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Been following the E15 stuff here with fascination. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you" is alive and well.

A friend of my wife had the inverse bad experience: while visiting Iowa, she was drawn in by lower cost fuel and filled the tank of her two week old car with E85. No warnings: nozzle fits, it's all gas right?

I'm puzzled by the morality/ethics in promoting this as a cheaper perfectly useful alternative with no negatives. She's out $700 for a tow, clean out, purge etc......

Anyone else run up against this?

And no, her car is emphatically not designed with this stuff in mind..... (Subaru SUV).

Remember when IBM's motto was "THINK"?

You read these stories with some regularity. She wasn't the first and surely won't be the last to learn an expensive lesson.

Tell her to send her bill to the corn lobby, cc to the EPA. Of course you won't get a cent back, but if you write a really good letter, you'll feel alot better about it.

+1 on what Owen Dyneto said. E85 is a bad policy all the way around.

We are burning food as fuel. No wonder the price of corn is up 100% in the last year. And we still are shoveling subsidy money at this special interest lobby.

Even Al Gore has given up on corn ethanol, see:online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572404575634753486416076.html

Corn subsidies were set to die at the end of 2010. But in late December the lame duck congress (the guys that were voted out of office) re-voted to keep the subsidies and INCREASE the amount of ethanol in our gas. To meet this congressional mandate the EPA increased the amount of ethanol blended into gas from 10% to 15%.

Expect more of this. In 2001 7% of corn was converted into fuel - today 40% of corn is converted into fuel. We are burning food. And food costs are increasing.

"lame duck" is too kind a descriptor. Surely we can some up with something more descriptive of their intellectual powers and lobby-oriented interests. But I guess we have to "keep it clean" which might present a challenge.

Expect more of this. In 2001 7% of corn was converted into fuel - today 40% of corn is converted into fuel. We are burning food. And food costs are increasing.

"lame duck" is too kind a descriptor. Surely we can some up with something more descriptive of their intellectual powers and lobby-oriented interests. But I guess we have to "keep it clean" which might present a challenge.


Agreed to both of you. There was something in the paper the other day about a special formulation air resources or EPA has in mind for Calif. We already pay more than most of US for gas because of all the crap formulations that later turn out to cause cancer or be far worse polluters than the untainted original--MTBE, anyone. How many other places have all the extra stuff added in to mitigate air pollution as Calif does. Unfortunately, the saying that as Calif does, so eventually does the nation appears to be coming more to pass. When automakers get on board, wouldn't be surprised to see considerably more junk or ETOH to meet the mandated mileage and emissions Calif has ordered in the next few years applied to many places.

As to lobbyists, IMHO there should be a bounty on them everywhere. A politician that can't do his own fact finding and needs someone to tell him how to vote or write his bill is useless-but the norm. Unfortunately, and no matter the flavor red or blue, except for semantics our politicians are no different than any of the "less enlightened" countries they like to hold up as examples. Only difference is when politicians get rich somewhere else it is called a bribe--here it is called a consulting fee or campaign contribution.

What's even more annoying is you can't vote them out of office. A replacement will look promising, say anything to get elected, and usually turns out worse than the one leaving--only in a different direction. A politician is beholding when he gets enough endorsements and cash to run, and fully paid for by the time of the election or the first fundraiser thereafter.

Sorry for the rant. Should probably delete but politicians are a sore point every time I turn on the TV lately. Maybe that's a way to save money. De-fund congress and leave them just enough to meet for a week after election to have their picture taken and get a few sound bites recorded then send them home. That way the lobbyists can get busy running things as usual, only being already on someone's payroll they shouldn't cost as much.

Random thoughts:

1. People get the government they deserve

2. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Walt Kelly

3. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing,"

4. And yes, alcohol from corn in gasoline was always a criminally bad idea, but bought and paid for by agribusiness.

jack vines

Tell me, when was the last time a politician ACTUALLY DID something for the populace that didn't have "please read fine print" attatched to it? I've had nothing but problems with my fuel system and its all because of this rotten ethanol business! (See my postings listed under "problems with modern gas"). I don't forsee anything changing for the better anytime soon. I figure it this way folks, these problems are going to continue to build like a snowball until ALL of our antique and classic vehicles are nothing more than museum pieces that never will run again. No, WE DON'T HOLD WITH IT, but hey, who are WE? Just honest, hard working, tax paying individuals (no matter what country you happen to live in). I'll bet that quite a few of you out there are veterans as well!