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Friday, October 19, 2012

Arkansas Culture and Characters Friday night line

Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 4:15 PM

The line is open. Final words:

IN THE BOX: At Crystal Bridges

* CRYSTAL BRIDGES: Finally went to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. It's all that. Great lunch at Eleven — recommend the Ozark banh mi, pulled pork with Asian flavoring. Huge crowds from every economic strata. Highlights for me: 19th-century gallery, Marsden Hartley's colorful paintings and other American impressionism. The film of architect Moshe Safdie talking with Alice Walton about evolution of the project and her genuine remarks about the almost spiritual meaning of the grounds on which she played as a child. The gorgeous grounds, moreso with leaf-change underway. Sun sparkles reflecting off water on surrounding windows. No cell service inside — look at the art, dammit — but easy wireless hookup

I've added some self-made art from the James Turrell installation in the special exhibit on use of light in art, where the new Rothko hangs.

* TIM GRIFFIN IS STILL LYING: It's a dogbite story, I know, when U.S. Republican Rep. Tim Griffin lies. If his lips are moving, he's misleading, lying or otherwise jacking with voters. But since he's going heavy with ad buys on the supposed taxpayer subsidy of cell phones for worthless mooching welfare deadbeats, it's worth noting that this lie has been debunked repeatedly. There's a universal service fee on phone companies — some pass it to customers, some don't — that's been in place since 1997 to provide basic lifeline service. It's a recognition that phone service can indeed be a life or death matter, particularly to the poor and elderly. It's not providing iPhones to welfare mommas who load up their 13 kids in the Cadillac to go to the grocery store to buy lobster their food stamps, though Tim Griffin is happy for you to form that mental picture. And speaking of lies: There are too many ways to tell you how misleading Griffin's ad is about the pipe stacked up at a Little Rock factory. For one thing, it's paid for. For another thing, the Obama administration has not stopped the pipeline project it was made for but has joined private landowners, environmentalists and even many Republicans in a process to ensure the project doesn't damage a vital water supply. None of that fits in one of Griffin's dishonest 30-second ads.

* WHITHER THOU GOEST: Check out this article on Republican-run Mississipi's refusal of Medicaid for a poor, sick state. The Republican Party of Arkansas is spoiling to give poor, sick Arkansas a dish of the same bitter medicine. That is what the election is about.

        
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