Maybe George Bush Doesn't Eat?

Now that there has been a bit of time since SOTU, have you noticed what was missing?

Think now. After all, why are we here? .... and now that your thinking cap is on, we'll bet you remember R U R A L.

Not one word did George Bush have to say about rural, Farm Bill, rural development, school lunch, food safety, agriculture or the Bill's many other related subjects on Monday night. We might remember that rural Americans gave George Bush a +19 vote margin over John Kerry in 2004. But we guess he just forgot ... just forgot all 55 to 60 million of us.

Read what some Farm State members had to say at "Bush Silence on Farm Bill Draws Fire," on Politico. Our favorites:

• "To stymie a Farm Bill has real consequences ... The Farm Bill is our (economic) stimulus," reminded Representative Earl Pomeroy (ND).
• "The Farm Bill is the single most important legislation for rural communities," Senator Tom Harkin (IA).

Succinctly, Tom Buis, President of the National Farmers Union said, "I was appalled."

At My Rural America, we are appalled, too. Maybe George Bush doesn't eat?

Everything Old is New Again

One of the best pieces about President's Bush's State of the Union last night begins with "Everything old is new again. In the final year of a two-term presidency, the commander-in-chief travels to the Middle East for a last, legacy-burnishing push to forge a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. He reaches out personally to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il to close an elusive deal on the dismantlement of the Hermit Kingdom's nuclear weapons program.

"Archterrorist Osama bin Laden and his Qaeda henchmen continue, meanwhile, to plot attacks against the United States from sanctuaries along the Afghan-Pakistan border. At home, a familiar nemesis from a competing political dynasty is running for president, promising to seize the reins of American foreign policy and dramatically alter the country's post-Cold War course yet again.

"The eerie parallels between 2008 and 2000 ... are striking." The complete story "State of Disorder", by James Kitfield, can be found on National Journal's website.

First Impressions -- State of the Union

President Bush gave his last State of the Union speech tonight. As I watched it, I thought about all the missed opportunities these last years -- missed the boat on global warming, waited around too long on the housing/mortgage mess, didn't seem to even notice our lagging economy until Speaker Nancy Pelosi went personally to the White House to lay the cards on the table ... and sadly, I simply had to laugh about the President's promise to veto what he identified as excessive earmarks.

My laugh ... falling into the category of "Not a laughing matter but doesn't matter if you laugh" ... was because I remembered how the growing number of earmarks never bothered him before -- not last year, not really ever. You can check the record for yourself at the Congressional Research Service, but first, see below for samples of the growing number of earmarks these last seven years. It started with defense but the reality has been that earmarks under Bush have been for literally everything.

• FY 2000 ... 997 earmarks in defense appropriations and 491 in the domestic spending bill
  
• FY 2002 ... first defense bill -- 1409 earmarks (a 40% increase) and 1606 in the domestic spending bill
  
• FY 2004 ... 2208 earmarks (56% more than 2002) and 2036 in the domestic bill

In 2005, there were 3014 earmarks ... a 500% increase in earmarks during just the first term. and that didn't count the Transportation Bill that year (6,371 earmarks) —50 percent higher than all previous years combined. There are also many more these last years and this year ... for the first time, the Congress has begun cutting back the numbers, while this year -- during the cutbacks, the President has chosen to complain.

However, there were bright spots. We're happy that the President has given his word so very publicly that he will support the economic stimulus package that Speaker Nancy Pelosi negotiated. It also seemed like the President was at least a little more willing to work with the Congress on other matters, too. Our country needs a new spirit of bipartisanship, and maybe ... hopefully ... tonight be part of a new start. Over the next several days, readers may expect us to share various national viewpoints on how the President did. We'll talk about the ongoing wars, too ... just $1,000,000,000 a day.

TImely, Targeted and Temporary

My Rural America congratulates House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her leadership ... for taking things in her own hands ... and going the extra mile to negotiate with President Bush. The result -- a $150 billion package which will put immediate (think May or June) money into the people who need it the most, should be considered a very serious step in the right direction toward right-ing an almost backwards economy whose symbols have been the sinking dollar, a shrinking middle class, and a big rise in everyday household needs as well as business inputs.

On our list of good things about the stimulus package:

• The package meets the three "T's" ... timely, targeted and temporary ... all essential requirements for effective economic stimulus actions that economists say are the most effective short term tools for starting up a stalled economy.
• Ms. Pelosi's actions have put the Republicans to abandon their push to make Mr. Bush's 2001 tax cuts permanent.
  
• Her action also stopped the rebates ($600 per individual, $1200 per family) from benefiting high income households.

Perhaps best of all is the fact that this stimulus tax package is simple. It really is a compromise not only by the President but also by some traditional Democrats who would have liked to add more items, and more cost, to the package, so NO--permanent tax cuts for the President and NO--extra food stamps or lengthened unemployment assistance for Democratic supporters.

Monday night -- January 28th, is the President's State of the Union. We're glad he's agreed to the tax stimulus package but it will be interesting to watch him talk about the economy, i.e., our economy that has so long been ignored by this President.

Note here: The economy has been more that just "a little bit" stalled for quite awhile. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and many Democrats in both the House and the Senate have publicly worried about the direction the economy has been going for almost a year now. Among the warning signs: people balancing multiple jobs to make ends meet, the ever increasing cost of oil, the up-and-down stock market and the home mortgage crisis.

There are many good stories available about the tax stimulus package and actions leading up to it, but three of our favorites are the following: "Tax Stimulus Package May Come by Mid-May" by Julie Hirschfield Davis (Washington Post 1/27/08); "For Speaker, Calculated Stimulus Steps" by Carl Hulse (New York Times 1/27/08), and; "Bush's Legacy - Weak Economy Moves Up Front" by Sheryl Gary Stolberg (New York Times (1/27/08).