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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

this opinion piece I just read on NRO made me think of what Lynn and others 
said about not being in the mainstream economy and being more self -reliant.  
This is an optimistic outlook on how being that way could be helpful.  The 
editorial writer is a staunch conservative, but my posting was for the 
message , not the messenger  

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November 28, 2008 9:00 AM

Self-Reliant Jen
Give thanks for Americans who do not pu their faith in the Cult of You Owe Me.

By Michelle Malkin

In the Year of Bottomless Bailouts, I am most grateful this Thanksgiving for 
Americans who refuse to abandon thrift, personal responsibility and 
self-reliance. When the moochers and entitlement-mongers drive you mad, 
remember that our nation still serves as home to millions of citizens who do 
for themselves. Like our Founding Fathers, they are God-fearing people — the 
ones elitist pundits ridicule as “oogedy-boogedy” — who will never put their 
faith in the Cult of You Owe Me.

They are people like my reader Jen, who runs a family farm called the Double 
Nickel in New Mexico. Tired of all the handwringing, “in times like these” 
rationalizations for unprecedented federal intervention in the financial 
markets to rescue beleaguered businesses and homeowners, Jen wrote me a 
letter this week about her own plight and triumph over adversity:




 “I am writing to you to share my story of how one can survive hard times and 
land solidly on one’s feet. … So here goes: My husband had an auto accident 
on Jan. 1, 2005, and our lives and finances changed dramatically. Our income 
was cut in half, as he has permanent injuries and went from being a field 
officer to a desk job in a less fast-paced career.”

Instead of staying in a home they couldn’t afford and waiting for a mortgage 
rescue from the savior Barack Obama, Jen, her husband and their four children 
moved to New Mexico because of the much lower cost of living and college 
tuition expenses. One of her sons is now a soldier — the third generation in 
her family to serve, including Jen’s father, who was killed in Vietnam. The 
other kids are home-schooled students (among a growing population of 
home-schooled kids, whom “The View’s” condescending co-host Joy Behar 
recently derided on the show as being “demented”). Jen continues: “We sold 
our lovely home, bought a rundown, fixer-up place and converted it into a 
farm that could provide garden vegetables to can and an area to have some 
animals to provide eggs, chickens, ducks, turkey, geese, sheep and goats. … 
Freecycle and Craigslist turned out to be wonderful assets, as most of our 
animals came for free or for barter — and the
 children and I mucked out stalls on a ranch for sheep.”

Yes, they raise turkeys and other animals, and sell them for profit. This 
enterprise makes them, in the eyes of The New York Times editorial board, 
which recently decried Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s visit to a turkey farm, 
“executioners.” That’s language the Times would never think of using to 
describe, say, the Weather Underground terrorists who targeted police 
officers in cold blood. But poultry farmers? Brand ‘em with an “M” for 
murderers. 

But I digress.

Instead of awaiting the next stimulus check from the 
Borrow-Spend-Repeat-Panic politicians in Washington, Jen explains how the 
family has cut costs: “I learned how to make my own shampoo, toothpaste, 
soaps, cloth napkins, dish scrubbies, potholders, skirts (mend all clothes) 
and most meals from scratch. We heat our home exclusively with wood, and I am 
currently growing a winter garden. The spring garden will be in containers by 
the last week of December to prepare for spring planting. I do not see this 
as a downfall or a tragedy. For those worried about holiday spending: I spent 
only $100 for a family of six last Christmas, and most of that [on] 
underwear, socks and the meal.”

And she adamantly rejects the victim card: “This accident has been a blessing 
for my family. The pain that my husband has daily is not the blessing, but 
that he is alive and able to continue to watch his children grow into 
adulthood. 

“It also has been wonderful to know that we live in a nation that affords us 
the opportunity to reinvent ourselves from suburbanites to a country-dwelling 
farm family. I am ashamed to see the American spirit that made our nation so 
great now turned into nothing.”

Thanks to self-reliant Americans like Jen, that spirit lives. In times like 
these, they are our greatest blessing.