@Thomas,
What i mean by typical vegetarian propaganda is the posters and brochures that one will find in coffee houses and restaurants in the student areas of just about any university town in the country. I talk about young, militant vegetarians because people i've seen on the street in college towns, picketing fast food joints, and handing out brochures outside the venues for banquets on college campuses have been young militants. Now certainly, there is a surfeit of young militant anythings on college campuses, but i've never seen proselytizing vegetarians anywhere but in college towns, where they are young, and, so it seems, tend to be militant, loud, even strident. It's not a silly stereotype, just because you are not sufficiently familiar with American university towns, to point this out. The same goes for vegetarian propaganda--you can find it by the ream in venues where vegetarians congregate, and college towns seem to have an overabundance.
The land bank dates back to the Second World War. It has been a favorite cash cow of corporate types with some connections and some spare capital, who will invest it in land which they know the government will pay not to be farmed, because it's listed with the land bank. John Wayne was a big holder of land bank farms. It's ideal from a capitalists point of view--you just buy it, and cash the checks--no maintenance costs, no payroll, you just pay your property taxes.
I suspect ethanol subsidy programs will fluctuate in their utility to politicians just as so many other things fluctuate with regard to spot market prices for petroleum.
