OK, back to being an adult.

This from CNN:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN)—Saudi Arabia Friday rebuffed President Bush’s request to immediately pump more oil to lower record prices, saying it does not see enough demand to increase production.

I hate to quote a talking parrot, but it seems appropriate here (3:40):

IAGO: (Extremely sarcastically) Oh, there’s a big surprise. That’s an incred-- I think I’m gonna have a heart attack and die from that surprise! 

But wait! There’s more! From CNN:

The Saudis said they would increase production if customers demanded it, Steven Hadley, Bush’s national security adviser, said.

What, exactly, do the Saudis believe constitute a demand from customers??

Oil hit $127 a barrel on Friday, up more than $27 since President Bush’s last visit to Riyadh in January (when Bush’s earlier appeal for increased production was rejected), when Americans were paying $3.06 a gallon on average for gasoline, CNN said.

The average price for a gallon now is $3.78—and rising.

But wait! There’s more!

On the heels of the bad news from the Saudis, U.S. Energy Department officials announced that they will stop sending oil shipments to the government’s reserves when the department’s current contract expires in July.

That move was discouraged by the Bush Administration, which argued that the amount of oil diverted into the general market from the reserves is too little to make a dent in oil prices. Worse, the president said, halting contributions to the reserves constitutes a threat to national security, since those reserves would be tapped in the event that a national emergency disrupted shipments of foreign oil to the United States.

But Congress was unconvinced. Facing constituents’ growing outrage over fuel prices, senators recently voted overwhelmingly to support the reserves diversion.

I wish I could say that I’m stunned by this latest stick-in-the-eye from the Saudis.

But I’d be lying.

Most frustrating, though, is that America seems powerless to do anything about it.