Tim. Osama. Tim. Osama

If Minnesota is on its way to becoming the Saudi Arabia of renewable fuels, then Tim Pawlenty is the new Osama bin Laden.

“The Saudi Arabia of renewable fuels.” He really said that. What’s next? Minnesota: the Kuwait of Ethanol. The United Arab Emirates of Biomass. The Syria of Sugar Beets. The Lebanon of Learning. The Iran of Schools.

Rhetorically, Tim’s on to something here.

Parked in front of St Paul’s Grand Avenue Super America gas station, surrounded by black shirts, enabled by portly State Representative Greg Davids, Tim signed the new ethanol bill into law.

Ethanol, if you haven’t heard, is the newest farm subsidy. This bill, requiring all gas sold in Minnesota to eventually contain twenty percent ethanol, enjoyed wide-ranging support. It’s the feel-good hit of the legislative session and who can blame Tim for wanting to crash one more party? Anyway, implementation requires a federal government waiver. The feds won’t sign. The ethanol requirement lives to be flogged to death another time.

I hope stays with the comparative perspective. Minnesota could become the Russia of hospitals. The Burma of dentistry. The Uganda of roads. The Kansas of Science.

So many empty platitudes; so little time.

PE