Driving home from the grocery store yesterday, my daughter reminded me of when gasoline cost only 79 cents a gallon:

Yes, it's true, folks, just nine short years (1998) ago the price of crude dropped below $11 a barrel. For about a month, we bought gas at the pump (when adjusted for inflation) at the cheapest price in history, and heating our houses … well, who really worried much about that.

Yesterday afternoon oil hit $100 a barrel, although it quickly dropped to $99.62. Just four years ago, oil sold for $25 a barrel, by the way. Is it any wonder that the average wage earner thinks the economy is at the bottom of a tainted well?

Here are some words from an honorable oilman, whose father was the same: "I believe we are called to do the hard work to make our communities and quality of life a better place." — George W. Bush, Collinsville, Illinois, January 2006.