Arkansas Blog

"...Dumas is still searching for a compassionate Republican."

Ha. It's a myth.

Has anyone heard about a guy in Pocahontas who performs some kind of auto engine conversion or modification that improves performance AND emissions? I think it's called "The Atomizer". Spirit, can you shed any light?

"I think it's called "The
Atomizer". Spirit, can you
shed any light?
Posted by: hugh mann"

About three months ago a couple of the girls at my office were talking about "the car wash guy". He's know about town as a "big talker" and he had told both of them, during their recent car washes, about an invention he and his brother had developed that would make them rich.

We all laughed and wrote it off as a "there he goes again" moment.

The invention made the local paper and the Jonesboro TV station news last week and as far as I know all the publicity so far has been the result of the brothers going to the media, rather than the media beating a path to their door.

As I understand it, their device makes a car run on gas fumes rather than the gas itself, so you get a lot more miles to the gallon, but it doesn't work with cars that have fuel injection, so it's mainly for older cars.

I have no idea if it's a real discovery or mostly hype. There's always the temptation to say if something like that worked, the auto industry would already have invented it, since there's money to be made in more efficient cars.

Time will tell. In the mean time, this is one investment opportunity I'm letting pass me by.

"COVER STORY: Bob
Lancaster reviews 2006. Not
exactly a fond farewell to The
Huckster."

A wiser Huckster would have used the negative media attention he received in Arkansas to learn some lessons that could have been valuable in dealing with the national media. Instead, Mike Huckabee, unable to be more than he already is, has learned nothing.

Hee hee hee [Spirit rubbing hands together in an obnoxious way]. I can't wait to see what the next two years bring for him.

Spirit in 75 or '76 a car in Fayetteville , a big V-8 Olds or Pontiac loaded the driver and 2 reporters, media present to attest it was empty of fuel, and made the journey to Ft Smith, 62 miles away thru nothing but mountainous roads on ONE Gallon of gasoline mounted to the hood. The inventor was vaporizing the gasoline before it entered the carb. Same thing your "car wash guy" is doing. I imagine whatever patent the vaporizer guy was using in 75-76 has expired. Back then the entire episode was on the front page of paper.

Regarding the Bridge from Back in the 20th Century...

Has anyone given thought to tearing down that old piece of rusted scrap iron and building something really beautiful? Something that would show up on postage stamps of Little Rock someday in the future? If there are any postage stamps in the future?

Wasn't there talk a few years ago of building the DaVinci Bridge...the one that Leonardo couldn't build but sure designed the hell out of back in his century?

There's a link to a pic here: http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/images/norwegian_bridge.jpg

How about it city? Let's put a graceful curve next to the swell mirrored rectangle.

(Maybe we won't have to deal with the Old Mill or a pig as a graphic symbol anymore. And think of what we'd make on the scrap iron!)

"compassionate Republican"

Those were Reagan
Democrats that were not
comfortable just being
reclassified as regular
Republicans. Most have
returned to the Democratic
Party.

Hugh, Spirit, and Lwood --

About 1946, in another state, I heard a fellow (a Mr. Lutz) describe a similar modification that he and his brother made to their old car during World War II. He said they drove it a thousand miles up Pike's Peak and back.

My Dad asked if he'd be willing to put one on his Pontiac. No, he said the Pontiac had an automatic choke.

And, besides that, gas was plentiful at 17.9, so it wasn't worth the trouble.

So, my Dad asked if he could install one on his oldest delivery truck, a 1928 International. No, he said it only worked out on the open road.

So, one of the men in the group -- a preacher -- said he was going to South Dakota in July. How about installing one for that trip? No, he said it would be a nuisance on a trip up North, because it was necessary to stop every few miles and adjust it to respond to changing temperature/humidity/air pressure conditions.

After several other objectionable questions, one person asked if he could drive Mr. Lutz' car. No, it was his late brother's car, and his brother had neglected to tell him how to build one.

Finally, my uncle said he wished General Motors knew how to build one. Oh, yes, Mr. Lutz' late brother had sent the plans to GM, but had never heard a word back from them.

If we wait just a little longer, all GM cars will be equipped with those gas savers.

--Sursum Corda!

INSIDER: The Binghams are out at the Governor's Mansion and booze is back.

So is butter!

Bulletin! Bob Woodward has a good one tonight on the Washington Post site at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html

Turns out that last year Gerald Ford told Woodward that the Iraq was was a bad idea and blasted his ex-aides Cheney and Rumsfeld for cooking up the weapons of mass destruction scheme and the idea of trying to democratize everything in sight. The interview was embargoed until Ford's death. I always like Jerry Ford, and today he's even being a good public servant from beyond the grave.

My goodness. What are you guys going to do with your anger once Huckabee heads on down the road? Wow.

Here are some refresher rules for bloggers when the new governor takes office. Please follow them closely.

Always criticize the use of the state airplane. Always. Bash it before you even know what the trip was for. You need a blanket anger every single time Beebe gets on board.

Anyway serving in a spokesman role for Beebe is a "flack". This snide little comment is used regardless of the resume or qualifications.

If the spokesman is a former TV person make sure the nasty tone in the previous item is even more condescending.

Anyone who worked on the campaign but is hired in the Beebe office is a "hack". See previous rules that qualifications don't matter.

If the hire is someone like Harriman or Knickrehm who actually took a pay cut to enter public service, make sure you ignore that fact. This is tricky because you like to act like those state salaries are so lavish....but accomplished guys could be making more elsewhere. Again....please ignore reality.

Don't forget the whole rule about a state trooper driving Beebe to personal things like golf games. That has to be harshly criticized. Remember the summer of 2002? Again...don't worry about the facts, just take the cheap shot.

Just like Huckabee, Beebe inherits an office with no actual furniture. So unless you want him to run state government off a card table, get ready to hammer him for furnishing the office.

And as for those idealistic young kids on staff who are excited about making a difference. Whenever one of them makes a mistake hammer them hard. You were never young and you never made foolish mistakes, so please hold them to the same standard.

Oh, don't forget the old standard about yearning for the good old Gazette days. That is key. You always have to write that everything was better then and people in government now are nothing like the gold standard. Put Dumas in charge of this. He gets giddy when writing this angle.

Anyway....if you follow these rules here you will give Beebe the same chance Huckabee got.

Oh, one more thing. You have to continue the official Times policy of amnesia regarding how Tucker left office. You have adopted that he really wasn't such a bad guy theme just the way the Democrat Gazette rewrites 1957. He is a convicted felon...let me say that again...a convicted felon....but that never bothered you nearly as much as Huckabee using the plane. Go figure ??

Cheers.

Tucker got tried and convicted, Huckster has never got tried nor convicted. The only difference. Thievery comes in all shapes and forms.

Man, you are so right. That pesky little conviction in federal court is the only small difference here. Absolutely. Why did I not understand that? One is a convicted felon who left office in handcuffs and went nuts on the final day in office, the other is making all the lists of possible presidential candidates. That is the only difference. You are correct. I guess I have to stop asking why that whole federal court conviction thing doesn't bother any of the folks here who write incessantly about every little aspect of Huckabee's life.

Warwick, why can't Mark Pryor speak for himself? I've seen several stories on Tim Griffin, and Teague does all the talking for Pryor. Is Michael Teague the de facto junior senator now?

My last time tonight Warwick, I promise. Wanda raises a good question...especially since this publication, and our esteemed statewide paper have so often been so critical of "hacks" or "flacks" doing the quotes. Perhaps Mark isn't as up on the issues as Mr Teague? Our quest here isn't to be loved...just to achieve some level of equal treatment for all.

Even Ford was off the reservation...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html

It's about time we start asking how much damage is Bob Woodward doing his country? So far the knowledge he's sat on for future book deals is info that needed to be known as soon as possible.

If I say hugh mann is a 3 legged butt sniffer, it pretty much only bothers hugh. But Woodward held back info on the Bush White House that could play hell with our lives. And Jerry Ford's voice needed to be heard before now. Hasn't Bob ever heard of the word leak before?

I'm married to a journalist and I know the rules and lessons on ethics that one used to learn in J school, but letting our country slide into the shitter for the sake of honoring a 92 year old source....seems like an unsafe thing to do.

I liked Jerry Ford, he got my first vote for President. Except for the pardon of Nixon, I can't pick on him. Of course he wouldn't go along with the insane neo-cons in charge now. He told Nixon to his face, he couldn't continue to defend him, no telling what else he told Bob Woodward that we've yet to learn.

And StrangeTimes can continue to entertain himself by pouring his love all over Huckabucks, but at long last the game is about over. The soon to be Mr. Rev. Huckabucks will slowly fade into the woodwork and as soon as possible the many places and buildings bearing his name will be renamed. He will be a mere asterisk in Arkansas history.

Most of us on this blog will be happy to monitor Mike Beebe in case he develops Mike Huckbee tendencies. If the Republicans went back to be normal, I wouldn't give a damn which party our governor belonged to. So I am not out to cover for Governor Beebe for the sake of any party on earth.

Beebe's a smart guy, he should be able to understand the requirements and limits of the job. But in case he doesn't I hope it's 4 years of Whack-a-mole on his head. I invite StrangeTimes to stick around and help with the monitoring. If we're lucky he'll learn the way a real governor is supposed to govern.

I think it was John Huston's character in "Chinatown" that said:
"Time dignifies old buildings, politicians and whores."

Gerry Ford was being an old gentleman when talking to Woodward and likely blowing off steam too. They often exact a promise of silence, as did Deep Throat, till they die so they will have something to grin about as breath becomes scarce.
_

>Just like Huckabee, Beebe inherits an office with no actual furniture.<

Strange I have no idea of which turnip truck you fell from but get a grip, the furniture is gone cause the Hucks have grabbed it. The place was furnished before it's just that Lady Jethrine didn't like it.

RE: Jim Guy. Let the Demo's pick a tough fed prosecutor to sent down here and go over everything Huckabuck has had a hand in for 22 years and we could see some indictments rolling. No problemo.
But that's not the way we play. You've had your day in the sun, dark as it was and now it's over. America has had enough and wants to be America once again.
We just don't like holier-than-thou infidels of which Huckleboy is a leader.
The national media is gonna have a feast with him...not to mention his Republican opponents. He will be so busy spinning the Lord's Ranch and Wayne Dumond he may forget he's in a real contest.

Times,
If your writers will use TWO or MORE hyphens instead of one when starting a paragraph you won't get an "n."
Experience, experience, experience.

I use to think that the rewriting of history took a little time, not much, but enough time for memories to fade a little and participants to fade off. But the current crop of Republicans is rewriting history faster than it can make it to a textbook...or out of government's clutches. The Bush administration has REclassified many government documents that were previously open. These documents need to be revised primarily because they either don't support the fictional Bush family legacy or Cheney/Rummy's Vietnam era fantasies. Once these goons leave office, the depth of their historical rewrites and mangling of science will be staggering.

Glad you were around, Lwood, to keep strange's rewrites from sticking.

I'm not a defender of Jim Guy as much as a disliker of Preacher Huck's dishonest gluttony. Unlike the Times and most of us so-called libs, Rabid Republicans seem incapable of criticizing their own...regardless of the transgressions. The Times NEVER let up on Clinton...or any other governor; and that's how it should be. On the other hand...the Rabid Republicans stalked Clinton from the day he was elected. I knew it was a certified witch hunt when they, for no good reason, replaced Robert Fisk (one of their own) with Satan's spawn, Kenneth Starr (truly a despicable weasel). But now...Bush could be caught naked with kiddies and it'd be either the liberal media's fault or, more than likely, just one more 'never mind' that somehow never gets investigated (seems the 'public' haha is now tired of investigations).

Oh well, enough reminiscing...I just thought since strange was traveling down memory lane...

Strange Times will next be telling us Susan was a hardened criminal. That's why they had her in chains.

Just wondering, Times, without googling, can you tell us the two "crimes" that got Tucker a conviction verdict?

ARK. BLOG: To oversimplify and operating on hazy memory: 1) making a false statement on a loan application by saying he was going to use money for one purpose and spending it on another and 2) avoiding taxes by means of a bankruptcy filing.

Sorry, Max.....my statement was directed to StrangeTimes.

I think you are correct. As I recall it all, Tucker got a SBA loan and on the application he stated the purpose of the loan was to re-hab some buildings but he used the money to paint a water tower (?). Anyway, that was one count of guilt (A banker friend told me if they charged all those who used the money from loan applications for purpose other than what they stated they would all be in jail---especially farmers).

Tucker paid the $350,000 loan off and he used the US Postal system to send in his payments. That was the other guilty count....he used the mail for fraud purposes. That's what I think I remember.

For the vilest criminal ever seen in chains, click on cato.

Wasn't it true however that what Jim Guy was convicted of wasn't illegal at the time?Or something to that effect, the fact that the Supremes did not want to hear the case doesn't change the facts.Of course Susan was a dangerous criminal...............

I would SO march to the pharmacy and DO Susan McDougal!