Dumb-ass farmers that voted for bush get their payback

[goddess40]

MILC program set to expire
Conferees of the Homeland Security appropriations bill removed a two-year extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract program, which will expire at the end of the 2005 fiscal year. MILC provides funding to small dairy farmers when the price of milk falls below a certain specified level.

The amendment didn’t survive, despite a kick-start from President Bush, who endorsed it on the campaign trail. The cost of the amendment would have been $2.5 billion over 10 years, although some senators argued that the program did very little for larger dairy producers.
http://www.nyfb.org/Grassroots/grass1104/MILC.htm

We tried to tell them that * was was a liar but would they listen - NO. I like the fact that they let it die because it didn't help the cooperate farms - the bill was intended to help the small farmer.

[sui generis]

1. and our Democratic representatives need to say that too

just like that: you buncha dumbass farmers who voted for bush, this is what happens when you vote Republican. So sorry we can't do anything to help you now.

P.S. I hope voting to discriminate against gays was worth every penny.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Well said.

[northzax]

5. I think we should support gutting the farm bill

get rid of the white elephant. Why should the blue coasts support the red states that consistently vote against OUR interests? They fuck us, I see no reason not to repay the favour.

[sui generis]

11. actually, to be fair though

many real farmers actually DO vote for democratic candidates; I believe they are as split in that demographic as the rest of the nation is.

[madrchsod]

2. well that`s nice-no more

picturesque small dairy farms while i wind my way thru southern wisconsin next spring. small family farmers just don`t get. but maybe it`s a good thing because who knows how many of those cows will come down with "mad cow disease" from the deer herds in southern wisconsin and northern il. i guess we should all thank that worthless piece of crap tommy-show me the money-thompson

[EC]

9. I'm Here in South Eastern Corner of WI

and when I looked at the poll results after the election, all the surrounding area (around the city proper) voted *. They have all pretty much been selling off their land to developers anyway - it's a new generation thing - Mom & Pop dies, kids don't want to farm and have all that land, they sell for big bucks - developers build - advertise as country living estates - Ha, there are no yards in these new developements, and so many houses squeezed into the space, where is the country living?

[shoelace414]

4. We have no pull as a swing state?

[eek]

6. while doing various campaigny things

I'd ask old-timers about the weird farmer/bush thing.
(I'm new here).
having recently taken a drive out in 'the country" I was surprised and appalled at all the bush/cheney signs .

Made no sense but one fellow said it had to do with habit.
habit, guns and gays I suppose.

DServes them right. I just wonder if those dumbasses will "git" what happened here.

[hlthe2b]

7. Related issue: (pardon my ignorance), but why the hell are milk prices

SO HIGH??????????????????????????????????????????? $5.00 a gallon is just ridiculous?

I'm sure I missed something somewhere, but will someone please give me a primer on the issue?

[politicat]

10. At least out here, it's in part because of drought over the last few years

We had a terrible drought, and thus the price of feed went through the roof and into orbit. Lots of ranchers and dairy farmers both had to slaughter their herds (you'll remember the price of beef was pretty low there for a while) to cut their losses. The herds are still recovering.

Now, how the government could have helped this? Import feed and subsidize the price by selling below cost as an emergency measure to keep the farms alive; crack down on city and county governments that prey on farmers who have, as their only asset, a very large water right of way and buy it to support a golf course or a swimming complex; put a moratorium on building new construction during any drought event; go after ADM and ConAgra as a feed and grain bi-opoly and take them on for price fixing. Those two have been very responsible for the increase in the price of feed, and while you can feed beef cattle on hay - if the hay is of reasonable quality - dairy requires sileage and a higher protein diet. After all, they're lactating mothers.

(Thanks to Mr. Pcat, who grew up on a dairy farm for the technical information.)

Pcat

On edit: another factor is the rising cost of oil; as oil gets more expensive, so does transportation, and you can't raise cattle in the middle of a city. And as oil goes up, so does the cost of power, and thus of running the processing equipment. (Coolers and separators and such.)

[sybylla]

13. Most farmers will tell you there is very little relation between

the price they get and the price you pay at the store. Fluid milk is only a small part of the market for milk which includes cheese, creams, butters, powdered milk and whey for packaged dry mixes, etc. A very small portion of the milk produced goes into bottles to be sold at the store. And the price of milk at the store is more likely to get hit hard by transportation costs a la $2-$3 gas.

The price dairy farmers get, besides being regulated by the government through dairy compacts and ridiculously ancient price controls, is also controlled by large corporations like Kraft who purchase the lion's share for their cheese products and work to keep the price as low as possible. So in effect, the middleman gets to set the prices while both the producer and consumer get screwed.

I wonder how much money Kraft execs gave to the chimp's administration?

[ewagner]

15. Adding to

your otherwise excellent explanation, It has always amazed me that the Dairy Farmer is probably the ONLY BUSINESSMAN IN AMERICA WHO ALLOWS HIS PRODUCT TO LEAVE THE FARM WITHOUT KNOWING HOW MUCH HE IS GETTING PAID FOR IT. They have no clue what price the creamery, cheese factory or end user is going to pay them until the end of the month in which the product was delivered.

It's insane....

Also the base price for milk used to be determined by the number of miles the farm was away from EAU CLAIRE WISCONSIN. So California and New York State got higher base prices than Wisconsin.

[ewagner]

8. Dave Obey tried to warn them

He told us it was a scam even as Dubya was lying his ass off in Wisconsin......

Dubya was in deep trouble in the last weeks of the campaign and lied, and lied and lied at every campaign stop...and the dumbasses believed him....

We need to rub the farmer's noses in this, they deserve it if they voted for bush*.

[BrainRants]

12. We were amazed

at the number of B/C signs in our travels throughout rural Wisconsin also. Here in the Green Bay area the Brown County DNC was consistently short on signs.

On the one hand, this is (was?) America's Dairyland, but at the same time I'm going to have a hard time shredding tears for a lot of the folks who voted B/C as they lose their farms.

I have a friend, staunch Repug with whom I've debated to the point of calling a truce until after the election who just lost his job. Politically, it's hard feeling sorry for him. As a friend I think he needs a little rough times to WTFU, farmers need some time without federal subsidies to remember who buttered their bread all these years.

[goddess40]

14. Another Cheney lie

This is Goddess40's mom. Cheney was in Wausau just before the election and met with several families at a local restaurant. A farmer asked about the MILC bill. Cheney said (out of the side of his mouth while rubbing his hands together), "The MILC bill was set to expire. We will let it expire but then we will bring it back and pass it." I sure wish I knew the name of that farmer because if I did you can bet I would be calling him to ask him how he felt about this.
A famous author said of another author years ago, "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." The same goes for Cheney.

[RevCheesehead]

16. Hi, BrainRants!

And welcome to DU! :hi:

Glad to meet another DUer in my area! I'm in Algoma.

You're right about the campaign signs. I was told in August and September that signs were being withheld until sometime during the debates, by the central campaign HQ! I told them I thought it was stupid, because "early advertising" is very effective (and they agreed wholeheartedly).

Then, all through October, signs were given out sparingly. They also had a bunch of stolen signs, and when they handed them out, they told me to make sure people brought them indoors at night. In mid-October, they would only give me 6 signs for Algoma - and they were given away in one day. On the Saturday before the election, I stopped in at HQ - and they were pushing the signs. They said they had more than plenty for everyone. I just looked at them and said, "kinda late, don't ya think?"

(this is a complaint about the Kerry campaign strategy, NOT the volunteers at Green Bay! They were WONDERFUL!)

[BrainRants]

18. Sign stealage

Yeah, we had signs stolen also. Learned to take them in at night. You haven't lived until you've had your two and four year old fighting in the morning to put out the sign. It's still in the garage and they still want to put it out every morning.

"Veterans for Kerry" stickers are staying on the cars though!

[TheMightyFavog]

17. Where I come from....

A lot of the farmers have been brainwashed by the NRA and the fundies with the whole Guns, God, and Gays rhetoric.