Riddle me this!

If we're trading blood for oil, why are gas prices so high?

I remember fondly when pseudo-hippie friends of mine went to the nearest Exxon, filled up their tank with gas, drove 8 hours to Seattle to wave around their No Blood for Oil signs in an exciting big city protest. Oil being that same stuff they put in their tank back at the Exxon. I'm not opposed to voicing your opinions, or trying to make a difference, but I really think if you change the mind of one person, even if that person lives in the same town as you, you are making a much larger impact (even on a global scale) than you would be joining 5000 mindless drones all chanting the same slogan in the middle of some street in some big city somewhere. Obviously it's no where near as fun, if your trying to change the mind of your conservative next door neighbor you wont have any tye dye wearing Bob Marley fanatics to flirt with. Anyway, I'm pissed off about the war in Iraq too, it's ridiculous and pointless. We all know were not there fighting terrorism (I mean, how can you fight a word? It's like the war on drugs), so we must be fighting for oil, right?

I paid $2.39 for a gallon of gas today...and I know in other parts of the country people are paying a lot more. I mean, if we fought this war for oil, at least I should get cheap gas...but why is it escalating to record highs? I'd just like to give the middle finger salute to OPEC for making this world a better place.