So. Gas Prices. Oil Addictions. Hmm.

Seattle weather report: crappy. But in lieu of buying a ticket to a warmer undisclosed location much, much further south, I'm resolved to stay indoors & write about a topic that seems to have brought Americans out of their lethargy & general disinterest in politics: their god-given right to drive their big freakin' trucks, Hummers, & SUV's, & GAS PRICES interfering with that right.

Or that's what the GOP thinks, anyway, & they're forcing George to appear to do something to address it (plus it has the added benefit of distracting the populace from the things going on in other countries. If we have too much time on our hands we all might start exerting ourselves & catch on.)

Of course, George is as inept at this chore as any other, but (I sense) even more so, because George & his family & Cheney, of course, are all OIL MEN. Surely they don't think Americans could have forgotten that important fact.

So. Ho-hum. I apologize, but I can't get excited, y'all. I think it's just an attempt by the GOP to show they care about us ordinary people's problems when they really just don't give a shit. Now they want us to believe we matter to them.

Proposals on the table currently: $100 tax rebate checks (haha!). Congressional investigations into oil companies' record profits (helped some by tax breaks, and we aren't talking piddly $100 checks THERE), so Bush has made noise about rescinding them, which has gotten great play in the U.S. press, but check out the more thorough reporting by the BBC, & you'll realize it's all a shell game.

Everything Bush proposes to "do" about the problem that will adversely affect the oil industry in any meaningful way is only temporary. They'll go back to business as usual the instant the notoriously short-attention-spanned voters look away.

(BTW, to prove this is all kabuki theatre for the unitiated, investigations into price-gouging are state-law based functions, not a federal matter. It's all for show!)

However, you can bet the farm & your bippy that the condition that oil companies be allowed to drill in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge attached to the proposal addressing the $100 tax break will NOT be temporary. I really can't believe they haven't gotten the message there. No, I personally would not consider it a fair trade--my piddly little tax break for the Alaska Wildlife Refuge.

In the meantime, did y'all know that Brazil, with a huge number of autos, is ENTIRELY oil-independent. That's right. They grow their fuel. They've broken their addiction to oil, & have been that way some time.

Bush has thought of that, of course. I saw him say on TV last night we are looking into that, too, but, he remarked, we can't turn all of it into fuel--we have to eat some, too. Seriously. Lessee, now: oil, corn. Oil, corn. Think about that conundrum a bit, George, which is easier to grow more of & get back to me when you've had sufficient time to cogitate.

The oil industry has got to see the handwriting on the wall, but they're bound & determined to manipulate & milk every last dollar before they go.

In the meantime, somebody sent me this handy web-gizmo for scoping out the cheapest gas prices in your zip code. Search for MSN Auto gas prices zip code. Use it.

And please, rethink whether you really need or use that big honkin' SUV. Now would be the time to dump it if your only use for it is urban. Get my drift?