Your buddies at the Farm Bureau are getting beat upon again. Ain't it grand?

At 10:08 PM 4/13/00 -0500, you wrote:
>
>                 Defenders of Wildlife vs. AFBF
>
>  04/12
>  By Jerry Hagstrom, Washington Correspondent for DTN
>
>  WASHINGTON--Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that is
> furious with the American
>  Farm Bureau Federation for its opposition to the reintroduction of the
> wolf in the western states,
>  Tuesday called for a congressional investigation of Farm Bureau and
> released an expose of the
>  organization that turns out to be an update of a 1971 book written by
> Samuel (Sandy) Berger, the
>  National Security adviser to President Clinton.
>
>  The study, "Amber Waves of Gain: How the Farm Bureau is Reaping Profits
> at the Expense of
>  America's Family Farmers, Wildlife and the Environment" updates "Dollar
> Harvest," a book
>  expose of Farm Bureau Berger wrote in 1971 after serving as an aide to
> Joseph Y. Resnick,
>  D-N.Y. The study also served as part of the basis for a story on 60
> Minutes last Sunday evening.
>
>  Defenders of Wildlife suggests in the study that Congress reconsider a
> provision in a 1996 tax bill
>  which gives farm groups income tax protection from "membership dues"
> because it considers Farm
>  Bureau more of an insurance company than a farm group. Defenders of
> Wildlife maintains that
>  "Farm Bureau, a powerful lobby that allegedly represents the interests
> of family farmers is, in
>  reality, a wide-ranging business conglomerate with its own political
> agenda. In addition, despite
>  claiming that it is the "voice of agriculture," only a fraction of the
> organization's membership actually
>  are farmers." The study also says that some of Farm Bureau's members who
> are insurance clients
>  disagree with its stand on wolves.
>
>  However, Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, stated
> in a press release: "We
>  launched our investigation of the Farm Bureau because of its relentless
> attacks on endangered
>  species recovery efforts, most especially those concerning wolves.
> However, as we examined the
>  Farm Bureau, we found its leadership not only opposed almost every
> environmental measure, but
>  they also advocated positions that harm rural family farmers--the very
> people they claim to
>  represent." Schlickeisen also said Farm Bureau "uses its influence on
> Capitol Hill to support its own
>  business interests to the detriment of its members and the environment."
>
>  Defenders of Wildlife called a 1997 court order at Farm Bureau's request
> to remove all wolves in
>  and around Yellowstone National Park "a devastating setback" to
> conservation efforts even though
>  a January 2000 appeals court reversed the lower court's ruling.
>
>  The study, which is available online at
> <http://www.DEFENDERS.ORG>WWW.DEFENDERS.ORG, contains several quotes from
>  Berger's 1971 study criticizing Farm Bureau. Berger later moved on to
> become an important trade
>  lawyer in Washington. A National Security Council spokeswoman did not
> return a call seeking
>  comment from Berger by press time.