SeniorJunior

... Or "Who's more important, corn farmers or the rest of us?" Now that it is perfectly clear that using food (corn in our case) to make fuel doesn't do anything good it was supposed to do, you would think Congress would hustle to undo the damage it is doing. Do you suppose? It's not helping the environment, it is hurting it. It's not freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil. It is contributing to the scarcity of and the rising prices for food. It is making big, rich agribiz companies even richer and making small farmers even poorer . It's forcing people with reservations about genetically modified food to throw in the towel because of desperate hunger . It is eating up tax dollars that could be doing a lot more good elsewhere. Well, Congress (no use even talking to the Bushies ), there you have it. Time to undo the damage done by wrong assumptions and too-quick response to lobbyists, no? Kill those ethano

Not the NYTimes or the LATimes, THE times... The whole world is upset about the rising cost of food. And part of the problem is definitely diverting some food into fuel. As in ethanol. Brazilians turn sugar cane into ethanol. Americans turn corn into it. [Ok, it's sort of self serving, but...] This blogster has been grumping about this nonsense for nearly two years. So why didn't Congress, the Department of Agriculture and Keith Olberman jump right on this when they had the chance... TWO YEARS AGO? I try, I try... Lord knows I try. For your reminiscing pleasure: " Ethanol, Schmethanol " June '06 " Starvation " April '07 " Food Prices Rocket " June '07 " Another Shot at Ethanol " July '07 " Deadly Brew " January '08 "Will starve for Ethanol" January '08 When the tortillas went out of reach for Mexicans, we should have known that corn ethanol was a really stupid idea. This stuff is to EAT!

Such a Simple Solution (Attn: Howard Dean) Barrack and Hillary, listen up. Here's the plan. Each of you start ignoring the other - in your speeches, your ads and the comments from your "aids." Each of you focus your attention strictly on McCain . Oh, and the calamities of the W administration. At the end of every day, all of us Dems will score you in our minds about how effectively you are at running the General Election Race. Perhaps some pollsters will start asking how our scores are going. Not only is the vicious infighting abandoned, the primary battle becomes the dress rehearsal for the General and all the firepower is aimed at the Republicans instead of at other Democrats. What a concept! The final benefit is that whoever loses this titanic battle for the Democratic nomination has a totally face-saving way to back down, wreathed in honor and humility - all for the greater good and with enough good will in the party left over to run again another day.

In this greatest of nations, how about this? In Michigan, one in eight residents now receives food stamps. Imagine. 13% of Michiganders on food stamps . Now that is pitiful. Good job, Bushie.

DARN IT (With an apology for my inconsistent adds and updates to this thang - for all those regular readers, of course!) Mostly I have been moved by ... what? Incredulity - outrage - at stupidity, irresponsibility, greed and the whole corrupting influence of unbridled partisanship ... to write something. Not always, of course, but mostly. The last couple of months have had so MUCH of that bad stuff, that I guess I have been sort of strangled as to what to grouse about. But here goes again. The Good Old NEW YORK TIMES editorial this Sunday morning reminded me of just how stupid, counterproductive and downright crappy the GWB Administration is. Stubborn George continues to insist that his torture-justifying lawyer pal Steven Bradbury be his appointee to run the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. (As I'm sure you know) Bradbury wrote all those "Torture's legal. It's OK," then "It's OK to ignore the law that makes it illegal" memos. He has abs

“Keeping Our Word,” “Trustworthiness,” and Other Corporate Myths I guess I’m grumpy most about hypocrisy. While the Right spins “values” into political gold, appealing to the righteousness gene in Americans, they spin a parallel theology, the holiness of “the market.” So it’s time (again and again) to look at actions, not words. Is the market actually self-correcting? Do market excesses and dishonesties actually fix themselves when the cop isn’t on the beat? Apparently not. In the Weekend Edition of The Wall Street Journal, two stories leap off the pages and slam into my hypocrisy button. 1. Corporations have been trying to save money by screwing their older employees by “freezing” their pension plans. Congress (a reluctant cop) tried to stop the vicious practice, but they did an inadequate job. Plus the offended corporations did what they do best, bribed the cops. According to the WSJ article , “Employers responded with a volley of lobbying, en

More " Ethanol, Schmethanol " Video fans... Here's a powerful little documentary on the human price of ethanol. Look down the list of vids on this site and prepare to have your soul rocked. I don't like the idea of Bloomberg running for prez as an Indy... But I like his website and his news channel. Both are straight-ahead, no hype and competent.