In the energy market Friday, oil prices went haywire, with crude for January delivery closing at $33.87/barrel, down $2.35 on its last day as front-month contract, while crude for February delivery closed at $42.36/barrel, up 69 cents. January reformulated gasoline gained 5 cents, to $0.97/gallon.

Editor’s Note: Sky-high crude oil prices and gas prices are becoming something of a national obsession.

They’ve also becoming the mother of all political punchbags. Washington’s finest are scrambling over each other to be seen as championing ‘ordinary Americans’ over the big, bad oil companies and, even worse, the oil speculators.