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DEL.ICIO.USEthanol, gas tax and designer fuels
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the dumbest policy decision Congress and the Bush Administration have made is to put food in the gas tank.
Barack Obama on Sunday joined John McCain and a group of two dozen Republican senators who want the Environmental Protection Agency to ease requirements passed by Congress last year to blend nine million gallons of biofuels into gasoline. By 2022, the requirement would be 36 billion gallons. In 2000, it was three billion gallons. Most of that is corn-based ethanol.
Obama said rising food prices may force the decision to relax the requirement. “What I’ve said is my top priority is making sure people are able to get enough to eat,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” “If it turns out we need to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, that has got to be the step we take.”
Hillary Clinton, on ABC’s “This Week,” spoke to the issue, too. “What we need to do is accelerate the research into farm waste and into other cellulosic plant materials. Because, I think, instead of using the corn, let’s figure out if we can use the corn cob,” she said. “Let’s figure out if we can use the corn stalk. Let’s figure out what other kind of food, you know, waste we can use.”
When the biofuel mandate was first imposed, corn sold for about $2 per bushel. Now it’s above $5. About a quarter of the corn crop goes to ethanol. Eliminating it could reduce corn prices by 20 percent, by some estimates. About $15 billion of the $22 billion increase in food costs in 2007, or $130 per household, is related to the increase in demand for corn as fuel, according to Perdue University researchers Corrine Alexander and Chris Hurt.
Food costs increased by 4 percent in 2007, highest since 1990, the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Joseph Glauber, told Congress last week. Projected increase for 2008 is another 4 percent to 4.5 percent.
In addition to the food cost increase, taxpayers provide a subsidy of 51 cents per gallon for ethanol. A bill now under debate in the Senate would reduce that to 45 cents, but would create a new subsidy, at $1.01 per gallon, for cellulosic ethanol, made from wood chips, switchgrass, citrus waste and other non-food waste.
No question Congress should throw in the towel on corn-based ethanol subsidies, It was a dumb policy from the start and it always will be.
On a related subject, suspending the federal gas tax of 18.4 percent, as McCain and Clinton suggest, is another pointless exercise. If anything, the requirement for designer fuels, which increase the cost of gasoline in the Atlanta area by about 5 cents per gallon, should be suspended while gas hovers at $3.50 to $4 per gallon.
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Comments
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this
As a long term shareholder in BIG OIL, I am offended by Hillary’s windfall oil profits tax….My money helped build these companies and their profits, not some stinking female lawyer with a big mouth and a bigger but t. I urge Exxon, BP, and Chevron to make it clear that any windfall oil profits tax will result in those companies diverting their foreign oil production from American shores to Asia…The profits will remain in off shore subsidiaries, and thus not taxable here in America….If you think prices are high now, just wait until 5 million barrels of foreign produced oil fails to reach american shores…You will be paying ten dollars per gallon, plus you will wait in line at gas stations for two hours to pump a strictly limited five gallons of fuel into you machine….
By jbmlaw
May 5, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. When the new democrat Congress took steps to “help” our oil dependency by requiring infusion of good old American corn based ethanol, Jim Wooten wrote immediately that it would raise the price of both food and gasoline. (He ignored the long term vehicle engine “maintenance” issue. We’ll leave that to the engineers among us, to explain how the water-fusion properties of ethanol have a corrosive effect on engine metal.) As with all democrat party policies, the failure to connect the dots on the front end led to disaster on the back end.
Now if we want to get serious about food prices and oil prices, we are going to have to (1) get the Fed to reverse the easy money policy, to support the dollar, so that commodities prices will stabilize, and (2) get corn out of our gas tanks and back on the kitchen table where it belongs.
As to the gas tax, it is so perverse that the same people who think a tax is a good idea, as it discourages use, would also favor suspending the tax when the pain of nonuse begins. As least the bullfrog’s neophyte is intellectually consistent; he not only feels your pain, he thinks it is a good thing.
By Deward Bowles
May 5, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this
http://www.artba.org/economicsresearch/currentissues/indiana-illinoisgastax2001.pdf
The gas tax holiday is a give away to big oil. The consumer will see little or nothing and more than likely fuel prices will rise as a result.
By jbmlaw
May 5, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
Compliments to George @ 8:55. If I may add to your excellent note, a second effect of the “windfall profits” tax, last seen in 1980, is that it creates a perverse economic disincentive, for domestic oil producers to shut down domestic production and rely nearly exclusively on rising-cost imports. If we are simply trying to increase the cost of oil products, why not just impose a stiff, per barrel, import tax? At least the American public would then know who honestly to blame.
By Redneck Convert
May 5, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this
Well, I guess Sister Dusty ain’t going to look at my pile-on cyst and make a bid on the lab work, so its just as well we move on to another topic. Anyway, I plan to try out Wootens idea to bargain with Drs. about the price they charge. I figure if I can get them down to two or three bucks I will save alot of money and the health care crisis will be solved.
I said months ago that putting good eating stuff in your gas tank is just plain dumb, and I’m glad Wooten done come around to my way of thinking. People get carryed away at first with a idea and then wake up to how dumb it is later. We need to re-use stuff that gets throwed away later. Like the millions of traffic cones you find scattered all over the highways and all the kudzu in GA. Course, I still say we would be alot better off if we drilled for oil in Alaska and off of the coast of FL and in peoples back yard and everywhere else we can find oil. And we need miles and miles of refinerys, though I ain’t heard anyone volunteer to live near one. Maybe we could try out a small nucleer plant down in south Atlanta where all Those People live just to see how it does. If Those People turn green then we will know not to build anymore. Leastwise they’ll have something to worry about besides the Clayton County schools.
But I got to differ with Wooten on the gas tax. As jbmlaw says taxes is just stealing. I was thinking last night that jbmlaw could write a real stiff letter to the federal guvmint saying, like he always does, that taxes is thievery and he won’t be paying anymore. Its a crime to help anybody steal, so jbmlaw could say he could lose his law liscence if he helped the federal guvmint steal. He could be a real hero to alot of us people that are sick of paying taxes and show that he ain’t just a blowhard but a real Christian that don’t want nothing to do with thievery.
Have a good day everybody and pray for me. The boss down at the warehouse is still giving me that look and I know he is thinking about firing me on account of how high the gas bill is for my beer truck. The faster we can get kudzu and the traffic cones turned into gas the safer I’ll feel.
By Lefty
May 5, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
According to government statistics, the United States consumes some 388,600,000 gallons of gas a day.
If we switch to E85 fuel, which is derived from ethanol produced by distilling corn, blended with 15% gas, the overall fuel economy in the United States will drop by 27% according to tests on GM products. This means we will consume 532,328,767 gallons of E85 fuel daily.
It currently takes 26.1 lbs of corn to create 1 gallon of E85 fuel. The United States currently produces 10,535,000,000 bushels of corn annually, according to agricultural figures for 2006/2007. Each bushel weighs 56 lbs. This translates to 589,960,000,000 lbs of corn produced in the United States annually. Which in consideration of each 26.1 lbs of corn producing 1 gallon of E85 fuel, means we can produce 22,603,831,417 gallons of E85 fuel per year. This would be enough E85 fuel to power the US for 42 days, the other 323 days our nation would still be dependent on foreign oil.
This does not represent a solution for our problems, but it occurs to me it does represent a solution for those who lobby for the corn industry, and Archer, Daniels, Midland who produce 60% of the corn produced in the United States. They have the most to gain from this hoax.
So the next time George Bush, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton or for that matter Barack Obama suggest that ethanol and E85 fuels are the answer. Make sure you understand the question they are asking is not what will best serve the needs of the United States, but how can I get richer?
By Charles
May 5, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
I want to reiterate House Republican Leader John Boehner’s call for Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to reveal her “commonsense plan” to lower gas prices she promised the American people more than two years ago. Does she actually have a plan - or is this another Democrap ‘change’ slogan to make people think they actually have a plan?
By Thor
May 5, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this
Does it bother anyone that none of the candidates really have a serious energy policy?
After all, how do terrorists get their funding? Its oil - its certainly not off the sale of exports of Persian rugs.
By Copyleft
May 5, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Thor: No, it doesn’t bother anyone. America doesn’t WANT a serious energy policy, and the candidates know it.
By Glenn
May 5, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Oh how you disappoint me with your continued failure to discern the artful subtleties of The Higher Wooten.
If only you cretins would learn to attend to Mr. Wooten’s generous counsel with the respect due a camel by a dung beetle, you’d see that what our longsuffering columnist is trying to tell us is that instead of putting schmaltz into our gas tanks we’re pouring chickens into them!
By Van
May 5, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
I love how the neocons preach personal responsibility except when it comes to oil consumption. When gas prices start rising they look to the government to start drilling in ANWR to bring back cheap gas. Here is an idea, and it is all about personal responsibility. Drive less or get a fuel-efficient car. I know, driving anything that gets more than 15 mpg is liberal and leftist.
By Shar
May 5, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
Thor@9:58 - I think it worries many people that none of the candidates has a serious energy policy. Nor do they have a serious answer to the deficit, to the offshoring of American jobs, to immigration, to education, to the looming Social Security and Medicare budget crises - in fact, to any issue where real reform will result in consequences that Americans won’t like.
The politicians won’t bring these issues up because, while they’d love to attack each other’s lack of planning, they have nothing to offer themselves. And the media, unwilling and unprepared to deal with the immense complexity of challenging debate on these real problems, substitutes simplistic, drummed-up controversies (Rev. Wright, Mrs. McCain’s airplane and Senator Clinton’s tears) for real issues, thus letting everyone off the hook. Except us.
Jbmlaw@8:59 - “As with all democrat party policies, the failure to connect the dots on the front end led to disaster on the back end.” With the catastrophe of the Iraq war planning ripping out our pockets and grieving patriot hearts, how does this kind of remark help to force accountability and spark change? Obviously, policy failure (or success) is not a one party characteristic, but the blame game and its attendant party warfare has brought rational thinking to a near halt. It’s pointlessly provocative and only provides cover for further ineptitude.
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this
That extra 5 million barrels a day of foreign produced oil that Exxon, BP, and Chevron will divert to China and India will help fill China’s SPR, and increase the number of cars sold in China and India by hundreds of thousands, thus permanently increasing demand for oil. A windfall oil profits tax will permanently reduce the oil available to americans by at least five million barrels per day…..
By ron
May 5, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
Good morning,Unless the price of gasoline is high enough to catch everyone’s attention nothing will be done about the energy problem except pay it lip service.I detest taxes but we certainly need on gasoline.The insanity has to stop.It has to stop now.Put a large tax on gasoline and use the money to develope electric cars and non oil generation of power.This is not at all out of reach.Good progress is being made now in the field of electric cars and improved batteries.More needs to be done.Nuclear power plants have been proven to be safe and reliable.What are we waiting for?
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
When Hillary talks too much, it is not a throat lossenge she needs, it is a suppository….. a re ct al suppository, as she talks out of her ASSets most of the time, like all fat female lawyers….
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
I am wondering what kind of oil/energy policy our lawmakers could make that sounds sensible or possible.
Using corn for fuel instead of food leads to an increase in starvation of the poverty stricken. Ethanol(corn/natual fiber) also increases the “wear & tear” of engines.
USA oil wells in Anwar, the ocean and settled areas is declared an environmental disaster.
Refineries are considered blight besides being a terrific building cost.
Short term tax removal is considered by many to be nothing more than a sop for support by politicians, not a decrease in driving.
Auto makers have not been able to produce a vehicle that answers transportation needs for most owners. Most of these cars still use some gasoline. Haven’t heard of economy trucks either, the bigger users of gasoline.
Foreign oil is not ours to deliberate. OPEC is not our “gang”.
But…Americans are great innovators. Perhaps we can develop an answer to this Gordian knot of fuel unfortunates. A windmill in every yard or an oilwell? Bicycle generators??????
By Taxpayer
May 5, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
We desperately need our elected officials to open their eyes and see that our only true salvation will come when we are no longer held captive by oil interests. Therefore, we must increase the price of oil to greater than $200/barrel and gasoline to greater than $10/gallon. In addition, we should implement at least a 50% tax on all oil and gas company profits, 50% tax on all oil and gas company executive compensation, 50% tax on all oil and gas company related capital gains, and implement a flat $1/gallon federal tax on gasoline. Then, we should take 25% of these taxes and use them to fund mass transportation methodologies that are not dependent on fossil fuels. Next, we should eliminate all taxes on all companies, their products, capital gains, and executive compensation, that produce environmentally friendly forms of energy including biofuels, solar, wind, ocean current, fuel cells, etc. The remaining 75% of the taxes collected from the oil and gas companies should be distributed as rebates (to cover capital and other start-up costs) to companies, their executives, and shareholders, that deliver commercially viable alternate energy products to consumers.
See. Nothing to it.
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this
Shar@10:21
Oh the poetry tra la. Rip out our pockets and our grieving patriotic hearts!!!
Shar, nobody likes war but we don’t undermine our troops while they are fighting. That is what you are doing, patriot! Cry a river which some of us may do but do not undermine the country and the troops while you are doing it. Even poetry cannot hide the shame of that.
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
Hillary is running around in circles, chasing her own tail….It is part of her new diet plan to lose her fat but t….Chase her tail, eat a bigmac, chase her tail some more, eat another bigmac…Just like her economic policy, it has no chance of success….Hillary is a puppet of the Ferengi, and Harold is her Master….Yikes…,.
By Thor
May 5, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
I think there should be a higher gas tax, like what Europe has. Call it the “Patriot Tax”. Peg the price of gas at $4 and then $5 bucks a gallon. This will force people to no longer drive these disgusting 12mpg SUVs. Driving a gas guzzler is unpatriotic, unless your work requires it.
All this talk of drilling in ANWAR or anywhere else will take years to see any benefit. Step number one is to conserve.
All three candidates have no long term plan for energy. They will all continue to use the Middle East for oil and we will constantly be entwined in that insane part of the world - all because of oil.
America is in trouble; apathy runs rampant in our nation.
By E85
May 5, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
Does anyone think that maybe food prices are high because gas prices are high ? Ethanol may not be the magic bullet, but it makes a difference. I run E85 every chance I get …I save between 10-12 dollars at every fill up and I lose 1MPG. Since I go through approx. ont tank a week, I look at it as a better option for my situation. I guarantee, when the prices at the pump go down so will the prices at the store. The effect Ethanol has on our food supply is greatly over-exaggerated.
By itoldyouso
May 5, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
if we had listened to jimmy carter 30 years ago this would have never happened. the agricultural economy will catch up to the ethanol mandate now that it is more profitable to plant corn and soybeans than subdivisions.
By Thor
May 5, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
I’m getting tired of when the war is questioned certain people respond that we are undermining our troops.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel (Samuel Johnson).
By getalife
May 5, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this
The government is late to the gas problem as usual. They wait until the problem gets out of contol before trying to do something.
Nothing will change with oil men like w, cheney or oilbama in WH.
You get what you vote for, so spend your rebate checks on gas and food and stop whining about it.
By jm
May 5, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this
The world is neither going to grow its way out of its is gas problems nor is it going to drill its way out of them. As China and India keep growing, there will be more demand chasing fewer supplies. The time to start searching for alternatives is now.
By abc
May 5, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this
Ethanol can and is produced using by-products from lumber harvest, rice and corn production, and other materials. Corn is the easiest to make it from, due to high sugar content and ease of distillation.
Investment in oil stocks is anti-patriotic. I hope they’re still holding it when it (inevitably) crashes. They won’t be able to squash the next electric car to come out. I think Honda will have one next year.
By Just Nasty and Mean
May 5, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this
If anybody saw the news last week that Rio de Janeiro’s airport was so covered with smoke from surrounding farmers burning rain forest in order to plant corn for ethanol production.
If this doesn’t show what government intervention—prompted by the ecologist nazis—into the free market produces, I don’t know what does.
The exchange of corn to ethanol, which uses current modes of energy to convert, yields a minimal, and some say a negative energy benefit.
This whole ethanol initiative is a waste of energy and depleting our food supply, folks! It is a political concoction intended to cover the politician’s butt that we are doing SOMETHING about pollution and oil consumption.
It is a laughable scam and backfiring on us all while Archer Daniels Midland laughs all the way to the bank.
Only God can help us escape from these incompetent politicians!
By Copyleft
May 5, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
Thor, you must not know Dusty very well. Her response to EVERY post is to complain that “questioning the war is undermining the troops and un-paatriotic.” Every single day.
Really, it’s her only topic, so you can’t begrudge her that.
By Thor
May 5, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this
Thanks, Copyleft. Dusty watches a lot of Hannity and Fox and probably doesn’t read.
By foxdog
May 5, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
For the past 40 odd years we have been putting farmers out of business because of low pricing. Now food commodity prices are going up and therefore food prices are rising.
Vast acreage has been removed from production and planted in pine trees.
Fewer farmers equals less supply, we are reaping what we sowed.
By jbmlaw
May 5, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Dear Van the anti-Semite @ 10:16, the Jewish conservatives you disparage do not discourage conservation, but unlike the brainless left they also believe in attempting to address the supply-side of the equation, and without corporate welfare. I note that every leftist proposal on energy starts with a check cut by the government to some glib deal-maker, a la Taxpayer’s screed @ 10:47.
Dear Shar @ 10:21, “Obviously, policy failure (or success) is not a one party characteristic…” I think I technically disagree, as there is no democrat policy generally on any significant issue of our time, so all failures of policy will be Republican. Apologies for my pointlessness otherwise, but I am unable to identify a well-conceived policy offered by democrats in any arena in the past 40 years, and I suppose my provocative writing is to urge something like a 12-step program for recovery. (And although I credit Bill Clinton with (1) NAFTA and (2) the abolition of welfare “as we know it,” those were both well-conceived by conservatives long before 1992.)
I do not have to go so far for well-conceived conservative policy offered by Republicans – the Reagan decontrol of oil and natural gas is an obvious one, and his general policy of provocative confrontation with the Soviet is a second big and obvious one. The Reagan tax cuts of 1982 and the Bush tax cuts of 2001 also fit that definition. Seemingly policies born from hard-conservatism work well, and therein is the problem – the democrats seek to abolish conservatism. Thus the democrat refusal to approve qualified judges and other political appointees, even though that is the course to true progress in every field. I saw a conservative Democrat was elected in Louisiana this weekend, but I suspect he will not find himself holding the reins of power within the caucus, ever.
As to your sidetrack on Iraq, the singular issue of our times. There is no doubt in my mind that the democrats have failed to think through the consequences of their proposed change in war policy, prospectively to intentionally fail to engage Islamists. Kumbaya is not a policy. I dispute your argument that there was insufficient planning for the current Iraq war, but the war as conducted was easily the least damaging of many alternatives. Contrast with the planning for the war with Japan 60 years ago, and I am certain you will agree that Iraq has been a model of success by comparision. I subscribe to a single Fabian socialist belief, the ultimate destination of the road paved with good intentions.
Dear Dusty @ 10:45, the best near-term resolution of the many political problems of oil will be nuclear. With an endless source of electricity, we could extract (in every home) all of the hydrogen fuel necessary to run a home, use it like natural gas. Hydrogen is sufficiently explosive that it could work in an internal combustion engine with minor modifications, so cars could run; we would also have to set up hydrogen gas stations, but that would not be insuperable. Of course containing hydrogen for anything more than a few days is a physical problem without potential solution; even the best thermos bottle gas tanks would not hold the hydrogen for more than a few days. The potential problem with nuclear fission is waste, and the problem with fusion is our inability to sustain a reaction for more than a few seconds. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfield, you have to solve the problem with the technology you have, not with the technology you wish to have. For now, the political problems of oil are less than with any of its alternatives.
Dear Thor @ 11:21 and Copyleft @ 11:57, I think you do not understand what Johnson meant. He was not talking about heartfelt support of one’s country’s policies, he was talking about fair-weather patriots. Perhaps you have noticed that our friend Dusty only posts her mostly-valid attacks in response to mindless critics of our country’s policies. She is right to not allow them to hide behind their “patriotism” in their despicable effort to undermine a well-designed strategy.
Daer abc @ 11:40, I disagree, sugar has more sugar content than corn, but our sugar agricultural policy is even more screwed up than our corn policy.
By Taxpayer
May 5, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
As usual, jbmlaw is displaying his ignorance by accusing everyone that he disagrees with of being a leftist. Too bad he is incapable of focusing that hatred toward something good. Perhaps he should offer up some real solutions for a change instead of his usual trash. Perhaps he should consider re-cycling his trash or even converting it from methane to electricity. Come on. Deposit another pile of poop.
By Just Nasty and Mean
May 5, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Thor @ 11:01
Are you an incompetent moron or a socialist/communists/fascist looking to wreck our economy?
What can you possibly be thinking?
You need to go to China where government controls everything so you can sleep well that things are in their proper order.
By Thor
May 5, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
China requires higher mpg standards than the USA does. The Big 3 have bought and paid off Congress preventing any real improvement in mileage standards.
Oil today crossed over $120 a barrel on the NYMX. The days of women on their cell phone driving an SUV with a soccer ball on the back are almost gone.
By Copyleft
May 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
You see, Thor, in right-wing fantasy land (the only place left to them, since reality dumped on them), ANY questioning of our government’s actions is “un-patriotic.” Because there’s a WAR on! See how it works?
Thankfully, America dumped this mindset in 2006, and is preparing to do it again this fall.
By Ben Holt
May 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Hi Jim: I usually agree with you but I disagree on the bio-fuel issue. The price of corn will come down as farmers say ‘wee’, look what free interprise has given us to grow corn. We must look at the long term more than we presently do. I say a change in our existing energy habits may cost more now but less in the long run.
By GayGreyGeek
May 5, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
Dusty @ 10:54 - AFEES Is Waiting On You, Right Now.
You can take the Oath, or the Oath Of Silence. One, or the other.
WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, DUSTY?
By JC Resident
May 5, 2008 1:20 PM | Link to this
Thor @ 12:57
Again, since you have proved your admiration for communist China~~PLEASE GO THERE so you can feel your government meets your needs and standards. You will fit right in with their thinking.
By Taxpayer
May 5, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this
These high oil and gas prices are the best thing to happen since the oil and gas shortages experienced during Carter’s time in office. I hope gas prices keep going up. We need a weaker dollar policy to improve our export business such that the domestic coal companies can get a good return on sales of coal to India and China. Ditto for corn. It’s the one sure-fire way to initiate real change. We need high oil and gas prices for many, many years. Our elected officials need to prevent any more drilling for oil and prevent any more gas refineries from being built. Then, they should approve construction of nuclear power plants in Cobb, Dawson, Dekalb, Fulton, Hall, Jackson and Gwinnett counties initially followed by at least ten additional plants in Washington D.C. Georgia and Washington D.C. could become the premier nuclear-based energy suppliers for the nation. Further, anyone that thinks that we can solve our energy problems by drilling off shore and drilling in ANWR are just plain ignorant. These people are just barely a notch above those that think that shale oil is a viable alternative. What a joke. The nation’s engineers can hardly stop laughing every time someone brings up these items.
By Copyleft
May 5, 2008 1:27 PM | Link to this
JC’s right; it’s UNPATRIOTIC to say anything good about ANY other nation, darnit! America’s the only good country, and we can do no wrong—EVER!
Jingoism is the Executive Order of the Day! (snicker)
By Doug Black
May 5, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
It is PURDUE University. PERDUE makes chickens
By Glenn
May 5, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this
There’s nothing wrong with cogeneration as a small part of an overall energy policy, but for it to be worthwhile the energy should be generated from waste. It’s too bad that the cornhustlers have given cogen a bad name (irrespective of the poor staffing implied by the candidates’ failure to deride the scam for what it is). Several states should be burning low-lying fire fuels—-the stuff of which big wildfires are made. In Georgia we could do that, and we also could drink distilled kudzu or pour it into engines or even turbines. Stuff’s loaded with sugar, and it grows so fast you can watch it do, if you blink every few seconds. Cogen’s great, but you gotta start with junk, not with your own darned seed corn. Old rubber tires will do.
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
Well, things are looking up here.
jbmlaw comes up with a clear view of our energy prospects. Good thought will be the basis for overcoming energy problems.
Thor is on the verge of discovering that MEN ALSO DRIVE SUVs. Well, that is, men who go to work everyday and don’t sit at HOME in front of their computers most of the time.
Copyleft has discovered we have a war going on and that patriots support it. He thinks Dems may turn against that policy. (They have already.)
GGG is going to enlist in…AA. Good move, GGG. Take that first step. You won’t repeat yourself so much.
Well, a real good story today but not on subject. The Walkers of Walker Concrete sold their company to another big one (but will still remain part of the business). The Walkers received millions. They had a party and gave one thousand dollars for each year of service to their employees. A gift given by choice. And….these employees will continue to hold their jobs. Now, that is a story that warms the cockles of the heart. Few things are better than generosity and appreciation.
By Thor
May 5, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
If the Federal Government won’t act, get involved locally!
Here in Chamblee we make our Public Works run off Bio-Diesel. We’ve also mandated Green building codes so new development will use energy saving/water saving features. Chamblee is the first in the state to mandate Green building standards.
The GOP under Teddy Roosevelt once stood for conservation and preserving our natural resources. Today’s GOP is nothing more than a tax reduction arm of big business. What has the GOP done for us lately? What has the Democratic party done for us lately as well?
We are funding terrorism by continuing to consume oil without conservation. Our nation is now vulnerable to the Middle East because of this foreign policy which has gone on for 60 years.
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this
Now Hillary is saying she will order an anti trust legal action against opec….that could led to a panic pullout of Gulf States money from the usa…What kind of fool is this hag? If she keeps up this rhetoric, I am going to move more of my assets into foreign money and markets….the day OPEC refuses to accept dollars for oil is the day the american empire and lifestyle die….
By Purdue U
May 5, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this
We at Purdue University would like to make it clear that the University is not associated in any way with Purdue Foods, Inc.
They are the broiler-makers; we are the Boilermakers.
Thank you.
By deegee
May 5, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this
While we continue to send our tax money to Washington to fight terrorism at the same time we continue to fund terrorism with our imported oil purchases, consider the following. In 2001 Afghanistan produced around 7 metric tons of heroin. In 2006 they produced 526 metric tons which was a little less than the 582 metric tons they produced in 2005. The revenue produced by the sale of heroin keeps Al Qaeda in business. Heroin use is spreading in the Western Hemisphere because it is becoming cheaper to buy. How will historians look upon this time in the history of the world? Let’s just hope that the last paragraph doesn’t end in the old cliche, “stupid Americans.”
By jbmlaw
May 5, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this
Dear Redneck @ 9:09, apologies for late response to your inquiry. Best advice I can give you: When a thug sticks a gun in your face, hand over your money. If you survive the assault, then organize a posse to take down the gunman. That is my daily effort here, to organize the posse. It will take a generation of schooling.
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
deegee - Did you see where the Ga Tech baseball player died from a morphine overdose? Heroin, morphine, opium are all derived from the poppy…One must wonder how much of that trade is benefiting the chimp family, the zionist clans, and the cheney things….
By Devastator
May 5, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this
Tom Hanks announces support for Obama’s presidential bid NEW YORK — Tom Hanks is supporting presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Hanks has taken to his MySpace.com page to pledge his support for Obama, who is competing to be the first black president. Obama, who faces rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, has also been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and Scarlett Johansson.
Hanks, who won Oscars for his roles in “Forrest Gump” and “Philadelphia,” explains his decision: “It’s because of his character and vision, and the high road he has taken during this campaign. He has the integrity and the inspiration to unify us, as did FDR and Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and even Ronald Reagan when they ran for the job.”
The actor says Obama and Clinton have each “pretended to eat cheese-steak sandwiches and go bowling,” “committed gaffes” and distanced themselves from supporters who could damage their campaigns.
But Hanks thinks an Obama presidency could bring about a “seismic shift,” and “live up to the great promise once shaped by our founding fathers.”
Signing off, the star says: “I’m Tom Hanks, I wrote and approved this message, and I’m now going to turn off the camera.”
By getalife
May 5, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this
Burma devasted by a cyclone and who steps up to help?
Well, w has no credibility on disasters so they trot out his wife.
By GayGreyGeek
May 5, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
Dusty @ 1:51 - If you’ve got time to blog, you’ve got time to enlist. Time to put up or shut up, KeyboardKommandoDusty.
Either you visit AFEES today, Dusty, or you need to be quiet on these boards until you finally do.
WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, DUSTY?
By paul dipasquale
May 5, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
What happens to the food supply if/when trucks no longer are able to make deliveries because of the oil/fuel shortage? At that point it will be a bit late to turn back to ethanol. High food prices are better than NO food at all on the shelves! Think about it!
By Redneck Convert
May 5, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
Well, I can see this blog has went nowhere today. Good think I watched Fox News for the latest on them women in Texas that got their kids took away. They showed a picture of them and they all look like Sister Dusty! Only they didn’t say nothing about the cut ‘n runners and how you got to support the troops in the War on Terrer in Iraq.
The men at that place must be real sickos. Its bad enough to be marryed to one of these women. But to be marryed to five or six of them at the same time must give you a case of the willys. I bet they drink lots of beer.
Anyhow, its back to hauling beer for me. I had a late lunch so I won’t be checking in again today. I’ll check in tomorrow to see if you all have solved the gas problem.
By robert
May 5, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
the largest consumer of grown produce is not people - it’s the livestock and dairy industries.
do a quick google and you’ll be shocked.
if people would stop eating meat there’d be plenty enough corn/grain for fuel AND food. In fact I bet we could cut back on production!
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this
George Washington @3:00
You are out of your mind more than usual. For example:One must wonder how much of that [opium] trade is benefiting the chimp family, the zionist clans and the Cheney things.
You are the only bigot I’ve heard raising muck like that. You are, indeed, a real demented mudshark.
Devastator @3:03
All I can say about Tom Hanks is the fact that he is still acting like Forrest Gump.
getalife@ 3:10
Has dementia blurred your memory? President Bush not only sent his father to survey and help with the Indonesian tsunami, he also sent former President Clinton with him.
If you are trying to place blame for the New Orleans fiasco, start with elected NO mayor and the elected governor of Louisiana who did NOT place the immediate required call for Federal help. You Louisiana inhabitants seem a little slow on the uptake but fast on blaming someone else. A liberal state, no doubt.
By Winfield Scott
May 5, 2008 3:46 PM | Link to this
Save the chickens!
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
paul dipasquale - When I was a child in the 50’s, everyone had a pantry full of food, the old people grew gardens, and “put up” aka canned the excess, mostly green beans, corn, tomatoes (and juice), jelly (blackberry, strawberry, rasberry, cherry - yeah, it was up north and people had cherry tree’s), and they canned peaches, applebutter, applesause, etc. Today, people keep just the minimum of food in the house, eating out at least one meal per day. When the trucks stop running, it’s too late to stock the pantry….and Chilli’s will be closed, forever….so git out there and stock up on cases of beer now…cans are best, they keep the beer fresh longer than bottles….wine is ok, but whiskey is best…Jack Daniels is mah drink of choice….oh, yeah food…that’s woman’s work, ah got’s no good advice in that area, except that fat girls were a good choice for cooks in the past, ah doubt if they can cook today.
By deegee
May 5, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this
Yes, George it is tragic that the baseball player for GA Tech blew his life away. If it can happen to a young man with so much promise then it can happen to anyone. I wonder what triggered the narcotic use. I wonder if he was suffering chronic pain due to overuse injuries acquired during his sports career. Heroin isn’t hard to find in high schools and colleges. It makes tripping on acid seem like kid stuff.
By Political Foreskin
May 5, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this
Dusty is a vegetable, maybe she could be distilled into ethanol. She’s also a methane factory when she’s been hitting the chili. And, she’s so full of hot air, she could be a power plant for airships.
Oh the choices. What to do, what to do?
By Forrest, Forrest Gump
May 5, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
Stupid is as Dusty does.
By GaLiberal
May 5, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this
Moron Jim says: No question Congress should throw in the towel on corn-based ethanol subsidies, It was a dumb policy from the start and it always will be.
What Moron Jim doesn’t tell you is these subsidies, that he decried as wasteful government spending, were/are the prime reason the ethanol fuels industry exists in the first place. Having lived through the ‘74 oil embargo, Congress floated a whole bunch of ideas to make us energy independent; ethanol being one of them. Of course, it was projected that oil would have to sell for an unheard of $75/barrel so a subsidy was needed to make it work. Yes, a lot of corn was diverted from food/feed to ethanol production, but there was a larger goal of not having OPEC cut us off again.
The same problem holds today. Oil will have to see for a lot more than currently for ethanol to be profitable. So a subsidy is again needed to make it work. Cutting out the subsidy is wrongheaded and shortsighted just like all Rethuglicon ideas. The power of the free market didn’t work in the ’70s and it won’t work today. Only when oil is in short supply will it work without any subsidies. By then, the government will have to worry about riots and the breakdown of our oil-based lifestyle. I guess that’s the real agenda of Moron Jim and the Rethuglicons. That way they can take over society with their narrow vision of survival of the fittest and a free market economy. That’s fine as long as your at the top of society. If you’re on the bottom, it sucks.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Moron Jim calling for the end to ethanol subsidies is living proof.
By munchi
May 5, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this
By Political Foreskin
May 5, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this
Dusty is a vegetable, maybe she could be distilled into ethanol. She’s also a methane factory when she’s been hitting the chili. And, she’s so full of hot air, she could be a power plant for airships.
Oh the choices. What to do, what to do?
PF…After Dusty packed down all the dogs, chili and brews yesterday…
It is understood that she was persona non gratis in her own bedroom!
Perhaps we could recycle her for our energy needs!
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this
Well, I see our old “friend,” PoFo has raised his liberal head. I had chili for lunch today and send some methane in your general direction, since you are this blog’s version of Monty Python.
By jl
May 5, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this
Yes! Yes! Finally the republicans get something right (if for the transparent reason of trying to grab some votes in an election year).
Corn ethanol is a disaster, a scam! It produces more carbon pollution than the oil it is meant to replace. What a travesty that taxpayers are forced to actually PAY for its subsidy!!!
The impact on food prices is the lesser of corn ethanol’s evils. The EPA is supposed to act in the interest of present and future Americans, not ADM, Cargill and a few corn farmers.
By python
May 5, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
Dusty…
Whew….stinky pooo!!!!
That’s two days in a row for the ol’ Chili..Take it easy on that stuff or you’ll blow the bottom out of them extra large triple knit pants you wear!
By Pfffffttttttttttttttt
May 5, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this
Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Nothing like a good chili dog with extra sauerkraut and onions followed by a big bowl of brunswick stew and baked beans. Now that’s what I call designer gas.
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this
PoFo, munchi, one and the same,3:57,4:02 & 4:12’s “Dusty”
If you don’t mind, STOP using my ID for your remarks. I thought you were supposed to be funny? What happened?
By Actually
May 5, 2008 4:35 PM | Link to this
munchi was different. And, oh, it was very satisfyingly funny.
By Taxpayer
May 5, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
We own Iraq now. We paid about three-quarters of a trillion for it so far excluding human lives lost. So, we just need to start taking our oil from our newly acquired oil fields. It used to be called the “spoils of war”. If anyone objects we’ll just invade them especially if they have oil reserves. It’s the Republican way.
By Dawghead
May 5, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
Actually, Taxpayer’s got a great idea. It’s past time for Iraq to start paying us back in oil.
By @@
May 5, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this
Al Gore’s been awfully quiet of late Jim. Where is he when we need a discussion on the inconvenient truth of his unintended consequences?
Population control….it’s all the rage among environmentalists these days.
I’m thinkin’ it’s the cannibal thing he eluded to. Makes sense…
first the head shrink, followed by the body of evidence. PLOP!!!
Creepy.
By Hedger
May 5, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this
Wow. I am just getting rich off these suckers. Oil, corn, rice, natural gas… Life is good. I love America. I love the American Dream. I live the American Dream. Who needs a lottery with this many people willing to just give away their money. Thank you America. Just one last thing though. Please eliminate taxes on all income — for me. Thank you again. Too bad this bum knee is keeping me home when I’m only 21. Bummer.
By BuckheadBill
May 5, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this
It shows just how much distanced Hillary is from us “regular” folks. She is suggesting using the corn cob for making ethanol. Dang, that’s what we use for toilet paper.
By Hillary
May 5, 2008 5:03 PM | Link to this
Buckhead Bill, I understand the corn cob wipe and know that when used in that manner, it is even more valuable for distilling.
You can bet my opponent has never cleaned up with a corn cob.
By Dusty
May 5, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
PoFo, stop complimenting yourself @4:35 Try hard and U may find 1 who laughs.
Well, goodnight dear friends and the fractured few. See ya’ later…
By Political Foreskin
May 5, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
Dustbuster, seems like munchi and python both were amused. And don’t forget the untold dozens who were amused but not inspired to respond in writing. Night, night Dopey.
By Taxpayer
May 5, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to this
I wonder which state the Arabian countries will buy up next. I mean they pretty much own South Carolina now. Sonny wants to sell Georgia to the Chinese so maybe Saudi Arabia or the UAE will set their sights on Tennessee next. I’m thinking that China will likely try to purchase Kentucky outright — like a modern day Louisiana Purchase — for the coal. I know a lot of folks that had to start learning Chinese customs in order to appease their new bosses. I wonder what new customs the Arabs will be introducing into American business. Do they let women hold any jobs of significance. I wonder if they’ll set up their own charter schools in order to teach their own religion here in America. What was it called? Maybe that’s why there’s so much interest in Charter schools. Property taxes are another interesting topic with foreign investors but that’s for another day.
By George Washington
May 5, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
Taxpayer, git use to it, we follow the golden rule, he who gots the gold makes the rules.. See Brititsh and late American foreign policy for lo these last 300 odd years. Course, when Akmed and Abdul got the gold (oil) there is apt to be much whinning amoungst the peasants….Hence the need for long, sharp, steelie knives….of which I have many….