http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/12/07/the-weekend-line Comments On: The weekend 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) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Fri, 24 May 2013 10:15:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/de…)

Transparency and oversight needed

The University of Arkansas' Division of University Advancement has mismanaged $3.1 million - a story that cries out for in-depth journalistic research and critical analysis. Unfortunately, all the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has to offer is a cheap diatribe laden with anti-academic resentment.
The blame heaped on Brad Choate, the administrator at the center of the scandal, is clearly deserved but the editors' attempt to use his case as an ideological attack on public service in general is dishonest. If you believe the editors, financial mismanagement would never happen at a private for-profit corporation and if it did, the people responsible would be immediately fired. This fairy-tale version of capitalism - tough but fair - would have been laughable ten years ago. Today, after the financial meltdown caused by the reckless mismanagement of trillions of dollars by Wall Street's failed financial wizards, the editors' world view is outright grotesque. They must live in a parallel universe where they have never heard of multi-million dollar golden parachutes for incompetent corporate managers, not to mention "bonuses" paid out to executives at financial companies saved from bankruptcy by a massive tax money bailout. The editors must have been too busy lambasting "big government" to pay attention to the news of a two billion ($2,000,000,000) dollar loss caused by a single JP Morgan Chase trader earlier this year, unnoticed by a host of accountants and managers at the mega corporation.
The editors have it exactly backwards: the University doesn't need to become more like a corporation - it needs to act more like a public University dedicated above all to academic integrity and the common good and governed with transparency and openness. The recent tendency of chasing after the money of super-wealthy donors and hiring ever more ever higher-paid administrators (not to mention athletic directors) is not a healthy one.
As for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, it needs to act like a newspaper offering journalistic reporting instead of ideological rants. It could start by researching the University's pay structure. This year, when the University awarded merit pay raises, most faculty members got about $2,000 per year more, based on a performance review. Yet dozens of individuals, including Mr. Choate, were awarded raises in the tens of thousands, according to the openUA portal (http://openua.uark.edu/Default.aspx). While this may still be a far cry from the most outrageous corporate practices, the question must be raised whether there is adequate oversight over these disbursements of public money.
Posted by TM]]> Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:15:30 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Sound Policy]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 22:01:05 -0600 Arkansas Times
"It was during sex in the county morgue with then-Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper that a local stripper asked Camper to let her have her county job back, and he agreed, according to court documents filed Friday."

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/de…
Posted by eLwood]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:13:11 -0600 Arkansas Times
"Oh Ethel, I'm afraid it is. Mark Rubico just sold us out! He's chickening out and giving in to liberals, science and all those things that are destroying us from within."


NYT, Charles Blow:
"Finally, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida — a Tea Party darling and possible 2016 presidential candidate — admits that dinosaurs and humans didn’t co-exist.
...
He said, “There is no scientific debate on the age of the Earth. I mean, it’s established pretty definitively. It’s at least 4.5 billion years old.”

But then he hedged: “I just think in America we should have the freedom to teach our children whatever it is we believe. And that means teaching them science. They have to know the science, but also parents have the right to teach them the theology and to reconcile those two things.”

Why the hedge? Because he is in a party of creationists. According to a June Gallup report, most Republicans (58 percent) believed that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. Most Democrats and independents did not agree."
------------
YES, CHARLES, like there's a goddamned debate about what's real and what isn't. 'Democrats did not agree.' How polite of you! Now let's move on to the shape of Earth:
Flat or spherical? After all, some Christians may "not agree."
Next, stuff that moves leaves on the tree: Is it wind or is it spirits? We could find some who may "not agree."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/opinion/…
Posted by eLwood]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 13:05:11 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by mountaingirl]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:35:25 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by eLwood]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:46:24 -0600 Arkansas Times
And the "little ones" are technically still lambs but they aren't so small and we are hoping that the new ones hold off until about the end of February as I need to have some shoulder surgery done and I am certainly limited with one arm in a sling for 6 weeks, feed wise and everything else.
Posted by couldn't be better]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:43:21 -0600 Arkansas Times
My four small new sections are holding well, probably because they were dug out of rock. I haven't stocked them because I wanted to make sure they don't seep. But my main big pond is the lowest it has ever been, probably because it has a clay bottom and doesn't hold as well. I have been waiting since spring for my original plan to come to fruition.... having enough water to join them all into one large body of water. That may or may not ever happen if this is the new "normal" weather. I rarely see the fish, but so far I haven't seen any evidence they are dying, so I am grateful for that.

I am hoping we are blessed with some of that rain that will be coming through this weekend. At this point, I would even welcome snow because it would melt and we would get 200 feet of runoff from above us.
Posted by mountaingirl]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:37:10 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by couldn't be better]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:11:26 -0600 Arkansas Times
I have a feeling we may pick up a few more defectors before this is all over. You are right about them jumping ship.
Posted by mountaingirl]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 07:41:44 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Edie, you go girl.
Posted by the outlier]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 07:32:55 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by the outlier]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 07:27:02 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/c…

At the other end of the sanity spectrum is ship-deserting Jim DeMint. DeMint is so crazy he is probably out in his back yard every full moon baying with the hounds. Someone said that DeMint is one part Dick Cheney, one part Rush Limbaugh, and two parts Jesse Helms. That sounds about right to me.

DeMint went to bat for Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell, Todd "legitimate rape" Akin, Sharon "make rape-baby lemonade" Angle and Richard "rape is sometimes God's plan" Mourdock among others. I imagine he will continue to pick such "winners" from his sinecure at the Heritage Foundation. He's headed down the way of the Whigs with his faction of the GoTeaParty.

In other news four state senators and six state representatives in Michigan broke with the Republican Party over the right to work vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/m…

I'm having a slice of schadenfreude with my breakfast this morning.
Posted by the outlier]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:42:02 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://news.msn.com/politics/ex-fla-gov-cr…
Posted by mountaingirl]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:36:35 -0600 Arkansas Times
"December 7, 2012 2:26 PM ET

Breaking the Taboo – a new documentary about the war on drugs – premiered last night at Google's New York headquarters, with stars including Katie Couric, Virgin mogul Richard Branson, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Natalie Imbruglia in attendance. While the one-hour film is not available in theaters, it's streaming in its entirety online.
http://www.breakingthetaboo.info/view_docu…

The web-only strategy is part of producer Sam Branson's plan to make the thoroughly researched anti-prohibition film a viral sensation, potentially inspiring serious drug policy reform. The filmmaker (who is Richard Branson's son) hopes to reach a wide audience for the all-star project – which includes never-before-seen interviews with former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, narration by Morgan Freeman and a trailer starring Kate Winslet."

The film is light on history, begins with Nixon officially declaring the "War on Drugs" then in chronological order shows the damages done by the War and other nations' more reasonable approach to the drug problem. Does a great job of showing how the War on Drugs is feeding our enemies in the Middle East just as prohibition fed Al Capone and the Chicago mobsters.
Continue reading below:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/…
Posted by eLwood]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:58:43 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Bluesyoucanuse]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:40:36 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://tinyurl.com/b2c9uef
Posted by Cato]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:58:48 -0600 Arkansas Times
Guess who's eyeing the seat? Yes, the guy fresh from a hike on Appalachian Trail...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/12/06/m…
Posted by eLwood]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:16:27 -0600 Arkansas Times
"How the political fight on gay marriage is over — in 2 charts"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fi…
Posted by eLwood]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:43:10 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#50123…
Posted by the outlier]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:22:30 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Diogenes]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:23:52 -0600 Arkansas Times
In these waning days of civilization, it may be advantageous to be friendly with your neighborhood survivalists, sending your most-endowed daughter to their compound with a plate of enhanced brownies.

Also, invite your Mormon neighbors to a neighborly barbecue. Make them feel at home, with you wearing a black suit and narrow black tie, bicycles for seating. Keep in mind, the Mormon church coaches members to stockpile a year's worth of food and drinking water, along with other provisions.

If these ploys fail to ingratiate you with potential resources, there are other ways to prepare.

Buried in the avalanche of "reality programming" is a series on National Geographic called "Doomsday Preppers."

Articles and videos discuss the essentials of preparation - bullets, lots of bullets; living in a cargo container; cricket stir-fry; Faraday cage; and other survivalist delights. With that knowledge that can not be acquired at pointy-headed universities, except in the athletic departments, you can become the first Burt Gummer (see "Tremors" movie or TV series) on your block. Well, in Arkansas, you'll probably be the third or fourth Gummer on your block.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/chan…

If all fails, enjoy the Mayan equivalent of Montezuma's revenge.
Posted by YossarianMinderbinder]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:05:46 -0600 Arkansas Times