For a long time a lot of liberals thought that gun control was a winning political issue. "Take away the guns," they cried.

To their amazement, they found that it wasn't a winner. Just ask AI Gore. That issue alone probably cost him the election. Now that the gun control advocates know that they have a political loser, they have been trying to use the courts to do their dirty work. They want to blame the companies that manufacture guns for gun crimes. We had two shootings here in D.C. last week.…

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If you think your cost in raising the 2005 crop was high, as the saying goes, "You ain't seen nothin yet." Wait for 2006. This year's corn crop cost 20% more to grow than just 2 years ago. The same can be said for most farm crops. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, we have seen farm energy costs skyrocket. The energy bill to the American farmer is up more than 6 billion dollars over the last 2 years. And they have continued to escalate this year with the fuel price index up…

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We had not even rescued all of the Katrina survivors or collected the last of the bodies floating in the churning sea, as the politicians, advocates and pundits rushed to blame someone. Blame Bush. Blame the Mayor. Someone must take responsibility.

Well let me say, it's more complicated than that.

Let me make two points:

1. As citizens of a democratic nation, we are very reluctant to prepare for the improbable.
2. We don't expect the tragedy to strike us anyway. Maybe somebody else, but not…

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Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns has been listening and talking to farmers, focusing more than anything, on the next farm bill. He has been a big hit with his constituents. He is relaxed, at home, and can speak our language. I am encouraged because when the next bill is written, I expect the Secretary to be in the middle of the negotiations, and that is good. In fact, I was talking with him this morning, he is looking forward to being an active player in writing the next bill.

Every…

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Four years ago I went to Cuba with an agricultural trade team. We were hoping to help open that market for U. S. farmers. We weren't alone. Farm organizations, members of Congress from rural states and trading companies worked to relax our trade embargo policy. In the end we were successful. We opened the door to sell our farm products to Cuba: from zero exports in 2000 to 400 million dollars in 2004.

But this past February, that door was slammed shut. The U.S. Treasury Dept. issued new…

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Yes, these are the "dog days of August." It's hot. Gas prices are through the roof. The War in Iraq doesn't seem to be going well. Drought has hurt the corn crop. Grain prices are scraping the bottom -corn, wheat, soybean, even cotton. The President's approval ratings are down but the approval ratings of Congress are far worse.

I'm reminded of what another former Secretary of Agriculture, Richard Lyng, told me on more than one occasion. "When times are good, you think they'll never get bad, and…

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Congress is gearing up to take another crack at getting rid of the death tax. The House has passed it already. The Senate is working on a compromise.

None of us like taxes, but I can't think of another tax that is as counter productive, unfair, and just plain mean spirited as the death tax.

Family businesses in the country are the engine that drives our success. A tax of more than 50 percent on the assets of a family business can often force the sale of the business. Who wants to borrow all of…

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I have never seen the US Congress as highly politicized as it is today. The atmosphere of acrimony affects everything. Even trade which should be more bipartisan has been drawn into the battle.

Passage ofthe Central America Free Trade Agreement should be an easy vote for most members of the House, but at this point the chance of passage is less than 50%. The Senate took the lead by passing the trade deal 54-45, but the House is a different story.

Democrat leadership in the House is twisting party…

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Last week I was on the farm in Illinois. I walked in the corn fields, and kicked at the dry soil. We are way short of moisture this year -- some six or eight inches. Surprisingly, the plants still look good, taller than me, a deep green color and ready to pollinate. We know from experience that if there is too much stress at pollination, the yield can be cut dramatically. So -- we're praying for rain.

I remember the first week in May when I was on the farm and I did my radio report from there. I…

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Another Mad Cow! At least it looks like that might be the case. One more test will be made to either confirm or deny the BSE. For the meat industry and especially the beef industry this roller coaster has been a nightmare. Just when it looked like we would finally get our export markets open again --- wham! We are hit with this. It will take as long as two weeks to get a conclusive test result. Fortunately at this point, it looks as if Mexico will not close their border to our beef. We just got…

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