Welcome to the Mind of a Writer

By SHARON K. GILBERT
July 16, 2008

ENGLISH POET, William Blake once said that ‘A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees’. I say that biofuel advocates look not to a tree, but to corn and sugarcane, and their hungry eyes see only money.

The World Bank just released a report that places the blame for rising food prices squarely on the biofuel industry.

While American drivers drool over lower fuel prices, remember that the counterbalance is higher supermarket prices — not just corn, wheat, bread, and other grain related products, but oils, cheeses, and even meat. A rise in feedstock prices translates to higher production costs to dairy, cattle, and poultry farmers. The end result: everything in your pantry costs more. Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 1% [?]

By SHARON K. GILBERT
May 12, 2008

ONE WOULD THINK that the very name of the Department of Homeland Security implies that this ever-expanding governmental entity seeks to maintain a safe and secure environment within the border of the country commonly now known as the ‘homeland’.

Part and parcel of this protection mandate, one might assume, would be an all out effort to remove biological threats to highly secure areas, right? Then, why has the Senate now struck a deal with the White House to transfer implicit control of farm-related, biological research from the informed and (one would assume) competent hands of the Agriculture Secretary and into the militarized and non-farming hands of the DHS Chief (bearing in mind that DHS is ultimately under the control of the Big Kahuna, the Director of National Intelligence)? Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 2% [?]