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POPSLet Them Eat Rice: Washington's Unedifying Ethanol Food Fight And what about the impact of the Chinese livestock and meat complex, alluded to by Senator Grassley? According to China expert, Darrell Ray, Director of the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, "China has not been importing corn to grow her livestock industry. China continues to export more corn that she imports. With regard to grains, China has been taking care of China as if it were a planet on to its own, completely independent of what is happening elsewhere. . . .To attribute today's international grain prices to China essentially assumes that beginning two years ago the market decided there may be a need for China to become a net importer of some corn in the future, say 2012, and so bid-up the price of corn by double." As this "let them eat rice" soundbite made clear, the debate over the food versus fuel issue is about as undignified as a full out real food fight at a summer camp cafeteria.
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POPSHousing Bill Threatens Personal Privacy Email Petition The Senate is currently considering a $300 billion mortgage bailout for the riskiest borrowers and their banks. Recently, it was revealed that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), the primary architect of the compromise bill that ultimately ended up on the Senate floor, had received a special “VIP” loan from Countrywide Financial, which stands to be one of the primary beneficiaries of the bill. Unfortunately, the irresponsible economics and the VIP scandal are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the bad policy in the mortgage bailout. Hidden within the bill is a provision added by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) that would greatly expand the power of the Internal Revenue Service to monitor what Americans buy online. Sen. Grassley’s provision would require the nation’s electronic payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.
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POPS The 11th Commandment “Though Shalt Not Attack Fellow Republicans.” The Romney camp frames the memo as a top-10 list of McCain’s “attacks” on Republicans. It could also be called “10 instances over the last eight years when McCain got angry or lost his cool.” Oh, and the missive pays special attention to McCain’s use of four-letter words that are not H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Update: On Thursday afternoon, Romney said, “One thing I’m also gonna point out is, particularly in a Republican campaign, I’m not going to talk about the character of the people I’m running against.” He also cited Ronald Reagan’s so-called 11th commandment, something along the lines of, “though shalt not attack fellow Republicans.”
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