Last week the House passed the farm bill 318-106, a veto-proof majority. President Bush had threatened to veto, but many Republicans joined almost all Democrats in voting yes.
I noticed that only two Democrats within a 1000 mile drive of Boston – and that covers a lot of Democrats – voted No: Dennis Kucinich (Cleveland, OH), and my Representative, Michael Capuano, who represents Cambridge, Somerville, and a portion of Boston. I called his office to find out why he had voted no when the rest of our region’s Democrats voted yes.
What are your thoughts on the farm bill, the value of compromises made this time around, and Democratic support for it?
Capuano’s aide described many of the same problems with the farm bill that Michael Pollan talks about, and she directed me to this NY Times editorial: A Disgraceful Farm Bill. The NY Times is calling on Bush to veto it anyway, despite the veto-proof margin. Who knows, if Bush still had some credibility or popular reputation, such a veto might help organize against the bill and get Congress not to overturn, but he doesn’t so it’d be pointless.
Why did Democrats in general vote for it? According to the aid I spoke to, it was because this compromise bill included increased spending for nutrition. Although Capuano felt its reforms were too mild to support, perhaps other northeastern Democrats felt it was the best we could get?
What about being on the same side as Bush? Yeah, she admitted, this is one of the few times where his position is right: We’re wasting too much money subsidizing profitable agribusinesses. Of course, this is one of those rare times where one can be on the same side of an issue with both Bush and Dennis Kucinich, so it’s an unusual case.
I have always respected my Congressman but that is a really principled vote. We need to kill farm subsidies in general and that is historically something liberals don’t like to do since its a cherished New Deal program that stresses the party’s historic commitment to farmers. But we don’t want to do this. The small farm is dead, the old calculations we still use just encourage bad farming that not only will lead to a food crisis where we will not be fully fed, has led to unhealthy products like corn syrup, and will lead to ecological disasters, ethanol as a failure, and starvation world wide. We have a responsibility to kill this corporate welfare. Cheers for my congressman!
Get tough with the Iranians—well what specifically? Further arm militants in Lebenaon. I thought the process is the deescalate the violence. How about Syria? Obama is going to do what with Korea. The biggest problem with Obma is that he makes broad sweeping pronouncements about something he knows nothing about. He speaks in riddles.
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p>What are you worrying about Iranian mountains and their army for? When we attack them the initial waves will be with cruise missiles, which will target their infrastructure. Then comes the (EMP) weapons wich will render all electrical conduction null and void. Then the deep penentrators. After it is all said and done, the country of Iran will be returned to circa 1800. The only thing moving will be moving my pedal power, burrow, steam or wind.
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p>Re the starvation in Africa. When the whites got the boot and the Afican nationalits took over—-everyone thouth it was a splendid idea. When the tribes started settling old scores and anarchy erupted, all the do-gooders fled—-as they are wont to to after they cause anarchy and wholesale slaughter.Black tyrants( you know—the guys with good intentions) filled the vacume, stole the land and plundered
the natural resources. The folks over in Africa, for some puzzling reason have forgotten how to farm, although they have been doing it as long as man has been on earth, repeated attempts to educate them to engage in resourceful
farming have born no fruit and oddly enough—they have become content with handouts and are now demanding more. Africa will never have a successful population able to survive until the population of the continent is reduced by a significant number. I am puzzled by why more folks that post on this site who bemoan the plight of everyone else on this planet are not tidying things up here in USA to emigrate to Africa to save the population—by starting farms. Their is a parallel. B. Obama has zero accomplishments in his life other than talk. He talks the
talk but fails and never will walk the walk. He is an egregious opportunist. Jackals and heyenas do that.
you gotta do it yourself.
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