Month: March 2008

bonus quote of the day

Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher?… Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS?

From John Sidney McCain II’s latest endorser:

Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.” [From Lie Down With Dogs, Get Up With Fleas]

farming vs growing

[A] farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future.

…Ultimately of course, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price for this — whether it is in the form of higher prices I will have to charge to absorb the government’s fines, or in the form of less access to the kind of fresh, local produce that the country is crying out for.

A friend sent this along.

[A] farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.)

In my case, that meant I paid my landlords $8,771 — for one season alone! And this was in a year when the high price of grain meant that only one of the government’s three crop-support programs was in effect; the total bill might be much worse in the future.

[…]

Why? Because national fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.

Who pays the price for this senselessness? Certainly I do, as a Midwestern vegetable farmer. But anyone trying to do what I do on, say, wheat acreage in the Dakotas, or rice acreage in Arkansas would face the same penalties. Local and regional fruit and vegetable production will languish anywhere that the commodity program has influence.

Ultimately of course, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price for this — whether it is in the form of higher prices I will have to charge to absorb the government’s fines, or in the form of less access to the kind of fresh, local produce that the country is crying out for. Farmers need the choice of what to plant on their farms, and consumers need more farms like mine producing high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables to meet increasing demand from local markets — without the federal government actively discouraging them.

The author signs himself “a farmer” as a opposed “a grower” which usually refers to industrial food production — monocultures and chemically fueled farming.

quote of the day

Or as a comic store employee explained to me back then, the problem with Sandman was that people bought it to read, and they couldn’t be persuaded to just buy lots of copies as investment items. [From little bit of politics ] <scratches head> People really do that?


Or as a comic store employee explained to me back then, the problem with Sandman was that people bought it to read, and they couldn’t be persuaded to just buy lots of copies as investment items. [From little bit of politics]

<scratches head> People really do that?