Richard Disney

I told someone about a year ago that ethanol and biofuels were going to wreak havoc on food prices. I remember saying something like, “when you start burning your food in your gas tank you are not making a good decision.” The person I said that too kind of scoffed with an eyeroll. I may have been more correct than I wanted to be.

Again, government mandates in the marketplace prove to be harmful. If there was a real non-government enforced market for biofuels people and companies would buy into them. When are the Stateists ever going to learn?

Article follows:

Fri Jul 4, 3:34 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.

The daily said the report was finished in April but was not published to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed plant-derived fuels have pushed up prices by only three percent.

Biofuels, which supporters claim are a “greener” alternative to using fossil fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions, and rising food prices will be on the agenda when G8 leaders meet in Japan next week for their annual summit.

The report’s author, a senior World Bank economist, assessed that contrary to claims by US President George W. Bush, increased demand from India and China has not been the cause of rising food prices.

“Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases,” the report said.

Droughts in Australia have also not had a significant impact, it added. Instead, European and US drives for greater use of biofuels has had the biggest effect.

The European Union has mooted using biofuels for up to 10 percent of all transport fuels by 2020 as part of an increase in use of renewable energy.

All petrol and diesel in Britain has had to include a biofuels component of at least 2.5 percent since April this year.

“Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate,” the report said.

It added that the drive for biofuels has distorted food markets by diverting grain away from food for fuel, encouraging farmers to set aside land for its production, and sparked financial speculation on grains.

But Brazil’s transformation of sugar cane into fuel has not had such a dramatic impact, the report said.

“The basket of food prices examined in the study rose by 140 percent between 2002 and this February,” The Guardian said.

“The report estimates that higher energy and fertiliser prices accounted for an increase of only 15 percent, while biofuels have been responsible for a 75 percent jump over that period.”

Biofuels behind food price hikes: leaked World Bank report - Yahoo! News

Tags: biofuels, stateism, statism, collectivism, capitalism, market forces, global, maize, wheat, prices, distorted food markets, green,

A reader and viewer of Indoctrinate U recently wrote to me asking about a t-shirt I wore in the film: “I caught a glimpse of one of the t-shirts you were wearing, but didn’t really get the whole thing. It looked like it had a Republican elephant on it with a circle and a line through it. What was it really?”

I wrote back:

You correctly identified the t-shirt. It had the Republican Party logo with a circle-slash through it, and below that the text: “I Hate Republicans.”

For a while during the shooting, I wore a series of shirts deliberately intended to help me blend in to the environment, similar to the way that some species camouflage themselves.

The shirts (two more of which are shown in the attached photos: a CCCP shirt with the Soviet hammer and sickle, and a Joseph Stalin t-shirt) were originally part of an experiment that was intended to be a scene in the film. I wore different politically-themed t-shirts around campus and tried to capture various reactions. We did get a number of under-the-breath comments disparaging my “Viva la Reagan Revolucion!” t-shirt done in the iconic Che style and my “Proud Republican” t-shirt, but unfortunately, we had trouble finding the right mic setup to reliably capture such comments. So we pretty quickly scrapped the idea.

But after I realized that certain t-shirts granted me better access to the campus, I kept wearing those ones around.

Speaking of t-shirts, we’ve now got a few available over at the Indoctrinate U store, where we’ve just added a bunch of Indoctrinate U gear.

However, I should warn you in advance that these shirts probably won’t grant you better access on campus. Quite the opposite, possibly.

Tags: EvanCoyne Maloney, university, college, camouflage, t-shirts, indoctrinate u movie, communist, anti-republican

Hat Tip: First Friday Collective

After Mitt Romney announced his pull out of the 2008 Presidential Race at CPAC 2008, the only viable candidate left standing is Senator John McCain. In what state does this leave the Republican Party? Unfortunately both the Democratic and Republican parties continue their march away from limited government and individual liberty and toward growing government reach and individual dependence on the Federal Government.

Unlike when Ronald Reagan communicated individualist conservative values to lead many Democratic voters to vote for him, John McCain embodies the movement of the Republican Party to embrace more Collectivist notions in hopes that they can outbid the Democrats in the purchase of votes from constituencies that think it desirable to become more dependent on Government largess. As the saying goes, “Any government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away.” A growing number of Americans now falsely perceive their rights to stem from what Government chooses to let them have rather than being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” as recognized by the Declaration of Independence.

As the two dominant American political parties move toward competition as to which party can spend more taxpayer dollars for more pork dumped on more voters, what is a defender of Constitutionally limited government and individual liberties to do?

This video produced in 1952 uses less animation and more live action to show how electrical power and freedom are linked. This video shows how many advances in technology that were achieved during the life of a 75 year old man in 1952. A “house of the future” is shown from a 1952 perspective and I find it very interesting. My favorite quote is, “We are not a nation of destroyers. We are a nation of builders!” That is a true statement. Unfortunately there are many Americans born and raised who would ridicule this video and deny its point of view. If you love America, you will love this video.

If you don’t love America, this video will make you arrogantly laugh or get angry. Detractors of the United States want the U.S. weak and “wussified”.

One of the main goals of Environmental Collectivists is to shut down the motor of the world through ignorance and paranoia about the environment. To shut down the motor of the world the United States must be weak. For those who think the United States is bad or repressive, consider this: Millions of people would not risk their lives to get into the U.S. illegally if it were as bad as U.S. detractors say it is.

An excellently produced animation produced in 1952 which shows that electricity and its multiple uses was developed by free individuals and that we are all freer today because of electrical power. This video is reminiscent of a time when it was encouraged to feel good about your country. It has everything great…guns, freedom, and technology in a time when America wasn’t so “wussified.” If you love America, this video will make your heart swell with pride and happiness. If you don’t like the United States, this video will make you have an aneurism. Enjoy.

This film produced in 1955 by Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas breaks down very simply why the United States is so productive and has such a high standard of living. Notice that the instructor mentions the “Freedom TO” do things not the “Freedom FROM” doing things. Today Collectivists trumpet freedom from hunger not the freedom to produce more food. The “Freedom to” is liberty, the “Freedom from” is dependancy.

Archive embed is not working. This video is not available on YouTube.

Click here to go to source site.

Hat Tip: Bookworm. Thank you Bookworm for posting this cartoon!

Here is another gem of a cartoon produced in 1948 by Searcy College in Arkansas. This is a cartoon that should be shown in schools around the United States and probably would be but for the Collectivist bent of the educational establishment.

My friend Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters blog was right on the money (as usual) when he encouraged me to dedicate a catagory of my blog to vintage nostalgic video content. There is a large community out there that shares my love of these video gems.

Hat Tip: BurfordHolly commenter at Captain’s Quarters blog.

This nostalgic content is addictive. We need someone now who can enunciate clearly and simply about how insidious Collectivism is like Ronald Reagan did in 1961. This audio clip is part of a Long Play (LP) record sent out by the American Medical Association as part of the Operation Coffee Cup Campaign.

I know it isn’t video but I am still putting it in this catagory.

Hat Tip: Internet Archive.

In another nostalgic video we see a case against “ISM” and why it is dangerous to our freedom. This cartoon was produced in 1948 and it is interesting to see today how many members of many “isms” would be howling at the top of their lungs against this simple cartoon were it broadcast on any Main Stream Media (MSM). Enjoy.

Too bad, embeds not working well from Internet Archive site.