Siphoning off corn to fuel our cars

[Ronnocomot]

Originally Posted by MommaKay

Love must be deserved?

Do you equate food with love?

Sound like an Italian Grandmother.

[panhandlepat]

Originally Posted by MommaKay

The Anarchist and Nihilist within me would agree with that. I do my best to keep them from holding sway over my opinions, however.

i hear ya, as a human we have to have compassion (or should)for others, but where do you draw the line? any other species gets more diseased and weaker when no population control is set(predators, etc.) , so what makes us that much different.

[MommaKay]

Originally Posted by Ronnocomot

Do you equate food with love?

Sound like an Italian Grandmother.

If people are starving, to give them food is an act of love, yes. To deny them food so that we can burn it in our vehicles is an act of selfishness.

You want meatballs with that?

[MommaKay]

Originally Posted by panhandlepat

i hear ya, as a human we have to have compassion (or should)for others, but where do you draw the line? any other species gets more diseased and weaker when no population control is set(predators, etc.) , so what makes us that much different.

Our capacity for love and compassion, and acts of selflessness, I imagine.

Should we starve ourselves in order to "feed the world"? I would say no. Whether or not this indicates a certain amount of selfishness on my part I cannot say. I would like to think it's just a healthy level of self-preservation. But we're discussing turning food into fuel for our own convenience while millions around the world are starving. I think it's fair to draw the line there.

[Ronnocomot]

Well you do-gooders better make a choice. Do you want us to feed the world or use less oil.

Obviously you can't have both.

Better let us drill anywhere we can to find oil, IN THIS COUNTRY.

If we used every bushel of corn, wheat and soybeans grown in this country every year solely for ethanol or other bio-fuel replacement, we would cover about 4% of our annual oil usage.

I've got no problem with us feeding the world, just don't like the fact that we are somehow expected to do it.

[MommaKay]

Originally Posted by Ronnocomot

Well you do-gooders better make a choice. Do you want us to feed the world or use less oil.

Obviously you can't have both.

Better let us drill anywhere we can to find oil, IN THIS COUNTRY.

If we used every bushel of corn, wheat and soybeans grown in this country every year solely for ethanol or other bio-fuel replacement, we would cover about 4% of our annual oil usage.

I've got no problem with us feeding the world, just don't like the fact that we are somehow expected to do it.

As I have said previously in other threads, I am fully in favor of drilling anywhere and everywhere we can for US oil. ANWR, for example, has an estimated 10+ billion barrels of crude. The rest of the United States has proven reserves of less than 22 billion barrels. Therefore, drilling in ANWR alone would increase our domestic oil production by about 50%.

A drop in the bucket, and that alone will not solve our energy problems. But it will contribute to solving the oil supply problem, for a while, so that we have time to develop alternative energy.

[violation_rollin]

If ethanol is made by converting the starch from corn into sugar in order to produce the etanol, then why not leave the corn alone and simply make ethanol from sugar in the first place....? Guess that would make to much sense...?

[abjz71]

well i guess its because you can swing a dead cat and not hit a sugar cane farm in the US but the same can not be said for corn the better question is why use corn when you can use switch grass which has a higher in to out yeild then corn

[Lilbit]

Ethanol is not the whole answer either though. Are we honestly going to be able to grow enough of anything to cover the needs of this country alone? We really need alternatives that do not require any crop land at all. We need to avoid over-taxing the natural resource of good soil. The soils in the plains is not what it was even a century ago because we have still not figured out that putting chemicals into the soil will not replace what we have drained from it in the first place.

Ronno- I pretty much agree with you about supplying the world with food. So many other countries expect us to come bail them out of their disasters, yet stab us in the back at the same time. Humanitarian aid is one thing, but I get tired of helping those who refuse to help themselves - in this or any other country.

[droy]

I think that some people are not seeing the whole picture- the reason for going to an alternative fuel source at this time is not because of an oil shortage, (yes, eventually supplies WILL dwindle) but the two main reasons are:

(1) Refining capacity- too stringent guidelines set by liberal politicians have prevented a new refinery to be built here in the U S A. If my memory serves me right, the last one built is more than 20 years old. Even with extensive modifications, no refinery of that age can match the demand we have today. Although oil companies are seeing large profits at this time, they will not attempt to build a new refinery, due to the hurdles that politicians and EPA has placed before them.

(2) Cost of fuel- Who controls the oil market?
OPEC; we are their slaves! Too stupid to drill in our own country, wailing and gnashing of teeth is our response whenever they raise the crude oil price three times what it should be.
Even though those people hate us and would prefer to see our entire race wiped out, perhaps people like MommaKay could try laying that food shortage "guilt trip" on them, persuading them to drop their prices; then we would not have to shove food into our gas tanks. While you're visiting with them, maybe even try to solicit a large donation from them to feed the hungry, after all, we have helped make them, (our enemies), some of the richest people in the world today.