Inlander Online has a great feature on 5th Congressional District Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark… only it’s more than just an article about Goldmark, it’s an article about the decline of farm towns in Eastern Washington.
Decline in farm towns has long been considered a function of fewer farmers running bigger farms. But now, Goldmark says, “Even the bigger farmers are leaving, even the larger farms are struggling.”
Corde Siegel, who farms near the Whitman County outpost of Pine City, says, “My accountant says there is not a single grain grower who is making money.”
The math is as simple as it is harsh. Six years ago, Siegel says, his cost per acre for fuel was $5; today it’s $20. Fertilizer penciled out to $20 an acre in 2000 and is $45 today. Chemicals have gone from $12 to $35 an acre in the last six years; labor from $8 to $18 an acre; machinery from $10 to $33; crop insurance from $4 to $12.50.
Meanwhile, “I have farmers harvesting wheat for the same prices their fathers and grandfathers did,” says Gretchen Borck, director of issues for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers based in Ritzville.
It’s a bad equation, Goldmark says. “Here are the people [who] we say are privileged to grow food for the entire world, and now you’ve got to pay to do it.
“Ag families are going to dry up and go away and nobody cares. I care,” he says. “This is the big issue about why I got into the race
And vote for Goldmark on DailyKos.
Lets get him Netroots endorsed too!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/14/133945/402
The math is as simple as it is harsh. Six years ago, Siegel says, his cost per acre for fuel was $5; today it’s $20. Fertilizer penciled out to $20 an acre in 2000 and is $45 today. Chemicals have gone from $12 to $35 an acre in the last six years; labor from $8 to $18 an acre; machinery from $10 to $33; crop insurance from $4 to $12.50.
But the furless one claims we are Cheap Labor Conservatives!
The price of gas is directly related to the value of the dollar.
The dollar has gone down dramatically verses other currencies around the world, since Bush took office. As compared to Austrialia for example our dollar has dropped 60%. As compared to the Yen, Pound, Euro the average is more like 40%. This means that other countries have seen the price of gas rises ~40 to 60% less.
All the media and politicians talk about is limited supply and demand and the risks associated with supply and demand driving the price of oil.
Some say the lack of refineries is the problem, well if refining was the problem then the raw material crude oil should be cheap as it would be pumped but have no where to go.
Some say China and India and their explosive growth is driving the price of oil up. This is true and accounts from about $0.53 of the increase in the price of gas since Bush was elected. However, this is NOT the primary reason for the price of gas. For example, note how the Western oil field in Alaska shutting down did not drive prices up. We do not have a major supply problem.
$0.83 of the increase in the price of gas since Bush was elected is due to the value of the dollar dropping. The value of the dollar drops due to huge and record deficit spending. If the Budget is balanced, the value of the dollar rises as it did throughout the Clinton Adminstration, the price of gas will come down to around $2.20.
Yes, their is a modest supply and demand problem and yes we need to get off the oil addiction. But if you want to save the farms in Eastern Washington from massive fuel costs, then elect politicians who balance budgets.
What is Goldmarks position on terrorism. Now it seems there may be a real connection to Al Qaeda.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2313151,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=World
Goldy,
How much longer will it be before you find yourself having to choose. Will you be loyal to your politics; or will you be loyal to your family and heritege.
“CNN Int’l snubs Israeli civilians
Highly unbalanced report mostly ignores plight of Israeli civilians, portrays Israelis as soldiers and politicians in suits, while coverage from Lebanon features in-depth interviews with Lebanese civilians and images of children and ruins; no mention of large number of Israelis displaced from their homes in north
Yaakov Lappin”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articl.....28,00.html
All of our positions on terror should be the same. To fight it with ideas and guns where ever it is found. Unlike our President who just surrendered to the world’s foremost terror organization and has the Hezbollah and Iranians “Dancing in the streets” and the Israeli government about to fall. Oh yeah and he just declared victory: LOL. The disaster in Lebannon has embolden Syria so they have moved to the border of Israel and are thinking of winning back the Golan Heights and maybe more, and Iran is now certainally going to get the nuc’clur bomb.
Our government has also lost Mauritania, Somalia, is surrendering Afghanistan to Sharia law, is surrendering Iraq to Jew-haters and people who say that their National Heros are people who kill Americans.
The War of Terror is not going so well – so what’s your position Mike Webb Sucks.
Until the east side of the state elects some Dems, I say fuck em. I don’t go there. I don’t spend money there and I don’t care if those right wing fucks go under or not. They elected the government they wanted and now they get to live in the shit pile they asked for. Serves em right.
Cry me a river Jaybo. When the President himself equates Hezbollah killing with Israeli killing and refuses to sell cluster bombs, and puts our soliders in jail for doing their job, etc…. what do you expect? When the conservatives can’t figure out what side they are on, why do you expect a liberal to figure it out?
Horsey hit the nail on the head again in today’s cartoon:
A Tough Year for Republican Incumbents”
When the oil is gone, we’re in for a worldwide famine. The Black Death is gonna look like a picnic when we have seven billion people starving to death.
Just little cheery thought to brighten your day!
Maybe the Democrat’s idea for another 50 cent a gallon tax on gasoline would help the farmers???? hehe, JCH
Ann Coulter sezs that liberism is a religion. La Goldie is proof. Think about it.
Dr E – Speaking of being an illiterate dumfuck… I think you mean “averse” not “adverse”. You might think we have an “aversion” to reading whatever fucking shit you mention.
Commentby howcanyoubePROUDtobeaKennedy [………………………………………………………………Classic!! Thank you…..I’m still laughing!]
The youngest Anglo children in Hillsborough County and across Florida are now a minority, foreshadowing the day when Florida – like four states now – becomes a majority-minority state. Non-Hispanic whites in Florida accounted for fewer than half of all children younger than 5 last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today. Slightly more than 47 percent of the state’s youngest children were non-Hispanic whites, down from nearly 55 percent five years earlier.
Does this mean that the ‘whites’ will now get set-asides, head of the line for “guvment” jobs, free medical and protection from non-PC slurs and ‘hate’ crimes?
Okay, just who is the “Washington News Council”? Responding to a series of investigative reporting which showed lax disciplinary processes within the King County Sheriff’s Dept. under former Sherrif (and current U.S. Congressman) Dave Reichart, the current Sheriff has filed a complaint with them, alleging the stories are biased and unfair.
“The council, a volunteer group of news media members and the public, was organized in August 1998. The non-profit group tries to resolve disputes between the public and the media. If a resolution can’t be reached, the council may hold hearings on complaints to determine whether the news organization was biased. Typically, a hearing occurs 30 days after a complaint is filed if there is no resolution.”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....cil15.html
But perhaps the Washington News Council has another agenda?
”
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
P-I won’t participate in news council hearing over sheriff’s complaint
By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER
Citing concerns over possible conflicts of interest, the Seattle P-I will not appear before a media watchdog group should it hold a hearing over an unfair-reporting complaint filed by the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Roger Oglesby, the P-I’s publisher, said Monday that both the complaint and the newspaper’s written response to it will be posted online.
Sheriff Sue Rahr filed a complaint July 28 with the Washington News Council in response to the paper’s ongoing series, “Conduct Unbecoming,” which began in August 2005.
Those stories, in part, examined how some deputies who violated department policies, including use of force, retired and collected enhanced pensions before the Sheriff’s Office took action against them. The series pointed out lapses in the office’s internal disciplinary process.
In her complaint, Rahr said that the stories portrayed the office as a corrupt organization with no controls, and that the stories were “intentionally biased, unfair, malicious” and lacked balance.
“We are examining the sheriff’s criticisms … and will respond thoroughly and directly,” Oglesby said. “We met with the sheriff before the complaint was filed to discuss her concerns, and we have expressed our willingness since the filing to continue that discussion.
“We’ll leave decisions on the merits of any remaining disagreements to our readers,” he said. “We do not plan to appear before the news council, but we’ll share our response with them.”
“P-I Managing Editor David McCumber said the newspaper has “serious questions about the news council’s ability to be impartial” because of the relationships news council executive director John Hamer and at least four council members have with Rahr and Dave Reichert, the former sheriff who is now in Congress.
Hamer is married to Mariana Parks, district director for Reichert, who was the subject of some of the P-I stories on the Sheriff’s Office. News council members Everett Billingslea, Steve Boyer, Suzie Burke, Fawn Spady and Hamer all have made financial contributions to the political campaigns of Rahr or Reichert, according to state and federal records. Some contributions were for as little as $35, while others were $1,000.”
Ibid.
So, is Reichart using the “Washington News Council” to muffle the P.I. as a critic? If the Council decides that the P.I. was “biased”, will Reichart not use that to dismiss any future criticism of him, either as a Sheriff or as a Congressman? And is the Washington News Council really just a shill for Frank Blethen and other conservative legislatures to “Swift Boat” its opposition?
I had never heard of this group before today. But it seems to me that a group which purports to pass judgement on the merits of storis in the free press regarding government actions (or inaction) is a fairly dangerous vehicle.
Doctor JCH Kennedy,
I know what a Non-Hispanic white is, but what is a Hispanic white? A Spaniard?
Mexicans with little education and limited English skills are leading a wave of newly arrived immigrants who are increasingly fanning out from traditional gateway states, Census data released Tuesday indicate. The dispersal of new immigrants to parts of the Southeast and Midwest that are unaccustomed to foreign-born populations in large numbers may be fueling national concerns […………………………………The average education level is 3rd grade. Taxes will double of triple to support this invasion of illegals. Another neat fact: lots of polio, TB, and other fun stuff!! Bottom line: I have no problems with another 30 million Mexican illegals in the USA as long as they all live in Cape Cod, MASS.]
19, cont…….Illegals: the future of the Democrat Party, coming by the millions to a city near you!!
The good people of Houston and the taxpayers in Texas continue to be rewarded for their generosity in accepting some 150,000 “refugees” after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, it continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Houston recorded a 17.5% increase in homicides since the evacuees landed there. In fact 21% of the homicides in that city involved a Katrina refugee. The New Orleans gangs that Houston has imported continue to cause problems. The Sheriff’s department has reported a 41% increase in felony arrests. [……………………………………………………………………..OK, How many of these fine young black Democrats did Democrat controlled San Francisco take? Boston? Cape Cod? Hillary’s lovely village in upstate NY? How many are living in the Kennedy Compound? Democrat idiot Libs: hypocrites]
What exactly does Peter Goldmark want to do to solve the problem of unprofitable farming? Legislate away the laws of economics? Vote for massive subsidies? That’s what Europe does, and it hasn’t solved their problem.
Maybe some of these farms shouldn’t be in existence, or they should look to other crops. It’s a harsh assessment, but why is farming so holy that we all should pay extra to preserve a farm? I’ve never understood the logic.
If merit determined who gets into Congress, Peter Goldmark would beat McMorris in a walk. He is smart, educated, grounded in his district, independent, successful in the private sphere, etc. He has something to say that others may not say. McMorris is simply a political hack beholden to the Bushites. She adds nothing to the mix of ideas in Washington; she is merely another vote for whatever the GOP leadership wants. Unfortunately, merit too rarely determines who wins political races. By the way, Janet S., how beholden to the rest of the world do you desire to be? You see no value in our nation being able to feed itself? Our government subsidizes useless industries, but you would cut the legs off agriculture. Nice thinking.
Janet S at 23: “Maybe some of these farms shouldn’t be in existence, or they should look to other crops. It’s a harsh assessment, but why is farming so holy that we all should pay extra to preserve a farm? I’ve never understood the logic.”
I don’t think you’ve heard Goldmark mention the word “subsidies” once. But you might notice that there is a tremendous difference between the price farmers receive for their grain, and the price of bread in the supermarket. Certainly some of it is “processing and transportation costs”, but clearly there is a disconnect when the price of bread keeps rising but the basic price of the commodity does not. Goldmark has been a mover to help local farmers by creating new local industries to process the farm products, thereby bringing some of those “middle-man” dollars back home to rural Washington.
The problem goes beyond a few farmers in north-central Washington. A couple of centuries of economic evidence indicates that the economic health of the agricultural sector is a precursor of the economy as a whole. Declines in crop prices, (or lack of an increase in the face of inflationary costs pressures), usually preceeds a general economic downturn by one to two years.
Also, a poor farmland economy creates other social and economic pressures. Poor crop prices at the same time with rising fuel costs makes the family farmer pretty desperate for finding other ways to cut costs. Among them: using illegal immigrant labor. The other social costs include a decline in the infrastructure of rural America which may take generations to reverse, a long-term population shift as the young abandon farming careers to move to the coasts. This causes a deflation in farm property values (resulting in foreclosures and even bank failures), and inflation in property prices in urban America, along with other costs associated with a more dense urban population centers.
Hey, Goldy, what happened to the cute “liberal gal” that we could meet if we just clicked on the banner? It was much more inviting an ad than the baby with gas problems we currently see.
Uh..Proud Leftist,
You might be interested to know that “Washington is one of the nation’s largest wheat-exporting states, with up to 90% of the state’s production exported each year.”
http://www.bluefish.org/wheatfax.htm
I am not disagreeing that we should be able to feed ourselves but if we are subsidizing our wheat farmers so that they can export the wheat, that is a salient fact. Maybe we should be subsiding them, but it’s not as though we are growing that wheat for ourselves as you seem to suggest.
“I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” – Will Rogers.
Is someone spoofing LeftTurn’s name?
“Until the east side of the state elects some Dems, I say **** em. I don’t go there. I don’t spend money there and I don’t care if those right wing ****s go under or not. They elected the government they wanted and now they get to live in the **** pile they asked for. Serves em right.”
(Please forgive the deletion of expletives. I’d like my son to be able to read this board, as I think that discussion of issues with him is an important part of his education.)
First, even Mr. Goldmark would jump in to say (and hopefully believe) that he is running to represent everyone in his district, not just the Democrats.
Second, the folks most likely to “go under” are also the folks we want to reach out to as Democrats. You know, decent folks just trying to make a living and take care of their families and communities.
Mr. Goldmark appears to be exactly the right candidate to run against the Republican incumbent. He knows the problems of the district and cares about the folks living there. Even though his chances of winning seem slim, he is at least making sure that Ms. McMorris has to address the issues. That alone is a win for us.
2
MWS — you Republicans certainly have established your credentials as CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES, in several ways:
1) Tax policies that favor owners of capital at the expense of wage earners
2) Voting against raising the $5.15 minimum wage
3) Voting FOR letting employers loot the waitress tip jar
4) But, above all, just look at the wages Republicans pay their workers compared to the bonuses and options they pay themselves …
Christ, Roger, it took until 10:35 before you started running off at the mouth about “cheap labor conservatives.” What? Did you have a session with your shrinnk this morning and just got home?
2 (continued)
It can’t be seriously argued that GOP policies help workers. Only a wingnut high on crack or in terminal denial would attempt it. All you have to do is compare now vs. then:
In the 1950s, one wage earner could support a family of six. Today, it takes two wage earners to support a family of three.
In the 1950s, the average CEO salary was about 50 times the average worker salary. Today, the average CEO salary is more than 500 times the average worker salary.
The real purchasing power of wages have not gone up at all since 1970. This means ALL of the economic gains of the last 35 years have gone to the wealthiest part of the population. So much for “trickle down” and “supply side.”
Republicans are unremittingly hostile to all of the things that raised living standards in the U.S. and created the middle class in the first place: Unions and collective bargaining rights, minimum wage laws, prevailing wage laws, fair wage laws, Social Security, defined benefit retirement plans, employer-paid health insurance, and every other improvement in wages and working conditions. At the same time, the percentage of the nation’s wealth owned by the wealthiest 2% of the population has grown from 22% in 1970 to 45% in 2005.
My guess is that Roger was making little bunny rabbits. Some things takes precedence over blogging.
A couple of rabbits were chaised into a hollow log by a pack of dogs. As the dog circled the log, one rabbit turns to the other: “Do you think we should try to make a run for it?” “Naw”, the other replied. “Lets just wait aa couple of hours, until we outnumber them!”
Why are agricultural prices so unresponsive to market forces? In economic theory, weak prices should force farmers out of business, reducing supply; and the reduced supply should result in scarcity that drives up prices until farming is profitable.
Yet all industrialized countries subsidize their agricultural sector with price supports, subsidies, and tax incentives. This results in chronic overproduction in these countries. Yet, while the world as a whole is able to feed its human population, there are always pockets of famine and starvation. This is due to distribution system failures — and deliberate policies. Africa’s famines and mass starvations usually are associated with civil wars, repressive governments, and genocides.
In our grandfathers’ time, a large percentage of the U.S. population was involved in farming. Many of our parents grew at least part of their own food. Today, only 2% of Americans are farmers, and the number continues to decline. Agricultural output accounts for only 2.5% of Washington’s economic output.
This numbers belie the importance of agricultural to society. It is one of the fundamental industries, without which civilization and human life itself cannot exist. Yet, as basic as food is to our survival, raising basic foodstuffs remains an unprofitable, low-wage business. The only agriculturists doing well are those raising luxury crops like hops and wine grapes.
Why is that? Sure looks like a case of “market failure” to me.
Roger,
Is it a role of govenrment to intervene in the employment decisions of corporations when it comes to CEO salaries?
Uh,Goldy,small quibble. Vulcan was the god of fire and iron. . .a smith. I know your reference is to Spock, but the better choice would have been ‘stoic’, from the philosophers under the stoa poikile, who advocated, essentially, dispassionate judgement.
Sure looks like a case of “market failure” to me.
Commentby Roger Rabbit— 8/15/06@ 10:48 am
============
So, the government should take over agriculture????
SuckyClownConservative(Darrell))PudWhacker@2 Those are materials costs and overhead, not Labor fool!
Roger Rabbit- Sure looks like a case of “market failure” to me.
Wake up. Technology has made the production of food a commodity, and easy to automate. It takes much less land and fewer people to produce the food we need, as well as substantial exports. Market failure? Everyone has more time to pursue more “profitable” adventures, be that education, higher-paying work or recreation.
You think the farming industry is gone as we know it – in ten years the grocery stores will be completely self-service. All of those jobs are already commodities and can be done more efficiently by robots and computers.
Do you people on this board get extra points for being moonbats and ignorant?
Think your way out of liberalism…..
A Liberal’s prayer.
Jesus, Protect me from your followers.
Amen!
Carl Grossman
Liberal, Democrat, Jewish and covering all the bases.
3
“Some say the lack of refineries is the problem, well if refining was the problem then the raw material crude oil should be cheap as it would be pumped but have no where to go.”
U.S. refining capacity has been steadily increasing since 1995 (i.e., since early in the Clinton administration) … so much for wingnut arguments that Democrats and environmentalists are responsible for refinery capacity shortages.
Yes, the number of refineries has decreased. What has happened is that oil companies are closing older, smaller, less efficient refineries while expanding capacity at more efficient mega-refineries. They are doing this for economic, not environmental, reasons. It is a rational business response to the higher production costs associated with aging industrial infrastructure that lacks both economies of scale and modern technology — and requires higher maintenance. It happens in every industry.
I’m not suggesting the U.S. has a surfeit of refining capacity. Domestic refining capacity is fully utilitized and significant quantities of refined products are imported from overseas. The world’s largest refinery is located in the Persian Gulf, not on the Gulf Coast, which is not altogether a bad thing givent the vulnerability of Texas and Louisiana refineries (where U.S. refining is concentrated) to the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast weather.
But the real explanation of skyrocketing fuel prices is surging demand. Between 2001 and 2005, world demand leaped from 77 million bpd to 84 million bpd, while production capacity grew hardly at all. When looked at in global terms, there is not a refining capacity shortage; the world has enough refineries to process all the crude being produced. And few, if any, markets are more global in character than petroleum; so domestic refining capacity really is not much of an issue.
With oil prices holding over $70 per bbl, and even the world’s most expensive oil costing less than $20 per bbl to produce, why don’t market forces operate to expand crude production?
The answer is complex as there are several factors that come into play. Although production facilities are costly, cost is not a problem; the oil industry is the most profitable business in human history, and Big Oil’s biggest problem is figuring out how to recycle the cash their business generates, because there is no other industry they can invest in that pays returns anywhere close to what they earn in their own business. There are, of course, long lead times involved in expanding crude production and the engineering involved is increasingly complex as more production moves offshore. There are logistic difficulties as exploration and production increasingly move into more remote (and strife-torn) regions. But one of the greatest impediments to increased investment in production is the historic boom-and-bust cycle of oil prices and the oil industry. Consumers tend to forget the times when gas is cheap and remember only the gas lines of the 1970s and the high prices that periodically afflict them at the pump. But repeatedly, these high prices have collapsed as increased investment and production, or economic downturns, or a combination of forces led to weakening demand and pricing weakness. Oil industry executives have been through this routine so many times they’ve learned to be circumspect about committing huge new resources to expanding production. In short, they don’t believe the $70 per bbl prices will last. Experience has taught them oil could be back to $15 per bbl pricing within a few years. If that happens, investing in oil that costs $20 per bbl to produce is not a good move. And these risky investments in production also help bring about the very price collapse that executives fear, by increasing supply.
Prices are high right now because demand moves much faster than supply. What I mean is, increased demand has soaked up all of the world’s excess production capacity, and all of the producers are now pumping all-out, except for fields that are down because of wars or political instability (e.g., Iraq and parts of Russia).
Last week, the British magazine The Economist ran an article that went against the conventional argument that the world is approaching “peak oil” and we are facing limits on how much oil the planet can produce. That time, The Economist suggested, is decades away. The article said, for example, that while Saudi Arabia’s oldest and largest field, Ghawar, may have peaked and be going into decline, Saudi Arabia is producing from only 10 of its 80 known oilfields, with the other 70 still untapped — and has not been fully explored so there’s probably even more untapped oil out there — and that’s just in Saudi Arabia. From other sources, I’m aware that many in the industry believe that Iran has large undiscovered reserves, due to the primitive exploration technology that has been used there and political restraints on exploration access to that country. If this is true — or even if it’s not true but oil industry decision makers believe it may be true — then obviously a threat exists to the industry that expanding production could bring about a crude price crash that would jeopardize large new investments in exploration and production expansion.
But it’s hard to know what the truth is, because oil companies and governments of oil producing countries are so secretive. The vast majority of petroleum geologists seem to feel we are facing a limited-supply scenario in the near future. And there are those who believe governments of oil producing states are deceptively overstating their reserves and future production potential for a variety of reasons (both political and economic). So, who knows where all of this is heading? I don’t.
3
Hey McDonald, you chickenshit, good to see ya back! Gonna stick around for a while, or cut-and-run again? buhk-cluck-cluck
p.s. — I’ve been making fun of you in your absence … I just wanted you to know that.
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Roger@33: “Market failure” doesn’t mean that too few people are employed in an industry, or they make too little profit, as compared to your vision in that industry’s cosmic significance. Market failure means that, in the absence of government intervention, too little or too much of something is produced relative to what consumers are willing to buy. I’ve never heard an argument from any economist that farm subsidies are correcting a market failure; they are pure political pork.
Goldmark is high on “I feel your pain” rhetoric and low on specific polity proposals, but his rhetoric sound an awful lot like that of someone who wants to increase farm subsidies. The market is screaming at these people: You are trying to do something un-economic! There is no room for you here, because other players are fufilling consumer demands in this sector more efficiently than you can! Plant luxury crops, or go into nursing! Instead of saying “You don’t need to change; we’ll take care of you” Goldmark should be saying “Listen to the market, dammit!”
Since when did support for farm subsidies become a Democratic value, anyway? I thought that was a Republican sin.
4
“Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!” — Mike Webb Sucks (and other righty trolls)
Uh,Goldy,small quibble. Vulcan was the god of fire and iron. . .a smith. I know your reference is to Spock, but the better choice would have been ’stoic’, from the philosophers under the stoa poikile, who advocated, essentially, dispassionate judgement.
Commentby Tree Frog Farmer
Goldy didn’t write that. He was quoting the Inlander.
Face it – farming is now a corporate activity. When was the last time you shopped at the corner grocery store? Same goes for the family farm. It is an inefficient use of resources, evident by the loss on every unit produced.
If Goldmark wants to eliminate the middle-man and pass those profits to the farmers, then he can go out and organize a collective, like the cranberry growers did, instead of running for congress. If this was a profitable venture, don’t you think the farmers would have been smart enough to figure it out themselves, and implemented it a long time ago? I guess that’s why we need progressives – they are smarter than the rest of us, and know how to solve all of our problems.
7
“Until the east side of the state elects some Dems, I say fuck em. I don’t go there. I don’t spend money there and I don’t care if those right wing fucks go under or not. They elected the government they wanted and now they get to live in the shit pile they asked for. Serves em right.” Commentby LeftTurn— 8/15/06@ 7:37 am
I strongly disagree. Governor Christine Gregoire won in 2004 by 133 votes. She got 425 votes from Garfield County, a rural eastern Washington county and the state’s least populous county. You do the math. In 2000, Senator Maria Cantwell defeated Slade Gorton by about 2,200 votes, and couldn’t have done it without the votes of eastern Washington Democrats. You can find many, many other close elections in the archives where eastern Washington Democrats were essential to victory. Even if they never elect a single county or city official over there, eastern Washington Democrats are vital to winning statewide offices in close races … and our statewide races do tend to be close.
Moreover, even though agriculture accounts for less than 2% of the state’s employment and only about 2% of its economic output, it’s a vital industry — without agriculture, none of us eat. So western Washington urban dwellers ought to educate themselves about farm issues, and be sensitive to the needs of the farm sector of our state’s population and economy.
Having said that, wingnut braying about Seattle running the state and rural eastern Washington residents being slighted in the halls of state government is poppycock. Eastern Washington has only 20% of the state’s population — and a third of that votes Democrat — so it’s grossly unreasonable for eastern Washington Republicans to expect to call the shots for the entire state. Over half the state’s population is concentrated in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, so naturally — based on the 1-man, 1-vote rule mandated by the federal and state constitutions — Puget Sound dominates state government.
But Puget Sound taxpayers also heavily subsidize the lightly populated, rural, eastern Washington counties. All the roads, schools, and government services over there are paid for in no small part with urban tax dollars. The people over there couldn’t begin to pay for what they have. Their tax base and income simply wouldn’t support it. We shouldn’t begrudge them our financial support, and I for one, am willing to keep supporting them. But as I hand over my tax dollars to the outstretched hands of eastern Washington wingnuts, I smile bemusedly to myself as I listen to them bitch about “welfare queens” and how “forgotten” and “disempowered” they are.
45
Janet Whore — why do you have a problem with Goldmark running for congress, but don’t have the same problem when some wingnut like Mike? Who runs for congress? You have a lot of interesting double standards. Of course, we all know you’re a paid shill for the BIAW … i.e., Kevin Carns in drag.
Janet Whore — why doesn’t Mike? Who stick to what he knows — lobbying for insurance companies — and leave policy issues he knows nothing about (like how are waitresses supposed to live on $2.15 an hour?) to grownups?
Get your bumper sticker while supplies last:
Mike? Who
He’s the Problem, Not the Solution
Roger,
You never did get around to answering the question about CEO salaries. Should the government intervene to set those salaries? If the salaries are “too large,” is it the government’s role to “correct” the “failure of the marketplace?”
And what about agriculture? If it’s so important, as you correctly point out, should government take over agriculture?
Roger@44: …as I hand over my tax dollars to the outstretched hands of eastern Washington wingnuts, I smile bemusedly to myself as I listen to them bitch…
Since they profess not to want that money, has it occured to you to maybe stop giving it to them?! Or is your own need to feel benevolently paternalistic so strong that you want to redistribute even to people who want no part of redistribution schemes?
Roger at 38: “Yes, the number of refineries has decreased. What has happened is that oil companies are closing older, smaller, less efficient refineries while expanding capacity at more efficient mega-refineries. They are doing this for economic, not environmental, reasons.”
A small quibble, if you will. A lot of the old, smaller refineries were built in what is now urban or urban-industrial areas. Take a look at the Los Angeles refineries, for example. During most of their life, they operated when there were no, or virtually no, environmental regulation. This means that there is a lot of petrochemical polution in the ground. Oil companies continued to operate many of these refineries past their useful technological life because the cost of clean-up would be so large if they were to shut them down and attempt to sell the properties. Nobody wanted to take any action which would result in soil and groundwater samples being taken, because they were pretty sure whatever results they revealed wouldn’t be good.
However, rising property prices have reversed that equation. That’s why the old Chevron facilities in Edmonds were closed and sold to developers.
In short, environmental and economic considerations go hand in hand. Its just part of the cost of doing business. Relaxing environmental regulations won’t help – it just passes the cost on to the taxpayer, in the form of Superfund projects, undrinkable groundwater wells, bank foreclosures on properties which cannot be occupied or developed due to toxic chemicals in the soil, ect.
Ann Coulter sezs that liberism is a religion. La Goldie is proof. Think about it.
Commentby Doctor JCH Kennedy
Ann Coulter is a skank plagiarist lying whore. Go ahead, associate yourself with her, it adds to your credibility
51. Ann Coulter: Republican babe Helen Thomas: Democrat babe [rwb, Which would YOU take to the prom?] hehe, JCH
Gee, the last spam inserted in this text wants me to buy valium. If the Republicans retain control of Congress in the next election, I may take them up on that.
Commentby Tree Frog Farmer Goldy didn’t write that. He was quoting the Inlander. Commentby Another TJ— 8/15/06@ 11:25 am
What do you expect from killatreefrogfaggot? Not too bright I’d say.
The War of Terror is not going so well – so what’s your position Mike Webb Sucks. Commentby John McDonald— 8/15/06@ 7:33 am
MWS: Look like someone is imitating John McDonald!
Doctor JCH Kennedy, I know what a Non-Hispanic white is, but what is a Hispanic white? A Spaniard? Commentby Skylar Vandergrift— 8/15/06@ 8:54 am
Per the American white man the answer is yes. European Spaniards are “dem white peeples”! You were considered black by libruls if you were 1/8 Negro. Check out them laws.
Is someone spoofing LeftTurn’s name?
“Until the east side of the state elects some Dems, I say **** em. I don’t go there. I don’t spend money there and I don’t care if those right wing ****s go under or not. They elected the government they wanted and now they get to live in the **** pile they asked for. Serves em right.” Commentby John Barelli— 8/15/06@ 10:24 am
Nbody is that stupid John. Leftturdy is Leftturdy. He needs a washing machine sized mouth washing!
Voting against raising the $5.15 minimum wage – Maria CantVoteTooWell.
Rabbit Pellet: Are you slowing down? You are cutting and pasting more and more these days. You used to be cogent, now you are incoherent!
Moonbat quiz:
Who knows what kind of material is used as feedstock for fertilizer.
Didn’t think so…
MTR Kennedy: Librul moonbat brains harvested in Soylent Green fashion!
These fucking idiots are talking about fuel burned by the machinery. They have no fucking idea where chem fertilizer comes from.
So tell me Peter Goldmark what is your plan to:
Stop Hezbollah attacks on Israel?
Stop islamofascists attacks everywhere?
– Remember Leon Klinghoffer? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause his death moonbats?
– Remember Robert Stethem? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause his death moonbats?
– Remember Julian Bartley, Sr. & Jay Bartley? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
– http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb....._8-13.html How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
– http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb....._9-16.html How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
Goldmark is typical leftist- long on “identifying the problem” but not a freakin’ clue as to solving it, unless it involves nationalizing it. Goodbye family farm and welcome to the “Progressive People’s Collective Farm and Cheese Cooperative”
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