The last couple of walk-in customers where I work have complained about high gas prices after exiting their large luxury cars or SUVs. All I can think is "what is the big deal?" And what exactly worries them about current high gas prices? I am left to figure that one out. Here's a good article by Justin Wolfers called "What Exactly Concerns Us About Gas Prices?" Only if I could hand it to them as they walk out.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... #more-2757

UPDATE : Find the more recent UCA salaries in 2009 with a sortable, searchable database. Here

The list of University of Central Arkansas Salaries is now searchable. (You can use the built in search capabilities of Adobe Acrobat.)

UCA Salaries 2008

Stay tuned for the new, updated salary list coming soon...

According to Shawn Tully in Why oil prices will tank:

"Arguments that $4-a-gallon gas (or even higher) is here to stay are dead wrong. Housing's boom-and-bust cycle tells you why."

This greenhouse calculator was developed by Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is meant for children.

Fill out the survey yourself and you can learn when you should die!


http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetsla ... e_calc.htm

It is amazing how seriously the media are taking Senator Barack Obama's latest statement about the latest racist rant from the pulpit of the church he has attended for 20 years. But neither that statement nor the apology for his rant by Father Michael Pfleger really matters, one way or the other. Nor does Senator Obama's belated resignation from that church. For any politician, what matters is not his election year rhetoric, or an election year resignation from a church, but the track record of that politician in the years before the election. Yet so many people are so fascinated by Barack Obama's rhetorical skills that they don't care about his voting record in the U.S. Senate, in the Illinois state senate, the causes that he has chosen to promote over the years, or the candidate's personal character and values, as revealed by his actions and associations. Despite clever spin from Obama's supporters about avoiding "guilt by association," much more is involved than casual association with people like Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger. In addition to giving $20,000 of his own money to Jeremiah Wright, as a state senator Obama directed $225,000 of the Illinois taxpayers' money for programs run by Father Pfleger. In the U.S. Senate, Obama earmarked $100,000 in federal tax money for Father Pfleger's work. Giving someone more than 300 grand is not just some tenuous, coincidental association. Are Barack Obama's views shown by what he says during an election year or by what he has been doing for decades before? The complete contrast between Obama's election year image as a healer of divisions and his whole career of promoting far-left grievance politics, in association with America-haters like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, are brushed aside by his supporters who talk about getting back to "the real issues." There is nothing more real than a man's character and values. The track record of what he has actually done is far more real than anything he says, however elegantly he says it. There is no office where the character and values of the person in that office matter more than the office of President of the United States. He holds the destiny of 300 million Americans in his hands and the fate of generations yet unborn...

The CEO’s of our nation’s largest oil companies have recently been called to Capitol Hill to answer for their “record profits.” It seems quite ridiculous that today you might actually have to stand before congress and explain yourself for being too successful. Those in the panel of congress, mostly Democrats, have sat across from these oil executives hurling accusations and showing their disdain for anyone in this nation who is more successful than themselves. They even had the guts to accuse the oil companies of not giving enough money to Myanmar for relief? Not giving enough? First of all, some reports have shows that a few of these oil companies alone have given more than 50% of what the entire United States government has given. Secondly, since when is it the right of a congressperson to scold someone for not giving enough? According to Thomas L. Friedman in his book, “The World is Flat,” “Communism [is] a great system for making people equally poor.” This seems to be the road that these Democrats would like to take. The gist of the Democrats’ argument seems to be that the oil executives are exploiting poor Americans and in the meantime making too much money. I would ask the question, “How are we being exploited?” Do we have a right to oil that legally belongs to the oil companies? If we stole it from them, would that be just? Although these congressmen fancy themselves modern day Robin Hoods – in this day and age, Robin Hood goes to prison and the rich man gets back what is rightfully his.

"And it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Barack Hussein Obama “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.” President George Washington First Inaugural Address “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interest.” Alexander Hamilton "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.” James MadisonFather of the Constitution

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his. One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying. Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey doing?' She replied, 'Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.' Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.' The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back 'That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!' I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money. Thomas Sowell