Out of step
Republican legislators as a group favor deregulation of corporations and strict regulation of individuals. They would free a company from all zoning laws, and deny a woman any authority over her own body. The right to bear arms is the only individual right they care for.
It was surprising then to see Rep. Randy Alexander (R-Springdale) deviating from the party line. Addressing a bill to allow the sale of unpasteurized milk, Alexander said, according to news accounts, that "people should be able to put anything into their body they want to." He continued: "Will there be an idiot that causes a problem for himself and others? Sure, you can't fix stupid." Alexander sounds like a closet supporter of medical marijuana, perhaps of legalized marijuana generally, although his party has been strongly on the other side of that question, steadfast in trying to keep people from putting things into their bodies, and punishing them if they do. The putative front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination next year is a man ardently opposed to letting people decide these matters for themselves. Maybe Alexander can talk some sense, and some mercy, into Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson is a former U.S. drug czar known for sending federal agents after cancer sufferers who used marijuana to relieve their pain. He recently joined other discredited drug warriors in asking the Justice Department to stop Colorado and Washington from allowing the sale of marijuana, although the voters of those states have approved the sales. Alexander's work will be cut out for him; "mean" is hard to fix too.
Rep. Allen Kerr (R-Little Rock) also is at odds with his party, apparently. Speaking for a bill to require that special elections be held in May or November, when primary and general elections are held, Kerr said that cities and counties had scheduled elections for times when they knew the vote would be light, "trying to control the outcome of the election, and in my opinion that's completely un-American and just wrong."
Kerr's criticism could be applied with equal validity to a Republican-sponsored bill requiring photo identification from voters. That bill (SB 2) is intended to control the outcome of elections by reducing the number of voters likely to vote Democratic — minorities, the elderly, the poor. (And yet Kerr is recorded, inexplicably, as voting for SB 2, seemingly having fallen into error and un-Americanism himself. What was it Rep. Alexander said?)
Speaking of Randy Alexander, Allen Kerr
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School consolidation moratorium fails
April 3, 2013Rep. Randy Alexander's bill to impose a two-year moratorium on consolidation of school districts that fail to have 350-student enrollment for two years failed in the House today. /more/
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Raw milk bill fails to mooooooove out of committee
March 15, 2013Channeling Willie Nelson, Rep. Randy Alexander and Rep. Nate Bell united hippies and rednecks with their bill to allow the limited sale of raw milk. /more/
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Latest in Editorials
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Misquoted
There's embarrassment in the young gubernatorial campaign of state Rep. Debra Hobbs of Rogers. Announcing her candidacy last week, Representative Hobbs said "I feel like this is what God wants me to do." But sources close to God say that He gave her no encouragement and was at most indifferent to her campaign.
- May 23, 2013
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Say goodbye
It's kind of piling on, admittedly, but we feel compelled to join the call for state Treasurer Martha Shoffner to resign. Awkwardly compelled, that is. She has not yet been convicted of the criminal charges filed against her, and that's an important point. The presumption of innocence has not been repealed.
- May 23, 2013
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Listen, UA
Any public-university trustees considering merger of their tax-supported teaching hospital with a Catholic hospital should ponder these wise words from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
- May 16, 2013
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Event Calendar
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Re: The crash of Martha Shoffner
I don't see sadness either. Every day the Lord sends the criminal justice incarcerates a…
- on May 23, 2013
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Re: The crash of Martha Shoffner
Who could have predicted that when she got her just desserts it would actually come…
- on May 23, 2013
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Re: The crash of Martha Shoffner
I don't see sadness in this case. What I do see is a person who…
- on May 22, 2013
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