http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/12/05/open-line Comments On: Open line by Lindsey Millar en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Sat, 25 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Cato]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:27:33 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by mag]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:21:52 -0600 Arkansas Times
"All of that is the currency of democracy, and it always has been, from the Greeks forward, and here it is laid at the feet of great national leaders at their finest moments."

Maybe, President Obama should go see the movie, "Lincoln." I'm sure he already has since he is such an admirer of him. Maybe he should learn how to twist some arms.
Posted by plainjim]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:07:12 -0600 Arkansas Times
Dearest Mrs. Sister,

I’ve missed you, too, sugah. So it was wholly a pleasure to log-in this morning and find your post.

You’ve been sorta quiet since Thanksgiving, so I sensed there might be a problem at home; that maybe you’d followed my suggestion about making the chocolate pie for WIES’ idiotic step-dad.

Y'know, the pie with Minnie’s secret ingredient — and that WIES had found out and thought the whole thing "insalubrious," as one of DSSW's friends is wont to say. Glad to know, though, that the both of you survived the ordeal and that all is well.

And, yeah, I’m real pleased with the Bret Bielema hire, Sis. Think he’s the real deal. A straight-shooter. Fun, but a no-nonsense guy who’ll demand a disciplined team. I like his pig-farmer, down-to-earth persona, too.

Agree with you, about the so-called “fans.” The “fair weather” ones, in particular. The ones who can’t tackle, pass, or run, but who’ve forgotten more about X’s and O’s than Bielema will ever know and who’ll be unhappy if he doesn’t go 12-0 next year.

But Jeff Long will stick with him and we’ll get past all that. I hope Coach B is here for the long-term, and that we’re fixin’ to have some mighty good years here in the Razorback Nation.

Also agree with you that Jen is a great asset. I’m thinking Bret won’t be castin’ no lustful, wanderin’ eyes at other wimmin like Bobby and Houston Dale done. I suspect Mrs. Jen puts plenty of ram in Coach B’s ramma-lamma-ding-dong, don’t you, Sis?

So, Gus caught the first bus to The Plains. What a surprise (not). Do feel sorry for the good people at ASU, though. Gus really led them down the primrose path with all the talk of staying in Jonesboro forever and coaching the school to heights unknown.

But at least he prayed about whether to return to Auburn, Sis. He and Kristi prayed and prayed and prayed and then prayed some more till finally (in about two seconds) the Lord said, “Yes, Gus, you MUST go to Auburn.”

He’ll do well over there, I think. But Bo Jackson is right: Even with 18 returning starters, Gus is facing an empty lot. He’s gotta build the program from the ground up. Gotta move dirt and put down a solid foundation. Gotta improve player attitude and restore discipline and confidence.

Those 63-21, 38-0, and 49-0 losses to A&M, Georgia, and Alabama must be forgotten. As well as the coaches who watched it all happen. Gus fired ‘em all yesterday, y’know. Onward Christian Soldiers!

If we don’t talk again between now and then, Mrs. Sister, lemme go ahead and wish you a Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year and all that stuff.

http://goo.gl/Z6uiY

ly

Durango
Posted by Durango]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:58:08 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by ArkansasGirl]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:50:26 -0600 Arkansas Times
Like Elvis! And Al Capone. And Richard Nixon. And my beloved Bradley Cooper. And Mel Gibson. And Ricky Martin.

Who DOESN'T love Goats!
Posted by Norma Bates]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:49:19 -0600 Arkansas Times
The question for me is this one of the lists we want to be #1 on?
Posted by Ron Rizzardi]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:41:00 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by the outlier]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:23:52 -0600 Arkansas Times
Yet, for all of his success, the genius label evades Bielema. He’s not mentioned among the Big Ten’s great coaches. His peers are impressed by his statistics, but rarely pass along the compliments.

“I have a saying that perception is more important than fact,” said BTN analyst Glen Mason, a former head coach at Kansas and Minnesota. “It shouldn’t be. But most people deal in perception than facts. The perception isn’t that he’s in that elite group, but when you look at the facts, it’s pretty impressive.”

http://thedailyhatch.org/2012/12/06/more-i…
Posted by SalineRepublican]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 07:17:47 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Verla Sweere]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:12:50 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by HardHeadedWoman]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:23:50 -0600 Arkansas Times
Everything we need to know, we learned in kindergarten. Too bad Republicans missed that day.

"Show me a fiscal cliff and I will gladly push McConnell and Boehner over the edge. Maybe then the grown ups can roll up their sleeves and get something done. Because how the hell is any deep thinking going to happen if those two insist on spending the whole day pissing in the baby pool?"

http://margaretandhelen.com/
Posted by NeverVoteRepublican]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:05:36 -0600 Arkansas Times
"4 Minutes Of Animation Guaranteed To Put Your Life In Perspective"

http://www.upworthy.com/4-minutes-of-anima…
Posted by HardHeadedWoman]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 23:56:48 -0600 Arkansas Times but something's going on with the male of the species:

"Scientists warn of sperm count crisis"
--Biggest-ever study confirms drastic decline in male reproductive health

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:48:56 -0600 Arkansas Times
I've missed you these last few days. I needed you to give me a back rub, a dry martini and tell me everything's going to be OK on The Plains.

As you know, I wanted the Offensive Devil Incarnate to be hired to take on the Defensive Great Satan from Tuscaloser. Instead, we Auburn fans were fed this line of crap about "character'' and hired Gus. I would've projectile vomited if they had hired that turd-puppet Kirby Smart.

Don't get me wrong. I truly like Gus and support him 100-percent. In fact, he could be a future Petrino without all the baggage (rumor is AU didn't give him a face-to-face interview because a thorough background check dug up more dirt, if that's humanly possible).

I'm on the Gus Bus, but it's hard not to imagine what could've been with Bad Boy Bobby. If the Vols end up hiring him, I may weep for a solid week.

I think UA's hire of Bret Bielema was a home run. The man's a winner although I worry about him taking this particular job. Arky fans aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer and I fear they'll sour on Bielema's meticulous offensive approach, especially when he fails to win 8 regular-season games in his second year. (The cupboard is bare and Bielema won't stand a chance to contend with HIS players until his third or fourth year, at least).

I watched the press conference today and Bielema is charming and endearing in a self-deprecating, farm-boy sort of way. I thought it was cute when he teared up talking about his new wife.

Speaking of the 27-year-old new wife, I bet the Republican society women in NWA needed smelling salts when they saw her dress. She struck me as a young, attractive single lady who wanted to dance and kick up her heels at Discovery at 3 a.m. The next Hog scandal may very well be Jen on the back of a motorcycle with a young buck from the UA baseball team:)

Oh, I kid. She'll be fine and will never have a wandering eye even though her husband looks like a 260-pound Gomer Pyle. He's rich! I hear young hetero girls really like that! She'll be the greatest First Lady of Arkansas Football of all time.

Thanksgiving was interesting. WIES and I almost divorced over the tea-bagger, racist, gay-hating step-father from hell, but we're doing better now.

Blood is thicker than water, but offensive step-father trash wanting a handout makes my blood boil.

XXOO,

Mrs. Sistertoldja
Posted by Mrs. Sistertoldja]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:29:27 -0600 Arkansas Times
In the spring came "The Passage of Power," the fourth book in what eventually will be Robert Caro's five-volume biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson, this one dealing with his political marriage to the Kennedy clan in 1960 and his ascension to the presidency three years later upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It recounts in stunning detail the most fertile few months in U.S. government history when, in a desperate impulse to stabilize a shaken nation and show Americans and the world that he was in charge, Johnson forced — yes, forced — a reluctant Congress to pass the whole languishing Kennedy program, including the first serious civil rights law in nearly a century and, soon afterward, the beginnings of a universal health-care system, which had escaped presidents since Teddy Roosevelt.

Next was the release last month of "Lincoln," Steven Spielberg's film about the last days before Abraham Lincoln's assassination when, against all odds, the president maneuvered Congress into referring to the states the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery. He forced the amendment through Congress before General Lee could surrender and Dixie could be restored to the union. "

So writes Ernie Dumas in his latest Ark Times column, "What's the Presidency's for." Unusual that current blog managers didn't feature it. Don't miss it.

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/what-the-…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:22:07 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by ozarkrazo]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:24:34 -0600 Arkansas Times

by Arkansas Business Staff
Posted 12/3/2012 12:00 am


The American Medical Association has called out a number of states, including Arkansas, for a lack of competition among large health insurers.

The AMA recently released a study showing that the “majority” of health insurance markets in the U.S. were “highly concentrated.”
....
According to the full study, Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield has 86 percent of the state’s HMO market. The next largest carrier, United HealthCare of Arkansas Inc., has a scant 12 percent.

Blue Cross dominated Arkansas’ other health insurance markets as well. It has 60 percent of the state’s preferred provider organization market and 39 percent of the state’s total market (excluding government insurance but including self-insured employer plans).

The only product in which ABCBS did not rule was point-of-service plans, where United HealthCare had 41 percent, followed by Cigna with 29 percent.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/89…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:09:41 -0600 Arkansas Times
OK, I get your point. I remember watching a Wisconsin game on tv last year and kept thinking to myself, "Who is that doofus on the sidelines, doin' all that rantin' and ravin'?"

Of course, now I know who that unconventionally handsome man is.

And, from the press conference coverage, I happened to notice that we shouldn't be having to worry about any more "Jessicas". Did anybody else happen to notice his wife, Jen? Conventionally gorgeous...
Posted by Olphart]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:06:59 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Vanessa]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:05:40 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by plainjim]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:17:28 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://allhatnocattle.net/blog7/wp-content…
Posted by Cato]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:56:57 -0600 Arkansas Times Arkansas didn't make this list but I'm betting we're just one or two legislative sessions away:

"America's 50 Worst State Legislatures"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/1…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:52:14 -0600 Arkansas Times KNWA sportscaster proclaimed,
"he's one of us."
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:46:32 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by SkyPilot]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:39:08 -0600 Arkansas Times