April 15, 2008

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day


"It's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels"

- Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's finance minister, April 2008

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

George Monbiot (rabid enbironmentalist) has been opposed to biofuels for at least three years.

http://tinyurl.com/bft5h
[www.monbiot.com]

According to the rabid environmentalist:

In 2003, the biologist Jeffrey Dukes calculated that the fossil fuels we burn in one year were made from organic matter “containing 44 x 10 to the 18 grams of carbon, which is more than 400 times the net primary productivity of the planet’s current biota.”(1) In plain English, this means that every year we use four centuries’ worth of plants and animals.

Anonymous said...

Hey India if you want us to stop converting food into fuel stop using so much fuel. We could get a little leaner on fuel use ourselves.

Anonymous said...

"Beloved and respected comrade leader" Fidel Castro said the same thing in 2006.

OK, everybody hate on me.

Anonymous said...

He's right, it is.

Anonymous said...

Keith,

It speaks well of you that you are putting Food Panic front and center on the HP site. I am reading Bowling Alone, where they provide statistics on younger people's lack of awareness of current events. The enormity of this particular crisis is hard to face, but it's time to act.

HPers, information is only power if you do something with it.

Anonymous said...

What? Hold on there KemoSabe! The frivolous waste of fuel resources and destruction of the best farmland for crappy housing is the crime. The food vs. fuel "crisis" is just us reaping the fruits of our own idiocy. Just wait until we ruin the remaining topsoil by over-farming...

Anonymous said...

"Hey India if you want us to stop converting food into fuel stop using so much fuel. We could get a little leaner on fuel use ourselves."

The reason food is used for fuel is a political decision that can be easily changed.

Anonymous said...

Its a crime that we pay anything more than $35 for a barrel of oil. Their greed has made everything here in the states more expensive and we are (rightfully) looking for alternatives. As for the starving masses, when you overcharge us, it comes back to bite you. Learn the lesson. Until then, eat your precious oil.

Anonymous said...

But George Bush said that he knows 'people and fish can live together'.

Really, he did.

Bush thought ethanol was a new whiskey... Woo Hoo.

Impeach Bush and Cheney.

Anonymous said...

It's a huge crime, a scam perpetrated by the environmentalists

Anonymous said...


Its a crime that we pay anything more than $35 for a barrel of oil.


It's a crime that you think you have a right to somebody else's property at a lower price than they are charging. We have a right to not buy their products if we think it costs too much. We don't have a right to set the prices.

It's been 30 years since the 1970's energy crisis. We've have Republicans and Democrats in charge of Congress and the White House. We still don't drill in most of the frozen wasteland in Alaska. We still don't conserve energy. We still don't use alternative fuels in a smart way.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more.

Anonymous said...

I am reading Bowling Alone, where they provide statistics on younger people's lack of awareness of current events.

Most of those MTV idiots support Obama

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately most of these same rabid enviros also oppose most efforts to expand the energy supply including most especially nuclear power. I don't consider them blameless in the current debacle, although I'll be kind and describe (most of) them as simply misguided. They've sold the public on an energy fantasy for decades. News flash: we cannot run our present civilization entirely on renewables with existing technology. And we cannot feed the world's existing or projected population if we roll back to some sort of neo-agrarian utopia either.

Anonymous said...

Who the fuck is this guy from India talking about? Maybe Indians should stop devoting so much of their time to praying fives times a day to Allah, stop the suicide bombings, stop killing Jews, etc... The man has some nerve. The U.S. wants to help the world and all we get back in return is people hating America even more.

Anonymous said...

The actual fluid yield from and ear of corn is very small.

After water is drawn off you have a lot less, in the way of by-product for fuel.

Now, this is all dependent upon rain fall amounts....or a good drought!!

If I remember my numbers correctly, it will take about 500lbs to fill an average fuel tank, say 20 gal.

We are going to have to start growing corn on every available plot, street corner..etc.

Start investing in Funks, Pioneer, DeKalb....etc.

Not for food source but for fuel!

Don't forget the ramifications of a drought now!



Have a nice day!

BondsOfSteel said...

Biofuels are not the problem. The problem is that we tied food to fuel and we are fuel gluttons.

We have the technology to reduce our fuel consumption and retain our current 'lifestyle'.

Average fuel economy in the US has gone down in the past 20 years... while engine technology has continue to improve. No one in 2008 should drive a car (or SUV) that gets less than 28 mpg.

Anonymous said...

The Lefty-Greenies are not the only ones bathing themselves in Biofuel stupidity. Red State reps and senators LOVE christening shiny new refineries and speaking to dusty crowds of overalled farmers. Never mind the obvious answer for both sides: STOP DRIVING SO DAMNED MUCH!

Make no mistake, this debacle is bi-partisan dumbassery of the highest order.

Anonymous said...

Hey India, if you don't like it grow your own F*cking food.

And keep your filthy H1-Bs out of America.

Anonymous said...

If we keep doubling our population, people are going to starve.

If we starve people before the population doubles again, all the children the starved people would have produced won't have to starve.

At least we have the OPTION of reallocating that food source for people at this point. Sooner or later, there just won't be enough food, period.

Ultimately we are pawns of nature, and nature doesn't give a crap how many babies starve.

Short term, yeah, its a crime to use grain for fuel (especially given that the inputs/yield ratio is so pathetic). Long term, those that starve today may prevent the suffering of many, many more.

Of course, magic ponies could show up at any time and defend us from the hard facts of nature...so don't be glum.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is criminal. This whole ethanol propaganda is just that, propaganda to get taxpayers money into the hands of big agri-businesses in the name of "energy independence". To this day there are NO gas stations where I live that sell any blend of E (not that I'd buy it anyway).

I think America missed a huge opportunity to become energy independent after 9/11/01.
"They" should've used "we buy oil from them - they use that money to blow us up" argument all the way and allocate massive funds into alt. energy R&D and transportation infrastructure.
-Add a tax of 100% on all new sales of SUV for consumers and limit the sales for businesses.
-Raise taxes on fuel to modify consumer behavior. Reinvest taxes in transportation infrastructure.
-Raise fuel efficiency standards to 45mpg on all new passenger cars.
-Give rebates on hybrid cars to offset the price difference.
And constantly, around the clock advocate energy independence as the way to starve the financial resources of "terrorists".

Would these measures be popular? Probably not, but the population can be persuaded to tighten the belts a bit for the greater good, especially after 9/11/01. Sure, some country would've been bombed as a result of retaliation, but that would need to happen anyway to placate the white-trash crowd.

We are approaching the SEVENTH anniversary of 9/11 with nothing to show for all those years. The World is not a safer place. America is just as dependent on foreign oil as before, but now it has to compete for limited supply with China and India. There is no transportation infrastructure in place on a national level that is energy efficient. There are no real choices for high MPG cars for consumers from major manufacturers. Some boutique car makers have broken 100 MPG level, but their offerings are expensive and few. And OPEC is laughing all the way to the bank.

IF this opportunity wasn't wasted, now we wouldn't care what the price of oil was. There would be no need for "biofuel" scam. There would be no 1 Trillion war. The county would be exporting it's high tech energy efficient inventions to the rest of the world. We would make Al Gore happy, and as a byproduct breath fresher air.

To the poster who misses $35 oil, get over it. Crude price will NEVER be below $100, it's a simple supply and demand issue. Everybody wants it and they ain't making any more of it...

BondsOfSteel said...

OK. I try to not call people idiots or morons. It's not helpfull, a valid discussion tactic, or just plan civil. Plus, It's not my style.

That said, the anon 5:09 poster is just plain ignorant.

India is a majorty hindu state. While it is the 3rd largest country in number of muslims, Indian muslims are a minority... and they ocassionaly suffer from hindu led pogroms.

*sigh*

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who the fuck is this guy from India talking about? Maybe Indians should stop devoting so much of their time to praying fives times a day to Allah, stop the suicide bombings, stop killing Jews, etc... The man has some nerve. The U.S. wants to help the world and all we get back in return is people hating America even more.

April 15, 2008 5:09 PM

Ok, you are a complete and total IDIOT. Before you post something, do some basic research. India is mostly made up of Hindus and NOT Muslims. 82% of India is Hindu, 13% is Muslim and the rest is Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and even Jewish. India is also a pluralistic democracy and Hindus for the most part do not engage in suicide bombings. I don't know where the hell you get your information from, but it must be from a very unreliable source. Educate yourself about the rest of the world, and then make some relevant posts on this board.

Anonymous said...

Finally Keith, you started to grasp the reality... Focus on important things and forget about childish Walmart bashing :-)

Anonymous said...

I read in uk pub today the corn used to fill a car with 50 liters which is about 12+ gallons would feed a child for a year. I don't want gasoline that bad that I would watch people starve so I could sit my padded but not overpadded behind behind the wheel anytime I felt inclined. It is immoral to ignore the human cost to our laziness. Because there is enough gas to meet our needs, just not our excesses. I do think it is a crime against humanity and wars have been started for less. grandma

Anonymous said...

to anonymous "eat your oil"...I have lived long enough to have experienced karma, or whatever you'd like to call it. When I've been contemptuous of other's position in life, eventually I lived the same circumstances. Once I said something spiteful,to a relative stranger, and damned if 30years later the same thing didn't come back to me, almost verbatim.

I wonder how many have read Revelations re the Whore of Babylon, and realized that's it's probably us. For I am a queen and will never now sorrow. Whatever she has inflicted will come back two times. We are viewed as arrogant by the poor countries of the world, not withstanding immigration, and we are. I think the viewpoint expressed by the phrase WH of B, is the viewpoint of those like Bin Laden towards us.
Nobody said whose viewpoint was being expressed. She dresses in scarlet, and purple and fine linen.
Being a weaver and natural dyer, scarlet is of course red, but how many of you know that purple was a range of shades from purple to blue. Indigo which is used for our flag originally has a slight purple undertone. Fine linen is of course linen bleached white in the sun. Red, white, blue.

Oh and yes.Rev: A denarius for a measure of wheat is one translation; a day's wages for a measure of wheat is another. A denarius is 25 silver pieces, considered a day's wages. Wheat futures hit $24 dollars for a bushel (our measure). Think that might be that?

We are precariously perched. I don't think attitude ever holds out against reality on a large scale.

grandma

Anonymous said...

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gutless and lazy anon said...
Hey India, if you don't like it grow your own F*cking food.

And keep your filthy H1-Bs out of America.

April 15, 2008 5:59 PM
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Damn those hindooos. let them eat cake. what an idiot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2005gdpAgricultural.PNG