Debates: "You Can Vote However You Like"

Debates of various sorts are all around here, some substantive and some just airing the same old thing. In the arena where I work these days, we don't debate, but on Friday mornings over doughnuts and "pigs in the blankets," or "kolaches," whatever you wish to call them, we talk about things that matter. I would much rather sit and discuss from all angles things that matter.

Here, however, is the most unique debate you'll ever see. It is a refreshing thing to watch in these most interesting times. Thanks to Larry James of http://www.larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/ and his friends for letting us know about. Here it is from youtube. What energy, enthusiasm, passion! I love it, and hope you do, too.

"Significant Deficiencies" Found

Copyright 2008 Congressional Quarterly, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Congressional Press Releases

October 22, 2008 Wednesday

PRESS RELEASE

967 words

GAO REPORT AGAIN FINDS "SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCIES" IN CIVIL RIGHTS AT USDA

CHARLES GRASSLEY, SENATOR, SENATE

For Immediate Release

GAO Report Again Finds "Significant Deficiencies" In Civil Rights At USDA

Contact: Jennifer Mullin 202-224-3254

October 22, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A report released today by the independent investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), says that the civil rights efforts overseen by Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are marked by "significant deficiencies" and recommends new accountability structures to correct ongoing failures.

Specifically, GAO found that USDA fails to track and adjudicate civil rights complaints, fails to provide accurate data regarding minority participation in USDA programs, and fails to adequately undertake strategic planning with respect to civil rights. The report was conducted at the request of U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and U.S. Representatives Joe Baca (D-CA) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY). The lawmakers asked the GAO to focus especially on the performance of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, a position created in the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act and tasked with directing civil rights efforts across USDA.

Earlier this year, the lawmakers protested directly to USDA when reports surfaced that the Department obstructed and temporarily shut down the GAO investigation. According to GAO, USDA officials delayed providing information and, in some cases, instructed USDA employees not to comply with GAO.

"I am disheartened to learn that, despite Congressional direction, USDA continues to fail in its civil rights performance," said Harkin. "And even more disappointed by USDA's rejection of key recommendations offered by GAO. It's time for a new approach on this issue, and I'm grateful to GAO for providing a set of specific recommendations for the consideration of the committee."

"More of the same from USDA in the area of civil rights is not acceptable," Grassley said. "The new report from GAO validates and even expands what other assessments have found about decades- long problems. The leadership of the Department of Agriculture needs to make the GAO recommendations a priority and do everything in the agency's power to make measureable improvements to the way it handles civil rights issues."

"After we held hearings on this matter in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Congress created the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the USDA and tasked that position with resolving long standing discrimination concerns. In 2006 we asked the GAO to provide us with an objective analysis. The findings of this report are troubling. After six years, improvements still have not been good enough," Lugar said.

USDA has a long history of failing to enforce civil rights laws and to ensure that minority farmers and ranchers are able to access assistance and benefits under USDA programs. In the 2002 farm bill, Congress included several initiatives to strengthen civil rights enforcement and to assist minority farmers and ranchers. First, to create new accountability for civil rights compliance across USDA programs and offices, Congress created the position of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, tasked by statute with "ensuring compliance with all civil rights and related laws....coordinating administration of civil rights laws within the Department....and ensuring that necessary and appropriate civil rights components are properly integrated into all strategic initiatives of the Department and agencies of the Department (7 U.S.C. 6918(d))." Second, to track progress over time, Congress also required the Department of Agriculture to report annually on the participation rate of minority farmers and ranchers in Department of Agriculture Programs.

To determine whether, as a result of this legislation, the Department of Agriculture has improved its civil rights performance, Senators Harkin, Lugar, and Grassley, as well as Representatives Baca and Towns, asked GAO to investigate USDA civil rights actions since the 2002 farm bill, including the actions of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in 1) resolving discrimination complaints, 2) reporting on minority participation in USDA programs and, 3) strategic planning for ensuring USDA's services and benefits are provided fairly and equitably.

A copy of the GAO report is available by clicking here <http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/GAOReportUSDA.pdf> .

Key GAO Findings

-- The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights has not achieved its goal of preventing backlogs of pending civil rights complaints, with some complaints still pending from the early 2000s. In addition, GAO found that progress report from the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights regarding the extent of and resolution of complaints have been inconsistent.

-- The reports published by the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, required by law, regarding minority participation in USDA programs are unreliable and of limited usefulness. Furthermore, USDA has not taken the steps necessary to improve the reliability of the data.

-- The strategic planning of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights has not included the necessary steps to "provide fair and equitable services to all customers and uphold the civil rights of its employees."

To remedy the lack of civil rights compliance at USDA, GAO recommended three possible actions.

-- A statutory performance agreement containing measurable goals and expectations in key performance areas.

-- An independent and empowered civil rights oversight board tasked with approving, monitoring, and evaluating USDA civil rights activities.

-- An effective ombudsperson, "independent, impartial, and fully capable of conducting
meaningful investigations of USDA actions."

October 22, 2008

Somebody else is blogging

Somebody else out there is blogging about the USDA's history of ignoring civil rights complaints of Black farmers.

Check out this link.

And, read further on this blog as a variety of writers write about concerns for rural America. I'm living in rural America and am beginning to hear more of what worries people in small-town USA.

Coming to Town

One of the most difficult things about transitioning from academic life to life in Oklahoma has to do with students. Yesterday I walked across the campus at the university here in town, not as a faculty member, but as a visitor, but it all felt familiar, all of the energy, the passion, the conversations, the ideas, and on and on we could go.

So, it is with much enthusiasm that my wife and I approach this weekend. It's that way because Social Justice Team IV is coming to town. Perhaps that is an odd way of "labeling" these three good people, but, indeed, they do form Team IV: Ruqayyah Samia, Daniel Haile, and Ty Mansfield, all students in the COAMFTE-approved marriage and family therapy program at Abilene Christian University. All such programs do a good job of teaching bright students how to become good marriage and family therapists. ACU is a bit different in that it engages the best and the brightest, not just to become good therapists, but to do so for the sake of the Kingdom. Along the way, several of them over the past four years have allowed their hearts to lead them to join the social justice team work, work that is explained in the header up to your right from this page. I'm proud of those students, present and past, because they are indeed advocating for good in a lot of places around the country these days.

So, this weekend will be a sweet one, and it'll end too quickly. We'll show them around the city, eat some good food, catch up a bit, and then we'll jump into what we'll do in Memphis at AAMFT, and hopefully in Ft. Worth at TAMFT in January, and especially what we'll do as we continue to study white privilege in the area of farming. Is it there? I think it is. We'll see. We'll let you know what we come up with on these pages.

New Farmer Options

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the USDA is holding one last listening session in Little Rock, Arkansas on October 22 at the Risk Management Agency. The 2008 Farm Bill is making available $18 million in fiscal year 2009 for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program via a competitive grant process. See this link for details.

The USDA acknowledges that small farms are an "important sector of U.S. agriculture," and that in 2003, "small-scale enterprises make up 91 percent of all farms and ranches in the United States, hold 70 percent of total farm and ranchland, and produce 27 percent of our food and fiber.In addition, more than half the hay and tobacco, and more than 30 percent of cash grains, dairy products and beef cattle come from small farms and ranches." See this link for more details.

This site goes on to say: "Small-scale producers come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Some families have been working on the land for generations; others are new to the business. Some families depend on small-scale production as their principal means of economic support; others choose it primarily as a lifestyle. Underlying this diversity, however, small-scale farmers and ranchers share characteristics that make them a valuable resource for the United States over and above to the crops and livestock they produce: a commitment to agriculture, strong links to local communities, and a need to love and care for the land."

Small-scale farmers, especially "socially disadvantaged farmers" are encouraged to pursue these opportunities. This is a small opportunity for adult children of farmers who have struggled to hold on to their land to get back into farming and ranching.

My only regret is that there is so much red tape involved, and it looks like the process is complicated, but those are simply signs of the times in which we live.

So, encourage any small-scale farmer, or family farmer, that you know to look into these options. I can think of some folks I plan to call.