http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2010-03-08-gasoline-prices_N.htm

As the article notes:

“The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is up 9 cents in a month and will likely crack $3 in coming weeks, given a typical spring rally before the summer driving season, oil and gas analysts say.”

This still makes no sense to me. With the economy in a recession, people are driving less and therefore demand is less. So why are prices going up? The reason is because the gas market operates differently than other markets. A foreign oil cartel controls prices.

Isn’t it time we did something about that?

US demand accounts for 60% of Hugo Chavez’s oil imports. So if we reduced our demand for his oil, we would reduce him. And he needs to be reduced.

So why not expand our exploration of natural gas here in the US? And why not expand our research into renewable energy sources like wind and biomass?

Now is the time.

That’s what we’ll be talking about this week on the blog. Join us each day!

Since last fall, President Obama has seen Republicans win in Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts and now Texas. What’s interesting about Texas is that many thought the Tea Party movement would tear apart the GOP. Instead, the Tea Party movement helped increase GOP turnout, but still the party elected mainstream candidates. That’s bad news for the Democrats.

Maybe it’s time for the White House to start paying attention to these election trends. Let’s start over on health care, and get busy on things we can agree on, like carbon credits and a real jobs program.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/03/2012980/hutchisons-supporters-peers-urging.html

Should she stay or should she go? That is the question facing Senator Hutchison. Before she ever announced she would run for governor, Hutchison said she would resign to focus full-time on the gubernatorial race. But then she hedged and said she would wait until after the primary to resign.

Well, now the primary is over. And I think Hutchison should keep her word and resign. Do the honorable thing and let someone else have a chance.

What do you think?

The question now becomes: what happens next? Will the Tea Party movement fade? Will the Republican Party continue to be alert and try and address Tea Party issues?

What do you think?

I think the Tea Party movement will win by losing. That is, the Tea Party will have moved the GOP to the right, increased the party’s commitment to fiscal discipline and put the fear into a few GOP elected officials. All of that is good. But I don’t expect many of the actual Tea Party candidates to win. Why? In American history, protest movements rarely become majoritarian movements. Instead, they make their point and one or both of the parties takes on their issues. Think of Perot in 1992 talking about the deficit. Republicans and Democrats in the 1990s got the message and balanced the budget for the first time in decades.

So that’s my prediction about tonight. What’s yours?

So if you are in Texas, be sure to vote tomorrow. And then be sure to check back in each day this week and as we analyze the results together.

I was saddened that the president didn’t take this more seriously. I wish he would have said: “You’re right, Senator McCain. The American people deserved a better process than what they got. And that’s why I wanted to hold this summit to see if we couldn’t start over.”

But anytime anyone is defensive, it’s a sign that he doesn’t really get it.

No, the president’s health care plan isn’t unpopular because he didn’t explain it well enough or because he didn’t package it well enough. It’s unpopular because it’s not a good plan and because it was produced by a bad process.

The country understands that. Too bad the president doesn’t.

The summit that will be held tomorrow appears to be long on symbolism and short on solutions. Rather than open an honest negotiation, the administration has stacked the deck by releasing the details of the president’s plan in advance of the meeting. We talked about that yesterday and it remains a prime example that this summit is just for show.

But here is another example: the only doctors who will be in on the negotiations are doctors who are Members of Congress. So we’re going to have a meeting about health care and not include the experts on the issue?

That’s some more bad medicine from this administration on health care.