When I read things like $2.00 a gallon gas, or 'expanded oil drilling rights', I am reminded of a song with the lines:

Well, the doctor comes around with a face all bright,
And he says in a little while you'll be all right.
All he gives is a humbug pill,
A dose of dope and a great big bill --
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?



Oil is pretty much a finite resource. I am sure we can thin it out with things like hemp or corn or sugar beets, but there is a limited amount of it.
At some point, it will become economically inviable to squeeze drops of it out of rock shale, and then we need an alternative.
Like bikes, or walking, or some other wonder mode of transportation, which will either be like magic and have no costs associated with it, or more realistically, greatly reduced costs.

I'll stick with the bike. I will run my bike on self righteousness and moral superiority for a long long time.