Bush II; Day 535: The only answer for high gas prices

I have been meaning to blog about this entire gas price cluster-f*ck for a long time now, but find myself just overwhelmed by the urge to poke my eyeballs out when thinking about it. Here are the roiling, conflicting thoughts in my head:

1. The U.S. has historically enjoyed much lower gas prices than the rest of the world. Maybe it would encourage us to be more conscious of our wastefulness if it really started to hurt us in the pocketbook. The problem is that the higher prices don't really seem to be lowering demand, so so much for that idea.

2. And not only does demand seem to persist, but the oil companies are raking it in hand over fist, so it's not like these higher prices are only matching their inceased expenses. And that's just disgusting.

3. And what kind of special hypocrisy does it take to say out of one side of your mouth that you want the FTC to investigate potential price gouging, and then say out of the other that you're pretty sure there is none. The special kind of hypocrisy that only Dubya knows.

4. And why am I not surprised that one of Dubya's very first "ideas" is to ease environmental restrictions.

The whole thing is just very aggravating, no?

Bonus Links: Tips for driving more fuel efficiently from Treehugger.com