Since when does the president set the price of gas? Only Congress can pass a law that will help with the gas prices and this congress is far too busy making sure that there will be a Democratic president to consider helping out the people of this country. All they have to do is announce that they are considering allowing drilling in the rest of Alaska and the price of oil would drop.

The Pope, his Holiness, said something very interesting the other day concerning sex. He cautioned against sex as becoming an addiction. I would suppose that the true gift of making love is procreation. And was told to us, those partying Israelites of 3000 years ago became fornicators too. Was that instant gratification ?

If we are talking about a dependence on foreign oil then the word dependence leads to inferring that the United States is addicted to oil. So, there is a need for oil but how much of that need is addictive usage of the oil stimulating our pleasure centers seeking instant gratification to a point of a dependence ?

I can't answer that question directly. I do know as a adolescent, I wasted alot of gasolene seeking instant gratification. I loved to cruise in heavy vehicles, known to drive to the shore on an instant impulse, riding motorcycles and snowmobiles as a source of recreation. By the way in these here parts, there are alot of used four wheelers for sale. I suppose a lack of disposable income and the price of fuel has forced some families to give up some of their toys.

If one could carry a very open mind, we could look at oil, cocaine, alcohol, weed and gambling as God's gifts which are prone to being abused to a point of dependency or addiction. Apparently Providence put tobacco on this earth for some reason just as the peanut was put on this earth. However, I don't know of a Peanuts Anonymous. And I have not heard of a Gasolene Anonymous as yet. But as in the case of booze, maybe the regulators have stepped in legislating Detroit into making vehicles higher fuel efficient vehicles.

Someone(s) told me that a drug is a drug is a drug. Former cocaine addicts are urged to stay away from even beer as it seems over stimulating those pleasure centers with alcohol could set off cravings for a higher stimulation of those same pleasure centers with cocaine. I see ethanol much the same. Ethanol is just an enabler of an addiction to oil.

Ethanol does not reduce the dependence or abuse of transportation. I see it as leading to a higher form of dependence such as crack cocaine. Ethanol added to deisel is now the crack fuel drug of choice mandated by Congress. And a drug is a drug is a drug. Now like farmers growing cocaine or opium as the main crash crop instead of food staples, people will move to ethanol products leading to further starvation in the world. Was that a good move ? An alcoholic parent will spend disposable income on booze instead of bread too.

So, maybe the subprime housing crisis was caused in part by instant gratification of security needs. And that people over bought through enablement of Bankers. Where there is addiction there are the dealers. Heroin is sold on street corners and the DEA knows it's all about supply and demand. So the dealers down in Texas are capitalizing on the addicts of oil. And now we have crack fuel which is causing food riots elsewhere in the world. I submit that even a very short term fix of a thirty dollar rebate is not the answer, that renewable energy sources or tapping ANWAR are not an intermediate fix and that long term solutions are still being ignored by the majority today. Maybe the answer is not to fill up once and awhile, there are people starving in Africa.

The Pope, his Holiness, said something very interesting the other day concerning sex. He cautioned against sex as becoming an addiction. I would suppose that the true gift of making love is procreation. And was told to us, those partying Israelites of 3000 years ago became fornicators too. Was that instant gratification ?

If we are talking about a dependence on foreign oil then the word dependence leads to inferring that the United States is addicted to oil. So, there is a need for oil but how much of that need is addictive usage of the oil stimulating our pleasure centers seeking instant gratification to a point of a dependence ?

I can't answer that question directly. I do know as a adolescent, I wasted alot of gasolene seeking instant gratification. I loved to cruise in heavy vehicles, known to drive to the shore on an instant impulse, riding motorcycles and snowmobiles as a source of recreation. By the way in these here parts, there are alot of used four wheelers for sale. I suppose a lack of disposable income and the price of fuel has forced some families to give up some of their toys.

If one could carry a very open mind, we could look at oil, cocaine, alcohol, weed and gambling as God's gifts which are prone to being abused to a point of dependency or addiction. Apparently Providence put tobacco on this earth for some reason just as the peanut was put on this earth. However, I don't know of a Peanuts Anonymous. And I have not heard of a Gasolene Anonymous as yet. But as in the case of booze, maybe the regulators have stepped in legislating Detroit into making vehicles higher fuel efficient vehicles.

Someone(s) told me that a drug is a drug is a drug. Former cocaine addicts are urged to stay away from even beer as it seems over stimulating those pleasure centers with alcohol could set off cravings for a higher stimulation of those same pleasure centers with cocaine. I see ethanol much the same. Ethanol is just an enabler of an addiction to oil.

Ethanol does not reduce the dependence or abuse of transportation. I see it as leading to a higher form of dependence such as crack cocaine. Ethanol added to deisel is now the crack fuel drug of choice mandated by Congress. And a drug is a drug is a drug. Now like farmers growing cocaine or opium as the main crash crop instead of food staples, people will move to ethanol products leading to further starvation in the world. Was that a good move ? An alcoholic parent will spend disposable income on booze instead of bread too.

Driving hybrids and burning natural gas are both patriotic acts. Burning natural gas divides the greenhouse effect of having gas, (please not in the elevator if you can possibly help it) by a factor of 25. I failed to mention that.

I drive a hybrid too and I'm retired. Mine goes as far as 720 miles per tank and I don't commute so the last time I bought gas it was cheaper so I hear but they're waiting for me I'm sure of that. I idle the time I have left away burning electrons with my computer instead.

Correct about the oil companies getting the "tax holiday." In order for the consumer to reap the benefit the oil company must change the price on the pump, far from automatic. Probably too much work to do that unless the price is going up or they need more business.

CO2, the product of burning fossil fuels is a minor contributor to the "greenhouse" effect. It could be none at all but surely doesn't help. To understand what I am saying you must take the quantity of fuels burned on a periodic basis. Then calculate all the heat that comes from burning it all at once. It's enough to "heat" the atmosphere. Not a lot of course but we're only talking about a degree more or less. Heat released into the atmosphere has no where to go other than to be further exhausted into space, radiated.

The polar ice caps will melt. The only way to stop them is to remove a whole lot of people from earth. We are all heat engines exhausting heat into the atmosphere. And, we need to cook our food as well as see at night and get around town. The only way to save the ice is a catrastrophy beyond imagination, plague, nuclear war or something equally capable of reducing the human population of this planet. Just to suggest doing it on purpose is enough to be labeled the devil himself. Mother earth most likely has the solution up here sleve. How much more she will take remains to be seen.

Anyhow, I agree totally with your conclusion about "tax relief" at the pump. In my opinion the huge run up in oil price is a kneejerk reaction to the fact that oil is about to be replaced with other means. T Boon Pickens is on the right trail. Natural things naturally. Wind, sun and surf to turn on the lights and natural gas for transportation.

Natural gas is the real wolf up and about causing the "greenhouse" effect. It's 25 times more greenhousie than CO2 and like our body heat is being generated by us and all rotting plants, animal and human digestion as well as being in pockets below the earth's surface. Think about plugging your car into a natural gas outlet in your garage for 5 minutes to recharge it as compared to all night to recharge a battery. Service stations will must to get back to service in the future. If my car wasn't fuel injected I would have already bought my last gallon of gas. FI is just a handicap and not a stopper.

The oil interests know the voice of reason will not be ignored forever. They're grabbing all they can as they wait to be thrown out the door.

I posted a response to THETRUTH six hours ago, and it hasn't shown up yet. So I guess off-topic campaign propaganda is OK, but reasoned discussion isn't.

The gas tax holiday is certainly BS, ...at least for the average consumer. It might help truckers, thus control inflation a bit, ...but if the corporations who are turning record profits don't pay their share, they'll just take the profits they make while the roads they use to make their money at public expense further deteriorate.

obviously, the possibility of taxing the profits of oil companies, insurance companies, etc, is out of the table. No one dares to face these people. The only source of revenues in this country is the working class. With all the power our congress has in its hands, no one can figure out how to tax the billionaires in this country.

If they wanted, they could come up with laws to prohibit the increase in gas if the tax break were to be passed. They just don't want to annoy those who fill their coffers.

Over-taxing the people is what killed the roman empire.

What exactly does any of the comments below me have to do with this article? Go Hillary, not Barack. Oh please...

Anyway, I whole heartedly agree with your article, and out of all the candidates, the only one who didn't propose a gas tax holiday, in fact he outright denied the concept as an act of pandering to voters. Obama is truthful, honest and very intelligent, and our best hope for leadership in the coming years.