Nice try, W

Looks like the Pres is up to his old tricks again. He's going to halt rising gas prices for his faithful constituents. His plan includes sending a letter to each state, encouraging them to be on the watch for price gouging. Thanks a lot, W, that's just what we needed.

What he forgot to mention, or perhaps has never been aware of, is that the rising gas prices have been directly caused by his own legislation, never mind his invasion of oil-producing countries.

The Democrats, given a golden opportunity to roast Bush for his own failing policies, instead sunk into their usual morass of attacking oil companies:

Democrats said Republicans would be held accountable for "turning a blind eye" to soaring gasoline costs and for failing to support legislation to give the FTC more authority to go after oil companies for price gouging.

Is the truth too difficult to swallow for the Americal public? Big Business Is Out To Screw The Little Guy may be rhetoric simple enough to resonate with Joe Sixpack, but I'm a bit disappointed that Democrats have resorted to this parlor trick before even attempting to propagate the truth. It's insulting, it smacks of desperation, and it's anti-intellectual.

As with every situation in life, this one can be summed up by a Simpsons quote. Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos. Their ubiquity can be breathtaking.

Update: Bush announced a second part to his plan, limiting deposits to the strategic oil reserve. This is slightly better than his original letter-sending campaign. It should alleviate a small amount of demand for oil, which may cause the price to come down slightly. However, it does nothing to abate the fears in the market that he's going to nuke Iran tomorrow, and it does nothing to fix the artificial constraints on gasoline supply that was created by his own energy legislation.

Check out the new song on the right. It's a great driving song for the summer, and it's currently a free iTunes download. Just, whatever you do, do not watch the video. Once you see what a bunch of dorks the band looks like, and what a lame attempt at a video they created, you're enjoyment of the song will be permanently ruined. I turned off the video 30 seconds into it, but it still had a frightening impact on me.