There was a hell of a lot of science that screamed that EtOH was a bad thing - but it was all shouted down at the time as being just part of a liberal agenda.
Finally, at long last, BrentD makes a correct observation. Ethanol production really was a Liberal scam... one of many they use to dupe the people.
BrentD also says that:
"Climate Change is coming boys. And anthropogenic it is. Get used to it."
Actually, climate change has been coming and going for billions of years. And it will continue to happen, driven mainly by the sun, perturbations of the tilt of the axis, and volcanic activity, three sources that dwarf mans' influence on climate. But if you simply ignore the information provided by James (canvasback), or things like the following link, you can make it go away by simply mocking the truth:
http://www.hiltonratcliffe.com/the-myths-of-man-made-climate-change/I'm surprised BrentD isn't blaming climate change and his observed or imagined lack of bugs on the use of lead ammunition.
I wish that was all that was needed. Sadly, I don't think it is half the battle. Even where we have expanses of excellent habitat, we have fewer birds. And fewer everything else. It is not just habitat that is a problem out there. I'm not even sure habitat is the biggest issue anymore (though it certainly was). Now I think it may be toxicity, or something similar anyway. There just aren't the bugs there used to be even down on the bottom lands, even away from the ag fields. Something ain't right.
Now just look at all of the great science in BrentD's statement above. "We have fewer birds. And fewer everything else."
Uh, no. That isn't true at all. We have a lot more hawks, which certainly prey on small game birds and animals. We have a lot more coyotes. Ditto for their predations. Geese are multiplying like rats in many areas, reaching nuisance levels. And we all see the expanded range and populations of wild turkeys. I can't blame herbicides, pesticides, and clean farming for the lack of pheasants in my area because a good percentage of the farms are Amish. And they are not using those chemicals and techniques. They're still using moldboard plows and ancient cultivators pulled by draft horses. There are still plenty of fallow overgrown fields, and plenty of fencerows. The topography dictates that we don't have huge contiguous fields of mono-crop production, but rather a checkerboard of corn, soybeans, clover, alfalfa, spelts, oats, potatoes, timber, orchards, brush, weeds, etc. And as I've stated earlier, nobody is spraying either herbicides or pesticides in our forested ruffed grouse habitat, and there is certainly no shortage of insects. Logging of mixed hardwoods is a big industry, so there is always a mixture of mature forest and recently timbered areas in various stages of regeneration.
I don't have the answers, but I'm still pretty sure it was a huge mistake to permit the harvest of hen pheasants when the population was declining. However I am certain that agenda driven Liberals like BrentD don't have the answers either. But that won't stop them from blowing smoke up your ass.
