This week, the straw that broke me. It cost $75 to fill my junky car with gas. And I cried. At the pump. Standing there, blurry-eyed. It was a final sort of despair.

But, alas! We are grown up now. But being an adult these last 7 or so years has not brought the payoff we former children waited and worked for -- to be free and autonomous and drive wherever we want whenever we want, in control of our own lives. Not since that flabbergastingly pompous dimwit, er, fratboy George, took office.

You see, under the reign of Georgy-poo, we have lost, as a collective whole, our sense of personal power. There is a national pall over the land, and it's not apathy, it's demoralization. It's as if our vocal cords have become emasculated. We give a shit, but why speak, and act on it, if the coin of the realm is going to do what he freekin damn wants to anyway?

This is why Mr. Barak Obama will win in a landslide, but he's not the solver of all ills. Unfortunately, he's not god, though that would solve a lot a problems in a magical sort of no-work kind of way. Still, his halo is pretty darn shiny, but we still have to do the work.

Am I blaming Mr. Bush for the gas crisis? Secretly, I blame the man for everything, even if I get mayo on my sandwich when I asked for mustard.

But, beyond blame for ill-placed condiments WE CAN ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!

We can get the price of gas back down to a few bucks a gallon!

Not a pipe dream, people!

And no, I am not offering to sell you swamp land in Florida. Let's make Exxon-Mobile our bitch - and take back the pump.

First, the facts: We are never going to REALLY change our driving habits.

Maybe a few trips here and there cut from the agenda. Maybe you get your butt on a bike. But some days it rains, and some days you're late and the bike sits quaintly in the garage while you speed off in your car. So, driving less is not a realistic enough goal.

No, we can't stop buying gas, but we can choose from whom we buy it!

This idea comes from a retired Coca Cola executive, Phillip Hollsworth, via an engineering pal who worked at that apex of grubby corporate greed, Halliburton. And who would know how to lick the devil but those sitting at his right hand?

EXXON-MOBILE is the biggest gas retailer on the planet.

Yes, they are one and the same just as that other notorious duo, Bush-Cheney, each forming a tight-fisted oligarch. But because they are big and powerful and we are small and puny does not mean we can't impact AND CHANGE gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the plan:

From TODAY, through the rest of the year, DO NOT purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies EXXON and MOBIL. NOT A DROP.

In essence, starve the muthafukkahs!

Remember! ExxonMobil spelled backwards is LibomNoxxe! Which translates from the Dutch as "My bitch!"

If they are not selling any gas, they will be forced to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. Like the airline industry, well, before it had to sock you with surcharges for every last salted peanut.

If you're still with me, People of the World, to follow is the meat of the forwarded email on how the meek, that's us, can re-inherit the gas pumps. It's an uppy sort of ‘YES YOU CAN' speech, but since Obama made this call-to-action un-corny enough, I think you're all primed.

Here it is, verbatim:

"... to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300). And those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it.... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all! How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!"

And there you have it People of America and Beyond. YES YOU CAN bring a greedy buncha fat cat oil barons to their knees, and get gas for the price we want!

SEND THIS TO TEN FRIENDS RIGHT NOW!

And start pumping your gas at Citgo, 76, Costco!, Jerry's Watered-Down Gas and Donut! Who cares? As long as it's not Exxon-Mobile.

OR THIS will be the reality by this time next year. NO LIE!

This has been a FIND YOUR BALLS AND DO SOMETHING THAT CAN ACTUALLY WORK sort of public service announcement brought to you by ROBYN EWING for la2day.com

rae@la2day.com