I have enjoyed making snarky comments about the gas prices and the complete failure of the democrat leadership to do anything about it.  Bad enough that prices have doubled since the democrats were elected, but now that they are historically high, they are paralyzed by the necessity to pander to their environmental base.

And make no mistake, that’s what this is all about.  The democrats know the environmental lobby has a huge voice and they don’t want to be seen as caving in to the pressures of the evil oil barons.

Some friends of mine and I have been having a spirited debate about this, and we all tend to agree that dependency on foreign oil is a problem.  But, I wonder how many people realize that the biggest importer of oil and petroleum to the US is not a bunch of greedy Arabs, it is Canada.  Not only that, but 40% of our oil imports come from non OPEC countries.  Canada and Mexico alone sell us about one third of our imports. 

Or that while we import 10 million barrels a day or so, we produce more then 5 Million domestically.

Order tossed for I-912 backers

The Washington Supreme Court has thrown out a judge’s order that forced backers of a anti-gasoline-tax initiative to report the online-air activities of two Seattle talk-show hosts as in-kind campaign contributions in 2005.

All nine justices agreed that the lower court ruling by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham was incorrect on free-speech grounds.

They issued two separate decisions Thursday to explain their views in the case, which dealt with KVI Radio hosts John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur.

The backers of Initiative 912, who had sought unsuccessfully to overturn the gasoline-tax increases, now are considering whether to pursue a civil-rights claim for damages against the prosecutors in San Juan County, Seattle and other jurisdictions in the case.

“This is a vindication of free speech and freedom of the press, and a direct and clear repudiation of the use of Washington’s campaign finance laws to intimidate and harass media voices with which the government disagrees,” William Maurer, executive director of the Institute for Justice’s Washington Chapter, said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

The lawmakers on Capital Hill are frantic tio take the gas crisis and turn it to a partisan advantage.  President Bush speaks about our addiction to foreign oil, while the Politicians on the left accuse him of being cozy with big oil companies and everyone around them scream for an investigatoin into oil profits and price gouging.,

I am of two minds about the last item.  Living in a free market economy we have to deal with prices that inflate due to market speculations and demand.  It happens.  That said, I think there should be some scrutiny to ensure that the players are not greasing the process to their profit outrageously.

As for the big oil and republican conspiracies, I would say it’s just a baseless aprtisan attack.  But it resonates with the people and the dems know it.

Bush though is on the track to the heart of the issue.  We are too dependent on foriegn oil and our habits are hurting us.

Ann Coulter points out the inherent hypocrisy in the Democrat’s wailing and gnashing of teeth over high gas prices. 

It’s Hard Out Here For A Pump

By: Ann Coulter

I would be more interested in what the Democrats had to say about high gas prices if these were not the same people who refused to let us drill for oil in Alaska, imposed massive restrictions on building new refineries, and who shut down the development of nuclear power in this country decades ago.

But it’s too much having to watch Democrats wail about the awful calamity to poor working families of having to pay high gas prices.

Imposing punitive taxation on gasoline to force people to ride bicycles has been one of the left’s main policy goals for years.

For decades Democrats have been trying to raise the price of gasoline so that the working class will stop their infernal car-driving and start riding on buses where they belong, while liberals ride in Gulfstream jets.