Last week the Senate Agriculture committee firmly rejected President Bush's appointment of Thomas Dorr to the position of the USDA's Undersecretary for Rural Development. The committee said that because of Dorr's violations of farm subsidy rules as well as evidence that he was insensitive to the needs of rural areas and minorities, they could not recommend him to the position. Nonetheless, this week as the Senate was away on vacation, President Bush surprised and angered farmers by confirming Dorr to the position. 

The action raised a virtual hail-storm in rural areas drawing sharp condemnation from progressive family farm organizations. In a press release by the National Family Farm Coalition and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Iowa farmer George Naylor said, "We are outraged that President Bush appointed Thomas Dorr through this sneaky back door method, ignoring sixteen months of widespread grassroots opposition," said George Naylor, leader of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. "The President obviously knew that Dorr's record, statements and character would not stand up to a vote of the full Senate, just as it failed to win Senate Agriculture Committee approval last week." More than 165 grassroots groups have publicly opposed the Thomas Dorr nomination.

In recent weeks Rural Updates! has provided news about the passage of the fast track trade bill and implications to the "investor suit rules" to conservation, labor and agriculture. Foreign investor law suit provisions are found in trade agreements such as NAFTA and appear in the draft text of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a high-level trade deal now under development that would encompass all 34 democracies in the Western Hemisphere. 

These investor suit rules are a "problem" to democratic governments throughout the hemisphere because they allow corporations to sue countries directly to overturn legitimate public interest laws and regulations when they believe their actual or potential corporate profits have been undermined. Moreover, as currently practiced under NAFTA, these rules are decided at secret tribunals by unelected bureaucrats who have been given the power to determine whether laws ranging from zoning ordinances to environmental protections constitute an interference with corporate profits. While the Senate voted 3-2 to call for more transparency in the future, they put the investor suits right on the fast track and corporations back into the fast buck.

3. LIMITED FREE VIDEO COPIES OF TRADING DEMOCRACY AVAILABLE

American journalism is much richer because of the individualistic and sensitive reporting of Bill Moyers. Moyers first became famous for his public television documentories reporting on emerging spiritual and philosophical trends. He series on Joseph Campbell has become a stalwart of public television fundraisers. 

In recent years Moyers has turned his keen insight and intellect towards government and recently compiled a scathing documentary on international trade that captures the emperors of trade and their elected henchmen completely naked. In the PBS documentary entitled "Trading Democracy" Moyers reports on the legal and technical aspects of NAFTA's investor rules as described in the story above. 

Defenders of Wildlife has a limited number of these tapes available free of charge on a first come first served basis. To obtain a copy send an email to sjohnson@defenders.org with your full name and address.

Responding to the concerns of a wide coalition of conservation groups the EPA has decided not to allow the use of the pesticide carbofuran to control the rice weevil in Louisiana. 

Granular carbofuran is more toxic to birds than nearly any other pesticide: ingesting a single granule can kill a bird, and before it was phased out in 1991, it was estimated to have killed 2 million birds of over 200 species, including bald eagles. 

The EPA had originally granted an "emergency use" permit for carbofuran on 100,000 acres and did not initially plan to accept public comment on the issue. Outcry from a broad coalition of conservation groups forced the agency to accept comments (see Rural Updates, July 7), and they announced recently that they had decided not to allow the deadly pesticide to be used. EPA fielded comments from many groups including the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society of the United States, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rachel Carson Institute, Sierra Club, and the World Wildlife Fund.

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