Congress Passes Veto-Proof Ethanol Subsidy

[Pangloss]

The House passed a 300 billion dollar farm bill today, to help out farmers who are in the midst of the biggest boom in half a century. So much for Democratic reforms -- this is just as bad as the oil company subsidy. What are these idiots thinking? Bush would've veto'd it, wanting to cut the subsidy far more. (Actually he'll veto it anyway and let them do the override thing.)

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/washington/15farm.html?hp

 

Mr. Bush had sought an adjusted gross income limit of $200,000 above which farmers could not qualify for any subsidy payments. The bill passed by the House, however, allows farm income of up to $750,000 and nonfarm income of $500,000 per individual.

 

I was surprised to find in that article that Nancy Pelosi is one of the biggest supporters of the ethanol subsidy. It's interesting how with one hand they cheer about a few extra food stamps for the poor and with the other hand they cause the poor to need more food stamps in the first place.

[CDarwin]

I was surprised to find in that article that Nancy Pelosi is one of the biggest supporters of the ethanol subsidy. It's interesting how with one hand they cheer about a few extra food stamps for the poor and with the other hand they cause the poor to need more food stamps in the first place.

 

And undermine all sorts of free trade efforts and hurt poor people all over the world. There's a nasty protectionist streak in the Democratic Party that needs to go if it is to ba a party of leadership in the future.

[bascule]

What are these idiots thinking?

 

I would guess it has something to do with campaign (or other) contributions from the farm lobby...

 

Personally I think these sorts of subsidies wreak havoc both on the health of the American people and on the international food market and should be completely abolished

[ecoli]

I would guess it has something to do with campaign (or other) contributions from the farm lobby...

 

Personally I think these sorts of subsidies wreak havoc both on the health of the American people and on the international food market and should be completely abolished

Have we not been complaining loud enough about this?

 

I gave up on emailing my elected representatives months ago... I've never gotten a response from those scumbags.

 

Aren't there economists in Washington telling these people the effects subsidies have on food prices?

[doG]

I'll say it again, send all of the 535 current Congress critters home as they come up for reelection. There's not a statesman in the bunch...

[ParanoiA]

I'll say it again, send all of the 535 current Congress critters home as they come up for reelection. There's not a statesman in the bunch...

 

Damn right doG. I'll do my part.

[swansont]

I just emailed my rep for all the good it will do, asking how this passes for farms subsidy reform and why I should return him to congress.

[bascule]

House and senate votes here:

 

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/2/votes/315/

 

Both my representative and senator voted for it

[ecoli]

House and senate votes here:

 

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/2/votes/315/

 

Both my representative and senator voted for it

 

as did mine... I've emailed him before about votes I haven't liked, but have never got a response.

 

It may be worth mentioning, both Kucinich and Paul voted no.

[iNow]

Thank Thor for punk rock.

 

 

 

it's not the right time to be sober

now the idiots have taken over

spreading like a social cancer, is there an answer?

 

Mensa membership conceding

tell me why and how are all the stupid people breeding

Watson, it's really elementary

the industrial revolution

has flipped the bitch on evolution

the benevolent and wise are being thwarted, ostracized, what a bummer

the world keeps getting dumber

insensitivity is standard and faith is being fancied over reason

 

darwin's rollin over in his coffin

the fittest are surviving much less often

now everything seems to be reversing, and it's worsening

someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool

now angry mob mentality's no longer the exception, it's the rule

and im startin to feel a lot like charlton heston

stranded on a primate planet

apes and orangutans that ran it to the ground

with generals and the armies that obeyed them

followers following fables

philosophies that enable them to rule without regard

 

there's no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated

political scientists get the same one vote as some Arkansas inbred

majority rule, don't work in mental institutions

sometimes the smallest softest voice carries the grand biggest solutions

 

what are we left with?

a nation of god-fearing pregnant nationalists

who feel it's their duty to populate the homeland

pass on traditions

how to get ahead religions

And prosperity via simpleton culture

 

the idiots are takin over [x8]

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5gA6IcIpk

 

First they put away the dealers,

keep our kids safe and off the street.

Then they put away the prostitutes,

keep married men cloistered at home.

 

Then they shooed away the bums,

then they beat and bashed the queers,

turned away asylum-seekers,

fed us suspicions and fears.

We didn't raise our voice,

we didn't make a fuss.

It's funny there was no one left to notice

when they came for us.

 

Looks like witches are in season,

you better fly your flag and be aware

of anyone who might fit the description,

diversity is now our biggest fear.

 

Now with our conversations tapped

and our differences exposed,

how ya supposed to love your neighbor

with our minds and curtains closed?

We used to worry 'bout big brother,

now we got a big father and an even bigger mother.

 

And you still believe

this aristocracy gives a **** about you.

They put the mock in democracy

and you swallowed every hook.

 

The sad truth is

you'd rather follow the school into the net

'cause swimming alone at sea

is not the kind of freedom that you actually want.

 

So go back to your crib and suck on a tit

go bask in the warmth of your diaper.

You're sitting in shit and piss

while sucking a giant pacifier,

a country of adult infants.

A legion of mental midgets,

a country of adult infants,

a country of adult infants.

all regaining their unconsciousness

[ParanoiA]

Yeah, maybe we can drop that number to 533 congress critters that ought to go home.

[Reaper]

*raises wine glass* Three cheers to our senators and representatives, for investing in yet another stupid, idiotic plan that has no future and for adding yet another mistake that our children will have to pay for. They could have invested that money in just about anything else, *cough* solar/nuclear/geothermal/(list renewable resource here) *cough*, but, in their shortsighted wisdom they chose to grant subsidies to corn and switchgrass based biofuels. It won't be long before our lush forests and ecosystems, and all hope for feeding the world, is just a distant memory....

[Pangloss]

I didn't see a Senate vote on that link (maybe I'm just not spotting it). But the senate did pass it today.

 

That web site was amusing -- it allowed you to sort through the votes by astrological sign! That just seemed really appropriate in this case. Nice one, Bascule.

 

(Cancer RULES! Take that, Gemini and Virgo, you LOSERS!)

[bascule]

Veto-proof? Apparently you didn't consider the power of confusion!

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/21/bush.farmbill.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[swansont]

Congress gets to make the same mistake all over again! Yay!

[Pangloss]

It was a bizarre situation, which actually says a lot about the hard-working people who work behind the scenes (that this doesn't happen more often). I've heard that they are very dedicated and non-partisan. Slip-ups are bound to happen now and then, I suppose. It's interesting that nobody noticed the problem until after the veto and the override, and I suspect that what happened is that another worker discovered the issue and did the correct legal thing and brought it to their political boss' attention.

 

I mean, it's not as if reporters actually uncover these things anymore. They just sit behind their desks and pass along press releases.

 

Anyway, they're supposed to be fixing the issue today. I think they're going to have to send a new bill to the White House for veto and then override it again.

[swansont]

Anyway, they're supposed to be fixing the issue today. I think they're going to have to send a new bill to the White House for veto and then override it again.

 

They could, however, remove/reduce the fat farm subsidies and shrink or eliminate the ethanol subsidy beyond the token change currently in the bill, especially since they won't make their deadline of "pass and override the veto before the holiday." But they won't.