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Of course the dirty little secret, is that red meat types only get REALLY upset about government spending on stuff that they cannot relate too. I haven't read anyone getting upset about below market rate lease rates to ranchers who rent land from the feds for cattle grazing. I really haven't read much about government spending on the big ticket items either, ie medicare, medical subsidies, and social security, that made any sense. I haven't read any rants about spending on ethanol, and agricultural subsidies in general. I haven't read much about the maintenance of wasteful domestic military bases.

This isn't about spending. It is about folks' splenetic over-reaction to a culture war they want to fight, with targets that prove so ever elusive, that they really can't get satisfaction from the fight. So they seek enemies anywhere that they can possibly be found, and then go ballistic.

Of course the dirty little secret, is that red meat types only get REALLY upset about government spending on stuff that they cannot relate too. I haven't read anyone getting upset about below market rate lease rates to ranchers who rent land from the feds for cattle grazing. I really haven't read much about government spending on the big ticket items either, ie medicare, medical subsidies, and social security, that made any sense. I haven't read any rants about spending on ethanol, and agricultural subsidies in general. I haven't read much about the maintenance of wasteful domestic military bases.

What makes you think we like that stuff instead? Haven't you heard??? Conservatives are mad at Bush over OVERALL OVER-spending. You want us to cherry-pick so we don't look "uncultured"?

This isn't about spending. It is about folks' splenetic over-reaction to a culture war they want to fight, with targets that prove so ever elusive, that they really can't get satisfaction from the fight. So they seek enemies anywhere that they can possibly be found, and then go ballistic.

Garbage. Why the HELL is a Republican President coming out now and increasing the budget for this particular boondoggle? You don't think there's political calculation behind it, however bone-headed? And yet you want to begrudge conservatives the right to react politically to this Clintonesque, Dick Morris inspired "mini-intiative" designed to appeal to the cultural and political left---you think it's going to appeal to conservatives or that it's meant to???

"This isn't about spending. It is about folks' splenetic over-reaction to a culture war they want to fight, with targets that prove so ever elusive, that they really can't get satisfaction from the fight."

Are Freepers "over-reacting"?? Or are you under-reacting?

It appears Freepers overwhelmingly deem rewarding the perverted NEA a disturbingly horrible idea. Symbolically, this is a political neutron bomb.

I haven't read anyone getting upset about below market rate lease rates to ranchers who rent land from the feds for cattle grazing.

Why don't we just charge them the full pop then. At the same time we can go back and charge full market rates for all the land that was homesteaded and nail the railroads for the sections that were granted to them. The cattle leases were designed to always be cheap land.

The government designated arable (and some not so arable) land for homesteading. When they got to the arid areas of Eastern Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming they knew that the land would never support dry farming. To encourage development they first considered Mexican style land grants to cattle growers. When they found out the vast acerages necessary for even minimal survival ranching they realized that the public would never go for the give away of such large tracts. As a substitute they settled on leasing, for a deliberately minimal amount, the same tracts. The leases were meant to be under market in perpetuity.

Jacking the lease rates now would be a breach of trust.

nice rant, but it's about the constitution.

No, it's about spending and building up an even more massive national debt.

Right now, it looks like the only difference between Bush and a tax-and-spend Liberal, is that the Liberal at least realizes that the money has to come from someplace.