[Speed Gibson,
Friday April 25, 2008 at 5:36pm]
Everything we know is wrong
Anybody remember the TV mini-series "V" from 1983? It's time for a 25th Anniversary Edition isn't it? Digitally remastered? I always think back to this show when I read about Ethanol.
The "Visitors" arrived spectacularly but peacefully, seeking our help. In return for technology, we allowed them to alter some oil refineries to manufacture a chemical they needed back on their home world. Soon we found that all they had really come for was food and water, the latter secretly in the form of the obscure chemical. We humans were the former.
Such a plot would never go over today, of course. We no longer have any spare oil refinery capacity. Oh wait - maybe we do: all those Ethanol plants! Oh wait - maybe the Visitors are here already, having us turn water into a useless chemical. Oh wait - our Visitors did the "V" Visitors one better, by having the unintended consequences kill us off for them via starvation and environmental damage. With "go juice" approaching $4 a gallon, thanks to the enviro-loons, we can't even afford to drive to get away.
We puny humans did finally defeat the Visitors in the mini-series, once we knew what was really going on. I think the Proletariat may yet triumph over Ethanol, too. The evidence is now in plain sight: food riots and third world hunger.
Even the misanthropic are finally speaking up, concerned at least for the damage to Mother Earth. Paul Krugman is finally starting to get it. Even Time and Newsweek are openly questioning the whole concept. Al Gore is incommunicado. Our local "experts" including Prime Minister Pawlenty are talking about "transitioning" to switch grass to keep this nonsense alive. I wonder if they will have the time.
We see the prices rising sharply in the grocery stores. We get why there is unrest and now hoarding in the world. We realize now that Ethanol, far from saving us money as a domestic energy source, is having the net opposite effect - as some predicted long ago. Words like "scam" are finally creeping into press accounts. Everythingwe they know knew about Ethanol is wrong.
We can bank the fire a little ourselves, commiserating with our friends, relatives, and neighbors about our trips to the gas station and the grocery stores. Tell them why. And tell them to tell their representatives. At a minimum, we should shut down the E-85 pumps immediately.
For this will be the summer of our discontent.
The "Visitors" arrived spectacularly but peacefully, seeking our help. In return for technology, we allowed them to alter some oil refineries to manufacture a chemical they needed back on their home world. Soon we found that all they had really come for was food and water, the latter secretly in the form of the obscure chemical. We humans were the former.
Such a plot would never go over today, of course. We no longer have any spare oil refinery capacity. Oh wait - maybe we do: all those Ethanol plants! Oh wait - maybe the Visitors are here already, having us turn water into a useless chemical. Oh wait - our Visitors did the "V" Visitors one better, by having the unintended consequences kill us off for them via starvation and environmental damage. With "go juice" approaching $4 a gallon, thanks to the enviro-loons, we can't even afford to drive to get away.
We puny humans did finally defeat the Visitors in the mini-series, once we knew what was really going on. I think the Proletariat may yet triumph over Ethanol, too. The evidence is now in plain sight: food riots and third world hunger.
Even the misanthropic are finally speaking up, concerned at least for the damage to Mother Earth. Paul Krugman is finally starting to get it. Even Time and Newsweek are openly questioning the whole concept. Al Gore is incommunicado. Our local "experts" including Prime Minister Pawlenty are talking about "transitioning" to switch grass to keep this nonsense alive. I wonder if they will have the time.
We see the prices rising sharply in the grocery stores. We get why there is unrest and now hoarding in the world. We realize now that Ethanol, far from saving us money as a domestic energy source, is having the net opposite effect - as some predicted long ago. Words like "scam" are finally creeping into press accounts. Everything
We can bank the fire a little ourselves, commiserating with our friends, relatives, and neighbors about our trips to the gas station and the grocery stores. Tell them why. And tell them to tell their representatives. At a minimum, we should shut down the E-85 pumps immediately.
For this will be the summer of our discontent.