Laughing all the way to the bank

There is a billboard on interstate 94 that runs across North Dakota. I laugh aloud at the irony every time we pass it. In case the print is too small to read, here is what it says: Be American, Use Ethanol. Although I appreciate the fact that family members have jobs in the ethanol industry I just can't embrace it as the only way to "be American". The fact that the billboard is in central ND and not a couple hundred miles away in a corn growing state is funny.

But the real reason I laugh is because we would not be where we are today without the oil industry in western ND.  The town that billboard is in would not be the town it is without oil money. So many little towns in western ND would probably not exist today without the current oil boom. Eric and I would probably still both be working full time, barely getting by with no end in sight. When I took this picture I was driving a huge SUV we couldn't have bought two years ago, filled with kids we can now afford for me to stay home and raise, to the farm we thought we were never going to be able to buy. So I would have to say that ethanol has done nothing for us but raise the price of food for us and feed for cows.  Be American, drill oil here!