Well, you can disagree about the "we are not using food for fuel" statement I made, but I just recommend, that when you are on a vacation or road trip, that you take the time to go see a major biofuels refinery and let them tell you what they are making out of the corn that comes in there and how much gets back into the food supply. It will probably be a real eye opener.
I haul a lot of feed product from the Blair, NE biofuels refinery. There is not any wasted product that goes into that facility. Hundreds of truck loads, container loads, and rail car loads of both livestock feed supplement and food product comes out of that facility daily. Whenever I am in that area, I usually will go in a pick up a load of Biolys, which is a high protein feed supplement. It is an essential product in livestock feed, especially poultry production and egg production. It would not be a stretch to say that over 100 tons of that product, every day, is produced there. And that is just one of dozens of different products made at that facility that revolves around the ethanol production.
You can have your preconceived notions about how this all works all you want. People believe all sorts of things. But the educated person will look into things for themselves and not rely on internet comments or only read things that play into their own preconceived notions about how the world turns. All I suggest is that you go visit and tour a major ethanol plant and see for yourself. Just count the number of trucks and rail cars taking food product from ethanol production out of those plants for distribution here and world wide.
And liberal? Man, I am probably one of the few that want it all.... wind, nuclear, NG, propane, solar, gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, etc, etc, etc. I want every type of fuel and power source available so that energy is cheap and abundant. That is a very capitalist idea. Not every fuel or power source is perfect for all situations.
As for ethanol being so bad and a lousy fuel economic wise, then you would be hard pressed to explain how the new engines in development are getting as much power from E85 as the same engines get from diesel, and do so more economically. GM has been testing a 3.2L EBDI engine that gets the same HP and Torque from 3.2L on E85 as the 6.6L Duramax Diesel. And better mpg. And that engine, which is being tested in GM 3500HD pickups, reduces net weight from the vehicle by over 400 lbs. No DPF like diesel, no SCR like diesel, just simple cat converters. Cummins just released a news article about how they have been testing a 2.8L inline 4 using E85. Not sure about how some folks see it, but 250HP and 450 lb torque from that 2.8L running E85 is pretty impressive. Better torque than a lot of V8's, and gets there lower in the RPM band. Again, lighter and cheaper than a comparable diesel engine and yet easily equivalent or more in power and economy.
Now in all fairness, E85 might not be as cost effective in some areas of the country. But in areas like the midwest where it can regularly be 70 cents to a dollar cheaper in price than regular gas, having an engine that can give you the power and economy of a diesel and do so on a fuel that is well below the price of gas or diesel is a plus in my book. Just hope they get these new engines as an option soon. And that would free up gas and diesel for other areas of the country, where E85 is not as cost effective. Everyone wins. And truth be told, the more E85 gets used, the less demand there is to have gasoline blended with ethanol in the form of E10 or E15. The Renewable Fuels Act standard just specifies the percentage of ethanol and biodiesel in total, not the percentage per gallon. The states and municipalities play into how it is blended and whether regular gas is available or not.