Edwards a Stranger to North Carolinians – "We do not know who he is"…does his best to ke

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CB
Jul 14, 2004
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Tuesday, July 13, 2004 12:34 a.m. EDT
Charlotte Mayor: Edwards a Stranger to North Carolinians

The mayor of North Carolina’s largest city said Sunday that North Carolinians really don’t know Sen. John Edwards all that well, and were stunned to find out how liberal he was when he got into office.

"He said one thing here in North Carolina on the campaign trail about the values of small towns," said Patrick McCrory, who is now in his fifth term as Charlotte’s mayor.

"But frankly, he’s spent more time with the Hollywood elite than he did with leaders of this state, including me," he told WABC Radio’s Steve Malzberg.

McCrory said the reason Edwards seems out of touch with North Carolinians is because he is, noting that his support for partial-birth abortion and partner benefits for gays in the military came as a complete surprise to the people who voted him into office.

"The mainstream media seems to know more about him than the citizens of North Carolina," McCrory said. "We do not know who he is."

As for his small-town neighbors, whom Edwards continues to celebrate in one stump speech after another, the Republican mayor says the top trial lawyer does his best to keep them at arm’s length.

"[Edwards and his wife] have had absolutely no visibility in the state," McCrory said. One reason Edwards was expected to lose his re-election bid, he contended, is because the VP hopeful’s contact with actual voters has pretty much been limited to infrequent strolls along the beach of the his million-dollar waterfront home on Figure Eight Island.

As for places like Charlotte, where real North Carolinians live, McCrory told Malzberg that Edwards has spent "very little time there."

"I’m the mayor of the largest city in North Carolina … and I’ve had probably ten minutes of face time [with him]."

That’s in contrast to other North Carolina politicians such as Jesse Helms, Elizabeth Dole and even other Democratic congressmen, whom McCrory says have spent "an incredible amount of time" with him.

To get Steve Malzberg’s exclusive NewsMax.com column e-mailed directly to you, go to www.newsmax.com/malzberg.

CB
"In times of peace the people look most to their representatives; but in war, to the executive solely."
–Thomas Jefferson

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LH
Larry Hewitt
Jul 14, 2004
"CB" wrote in message
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 12:34 a.m. EDT
Charlotte Mayor: Edwards a Stranger to North Carolinians
The mayor of North Carolina’s largest city said Sunday that North Carolinians really don’t know Sen. John Edwards all that well, and were stunned to find out how liberal he was when he got into office.
"He said one thing here in North Carolina on the campaign trail about the values of small towns," said Patrick McCrory, who is now in his fifth term as Charlotte’s mayor.

Ah yes, Pat McCrory, republican, staunch Bush supporter, and angry politician because Charlotte, despite beinghte largest city in NC, gets no respect and no money from the state or feds.

Elizabeth Dole doesn’t visit here, either.

Larry

"But frankly, he’s spent more time with the Hollywood elite than he did
with
leaders of this state, including me," he told WABC Radio’s Steve Malzberg.
McCrory said the reason Edwards seems out of touch with North Carolinians
is
because he is, noting that his support for partial-birth abortion and partner benefits for gays in the military came as a complete surprise to
the
people who voted him into office.

"The mainstream media seems to know more about him than the citizens of North Carolina," McCrory said. "We do not know who he is."
As for his small-town neighbors, whom Edwards continues to celebrate in
one
stump speech after another, the Republican mayor says the top trial lawyer does his best to keep them at arm’s length.

"[Edwards and his wife] have had absolutely no visibility in the state," McCrory said. One reason Edwards was expected to lose his re-election bid, he contended, is because the VP hopeful’s contact with actual voters has pretty much been limited to infrequent strolls along the beach of the his million-dollar waterfront home on Figure Eight Island.

As for places like Charlotte, where real North Carolinians live, McCrory told Malzberg that Edwards has spent "very little time there."
"I’m the mayor of the largest city in North Carolina … and I’ve had probably ten minutes of face time [with him]."

That’s in contrast to other North Carolina politicians such as Jesse
Helms,
Elizabeth Dole and even other Democratic congressmen, whom McCrory says
have
spent "an incredible amount of time" with him.
To get Steve Malzberg’s exclusive NewsMax.com column e-mailed directly to you, go to www.newsmax.com/malzberg.

CB
"In times of peace the people look most to their representatives; but in war, to the executive solely."
–Thomas Jefferson

N
newsgroup
Jul 15, 2004
"CB" wrote in message
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 12:34 a.m. EDT
Charlotte Mayor: Edwards a Stranger to North Carolinians

China’s Shrinking Rice Crop Sparks Price Boom, Supply Concerns June 8 (Bloomberg) — Seri Theparak, a rice farmer from northeast Thailand, used to have to beg local rice millers to buy his crop. Not anymore.

“They come to my house and offer a guaranteed price even before I start planting,” said Seri, 40, who’s buying a new $8,500 truck and 10 rai (4 acres) more land this year to add to his 15-rai plot. “No farmer can remember that happening.”

Seri and Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, are in the midst of a boom fuelled by the demands of one country: China. Thailand’s rice exports to China more than tripled in the first four months this year, surpassing last year’s total China shipment by 37,000 metric tons, according to the Thai Commerce Ministry. Rice export earnings rose 41 percent to $680 million.

Farmers from the U.S. to India are benefiting from surging prices for the grain. Futures contracts for unprocessed rice reached a seven-year high, equivalent to $253 a metric ton, last month at the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices may rise further if China, the biggest producer and consumer of rice, becomes a net importer of the grain this year.

“We are in a new bullish trend because nobody believes that China can catch up in matching their domestic production to demand,” said Mamadou Ciss, managing director at Ascot Commodities NV in Geneva. “Prices can still go higher.”

China imported more rice than it exported only three times in the past 44 years, said David Dawe, an agro-economist at the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. World prices rose $160 a metric ton when its import-export balances last tipped in 1995 and 1996.

China’s future need for rice is “the million-dollar question,” Dawe said. “It affects everybody who’s importing and exporting rice around the world.”

Thai Economy Boost

Thailand’s economy may expand at least 7 percent this year from 6.7 percent in 2003 on sales of rice and other agricultural exports and consumer spending, the government estimates.

At Toyota Motor Corp.’s Thai unit, the country’s biggest automaker, sales of one-ton pickup trucks, used mainly by farmers, surged 51 percent in the first four months this year.

Siam Cement Pcl, Thailand’s biggest cement maker, posted a record first-quarter profit on a 20 percent increase in sales of building materials. “Farmers now have more money to build new houses,” said Chumpol Na Lamlieng, the company president.

China’s buyers are snapping up low-grade rice for the first time, said Vichai Sriprasert, president of Thailand’s Rice Exporters Association. Previously they bought only top-grade grain.

Labor Shortages

Seri, the farmer, got 10 percent more, or a total of $133 per ton, for his unprocessed rice last month compared with last year. Top-grade rice cost Thais 19 percent more in April than in December. The country’s top-quality export rice sold for $560 a ton in April, a 17 percent rise from 2003 and a four-year high. Second-grade rice bought $223 a ton, a 13 percent increase.

Buyers worldwide are boosting stocks on speculation prices will rise further, said Wattana Muagsook, Thailand’s Commerce Minister. “We are in a strange period,” he said.

Rice, a form of grass, is a staple food for about half the world’s population, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which declared 2004 the International Year of Rice.

“The effects of even small price fluctuations on the welfare of producers and consumers, especially on the poor, can have political repercussions,” said Dawe, of the rice institute.

The shortage in China, where the economy grew 9.1 percent last year, occurred for the same reasons as in 1995-1996, Dawe said. “Rapid economic growth is leading to more jobs outside agriculture and, thus, labor shortages in agriculture,” he said.

`Urgent Subsidies’

Drought and power shortages that affected irrigation damaged some crops last year, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported in July. In November, the government boosted enforcement of rules that restrict conversion of farmland for other uses, the newspaper reported.

The rice harvest will reach a 12-year low in the year ending Sept. 30, the government estimates. Rice stores may fall to 85 million tons by the end of this year, down 27 percent from 2003 and the lowest in more than 10 years, according to Chen Shuwei, an analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants Co., an agriculture ministry affiliate.

“The government is replacing guaranteed grain purchasing with subsidies and telling farmers they can sell for whatever price they can get,” Chen said.

In April, China’s Finance Ministry announced $114 million in “urgent subsidies” to rice farmers to buy seeds and fertilizer. It cut farm taxes and directed agricultural credit cooperatives to lend more.

India Halves Exports

“After 1995-1996, rice area increased again in China, but it is not clear that will happen this time,” said Dawe. Rice prices in China have risen 70 percent, according to Ascot’s Ciss.

Thailand is the only leading exporter with grain to spare, according to a May report by the U.S. Agriculture Department. All other major exporters will ship less than they did last season.

Vietnam, the world’s No. 2 exporter this year, blames cross- border smuggling of rice to China for a slump in supplies to state-approved traders. Rice prices have risen 20 percent.

“The shortage in rice supply in Vietnam is largely because of the informal trade with China,” said Nguyen Thi Nguyet, the Ho Chi Minh City-based general secretary of the state-owned Vietnam Food Association, which oversees all food companies.

India, the No. 2 exporter last season, is likely to cut exports by half, the
U.S. Agriculture Department estimates. “Only when there is a surplus do we
export,” said Mahboob Ali, export and import manager of Food Corp. of India, the state-owned grain-buying and storage company. Stocks will be reassessed this month after the annual monsoon starts, he said.

Indonesia, Philippines

Growing domestic demand means the U.S. will drop to No. 4 from No. 3 in world export rankings, with a 16 percent fall in shipments, according to the agriculture department.

In Indonesia, the No. 1 importer in 2002-2003, rice prices have risen 10 percent, said Nasion Bhaktiono, chairman of Jakarta’s Cipinang Rice Market, the biggest rice market.

“To counter the threat from China’s demand, we have to boost our local output,” said Bungaran Saragih, Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister. “The impact this year may not be big because we’re expecting a bumper harvest.”

Domestic production also increased in the Philippines, the No. 4 buyer last season, where prices have risen about 10 percent, said Gregorio Tan, deputy administrator of the National Food Authority.

China’s demand will continue to force up world prices, Tan said. “If we hadn’t already imported our requirements, that would be a problem,” he said.

Consumption May Slow

China’s efforts to slow its economy may encourage more people to plant rice, said the rice institute’s Dawe, while growing wealth means fewer people may eat rice.

“I think China will be able to manage this in a way that doesn’t disrupt prices too much,” Dawe said.

Meanwhile, Thailand will export a record 8.5 million tons of rice this year, up from a record 7.6 million tons in 2002-2003, according to Commerce Minister Wattana.

Seri, the farmer, is still stunned by his new-found wealth. “Having enough money to prevent my existing land being seized by the bank is the best I’ve managed each year,” he said. “I never thought rice farmers would earn this much.”

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