Paul Johnson's "Ethanol & the Energy Freedom Revolution" Video

Here it is at last, ladies and gents ...

Now, for some reason I can't quite figure out at the moment, this video is putting me in mind of the segment from Carl Sagan's Cosmos when Sagan was demonstrating the elements and simple compounds that make up the human body.

This is Paul Johnson - I've been trying to figure out a good short description of him - sort of like Denmark Vesey calls himself the Blackest man in America - I'm tempted to say Paul Johnson is the Americanest man on the planet, but I'm sure that would get a fight started.

Onto this specific video.

Now, despite the fact that I disagree with Paul Johnson quite a bit of the time, I'd have to say he's probably on the right track with this one.

I'm not sure if his numbers are exactly right, but I'd have to say I'm pretty sure of the fact that it takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than you'd ever get out of it.

In Paul Johson's video, however, he demonstrates how you've got an energy, and therefore fiscal negative on EVERY gallon of ethanol produced.

He starts out with a gallon of E85 - the 85% ethanol blend that can be used in certain newer "flex fuel" vehicles - selling for $4.00/gallon at the time this video was produced.

To make that gallon of E85, you need 1/3 bushel of corn worth $2.50 + 1.12 gallon of gasoline to refine it worth $5.50 + $2.50 for labor and overhead = $10.00/gallon. Paul Johnson says the $6.00 difference comes from Uncle Sam picking your pocket every 15th of April.

Like I said - I don't know if his dollar figures are exactly correct, but, having done the experiment myself when I was in a special physics program for gifted high school students at Xavier, at this latitude the solar flux is only 700 watts/square meter and that's on a completely clear day in full blazing sunlight.

I don't think there's any way on God's green Earth that CORN is a terribly efficient solar energy converter. I've been told that in Brazil, where the solar flux is closer to 1000 watts/square meter, that sugar cane does a much better job, but I'm having difficulty believing that too.

Paul Johnson goes on to say that we ought to have "energy rallies".

Uh huh.

I sent a letter to Senator Sherrod Brown asking what steps he could take to begin work on a Constitutional amendment so that CHILD RAPISTS could be EXECUTED and this is the utterly lackluster reply I got:



No wonder people have given up trying to influence their legislators. If this is all the reaction you can get about CHILD RAPISTS, I'm betting you couldn't get a PULSE about ethanol.

Now - back to Paul Johnson's video ...

Well, in my first post about Paul Johnson I was saying I couldn't tell from his 55KRC radio spots if he was trying to sell insurance or trying to be elected to office - now I'm starting to wonder if he's really trying to be a history professor. Although, I think he's on the right track showing some of the things the Revolutionary War patriots fought with. If I ever do get my documentation together to join the Sons of the American Revolution I may have to borrow some of Paul Johnson's farm implements.

However - note to Paul Johnson's production crew - pick a white balance and stick with it, people! The shifts from blood red to pale blue ...

[[Light bulb]]

Is Paul Johnson starting to turn into the Hulk???

Also (don't you love all this free production advise - I have a degree in this stuff you know :) ) - get a 2nd camera, people - they're cheap now.

I know the syncing is going to be a little rough, but it SHOULD be possible even with MovieMaker. Some of the jump cuts in this thing are JARRING.

Don't get me wrong - you're on the right track - in some ways it looks better than some of the early stuff I produced for Public Access, but I only had TWO VHS MACHINES and a PRIMITIVE edit controller to work with, y'all. You have COMPUTERS.

But, all in all, a good first effort ... I'll have to set up an RSS feed on the YouTube ID "pauljohnsoninsurance" to watch for more of these ...

Related:
MillionEnergyUserMarch - by Personal Injury Attorney Eric Deters