The high cost of oil seems to have many causes including, disruption of supply, increased worldwide demand, futures market speculation. So who's to blame and what can we do about it? A nice opinion piece by Rosa Brooks for the LA Times is a good starter on the topic.

In today's news, the Saudis may soon increase production by half a billion barrels a day in an attempt dampen the effect of futures speculation. Twice that much oil remains unavailable from Iraq as a result of the little brouhaha the President started 5 years ago.

I wonder how much oil is being consumed to support our military presence in Iraq?