Well, give them some credit. After all, praying for an end to the drought in Georgia has been SO successful . . . . [/snark]

Or maybe God is really answering prayers. How many people prayed for clean air, more mass-transportation, the death of the SUV (Everybody's favorite codpiece) and a renewed interest for cleaner fuels?

Why their prayers are worth less than those who pray "Gaia" for a cleaner Earth?

The truth is, no belief system out-there can match the sheer power of the Mass-Market. The perfect example is Christopher Columbus. It was a huge demand for Chinese goods and the high cost of importing them that prompted many rich merchants to finance him in his insane quest around the globe.

Once again, thanks to China and India, we are embarking, once again, on a quest for cheaper goods. This is not God willing, it is merely Capitalism and history repeating itself.

Only $4.77 a gallon? These religious idiots certainly are effective in their prayers, because that's as cheap as air compared to European gas prices!

Yesterday, I've avoided a gas station with 1.61 Euros a litre, because I hope they will lower the price tag for a couple of cents on Monday. (Euro 1.60 per litre are Euro 6.09 per gallon. I'm not kidding.)

I will start praying immediately... NOT!

When I left Texas last Friday, I was surprised at how little I spent on gas to get to Florida: I had taken out way more cash than I needed to. It was something like $3.89 all through Texas, then started climbing as I went through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama; I didn't see the legendary four buck gas until I arrived at my oceanside destination. Note: Living in a tourist trap at this time of year sucks balls for the locals. ($4.02 when I got here jumped to $4.09 over the holiday weekend. Yeesh.)

Gas in Italy was about $5/gallon when I went there in the 90s. My friend Thomas and I drove from Rome to his house in Opilo, near Pontremoli, in Tuscany, and it cost us $50 for a tank of gas for the tiny tin can Ford Fiesta. There's a reason people in Europe have these tiny cars, for the most part, and it's because their gas has been much, much more expensive than ours for quite some time.

I believe in the power of prayer -- when it's backed up by action. It's great to pray for lower gas prices. Now write Congress to end the ban on oil exploration. Praying is effective when it's followed by doing.

Hey! Let us not miss the opportunity to point out that these people praying need to start with "Allahu Akbar!"

After all, you need to address where the oil's coming from.

It could be worse. These idiots could be asking their Congress what they're doing... oops.

Amy - most of the cost of gas in Europe is social-engineering taxes. Their betters in the various parliaments have decided that they need to induce people to drive less, so they tax the fuck out of motor fuel.

Which means that irresponsible governments get more money to squander on stupid shit.

That finger thing could never happen. The Earth is only 6000 years old, therefore gas and oil don't truly exist (geologically impossible). We've been filling our tanks with unicorn tears.

brian, how long has that been going on, do you think?

I saw gas for a pound 36p per liter in Scotland in 1983. Europe didn't have the advantages the USA did after WW2. And just when have they thought that driving was a right, as we see repeatedly asserted here in various ways?

Maybe, when you say, "taxes", you should say, "policies". And then look at Europe and ask yourself just where these people are going to drive.

Well, Europe should have though of that before they capitulated to Hitler. Europe has nobody to blame but themselves.

Europe has decided that everything BUT driving is a right, and that's one of many reasons that the tax the fuck out of everything.

Why anyone who claims to want freedom tolerates it is beyond me.

Ours went up this weekend to 180 yen/liter, or $7.04 a gallon, based on CNN's Friday yen/dollar exchange rate. Ouch.

I'm going to pray for a nice pink Vespa!

Our gas is $1.35 Canuck dollars for 1 litre, which is around $7.00 Yankee dollars per gallon.
(When is the US going to go metric, by the way?)

(When is the US going to go metric, by the way?)

About the same time Canada gets real money.

About the same time Canada gets real money.

...witch is pretty close since we are 0.02$ bellow parity with the American Dollar.

No, not in value, in style.

First of all, your notes are funny colors. I'll grant that the schmendricks in Washington are trying to make our money funny colors too, but we haven't given up basic green yet.

Second, you have the image of the sovereign of another nation on your currency.

Finally - the names. Looney and Toonie? And ending up with a pocket full of those things sucks wind, I'll tell ya.

*that's as cheap as air compared to European gas prices! *

Yes, and Europe has incredible public transportation systems and many communities relatively close together.

Try getting around the American West at $4.77 a gallon --- or worse, on Amtrak.

It seems like every time I check the mass media (corporate owned lo these many decades), there's another story on how we're getting a deal compared to Europe. Uh-huh. Weren't these the same shysters touting the Axis of Evil as the New Bogeymen recently?

Okay, let's deal. Subsidize rail and bus transportation, make it fast, ubiquitous, and painless, and I'll use it.

Until then, $4.77 for gas in the USA is a ripoff of colossal proportions.

I'm afraid you are truly showing your ignorance. Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom.
Know your Bible and Live, Think and be FREE

Ignorance, Dorina, is what's shown by people who just KNOW there's a god, based on zero evidence, and really, based on the fact that somebody just told them there was, and told them the Bible is true, despite all the truly ridiculous stuff in there -- ridiculous and contradictory.

I suggest you stop sucking down what you've been told and use your capacity for rational thought that's probably lain fallow your entire life.