Rhode Island's vanishing farms

Mark Patinkin writes about one of the few farms left in Rhode Island:

It's early enough that Route 95 is still uncrowded. The drivers I pass seem mostly to be commuters, dressed for the office. It's that kind of state, but on this one morning, I'm looking for a different part of Rhode Island.

I continue south, leaving the city's sprawl behind. At last, I turn off Exit 2, and less than a mile into the countryside of Hopkinton, I see the sign for Brook Knoll Farm.

I had recently learned there are fewer dairy farms in Rhode Island than any other state. Thirty years ago, there were hundreds. Now, there are only 18. I decided to pick one of them.

I arrive a few minutes before 7 a.m., and inside the gray shingled barn, George Reynolds has already been working for an hour.

George Reynolds and his sister Dot run the farm, which pays for itself and nothing more. As George says, "The younger generation doesn't want to work these kind of hours."

Inconsistent Careful Consideration

While Senator Chafee toyed with the idea of censuring the President--based on the alleged illegality of the NSA wire-tapping program--he has since stated he's against the idea. Nonetheless, he's still convinced that the program is illegal...even though the Senate hearings on it have not yet concluded:

When Chafee was interviewed in January about the wiretaps program, he criticized it but said he would draw no conclusions about its legality or constitutionality until the Senate Judiciary Committee completed its inquiry.

Why, Chafee was asked Tuesday, has he come to the conclusion that the program is illegal, with the committee's inquiry still under way?

Chafee answered by reiterating his initial criticism of the program. "From what I've seen," he said, the wiretap program "is outside the parameters" of the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches and existing law governing such programs.

I recall that also back in January, Senator Chafee refrained from making another decision until he "heard all the facts" and considered them carefully. In that case, it was whether or not he was going to support now-Justice Alito and he stated that he wanted to wait until after the Senate Judiciary hearings were finished before making a (finger in the wind) decision. Apparently, he doesn't feel the need apply the same careful consideration here, does he? Maybe it was a January thing?

Cross-posted at Anchor Rising.