Somewhere I heard about a fine $20 bottle of scotch! So I heartily endorse ethanol, too. But who needs to put low-energy-density corn likker into their gas tank?

Liberty and justice for all.

My new home

Feed corn to horses, not cars!

And we'll all be riding horses before it's over.

If there's any topsoil left to grow corn. Or any petroleum based fertilizer to fertilize the corn.

Fred seeemed relaxed and charming. He had his wife and little girl there. The wife looked ridiculously out of place, more like a daughter than a potential First Lady. She had the usual cheerleader smile plastered on her face and obviously was very sincere about winning over people for Fred. Every time she talked to one of the many women admirers in the handshaking line though, I couldn't help but suspect she was telling them about some fab lamp she'd just bought. I shouldn't jump to conclusions because I've never heard her speak, but I've heard she would have a lot to say about policy if Fred gets in. I wonder why she hasn't been all over TV...hmmm...

The rock-ribbed Republican farmers of the Midwest like one set of federal subsidies just fine: the ones that put taxpayer money in their pockets. Ethanol is just another one of those. Lord help us if the hated Federal Gummint provided health care for children, but a massive boondoggle to further enrich agribusiness is just fine.

He's going to wind up owing NBC huge royalties if he keeps cribbing from them.

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Respect mah authoritah!

Per this NYT story.

(link...)

Yeah, yeah, librul media and all. But this is hardly the first a story has emerged regarding Fred Thompson's failure to light up a crowd. Bob Novak's pointed it out. Fox News has been all over it. Every media source outside Tennessee, it seems, has managed to point how unenthusiastic voters are for Fred Thompson. His soporific approach would be OK if there was some substance within that soft baritone. But there isn't - just cliches and blather.

Does switchgrass affect the soil the same [as corn]?

I think it does not.

I once had a boss who told me not to bring him a problem unless I had thought about a solution. If not ethanol, what is yours?.

There's also a saying: If you've dug yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. A solution that's no better and arguably worse than the problem is not a prudent course.

It's debatable whether corn ethanol is more fossil fuel intensive or a net increaser of GHG than gasoline, but shouldn't we try and nail that down a little better before go bowing to the massive lobbying influence of big agri-business concerns like ADM?

Meanwhile, there are at least some strong negatives to using corn ethanol for fuel that we know about for sure. Competition with food is one.

A solution that's no better and arguably worse than the problem is not a prudent course. It's debatable whether corn ethanol is more fossil fuel intensive or a net increaser of GHG than gasoline

It would only be worse until farming, processing and transport got converted. There would some difficulties, but no more difficult than the issues $4 a gallon gasoline would create. Lil' George went to Iraq for $3 gas. You think he and "The Dick" won't hook up their oil friends with a war with Iran?

, but shouldn't we try and nail that down a little better before go bowing to the massive lobbying influence of big agri-business concerns like ADM?

We have to use BP, Exxon and boy's for petroleum. We don't have use ADM and ConAgra for E85 (aka moonshine). It's been made around here for years.

Meanwhile, there are at least some strong negatives to using corn ethanol for fuel that we know about for sure. Competition with food is one.

Do you not think if corn became a hot commodity, more people wouldn't start growing it? Farmers who have been forced basically to be in the business of taking government subsidies, would love to capitalize on something that would actually help them keep their farms without government handouts.

Internal combustion is the problem. Ethanol alone doesn't solve it.

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"Respect mah authoritah!" - Fred Cartman Thompson

We will never fix our energy problems until it stops being about money. I know that will never happen because we are so tied to profit and what's good for me-me-me, but we have to start seriously thinking about the future and what we are doing to it. If we can take the profit motive out of the equation and start over with a concern for clean energy, if we can get over our love for power and speed at the expense of our air and water, maybe then we can start to fix the problem. The answer is not finding ways to feel better about driving huge SUV's.

Or letting Factchecker say it best again If you've dug yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. A solution that's no better and arguably worse than the problem is not a prudent course.

I 100% agree E85 is not a long term solution. But if Lil' George gets his way, and the Dems stay out of his way, we will be in a war with Iran in the short term.

Again, I'm open to other ideas for anyone who has any. I wished "Who Killed the Electric Car" (link...) had received more MSM attention. But I won't digress to my thoughts on that.

You make some good points, AG, w/r/t oil supplies and its connections to defense, war, terrorism, etc. I loved the movie WKTEC too. I just think you've got it a little backwards about corn and farming.

I'll try and find some links re the inefficiency of getting energy from corn. Also regarding corn ethanol pollution (VOC's, etc.). Too short on time now.

The newest National Geographic has an article about so called green energy, seems to say a lot of what I've been hearing lately from people who aren't afraid to suggest that plant sugar based alcohol fuels are not the answer. The sad fact is that it all comes back to money. We get the technology that makes a profit instead of the technology that makes our planet better. It's all about the money, and until that changes we are going to get what "they" want us to have.

I know it makes me sound awfully naive, but I really am tired of this crap. Health care, even at it's most basic, is driven by profit. Our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan get armor or not based on money. We're still using petroleum based fuels because of money. Corn is touted as a green fuel because of money even though it takes more petroleum based fuel to produce less corn based fuel. The sun is not seen as a viable energy source because it's free. We're free marketing our planet to hell and ourselves into the grave.

Good points, Sammy. A bit fatalistic, though. We Americans did insulate a lot of houses in the '70s & 80's and that didn't make anyone money except the insulation contractors.

All energy comes from the sun. We need to be researching more ways to harness and store it, not using it to grow crops to feed to our cars.

But plants ARE a way to harness and store solar energy. Just because industrially grown corn is not the proper crop doesn't mean other crops don't have merit. Especially if we can come up with more efficient ways to produce the ethanol.

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Less is the new More - Karrie Jacobs