Feeble and half-assed attempts to restore farming to something resembling a free market were squelched as the Congress restored the old socialist hammock for farmers. The fact that most of the subsidies go to huge farm corporations is lost in the noise, as usual.

Bush will sign this, since it would be political suicide not to.

Virtually the only victory for the White House came on an election-year proposal to restore food stamps to noncitizens who have lived in the country for five years, an idea to appeal to Hispanic voters.

*gag*

In a related item, California senators and others tried in vain to avoid the ethanol-in-the-gas requirement shoved down our throats by Archer Daniels Midland and its pet goons in Washington. Demonstrations that gasoline could be made to meet requirements with no additives at all were totally ignored.

The concept of the desirability of state control of the economy is so firmly ingrained in this country, that there is probably no hope of avoiding the eventual gray goo of complete socialism. The only difference between Democrats and Republicans are that the Democrats are enthusiatically riding forward towards this. The Republicans are driving towards it too, only without enthusiasm or knowledge of what they are doing, and once in a while they remember to drag a foot.

The remaining free market portions of our economy are still strong enough to keep the supports under the socialized portions. For example, our citizens are still largely wealthy enough to afford the higher food prices generated by price supports and tariffs with little damage. How much longer can that last?

What really chaps my ass is that when the corporations and the government have finally so thoroughly "mixed" our economy that there will be no way to distinguish between the pigs and the men as you look back and forth, the resulting totalitarian mess will be blamed by the ignorant on free-market capitalism.