My mom went to her doctor the other day, and for the most part the doctor was pleased with her test results. He praised her for lowering her cholesteral, but had to mention, “Your blood pressure is a bit high.”

She responded, “Well before I came here I had to buy gas today and drive to your office.”

They shared a laugh, and he didn’t chastise her in understanding.

Why am I harping on this subject of the price of gas? Because we all live it, and frankly it’s deeply affecting our lives.

As you know, and I blogged about previously, this week, Republican senators blocked a Democrat-sponsored bill that would have imposed a “windfall profits” tax on the five major oil companies.

According to Bill O’Reilly:

The GOP says the bill would not have lowered gas prices as any tax punishment would be passed along to gasoline consumers. But let me break this to the Republicans gently: Folks are angry with the oil companies. Unless you guys can help bring some relief to beleaguered American working people, the Democrats will wipe you out.

Of course, both parties are at fault. Every president in the last 50 years has whiffed on alternative energy. While Brazil emphasized flex-fueled vehicles operating largely on sugar-based ethanol, our presidents and congresspeople took junkets to the Middle East to hug Saudi Arabian oil sheiks. And now, as Reverend Wright is fond of saying, the chickens have come home to roost.

The gangsters that run OPEC understand that technological advances will diminish oil demand down the road. So, they are accumulating as much cash as possible right now. It costs Saudi Arabia about $2 to market each barrel of oil. Last week, those huggable Saudis charged the world $138 for that barrel.

He continues with an idea and a challenge to the presidential candidates:

Congress must mandate by law that American car and truck manufacturers begin to produce a high percentage of flex-fuel vehicles. Once that law is passed, gas stations will begin installing alcohol-based fuel pumps. Congress must also drop import tariffs on alcohol-based fuel so countries like Brazil can sell them to us.

We simply have got to get away from the oil cartel. It’s a national security issue.
What say you, John McCain and Barack Obama?