When you first saw the rising oil prices, what was your first thought? Mine was, "why?" Before the prices rose in the first place the government could have stopped it, and even now, the don't. This makes no sense. Why hasn't the government put an interest into researching alternative fuels? why has the government not stopped the oil prices from rising by reducing our dependency? These are great questions. The answer, is stocks. The US government owns huge amounts of stock in oil companies. If they put a serious interest into advancing our societies transportation, they would lose money. It bothers me that they consider this an issue yet, not the billions of dollars that they are pouring into the war in Iraq. We need to force the government to see that it is not about personal monetary gain, but about the betterment of the Human race as a whole. We are the only ones who can change the downward slope of our economy. We need to stand up instead of siting back at our computers and watching. we need action before it is too late and gas is at $15.00 a gallon!