Gas prices got you down? Make a run for the border!

Yet another case of that damned government intervention that conservatives love to whine about:

SAN DIEGO — If there's pain at the pump in the U.S., Mexico may just have a remedy. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in San Diego retails for an average price of $4.61 a gallon. A few miles south, in Tijuana, it's about $2.54 _ even less if you pay in pesos.

More and more people appear to be taking advantage of the lower price.

"I used to buy exclusively in the U.S. before gas started really going up," said Patrick Garcia, a drama teacher at an elementary school in San Diego who lives in Tijuana. "Since then, I've been buying all my gas in Tijuana."

The lower prices mean a U.S. motorist could save almost $54 filling up a two-year-old Ford F150 pickup with a 26-gallon fuel tank in Mexico.

The differential in diesel is even greater, selling at $5.04 a gallon in San Diego County and $2.20 in Tijuana.

Paul Covarrubias, 26, who lives in Chula Vista and works in construction in San Diego, crosses the border each week just to refuel his dual-cab Ford F-250 pickup.

"I fill it up with diesel in Tijuana for $60," he said. "It would be almost twice that in San Diego."

Gas is cheaper in Mexico because of a government subsidy intended to keep inflationary forces in check.

Still, international gas-buying trips don't make sense for everyone. The wait getting back into the U.S. at the border in Tijuana frequently takes longer than two hours and cars can burn about a gallon of gas for each hour they idle.

House votes to repeal "big oil" tax breaks

Enough is enough!

After the U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies to help pay for developing renewable energy sources, Bush threatened to veto the bill, saying that it "unfairly targets the oil industry". Read that last line again, and recall that Exxon Mobil, by itself, recorded record profits of $40.6 BILLION last year. These bastards have gotten fat (particularly the fat bastard pictured) off us, reaping windfall profits while George Bush hands them back billions of our tax money!

Even you conservative, pro-business, common market folks must find fault with subsidizing an industry that requires no help in the first place! "Nothing wrong with making a profit" is the talking point that I keep hearing from these people. I agree, to a point. But I take exception at obscene profits that are made merely to make obscene profits - big oil has had no unexpected increased expenses, no shock waves. They are directly fucking the American people, while their enabling lackey in the White House not only protects them, but hands them more of our money via tax breaks.

In 2007, the price for a barrel of oil jumped from $50 to $100. I don't recall hearing that the supply fell by 50%, nor did I receive any information regarding a huge increase in expenses for the oil companies. What I HAVE heard is that big oil was given billions to offset THEIR usual and customary expenses, while those of us in the transportation industry not only got screwed at the pump, but received no in-kind government assistance to help us like the oil companies got. My annual fuel costs have increased from $3.5k in 2001 to $10.5k last year - where's MY big tax break? Somewhere on Exxon Mobil's tax return, apparently. . .