It is a drop in the Big Sugar bucket, but a drop worth note. In May, the Big Sugar oligarchy sent $100K to a PAC supporting US Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). Burr is a notable recipient of Big Sugar's largesse for many reasons.
Consider: in Florida Big Sugar is funding an initiative to support local communities around Lake Okeechobee, "Glades Lives Matter". Glades being the poor, predominantly African American community of Belle Glade. Big Sugar is using African Americans to front for its profit motives and to fight back against a major voter and taxpayer rebellion that is urging acquisition of Big Sugar lands to save economies, jobs, public health and billions in property values downstream of toxic Lake Okeechobee.
The North Carolina US Senator Big Sugar gave $100K to has an abysmal record on civil rights. Interesting. "Glades Lives Matter" only if you are not paying attention to what Big Sugar does.
The NAACP recent scorecard for Burr is 22%. That grade would send a kid back a year in school. But Burr isn't a kid: he's a Republican who also supports voter suppression laws -- like requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections -- that a federal court angrily dismissed last week for deliberating targeting African Americans.
"Grow NC Strong, Inc." is the PAC name, and the question is: what business do the oligarchs (Fanjul billionaires and US Sugar Corporation) have in North Carolina that they would contribute within a week of each other?
The implicit answer: Senator Burr is a "for" vote in the US Senate to continue the corporate welfare that keeps Big Sugar's profits intact. No less an authority than GOP champion and anti-tax leader Grover Norquist calls the sugar subsidy; "cronyism in its undiluted, inexcusable majesty".
It is not clear how Norquist views Senator Burr, but this much is clear: without the sugar subsidy, the oligarchs would not be quite so rich, Floridians choking on so much nutrient pollution puking out of Lake Okeechobee, and poor African Americans so completely bamboozled by tactics like "Glades Lives Matter".
Perhaps it is no surprise Florida's Big Sugar is supporting the North Carolina status quo. The state fiercely protected Big Tobacco until its role as a cancer agent could no longer be ignored. Hundreds of thousands died as a result. If Glades lives mattered so much, Big Sugar would not be standing in the shadows behind Gov. Rick Scott who is stonewalling disclosure of data surrounding rare pediatric cancer clusters in Florida, including one in the Lake Okeechobee area identified by six separate reviews by the American Statistical Association.
That should matter to Florida's besieged families, but apparently it is a value that doesn't count in Florida's crooked political universe.
Consider: in Florida Big Sugar is funding an initiative to support local communities around Lake Okeechobee, "Glades Lives Matter". Glades being the poor, predominantly African American community of Belle Glade. Big Sugar is using African Americans to front for its profit motives and to fight back against a major voter and taxpayer rebellion that is urging acquisition of Big Sugar lands to save economies, jobs, public health and billions in property values downstream of toxic Lake Okeechobee.
The North Carolina US Senator Big Sugar gave $100K to has an abysmal record on civil rights. Interesting. "Glades Lives Matter" only if you are not paying attention to what Big Sugar does.
The NAACP recent scorecard for Burr is 22%. That grade would send a kid back a year in school. But Burr isn't a kid: he's a Republican who also supports voter suppression laws -- like requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections -- that a federal court angrily dismissed last week for deliberating targeting African Americans.
"Grow NC Strong, Inc." is the PAC name, and the question is: what business do the oligarchs (Fanjul billionaires and US Sugar Corporation) have in North Carolina that they would contribute within a week of each other?
The implicit answer: Senator Burr is a "for" vote in the US Senate to continue the corporate welfare that keeps Big Sugar's profits intact. No less an authority than GOP champion and anti-tax leader Grover Norquist calls the sugar subsidy; "cronyism in its undiluted, inexcusable majesty".
It is not clear how Norquist views Senator Burr, but this much is clear: without the sugar subsidy, the oligarchs would not be quite so rich, Floridians choking on so much nutrient pollution puking out of Lake Okeechobee, and poor African Americans so completely bamboozled by tactics like "Glades Lives Matter". Perhaps it is no surprise Florida's Big Sugar is supporting the North Carolina status quo. The state fiercely protected Big Tobacco until its role as a cancer agent could no longer be ignored. Hundreds of thousands died as a result. If Glades lives mattered so much, Big Sugar would not be standing in the shadows behind Gov. Rick Scott who is stonewalling disclosure of data surrounding rare pediatric cancer clusters in Florida, including one in the Lake Okeechobee area identified by six separate reviews by the American Statistical Association.
That should matter to Florida's besieged families, but apparently it is a value that doesn't count in Florida's crooked political universe.
2 comments:
fascist backs fascist. Shock? Awe?
Thanks for the telling article. I was in NC at the annual Waterkeeper Alliance meeting back in June and heard day after day first hand just how corrupt NC is. They are a perfect example of where Florida will be if we do not get off our fannies and make educated votes. Like in NC, Florida has Legislated reduced protections, polluter exemptions,and illegal leases.
How soon before it will be illegal to take pictures of sugar crops, or Lake Okeechobee toxic algae blooms.. Can't take pictures of CAFO's in NC, and they refuse to prosecute coal ash violations.. The Federal Government in general, and the State of Florida specifically are poisoning our children. They are rendering unsafe and dangerously polluting the environment our CHILDREN will be forced to live with.
1975, autism births in America were 1-5000. Today, it is 1-50 for girls, 1-37 for boys.. If you are wondering how that happened consider there are about 84,000 chemicals registered, and most have not been studied by themselves, and virtually NONE in combinations. The new trick with those new compounds is to request "proprietary" protection because it is a trade secret.. then WE never know what it really is.
It is because of reduced nutrient protections that we are having algae blooms EVERYWHERE across our state. It WILL NOT GO AWAY until we clean the water. That will not happen until we force OUR political will upon those "supposed" to be protecting us.
The governor is hiding the south Florida Cancer clusters because the Environmental Regulation Commission just voted to REDUCE our Human Health "CANCER" Protections across the Board.. and MANY of the 10% the State of Florida considers "expendable" are those in south Florida.. the POOR in south Florida who do not know HOW to fight back.
Just like they hid all the marine mammals deaths on Indian River lagoon back in 2013 because they were reducing nutrient protections, and TRIED to reduce cancer protections, they cannot afford to have anything ugly like TRUTH get in the way of pandering to polluter profits. The entire upper Indian River lagoon is so nutrient laden and filed with blue green, and brown algae it is near collapse.. Already had a 40 square mile fish kill.
The lower lagoon, specifically the St. Lucie estuary is dead.. 160 billion gallons of polluted water JUST FROM Okeechobee Lake will do that to an estuary.. I am leaving out the 300,000 acres of unnatural agricultural watershed they also forced upon us. Florida's water policy does not favor the citizens, nor their children's future.
Like the ecosystem, the degrading of our children's health, future and safety is being DELIBERATELY, and with KNOWLEDGE being legislated away, or stolen by UN-ELECTED appointees of a corrupt State Government. DEMAND CLEAN WATER ! it is your RIGHT!
Post a Comment