A self-made man of independence takes his stand
David Jungerman is a 72-year-old Missouri farmer — a rather cantankerous 72-year old Missouri farmer. Not long ago, he hired someone to paint a pithy message on the side of an old trailer.
“Are you a producer or parasite,” the sign reads. “Democrats — party of parasites.”
Then Jungerman planted the trailer on his property along U.S. 71 south of Kansas City, where thousands could see it every day, because he wanted to protest those who “always have their hand out for whatever the government will give them.”
Some didn’t like it. At least one jerk didn’t like it a lot, and tried to burn it down. Twice. Local Democratic leaders have condemned the attempted arson.
But as it turns out, this stalwart champion of personal independence, this stubborn opponent of government handouts, has himself sought out and received federal handouts. And not just a little. Since 1995, the Kansas City Star reports, Jungerman has collected more than $1 million in federal farm subsidies. He of course claims that his case is different. It’s just his own tax money coming back to him, you see?
And now you know … the rest of the story. Good day!
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402 comments Add your comment
Dave R.
June 24th, 2010
10:04 am
Saxby is a . . . clown!
Dave R.
June 24th, 2010
10:04 am
First on the third again!
USinUK
June 24th, 2010
10:04 am
Disgusted – could you please ask Paul to pass the Excedrin …
the stooooooopid is giving me a headache.
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:05 am
It an endless cycle……one little moocher cost tax payers about 400,000 in their life time ( they contribute nothing)
when born and they in turn will off spring 4 more little moochers at 1.6 mil who they will produce 16 at 6.4 mil……well, you get the picture………The only income these folks will ever have is a share of what producers make through our tax system. Promises for votes it all it is
Yes, I know it’s not the topic…..I’m venting.
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
First of all…these days…MOST of the money paid out in farm subsidies is paid to corporate owned Mega-Farms…NOT the little guy and/or independent farmer. There are less farms now and the majority are owned by big corporations. You can track the number of farms and the acreage here:
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1259
So what these farm subsidies end up becoming is a HUGE tax rebate and payout to big multimillion-billion dollar corporations. Yet providing people with a way to BUY health insurance and to help the poor that can’t afford to do so and don’t qualify for medicaid is called a “socialist” program huh?
I’m all for the “little guy/gal” who own and operate organic farms…that don’t pollute the land they’re on…who don’t add chemicals into our water supply… but if you look what THEY get when it comes to these subsidies… it’s nearly zero (and IS in fact zero for many of them).
This is truly a program that needs to be re-examined and the FIRST thing they need to do is stop any and all subsidies to the BIG farms. It’s one thing if federal aid is needed to be paid to an “independent” farmer due to a drought or a flood that destroys their crops… big business… it should be based upon how profitable they are. If they made several million dollars in profit the previous year… they don’t need a handout if they lose crops. That’s business…quite different compared to the little farmer who may or may not lose everything they own including the roof over their head.
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
Paul,
Ehh. My blood pressure didn’t spike, cap button is all. I just think it’s funny when people get so aggravated over things that aren’t even real, don’t you?
Yeah, and USinUK wrote, there is NOOOOO such thing as a polite soccer clap. That even sounds weird to say out loud.
SPQR(laissez Faire)
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
I voted for chambliss in the general election because voting for a democrat is like fellating a satanic cactus. I did not vote for saxby in the primary.
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
Dave R.,
Maybe that’s why I hate him so….
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
10:07 am
SPQR,
So, since you voted for Chambliss, you voted for farm subsidies. So, why are you bitching about farm subsidies when you voted for the very person who is their biggest cheerleader?
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:07 am
I have an idea for those who are mad that “half” their income is taken from them as taxes…
Quit consuming things. If you don’t shop, you don’t pay sales tax. If you don’t drive, you don’t pay fuel tax. If you don’t use lights, you don’t pay energy tax. If you don’t own property, you don’t pay property tax. You’ll cut down your tax load considerably, but good luck on finding a way to live and earn an income doing that.
USinUK
June 24th, 2010
10:08 am
Bosch and Paul –
it’s like saying “a polite vuvuzela honk”
not happenin’
DEEP THROAT
June 24th, 2010
10:08 am
Southern Comfort, It’s obvious your a supporter of susidies,
Actually I am not, its just that people have chosen to attack this farmer because he has chosen an unique way of advertisement. Farmer’s are not the only ones benifitting from those subsidies.
SPQR(laissez Faire)
June 24th, 2010
10:09 am
He is not their biggest cheerleader, sen harkin , Democrat, is. I have made my views known that many republicans are only moderatly better than burn in hell democrats..but in the system we have, thats all that was on the ballot.
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:10 am
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
10:07 am
Mr. Snarky
June 24th, 2010
10:12 am
I guess Junger is both…a producer and a parasite. As with most hard core conservatives, his little Manichean duality doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
USinUK
June 24th, 2010
10:13 am
“its just that people have chosen to attack this farmer because he has chosen an unique way of advertisement”
oh, well done. join the not-original Scooter in the “boy-howdy did we miss the point” room … they’re serving chips and cokes …
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:14 am
I want some of whatever SPQR is smokin’!
Can i get that way if i just watch Hannity and Beck everyday? I can haz idiocy?
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:16 am
Farm subsidies compared to government handouts! Let me see. The guy is a farmer that means he works and the government guarantees him a profit for growing food sources this country needs. Hmmm, liberals sure are weird. Now government handouts are poviding foods stamps, housing, free college education, redundancy of services to give out more money, paying energy bills, healthcare, and these people do nothing. Maybe small jobs to supplement the government handouts.
This just like liberals! If a working man, who pays income taxes gets a penny then the conservatives are hypcrites. Apparently your endoctrinated college education did not teach you very much except to become more liberal.
Union
June 24th, 2010
10:16 am
@ jay.. i never said it was a “good” program.. but its a program to help control commodity costs. maybe there was a reason at one time.. as to the taxes.. please take a moment to consider this.. he is from missouri.. so we will have to make a couple of “swags”
two of the most produced crops in mo are corn and soy… if he farms 6800 acres and has an average year.. its gonna look like this..
corn – avg yield acre – 180 bushels – income – 4.3 mill
soy – avg yield acre – 48 bushels – income – 2.6 mill
after expenses, taxes, he might clear a 200k or less… probably less.. also.. the govt might be concerned with the cost of soy.. less production yield per acre, so it pays the farmer to grow more soy to keep the net cost down .
these calculations are based on today commodity prices..
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:16 am
DEEP THROAT
It’s obvious you don’t know me. I don’t think the government should pay one red cent for any agriculture subsidies, energy subsidies, or any subsidies for any businesses whatsoever. If there’s a market for it, people will use a business. If not, the business fails. That’s free market for ya!!
I attacked the farmer because he’s a contradicting dipsh!t. If he’s making that much in income that his taxes are as high as his subsidies, why does he need the subisidies in the first place? Can he not run a business, or is he a business owner in the mold of G.W. Bush? If his income is not that high and he’s not paying that much in federal taxes, then he’s a friggin liar and a parasite himself.
I work for the government, so I know what it’s like to be on the taxpayer’s dole. However, I pay taxes just like everyone else. Hell, I’ve been paying property taxes for 8 years, and my daughter won’t attend public school for another 3-4 years. I hate hypocrites who say one thing, but do the very same thing that they supposedly hate others for doing.
getalife
June 24th, 2010
10:16 am
Find a con that is not a hypocrite and you will have a story.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:17 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
Your orgainic farms would not feed your community much less the country. You indoctrination is deep but you need to read more about farming. You just can not wish it to happen. Crops dont grow that way.
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:18 am
williebkind, I believe you miss the irony this blog is about today.
RF
June 24th, 2010
10:19 am
Dave: the TRAILER says it all, and it’s pretty clear to me that the guy basically blames democrats, period. There’s no “what I meant” to be inferred here. He made his views well known. I have grown tired of conservatives expressing such opinions and then recanting. If you put it out there as your opinion, stand by it. It’s okay to have that opinion and disagree.
The problem here is that it’s also a tad hypocritical. It’s obviously okay to take money from government programs as long as you pay taxes. My question to this man is how much he actually paid in taxes versus the million or so in farm subsidies he’s taken. Too many in this country have that attitude that “them folks are just sitting with their hands out” while they too take advantage of what’s offered. Isn’t there something in the Bible about pointing out the splinter in your brother’s eye while ignoring the pole in your own?
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:20 am
Jay, this is a sleezy liberal ploy. To compare people who are productive to those who are not productive but depend on the generosity of others is typical liberal nonsense. You are shaping the news event in lieu of reporting the news.
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:20 am
Made my DAY……. This lady Gaga fool busted her butt in airport wearing stupid spiked shoes. I hate that our kids look up to this idiot. sitting at a Ball game half naked with families around. She needs to save that for her wacko MTV friends in private. I would ban her from yankee stadium, not just the players locker room…………………….Yea, out of left field, but I’m venting today.
Keep up the good fight!
June 24th, 2010
10:20 am
Did SPQR just say that Barton should apologize to ACORN for the demonization of a private corporate citizen and the republican-halliburton-Fox News style shakedown that occured that went far beyond the legal liablity of torts and turned it into “we’re going to cancel your contracts based on an edited tape that falsely portrays the facts and we will break you.” Yes….that is what I am sure he said.
mm
June 24th, 2010
10:21 am
Dig deep enough and you will find that every single loud mouthed wingnut is a hypocrite. And the sad part is they don’t even see it themselves.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:21 am
RF
June 24th, 2010
10:19 am
I am not recanting YOU ARE AT Fault!!!
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:22 am
Willie… what you just described (government funding of farming)…is about a close to the old USSR as any program can be in this nation. Comrades work…comrades get paid by government to work…produce wheat for other comrades.
They work…they have a job… why are we PAYING them even when they’re PROFITABLE???
anyway…nice spin on the matter. Enjoyed your rant against liberals. Perhaps we should stop funding student “loans” so that we can keep more “clueless” as to the workings of the world.
mm
June 24th, 2010
10:23 am
williebkind,
“To compare people who are productive to those who are not productive but depend on the generosity of others is typical liberal nonsense”
That is so true. We all know how unproductive the current GOP is.
DJ
June 24th, 2010
10:23 am
All you had to do is say he was a Republican farmer and I knew right away he was a hypocrite.
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:25 am
Compare social entitlement spending vs farming subsidies. You will be shocked. No comparison. I have to ask myself, do I want more ghetto’s and crime………..or more corn ? I think I know the answer.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:25 am
mm
June 24th, 2010
10:21 am
Deep down you are confused with mass disinformation. Stop reading Media matters and taking what people like Jay distort as facts.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:26 am
mm
June 24th, 2010
10:23 am
You are confused again. Are we still blaming Bush?
Outhouse GoKart
June 24th, 2010
10:26 am
mm
June 24th, 2010
10:21 am
With democrats all one has to do is scratch the surface and the hipocrysy flows like oil from an uncapped well.
Outhouse GoKart
June 24th, 2010
10:27 am
Dems dont seem to understand the difference between this farm subsidy business and govt entitlement programs.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:27 am
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:25 am
Well if your comrade in the ghetto has a gun and you have corn–guess who eats.
Rightwing Troll
June 24th, 2010
10:27 am
All you had to do is say he was a Republicant, and I knew right away he was a hypocrite.
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
willie…so the organic garden I have here… it’s “imaginary”???? I sure feel sorry for all the humans that had to grow crops before biogenetics and pesticides were around. I mean…how could one ever have grown a crop WITHOUT any of that?!
“Indoctrination”….hehe…lets see what other words you can use like “elites”…. “socialists”… what else? You paint a CLEAR PICTURE as to where you get YOUR propaganda from. Sad thing is…you except it blindly. No need to research facts. Whatever your spin doctors tell you… it must be true.
I best you miss “shock and awe” along with the little waving red white and blue flag on the Foxy Babe Entertainment Channel. Must have made ya feel like a “real American” to watch! I can only imagine the woody it created for you every time they “upped” the terror alert color from Yellow to Orange!
Anyway…I think the propaganda sources where you get your info today are WAAAAY better…much more “fear” about this “Socialist” Dictator running/ruining our nation.
DawgDad
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
Most people don’t know a whole lot about how agriculture works in this country. We live in a pseudo-fascist society with agriculture leading the way on the fascist slant.
I don’t believe in state-sponsored gambling (lotteries) and have voted against lotteries and casino gambling at every opportunity. I have never played the GA lottery. My daughter earned a hope scholarship and kept it throughout her four years of college by virtue of maintaining her GPA. Does that make me a parasite? I didn’t ask for the benefit, my daughter earned it and the state (people) forked over her tuition.
You live in a state with capital punishment. Are you a murderer?
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:29 am
The liberals aren’t on here bitchin and moaning about subsidies and what you conservatives call “handouts”, what we are pointing out is the hypocrisy of damning subsidies by a person who uses them.
josef nix
June 24th, 2010
10:29 am
America! Gotta love her!
I can see there’s not a lot of farmers hereabouts. The farm subsidy program was put in place to help regulate the supply-demand fluctuations in relation to production and availability of essential staple crops. Ten acres, or 10,000 it’s the same rules for everybody. Compliance is not compulsory and the program has to make it attractive to participate. Incidentally, the idea was first floated by George Washington Carver in his efforts to wean the Southerners away from cotton, cotton and more cotton…
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:29 am
Gokart….you are correct…….Pelosi and her 180,000 bar bill paid by us while she’s so concerned about the “little people”…………….She doesn’t give a rats ass about them if truth be known.
Rightwing Troll
June 24th, 2010
10:29 am
“Conservatives” don’t seem understand that the farm subsidies IS an entitlement program…
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:30 am
errr… willie I meant you “accept” it blindly…
-king of all typos and spelling/grammar mistakes!
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:31 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:22 am
Funding student loans so they can get a piece of paper which will get them a good job. Nowhere did you mention achievements or performance. Just that degree does it all. That is typical liberal thinking. Let me see POTUS is from harvard right. Yep, he sure did learn al lot about performance and achievments.
The Thin Guy
June 24th, 2010
10:31 am
Farmers give us food. Libs give us STD, a wrecked economy, an emasculated military, a fast track to the third world and more libs. Best advice my dad gave me was to keep your politics to yourself. There’s no point is making someone mad at you that you don’t have to have mad at you. But the beauty of the internet is you don’t know who I am and your retribution options are limited to harsh language on a blog. Here is a typical expenditure of tax money by libs
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Broadcast/arizona-cancels-125-million-bridge-squirrels/story?id=10955276
Go to go to run over a squirrel.
@@
June 24th, 2010
10:32 am
Farm subsidies, eh? What about bio-fuel.
Biofuels: At What Cost? – Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States
The report estimates that subsidies to biofuels are between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion a year.
The left is VERY supportive of THOSE farm subsidies.
US subsidies for biofuel production were condemned by the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) this morning, who said they were depriving people of food.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/03/biofuels.energy
Raising the price of food in third world countries.
You people oughta be ashamed of yourselves.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:32 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:30 am
I am a product of public schools and I usually dont proof read. However this is not english class. Get over being in school!
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:33 am
“Conservatives” don’t seem understand that the farm subsidies IS an entitlement program…
Yups…and the MOST money gets paid the the Exxons and Haliburtons of the farming industry. perhaps they “trickle” down their profits when they hire all of those illegal immigrants to work their fields…. ya know…since MOST illegal immigrants in this nation work on factory farms.
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:33 am
Willie…….it might be fair……I’m prepared to protect my corn…………and anything else………
We don’t call 911 at my house…..except for the other guy……
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:35 am
DawgDad
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
Yep, I think you’re a hypocrite. Just because your daughter “earned” it does not mean she had to accept the money. If you’re against something, be completely against it or else it makes you look like a hypocrite.
josef
The only money that needs to be handed out to farmers should be directed towards a certain group. You know the group that won their lawsuit but have yet to receive their payments.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:35 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
“how could one ever have grown a crop WITHOUT any of that?!”
We did not need to “saul the wise”. The population was not that great and we did not feed the rest of the world at that time. Dont let history get in the way of liberal thinking.
DawgDad
June 24th, 2010
10:37 am
“Conservatives” don’t seem understand that the farm subsidies IS an entitlement program…
From this corner, you are absolutely 100% wrong. And, not all of these subsidy/agricultural programs are voluntary. The government absolutely does coerce farmers into doing specifically what the government wants them to do, whether it’s planting a specific crop, not planting, taking land out of production entirely, watershed and soil conservation, etc.
Buy a piece of farmland and see how long it takes the government to show up on your doorstep.
Outhouse GoKart
June 24th, 2010
10:37 am
Subsidies benefit the individual and masses. Welfare, food stamps, public housing predominantly benefit the selfish and lazy.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
“The only money that needs to be handed out to farmers should be directed towards a certain group. You know the group that won their lawsuit but have yet to receive their payments”
Why does one have to receive money from tax payers to correct a discrimination?
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
Willie…so am I…. I’m just glad they weren’t GA public schools. Still down at the bottom of the barrel… WHY is it so friggin’ difficult for this state to provide an EDUCATION that is at LEAST in the middle? I mean it… anyone out there work in the education system or a product of it that can explain WHY??? For 10 years now…I’ve heard promises from BOTH sides about how they were going to “fix” education in GA… but over and over, year after year…GA schools produce some of the lowest test scores in the nation.
Ya…off topic…sorry…just wanted to know if anyone knows WHY and even better…a SOLUTION to fix it (no…not VOUCHERS…I’m talking public school VS public school when it comes to other states and we here in Gawga). Perhaps I’ll just bring it up again the next time edjumkation cmes up as a toopkic.
Dave R.
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
RF, you aren’t in the business of advertising, are you?
You have a trailer. You want to make a point. You need to make that point in about 3-5 seconds of drive by stare time.
You can’t write: “I really don’t like people who don’t pay taxes at all, but take government subsidies” and expect to get your point across. You also don’t have a chance to “catch” someone’s eye, nor vent your frustration at a certain party. Nor can you list your financials on the side of a trailer.
Too much focusing on what really isn’t the real issue here.
Why did Jay omit the salient point of the original article in order to make a weak (and possibly invalid) point about Mr. Jungerman?
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
Do you Libs on here actually believe that the Obama agenda is the right course for this country..? Do you really? Is to be like Europe your goal ? Really? I know Bush messed up, but really, do you think this is a path to prosperity ? Or is that the wrong question… Prosperity that is……
Peadawg
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
“Saxby is a . . . clown!”
Him and Obama should join Barnum and Baily Circus after 2012 when Obama is voted out.
Jay
June 24th, 2010
10:39 am
Actually, @@, a lot of the left, maybe most of it, opposes ethanol subsidies. Right-wing companies in Big Agriculture such as Archer Daniels MIdland have pushed that into law.
Put in another quarter and try again…
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:39 am
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
10:31 am
Not to impede on your exchange with Saul, because I’m really enjoying it, but I don’t think achievement or perfomance matters with the student loan program. The Pell Grant program has standards that have to be met, but Pell Grants are not loans and don’t have to be repaid.
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:40 am
willie @ 10:35…. actually I was not talking about HERE…I was talking about the entire HISTORY of mankind…how did anyone grow ANYTHING without chemicals? Better yet…without Roundup Ready Monsanto crops? Ya…enjoy eating that Frankenfood… when your liver shuts down one day…you’ll know why.
Outhouse GoKart
June 24th, 2010
10:40 am
“know the group that won their lawsuit but have yet to receive their payments”
Keep dreaming.
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:40 am
NPR had a big story on the Roundup-resistant weeds taking over again.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127978455
josef nix
June 24th, 2010
10:40 am
willie
Saul is the first to make snarky comments about his OWN typos, etc. He calls himself “-king of all typos and spelling/grammar mistakes! He’s wrong, of course, since I can easily run him a race for that…!
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:40 am
Why does one have to receive money from tax payers to correct a discrimination?
Because, the government .i.e “we taxpayers” lost the case. Had there been no discrimination at all, we wouldn’t have to pay anything. It’s cause and effect.
Union
June 24th, 2010
10:42 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
willie…so the organic garden I have here… it’s “imaginary”???? I sure feel sorry for all the humans that had to grow crops before biogenetics and pesticides were around. I mean…how could one ever have grown a crop WITHOUT any of that?!
umm.. yeah.. try that organic growing on 30,000 acres.. see how poor that makes you
DEEP THROAT
June 24th, 2010
10:42 am
Has anyone driven from Macon to Atlanta lately ? Nice billboard, I’m sure Jay would like to know who paid to have it put up so he could try and dig up something to attack them for.
JB
June 24th, 2010
10:44 am
Saul good……. Education problem……..The problem is the home. Single parents, working parents, indifferent parents, no parents, self indulged parents…….they don’t care, kids won’t. case in point, Washington DC schools. $14,000 per student, per year. Grades getting worse. You could attend almost ANY prep private school in the south for those kind of bucks. Spend 34,000 per kid. won’t matter. The break down of the family is the ROOT. Laugh, ridicule if you like, it’s the truth.
Union
June 24th, 2010
10:46 am
JB.. or you could spend less per student in washington.. almost a 1/3 and have better results.. well.. that would be awesome.. but the nea / democrats / unions… would want to shut that down…
jt
June 24th, 2010
10:46 am
“Compliance is not compulsory and the program has to make it attractive to participate.”
This is true. Kinda like our income tax system is VOLUNTARY.
To grow SUBSTANTIAL crops and acreage, and to compete in this centrally-planned economy and not go bankrupt, one WILL comply.
Hypocritical or not, the Farmer’s statement is correct.
Lance
June 24th, 2010
10:46 am
Jay, you are defeating your own argument by providing the correct information on farm subsidies. The government provides these subsidies in many cases to control the pricing of the commodities. Farming is NOT an example of a free market system, but a socialistic one. Farmers can’t make it without subsidies because they have no control over the pricing of their goods. As one ex farmer put it – “farming is tough because you have to buy your supplies retail but you sell your goods wholesale”.
EJ
June 24th, 2010
10:46 am
1. Federal government subsidizes farmers.
2, You are a farmer and now must compete against other farmers who are getting aid, or go out of business.
What do you choose to do?
The choice is rather clear to most rational people. So why do liberals take that as a chance to say “Aha!” and call it a double standard?
Because it’s just easy.
He is participating in a system he did not create and does not endorse. To not do so means failure. Certainly we can speak out against a system that does not work yet we are all forced to participate in to survive.
josef nix
June 24th, 2010
10:50 am
Okay, dokey Saul…
Why is Georgia at the bottom? For 250 years education was denied to a huge bloc of the population, then the death of the educated elite of an entire generation came along and with it a descent into ignorance as the whole population was more concerned with grits and greens than the discussion of the iambic-pentameter. Follow that by another 100 years of attempts to rebuild an economy from a burnt to the ground infrastructure and with that a tax base that was hardly conducive to anything much beyond one room with one teacher teaching all grades 1-8 and anything beyond that not even in the dreams of even the most highly motivated. Add to that the brain drain as millions, yes millions, had to leave to go elsewhere to find work. Add to that Georgia’s own stupidity by closing doors by law to any advancement by a significant segment of the population.
It’s going to take a long, long time to “fix” that problem. But for starters, we might want to look at where it came from and, well, we don’t want to do that…too many skeletons in that closet for comfort…
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:51 am
Josef… when I type here…i never proof read until AFTER I hit submit…then when I go back and read it (most of all when one references back to it)…I’m like…ACK!!!!
Mentioned once before that in HS I took typing and dropped out to take Russian Literature…BIG MISTAKE… well… perhaps I should have taken BOTH and dropped something else… like the computer course where learned to make REALLY LONG BANNERS of my favorite bands.
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:52 am
Willie, the US doesn’t fee the world.
Mr T
June 24th, 2010
10:53 am
Mr T pities the fool that dont like farm grown garden veggies.
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
10:53 am
“The government absolutely does coerce farmers into doing specifically what the government wants them to do, whether it’s planting a specific crop, not planting, taking land out of production entirely, watershed and soil conservation, etc.”
Dude, it’s not the government, it’s Big Ag — as Jay said above, put another quarter in and try to play again.
RF
June 24th, 2010
10:56 am
Dave: He wasted a few seconds and quite a bit of money per letter on “Democrats- Party of Parasites”…. Short, sweet, and clear what he thinks. He could have written “Taxpayers- Producers” if that is what he meant. Simple as that.
Willie- don’t dish out blame unless you’re willing to take some. Conservatives and the GOP are hardly blameless for our current problems and no more or less able to help solve them. The problem is that they’ve worked themselves into an ideological corner where any debate, discussion, or willingness to work with democrats to sponsor ANYTHING is seen as traitorous. I blame both parties and expect both to work together towards solutions. The GOP isn’t interested in that, at least publicly. It’s all about working against “them dang libruls” and blaming every social ill on them. Funny how many protest government handouts but would storm the capitol if we did away with Social Security or Medicare or farm subsidies…
Jay
June 24th, 2010
10:57 am
Lance, you make some valid points, but here’s the bottom line: A lot of folks want to reform that system and allow the free market to play a larger role. The biggest obstacle to that change are the farmers whom you depict as unhappy captives of the system.
A system that they fight with every bit of their power to sustain.
big jim
June 24th, 2010
10:57 am
For you “intelligent” people who seem to think that
Dems/Repubs are at the root of all problems, the
real issue is our gullibility AND hypocracy!!!
Gullible(or gullable) because we adopt some rich A-hole’s
principles and fight and die for them!!!
Hypocritical because we accept “BIG GOVERNMENT”
when we need it, and we denouce “BIG GOVERNMENT”
when it takes too much in taxes,etc.
Stupid people will always be stupid. I don’t think we
should let stupid,racist,or over the line comments
even make it to press. Will we ever learn?
Finn McCool
June 24th, 2010
10:58 am
errr, that should be “feed the world”
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
10:59 am
josef
You know people are scared of skeletons and stuff. Skeletons are closely related to ghosts…
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
11:00 am
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
Well, those in my high school have done well. But you know how it is now-a-days, teachers get raises for education not performance. Some do a good job but many ride the system given to them by the unions. Can you name three of the forefathers? If you can you did not learn in hight school.
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
11:00 am
Willie, the US doesn’t fee the world.
Maybe if we did, our budget deficits wouldn’t be so bad.
Scout
June 24th, 2010
11:02 am
“Daddy, we have our own garden, valets, servants and security. Do you have all those greedy farmers in line yet?”
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
11:02 am
“A system that they fight with every bit of their power to sustain.”
I noticed someone mentioned the all popular voucher system a little ways up — the one group who doesn’t want to see them? Private schools.
jt
June 24th, 2010
11:03 am
Hypocritical because we accept “BIG GOVERNMENT”
when we need it,
Who’s this “we” you talking about?
Must be listening to the cartoon voices in your head again. Like most statist.
Try another dollar. Quarter won’t buy nothing in this Obamanation.
@@
June 24th, 2010
11:03 am
Actually, @@, a lot of the left, maybe most of it, opposes ethanol subsidies.
So why haven’t you guys put a stop to it, jay? It continues to this day.
The administration sent $23 million to the state offices of the Farm Service Agency in the fall, and is poised to distribute another $514 million.
The Agriculture Department, for its part, says it has no choice but to implement the subsidy the way Congress envisioned it under the 2008 farm bill.
2008? That’s after the dems took over, isn’t it?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/09/AR2010010902023.html
Where, exactly, am I supposed to stick that quarter? If I may suggest…
josef nix
June 24th, 2010
11:04 am
SoCo
That “group?” When I think of how the most experienced agrarians in the country were left by their “liberators” without even a patch of dirt to scratch out a subsistence “living” and then, those who persevered and prevailed, treated as some kind of ignorant backwoods yee-haws, looked down upon by all concerned and not even let IN line, much less the back of the line…ssshhheesh and oy! gevalt.
williebkind
June 24th, 2010
11:04 am
RF
June 24th, 2010
10:56 am
Oh I have a lot to blame on the so called conservatives. I think you call them neocons. Liberals in republican disguise.
RF
June 24th, 2010
11:05 am
Thin guy: 1.25 million (stupid project, I agree). How much was that Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska going to cost in comparison? Waste in federally funded projects is not news, and hardly points to either party as a sole culprit.
Saul Good
June 24th, 2010
11:06 am
josef @ 10:50am…
Thanks…good answer! I think it’s still a bit DEEPER as to what’s been taking place now… but thanks for your thoughtful answer and the “edjumakation” you provided!
Jay
June 24th, 2010
11:06 am
@@, the problem is that the farm state senators of both parties stick up for each other. The corn ethanol folks defend the cotton, tobacco, peanut and sugar subsidies. The cotton folks defend the corn ethanol, peanut, tobacco and sugar subsidies. And on and on, ad infinitum.
Bush actually did try to reform this mess, and he had support from folks in both parties. But not enough, because the Big Ag folks defeated them.
Southern Comfort
June 24th, 2010
11:07 am
Tell me about it jo… Not to mention the numerous inventions and enhancements that were made in that time. Yet, not too many seem willing to help those who have already helped them.
Bosch
June 24th, 2010
11:09 am
“Hypocritical because we accept “BIG GOVERNMENT”
when we need it, ”
Reminds me of this local commissioner guy I heard on the TV last night – CNN – griping, bitching, complaining, non-stop about Obama and the oil spill — even went so far as to say that Obama is a complete failure because of this this went on to McChrystal and Afghanistan — just griping, bitch, bitch, bitch — this federal bureaucrat is gonna be responsible for thousands of dead pelicans and thousands of people out of jobs……
I thought to myself – okay, say the federal government left your area and left it to you and BP……and we’ll get back to you in say six months for another interview……
RF
June 24th, 2010
11:10 am
Williebkind: Who cares what we call them? Is there ever going to be a chance of the two sides working together on anything? Push and pull and fight, but get things done and quit holding up important legislation because you don’t want the other party to score a win. I’d love to a conservative actually vote FOR a piece of legislation he sponsors after the democrats decide they like it too.
hotlanta
June 24th, 2010
11:11 am
Poor people get handouts while rich folks get subsidies. PRICELESS