You probably know I like our local newspaper; read it every day, front to back. Yesterday the paper had an editorial that really caught my eye. After 4 months of investigating the coronavirus, the editorial board conclusively determined the Number One cause of the pandemic is… beef cattle.
Who would ever imagine that our ranchers out West and farmers in Appalachia could be the culprits? The editorial also took a whack at our corn producers for gobbling up so much land just to satisfy our appetite for beef. What these city editors don’t realize is that for about three-fourths of its life an Angus or Hereford steer is eating grass from Western rangeland or hillside pastures back East. Neither location is fit for growing massive amounts of vegetables the editors want us all to live on.
An editorial cartoon by Toles on the same page showed a meatpacking plant. For every truckload of beef leaving the plant a sick worker was hauled away in an ambulance. Now, we know that Tyson and Smithfield and other meat packers have been hit with Covid-19 and that is the main reason grocery stores are running low on beef, pork and chicken. In retrospect those huge plants should have used a plan adopted by at least one supplier of medical supplies; they had all workers stay onsite for a month, working 12-hour shifts. That way no one could bring the virus into the plant and contaminate the workforce. Our meatpacking plants are essential for consumers and to keep farmers from having to depopulate their animals.
Our hometown paper is not the only one studying Covid-19. Speaker Pelosi and the Chair of the House Intel committee, Adam Schiff, don’t like this virus either. They want answers to why they did not learn until late February about a virus that started in Wuhan in November. So, working remotely from home, they have opened a wide-ranging global investigation. You might think they would start with the Communist Party rulers in Beijing. No, they are investigating the role of President Trump.
The U.S. and most other countries are going deeper in debt because of the coronavirus that started in China. After Congress approved over four Trillion in “printing press” dollars, they will likely allocate another two Trillion to states and cities that are broke. Remarkably, there’s only one foreign country that has plenty of excess cash to invest here in our airplanes, oilfields and farmland. Yes, China.
If all this disgusts you, the one you should have a beef with is China.
Do you remember when Trump announced he had “total authority” on when and how to reopen the country to business? Critics jumped all over that proclamation. It’s unconstitutional! But with so many protests in state capitols, I bet a lot of governors wish he had kept that authority.
Our Ohio Governor has been praised for his handling of Covid. He announced the reopening of certain businesses, including dentists, starting May 1 and others by May 16. But not barbers and hair salons. I received an email from our dentist outlining the new procedures to keep us and his staff protected. I emailed back and asked, “If I come in for a tooth cleaning, could you also give me a haircut?”
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“All I know is what I read in the papers.” WA #129, May 31, 1925
“Steak on the plate went up. Steak on the hoof went down.” WA #118, March 15, 1925
“The President goes on the air tonight. I am anxious to hear the comments in the press. Even if it’s good, there is plenty of ‘em won’t like it. He can speak on the Lord’s Supper and get editorials against it. Never in our history was we as willing to blame somebody else for our troubles. America is just like an insane asylum. There is not a soul in it will admit they are crazy. Roosevelt being the warden at the present time, us inmates know he is the one that’s cuckoo.” DT #2723, Apr. 28, 1935