Again, I’m heartened to see media attention alight on the USDA, which until not long ago interested big-ag lobbyists, large-scale grain and cotton farmers, anti-hunger activists, and few others. The latest evidence: The New York Times editorial page has seen fit to comment on Obama’s choice of Tom Vilsack as USDA chief.
"The department he will inherit, while responsible for extraordinary gains in research and productivity, has long favored the biggest farmers," the editorial states. "That has produced a sterile landscape of factory farms, broken towns and endless miles of row crops like corn and soybeans."
It adds: "He’ll need it to move this country’s broken agricultural policy in a new direction." One aspect of that: "He also must take an impartial look at corn ethanol."
Whatever we may think of our incoming USDA chief, he is operating in a new paradigm: one in which people outside of the usual circle, including those within major-media forums, are watching, and demanding real change.
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Comments
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justlou Posted 12:20 am
21 Dec 2008
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biodiversivist Posted 6:35 am
21 Dec 2008
A hypothetical politician from a State where the citizens want to make slavery legal again can't get very far because slavery is a federal offense (at least, I think it is).
All things being equal, if the science shows the existence of corn ethanol to be more environmentally damaging than its absence, no politician, Obama or otherwise, would be forced to destroy the planet to keep his job by lining his constituent's pockets with funds stolen from fellow countrymen.
If the EPA and USDA don't end the corn ethanol debacle based on the latest science, it may be time to take to the streets. Obama may very well attempt to cherry pick or even ignore science as Bush did. We can't sit around this time and let another president get away with that, even if we did vote for him.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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justlou Posted 11:55 pm
21 Dec 2008
Despite all the hype about the science stars in the new DC pack, Obama will be concentrating more on resuscitating the unsustainable. If anything, I expect corn ethanol to be receiving a hefty bailout along with a new PR shine.
Obama is vacationing in Hawaii right now. Do you think he is that concerned about global warming? Not enough to alter his own footprint evidently.
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