It seems the guy I've been whole-heartedly supporting, Barack Obama, who has claimed to be beyond the reach of lobbyists, may have fallen into the hands of one of the biggest industries of them all. Read about it here.

There's nothing wrong with the concept of plant-based ethanol. But the science clearly indicates that corn is one of the least efficient crops for raw materials, yielding consumable energy only marginally greater than that required to grow it. The sugar beet and cane crops grown in Brazil for ethanol are exponentially greater in their yield. Can we grow sugar beets in the US? Yes! The sugar beet has been a preferred crop in many parts of the midwest for scores of years. So why are we investing government subsidies and efforts in corn? Because it is in the interest of agribusiness to develop ethanol based on an existing crop with roots already firmly in place.

Sorry. Corn-based ethanol is a lousy solution, and Barack is too smart to support such a boondoggle unless he has some real paybacks due. And isn't that what we've been getting all along?

I'm through donating money to Obama at this point, and, frankly, I am going to take a fresh look at John McCain.