gas prices

Of Gasoline And Price (Gouging?)

Submitted by The Political E... on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 04:19.
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Not long ago, I opined about gas prices, finding little variation generally, but sometimes notable differences at stations close to each other carrying the same brand name fuel.

Gas prices and flucuations are always blamed on local laws, supply and demand, bulk costs, station lease and other overhead - - anything and everything but unfair pricing, let alone gouging.

Consumers feel otherwise, often.

So here's another curious example.

I was recently in one of the more upper-income Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, where all commercial properties are expensive, and, in my lifetime experience having been born and raised in DC, and a frequent visitor, where most cost-of-living items are higher than those in Milwaukee.

Anyway: I could stand at one service station and see several other stations and their prices.

Factoring in the Maryland gas tax - - eight cents per gallon less than Wisconsin's - - here were the station prices for regular unleaded:

"W" Brand (No, not our President's): $3.679
Getty: $3.709
Citgo: $3.829
Sunoco: $3.959
Shell: $3.959

And as I drove around the area, those brand names prices continued to vary by several more cents-per-gallon.

Ask yourself, ye Milwaukeeans: when have you seen that much variation at stations close to each other?
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The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter XXII: Pumping Fresh Water Out Of Lake Michigan Leaves Tax Spigot Wide Open

Submitted by The Political E... on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 04:11.
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Just get the water to Sprawlville, and the consequences for taxpayers, land use and the big picture be damned.

That is the Road to Sprawlville - - through an endorsement by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission water study addvisory committee for the diversion of Lake Michigan water to the City of Waukesha.

[Note: an earlier version of this posting incorrectly said that seven other communities west of the subcontinetal divide were also recommended for diversions.]

Yes - - the recommended plan has some conservation measures, but the core recommendation does not confront the housing, transportation and other related costs and consequences that will be triggered by the infusion of a major diversion to the heart of an area that will continue to grow through annexation, pushing service needs and costs farther from existing infrastructure.

SEWRPC's position on this? Not our problem.

What SEWRPC is doing is proposing adding more water to the mix; Waukesha County already had projected a population growth made prior to the Lake Michigan option that adds 140,000 people to the county.

Where are all those people going to live?
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John Gard, Big Oil One-Trick Pony: Guest Post

Submitted by The Political E... on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 18:33.
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John Gard has aligned himself with Big Oil, as reader Don Freix from Fish Creek writes below:

John Gard, One Trick Pony

Has anyone else noticed, in John Gard’s campaign advertising, any mention of generally accepted, critical election issues other than his off shore oil drilling rant? Though solutions differ between political parties about proper approaches needed to address health care, the war, job creation, sustainable environment, energy and education, where is Mr Gard’s major focus in attempting to get your vote this year? In a nutshell, his entire public theme and solution to all of our nation’s problems seems to be, “drill, baby, drill.”

In Gard’s electioneering, what I've seen thus far is an unapologetic attempt to foment and focus thoughtless voter outrage over gas prices and to create further party divisiveness for his own ends, instead of advocating even one common sense approach to solving our current energy crisis that could potentially help all of us. Even at his seeming best with his single, "walk the plank," election, "platform," Gard grossly fails to address several pertinent facts regarding his claims about his opponent Congressman Steve Kagen’s supposed inadequacies in addressing, and inferred blame for causing, our vast energy problems through one aspect of the oil issue.
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Feeling Frustrated by the Stupidity

Kenneth's picture
Submitted by Kenneth on Wed, 09/10/2008 - 05:10.
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I’m listening to the Morning Joe crowd (first mistake of the day), and the gist of their comments is that Obama is an elitist who called Sarah Palin a pig. Of course, that’s not true, as Andrea Mitchell is desperately trying to point out, but reality has nothing to do with the media and the way they convey a story.

We’re screwed if this is what we have to put up with until November.

Are the American people really stupid enough to do this again? (It’s beginning to look that way)

Are the women in this country really stupid enough to fall for this Palin woman? (Apparently)

Obviously our Dems in Congress are stupid. Otherwise, why would they refuse to bring up the S-CHIP bill? If ever there were a winner for the Democrats, S-CHIP is it, but our leadership is too stupid (or lame, or scared) to bring it up.

Why would they be caving on offshore drilling?

Just shoot me. The stupid is too overwhelming to contemplate.

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OH-14: A Conversation With Bill O'Neill on Transportation Policy

Submitted by buckeyestateblog on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 18:18.
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When David Potts and I were at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the DNCC placed us in a hotel way out in suburban Aurora, CO. They provided media shuttles, however, those shuttles operated on fixed schedules that didn’t take into account any other events besides the DNC. Because of that, David and I ended up utilizing Denver’s light rail system every single day we were there to make the commute into Downtown. It was much easier and cheaper than trying to find a parking place, besides being clean, easy, and fast.

 All this use of light rail in Denver reminded me of a conversation I had with 14th District Congressional Candidate Bill O’Neill. Bill O’Neill is a friend of this blog, and was gracious enough to sit down with me for a face-to-face chat about transportation issues.

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