Have you voted today?

Spoilers ahead for tonight's American Idol, but first, a public service message. First, I agree that gasoline prices are crazy high, that they are at record levels. I know this. I see it at the pump and I watch the exchange every single day for 9 hours (and you thought your job lacked excitement?). I keep reading about price gouging etc, but let me assure you -- this is not the case. There are about a gazillion factors driving the crude oil market right now, but the main driver is 'fear', believe it or not. We can directly tie in price spikes to events in the Middle East -- it's crazy. Add to that OPEC curtailing production, ramping down of refineries for regulatory and profit reasons, and you've got record high crude prices.

And btw, the $40/barrel that they're talking about as being highest prices since 1990 is in absolute dollars, not 1990 dollars. To buy that same barrel of oil today would be about $64, not $40, if you consider an annualized period of 14 years and an inflation of about 3.5 percent. So that $40/barrel of oil is still cheaper today than it was in 1990. Just something to think about. Also, that you probably still pay more per gallon of water/milk/juice than you do for gasoline.

And now, spoilers for American Idol ahead.

This is where you turn back if you don't want to know. With only 15 minutes left in the West Coast edition of the show, I'm not going to 'white out' the spoilers. So go! Go away now if you don't want to know what happened.

But can I just say, that while I enjoyed Jasmine's voice, how can they keep her over LaToya London? How does this happen? It's like John Stevens redux. Boot Jennifer, keep John. And Jasmine! Jasmine looked as if she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She's got another week, but God, did she really deserve another week? I honestly didn't think she was that bad on Tuesday night and did not deserve a skewering from the judges, but LaToya... oh LaToya was my favorite! The one I wanted to win! So now that means I've got to give my support to Diana DeGarmo because Fantasia? Uh-uh.

I'm getting way too invested in reality television.

Have you voted for Shii-Ann/Rudy/Richard yet? (see here -- "Excercise your right to vote"; my permalinks are still messed up and I haven't figured out how to fix them. Grrr....). Go vote! Even if you don't know what I'm talking about, go vote! Now! Seriously! Don't make me come over there!