Gas prices set new record for seventh consecutive day

You don't really need to eat, right? Just asking.

Gas prices have set record highs in Arizona and across the country for each of the past seven days. According to AAA, the nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $3.76 Wednesday morning, up nearly 3 cents from Tuesday's record high.

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There Is No Gas Shortage

At least not for now anymore than there are catastrophic impacts from climate change and and loss of biodiversity, but they're imminent.

But Washington, Wall Street, and ethanol and oil and gas companies want you to think there is, says automotive expert Ed Wallace

"They see speculation in the market, I see decline in global inventories. I don't think this is a big surprise, that we've had a jump in price when there has been a decrease in crude inventories." - Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, Bloomberg News, Mar. 5, 2008

"It should be obvious to you all that the [gasoline] demand is outstripping supply, which causes prices to go up." - President George W. Bush, Associated Press, Mar. 5, 2008

One wonders if verifiable facts ever get in the way of this administration's statements on issues that are critical to the average American's wellbeing. After all, last time I checked, when politicians are elected to public office, or appointed, as is Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, they must take an oath to the American people before assuming their new positions. How can they forget a sacred oath so quickly? Were they daydreaming when they took it, so it never meant anything to begin with? Maybe it's just another promise you have to make to get into office: When you're securely incumbent you can ignore even solemn oaths you took.

Obviously, the two quotes that led this article came from discussions concerning the current high price for oil on the futures market. Bodman appears to be protecting the speculators in oil, as opposed to looking after the interests of all Americans. President Bush, apparently, has never talked to the Energy Dept.'s Energy Information Agency to see whether gasoline demand is actually up. More troubling, the writer of that particular Associated Press article obviously didn't look up the EIA's numbers to verify the President's assertions. They weren't accurate.

Energy Information Agency.

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The Times They Are A-Changin'

Bob Dylan

Don't you find it clever how I used a headline reminiscent of the era of the original bumper sticker?

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US will stop sending oil into strategic reserves

High gas prices posted at a Shell gas station in
Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday,May 14, 2008, as
a Toyota Prius hybrid drives by. Gas prices roared
above $3.75 a gallon Wednesday, while oil prices
fell as an Energy Department report gave a mixed
picture of the nation's petroleum reserves. At the
pump, the average national price of a gallon of
regular gas rose 2.6 cents overnight to a record
$3.758 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price
Information Service. Gas prices are 67 cents higher
than a year ago, and are expected to continue rising
at least until the Memorial Day weekend.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
File this under: When news sources try to create catastrophes which aren't.

The Energy Department says it has canceled oil shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning in July when the current purchase contract expires.

The move came days after Congress passed legislation requiring the president to suspend the shipment into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline prices.

...

The reserve is 97 percent full, holding 701 million barrels of crude.

I'm sorry, but 97 fucking percent seems pretty fine at present.

I do think, from a layman's point of view, the measly oil reserve shipments will affect the price of oil as much as SPIIDERWEB™ affects foreign policy. Its all politics, folks, and don't ya forget it.

BTW, I predicted $5 oil (can't find the fucking link). I may have shot too low.

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