rage /quit

sigh. . . .

i had a conversation earlier today about something i knew a little bit about, but admittedly, not very much. during the conversation my brain started spiraling into "conspiracy theory" mode and i started to concoct all of these half cocked ideas..... so i took a deep breath, calmed down, and said that i would "look into it". i did. what i found, fucking sickens me.

ethanol.

in the US it is mandated by law that big oil companies use no more than 10% ethanol additive to their gasoline production. you can see the little stickers on any gas pumps around your town. ethanol used in the US comes primarily (or read "EXCLUSIVELY") from corn.... hmmm, corn. again. seems as if i had just ranted about this plant.....

ethanol comes from fermented corn....government mandated moonshine, to be more precise (ironically enough, the gov actually adds a small amount of gasoline to the ethanol after its production so that is no longer drinkable by humans). it is then added to gasoline since it burns faster during combustion and produces more energy and heat in the process. it has been sold to the masses as better for the environment and amerikkka since it is a renewable resource and is grown locally. but there is another side to the sword..... a sharper side. this may get long winded, so stick with me.

so, as i understand it, in 2005 the BU$H administration decided to adopt the widespread production and addition of ethanol to amerikkkan refined gasoline. the acceptable level was 10% ethanol for every gallon. at the time, it was touted as a cheap renewable energy resource for automobiles that was safe for the environment and would drive down gas prices. of course, all of this was lies. in fact, the exact opposite is what happened. back in '05 /'06 we were all distracted with "the war", these changes went virtually unnoticed. the reality of ethanol additive is this:
while initially 10% was the standard maximum allowance for additives to gasoline. . . it has since risen to 15% based on the discretion of the refinery and it is not necessary for those oil companies to disclose the actual percentage outside of what is mandated by the feds (yeah, good idea to let them police themselves. ever notice how much faster your gas tank burns down to empty from some gas pumps than others?). the inclusion of this additive was supposed to help drive down the prices of gas. but, in 2005, it raised the price of gas $.75 per gallon(which was a 1/3 increase at the time, and subsequentialy blamed on the unending war). since then, the cost of manufacturing and shipping ethanol has NOT gone down, it has in fact increased. which in turn is put upon the prices we pay for gasoline.

fun fact number 2! ethanol cannot be shipped through pipelines because moonshine absorbs water. water+gasoline=bad gas. this becomes a problem for our cars.....gas tanks at filler stations are below ground, and in the past, when it rained, the rain water that would inevitably collect in the tanks would settle at the bottom (since gasoline is lighter than water molecules, unless the tank was dry or overly saturated, you'd stand a slim chance of getting "bad gas"). now, however, ethanol just sucks up a good portion of those water molecules. which makes it more possible to get bad gas that can be harmful for your car's engine.

now that i got the "ho hum" facts out of the way....lets get to the meat and potatoes. modern cars' engines are made to process ethanol combustion. hell, some cars' engines are made to run on straight grain alcohol. however, cars made before 2005....the engine parts were not made to withstand the MASSIVE amount of heat generated by ethanol combustion. what does that mean? that means that ethanol combustion actually damages the pistons of a car's engine. so much so that classic cars have special replacement kits that can withstand the damage done by ethanol heat. (what better way to make sure your old beater finally breaks down than from the inside. that way you're forced to buy a new car! YAY GMC!)

ethanol actually cost more money in gasoline to produce. and when burned in your car produces more lower ozone carbon monoxide emissions than straight gasoline. that means that ethanol is actually contributing MORE to global warming, smog, pollution, and lower quality of life than we faced before. so, we were lied to about it being less harmful than gasoline.

this past week there have been debates in congress about cutting the tax credits and repealing the tariffs applied to ethanol. because for the past 6 years there have been tax credits (or free money) applied to companies creating ethanol, and on the other side, there have been HUGE tariffs (fees) charged to other countries trying to import their (cane sugar)ethanol into the US.

so, where does this leave us?
i believe that ethanol was derived by the corn industry, accepted by the oil industry as a means to supplement production (produce 90% but charge for 100%), praised by the auto industry (create a fuel that will destroy older model engines? fucking brilliant!), allowed to pass the EPA because of its "renewable" quality (in spite of its almost double output of harmful emissions compared to straight gasoline), and signed off by the BU$H administration. and every one of these mother fuckers got a nice fat check...or charity donation.

FUCK YOU, AMERIKKKA