'THE (EMERALD) GREEN MENACE'

          Have you seen the big purple prism-shaped kite-lookin’ things hangin’ in trees around the North Georgia area? Well, we’ve got one on our farm, and at first, it kind of perturbed me that no one asked if they could hang one up, or for that matter, even told us that they were hanging one. But now, I’m a curious sort, and after a bit of diggin’ to find out exactly what they’re about, I’m proud to have one on the place.

          Turns out they’re insect traps designed specifically for attractin’ and capturin’ invasive and destructive pests. It’s all a part of a survey being conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Forestry Commission. Thousands have been set in an effort to determine if the Emerald Ash Borer beetle (a.k.a. The Green Menace) has made it to North Georgia, yet.

Emerald Ash Borer

Brought here, accidentally, from Asia, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is one of many ‘hungry pests’ that can cause significant damage to our nation’s natural resources. The ½ inch-long adult beetles eat the leaves off of Ash trees, causin’ little damage, but their larvae feed on the trees’ inner bark, starving the tree of nutrients and ultimately killin’ it within just two-years.

The spread of the Emerald Ash Borer beetles has primarily been attributed to the transport of infested logs and firewood, and it has already killed tens of millions of Ash trees in North America since its discovery in Michigan, in 2002. From there, the EAB infestation has steadily spread into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, Virginia, Minnesota, New York, Kentucky, Iowa, and then, just last year, Tennessee.

As a matter of fact, the National Park Service just recently confirmed the presence of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetles inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, having discovered them near the Sugarlands Visitor Center and in the Greenbrier Cove area.

Skeltons of Fraser Firs at Clingmans Dome, GSMNP

That brings to mind how three other invasive pests… the Chestnut Blight, the Balsam Woolly Adelgid, and the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid… have devastated the forests of the Southern Appalachians over the past century. The mighty American Chestnuts are no more; now only bare, gray skeletons of the Fraser Fir stand on Clingmans Dome, and currently, national and state forest services are waging a losing battle in trying to save one of the most important species of trees of the Southern Highlands… the Eastern Hemlock.

          All of a sudden, I have a whole new appreciation for those purple kite-lookin’ things hangin’ in the trees around our area. I’m all about ‘em, now.

‘AN IMMENSE DEBT OF GRATITUDE OWED’

            It’s a pretty good bet’ Chief Justice John Roberts, of the Supreme Court, prob’ly ain’t the most beloved man around conservative circles these days, what with his castin’ the decidin’ vote in favor of Obama-care. But, I’m thinkin’ all of us may’ve gotten a bit ahead of ourselves when the ruling first come out. As in all Supreme Court cases, the ruling is one thing, but the justices’ opinions are where it’s really at. And this time is no exception. Turns out, Justice Roberts may be just a bit more cagey than he's given credit for bein'.

First off, he ruled the ‘individual mandate’ requiring everybody to purchase healthcare insurance was unconstitutional. That means the Federal government cannot force American citizens to purchase ANYTHING… EVER.

And since the government can’t force us to buy, Justice Roberts opined that the government then has to rely on its power to tax in order to fund Obama-care. In so doing, he effectively laid responsibility for the single biggest tax increase in world history at the feet of the ‘powers-that-be’.

And if that tweren’t enough, the premise that the U.S. government can ‘bully’ it’s States into complying with Obama-care by yanking their existing Medicaid funding was also deemed unconstitutional. Justice Roberts stated that if a State takes the money, fine, the Feds can tell the State how to run a program, but if a State refuses the money, then the Federal government cannot penalize the State by yankin’ other funding.

I’m thinkin’ this is liable to cause that bunch up in Washington some serious problems. SCOTUS says that States CAN decline to participate in Obama-care without penalty. So, does that mean we’re gonna have ten or twelve or twenty-five states NOT participating in ‘national’ health-care? Suddenly, it’s not national anymore, is it?

Looks like we all might owe Justice Roberts not only an apology but an immense debt of gratitude.Thank you, sir.

‘WE DID OUR PART’

From an original American Patriot: 

          “Politics were out of control. The rhetoric from both sides was frenzied, and loyalties were being declared. Those in power had gone too far, but then… so had the radicals. Most of us reg’lar folks was content just to watch and wait. Anyhow, the biggest part of all that trouble seemed to be goin’ on mostly in the big cities and on up north in them New England states, places like Boston and Philadelphia. At any rate, it was generally believed that all the protests and chaos would surely be quelled shortly. You just didn’t go against the government. That’s somethin’ that just wasn’t done.”

          “The 2^nd year into it, the free-thinkers declared independence, which was basically like kickin’ a sleepin’ bull in the butt. And a time or two, durin' the next couple o’ years, it looked as if Gen’ral Washin’ton was about to get the horns put to him an’ his men for it. Still, though, them Liberty Boys hung with it; goin’ toe-to-toe with the British Reg’lars.”

          “We pretty much remained aloof from it all ‘til about the third year of the struggle. What with all the civil unrest, the economy eventually ground to a standstill, and, as if that tweren’t enough, our few store shelves started goin’ bare; not that any of us had any money to buy anything with. Not to mention, the worse things got, the more grumblin’ was heard out an’ about the countryside. Why, even the parson took to preachin’ sedition from the pulpit of a Sunday.”

“Still, at this point, more loyalties lay with the established government than against it. It’s human nature to resist change, no matter the circumstances. That is until The People have been pushed too far. Like the first time that Tarleton’s Legion descended on our valley, stripping each home place of its livestock and produce. Took ev’rthing, they did, and didn’t leave a thing for us to eat. Hell, it’s a wonder we all didn’t starve.”

“And if that tweren’t enough, they come back two other times over the next year and a half, doin’ the same blast’d thing; only the last time, the damn’d Dragoons burned three families’ homes and outbuildin’s to the ground and shot poor Tom Driscoll down in his dooryard, all for naught, too. Said he was a suspected rebel… and him a cripple, at that.”

“Well, that done it for me and mine. Even if Ol’ Tom hadn’t been kinfolk, he was still ‘one of our own’, and his killin’ was like the proverbial straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back. My two eldest boys took up their guns and started out on foot, with intentions of joinin’ the Continentals, first chance they got. I, myself, chose to stay closer to home where I could see after my family, but make no mistake… from that point on I was a partisan.”

“My boys fought under Nathan’l Green and Dan’l Morgan in ev’ry skirmish from Camden to Yorktown, while I rode all over Hell’s Half Acre with the South Carolina ‘Gamecock’, Andy Pickens. And when it was all over, we’d whupped the damn’d Redcoats, and created a nation in the doin’ of it.”

“Heed my words, friends and neighbors and descendants of mine. It took a sight of’ doin’ an’ a whole lot of goin’ through Hell to establish this here United States of America. We did our part; me and my boys and the rest of the brave men and women that’s gave their lives over the past 237-years keepin’ this country free. Now, it’s time for you to do yours. We gave you a guide. It’s called The Constitution; adhere to it! Stay the course. Don’t screw this up; don't let us down."

I hope you've had a fantastic 4th of July! God bless America!