To the Point

Who's Picking up the 2002 Farm Subsidies Bill?

In 1996, Congress passed the Freedom to Farm Act, which favored a free market approach to agriculture and ended crop subsidies for millionaire athletes and billionaire media moguls. But six years later, real farmers claim that without federal assistance they'll go out of business. In this election year, the Act is being effectively overturned, and subsidies will increase by almost 80 percent with a cost to taxpayers of 4400 dollars apiece in the next 10 years. What happened to the promise Congress made six years ago? We speak with farmers and farming authorities about the impact of federal farm policy and the need for permanent agriculture welfare. Newsmaker: Suicide Bombing in Pakistan A car bomb has killed at least 14 people and wounded 23 others outside an upscale hotel in Karachi, Pakistan. At least 12 of the dead were French nationals working on a French-Pakistani submarine project. Asim Mughal, Chief Editor of the online Pakistan News Service, considers the political and economic impact of Pakistan's first suicide bombing. Reporter's Notebook: A Dogfight over a Cockfight Cockfighting is often associated with Central America, but it's big business for small-town residents of rural America. In Oregon, one of 47 states where cockfight is illegal, there's a proliferation of fighting cock breeders. Phil Busse, Managing Editor of the weekly Portland Mercury, examines the brutal billion-dollar sport that goes back to the Roman Forum.