from HuffPost:
Rep. Major R. Owens
A Leash of Decency for the Blue DogsPosted November 26, 2007 | 04:52 PM (EST)
The Sunday, November 25th Washington Post editorial poses a vital question for taxpayers: "Is limiting federal subsidies to farmers with incomes over $750,000 dollars unreasonable?" It is a commentary on the latest farm subsidy and loans proposed legislative raid on the treasury. The well-targeted editorial argument ends with a challenging and provocative statement: "For a Democratic Congress eager to restore a modicum of balance to the distribution of income in America, this should be a very easy call."
Calling all Democrats. Decent members arise; you have nothing to lose but your fog of confusion. Shake off the chains of Blue Dog deception and seduction. Exorcise from your midst the legal racketeering tumor that drains precious blood from our safety nets. If this is not an "easy call" please explain to the voters the way in which a cancer controlled by the Blue Dog Coalition, a House Legislative Service Organization, has metastasized within our House of Representatives and now causes a paralysis which prevents any logical and reasonable response to this obvious fiscal atrocity.
Just the few well-focused facts contained in the Washington Post summary expose the obscene story:
- Crop subsidies are not a safety net for the hard-pressed denizens of Farm Country.
- On paper no one is allowed more than $360,000 dollars per year but the provision is riddled with loopholes.
- Two-thirds of all crop subsidies go to just 10 percent of farms.
- The House version of the farm bill would allow full-time farming households earning as much as two million dollars per year to collect payments.
The prosecution could offer mountains more of facts and evidence against the farm giveaways and their Blue Dog Coalition sponsors. It should be noted that every president from Ronald Reagan to the present George W. Bush has publicly expressed great discomfort with the farm legislative swindles - but no president has expended enough executive power to prevent the Blue Dogs from prevailing year after year. What they are unable to get in subsidies and loans they get in drought relief or rain relief.
Who are these Blue Dogs? Why are they the most powerful caucus in the Congress? Be advised that two of their Democratic founders were so conservative that they voted even for the impeachment of President Clinton. They are so clever that, despite their long-term demonization of the poor and Civil Rights, they now have four members of the Congressional Black Caucus in their ranks. This is the body that sponsored Harold Ford III's challenge to Nancy Pelosi when she ran for Minority Leader. So many members have been clamoring to get in that the Blue Dogs now operate like an Ivy League fraternity. You must be sponsored by five members and you must write an essay to achieve membership. ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-major-r-owens/a-leash-of-decency-for-th_b_74190.html