“With the world population growing, and incomes rising, increased food production is necessary to maintain an acceptable level of basic human welfare.”

What exactly is “an acceptable level of basic human welfare”? And who gets to decide?

Seems to me that this is all about survival of the fittest, and apparently quite a few people are not going to survive. I suggest that whoever cares to be a survivor make the necessary preparations. And that doesn’t include sponging off me. Bottom line: Can you hold onto what you’ve got?

Thank for posting this, Rob.

There’s been something of a disconnect with bloggers. They don’t seem to notice how rapidly rising prices for food, fuel, utilities, etc. are combining to make life miserable for not just those on fixed incomes, but also for those who think of themselves as middle class. There will be a long hot summer to endure for much of the nation before we have the general election. Many people will find that cutting back on AC won’t begin to compensate for the rise in their other fixed costs. They’re going to be crabby, for sure. I don’t know why bloggers aren’t covering this more. I’d hate to see only the left take up this matter, and use it for the usual Marxist demagoguery.

Ever notice that whenever the Bush administration does something stupid or destructive, the right-wingers blame it on “politicians”?

I glanced through your link and generally liked it, too much ‘green house gas’ stuff but a push to producing other sources like our own oil, wind, tidal, coal and nuclear. I’m a fan of diversity.

What were your particular problems of the bill? It doesn’t explicitly push ethanol as hard as it got pushed, which is, I think, where the problem lay.