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My friend / activist / consumer advocate Gilby took to the streets in his hometown of Lawrenceville, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) yesterday to strike back against the swine who were price gouging at the gas pumps. Nauseated from what he was seeing with the lines for gas and inflated prices, Gilby rushed to his house, grabbed his camera, and hit the road. He went to several gas stations, photographed the signs and prices at the pump, and showed the employees inside--warning them about the governor's stance against price gouging for Gasoline.

When he drove back by the two of the stations, a mere 10 minutes later, they had lowered their prices from $4 to $3.30. That's some admission of guilt, n'est-ce pas? And some good work by Gilby Schmeehausen--friend of the consumer. At least someone is putting his money where his mouth is and actually doing something besides just bitching about the status quo (like yours truly.)


FYI...Georgia's Agriculture Commissioner said consumers should make sure the price posted on the street matches the price listed at the pump. Price gouging complaints can be called into 404-651-8600 inside Atlanta and 1-800-869-1123 outside Atlanta. You can also send an email to tirvin@agr.state.ga.us.

With an utter health emergency taking place, hospitals without water, people without care...the only things we can do right now are donate to the red cross



and emailing or calling representatives in Congress and urging them to expediate the process of delivering aid to this region.
Another important thing I think everyone should do, is write to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn’t sensible to rebuild the city.

"It doesn't make sense to me," heartless Conservative Hastert told the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask."


Shouldn't he be focused on the tasks at hand--before speculating whether the city is even worth saving?
INUNDATE HIM WITH ANGRY EMAILS!! PLEASE! This is Speaker of the House of Representatives for Christ's Sake!
Speaker@mail.house.gov or dhastert@mail.house.gov

D.C. Office
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2976
Fax: 202-225-0697

It's called good ol' gas-o-line, or petrol depending on where you live, but on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia--it's called bullshit with a capital "B." Yesterday morning the Atlanta Journal published a bit mentioning a shortage on gas due to Katrina's damaging oil refineries in the Gulf. That was the beginning. By the afternoon, around 2pm, rumors were flying rampant across cell phones, PDAs and emails..."the state is going to stop selling gas at 4pm. At 6pm. There's no more gas, you better go and fill up if you want some for the holiday weekend." And all of a sudden, lines were forming outside of gas stations in the Metro Atlanta area.

That's called "a run" on gas. There can be a "run" on just about anything. Take for instance, in the holiday classic, "It's A Wonderful Life," by master craftsman and propagandist Frank Capra, the scene when there is a "run" on Jimmy Stewart's bank. The people get scared, rumors fly, and they all want their money at once. But Bill's money isn't there, it's in Fred's house, etc. That's what happened with the gas yesterday. Everyone wanted their gas at once and it just wasn't there. And I could almost bet that there is some sick, old Mr. Potter of oil orchestrating this fiasco...too sick and frail to do it hands on, so he sicks his minions over the internet to perpetuate the panic.

So back to the story, I had filled up just before all this started, paying $2.79 a gallon at a QuickTrip in Lilburn. Three hours later at 5pm in Sandy Springs, Roswell Road was plugged up with people queuing out onto the road, backing traffic up even more than usual. And they didn't even have prices up anymore!

By the time my friend and I got back from dinner, there were reports of gas in Atlanta going as high as $6/gallon (yes, the pic above is from Atl.) Therefore, with the great spike in demand, gas stations actually began SELLING OUT of gas...feeding to frenzy. People were still queued up at filling stations at 11pm when I drove back home.

I've seen the unforgetable photos from the 70's during the "oil shortage" with endless amounts of cars lined up for a bit of gas. But I've never seen such a thing as this with my own eyes. I think it's pathetic that fear and panic can take over people common senses and other the other side of the spectrum--that there are assholes who will gouge the consumers when they smell said fear. It actually sickens me. I hope that the state of Georgia will do something about this foul breed of opportunists who jacked up the prices of petrol unduly, but considering our governor, one Sonny Perdue (the great champion and main pawn of Atlanta Gas Light's deregulation of the natural gas market in Georgia), that seems like an unlikely scenario.

I won't go into any in-depth tyrade on the intracacies of Supply and Demand--but what I will say is one word, and it's a hard one for human beings in general, and Americans in particular to grasp...and that is "Moderation." Now to some Europeans reading this, they might find that Americans drive their autos too much anyway. True, but the automotive, gas and insurance lobbies work very hard to secure the status quo and keep New York and San Francisco as pretty much the two main cities you can live comfortably in without a car. So it's not our fault. The huge cars and Sports Utility Vehicles, Ok, that's our fault. But moderation, folks...especially in times of crisis. It's called rationing, and to me it seems rational. Because, dig this...


"There is a supply problem; there's been a reduction in the amount of gasoline available. People still want to drive, so the price is going to go up," Bernanke, chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said on C-SPAN television.

And it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.