ALLIGATOR PIE

"Alligator in South Carolina"
Photo by H_Roach on Flickr
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Many thanks for sharing this photo)

Just to put the smile on your Thanksgiving dinner this year, I suggest we begin serving Alligator pie. I'm not sure how much sugar it would take to sweeten Alligator meat, but I'm guessing it would take quite a bit. You see, there is a connection between sugar and alligators.

In Florida there are an estimated 1 million alligators, which translates to 1 alligator for every 18 people. The alligator was removed from the endangered species list in 1987, after making a huge recovery due to hunting bans. Britannica Online It only took 20 years for alligators to proliferate from the 1967 listing on the endangered species protection to 1987 when they rebounded in great numbers. There are alligator breeding farms in many areas of the south where the critters are bred for harvest, the hatchlings grow twice as fast as in the wild, and the hides are shipped all over the world. In short, there is an abundance of alligators in the American south.

Now to sugar. Last year, Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, forced the buyout of U.S. Sugar to placate environmentalists. In order to put the "save the planet" feather in his cap, he used taxpayer money to buy out U.S. Sugar, shutting them down in order to return the Everglades to the alligators. A University of Florida study at the time projected three counties would take the major hit, Palm Beach, Hendry and Glades. Palm Beach Post article July 2008 The drop of personal income for those three counties was an estimated $553 million per year, and local, state and federal tax revenue losses would total $127 million per year. This is on top of the taxpayer money used for the buyout; $1.75 billion. The estimated job losses? 8,935 people out of work. Include the ripple effect of supporting businesses and a whole lot of unemployment and subsequent revenue loss is the result. But that's O.K. as long as we have more habitat for alligators.

Supposedly we are importing a lot of cheap sugar from Brazil and Thailand which is squeezing the U.S. sugar producers out of business. But the retail price of sugar is rising, not dropping. We can pay shipping charges on necessary goods that we could produce here instead? Why is the price of sugar going up? What is the carbon footprint of importing necessary products? Could it be that environmentalists are pushing the prices by diverting the use to bio-fuels? Maybe it is the obesity police pushing the prices up? Sugar: the new villain.

Corn is being used for bio-fuels instead of corn syrup. The mass production of corn for bio-fuels has caused increased pollution in the Mississippi River delta. But that's O.K. because it is supposed to be for the anti-oil folks. Cane plantations are vilified for taking up wild lands. Sugar is now the fall guy, along with textiles, furniture, car manufacturers, and tobacco. The farmers are next on the hatchet list because those bad cows produce methane.

Have you noticed that the thousands of Americans who were employed in these industries are the ones who take the hit? Hard working Americans who provide products in our country are being sacrificed for the lofty idea of some do-gooders who think they know better than you how Americans should eat, thrive, work, and live. American industries are, one by one, being decimated by regulatory taxes, undermined by environmentalists, and shut down by government officials who are trying to kiss up to some radical constituencies, not because the goods are no longer wanted or necessary. They are being shut down for some fictional ideology that makes no sense whatsoever.

There is balance and common sense to be gained in the issue of environmental responsibility, but not as long as radical control freaks are manipulating the media and the government.

No pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie, or pecan pie this year folks. It's alligator pie for all, if you can find enough sugar to get that to go down the pipes.