recipe creativity– salsa is the prime example of a canned product that people love to change to suit their family tastes or available ingredients. Don’t be tempted to tinker with a standard salsa canning recipe or use one from the internet or shared by a friend. Remember my mantra– just because the lid seals, it doesn’t guarantee that a modified recipe will be safe.

Home-canned foods are a year-round treat. Canning can stretch the grocery budget while making use of fresh, local food. But, if canned foods are not handled properly, serious foodborne illness can turn a treat into tragedy. Use up-to-date canning procedures from reliable, research-based sources and follow instructions exactly for best results. Because– repeat after me– just because the lid sealed, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s safe!

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences

At a time when Americans are deeply divided over the meaning of “separation of church and state,” a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week provides a much-needed case study in how the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause is supposed to work.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel dismissed a challenge by atheists to the display of a cross-shaped beam at the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero in New York City.

As the court explained, “the Establishment Clause is not properly construed to command that government accounts of history be devoid of religious references.”

The First Amendment, in other words, separates church from state — but not religion from public life.

I suspect many readers share this understanding of “separation.” But growing numbers of Americans — especially constituents of groups like American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation — apparently believe that any mention of religion in government settings is a violation of the Constitution.

The lawsuit in this case — American Atheists, Inc. v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — began in 2011 as an attempt to keep the 9/11 National Museum from displaying an artifact popularly known as “The Cross at Ground Zero.”

The object at the center of the controversy is a 17-foot steel column and cross-beam recovered from the rubble by construction workers in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Erected on a platform near the recovery site, the cross-shaped artifact became a symbol of hope and a worship site for workers and others gathered at Ground Zero.

After a federal district court refused to block inclusion of the cross-shaped structure in the 9/11 National Museum, American Atheists conceded that the object was an historic artifact worthy of display — but argued on appeal that it would be unconstitutional to include it without also displaying a plaque acknowledging that atheists were among the victims and rescuers on 9/11.

In rejecting the atheists’ challenge to the display and demand for equal time, the appeals court panel took the opportunity to give a primer on the meaning of government “neutrality” under the First Amendment.

Yes, the Establishment Clause requires that government remain neutral among religions — and between religion and non-religion. But for constitutional purposes, neutrality doesn’t mean ignoring religion or, in this case, leaving religion out of the story.

Government-funded museums may not, of course, erect displays intended to promote or denigrate religion. Inclusion of religious artifacts (or objects viewed as having religious meaning) must have a secular or educational purpose.

The many religious paintings, altarpieces and other religious objects in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for example, have profound religious content and may have been used at one time for devotional purposes. But they are now part of a secular museum, displayed to convey the history of art. Remove religious images and objects from the West Wing of the National Gallery, and the place would be nearly empty.

Similarly, exhibits at the 9/11 National Museum have an obvious secular purpose: They document the history of the terrorist attacks and the rescue efforts that followed. The Cross at Ground Zero is a significant part of that story. Leaving this object out would not only be incomplete history; it would signal hostility to religion that could itself be viewed as a violation of the First Amendment.

The cross-shaped artifact is in the “finding meaning” section of the museum, included among some 1,000 objects associated with ways — religious and nonreligious — in which people sought to make sense of the attacks.

The description accompanying the cross-shaped structure tells the story of its recovery from the wreckage of the Twin Towers and how many viewed it as a religious sign of hope. What was once an object of devotion has become, in the context of the museum, an historical artifact.

The court also rejected the demand for a plaque about atheists and 9/11. Government neutrality under the First Amendment doesn’t mean equal time or balanced treatment for all faiths and beliefs; it requires only that the exhibits represent the history of the event without either promoting or denigrating religion.

Of course, if there were a 9/11 artifact related to atheists, it would violate the principle of neutrality for the museum to leave it out.

But no such atheist-related object exists and the First Amendment doesn’t require the museum to manufacture an artifact about atheists that isn’t part of the history of the attacks and recovery.

The Second Circuit got it right. The First Amendment ensures government neutrality in matters of faith, but doesn’t prevent publically funded museums or any other public institution from telling a story that needs to be told.

Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Washington-based Newseum Institute. [email protected]

This August, I celebrate my two-year anniversary in Kansas and at the library.

The time has passed so quickly, and my life has changed so much. My younger brother started dating his girlfriend (soon to be fiancé!) about the same time I started dating my husband, Clint. Just the other day, I was talking to my brother and he said “Luci, I have no idea how you did everything so fast.”

Neither do I. Wasn’t it just the other day I was living at home, drinking coffee with my dad in the mornings and watching the Food Network with my sister on Sunday nights? How did I get from being single and living in my hometown to being married with a baby in just two years? My life has turned into that proverbial snowball rolling downhill. Everything is speeding up.

August is not exempt from this speed. In fact, August may be the fastest month as the promise of a new school year almost inevitably makes time slip by for parents, teachers and children. This month, I’m offering a variety of programs for all ages that may help us to appreciate these last vestiges of summer.

For those of you who look forward to Oktoberfest so you can get your hands on a bierock or two, I am pleased to announce that I’ll be offering a class on how to make bierocks! The class will take place at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. We’ll actually be cooking the filling and shaping the bierocks at the library, and then you’ll be able to take them home to bake. Spaces are limited for this class, so you must contact me to make a reservation. Please call (785) 625-9014 or email [email protected].

At 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, I will be screening a documentary called “Defiant Requiem.” This feature-length documentary introduces audiences to the story of prisoners in the Terezin concentration camp outside of Prague, who during World War II learned Verdi’s Requiem and “sang to the Nazis what they could not say.”

This documentary also tells the story of the man who discovered this story and brought it back to life with a new choir and orchestra, hoping to preserve the legacy of brave prisoners who sang their own funeral songs. Please come and see this documentary and be part of the legacy of Defiant Requiem.

I’m very excited to announce a new event called Family Reads! I’m collaborating with the children’s department to offer an all-inclusive family event at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20. Families who participate will be able to enjoy free pizza along with a story time using the book The Loudest, Fastest, Best Drummer in Kansas. Families will also do a craft to go along with the story and take home a copy of the book! Spaces are limited to the first 10 families who register. Please register your family by calling the children’s department at (785) 625-5916 and letting them know the number of people from your family that will attend. For this event, children must be accompanied by parents or guardians.

Back by popular demand is the very popular wine tasting course, which will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29. The course will be led by Clayton Cutting. You must be 21 to attend and registration is required. If you missed last year’s class, now is your chance to participate! Please call (785) 625-9014 for more information or to register.

The Kansas Room is located in the basement of the Hays Public Library and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and by request.

Lucia Bain is Kansas Room Librarian at the Hays Public Library.

People outside of agriculture routinely try to define the family farm. These same folks have a tendency to question corporate farming, whether family owned or not.

Let’s take a look at the family farm. In Kansas, farm and ranch families grow up with the feel of the prairie earth beneath their feet, the wide-open sky overhead and the rhythm of the seasons in their blood.

Throughout their lifetime, these farmers and ranchers love, care for  and respect the land entrusted to them. Ag producers adhere to an ethic that enlarges the boundaries of our community to include soils, waters, plants and animals – collectively – the land.

This entity known as the family farm is based on owner operation. The rights and responsibilities of ownership are vested in an entrepreneur who works the farm for a living.

Another key ingredient of the family farm system is independence.Independence means financing from within its own resources using family labor, management and intellect to build equity and cash flow that will retire the mortgage, preferably in the lifetime of the owner.

Economic dispersion is another integral part of the family farm. Economic dispersion includes large numbers of efficient-sized farms operating with equal access to competitive markets worldwide.

No family farm would be complete without the family core. All family members share responsibilities and the children learn the vocation of their parents.

At an early age, young men and women learn to work with their dads and moms on the family farm. Here, they develop self-reliance and initiative. They often rise with the sun and finish work when it sets. Yet, they rarely take this place called home for granted.

The ideal family farm is commercially diversified. Diversified commodities help reduce price risks and maximize the use of farm resources to produce crops and livestock that in turn provide greater self-sufficiency.

One final attribute necessary in defining today’s family farm is the use of innovative technology. It not only enhances farm labor but also helps boost production.

Family farming carries with it a commitment to specific, independent values. These values become part of the community and include conservation, frugality, responsibility, honesty, dignity in work, neighborliness, self-reliance and concern and care for future generations.

While it’s rare indeed that one particular family farm may possess all of these attributes, together they have created a system of agriculture that has been a part of our rural culture since this nation’s beginning.

Today, detractors of this profession are making it increasingly difficult for this vital industry to progress and prosper. Maybe they should learn more about the ag industry, visit a farm or connect with a farmer or rancher. That way farmers and ranchers can continue doing what they do best – responsibly producing the healthiest, safest food in the world.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

“Is the baby a boy or a girl?” is often the first question of new parents.

“I will get back to you about that,” is not the answer a couple expect to hear. But ambiguity in sexual anatomy, where an infant appears neither clearly male or female, does occur.

In these last 50 years, scientists have learned that the development of both our gender and our sexual identity is a complex process. There are many factors involved including chromosomes, sexual anatomy, levels of hormones, and brain development. For some individuals, these do not all align as clearly “male” or “female.”

Working at Johns Hopkins University Psychohormonal Unit beginning in 1951, Dr. John Money was the specialist who first clarified this complex system.

All of us have the same undifferentiated gonadal tissue for the first 6-7 weeks. The first factor is the presence of either XY or XX chromosomes. A gene on Y-chromosome (SRY) causes gonadal tissue to become testes. Without the SRY, the gonads develop into ovaries. All of us have two sets of tubes alongside the gonads. If testes develop, the Wolffian tubes develop into vas deferens.

If ovaries develop, the Mullerian tubes develop into oviducts. However, sometimes an XY child can lack the SRY gene and be female. Or an XX child can carry the SRY and be male. Or an XY child may have external female anatomy but have internal testes—her body cells failing to recognize the circulating testosterone and therefore developing female.

In addition, our hormone levels vary. Although textbooks simplify that males-have-testosterone and females-have-estrogens, everyone produces both. In males, the small levels of estrogens mainly come from fat tissue. Females receive small amounts of testosterone come from adrenal glands. But humans vary in the enzymes that produce these hormones. We observe the resulting variations in body growth, voice, hair growth, and other traits in the people around us.

In his clinical study of cases where differentiation failed to work correctly, Money noticed that  masculine and feminine behavioral roles did not always match with who they were sexually attracted to. In 1955, Money borrowed the grammar term “gender” to indicate a person’s self-awareness as fitting the male or female role. He describes: “Gender role is everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that one is either male or female, or ambivalent; it includes but is not restricted to sexual arousal and response.”
Therefore a person could be effeminate but not attracted to men, or masculine but not attracted to women.

Money knew that when children developed a sense of self awareness between ages 4 and 6, a few wanted to be the “other” sex. But did brain gender and sexual differences form before or after birth?

This last factor, the mental gender and sexual identity, was likely to be caused by the influence of hormones and other chemicals during brain development. John Money died in 2006 but another set of researchers were investigating brain cross sections for heterosexuals, transexuals, and homosexuals. The team of Professor Swaab in Amsterdam discovered that male-to-female transexuals had the brain structure (and gender identity) of females although their original anatomy was male. However, this brain region in male homosexuals matched regular males. Workers at three other institutes in America and Sweden accumulated evidence of other brain differences in homosexuals (sexual identity).

We now know that sexual anatomy develops in the first half of pregnancy. The distinct brain centers controlling gender and sexuality develop in the second half of pregnancy.

Bottom line? We do not choose our XY or XX chromosomes. We did not choose the anatomy we were born with. We do not choose to have higher or lower testosterone or estrogen levels. Nor did we choose to have the brain structures for gender and sexual identity that we were born with.

The vast majority of us should feel lucky that all of these complex biological factors match. But we should also understand with compassion when they do not. Taken together, gender and sexual identity ambiguity is more common than all cases of Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis combined.

Dear Dave,
Do you think it’s unreasonable to ask my 76-year-old husband to have a will drawn up? He had one made when we lived in Florida, but we moved to Georgia. He won’t do it, because he says wills aren’t recognized in Georgia.
Cam

Dear Cam,
Wills aren’t recognized in Georgia? Where did he get his legal advice, in a bar or pool hall?

OK, let’s straighten this out. The will he had drawn up in Florida wouldn’t be recognized in Georgia, but he could have one made in Georgia that would be absolutely valid and legal. Everyone: No matter where you live, you need a will. If you die without a will in place, your family has to go through the court and jump through all sorts of hoops to settle the estate. The process can take several months. No one should leave their loved ones in that kind of predicament, when having a will drawn up is such a simple an inexpensive process.

Everyone needs a will, Cam. Human beings have a 100 percent mortality rate, okay? No one is getting out of this thing alive. You need a will, a full estate plan with specific instructions on what to do with all your stuff after you die!
—Dave

Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He has authored five New York Times best-selling books: Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover, EntreLeadership and Smart Money Smart Kids. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 8 million listeners each week on more than 500 radio stations. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.

Gosh, the 2016 primaries are a long way off, but look out: Here comes Texas Gov. Rick Perry — riding his state’s taxpayer dollars into another GOP presidential bid.

Technically, he’s not campaigning. Yet he’s popping up from New York to California, holding press conferences, running TV ads, meeting with money people, and telling everyone how terrific he is. In other words: campaigning.

Officially, his cross-country ramble is meant to promote Texas as a corporate utopia that offers state subsidies, zero income taxes, low wages, hands-off regulation, and other cushy deals for corporations that relocate to the Lone Star State. This hustle glorifies Perry, even though he’s using Texas tax dollars to take good-paying jobs from the places he visits and turn them into poor-paying jobs in his state.

But the governor is used to tapping the public treasury to feather his own nest — and he has recently tapped it again to the tune of $450 an hour. That’s for a high-dollar lawyer he’s hired at taxpayer expense to try to save his bacon — and salvage his presidential fantasies.

He doesn’t mention it on his out-of-state “praise Perry” tour, but the governor’s on the brink of being indicted for corruption back home.

This mess involves the governor’s clumsy attempt to stop an investigation by the state’s ethics office into one of his pet slush funds that funneled taxpayer money to his corporate campaign donors. Last year, using a personal lapse by the director of the ethics office as an excuse, Perry simply vetoed the office’s entire funding.

No office, no investigation, no problem!

Clever, huh? Except that other funding was made available, so that investigation continues. And then a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate Perry’s ham-handed veto, so now his indictment looms. This could take the wheels off his road show.

OtherWords.org columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer and public speaker.