Arkansas Blog

If Asa was really interested in fighting crime, he would have whopped a citizen's arrest on Satan Cheney while he had him on Monday. There is no bigger criminal loose today in the world than Cheney. And Asa just let him go........sad.

Dd you think he could take a few million from his campaign and pay for this program? Thank God for Republicans who believe in smaller government.

I agree. I'm a Republican and I want smaller gov't that establishes Christianity as the country's religion. I want the country to have lots of laws about official language and immigration policies. And lots of laws about what women can do with their bodies and lots of laws about what kind of research can and can't be done. I want lots of laws about spying, wiretaps and special provisions for all kinds of last minutes things that might pop up in this war on terror -- which by the way, I want LOTS of laws about what is and what is not considered terror-related behavior. I want laws against flag burning... I could go on and on but the point is I want a smaller government.

Thousands of Arkansans are about to enter the Medicare Part D 'doughnut hole' and forsake legal prescription drugs for lack of money. Well, that's just too bad, isn't it? The state can just let them perish. A$a! prefers to focus on creating yet another wasteful 'Drug War' bureacracy that will be yet another patronage featherbed.

This is my favorite part of the press release:

"He pledged to continue working with federal officials and members of Congress to make the Arkansas HIDTA designation a reality."

If Arkansas wasn't a high intensity drug trafficking area before, then as governor Asa will make damn sure that it becomes one. They only THINK they've seen high intensity. Asa'll show 'em high intensity drug trafficking!

'Small Govt,'
Thank you! I'm glad someone else sees the irony in the Republican agenda. For some strange reason, their idea of smaller government is to extend laws, create laws and trash civil liberties. In case you haven't read it, check out Warwick's column from a couple of weeks ago. He talks the irony of Republican campaigns. They are basically asking for the keys to a bus that they believe should not be driven.

If there is one thing Asa knows about it is fighting drugs. He was a U.S. Attorney 25 years ago and he was the head of the DEA. I think he has a kinds of credibility on this issue.

Asa had the job therefore he has credibility. Absolutely! Everyone who has a job automatically does it well and earns credibility!!!

Also, I want more laws for criminals, harsher laws, longer sentences for different drugs in diff. scenarios --- close to school, far from school, close to church, after midnight laws for crime, breakfast-time-crime laws... I want EVERYTHING that can possibly be thought up to be wrong -- to be a crime! And I want the paperwork to go with it. I want infideliy to be a crime for god's sake!!!!

I like Asa's ideas about drug enforcement and crime prevention.

I just don't like Asa.

Well come on - you can't blame Hutchinson - you go with the only thing you know.

Of course I would of much rather seen his views on Educations, Healthcare, Economic development and Infrastructure...but that's about governing...and not "Crime Fighting".

"I want infideliy to be a crime for god's sake!!!!"

With exemptions for the lawmakers, of course...

Maybe Governor Beebe in January can appoint Hutchinson to a newly created position -
Super Crime and Drug Czar
SCADZ

Just a little humor, so clam down.

Just as a point of curoisity, how we gonna pay for that. Oh, that's governing.

I thought the State Police had a division that dealt with drugs. I know they have people in the interstate cities that specialize in stopping vehicles that are suspicious. Consider that the ASP also has to deal with child abuse and a myriad of other tasks, and I believe they have a full deck already. What he is pushing for is more State employees and SMALLER GOVERNMENT!!!!!!

"Thousands of Arkansans are about to enter the Medicare Part D 'doughnut hole' and forsake legal prescription drugs for lack of money. Well, that's just too bad, isn't it? "

As someone who just got his CMS report showing that the "do-nut hole" should hit in two months, I hope that everyone who suddenly finds themselves paying hundred of dollars for that script will remember that this was brought to you by the Republican leadership who were just out to get your vote. And BTW, your grandkids will be paying for it because there never were any tax dollars to pay for it. They gave the dollars away to their rich friends. Another fiscal conservative gift to the American people!

It wouldn't hurt as much but I lost a plan that paid better because it didn't meet the test in the new law ( it was the Arkansas retired teachers program).

"and he was the head of the DEA"

Yeah boy. And in that role he really put a reall hurtin' on the meth problem, too: DEA arrests way down and meth seizures staying the same during his tunure. He did a mediocre job at best with the DEA and we can expect the same level of performance as governor.

At least Asa is giving the voters some idea of what he wants to do when he is governor, unlike Beebe, who just "believes in Arkansas."

hey brady,
in case you haven't noticed, beebe's strategy of laying low is paying off. he's leading in every poll, including by a significant margin in the kthv poll. when/if asa closes the gap in the race and in fundraising, beebe can start laying out some initiatives. for now, laying low is working.

Anyone as sure of their infallibility as Asa is should never be elected to public office. I have spoken with Asa before and I even had dinner with brother Tim one time and I am here to tell you, they both give me the creeps just being around them. This guy was a horrible failure in his last two endeavors and now he wants to be governor of a state with some serious problems to be solved. The last thing Arkansas needs is someone like Asa that has a history of failue. Arkansas has had too much failure in the past to keep adding to the problems with another Bush crony.

Before you keep griping about the Medicare "donut hole" remember that not long ago there wasn't even a donut.

I was tossing and turning last night trying to get to sleep and the burdens of the world kept weighing heavily on my mind.

Then all of a sudden I had a revelation that answered a question that's been bugging me for years. What is it about the Hutchinson brothers that's so creepy? EUREKA! It came to me like a dream!

Asa and brother Tim are Arkansas's version of Donnie and Marie Osmond! They both have that unnatural Eagle Scout from Utah aura around them. They'd both would look good on bicycles wearing dark slacks and white shirts. They have that Donnie and Marie ah-shucks thing going on that grown men aren't supposed to have.

And coming from Gravette and living in DC, both are a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, but more in a Pat Boone sorta way. Clean cut like aliens. Wholesome like beets. Pure like powdered milk.

Asa's more like Donnie, taller, slightly more accomplished. Tim is more Marie-like, shorter, more emotional, unable to get help from Jesus with troubled marriages.

Now, I have to admit way back I enjoyed Donnie and Marie on my TV set, but even then I wouldn't have wanted them in my home. Just too....too....Mormon-ly good..a little too Formica...too much aw-shucks, gee whiz, gosh darn it. Not real, don't ya know. Smooth between the legs....where genitals are supposed to go.

So, mystery solved. After all these years it's Donny Asa and Marie Tim Hutchinson-Osmond that has been swirling around in my head just out of reach. Add to that Asa living a couple of feet up Cheney's colon and I just have to say, I'll pass.

"I was tossing and turning last night trying to get to sleep and the burdens of the world kept weighing heavily on my mind.

Then all of a sudden I had a revelation that answered a question that's been bugging me for years. What is it about the Hutchinson brothers that's so creepy? EUREKA! It came to me like a dream!"

What is it about the Hutchinson brothers that's so creepy?

Three words: Bob Jones University

Pryor Among Sponsors Of Cocaine Sentencing Bill

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor is one of four lawmakers sponsoring a bill that would reduce mandatory prison sentences for crack cocaine and increase mandatory prison terms for powder cocaine convictions. The four legislators are all former attorneys general.

Pryor says they are trying to make the country's drug laws more consistent and fairer. The Drug Sentencing Reform Act would change the formula for how mandatory sentences are calculated.

Current guidelines require judges to treat one gram of crack cocaine like 100 grams of powder cocaine when they sentence crack dealers. The proposed legislation would change that ratio to 20-1.

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Good for MP, but mandatory minimums are still just bad law

Although sometimes I have been known to say that Pryor might as well be a republican, sometimes he surprises me with very anti-republican, and very bold ideas such as this cocaine sentencing bill. I'm not for legalizing cocaine by any means but it just smacks of fundamental unfairness to punish a drug more associated with African Americans one way, but punish differently for it when people are found with powder cocaine. Reducing criminal sentences is never politically expedient and takes guts because you know it will be used against him some time in the future.

On the other hand, when Hutchinson was in office, he refused to even losen the rules about doing medical research with marijuana to see if there are more useful treatments marijuana can be used for. There is nothing about Hutchinson that says he would do anything bold, progressive, or even interesting.

Before I voted for anybody named Hutchinson, I would set myself on fire while eating dirt.
Sadly, the war on drugs has already been lost.

Hutchinson and the ASP are the biggest dealers in Arkansas.