"Everything about ethanol is good, good, good," crows Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, echoing the conventional wisdom that corn-based ethanol will help us kick the oil habit, line the pockets of farmers and usher in a new era of guilt-free motoring.

But despite the wishes of Iowans (and the candidates courting them), the "dot-corn bubble" is too good to be true.

- Cameron Scott, Mother Jones