Chupacabra Report

From wire reports:

GOP hopefuls playing it safe on evolution

WASHINGTON — The three Republican presidential candidates who indicated last month that they do not believe in evolution may have been taking a safe stance on the issue when it comes to appealing to GOP voters. A Gallup poll released Monday said that Republicans disbelieve the theory of evolution by more than 2-to-1. At the GOP's first presidential debate last month, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo indicated they did not believe in evolution.


USDA releases data on federal subsidy dollarsNew USDA data could change laws on farm payments

By SAM HANANEL and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
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WASHINGTON — From Texas billionaires to Washington lobbyists, it's no secret that wealthy people can get federal farm subsidies.
But now, for the first time, new Agriculture Department data makes it easier to see exactly who benefits from the nation's generous farm subsidy program.
The Environmental Working Group, a public interest group that has long pushed for more equitable distribution of farm subsidies, has compiled the data and will post it online for users beginning today.
EWG president Ken Cook said he hopes the new information will help spur reforms as Congress and the Bush administration consider what a new multibillion-dollar farm bill should look like.
The database includes about 358,000 beneficiaries who received $9.8 billion in crop subsidy benefits between 2003 and 2005.
That includes Texas oil billionaire Lee M. Bass, who qualified to receive $242,787 in subsidies from 2003-2005. Former NBA star Scottie Pippen received $78,945 over the same period in conservation subsidies for land he controls in Arkansas.
The current farm bill, which expires Sept. 30, limits farmers to $360,000 in subsidies per year, but that ceiling is filled with loopholes that allow many farms to exceed it.


Reid can't help riffs on 2 GOP candidates

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his staff had ordered him to steer clear of presidential politics, but he couldn't resist making a quick joke at the expense of two Republican candidates on Monday. "The one fact I've learned — I can't get out of my mind — is that Rudy Giuliani's been married more times than Mitt Romney's been hunting," Reid cracked to a receptive audience at the Center for American Progress. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, is on his third marriage. Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney admitted he'd been hunting just twice after initially claiming he'd been a hunter nearly all his life