The Irascible Chef

…nobody ever tells you that they’re going to kill you. It doesn’t happen that way. There weren’t any arguments or curses like in the movies. So your murderers come with smiles. They come as your friends, the people who have cared for you all of your life, and they always seem to come at a time when you’re at your weakest and most in need of their help.

When you mention the word Socialism or Communism people get different pictures in their mind. Some such images might be Stalin or Lenin or Orwell’s Big Brother, totalitarianism, oppression, the whole down trodden masses, work camps, bread lines etc. With that people say,

no, no way is that going to happen. I don’t see Stalin or Lenin or Mao coming to round us up, take away our individual freedoms, throw us into the work camps or Gulag’s. You alarmists need to relax, take a toke or a chill pill. Your words need to be silenced! Your voice squashed. You are a racist!

Something I realized the other night while watching the President speak to Congress. Words have already been changed, the meanings twisted, and molded. Misinformation and misdirection is being repeated over and over until the drones take over and do the rest of the work.

They won’t look like the hammer and sickle hard line Stalin they will come to you with smiling faces, with promises for whatever ails you, blaming the other side for all your problems, and claiming the truth as their own.

What’s it all about? It’s about power and control my friends. Plain and simple. Make people feel like their life is miserable, promise them the answers to all their worries, and sit back, stay in power, and stay in control…

People feel entitled because of years and years of the people wanting power, laying the ground work, telling the unfortunate that government will take care of them, solve their problems, make it all better… Government’s job is nothing of the sort.

A line I keep hearing is the “need for personal responsibility.” That is something I like to hear! I want people to be personally responsible—so I listen up when I hear that. I think this phase is being used is to suck in the people who believe in personal responsibility and then pull the rug from under them. I believe it’s called Bait and Switch… The people who believe in personal responsibility are already taking personal responsibility. The enablers want to give those people a taste of not taking personal responsibility and being completely taken care of. The way you do that is by getting them to say, “where’s mine?” “If I’m paying for other peoples mistakes someone should pay for mine!” “I should take advantage of the system because I’m paying for it!” That’s when the game is over—they have you! You start suckling off the government teat of entitlements and being taken care of and you become the crackwhore! You need more and more, and more, more, more! Once you’re on it you can’t stop yourself!

You see it already, people taking advantage because they believe they deserve it. They have somehow been wronged by society or societal changes. And no, I’m not saying that there aren’t people in need, there are. And I’m not saying that people don’t need help, they do sometimes. This essay isn’t about the people that actually need assistance and anyone feeling that way is missing my point.

Personal responsibility is about living within your means, saving for the future and the lean times (that we’re currently in,) sacrificing for the good of the whole, and accepting the consequences of your actions. Personal responsibility is uncomfortable, hard, inconvenient, and easy not to accept. That’s why this progression to the government taking care of everything is starting to blossom… And I believe there are certain people who have cultivated these ideas for decades and the current government is dedicated to nurturing it to maturity…

Power and Control. Hammer and Sickle.

Cheers!

Technorati Tags: Big Brother, Communism, Congress, Government Cheese, Hammer and Sickle, lenin, President, promises, Socialism, Stalin

How close are we?

How close are we to the totalitarian socialistic society Orwell wrote about? This really happened to me the other day.

“Goodbye, Comrade!” Were the words used by a 10 year old child to say goodbye to me…

He didn’t know what he was saying or why it might be scary to me, but I just had to chuckle in the back of my mind—because there are signs… There have been books written, movies made, and tales told of a futuristic world where these concepts come true.

In the past I’ve always wondered how it was possible to ever get to that point and now I know. There’s a perfect storm that has been brewing, waiting for the right time—we could be on the brink of that time now. People think it takes one big push to make this kind of change happen. But I disagree, I think it’s a thousand little pushes here and there that conjure up the perfect storm that makes it possible.

Buzz on the street is the nationalization of the banks. The auto industry is already in the process of nationalization. I would say Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and assorted other mortgage industry businesses are already nationalized…

The street doesn’t like this kind of talk at all—checkout the market sometime… As it turns out, Main Street doesn’t like it either, but when Main Street doesn’t like the way it sounds the words are changed to slip it into our veins—and we welcome it.

How close are we? Or, is it really how far away are we to the realization of Marxist transition to Communism.

—iChef Politikos

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Other Voices:

The Anchoress

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9,000 earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill: Gang tattoo removal, Maine lobster, La Raza & more! By Michelle Malkin

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Obama plans “soak the rich” class-warfare economics by Ed Morrissey

Technorati Tags: Communism, Comrade, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, George Orwell, Main Street, Marxist, Nationalization, Nationalize, Socialism, Totalitarian, Wallstreet

iChef serving up a TWO-FER, back-to-back GRAND SLAMMA JAMMA birthday!

I recently found myself turning a little older on a surprise-end-of-the-weekend-adventure as a guest of my fiancee. I didn’t know where we were going, but I did know that it was necessary to take 2 cars and that we would be staying overnight and having dinner. For me a surprise is just as exciting as the actual event. So you can basically stop after telling me there are plans and a surprise (—that alone is pretty special in my book!) let alone going on a secret getaway—OVERnight, and eating at a special place!

But now we’re in separate cars, going I-don’t-know-where, in the rain, I’m wondering how far away that we’ll be traveling and how early I will have to get up to get to work on time… But I don’t care because this is special, an adventure, and I’m excited!

So, we’re traveling through Los Gatos and I figure we’re going to Capitola where my fiancee’s parents have a beach house just a couple of blocks from the water. Great! I love Capitola! What if the traffic is bad in the morning? I’ll have to get up at 4am… What if we have a really good time and don’t go to bed until very late/early… Been there, done it, will survive—again!

As we’re about to get on 17 south, we suddenly make a left—into Hotel Los Gatos! Very Fancy! We’re not staying in Capitola. The morning commute will be the same as usual—Yay!

The room at the Hotel Los Gatos was super delicious!—cozy comfortable, roomy—could have been a bedroom in a very nice home… Nice, clean, warmly furnished bathroom. A bed so snugly you would die in it if you had the choice. TV, DVD player, stocked bar, free T1 Internet service. All this with the gentle spatter of much needed rain. Very romantic…

They have a great comfy living rooms—relaxing reading areas all around the hotel.

My favorite one was off of the lobby area with a fireplace roaring. I found myself there just before dinner relaxing, sitting with my feet up on an ottoman, in front of the fire, with a newspaper and birthday Guinness—perfect!

We had dinner reservations for 6:30 at Dio Deka, the hotel restaurant—we’ve eaten there before. Dio Deka is a Greek Mediterranean restaurant. The menu items are all written in Greek so you have to read the entire description to know what it is. (It all seems Greek to me…)

We did ask to change the original table we were sat at (with little fuss they accommodated us)—we were seated by the kitchen, around a bend so that one diner felt like you were sitting in the middle of an isle, and one of the chairs was like a sink hole—”you would like to move—no problem.”

I love that attitude!

Our waiter, Conan, was right on target all night long. His food and wine recommendations were spot on! He was knowledgeable about the menu items and wine selections, he was friendly with good welcomed conversation. When he was at our table he was like another one of our dinner guests. He knew when to be there when not to be nosing in.

Our custom menu, built for two, went something like this:

O R E K T I K A

Dolmathakia … Metaxa-braised beef short ribs and creamy rice, wrapped in grape leaves and finished with a truffle scented wild mushroom citrus foam. (I think it’s time to let the foam go—why this became a big hit in the culinary world is beyond me…)
I do love grape leaves and these were spectacular!
Octapodi Scharas … Mesquite grilled Greek octopus, warm citrus olive oil, oregano and micro-green.
Tender like filet Mignon—A treat beyond belief!

Trilogia… Crispy Monterey bay calamari, clam-oregano fritters and fried organic asparagus.

Wonderful combination’s of seafood and vegetables!

S O U P E S   K E   S A L A T E S

Ntomatosoupa … Fire-roasted tomato and country bread soup, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil.

Pantzaria Salata … Chilled slow roasted beet salad, candied walnuts, goat cheese, citrus-olive oil and chive vinaigrette.

W I N E
Nemea, Agiorgitiko, Gaia Estate, ‘Gaia Estate’, Peloponnesus, Greece, 2005

(We had the label… the very nice waiter mounted it on restaurant stationary… it’s a long story—we lost it!)

K I R I A   P I A T A

Paithakia … Mesquite-grilled, premium rib-cut, grass-fed
lamb chops, with traditional seasonings lemon-oregano crusted potatoes and spinach

tender, cooked to perfection, and delicious!

E P I D O R P I O
Greek desserts are typically enjoyed alongside a cold glass of water and a strong coffee.

Yiaourti … Greek yogurt with rare wild thyme-scented Greek honey and honeycomb, toasted Macadamia nuts, seasonal fresh fruits

Milopita … Warm honey crisp apple tart tatin, vanilla bean gelato and sauce caramel

D E S S E R T  W I N E (complements of our waiter)
Kourtaki, Samos, Muscat

Funny, I observed our waiter at times, when he was at other tables and I almost felt like he was cheating on us—giving equally good service, information and conversation to all his diners… I thought we were his favorites—NICELY DONE!)

We said we wanted to take our time and take our time we did… We were not rushed or neglected or anything other than treated like guests of rich family or friends! (RICH: in spirit, in hospitality, and in understanding the point…)

Conan brought us two beautiful and delicious desserts one with Happy birthday written in very good quality chocolate on the rim of the plate—Conan also brought us two complimentary glasses of Muscat! Very nice! Everything was fan-dabey-dosey-tastic—Very delicious!

A very perfect birthday!

Thank you Honey!

We even took some time on the way back to the room to sit by the fire and critique some art—we did it all…

Technorati Tags: birthday, Dio Deka, excellent food, fan-dabey-dosey-tastic, great hotel, Great service, Greek food, Los Gatos Hotel, special, Surprise

Conversation from the day:
Me: Did you see Rick Santelli lose it on CNBC?

Other person: No, but I did see the headline on Drudge.

Me: Yeah, I saw the video after I read the headline. I thought it was going to be a big monster of a blowout from everyone on the floor of the exchange. It was mild on the floor, but Rick was definitely fired up!

Me: The sentiment is why should people who can afford their home subsidize those who cannot. Those people who bit off more than they can chew. Then the question was asked, “what if the Mortgage interest rates were 2 percent?” And Rick said, “it doesn’t matter if it was negative 2 percent because they simply can’t afford these homes regardless of the rate.

Other person: So it’s government subsidized homes. I swear I don’t think people understand what Capitalism is and that we live in a Capitalistic society.

Me: Why do you think that is, it’s not complicated.

Other person: I think people feel guilty for what they have and what others don’t.

Me: Why, I mean who makes them feel guilty, where are these guilty feelings coming from? Not all people that feel this way are rich.

Other person: Those are the people that want their handout too and they believe because others have led them to believe that everyone is entitled…

Me: Look, I’m not rich and I don’t believe that taxes should be raised on the rich or anyone else to pay for entitlements or welfare or handouts. Donations should be just that voluntary not mandated by the state.

Other person: There are people in this country who believe that everyone is entitled to all the same things. I believe they are entitled to the same opportunities to earn those things, but not handed out like bread on a bread line.

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Other Voices:

Celebrate Free Speech While it Lasts! by the Anchoress

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Gimme, gimme, gimme: More scenes from the anti-Obama entitlement backlash By Michelle Malkin

So, a CNBC host is calling for a new “tea party” to protest Barack Obama’s out-of-control spendulus/entitlement culture? We’ve been doing it all week. Seattle, Denver, Mesa. Kansas this weekend. And more outbreaks to come.

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Video: The obligatory “CNBC, Chicago traders dump on Obama’s mortgage plan” clip HotAir by Allahpundit

Technorati Tags: CNBC, Entitlement, Government, Handouts, News, Politics, Rick Santelli, Socialism, Taxes, Welfare

A film review by iChef Swett.

The first thing I’ll tell moviegoers is that The Wrestler is not a feel-good movie. Though there are moments of humor and joy interspersed between the gritty plot and its rich cast of characters.

If you are like me and have grown nauseatingly tried of the same old formulaic bubble gum romantic comedies (boy meets girl – boy does something dumb and loses girl – boy does something good and wins girl back), and you long for something with more spirit and meaning, something a bit more raw but still with a whole lot of heart, then look no further.

Speaking of formulas – prior to seeing this film one might suspect a typical washed up underdog plot whose title character takes a couple wrong turns before turning it all around in a cinema noir dramedy. But one would be very wrong. The recipe is more like Raging Bull meets Sunday Night Smackdown, with a little bit of the Passion of the Christ mixed in.

As the name implies, it is not really a film about wrestling so much as it is a film about a wrestler. An aging wrestler realizing retirement whose made a lifetime of mistakes and is now just trying to get by and perhaps atone for some of his sins.

From the moment the film opens with the heart pounding drums of Bang Your Head by Quiet Riot, we are drawn into the turbulent world of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson (Mickey Rourke).
Ram, a pro wrestling star of the 1980’s who at the height of his popularity had his own character in a Nintendo wrestling game, is now a washed up has-been living in poverty somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is brilliant in the first few scenes, not letting you see any close-up shots of Ram’s face for a good 5 minutes into the picture. He keeps the camera deliberately on but “off” his main character; shooting Ram instead from behind, from the ground, and on dark lit sets. By making you wait and only teasing with glimpses of the man and myth, he manages to build up intrigue and interest, forcing you to become more emotionally invested in his protagonist’s journey early on.

Randy (Mickey) scrapes by on a meager living from selling autographs at the local American Legion Hall for $8.00 each, taking odd jobs like slicing meat at the deli counter, and performing in small scale wrestling gigs set in dimly lit halls before a few hundred blood thirsty snarling men.

Sidelined permanently by health problems and barely able to pay his own rent, Randy attempts to make a go of normal life. He finds temporary satisfaction in lap dances from his lone confidant stripper (Marisa Tomei) and a second chance at a possible relationship with the daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) he abandoned years ago. While trying to keep it on the straight and narrow, always in the background lurks the temptation of fame, excess, and possible death should he return to his true calling.

During a lap dance, Cassidy (Marisa) tells Ram that he looks like Jesus after seeing the tattoo of Jesus on his back. Cassidy quotes the Passion of the Christ from the scene where Jesus was suffering merciless beatings at the hands of the Roman soldiers. “He was one tough dude,” Ram replies.

From here we are transported into the glittery sometimes brutal world of Wrestling. I admit I’ve never been much of a wrestling fan and never could tell how much of it was real and how much was fake. In this portrayal the answer becomes clear when Ram endures a gory host of wounds in a hardcore wrestling match that are inflicted by a smorgasbord of shattered glass, barbed wire, and a staple gun while bleeding profusely for the audience’s lust and enjoyment. The parallels between the character Randy Robinson and the son of man (suffering at the hands of men) are muted but distinct.

The portrayal of battered fighter Randy ”The Ram” Robinson was not a far stretch for Mickey Rourke who himself was a boxer prior to becoming an actor and even returned to boxing at the height of his film career when he shocked everyone and disappeared, working the amateur and eventually professional boxing circuit for 5 years. During that time Mickey sustained a number of injuries including a broken nose, split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone. All of which may have led to his altered facial appearance.

Physically, Mickey seems to have transformed his body for this role as well. So much so that there has been speculation about whether he had any “help” enhancing his body for the film. When asked this question in an interview Mickey denied the use of steroids or other growth hormones responding, “I did some stuff. You wouldn’t classify it as steroids, but I did some heavy duty supplements.” For the physical transformation alone, I think Mickey should win the Oscar.

Marisa Tomei was also acknowledged by the Academy and is up for the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Cassidy, the stripper with the heart of a poet who just wants to move her son to Trenton and give him a better life. Cassidy isn’t quite a friend or a love interest. Randy is her regular “customer” with whom she has something in common. She is a woman who understands what it’s like to be aging in a profession where looks matter and your body is your business.

Clad with tattoos and nipple rings, male audience goers will enjoy watching Marisa Tomei give lap dances and gyrate up and down the stripper pole. In a courageous film choice, playing that of a single middle aged mother stripping to make ends meet, she not only makes the character work, she looks terrific and refreshing as a naturally beautiful actress with no evidence of cosmetic augmentations or enhancements. Something seriously lacking in today’s cinematic industry.

Trying to help Randy find himself again, Cassidy urges him to get in touch with his estranged daughter Stephanie, played by Evan Rachel Wood. I have been a big fan of Evan’s since the late 1990’s television series Once and Again with her sensitive portrayal of a young daughter dealing with her parents divorce. Her time on screen in the Wrestler is brief but highly affecting, she gives a heart wrenching and poignant performance.

In one emotion packed scene Randy (Mickey) is talking to Stephanie (Evan) at the beach where he used to take her as a little girl, and acknowledges that he can’t ask for forgiveness or change the past:

“I’m an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be all alone. I just don’t want you to hate me.”

Randy the “Ram” Robinson is a role that Mickey Rourke was born to play. Every inch of his ripped muscles, bashed up face, and survivor’s spirit provide the landscape for this story which at its heart is about how far down someone can sink from where they began. Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood are impressive in their own right, complimenting the rough exterior and violence of the film with scenes that are alternately tender, heartbreaking, and real.

In the end, the Wrestler isn’t a film about wrestling (though fans will enjoy the decadence and flare) and despite the attachments to other characters, I don’t think it’s a film about relationships with others; it’s about the relationship we have with ourselves. It’s about self worth: being true to yourself and holding onto that until the bitter end.

It’s about the struggle to resist the dark forces and inner demons that threaten to lead us down the wrong road. A universal struggle we can all relate to, on some level. It’s about second chances and the choices that we make because it’s who we are – and how sometimes, no amount of love or redemption can change that.

—iChef Swett

Technorati Tags: Darren Aronofsky, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Mickey Rourke, nintendo, Passion of the Christ, Quiet Riot, Raging Bull, Randy Robinson, Sunday Night Smackdown, The Wrestler

Hope and Change.

My father told me years ago, Don’t ask for something ELSE as a substitute because you think it will compensate for the things you NEED—It won’t and eventually your needs will triumph over pacification.

Metallica’s song King of Nothing lyrics:

Careful what you wish, you may regret it
Careful what you wish, you just might get

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From the Lady (The Anchoress Online) from Texas Rainmaker :Timeless wisdom versus hopenchangy socialism.

Reagan & Obama; their own words

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DBD: Any Bravehearticans out there? by Ed Morrissey

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C-SPAN’s Presidential rankings by Ed Morrissey

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When you are made to feel helpless and hopeless not by circumstance (those people are already low hanging fruit), but by constantly being told you are, that’s when they will come for you with promises and it will be easy to recruit and activate you.

I look around and see and hear a whole bunch of activated recruits, but you should heed my father’s and Metallica’s warnings—You just might get what you ask for and you may regret it…

I do have hope for a different kind of change than where we’re headed on a bullet train…

—iChef Politikos

Technorati Tags: Agree to Disagree, Change, Freedom, Hope, Hopelessness, Obama, Presidents Day, Reagan, Socialism

I’m old school and what first comes to mind when I think about the Pink Panther is the cartoon I watched as a kid and then the more titillating Blake Edwards, Peter Sellers, Pink Panther incarnation.

So when I see Steve Martin, whom I like quite a bit, very diverse in the many different roles he’s played, I don’t see it working. I watch the trailer and say, WHY? Why go there? It’s been done and the trailers make me cringe! Steve Martin is making my toes curl, with the same french accent he made so funny, years ago!

Steve Martin made me howl when he used that fake french accent and said, omelet du fromage, followed by the french have a different word for everything! on his album Wild and Crazy Guy album.

So did somebody say, “hey don’t you think Steve Martin’s french accent is so funny lets remake the classic Pink Panther.”

Anyway I never saw the first remake of the Pink Panther and probably wouldn’t go to see Pink Panther 2 except it’s a movie the kids wanted to see and it looked pretty kid friendly. It’s Steve Martin afterall. And, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Alfred Molina. Not to mention lookers like Emily Mortimer and  Aishwarya Rai are pleasing to the eye.

This is what I can say: It was enjoyable enough for the whole family and I don’t regret it at all. Insp. Jacques Clouseau’s rendition (not to be confused with sending enemies of the state to countries to be questioned / detained…) by Steve Martin was okay. The Clouseau character was written well and I liked some of his traits—he actually had some talent, not just tripping over the clue. The supporting cast was also good—we like all those actors and they did an okay job. The story was also okay. The wine bottle scene was very well done and entertainingly funny.

I still liked the old school versions of Peter Sellers Insp. Jacques Clouseau better and the earlier iterations of Blake Edwards Pink Panther better too—they went too far in the later ones, but for the whole family Pink Panther 2 was—okay.

—iChef Cinema

PS. I also like Steve Martin being Steve Martin funny versus Steve Martin being Peter Sellers funny.

Technorati Tags: Aishwarya Rai, Alfred Molina, Andy Garcia, Blake Edwards, Clouseau, Emily Mortimer, family movie, french, Jean Reno, John Cleese, kid friendly, Lily Tomlin, movie review, Peter Sellers, Pink Panther, Pink Panther 2, Steve Martin, Wild and Crazy Guy

Could Diane Feinstein in fact be Ted Kennedy? (or vice versa of course…)

You tell me who this is a picture of!

Technorati Tags: Feinstein, Kennedy, the same person

Liam Neeson plays bad-ass well!  Very well!

If Harrison Ford played Liam Neeson bad-ass in the last Indiana Jones movie it might have had a chance… Bottom line: bad-ass only works if, you are in fact, bad-ass!

Examples of Bad-ass:

You’re a Terminator like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator and Arnold is scary, unrepentant, unstoppable, and kills lots of people.

You’re Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction and you shoot Brett because you told him if he said “WHAT, one more time,” you would.

Examples of NOT Bad-ass:

You’re a Terminator like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and a little boy orders you not to kill anybody and you don’t—that’s not bad-ass, just bad.

You’re Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction and you let Jimmie Dimmick talk to you like you’re his bitch—I get it, it was Quentin Tarantino’s movie afterall…

Taken was as good as the preview, no—it was better, because it lived up to it.

The storyline was good because it bordered on being possible. Maybe it’s because as an audience we want to believe it was possible. The kind of evil that’s being battled was real enough—human trafficking and the sex trade of underage girls. Abductions in a foreign country are real enough. Government corruption and complicity are real enough. And finally ex-spy preventer Liam Neeson who plays Brian Mills, an obsessed ex-spy father whose daughter is abducted, is a as good as it gets as far as a combination of James Bond, Jason Bourne, John McClane, with two extra helpings of bad-ass!

I thought what made this movie different was that there was no delay, no hesitation of what needed to be done. There was no saying just shoot’em, don’t wait, shoot’em now—the bad guys were already dead!

Brian Mills was emotional yet almost dead-on-perfect in his execution. Brian brings the wrath we all wish we could be capable of bringing to the people trying to imprison their child as a sex slave.

Liam Neeson is believable in this role and I would guess there will be future iterations of his character—he was just too good for there not to be…

Go see Taken and you will be taken to and rescued from a place you know exists in the deepest bowels of hell on earth by a bad-ass dad!

Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bad-ass, Jimmie Dimmick, Liam Neeson, Movies, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino's, reviews, Samuel L. Jackson, Taken, Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Weighing me Down!

Can somebody explain what the H is going on with gas prices. Yes, they are lower than they were and I should be soooo happy and grateful!

But oil barrel prices peaked at $147 a barrel and the most I paid in California was $4.97 a gallon for REGULAR leaded gasoline. (Taxes are included at this point CaliforniaGasolinePrices.com

Barrel prices have gone as low as $32 or so and I have paid as little as $1.79 per gallon of regular gasoline in California.

But since December low barrel prices have fluctuated between $32 and $45. But gasoline is up to $2.27 for regular today 2/7/09 (According to Bloomberg: WTI Cushing Spot is $40.17/barrel. Spot is what we pay today not for the future price (Nymex Crude Future), which by the way is currently priced at $40.17—the same)

So, help me out here, we will round off and use simple numbers and calculations to be able to do this in our heads.

The price of a barrel of Oil at its high was $147 which translated into $4.97 / gallon gasoline prices (what I paid for it.)

If the price of a barrel of oil goes go down in half, say to $75/barrel, then the price of gasoline should be cut in half—to say $2.50 a gallon. Makes sense.

And by that rationale if $75/barrel price goes go down in half again to $37.50 (which it did and then some) the price of gasoline should be cut in half again—to say $1.25 a gallon.

Well, that certainly didn’t happen, of course you have to consider that the state and government taxes add around $0.64 per gallon which includes federal excise taxes of $0.18 per gallon! Taxes are a pretty significant addition and is overlooked when we start looking at how much big oil is making…

What’s interesting to me at the moment is that from the recent low of $1.79 (including tax) when barrel prices were $35, to now when barrel prices are fluctuating between $35 and $45 and gasoline is fluctuating between $2.10 and $2.27 for regular. So I’m saying (speculating) that the service stations who have claimed to be the innocent victims of gasoline price outrage only making a measly 5 cents per gallon are playing around with the margin of about 35 cents. Raising the prices immediately in step with oil barrel prices and then lagging behind to reduce the prices when oil barrel prices go down.

I am taking into account that the supply purchased needs to be recovered before the change is reflected into the price at the pump.

I’m thinking that the sheeple are so happy we’re not paying $5 a gallon that they are willing to overlook the small potatoes.

I say we are getting bent-over at the pump and we need to scream over it! I say the governement taking 64 cents for every gallon sold of every car, boat, motorcycle, lawnmower, etc is very wrong!

The government is taxing gasoline at almost 40% with gas prices of $2.27! Are you telling me that this is okay? And California is billions of dollars in the deficit hole! How many gallons of gasoline are sold in california in a day? How much tax revenue is collected in a day? Where is all that money going?

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Other Articles:

Gas prices drive up sales tax revenue in state

Higher gas prices mean increased tax revenue for California

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Additional information:

A Primer on Gasoline Prices

Gasoline Wikipedia

Current Gas Prices and Price History

Why Gas Prices Rise as the Dollar Falls

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Other Voices:

Why Gas Prices are Rising Again

Pros puzzled by gas prices

Gasoline Prices Revisited

Technorati Tags: explanations, Gasoline prices, Government, News, Oil Prices, Op/Ed, Politics, revenue, Taxes