I'm just back from a couple of weeks in New England that included a goodly amount of driving–and filling up my gas tank.  The price difference between there and here is astounding even to someone like me who is used to a significant differential.  I paid $2.19 for regular.  Put that in your mental carburetor.

So it was with gratitude that I returned to a San Mateo County Times headline on Thursday that read "Brown's priorities defeated".  I would link to it, but you guessed it, even putting the exact title in the Times and Merc website doesn't yield the article.  No matter since the two reporters did an abysmal job of reporting their own opinions instead of the news.  Here is one fact-based sentence from the article

The governor's infrastructure plan seeks to raise $3.5 billion annually by boosting the gasoline tax 6 cents per gallon, increasing the diesel tax by 11 cents and increasing the vehicle registration fee by $65.

For the real complete story, we turn to yesterday's Wall Street Journal editorial

Cap and trade has raised fuel costs, though it effect is hard to isolate from other environmental mandates.  The Western States Petroleum Association last year projected that cap and trade would add 16 to 76 cents per gallon to the retail price of gas based on data from the Air Resources Board.

In 2006 Californians paid about 23 cents more per gallon than the national average due to higher gas taxes and the state's reformulated fuel regulations.  The price premium increased to 41 cents last year and spiked to $1.14 in May after several in-state refineries experienced problems.  The average gas price in California now is $3.22….

I could go on with the market data and the effect of the ethanol requirements on people's cars, but you get the point.  That is why 21 Democratic assembly members also voted against Brown this week.  So what does he do?  "Mr. Brown vowed to use regulation to end-run the legislature."  Oh goody.