Americans are some of the lowest consumers of rice but for most of the rest of the world it is the staple crop that keeps poorer consumers alive. The doubling of rice prices, coupled with rising prices for virtually all grains, is a major concern. While the US is an exporter of rice, many countries are now restricting exports to try to control prices. In a global economy this won’t work because you cannot have a commodity priced differently in two or more places- sellers in the cheaper country will find a way to sell in the more expensive one (one exception to this is the price of sugar in the US, held artificially high and protected from cheaper exports to the benefit of a few wealthy US sugar producers- a rant for another place!).

Rice, as a crop, is exceptionally sensitive to climate changes. Even a slight warming trend will kill off a crop and this is happening in traditional rice-growing areas worldwide. Because of the unique growing conditions needed for rice (water paddies) you cannot simply replant at a more suitable location. Combined with exploding energy and fuel costs, this forces prices up. It is not a small matter- people will starve.

The climate is a closed system. Changes have wide-reaching and sometimes unpredictable affects. Starvation will be one of them and it could change geo-politics very rapidly as hungry people are angry people.

The Chinese have been systematically destroying the environment (considered sacred by the Tibetans) and religion in Tibet for 57 years and bringing in huge numbers of Chinese to destroy the country’s culture. It is estimated that hundreds of Tibetans have been killed in the last week while the Chinese propaganda machine tells its own people that the Tibetans are killing Chinese shopkeepers.

In a move that is beyond cynicism, the Chinese government, based on atheism, has declared that only it may choose the reincarnations of Tibetan lamas including the Panchen lama, a situation where the child chosen as the incarnation by the Tibetan Buddhists has been jailed for years (a young child) and replaced by a Chinese choice.

The quote above is from Zhang Qingli, Secretary of the Communist Party for Tibet.

We must not support Western sponsors of the Summer Olympics in China. Support for these sponsors is support for state-sponsored human rights abuse and terrorism.

As I write this oil prices are at $105.97, an historical high. So what is US policy on energy? Apparently it consists of our President begging OPEC to increase production to bring prices down, which they refused to do. This begging is sickening in its stupidity. Does he not have any understanding of how markets work? We may be OPEC’s biggest customer but they know that China and India will soon surpass us so why lower prices? This administration destroyed our credibility in the Middle East and now doesn’t understand that the oil producing nations may not need us in the long run.

Get ready for $5/gallon gas (which Bush won’t know about until a reporter asks him).

This post by Marc Andreesson, Founder of Netscape and Ning, on an hour and a half conversation with Obama last year is required reading for anyone sitting on the fence between Hillary and Barry.