Corn Conspiracy

I had mentioned in my recent review of Killer At Large that I believed that Big Corn was destroying (admitted hyperbole) America. Here's a good article that helps support my hyperbolic hypothesis.

clipped from www.businessweek.com First, the primary job of the Environmental Protection Agency is, dare it be said, to protect our environment. Yet using ethanol actually creates more smog than using regular gas, and the EPA's own attorneys had to admit that fact in front of the justices presiding over the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 (API v. EPA). Second, truly independent studies on ethanol, such as those written by Tad Patzek of Berkeley and David Pimentel of Cornell, show that ethanol is a net energy loser. Other studies suggest there is a small net energy gain from it. The Great Ethanol Scam Fourth, forget what biofuels have done to the price of foodstuffs worldwide over the past three years; the science seems to suggest that using ethanol increases global warming emissions over the use of straight gasoline Third, all fuels laced with ethanol reduce the vehicle's fuel efficiency, and the E85 blend drops gas mileage between 30% and 40%,

Gas Prices Are Making People Dumb

High gas prices have me, like all Americans, mad. But I'm not mad because I have to pay more at the pump. As many of you know, I'm filthy rich. No, I'm mad because I'm tired of hearing people complain about prices and then doing dumb things about it

This video from DallasNews.Com red-lined my rage metre (like the English spelling? I'm trying to be more English-like. So please notice my liberal use of the word "cunt")

Here's the summary of the video.

Two Georgia men are biking their way to work, and saving big money without burning gasoline. What makes their commute so extreme? It's almost 21 miles long - each way.

BIG MONEY??? REALLY??

OK, lets do the math. 21 miles in an average car would be a little more than 1 gallon of gas. So, at $4/gallon, they are saving, what?, $5? Since they ride together, they could be carpooling, so really they're only saving $2.50 each way.

Wow!

Not only that, but 21 miles, for me, would take at least 1 1/4 hours to bike ride. Worst case, in a car, 21 miles would take 30 minutes. So they are exchanging 45 minutes to save $2.50. That's not even minimum wage anymore.

And this is what's infuriating me about gas prices. People don't do the math. We have these stupid ads from Chevron on The Ticket telling us that if we slow down to 55mph from 65mph, we would get an extra 30-50 miles per tank.

That means for every hour you were driving 65mph, you are now driving an extra 12-13 minutes. So, essentially, for every 5 hours driving at 65, you now have to drive 6 hours. And the savings -- 2 to 3 gallons of gas. That's $8-12. Would any of you do anything at a rate of $8/hours?

There is something more precious on this planet than money or gas, and that's your time. You only have so many hours here on Earth. Don't waste them trying to save a few bucks on gas.

Rant off.