Whine Country

To my knowledge, I've never agreed with right-wing nutter and soft-core porn investor Phil Gramm about anything. I have to say, though, it's a bit much to hear fat, lazy Americans bitch about how much it costs to fill up their SUVs.

We've been so spoiled for so long that we think of cheap gas as a birthright, never mind how expensive it is elsewhere in the world. Last week I was impressed that it cost $62 to gas up Marge the Minivan when there was still a third of a tank left. That was put into perspective when a friend reported spending $130 to fill up in Belgium.

In today's column, Mark Morford considers some of the forces at play:

I admit to a bit of total confusion mixed with a certain level of stupefied awe and teeth-rattling frustration as to why anyone with the mental acuity of more than a housefly would think that stabbing more holes into Alaska and the eastern seaboard in the search for a few remaining precious drops of oil is a good idea, would solve anything at all, is anything more than the equivalent of hurling matches at the devil.