Americans weren't too keen on the proposed $100 gas rebate checks from Uncle Sam, so for now, the idea appears to be going away. Perhaps too many of us thought that accepting a crisp new Benjamin to put straight into the gas tank felt too much like taking a bribe. (Hey, the Sierra Club said it first, not me.)

Gas prices could rise back up near $3 per gallon, as the price of a barrel creeps back toward the $70 mark. But after last year's surging gas costs, consumers might not even blink at shelling out even more money at the pump.

Showing characteristic signs of short-term memory loss, the American public is apparently renewing its love affair with the SUV, according to The Wall Street Journal. When gas prices spiked to over $3 a gallon following Hurricane Katrina, demand for hybrids was in the headlines and chatter about fuel-efficiency standards was all the rage. Now gas prices in the U.S. have fallen to an average of $2.38 a gallon, and Americans on a cheap-gas buzz are making booty calls to SUVs.