Medicaid, Obama, and 2,4 D

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Nothing but good news today. First, the state general assembly is starting to connect the dots between money coming in and money going out. Even with a Republican G.A. “bullet proof” to a Democratic governor’s veto, elected with a lot of anti-federal rhetoric, there’s some serious buzz that they’ll accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid. You wouldn’t think this would be a hard sell—taking our share of money that the feds have already budgeted—but there’s been a lot of posing involved, a lot of “we’re passing the costs on to our grandchildren…” Well, let’s pass good health on to them also! Second, Dow Chemical has announced they’re holding off on sales of 2,4 D-resistant seed until at least next year. This is seed genetically modified to resist a chemical that should have been taken off the market decades ago. It’s been known to cause cancers, Parkinson’s and heaven knows what else. It was used in Vietnam, making up half of Agent Orange. The bad news is that one of Dow’s reasons is that they want to raise more seed. So, in other words, it will be in the environment even though it’s not approved. The worst case scenario would be that they raise more seed and obtain a clause in the next farm bill exempting themselves from prosecution if the operation turns out lethal to neighbors or the environment. Finally, and this is on the federal level, the old Prez Barak Obama became the new Prez Barak Obama today. I and a million other people hope that a second term, without pressures to become re-elected, means that he’ll be able to come through on the promises. Reviewing the last term, I’d have to give him a B, maybe a B+, but he’s capable of A+ work.