I saw recently that Bush was meeting with Saudi Prince Abdullah in an effort to convince the Saudi´s to increase their oil production and lower prices. Then, I saw yesterday that Bush was giving a prime time speech because his approval rating is at its´ lowest point in years. Even if the Saudi´s do this, it´s simply a band-aid that would allow us to ignore the bigger problem for a few months or a year. And let me state the obvious -- I wish I was around to watch that moron spit out sentence fragments on national tv again. It´s almost as good as a Family Guy episode.

The most appalling thing about all this is the profits being raked in by oil companies. Record highs, constantly. Exxon Mobil first quarter profits for 2005 - up 44%. Am I the only person who has a problem with this price gouging? What´s worse is that this 44% rise in profits was below expectations. That´s scary...

The price for a gallon of gas here is anywhere from $5.50-$6.00. What are they in the states now? Anywhere from $2.50-$3.00? Seems like a bargain to me at this point and maybe we should actually come to grips with the fact that oil is a finite resource and it might be time to think about convservation, renewable energy, better mass transportation and other methods of saving fuel. The US probably has the lowest gas prices in the world, I´m just guessing, but I wouldn´t be surprised. If not the world, probably the lowest outside the Middle East (though there are lines for gas in Iraq right now...go figure).

It´s inevitable and the longer we wait to look elsewhere for energy, the harder it will be when the bill comes due. And anyone who lets themselves be fooled by talk of "drilling for oil in Alaska" is being downright obtuse. It will take a minimum of 7-10 years for us to see any benefit from that. It is no solution.

I´m going to Lisbon, I´ll let you know what gas costs there next week.

Holla...