Horse apple fans can head over to the PB and check out the new batch cooked up by the Brian Davis campaign, then wrap up their total meadow muffin experience with an interview at the Fillmore County Journal.
The Political Party blog has posted a press release containing Brian Davis's ag policy statement. We have commented there. With the exception of "Columbia" and "Columbian", the paper graciously left out the parts riddled with typos (how ironic is it to misspell "Heartland" in a press release about ag policy?). Davis himself left out any direct discussion of the Farm Bill, though he does mention returning land that is "not environmentally sensitive" to production as CRP contracts expire.
He may have a fight on his hands from local papers unless he clarifies that position. The Mankato Free Press editorial board says Don't gut, improve CRP. The Red Wing Eagle Republican editorial board says If anything, add CRP acreage, concluding:
. . .More than 9 million acres of CRP contracts expire in the next two years. The 2008 farm bill has a CRP cap, and acreage could drop from the current 39.2 million acres previously authorized to 32 million authorized in the new bill.
The program is also at risk because cropland rental rates have spiked because of rising farm commodity prices, thus making CRP less attractive to farmers. One way to preserve as many CRP acres as possible would be to raise payments to landowners.
CRP is arguably the most successful, most popular farm/conservation program in the nation's history. It has accomplished what it was designed to do: protect marginal land, reduce soil erosion, restore grasses and other native plants, increase wildlife populations and provide farmers with a fair price for using their lands for conservation.
Long-term contracts have been crucial to its remarkable success. It would be a monumental mistake to diminish CRP by making it less financially viable for landowners. The program works. If anything, it should be expanded.
In other ag-related news, Congressman Walz will be a panelist at the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Annual Meeting and 20th Anniversary Celebration in Farmington on Wednesday, August 13. The topic will be Farm Bill politics & perspectives.
Walz and the two GOP primary contenders will meet for the first time at the congressional forum at Farmfest, August 5, 1:30 p.m.
The Rochester Democrat notes that Tim Walz is out doorknocking today; the Post Bulletin says he'll also be helping to open the Obama office in Rochester.
The Minnesota Hospital Association reports Coleman, Klobuchar, Ellison, McCollum, Walz reject proposal to cut indirect medical education.
Here's a worthy cause: Lake City family builds a legacy for son killed in Iraq. The Hebert family has created scholarships for student athletes and a fund for Lake City area children who need medical care. There's a golf tournament tomorrow.
Hill Heat, a science policy legislation action blog, says National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act introduced in US House: oil drilling, coal-to-liquid, Renewable Energy Reserve Fund planned.
The Cottonwood County Citizen tells another scary dangerous road tale in Comfrey Fire Chief experiences 'near miss' on Highway 60. The paper's editorial says MnDOT Commissioner Sorel should have no doubts about the road's lack of safety after hearing citizen testimony at a recent meeting.
Congressman Walz and other representatives have asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to
act to help stop the forced repatriation of Hmong political refugee from Thailand back to the authoritarian regime in Laos where they face torture, persecution and imprisonment in reeducation camps.
The Oshkosh (WI) Northwestern has more:
Twenty-one House members, including Wisconsin Republican Tom Petri and Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Steve Kagen, Ron Kind and Gwen Moore, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice outlining their concerns about 6,000 Hmong refugees in a Petchabun, Thailand, camp. In June, the Thai government sent 800 Hmong refugees who fled persecution in Laos back to their home country.
The lawmakers said it is "imperative" that the forced removals be stopped and that the Thai government give the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees access to the Hmong.
They argued that the United States has an obligation to aid the Hmong who were U.S. allies during the Vietnam conflict. That assistance earned the minority ethnic group the enmity of the Communist government now in Laos.
Thousands of Hmong fled Southeast Asia for the United States after the war. Wisconsin has the nation's largest Hmong population.
House members were not the only ones calling for action Friday. Several human rights organizations and Laotian and Hmong groups met in Washington and condemned the Laotian government for its treatment of Laotian dissidents and Hmong.
The Rothenberg Political Report looks at spending in some House races. After building a field operation, Walz had $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of the Q2 reporting period.
At the Fillmore County Journal, John Torgrimson interviews the endorsed GOP candidate in Brian Davis campaigns for Congress on conservative values. Davis cites the source for his climate change denying, noting that he met with MIT prof Richard Lindzen (a typo in the article spells his name "Lidzen"). Lindzen--whom Davis notes is an member of the National Academy of Sciences--has been criticized for his funding sources, his self- promotion as an underdog, his science and his views that:
the risks of smoking, including passive smoking, are overstated. In 2001,[24] Newsweek journalist Fred Guterl reported, after an interview with Lindzen
- He'll even expound on how weakly lung cancer is linked to cigarette smoking. He speaks in full, impeccably logical paragraphs, and he punctuates his measured cadences with thoughtful drags on a cigarette.[24]
We find it fascinating that an oncologist (albeit one who works most with those afflicted by prostate rather than lung cancer) should have sought out Lindzen's company.
But our fav moment in the interview is this exchange:
Journal: When I say George Bush, what does that mean to you? Positive, negative? Good legacy?
Davis: I think we'll leave that to the historians to determine. I think some of the analogies with Harry Truman being resolute, and sometimes people even say "inflexible," but there may come a time down the road when people will look back and he [Bush] will have a stronger public perception than he does now. . . .
We were curious where Davis got that idea, since he doesn't seem to be to good at having original political thoughts. The principle advocate for the notion--when we traced it back--appears to be George W. Bush himself.
In a separate commentary, editor Torgrimson weighs in on the Truman-Bush analogy:
And finally, for all those revisionists out there who think George Bush has Truman-esque virtues for playing tough in Iraq in the face of adversity - to quote the man, himself, "you're drunk."
In honor of Harry Truman and Torgrimson, we proffer up this 1992 YouTube of Uncle Tupelo covering Bob Dylan's Moonshiner.
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