Is President Bush Aggravating the Food Crisis?

I wanted to reference an article on Dr. Mercola's blog in which a good point is made about bio-fuels and the food crisis, then we'll take the logical leap necessary to blame President Bush and some others to be named below. However, read Dr. Mercola's blog entry first:

Beware - Food Crisis Getting Worse

Notice what Dr. Mercola's blog writes about bio-fuels aggravating the food crisis? For many, this is an obvious conclusion, but let us ask ourselves:

If we believe that President Bush's interests are too tangled with Big Oil, then why would he hurt his friends in the oil industry by incessantly calling for more ethanol production?

To support American farmers, you might answer.

Maybe, but who has a strangle hold on the production of American farmers? The big seed and food distribution corporations like Monsanto, who have been able to patent corn and other types of seed so that farmers cannot even use a part of their harvest to re-seed their land; the farmers have to buy new seed from Monsanto according to the seed patent rules! This puts a squeeze on American farmers and results in them not being the direct beneficiaries of higher food prices. Consider what happens when the same companies which supply your raw materials also dictate the prices at which your finished products are sold. Sounds like a franchise system of sorts. We can also compare it to serfdom, where the lords are more obscure.

So the calls to increase ethanol production from corn crops should substantially increase Monsanto's profits, right? Then, maybe there is a powerful corporate lobby which we should fear even more than Big Oil!

Why would the U.S. government allow distribution of a genetically-engineered strain of corn which PRODUCES its own pesticides INTERNALLY? Now the farmers do not have to spray pesticides ON their crops, because the pesticides are already IN the crops.

Ask yourself, how does one wash off the pesticides which are INSIDE our food?

Another question should be, if it kills insects, how could it possibly be healthy for us?

Yet, this is something our advocates at the FDA and the USDA allow to happen. But, if the FDA and the USDA approve it, it must be safe, right?

Take a look at their track record on various dangerous prescription drugs and harmful food additives, then decide. The FDA fast-track approved Viox, saccharin, Nutra-sweet, Sucralose, and Splenda.

If you believe that you will know when you are eating genetically modified food, think again. You will not see the warning on your favorite box of corn cereal, or in the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup. Congress is fighting hard against food labeling. We are not allowed to know what's in the food or from which country it originates. Even small amounts of partially hydrogenated oils are allowed on foods which are nevertheless labeled "trans-fat free!" (I sense some doubts in the room - go ahead and research that fact for yourselves.) That's why much of the world resists buying American food - because few know what's in it!

That's all going to change thanks to the food crisis. As the hungry world becomes desperate for grain, soy, rice and corn products, consumers will be less concerned about what is in the food. The GM food will be shoved down their hungry throats. Score a big win for Monsanto! Once you get your foot in the door...

But wait, why so much rhetoric about the food crisis, genetically modified crops, and Monsanto here? This is supposed to be a blog about energy!

The frightening reality is, all of these "commodities" are interconnected and we are going to really open our wallets and purses in the near future until we figure out who is manipulating all of this.

In such an advanced society with all the sophisticated new farming techniques mankind has developed during the thousands of years of agricultural history, this should not be happening.

Oh, and oil reached another record high yesterday. Can you hear the calls for more ethanol production yet?