It’s usually fun to see what’s on everybody’s mind by looking at Google Trends. Today, no so much, because gas is on their minds, and hurricanes, and not necessarily in that order, depending on where you live.
In Texas, or near Texas, or if people have loved ones in Texas, they’re searching for news of Hurricane Ike, which is destined for landfall in Galveston. The rest of the country, while no doubt very concerned for their countrymen are also concerned about spiking gas prices as the hurricane makes for oil refineries.
Aside from the shocking news Christian singer Ray Boltz came out of the closet dominating at number one, the rest of the non-hurricane-centered gaining search queries suggest our gas overlords are simultaneously gouging the entire country in anticipation of hurricane damage to the gas supply, which is a really crappy thing to do.
People are looking for gas prices by zip code, for cheap gas, for gas trackers, you name the variation. In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Bershear declared a state of emergency as gas prices skyrocketed toward and above $4 per gallon across the state, jumping by as much as 70 cents in a few hours. Though he stopped short of naming what the cap would be, he did strongly iterate that price-gouging laws were in full force and the state would be monitoring prices.
Also on trends list is Ron White, who was arrested yesterday for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia as he got off of a private jet. From the sound of the report, he was set up; an anonymous tipster led police there ahead of time.
