🚀 go-pugleaf

  The following is my latest plan.  It doesn't really contain many
original ideas, but it does (I believe) combine a number of ideas in
a rather unique way.  The details of this plan have not yet been
completely researched, but preliminary research seems encouraging.
  I'm posting this to a number of groups, because, not only is
"getting the sport of the American public" a key point in this plan
but, I want some feedback.  As I said, it's being posted to a number of
groups, most of which I don't read.  So if any productive ideas/info
come out of the discussion of it within this group, I'd appreciate it
if someone volunteered to forward those ideas/info to me (please
include the name of the group you're reading this in when you do).  And
I'm sorry (in advance) to anyone who feels this post doesn't belong in
this group.
  NOTE: I'm a notoriously bad speller, so (despite great care)
there's likely to be errors here; please forgive me :)
  Anyway, here we go.


_THE_CORN_PLAN_

OR

_HOW_TO_SAVE_THE_WORLD_IN_FIVE_EASY_STEPS_)



POINT: The US government gives millions of $ in taxpayer $ each year to
       farmers, so that the farmers can afford to not grow as much corn
       as they could, in order to keep down supply, thereby keeping the
       price of corn (more or less) constant.

POINT: The US is more dependent on foreign oil than ever before (almost
       50% of our oil comes from other countries).

POINT: The last few news worthy wars/battles in which US troops were
       killed, were (forgetting the public rhetoric) over oil.  (I'm
       referring not only to the Gulf War, but also to our involvement
       in Somalia.  Write me if you'd like to know what I'm talking
       about).

POINT: The people living in Alaska want the oil companies to leave (or
       so I'm lead to believe).  They want the pipeline shut down, and
       they want the mess cleaned up.  So do I.

POINT: The Exxon Valdez oil spill attracted a lot of public attention
       (and rightly so!). However, less publicized is that every year
       the Alaskan pipeline leaks oil (in much lesser amounts) into the
       sea, and onto the ground.

POINT: The fuel "big boys" (SUN, Mobile, etc...) spend millions of $
       each year to discourage research into alternative fuels, such as
       methane, ethanol, solar, and hydrogen.

POINT: The Philadelphia Navel Shipyard (and other places like it) are
       targets for spending cuts, which means more people will be out
       of work.

POINT: Experiments being conducted in California indicate that (with
       almost no modification to it's engine) your car will run almost as
       well on pure ethanol (grain alcohol) which would have a
       significant impact on the environment, since ethanol burns so
       much more cleanly.  Some estimates (if a plan similar to this
       one is followed) have the price at the pump being about
       $0.60/gallon, with _very_ slight reduction of your car's fuel
       efficiency (miles/gallon).  By the way, the engine modifications
       would cost you less than $50 (no parts to buy, just some labor,
       and not much of that either).

Here's my plan:

1. Get the "big boys" (instead of spending money on discouraging R&D)
   to spent that same money investing in it.  Long term, they can
   corner the market, since they have the money needed for investing.
2. Shut down the Alaskan pipeline.  Any workers who want to continue
   working for the oil companies can relocate to the new plants (more
   on that soon).  Those that want to stay in Alaska can work to clean
   up the mess the oil companies will end up leaving behind; they can
   join the fishing fleet; whatever.
3. Have the oil companies also build ethanol fuel production plants,
   and start buying corn from the farmers to make it.
4. Have the federal government (instead of spending money to keep corn
   prices artificially high) spent that money on buying any corn left
   over (after the oil companies buy most of it for ethanol
   production) which it could then give (or sell) to countries like
   Ethiopia, the Sudan, Russia, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia...
   where ever the UN relief convoys happen to be this week.
5. Modify some of our oil tankers into cargo ships (jobs for people at
   places like the Philadelphia Navel Shipyard), to transport corn to
   other parts of the world.  The rest of the tankers could be used to
   export ethanol to other countries.

The long term results of this plan:
1. Help at solving the problems of world hunger
2. Helping the US farmer
3. Preventing our military from getting US troops killed over oil
4. Helping the US taxpayer
5. Saving the planet, in a few ways:
  a. Less pollution from cars/trucks
  b. Less oil spills (none from US tankers)
  c. Preserving the Alaskan wilderness
6. Less money into the pockets of oil-rich, power-hungry countries
   like Iraq to spend on weapons (reduced nuclear proliferation).
7. Long term, even the oil companies profit


In order to get all this done, it will take (I suspect) an act of
Congress; therefore, I ask (if you think this is a good idea) that you
send a copy of this plan to: your local congressman, your senators,
and (most importantly) the editorial section of your local newspaper,
in order to "spread the word" so that we, as a nation, can pressure
Congress into pressuring the oil companies into adopting this plan.


As I said, as of yet, I haven't completed my research, but if anyone
has any questions/comments/helpful info/flames, please fell free to
E-mail me.

merlin@clam.rutgers.edu