Sometimes, when I'm driving down the road, mowing the lawn, or in the middle of a crisis, thoughts that seem brilliant pop into my mind.  Perhaps those thoughts are only brilliant to me; however, since this is my web page, as long as it isn't immoral or illegal, I guess I can place it here.

If you agree, or disagree, or if you would possibly like to have your comments placed here, then email me by clicking on mailto:marvin@manchesterauction.com

The big buzz around northeast Iowa and specifically anyone associated with the livestock business is the illegal immigrant raid yesterday at Agri Processors in Postville.  Talk to 10 people and you'll get 10 different opinions about the situation.  I read some of the blogs yesterday/today and the commentary varied from assinine to sincere.  There's no doubt this is a serious situation that needs serious consideration and action.  It's far more complex than simply saying "well, they're illegals, so boot 'em out of the country".  If we use the word "illegal" as a basis for such things then where do you start and where do you stop?  I don't have the answer, but I can tell you that the specific situation with Postville will have an effect far greater than anticipated for the livestock industry.

Monday May 12th, 2008

When I was a kid!  Do the eyes of your children roll when you start a sentence with those words?  At what age are we qualified to use the words "when I was a kid"?  Is the world that much different today than when we were kids?  Certainly it's different due to technology that has made possible all kinds of labor saving devices.  Manual labor still exists ...... but nothing like 30, or 40, or 50 years ago.  The "good ol days" of "when I was a kid" in large part are now thought of as "the good ol days" just because when I was a kid I didn't have the responsibilties of an adult.  I suspect my parents had many of the same concerns that I have today only I was oblivious to it because of age.  While there are parts and pieces that would be great to re-live, I wouldn't want to go back to milking 60 cows with 2 Surge buckets then carrying the milk in pails up 13 steps to the milk house then dumping the milk through a strainer into cans then putting the cans in the cooler then hauling the milk to town in the pickup without power steering.

Thursday May 8th, 2008

For some strange reason, prior to 9-11, I started writing down the per gallon price of gasoline each time I filled my truck.  Recently, I made a review and here's what I found

2001 - 106 fillups averaged $1.409 per gallon
2002 - 119 fillups averaged $1.312 per gallon
2003 - 138 fillups averaged $1.496 per gallon
2004 - 139 fillups averaged $1.796 per gallon
2005 - 129 fillups averaged $2.136 per gallon
2006 - 118 fillups averaged $2.433 per gallon
2007 - 110 fillups averaged $2.717 per gallon
2008 - thus far 37 fillups averaged $3.124 per gallon

There's an old saying that goes something like "figures don't lie and liars don't figure" so I'm not sure what can be made of my figures other than my fuel costs are over double what they were in 2001.  But ..... in 1964 (the summer I graduated from high school) two other classmates and myself drove from Central City to Fort Worth, Texas to near Albuquerque, New Mexico on less than $60.00 of gasoline!

It's my opinion the war on terrorism is still on U.S. soil and wasn't confined to September 11th, 2001.  The war on terrorism is still being fought daily in every town in the U.S. at the fuel pumps.  And, it affects the entire population, even those without vehicles because everything the American consumer purchases costs more due to fuel prices.