A few days after his presidential nomination to replace Ann Veneman as secretary of agriculture, Nebraska Gov.

For nearly two years, U.S. farmers and ranchers watched as the second shoe grew bigger and bigger.
On Nov.

Based on the e-mails, brickbats and live grenades sent me the last few weeks, it’s time to come clean: I kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.

Even before Ann Veneman quietly submitted her resignation as secretary of agriculture Nov. 12, the Washington grapevine hung heavy with a long list of likely replacements.

The first political wisdom ever sent my way came from the gravelly throat of Everett Dirksen.
During Dirksen’s 1968 reelection stop in my southern Illinois hometown, I asked the white-maned Senate Minority Leader how he’d outflank Mayor Daley’s Chicago vote machine.

Just before midnight Nov. 2, the empty Guinness cans in my kitchen sink rattled.
Two (of the three; there would be more later) fell.

Just as the noisy presidential campaign reached its October crescendo, the biggest, most bitter issue in farm country - Rabobank’s bid to buy Omaha’s Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) - skidded to a quiet end.

Love him or hate him, controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has his self-described “America’s biggest slacker” act down pat.

It’s been more than a year since readers have had their say in this weekly space, so, in the spirit of this election season - warning: mudballs ahead - here’s their take on my take of agriculture.

The words “Fall Classic” meant nothing to me on the dairy farm of my youth until 1964.
That year, after 18 years of futility, the St.