Farmer: 'It was the system that failed us'

[proud2BlibKansan]

Mountain Grove, Missouri (CNN) -- Thunder clapped and rain fell just before Bionce, Sassy and the rest of Mark Argall's prize-winning dairy herd went up for auction.

Had the storm come a few weeks earlier, and if the drought had eased, it might have saved the cows -- some of which were named with a bit of poetic license ("You can spell names however you want," he said) for pop-culture divas and celebrities.

As it was, however, Argall's pasture was so dry that his cattle had nothing to eat, and the farmer was losing $75 a day just trying to feed them.

Five generations of his family have milked dairy cows in this secluded stretch of Missouri's Ozark Mountains, but the inch or so of rain that fell on this recent Thursday was too little, too late. Argall -- a 54-year-old with a wiry, broomstick mustache -- had no choice but to sell nearly all of his cows at a livestock auction.

more . . . http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/24/us/drought-missouri-dairy-farmers/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

[xchrom]

1. du rec. Nt

[warrior1]

2. How Cows (Grass-Fed Only) Could Save the Planet

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1953692,00.html

[gulliver]

6. +1

Thanks for posting!

[ProSense]

3. Republicans blocked

the Farm bill.

The Obama administration earlier this month announced emergency drought assistance that included low-interest emergency loans; a federal buy-up of meat from livestock producers; and the opening up of some protected lands for livestock grazing.

<...>

Michael Scuse, under secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said dairy farmers have not been offered enough of a safety net because Congress has not finalized an omnibus piece of legislation called the Farm Bill.

"Had we had a Farm Bill passed by now, there's a very good chance we could offer some additional assistance" to dairy farmers who are struggling because of the drought, he said.

<...>

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Senate and the House's agriculture committee passed versions of the five-year bill, which includes everything from food stamps to crop insurance. Much of the debate about the bill centers on programs to feed low-income people. The House returns from August recess on September 10, and could take up the measure then.

[liberalhistorian]

5. Yes, and many of these same farmers and ranchers

who are hurting and bitching now are the same ones who VOTED FOR THESE PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I live in a heavily agricultural western state that has only one congress critter; she's another ignorant airhead tea-nutter who barely won in 2010, and she "won" by going heavily negative the last few weeks of the campaign, bringing in tens of millions of outsider spending to blit the Dem congresswoman before she had the chance to truly defend herself. She lied, lied, lied, and lied some more, which she continues to do even now, but because she had R after her name and she looked hot riding a damned horse, none of that mattered. She's done nothing but completely toe the Boehner line, despite her claim during the campaign that the Dem rep was a puppet of Pelosi (a total, outright fucking lie) and she wouldn't ever be the same.

She's holding NO town halls during the recess (even though she represents an entire fucking state), except for a pay-per-plate fundraiser. Gee, thanks, we gotta pay just to see our own reps, when we're the ones who pay her fancy fat salaries and health care/retirement perks even though she's doing her best to ensure we don't get any decent health care. She even refused to debate the Dem candidate at one of the major debate events of all campaigns for decades, the Farmers Union-sponsored debate at the state fair, because she says it's "partisan", when it has more repubs than Dems and is NOT a "partisan" debate. She probably saw the word "union" and that was it, the blithering idiot.

She's too afraid to debate or face her angry constituency because she knows she doesn't know shit and that she doesn't have any answers. Fucking coward. And yet, because she has her own farm and looked hot on a horse, the idiot farmers and ranchers here voted for her. Now they're pissed because she's a blithering airhead idiot who fucked them over with the farm bill and is now hiding from them as much as possible. Well, fuck it, THEY MADE THEIR OWN DAMN BED HERE.

I'm sorry, I know how much many of them are hurting, but there's a part of me that's having a hard time feeling much sympathy for those who voted for her or any other republican.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Excellent points, all. This is the case throughout the west and mid-west. These morons all believe

they are rugged individualists and don't need nothin' from nobody, except when reality smacks them upside the head, then they scream like the little punks they are.

They're the source of income for every con game and scam that comes down the pike and they all want their Representatives to "bring home the bacon" from DC so they don't have to really compete in the marketplace they all worship.

[Aerows]

10. South Dakota?

Just curious.

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. Yeah, sounds like Rep. Kristi Noem.

[onethatcares]

4. I have to agree, it's the system

that won't acknowlege climate change and the need to address the carbon put in the atmosphere, the clear cutting of the forests, the paving over of a lot of the country that causes these droughts.

What did he want the "System" to do? Give him money to keep his little slice of the pie while he would rail against
"those" people wanting the "system" to help them eat and live.

.

We have left this planet and country in the worst shape it's ever been in and it doesn't seem to

have a stopping point. Our grandkids are going to hate us.

[gulliver]

7. It was the lack of a system that failed them, imo. n/t

[Fumesucker]

8. Wouldn't it be socialism if the government were to give this man money?

Why yes, yes it would.

Bootstraps, they're what you feed cattle with during a drought.

There was a man who had three new hunting dogs and before he named them, he took them out for a trial run. One he named Hustler because he really worked hard at flushing the birds. The second he named Banker, because he took the birds away from Hustler when he was retrieving them. The third he named Farmer because he sat there and howled until they gave it to him.

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. LMAO. Perfect! n/t

[nanabugg]

12. Yes, it was the "system" you voted in office when you voted for those anti-government dittoheads. n

[MadHound]

13. How do you know who he voted for? n/t

[ProSense]

15. This might be a clue

from the article:

McCallister relayed some of these concerns to his congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, when she visited the area this month. Emerson has tried and, so far, failed to push through emergency drought legislation that would aid dairy farmers. The Republican took to the House floor with a photo of McCallister's dried-up farm to make her point.

It's not definitive, but at the very least, his rep is a Republican. It is Missouri.

[MadHound]

16. Yeah, he's in Missouri, so am I

So am I somehow automatically suspect in your eyes now? Hate to break it to you, but there are lots of Democrats and liberals in Missouri, just not a majority. I suggest that you stop judging people by where they live.

Ooo, he talked to his rep, you know what, so do I. And yes, my rep is Republican as well. But you deal with the government you've got, not the one you wish you had, that is the nature of participatory democracy.

But hey, keep making those broadbrush judgements based on nothing else than where a person lives.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. +1

[ProSense]

20. WTF?

"So am I somehow automatically suspect in your eyes now? Hate to break it to you, but there are lots of Democrats and liberals in Missouri, just not a majority. I suggest that you stop judging people by where they live. "

Who said anything about you? I'm in NJ, does that make me a Christie supporter?

I pointed out that the person spoke to his rep, wrote a letter to her, and she used him as a subject in her floor speech.

Was that you? No? Alright then.

"But hey, keep making those broadbrush judgements based on nothing else than where a person lives. "

Maybe you should stop trying to use red herrings to cover your defensiveness. The point was about the article.

[MadHound]

23. No, the point to your post was your baseless accusation that he's a 'Pug,

Based on no more than the fact that he communicates with his rep, and as you said, he's from Missouri. Stop trying to cover your boorish comments with faux outrage. We've seen this act from you one too many times, and it has gotten old.

[ProSense]

24. Bullshit! n/t

[ProSense]

26. FYI

He's a Republican:

Stacey Mccallister

farmer
self-employed
Q1-2008
Mountain Grove, MO
$400 donation to mike huckabee

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php/neighbors.php?type=name_address&lat=37.2975340000&oldest=1&lng=-92.3241320000&lname=Mccallister&fname=Stacey

From the OP article:

The "unless things change" part is key for McCallister. He is both praying for rain -- his church, First Christian in Mountain Grove, held an event just for that purpose -- and pressuring the government for policy changes that could help small dairy farmers.

Watch the clip: Trusting God will save the farm

Another article:

“Why is a farmer in a natural disaster different than anyone else?” McCallister wrote on Harvest Public Media’s Facebook page. “I bet victims of Katrina and other tragedies don’t have to wait till they do their taxes.”

http://kcur.org/post/livestock-producers-drought-aid-held-congress

[ProSense]

28. Oh, and

Based on no more than the fact that he communicates with his rep, and as you said, he's from Missouri. Stop trying to cover your boorish comments with faux outrage. We've seen this act from you one too many times, and it has gotten old.

...speaking of "boorish comments" and "faux outrage," does learning that the asshole is a Republican make you feel foolish?

[Zalatix]

29. Ouch. SPANK. *crickets*

[MadHound]

34. Well then, why the hell didn't you bring that evidence to light earlier?

Your initial claim was indeed a broadbrush attack, consisting of "he must be a Republican because he talks with his 'Pug rep and he's from Missouri." That's what you said.

Finally, finally, you get some actual facts to back your happy ass up with. Congratulations, next time, why don't you have that evidence in place instead of accusing him based on where he lives?

Facts, try them more often.

[ProSense]

36. Why the

"Well then, why the hell didn't you bring that evidence to light earlier?"

...hell did you jump on the defensive without knowing the facts? The clues are in the article. People are allowed to make educated guesses. Throwing defensive tantrums is another matter.

"Finally, finally, you get some actual facts to back your happy ass up with. "

My "happy ass" is laughing at the thought of your embarrassment.

[MadHound]

37. Because your initial assertion that he was a 'Pug

Was based on two things, he communicated with his 'Pug rep, and he was from Missouri. How would you like it if I accused your neighbor of being a 'Pug just because of where he lives?

It wasn't an "educated guess" that you made, but a biased, bigoted broadbrush accusation. Next time get your facts in place before making such accusations.

[ProSense]

38. He is a Republican

And stop making me laugh because you're upset that I was right.

[MadHound]

39. This isn't about whether or not you're right

But rather about the fact that you feel you can make a broadbrush, bigoted accusation based on no more than where somebody lives, which is exactly what you did in your first reply to me.

It shows you up in a bad light, but that's hardly anything new.

[ProSense]

41. Bullshit.

"But rather about the fact that you feel you can make a broadbrush, bigoted accusation based on no more than where somebody lives, which is exactly what you did in your first reply to me. "

There was no fucking "broadbrush, bigoted accusation"

Here is my entire comment:

This might be a clue

from the article:

McCallister relayed some of these concerns to his congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, when she visited the area this month. Emerson has tried and, so far, failed to push through emergency drought legislation that would aid dairy farmers. The Republican took to the House floor with a photo of McCallister's dried-up farm to make her point.

It's not definitive, but at the very least, his rep is a Republican. It is Missouri.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1200949

You're evidently pissed and sensitive about being from Missouri. The state votes Republican. Six of its nine reps are Republicans.

Deal with it and stop making baseless accusations and trying to imply that the comment was "bigoted"

Your claim is asinine.

Actually, it's silly.

[MadHound]

42. Thanks for reposting that, saves me the trouble

And your words prove my point better than anything else I can say. As your post says, your clues are that his rep is a 'Pug, and he is from Missouri.

What's asinine is making an accusation with only those two "clues" to back yourself up with.

[ProSense]

43. Stop projecting

You were wrong, and now you're desperately trying not to look foolish.

[coalition_unwilling]

40. Oh, Snap! - n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Emerson is one of the few who works WITH Democrats

My former congressman, a Democrat, just loved her and spoke highly of her bipartisan skills. So just because she took pictures of this man's farm to the House floor doesn't make him a republican.

[ProSense]

21. Who cares? She voted for the Ryan-Akin bill.

Fuck her, she's a Republican.

[ProSense]

22. "My former congressman, a Democrat, just loved her and spoke highly of her bipartisan skills. "

So "bipartisanship" is good when used to praise a Republican?

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Compromise is how they get things done.

I would think you would be smart enough to know that.

Those of us who live in red states understand this very well. We manage to get legislation we support passed by republicans who control our state houses by compromising with them. The only reason our schools in my state have not been completely stripped of their funding is because of moderate republicans. A moderate republican just last week dropped the charges against Planned Parenthood here in KS.

I hate what the republican party has become but I appreciate that there are still a few who have some sense. And Jo Ann Emerson is one of them.

[ProSense]

27. I have no respect for anyone who supports Akin's bill. n/t

[ProSense]

30. This is interesting:

Those of us who live in red states understand this very well. We manage to get legislation we support passed by republicans who control our state houses by compromising with them. The only reason our schools in my state have not been completely stripped of their funding is because of moderate republicans. A moderate republican just last week dropped the charges against Planned Parenthood here in KS.

I hate what the republican party has become but I appreciate that there are still a few who have some sense. And Jo Ann Emerson is one of them.

In another thread you're railing against Obama's education policy.

There you're claiming that there is no difference between Democrats and Republcians.

Now you say: "Compromise is how they get things done"

Here you're defending a Republican by claiming that she's the reason the schools in the state haven't been "completely stripped of their funding."

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. And I make it very clear in that thread that there's a difference between state and federal policies

You need to learn to read. You've got jumping to conclusions down pat.

[ProSense]

33. So Republicans are

"And I make it very clear in that thread that there's a difference between state and federal policies

You need to learn to read. You've got jumping to conclusions down pat."

...great at the state level, but not the federal? Or are they better than Obama at the state level?

Isn't Emerson a member of the U.S. Congress?

Does she support the Republican plan for education?

You need to stop defending despicable Republicans.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

14. "trusting God to save the farm"

is the headline on the video. Maybe thats half of their problem right there. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

[nc4bo]

17. Actions have consequences that you'll eventually have to live with.

Last edited Sat Aug 25, 2012, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)

That is all.

[B Calm]

35. Another fine example of farmers voting

against their own best interests!

[coalition_unwilling]

44. FWIW, the quote that headlines the OP was uttered by Argall's wife, Jeanette, and not

Mark Argall himself.

That said, as ProSense pointed out upthread, Argall is a Republican. Republicans blocked the Omnibus Farm Bill (would have provided short-term financial aid to small farmers like Argall). Republicans scuttled Kyoto (the international accord to ameliorate global climate change, one cause of the drought). Finally, Republicans have been trying for the past 70 years to kill the New Deal, many of whose provisions directly benefited farmers like Argall.

So, it wasn't 'the system' that failed the Argalls. It was the Republican Party. And Mark Argall voted for the very instruments of his demise.

N.B. I grew up on a small family dairy farm about 75 miles to the west-northwest of the Argalls

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. How do you know he's a republican?

I don't see that in the article anywhere.

[coalition_unwilling]

46. My bad 100%. I confused two different farmers in the source article (Argall and McCallister) and

conflated the two. Not enough coffee this a.m. when I posted, so not all brain cells had switched on.

I think I should let my post and your response (and this acknowledgment of my error) stand for thread integrity purposes. However, it is your thread, so please let me know if you think i should delete my erroneous post. (I'll be more than happy to erase evidence of my dufosity and poor reading comprehension skills

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. Let it stay.

I'd love to see this broad brush crap ended here. Maybe this will help.

Thanks for the apology.