Is G-Dub an idiot?

[O'Man]

Olgakurt:

Thanks for the info. It bothers me that this issue of Clean Air and Clean Water are political footballs. I have several family members who are or have been involved with meaningful environmental issues and collecting facts. Sadly, it seems to me that the common thread that prevents rapid progress always seems to be the politicans and their presonal interests.

[PerryinCA]

am I the only one who wonders if there is any connection between the fact that the Archer-Daniels-Midland Corporation (nations primary producer of ethanol) has "donated" (payed off) the Bush administration over $500,000 for his campaign and inagural party.

Here's some info about the company:
Advocates of reduced government spending are constantly amazed at what the Archer Daniels Midland Company gets away with in government subsidies. They say the latest outrage by the agricultural processing giant is pulling off a continuation of the 54 cent-per-gallon tax exemption for ethanol in the highway bill.

This subsidy reportedly accounts for the bulk of the more than $10 billion ADM has received from the federal government since 1980.

At least 43 percent of ADM's profits come from products subsidized by American taxpayers.

The firm benefits from the federal sugar program, trade subsidies and "Food for Peace" shipments.

Analyst James Bovard estimates that every dollar in profits earned by ADM costs taxpayers $30.
ADM's former chairman, Dwayne Andreas, was once indicted -- and later acquitted -- on charges of making an illegal $100,000 contribution to the 1968 Humphrey presidential campaign, funneling $100,000 in cash to the 1972 Nixon re-election campaign, and was fined for exceeding contribution limits in 1993.

A federal price-fixing investigation forced ADM to pay a $100 million fine -- and cost the company another $100 million to settle private lawsuits.

Critics point to the company's practices as a prime example of how businesses -- and the federal government -- shouldn't operate.

____________

seems Clinton was no stranger to kickbacks from the company either:
Long before the current price-fixing scandal rocked the halls of Archer Daniels Midland, the self-styled "supermarket to the world," was a super rip-off for the public. And its co-conspirators in this scandal are the likes of President Bill Clinton and presidential wannabe Kansas Republican Senator Robert Dole.
The tool used to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars yearly from the taxpayer to ADM is ethanol, alcohol distilled from corn. When mixed with gasoline, ethanol is called gasohol. About 55% of the ethanol produced in this country is manufactured by ADM, based in Decatur, Ill. With sales of about $11 billion a year, ADM is the largest grain-processing company in the world.

But gasohol has problems at the pump. First, it hurts mileage. Second, it's considerably more expensive than gasoline. Nobody is going to buy a fuel that both costs more and hurts mileage unless either A) the fuel is subsidized so that it doesn't cost more, or B) they are forced to. In this case, ADM has arranged through its friends in high places to make it C) both of the above.

In addition to myriad state tax breaks, gasoline blended with ethanol is eligible for a federal tax credit of 5.4 cents a gallon, totalling an estimated $770 million a year. Over half that goes straight into ADM CEO Dwayne Andreas's coffers.

Introducing that law was Dole, ADM's point man for its assault on the taxpayers. Dole has introduced over two dozen bills to help the ethanol industry and lobbied fiercely for it outside of Senate chambers as well.

ADM needs people like Dole because ethanol is not only too expensive, it's worthless.

Ethanol is touted as cleaner than gasoline. Indeed, it can reduce emissions of carbon monoxide, a fairly minor pollutant. While harmful in enclosed areas, carbon monoxide never causes serious health problems even at the very highest levels found in outdoor air.

Moreover, ethanol only reduces carbon monoxide emissions from cars built before oxygen sensors were made mandatory in 1983 or whose oxygen sensors are broken. Repeated studies at the University of Denver using a remote testing device invented there have found that out of 250-300 late model vehicles tested, at most one will put out significant carbon monoxide emissions.

Ethanol is also said to reduce ground-level ozone pollution, but a study by Sierra Research of Sacramento, California found that it would actually slightly INCREASE ozone production and increase smog. Indeed, in 1992 the EPA declared it could not be certified as a pollution-fighting fuel for use in the nation's smoggiest cities. Immediately, as the Wall Street Journal put it, Dole "lobbied the administration from President Bush on down." Dole won, ADM won, and air breathers lost as the EPA relented and certified ethanol. Ethanol is also presented as a way to prop up corn prices by increasing corn demand. It does do that, but a by-product of its production is a corn mash sold as feed. That reduces the demand for soybeans, a crop corn farmers grow as part of crop rotation.

In any case, it would be far cheaper to just funnel a subsidy directly to corn farmers rather than funnel it through ADM.

The real reason for ethanol's continued blessed existence isn't amber waves of grain but ample waves of cash. "Dwayne Andreas just owns me," former Democratic Party Chairman Robert Strauss once told the Washington Post. It turns out Andreas actually owns lots of other important people, too.

Since just 1991, Andreas and his family, ADM, and the ADM PAC have contributed over $1.18 million to the Republican Party and $1.05 million to the Democrats.

But nobody has benefited from this largesse more than Bob Dole. To date, ADM has contributed over $85,000 to Dole's various campaign bids, along with various other perks.

The most lucrative contribution to Dole was ADM's co-sponsorship of "Face-Off," a daily three-minute radio debate between Dole and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy from 1984 to November 1987, when Dole declared his presidential candidacy. A spokesman for the show told me the value of this free advertising for Dole was about $840,000.

Even while he denies being Andreas's chief lackey, it is a position Dole jealously guards. In August, speaking of the ethanol industry, Dole told an audience at the Illinois State Fair, "So far, we've been shut out by this administration."

Really?

Last year, shortly after Dwayne Andreas served as co-chairman of a Democratic Party fundraiser and personally donated $100,000, the Clinton Administration, via the EPA, tried to mandate that about 10% of all gasoline sold nationally contain ethanol. But in May a federal appeals court declared the administration "exceeded its authority" in so doing.

With that shot down, the ethanol lobby demanded a different gift, insisting that an ethanol-containing gasoline additive called ETBE receive the same tax break that pure ethanol gets. The Treasury Department quickly granted it. The ADM-supported American Corn Grower's Alliance then announced, "Agriculture owes the President many thanks for seeing him continue to fulfill his pledge to be an advocate for ethanol, ETBE, and oxygenated fuels."

(Note to the tobacco companies: If you want Clinton off your backs, just lace your cigarettes with a little ethanol.) The ADM executive who blew the whistle on its alleged price-fixing scheme says that the company's philosophy is: "The competitor is our friend; the consumer is our enemy." They could add to that another one: The politician is our lackey; the public is our sucker.


.....more following....

[PerryinCA]

GO McCain for pres!
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Arizona Sen. John McCain proposed eliminating the federal ethanol subsidy on Wednesday, putting himself at odds with many voters in Iowa, where he faces the first test of his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination.

"If Iowa voters were in your mind, that wouldn't seem to be the place to be," said Dee Stewart, executive director of the Iowa Republican Party. "You wouldn't go to California and tell people to stay away from the beaches."

In Washington, McCain proposed a school voucher program to offer education opportunities for disadvantaged children. He suggested paying for it by eliminating $5.4 billion worth of subsidies for ethanol, sugar, gas and oil.

Under McCain's three-year test program, disadvantaged children would receive vouchers worth $2,000 a year. The money would be used to offset the costs of attending any school chosen by the student or parents.

"We shouldn't have special interest giveaways at the expense of our neeediest children," McCain said, adding that the ethanol program was "simply an outdated subsidy for corn producers."

Polls regularly show that education is a top issue with voters across the country, but the stand is likely to cause McCain headaches in politically sensitive Iowa.

Ethanol is alcohol distilled from corn and blended with gasoline. onal gasoline, a point disputed by critics. There is disagreement over whether ethanol is good for the environment, but there is no doubt it provides an economic boost for farmers. Ethanol production facilities provide a big new market for corn at a time when prices are depressed.

Since it's very popular with farmers and Iowa is a farm state, ethanol is a bipartisan crusade for most politicians. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, once went so far as to drink some during a congressional hearing to demonstrate its safety.

Even Gov. George W. Bush, from oil-rich Texas, used his initial Iowa swing to pledge allegiance to ethanol.

Many ethanol critics argue that the overwhelming bulk of government subsidies goes to a few giant producers like Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. Backers insist there's a growing legion of smaller producers.

McCain's proposal couldn't come at a worse time for farmers. Commodity prices are at historic lows, and there are fears of a new wave of farm foreclosures. Congressional Democrats have proposed a $10 billion emergency farm bailout.

"Oh, sure, at a time of crisis in farming, take away the one thing that offers a possible solution. and that's ethanol," said Paula Chizek, of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

"We support education, but not at the epxense of ethanol," she added.

Ethanol producers get tax breaks of $1.5 billion a year for producing the fuel.

-Perry

PS- I think its easy for most to see Bush is an idiot by the clueless look in his eyes when he tries to (mis)read the prepared speaches he gives. That and for all he's learned about drugs and alcohol...he wasn't quite able to pass that on to his idiotic daughters. Poor father, poor president, rich daddy, and a tool for the republicans. Even Osama has it out for him.... I won't comment on whether I think that is a good or bad thing