Gut Rumbles
 

About

Search



Advanced Search

Links

Tall Dogs

Archives

May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001

Extras

Credits

August 26, 2003

down south

If you never lived "down South," you need to read this post. Bacca is big, almost as big as peanuts where I live. Cotton probably is the only thing bigger.

You need a government allotment to grow commercial tobacco in Georgia and people who have one rent it out if they don't want to do all of that work. I think that's bullshit, but it's part of Corporate Welfare for farmers and has been for a long time. My friend, COP 3, inherited a tobacco allotment from his grandfather. He gets paid every year for tobacco somebody else grows. The farmer rents my friend's allotment. Otherwise, the farmer could not grow commercial tobacco.

COP 3 sits in his air-conditioned house while people work their asses off in the tobacco fields and HE GETS PAID because his grandfather had that allotment. I don't believe that he knows a tobacco plant from a collard green, but it's all a money-making process for him. No work, nice pay.

I see something seriously wrong with that situation.

Posted by Acidman @ 05:39 PM TrackBack [0]
Comments

But I'm glad they are there. Nothing like a good chew of Red Man.

Posted by: Grey Biker on August 26, 2003 07:34 PM

I saw too much of those big-ass worms to chew. But I smoked... and I remembered how that t'baccer got to Raleigh.
Course, all those chemicals we sprayed had a little to do with why I quit!
Thanks for the link, A-man. I thought you'd get a kick out of that one.

Posted by: Stoney on August 26, 2003 07:59 PM

If the anti-tobacco bigots keep on doin' as they're doin' it will be time for North Carolina to try that secession thing again.

This time, I hope we have nuclear weapons to back it up.

Then when can become the new Colombia.

Posted by: Brett on August 26, 2003 10:56 PM

I'm on a troll slide today....So what if there are a dozen middlemen in between the allotment and the cigarette?

What agricultural commodity isn't regulated like this nowadays?

Citrus in California, Cheese in Oregon and anything Archer Daniels Midland has it's hands on are good examples that I know of.

The system is called Marketing Orders, if I recall correctly. The original idea of Marketing Orders was to shield the growers from disastrous depression of the value of their crops so that they could continue to farm. This was a New Deal idea, if I recall my history lessons, but every Federal administration since FDR has continued the policy.

Posted by: Rivrdog on August 27, 2003 12:55 AM

Just like Catch-22, which I see is your favourite book. Remember Major Major's father and the alfalfa?

Posted by: Scarlet on August 27, 2003 05:33 AM

Hmmmmm interesting !!!

Posted by: dzwonki on May 26, 2004 05:36 PM
Post a comment
All content © Rob Smith