Arkansas Blog

Nice round up, thanks to all who contributed.

Found an interesting article on anti-war protests across the country today.. (at my name)

Also I linked to thinkprogress in another thread.. a story about a FEMA head resigning due to his participation in the fake news conference in CA while CA was burning.

Off to read the WAPO article linked above..

Also wanted to mention Mark penn visited firedoglake this afternoon for a discusion of his latest book.. What a disappointment that guy is... he dodged questions like a Clinton, with less pizazz.

However he did say in AR Hilary is now polling at 80 percent! Is that higher than Jesus?

Max, didn't know you were from Lake Charles.

ARK. BLOG: Born and raised through hiigh school.

Oh, yes, beautiful day for a wedding,,,,who did you marry this time???? teehee
Nice anti-war/anti-bush turn out in LR today.

(http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=22453)
I saw some war protestors at Chenal Parkway & Bowman Road in west Little Rock at noon today. It seems they're having trouble getting the LRPD to respond to merchant's calls about loiterers down on Main.
I doubt it's related.

"When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self." Confucius

TRYING TO DO THE LINK THING

NOPE....DIDN'T DO
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Rumour has it that Little Rock over projected revenue and may have to put budget cuts in place starting in January. Suggestions are that will include decreases in the officers at LRPD by not replacing those that quit or retire. Wonder how bad crime will be in Little Rock after that.

I wonder if Bruce Moore will be cut now that Stodola is a full time mayor.

Call your city board members and hold them accountable.

Maybe I don't even know what a URL is.
I highlighted the entire article , like making a new email, and put it in URL box......
WHAT DID I DO WRONG?????
I want to see my name turn a lovely blue.

For all of you Hog haters, Max and Brummett, I hope you got a chance to watch ASU on ESPN gameplan tonight. There are maybe 7,000 in the stands and ASU is getting shutout by Troy, who's scored 27. Troy was the team the Hogs beat by 22 the 1st game of the season. There is where your tax dollars are truly at work.

ARK. BLOG: So what's to fear in playing ASU?

Went down to Rivermarket to meet friends for dinner...one of our group had their car keyed in the River Market Parking Lot...right behind the Police Kiosk. No police on site when they discovered it. Found out that there are NO video surveillance cameras in use there...nothing can be done but write up a report and shell out the bucks to get the paint job redone. Hard to believe...no video surveillance cameras in place. What's the deal? It would be interesting to find out where the video surveillance cameras ARE...I'll be the crooks and mischief makers know where they ARE NOT.

One more try and this machine is going in the lake

Jazzy, good going!

Hoorah for jazzy!

OH GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN....I DID IT,,,I DID IT
A DEMON HAS BEEN UNLEASHED........
THANKS TO MY GURU ACROSS TOWN....
I'LL KEEP THE DANG MACHINE FOR ANOTHER DAY.........
I'M SOOOOO HAPPY, ONE MORE THING I LEARNED.....I'M JUST PLAIN GIDDY
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PATIENT......
I MIGHT HAVE TO WAKE LITTLE FRENCHMAN TO POP A CHAMPAGNE CORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If at first ... try and try again. Congratulations and well done, jazzy. I see you found the URL--Uniform (formerly Universal) Resource Locator--the "address", as it were, of the page you are looking at. It's a little like a ZIP-code for every webpage. I bet you'll be posting lots of things for us to see from now on.

Jazzy, that's a great link, but DBI beat you to it months ago. I stored it in my faves and it has been a great hoot for all my friends.
If you really try, you can put Bush's head up his ass, which is normal.
LOL.

widj...zip code for every webpage; makes sense and easy to relate to, thanx, just keep it
simple...I've found most things in life are solved by just plain old common sense.
BlueRidge,,,the bush in free fall is an old one but I was just trying to put my finger on an
address quick before I forgot the next step, its still a good one & I have it in a file to take
out and enjoy from time to time, I love it when he gets stuck and panting for breath.
Well, I'll go to bed happy,,,,try to learn something new every day and didn't fail today.

Dear America,

I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana.

We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that,
but we never were much for waiting around for invitations.
We're not much on formalities like that.

And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs,
so we wanted to tell you a few things about us.

We know you didn't ask for this and neither did we, so we're just going to have to make the best of it.

First of all, we thank you.
For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue.

We're a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don't cotton much to outside interference,
but we're not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it.

Just don't get carried away.
For instance, once we get around to fishing again, don't try to tell us what kind of lures work best in your waters. We're not going to listen. We're stubborn that way.

You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you'd probably hire an exterminator to get out of your yard.

We dance even if there's no radio.

We drink at funerals.

We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't.

But we'll try not to judge you while we're in your town.

Everybody loves their home, we know that.
But we love South Louisiana with a ferocity that borders on the pathological.
Sometimes we bury our dead in LSU sweatshirts.

Often we don't make sense.
You may wonder why, for instance - if we could only carry one small bag of belongings with us on our journey to your state - why in God's name did we bring a pair of shrimp boots?
We can't really explain that. It is what it is.

You've probably heard that many of us stayed behind.
As bad as it is, many of us cannot fathom a life outside of our border, out in that place we call Elsewhere.

The only way you could understand that is if you have been there, and so many of you have.
So you realize that when you strip away all the craziness and bars and parades and music and architecture and all that hooey, really, the best thing about where we come from is us.

We are what made this place a national treasure.
We're good people.
And don't be afraid to ask us how to pronounce our names.
It happens all the time.

When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told.
Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces.

But don't pity us.
We're gonna make it.
We're resilient.
After all, we've been rooting for the Saints for 35 years.
That's got to count for something.

OK, maybe something else you should know is that we make jokes at inappropriate times.
But what the hell.

And one more thing:
In our part of the country, we're used to having visitors.
It's our way of life.
So when all this is over and we move back home, we will repay to you the hospitality and generosity of spirit you offer to us in this season of our despair.

That is our promise. That is our faith.

This is not from the Crazy idiotic looters that you are seeing on the news
this is from the ones that are proud of our home and heritage.

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No Longer a Christian
by Karen Horst Cobb

I was told in Sunday school the word "Christian" means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the "christian " media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of our nation's killing. There are reminders to pray for our "christian" president who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendmendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to destroy.
Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was conceived by an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, "It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those who curse you." He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Mattew 5: 3-9) He said, "All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control."

He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. He responded with "Father forgive them." He explained that in Christ there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave or free male nor female. He explained that even to be angry is akin to murder. He said the temple of God is not a building, but is in the hearts of those are called by his name. He was called "the Prince of Peace." His final days were spent in prayer, so that he could endure what was set before him, not on how he could overpower the evil government of that day. When they came for him he was led away and didn't resist his death sentence.

This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns and villages be leveled to bring freedom and peace to the people. They proudly boast this country's superiority, suggesting God has blessed our nation. Today, as I listened to a popular christian news network, I was reminded that in the last days, even God's elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13). When the religious media moguls preaching prosperity spout their rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty Jesus described of a rich man's ability to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24) (http://www.4religious-right.info/rr_economics.htm) Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to the Lord, and he will say "I never knew you." (Matthew 22). They will have a form or godliness but will deny the power (II Timothy 3:5) to move mountains through prayer. (Matthew 17:20). Jesus explained that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were the victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral damages we are protected from in the "liberal" nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with the shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family members now understand His radical love and that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense.

The solutions to the social issues used to manipulate good, decent people have no resemblance to how Jesus responded to the social concerns of his time. He never once mentioned the "right to life" the year he was born King Herod ordered the execution of all babies. (Matthew 2:16). He knew that passing laws does not change the heart. As a follower of his teaching I believe in the right to life, including the children in Iraq who stumble onto land mines, cross the street at the wrong time, or who are snuggly tucked within the warm bellies of their wounded or grieving mothers as US fighter jets fly overhead. These are living, breathing children. The killing of these little ones are never even reported, and our tax dollars pay for these bombs. I believe in the right to life for those in the United States who are unwanted and impoversihed. I believe in the right to life of the naive kid who was promised by the recruiter they could choose a desk job and still get their education paid or could see the world or could accelerate their life or could play a very realistic video game from a cockpit.

I've worked at a shelter, and I know first hand the reality of unwanted children. I know the reality of this right wing rhetoric when week after week I begged and pleaded with people to give up only one night every three months to sit with these unwanted living children for a few hours while the overworked house parents had a night off. Of the few I found, many changed their minds when they discovered that they would need to wear rubber gloves to change the babies diapers. These "believers" stand on the street corners holding right to life signs and then vote against medical assistance for the mothers and their unwanted children creating an impossible existence for them. The few of these abortion activists who might adopt some of these unwanted children generally want the white and the healthy. The ones with hydrocephalous, tracheotomies, emotional/ mental problems and communicable diseases along with their life long medical expenses can be someone else's problems.

I cringe as many christians vote for policies that deny help to the poor in our own county, who vote to support the war and military strength, assuring the latest weapons are developed and that the heavens will be dominated by the military of the United States. We develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter skulls , split the earth (http://www.raven1.net/emr13.htm) and silently destroy a body as a thief in the night. Studies are even now searching for the frequencies to override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies are a reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon will target a specific nationality (http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981116/1998111619.html ).I weep as the waters Jesus walked on become contaminated with uranium. (http://www.greendove.net/resources3.htm) I grieve as the missiles fly through the atmosphere on the continent where Jesus rose into the sky, defying death and the grave and where the Holy Sprit first descended. I cry out at the horrors of war and the indignity of the prisons so close to where He took captivity captive. So I am no longer a christian if Christianity has become what is presented to us by our christian president and christian media. Icannot support the right of the United States and Israel to develop and use the most heinous weapons ever imagined. I want no part of a temple built on the blood of the innocent. The sheep have been lead astray by the teachings of prosperity and misinterpretation of the final battle between good and evil. Many no longer can recognize the voice of the good Shepard.

Some "good christians" even work at weapons facilities. It is not a stretch to say that a woman who tightens a last rivet on a shiny new missile just off the assembly line might be the same woman who licks the gold star on the attendance chart in morning Sunday school. The missile could be launched by the kid in the youth group who reads the invocation and it will find it's destiny at a "target of interest" which might or might not have been a result of good intelligence. The collection plate circulates children are taught to love their enemies and bless those who curse them.

The statements and lifestyle of Jesus are difficult for me to understand. What would he say to evil dictators? This God would not justify 15,000 or more deaths. Even the wrathful jealous God of the old testament spared whole cities for a few righteous souls. For christians, to support mass killings as a way to prevent future deaths is not at all like Christ. He would not say,"When I am talking about war I am really talking about peace," like the self professed christian President proudly states. Who but God has the right to determine what price a people should pay for their freedom? The religious leaders on the airwaves today respond to the voices of the few brave peacemakers who dare to speak out. They say that pacifism is insane, and that it doesn't make sense, but what is forgotten is that logic and faith are separate entities. I believe in the example of Jesus and his admonition to love your enemies and bless those who curse you . Do I understand how this works on the global scale? Do I know what Jesus would say to all the world's leaders? No, nor do I totally understand how the example of Christ's life and his message of love works in the world today. That's why I need faith. Am I always correct in my assessments and actions? No, that's why I need grace. Am I brave and unafraid? No, that's why I need the perfect love that casts out fear. Some put trust in Chariots and some in horses but I will remember the name of the lord our God--the Prince of Peace. Perhaps politics has no place for imitators of Christ.

Who will show the face of Christ to the world? Who will speak His radical message? I hear from these so called imitators of Christ that the pacifists are a collection of kids, hippies, socialists and communists who haven't got a clue. Some of us, however, have come to our beliefs as a result of careful and prayerful study of the scriptures and admonishment from our elders. Many are Mennonite, Amish, Quaker and other Anabaptists, whose ancestors did not resist their torturers and were drowned, burnt at the stake and flogged for their pacifist stand. They truly followed the example of Christ, and their resistance against the catastrophic effects of the merging of church and state cost them a great price. Churches today have signed onto the government plan and have agreed to look the other way in exchange for tax free privileges. The true message of Christ still exists to some degree in the quiet of the land to peacemakers, but sadly these good people have been deceived by the angry words from a righteous sounding religious media majority broadcasting in cars and trucks and tractors all over our land ironically preaching the "good news of war for peace" and convincing 24-7 "liberal" bashing. I suspect there are many who share my sorrow at the loss of what it means to be Christ-like, but our voice is seldom heard. The blaring rhetoric drowns out the still small voice of the mighty God. Peace used be the opposite of war, Conservative used to mean the tendency to conserve resources. Liberal used to mean kind and generous, and Christian used to mean like Christ.

So I am no longer a christian but just a person who continues trying to follow the example of Christ. I'll let him call me what he wants when I see him face to face. Until then, I will pray that someday people like me will be able to reclaim the meaning of Christ's identity, and the world will see the effects of the radical message of Christ's love--the perfect love that casts out fear.

Karen Cobb is a freelance writer and artist in Santa Fe, NM and can be contacted at cairnhcobb@msn.com.

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Thanks, Jazzy. I needed to read that. I'm resolved to be more "Christ-like" and not so "christian" until the two mean the same thing.

Ohmagod! Someone across town has unleashed a monster! jazzy! And though I am at the age to forget things, I don't think I've ever seen that worn out Democrat website before, so blue is giving me credit where credit isn't due. Looks like a good one to me!

It is rather upsetting to hate the evil Republicans and be mad as hell at our do-nothing Democrats at the same time. All we got left is the minuscule Green Party and since they're currently NOT in office, they're just like us....standing on the outside screaming ourselves to death to no good end. Do we really have to wait until January, 2009 to be rid of the dark forces at work in DC today? Must that many more people die? Must we wast another trillion? Must the honor of the USA be reduced to a used Tampon found behind a cheap whorehouse? Must we reelect Mark Pryor? Why do we hate America?

I cannot tell you what a lovely time it's been in Fort Baptist this weekend. The Class of 52 has been kicking up their heels celebrating their 50th and standing by them....well...I haven't felt this young in years! The riverfront was crawling with tons of happy people doing all sorts of cool history things in perfect weather. The men were gentlemen and the women were gorgeous! Even the kids behaved. I don't know how I can top it all tomorrow? Enjoy it and think about how good every weekend could be if we'd just get our country back.

Speaking as a partisan Democrat, I urge everyone to support the important initiative linked at my name.

The Onion is too close for comfort, JohnA. After kicking their losing asses through two presidential elections, the most incompetent administration EVER is still running circles around the Dems. If a moronic, incompetent daddy's boy can run this many circles around the Dems, what would the Dems do if they ever faced a Republican from a healthy gene pool (not that Republican membership committee would ever allow such a creature to rise to the top). Whine some more as they volunteer to be the Best Bush Buddy?

Thank God for Henry Waxman. At least he's providing historians with plenty of material.

For you folks who take to the air alot. Click on Cato.

Good write up from NOLA, Times-Picayune, this morn,,,,,I hope.......
HOLDING MY BREATH....

ATTENTION!!!

Maybe that'll help. Why has there not been a story regarding the most recent death of an Inmate/ Prisoner in the Pope County Detention Center? ESPECIALLY since there have been 3 deaths in the last 15 months?

Why no story?

Why no investigation?

Hey Max, looks like UCA might be headed to McNeese to play for the Southland conference championship in a couple of weeks. Should be a good game for you to make a visit to -- watch your old hometown team take on your neighbor up the road. And then next year you only have to make the trip to Conway to watch!

At least someone around here is going to be playing in a conference championship this year....

ARK. BLOG: My game of the year, except for Harvard-Yale for the Ivy League title. I'm a Bulldog fan.

I slept on it and have decided without a doubt that the Fort Smith High School class of 1952 are celebrating their 55th anniversary and not their 50th. How wonderful for them and me if I had managed to shave 5 years off their age and mine.

LORDY, DBI, you are old!!!!!!!!!! haha
Bet you can still JITTERBUG to the Glenn Miller oldies,,,,
Kids today don't know the fun we had at SOCK DANCES in a high school gym.

The sprout and I went down to the Enough! demonstration about half past noon today. It was a lovely day, though a small turnout. It seems to me the passers-by were friendlier on average today than the last time I was there. Progress, a little, maybe.

Re deaths in Pope County Detention Center: good question, Wellwood. Three deaths in fifteen months? Do you have any more information about the circumstances surrounding the deaths? Sounds like a perfect assignment for super-investigative reporter Mara Leveritt. I believe everybody else is busy telling us way more than we want to know about Britney Spears and Houston Nutt.

W. and Gov. Arnold cartoon...click on Cato

Vegan4Hillary,

When you say, "I believe everybody else is busy telling us way more than we want to know about Britney Spears and Houston Nutt," I have to disagree. I hadn't heard they were an item, and would love to hear more about this important news.

jazzy, DBI is way younger than the septuagenarian alumni/ae he was partying with. He's even younger than I am. He does have a curious but admirable attraction to older people, though--see his posts about interviewing WWII vets. He probably *can* jitterbug.

Arkansawyer, I noticed I had phrased that badly, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it to see if another juicy rumor could be started. Pass it on and maybe we'll be interviewed on Entertainment Tonight.

And Cato, kudos once again.

jazzy, to see DBI's idea of the jitterbug, click on my name.

Now I'll know him when we have our meet-up....
Turn about fair play, I'll send you one if I can make it work
below

Hope it works

The following arrived this weekend via Email. I haven't verified it.

"Historical Quote of the Day
"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
-- Ronald Reagan in his recently published diaries, May 17, 1986.

According to snopes, the above is false.

but did want to pass this along..

I was feeling a bit depressed the other day, so I called the Depression
Help Hotline. I was put through to a *call center* in Pakistan.

I explained that I was feeling suicidal.

They were very excited at this news and wanted to know if I could drive
a truck or fly an airplane....

That URL jazzy linked us to reminds me of an impotent sperm trying to impregnate some eggs. Maybe that is the actual problem with W. He thinks he's important, when in fact he is impotent. Go figure!