Still price gouging

Due to it's proximity to our house and the fact it's just down the road from the place we grocery shop, we usually fill our cars at the same gas station. We've been doing that for years and since it is at a busy intersection with three other gas stations, I can tell you that it's prices are usually slightly below the average. Healthy competition will do that.

Today, I checked that GasBuddy map and found out that the price of regular gas at the station I always go to is $4.49 a gallon:

Three months ago, shortly after the New Year, my wife and I were driving home from our weekly grocery shopping expedition (or as I like to call it, "The Hunt for Sustenance") and I said to her, "Man, gas is getting damned expensive. It's $3.29 a gallon. Last summer it was about $2.90 a gallon. At this rate, we're going to be paying $3.50 a gallon by the time summer rolls around."

Boy, was I wrong.

Factor in the annual price increase due to the "summer blend" and now I think we're going to be paying $7.00 a gallon this summer.

But fortunately for us, Goofy Joe has explained it all - This is all caused by Putin.

This has nothing to do with the fact that the current administration has alienated itself from every oil producing nation on the planet (they won't even take his calls) while at the same time discouraging domestic exploration and drilling. No sir, it ain't the current administration, it's Putin.

Good Ol' Goofy Joe wants us to ignore the fact that the U.S. gets so little oil from Russia that the decision to stop buying it has almost no impact on Putin. We're talking 10 percent of our oil imports (which is only about 20 percent of our oil use) and fractions of a percent of his oil sales. Not buying oil from Russia does not decrease our oil supply by any appreciable amount.

Newt Gingrich may have said it best the other day when he said, "Why would you buy oil from Saudi Arabia and not from Texas? Why would you buy gas from Venezuela and not from Oklahoma?"

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Speaking of Russia, the small countries that are not being attacked by Russia have decided to poke the bear a bit. Several of them are changing the street names of the streets where the Russian Embassy is located.

For instance, the government of the city of Vilnius in Lithuania has changed the name of the street the Russian Embassy is on to "Ukrainian Heroes Street"

I know that if Putin wants to send a letter to his ambassador in Lithuania, he does not put a stamp on it and drop it in the mailbox. I doubt he'll ever know that the address has changed. That's not the point.

The point is it's a fun way of poking Russia for being a giant asshole.

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Time for some baseball news

Turns out the season will now open on April 7 with the Red Sox visiting the Yankees.
They have also decided to make the following changes:
1. No more putting a runner on second base to start extra innings.
2. Double headers will once again be a full nine innings.
3. The National League has adopted the designated hitter rule.
Also, my youngest informed me that he scored tickets to the Red Sox home opener and so I should keep an eye out for him when the camera pans the bleachers.

This has been your baseball news.
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The Bruins managed a last-minute goal to break a tie and beat the Black Hawks 4-3 last night.

Tomorrow the Coyotes are in town and the puck will drop at 7:00.

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Time to see what's for dinner and then put on some bad television.

Here are some links you might find interesting:

• Oops. Our bad...



• At 10:00 this morning, the DJIA was up 321 points (just about one percent) and it looked like it was going to be a good day. Then, at 10:30 this morning, Goofy Joe gave this speech and the DJIA started to plummet. It closed at 4:00 this afternoon down 229 points (just about .7 percent).



• Hey! Maybe they finally found Jimmy Hoffa...



• It's another case of seagull violence.



• Only in Florida.