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I just want to rip my hair out every time I see these demagoguing, pandering, economically-ignorant "critters" in Congress or the Senate hold yet another pointless, fruitless "hearing" where they browbeat oil company executives.

Allow me to drop out of Lurk and Link Mode for a brief bit of commentary- we all need to get serious about our dependency on foreign sources of energy, and use our own resources.

Our consumer-based economy is driven by and dependent on readily-available, reliable energy-- choke that off, and we'll all be back to using one rotary dial phone in the dining room, watching one TV, and driving one car per family-- probably a Hudson Hornet or a Rambler...

We need to

1) end the nonsensical ban on offshore drilling off California and Florida--read & weep:
Castro Plans to Drill 45 Miles from US Shores, But We Can't

2) build a lot of next-generation nuclear power plants, not just for electricity, but for any process requiring heat, power, or steam.
And if we replaced our existing nuclear plants with this one there would be significant benefits.

3) end Jimmy Carter's idiotic ban on recycling nuclear waste, and reprocess the stuff rather than fighting over where to bury it. Europe has done this for decades.-- what to do with spent nuclear fuel? Answer here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1468321/posts?page=50#50 hattip: Mike (former Navy Nuclear Engineer)

4) use the 300-500 years worth of coal we have on our own land, using the new clean-coal technology.
-Clean Coal Centre--

5) and finally, there's nothing wrong with conservation, we should all practice it- but you can't conserve your way out of a shortage. Nor is there anything wrong with "alternative" energy sources- except they don't supply the vast ( not to mention readily-available ) amounts of power we need at a price competitive to more conventional sources.

We do need to get serious about this before we get strangled by a bunch of petty thieves and dictators who don't like us much.

My tongue-in-cheek collection of energy-related links:

Sticker Shock-$3 a gallon gas? Click the picture:

And kindly note, and note well-- the first reply to this post ( when gas was $1.45 a gallon ) was derisive... so, who's laughing now? Drudge reported $4.04 a gallon gas in CA yesterday...can you say "$6.00 a gallon" class?

What are liberals complaining about? Now that we pay European prices for gas, they ought to be happy! What is every one getting so upset at the oil companies for? With all the obstacles in the way of domestic production, its a wonder gas isn't ten times more expensive than it currently is. If anything, the price of gas is too low to drive down the demand. This illustrates like nothing else, congressional hypocrisy about energy and conservation. In a sane world, the oil companies would be applauded for higher prices to encourage less fuel use. Instead, they're getting blamed for not letting Americans indulge in their gas guzzling habits! If this wasn't so bollixed up, I wouldn't know whether to laugh or to cry amidst all the demagogery in Washington.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")