VI. Grabbing a Senate Seat with a Little Help from his Trilateral Friends 259CORN-BASED ETHANOL GENOCIDE FOR THE THIRD WORLD
Obama is also fully committed to the monstrosity of turning corn into gasoline at extravagant
expense while a hungry world starved to death. This is, after all, a strange way to appeal for the
friendship of the developing countries, where cheap corn often means the difference between life
and death. González notes that
...on energy policy, Obama is a big supporter of corn-based ethanol which is well-known for
being an energy-intensive crop to grow. It is estimated that seven barrels of oil are required to
produce eight barrels of corn ethanol, according to research by the Cato Institute. Ethanol’s
impact on climate change is nominal and isn’t “green” according to Alisa Gravitz, Co-op
America executive director. “It simply isn’t a major improvement over gasoline when it comes
to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.” A 2006 University of Minnesota study by Jason
Hill and David Tilman, and an earlier study published in BioScience in 2005, concur. (There’s
even concern that a reliance on corn-based ethanol would lead to higher food prices.) So why
would Obama be touting this as a solution to our oil dependency? Could it have something to
do with the fact that the first presidential primary is located in Iowa, corn capital of the country?
In legislative terms this means Obama voted in favor of $8 billion worth of corn subsidies in
2006 alone.... (Matt Gonzalez, “The Obama Craze,” Counterpunch)OBAMA REJECTS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
Wall Street commentators have made no secret of the fact that they prefer Obama because he is
the only Democrat not to demand national, universal health care. Here it is extremely clear that
Obama has chosen to champion the financier interest while mortifying and betray the obvious
public interest of all Americans, and indeed of all persons under US jurisdiction. González has
drawn up the following catalog of Obama’s betrayals in this department:
Obama opposed single-payer bill HR676, sponsored by Congressmen Dennis Kucinich and
John Conyers in 2006, although at least 75 members of Congress supported it. Single-payer
works by trying to diminish the administrative costs that comprise somewhere around one-third
of every health care dollar spent, by eliminating the duplicative nature of these services. The
expected $300 billion in annual savings such a system would produce would go directly to
cover the uninsured and expand coverage to those who already have insurance, according to Dr.
Stephanie Woolhandler, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-
founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. Obama’s own plan has been widely
criticized for leaving health care industry administrative costs in place and for allowing millions
of people to remain uninsured. “Sicko” filmmaker Michael Moore ridiculed it saying, “Obama
wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health care plan-the same companies
who have created the mess in the first place.”’ (Matt Gonzalez, “The Obama Craze,”
Counterpunch)
Michael Moore, no man of principle, did not let the little matter of universal health care get in
the way of a slobbering public embrace of Obama as soon as he thought that would represent a
career enhancing move. In the meantime, a 40 to 50 million Americans have no health care
insurance, and prospects for any improvement in the refuge or Obama regime are exceedingly grim.