811. Me, pretending to be Walter.
812. If I look blurry, you are probably drunk.
813. I think I should mourn Ladybird Johnson's passing, but the emotions from the 50s and 60s prevent that happening. Not that I rejoice, either. If one refuses to mourn, many for some odd reason assume one must be rejoicing.
814. I think: Got called to the apartments yesterday evening. Some rowdies smashed their front window. I arrived to find my helper already there, not to mention a cop and the assistant manager. We boarded it up until Monday. Last week, the same people, the woman was on the parking lot, beating the crap out of her daughter. I suspect that their lease shall not be renewed.
815. I think I suspect the move toward ethanol in gasoline will not be permanent. Been hearing from different folks about problems with it.
the many battles waged behind the scenes of the energy bill before Congress, the provision to nearly double ethanol production by 2012 has generated the most heat. Touted by industry proponents as a solution to dependence on foreign oil, this corn-based fuel has been attacked by critics as a waste of both money and energy. And over the past 25 years, the issue has been so politicized that impartial research or neutral opinions on the alternative fuel have all but evaporated.
You don't have to convince Darrell Downs of the promise of ethanol. As mayor of Marcus, Iowa, population 1,139, Downs helped raise the $20 million needed to build the ethanol plant that opened there about 6 months ago. Since then, the economic benefits to this struggling farm-belt town have been obvious, he said.
"We're just darned glad to have the plant here," Downs said. "It just changes the attitude of the people."
The added demand for corn has pushed up prices in the area by 10 to 12 cents a bushel, he noted.
But travel outside the corn belt, and attitudes toward the wisdom of boosting ethanol production split dramatically. Critics say that after 25 years of hefty government subsidies, ethanol has not demonstrated that it can stand on its own as a profitable alternative to fossil fuels.
"If the ethanol producers and the corn growers weren't benefiting from this, we wouldn't be doing it," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., last week. "There's no policy reason to do this."
Ethanol, which is essentially grain alcohol, has been used as a fuel for nearly two centuries, and was one of the first used to power automobiles at the dawn of the 20th century. But due in part to a $2 a gallon ethanol tax levied by Congress in the late 19th century ?- and Prohibition in the 1920s ?- gasoline became the motor fuel of choice.
Ethanol's more recent history can be traced to the 1970s, when the soaring price of oil combined with the Soviet grain embargo sent the farm lobby to Capitol Hill to convince Congress of the wisdom of boosting ethanol demand. The result was the Energy Tax Act of 1978, which provided tax breaks and subsides that eventually rose to 60 cents a gallon in the 1980s.
TIMELINE Ethanol's long history
1826
Samuel Morey develops an engine that runs on ethanol and turpentine.
1860
German engine inventor Nicholas Otto -- best known for his development of a modern internal combustion engine in 1876 -- uses ethanol as the fuel in one of his engines.
1862
The Union Congress puts a $2 per gallon excise tax on ethanol to help pay for the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, ethanol was the major illuminating oil in the United States. After the tax was imposed, ethanol cost too much to be used this way.
