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That is the prevailing argument among all those against the Iran deal that miraculously was agreed upon by the Iranian people and was accepted by American leadership.
Why are we removing sanctions to a Super-Bad country that doesn’t trust us? After all, everyone trusts America; We are a righteous country.
That is why our CIA along with the Brits overthrew Iran’s popularly elected president, Mossadegh in 1953. It would be like China sending a commando team into the White House and killing Hillary Clinton in 2016 and installing S. B. Woo. (Finally, a Delawarean become president.) We did it to Iran because we are a righteous country.
We then went on to support the violently repressive regime of the Pahlavi dynasty. Would be the equivalent of China imposing Idi Amin on us. We did it to Iran because we consider ourselves a righteous country.
After the Iranian revolution, the US supported the Iraqi regime of Sadaam Hussein in a disastrous war against Iran, going so far as to knowingly provide targeting information for the use of illegal chemical weapons by Iraq. That would be like China giving Mexico and Canada targeting information to bomb our major cities along our borders with anthrax. Of course we did it lovingly to them because as you know by now, we are a righteous country.
We also entered into a shooting war with the Iranian navy during the time leading up to the Gulf War. AND then we cheered (there is video) when we shot down a passenger airliner carrying 290 passengers, dropping all of them into the Persian Gulf? Of course. We did it out of love; you know it; because we are a righteous country.
Today our closest ally in the region is led by a right-wing neo-con (Benjamin Netanyahu) who keeps saying he sees no option but to bomb Iran…. he is our closet ally because we love him; we are a righteous country.
Israel has a couple of hundred nukes and has started several “preventive/pre-emptive wars” with first strikes against its neighbors in 1957, 1967 and 1982, not to mention targeted strikes on nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria. We hold them as our closest ally because we love them; we are a righteous country….
Here at home, our right-wing is festooned with senior leaders who have both joked and threatened in all seriousness to bomb Iran. Again, in all seriousness, …we only threaten because we are a righteous country……
We also managed to prosecute a disastrous war with Iran’s neighbor to the west (Iraq) which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Our stated goal: regime change.. We were justified of course; we are a righteous countryand right makes might.
America is so good, one simply has to be the opposite, super-bad, to disagree with us.. If you don’t do what we say, you ARE the axis of evil. After all, America is a righteous country… There is no possible reason any nation could ever have to mistrust us…..
Yet despite this gigantic behemoth of mistrust existing between our two countries, the Obama administration was still able to hammer out a deal beneficial for both parties… That is far more of a miracle than the fact that some people out of an ancient Illuminati oath made with Netanyahu, are bent to undo it….
Truth is: we don’t need Israel; they’re nothing but trouble. Always have been; always will be. Longterm peace in the Middle East solely depends on a moderate and engaging Iran!
We hail our fallen heroes. Hopefully many of you stirred some dull roots with spring rain today:… memories, both a blessing and a curse.
But for whom did they die?
Did they die for….
Top 5 Contributors, 2009 – 2014, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC Contributor Total Indivs PACs
AstraZeneca PLC $71,550 $36,550 $35,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co $58,200 $33,200 $25,000
Ashland Inc $55,420 $25,700 $29,720
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $46,000 $6,000 $40,000
Bank of America $40,440 $3,940 $36,500
Those were Tom Carper’s top 5 contibutors……
Or did they die for….
Top 5 Contributors, 2009 – 2014, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC Contributor Total Indivs PACs
Young, Conaway et al $121,300 $121,300 $0
Skadden, Arps et al $92,600 $87,600 $5,000
Grant & Eisenhofer $70,049 $70,049 $0
Comcast Corp $69,200 $44,200 $25,000
Morris, Nichols et al $57,550 $57,550 $0
Those were Chris Coons’ top 5 contributors……
Or did they die for…....
Top 5 Contributors, 2013 – 2014, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC Contributor Total Indivs PACs
Investment Co Institute $12,500 $8,140 $2,500
Skadden, Arps et al $10,640 $8,140 $2,500
National Multi Housing Council $10,500 $0 $10,500
Bank of America $10,250 $750 $9,500
AstraZeneca PLC $10,198 $250 $9,948
These are John Carney’s top contributors……
Our state relative to nationally, is actually on the good end of campaign contribution spectrum. Nothing here, is really out of line. You should see some in other states…
But let us isolate by industry…..
For John Carney….
Top 5 Industries, 2013 – 2014, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC Industry Total Indivs PACs
Insurance $96,520 $2,820 $93,700
Securities & Investment $93,000 $1,500 $91,500
Lawyers/Law Firms $59,110 $45,610 $13,500
Commercial Banks $49,000 $1,250 $47,750
Finance/Credit Companies $43,250 $5,250 $38,000
For Chris Coons…….
Top 5 Industries, 2009 – 2014, Campaign Cmt Industry Total Indivs PACs
Lawyers/Law Firms $1,495,387 $1,341,519 $153,868
Leadership PACs $512,900 $0 $512,900
Lobbyists $345,302 $325,472 $19,830
Securities & Investment $296,800 $235,300 $61,500
TV/Movies/Music $228,157 $163,800 $64,357
For Tom Carper……..
Top 5 Industries, 2009 – 2014, Campaign Cmte Industry Total Indivs PACs
Insurance $371,710 $94,470 $277,240
Securities & Investment $320,340 $125,840 $194,500
Lawyers/Law Firms $294,382 $170,761 $123,621
Lobbyists $214,262 $207,042 $7,220
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $207,710 $50,300 $157,410
And now, in what I believe is the first time ever…. here is the combination giving you an idea of who influences our 3 man delegation… Compiled by adding together all three’s industry totals listed above and then ranking them top down…..
Lawyers/Law Firms …………….. $1,848,879
Securities & Investment ……………. $710,140
Insurance…..,,,,,,,,,……………. , …… $668,257
Leadership PACs ………………………. $675,400
Lobbyists ………………………………,…$568,779
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $486,108
Commercial Banks …………………….$435,240
TV/Movies/Music……………………….$292,067
Finance/Credit Companies………….$208,865
========
And that is who owns our delegation…. Just seeing the visual makes it clear why some of the anti-people votes cast by this delegation, … are ever cast at all…. No, contrary to how we exclaim… They are not insane. They are practical….
It will get worse with McCutcheon passed…
Already the amount of dark money as shown by tallies done by the Center for Responsive Politics show that nondisclosing groups have already reported spending more than three times as much as they had at this point in the 2012 elections — a presidential cycle when higher spending would be expected.”
Did you get that? The unprecedented spending done in 2012, a contested presidential year, as of now been tripled over the same point of time back in 2012…….. . And it is both sides. In the past dark money was 80% Conservative, 20% Liberal. Today (2014), it is 60% Conservative; 40% Liberal… Spending by liberal nondisclosing groups is more than four times higher than it was at this point in 2012, while their conservative counterparts have tripled their previous spending level……
Which means, no tv watching this summer… and social media will become a real turn-off…. Both mean that most of America will tune out this election… Thank you, Supreme Court….. What were you smoking?
And if most of America tunes out this election, it again begs the moral and serious question…. for whom did they die? Certainly not us.
Just took a second to overlook my blogroll… On Delaware Way, all her posts are about fighting corporate. On Delaware Liberal, fighting corporate. On Delaware Politics… fighting corporate. On Kilroy.. . fighting corporate. On Delaware Right… fighting corporate. On Transparent Christina… fighting corporate…. Delaware Libertarian… fighting corporate…
Why is everyone fighting corporate? Isn’t that what our government is supposed to do?
Why doesn’t it?
Citizen’s United…
Funny how some things are so simple when you just look and don’t really think about it?
Not Nancy’s blog; its awesome. But I am talking about the royalty that runs this state regardless of who gets elected, If a candidate of the people gets in, they are quickly shoved out of viability inside the workings of government and the royalty continues to run things as it wishes.
Our locally elected officials for the most part, actually do try to represent us. And they actually do well representing us on all issues that don’t affect those who think they run things… But go against those, and you get shoved into areas you can do no damage….
Money, influence, status are all the regular clients The “Delaware Way” used to be held up as a good thing… I once believed it was a good thing, as probably did Nancy since it was how she named her blog. The idea was that Democrats and Republicans all got along and got things done for the good of the state, and compared to the breakdown we see daily in Washington DC, that alone does seem to be a benefit….
However, that now seems to have changed. By taking a snapshot of today, their image show “The Delaware Way” is now a group that wants to put in a GIGANTIC power plant 200 yards from Newark’s back yards and doesn’t give a damn how many Newark children die in the process. “The Delaware Way” is now a group that wants to get rid of the Coastal Zone Act, so new polluting industries which can’t get a foothold in any other civilized portion of the planet, can come here and pollute like they could in a third world nation… “The Delaware Way” is now a group that couldn’t care less about segregation, about teaching our children to read or right, about helping in-poverty children learn reading and math, as long as they can get rich off of all their charter schools. “The Delaware Way” wants unions busted; zoning laws gone, conservative dogma taught, and no minimum wage increase until infinity. Today’s “Delaware Way” wants to keep our prisons full, as long as the are privatized and someone gets paid for each incarceration. Today’s “Delaware Way” wants to keep the death penalty, and levy new death penalties on regular citizens by doing nothing to curb the buying or selling of contraband illegal guns. They want to actually make selling stolen guns completely legal… They want to benefit Highmark over Christina Care. They want to charge tolls on all our highways. They don’t want taxes on the rich increased, but lowered. They think today’s middle class earns far too much; they want them poorer…
Their names are familiar. On the national scale they are Tom Carper, John Carney, and Chris Coons. On the state scale they are Gov. Markell, Dave Sokola, Brian Short, Dan Short, Pete Schwartzkoph, Valerie Longhurst… Add names below if you wish….
Instead of change, these people grind down the changes of other well meaning people into dust. A simple rule requiring all schools to put their public board meetings on line, was, since it certainly if publicly voted would have passed, shoved into a drawer to never be seen again… Charter school legislation that will bankrupt every single public school in the state, was drawn up in secret though deemed illegal by the Attorney General’s office of the state, was railroaded through both chambers and signed by the orchestrators above, before anyone knew it was happening… Public schools are stripped of funding, and it was never brought up to the public for debate.
What brought all this up was Connie Merlet’s letter.. published in Nancy’s blog… appropriately titled: The Delaware Way. And it is one tiny piece I wish to draw out… a little statement. a few words strung together that says, so, so much….
“I believe changes were well-intended when the Stars program was envisioned, but it has morphed into a system that has enabled already high-quality day cares to enjoy most of the financial benefits… In conversations with our representatives at both levels, I have realized that they really have no understanding of how that money is actually being used. “
There appears to be a government within our government… One thing is promised and passed and then turned over to be executed. At that point those in the Delaware Way take over, enabling those of privilege get more money, and those in need to become shafted… The legislators, those to whom you throw your vote, for the most part mean well; it is when it gets into the actual bureaucracy that the Delaware Way comes into play. They are the “deciders” as one cowboy once called them.
So no matter what gets passed…. it certainly doesn’t come out the way it was intended… We have a government within our government that does not bode well for the Delaware people. Look at New Castle County under Paul Clark where without brakes of any sort, the Delaware Way had its way…. The elite do what the elite want, despite the fact they only have one vote like everyone else.
John Carney has gotten completely loopy lately. So has Chris Coons. Carper has been pro-elite for a long time now. But their statements in public from these three decrying it is better that they try to get along with our equivalent of Hannibal Lecter, don’t bode well for all of us who are to be his future victims. It appears that their statements still supportive of the Delaware Way, are only meant to have on single purpose….keeping the lambs quiet before their slaughter. ….
Campaigns Cost… Do you know where your Senator is? In regards to campaign donations? Chris Coons is expected to run unopposed even thought “Craigslist” has a help wanted ad for someone to run against him… lol. Desperate times call for desperate measures…
So…. who owns Chris Coons?
First the overview. Since 2009 he has raised $7,684,608; he has spent $4,831,183, and has on hand $2,853,426 as of the last report 12/31/13….
His top contributor is Young, Conway et al…. at $113,550 from individuals, not a PAC. The next four in decreasing order with their amounts are: Skadden, Arps et al.. (international lobbying group) $86,000; Comcast (Aha!) $59,200; Morris, Nichol’s et al. (all individual; no PAC) $50,800; WL Gore and Assoc. (as expected) $47,200….
When categorized by industry, his top five contributing industries are as follows…. Lawyers/Law Firms, $1,289,984;…Leadership PACs, $446,900;….Lobbyists, $331,202;……Securities & Investment, $264,300;….Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, $212,950….. The very people from which he campaigned to protect us against….
Currently for this election cycle, his campaign funds are 50% higher than the average so far collected per Senator.
 |
Individual Contributions  – Small Individual Contributions – Large Individual Contributions |
$4,899,587 $668,274 (9%) $4,231,308 (55%) |
(64%) |
 |
PAC Contributions | $2,383,213 | (31%) |
 |
Candidate self-financing | $0 | (0%) |
 |
Other | $401,808 | (5%) |
His balance is two thirds individuals and one third PACs. However his contributions from the 99% of Americans amount to only 6% of his total.
If he ever has to choose between your interests and those of his contributors, you have only 6% pull of his heartstrings; the one percent has the other 94%…..
And this was from one of the …. good ones…
I wasn’t going to say anything; obviously I’ve changed my mind as the controversy continues to swill around Chris Coon’s “no” vote against his putting a certain person who once represented a cop killer on the bench….
Chris has said this vote was difficult for him, and I think it would be for any of us finding ourselves in his position. It is easy to have an opinion and act on it when sides are clearly divided. As when it is you against them.
It is not so easy when your close friends are sharply divided, and half want you go go one way; the other half want you to go the next… When in that situation people develop formulas to guide them; such as take a poll and alienate the lesser amount; another is to check with those who are closest to you, and go the way they suggest. A third is to flip a coin, since you lose either way and gain nothing. A fourth is to skip the vote. And a fifth, is to actually look inside yourself, weigh all the data you are privileged to see, seek out the best and worst of both sides, then make a decision on what you think is best…
That last one is a doosey.
But that is what we elect our officials to do. We can’t be there ourselves. We have mouths to feed, bills to pay, bosses to satisfy, and spouses too mollify, and our duty is to pick who we think will do their best making these decisions in our absence… Among leaders, we call it delegation. We delegate these decisions to someone else, and trust they make the correct and right ones.
If you read through Chris’s statement, the emotion jumps off the page that it wasn’t an easy decision for him. None of us who throw invective bombs his way, ever sat down with the family of a fallen police officer and ask how they feel. Therefore we only know half of the equation; and to be straight up, that half is the left-brained, logical side of the equation. Respectfully, the lawyer who represents a client should not be pasted as being aligned to that client, because that, is what lawyers do…. Neither should a plumber be blamed because he once fixed Eric Bodenweiser’s faucet… Same thing; logically speaking; it’s work, that’s all…
But tell me truthfully… did you just cringe when I mentioned fixing Eric Bodenweiser’s faucet? If you were in a bar, and this great guy next to you suddenly spilled that story that he once went to that house, of that man, and took money from him, speaking strictly for me, I would immediately begin looking for another conversationalist… I’m just being honest. I don’t know why, it is completely illogical…. But there is just that stigma…. that kind that causes a shudder from the very inside of the heart, outward…
Again. no offense to anyone in bringing up this description. We all can agree it is just a example of human nature. But it is a very “BIG” part of human nature….
Which means it plays into the equation because all of our transactions are human… Those of us taking Coons to task probably did not look very deeply at the ramifications of having someone like that on the bench. Would there be more jailhouse deaths of inmates, because cops felt the defendant would be let off and knew he was guilty? Would there be less arrests because cops knew their charges would get pardoned anyway? To be honest, probably not, but since those thoughts just ran through my mind I’m sure there are other out there affected similarly….
But what this huge controversy does manifest, no matter which side you happen to be on, is that this decision was tainted. Either way, there is going to be this stigma, one way or the other, to one party or the other, always attached to this appointment….
With every decision this judge would make, forever into the future, … that stigma would get called into account. Either one side or the other would be outraged with every decision being made, by a far greater degree than if those same exact decisions had been made by someone we’d never even heard of before….
And that is where leadership comes into play… Whereas weaker minds would pick and choose sides, debate back and forth whether the one side or the other should win out in the end, the real leader looks at the big picture, charts the path forward over years and decades, and says “what would make all this go away, and get ourselves returned back to business as normal in the shortest possible time frame?”
When that becomes the parameter, the correct answer almost smacks you in the face; it is so clearly obvious what must be done….
Call it Chris’s Lawrence of Arabia moment; when you see the big picture and know what it is you must do. There are bigger, more important battles that need fought. Allowing a tempest in a teapot to derail the future of the entire nation is in no one’s best interest. Someone else, who will do just as great of job sitting on that bench can be found…. By then, many new crises will be upon us, and we’ll all be fortunate we are not reliving this distraction, over, and over, and over….
We made it go away… Whether it was this guy, or another, or a woman who sat on that bench, would not make any probable difference to your life, or mine. There are a lot of people out there who think the way this ex-lawyer does, who have the same depth of feeling towards civil rights, and I’m sure another one can be found rather quickly.. To let that distract from imposing higher taxes on the wealthy, from standing up to brutality in sub-Saharan Africa, from protecting Social Security, from fighting the corporate influence that is slowly choking off everything good we used to love about America, would be in error… And we’d be willing to throw all that away for what? Just for a puny public show to prove how tough we are that we can stand up to the Fraternal Order of Police and not back down?
There may be another time to do so. For example to preserve our Miranda rights. To protect habeas corpus would be another one. To keep the 5th Amendment intact would be a third… Those are all worth losing political capital over. Each of those make decisions that really matter, to not only ourselves, but future Americans down through the years as far as our eyes can see.
You aren’t standing in his shoes. He is. It is called “doing your job” and it is why we elected him; to sometimes even save us from ourselves when necessary…
Oh, well, you can think what ever you want about him, do whatever you want; it’s your right, I won’t say any more; there other far more pressing things needing my attention… But just remember this; that if you were in his shoes, at that time, making that decision, would you simply fall back on your prejudices and pap philosophies, perhaps your political nature that automatically always chooses one side over the other? Or… would you too, look at both sides, and figure out by yourself what America really needs at this point, then do something constructive to move us in that direction?
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Deal is sweetened by stretching pension plan payments for big business and is down to 3 month of extension. The Bill not only pays for the $6.4 billion price tag but also reduces the deficit by $1.2 billion.
There is no reason for Republicans to vote against it, except to screw the middle class over one more time..
Check back to see which choice they make….
SNAP is Food Stamps.
More than half of Americans will experience poverty at some point during their adult lives,” “Think about that. This is not an isolated situation.… That’s why we have nutrition assistance or the program known as SNAP, because it makes a difference for a mother who’s working, but is just having a hard time putting food on the table for her kids.” President Obama.
Who gets hurt?...
There are currently 47 million Americans who turn to food stamps to help make ends meet. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, nearly 72 percent are in families with children; and one-quarter of SNAP participants are in households with seniors or people with disabilities. Further, 91 percent of SNAP benefits go to households with incomes below the poverty line, and 55 percent to households below half of the poverty line (about $9,500 annually for a family of three).
Let’s break that down…. each million people represents one whole state of Delaware….
47 Delawares turn to Food Stamps
33 Delawares in Families with Children (72%)
42.8 Delawares (91%) go to households below the poverty line…. Here are the poverty lines….
25.9 Delawares at half poverty line (55%) (below $11,750 for family of 4; take half of above chart for others…)
You may remember that the program was cut by $5 Billion last November. That cut put Wal*mart’s earnings this past quarter into the negative for its first time in … how long? So this cut on top of that cuts amounts to about $13 billion dollars…from where benefits were last summer….
Let us look at those 25.9 million at half the poverty line…. A family of 4 below $11,750. At the maximum, that comes to living off $979 per month…. or…. $32 a day…. for 4 people…. If there are zero other expense across that entire year, they can afford to eat on $8 a day per person. Basically 2 meals at $4 each per day….
But not everyone get their benefits cut.
Here is the original US Code… 42 U.S.C. 8624(f)(2)(A)
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1) of this subsection and for purposes of determining any excess shelter expense deduction under section 5(e) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014 (e))—
(A) the full amount of such payments or allowances shall be deemed to be expended by such household for heating or cooling expenses, without regard to whether such payments or allowances are provided directly to, or indirectly for the benefit of, such household; and
… and here is the piece passed in the Senate just hours ago, and by the House last week…..
SEC. 4003. of the Farm Bill…
(b) Conforming Amendment- Section 2605(f)(2)(A) of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624(f)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting before the semicolon at the end `, except that, for purposes of the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), such payments or allowances were greater than $10 annually, consistent with section 5(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I) of that Act (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I)), as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.’.
And therefore the new line of code will look like this……
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1) of this subsection and for purposes of determining any excess shelter expense deduction under section 5(e) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014 (e))—
(A) the full amount of such payments or allowances shall be deemed to be expended by such household for heating or cooling expenses, without regard to whether such payments or allowances are provided directly to, or indirectly for the benefit of, such household, except that, for purposes of the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), such payments or allowances were greater than $10 annually, consistent with section 5(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I) of that Act (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I)), as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.; and
(One almost has to do it that way to figure out what the adds and deletes amount to….)
Basically what just happened was that if one received heating or energy assistance back before when it was NOT considered income, it now going to be considered income if it amounts to over $10 per year…. If it is enough, it may disqualify people off of SNAP….
Most likely those receiving Heat and Energy Assistance are NOT the most affluent of the SNAP recipients. Most likely those receiving Heat and Energy Assistance will be on the LOWER END of the recipients. Most likely those losing benefits will have AT THE MOST only $32 dollars a day for a family of 4, for all expenses, now including heat…. Furthermore, Southerners will eat better than Northerners.
This knocks 2 million of our neediest off the SNAP rolls… not really fair in anyone’s book… and it is done simply to save 16.5 billion or 0.000000000165 % of the deficit over the next 10 years…
Graph Courtesy of Washington Post
Notice there is $198.4 billion in other expenses spread out over the next 10 years… Was just SNAP was cut and not the other…?
The other is a fabrication or an estimate, for this farm bill does something no other farm bill has ever done. This bill discontinues cash payments per acre. That is no more. Instead we begin funding farmers through an insurance fund, a mechanism which makes tracing payments far more difficult… and probably impossible.
It expands the system of subsidized crop insurance to protect farmers from sudden price drops. The bill would also cap how much money an individual farmer can receive — $125,000 annually. (Lawmakers rejected amendments that would have shrunk this to $50,000.)
The White House originally asked for farm legislation that would have saved twice as much, $38 billion — mainly by slashing payouts to farmers. Instead, because of Republicans in the House, it only got $16.5 billion cut pverall… splitting it halfway between an $8.25 billion cut to our poorest citizens in the form of SNAP cuts, and $8.25 million billion cut to protect our largest grossing farmers from losing money…..
And just who are those largest grossing farmers, and how much did they make this past year?
Name ————————- Revenue Stream ————————Crop Protection %
1 Crop Production Services, Inc.= ——More than $1 billion ………. …………. 33%
2 Helena Chemical Company== ===More than $1 billion………………………. 38 4%
3 GROWMARK, Inc. ==========More than $1 billion ………………………. 17%
4 Wilbur-Ellis Company== More than $1 billion …………………………………. 41%
5 CHS ================More than $1 billion………………………….. …….21%
6 J.R. Simplot=========== More than $1 billion……………………………… 36%
7 Jimmy Sanders, Inc. (Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings) More than $1 billion 31%
8 Southern States Co-op========= $500-999 million………………………… 16%
9 MFA Incorporated============ $500-999 million ………………………..20%
10 Tennessee Farmers Cooperative ==$100-499 million ………………………..20%
(The other 90 can be found here in clearer detail……) But to appreciate the callous horror of our two Senator’s decision, look at all those gaining below, and then think of the sum of 25.9 Delawares looking over this list after their first full week with no food…….
(Rank -Name – Revenue Stream -Crop Protection %)
11 South Dakota Wheat Growers $100-499 million 18%
12 Co-Alliance LLP $100-499 million 18%
13 Central Valley Ag Cooperative $100-499 million 17%
14 Farmers Cooperative Co. $100-499 million 16%
15 Cargill AgHorizons $100-499 million 14%
16 The McGregor Co $100-499 million 34%
17 Hefty Seed Company $100-499 million 64%
18 Aurora Cooperative $100-499 million 35%
19 North Central Farmers Elevator $100-499 million 19%
20 Effingham Equity $100-499 million 22%
21 Brandt $100-499 million 21%
22 Buttonwillow Warehouse Company $100-499 million 43%
23 The Andersons, Inc. $100-499 million 20%
24 Agri-AFC, LLC $100-499 million 31%
25 West Central Ag Services $100-499 million 24%
26 Mid Valley Ag Service, Inc. $100-499 million 50%
27 Diamond R. Fertilizer Co., Inc. $100-499 million 36%
28 Heartland Co-op $100-499 million 15%
29 United Cooperative $100-499 million 17%
30 Twin-State Inc. $100-499 million 23%
31 Valley Agronomics LLC $100-499 million 37%
32 Kova Fertilizer $100-499 million 22%
33 Land View, Inc. $100-499 million 26%
34 Ag Partners LLC $100-499 million 14%
35 Landmark Service Cooperative $100-499 million 14%
36 Tremont Group Inc. $100-499 million 41%
37 Hintzsche Fertilizer, Inc. $100-499 million 18%
38 Griffin Fertilizer Co. $50-99 million 21%
39 CPI (Cooperative Producers, Inc.) $50-99 million 16%
40 West Central Cooperative $50-99 million 17%
41 Star of the West Milling Co. $50-99 million 18%
42 Allied Cooperative $50-99 million 19%
43 Golden Furrow Fertilizer $50-99 million 21%
44 Van Horn Inc. $50-99 million 16%
45 Frenchman Valley Co-op $50-99 million 17%
46 Ceres Solutions Inc. $50-99 million 28%
47 Cooperative Elevator Co. $50-99 million 17%
48 Farm Service Co-op $50-99 million 16%
49 Sur-Gro Plant Food $50-99 million 26%
50 Fertizona $50-99 million 45%
51 The Dune Co. $50-99 million 33%
52 G.S. Long Co., Inc. $50-99 million 74%
53 Carolina Eastern-Vail Inc. $50-99 million 14%
54 Wilco-Winfield LLC $50-99 million 31%
55 Gar Tootelian, Inc. $50-99 million 71%
56 First Cooperative Association $50-99 million 22%
57 United Prairie LLC $50-99 million 22%
58 Willard Agri-Service $50-99 million 20%
59 The DeLong Co., Inc $50-99 million 12%
60 MaxYield Cooperative $50-99 million 15%
61 Mid Kansas Coop $50-99 million 17%
62 Stanislaus Farm Supply $50-99 million 24%
63 Mid-West Fertilizer, Inc. $50-99 million 17%
64 Watonwan Farm Service $50-99 million 31%
65 Lyman Group, Inc. $50-99 million 46%
66 Asmus Farm Supply, Inc. $50-99 million 82%
67 Abell Corp. $50-99 million 0%
68 Home Oil Company $50-99 million 35%
69 Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc. $50-99 million 6 %
70 Mountain View Coop $50-99 million 20%
71 Pearl City Elevator, Inc. $50-99 million 21%
72 Reynolds United Co-op $50-99 million 29%
73 Farm Service Inc. $25-49 million 22%
74 AgRx $25-49 million 29%
75 El Dorado Chemical Co. $25-49 million 2%
76 Centennial Ag Supply $25-49 million 23 %
77 MRM Ag Services, Inc. $25-49 million 26 %
78 Growers Fertilizer Corporation $25-49 million 16%
79 Sims Fertilizer & Chemical $25-49 million 90 %
80 East Kansas Chemical Co. LLC $25-49 million 87%
81 Great Bend Coop $25-49 million 30 %
82 Warner Fertilizer Co. $25-49 million 6%
83 Delta Growers Association $25-49 million 33%
84 Panhandle Coop $25-49 million 17%
85 Big Valley Ag $25-49 million 52 %
86 Jay-Mar, Inc. $25-49 million 5%
87 Northwest Ag Supply LLC $25-49 million 73%
88 J.B. Pearl Sales & Service, Inc. $25-49 million 22 %
89 Husker Coop $25-49 million 21 %
90 Allerton Supply Co. Less than $25 million 24%
91 Frontier Cooperative Co. Less than $25 million 21%
92 T H Agri-Chemicals, Inc. Less than $25 million 6 %
93 Baltz Feed Company, Inc. Less than $25 million 27 %
94 BEI Hawaii Less than $25 million 30 %
95 Consumers Co-op Association Less than $25 million 26%
96 Foster-Gardner, Inc. Less than $25 million 47 %
97 The Mill Less than $25 million 13 %
98 MPG Crop Services Less than $25 million 60%
99 Woolsey Brothers Farm Supply Inc. Less than $25 million 31%
100 Pendleton Grain Growers Less than $25 million 29 %
The Rich get richer; the poor get poorer, and Tom and Chris just help them right along….
Recently all of Delaware called out Chris Coons for supporting war with Iran.
He has now pulled his support from that piece of legislation..
- Obama promised to veto that bill last night in his State of the Union.
- Two others pulled out today as well: Sen. james Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
It’s emotionally tough to go back on one’s word, when one realizes one has made a mistake. However, It is intellectually stupid NOT to do so.
Hat’s off to Chris Coons for listening to the right angel whispering in his ear……
Courtesy of the Economist (since removed)
There is an old saying I’m fond of repeating….
It takes great courage to stand up to one’s enemies. It takes even greater courage to stand up to one’s friend….
Chris Coons, Delaware’s Junior Senator who happens to be up for election this year, apparently lacks that amount of courage. (The Senior Senator, with more experience, does not seem to lack that courage (maybe from all those flights in a C-135…))
The bill known as the Schumer-Kirk-Menendez Bill is a poison pill designed to break the sanctioned negotiations with Iran. It was written, paid for, and lobbied by Israel. It has only one purpose and one purpose only; to put limitations on the President and Secretary of State in their negotiations over Iran’s non-proliferation….
(It is now dead btw. It does not have enough votes to override a Presidential veto…)
Sadly it shows we have kooks in our Senate running our foreign affairs, and unfortunately for Delaware, one of ours is one…. By kooks, I mean people who sign on to a bill without reading it, (probably not one’s regular definition of kook).
But a kook he is….
Benefit for signing on? A) money for campaigns and B) protection from the whacky Christian right (think O’Donnell)… If the bill were dead in the water, if it were just for a show, I could see some sensibility in trying to look good to a certain “whacky” constituency. After all, sad to say, that is political reality. One has to do, what one has to do….
But this bill would do severe damage. This bill would allow the nuclear process of Iran to continue. This bill would keep the sanctions in place, ensuring the nuclear process would indeed be the only option Iran would have at its disposal.
We have been cold enemies with Iran a long time. This negotiation is the equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s reaching out to Gorbachev earlier in our lifetimes. Imagine if upon Ronnie’s return from Reykjavik, the US Congress bought and paid for by then Communist China, had passed a resolution saying that no thaw could occur until the Soviets dismantled everyone of their nuclear missiles and silos, and destroyed everyone of their Atomic submarines…. We’d still be at war with Russia.
That is the equivalent stupidity of what this piece of legislations does. AND CHRIS COONS SIGNED ON TO IT! HAS HE LOST HIS FREAKING MIND?
Many of you may not remember but when Ronnie came back, there were a few hawks in the Senate who said exactly what I mentioned above. BUT WE ALL KNEW THEY WERE KOOKS….
Like the pontifications of Ted Cruz today, nobody, nobody, nobody of any import, took them seriously. Reagan was instead encouraged by the majority to go forward and meet with Gorbachev again…
Unlike those fine statesmen of the 80’s, our Senate is bought and paid for and according to Diane Feinstein, has apparently sworn to AIPAC put the cause of Israel above our own interests! And it is not to all of Israel’s interests they subscribe … it is strictly the war-mongering Conservative Hawks in Israel to whom they subscribe… Close to fifty percent of Israel is not Conservative!…. Simon Peres who recently passed, once led the other half of Israel, the half which sees progress involving cooperation and diplomacy. Israel’s Conservatives only get power when there is a crises involving war. That is behind their drumbeat for war with Iran. If in the middle of constant conflict, they can keep their hold of the Knesset. But once cooperation appears fruitful…. oops… out they go….
And so somehow they get Chris Coons to sign on to derailing the negotiations…. They got all the Republicans and a number of Democrats. At one point they gloated they had 77, a veto proof majority….
The bill argues for the US to declare war on Iran, if Israel attacks it..
REALLY CHRIS COONS? YOU SAID WE WRONGLY WENT TO IRAQ FOR 9/11. NOW YOU COMMIT US TO ANOTHER, VERY MAJOR, AND AGAINST A SMART ENEMY, A 1000 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN THE AFGHANISTAN TALIBAN, JUST IF ISRAEL SENDS A MISSION INTO IRAN?
If Chris had not listened to AIPAC, and listened to Allan Loudell of WDEL he probably would have known that Iran is at the negotiation table because the Iranian people demand it, by voting for the one candidate who promised to try to end their isolation. They want to be on more friendly terms with the West. A more cooperative Iran could yield any number of real benefits, including help in stabilizing Afghanistan (which we will need on the way out), the possibility of tamping down the civil war in Syria, and perhaps above all as positive role model of a modernizing and democratizing Islamic state—something of clearly global historical significance. Not to mention economic benefits for U.S. companies…..
SO CHRIS COONS… WE HAVE A BREAK-THROUGH FOR PEACE WITH VERY TANGIBLE BENEFITS BECAUSE A DEMOCRATIC NATION THREW OUT THEIR TOTALITARIAN, AND WE GET LOCKED INTO GOING TO WAR IF THE CONSERVATIVES OF ISRAEL FEEL THE NEED TO CHALLENGE IRAN, THEN STEP BACK WHILE WE GO IN TO DO ALL THE FIGHTING? AGAINST A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED REGIME?
What was it I said above? Yes. ARE YOU FREAKING OUT OF YOUR MIND?
Lots of love back at you. Just don’t let it happen again, ok?
kavips 