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2012 Farm Bill Antithetical to Conservative Principles; Where’s the Tea Primary?

Toby did a great job highlighting Congresswoman Kristi Noem's failure to keep COOL. Here are a few more notes on the 2012 Farm Bill, which Noem has dragged out to 2014, and which lays bare Noem's false Tea Party credentials:

I'm still waiting for Democratic Congressional candidate Corinna Robinson to start opening fire on Noem's fecklessness. But I'm also waiting for South Dakota's arch-conservatives to recognize they've been played by Noem and launch a serious primary challenge with a serious conservative.

18 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2014.01.25

    Could be "cantaloupe calves" king's first piece of legislation passed in his nearly 12 years of sucking at the gubmint teat.

  2. Roger Cornelius 2014.01.25

    The tea party response to the limitations on the farm subsidies should be, "get rid of them, we don't abide any millionaires getting welfare".

    Well, now we know why Noem is running from the farm bill. She is taking statewide heat for her personal interest in farm subsidies and her husband's insurance business.

    Hopefully farmers and ranchers are as tired of her as the rest of South Dakota.

  3. Deb Geelsdottir/ 2014.01.25

    Yes Roger, but we know the Right's favorite welfare recipients actually are the 1%. Welfare subsidies for Big Oil, Big Mining, Big Banks, Big Etc.

    But NOTHING for that no-good, lazy, worthless, stupid child who was permanently paralyzed and brain damaged by a drunk driver!!

  4. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.01.26

    You all understand Noem's self-serving hypocrisy quite well. Now how do we get 50.1% of the voters to act on that understanding?

  5. guido 2014.01.26

    You only have to convince the boys and girls west river to not re-elect Kristi. She did not ever carry her own county in the general election. You have the people in Pennington county to thank for this nitwit. Stephanie Herseth, I still want to apologize for the people of South Dakota for the shameful disregard of your previous service to this state. I KNOW you would have been more successful in getting the job done.

  6. lrads1 2014.01.26

    Roger, don't you know? Crop insurance isn't welfare; it's a public-private partnership, based on market principles. The fact that the market doesn't work without a 60% subsidy from the federal government (what market wouldn't?) for every premium dollar for both yield AND price protection, of course, is irrelevant. Also irrelevant and not worthy of regret is the unavoidable march of "progress" of larger farms as the savvy ones learn how to farm the subsidy system quicker than their less savvy neighbors, so that when that next piece of land comes up for sale or rent, advertised countrywide by real estate agents who encourage their newly rich customers to take the highest bid rather than the best one, the bigger guy has figured out how to milk the government for enough to pay more for the land than the guy who's taken care of it for generations. Every farmer can remember the day he figured out he could make more money by NOT trying to plant a crop in the mud in the spring and collecting crop insurance instead. Farmers and ranchers aren't tired of Kristi. They may be a wee bit envious of her position as a double dipper in the subsidy--getting both the 60% premium subsidy for farming (or not farming) the land and whatever percent crop insurance agents get for selling it, but since many crop insurance sales people/farmers do the same thing, it's hard to be popular in a group of farmers and talk about that. A few whose conscience still overrides their subsidy savvy may be just a wee bit embarrassed, but not enough to rise up and explain to the rest of the voters what the real story is.

  7. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.26

    Federal crop is the number one factor in the race toward increasing farm consolidation. It's a gravy train filled with all kinds of goodies. Commodity organizations are the major culprits in pushing this welfare program for millionaires. BTW---I'm a farmer also and use the federal crop insurance program.

  8. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.26

    Commodity organizations use federal mandate to run their organizations with funds from a mandatory check off fee from producers. How would we view a federal mandate that required every paycheck in this country to finance labor unions?

  9. Gary's 2014.01.26

    Charlie: Please explain to me how corn and wheat can be considered mandatory check off's in South Dakota when producer's can request AND get a REFUND for the $'s that they contributed to those two organizations!

    You paint a pretty broad picture when you don't even know the fact's yourself.

  10. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.26

    Gary, As you have noted, only corn and wheat have refund provisions. Those refund provisions require extensive paperwork and only a 60 day window to apply. Soybeans, beef, pork, and others have no refund provisions. SD Corn Council along with other state councils help to fund Common Ground--a group of farm women who's agenda in part is to discredit organic farming and local foods. SD Corn Growers along with the national council as we know is the major player/pusher behind federal crop insurance which is funded with billions of tax payer funds. In theory, under today's regulations one operator could farm the entire Kingsbury county and still receive federal welfare through subsidized crop insurance.

  11. interested party 2014.01.26

    Exactly why South Dakota's junior senator wants EPA marginalized: nearly every watershed in the state is impaired. If Al Franken has to come to Tea to beg for water you can bet that the war is no longer cold.

    The good news? The Yellowstone supervolcano is at least twice as large as previously known.

  12. Lanny V Stricherz 2014.01.26

    I have pleaded with our members of Congress for farm subsidies for Organic farmers such as Charlie. But for some reason, because they are producing table food, not grains that can get value added by their final production, to bread or farm feed or fuel, there seems no interest in subsidizing organic farming. Gosh wonder if Monsanto has anything to do with that.

  13. Garyd 2014.01.27

    Charlie: Is filling out one form and providing scale ticket so complicated in getting a refund that it is what you would call extensive?

    Common Ground was formed to debunk some of the half truths and out right lies that groups are spewing out about agriculture in general. Is ag supposed to disarm and let these types of groups lead the discussion?

  14. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.27

    Why should any farmer have to fill out a refund form? A true test of any program is whether it is voluntary. Common Ground should not be pouring cold water on organic farming and local food production. They lose all credibility by doing so.

  15. Lanny V Stricherz 2014.01.28

    You should know, Mr Johnson. It is just like the law that was repealed a couple of years ago. The State had passed a law that allowed those who were poor to file the paperwork to get their food tax back, rather than repeal the food tax altogether. They finally repealed it because about 1% of those who qualified, were filing the necessary paperwork and it was costing the state more to administer the program than they were paying out. But we still have the sales tax on food.

    They want to discourage you so you won't fill out the paperwork and then they can disband the program.

  16. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.28

    As to the point of the original post--why does KN claim to be anti-federal spending while at the same time supports a farm subsidy program that allows an operator to use that subsidy to farm an entire county with no limitations. The commodity organizations support subsidized federal taxpayer enhance crop insurance.

  17. Les 2014.01.28

    Say what guido? Your party stripped Herseth of her DC job. It took a boat load of GOP votes to get her as close as she was. Ask the crowd at Maddville how they voted, or better yet if they voted!? Yes West River can swing/or could swing your East River vote, not for long.
    .
    For Noem to need 25 voices penning a letter to support COOL is no surprise to me. She matter of factly told one of the largest oldest West River Ranches what a real rancher was all about a few years back. Just so happened that young ranch lady getting schooled, was a major instigator of COOL. How COOL.
    .
    Kristi may be a friend, friends don't let friends drive drunk.

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