Multi-topic Time: Rehnquist Dies, More of Goldberg, and More of Gas

First, I would like to send my condolences to the family of Chief Justice Rehnquist. He presided over one of the best courts to ever exist. His presence will be missed.
But now that he has died, there now goes the proverbial floodgates (sorry, I just can't think of a better analogy). With Justice O'Connor retiring, this would make three confirmation processes that will be fought in the still divided Senate (two for confirming new justices, and one to confirm a new chief justice). If you thought that political groups were raging over Robert's nomination, all heck is going to break loose.
My fear is that Bush chooses a far right conservative, one with a well known track record. Thus far, we have missed the bullet with Roberts since he has little in terms of a real judicial track record.
This not to mention that with two Supreme Court justices gone, it has the potential to overturn a bevy of rulings, including a recent ruling on eminent domain (see previous post here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/political_gamer/12033.html?mode=reply).

Next on the list, Game Politics has a post (here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/82123.html) on another of Bernard Goldberg's choices of "100 People that are Screwing Up America". Well, if it wasn't obvious before (see previous post here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/political_gamer/13498.html?mode=reply), Goldberg has definatly gone conservative. By putting Take Two's president on the list because of the GTA series, he has shown that not only he is in favor of censorship, but also of the very likely false believe that games cause violence (see another GP post: http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/79462.html?mode=reply).
As I will always say to someone when this kind of topic comes along: play the games before you judge them. GTA is a sandbox style game, and one which does discourage many of the things critics cry about.
This is not to mention many of the good things that videogames do cause (which includes meeting people who also play games).

And finally, gas prices have soared since Katrina. Here, we are seeing prices ranging from $2.80 to $3. I'm living in the Northwest, a place that gets no gasoline from the southeast.
The price increase isn't from an actual decrease, it's from a percieved decrease. The southeast does actually have a shortage of gas, but that's because of the huge demand from fleeing drivers. There is no actual shortage here, just one that is foreseen in the future.
I just foresee that prices nationally will increase to beyond the highest prices in history, even counting inflation (highest counting inflation is about $3.30, according to a news report I saw), and it probably won't fall too far down after this crisis is behind us.
If there is one thing one could complain about the oil industry, it's that they increase whenever there's a percieved shortage, not when there's an actual shortage. Prices climbed because of such events and didn't fall very far once the increase was put in.
So here's my question, why isn't there some measure to stop this type of practice from happening? Oil drives our cars and trucks, and thus the entire economy. So who is making sure the industry isn't ripping us off?