The price-per-gallon that Americans pay for gas is at an all-time high, despite there having been no mind-numbing hurricane like Katrina along the Gulf of Mexico’s “Chemical Coast” where the bulk of America’s refinery capacity exists.

There have been no refinery fires. No massive refinery outages or rebuilding programs. And yet despite this:

A friend of mine visited Yosemite Park in Fornicalia this past weekend and paid $4.17 a gallon.

An independent dealer, Bob Oyster in San Francisco, has “had it” with Shell Oil and, because of astronomical and geometric monthly rent, is pricing his premium at $4.53 the gallon in order to drive people away from his station — in order to make a “statement” against corporate interests and “for” the independent dealers. From SFGate.com:

Maybe so, but anyone entering the business had better be prepared. Oyster says his rent has gone up exponentially. Fifteen years ago it was $1,000 a month. Then it went to $6,000, then $8,000, and five years ago the company wanted $13,000. Oyster says he was able to appeal that amount, based on real estate values, and “we got it down to $6,000,” but this year Shell came back with a demand of $13,000 again.

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald believes that nasty gas prices may serve to motivate our movement towards other energy sources. This is the Standard Democrat Line: higher gas prices make them happy. Higher gas prices + no more petroleum infrastructure building + overbearing environmental regulations against construction of more refineries + no drilling in ANWR + no nuclear production + no offshore drilling = Happy Democrats.

But remember: “All animals are equal; some are more equal than others.”

If you are forced to drive a Smart ForTwo (see photo), do you think your fellow Democrats In Politics will be riding in similar cars with a chauffeur? Or will it be “limos as usual” for our powdered and pampered Elites? And what might happen, posit I, when your miniscule Smart happens to collide at 60 mph, let’s say, with your average Toyota Corolla or better. You figure it out.

Despite all that, with gas at record highs, I’m going to buy a $30,000 Toyota RAV4 Limited 4WD SUV with the kick-ass 3.5L, 280 hp Lexus engine, 5-speed auto, moonroof, navigation, leather, tow package with larger radiator and alternator. I looked at, drove and was about to purchase the 2007 Lexus RX350 — until I saw and drove the ’07 RAV4 Limited. I was unimpressed with the RX350 dash and cargo layout. And with the same engine, the Lexus demands premium unleaded whilst the RAV4 sups regular. And more room in the RAV4. Talk about engineering!

I’m currently driving a 2003 Subaru Outback Sport wagon; a very small car with a 2.5L engine, strange transmission and inefficient brakes. It has 89,000 miles.

I’m tired of being wedged into a tuna can. I’m tired of cloth upholstery. I’m tired of my line-of-sight being lower than the bulk of the motoring public. I’m tired of being passed up 3-Mile Grade past Colfax by the local Hamms beer truck. And I’m tired of driving a small car that, with AWD, gets an average of 25 mpg.

For roughly the same mpg (as far as I can determine with official literature and consumer comments on various sites and blogs) I’ll be getting LEBENSRAUM (Teutonic version of Manifest Destiny). I want MY chunk of the pie. I want to drive my kick-ass SUV carrying ONE human: ME. I want to have a line-of-sight higher than what I’ve had.

Figuring on $5.00 a gallon for gas, my 15.9 gallon gas tank will require $80.00 per fill. Know what? I can readily afford that at my $90K per year salary and it WON’T affect my driving habits. I figure I deserve a newer, larger vehicle and I’m tired of being shoehorned into a small car at my advanced age. I am SO “done” with Chevy Metros, Sprints, Subarus, Rabbits and the like. I’ve historically done my bit for God and Country, my “guilt” resulting in the purchase of smaller vehicles throughout my life.

Sure, if I didn’t have to have a 4WD vehicle I’d purchase a new Honda Accord with the V6 today. But I have no choice; 4WD isn’t an “option” for me, its a necessity for getting home in winter, having the ability to access my house, and getting to work through the snow. I live at the 4,000 foot level in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and 4WD is mandatory.

Yes, I’m pissed because gas is ridiculously expensive with little explanation to the motoring public save that of “because we can.”

And yes, I’ve evidently picked a poor political time to upscale to a vehicle that can pretty much keep up with the Dodge Charger Police Package Hemi. The 2007 Hemi Charger, 4,200 lbs., 340 hp, runs 0-60 in 6.0 seconds flat. The RAV4 V6, 3,500 lbs, 280 hp, hails just a tick behind at 6.3 seconds. Pretty much the Ultimate Q-Ship.

But at this point I couldn’t care less; I can afford what I want. And trust me: 90% of the time I’ll be driving my new car with just one person within: me.

This is America, that’s what I want, and I can afford it.

A step has been taken.

This step, quite momentous in nature, was taken by a state I had least expected.

Oklahoma.

To wit:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Legislation described as the nation’s most sweeping attempt to deny jobs and public benefits to illegal immigrants was sent to Gov. Brad Henry’s desk Tuesday.

State lawmakers urged Henry to sign the measure into law after it was approved in a bipartisan 84-14 vote by the state House. The bill was approved 41-6 by the Senate last month.

“The people of Oklahoma are very strongly for this bill,” said House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah.

I find it amazing that there were a sufficient number of clear-thinking individuals in any government entity to even write a proposal such as this.

The legislation addresses the root cause of illegal immigration — exploitation of illegal immigrant labor, Mike Hethmon, general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, said. Among other things, the bill contains employment, labor law and civil rights provisions to protect citizens and legal immigrants who lose their jobs at companies that employ illegal immigrants to perform the same or similar work.

This could be categorized as something on the order of a “nice start.” But wait, there’s more:

Terrill said the measure would limit state driver’s licenses and identity cards to citizens and legal immigrants and would require state and local agencies to verify the citizenship and immigration status of applicants for state or local benefits.

“The land of opportunity is becoming the land of entitlement,” Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, said while debating for the bill.

The measure would not affect emergency medical and humanitarian services, such as visits to hospital emergency rooms and enrollment in public schools, that are required by federal law.

Terrill said the Federation of American Immigration Reform estimates that illegal immigrants costs state taxpayers up to $200 million a year in public benefits and other resources.

Anyone within the reach of my blog: I might heartily suggest you Dogpile various Oklahoma politicians and lend them your immediate and clear support on this issue.

Is the tide — dare I posit? — about to be reconsidered?

We need to make this a swell, a wave, a tsunami of movement.

NASCAR is too white.

It needs more blacks, more females, more Mexicans, more Tongans, more crazed Albanian dwarves, more flame-tattooed female transexual Ecuadorian rubber fetishists with mullets, bad haircuts, long-sleeved flannel shirts and biker wallets on a chain.

I mean, you can fit a burka or hijab under a Simpson hooked up to a HANS, can’t you?

Let me see if I’ve got this right:

NASCAR, if anyone actually admits it, stems from white southern bootleggers and rumrunners in hopped-up cars transporting illegally-manufactured alcohol from various stills during Prohibition, in an attempt to avoid arrest from local law enforcement. That is its clear point of origin, like it or not. And yes, most if not all of these drivers were white.

In the NBA, where is our Larry Byrd? Where is sports equality?

Would it perhaps have something to do with “the best athlete gets the job?”

Nah.

Should the above link not work, please click here to send the fax.

Children are fodder in war. From Australia:

Sheik Shady Suleiman, a youth leader at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s southeast, told his students in a one-hour Arabic and English lecture that it would be “self defence” to kill children who were attacking them in battle.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not stopping the posts. We have to understand, face, challenge and expose the true nature of Islamists in re Islam, the so-called religion of peace, understanding and tolerance.

And oh, some small print from the article:

Sheik Shady said that while it was obligatory for all Muslims to defend an Islamic nation under attack, there were no Muslim countries living under Sharia law that were currently under attack.

Huh. Imagine that.