I usually like what Stella says...not today though

Stella Says…The mistress role hurts the women’s movement

Stella said:

"I am not going to cite religious verses about sex outside of marriage because they are just control methods from the patriarchal system to make women feel guilty for having sex. However, speaking purely from a social standpoint.... "

How bout you don't cite religious verses because this isn't a religious column anyway and because you're addressing a crowd of religious diversity that IS Guyana?

What you've accomplished here was to achieve potential alienation from those who might have a religious view and may not think that religion is a patriarchal attempt to dominate women and society.

Even religious moderates may be offended at that view.

In your non-mention of religious verse, you still stated a religious opinion.

You certainly had a very good and (to me) enjoyable column until I got to that part.....

Now instead of finishing the column, I am writing you one.

Maybe it would have been better to just not mention religion at all (period).

Ethanol, Sugar and Guyana

If you've come to read about Miranda LaRose's journalistic misstep, scroll down and you'll see that below this.

Here's something that we need to know about Ethanol and Sugar.

Let me begin with Ethanol Production in the US. The installed Ethanol production capacity in the US will arguably (depending on who you talk to) will be too much becuase the corn that it will take to feed these ethanol production facilities will take such a huge chunk out of the annual corn crop, that that price increases for corn will almost eat up the profit of producing ethanol.

Look at the price of corn tortillas in Mexico over the past year. It's gone up 400% because the corn is flowing north to Ethanol production facilities.

Many in Mexico are furious over this because of the implications of this for the poor. I believe that it was President Cardenas (not sure) who said that this is a good development for poor Mexican farmers who will now get more money for their corn.

Let's apply this to what we know about Guyanese sugar production:

As much of the world converts to making and using flexible fuel vehicles that burn up to 85% ethanol and mandating at least 10% ethanol be used with any and all gasoline, more ethanol will be demanded.

More ethanol will be produced from other starchy crops, cellulosic feedstocks and yes, sugar.

As more sugar is utilized in ethanol production, the price of sugar for those who want to use it as food, will increase.

People may be outraged at the expensive sugar, but people will come out and say that this is good for the poor sugar producing countries who "NEED" sugar revenue to survive and develop (of course we know that it probably stifles development).

The truth is that Guyana may never produce sugar or ethanol as efficiently and cheaply as Brazil and some other big industry players,BUT high prices leave room for inefficient producers, like Guyana, to stay in business. Maybe to the chagrin of people who tend to blame the sugar regime for the continuing backwardness of the country, Guyanese sugar isn't dead yet.

Miranda LaRose needs to learn about biofuels before writing about them

LaRose is way off in her article. Sure you can add Ethanol to Diesel fuel in small amounts I THINK (not sure).

However, adding ethanol to diesel fuel DOES NOT make turn it into Bio-Diesel. Bio-Diesel is made when plant oils or waste cooking oil of any type are combined with Ethanol OR Methanol and a catalyst to pecipitate the glycerin out of the oil.

The resulting fuel is known as a Methyl or Ethyl ester depending on which type of alcohol is used.

That Miranda LaRose would think that mixing Ethanol with Petro-Diesel would yield Bio-Diesel shows me that we should be alarmed at the knowledge or lack thereof of significant world phenomena in the Guyanese press.

I hope that she's not representative of the rest of our journalists or educated people in our country.

See the bolded text below in her article.
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Brazil ethanol investor still awaiting information

Sunday, March 18th 2007 (Stabroek News)

Brazil's second largest producer of bio-diesel, Bio-Capital, is still awaiting detailed information on policies and practices from the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) in order to move ahead with a proposed investment for sugar cane cultivation and ethanol production.

Asked about developments in the investment bid, Brazil's ambassador to Guyana Arthur VC Meyer told Stabroek News that the Brazilian businessmen were very keen on investing the sum of US$300 million to procure some 50,000 hectares of land in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) for cane cultivation and to establish a distillery for the production of ethanol.

Meyer said he was seeking a meeting with Chief Executive Officer of Go-Invest Geoffrey Da Silva to follow up on the interest of the Brazilian investors. Stabroek News was on Thursday unable to contact Da Silva.

The ambassador said the Brazilians had asked for several items of information regarding Guyana's investment policies as well as a response to their application.

Asked what he felt might be the reason for the delay, Meyer felt it was just a matter of bureaucracy. In a previous interview he had said he was confident that the Brazilian investment in ethanol in Guyana would be implemented shortly. He had said that one of the aims of the project was to export ethanol to the American market because Guyana would be in a position to benefit from some special preferential quotas for ethanol created by the American government.

Bio-Capital, he noted, had begun a similar investment in the State of Roraima in northern Brazil and it was expected that the Guyana project would complement that project.

The investors were in Guyana last November when they met Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad and Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn. They also met the Prime Minister when he was in Brazil for the last Mercosur meeting.

The Brazilian businessmen had also met officials of the Lands and Surveys Department and Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation's Board of Directors Ronald Alli. Part of Guysuco's modernization strategy is the production of ethanol as bio-fuel to feed into the national grid.

It is expected that the Brazilians would produce ethanol for the manufacture of bio-diesel - a mixture of fossil fuel and ethanol. Bio-diesel can be used in diesel-powered cars as a fuel on its own, or mixed with diesel in order to reduce the volume of the fossil fuel. Brazil has used bio-fuel for the past three decades, mixing fossil fuels with 20% to 25% ethanol. Bio-Capital specialises in the production of bio-diesel using ethanol with vegetable oil and animal fat. (Miranda La Rose)

Bank Of Guyana To Release Commemorative Cricket Coin

Hardbeatnews, Georgetown, Guyana, Mon. Mar. 19, 2007: Get ready for the G$6,000, silver proof cricket stadium coin. To mark the opening of the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, the Bank of Guyana will be issuing a commemorative coin.

The coin is set to be released on March 26 and will weigh 28.28 grams. Bank officials say. It will also bear the Guyana National Coat of Arms on one side and a raised image of the Stadium on the back.

“In recognition of the commitment to sports represented by this facility that allows for the hosting of sports events of internationally acceptance standards, the Bank decided on the issuance of the special commemorative coin,” the Bank stated Friday

The coin will be available at the Bank at a cost of six thousand dollars each.

Guyana will be hosting its leg of Cricket World Cup 2007 from March 28 to April 9. – Hardbeatnews.com