Make captimes.com your all-day, every-day, Madison news home page. Subscribe to get news updates delivered by email. Learn more.
More food, less war
Gimmicky and self-serving responses to the global food crisis are coming from every direction.
Opponents of ethanol blame U.S. farmers for diverting corn to biofuel production. But the people who are rioting in Africa and Asia are demanding rice -- their staple -- not corn.
The Bush administration wants new free-trade pacts. But the U.N. says that corporate globalization has made it harder for farmers in the developing world to produce the food their countries need.
What's a smart response to this "perfect storm of world hunger"?
Get food to the people who need it. Now.
That's what U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl proposes.
Rejecting the Bush administration's cautious response, the senator says, "If the United States wants to maintain its role as a world leader, there is no better way to do that than to step forward now, take full account of what is happening, and take meaningful steps to stop the suffering, to stop the hunger, to stop the dying. It is time to be a leader."
Kohl's right. The U.S. spends $341.4 million a day on the war in Iraq. Bush wants to allocate only $700 million -- about two days' worth of war spending -- to address food shortages so severe that a child dies of starvation every 4.8 seconds.
U.S. financial aid can feed the world and, as Kohl notes, doing so will make the U.S. more secure -- and more respected -- in a world where this country needs all the smart security and respect it can get.
Associated Press
A woman prepares rice for dinner.
