Farm Fest Ponderings

I've had a few conversations with people who were in attendance. They all say Franken was not impressive, that he appeared to simply jump into attack mode and offer no real solutions.

I've seen reports that this was a very conservative audience/group to discuss these issues with.

While I understand that the Senate and Congressional debates were separate, I'd think that the crowd would not have changed that much over time. People wanting to see political debates were there to see just that.

For instance, if this crowd were so conservative, why would Bachmann and Kline ditch this event? It would seem like a great opportunity to "preach to the choir" even though they voted against the Farm Bill...they're conservative...right?

Why would such a conservative crowd spontaneously applaud Congressman Walz for his work for farmers?

I went to Farm Fest in 2006, I found the crowds to not be staunchly left or right, but concerned about farm issues. Duh...

Just because it's held in what we label a conservative area, does not necessarily mean the crowd was overtly conservative. Even with $3.50 gas, people flock to stuff like this.

BTW, I hear Steve Sarvi rocked it out at this event. I hear he was very well spoken on the issues, and despite the temptation to take a shot or two at John Kline, he kept himself to the issues.

Some I spoke to were concerned that Elwyn Tinklenberg spoke to much about Congresswoman Bachmann not being at the debate...to each their own.

From what I have heard from my peeps on the ground, Franken simply lost a great opportunity to actually debate Coleman and not fill the day with rhetoric and attacks.

Many say that Dean Barkley was the star of the show...

Bachmann and Kline AWOL from FarmFest

Larry Schumacher has some excellent coverage of the Congressional debate at FarmFest!

Part I
Part II

Bachmann and Kline must have thought this was the sort of event that occurs while one is on vacation...

The fact that Congresswoman Bachmann and John Kline failed to attend this event is disturbing. Their opponents attended the event and did a wonderful job. Both Elwyn Tinklenberg and Steve Sarvi left the debate as two candidates for Congress who impressed.

Bachmann and Kline are running scared...scared to engage Tinklenberg or Sarvi in a debate format. I know a couple of O-6's that would be disappointed in the fact that the Colonel went AWOL while the Sergeant shined.

Tinklenberg on Bachmann's Farm Bill Vote:

Tinklenberg – Would’ve vote for it. Opponent did not vote for it, which may explain why she’s not here today.

But then again, she hasn’t been with you all that much all along.

Schumacher also posted the closing remarks for each panel member: go check them out at Larry's blog at the SC Times!

Ollie over at Bluestem Prairie also has some great detailed coverage of the event, be sure to head over there and check out her great work too!

A slice of life in McLeod County

Though Governor Pawlenty vetoed the Central Corridor project in St. Paul, other transportation related projects remained in the bonding bill. Take the $500,000 for the Stagecoach trail near Mantorville.

The Luce Line Trail meanders through the southern half of my senate district and while Senator Dille supports upgrading it, it's unlikely to receive any funding for improvements so long as Ron Shimanski remains in office. There is a glimmer of hope, however.

Not only is Ron an uber-conservative, he also owns an apple orchard that abuts the Luce Line Trail as it wind its way past his home west of Silver Lake. Ron has fretted publicly the upgrading the trail surface from loose gravel and gopher holes would bring more traffic, and with more traffic, apple thieves.

Now, there's not much worse than stealing a man's apples. Or any farmer's crop, wrestled from the soil. Those wishing fresh Minnesota produce should buy it from roadside stands and farmers' markets.

But there's new hope that Representative Shimanski's dreams of earning the fruits of his labors and the aspirations of cyclists can be reconciled, thanks to exciting new developments in biotech. A friend tells me that a new natural security system has been developed for apple growers by the University of Minnesota ag school, and Ron's orchard was first to obtain this new genetically engineered technology for field testing.

My friend obtained the video below, taped early last fall, of the new biotechnology in action, protecting the apples from a small party of larceny-bent hikers. She vouched for the tape's authenticity:



It's GMO breakthroughs like this that make me hopeful for the future! I'm a little worried about the Arboretum's new line of Dog-toothed Violets, however much the DNR says our woodlands need protection from wildflower rustlers.

Bob Olson's message to the delegates

Spent a bit of time talking to Bob Olson about the campaign and offered to post a You Tube for him.

Olson expressed great concern over the lack of debates in the 6th CD. When you compare and contrast what's happening in CD 3, who have had nearly 20 debates and forums, you can understand the concern. (There has only been on debate/forum).

I know students at St Johns/ St Bens attempted to put together something but from what I understand, no dates would work out for Tinklenberg.

With Senate District and County Unit conventions looming in the very near future, Olson wanted a way to "get the word out" to delegates.

Check it out!



In my opinion, his most powerful statements start right around the 5 minute mark, as he begins his close.

Check it out!

Senator Coleman blows off Minnesota Farmers Union?

Ollie Ox over at Bluestem Prairie has the scoop!

Senator Coleman addressed a Saturday Farm Bureau convention lunch, but his staff apparently blew off repeated invitations by government relations director Thom Peterson to speak to MFU members.

Now, this wouldn't be much of an issue for the delegates since Coleman hasn't been to a MFU convention since he was elected to the Senate.

Except for one thing: a "Coleman for Senate" placard posted by the Four Points Sheraton on the Memphis meeting room, which is right across the hall from the large salon where hundreds of delegates met all day and where their banquet would be held that night. Delegates hoped that was a sign that Coleman would be speaking to them, but no. Coleman would be in the hotel for a fundraiser associated with another group (more on this in another post).

It's one of those campaign scheduling boo-boos that squanders an opportunity to create good will and to build upon work Coleman has done in the Senate.

So, Senator Coleman blows off one of most important advocacy groups in Minnesota for one of his fundraisers? I can't wait to see what Jack Nelson Pallmeyer and Mike Ciresi have to say about this one! Check out the rest of what Ollie Ox reports about the convention and Congressman Walz!

Bob Olson at the Farmers Union booth

CD 6 DFL candidate Bob Olson was hard at work at the Minnesota Farmers Union booth at the Minnesota State Fair.

Drawing on his experience as a tax lawyer and the majority owner of St. Stephen State Bank, Olson explained how tax incentives and loan guarantee funds can help American farmers lead the way to breaking our country's addiction to foreign oil.

"There is nothing more important to agriculture in Minnesota than to develop our sustainable energy resources, including wind energy, biodiesel, and corn and cellulosic ethanol," he said. "The tax law must change so the economic benefits go to Minnesota farmers, rather than large corporate and out-of-state interests."

Doug Peterson, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, said he was pleased with Olson's commitment to the state's agricultural economy.

"Bob Olson understands the issues that are important to family farmers, ranchers and rural communities," Peterson said. "We appreciate his coming by our booth at the State Fair and spending time talking with us."

By investing in American-made renewable energy, Olson said, we can strengthen our national security, protect our environment and jump-start our economy.

"It makes as much sense for Minnesota and America to ignore wind and other sustainable energy as it would to stop farming the land and start buying our crops from the Middle East," he said.

Olson's strength in renewable and sustainable energy issues will suit the 6th CD well. In rural Minnesota, the majority of farmers tend to vote Republican. Having an expert on one of the most important issues to our farmers, sustainable energy, will not only strengthen "the F" in DFL, but will strengthen labor ties as well.

It creates a win-win situation for the DFL and the 6th CD. CD 6 DFL candidate Bob Olson was hard at work at the Minnesota Farmers Union booth at the Minnesota State Fair.

More on the MinnCan pipeline

It's been a long week at work, I have not had a lot of time to post or respond to what's going on lately...but nothing like going back to another good ole MinnCan / Koch Industries pipeline story.

The SC Times has a story today about an appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals regarding the pipeline being forced down their throats in Greater Minnesota.

Some seem to think that 165 landowners should simply roll over because nearly a thousand did. If you have checked out previous posts here about the pipeline, you will read about extremely coercive tactics used by Koch Industries / MinnCan pipeline folks.

MPIRG attorney John Carney said the landowners' due-process rights were violated because:

» Many landowners never received notification of the pipeline, while others received notice too late to have any meaningful participation in the process.

» The PUC didn't follow a Minnesota Supreme Court decision requiring that new utilities follow existing routes when possible.

» The PUC didn't properly evaluate whether a new crude oil pipeline is needed in Minnesota. Other alternatives weren't considered or were rejected without proper analysis, the landowners contend.

» The environmental review wasn't adequate for a project of such magnitude and impact.

Regardless, nearly 6 months later, the pipeline cutting through the heart of Greater Minnesota still remains an incredibly important issue, especially for our farmers.

We'll continue to follow the story!

More local musings

In my notable absence fighting neo-conservative political operatives, this story flew under my radar.

Thank goodness for great minds like Chris Truscott and Dave Mindeman at mnpACT!.

Rep Ron Shimanski takes pride in his first year at the capitol as an obstructionist.

House members held the line against over $5 billion in new, job-killing tax
increases. In cooperation with the governor, who made very clear from the
beginning that there were some initiatives that would be "poison pills" - making
an entire bill unsignable - House members promoted the values that Minnesotans
hold dear.

It's the same rant he sent out in his constituent email as well.

Thankfully, Dave was around to set Shimanski straight.

$5 billion...wow..sounds like a lot. But, a lot of that money was offset by property tax relief. New taxes on the wealthy to give a break to property owners already hit by a slumping housing market. That particular bill had a net increase in taxes of zero.

And one of the poison pills alluded to by Rep. Shimanski is an effort to take inflation into account for state budgeting. Most of you understand inflation... you know... the thing that made the Crosstown Project cost an additional 30% during a 3 year delay in execution. The thing consumers are noticing in the produce aisles. The increases the state takes into account on the revenue side of things but pretends doesn't exist for spending purposes.

In his hometown of Silver Lake, the top issue people talked to me about last year was property taxes. Shimanski failed his constituents and his hometown.

Another issue Shimanski failed to address deals with the Koch Industry / MinnCan pipeline debacle. Shimanski, a small farmer himself, failed to act to protect farmers near Lester Prairie and Plato, as pipeline representatives used coercive tactics in order to obtain permission to run the pipeline through their property.

The SC Times published a story today about the pipeline problems as well.

The owners of about 85 percent of those parcels have signed agreements giving Minnesota Pipe Line an easement across their property in exchange for a payment, company spokeswoman Patty Dunn said.

The owners of the remaining 15 percent haven't signed either because they haven't reached a financial agreement or because of objections to the project. The company filed petitions in 13 counties this week seeking condemnation of the easement tracts, Dunn said.

A blatant assault of property owners rights. Where are the conservatives on this? Tom Emmer? Ron Shimanski? Dean Urdahl? Why are you not protecting the private property rights of Minnesota's farmers?

Bachmann on Ag and Immigration

From the Monticello Times.

She said that she has grown used to a fast- paced and heavy workload from her time spent on the farm to her six years in the Minnesota Senate. Her new title, however, may carry with it the busiest schedule of all, and is one that has still not registered with her.

Dump Bachmann and a constituent from Stillwater beg to differ.

When I think of State Sen. Michele Bachmann, hard-working aren't the first words that come to mind. Self-serving maybe, but not hard-working.

Bachmann has the lightest workload of any state senator. Although she serves on only three committees, two of them meet at exactly the same time. That means Bachmann only attends a maximum of four committee meetings a week. The rest of her colleagues' calendars, with the exception of two in leadership positions, are filled with anywhere from six to 11 committee meetings a week.

According to the Secretary of the Senate's office, senators are "strongly discouraged" from requesting assignments to committees with conflicting schedules. An aide in Bachmann's office says she often attends committee meetings in lieu of the senator. Is this the kind of representation Washington County voters elected in November?

Fear not though CD 6 and Minnesota, Congresswoman Bachmann will support a tax cut for all of us! Yeah!

"My bottom line is to cut taxes for all Americans, whether it is businesses, singles or family members," Bachmann said. "I want to cut people's taxes, and in order to do that, we have to get a grip on out of control government spending."

She included in her discussion, a national taxpayers bill of rights. The TABOR as they like to call it, went no where in Minnesota and is destroying public education in Colorado.

On the local level, area farmers will be glad to know they have one of their own headed to Congress. Bachmann, with a family background in dairy farming, said she is interested in agriculture concerns in the district.

The City Pages had a great atricle on her as well, farmers did not seem to be to impressed with then Candidate Bachmann.

In response to a complex question about setting up a permanent disaster fund for farmers and ranchers who raise beef cattle, Wetterling balked and admitted she didn't really understand the question or have an answer. Bachmann, by contrast, dove right in. "I appreciate the question, because on our dairy farm, we raise beef cattle as well," she began. "One thing we can never, ever, ever get away from is that we are not two separate entities: Commodities. Livestock. If there's anything that can interact, it's commodities and livestock. Without commodities, you don't have livestock. It's just that simple."

She concluded by noting that, as a mother of the sum of 28 children, she has learned that when families don't get fed, "they get cranky."

This drew a small chuckle from the crowd, but it was an uncomfortable one. One farmer turned to the one sitting next to him, shaking his head. "What the fuck is she talking about?" he wanted to know.

Bachmann opined on the Civil War in Iraq

I think that America has brought a great deal of stability to the Middle East.

I can't keep a straight face and read this...but I continue on. She decries the "Blame America" first crowd, calling to a partisan job. I for one have never "Blamed America". Both Senator Dayton and Wellstone voted against the use of force in Iraq.

The Republican Party is to blame for more than 3000 US deaths in Iraq, not America.

Immigration also was an issue Congresswoman Bachmann discussed.

"The travesty has been that we have had porous borders, and that must end," she said. "We must return to a respect for the rule of law, and right now there is a complete breakdown in respect for that. America has every right to say who comes into our country and who doesn't, and we need to get back to that.

"Bachmann said she will advocate for increased border patrols and a greater reliance on the use of technology to secure United States' borders. Overall, though, she said the entire immigration system needs to be modernized and streamlined.

Immigration reform is vital, I agree. Will she support going after Big Business that exploits this cheap labor? Will she support the building of the 50 foot fence?

Day One of Congress has begun...

I'm sure I could find a 51 foot ladder.

Minnesota Seed Company Fined

From the Strib.

Syngeta Seeds, a Minnesota Company, was fined $1.5 million for distributing genetically modifed corn seed.

It seems the seed would create corn laced with pesticide. It was stated that the pesticde is human safe and meant to repel rodents and insects.

Genetically Modified Foods may be a hidden danger. Large corporate seed companies are the biggest culprit.

More to follow on Genetically Modified Foods...

Illegal immigration and meat packing plants

I've taken a few days to ponder what occured in Worthington, MN and in 5 other cities across the US this past week. Some 1300 illegal immigrants were arrested across the US, 400 detained here in MN with 230 arrested.

The concept of the American Dream is in fact a fallacy, at least for Americans. It's what keeps the corporate millionaires in business and raking money in hand over foot. They expolit people for their labor. Yeah, I am sounding a bit Marxist here, but it's reality.

Americans simply want more money to be expolited by big money capitalists. When companies, like Fingerhut and many auto makers, reach a certain profit margin, they look to dump labor, while not cutting costs in their rich exectuives. See Northwest Airlines as a great example. When pilots, mechanics, flight attendents and baggage handlers were getting salaries cut by 40%, how big of a hit did Steenland, Griffin and the other coprorate executives take? Not 40%, although even 40% of $5 million is staunchly different than 40% of $25,000!

Illegal immigration in MN is an issue, not of the same significance as other issues raised, or as high as the GOP would put it, but an issue nonetheless. Taking the high estimate of 85,000 illegal immigrants in MN, that's still less than 2% of the population.

The Fed's have cited identity theft as the issue at hand. Identity theft is a significant issue in our technology based society. But why would the Fed's only charge 65 of the 1300 they arrested with ID theft?

I am a moderate Democrat on this issue. I do believe in the laws of this nation. During my campaign, I spoke to many people who came from Scandanavian areas who came to this country legally. They paid thousands of dollars and went through a process to legally stay in this nation.

On the other hand, I do understand the desire to seek a better life for one's family.

GOPers will label us as weak on immigration. They will call us out on homeland security. We are the dominant party now. It's time to push real reforms, reforms that could have come forth when the GOP had a majority, but they failed.

I find it funny that AAA calls out DFLers for their use of unions in the GOTV efforts. It is true, unions play a large role in this. But AAA, your party uses MCCL and Focus on the Family and other GOP stalwarts in your GOTV efforts.

I've never seen a labor flyer in a mall or church parking lot. How many MCCL flyers adorned cars throughout the state the Sunday before election day? Thousands upon thousands.

GOPers will attempt to destroy Democrats who see the cununbrum before our very eyes. Compassionate conservativism is an oxymoron of the greatest degree.

It starts with real immigration reforms. Frankly, businesses, specifically Agriculture, need a strong immigrant work force. A comprehensive plan needs to be created. A tough yet broad standard for visa's need to be established. The penalties for those that violate the broad visa standards need to be swift and severe, a speedy deportation.

The visa documents need to be secure. A workplace should be able to verify the authenticity of a visa. Businesses found to be hiring illegal immigrants should be dealth with again, swiftly and severely. Swift & Co. was an example. I think the Strib LTE from 12/15 was dead on here. The raid was a show. They could have continued raids on many other facilities across the United States.

Real reform is needed...the GOP could not get it done and it's time for Democrats to step up and make it happen.

So, soybeans make you gay?

Ah, I get it now! Ironically, the rural northwest area of CD 6 is where Congresswoman elect Michelle Bachmann did very well.

Lot's of soybeans being grown in this area, although we do not have a soybean carnival. After this, we may never see one!

From World Net Daily

"The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore."

Gasp, soy! Statewide soy ban?
"Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them. "

Soy leads to homosexuality! Of course the righties, and in this case, the extreme religious fundamentalist righties, have to find a way to explain everything. This is truly unbelieveable!

Wonkette picked up on this, as well as Dump Bachmann.

I wonder what our locally elected officials will think? Will they give back their campaign monies from the soy industry? Will they call for subsidies for soybeans to be cut?

Don't we feed soybeans to our cattle? Do we now have gay cattle? Does eating gay cattle meat make us gay too? If soybean yields were down 16% this past year, because of arrid conditions, can we expect a decrease in those that identify as GLBT?

Wow, just when you think you have read some crazy stuff in this place we call the world wide web, you reach rock bottom.

Soybeans make you gay?

These are the same cats that buy Meth from their gay masseuse to only chuck it in the trash on the way home.

I can see the fields of burning soy beans next summer.

Screw a smoking ban...ban soybeans!

Bio-diversity

Strib editorial from today!

Editorial: Making biofuels from biodiversity
Minnesota researchers look well beyond corn ethanol.
Published: December 13, 2006

Imagine what the world might be like if petroleum had never become our motor fuel of choice -- if, instead, we powered our cars and trucks with plant-derived alcohols, as Henry Ford imagined, or vegetable oils, like those Rudolf Diesel used in his prototypes.

Poof! Gone are global alliances built upon, and distorted by, the flow of oil. Gone is the infrastructure, and expense, required to gather fuels from concentrated reserves and disperse them around the globe. Gone are the choking clouds of urban smog, as well as the globe-warming blanket of gases unleashed from millennia of fossilized carbon.

This kind of world is the ultimate promise of renewable energy, but the early stages have been confounded by their own problems. For example, corn-derived ethanol's potential is undermined by objections to production subsidies, the morality of burning grain in a hungry world, and the environmental impacts of extending today's agricultural practices across vast new acreage.

All of which makes new findings from the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek research station so encouraging:

• Land planted with a mix of grasses and prairie plants that many an urbanite might mistake for random weeds, can yield as much as 238 percent more bioenergy per acre than land planted with a single species.
• Such plant mixes are well-suited to acreage whose poor soil quality or topography makes it useless for other agriculture -- and they require far less fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation water and labor than typical crops. Indeed, test plots at Cedar Creek required virtually none of these "inputs" after plant cover was established.
• Compared to today's main biofuel crops (corn, soybeans, sugar cane) or even the new "cellulosic ethanol" contenders (switchgrass) -- these "low-input, high-diversity" plantings also provide excellent wildlife habitat.
• Because of their deep root systems, these mixed plantings captured up to 14 times as much carbon below ground as would be released in burning fuels made from their aboveground biomass.

Cedar Creek is focused on ecological research, so this study's emphasis on the benefits of biodiversity is not surprising. But economic analysis also played a big role in the new study, and in some eye-popping projections.

For example, the researchers calculated that the world's degraded and abandoned farmlands, if managed along the lines of the Cedar Creek experiments, could stoke enough synthethic-fuel plants to provide about 13 percent of the world's motor fuels and 19 percent of its electricity.

By displacing fossil fuels, they calculated, those plants would eliminate about 15 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions -- in addition to carbon they capture.

Thinking beyond the current debates over renewable energy, which tend to a short-term focus on price and practicality, the researchers invite consideration of a future in which world demand for both food and fuel will double in the next 50 years.

Which makes you wonder: When those times arrive, will relying on corn seem much wiser than the long-ago decision to fill our tanks with petroleum products?

The Governor came out with a bold statement yesterday about MN leading the nation to energy independence. In many respects, it was the Governor getting ahead of the DFL swarm on the issues and plant himself at the doorstep of the issue, by going their first, positioning himself for greater future gains.

Embracing a holistic energy plan is needed. We simply cannot rely upon corn, coal, hyrdo, wind, nuclear, etc. We need the infrastructure in place to build upon. While the petroleum industry maintains a stranglehold on the energy industry and lobby, grassroots organizing on these issues will be vital to our future successes.

Ethanol and next farm bill

From the Strib.

First off, Congressman Walz will serve on the Ag Committee, to be chaired by Congressman Peterson! Great news for Minnesota farmers.

WASHINGTON — Demand for ethanol for cars will attract enough support to lead to passage of a major farm bill next year, despite disagreement on subsidy payments for farmers, a key Democrat and the Republican agriculture secretary agreed Tuesday.

Popularity of corn-based ethanol has soared because of high oil and gas prices. But corn prices have risen so high, and surpluses have dropped so low, that lawmakers want to find other crops to make ethanol and keep the industry growing.

"Energy actually may be the engine that pulls this farm bill, or pushes it," Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said Tuesday after meeting with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

Harkin will chair the Senate Agriculture Committee after Democrats take control of Congress next year, when the nation's farm programs are due for an overhaul.

Johanns argues for distributing dollars more equitably, pointing out that fruit and vegetable growers get no subsidy checks even though their crops are worth as much as subsidized crops — corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton.

Plenty of lawmakers disagree with that proposed change.

But both sides agree on the desire to spur production of ethanol, a grain alcohol that is blended with gasoline to make cleaner-burning fuel.

Harkin and other lawmakers have been talking about using new ethanol crops as a conservation tool. For example, switchgrass has promise as an ethanol source, and it could provide habitat for wild birds during nesting season.

A small amount of sorghum, another feed grain, already is used to make ethanol in the United States. Ethanol is made from sugar cane in Brazil, a country that meets roughly half its fuel demand with ethanol.

Tens of millions of acres of farmland have been taken out of production under conservation programs in the farm bill. It's up in the air whether any of those lands might be used for crops to make ethanol.

That decision hasn't been made, Johanns said.

"Not every conservation acre is going to grow corn; in fact, it's going to be a very small number of acres," Johanns said at a news conference with Harkin following their meeting. "Are there some out there? Certainly. But today, I think the gain would be quite small."

Johanns said he and Harkin have similar goals for conservation programs. Harkin's counterpart in the House, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, is pushing the idea of a conservation program that would pay farmers to grow around 5 million acres of switchgrass and other non-corn crops for ethanol.

The big question is whether Congress will provide money to pay for new energy or conservation programs.

Democrats are instituting a rule that says if lawmakers want to raise spending for subsidies or conservation payments, they have to pay for it with budget cuts elsewhere.

Harkin said the need for domestic sources of energy justifies enough money for farm programs.
"There is a groundswell of support in this country that we need energy independence, that we have to produce more biofuels," Harkin said. "Well, then, how do we promote that? How do we start moving in that direction?"

More ethanol and other renewable fuels are the answer, Harkin said.

A former Nebraska governor, Johanns grew up on a dairy farm in neighboring Iowa, Harkin's home state.

"You can have Republicans and Democrats absolutely in lockstep agreement on certain issues in the farm bill, and it has nothing to do with parties," Johanns said. "These issues tend to be commodity-driven."

The Farm Bill and emergency aid provisions

Startibune had a LTE on the issue today.

Every American is a stakeholder in the 2007 farm bill. That's why Bread for the World, the nation's largest faith-based grass-roots lobbying movement against hunger, will make farm-bill reform the focus of our 2007 legislative campaign. Improving the farm bill can make things better for farmers, and also for rural communities and hungry people.

Farm policy should start from the reality of today's rural America -- not that of the 1930s, when the original farm bill was crafted. It's time to create solutions that offer more equitable support for small and midsized U.S. farmers, strengthen rural communities, provide adequate and nutritious food for hungry people in this country, and help farmers in developing countries to support themselves and feed their families.

Rep. Collin Peterson has a historic opportunity to write a better farm bill -- one that meets the needs of all rural Americans, especially those who struggle with hunger and poverty. By supporting a better farm bill, Minnesotans have a historic opportunity to urge Congress, under Peterson's leadership, to turn this possibility of justice into a reality.

TAMMY WALHOF, MINNEAPOLIS; REGIONAL ORGANIZER, BREAD FOR THE WORLD

No doubt Congressman Peterson will have many groups like this urging him to add things that are needed to the Farm Bill.

What would I expect from a Congressman Peterson led Farm Bill?

Strong support for investment in renewable energy sources. Congressman Peterson is a champion on the issue.

Support to improve upon conservation programs. The Congressman has a knack for working across all sides of the issue, working with famers, environmentalists, and sportmen and women on the importance of comprehensive and progressive conservation programs. He knows that all sides are tremendous stewards for the environment.

Support the the sugar beat industry in Western MN and Eastern ND. It was one of the biggest reasons the Congressman opposed CAFTA. He gave a great address on the issue at St Cloud State a few years ago, after Mark Kennedy ducked the event.

We'll continue to see strong loan programs as well as stronger label of origin packaging requirements on imported foods.

The White House appears to be ready to veto a bill that would provide much needed relief to farmers and ranchers that faced financial hardships due to flooding and drought conditions across the nation.

North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad was lead sponsor of disaster aid in the Senate and was expected to propose $4.5 billion to $5 billion in aid. Half of it would compensate farmers for crop losses that exceed 35 percent of normal. Ranchers would receive money to help pay for feed purchases. Congressman Peterson is taking the lead in the House.

On the heals of an article recently published talking about the possiblity of a White House veto on a disaster aid bill, Congressman Peterson is posied to do even better things for farmers and Minnesotan's alike.

Great day for Startribune Opinion Exchange

From Blue Dog Democrat discussions by former US Congressman Tim Penny...

To the future of Congresswoman McCollum...

To a solid editorial on the Farm Bill...

And a discussion of a military draft...

It was an interesting day to read the Strib!

Collin Peterson, a Blue Dog Democrat, will lead Congress in the passage of the new Farm Bill.

Betty McCollum will play a large role in replacing our elder statesman in Congressman Sabo, and has posited herself for an even stronger future!

And now a draft.

As a Vet, I have mixed feelings of a draft. I understand that a true draft, without exemptions, would make the decisions of our elected leaders a bit more difficult. It could place their children in harms way now. But, as a former non-commissioned officer, I know how difficult it is to train fighting men and women. Now, train men and women who were drafted, who do not want to be their. Yeah, fear of death makes people do things they normally would not do.

I'm tired of fear as a motivator. Our current administration has used fear to motivate or hinder American progress ever since 9-11-01.

I would like to see a requirement for every American to serve two years in either the military or in a community service organization. You could serve in urban teacher programs, Americorps, Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, or a plethora of other service organizations. Germany and South Korea are two such nations that require service.

I suppose though, the need for the draft discussion is due to the fact that we have been in a quagmire called Iraq for longer than our WW II service. We need more and more men and women to serve in Iraq.

Perhaps if we did not get involved in conflicts such as Iraq, or had a solid plan for a situation such as this, we would not need a draft.

Naw, that's too easy!