Big Oil is at it again, ladies and gentlemen. In California, many parts of America's largest state are already seeing prices north of $3 for a gallon of gasoline. And in the rest of these United States, prices are rising to match.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the average price of petrol in the lower 48 is now $2.50 per gallon. Already analysts and purported experts have crawled out of the bushes to chime in that the rising costs are due to refining capacity this, pipeline problems that.

Bull S#1$.

True, the oil markets are trigger happy - an easterly breeze can blow in Saudi Arabia that will in turn prompt prices of crude to skyrocket in London. But there does seem to be a deliberately fishy pattern to these price increases. There timing is always just so - um, well timed.

By summer, America will likely see $3 per gallon again - or worse. That is, unless of course, we as consumers stop being so damned complacent about it.