04/14/05 Repealed? Not hard on payment limits?

One chamber of Congress down, the other to go. The House yesterday adopted permanent repeal of the federal estate tax, the so called Death Tax. Prior to the final vote, a substitute measure offered by North Dakota Democratic Representative Earl Pomeroy was voted down. The measure now comes before consideration in the Senate. And the struggle in Republican attempts to kill the Death Tax has not been in the House but the Senate where the repeal measure has been defeated three different times. However, there is speculation that the G.O.P. this time around may have the votes needed to pass the estate tax repeal in full, or reach some sort of compromise. Although some news reports made it sound like the Bush Administration was completely giving up on budget cuts for agriculture for fiscal year 2006, it turned out that was not the case at all. However, U.S.D.A. Secretary Mike Johanns told the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday that the Administration would be willing to work with Congress on payment limits for farm subsidies & a departure from the strict approach that limits would be a quarter of a million dollars for fiscal year 06. Congressional leaders applauded Johanns's statements and said they would be equally as willing to work on compromise through cuts in their respective ag budget proposals, but did not clarify in what areas those cuts will come from. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: Wow, did you ever stop for a moment and think about the hypocrisy that exists in Hollywood. From the absolute absurdity of outlawing cosmetic surgery for dogs while underage valley girls line up en mass for nose and boob jobs to the fact celebrities love to flaunt how "green" they have become At the academy awards, Red CarpetGreen Cars campaign, best supporting actor Morgan Freeman along with, Salma Hayek, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tim Robbins and Penelope Cruz all displayed how environmentally conscience they have become by arriving in hybrid Toyota Prius's. While I heartily support the use of alternative fuels I'll call celebrities for their hypocrisy when I see it. Come on, you really suppose Leonardo or Harrison Ford agonizes over the green houses gasses emitted when they explode a car, or building on their movie their set? Or do the dollars talk. You know we probably would never need to open up more Alaska oil fields if we could get celebrities to give up their private jets. Aren't the ones hammering us for driving SUV's. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought.