Monday, October 17, 2011
Silver thread
Posted by Max Brantley on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 4:10 PM
The Monday line is open. Not much else to say, except:
* BUTTERFLIES: Thanks to John Barton (also proprietor of a cycling blog), who responded (above) to my call yesterday for a photo of the monarch butterflies making their annual migration southward. This is not the gulf fritillary, also fluttering southward. PS — And, if you're really into monarchs ...
* POST-WAR JOURNALISM: The Arkansas Press Women has set up a blog to take comments on the question of how journalism has evolved in Little Rock and Arkansas since the closure of the Arkansas Gazette in 1991. Here's the place to go.
* EASTER SEALS UPDATE: Easter Seals, worthy an organization as it may be, has a history of secretive dealings on its property, particularly its former facility on Lee Avenue. It has tried repeatedly to work out deals to sell the decaying building there, which sits on nine acres of state land, without adequately notifying neighbors in hopes a political deal can be cut. Here it's happened again. Told Friday that a potential buyer for the building, John Chandler, was out of the country, the head of the Hillcrest Residents Association said neighbors curious about the proposal need not worry that the deal would be completed at a meeting of the Schools for the Blind and Deaf Board tomorrow. Late this evening, he sent a new note saying Chandler had signed the deal with Easter Seals while he was in Hong Kong and his assumption of its 50-year land lease at $1 a year would be before the board tomorrow. The HRA will ask for a delay in the vote for time to gather more details. It's the right thing to do, if not the Easter Seals way.
* HOUSING AUTHORITY RESIDENTS ORGANIZE: Several residents of the Little Rock Housing Authority, including officers of residents association, plan to appear before the Little Rock City Board Tuesday to protest its high-handed decision not to reappoint Robert Webb to a term on the Housing Authority Board, despite his nomination by other board members. Webb's offense? He opposed the city's sales tax increase (not the whole concept, but some specific larding inserted in the trojan horse of public safety and infrastructure expenses.) The beauty of a city government controlled by the business establishment through the at-large director seats in combination with the high-rent neighborhoods, is that the majority of the city board can and often does tell people from the poor wards to go to hell on issues such as this. Lessons must be taught. You do not talk back to the master in Little Rock and get away with it.
Speaking of Monarch Butterfly, Easter Seals
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Midweek line
May 16, 2012Two days to go. But first, an open line. /more/
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Comments (29)
Showing 1-29 of 29
Why OWS is bigger than left or right:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs…
Labeling Occupy as a liberal conspiracy is like labeling the American revolution as a liberal conspiracy.
like
dislike
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Ernie Dumas, columnist (Ark Times), author and political analyst will be guest speaker at Sr Dems of Washington County.
Tomorrow (Tue). Western Sizzlin on W. Sunset in Springdale.
11:30 AM, a little earlier is better;
Lunch is $10. Y'all come, bring your friends.
.
Is Dana D. Kelley a racist?
--RSDrake
http://www.arktimes.com/StreetJazz/archive…
.
Jon Stewart takes apart Tea Party vs. Occupy, in case you want to see the source of our resident trolls' postings...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp41TfiGddc…
There are no similarities between the Tea Party and the social deviants in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The TP understands that they are protesting a corrupt over reaching government that is the source of the enormous public debt that is unserviceable. The OWS do not know that the conditions in which they find themselves are caused by these same problems. The mindlessness of the OWS crowd has made them fall prey to a manipulative administration that is engaged in promoting class warfare to distract the masses from recognizing that the current regime is four times worse than the Bush administration. (The Obama regime has spent four times more than Bush in three years than Bush spent in eight years.) Check your history books. False paradigms and imagined enemies are the modus operandi for an administration looking for someone to blame. By dividing the masses the real problems remain hidden.
Bush, two wars - Obama two plus two new wars.
Also, the moral relativism on display by the OWS crowd represents the finest example of how easily the Boobus Americanus can be so easily manipulated and subverted into the ‘Tax the Rich’ mantra. This movement is as stupid as the “Yes we can” crowd that put this Bozo in the Oval Office. The fact that we have a president that is the least qualified of any candidate is an example of how low we have sunk as a country. His ineffectiveness, his ineptitude, the corrupt nature of the Obama regime is a reflection of how we have lost our way as a nation. These folks scare me more than the bible touting right wingers. These distracted people are easily manipulated into believing their cause. They become uncaring, and become so overtaken by their own immediate desires; they fail to recognize the harm they cause. Folks, if we took all of the “Rich People’s” money it would not solve our problems. Our Problems are structural not social. The TP did not pee in the streets, crap on cop cars, there were no arrests, they did not run naked, and they did not leave mountains of trash in their wake. They had a cohesive-coherent message. .
Good article from Truthout.
"Terms of the Occupation"
http://www.truth-out.org/TermsoftheOccupat…
Here's a large source of public debt that is very popular in Arkansas. Will the Tea Party stand up and protest it?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business…
I'm really enjoying watching the reactionaries squirm as they try to find a handle on the Occupation.
Where does the limited government TP stand on this issue? Will it take a stand for individual rights?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/s…
I don't know where the Tea Party stands on legalizing pot, but I can tell you where Obama stands.
HELL NO!
When I started reading open lines two years ago they were so interesting and so much fun and a lot of people were in a good mood and wrote about a lot of different things even stories about their personal lives and experiences. The open lines were my favorite thing. Now it seems not many people are here any more and mostly there is just arguing about tea baggers and the occupy movement or whatever there is that people want to fuss aoubt. I do not mean to be critical of anyone because I think this blog is good. I am just saying the open lines are not what they used to be and I miss the way they were. Also I am having a lot of trouble logging on. Sometimes I cannot get on at all.
You know, Mecca, there'd be nothing stopping Max from posting two open lines, one simply social and one about issues and stuff. I like what's here but I miss what you're missing, too.
You miss Jazzy as much as I do Mecca. Maybe we could have a Jazzy and Frenchie day Max.
Why, seems like only 67 years ago Berlin was a bombed-out rubble. But look at the old girl, and Germany, today.
Why, seems like only 50 years ago The Rock was thriving. But look at, etc.
Will The Rock EVER be as cool as Berlin? God knows plenty of facades are available along Death Valley. Er, Main Street.
Take a look. YOU decide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDLrkFZcWkQ
Tomorrow night's Frontline, AETN at 9:00 Pm will feature
"Lost in Dention"
hosted by Maria Hinojosa
a little background:
http://act.presente.org/signup/lostindeten…
The new element being pushed by OWS of paying off student loans is too far out. My children kept down their loans by working. My Grandchildren ditto. It's amazing how few want those on-campus jobs like being an RA, or working in the library. Other grandchildren have joined the guard, or set out a semester to earn and save. Their classmates started with loans as freshmen, and kept borrowing through graduate school. Too many in this young generation have "entitlement" issues. Am I the only one who thinks this?
New York Times says Bill Clinton attended Steve Jobs' memorial service yesterday. It will be interesting to see if Clinton is mentioned in the authorized biography of Jobs by Walter Isaacson when it is released next week. It is currently #1 on Amazon's Best Sellers list.
I'm so sick of those who think that everyone with student loans is a self-entitled, lazy a-hole. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA (summa cum laude - top honors) and worked the entirety of my college career. However, because I wasn't on scholarship (because I transferred from a private to public college to save SOME money) and wasn't being supported financially by my parents. Working basically minimum wage for 20-30 hours each week (I was always begging for more hours) isn't enough to pay the bills, buy groceries AND pay tuition and books. So here I am now... $20K later. Awesome.
More enlightenment for NWA and surprisingly, Madison County:
The Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas together with UA’s Geshe Thupten Dorjee and Dr. Sidney Burris in the Fulbright College of Humanities, is hosting Rinpoche Ngawang Tenzin (rihn-POH-shay ne-WAHNG tehn-zihn), a top Buddhist lama, on Oct. 22-23, where he will lead several sessions as part of the institute’s dedication of its new meditation hall in Madison County.
Tenzin, a meditation master from Bhutan, will teach at Mount Sequoyah retreat center in Fayetteville on Saturday, Oct. 22. Among his workshops will be Lo Jong, or mind training. Donations are requested for Tenzin’s sessions.
At 10:30 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 23, the rinpoche will conduct a consecration of the TCIA Retreat Center, Land of Infinite Bliss. The retreat is off Arkansas Highway 295 at Crosses in Madison County. The public is invited to this free event. Road directions are available at TCIA’s website artibet.com or call (479) 587-8920.
http://www.ozarksunbound.com/top-buddhist-…
As usual, the UK Guardian has the best survey of the global day of protest:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/1…
Is God mad at Texas? Check out the video of that dust storm. Meanwhile, it is raining here, but we could have used it in July---another summer with 2 months of almost no rain.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44939529/ns/we…
Marine to the rescue:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/o…
He was also on Olberman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe…
No doubt, the harpy Michelle Malkin and her minions will soon be out to examine Sgt. Thomas' countertops. From RationalWiki:
"In 2007, then-President Bush proposed cuts to SCHIP, an insurance program for lower-class families who are above the cutoff for Medicaid. The Democratic response included a statement by 12-year old Graeme Frost, a recipient of the program. The Frosts had been in a nasty car accident which left Graeme in a coma and his younger sister Gemma with brain damage. The costs for their treatment were covered by SCHIP. As Graeme said in the response, "If it weren’t for CHIP, I might not be here today. … We got the help we needed because we had health insurance for us through the CHIP program. But there are millions of kids out there who don’t have CHIP, and they wouldn’t get the care that my sister and I did if they got hurt. … I just hope the President will listen to my story and help other kids to be as lucky as me." Enter Michelle Malkin. Spurred by the mad gibbering of the Freepers, Malkin launched a full-on harassment campaign/"investigation" against the Frosts. She traveled to the Frost's neighborhood, hoping to find evidence that they were all con artists. When grilling the neighbors failed to turn up any dirt, she tried snooping in their windows. She made hay out of the fact that she thought she saw granite countertops, an accusation which has been dumped down the memory hole but lives on as a meme to this day."
Sgt. Thomas' countertops will likely pass muster, but they will pick over both his military and civilian record hoping to find something to smear him with. I hope he is ready for the harassment. He looks like he can deal with it.
And since I am on the topic of Malkin, I can't resist this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_YcQlYxyY
I don't know what that cheer leading bit is supposed to exemplify---is it conservative humor gone (as always) awry? The right wing needs better writers.
Jon Stewart interviews investigative reporter Ellen Schultz about her new book, "Retirement Heist" which chronicles how corporations have looted private pension funds. If you don't want to watch the whole show, skip to 13:00 where the interview begins.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/…
Verla, I don't think you should have to pay public college tuition any more than you should have to pay for public schooling, and I don't think there should have been interest charged on college loans (which were turned into a banking swindle), so no, I don't think canceling student loan debt is unreasonable.
Kathleen Reardon of USC argues against the "some people say" form of journalism and exhorts us to fight back:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-rea…
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Police close the Occupy Little Rock camp, perhaps the last Occupy encampment on public land.
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