Get ready to get screwed @ the pump again

I'm so getting sick of this crap, and the only comfort I have is that I'm not alone. It seems like every time someone sneezes in the Middle East, it's an excuse for gas companies to hold economies hostage. What really angers me is that it seems like there's nothing we can do about it.

It's high time we elect some people who are willing to DO something about this. Honestly, until we have meaningful campaign finance reform in this country, I'm not at all confident that any of our politicians will beat back Big Oil. But, in the meantime, who do you think is the better party to take on Big Oil? If you answered "Republican," you desperately need to be confined to a political re-education camp.

(At top) Emily Bruce marches through the streets of San Francisco on Sunday, March 18, 2007, to mark the fourth anniversary of U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Today, ABC News reports that San Francisco is hurting with some of the highest gas prices in the nation (left), and in some places it's well over $4 a gallon.

Grrrrrrrrreat.

On top of it all, we are entering the time of year where oil companies typically raise prices because travel increases in the summer.

I sure would like to see Congress do some investigating of Big Oil and their reported "record profits." And when I say "investigating," I don't mean the typical, garden-variety press conference where politicians decry high gas prices, and then little more happens. I mean an investigation with teeth.

From ABC News today:

Nothing moves the price of gasoline more than the price of oil, and fears that the standoff over Britons held captive in Iran will lead to a major disruption in the supply of Middle East oil is taking an escalating toll on gas prices here in the United States.

At many gas stations in San Francisco today, the cost of filling up was well over $4 a gallon.

San Francisco may have the most expensive gas in the country, but prices are rising all over. In the last eight weeks, even before the current standoff with Iran, prices jumped 44 cents to a national average of $2.61 a gallon — 11 cents higher than a year ago.

Gas prices often shoot up in the spring, as refineries make the switch to summer-blend gasolines, creating glitches in supply. But the standoff with Iran has inflicted a double whammy on prices.

"I believe crude oil prices are going to continue to rise 50 cents to $1 each," said John Kilduff, an oil trader for Fimat USA, "and every day that this goes on until they stabilize at some point above $70 a barrel."

For now, consumers are grousing, but most seem not to be driving any less.

"At this point," said Mike Pina of AAA, "a lot of Americans are saying, 'Prices are high, but I've seen higher,' so they are not at the point yet where Americans are starting to change their travel plans."

Many consumers seem to be resigned to a new normal of higher and fluctuating gas prices.

Economists say a national average of $3 a gallon is probably the tipping point where driving habits change.

(Top photo - AP/Noah Berger)