http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080514/cm_csm/efarmbill;_ylt=AmEHovzohZNdZYmeijUHdO79wxIF

he says he's going to veto this bill, and off hand, not knowing a whole lot about the issue, i'm inclined to agree with him. not only am i not a friend of BigAg, but this also gives the republicans a chance to smear dems as tax-and-spenders. and i'm at a loss as to why we're subsidizing millionaire farmers when food prices are at an all-time high. maybe there's something i'm not getting about this, because every time in the past i've been inclined to agree with bush on something, someone's always been able to explain to me that i've missed something. ;D

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What can $100 million buy you in Congress? If you're agribusiness, such money spent this past year on lobbying and campaign donations will harvest billions in farm subsidies and keep you in clover for another five years.

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Congress plans to renew the US agriculture law this week with no apologies for that fact that most of the subsidies will go to the wealthiest 10 percent of recipients and that a majority of this largess will enrich commercial farmers with an average income of $200,000.

And the ultimate cost to each US household for this congressional cornucopia? About $320 a year in taxes and higher food prices – beyond the already inflated prices at supermarkets. Oh, and then there's the likely retaliation by other countries against such trade-distorting farm subsidies and the expected loss in further opening global trade.

All this for a "temporary" law born during the Dust Bowl of the Depression to help only the poorest family farmers. If anything, regular renewal of the federal government's largest corporate-welfare scheme has only squeezed out family farms by favoring big commercial ones, which carry the most clout on Capitol Hill.

What makes this payoff to corporate farmers so indigestible this time around is that it comes when food producers are making record profits from high global prices and subsidies for grain- and sugar-based ethanol. Since the last renewal of the farm law in 2002, farmer income and crop prices have more than doubled.

But despite such stubborn facts, this is an election year, and money still talks to lawmakers in search of campaign cash for reelection.

Congress decided to largely dismiss serious proposals for reform from President Bush and from Sens. Richard Lugar (R) and Frank Lautenberg (D). The president, for instance, wanted to cap direct payments to farmers who earn more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income. But the final bill allows payments to those who earn more than $1.5 million as a couple or $750,000 as an individual. And nearly all of the approximately $25 billion in subsidies will still go to support only five crops: wheat, cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice.

Mr. Bush plans to veto the bill but because it conveniently includes nonfarm spending on such programs as food stamps, a coalition of rural and urban lawmakers is likely to thwart the president – and common sense. The bill also comes loaded with specific benefits – such as $170 million for the salmon-fishing industry – to ensure support of key lawmakers. It's too bad Congress couldn't wait until next year to pass a bill when election pressures would have been less, and also pass the nonfarm parts separately.

I found when Bush is allowed to speak without any influence from his counsel or Rove (when he still was Bush's Brain) he's got a pretty good grip on what good policy is.  I wonder if I should examine his fish and humans coexisting a bit more deeper?

I found when Bush is allowed to speak without any influence from his counsel or Rove (when he still was Bush's Brain) he's got a pretty good grip on what good policy is.  I wonder if I should examine his fish and humans coexisting a bit more deeper?
i am in favor of humans and fish coexisting. i am also in favor of gynecologists workin' their love.

i am in favor of humans and fish coexisting. i am also in favor of gynecologists workin' their love.


See, neither you or I took his words out of context.  Bush is a bit dyslexic and is said to be Autistic.  I think he does fairly well for not being as perfect as the Republican party wants him to be.

See, neither you or I took his words out of context.  Bush is a bit dyslexic and is said to be Autistic.  I think he does fairly well for not being as perfect as the Republican party wants him to be.


I don't have a problem with the prez vetoing a bad bill here.  I don't like it either.

Anyway, I see no signs of autism.  I think h might have some wetbrain from decades of alcohol abuse.

I don't have a problem with the prez vetoing a bad bill here.  I don't like it either.

Anyway, I see no signs of autism.  I think h might have some wetbrain from decades of alcohol abuse.


Alcohol and cocaine can kill a person mentally and he's walking proof. Yet, America somehow trusted a former cokehead with the most important job ever. Go figure.

He only vetoed it because he wants some cool points before he splits.

I don't have a problem with the prez vetoing a bad bill here.  I don't like it either.

Anyway, I see no signs of autism.  I think h might have some wetbrain from decades of alcohol abuse.


A few experts on Autism think he may has Asperger's.  If he has wetbrain wouldn't he also have cirrhosis of the liver?  If he does has Asperger's he won't be the first President with a disability.  Roosevelt had polio. 

A few experts on Autism think he may has Asperger's.  If he has wetbrain wouldn't he also have cirrhosis of the liver?  If he does has Asperger's he won't be the first President with a disability.  Roosevelt had polio. 

Bush has brain polio.
::)

Corporate welfare sucks in all its forms.  Kudos to Bush for vetoing this.

Now, if only he felt the same way about bailouts for industries....

Granted, the facts that Democrats support things like this bill and bailouts for the mortgage crisis are part of why I'm an independent.  Both parties love pork barrel projects, and ending pork is one of the few things I agree with McCain on.

Of course, McCain doesn't seem to understand that Iraq is a huge source of contractor pork in and of itself.

Corporate welfare sucks in all its forms.  Kudos to Bush for vetoing this.


Yeah, but it's sort of like Ted Bundy deciding to leave that one college girl alone!  I mean, uh, Bush is king of crony capitalism.  He prolly hated the increase in food stamps.

"I don't like the park, Smithers, too many fat children!"
--Montgomery Burns

Bush has brain polio.
::)


Brain polio and Secret Service protection.  Dangerous combination.

I don't have a problem with the prez vetoing a bad bill here.  I don't like it either.

Anyway, I see no signs of autism.  I think h might have some wetbrain from decades of alcohol abuse.


It was the years that he grew up in, the Baby Boomers where many people have over-partied and that. Look at Brian Wilson and Eric Clapton. They both had the ball-and-chain of alcohol and drugs, and that's the worst prison that you can ever be in.