The poor are always with us. posted by Richard Seymour

I'm not bloody surprised:

Under orders to cut agriculture spending by $3 billion, Republicans in Congress have proposed reducing food programs for the poor by $574 million and conservation programs by $1 billion, The Associated Press has learned.

The proposal by the chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (news, bio, voting record), R-Ga., also would cut payments to farmers by 2.5 percent across the board.

Apparently, some Republicans are unhappy about targeting the farmers (who must number among some of their constituents), and would rather "target food stamps and conservation programs".

While it is hardly surprising that the US ruling class is continuing its offensive against the poor, what is surprising is that they take this moment to do it. After all, did not Bush suddenly discover the plight of the poor when he and his fundamentalist thugs experienced a sudden collapse of street cred post-Katrina? What has become of that sudden revamp of 'compassionate conservatism'? Perhaps if the food stamps were to be replaced by communion wafers I could understand, but Bush is a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon Ascendancy, a scion of British royalty, and hence a Protestant.