No Clean Sweep

With a clean sweep of Republicans from office across Washington state on November 4, 2008, I puzzled why we did not remove one of the worst offenders from the fourth legislative district. Surely the voters knew of his abuse as head of the ethics committee when he obstructed justice for years. I thought back to my childhood on the farm during the FDR presidency. We were fed the Republican rhetoric every day of the year, not just during the period of electioneering. Before radio and TV, farm magazines were bad mouthing any action that would equalize benefits for all, every worker - not only farmers, every day, in every article. My dad would have none of the glitzy farm journals.
Agriculture has been the backbone of America since colonial times. Jefferson sent The Corps of Discovery to the west to stake claim on all land from ocean to ocean. His intent was to populate the land with people. That’s what people can do - grow their own food and survive.

I watch grain pile up by the Snake river as it comes by the barge to be held until demand for wheat improves. Overseas is the target. This morning I found a news item where wheat imports are curtailed by Japan because of safety rules. Has our grain been carriers of disease or insects or dirt to alert that government to change its imports?
A law in our congress allows farmers to apply for the privilege of getting subsidy price for their wheat and hundreds of farmers expanded their acres of wheat. They applied for easy welfare. The market glutted.
Four conical piles of grain were heaped on the ground in the Snake river storage in July. Two were hauled away in September. Two remain protected by enormous canvases and elaborate aerating systems to maintain the integrity of the grain. The Department of Agriculture makes the rules.
Believing the propaganda from International Agra-businesses, most of my tax-paying neighbors once more preferred the bad guy.

Naomi Sherer