Again and again with each passing day we see actions from the Oval Office, Congress, and the nation's corporate boardrooms that one might justifiably think would evoke widespread citizen outrage to a degree not seen in this country in decades. Yet the public's torpor seems to be all pervasive so it should come as no surprise that rural America and family farm agriculture continues to be subjected in 2002 to more than its share of outrageous actions by the aforementioned parties. Latest in this series of unconscionable acts came last Friday in South Dakota where George W. Bush, under the stoney gaze of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln at Mt. Rushmore, told America's drought-stricken farmers, in launching his latest campaign to put a brake on federal spending, that they could expect no extra help from the federal government even as he prepares to take the country to a costly war. Consider for a moment how utterly mean such a declaration from the nation's chief executive is in the context of the current state of the general welfare and common good. Here is a President who unashamedly invokes the pioneer spirit to farmers suffering from the worst drought since the Great Depression's Dust Bowl days despite the fact he seeks to perpetuate many of the same conditions that led to the disaster in the 1930's and are now in the process of again taking such a devastating toll in America's heartland. Called by some "one of the three worst ecological blunders in history," the Dust Bowl of the 1930's was a mere 50 years in the making. Donald Worster in his authoritative investigation, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, vividly describes this tragedy, and sees more than just nature on a rampage.
"My argument," the environmental historian states, "is that there was in fact a close link between the Dust Bowl and the Depression --- that the same society produced them both, and for similar reasons. Both events revealed fundamental weaknesses in the traditional culture of America, the one in ecological terms, the other in economic. Both offered a reason, and an opportunity for substantial reform of that culture. . .
"It came about because the expansionary energy of the United States had finally encountered a volatile, marginal land, destroying the delicate ecological balance that had evolved there. We speak of farmers and plows on the plains and the damage they did, but the language is inadequate. What brought them to the region was a social system, a set of values, an economic order. There is no word that so fully sums up those elements as `capitalism',"
In explaining his meaning Worster points out that "capitalism" has developed an "enduring ethos" that seeks to give the economic culture continuity. The ecological values of that ethos include: nature must be seen as capital; man has a right, even an obligation, to use this capital for constant self-advancement, and the social order should permit and encourage this continual increase of personal wealth.
By the 1920's farming and ranching had become for many a business, the object of which was not necessarily to make a living, but to make money. Just as they objected to the "social controls" that they perceived Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was trying to impose on them, they also believed that nature would dare not thwart them in the managing of their business affairs. Thus, these same laissez-faire interests continued to extensively plow up the Great Plains, planting their wheat, and creating highly mechanized factory farms that produced unprecedented harvests.
As Worster states, "There was nothing in the plains society to check the progress of commercial farming, nothing to prevent it from taking the risks it was willing to take for profit. That is how and why the Dust Bowl came about." Thus while George W. Bush is rhapsodizing about the pioneer spirit in the face of a sun-scorching drought, which some say may be the initial warning sign that "global warming" is here to stay, he not only doubts whether there is any such thing as "global warming," and has shown this unwillingness to believe by refusing to allow the nation to sign any international agreements, such as the Kyoto Treaty, aimed at preventing a similar worldwide ecological disaster. As he asks farmers to wrap themselves in the security that they are maintaining the pioneer spirit he sits in his Texas ranch house entertaining his corporate friends while making plans to wage an undeclared first-strike war which assuredly will exact an unnecessary toll in human life and expenditure of the nation's vital resources. One wonders why the President doesn't also ask the Pentagon with its $355 billion and its defense contractors living off of corporate welfare to abide by the same pioneer spirit and invest some of those billions of dollars in rebuilding and modernizing the nation's social and physical infrastructure and tending to the needs of those people who have been victimized by George W. Bush's friends and ranch guests. When measured against the Pentagon's billions of dollars immediate relief for our needy and drought stricken family farmers is but mere pocket change. Consider these facts when attempting to put the staggering amount of money this nation spends on weapons of war, some of which have proven of dubious value in recent actions by the U.S.. How much is one billion ??? * One billion seconds ago was approximately two years after the New England colonies were established in the New World !!! * One billion minutes ago was a point during the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan and 22 years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius !!! * One billion hours ago and we enter unrecorded history !!! * One billion dollars was yesterday afternoon at the Pentagon !!! Thus, this nation would be well advised with the coming solemnity of September 11 and its ad nauseam "showing of the flag" to also begin to show some genuine outrage, not only over what is happening to our environment, our reputation in the world as a valued nation, our corporate-sponsored national leadership, our precarious economic structure, and our much abused democratic form of government, but also to who is going to provide their next meal, where it is to come from, and how safe it is going to be to eat and digest that meal ??? GWB: LET THEM EAT "SPOILED MILK" "WE'VE GOT PROBLEMS, WE'VE GOT CHALLENGES WE'RE GOING TO MEET THOSE CHALLENGES HEAD ON" MIKE ALLEN, THE WASHINGTON POST: President Bush invoked the spirit of pioneers [Friday] as he urged desperate ranchers to endure South Dakota's worst drought since the Depression without insisting on extra federal aid, which would increase the budget deficit. Bush, whose helicopter gave him an eye-level view of the Mount Rushmore monument, began a campaign this week to convince Congress that he is determined to put a brake on federal spending, even during a war on terrorism. He told residents of the Black Hills here that he had made the politically painful choice of rejecting pleas for new drought money from Rep. John Thune (South Dakota), the Republican whom Bush personally recruited to try to unseat Sen. Tim Johnson (Dem.-South Dakota) in one of the nation's hottest Senate races. Speaking in brilliant sunlight beneath the 60-foot-tall granite visages of four legendary presidents, Bush said he was optimistic about overcoming the challenges posed by terrorism and a listless economy. He vowed to set priorities and watch spending. "A lot of our predecessors faced hardship and overcame hardships, because we're Americans," he said. "That's what's going to happen in this era, too. We've got problems, we've got challenges. This generation has got challenges to meet, and we're going to meet those challenges head-on." The drought has become such an emotional issue that the South Dakota Democratic Party today began running radio advertisements attacking Thune and the Bush administration for doing too little. Johnson supporters contend that Bush has undermined Thune, because many ranchers thought the presidential visit signaled plans to offer new federal aid. Instead, Bush said relief should come from the $190 billion farm bill he signed in May, "so we don't run up additional deficits in the federal budget." The president underscored his commitment to helping ranchers under current programs, including the Agriculture Department's decision this week that $150 million in surplus milk --- "spoiled milk," Democrats called it --- would be made available for use in animal feed in four drought-stricken states, including South Dakota. "People here hurt, and I know that," Bush told residents of the Badlands, where cattle are dying and crops are shriveling. "We want to help the hurting people, because it is not only good for the neighborhood. Helping people in the agricultural sector is good for the American economy." "EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT" AFFECTS 26 STATES LOSSES IN BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EXPECTED CAREY GILLAM, REUTERS NEWS SERVICE: They were praying for rain at the St. Patrick parish church in Grand Rapids, Ohio this week. With hands clasped and eyes cast downward, about 100 desperate farmers and rural residents gathered at the church on Wednesday to seek divine intervention in an extended drought in Ohio and much of the United States that is fast becoming one of the worst in the last century. "None of us have control over whether it is going to rain or not," said Sister Christine Pratt, rural life director for the Catholic Diocese of nearby Toledo. "But the people are praying for one another and there is some hope." Drought has taken a grip on more than half of the United States, experts calculate. Twenty-six states are suffering severe drought conditions and "exceptional drought" --- the worst level of drought measured --- has blanketed thirteen states, including New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. In a typical year, drought hits ten percent to 12% of the country. "It is pretty dire," said Mark Svoboda, climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center. "We're seeing agricultural impacts. . . .We have a lot of hydrological problems with wells and reservoirs and streams going dry. This is going to total billions of dollars when it is all said and done." From southern California to South Carolina and from Montana to New Mexico, individuals and industries are suffering . . . . In heat-baked fields ranchers have sold off herds rather than let them starve for lack of pasture. "I have never seen it like this and I'm 60 years old," said Richard Traylor, who owns 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) in Texas and New Mexico but has sold off much of his cattle herd. Tourism has also been hit as the drought turned state and national parks into kindling. So far this year, wildfires have scorched more than 4.6 million acres (1.9 million hectares), twice the average acreage burned in the previous decade. There is a scramble for new water sources as town and city residents are urged to stop watering lawns and washing cars. In Monticello, Georgia, south of Atlanta, officials this week banned all outside watering, saying creek levels were so low that the area could run out of water in 30 to 45 days. National estimates for drought-related losses are still being tallied, with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture waiting for harvesting of corn and soybean and other key crops to conclude before loss figures are compiled. This summer's wheat harvest underscored the devastation as production fell to the lowest levels in nearly 30 years. In Nebraska, experts have pegged the losses at more than $1.4 billion. "It is really, really awful," said Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns. "Even some of the folks who lived through the `dust bowl' years will say it is as bad as it has ever been," he said referring to a severe drought in the 1930s. In Colorado, Denver's water reservoirs hit a historic low on July 1, at only 66% full. And this month, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens signed into law a bill creating a $1 million emergency drought fund so farmers and ranchers can buy water. State leaders are clamoring for Washington to allocate disaster aid. Though the scope of assistance needed has not been determined, some call for more than $5 billion. A key factor in the water shortage is the lack of adequate snowpack in the mountains. Melting snow from higher elevations usually feeds rivers and streams, but this year, snowpacks in the Rocky Mountains were only a quarter of normal levels --- one of lowest on record, said Douglas LeComte, a drought specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lack of rain is the other obvious factor. In Dodge City, Kansas, rainfall over the 14 months ending in July amounted to the driest period since 1952-53. The water shortages are prompting battles between upstream and downstream states and between individuals and businesses. In Jasper County, South Carolina, more than 100 people turned out last week for a meeting with state officials after a drop in an underground aquifer left them without water. Rural residents blamed business operators for using too much water. North and South Carolina are fighting over North Carolina's refusal to release water from its reservoirs downstream. "People are battling for water like we've never seen before," said Hope Mizzell, South Carolina's drought program coordinator. This year's drought is the extension of more than two years of very dry conditions in many states, said LeComte. Some areas are experiencing their fifth consecutive year of drought. The conditions are near those seen during the country's most devastating drought in the 1930s - the "dust bowl" years, when some 60% of the United States was affected. Global warming, changing weather patterns, bad land management and many other factors are involved in the debate over what caused the current drought. But right now the focus is more on when it will end. "We need to recharge the water supply," said Svoboda. "Just about every part of the country needs a good wet winter.":
