Farm Bill Vetoed

Good news: Bush vetoed the "irresponsible" farm bill. $300 billion not wasted so far, but I imagine with some tweaks they'll still end up signing something fairly hefty. To roundup nationally and locally:

• Obama supports
• Clinton supports
• McCain opposes

• Udall supports
• Pearce supports
• Wilson opposes

Why might you want to oppose? Some obvservations here or you can enjoy selected earmarks from Swine Line:

-$500 million for the Qualified Forestry Bonds Program. This program was added to the Farm Bill to benefit one company, the Plum Creek Timber Company.

-$170 million for distressed salmon fishermen in California, Oregon and Washington. Maybe they just need a good therapist.

-The Equine Equity Act. According to Sen. McConnell (R-Ky.), “My legislation will remove the unfair tax burden on horses that discourage investment in the horse industry.”

Fun stuff! Of course I'm not interested in subsidies that affect the market and in the end hurt everybody involved but the minority that are making money from the rest of our hard work. Even in cases where one might be absolutely needed, $750,000 is a bit much for us to consider needing a lot of help through subsidies. It also doesn't help when senators don't understand basic terms and cite those reasons for their vote.