Arkansas Blog

If you drive an SUV, you have built up such negative karma that I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

Especially if you drive a Hummer. That's like having a tatoo that says "I love war and I hate the environment."

I have had my driver's license for more than 30 years and today, for the first time in my life, I paid more than $40 for a tank of gas. And that was with the $2.75 gas in Maumelle, which is 10-15 cents cheaper than I've seen in LR the last few days.

It just means 2 less Starbucks a week.

Look, this is just some more of the standardization of America. What you drive is your business, how far you drive is your business, how much gas you buy is your business.

If you want to spend all your paycheck on gasoline, fine by me. If you want to spend all your paycheck on Oklahoma lottery tickets or the horses at Oaklawn or at the liquor store...fine by me.

First it's look down your nose at smokers, now it's look down your nose at people with SUVs and a bunch of kids that need hauling all over. This all reminds me of being at my great grandmothers when I was a kid and watching her chickens gang up and peck one to death.

Sure the smart thing to do is drive a tiny little car as little as possible. Walk, ride a bike, or just stay home. But holy crap....our anger seems to be directed at people who bought their big ass car 2 years ago and not at the insanely crooked oil companies earning record profits and our insanely crooked White House that pimps for them.

Turning on each other lets George Bush off the hook. Rove loves it, Rummy loves it, Exxon loves it. Let's light a fire under the butts of the guilty parties and each other.

I like to smoke, I like to drive a giant old car, it's my money, it's my choice. I smoke a lot, I drive very little since most of what I need is very close to my home.

Bush takes a 17 large car caravan to give a speech about conserving energy. Rummy and Condi fly into Iraq one morning last week on 2 different giant airplanes. Dennis Hastert rides off in a hybrid car...2 blocks where he jumps out and climbs into his own giant SUV. Duh!

It's more divider and decider crap and yet another attempt to make us all cookie cutter worker slave Wal-Mart buying clones.

We have 2 oilmen in the White House, we have a war to steal Iraq's oil going on which might gain more support if they can make us think gasoline will be gone by 2008. Bush plainly said this week that his hands were tied, he can't do anything about high gas prices, he doesn't think the big oil tax credits he signed last year should be stopped, he doesn't believe a windfall profits tax is the thing to do...he said he trusts the big oil companies to use their giant profits in some kind of mysterious ways that will eventually help Americans. Give me freaking break!

So let's get off each other's backs and feel sorry for people who are stuck with big cars, far off jobs, and many busy kids that need to go in all directions at once every day.

Know who the enemy is!

I live in rural Arkansas and commute 80 miles a day to earn a living. The big oil companies are reaping huge profit windfalls, and Bush says they need to invest their new found cash flow into "exploration."
How about just investing their new found cash flow into reducing the price I pay at the pumps?
The price of gas reduces the amount of food I can provide for my family. And, btw, hamburger is not cheap anymore.

I'm a state gov't worker bee, but I live in LR - only 6 miles from the office and I certainly wasn't foolish enough to buy an SUV; my 10 yr old compact gets 26 mpg. Still, gas is a burden since we haven't had a real raise in 6 years.

I live near the midtown commuter lot and if CAT would run AM & PM express routes between the lots & the terminal I would be on it tomorrow. But the stop & go street route would mean I have to leave at 6:45 AM and I can afford the gas in order to avoid that.

But, now I hear the city is willing to sell the lot in order to move the Brandon House property. Very short sigted - as usual.

I apologize. My comments before were mean spiritied. Instead of focusing on the people who bought SUVs, I should be focusing on the criminal-in-chief.

The very same oil companies who gave us cheap gasoline for decades all of a sudden are evil because they are making a 10% ROE. Were they also evil a few years ago when they were selling gasoline for $1/gal, or did that evil thing just happen?

You people are just fools.

Nobody gave us cheap gasoline for decades. Big Oil sold us gasoline at what it was worth--the market price. A gallon of gas is now worth three dollars. People are crying about it because it uses up significantly more of their income.

And people are pissed off about it because, for example, Exxon's fat bastard got a $400 million going away present. That is obscene. He's delighted that the price is 3 bucks. Our nation's poorer working people find it hard to pay for gas, food, medicine, and little things like that.

Crybabies? Maybe so. Sounds like you aren't having as hard a time with it as some folks.

Fools? For having an opinion on the issue? Whatever you say, o wise one.

Here's some Oily Excuses From the Comics:

President Bush on Friday rejected calls by some lawmakers for a tax on oil company windfall profits, saying the industry should reinvest its recent gains into finding and producing more energy.

With gasoline at over $3 a gallon in some areas, Bush said there was ``no evidence'' of price-gouging of consumers.

"Gas prices continue to rise. At the gas station near my house they have a slot for your credit card and one right next to it for your 401K." --Jay Leno

"Gas is so expensive SUV now stands for sport utility victim." --Jay Leno

President Bush said this week to help with gas prices he will temporarily ease environmental regulations. Great. Not only will you not be able to drive, you won't be able to breathe either." --Jay Leno

The brave new Bush Gasoline Conservation Program: "I urge all Americans to use push mowers."-- Grant Gerver

Guest these would be funnier if one could forget the seriousness!

The Republican fix for gasoline prices:

1. Outlaw the singing of the national anthem in spanish;

2. Cut taxes;

3. Appoint Judges who will strictly interpret the constitution to take away rights from folks;

4. Cut taxes on oil companies to encourage them to invest;

5. Protect marriage from gay folk;

one more I forgot...

6. Eliminate the environment

If you are driving 80 mile round trips to "earn a living" you are nuts. Having a life is more important than earning a living.

You have three options.
1) Find work closer to home.
2) Find home closer to work.
3) shut up about it.

In Hawaii they call it the "Paradise Tax". If you want to live in what they consider paradise, EVERYTHING COSTS MORE. Accept the "cost" of your choice and shut up about it.

I have a house in town and a cabin in the Ozarks. I wish I could stay up in the Ozarks all the time. Coffee on the deck, smelling wild plum blossoms, watching deer and turkey, seeing fog roll down the Buffalo River valley, and listening to birds and cattle start the day is much better than sitting on the deck in Little Rock within view of neighbors and hearing air conditioners turn on and off plus sirens from the firestation on Cantrell.

But that is my choice because I don't want to work the hours some of my college buddies do. One buddy, a surgeon lives on a cliff by Blog Max, one is on TV telling you to "Make the Truck Drivers Pay". Both put in at least DOUBLE the hours I do.

I choose to enjoy my life and so I make less and have what I consider a better quality of life.

I recognize it is my choice.

I could make more money because I am just as smart as those guys, buy a plane and Cessna Commute and live up in Searcy county but I would need to work to damn much and I still would not be able to have coffee on the deck as the sun came up.

It is my choice. And I am good with it because I know I chose it.

Now lets get to the selfish immoral part of the choice of 80 mile round trips DAILY!

Every mile each of us commutes has a cost to society. Every gallon of gas burned pumps that much lung poisoning smog into the air. Every mile on the car wears it out sooner and then a new car is needed which requires tons of steel , plastic, and glass which causes more mining and more energy to manufacture.

Your selfish choice to commute 80 miles a day costs everyone else in extra pollution and higher gas costs. As each of us consumes more resources we increase demand for the resource and as we are finding now, we increase prices.

"CHEAP GAS" has very high costs for the planet. Look at the sprawl that it enables. Look at how many people work in Little Rock but live in Greenbriar, Rosebud, McRae, or Hot Springs. Think of how many gallons of gas are consumed DAILY just getting around. This is insanity!

I think future people will think we are as stupid as the people on Easter Island. They had upwards of 20,000 inhabitants but they cut all their trees and the population collapsed. Still to this day there are NO TREES and only a handful of people on that island.

Will future people shake their heads and ask, why did they burn all thier gas just to get around? Didn't they see that they could have used the petroleum to make permanent items and made the resource last a lot longer?

Then historians will say "no they thought that commuting 80 miles a day and spewing pollution over three counties and using up all the oil just so they could live in "paradise" was worth the cost.

When I was a kid we got an allowance each week. I always bought candy. I would eat all my candy as soon as I got it. Man I loved it. My sister could eat a little now and keep some for later and eat a little and save some for later. She had candy for days, I had it for minutes. I hated my sister. When I would whine my mother would tell me to shut up about it. My lack of control was the problem. I chose not to "spend" my candy sensibly and was now paying the price. My sister would laugh and eat her candy REAL SLOW and then say, I am going to save the rest for tomorrow.

I hated my sister.

So like my Mom always said, YOU CHOSE IT, SHUT UP ABOUT IT!

Remember all costs are variable in the long run. In the short run we are limitted in what we can do.

In the long run we can change home locations, vehicle type, or work locations.

Start today and add up the real COSTS of your choices.

3 hours daily commute (that is 3 hrs/day x 5 days/week x 52 weeks = 780 hours or OVER NINETEEN WEEKS.) At only $10/ hour that is $7,800/ year.

80 miles divided by 20 mpg = 4 gallons at $3 per = $12/ day x 5days x 52 weeks = $3,120/ year.

A $20,000 car is good for 150,000 on the highway. 80 x 5 days/week x 52 weeks = 20800 miles. That requires a new car in 5 years instead of 10 years. That is $4000/ year.

These VERY CONSERVATIVE NUMBERS equal $14,920 per year after taxes! Figure in 28% fed, state and local tax and you are at

$19,057 PER YEAR.

That is your cost to "live out in the country". Is it worth it? If so that is your choice. If it isn't, do something about.

Either way SHUT UP.

We have had since the oil crisis in 1973 to change our energy policy, develop new sources, etc.

But we just sat and now we are whining.

Leadership???

We have had since the oil crisis in 1973 to change our energy policy, develop new sources, etc.

But we just sat and now we are whining.

Leadership???

We have had since the oil crisis in 1973 to change our energy policy, develop new sources, etc.

But we just sat and now we are whining.

Leadership???

In life we all pay for everything we get. We either pay for it now or later. By having gas cheap we have been deferring the cost to later. At one dollar a gallon people were not changing any of their habits(namely driving SUVs) At three dollars people are going to change for the better. I�m sorry people are going to have to change. Change is always hard for people. There will always be a cost-to-benefit ratio to gas and if we keep gas prices low the cost will not be to great to drive a SUV or drive 80 miles to work. Go to Europe and tell them that you drive 80 miles to work in ANY car. They will spit in your face and tell you that you are taking all the oil before they tell you not to drive a SUV. The deal is if we pay just enough at the pump to pay just our foreign suppliers they make all the profit but if we tax it the money it stays in the states and does not go to foreign countries were it funds terrorism. The gas should be 3+ but it should be there because its being taxed that high, not because its all going to oil companies that don�t have to pay taxes on it because Bush says they can keep it for �research� (aka their pockets and future GOP campaigns).

What is with the mantra on this blog of "just sit down and shut up"?

We've been hoodwinked into believing that it's good parenting/citizenship to live in the burbs with a lawn, drive our kid/kids to school in a SUV, and shop our economy back to health.

The Right-Wing Religious Political message is if you truly believe GOD will replenish the earth, so use all the natural resources this good earth has to fork up.

If you are suffering you're either making 'Bad Choices' or 'GOD Is Punishing You.' Some Christian spirit, eh.

Gasoline prices ARE NOT TOO HIGH.

We know the because there is no surplus of gasoline.

Gasoline prices ARE NOT TOO LOW.

We know this because there is no shortage of gasoline.

So, when I read all this crybaby bitching about gasoline prices, I am reminded of how ignorant the public is of the fundamentals of economics. Its just pathetic.

Dear Citizen,
Your narrow-minded, black and white diatribe underscores the fact that our country would be better off if all "citizens" got counseling -- or had the opportunity to go to counseling -- on a semi-regular basis (that means more than 0 times in a lifetime, which seems to be the standard these days). Sure, you might have to drive to your sessions (this might piss you off, based on the anger coming from your entry, but just take a few deep breaths and you should be able to squelch the hair-trigger response that might incline you to write non-sensical blog entries, beat your dog on occasion or yell at your kid to vent the frustrations that your mother may have caused (from your entry: "So like my Mom always said, YOU CHOSE IT, SHUT UP ABOUT IT!"). Wow.

Anyway, I'm sure your a good Dem and all, but your entry does smack of elitism. Perhaps Mr. 80 mile commute doesn't have the opportunities that others have in our society? Perhaps the choice involved caring for a parent, an inlaw or a child and not simply about personal convenience or proximity to one's cabin in the Ozarks.

So Citizen, get a grip, loosen up, take a couple of classes in anger management and get to your cabin more often -- I'm sure it would do you some good.

You are all a bunch of Spoiled Brat Americans. I am from England, moved to the USA 7 years ago. When I got here, gas was about $1.30/gallon or so per gallon, and you people bitched about it being over $1/gallon. At that time in Britain, it was the equivalent of $4.00 US dollars/gallon. In Englad today, it costs you about $6.25 US Dollars per gallon....and you spoiled Americans are crying about $2.75 to $3? Give ME a freaking Break.

In this country, you have enjoyed the luxuries that the rest of the world dreams of. And you have the right to blame your President.

The reason gas is so high is because of the demand in China, i.e., in the last 3 years, the number of drivers in China has gone up about 200%.

...and you Spoiled Americans are bitching at your Government. Give me a Freaking Break....

Thanks, Freaking Break. Americans need to hear exactly that from time to time.

I couple of years ago on a business trip, I met a pair of brothers from the North of England who together owned a pub and a restaurant. They told me they vacationed with their families (wife and 3-5 kids each) in the US every year and could afford to stay in nice hotels (this one was in Orlando), rent an RV and tour the country to their hearts' content--something they could not afford to do, had they taken their holidays back in England.

They, too, were scornful of the Yankee crybabies who complained of high gasoline prices. They were also complimentary about my chosen car-free lifestyle and found it hard to believe it was possible in this country. They said it reminded them of English village life back in their parents' day.

I had, in fact, described my present life in Hillcrest. So yes, we all make our choices. Some of us are happier with them than others.

It's true that I find higher prices for food and other transported items annoying, but then prices do go up, don't they? My promotions and annual salary increases seem to be handling rising prices, since I don't pay directly for gasoline to maintain my lifestyle. I don't even feel guilty about my occasional taxi or airplane ride. I'm doing my part.

While your blaming all the big oil companies for their 8% profit, take a breath and turn off your computer for a day.

The real shameless leaches of life are the politicals. Every dividend paid from profits makes your grandparents and your retirement portfolio stronger. Every time the government takes 50-80 cents of every gallon sold to build the infrastructer our citys scream for. The non tax piece of Every dollar of revenue pays salaries, which the politicals then take another piece in income tax (state and federal), then another 6-20% in tax when we use it to buy food, movies, or take a vacation at a hotel.

So before your quickly call a provider of service/product that is more responsible for the quality of life you life (or wish you lived), be a little less filled with hate. Or at least vent your anger in the right direction.

The quote of the day comes from one of the beloved Democratic leaders (dick durbin) today, "am I the only one that sees something wrong with profit?"....Sir - yes you are.

After another look at the posts on this blog it is clear to me that the best thing for America, the world, and the Bush administration would be for there to be mass suicide in America.

We the people are clearly the cause of every problem. Our desire to get up every morning and carry out the duties of the day is ruining American.

We should be strong enough to ignore the 95 Chevy commercials we encounter every day showing big shiny leather clad luxury boats the not only protect our kids but give them TV and Xbox to keep them busy on a long trip.

We should buy the cheapest tinny crap car and keep our whining, fighting kids firmly attached to the back of our necks for 600 miles. Better yet, sell your car and go on welfare, the government will deliver your check right to your door.

We're disrespecting our friends the oil companies. Sure the oil embargo of 1973-74 was one giant lie, but they were funning us....putting fun in our lives is as important as putting gas in our tanks. Embrace them, Bush has.

Everything since WWII has told us we're chumps if we don't get out of that dirty city and move to the suburbs. Sure you have to have a Chevy to make the trip to work. Sure they lied to us, they said the negroes wouldn't follow us, but they did. Now that gas is high sell that family home you've got fixed up just like you want. Move back into the dirty city, stay at a Motel 6, you're life isn't important, it's the happiness of the government that counts.

If 70% of us loser Americans would just die everything would be OK. Bush and big oil could rob and rape at will because there would be no one to stop them (like we're stopping them now).

The demand for gasoline and heating fuel would plummet and the oil companies could then make up an excuse to make it 8 bucks a gallon. But remember, there will be no one left to stop them.

If you're too chicken to commit suicide for the good of our government and the oil companies, maybe you can start going down the street killing your gas-guzzling neighbors. At some point someone will beat you to the draw and you'll be killed and then you'll be dead and no longer a drain, then you'll be a good American.

People like "get a life" leave out half the statements. How dare Durbin say he sees something wrong with profit. Sumbitch! Too bad what he really said was does anyone see something wrong with the extreme, ungodly, criminal profits the oil companies are making. Kinda changes everything doesn't it?

Death by my own hand would at least spare me more lies from the likes of "get a life", who no doubt went and snoozed thru the Jesus talk this morning 100% sure he is a good American. Skunks wondering whose smelling up the room.

Please, as you consider if you yourself should be the one to live or die, remember that all of this removes our eyes from the real danger. WWIII in the Middle East. All the gas in the world will not get you to a safe place when America is invaded, when the bombs start falling here.

Now, go back to attacking and blaming each other because you all know it is us who have sinned and caused this mess.

Well said dbi, and an accurate assessment.

If our high gas prices were the result of government taxes that gave us, among other things, free healthcare (like, say England) there wouldn't be the current outrage. There's just something about having our two White House oilmen handing the country's energy policies (haha) over to the likes of Exxon's Fat Bastard that somehow irritates us crazy Americans.

Durbin must've skipped the 11th Commandment: Honor Profit Above All Else.

You are all a bunch of Spoiled Brat Americans. Posted by: Give me a Freaking Break

Yes, I'll admit that we are, but...

In England today, it costs you about $6.25 US Dollars per gallon....and you spoiled Americans are crying about $2.75 to $3? Give ME a freaking Break.
I take it you're over here working for British Petroleum?
England and most European countries tax fuel heavily to both discourage consumption and to fund highway maintenance and other government expenses. In America, we don't tax the gas so much, but we sure manage to get the taxes in there somewhere else. We're paying, just not via a high gas tax. When the cost of fuel goes up, we're still paying all the other taxes and expenses. This is added on and of course people are complaining.
I called my friends today in Sweden and Spain just to check on this. Like England, they are paying $6 to $7 now and I assure you they are every bit as unhappy about it as the ones you call "Spoiled Brat Americans".

Do you single only Americans out for their complaining about higher fuel prices, or do you also call everybody else on earth a "spoiled brat"?

In this country, you have enjoyed the luxuries that the rest of the world dreams of.

What on earth are you talking about?

[I really think "Give me a Freaking Break" is an American Neocon who buys all our countrymen's crap about "we are the greatest, richest, you name it, in the world and everybody envies us"...it's only true to the extent that some people overseas have bought the lie also.]

I've traveled all over the world and everybody in Europe and the rest of the developed world pretty much has everything we have here. In Sweden and Switzerland they have quite a few luxuries we don't have.

True, we have more air conditioning, automatic transmission in cars, and ice in drinks than the rest, but I assure you they could have it all if they wanted it. It's not the expense. They disdain air conditioning as unnecessary and unhealthy the way my Yankee cousins did when I was a child. A/C, automatic, and ice are growing in popularity oversees, and they'll eventually adopt it the way my Yankee cousins finally did.

I can't think of a single other "luxury" we have that the other first-world countries don't have, other than one: Overseas most families have just one car. In America, everybody over age 14 has at least one car. I think we'd be wiser to put some of that car money into something that doesn't depreciate in value as fast as cars, but I'll let everybody make their own judgments on that.

I'm so tired of the blame for high gas prices being put on oil companies, our dependence on foriegn oil, etc. The reality is, we need only look in the mirror to find fault. Lets face it, we are driving up demand (and price) for a comodity that is becoming increasingly scarce.

I just read in the paper this morning where they calculated, if every automobile in this country averaged 40 mpg, we'd all be paying about $1.25/gallon, at the pump right now.

What kind of mpg dose the average SUV get? Seems to me we've all been a bit irresponsible with our automobile choices as of late -and now we're paying for it.

"GOP split over gas furor...the uncharacteristic zeal of many GOP leaders to turn the government against big oil."

"It just embarrasses me that Republicans are leading the effort, and it's just pure election-year politics," said Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-show host.
And commentator R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. said in The American Spectator, a conservative periodical, "Oil hit $75 a barrel recently and apparently transformed the Republicans into Democrats."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002960275_oilpolitics29.html

It's been so much fun watching the Right-Wing march the Republican Party off a cliff.
How long before the Republican Party will implode?

Oh yeah it's our fault that gas prices are high because we gave an Exxon CEO 400 million in retirement and made the ethanol requirements, even though no one had a correct formula to make a smooth transition. Then there's the beating of war drums at Iranâ?¦PLEASE!!!!

DBI - you are one sick man and should take a week off from all that makes you so miserable.

You've crossed the line encouraging someone kill their neighbor.

DBI,
I believe I quoted Durbin correctly. You obviously mixed his statement with all the voices in your head.

Here is Mr Durbins comments in full "SEN. DURBIN: Am I the only one of your guests here that think that profit taking is a problem? I mean, I understand the basic laws of supply and demand. I understand that if the input costs have gone up, it's going to reduce your, your profitability. But here we have the most enormous profits in the history of the United States of America in business. The equivalent of $1,000 per household in America for profits. All of the market factors you described may suggest that the product is going to be more expensive to sell, but they don't forgive what I think is an outrageous profit taking by this industry.

And let me also say to Mr. Cavaney, to suggest that these are average, average profits-they're the largest profits in the history of American business. And to suggest that Mr. Lee Raymond's retirement gift is an average gift of $400 million for his service to the company? That's $3 for every household in America that they paid for Mr. Raymond's going-away gift."

Another Great quote was from Jim Cramer "MR. RUSSERT: ...and do you believe the oil companies have been adding on a little bit extra profit?

MR. CRAMER: I, I think if they could drill they would drill. If they could refine more, they would. These are companies that are run for the shareholders, but they're run to be able to produce as much oil as we can possibly use. They want to do that. Lee Raymond, he, he generated $67 billion in profits for his shareholders. I think that that's a reasonable return, $144,000 a day. Katie Couric makes $85,000 a day. What value has she created vs. 67 billion by Lee Raymond?"

quotes from today's transcripts of Meet the Press.

"get a life", I think anyone with half a brain would read the statement below and be able to determine that Sen. Durbin was not talking about profit in general, he was talking about recording breaking obscene profits like the oil companies made last year in a time of war.

"SEN. DURBIN: Am I the only one of your guests here that think that profit taking is a problem? I mean, I understand the basic laws of supply and demand. I understand that if the input costs have gone up, it's going to reduce your, your profitability. But here we have the most enormous profits in the history of the United States of America in business. The equivalent of $1,000 per household in America for profits. All of the market factors you described may suggest that the product is going to be more expensive to sell, but they don't forgive what I think is an outrageous profit taking by this industry."

Republicans must have invented sound bites because they parse sentences down to nearly one word segments some times. Thus I say "you suck from the bottom of the glass" and all they hear is "you suck". Well...in this instance they'd be right in my message.....but I'm sure most people get my point. get a life.....get a brain.

Check out www.deepfriedrides.com and think about ditching the whole system... buy a diesel engine and run it on used vegetable oil. My grease car runs really well -- and it's mostly "free."

My poor dead daddy said some American General rode around occupied Japan in a big Buick that burned chestnuts. I have no idea of how such a thing would work nor ever met anyone else who had ever heard of such a thing. But it shows there is more than one way to skin a oil baron fat cat.

Let our leaders set the policy on fuel conservation ala our President, who hopped aboard Air Force One for a round trip to Crawford to cast his vote in the Texas primary on election day because a staff member forgot to request an absentee ballot for him. How many gallons of Jet A does a 747 burn to go round trip to Crawford, plus the gas for the motorcade, etc and support staff?
If Wal-Mart wasn't shipping billions to China to source all of that crap in their stores the Chinese would still be using rickshaws and gas would be less than $1. Think about that the next time you go to Wally-World.

>>>

Citizen,

why dont you share that philosophy wtih the good folks from the light company next time they come out to turn off your power?

where does your food come from, while we're at it?

Hi. Great development here. Now that Blix is widget-enabled, I have downloaded better links; and feeds; however, they dont seem to be working. What could be the problem?

Here is something everyone on this list can actually do to make the situation better:

Write to your Arkansas Assembly and Senate member (find your districts at http://argis.ualr.edu/website/districtfinder/help.htm) and ask them to "please introduce and pass legislation adopting the California Clean Cars Program vehicle emissions standards in Arkansas." That's it--just one line needed.

Here's the backround: Under federal law, every state gets two choices--they can either adopt federal air quality standards, or California law for cars sold in their state. California's most recent rules will require more fuel-efficient cars. Since the US Congress has stalled for 20 years on this issue, this is the fastest way to get better gas mileage in the fleet, which will ease market pressure on oil prices. These rules were designed to save money back when gas was less than $2 per gallon. Now they will save consumers much more, if state legislators listen to the people instead of the car manufacturing lobbyists. Ten states already have done this.

An added bonus: the Clean Cars will pollute much less, costing Arkansas businesses less in the long run under the Clean Air Act and reducing asthma.

Does it seem strange that on Tuesdays, some gasoline stations advertise the price for premium gas at the rate of regular gas. This happens at the corner of McCain and North Hills Boulevard in North Little Rock. Why can't they just lower the gas on all grades of gas. This is INSANE and HIGHWAY ROBBERY, my fellow citizens. Why do the same name gas companies have different prices. Shouldn't they all be the same. As a matter of fact, why do not all gas companies have the same price. This hurts and is unfair to the poor paying citizen. These gas companies should be ashamed. Maybe, we should start riding motor cycles and screw the oil companies and the outrageous cost of automobiles. Better yet, ride a bicyle to drive the point home and an added plus to rid obesity that is increasing every day.