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Monday, December 6
"As Sound As Any Scientist"
by
Chad Thompson
on Mon 06 Dec 2004 04:04 PM CST
 "As Sound As Any Scientist"
From the Anchorage Daily News:
All
three members of Alaska's congressional delegation dispute the
conclusion of leading scientists that human activity is causing the
rapid warming of the Arctic that is wrecking villages and melting
glaciers.
Alaska's
lone congressman, Republican Rep. Don Young, went so far as dismissing
the major new report on Arctic climate change. He called it ammunition
for fearmongers.
"My
biggest concern is that people are going to use this so-called study to
try to influence the way and standard of living that occurs within the
United States," Young said.
"I don't believe it is our fault. That's an opinion," Young said. "It's as sound as any scientist's."
On a not-so-ironically related topic, Congress decided that funding science education (and science education research) isn't that important:
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES funding declines 10.4% or $97.6
million in this fiscal year. The conferees provided $79.4 million
for the Math and Science Partnerships program, retaining it in this
directorate. The Administration had requested $80.0 million for
this program in the Research and Related Activities Directorate, a
proposed transfer that was widely criticized on Capitol Hill.
Help get Howard Dean on the Air in DC
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 06 Dec 2004 11:42 AM CST
 Help get Howard Dean on the Air in DC
DraftHoward.com
It is time to take back the Democratic Party from special interests - and that's exactly what we're going to do.
The race for DNC Chair
has reached a new level of intensity, and now is the time to take the
next step. We cannot let the talking heads and the political
establishment define us once again.
We need
to tell them that we will not sit back and maintain the status quo. So
we’re going to speak to them the only way they understand: we’re going
on the air in Washington, D.C.
In
the next few days, we will put together a series of TV ads to run next
week. They will take our message to the belly of the beast, and make
clear that Howard Dean is the choice of ordinary Democrats.
We have
teamed up with Driving Votes PAC to raise the money and get the ads on
the air. We have a modest goal $5,000 to air the first round of ads.
Please help put them on the air:
(click here to donate and sign petition)
Regular
people like us donated hundreds of millions of dollars and countless
volunteer hours to Democratic candidates in every state. Yet
establishment types who have led our party astray for too long want to
choose a leader who wines and dines the ultra-rich and sells out to the
entrenched interests in Washington.
The
future of our party is at stake. We are the backbone of the party, and
we need to speak up. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
DraftHoward.com working with Driving Votes PAC to produce a series of TV ads that
will explain why Howard Dean is our choice. Driving Votes PAC will pay
for the time and other related costs, but they need our help.
Please give just $25 to take back your party:
(click here to donate and sign petition)
We can
still define the terms of this debate. We can make clear that this is
not about liberal or conservative - Howard Dean is a centrist reformer.
We can make clear that the leader of our party cannot be chosen in a
smoke-filled room. We can make clear that this isn’t about 2006 or 2008
- this is about rebuilding the party for the long term.
This is
just the beginning. We will be initiating more projects in the coming
weeks, so please send along your ideas. And please forward this
on to anyone you know who cares about the future of the Democratic
Party.
Many thanks,
Kevin Thurman
DraftHoward.com
www.drafthoward.com
contact@drafthoward.com
Join your fellow Iowans in the fight to take back the media for ordinary citizens. Click here to join RapidResponse - Iowa.
Where Is The Next Generation of Farmers?
by
Chad Thompson
on Mon 06 Dec 2004 10:49 AM CST
 Where Is The Next Generation of Farmers?
Iowa winters typically bring about two things:
1. Packing the gym of the local high school for basketball games and wrestling meets.
2. Reflecting on the farm economy - the fall harvest, and what it means for next year.
By all accounts, this should be a good year at the basketball games and coffee shops. According to Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State:
"This year will be the perfect situation for Iowa farmers,"
Babcock said. "They have bin-busting crops and bin-busting government
farm payments."
However, there was another news release last week of the Iowa State Extension's "Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll" which carries the tagline:
More than half of Iowa farmers surveyed would not advise their children to enter the family business
According to the article:
Fifteen-year-old
Chris Pelzer of Tipton is a farmer's son who thinks he has little
choice but to envision his future off the farm.
"The money's a
problem," he said, describing the economic realities that make this 4-H
member lean toward engineering or environmental science.
He's
not alone. The new Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll from Iowa State
University Extension shows that 57 percent of farmers surveyed would
recommend their children choose a career other than farming.
"Families
are not encouraging their sons and daughters to go into farming. It
really revolves around capital, risk and lack of profits," said Paul
Lasley, an Iowa State sociology professor and co-author of the report.
The
survey's respondents say the top reason for young people not entering
farming is high start-up costs, followed by the high risks, low profits
and lack of available land.
The bottom line: the long-term economic picture remains bleak. Why? According to the survey:
High start-up costs: The
farm policies that were laid out in the 1970s were often summed up in
one phrase: "Get big, or get out". It takes an awful lot of
capital to "start big" - and that's not something that an inspiring
producer can do.
High Risks: In the
current environment of packer ownership of livestock and
government-bolstered commodity prices, a farmer is at enormous risk of
seeing the bottom drop out of a market when either the government
changes farm policy, or corporate owners of a vertically-integrated
supply chain decide to push livestock prices down in order to improve
margins. (Or corporate owners could potentially outsource livestock production altogether or take advantage of government loopholes to boost profit margins at the expense of the average producer.)
Low Profits: Current
government subsidy policy is set up to encourage overproduction -
something that is inherently bad for the producer, but good for the
processor. "Freedom To Farm" has been transformed into the
"Freedom to Go Broke".
Lack of Available Land:
As farms are forced to get bigger, they're forced to put more land into
production. Bigger farmers have access to capital that drives
land prices out of the reach of smaller producers.
With the reasons given in the survey, it's easy to see that the
competitive field is biased toward large "corporate" farms and
multi-national agribusinesses - squeezing the smaller farmers out of
existance. Sound familiar? It should - this is the
"Wal-Martization" of agriculture, happening right before our eyes.
With all of this happening, you would think that organizations that
have been set up to support and represent farmers would be fighting
tooth-and-nail to protect the very people they represent, right?
Well.... maybe not:
While start-up costs and a lack of available land certainly played a
role in the poll’s outcome, Putze said the ever-increasing regulatory
environment and activist presence in the state certainly haven’t helped.
“Calling farmers terrorists and child abusers - as some activist groups
have done - and defining a factory farmer as anyone who needs a permit
to operate doesn’t go far in welcoming the next generation onto the
farm,” Putze said. Iowa's
producers are going to have to realize that their economic and social
fabric is being destroyed by the growing demands of corporate
profiteers - not by the activists that are speaking up for the quality
- and continuation - of the rural lifestyle.
The groups that purport to "support" Iowa's farmers do them no such
favor by embracing the pro-corporate agenda that has been decimating
the economic and social fabric of rural Iowa.
If you're interested in really supporting Iowa's farmers, the
Iowa Farmers Union would be happy to hear from you - and so would we.
What do you think is causing farmers to tell their children to leave the farm?
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