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A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
[Commentary] I wanted to say something in response to Lynda's post, which is quite poignant and something people should read. When I saw that Hotline piece saying Sen. Obama had been given a Secret Service detail, I too took a deep breath.
It's a sad, scary thought that there are those out there who would cut down our leaders because of hatred or fear. But we know it's true; it's happened before. And while I agree with Lynda that "it would be a mistake" to think that the apparent threats against Obama are "placed on solely the color of his skin." I do think that his race plays the largest role in the issue.
In a "60 Minutes" interview with Barack and Michelle Obama last February, CBS' Steve Kroft said the following to Michelle Obama:
"This is a tough question to ask, but a number of years ago Colin Powell was thinking about running for president, and his wife Alma, really did not want him to run. She was worried about some crazy person, with a gun…. Is that something that you think about?"
"I don't lose sleep over it because the realities are that, you know, as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, you know," Michelle Obama replied. "So, you know, you can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. We just weren't raised that way."
An astute response, I think, on matters of race in America. Whether or not Obama is the Democratic nominee, his candidacy has fostered a sort of introspection (at least by some) on race relations and what it means to be a black American today. Unless my memory fails me, no one talked about assasination attempts on Joe Lieberman because he was Jewish or John Kerry because he was Catholic. No one really seems to be concerned about the Hispanic Bill Richardson's safety (though to be fair, he's not in the race's first tier). Americans are still reconciling issues of black and white, and the legacy of slavery and segregation still looms large in our society, whether or not we admit it. In the end, I think Obama's blackness really is at the core of this safety issue—which tells us just how far we still have to go.
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