Oh would someone just shoot me! I haven't huffed in a while, but here goes.
The post title is how much time is left on the Bush clock. But I don't know if I can make it until then.
So, he blamed the Indians for the food shortage. The man doesn't understand Economics, or much of anything I suppose. I don't really understand Economics either. But I don't pretend to be President.
Apparently "after a news conference in Missouri on May 2, he was quoted as saying of India’s burgeoning middle class, 'When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.'"
Read this NYTimes article by Heather Timmons and weep. Or cry, then laugh. Some of the excellent lines from the article follow:
"For instance, Pradeep S. Mehta, secretary general of the center for international trade, economics and the environment of CUTS International, an independent research institute based here, said that if Americans slimmed down to the weight of middle-class Indians, 'many hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plates . . .
. . . that the money spent in the United States on liposuction to get rid of fat from excess consumption could be funneled to feed famine victims.'"
The audacity of diverting the blame of American consumption elsewhere! We WASTE more calories than most families consume in the world. See my previous post about SUPER SUPER FAT for the sad sad statistics.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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17 comments:
George Bush is always a special case, but it's also true that Americans of all stripes hold "certain truths to be self-evident" that are an utter crock. Noam Chomsky loves to point out how certain things are never mentioned in the American dialog, like the correctness of our foreign policy, how we control the economy, the way we see the distribution of resources, because virtually all U.S. citizens adhere to unquestionable axioms that are absolutely wrong wrong wrong.
And another aspect of the food-price crisis that drives me crazy: The Economist magazine had a piece three weeks ago saying that 2/3 of the price rises could be linked directly to the use of corn-based ethanol and the price supports for ethanol. That same week, the NPR show "Living On Earth" was trying to press Nancy Pelosi, Jeff Bingaman, and other Democrats for their support for corn ethanol price supports. Bingaman said, "Well, I haven't seen any studies showing that the ethanol subsidies have led to the price increases." That's almost to the Bush level of moronic.
Counting down!
Larry wants to start an internet campaign for a world wide day of renewal and celebration to be to be held January 20, 2009 (inauguration day).......
I'm off to read super super fat!
This is my first visit here...I like you when you're all huffed up! LOL
Right on! Love the post! And I couldn't agree more :)
George asks, "What's all this Internets stuff anyway?"
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/
video/politics/2008/05/14/
moos.googler.in.chief.cnn
Oh, poor George, I know, Loring, he is a special case. But this special case is creating real special relationships with people in places like India, where they think he speaks for a lot of Americans. And well, I suppose he does, since as you say there are lots of "us" out there who think things have to keep going in the same vein.
Are you kidding me? So all these statements about ethanol being a huge percentage of the food shortage/price problem are based on assumptions?
Sharon, I'll line up for Larry's campaign, that is if the world doesn't fall apart that day. Well, maybe it will fall apart the next day. I mean seriously sometimes I'm concerned that things will strangely fall apart post-Bush.
X X X X
Drowsey, welcome to my huffing self! I realized at some point that I was huffing at Synchronizing, and it didn't feel right. That space just didn't like it. So I decided to start this. But as you see, it's been 3 months since I'd posted.
You took the wrong meaning on my ethanol comment. The contribution of corn-based ethnanol to the food pricing problem is very real. The Democrats that were responsible for passing the price supports are trying to deny it, because they thought these votes made them look "green." Bingaman and Pelosi were caught flat-footed by the "Living On Earth" reporters, and they just tried to pretend that the case for ethanol as a price-riser has not been proven. They are wrong.
Oh, and George topped it all with his comments to the Israeli Knesset yesterday about Obama being the equivalent of Neville Chamberlain. Obama minced no words responding to Georgie!
Ohhhh! I get it. Yes yes yes.
Oh well yes, the old school of politics must make any amount of diplomacy look like appeasement. It's much better to start a war first, and then find out later the reasons you declared for the war didn't exist.
Living in Utah is interesting, with a 65 year-old Mormon man the same. They actually like Bush here. They find creative ways to support everything he says and does. But, my favorite is: "Bush has everyone fooled. He's not a stupid as everyone thinks he is. He's actually a genius."
Riiiiiiggghhhhhtttt....
Yeah, that's an interesting spin. I do think he is shrewder than he lets on somtimes. Don't think I'd stretch it to genius status though.
You just have to wonder who fed him that line, and how a president can be dumb enough to actually say it let alone believe it, that statement is itself so ridiculous that one cant even get up enough reaction to it.
The oil companies, Ruth, which is one of the richest industry gets about 18 billion of govt money as subsidies(?).
And they are so ridculous in their greed that they pay about 1% in charges to credit card companies and turn around and charge gas stations, even the smaller ones about 3 % for credit card transactions. And these stores make only about 10 cents a gallon.
To keep food prices up, the about 30% of produce is dumped here.
and then we turn around and send much lower quality of food to as aid to other countries.
Mystic, I am beyond the point of disgust. I think I'm going mad.
:)
Yup, lots of obese individuals up here in NB, Canada too!
We should tie in whether a child grades school to how obese they are.
For instance, we can use a body-fat index to determine without bias whether they merit passing for the year, or taking remedial summer classes.
I wonder if the sugar industry, or fast food joints like McDonald's would fight this effort?
John, interesting disincentive!
I mean, what's wrong with people just doing what's good for them? Why do we have to create so many artificial controls to protect people from themselves. It's the way it is, I realize, but frustrating, especially when we pay higher health insurance rates based on other people's bad habits.
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