Has it really been 9 days since our last update? Where does the time go? Oh yeah, to work and grad school. Right.

Anyway, we do have some good news to report for once: a taxpayer-owned garbage-to-ethanol plant is in the works for rural Schneider, Indiana. This is good news for Indiana, whose ethanol industry has hit some major snags thanks to the economic downturn.

Land negotiations between Indiana Ethanol Power LLC and Lake County waste management officials actually began last year, but Schneider locals have recently been concerned as to the politics behind the plant - former state Democratic Party chairman Michael Pannos did legal work to help secure the land it was built on - but local waste management swears up and down that he doesn’t have a controlling stake in the plant.

In fact, Lake County Solid Waste Management District Director Jeffrey Langbehn took time to “reassure the public that…the county waste district will own the land and buildings as protection against its being abused by anyone for private gain at public expense.” And we here at Corn Car can certainly trust a man with such an ostentatious job title. He must print his business cards on bookmarks. Sheesh.

Anyway, we agree with Green Car Congress’ followers about this being a fabulous local/regional energy solution. It may seem like a trivial story to follow, but if larger, dirtier cities like Chicago or Baltimore tried this, it could really catch on. Hell, there’s probably enough junk at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay right now to keep Charm City’s lights on for decades.

Well, the global warming bill has been approved by the Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, but the New York Times doesn’t take that as a sign that the bill itself is going anywhere. Their reasoning, as quoted by the Charleston Gazette, is that “rising joblessness has amplified attacks from critics who deride [President] Obama’s energy policy as a big-government ‘cap and tax’ plan.” In other words, the Democrats are once again hobbled by baseless criticism from the peanut gallery. The bewildering resistance to this bill is explained further, and perhaps better, by the Center for Public Integrity’s Stalemate In Copenhagen project, which shines a light on “fossil fuel industries and other heavy carbon emitters” who’ve been trying to gum up the works. Coal is a big one here, as evidenced by Don Blankenship’s Appalachian Friends of America rallies, where attendees listen to country music and “learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs.”

And even if that wasn’t an issue, actual debate on global warming legislation probably won’t start until next year anyway; according to Sen. John Rockefeller, “some people are talking about not doing it until after the 2010 election.” Sounds like what a lot of them tell their wives, actually.

In times like these, there’s only one thing most citizens who aren’t lobbyists and therefore still count as human beings can do: nag the hell out of your representatives’ office staff. Find out who to write/call at USA.gov and get to work! We did elect them to represent us, after all - maybe they need to be reminded of that.

Well, while Democrats try to force the global warming bill through the Senate and Republicans threaten to kill it in committee with a boycott, F.O. Licht’s World Ethanol 2009 12th annual conference is being held in Paris this week. Countries like the United States, Brazil, India, France, and Nigeria are being represented and sharing their views on global ethanol development. One of our representatives, Renewable Fuels Association CEO/President Bob Dinneen,  will look at “expanding ethanol markets and addressing unsubstantiated claims about the environmental impact of ethanol.” So at least SOMEONE can address the topic like an adult.

Meanwhile, the rest of us get Barbara Boxer and George Voinovich interrupting each other over a retarded semantics disagreement and conservative pundits smearing anyone who speaks up about the issue as a fanatic hippie moonbat. And that’s not even counting the Midwestern contingent who can’t debate this issue for more than ten seconds without tripping over their own dicks trying to monopolize it for political points.

Anyway, now that we’ve thoroughly bummed ourselves out, we’re gonna stop here and hope for the best. But we need something to cheer us up. Some hot chicks posing next to an electric car should do it.