Arkansas Blog

Bullwhiz has some charts comparing Bush's approval ratings to gas prices and the Iraq war.. The post is pretty good for a liberal blog.

Conway's flooded, again.

The city's developers can't fill in the wetlands fast enough. The Corp of Engineers has abdicated all responsibility towards our creeks (for the most part they're now concrete ditches filled with construction trash). The mindset seems to be that if the wealthier areas get built high enough the water will flow...well, anywhere else but at their doorsteps.

I'm sick of my mayor/Council ONLY working for the developers. Periodically they'll throw out some kind of master plan for wise building that only lasts until the right person asks for an exemption.

But then again, we do have a Council member who continues to walk right through his ex's restraining order 'cause he's 'knows judges' and he's an important prick (of course being buddies with the police chief helps).

I hope you'll have better luck with your elected officials in your neck of the woods.

I see that the DoG has it usual letter comparing the great GWB to President Clinton using a variety of misinformation but the one that really stands out is that Clinton didn't get bin Laden like Bush who had the oportunity and had a mass of boots on the ground, has done any better. GWB continues to make statements which sound good on TV (ever notice that since he can read a declarative sentence, he only speaks in "sound bites"). But, of course, KG I did get bin Laden (didn't he).

And also, Clinton pardoned
"criminals and terrorists". The writer needs to read the paper as Bush just pardoned his latest group which brings the total close to 100 and some of them were in prison for DRUGS. Just what terotist did Clinton pardon?

Don't refer to those of us who defend the Constitution as anti-American! This group of "cowboys" (in the worst possible sense of the word) have destroyed individual rights, usurped authority from an lame Congress who fear that their own party would label them as traitors, and essentially destroyed the very principles that this country was founded upon.

And now he wants to possibly nuke Iran to stop them from having nuclear weapons. I would have thought that by now any thinking member of this administration would be well aware of the law of unintended consequences. Any nuclear strike at Iran will put radioactive fall out cloud over India, Pakistan, China, and possibly Russia. That certainly will make any allies we have left very happy.

We are paying the price of having a cowboy who never saw active duty as acting CIC.

Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Jewish or gentile, it's the time to acknowledge the horrific loss of 6 million Jews and the evil that led to their systematic slaughter.
The nearly 61 years since the end of World War II represents a lifetime - or not - for the survivors and their families. Though it may seem distant, the Holocaust is still an unfinished chapter that some try to revise.
The hatred that manifested itself in the Holocaust didn't die with it. Look at the ethnic battles in Croatia and genocide in Africa.
Look at racial violence at home and religious conflicts around the world. Holocaust Remembrance Day is an opportunity for us all to rededicate ourselves to fighting ignorance and anti-Semitism in all forms.
This year, there is a long-delayed glimmer of hope amid the darkness of the Holocaust. Germany announced last week that it would help clear the way to opening documents on the 17.5 million victims of the Nazis. An estimated 30 million to 50 million records exist, stark data outlining unthinkable atrocities: deportations, concentration camps, slave labor, executions.
Germany is one of 11 nations that must come to consensus in mid-May about releasing the information, and it has been the major opponent to it. Now, the Germans are stepping forward to make it happen.
The United States, Britain, Italy, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Israel also must agree to open the archives. In the past, the argument against doing so has been privacy.
That just doesn't wash.
The ones who should be concerned about privacy are those who killed millions of men, women and children - and those who looked the other way while it happened.
Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, the handicapped and the mentally ill were considered defective, thus ripe for extermination. The Nazis didn't leave many survivors to wring their hands over privacy issues.
It's late, but not too late to do the right thing.
The records bear powerful testimony to the loss of the Holocaust. They give names to the victims. They give back their identities.
That's no small matter to lone survivors trying to connect to family or to followers of a faith rooted in tradition. They deserve that information.
If the Germans are willing to unlock the door on Holocaust records, the other 10 nations should do so also.

Remember when this mis-administration came to power thay liked to brag that the 'grown-ups' were now in charge.

They also liked to point out that the Clinton administration only wanted to 'roll back al-Qaeda' while they intended to destroy it.

Hmmmm...on both counts.

Why did some candidates for the same positions pay lower filing fees to the Democratic Party than others? I was told that a person (who I was defending in a dinner-table debate) paid $1,500 less than her two opponents. I didn't believe it until I was shown the reports online. I think it is a little unfair if candidates are given a preference by Party leaders in the amount they pay to be on the ballot.

By Aaron Sadler
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee and the editor of a weekly political newspaper - long at odds over the governor's politics and practices - squared off Thursday over the paper's access to Huckabee's press releases and public schedule.

Max Brantley, editor of the Arkansas Times, said the publication may sue the governor, claiming possible constitutional and Arkansas Freedom of Information Act violations.

Brantley said he learned this week that the liberal-leaning tabloid had been removed from Huckabee's e-mail list of routine releases and announcements.

"We believe constitutionally they could not deprive us of services provided others on a broad basis on account of them not liking our opinions," Brantley said. "We think that's a First Amendment violation."

Huckabee, a Republican, said news releases and announcements are available on the Internet and that he had no duty to offer special treatment to the paper.

"The Times is whining because we don't go out of our way to personally contact them with information they can readily obtain by accessing our Web site," Huckabee said through spokeswoman Alice Stewart.

The Times has been critical of Huckabee's use of a state police airplane and spending by his political action committee, and it also has raised ethics complaints against the governor.

"Certainly they're free to continue not just reporting what they consider news, but to make actual attempts at creating the news through multiple filings of ethics complaints, and in turn self-congratulate themselves on their own actions," Huckabee said.

Brantley said he believes removal from the e-mail list is clearly retaliatory.

The Times' lawyer is considering whether the action is a First Amendment violation or whether Huckabee is in violation of the state FOI law, Brantley said.

He said his paper's case is unlike one in which Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich ordered executive branch employees not to talk to two Baltimore Sun employees. A federal appeals court panel in February upheld a lower court's dismissal of the Sun's suit.

Brantley said his newspaper would have a stronger case because Ehrlich, unlike Huckabee, did not refuse access to an entire organization.

Removal from an e-mail list prevents the publication from attending news conferences that may be called with only a few hours' notice, he said.

"It makes it impossible for us to do our job as well as we'd like to do it if we can't be made aware of the things that others (are)," Brantley said.

Huckabee criticized Brantley's complaints as a ploy for attention.

"There are hundreds of real news outlets throughout the state and the simple fact is, we don't make phone calls or e-mail every one of them each time we issue a press release or announcement," the governor said.

Thursday, the governor's chief counsel, Milton Fine, denied the Times' FOI requests for all future news releases and for the names of news organizations that remain on the governor's mailing list, Brantley said.

In declining the request, Fine said the paper could not make a standing request for future documents. The mailing list was exempted as part of the governor's "working papers," Brantley said.

Thanks for catching up Hunk. It shows a real interest on your part. Makes you look like a real go-getter. You might make it out of Izard County if you keep it up! And by the way, Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

RR: "It's the time to acknowledge the horrific loss of 6 million Jews and the evil that led to their systematic slaughter."

Agreed. But a myth this evil was just aimed at Jews is a product of movies, books, films, documentaries, etc. Let's set the record straight, at least in our little corner of the world.

When the Nazis took over Germany in 1933, their first targets were socialist and communists. Then they targeted labor/trade unions. Then Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and other untermenchens became the targets.

While it is true 6 million Jews perished, 6 million others suffered the same fate. Jews were not the sole target of the Nazi effort to create a master race. Their list of sub-humans that must be eradicated was far more broad then what receives publicity by Speilberg or the Holacust Museum.

Yours in Clio,
Cato

Hunkakoolaid is an out of touch idiot who wouldn't care if Bush sold children into slavery.

i dont care if generalissimo franco is still dead or not, he's got just as much right to post here as anybody else.

Hunkahillbilly needs a job inspecting sewers in Eudora!

tjs wrote:
"i dont care if generalissimo franco is still dead or not, he's got just as much right to post here as anybody else."
........
And I suppose you'd register him to vote too.

You're pretty gullible if you believe Francisco Franco is posting. I've visited El Caudillo's tomb. He is not posting from that tomb.

After Franco died, I witnessed the first free Spanish elections in 41 years.

Pablo Picasso had it right when he published his expressive etchings showing The Dreams and Lies of Francisco Franco.

Picasso also had it right when he publicized the death and destruction wrought by Hitler and Franco in his famous painting depicting the bombing of Guernica in 1937.

By bombing Guernica, Franco tried to force his Basque enemies into submission. The Basques were the only people who refused to surrender to Franco and Hitler.

By bombing Guernica, Hitler tried to blackmail the world with his Luftwaffe, forcing the US and Europe into submission by threatening surprise strikes against cities.

Hmmmm....,

The US government's propaganda was that we will "fight the Nazis, Fascists, Communists in Spain so there won't be another World War". Well, there was a World War II anyway.

Yes, cato, you are right about the first targets being socialists and communists.

It's odd how many people equate the Nazis with communists and socialists, since they were the first ones killed by the Nazis.

Fascists, which the Nazis were, are a whole different group from the socialists and communists.

It's just like the way so many gloss over the Christian connections the Nazis had. That is strange, considering that is one of the reasons they targeted the Jews.

I see no anonymous posts in this thread, BUT...earlier in the week and last week, too, there were so many anon posts (in the same threads) that it was impossible to know with whom to bitch. They were especially prevalent on Lt Gov threads.

Anyone get the sense that little groups get together and agree to bombard the blog with their pro or con opinions on these LG candidates? It didn't seem like our usual community.

So, please, use at least a fake name or initials or a number or some identifying stamp. I want to make sure I'm yelling at the right person or the same person.

Better yet, Blogmeistro, any way the new software can address this?

There will be a Stonewall Democrats candidate forum Sunday at 2pm at the DPA headquarters. Will be interesting to see if brokeback will be there telling us how he hasn't found the right woman yet?

Laughing, Hugh.

I know what you mean, I would read a post from someone named anonymous and agree with it, and just a few entries later there would be one from the same name, but absolutely off the wall.

And I agree, there are sometimes post after post that seem to hijack a conversation from some really strange people.

...Anyone get the sense that little groups get together and agree to bombard the blog with their pro or con opinions on these LG candidates?

Yes...and, for the most part they act like a silly bunch of bickering teens--got to be future politicians.

I do laught at the REAL bartenders poetry, though.

Bush now has the blood of 2400 U.S. soldiers on his hands.

I see where the FBI has opened an investigation into our northern neighbor's governor, Matt Blunt, that would be the son of the Majority Leader of the US Congress.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14455281.htm

And the ex head of the VA was contracting to his own company.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-vets29apr29,1,5293834.story?track=rss

Wait, there's more...
The ex-head of the FDA was selling shares of a company he was supposed to regulate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12542539/from/RSS/

But, wait, if you act now, there's more, still.
The company in charge of building health care centers in Iraq has bilked us out of millions or billions (who's counting anymore?).
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-parsons29apr29,1,547629.story?track=rss

Are there ANY honest Repukes left? Or have they all decided their days in office are numbered and are now getting theirs while they still can?

The whole party should be put in prison.

Some of us would prefer if our name were not signed to any posts if we didn't make them in the first place. But no matter what I say I know I'll get blasted so who cares?

Look, when its all said and done, real professionals in this business conduct themselves realizing its not personal. However some campaigns take it "off field" as it were and make it personal. This blog enables them to do that all the time. This blog has become constructive to that form of sad, sick, and perverted behavior.

So "Suzie" and others....please practice what you preach first. Actually have a true discussion on real issues rather than taking character jabs and attacks at others. You may see the desired effect you want.

So "Suzie" and others....

Evidently you're truly clueless if you're still treading that same dry pond. You're so far off base on this one that I actually feel sorry for ya.

And, if I thought you actually had any real interest in the truth I'd post my email and real name but...I think you'd be lonely without all those voices.

Gary Bowman, the controversial preacher who wonf a free speech lawsuit against the University of Arkansas, wants the university to pay $161,000 for his attorney fees. I hope he gets it, and I hope the courts make the UA officials and attorneys personally responsible for the costs. They knew it was inconstitutional, and they should not now be allowed to use it as an excuse to again raise tuition.

I agree catfish; it's especially egregious for an alleged place of higher learning to act thusly.

The excessive escalation of tuitions at our state universities is a scandal and a real education barrier to this poor state's citizens. And, we should start by focusing some sunshine on ALL the perks/money given to their presidents. For example: UCA's prez was issued a state car that by law was devoid of all the luxurious perks the wealthy so enjoy. Well that didn't stop ole Lu from raiding the tax trough...he simple had the school physical plant add the extras.

Some of us would prefer if our name were not signed to any posts if we didn't make them in the first place. But no matter what I say I know I'll get blasted so who cares?

Look, when its all said and done, real professionals in this business conduct themselves realizing its not personal. However some campaigns take it "off field" as it were and make it personal. This blog enables them to do that all the time. This blog has become constructive to that form of sad, sick, and perverted behavior.
So "Suzie" and others....please practice what you preach first. Actually have a true discussion on real issues rather than taking character jabs and attacks at others. You may see the desired effect you want.

Posted by: Drew's Pitt

Obliviously D.P. suffers from the "Napolean complex" or "Little-Man syndrome."

Hey, does anyone know who is behind these t.v. ads about the "Phoneys?" It looks like faux populism to me, especially since they do not identify who the ads are representing. Just seems sleazy.

The tone is annoying and condescending, to boot.

Look hard at the end of the "Phoneys" TV spot you will see it is paid for by the National Cable Television Association. The cable folks are trying to whip up opposition to AT&T's bid to put IPTV in central Arkansas. Don't think that sorry ad will persuade anyone to oppose IPTV.

this site always mentions columns in stories in other publication but always leaves columns by david sanders out for some reason.

here's a good re-cap column on the lieutenant governor's races,

Checking in with the LG candidates
Sunday, Apr 30, 2006

By David Sanders

We are inching closer to the Democrat and Republican primaries. The only contests that are generating any bipartisan excitement at all are the races for the No. 2 spot (lieutenant governor). Democratic and Republican candidates are hard at work, at least some of them, generating interest and excitement. It's time again to check in with the candidates.

The Democrats:

Bill Halter - When you're ahead you're a huge target. His money advantage, which has drawn the ire of some of his opponents, has funded a few well-produced television ads with sizable media buys that have helped solidify his place at the top. That money, which contributors had given to his short-lived governor's campaign, has been returned to the donors. Many of those same donors turned around and issued a check to Halter's lieutenant governor campaign. Not everyone is happy with that arrangement, mainly Mike Hathorn.

Mike Hathorn - On Wednesday, his campaign staff was feverishly typing away at the computer trying to construct the appropriate ethics complaint against Bill Halter. The complaint in its early draft suggests that Halter has violated some state election laws. Hathorn has become Halter's largest critic since the former gubernatorial candidate joined the race.

I'm not sure that filing a complaint now will ensure a hearing and subsequent ruling from the state Ethics Commission before the May 23 primary. It's clear Hathorn is trying to do his darndest to plant seeds of doubt about Halter in the minds of Democratic primary voters. Will they take? Hathorn will have to be careful; if he slings too much mud, I suspect some of it could get him dirty.

Jay Martin - Laying low is a campaign strategy that rarely works. I read as much in the papers about Martin's campaign staff singing at karaoke parties as I do the candidate making any noise.

Tim Wooldridge - I took a little trip through Northeast Arkansas last weekend. It was clear that I was in Wooldridge country. There were yard signs everywhere: Tuckerman, Swifton, Hoxie, Walnut Ridge, Paragould, his hometown, and a few rice fields in between. I know yard signs don't vote, but the folks who place them in their yards (and fields) usually do. I knew going into this race, he would have regional strength. Will it be enough to break through and land second place to make the runoff?

Drew Pritt - He didn't file, but he is running a shadow candidacy; he won't go away. He calls in to radio shows, still sends press releases and has now taken to issuing open letters to the Democratic candidates who actually paid the filing fee to run. He has been trying to find someone to pay him to bash Bill Halter, but I'm not sure that has worked out yet. I recently e-mailed him with a question about who he was working for. His response: "For God and Country!"

The Republicans:

Chuck Banks - Monday, Banks' campaign launched a statewide cable media buy. The television ads play up Banks' service as a U.S. attorney during the Reagan Administration. A recent poll showed him way behind front-runner Jim Holt, but he may be gaining some momentum. Those close to the campaign say, in addition to television, there will be strong radio campaign and a hard-hitting direct mail effort.

Jim Holt - One of Holt's friends recently told me that his pal is going around quoting something I had written in a column. Holt is said to be quoting a March column where I wrote the following: "I underestimated him once in a Republican Primary. I won't do it again. He has about a 90 percent chance of winning the GOP nomination." Holt is leaving out the part of the column where I said if he is the nominee, he has a 99.99 percent chance of losing in the fall.

Let me give him a new line to quote on the stump: If Republicans want to have any chance in the lieutenant governor's race in the fall, they will need to nominate someone other than Jim Holt.

Doug Matayo - See Jay Martin, sans the Karaoke comment.

"Suzie" and "bsteel", with your snotty comments thanks for proving my point!

In honor of the Uno de Mayo celebration, maybe there should be abstinence from patronizing Mexican food restaurants during the month of May to also reflect the importance of having Americans patronize Latino establishments.

I could do with less of the Mexican flag and more of the American flag.

I also like the idea of giving amnesty to American citizens who've committed crimes if illegals are given amnesty.

I think the National Anthem, however, should be sang in every language possible. But neither Roseanne nor Jessica Simpson should be allowed to sing it, regardless of the language (well, they really shouldn't be singing in general).

David Sanders sheds some light
about the Hathorn-Halter fight
Mike best be careful bout the mud he slings.
He might just find his butt it stings.
For when the final vote is cast
Mikie-boy may end up last!

ringtones free