Dr. Rene Q. Lacsina, president of Abundant Biofuels Philippines, Inc. and an agronomist-scientist, sees this jatropha or tubatuba global venture as a golden opportunity for indigenous Filipinos to show the rest of the nation " … the way to be productive citizens contributing to genuine freedom essential for restoring the nation into justice, righteousness and peace while participating in the lucrative global biofuel industry."
Abundant Biofuels CEO Dr. Charles Fishel stated, "Jatropha is the only biodiesel feedstock that does not divert agricultural land from food production. It has the added advantage of producing 20 times more energy than the energy required to produce it." Fishel adds that, "Most other feedstock consumes almost as much energy in production as the energy it is supposed to supply as fuel."
Under its groundbreaking agreement, Abundant Biofuels will deploy part of its profits for infrastructure development on the island of Mindanao, including improved housing, medical care programs, better schoolroom facilities and resources for people to affirm cultural identities such as music, dance, food, attire and drama.
Analysis: Technical challenges facing the Immigration and Naturalization Service
NPR Morning Edition December 11, 2001 | SUSAN STAMBERG 00-00-0000 Analysis: Technical challenges facing the Immigration and Naturalization Service Host: SUSAN STAMBERG Time: 10:00-11:00 AM SUSAN STAMBERG, host: immigrationandnaturalizationnow.net immigration and naturalization
The Immigration and Naturalization Service is on the front line in the fight against terrorism. The agency’s been ordered to keep much closer watch on the nation’s borders and on the millions of visitors to this country every year, but to do that, the INS will have to overcome some major technical challenges. NPR’s Larry Abramson reports.
LARRY ABRAMSON reporting:
The United States is a modern nation in the midst of an historic globalization process, so having a world-class computer system for tracking immigrants might seem like a given. But it’s not. Former INS agents, like Jim Dorsey, say the agency’s information infrastructure is, basically, pretty ancient.
Mr. JIM DORSEY (Former INS Agent): The INS has not kept up with modern technology. They’re using a system that never really worked very well and that works even less well today.
ABRAMSON: Take the I-94 form, the little slips of paper that visitors drop off as they enter the country. Those sheets of paper are boxed up and then shipped to data entry facilities, where the information is laboriously keypunched in. Dorsey says, as a result, the information is sometimes months old before it’s available.
Mr. DORSEY: They’re always behind in putting the information in, and it takes time to get the information down to them, and by the time the information is loaded into the computer system, it is very old and virtually useless.
ABRAMSON: That means that, for example, the INS has no reliable way to track down the estimated two million illegal immigrants who stayed in the US longer than their visas allow. Of the 19 hijackers on September 11th, three had overstayed their visas.
The technology gap here not only makes it difficult to track immigrants, once they get here, it’s also difficult to run the kinds of background checks that might keep terrorists from coming here in the first place. Tom Fisher used to be director of the southeastern district of the United States for the INS, and he struggled to help automate this kind of information. He says such a system is exactly what officials and embassies around the world need when they hand out visas.
Mr. TOM FISHER (Former Director, Southeastern District, INS): That State Department official would have had the benefit of running one system that was tied into a multitude of different governmental systems and made a decision or, if any flags came up, could have called that person in for an interview for a more in-depth, let’s say, evaluation.
ABRAMSON: Right now, consular officials overseas must wrestle with a limited amount of information from different sources. For years, they have begged the FBI for access to the National Crime Information Center database, but the FBI resisted, saying that screening immigrants was not a law enforcement function. Now the recently passed anti-terrorism bill will finally grant that access. The INS also decided this week to include information about foreigners who are supposed to be deported. go to site immigration and naturalization
These efforts will help track people who have some sort of criminal record in the US, but information gathered by intelligence agencies has not been routinely shared among different agencies. Doris Meissner was INS commissioner under President Clinton.
Ms. DORIS MEISSNER (Former INS Commissioner): The intelligence agencies, which INS and State and Customs look to to post names and to give them names of the most sensitive, problematic cases, never shared and were as collaborative in that process as was needed. And it’s now been shown what a major flaw that has been.
ABRAMSON: These flaws are not news to members of Congress. Congress mandated automation in 1996 and again in 2000, but commercial pressures have helped slow the introduction of better systems. Businesses dependent on trade with Canada have opposed anything that would slow border crossings. Universities have battled a program that would force them to collect information on foreign students. But Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona says, in the end, the fault lies with the INS itself.
Senator JON KYL (Republican, Arizona): INS is supposed to keep track of people who leave as well as those who enter, so that we have some knowledge of those who are still here illegally–the entry-exit system. But they’ve never implemented that, despite the fact they’ve had a decade to do so. It’s not a law that they’re lacking. It’s just the will to do it.
ABRAMSON: Kyl has co-sponsored legislation that would try to force the INS to track foreign nationals more closely. But the push for better data management will not guarantee better security. Even if the agency does develop a computer system that can track everyone, the INS simply does not have the resources to go after every suspicious foreigner.
Until now, the enforcement of immigration laws has focused on people accused of actual criminal violations. The Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Scott Hastings says it makes more sense to stop suspicious visitors from coming here in the first place.
Mr. SCOTT HASTINGS (INS): The more warning that we can have, the more cross-checking that we can do before they ever hit the inspections booth, the better chance we can deter or intercept the bad guys. And so the question is to collect data on incoming people at the earliest point possible.
ABRAMSON: There is an alternative to the huge expenditures that will be needed to beef up the Immigration Service’s computer systems and to improve intelligence gathering. The United States could do what it’s done in the past: crack down on immigration, allow fewer people in and demand that they restrict their movements. That could bring a huge economic cost to the businesses that depend on open borders and seems to be a price few people are willing to pay. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.
STAMBERG: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
SUSAN STAMBERG
McCain heralded his “Lexington Project” to make America energy independent which includes alternative fuels, ethanol, nuclear and offshore drilling. The plan includes calling on automakers “to make a more rapid and complete switch” to flex-fuel vehicles, as well as increase support for second generation ethanol, that would involve eliminating “mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions which would provide us with better options for our fuel needs.”
At the Iowa Speedway yesterday, the 
The ethanol industry is mad and they’re not going to take it anymore. 
“This is not specifically an ethanol problem,” said 
During a speech to pork producers at the expo, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner admitted that ethanol is a factor in the higher prices. “Ethanol is a new demand factor in the corn market, to the tune of about a third of our production going forward,” Conner said. “Fortunately, we did produce 13 billion bushels of corn and so despite large quantities going to ethanol, we actually did feed more corn to livestock than in previous years, so we managed to grow that market for both feed and ethanol.”
The ethanol industry in Brazil has been developing some major traction. Marcos Jank, President of 
The 2008 Indy Pace Car corvette wasn’t the only shiny new toy to check out at the giveaway this morning. The 
I caught up with Indiana Corn’s Mark Walters again, as well as ICMC’s Mike Shuter (pictured), the council’s President and a Frankton, IN farmer. We talked about the new mobile marketing unit, the truth about ethanol as they see it and how IN corn fits into the ethanol industry. You can listen to my interview with Mark and Mike here: 
USDA is expecting total U.S. corn use in 2008-09 to be 2 percent lower than the current marketing year, which ends in August. The report calls for reductions in feed and residual use and exports to more than offset a continued expansion in ethanol production. 
John Deere is now offering “ethanol insurance” through their