Call #1: Maureen Dowd is Wrong on Grape Genetic Research.
I am going line by line through Dowd’s column and fact-checking, since a number of her allegations seem to be one-sided (like her arugula attack a year ago).
So far my first call, to the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station’s Center for Grape Genetics, has yielded a lot of info Maureen left out. According to Associate Director Mark Smith, the reason for the money is to do research on grapes, a $3.5 billion chunk of NY’s economy. Grape cultivation is located upstate in the Finger Lakes region, an area of HIGH unemployment. The research helps identify disease and pest resistant traits, traits that increase production, and consumer research. when asked, Smith told me that this money will help put people to work and shore up an important industry to upstaters.
I wonder why Maureen Down wants upstate New Yorkers to go without work? Why does she want NY’s grape industry to fail? What does she have against wine?
Up next, a honey factory in Texas (probably a later post due to time zones).
March 4th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Hi. I guess I’m doing the same thing as you are………only using Google……not just to fisk Maureen Dowd but to fisk Lying John McCain……I mean, what a drama queen he is. I’m more than halfway down the list and every single one of these things are legitimate expenditures both for jobs and for environmental purposes….the bees, the grapes, the catfish, the crickets, the pig odor…and many of these affect people beyond the immediate areas. People in other parts of the country would benefit from the research from these projects.
God love you for taking the time to call these places…..but, Why isn’t the press doing this and educating the public and calling McCain’s bluff? Thanks Brendan (it’s interesting too, eh?)
March 5th, 2009 at 1:34 am
[...] comes the dissection of today’s column: Brendan makes a lot of phone calls in researching various claims in Maureen Dowd’s lame column today. (There’s a [...]