Well, it’s no surprise that the Ag Lobby has defeated efforts to reduce payments to farmers. And we’re not even talking eliminating, but only reducing. Disgraceful. There is no excuse for these huge subsidies to farmers. As the article points out
Johanns has argued that bigger operations collect too big a share of government payments. According to his department, 8 percent of producers receive 78 percent of subsidies.
so the ‘family farmer’ crap doesn’t apply here, folks. These are big Agribusinesses living off of your tax dollars (which are due this week).
And that sucks.
*Update: As Ken points out in the comments, people like Sam Donaldson and Ted Turner are beneficiaries of this, which means that cuts in the Food Stamp Program, which is where the AgSec says he’s going to cut now, will be going directly into Ted Turner’s pockets. Do you think that might rate a mention on CNN? What about if it was going into Cheney’s pockets?
has flared up again.
I guess they’re not big on security at these ‘matches.’
We sent you a virus that killed a million people. We meant to send you a Homer Pez Dispenser.
We appologize for any confusion.
On Bullshit
There! I said it.
“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit,” Harry G. Frankfurt writes, in what must surely be the most eyebrow-raising opener in modern philosophical prose. “Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.”
I found this little gem of a review by Roger Kimball while deleting unread/unopened Opinion Journals. I was immediately intrigued by his description of the Grey Lady’s sudden onset of blushing priggishness…
“Manners,” Edmund Burke wrote, “are of more importance than law. . . . The law touches us but here and there and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform and insensible operation like that of the air we breathe in.”
Manners determine not so much what is right and wrong as what is seemly and unseemly: what is and is not decorous or appropriate. Consider the latest bestseller from Princeton University Press by a philosopher named Harry Frankfurt. It’s called “On Bull—-“–well, many American newspapers, including this one, forbear to print the word, but you know what it is. Even the New York Times, whose lifestyle sections celebrate all manner of “transgressive” habits in detail, can’t bring itself to spell out the book’s title on its bestseller list.
…and completely hooked by the ‘Mr. Podsnap’ thing. How cool is that? (Never having been one to wade through Dickens, I still have a fine appreciation of the gent’s bent for characters.) I have penned this post in honor of Mr. Podsnap. Please consider my share contributed in full, of bull.
What is it with these Wisconsin people and their guns? Kill, kill, kill…
Wis. considers legalizing cat hunting
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Feline lovers holding pictures of cats, clutching stuffed animals and wearing whiskers faced-off against hundreds of hunters at meetings around Wisconsin to voice their opinion on whether to legalize cat hunting.
I’m sure in the hours before my flight to Madison I can rework something Joan Baez or Old Pete sang. Something expressing the anguish so evident in the words of the protestors.
One of the attendees was Katy Francis, who wore cat ears, whiskers, a cat nose and a sign that read, “Too Cute to Kill.” For Francis, “The cat hunting thing brought me out because it was very extreme.”
The BASTARDS! Hearts and minds people. Hearts and minds. Gearing up to lead the charge reminds me of my callow youth and my first great tree hugging crusade. When you’re young, you see eeeville and you know you can change the world.
Read more »
…you corporate whore, you. I’ve found you another way to get ahead. Whoops! Make that ‘a head‘.
Thank God there are people in this country with a sense of humor.
Mind you, my bride will tell me that “Of course they’re sensible; they’re from the Midwest.”
Sigh.
Not that the NYT has an agenda, mind you, but would you, as a prominent Republican, please write an Op-Ed for us attacking another Republican?
Oh, you won’t? Then sorry, but we have no room for your piece.
Amazing.
He’s been dead for 93hundred years and has nothing to do with your tribe, my tribe or anybody else’s tribe.
WASHINGTON – Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting legislation they say could block their efforts. They say a two-word amendment to a bill on American Indians would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.
John McCain should quit being the suck-up of the ages…
…but the bill has been revived in this Congress by the panel’s new chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
…and let the anthropologists/archeologists do their job.
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Yes this…
sylph \SILF\ noun
1 : an elemental being in the theory of Paracelsus that inhabits air
2 : a slender graceful woman or girl
…would be me.
Too precious to waste.
vermicular \ver-MIK-yuh-ler\ adjective
1 *a : resembling a worm in form or motion b : marked with irregular fine lines or with wavy impressed lines
2 : of, relating to, or caused by worms
Appropriate with the Carnival of the Recipes up and Bingley’s
Pamelas front and center…ahem, as always. (Thanks Amanda!)
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Eric Rudolph is pleading GUILTY and will serve four life sentences. I understand how angry many will be, but this assures a just outcome and gives no voice to the media circus that was sure to ensue. We’ve had enough grandstanding.
Plea deal turns up explosives
Jeff Lyons, whose wife was severely injured and left blind in one eye in the Alabama bombing, said he and his wife were “extremely disappointed” in the life sentences for Rudolph. “As they say, let the punishment fit the crime. That was a death sentence,” he said.
But Lyons said he understood prosecutors’ reasons for agreeing to a plea deal since Rudolph directed them to the explosives — something that likely would not have happened had the case gone to trial.
Let him rot there.
1) Rich Beem is not as fat in real life as he appears on tv.
2) Craig Stadler is fatter.
3) If Craig Parry were any fatter Luke Skywalker would be leading a squadron of X-Wings to blow him up.
As the spouse of an educator (and I use that particular bromide solely because it will make her cringe), and particularly one who’s specialty is English Littrachure, I have a heightened awareness of edjumacational issues, and my spider-senses are trained to tingle when I hear people about me discussing such topics. So imagine then how my soul leapt for joy this morning at 6am while I was having breakfast at a Waffle House in Columbia, SC.
Now, mind you, eating at the Waffle House is, in and of itself, normally a cause for celebration (oh, and I had 2 eggs over easy, grits, sausage, buttered (slathered really) toast and lots of coffee. Heaven. Oh yes, heaven indeed.) as the cultural backwater in which I find myself domiciled doesn’t have any. But the extra joy this morning was provided by the local folk, decent hard-working fellows who seemed to be in their late 40s or so, and who didn’t appear to be the college type. Yet to my wandering ear was brought such rapture by their words extolling the virtue of Shakespeare! Oh frabjous day! In a Waffle House!
One fellow was quite adamant in his insistance that Shakespeare was the BEST, and he would brook no other opinion. “In my experience” he declared “all the others ain’t worth a damn next to Shakespeare.” And he kindly provided a website for his dining companions so that they too could verify his claims…
in case anyone wondered where THS got her name from……
heh, still makes me chuckle…..
Seems Wendy’s might not have had their fingers in the chili after all. The likely explanation is far more disturbing. Imus implied a dead aunt…eewwww!
…that can prepare you. Just feast your eyes. Or claw them out of your skull.
Via Lisa. (Yes, it’s true. LEEEsa. Who knew?)
Fight dementia with sex, crosswords and a run
Mental, physical exercise key, researcher says
CANBERRA – Sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run could help ward off dementia and other degenerative conditions by stimulating new brain cells, an Australian researcher said on Thursday.
A MALE Australian researcher mind you and go figure, right?
“Prolactin levels also go up during sex as well. So one could think of a number of more entertaining activities than running in order to regulate the production of nerve cells,” Bartlett said.
Oh, bite me. I’d like him to try 24 hours in the peri-menopausal, psychopathic, hot flash ridden temple that is my body and try to remember what sex was, less mind want any more. And I dare any of the males who frequent these quarters, with wives of a certain age, to point out the myriad benefits available if said spouse’d only be reasonable and put out.
*Update: Unbelievable what spammers will resort to. This gem just hit my inbox. I didn’t open it, but had to share the subject line:
Neocon used to treat and prevent osteoporosis in women after menopause appropriate
So Paul Wolfowitz, not SEX, is the answer to everything.
I wish they’d sent this sooner.
Thank God for the dogs. If it wasn’t for wanting to boot them outside to do their thing when the rain slacked off a smidge, I’d have never seen the waves lapping at the base of the patio and the corner of the house. And all the front yards in the block reflecting the street lights and lightening strikes in the knee deep water that covered them. It had to be the drain.
So Major Dad put on his grubbies, Ebola slipped on a hand-me-down pair of fireman’s boots and they trudged off through the tempest.
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MacEwan, Barony of Otter, Loch Fyne. Motto:”Grow Strong Again”.
When we lost the big house, they sold us out to the Campbells. Bastards. Anyways, I’ve slogged my arse through the gorse and sheep droppings to take photos of the few stones left of the castle. The reward being the hospitality of the Scottish innkeepers, who opened a room for me to rest and warm my soaked, freezing bones. And poured continuous rounds of pints of the family elixir, MacEwan’s Tartan Ale. (We’ve both their Tartan and India Pale in the fridge as I write~Ebola lives and breathes his heritage.) I’ve heard the ghosts at Culloden playing the pipes at three in the morning, had the lady of the house save me a breakfast egg and seen the mist at St. Andrews, while asking ‘so where’s the golf course?’ Oh, I love it there.
But the food does suck.
There once was an ex Prez named Jim,
who cavorts with tyrants on a whim,
when denied space on a plane,
cried like the rain,
when I’m sure he’d get a seat with Kim.
Long after the death of Billy,
who was regarded as the less silly,
to honor the name of Carter,
in Nobel causes works harder,
to make despots and dictators less chilly.
For the Peanut Man I’ll not cry
whom the Venezuelans thank for their guy,
he’s long been a bore,
who snuggles with Moore,
to whom I’ll not soon enough say goodbye.
If you had any intention of rousting a Florida Granny on the side walk, or even glaring at her rudely, I’d do it quick. We’re not talking feral cats here.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he intends to sign a bill that would allow people who feel threatened — even on the street or at a baseball game — to “meet force with force” and defend themselves without fear of prosecution.
In light of this enlightened legislation, we proudly present the new and improved South Florida Nursing Home Walker!
(If you qualify, Medicare foots the entire cost, with no deductible and no out-of-pocket expences! Call now! Our friendly operators are standing by.)
NOTE:I believe this could be ‘gun porn‘, as Mr. Summers calls it.
Kind, sweet and pure Eccentrica G (whom Ken so kindly informed me has a brother Kenny) has post up about some scary legislation being discussed in Britain.
Here’s the money quote:
The government estimates binge-drinking costs Britain about £20bn a year and MPs want pubs to pay more towards policing drink-fuelled disorder.
Under this rationale there is nothing that the government can not outlaw, in the interest of equity and cost savings.
No, not this one…
…THIS one.
He’d do anything (or anyone) to get to this green lady…
Shameless hussy. Bingley, that is.
Nanny State | Mr. Bingley | 
April 13, 2005 10:47 am | 
Comments (3) 
We’ll take it from here.
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