So where did my neighbor get this talking point?

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I took my neighbor and her daughter and son out to lunch today. She's around 60 and I already knew she's a Republican but we almost never discuss politics. We both have vegetable gardens going now, and we were talking about those. Suddenly she says, "Did you hear about Obama? He wants to make it so that if you grow tomatoes, and you give them away, he wants to know where you got them from!" I said, "Why, though, in case of diseases or something?" She said, "He just wants to control every single thing about you!" I laughed and said, "Gee, you don't really care for him, do you?" and she said, "I'm just afraid of when we all get our tax bill!" Her daughter just looked at me and rolled her eyes. I wonder what she's been reading or listening to that is putting these thoughts in her head.

[Cowpunk]

1. The usual sources

She's probably referring to this.

It's been making the rounds on talk radio, Free Republic, etc. for a while.

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5. Thanks

now I get it...

[orleans]

2. maybe she's been talking to one of my neighbors

they seem to pull this weird shit out of their ass--but they were all okay with it when their fuckhead did crap to ruin our lives.

...like barack has time to dick around with who fucking gave who a freakin tomato?

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6. especially with Michelle and the girls growing their own tomatoes!

[TahitiNut]

3. As a general rule (besides right-wing 'issues' being crap), the Federal government ...

... has no authority to regulate such activities that clearly don't cross state boundaries. Such regulations depend on the "commerce clause" in the Constitution. Farmer's markets and local produce stands are clearly a state matter. Thus, at the outset, I can generally puncture and discard such FUD-based nonsense.


* FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

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7. I hope that point is brought up loudly.

[DatManFromNawlins]

4. Maybe you should tell her..

... that Big Ag wants to do the same thing because they want to make sure that if you ever so much as purchase a food that may or may not have been genetically modified by them, that you don't sell anything that has seeds in it.

And that got jack squat to do with Obama.

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8. Thanks, I will

[whistler162]

9. The way I heard it was....

Obama is going to force us to plant Brocolli and Mustard plants.

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10. I think I'll call my neighbor and tell her, "My heirloom tomatoes are ripe, but you said

Obama won't let me give you any. Could you call him and ask him to drop by so he can monitor the transaction and collect his tax on them?"

[guitar man]

11. ask her

That's what I've been doing lately when a rightie comes up with some ridiculous piece of unfounded tripe. I just ask them "who told you to think that?". When they ask what I mean, I come back with "c'mon, who was it, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly...who put that ridiculous notion in your head, because it's simply not true. I'll print out and bring proof to the contrary next time I see you if you like."

The usual response is dead silence or a change of subject :evilgrin:

[peekaloo]

12. if only we could convert their reasoning into fertilizer we'd have

tomatoes the size of pumpkins!

plus Obama is sneaky about vegetable gardens that include tomatoes....when that tax bill arrives she'll be charged for growing both fruits and vegetables.