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1. 

   jrmerm said, 5 months ago

   The third panel is oh so true, and in several different ways. Not sure what the message in fourth panel is tho.
2. 

   human said, 5 months ago

   Hemp Oil !
   It is possible to grow all the fuel needed IF we grow hemp. aka cannabis , aka pot*. Pot, aka marijuana, is just one of hundreds maybe thousands maybe hundreds of thousands of products of the cannabis plant.
   Made illegal by those literally evil capitalist to rid them of competition that could drive them out of business.
3. 

   masterskrain said, 5 months ago

   @human

   Interesting thing I read once.
   If you cross a “Pot” plant, with regular Hemp, you end up getting…Regular Hemp.
   Crossbreeding them, for some reason seems to eliminate whatever creates the THC, the chemical that makes you high.
   There are several species, and sub-species of “Cannabis” plants, and only one gets you high. But, back in the 30s or whenever, the Government banned ALL Cannabis plants, in a too typical “Let’s use a sledgehammer to kill a Mosquito” approach to legislation.
4. 

   Ms. Ima said, 5 months ago

   Ethanol is made from a strain of corn that is not ordinary feed corn. After the ethanol extraction process the byproducts provide more than the original corn would have.
   A shortsighted view on ethanol. I expect nothing less from Ted.
5. 

   eepatt said, 5 months ago

   @Ms. Ima

   Where did you hear this?I really doubt it just because you said it, and you are seldom, if ever, right about anything.
6. 

   Bruce4671 said, 5 months ago

   @human

   And the funny thing is hemp has so many uses, not the least of which is paper.
   
   http://www.hemphasis.net/Paper/paper.htm
   
   greedy industrialists + corrupt greedy politicians = stupid insane laws to maximize profit for the few
7. 

   Bruce4671 said, 5 months ago

   @Ms. Ima

   Well, this was just too easy to find. Maybe you should look around a little on the net before you express your opinion. You can’t always believe what your buddies say while you are sharing a bong scarfing down fritos (made from masa … look it up)
   
   A quote from an article on Corn Ethanol on Wikipedia:
   
   “The use of ethanol for fuel has had a damaging impact on food markets, especially in poorer countries. In the United States, ethanol is mostly made from yellow corn, and as the market boomed for alternative fuel, yellow corn went up in price. Many farmers saw the potential to make more money, and switched from white corn to yellow corn. White corn is the main ingredient of tortillas in Mexico, and as the supply dropped, the price doubled, making the base of most Mexican foods unaffordable.¹⁹ Many people[who?] see this as unacceptable, and want no overlap between food crops and fuel crops.²⁰²¹ Others[who?] point out that the earth is thought to be able to support double the current human population, and press that the resources available, such as unused farmable land, should be better handled.”
   
   But shoot maybe I’m wrong.
8. 

   Jase99 said, 5 months ago

   The only long term benefit I see to using ethanol is the rising price of corn encourages industrial food manufacturers to use less and less high fructose corn syrup. We need to get serious about developing alternative fuel sources. Gas isn’t getting any cheaper and we need it to farm. Our entire way of life will break down hard if gas becomes too expensive for the average person to afford.
9. 

   Fourcrows said, 5 months ago

   @Bruce4671

   Ima’s not actually wrong, as they are two different types of corn. But I think he is missing the point that farmers are destroying their food crops in order to grow fuel crops, which guarantee a payment because they are not depending on local markets. Another side effect is the possible extinction of the cactus which produces the nectar used in tequila. Since it takes up to seven years for a cactus to grow to the point it can be harvested, many of the property owners where it grows (a very limited area) are destroying the cacti to pland fuel corn.

   One solution, which could help places like Detroit, would be to start indoor farming for biofuel. Convert some of those abandoned factories into indoor farms and you have a constant source that doesn’t impact anything else. Since nobody will be eating it, the growers are free to genetically engineer all they want to produce a plant woth the highest ethanol yield.
   But of course, like everything else its easier to just export the job to Mexico and let them figure it out.
10. 

    Radish said, 5 months ago

    It takes gasoline to plant and harvest and petroleum based fertilizers to grow ethanol. You can’t drink gas, its poison.
11. 

    JoeCoolLives said, 5 months ago

    This seems to be nonsense….
12. 

    MortyForTyrant said, 5 months ago

    I have high hopes for bio-fuel from algae. Exxon invested $600M in that project, and they are not known to be tree-huggers…
13. 

    bikerusl said, 5 months ago

    @Ms. Ima

    Climate Change deniers. Corn apologists. Nuclear power apologists…. What is the point of all the red herrings? We all get screwed by this BS destruction of the air water land food we need to survive. Splitting hairs about illelevent stuff. Even if your BS Red Herring argument were true Ted Rall’s comic is still on point. We can’t drive at the expense of the food supply – and that is the law.

    We need to stop driving cars in cities. Period. Cars are a manufactured need. Capitalism would be a good idea if it were successful at fulfilling people’s needs. But what actually happens is social animals are fed disinformation to make them want and buy things they don’t need and that gets funded because it is easier than real work – Capital maintains itself. That is the only logic of capitalism. And tool’s like Mr. Ima do the legwork of disinformation.
14. 

    skipcarlsen said, 5 months ago

    The only thing I could possibly add to this rather brilliant piece of satire is that the increased use of biofuel has also led to higher corn prices here in the States, the affect of which has rippled through our entire economy. And now our arrogant government wants to force us to use gas with even higher percentages of biofuels which older car engines cannot tolerate and which will cause them increased mechanical damage! Thank you for looking out for us little folks there Obama!
15. 

    Ted Rall said, 5 months ago

    @jrmerm It’s a general commentary on capitalism. The fact is, without a political class that considers the problems that are caused by things like these new laws about biofuels, the only thing the people who are being affected can do is to strike back in some kind of violent or aggressive manner.
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