Brazil has long won praise from Clark for their energy independence thanks to native sugar. Virtually all their cars can run on sugar or gas or a combination of both. They also have had huge discoveries of oil as of late. In an ironic twist, Brazil may even join OPEC in the future because of their vast quantities!

The neighboring country of Colombia, meanwhile, also gets its gas from sugar. But where they're really leading the charge is with bio-diesel. Colombia uses palm oil, yucca, sugar beets and rapeseed oil to efficiently create diesel.

McCain and Obama have both been clear about the need for a new national energy policy with alternatives. This is not pie in the sky stuff, folks. Just look at our Southern hemisphere neighbors.

That being said, it's a kick in the teeth to our allies in Brazil that our Congress charges a 54-cent/gallon tariff for Brazilian-made energy. Meanwhile, American consumers are being held over a barrel of oil at the pump. Moreover, OPEC doesn't face any tariff whatsoever to send us oil. What is Congress thinking?

Other countries are getting it together on energy. Why not us?