Is ethanol the answer?

Out here in California, we're seeing ads with Bill Clinton, among others, extolling the virtues of freeing ourselves from foreign oil. The answer being pushed in Proposition 87 is almighty ethanol, the corn-based wonder fuel. I don't think I'm buying it. Ethanol backers, come to its defense please and lay it out for me. (Note: I haven't read the proposition summation in full in my voter's guide, I skimmed over it. I got as far as prop 85 and had to put it down before it put me to sleep)

From my perspective, taking corn (or other such grain crops) and using them for fuel (at least in part because their fuel value is higher than their food value on the open market) does not seem like the right idea. Not even taking into consideration the bleeding heart notion of starving people in the developing world to feed our SUV's, I see it like this: Not only does grain serve as a foodstuff, and an export, it also serves as a backbone for other the other food industries. If we sacrifice our grain to make fuel, we will have less to use in cattle/poultry farming, which will decrease those outputs, which would decrease outputs of dairy, eggs, and, possibly, footballs.

I think other alternative energy sources should be developed if we are talking about a sustainable shift in energy use. The world population doubled in the last 45 years, and is expected to double again in the next 40 years. At that rate, if the Western world is using even 10-15% of its grain output in fuel production, the effect on the food supply could result in even more widespread hunger than there is now. Now, if it is possible to do this without decreasing our current supply of grain products, adding the necessary acreage to grow the corn rather than using what we currently use, that could make me more inclined to approve of it.

The gas/electric hybrid seems to be the best option on the table, if only the car companies would see fit to produce them at a rate commensurate with demand. There have been millions (maybe billions) spent advertising to people to use public transportation, but I think if more money were spent improving these means and making them more convenient(especially city buses, they all seem filthy and unsafe, and never seem to stop where people live) people might make better use of them.

Wind and solar are also energy sources starting to be used, though their relation to automotive fuel have not, to my knowledge, become practically available.

I wonder if our over-reliance on foreign oil has as much to do with fuel as it does with the over-plasticizing of our country. Sooooo many things are made of plastic. I wonder if there is a way to work recycled plastic or rubber into a usable fuel source, seeing as it is made from crude oil as well.

I don't know, I just think there have to be better ideas out there than pouring our corn into our fuel tanks, no? Maybe there's a way we can glean some energy from the tens/hundreds of millions of tons of food we throw away every year. Is there?

Obviously, there is no one cure-all that will make crude oil obsolete in this country, and we'll likely need to adapt to using multiple fuel sources, but I think the legislation being proposed right now that pledges to do that is still a bit myopic. Ethanol may be AN answer, part of the solution, but it is a far cry from THE answer.