Gas prices have more than doubled under President Obama, a feat unmatched even by Jimmy Carter. Understandably worried about the upcoming election, some congressional Democrats and at least one former administration official have been floating the idea that the president should release oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to lower prices.

Bunk.

Any price reduction caused by a withdrawal of oil from the reserve will be temporary. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, U.S. oil consumption was about 18.8 million barrels per day in 2009, the last year for which figures are available. The reserve inventory currently stands at just under 700 million barrels, representing just 39 days of U.S. consumption.

Last year, Obama released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—the largest withdrawal ever—as part of a 60 million barrel release coordinated by the International Energy Agency. This massive release, in response to supply disruptions in Libya and other countries during the “Arab Spring” revolts, flooded the market last summer, but by January prices were on their way back up again.

Never before has a president released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve without having replaced previous withdrawals. But, already carrying a $1.3 trillion deficit, Obama has not been able to replace last year’s drawdown. To withdraw from the reserve two years in a row would be unprecedented; moreover, further reduction of our strategic reserve would increase the risk of a serious shortage in the event of a real emergency.

Read More at Human Events. By Mark LaRochelle.

Mitt Romney has RomneyCare, flip flopping, and a lack of true conservative convictions to contend with in his attempt to win over conservative and evangelical voters. It doesn’t help that he succumbs to the latest liberal political fads – the support of homosexual relationships, and this from a man who’s all about “family values.” And I don’t mean family values as redefined by the liberal establishment that includes homosexual marriage.

Romney’s decision to hire foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell, a self-avowed homosexual — described by Bryan Fischer, host of the radio program Focal Point, as an “out & loud gay” — is sending a “message to the pro-family community” to “drop dead.”

Since Romney has more or less sewn up the Republican nomination, a number of evangelical leaders and conservatives in general have gotten behind him. This latest appointment by Romney may kill the deal. I’m curious to see what Mark DeMoss, who is the evangelical liaison for Mitt Romney, is going to say about the Grenell appointment. DeMoss is on the board of directors of Liberty University. He’s probably the one who arranged to have Romney speak at the Christian university where there’s something of a revolt going on among the students.

Doug Wead writes:

To announce [that Romney was going to speak at Liberty] on the same day as the Richard Grenell announcement is a clumsy attempt to show respect to both the evangelical and gay communities. Instead it shows that the Romney campaign understands neither one.

If Romney thought he was going to gain some support in the very small homosexual community by appointing the openly homosexual Grenell as his national security and foreign policy spokesman and then accepting an invitation to speak at Liberty University, he’s delusional.

Read More at Godfather Politics. By Gary DeMar.

Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey (Creative Commons)

‘California is God’s best moment,” says Joel Kotkin. “It’s the best place in the world to live.” Or at least it used to be.

Mr. Kotkin, one of the nation’s premier demographers, left his native New York City in 1971 to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley. The state was a far-out paradise for hipsters who had grown up listening to the Mamas & the Papas’ iconic “California Dreamin'” and the Beach Boys’ “California Girls.” But it also attracted young, ambitious people “who had a lot of dreams, wanted to build big companies.” Think Intel, Apple and Hewlett-Packard.

Now, however, the Golden State’s fastest-growing entity is government and its biggest product is red tape. The first thing that comes to many American minds when you mention California isn’t Hollywood or tanned girls on a beach, but Greece. Many progressives in California take that as a compliment since Greeks are ostensibly happier. But as Mr. Kotkin notes, Californians are increasingly pursuing happiness elsewhere.

Nearly four million more people have left the Golden State in the last two decades than have come from other states. This is a sharp reversal from the 1980s, when 100,000 more Americans were settling in California each year than were leaving. According to Mr. Kotkin, most of those leaving are between the ages of 5 and 14 or 34 to 45. In other words, young families.

The scruffy-looking urban studies professor at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., has been studying and writing on demographic and geographic trends for 30 years. Part of California’s dysfunction, he says, stems from state and local government restrictions on development. These policies have artificially limited housing supply and put a premium on real estate in coastal regions.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal. By Allysia Finley.

George Zimmerman surprised a Florida court today by taking the stand and apologizing to the parents of Trayvon Martin, who were sitting in the courtroom during Zimmerman’s bond hearing.

“I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit older than I was,” Zimmerman said addressing Martin’s family directly.

Zimmerman took the stand wearing a dark suit with his hands shackled to a belt around his waist.

His surprising testimony came the same day that ABC News exclusively obtained a photograph showing the bloodied back of Zimmerman’s head, which was apparently taken three minutes after he shot and killed Martin. The photo could give credence to Zimmerman’s claim that Martin had bashed his head against the concrete as Zimmerman fought for his life.

The bond hearing concluded this morning with Judge Kenneth Lester agreeing to allow Zimmerman, who is charged with second degree murder, to post a $150,000 bond to get out of jail. The prosecution had argued that Zimmerman should be denied bail or that it should be set at $1 million.

Read More at ABC News. By Matt Gutman and Seni Tienabeso, ABC News.