UPDATE- Now with a better picture!

Just a better picture, but the message is still clear - Vol fans = nutjobs!

What A Volunteer!

What the hell kind of person would make a false claim about being attacked by a minority supporter of the Democratic Presidential candidate?

Why, a Tennessee fan, that's who!

Out in the distance, a Wildcat did growl.

Fans have begun camping out for Saturday's Big Blue Madness ticket distribution. The tent city is enveloping Memorial. Last night several players visited the campers, including Kevin Galloway and Darius Miller. Today, Coach Gillispie stopped by to say hello.

Sales Tax on Complaining, Not on Textbooks

As Americans, it is our god-given right to complain about things we don't like. When Benjamin Franklin wrote the Second Amendment, he knew good and well that people would complain about others walking around with bear arms. First of all, people just look stupid in bear arms, even if it is your Halloween costume. Beyond that, anyone that would wear bear arms is probably a communist.

I like to complain about things too. When George Bush leaves office, I'm going to be a little bit bummed. Complaining about W's nescient presidency has been a staple of my adult political chatter.

Everyone has something they like to complain about. For college students, it's the price of textbooks. As a college bookstore manager, I absolutely agree with students; textbooks are ridiculously expensive. If the price of textbooks was the end-all, cure-all, however, Wildcat Textbooks would be the biggest store on campus, not the smallest. There are books used this semester that Wildcat Textbooks was over $100.00 cheaper than UK Bookstore, but UK Bookstore probably sold more.

However, most innocent complaints often have very complex answers. For example, high gas prices. We don't care why; we just want the price to go back down. As often is the case, the person complaining really has no interest in the reason why or who is really to blame. A recent USA Today Gallup Poll found that 98 percent of the people who complain about anything don't really care as to the cause of their beef. That's why mad cow disease was so devastating in Europe.

UK's Student Government President wanted to prompt state legislators to remove sales tax from textbooks. Why? Because they are too expensive. That's true. It's also true that there is no sales tax on textbooks, but maybe there should be on mindless complaining.

If you really want to know why textbooks are expensive, I would be happy to tell you. If you have four hours to discuss it, let me know. When your eyes start glazing after fifteen minutes, there is only one thing I can say -- George Bush is a stupid-head.

Funny, Funny, Funny

To the left you'll see an editorial cartoon that appeared in the Kentucky Kernel a few days ago. It is funny. However, I'm afraid it is funny for reasons other than the artist intended.

Let me explain.

I feel the artist is implying that the tution hike that U.K. has levied on its students is paying for the Rupp Arena expansion and the new U.K. Law Building. The question the 'everyman' student depicted in the cartoon asks is that of a rhetorical nature.

Pretty perceptive on my part, huh? Bear with me-

The thing with most rhetoric questions is that the answers should be assumed to be a known truth- most of the time a 'yes' answer. This is an example of a 'rhetorical affirmation' (thank you, wikipedia) - A rhetorical question that intends the communication of "yes, of course". I.E., "yes, of course" my tuition increase is there to pay for Rupp Arena expansion and the new Law Building. Yes. Of course.

HA, Mr. Cartoon-guy- that's funny because it's true! That damned ole U.K. jacking up my rent to pay for some pretty buildings. Screw them and their money-grubbing ways. What's next? A new fountain in the President's yard?

The problem with the artist's joke is that 0% of U.K. students' 9% tuition increase goes to either one of these projects. Do you know how I know that? Because 0% of the total tuition students pay goes towards those projects. That's right, the question the artist apparently expected would receive a resounding 'yes' (or at least a "huh, I bet it does go to that" ) instead gets a resounding 'no'.

That's why I think it's funny. Because it's so ill-informed that I have to laugh at the stupidity of one who would mock an institution of higher learning for its supposed frivolous tuition increases while citing examples that have nothing to do with tuition money from that university.

The Rupp Arena expansion is a city project. Complain about your city taxes if you want, but don't insinuate that the university that has a basketball team that plays there somehow is responsible for paying for a building it doesn't own. That's so obvious I didn't even look it up. Hell, if you really want to blame someone for Rupp Arena's expansion, blame Brad Paisley- he has concerts there all the time and his songs suck.

The Law Building, however, required exhaustive research on my part. This included a google-fueled trip to this website - http://www.uky.edu/Law/alumni/building_fund.html , where I found this statement - "The College is raising private donations in the amount of $13,000,000 to match the $52,000,000 commitment of state funds for the $65,000,000 project."

I was fairly sure that 'private' meant 'no U.K. tuition money'. But what about 'state funds'? Since not 100% sure I was forced to call a buddy that works for U.K. to make sure that I read that right. No tuition to build the new Law Building! He confirmed my suspicion, and after a full 38.2 seconds of digging around, I had my answer.

So, it is very funny to me that a guy would draw a cartoon making fun of the reasons for U.K.'s tuition hike when those reasons don't exist.

Spring 2008 Textbook Price Comparison

Wildcat Textbooks vs. UK Bookstore

A-H 105 Art Across Time, Vol. 1 Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $74.25

ACC 201 Financial Accounting Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $132.00

ACC 202 Managerial Accounting Wildcat - $119.95 UK - $124.50

ACC 300 Financial Reporting & Analysis Wildcat - $119.95 UK - $139.25

ACC 324 Accounting Information Systems Wildcat - $29.95 UK - $98.00

ANT 160 Dobe Ju/Hoansi Wildcat - $19.95 UK - $24.75

AST 192 Voyages to the Stars & Galaxies Wildcat - $59.95 UK - $64.25

BIO 102 Living in the Environment Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $109.50

BIO 308 Microbiology Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $125.25

CE 106 Engineering Design Graphics Wildcat - $89.95 UK - $93.00

CHE 105 Chemistry Wildcat - $109.95 UK - $132.50

CHE 108 General, Organic, & Biochemistry Wildcat - $79.95 UK - $118.50

CHE 236 Organic Chemistry Wildcat - $39.95 UK - $105.25

COM 181 Confident Public Speaking Wildcat - $87.95 UK - $106.75

COM 252 Interplay Wildcat - $49.95 UK - $54.75

DIS 300 Foundations of Operations Mgmt. Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $99.00

ECO 101 Economic Way of Thinking Wildcat - $84.95 UK - $93.00

ECO 201 Microeconomics Wildcat - $64.95 UK - $90.00

ECO 391 Stats for Mgmt & Economics Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $110.00

EDP 202 Educational Psychology Wildcat - $84.95 UK - $89.00

EPE 301 Justice, Ideology, & Education Wildcat - $59.95 UK - $69.50

FIN 300 Essentials of Corporate Finance Wildcat - $90.50 UK - $96.75

FIN 423 International Financial Management Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $119.25

GEO 130 Elemental Geosystems Wildcat - $59.95 UK - $75.00

GEO 160 Diversity Amid Globalization Wildcat - $49.95 UK - $88.50

GLY 120 Resources of Earth Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $83.25

HIS 104 Sources of the West, Vol. 1 Wildcat - $39.95 UK - $42.75

HIS 108 American History, Vol.1 Wildcat - $64.95 UK - $77.25

ISC 161 Advertising & Promotion Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $123.00

MA 108 Intermediate Algebra Wildcat - $39.95 UK - $43.50

MA 109 College Algerbra Wildcat - $44.95 UK - $48.75

MGT 320 Fund. of Human Resource Mgmt. Wildcat - $69.95 UK - $81.00

MGT 340 Law, Business, & Society Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $117.00

MKT 300 Marketing Wildcat - $89.95 UK - $123.75

MKT 310 Consumer Behavior Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $145.50

PHI 120 Concise Intro to Logic Wildcat - $29.95 UK - $90.50

PHY 211 Enhanced College Physics Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $145.50

PS 210 Good Society Wildcat - $49.95 UK - $54.00

PSY 100 Exploring Psychology Wildcat - $54.95 UK - $58.25

PSY 223 Developmental Psychology Wildcat - $99.95 UK - $104.75

STA 200 Statistics: Concepts & Controversies Wildcat - $59.95 UK - $63.00

UK 101 Your College Experience Wildcat - $29.95 UK - $34.25

You Can't Hide Money

If you click on this blog title you can check out a story at uky.edu about the big U.K. Bookstore renovation coming this fall. According to the article, "The renovation and expansion is scheduled for completion in November 2008 at a cost of $3.1 million."

That's right, folks. $3.1 million smackeroos.

That's a whole lotta cash to throw around in today's world of inflation, rising tuition costs, and lest we forget - rising textbook costs. But, don't worry. Mega-giant corporation Follett Higher Education runs the U.K. Bookstore and is picking up the tab, not U.K. A look at the price comparison on this very blog shows that U.K. Bookstore is probably not hurting for money in today's troubled times, so don't worry your pretty head about that part.

So, what's all the moolah going toward? Shorter lines? More efficient means of buying back books than scanning books at one counter then sending a customer to wait at another counter before finally giving up the dough?

Nope.

They're promising more square footage for the essentials of college life like, "seating so that the community can spend time browsing the books and magazines." Good thing, because I remember hearing several people at the Community Center last Sunday say that they wished they could sit in the campus bookstore and browse the Math section or look through the July edition of "Guns & Ammo".

I don't know which group I'm more scared of, by the way.

One thing's for certain- there will be a response from Wildcat Textbooks. Just last week, we found an unopened gallon of paint that had been here for over a year and parlayed that, along with 8 dollars worth of drywall, into a brand new dressing room. Sure, if it rains it may leak a little through the roof, but that's only when it rains hard. And that's just the start. In addition to cleaning the windows and mopping the floors every week, we pledge to have the staff shower just as often.

While these cosmetic changes at Wildcat may not entice the community to come in and read our GER 201 textbooks, they will come in about 3.0999999999999999 million dollars less than U.K. Bookstore's cosmetic changes and allow us to continue to sell books for astonishingly less than the campus bookstore.

Wildcat Textbooks- selling books for less instead of flaunting our price-gouging ways with unnecessary building expansions. That's our whole philosophy.