Ethanol: the alternative fuel for those who say there is no alternative

Last week President Bush celebrated the signing of an ethanol agreement with Brazil. The deal establishes the sharing of ethanol-producing technologies between the two countries, but falls far short of opening the U.S. market to Brazilian ethanol. For those of you scoring at home, American ethanol is made from corn, while the Brazilian product can be made from sugar cane which distills far more efficiently than corn does.

If anyone believes that the Bush Administration's promotion of ethanol proves they're starting to pay attention on the global warming front, turn off Fox News, put away your NASCAR toys, and pay attention. Among the growing number of fossil fuel alternatives, ethanol isn't the panacea its promoters make it out to be. The current technology the Brazilians signed on for is a choice between using crops for food or using them for fuel. Wow. What an age we live in.

This agreement is an echo of what's happened in Iraq, except that instead of energy policy masquerading as foreign policy, this is foreign policy masquerading as environmental policy. Bush would not be concerned about Brazil's dependence on foreign oil if that oil was coming from somewhere besides Venezuela, since Rethuglicans have pencilled in Hugo Chavez to replace Kim Jong-Il (or the recently-erased Saddam Hussein) in the Axis of Evil. It's not the wealth that makes Chavez evil to American Imperialists, it's the fact that he's willing to share the wealth and run over the Washington Consensus in the process.

This page contends that food is for eating, not for driving. If it's a choice between a bag of tortilla chips or a ride home, hand me the chips and I'll walk, thanks.