Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Morning roundup: Hoops, Israel, airport, pope
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 5:47 AM
Another desultory morning from the jet-lagged Arkansas Blog: Nonetheless:
* MARCH MADNESS: The Arkansas House and Senate played a basketball game for charity last night. The House, helped by former Globetrotter Fred Smith, won. Brian Chilson has posted a mess of photos on Facebook.
* PRESIDENT OBAMA IN ISRAEL: The president's trip to the eternally troubled Middle East tops the national news today.
* THE WAR ON WOMEN: Another reminder of Saturday's 3 p.m. rally at the state Capitol to protest the legislature's stripping of constitutional rights from Arkansas women. Details here.
* LITTLE ROCK AIRPORT AUDIT: Here's the full Legislative Audit report discussed by the Little Rock Airport Commission yesterday that primarily rehashed all the questionable spending practices (sloppy but not fraudulent the audit seemed to conclude) that Leslie Newell Peacock unearthed for the Times subsequent to our discovery of a $40,000 contribution to the private school football field project at the school attended by a child of airport director Ron Mathieu. The Airport Commission had previously taken some accountability tightening steps. Yesterday, it decided Mathieu and others should no longer be reimbursed for first class travel to airport business. Bumptious Commissioner Tom Schueck still objects that the publicly governed airport should run like a private business, where executives are cosseted in high fashion. He doesn't get it, as usual. I've got no problem with Mathieu using mileage programs for ticket upgrades like the rest of us schlubs. But do they really need to rent multiple cars on Hawaiian convention trips or use airport credit cards for cash advances for incidental expenses, as the audit pointed out? Of course not.
* THE NEW POPE: More interesting reporting on Pope Francis in the New York Times. It details how he suggested the church in Argentina back civil unions for gay couples as a way to defuse controversy over the country's move to approval of same-sex marriage.
Few would suggest that Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is anything but a stalwart who fully embraces the church’s positions on core social issues. But as he faced one of the most acute tests of his tenure as head of Argentina’s church, he showed another side as well, supporters and critics say: that of a deal maker willing to compromise and court opposing sides in the debate, detractors included.The approach stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who spent 25 years as the church’s chief doctrinal enforcer before becoming pope, known for an unbending adherence to doctrinal purity. Francis, by comparison, spent decades in the field, responsible for translating such ideals into practice in the real world, sometimes leading to a different approach.
* THE IRAQ WAR ANNIVERSARY: Somebody quick mail this Charles Pierce commentary to Tom Cotton, who, with the likes of Dick Cheney and Richard Perle, is among the dead-enders still extolling how wonderful the Iraq war was.
Speaking of...
-
Airport audit brought to board
May 21, 2013The muddle in accounting at the Bill and Hillary National Airport that meant no checks could be cut for “quite a length of time,” L. Cotton Thomas & Co. CFO Chad Miller said, were outlined to the full commission this morning by the auditing firm. /more/
-
Benghazi, the new Whitewater
May 14, 2013Ernie Dumas this week compares the fulminations about Benghazi, which Republicans are attempting to make an impeachment-worthy scandal of minute differences in post-attack talking points, with the cooked-up Whitewater investigations. /more/
-
'Obummer': Maybe that Kenyan ain't so bad after all
May 3, 2013Since it's customary to blame President Obama for any and everything unpleasant — see U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton (Club for Growth, D.C.) and the Boston bombings — should he also get some credit for positives? /more/
-
Tom Cotton's 'odd' argument on terrorism fight
April 26, 2013U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton of the Club for Growth was right proud the other day of his rush to make political hay of the Boston bombing by lumping it with some other incidents that he said represented failure of counter-terrorism efforts of the Obama administration. /more/
-
UPDATE: Arrest 'imminent' in Boston bombings; or maybe not
April 17, 2013CNN reports: A letter to President Obama that was intercepted at an off-site facility has tested positive for ricin, the FBI says. /more/
-
LR Airport celebrates completion of lobby work
April 9, 2013 - More »
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
More by Max Brantley
-
Managing Medicaid: A cautionary tale
It's an appealing notion, managing government-financed health care programs like Medicaid to encourage less expensive types of care and turning it over to the ever-so-efficient private sector to get the job done.
- Apr 23, 2013
-
Sierra Club seeks delay on Keystone pipeline
The spill of Canadian tar sand crude in Mayflower is being used by environmentalists to slow approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry a similar material through the Great Plains across a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska.
- Apr 8, 2013
- More »
Event Calendar
-
Re: TGIF
Who is this Blogger Cato?
"a person of unknown origins who posts somewhat regularly…- on May 25, 2013
-
Re: TGIF
>Who is this Blogger Cato?
a person of unknown origins who posts somewhat regularly…- on May 25, 2013
-
Re: UPDATE: Gun control group to spend $350,000 against Pryor
Why do the Mayors persist in wasting their money? Mark Pryor self-destructed as a viable…
- on May 25, 2013
Top Commenters
Blogroll
Slideshows
-
May 16, 2013
Site Index
News
Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters
Entertainment
A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings
This Week's Cover
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
