...and the response???



The only comment needed is that the shooting is reported to have occurred around 9:20pm

Update: The main page of the UCA website was posted with a short warning description to say that campus is locked down around 10:55pm.

UCA sent emails to students at around 11:00pm

A recent poll reported by the Associated Press shows Obama with 44% and McCain with 43%

Associated Press Article

I just finished reading the book "The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity" by Russell Roberts. I have now read two books by Russ Roberts (The Invisible Heart). I enjoy his novels because of the underlying economic principles taught thoroughly throughout the book. It gives a compelling explanation why it might be best to raise prices during times of emergency and also the process of making a Ticonderoga #2 pencil, without a pencil czar.

The book gives an approach to look at the world through economic eyes. In his acknowledgments he hopes that in the future "America is still a place where dreams can still come true because there is no weaver of dreams."

Although this video may only present part of the picture since it pieces together short clips from here and there, it offers an interesting picture of what was going on with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several years ago. An interesting quote from the video is from Obama's economic advisor claiming that sub-prime mortgages are "riskless".

Whether or not you believe that the bailout bill for Wall Street is a good idea, you should read this article from the Wall Street Journal. According to this article, some Republicans have been reluctant to vote in favor of the bill because it may give as much as 20% of any profits from the distressed securities that the government will purchase to political activist groups like ACORN.

"Acorn, one of America's most militant left-wing "community activist groups," is spending $16 million this year to register Democrats to vote in November. In the past several years, Acorn's voter registration programs have come under investigation in Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, while several of their employees have been convicted of voter fraud." -WSJ

Bankruptcies, take overs, and stock market crashes - we're obviously in a recession, right? - wrong!

"The economy shrank marginally (-0.2%) in the fourth quarter of 2007, but otherwise it's been growing steadily for years. In the most recent quarter it grew at a vigorous 3.3%, fueled not by government stimulus checks but by a strong rise in net exports. The OECD has just raised its forecast of U.S. growth for the full year from 1.2% to 1.8% - not blistering, but still the fastest growth of all the G-7 countries."
- Geoff, Fortune Magazine

Fastest growth of all the G-7 countries? If this is what we call a recession, imagine what it must be like to live anywhere else in the world?

From the Blog, Carpe Diem:

In Alabama, Attorney General Troy King is warning unscrupulous contractors and businesses that he will take action against those who seek to profit illegally at the expense of Alabamians who may suffer damage and others who seek refuge in the state from tropical storms and hurricanes.

The state law that prohibits "unconscionable pricing" of items for sale or rent comes into play when the governor has declared an official state of emergency. Gov. Riley declared a state of emergency Friday in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav.

An unconscionable price is defined as one that is 25% more than the average price charged in the same area within the last 30 days, unless the increase can be attributed to a reasonable cost. The penalty is a fine up to $1,000 per violation, and those determined to have willfully and continuously violated this law may be prohibited from doing business in Alabama.

In Louisiana, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell announced zero tolerance for price gouging at the gas pump before, during, or after Gustav. His office says it's logged over 300 complaints. In one case, a station was caught jacking up the price of gas from $3.50 a gallon to $4.10

MP: Hey wait a minute, that's only a 17% increase, that would be legal in Alabama.

Caldwell says when they busted these stations, employees told his investigators they didn't know they are not allowed to raise the prices. On Highway 415, west of Port Allen, gas prices are hovering around $3.65. People are warned that if they haven't gassed up, they should get to the pump soon. Some stations are running out of gas.

MP: Hey wait minute, officials are telling people to fill up, so demand for gas is rising sharply, and supply is declining, stations are running out, and prices aren't supposed to increase?

Update: Politicians seem to have a strong dislike for high oil and gas prices, and are willing to immediately blame, investigate and prosecute price gougers and speculators for "unconscionable pricing" when oil and gas prices increase. But it's often those same politicians who continually hold our own vast domestic energy resources off-limits to exploration and development, which contributes to higher prices. Isn't that "unconscionable logic?"

All in the name of fairness:

One man winning EIGHT gold medals in just ONE Olympics! We need to take the "windfall" gold medals from that greedy American, Michael Phelps, and distribute them to the less fortunate, but equally hard-working athletes in the swimming-poor countries. The International Olympic Committee should take control of 60% of his obscene, record medal count, and distribute them to athletes in nations like Iceland and Lichtenstein, who've never won Olympic swimming medals. He'd still have 3 medals left, he'd never even miss the ones we took. --Glenn Beck

Obama has also promised that "we will get 1 million 150-mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on our roads within six years." What a tranquilizing verb "get" is. This senator, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, is going to get a huge, complex industry to produce, and is going to get a million consumers to buy, these cars. How? Almost certainly by federal financial incentives for both -- billions of dollars of tax subsidies for automakers, and billions more to bribe customers to buy these cars they otherwise would spurn.

~George Will