Food vs. Energy: The Fight we all Lose

Every now and then a comment arrives on the Incontiguous Brick that is worthy of taking a second look.

Not long ago I posted a pithy picture of an advertisement for rice. Although the photo and my comments were exaggerating the reality today I wanted to point out the odd place we (Americans and the world) are in. Fact is, food is getting scarce in many places in the world and people are getting nervous. There is not going to be a major food shortage in America any time soon (unless perhaps you live on minimum wage) but it is still food for thought. Bill, a longtime reader of the brick, has captured the issue better than I could in his comment. Here it is again in case you missed it:

Regardless of the merits of Global Warming and other environmental issues, implementing a policy that brings two basic needs of people (food and energy) into direct competition with each other is just plain stupid (if I were in a more delicate and diplomatic mood, I’d say “bad policy” or something like that).

To wit: Man has some very basic resources to build and maintain his civilization: water, food, and energy being the top three. Food and energy are two of the more conspicuous factors, since they are notoriously limited with our historical and (even) current technologies. There is a finite amount of arable land and a finite amount of energy resources. Instituting a policy that now makes us use land for energy that would otherwise be used for food is a bad idea.

Why? America can produce enough food for its people, for sure. However, other countries can not (and most of those countries are among the poorest). Surely, rising demand for food will cause supplies to tighten and prices to rise. At the same time, some of the other countries “on the edge” that are ruled by less than savory regimes or individuals will see that they can get X price for a bushel of (crop) on the world market for energy production or they could give/sell it to their own people for Y price (X>Y). Which do you think that a lot of them will do: enrich themselves or help their people?

Meanwhile, as the ethanol project continues and expands more and more, American food will effectively be taken off the market, leaving less for aid or sale to other countries. People/countries will attempt to use other crops that are not efficient for ethanol production as substitute staples, but pressure on LLC will effectively limit expansion of production.

Finally, as pressure on both basic inputs into the economy (food/fuel) increase, the price of both will rise causing severe inflationary pressures.

The end result will be inflation, stagnation, and starvation (in the most vulnerable parts of the world), while neither energy independence nor real environmental progress will be achieved. What a farce and disaster!

That being said, before someone takes a flamethrower to me, I agree that we should be responsible environmentally, but we also have to be pragmatic. People respond to incentives, but the curent policy allocates incentives in a way that invites catastrophe. There are ways to create biofuels without causing massive damage to the environment and without putting more pressure food production (ex. using previously classified “non-arable” lands to produce crops [sawgrass, et. al.]) that can be used to produce alt. fuels. This, along with using “non-competitive” renewable energy resources, is the way to go IMO.

S/F,
Bill

Things younger than McCain

This is worthy of a link and a laugh.

It is a website dedicated to stuff that is younger than one Republican presidential candidate.

http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/

Such as…

Too funny.

Mommy sure is gonna miss us!

As the senior editor-in-chief and the main contributor, I reserve the right to indulge in some personal stories of a whimsical nature. I realize that this is not the sort of article I typically write but I also know that there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t even take back the time you have already spent reading this post so far. Therefore, you may now continue reading about my personal life and I will go back to pondering the greater questions of the world (after I have told my story).

I just got home from an awesome four day vacation at Disneyland. It was by far the best trip I have taken in a long time. The lines were so short we were able to walk up to many rides and get on without any wait at all. The ones we did wait for were usually less than 5 to 10 minutes. I think we did 13 rides yesterday along with a couple of shows and relaxed meals. Not even lines for food!

Anyway, those of you who have been longtime followers of the Brick already know that I have two children. I took the older one (4.5 years old) on Star Tours. This is a full motion flight simulation of a space ship ride with a clumsy robot pilot. At the moment when our impending doom seemed unavoidable (a scary collision with a comet) my daughter said:

“Mommy sure is going to miss us!”

I am convinced that she was completely sincere and these were her last words (she thought). There is nothing like experiencing a ride like that with someone who really believes we were in outer space. That is what makes these rides fun. I can’t wait to take her on Space Mountain and really scare the crap out of her. Does this make me a bad parent?

We’ve got rice!

Is it just me or does this make the hair on the back of your neck stand up?

I took this picture today.  I am worried.

Since when, in America, is the availability of a basic staple a hook to bring in customers?

Be afraid.

Spitzer vs. Patriot Act, the erosion of freedom in America

Newsweek ran an article a few days ago titled, Unintended Consequences

The author describes how Eliot Spitzer got snagged by the fine print of the Patriot Act. Remember the Spitzer case? That one with the known terrorist plotting to destroy the U.S. government from the inside? No? That is because Spitzer is the guy who was caught paying for a prostitute and then resigned from his job as Governor.

Apparently, it is now common practice for Federal Prosecutors to use the banking data of millions of Americans to look for potential crimes. Not terrorism, like the Patriot Act would suggest, but general white collar stuff.

From Newsweek:

The new scrutiny resulted in an explosion of SARs, from 204,915 in 2001 to 1.23 million last year. The data, stored in an IRS computer in Detroit, are accessible by law-enforcement agencies nationwide. “Terrorism has virtually nothing to do with it,” says Peter Djinis, a former top Treasury lawyer. “The vast majority of SARs filed today involve garden-variety forms of white-collar crime.” Federal prosecutors around the country routinely scour the SARs for potential leads.

One of those leads led to Spitzer. Last summer New York’s North Fork Bank, where Spitzer had an account, filed a SAR about unusual money transfers he had made, say law-enforcement and industry sources who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the probe. One of the sources tells NEWSWEEK that Spitzer wasn’t flagged because of his public position. Instead, the governor called attention to himself by asking the bank to transfer money in someone else’s name. (A North Fork spokesperson says the bank does not discuss its customers.) The SAR was not itself evidence that Spitzer had committed a crime. But it made the Feds curious enough to follow the money.

When did we become a nation where it is acceptable for the authorities to randomly search databases looking for possible unreported crimes? It seems to me that if the police, FBI, DHS, ETC have nothing better to do than virtual busywork, maybe we should consider cutting back on their numbers. Clearly they have too many people to be busy enough with all the reported crimes.

Sorry

As editor-in-chief I would like to extend my deepest apologies to the loyal readers of the Incontiguous Brick.  I have been away on a rather long trip and was limited to particularly poor bandwidth.  I was also severely sleep deprived and may have been under scrutiny from some unnamed three letter agencies.  And I was sick.  And…

Okay.  I was also quite lazy.  It shames me to say it but not only did I fail to produce any new articles for the Brick but my highly overpaid staff of unpaid volunteers did not step up to the plate and write a damn thing.  Of course this is unacceptable (I believe there was some excuse given regarding a broken hip… seriously?) and putative action will be taken.

Congressman Ron Paul’s Statement on Gaza Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution strongly defending how Israel has repelled rocket attacks.

The non-binding resolution, passed 404-1 on Wednesday, was substantially rewritten since its introduction in January to include a strident defense of recent Israeli tactics in the Gaza Strip. Ron Paul took a different view…

Ron Paul states - Madam Speaker: I rise in opposition to H. Res. 951. As one who is consistently against war and violence, I obviously do not support the firing of rockets indiscriminately into civilian populations. I believe it is appalling that Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured.Unfortunately, legislation such as this is more likely to perpetuate violence in the Middle East than contribute to its abatement. It is our continued involvement and intervention – particularly when it appears to be one-sided – that reduces the incentive for opposing sides to reach a lasting peace agreement.

Additionally, this bill will continue the march toward war with Iran and Syria , as it contains provocative language targeting these countries. The legislation oversimplifies the Israel/Palestine conflict and the larger unrest in the Middle East by simply pointing the finger at Iran and Syria . This is another piece in a steady series of legislation passed in the House that intensifies enmity between the United States and Iran and Syria . My colleagues will recall that we saw a similar steady stream of provocative legislation against Iraq in the years before the US attack on that country.

I strongly believe that we must cease making proclamations involving conflicts that have nothing to do with the United States . We incur the wrath of those who feel slighted while doing very little to slow or stop the violence.

GOP’s Long Shot Candidate… John McCain?

Ask most people and they would tell you McCain will probably be the republican candidate in the nest election. Fair enough considering his huge lead over other republicans. In fact, most of the news and polling data has focused on whether or not Obama or Clinton is more likely the beat McCain. But maybe this assumption is missing the mark.

Senator McCain has is facing not one but three major hurdles the next President (not even counting beating the democrats).

1. He might not be eligible. McCain was not born on United States soil. He was born in Panama on an army base to American parents. Most people look at this as a technicality but not the State Department. On the State Department website, it says:

“Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.”

McCain became a U.S. citizen at birth but not by birth. The difference is subtle but it could be enough to prevent him from being a constitutionally legitimate candidate for President. The Constitution states:

“No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

When this was written, they probably were not considering how to handle military bases on foreign soil. Therefore, it is not entirely clear and that is the problem. The GOP does not want a candidate that might not be allowed to run. If this is not cleared up before the general election, I am sure the democratic candidate (either Obama or Hillary) will be sure to address it.

2. He might be in jail. Last June, McCain’s campaign was hurting. Giuliani had the ear of Fox News, Romney had money to burn and nobody was paying him any attention. McCain had very few donors and was polls were not looking good. Desperate to stay in the race for one last time (assuming he will be too old to try again in four years) McCain turned to the FEC. He applied for matching funds to pull himself through the rough times and it paid off big. However, now that he is likely to secure the GOP nomination, he has reached the spending limit. He can not legally spend any more on his campaign unless he is allowed to withdraw his application for Federal Matching Funds by the FEC. Although McCain did not actually receive or use any money from the FEC, he did use his matching funds status to get his name on the ballot in Ohio. This is likely to constitute actual use of the matching funds system. Uh oh… According the Washington Post, “knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.”

“McCain applied for matching funds in June, when his campaign was struggling with poor poll numbers and few donors. His request was approved by the FEC in spring with $5.8 million in matching funds. McCain withdrew his application early this month after sweeping Super Tuesday, but the FEC said it had to check if McCain had used the matching funds to secure a bank loan.”

3. And then there is the possible perjury thing. In 2000, McCain said that he “definitely” spoke with Vicky Isman’s employer. A few weeks ago, he said that he had never spoken with her employer directly. One of those is not true. If it is the 2000 statement then perjury carries a potential maximum of 5 years in prison. I suppose if he wins the election from prison he could pardon himself.
When do you think the DNC is waiting to investigate that bit of trickery? I am guessing it will be after he is the official nominee and then they will be on it like white on rice.

Any angle you want to take, John McCain has some major hurdles in his future that will be addressed before he makes it on the November ballot. And that is why he is the long shot candidate of the republican party. Should make for an interesting brokered convention.

lame

According to the CIA World Factbook website, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list of national balance sheets.

This is the list…

Sun Tzu’s wisdom and today’s folly

“He who wishes to fight must first count the cost.

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened.

If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity.

Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue…

In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.”

~Sun Tzu, the Art of War

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Washington Post:

“Do you want to know who is bailing out America’s biggest banks and financial institutions from the consequences of their folly — by acting as the lender of last resort and controller of the system? Why, it’s the sovereign wealth funds, owned by such nations as China and the Persian Gulf oil producers. The new titans are coming to the rescue, if that’s the right word for their mortgage on America’s future.”

I wonder if the China’s leadership has ever read Sun Tzu. Oh crap, he was Chinese.