Food Shortage Problems Worsening

Food prices continue to rise, and the shortage in staple foods is having far-reaching consequences.

Now, the United Nations is getting in on the act, urging nations across the world to increase food production as food riots threaten to destabilize many already unsteady third-world nations.

Why are we having these problems? Today's food shortages are a direct result of the growing demand for ethanol for use as fuel for cars. Ethanol made from corn is in high demand, and the more farmers sell their crops to make biofuels, the less staple foods there are for the rest of the world.

These shortages are even effecting the US, the so-called "Breadbasket of the World." Unfortunately, it will likely take more than a few miffed shoppers to make the people of America wake up and smell the wheat...or lack of wheat.

On top of all of that, the shortage in food staples has driven many manufacturers of processed foods to turn to genetically engineered or altered grains in the name of saving money. With the worries around the world as to the potential side-effects of these engineered foods, this brings up even more concerns as to the true practicality of turning to corn-based ethanol for fuel.

The simple truth of it is that using corn-based ethanol was and is an ill-conceived idea, and has far-reaching side effects that will eventually cause a major backlash. No one can fault farmers for turning to crops that will make them the most money, but we can blame the green movement and the leaders in our government for encouraging the burning up of our food supply.

The United States used to literally be the Breadbasket of the World. Nations the world over depended on the United States' grain exports to feed their citizens. Now the US is burning that food in the name of energy independence and is importing grain to feed its citizens. Widespread use of corn-based ethanol is a mistake, but it's not too soon to correct that error. We can stabilize the world's food supply by turning away from this foolishness and eating our food, rather than burning it.

After all, who will benefit from cleaner air if we all starve to death?

Happy Tax Day!

It's tax day...the day that commemorates the government's bad spending habits and exploitation of the people for their own ends.

This year, millions of Americans are getting money back due to the so-called "economic stimulus package," a lame bi-partisan attempt by our federal lawmakers to bribe the American public and help the economy.

The notable thing about the economic stimulus package is that the Democrats have as much as admitted that money in the hands of the people really does stimulate the economy...a concept that they never can seem to understand any other time they talk about taxes. Of course, for the Democrats, the economic stimulus package was an opportunity to use the IRS as yet another welfare system, offering "tax rebates" to people who don't make enough money to have to pay income taxes.

But if money in the hands of average Americans stimulates the economy, and the Democrats have admitted it with this tax rebate, why haven't the Republicans pointed out the fact that maybe the Bush tax cuts really have been a good idea, and electing Clinton or Obama, who will do nothing but raise taxes and spending, would be a disaster for the US economy?

If a tax rebate will help to stimulate the economy, then lower taxes across the board, accompanied by lower government spending, will help to stabilize our economy and guarantee that the US can retain its superpower status over the long-term. The only thing the Democrats' socialist policies will get us is a quick trip into the dustbin of history...but for some reason, none of our politicians will admit as much, because they're too busy trying to bribe the public.

Global Warming Movement Screws the Little Guy

The "green" movement has gotten bigger and bigger in US politics, with public schools brainwashing our children and politicians grubbing for more and more power, all in the name of "saving the planet."

Now we're starting to see the real fruits of their labor.

The push toward biofuels has driven up food prices across the globe, the green movement is having a negative effect in third world nations the world over. With heightened awareness of ethanol, farmers have been growing more and more corn, with the crops going toward ethanol production instead of food. The shortage is driving up food prices and is creating social unrest in Haiti, the Phillipines, and many African nations whose nations depend on staples such as corn and wheat for their survival.

The American Left often accuses the US of arrogance, but now again we see that true arrogance resides on the Left. They have used the green movement to justify their continued push toward socialism, and now, in their blind push toward "saving the planet," they are driving up food prices for people who already had a hard time affording enough food to survive.

By utilizing corn-based ethanol, the green movement is advocating the literal burning of our food supply, to the detriment of millions of Americans, as well as millions more across the world who depend on American food production and low food prices.

Liberals say that the world hates us because we pissed off a bunch of Islamic radicals (who were pissed off anyway) when we invaded Iraq and liberated millions of oppressed people there. Now they're poised to give the world a real reason to hate America, when the Left makes food unaffordable in the name of clean air.

We should take care of our environment, but we cannot afford to sell our souls in order to decrease pollution. We need to approach environmentalism logically, not emotionally. We need to look at all sides of the issue before handing more and more power to the government in the name of environmentalism. We need to look at how our actions will effect others, as well as how they will effect our children. Will cleaner air truly help our children if they can't afford to eat?

Absolut Insults America...

The makers of Absolut vodka are running an ad in Mexico that shows a map of North America with its pre-Mexican-American war borders, where Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico are still part of the nation of Mexico. The tag line is, "In An Absolut [read: perfect] World."

They are only running this ad in Mexico (go figure).

From the LA Times:

"[Favio] Ucedo, [creative director of a Lation ad agency] who is from Argentina, said: “Mexicans talk about how the Americans stole their land, so this is their way of reclaiming it. It’s very relevant and the Mexicans will love the idea.”

But he said that were the campaign to run in the United States, it might fall flat.

“Many people aren’t going to understand it here. Americans in the East and the North or in the center of the county -- I don’t know if they know much about the history.

“Probably Americans in Texas and California understand perfectly and I don’t know how they’d take it.”

Think about that: Mexicans still talk about how Americans stole their land...back in 1848. The United States has reached "from sea to shining sea" for 160 years, but Mexico still can't get over it.

What I truly don't get is this: Mexicans seem to have so much pride in their home country...and I have no problem with that: I'm a proud American, after all. But if Mexico were truly so great, why do millions of Mexicans try to flee their nation every year to come to America? The United States of America truly is the Land of Opportunity and is so much better than Mexico, and millions upon millions of Mexicans (even the ones marching in the streets of US cities waving Mexican flags) testify to that through their determination to come here to find jobs. Heck, illegal Mexican immigrants can make a better living in the US at substandard wages then they can earning standard wages down in Mexico.

Personally, I think the whole "reconquista" movement is just a massive case of jealousy: we fought a war. The U.S. won. We signed a treaty. The Southwestern U.S. was claimed by the United States as the spoils of war, and Mexico ceded the territory. If Mexico wants it back, they can try to take it...but they won't do that, because the US military would kick their butts back into the stone age...AGAIN.

Shame on Absolut for trying to further encourage Mexicans to waste their time and energy on taking back what isn't theirs. Mexico is a nation riddled with problems, and the U. S. of A. has become a massive excuse for their politicians to ignore the problems within their own nation and shift blame northward. It's gone on long enough.

We're Going The Wrong Way

The US economy is in trouble...more trouble than most people are aware. The problem is that our government, in trying to fix the problem, is actually taking steps to make things worse.

Treasury Set to Announce Regulatory Overhaul

Fed Eyes Nordic-Style Nationalisation of US Banks

Paulson Plan Endorses Fed's Enhanced Market Authority

Brace for $1 Trillion Writedown of 'Yertle the Turtle' Debt

Not long after our nation's founding, the country was plunged into a debate over whether the federal government had the authority to create its own bank. The truth is that the federal government has no authority to mess with the banking industry, including the creation of a national bank - yet the bank was created. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government given the right to nationalize any private industry, but now there are rumblings of a nationalized banking industry. How can this be good news for the US economy?

For a long time now, the US government has garnered a well-deserved reputation as being an inefficient, slow-moving behemoth that just cannot seem to do anything right. Remember Hurricane Katrina? Is that the kind of leadership you want running our banks?

Yet that's just the kind of banking system our leaders are talking about.

The Constitution does not give our government the authority to nationalize our banks. The government has done nothing to help thus far. They've made some cosmetic changes, to be sure, but nothing that will fix the long-term disaster that looms over our economy.

Personally, I think it's time for the people of America to look to our founding documents. Read the Constitution, and realize that the government is exceeding its authority.

How about this line from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Nationalizing the US banking industry is yet another cosmetic change that, in the end, will only make things worse...and the more our federal government exceeds its authority, the more I tend to think of the original founding document of the United States: the Declaration of Independence. I think of how, as our federal government becomes larger and larger, taking more and more power away from the people, they "[become] destructive of these ends." It's time for the people of America to wake up. It's time to invoke the "alter or abolish" clause of the Declaration of Independence. It's time to put the politicians back in their place and start running a government that realizes that its authority and power comes from the people, and the people can take that power away.

Maybe it's time for another American Revolution.