Pigford Perspectives I

I'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to deny the existence of discrimination in FmHA/FSA offices. But, I'd also have to be a coward to avoid discussing the Pigford lawsuit. That said, I'm also stupid, because it's obviously a complex issue and very much of a hot potato and I don't plan to spend a lot of time researching it. Just wing a few posts until I get tired.

First point: obviously people are polarized over the issue. The email (via Mulch), apparently circulating among some FSA employees, says the prospect of reopening the lawsuit makes her wish she weren't an employee of an agency.

That statement may be a statement by someone prejudiced against all minorities. That's the assumption made by Ken Cook, Barack Obama, John Boyd, and others. Their assumption may be true.

But, if you read the whole thing (and I give EWG credit for including the whole thing), a more reasonable assumption is that this is a bureaucrat who's complaining about the possibility of useless work being imposed by Congress. She passes on Ms. Cooksie's comment about the provision being "awful" and frets about being buried under workload, and being asked to provide information they don't have.

Now certainly it is the job of bureaucrats, when Congress speaks, to snap to and salute, just like their military counterparts do. It's not their job to worry about whether taxpayers money is being spent wisely, is it?

Pigford Sites

Among the Internet sites that relate to the Pigford lawsuit are the following:

PBS has background material on the history of black farmers here.

The settlement in the class action suit called for an arbitrator to make decisions with a separate, independent court-appointed monitor to look over the arbitrator's shoulder (no decision power as I understand). Here's the Office of Monitor's website

Here's the National Black Farmer's Association website, with a record of their actions and USDA's response (in more detail than I've provided).

The lawsuit was settled several years ago. In 2004 the time had run and there was a spurt of publicity about it:

The Washington Post did an article

The Environmental Working Group did a study with the black farmers association 2004 report
Carol Estes did a piece stating the side from the black farmer point of view.

The Delta Press did a piece from another side here

In 2007 the House reopened the discussion and EWG did several pieces here in July 2007
and in their EWG July Update on farm bill

Here is the testimony of John Boyd

This is the website of the FSA bureaucrats who work on farm loans: National Association of Credit Specialists

Straw in the Wind of Immigration

The Post yesterday had an article on Manassas Park, which is where my wife lived most of her youth. (A Levittown type community outside Manassas, VA, originally for WWII vets and families.) Recently an article said that in 6 years it had jumped from 33 percent minority to 50 percent minority, ranking third in the country for political subdivisions changing rapidly.

Anyway:

The Manassas Park City Council criticized "a small faction of citizens" this week for what it called "irresponsible and offensive" statements about local immigration policies, approving an official position that sets the small suburb apart from neighbors seeking to step up enforcement against illegal immigration.

The position statement, unanimously approved Tuesday night, declared: "The City believes most residents in Manassas Park are legally present and moved to this area to create a better life for their respective families." It added that the city of 11,600, bordered by Manassas and Prince William County, "will continue to work aggressively with federal and state agencies to address all criminal activity."

What's interesting is that these are Republican politicians! What's happening? The handwriting is on the wall--anyone who wants a political career in Manassas Park had better not be hostile to immigrants, who are the majority. (That's independent of judgments over what policy is best.)

Believing What We Want--Food Miles

[Updated: Rich Pirog wrote me a nice note, essentially saying he's still checking, and giving this reference: ]

Someone asked Tom Philpott at Gristmill about the sourcing of a factoid apparently often used in the "slow food" or local food movement--that on average food on our table moves 1200 miles. To his credit, he did some research and found it wasn't a 1969 DOD study. Instead, he tracks down Rich Pirog at Iowa State who says it's a 1969 Department of Energy study:

"Rich did a comprehensive look at food-mile studies for his 2001 paper "Food, Fuel, Freeways: An Iowa perspective on how far food travels, food usage, and greenhouse gas emissions."

The only study he knows about that comprehensively estimates food miles nationwide is the 1969 DoE effort. Reader Steven, if you're still with me, the citation for it is: U.S. Department of Energy. 1969. "U.S. Agriculture: Potential Vulnerabilities." Stanford Research, Institute, Menlo Park, CA."

Unfortunately, DOE wasn't formed until the 1970's--Jimmy Carter in 1977. (Actually, it makes more sense to have been a DOD study--at that time there were still worries about nuclear warfare and the farther food traveled, the more vulnerable we might be.)

It's a Diverse America

Whenever my mind starts making assumptions, along come things like this (a Blog for Rural America Post on a 23,000 acre "farm" in Louisiana) to remind me of the differences among us.

Rights of Government Bureaucrats

Relative to the controversy over FSA employees using government PC's and Internet for their own purposes, Slate has this piece explaining the rules for the military. The New York Times recently published an op-ed by 7 enlisted personnel on Iraq. We don't know how they did what they did--whether they used personal PC's during off-duty hours or what. The Slate piece focuses on rights to publish opinions.

What Is Happiness? Slow Food?

A commenter [who's fooling whom--the commenter] on my post on local food writes with evident longing of experiencing the small shops in Europe. It raises the question--what's happiness?

Certainly the idea of strolling the streets of France (something my wife remembers fondly), stopping in at the chocolate shop, or the bakery, or the pastry shop is fine. Maybe I'll experience the reality one day.

Some argue that Europeans are happier than we, having consciously decided to opt for a society that is slower, works fewer hours, enjoys life more, and has a smaller gap between rich and
poor. That may be true. But from my age, I suspect there's also a bit of "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence". There's no paradise on earth.

Not really related, but here's a NYTimes article on the overlap among religions in their concern for the way food animals are reared and slaughtered. And a Post article on "terroir"--the idea that where food is grown makes a difference.

Another Politician Heard From

Mulch reports another politician has written Secretary Johanns about the Pigford emails.

Washington Monthly and Rating Colleges

I like the Washington Monthly's rating scale for colleges. And this year it has a good piece on community colleges, particularly one in Washington. See here. (My liking is entirely independent of the fact that my alma mater ranks higher on their scale than on the U.S. News one.)

It's too bad the education cartel doesn't release data on student achievement. I'm tempted to tweak some of the libertarian/conservative economists I read about that fact.

The Proud Citizens of Mahomet, IL

One wonders if there's any pressure to change the name. One of their own was in the Lehrer News honor roll last night.