Maybe bemoaning the price at the pump has become hackneyed, but after seeing $4.39 in Chicago this weekend it’s worth a shout. According to AAA spokesperson, Roger Boyd, today’s average for a gallon of gas in ‘Possibility City’ is at $3.97! One bronze Abe Lincoln short of the national average, which at $3.98 is the new all time high. To give you a sense of the upsurge in Louisville, a month ago it was $3.72 and $3.23 a year ago.

Mother Jones’ interactive coverage on the energy crisis should be heeded considering that back in the good ol’ days of 2004, when oil was $40/barrel and gas less than $3/gallon, Paul Roberts warned us about the impending crisis.

From Mother Jones, ‘Over a Barrel’:

“What’s more, while a powerful, ideologically driven minority — led, sadly, by the Bush administration — continues to insist that energy security is simply a question of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) or browbeating OPEC, outside the White House, and certainly outside the Beltway, there’s a growing push to build a fundamentally new energy system. Thus, while the Bush administration dithered on climate change and the future of energy, individual states, like California and New York, enacted their own alternative energy policies and even sued utilities over carbon dioxide emissions.”

Then again, according to circus barkers like Joel Olsteen, “it doesn’t matter if (gas) goes to $20 a gallon,” God will pay for it. (pb)