The price of gas

Gas is now up to $3.59 for full-serve regular at the station on the corner of Harned Rd. and Rt. 454 in Commack. So why is it so expensive these days? There has to be a simple reason that can be put at the feet of liberals, who as we all know control this country these days.

Is it...

1. Obscene payouts to oil execs, like Lee Raymond of ExxonMobil getting $400 million in thanks?
2. An administration that gives oil companies huge tax breaks, and actually tried to rescind earlier taxes in the month after 9/11?
3. General price gouging and collusion among oil companies, as exemplified by post-Katrina prices?
4. An administration that mocks conservation as just a personal virtue?
5. The selfish culture of SUVs and I-deserve-it-ism that infects American culture?
6. An illegal war launched against a country that produces oil, followed by disruptions in supply?
7. A government in Venezuela that is trying to undermine us by, er, supplying cheap heating oil to poor inner-city residents in the United States?
8. An energy policy that consists of drilling in the ANWR for a small supply as the "answer" to our problems?
9. The fact that we've reached peak oil but no one is willing to address the issue?
10. Our need to compete for the remaining oil against rising industrial powers like China and India, even as they grow more quickly due to American outsourcing so that our upper executives can show higher profits?

Hahaha, sucker! It's entirely the fault of the environmentalists. Because they got all whiny about all that cancer-causing MTBE. Because they blocked new refineries (even though it was the oil companies who depressed capacities to raise profits - by 80% from 1999 to 2004).

Please! Don't look at the administration or the oil companies. It's all those meddlesome scapegoats' faults!

Oh, and don't forget that in 2000, Bush spent months attacking Gore for not having an energy policy. What was Bush's solution to lower prices then? "The short-term solution is to remind our friends overseas who their friend is." Over five years later, see if you can articulate Bush's energy policy.

Current polling numbers:

People who think Bush is doing a good job: 33%
People who believe in guardian angels: 46%