To the Editor:

In regard to your cartoon on page A2 in the Wednesday edition of The Tidewater News, I would like to direct these comments to the person responsible for it being there.

The picture showed an airplane with “Farm Bill” on the side dropping cash to a farmer standing in a field.

If you would go to the Web site http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/in_the_farm_bill_how_much_money.html

you will find out that the bulk of this money is not intended for farmers to start with.

Roughly 75 percent of the money in the farm bill is for what they call “nutrition.” This is in the form of welfare, food stamps, etc.

We all expect to see comics like this in big-city papers where they like to blame farmers for the country’s deficit and rising food costs. But showing it in The Tidewater News was highly offensive. Why not have a picture with a farmer getting the 16 percent that actually goes to farms, the welfare recipients grabbing 75 percent and whatever groups get the remainder?

This might also be offensive to some, but at least it would be accurate.

Paul Drewry

Southampton County