Yeah, maybe Facebook is going to convice Moammar Gadhafi to stop bombing his people so American oil companies can buy oil from Libya again.

The posts that irritate me the most are the ones that let you know about someone's workout. "Getting ready for a 20-miler!" or "Spartan workout of the day: 30 jump-squats, 400 push-ups..." Unfortunately I can't permanently hide people's posts from my phone and I rarely look at facebook from an actual computer any more.

AMEN! I was thinking the same thing. Now, two of my "friends" have a post everyday from some app that tracks the number of calories they burned doing such-and-such and the number of calories they consumed that day. SNORE!!!

I got so many "invitations" to not buy gas today, it's ridiculous!

American oil companies only buy about 2% of their oil from Libya. we're getting scammed in a major way, and it sucks big time. The only reason the prices are being jacked up so high so fast is because of the shit heat speculators on Wall Street. We are SO getting taken. It makes me ill.

Sorry that should have read shit HEAD speculators. Bastards are creating a panic on purpose in order to justify gouging us. It's criminal to say the least, and the sheeple still fall for it. Disgusting.

What makes these campaigns even dumber: people won't actually drive any less. So they fill up tomorrow instead of today - they still burn the same amount of gas.

I am sure it makes perfect sense to the denizens of Twitter and Facebook.

"people won't actually drive any less. So they fill up tomorrow instead of today - they still burn the same amount of gas."

Precisely. The only way to reduce gas costs is to reduce demand. That happened quite nicely about three years ago. Anybody willing to enter another depression so we can cut those pesky fuel costs?

Various news outlets report that campaigns have sprouted up on Facebook, Twitter and by word-of-mouth to ditch gas stations in hopes that someone, somewhere, will get the message and stop gas prices from rising so fast.

Cause and effect anyone?

People buying gasoline is not causing the price to go up. Hence, people not buying gasoline will not cause prices to decline.

"Do you think it's possible for an entire nation to be insane?" - Terry Pratchett

American oil companies only buy about 2% of their oil from Libya.

Oil prices rise on the expectation that purchasing oil in the future will be more expensive.

With Libya descending into civil war, all those folks that bought oil from Libya need to get it from somewhere else. That means they'll be bidding the price up with the remaining suppliers.

The Saudis have said they'll pump more, but there is no indicatino that the entire deficit of an interruption of Libyan production would be made up.

Hence, price increases as oil companies seek to ensure they'll have enough cash on hand to purchase tomorrow's oil.

We need to resume drilling our own reserves so our economy is not at the mercy of Middle Eastern thugocracies and so that every gallon of gas we buy isn't sponsoring another terrorist.

pshaw, most people never bother to try and understand how a commodity and a market work...
mostly because they cannot imagine their lives without using gasoline, THEREFORE it must be their right to have it, and at a good price, ta'boot. OI. Sometimes I have great faith in my fellow man, and others? Rubes.

I understand how it works, and I don't have an over-inflated sense of entitlement about it all, but I still think that the speculators on Wall Street have more to do with driving prices up than the sheet-heads in the Middle East do. And there are VAST reserves here in the U.S. that are not being tapped because of the liberal bleedin' heart environmentalists who insist that we can't disturb whatever wildlife exists anywhere because "they'll become endangered! or even DIEEEEEE!!!" I'm pretty sure that as advanced as we have become, we can find a way to drill here without total decimation of ANY wildlife. People need to really look at the options and figure out a way that works for everyone without getting their panties in a twist about it all.

Conrad Black on Obama's chilling effect on the economy: "The current-account deficit, which is inching back upwards toward its heights under the stratospheric innumeracy of George W. at $800 billion, is influenced most directly by the importation of foreign oil, and is thus closely bound to energy policy and the environment."

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/261666

We need to drill our own oil and put an end to shipping billions of dollars overseas to terrorist-financing thugocracies.

...but I still think that the speculators on Wall Street have more to do with driving prices up than the sheet-heads in the Middle East do.

Those speculators on Wall Street are trying to figure out the future price of oil and are placing bets on it. Some are betting it will go up, others are betting it will go down. The basis for their speculation is the actions and events going on in the Middle East. A calm Middle East means little to no price fluctuation. A wildly eventful Middle East means greater price fluctuation and more speculation.

That's why we need to drill our own oil.

OT: On one thread, Conan reads my brain regarding Social Security. On this thread, he quotes Terry Pratchett. I've decided he's my Awesome Mind-Link of the Day.

I refuse all Facebook invitations to join in this or that cause, whatever the cause. They're about on a par with "honk if you love Jesus!"

At first I thought it was a great joke. Something like avoiding getting gas today...take Beeno!

Guess I was wrong...though maybe I should start that one.

What Flynne said - EXACTLY what she said - right there!

Been furious, just furious about this and trying to explain to people around me that the majority of our oil imports don't come from the Middle East (let alone Libya) is so completely futile. IT's Bush's fault!...don-cha-neoow!

The Middle East and Africa together have 65% of the world's estimated oil reserves. North America has 16%.

The US gets 51% of its oil from foreign sources. 39% of our imported oil comes from the Middle East and Africa.

Been furious, just furious about this and trying to explain to people around me that the majority of our oil imports don't come from the Middle East (let alone Libya) is so completely futile.

It does matter to US oil companies what happens in the Middle East and Africa, even if the US doesn't get the majority of its imported oil from those sources.

If the oil supplies from the Middle East and Africa are interrupted, the countries that can no longer get their oil from those places will look elsewhere and will drive up the price of the remaining supply. That would mean everyone's cost of buying oil would go up!

If oil companies believe the Middle East oil supply will be interrupted in the near future, they anticipate customers of those countries going to the remaining suppliers and offering more money. So, they charge more for gasoline today because it will cost them more to purchase new oil to make into gasoline tomorrow.

It's kind of like a tight housing market or the hottest toy at Christmas. When supply shrinks, and demand stays the same or grows, prices go up.

Eh, I used to get my knickers in a knot. But this is how some people choose to entertain themselves. And it's pretty harmless. It's not like they'd be out saving the world if they weren't posting meaningless crap on Facebook. It's probably about as useful to the world as my posting this blog comment.

I largely avoid joining the "cause" pages on FB, and I definitely steer clear of things like, "Post this status if you'd like to see cancer cured." If I don't play along, does that mean I'm saying "Go cancer!"? Last year when posting statuses for child abuse was the big thing, I suggested that everyone instead make a donation to a worthy charity. I even went so far as to make a donation to a local hunger relief program and asked everyone to follow suit with their own charitable picks.

Alas, many people liked and reposted it, but I didn't hear of anyone following suit beyond that. But I'll try it again come Thanksgiving/holiday season time. If nothing else it forced me to put my money where my mouth is.

The Middle East and Africa together have 65% of the world's estimated oil reserves. North America has 16%.

Apparently not. Read on:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion
barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.." says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a
formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada .For years, U.S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one
should - because it's from 2006!

U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION
barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia

- 18-times as much oil as Iraq

- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait

- 22-times as much oil as Iran

- 500-times as much oil as Yemen

- and it's all right here in the Western United States.

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America
become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy.....WHY?

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in
the world today, reports The Denver Post.

Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again!
It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to be. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?

Think this is BS? Check out this link:

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

And there are VAST reserves here in the U.S. that are not being tapped because of the liberal bleedin' heart environmentalists who insist that we can't disturb whatever wildlife exists anywhere because "they'll become endangered! or even DIEEEEEE!!!" I'm pretty sure that as advanced as we have become, we can find a way to drill here without total decimation of ANY wildlife. People need to really look at the options and figure out a way that works for everyone without getting their panties in a twist about it all.

What gets me about these bleeding heart they don't get that going green is much worse for the environment than drilling.

If I'm going to drill in South Dakota it will cause me to make about a 25 foot wide graded path for x number of miles to where I want to drill. Then from there a 1/2 - 3/4 acre flat spot while I'm drilling. After the well is pumping, all you really need is quick pipeline back to a central spot, and power out to the pump. Both probably underground on the graded path. The acreage probably drops to about 1/8 acre (or less) and the graded path lightly maintained. Go through Texas and you can see the examples of steer grazing by the pumps.

Now lets talk windmills. I need to have the same graded path. Then to erect the windmill the best spot is on a hill. So I have to have a graded path that is erosion resistant (i.e. gravel, asphalt, etc.) Then to have the best function for the windmills -- I need to clear cut at least an acre around the windmill that I have to maintain "forever". Then there is the reliability of wind. It has to blow 24/7. Add to that the cost of the windmill and maintenance is about a 10% cost/production over the life of the windmill

Meanwhile the pump has just been steadily pumping crude. (And that is ignoring the newer drilling technology of being able to concentrate wells/pumps by drilling diagonally.)

The initial disturbance to the environment is about the same. The long term doesn't equate, is less reliable, and long term costs. But tell that to a greenie. You'll get a blank stare or argument that you're wrong.

Sorry Guys I found one I can support and going to join!

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/10/viral-post-pits-coverage-of-sheen-fallen-soldiers/

Oil is fungible. That is all ye know and all ye need know.

Here's what pisses me off: Gas prices go up because of specualtion of increased oil prices in the near future. If that speculation shows a drop in oil prices, why don't gas prices go down? I'm not really asking that question. I know good and well why they don't go down.

This is absolutely pointless because it's not going to cause people to cut down on their consumption of gas, just their spending patterns. If you don't buy gas today then you'll just buy it tomorrow. An increase in daily volatility/spread of gas consumption might generate a profit for a few Wall Street traders, but it's not going to lower gas prices in the long run--if anything the opposite.

Now if the campaign was encouraging people to say, ride their bike to work instead of drive, then it might have an impact because actual consumption will be less. But I believe the free market operates pretty well on its own. If I choose to drive less it won't be because I'm trying to lower gas prices for everyone but because the prices have gotten too high for me personally and I'll be adapting to that. And people WILL adapt--they'll carpool more, choose public transportation more frequently, purchase homes closer to their workplace, and eventually prices will respond.

"Oil is fungible. That is all ye know and all ye need know."

From what I've read, that's only true to an extent. Crude oil from different parts of the world has a somewhat different composition. Refineries are tuned to oil from a particular source, and there's some reconfiguration required before they can take oil from a different source. I'm not sure how extensive the changes have to be. I do know the sulfur content is a big deal -- one of the reasons all the oil companies like Saudi oil is because it's low in sulfur.

Does no one here remember Whip Inflation Now (WIN) buttons? Didn't work then, won't work now. Demand for fuel is inelastic, supply is elastic. Therefore increase supply. IOW, drill baby drill.