C M Y K A1 DAILY 07-02-06 MD M1 A1 CMYK World Cup: Portugal Edges England; France Beats Brazil SPORTS, E1 Weather Today: Partly sunny. DISTRICT & High 95. Low 74. MARYLAND Monday: Thundershower. EDITION High 91. Low 72. ABCDE Details, C10 $1.50 Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan 129th Year No. 209 M1 DC MD Sunday, July 2, 2006 M1 M2 M3 M4 V1 V2 V3 V4 Washington. (See box on A4) HARVESTING CASH Reaping Money for Nothing Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don’t Farm By Dan Morgan, Gilbert M. Gaul lars without planting a seed. Mary Anna Hudson, 87, and Sarah Cohen from the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, has re- Washington Post Staff Writers ceived $191,000 over the past decade. For Houston sur- Trade geon Jimmy Frank Howell, the total was $490,709. EL CAMPO, Tex. — Even though Donald R. Mat- “I don’t agree with the government’s policy,” said Conference thews put his sprawling new residence in the heart of Matthews, who wanted to give the money back but was Collapses rice country, he is no farmer. He is a 67-year-old asphalt told it would just go to other landowners. “They give all contractor who wanted to build a dream house for his of this money to landowners who don’t even farm, while Talks in Geneva wife of 40 years. real farmers can’t afford to get started. It’s wrong.” were intended to Yet under a federal agriculture program approved by The checks to Matthews and other landowners were lead to a new global Congress, his 18-acre suburban lot receives about intended 10 years ago as a first step toward eventually agreement on issues $1,300 in annual “direct payments,” because years ago eliminating costly, decades-old farm subsidies. Instead, including farm the land was used to grow rice. the payments have grown into an even larger subsidy subsidies, but they Matthews is not alone. Nationwide, the federal gov- that benefits millionaire landowners, foreign spec- broke down so badly ernment has paid at least $1.3 billion in subsidies for ulators and absentee landlords, as well as farmers. the negotiators quit BY JAMES M. THRESHER — THE WASHINGTON POST rice and other crops since 2000 to individuals who do no Most of the money goes to real farmers who grow early. A18 These homes in El Campo, Tex., stand on land once used to grow rice. farming at all, according to an analysis of government crops on their land, but they are under no obligation to Because of that, their back yards qualify for direct payments under federal records by The Washington Post. agricultural programs as long as the owner does not develop the acreage. Some of them collect hundreds of thousands of dol- See FARMING, A12, Col. 1 Maryland Baghdad Senate Race Big Crowds for History’s Big Picture May Hinge Market On Ethnicity Bombing Mfume Leads Cardin Kills 66 In Sharply Divided Primary, Poll Shows Attack Is Largest Under New Regime By Matthew Mosk and Claudia Deane By Ellen Knickmeyer Washington Post Staff Writers Washington Post Foreign Service Former NAACP president Kwei- BAGHDAD, July 1 — A truck si Mfume leads U.S. Rep. Benjamin bomb killed at least 66 people and L. Cardin in what is shaping up to injured more than 100 on a market be a racially polarized Democratic street in the Shiite Muslim heart of Senate primary in Maryland, even Baghdad on Saturday, the deadliest as roughly a third of the electorate such attack since Iraq’s national- has not settled on a candidate, ac- unity government took office in cording to a new Washington Post May. poll. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s For the first time in Maryland government, which is attempting history, both major parties have to end sectarian bloodshed through the potential to nominate an Afri- force and conciliation, had escaped can American, and the poll sug- the high-fatality bombings that gests that the hopes of all of the were a fixture under the previous major candidates will depend on government. But Saturday’s mas- their ability to cross racial bound- sive bomb, powerful enough to hurl aries for support. bodies of shoppers onto the roofs of As they stand, the racial divi- high-rise buildings surrounding the sions are stark: In the primary, market in Baghdad’s Sadr City dis- Mfume, who is black, gets 72 per- trict, drew angry denunciations cent of his support from black vot- BY LUCIAN PERKINS — WASHINGTON POST from survivors, suggesting Iraqis ers, the poll shows. Cardin, who is Vistors swarm the Old Patent Office yesterday at its reopening after a six-year, $298 million makeover. The building houses the Smithsonian’s could quickly sour on Maliki’s ini- white, gets 82 percent of his back- National Portrait Gallery, where William Sommerfield performed as George Washington, as well as the American Art Museum. Style, D1 tiatives if insurgent attacks once ing from white voters. again begin claiming dozens of Then there is Maryland Lt. Gov. lives at a time. Michael S. Steele, who has Folklife Festival for a New Era The U.S. military, meanwhile, COMING TUESDAY brought national attention to the The 40th annual Folklife Festival on the Mall has disclosed new details about allega- Senate campaign because he is one some unusual modern touches, including a video tions that soldiers raped a woman of a handful of African American 4th on the Mall screen that links young people here with students in and killed her, along with her moth- Republicans whom the national Alberta, Canada. C3 er, father and a sibling, in March in party is counting on to establish Tuesday’s Metro a village south of Baghdad. A U.S. credibility among black voters. section will feature an military official revealed Saturday Both Democrats hold leads over illustrated guide to Holiday Weekend Events that the target of the alleged attack Steele in potential general election Mall festivities, Information on celebrations and television coverage was a 20-year-old Iraqi woman who including a list of the of Independence Day in Washington can be found in See MARYLAND, A16, Col. 1 best spots to watch Sunday Source, TV Week and online in the City See IRAQ, A23, Col. 1 fireworks. Guide at www.washingtonpost.com. K For Mfume, race can cut K Bin Laden tape advises both ways. | Marc Fisher, C1 against negotiations. | A23 City Has a New Bounce in Its Step INSIDE THE WORLD Mexico’s Political Theater D.C. Tests Tree-Friendly Sidewalks Made of Recycled Tires Colorful presidential campaign season comes to an end. A18 By Elizabeth Williamson to break your mother’s back. In one of ones — and are favored by city bu- Washington Post Staff Writer the biggest tests in the nation, the reaucrats who last year took 2,600 OUTLOOK District recently installed several complaints about broken concrete, A small boy in big white Nikes hus- blocks’ worth of rubber sidewalks in got slapped with three lawsuits from The D.C. Power Read tled down Rhode Island Avenue head- Northeast. The cost was $60,000, people who fell on sidewalks and re- Talk-show host Chris Matthews on the ing for the bus stop when, boing. He roughly three times more than if it placed hundreds of trees. Next year, if methods Washingtonians use to stopped, looked down at the pave- had been concrete. all weathers well, there may be a search out morsels of information in a ment, and took a few hops. Around tree roots, the walkways springy surprise in store for even sea of new current affairs books. B1 Rubber sidewalks — good for the are said to last about 14 years — near- trees, easier on the knees, no cracks ly three times longer than concrete See RUBBER, A10, Col. 1 METRO Frolicking for Survival? Summer is here and scientists say go ahead and play — it serves a purpose MS-13 Blamed in 3 Pr. George’s Slayings for both humans and animals. C1 SPORTS By Eric Rich Witnesses said the gunmen yelled police said, and all remained at large and Ernesto Londoño out the name of the gang Mara Salva- late yesterday. REUTERS Agassi, Williams Exit Wimbledon Washington Post Staff Writers trucha, also known as MS-13, as they Several police sources said there European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter It was Andre’s final farewell, but Venus opened fire in the Adelphi area about was no immediate indication that the of Germany has his flight suit checked before the will be back. E1 Assailants thought to belong to a midnight Friday, according to two po- victims — the men killed were 19, 20 decision was made to delay the shuttle launch. Latino street gang fatally shot three lice sources. Two other sources, also and 29, and the survivor is 21 — were men and wounded a fourth in the en- speaking on condition of anonymity affiliated with gangs. Two of the men THE NATION tryway of a Prince George’s County because the investigation is in its ear- died at the scene, and two were taken Space Shuttle Launch Scrubbed Contents apartment complex, police said yes- ly stages, confirmed that police be- to a hospital, where one died. 2006 NASA is hoping the weather will improve The 7 terday, shattering the relative calm lieve that MS-13 was behind the at- Police did not release the names of Washington that followed gang-fueled bloodshed tack. today to allow Discovery to lift off. A6 Post in the region last summer.