In The News

[boatman61]

How do Americans tolerate this crap food.. or have you no choice..???

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry...74009229427889

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by boatman61

How do Americans tolerate this crap food.. or have you no choice..???

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry...74009229427889

Because our corrupt politicians are living off "campaign contributions" aka bribes from big business, including the farm lobby. The farm lobby wants it because it makes them more money. The people are mostly ignorant of whats going into the food they eat or have been lulled into thinking it's alright.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Because our corrupt politicians are living off "campaign contributions" aka bribes from big business, including the farm lobby. The farm lobby wants it because it makes them more money. The people are mostly ignorant of whats going into the food they eat or have been lulled into thinking it's alright.

Between 1995 and 2010, U.S. farm subsidies ballooned to $52 billion a year on average. Of this, more than 6 percent went toward four "junk food" components: corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oils. Many people wondered why the federal government was subsidizing food that contributed to America's obesity problem.
Between 2001 and 2006, farm subsidies tapered off a bit, averaging $19 billion a year. Of this, about 15 percent was wasteful, unnecessary, or redundant.
During the recession, as lawmakers looked for ways to cut the budget, many asked, "Do corn growers need subsidies?" In 2011, a record 12.4 billion bushels of corn were produced. In 2012, 94 million acres of corn were scheduled to be planted. This was more than in any year since World War II.
By 2017, large farms dominated the industry. Farms generating $1 million or more in sales produced two-thirds of the nation's agricultural output. Only 4 percent of farms were that large. Big farms gobbled up small ones that couldn't compete. They relied on economies of scale to produce more food at a cheaper price. That sent prices down even more, putting more small farmers out of business.
Half of farmers receiving subsidies made more than $100,000 a year. Between 1995 and 2016, the top 10 percent of farmers received 77 percent of subsidies. The top 1 percent received 26 percent or $1.7 million per recipient. The top recipient was Deline Farms Partnership, which received $4 million in 2016.

[skipmac]

Thanks Gord for posting some details.

A couple more that I find particularly onerous, one because my primary residence is in Florida where the sugar growers benefit from huge government subsidies and market protection. Not only does this result in US sugar prices being double that of the rest of the world, the program is also subsidizing an industry that is the largest contributor of pollution to the Everglades. The same concerns apply to cane and beet sugar producers in other states.

Periodically Florida voters try to reign in the sugar industry but each effort is met with an onslaught of ads bemoaning the attack on family farms and another round of campaign contributions to FL politicians (which to be fair is distributed on both sides of the aisle). The reality is the FL sugar industry is controlled by five, mega-wealthy families that are in reality agro industry. The final kick in the teeth, the majority of the labor on the sugar farms are imported from the Caribbean so very few jobs are generated for the locals. Probably moot anyway since cutting cane is a really nasty, backbreaking job that few Americans would or even could do.

Another relates to your info about corn derivatives. In addition to subsidies for the food derivatives the US mandates ethanol be added to road fuel.
The ethanol comes from corn which increases corn prices, takes corn out of the food chain, and is grossly inefficient. Depending on how one calculates the process it takes as much as 5-7 gallons of other fuel to produce 8 gallons of fuel grade ethanol. Further, the cost of corn based ethanol is quite high so in addition to other subsidies the US government gives over fifty cents per gallon subsidy to fuel ethanol producers. On top of everything else, what ethanol does to engines, especially small engines like outboards, chainsaws, etc is a huge pain.

[a64pilot]

Gord,
Just for interests sake, look up how much of the “Farm bill” is food stamps.
I bet most didn’t know food stamps were part of the farm bill, I know I didn’t.

[GordMay]

This is a very good read. (Not climate related)
Residents of Churchill, Canada share their streets with the largest land carnivore in the world. Churchill may ultimately find itself as both the most famous home of the ultimate icon of climate change and a community that, in the words of Spence, “will have to take advantage” of that warming climate.
Lots More ☞ https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...r-bear-capital

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Gord,
Just for interests sake, look up how much of the “Farm bill” is food stamps.
I bet most didn’t know food stamps were part of the farm bill, I know I didn’t.

The 2018 farm bill or H.R. 2 (115th) Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018
☞ https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr2
Summary ☞ https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr2/summary
Title IV Nutrition
Amends the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program to include a training, evaluation, and information center, and provides $65 million in annual funding by 2023.

The Farm Bill funds the nation’s $867 billion food and agriculture programs.
More than 40 million Americans, or about 12 percent of the U.S. population, depend on the SNAP food stamps program.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Give Canada back the Northwest Angle located in MANITOBA

From post #134 ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2793804

Now there is a call for the U.S. government to adjust the border near Manitoba to give Canada the geographic oddity known as the Northwest Angle.
To make the journey by land between the Northwest Angle and the rest of the United States, residents must pass through two international borders — at the east and southern boundaries of Manitoba.

More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...rder-1.4962228

Sign This Petition ➥ https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...cated-manitoba
Needs 96,976 signatures by January 29, 2019 to get a response from the White House

Thanks Gord for quoting me!


This is amazing. I've never heard of the Northwest Angle. I know that Canadians refused to return Carlton Island after the Treaty of Jay, and I'm pretty good at Geography, even having visited Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, but this Angle is new to me- how odd and how interesting!

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Security?
Canada has a sign.
US has a phone booth.

Friday Harbor has one of those phones for checking back in from Canada.

You pick it up and it says "Enter your passport number" or some such.

The DAMN PHONE HAS NO KEYPAD!!

Nobody showed up in a half hour as we got beaten against the dock from all manner of powerboats and ferries. Repeated calls got nothing.
I finally left a rather corrosive message and left.
Nothing happened.

[GordMay]

When Warren Washington created the first climate model, he had no idea how necessary it was. He just won the 'Nobel Prize for the environment.'
☞ https://www.businessinsider.com/warr...t-prize-2019-2

The 2019 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement was awarded on February 12 to Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, and Warren M. Washington, Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The Tyler Prize, established by John and Alice Tyler to spotlight achievements of top climate scientists in 1971, includes a $200,000 cash prize, split between recipients, and a medal, awarded at a ceremony in San Francisco.

Mann is known for his pioneering work in the use of climate proxy data, taken from ice cores, tree rings, and lake sediments, to map the changes in the climate, extending back more than 1,000 years. The findings of Mann and his collaborators resulted in the “hockey stick” graph showing a recent rapid rise in global temperature and providing scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change. The graph attracted controversy in the debates over global warming but has been supported by subsequent analysis.

Washington, a former president of the American Meteorological Society, received the Tyler prize for his expertise in climate modeling, climate change research, and atmospheric science. He is especially known for recognizing early on the potential of computer technology in climate science. Washington was an adviser to six US presidents and received the National Medal of Science in 2010 from President Barack Obama.

[GordMay]

30K litres of iceberg water set to become vodka stolen in NL
Police are on the hunt for 30,000 litres of iceberg water stolen from a warehouse in Port Union [Newfoundland and Labrador].
More ☞ https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca...rom-port-union

[GordMay]

Sailor who kissed woman in one of the most famous photos of the 20th century is dead.
George Mendonsa died Sunday (Feb 17/19) at 95, in Rhode Island after a fall and seizure
☞ https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sailor...dosa-1.5023861

[GordMay]

'Grandfather of climate science' dead at 87
Climate scientist Wallace Smith Broecker has died at 87. Broecker brought the term "global warming" into common use with a 1975 paper that correctly predicted rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would lead to pronounced warming. Broecker was also first to recognize what he called the "Ocean Conveyor Belt", a global system of ocean currents circulating water and nutrients.
☞ https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/o...eker-1.5023911

The Earth Institute Columbia University
Profile ☞ Wallace S. Broecker - The Earth Institute - Columbia University

“Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?”
Science 08 Aug 1975
“If man-made dust is unimportant as a major cause of climatic change, then a strong case can be made that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide. By analogy with similar events in the past, the natural climatic cooling which, since 1940, has more than compensated for the carbon dioxide effect, will soon bottom out. Once this happens, the exponential rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years.”
☞ Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming? | Science

[GordMay]

An earthquake lasted 50 days, but no one felt it. Here's why.
Back in the summer of 2016, a big earthquake struck northwestern Turkey. That’s not so unusual, considering that the region sits atop a highly active branching fault network that has a history of producing some seriously powerful tremblors.
The strange thing about this particular quake is that it lasted for 50 days, and not a single soul felt it.
More ☞ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/s...-it-heres-why/

See also:

“Slow strain release along the eastern Marmara region offshore Istanbul in conjunction with enhanced local seismic moment release” ~ by Patricia Martínez-Garzón
☞ https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...093?via%3Dihub

“Slow slip events and time dependent variations in locking beneath Lower Cook Inlet of the Alaska Aleutian subduction zone” ~ by Shanshan Li et al.
☞ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley....2/2015JB012491

[GordMay]

Petition calls for Montana to be sold to Canada
Ian Hammond needs your help with “Christian moms against private education: Sell Montana to Canada for $1 Trillion to eliminate the national debt”.
☞ https://www.change.org/p/christian-m...-national-debt

☞ https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...national-debt/