The ONE Blog
With a bitter debate over farm subsidies expected on the House floor this week, the Department of Agriculture is under siege for its slapdash distribution of payments.
According to findings released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office, the USDA “sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period” from 1999 to 2005.
The auditors concluded that of the payments collected by the estates of deceased farmers, 40 percent went to those whose owners had been dead for over three years, and 19 percent to those whose owners had died more than seven years earlier.
“Given extremely tight budget restraints, it is no longer tolerable to permit billions of dollars in farm bill payments to go to individuals who in stances don’t even farm or are no longer alive,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin.
In light of the report, the Iowa Democrat is calling for lower ceilings and stricter limits on farm subsidies, giving hope to those calling for a substantive overhaul of the Farm Bill that would benefit small business farmers in the U.S. as well as millions of farmers in less developed countries around the world.
This morning’s Washington Post had a great editorial about how important it is for Congress to make a complete overhaul of agricultural subsidies.
These subsidies have helped push rural land prices up and small family farmers out of the market. Other farm payments have been even more misdirected: A Post investigation found that the government gave $1.3 billion between 2000 and 2006 to landowners who did not farm at all. The billions spent on subsidies could be used for any number of other priorities, agricultural or otherwise — food stamps, conservation programs or debt reduction, for example.
This is the big week for the Farm Bill, and our last chance to reform its trade distorting subsidies until 2012. You can take action now by sending a fax to your member of Congress and let them know that you are in favor of the Fairness Amendment for comprehensive Farm Bill reform.
UN AMOR: CINTAS BLANCAS Y ANILLOS DE BODA
You may recall a blog post from last December about ONEorlando volunteers Melodie and Edgard who got engaged at ONE’s World AIDS Day event. That blog posted received over a hundred well wishes from all over the world.
This weekend I attended their beautiful wedding, which took place in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Edgard arrived on a boat accompanied by his groomsmen, and met Melodie and her bridesmaids at the sandy beach of Paradise Cove. The ceremony was recited in both English and Spanish, with a guitar serenade of Ava Maria.
When the newlyweds were introduced at the reception, they came in dancing to music of U2′s “Beautiful Day.” The music then varied from rock to spanish love songs and speeches from many family members talking about bringing together two cultures as ONE.
The DJ then announced that the grandfather of Edgard has a special gift. No one would have imagined the gift was for the over 100 attendees at the wedding. The Grandfather had ordered maracas from Nicaragua for everyone to play. These were special ordered, made from the Jicaro Plant, and painted sybolically with the colors used in the ONE Campaign and Product (RED). These ONE maracas were used the ENTIRE evening while dancing…and let me tell you… those folks can dance!
Then it was time to cut the cake(s). Some people may be familiar with the more southern tradition of a groomscake, which typically accompanies the wedding cake, in some whimsical form. I was touched to see that these two volunteers, who have dedicated many hours of their time to focus on the world’s poor, attending events, meetings and helping train others in advocating ONE’s issues for the past two years, focused on ONE on their wedding day. These are two people who truly care about the issues, and take every opportunity to talk about it.
I was honored to be a part of their wedding day and wish them the best. I thank them for their outreach efforts and look forward to working with them soon… (after the honeymoon of course!).
Melodie y Edgard, Felicitaciones y felicidades de UNA Campaña
As I’ve written recently here on the ONE blog, the Farm Bill working its way through Congress contains subsidies directed to big business farms that stifle competition from smaller farms. Some members of Congress would like the public to believe that these subsidies are designed to help American farmers. In reality, the vast majority of farmers are hurt by these subsidies. These subsidies allow the biggest 8% of farms to lower prices on their goods, leaving small American farmers – not to mention impoverished farmers in the developing world – struggling to compete. Take some time to read about the Farm Bill and why it needs to be reformed.
We know that many of our ONE members have already helped spread awareness of the need for Farm Bill reform by writing thousands of letters to their local papers all across the country. This effort has not gone unnoticed. Not only have numerous letters appeared in newspapers across the country – including sizable publications like the Chicago Tribune – but a proposed Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment to the Farm Bill would provide many of those desperately needed changes, like putting a cap on the subsidies large farms receive. This provides us with a great opportunity to take desperately needed action.
Right now the bill is leaving the Agricultural Committee, and soon it will be presented to the full House of Representatives. Before they make their decision, let’s pull together as ONE to show them what voters really think about legislation that prevents small farmers the world over from competing fairly.
Take this opportunity to send a letter to your member of Congress to let them know you support the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment!
Jul 24th, 2007 9:00 AM UTC
By admin
The Center for U.S. Global Engagement is launching their presidential initiative, Impact ’08, this Wednesday July 25th in Washington. The initiative is a close ally of ONE Vote ’08, and another voice seeking to engage the 2008 Presidential Candidates on U.S. foreign policy priorities. The Center for U.S. Global Engagement focuses particularly on enlisting distinguished foreign policy and national security leaders to engage the presidential candidates on the importance of development & diplomacy to United States foreign policy and national security.
For those of you who are local to DC, the Impact ’08 kickoff is from 8:45-10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25 at the US Chamber of Commerce 1615 H Street, NW, Washington D.C. Visit the Center for U.S. Global Engagement for more details about the launch.
“Gov. Mitt Romney came to New Hampshire on Sunday for a series of public events. Along the way, he ran into a few ONE members who were out to show support for the world’s poorest people.
At a luncheon in Nashua, ONE member Andrea was able to talk with Gov. Romney’s wife Ann Romney. She gave her a ONE band and Ann told her that everywhere she goes, she is always getting a white ONE band.
Gov. Romney finished the day by hosting an “Ask Mitt Anything” town hall in Exeter. During his stump speech, he said that the United States needs to reach out to many countries around the world like Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and named other African countries. He talked about the strength of America and not just in our military might, but in the compassion and values of all American people.
In a response to a question about the global AIDS pandemic, Gov. Romney said that he would work with the other developed nations around the world to help fight the spread of the preventable disease and treat people that are inflicted.
He went even further and said that he wants to see better hospitals and schools in these countries too so that people are not being treated and educated by extremist groups. Gov. Romney told the crowd that he had just talked with the US Secretary of Health and Human services about Medical Diplomacy. Gov. Romney said that Fidel Castro has a group of doctors that go around the world to help impoverished people with cataracts surgery. People call it a “miracle surgery” and Romney said that Castro uses this treatment to help gainer public favor and opinion around the world. He said that the US needs to do a better job of doing similar work around the world and that as president he would make sure that the United States leads the way.
After the event, I spoke with Gov. Romney’s son Craig and gave him a ONE band. Other ONE members spoke with Gov. Romney about ONE Vote ’08 and the Governor said that he had met with Bono in NYC and stands behind the ONE Campaign.
I caught up with Romney just as he was leaving and thanked him for remembering the bottom billion people in his speech. I also asked him to reform the Farm Bill to allow poor African farmers the opportunity to trade their way out of poverty. He thanked me and headed out.
I did not get many good pictures but when I went to my car, I discovered that Gov. Romney and his family were parked right next to me. I managed to take a few photos before they were done for the day and even noted Gov. Romney’s grandson Parker Mitt playing with a ONE band.
Public health experts are worried that incomplete information on the recall of the AIDS drug Viracept by the pharmaceutical company Roche is leaving AIDS victims in poor countries with a Catch-22: take their AIDS meds on schedule and risk the potential for a contaminated batch; or stop taking the drug as part of their regime, and risk the health effects of incomplete treatment.
Check out today’s New York Times for an article on the recall.
