Word: directeds
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...election-year farm bill didn't wean farmers off subsidies either; it was the most profligate yet. It created new "countercyclical payments" for bad times, while extending transitional payments for all times, renaming them "direct payments" so no one had to keep pretending they were temporary. Texas Republican Larry Combest--then chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, now another agribusiness lobbyist--threatened to block legislation enhancing Bush's power to negotiate trade deals if he didn't sign the farm bill. Bush signed...
...result is that farm payments that used to cost a few billion dollars a year have averaged $17 billion. They'll be lower this year because commodity prices are so high. But owners of eligible farmland will still get direct payments regardless of how much their farms earn or whether their farms are still farmed. And even though crop-insurance subsidies have increased nearly tenfold, farmers will still receive disaster aid if things go badly, no matter how often that happens. More than 21,000 farmers have cashed at least 11 disaster checks each in the past 21 years...
...Ironically, it is China, with its authoritarian government and notorious cultural police, that allows its artists the most room for self-expression. Yes, direct criticisms of the Communist Party are taboo, and the culture cops occasionally shutter avant-garde exhibitions. Nevertheless, ironic depictions of Chairman Mao and not-so-subtle critiques of official corruption or urban alienation fill Beijing and Shanghai galleries. Some artists, particularly those who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, playfully twist that era's socialist-realist propaganda art - think heroic laborers, red-cheeked peasants and stalwart soldiers lifting banners with brand names or consumerist messages. Best...
...back down from firing chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry), will become a perfect storm of opposition that could further weaken the regime. "Martial law at this stage would be a disaster for Pakistan," says Senator Raza Rabbani. "The increase in terrorist activity in the country, the growing extremism, has a direct relationship with the lack of democracy...
...each one of these things is a fraction of the total,” he said. Hogan estimated the gift would amount to about 10 percent of the current funding for Harvard’s research in energy policy, and he said Shell would not direct how the money would be spent. Shell’s press office did not return requests for comment. Hogan said he was trying to amass more financial support to expand programs in energy policy, but would not speculate about future gifts. “There are no promising leads until the check is deposited...