The American Spectator

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Conservatives Against Corn

2.19.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 4)

What we small "c" conservatives need to learn is that federal government confiscation of our income and subsequent redistribution of those funds to others is really okay, as long as it goes to Midwestern corn growers and is done by Republicans and helps Republican candidates get elected. Further, food riots caused by this government hand-out program are "somewhere else in the world" and therefore should be of no concern.

Got it. Thank you so very, very much.
-- Keith Kunzler

With all due respect to Mr. Newman, you don't have to be an "MC," "C" or "c" to recognize what a boondoggle ethanol is. The prime beneficiaries of ethanol remain the corporate farmers ADM, Cargill, and agricultural suppliers Monsanto and DuPont. Only in America would politicians foist a program that contains 33% less energy than gasoline, contributes as much if not more CO2, and has to be subsidized in order to be price competitive on a per gallon basis (but not per BTU) on the public. Compounding the issue is that corn prices have risen substantially over the last seven years which has a direct impact on the cost of food products that use corn; the government is building inflation into the nation's and world economic system. There is also a moral question of should we be burning "corn" in our autos while sub-Saharan Africans starve?

I think the "MC's" would like to see a portion of the monies that subsidize the "farmers" be diverted towards nuclear power, off-shore drilling and more refining capacity. Energy sources that would be of benefit all of us.
-- Tim Reed
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Are you saying that we should support the funding of bio-fuel research because it will garner us votes?
-- Deane Pradzinski
Highland, California

OCCAM SOCK 'EM
Re: Mark Tooley's Brilliant Blunderer:
Occam's Razor: one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

Consider: Sharia is completely incompatible with Western moral, ethics and laws v. Over 11,000 words and counting (by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams) to justify allowing Muslim law to be grafted (shafted?) onto existing Western morals, ethics and laws.

Occam, you genius.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

The current Archbishop's bilge about accommodating Sharia Law coupled with his dithering over the schism in the U.S. communion, to me, put the lie, very big lie, to his "intellectual brilliance." His gaffes and failures speak more to a toadying intellect which has deftly moved itself through the bureaucracy to power and, unsurprisingly, clearly demonstrated the Peter Principle.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

TUNNEL VISION
Re: J. Peter Freire's On the Rivera:

I have been away and missed the many entertaining articles and letters, On returning have spent the long week-end catching up.

One question and an open borders reassurance for Geraldo.

My question is: In what way is dancing transforming for him? He is a total ass in other respects but not on the dance floor? Geraldo Asstaire?

In case he missed it, he need not be too exercised over the prospect of our ever having secure borders. Recently in a TV interview, the Mayor of Eagle Pass, TX gave us a pretty good insight into the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude of at least one (and probably representative of most) good ol' Texas fatboy rancher. Apparently he can sit in his rockin' chair on his front porch and gaze out at his propitty which extends to the lapping shores of the Rio Grande. And he ain't about to give a inch of it up to the gum'mit for construction of a fence. His solution? More Border Patrol! Sez he has seen 'em at work and they do a fine job, we just need more of 'em!. In other words, he would like Personal Property Protection at government expense.

As a child, my mother lived in Mission, Texas, and she told the tale that Texas Rangers slept on their roof, lying in wait for Pancho Villa's men. Well, my mama had a vivid imagination, but if it was in any part true, those days are long dead. The Rangers, Border Patrol and all the Reserves in the U.S. will not deter illegal immigration.

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