Four years ago I got into a debate with someone who decried the war as “blood for oil.” (He also went on to call American servicemen “pawns”, but I’ll leave that for another time.) I said then that the supply and demand of oil is a global problem, not just a United States problem. I explained how high oil prices would affect the price of food and its availability. I explained how essential it was to the global economy that the global oil supply wasn’t effected.

He didn’t agree with my assessment, said there was “no connection”, and that Bush was just “trying to make his oil buddies rich”.

Recent headlines prove who was right:

• Wal-Mart customers are feeling the pinch of higher food prices
• Corn hits $6 a bushel
• Rice prices jump 10% in Africa
• Rice Jumps to Record on Philippine Imports, Curbs on Exports
• Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing
• Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years 
• UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production
• Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Oil prices and food prices & availability are intrinsically linked. This is a lesson we all must learn, and learn quickly. Taking part of our food supply (corn) and burning it as an inefficient fuel source (in the form of ethanol) is beyond idiotic because it causes both prices to increase and there’s no appreciable benefit to burning an inefficient fuel source.

Do we need an alternative to oil? Yes. But ethanol is not the answer, and until we find one, the stability of the world’s oil market and price is essential to everyone. And closer to home, it is essential to the preservation of our liberties.

Read More to view my original email:
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Same old story: a paper with known animosity toward the United States publishes a story about a study done by a British company that says that Britain is "more stable and prosperous" than the United States:

The United Kingdom has been ranked as one of the most stable and prosperous countries in the world, beating the United States, France and even Switzerland in a global assessment of every nation’s achievements and standards.

A one-year investigation and analysis of 235 countries and dependent territories has put the UK joint seventh in the premier league of nations. The top ten comprise also the Vatican, Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and the Irish Republic.

[...]

Mr Le Mière said that the US had fallen down the scale, although it still scored an average of 93 out of 100, partly because of the proliferation of small arms owned by Americans and the threat to the population posed by the flow of drugs from across the Mexican border.

Actually, the "proliferation of small arms" should have bumped us up higher on the list. But then again, Mr Le Mière, the U.N., and the Times Online believe — like all good socialists — that the populace should be disarmed. 

Now the threat by illegal immigration and drugs… that is something we can agree with.

sovereignty |?säv(?)r?nt? |
noun ( pl. -ties)
supreme power or authority
• the authority of a state to govern itself or another state : national sovereignty.
• a self-governing state.

United Nations Headquarters (AHN) - Long an advocate for poor internally displaced persons in third world countries, the United Nations on Thursday called on the United States government to halt demolition of low-income housing in New Orleans saying it violated the human rights of Hurricane Katrina victims and was driving them into "destitution."

In a strongly worded statement posted on its news center website, U.N. experts on housing and minority rights called the Bush administration to task for its treatment of Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans and elsewhere.

"We are deeply concerned about information we continue to receive about the housing situation of people in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region," Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and Gay McDougall, the Independent Expert on minority issues, said in a joint statement.

Their concern was heightened by the fact that although there are 12,000 homeless people in New Orleans, demolition has begun on St. Bernard public housing development, and three other public housing developments are scheduled to be torn down in the near future, but there are no immediate plans to replace those units with other low-income housing.

Dear United Nations:

Mind your own damn business.

Sincerely,
The United States of America

Be sure to read more about the "destitution" in New Orleans by reading Part 3 of our series, The Entitlement Nation.

Original article: U.N. Criticizes U.S. For Violating Human Rights Of Internally Displaced Hurricane Katrina Victims | March 12, 2008 | AHN