“Recipe for Chaos” and the Database to Back it Up
Published by Randy July 16th, 2007 in Food. Share This
Allowing your elected representatives to amend the 2007 Farm [subsidy] Bill “would be a recipe for chaos,” House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) has proclaimed. The 2007 Farm Bill is cobbled together by environmentalists, budget conservatives, anti-poverty groups, small farm advocates and taxpayer watchdog groups. In short it is a house of cards ready to tumble down at the first sign of pork barrel amendments.
If only proposed $33 billion in direct farm subsidy payments could save us from the Lovecraftian consumption that awaits us!
Yeah, I went there. I can hear it now, “That crazy libertarian has brought it! Politics on Dethroner! Sally forth to flay him in the comments section!”
It’s my fault and I’ll take full responsibility for my action—as any good libertarian should. However, I would like to take this opportunity not to shove the absuridity of politics down your throat but to introduce you to the EWG Farm Bill 2007 Policy Analysis Database.
Yes, it involves politics (and I discovered it while seeking further information on a matter of a political nature). However, I found it to be an excellent example of web (and statistical) geekiness and in my excitement I had to share it with someone.
Please accept my apologies if you don’t find the pairing of giant federal data sets with Google Maps somehow titillating.
Google mashups are almost always fun. I’m not really sure what I’m looking at, but most of my family is on there (grew up on a small family farm)….woohoo?
Hmm, interesting, though hard to figure out how this is useful at present. What I mostly enjoyed about this post was the thought that I might “Sally forth to flay him in the comments section!”
damn you and your knowledge….geez thanks for the enlightenment and now I shall go forth and kill the beast named ignorance!
Yeah, I’m not really sure what it’s good for either. If nothing else it supports the idea that the whole farm bill mess is a recipe for chaos.
The interesting/geeky/pseudo-stalker part is (and I had hoped someone else would fiddle around with it and comment) when I discovered that almost $300k was paid out in my zip code. In the middle of the Kansas City metro area!