Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday night line
Posted by Max Brantley on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 4:35 PM
You're on. I'm off. Final words:
* 'FACE STOMPING BRAWL': Fox 16's David Goins reports arrest of female UCA students in a "face-stomping brawl" and promises more details on the evening newscast, along with a report on what UCA plans to do about frat parties gone wild.
* JUSTICE AND MERCY IN BENTON: The mother of a Benton ninth grader expelled for giving pain medication left over from dental surgery to a classmate writes here about the severity of the punishment and the lack of educational alternatives for her son. She makes no excuses for her son's admitted mistake, but asks attention to what happens to education in the meanwhile.
* YES!!!!! My Christmas wish might come true: Sarah Palin tells Fox it's not too late for another candidate to get in the presidential race.
* PIPELINE PROPONENTS: Note how Sen. Mark Pryor endorses the Senate payroll tax deal, with its provision that requires secretary of state approval of the Keystone pipeline within 60 days — unless the president determines it's not in the public interest.
* TEA PARTY WOMACK: Rep. Steve Womack hangs with the Tea Party in rebuffing the bipartisan Senate bill to extend payroll tax cuts.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) accused Senate Republicans who voted for the compromise legislation of setting aside the national interest out of a personal desire to see their families over the holidays.“I didn’t see the high-fiving going on, but I did hear the tune “I’ll be home for Christmas” coming out of that mix,” he said. “I personally think that that vote had a lot more to do with getting out of Washington and going back home.”
Speaking of University Of Central Arkansas, Benton School District
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Scott Roussel resigns as UCA trustee
May 6, 2012The Log Cabin Democrat in Conway has the scoop on an action that had been anticipated at Friday's University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees meeting. /more/
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UPDATE: UCA Board raises tuition, president's pay
May 4, 2012The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees meets at 2 p.m. today. Items of interest on the agenda include a proposed 2.08 percent tuition/fee increase that would, according to the UCA chart, put the school at $7,332 for a 15-hour semester, about $11 less than UALR and $221 less than UAF. /more/
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Resolved: Scott Roussel should resign from UCA Board
April 27, 2012The faculty Senate of the University of Central Arkansas yesterday adopted a resolution urging Scott Roussel to resign from the UCA Board of Trustees. /more/
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UCA student show opens today
March 7, 2012Greg Thompson was juror. /more/
- More »
Comments (52)
Showing 1-50 of 52
Max,
My Christmas wish is to visit the twin communities of Gudge Creek and Wad, and to personally wish Rep. Wallace Wad of Wad a merry Christmas.
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Louie,
If you'll box yourself up, I'll dispatch a UPS truck to deliver you.
PS Louie,
I was talking to somebody over the weekend about how what I'd really like to have for Christmas Eve dinner was a fried oyster loaf.
For those who don't get the references, this has been a Christmas season tribute to the late Richard Allin, long-time Our Town columnist for the Arkansas Gazette.
Louie,
Maybe T.C. will travel with you to the twin communities.
The references to Mr. Allin also got me to wondering what ever happened to Charles Albright. Anybody know?
All I want for Christmas is a copy of the Allin Legislative Dictionary. Thanks, louie, Max and Citizen.
AT&T's attempt to takeover T-Mobile officially collapsed today, despite AT&T's vast expenditure on lobbyists, thanks partly to an organized, effective grassroots strategy opposing it. We followed the money, publicized the evidence of corruption, and that strategy worked.
And then there is Occupy Little Rock, which is starting to look like that 'Survivor' TV show. Who will get voted off the island next? The video of last night's general assembly meeting is like watching a slow-motion train wreck -
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupy-lr
If Louie and Max have shot their Wad don't miss this one:
"A Teacher's Video Response To Rick Perry's 'Strong' Anti-Gay Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe…
Louie--I finally found time to read "The Drop". As usual it was well written with several intricately woven plots and it hard to put down until I was done. I still think Michael Connelly is one of the best writers around.
Just saw Chelsea Clinton on NBC Nightly News giving a follow-up to her “Making a Difference” story last week about Annette Dove’s Topps program in Pine Bluff. Since seeing Clinton’s segment last week, viewers have sent $200,000 to Dove to help underwrite the cost of feeding and mentoring Pine Bluff kids trapped in an environment of crime and poverty.
The additional money contributed by NBC viewers will also help Dove make it a happy Christmas for 167 families the Salvation Army didn’t have enough resources to assist. Thanks to the viewer dollars and by working with a church and a food bank, those 167 families will now have Christmas dinner and toys for their kids.
A standing ovation, I say, for Annette Dove and Chelsea Clinton.
Durango--I saw that report too. Good reporting by Chelsea and a fantastic result for the TOPPS program.
When it came to Christmas dinners, Richard Allin was stuck in about 1912. I remember one year he quoted approvingly from a Christmas dinner menu from the early 19th Century.
Actually that should have been early 20th Century. Richard wasn't that much old-fashioned.
NVR:
I just finished reading "The Drop" and really enjoyed it. Going to start reading "The Ape House " next. It was recommended to me by a friend.
Cammack--You'll have to let me know if that is good. Right now I have 3 books sitting here by some of my favorite authors. I hope to get them all read during the holidays since I will be on vacation from work. So I am set for now but will be looking for more reading material soon.
I'll let you know, NVR. I loved "Water for Elephants" but was told it is not anything like it.
For Carl Hiassen fans, check out the series of books by Tim Dorsey.
Hiassen and Dorsey are two of my favorite writers. Dorsey has just released "When Elves Attack" and promises another new Serge Storms story next year. Hiassen hasn't published anything recently.
plainjim, if you really dig that sort of thing, I can pull out some of my medieval yuletide recipes. I have a fine collection.
That fried oyster loaf sounds so good, I remember he shared the recipe in his column several times...wish I had written it down.
Durango, I have a little something for you {I'm trying to get you back to PHUMC}. If I send to Max, think he will forward to you??/
May be time for Palin to take her turn at leading the republican polls. Wouldn't that be a hoot!?!?
Perry Gets Texas State Pension on Top of Governor’s Salary
(Republicans never lack gall)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-16/p…
eLwood, Do you remember a history professor at UofA, during our time...'69 or '70, He taught US History, a big ,burley guy with a dark beard and curly hair...wish I could remember his name, he was such a good teacher, came in and just started talking, never referred to a note as I can remember.
I always loved that Mr. Allin was invisible to sales clerks!
Probably Steve Strausberg, Nanc. (I think I spelled his last name right). He was from New York, and I don't think he had ever been to the South before he came to Arkansas.
Dr. Iggers, visiting prof from Chicago, was a dandy. German Jew. Small boy when his family had to flee Germany in the Thirties. Modern Europe was his niche. His two young sons sat in the back of the classroom while he conducted his class. They were reading the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Do you think he stayed plainjim? He seemed young, maybe early 30's. He may have been Jewish too. Strausberg sounds familiar.
Stephen Strausberg and I went to the draft induction physical together in 1970, I believe. We were both 23 and they were desperate for Viet Nam fodder. He took a long printed list of his ailments and injuries to read off to the examining Md. He was not drafted. He bragged to me that no member of his family had been in the military.
He was the youngest PhD at UA, and a history proff.
He stayed on, married and was there about 8 yrs ago according to his his wife who I saw at a party. They raised a family together.
Yes, big fellow, all mouth with a goatee. He told me his mother owned an investigative service in NY. I forgot what his dad did.
Yes, he did stay, married a Fayetteville girl, and had a family. He is retired now, but I don't know if he is still alive. I drank coffee with him at the old Student Union, after getting acquainted with him, which was hard to do because he was from New York. In 1968 or 69, the U of A hired three or four new history professors, all of whom made a mark. Tom Kennedy was one of them, and he retired as either dean, or associate dean, of the College of Arts and Sciences, and has written several books. James Chase was another, and he served as chairman of the History Department for several years, and I assume is also retired now, too. I knew these guys because I was a PR man for the University at that time, and wrote the news release about their appointments, and was an acquaintance for several years until I left the U of A.
Cato and I have talked previously here about the outstanding quality of the U of A History Department, and these people were part of the reason why.
eLwood may have kept up with Strausberg, but I think he usually takes a nap about this time in the evening. He probably can fill us in later.
I'm sorry, Nanc, it turns out eLwood was still awake, and brought us up to date. I thought Steve stayed longer at the U of A than that, though. I left in 1981, and I thought he was still there.
His wife, incidentally, started building houses in Fayetteville. She was the daughter of a well-known Fayetteville builder, and followed him in that occupation.
Well, once again I must apologize. I thought eLwood said Strausberg stayed about eight years. He said he was still there about eight years ago. I wonder if he is still teaching.
Steven Strausberg died 10 years or so ago of cancer. mag and her mother and brothers lived next door to his wife about the time they met. I'm sure she'll be on here in a few minutes to tell more.
I had him for a history class and as far as I can remember enjoyed the class even though it was sure hard to understand his Yankee accent at times.
My ears have never been good with thick accents. I'm sure those Monty Python movies are funny if I only had someone to translate for me.
Thanks, DBI, for the update. I always liked Steve, although I had a hard time getting acquainted with him, I guess because of the culture gap. He was a good teacher, from everything that I ever heard.
I enjoyed knowing Steven Strausberg, who died – I looked it up – in 1997. Too young!
His wife, Michaela, was our neighbor at the time they met. They were extremely different but totally great for one another. They loved to congenially yell and argue with each other. He loved to exaggerate his outsider status and rib her about Arkansas culture. She would send him out! out! every now and then and he would wind up in our apartment (downstairs, Carlson Terrace.) I was in high school. He'd come in, commandeer the television and turn on the news. He spent many afternoons watching the Watergate hearings on our couch and would fill in the stragglers who came in later. We all adopted a friendly pretense that he had no manners, which led me to eventually cheerfully yell at him "Get your own Coke!" when he was occupying our living room.
"Durango, I have a little something for you {I'm trying to get you back to PHUMC}. If I send to Max, think he will forward to you?"
Lordy, Nanc, if that “little something” is a one hundred dollah bill, I’ll come runnin’ to your house to get it. Like tonight. And I’ll show up at church any Sunday you say. Now, if it’s an email, you can send it to me at this temporary address: durango@bellair.net
Where is his wife now, Mag? I could not remember her name, but I remember her now.
I just love this Blog...see what one little inquiry brought forth.........Thanks to all of you for your memories,,,,,,he was a good teacher. I would have enjoyed knowing him !
Oh Durango--you're asking for it now! Giving out an email address! Sister probably has a bunch of risqué photos she's been stockpiling and your inbox will be full of them before the night is over.
Plainjim, I'm not sure where Michaela is now. She was my mother's good friend and when mother died, I lost the connection. She may still be in Fayetteville.
Y’got it, NVR! All I want for Christmas is an inbox full o’ sexy pitchers! They always get my pituitary gland to pituitin’. Dang if I can recall my history and/or western civ profs at the UofA, but I could name some dandy ones in economics, accounting, marketing, and bidness law.
Know how when you’re like this blogger on this blog where the median age is like 103 or something only you’re still hip or sure think you are?
And it’s like less than a week till Christmas and you’re on a fixed income plus you live in Lawrence, Kansas between Topeka and Kansas City instead of Beverly Hills so you hit Target instead of Nieman’s?
And you’re trucking down Target's main aisle toward Kitchen when suddenly this flash mob breaks out to “Last Christmas” by Wham! by way of “Glee?” Well not suddenly because you’re old so instead it sorta sneaks up on you? And not a mob because you’re old and three really IS a crowd now?
And it’s charming as all get out with the swaying and the lip-synching and the hand gestures and the employees are loving it and don’t have Clue One what’s REALLY going down?
Which is that this white-haired flash mob is all about Hooking Up?
When here comes this 92 year old playah workin’ the slo-mo moves on the gal in the middle you KNOW was Homecoming Queen back in the day? And she offers him her heart? Literally this big cardboard heart she made at Flash Mob HQ back at Sunset Manor? And now the rhythm’s got ‘em and they get physical with the hand-holding and the turns and the hot furtive glances?
And then it’s over and you can tell the Homecoming Queen was a tease then and a tease now ‘cause she just walks away and leaves him hangin’ on in the middle of the main aisle?
But once a playah always a playah ‘cause instantly these star-struck hotties who were cheerleaders back in the day rush to group-hug him and whisper promises of what’s in store after the sun really DOES set back at the manor and everybody ends up happy except the old Homecoming Queen because for some reason they never drop the attitude and mostly end up well-off but lonely and wondering why they’re in Target and not Nieman’s instead of just enjoying the moment because for all they know this really COULD be their “Last Christmas?”
You can’t make this stuff up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe…
zebedee duda,
I occasionally run into Charles Allbright at the grocery store. Once I asked him if he was still writing, and he said, "Yeah...still writing bad checks."
I believe that's Allbright with two Ls; Charles Albright with one L is a serial killer also known as the eyeball killer. Wikipedia that, if you dare.
Thanks for setting me straight mag. I suppose it was longer than 8 yrs ago that I saw his wife. Time flies. Sweetie reminds me we've been together 10 yrs come May. I saw Stephen's wife well before sweetie and I hitched forces. So, likely it was 12-13 yrs ago I saw Mrs Strasberg. I thought it was 8 yrs. Geesh, I promise two more days and no more codine cough syrup. Gonna miss the high but maybe my memory will return.
Norma's link proves that not everyone in Kansas is afflicted with Frank's "Whats the Matter with Kansas" disease. It'll warm your cockles.
No one has noted the passing of Vaclav Havel, poet, playwright, lover of freedom. Charles Pierce gives him a proper eulogy. For young Egyptians and other participants in the Arab Spring who may be despairing now, it is worth remembering that 21 years passed between the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Velvet Revolution which ended communist control of Czechoslovakia. Sometimes things take a while.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/kim-…
All the hagiographers I have read on Hitchens have been male---until now. His colleague at The Nation, Katha Pollitt weighs in. One female wag over at BalloonJuice called Pollitt's essay a gracious, elegant euphemism for “RIP, you drunken sexist asshole”
http://www.thenation.com/blog/165222/regar…
I forgot to h/t DougJ for the link to Pollitt and AnneLaurie for the link to Pierce.
In addition to the rumblings from the mama grizzly/half governor of our northernmost state, the WSJ is taking Jeb "The Smarter One" Bush, off the shelf, dusting him off, and giving him a platform to spout the glories of predatory capitalism and tout himself as the next in line for the game of republican speed dating and possible savior of the republican brand.
Charles Pierce is scathing.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/jeb-…
My first question is "Why?" Why build a clock designed to run for 10,000 years?
http://boingboing.net/2011/06/17/jeff-bezo…
"The first Clock will be built inside a mountain in west Texas." Hint to Cory Doctorow at boingboing: there are no mountains in west Texas. They have some middling hills but nothing resembling a mountain.
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