Arkansas Blog

Oh, was there a football game today?? Never mind.........
Hubby and I looking at beautiful pix posted by Jake last night.

One more fat rat jumps ship..

WASHINGTON - Mel Martinez, the public face of the Republican National Committee as its general chairman, announced Friday he was stepping down from his post after serving only 10 months.

"I believe that our future as a party and nation is bright and I have every intention of continuing to fight for our president, our party and our candidates," the Florida senator said in a statement.
......
The RNC, which raised $61 million by the end of September, has been the only national GOP party committee to outraise its Democratic counterpart this year.
....
Several Republicans with close ties to the RNC said Martinez needed to focus on retaining his seat in Florida, where his job approval rating has fallen. A Quinnipiac University poll in September found that 38 percent of those surveyed said they approved of the job he was doing, down from 48 percent in February.
Bluename for story

I feel yore pain....click on Cato

Hey...what happened to the Young-Repubs-Squeal-While-Revealing-True-Colors thread? It was so delicious I read every word and now it's gone. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any libel...and I know 'they' don't have that kind of influence...

ARK. BLOG: Archives.

I believe it was me who told Frank way way back when..."If you hire Houston Nutt, he will be fired with enthusiasm". Then, as always, Frank did not understand my prophetic ways of predicting alternate futures in one phrase. Sorta like the sign outside the Hoxie Town Veternarian/Taxidermist "Either Way You Get Your Dog Back".

There must have been some serious mischief on the thread about the Ark. Young Professionals' Network/Young Republicans coup. It has disappeared.

ARK. BLOG: Archives.

"sign outside the Hoxie Town Veternarian/Taxidermist "Either Way You Get Your Dog Back".

Funny, Sanford

Houston on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM-yCyIdOYU

Sorry, Max...

Jim, YES...

Wally, NO...

Wally is lucky to have Jim split the waves with him, man...

I have no tech skills but a search for Arkansas Young Professionals in the little box on the top right of this page does not lead me to an archived link of the lost post mentioned above. Which leads me to a suggestion for a button at the bottom of the main blog page... Back for older posts.

Anyway browsing around the net... NYT's Paul Krugman (link at my name) held an online book salon at firedoglake this afternoon with a really good discussion and Ian Welsh wrote a uplifting post/thread afterwards..

Somewhere along thew way I stumbled across this quote by Samuel Adams:

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.

We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."

- Samuel Adams, American Patriot and politician

A ha! The archives snake just bit me..

Where is DBI?

I didn't see zelda's inquiry until I refreshed my browser, but I'll swan if I didn't look closely in those archives. Nothing much new in that thread, though. I'm thinking some of those folks were nursing hangovers today.

That's a great sign description, Sanford. I've seen some other funny ones, but didn't have a camera.

Lobby sign somewhere in Little Rock --

Handicap restroom: use elevator

KFC Roosevelt Rd marquee not long after 9/11 --

Gizzards are back. God Bless America.

Hardee's (or something like that) marquee a few years ago --

Try a savory pot roast baguette. Just like Mom used to make.

That's not even to mention some pretty entertaining messages on church marquees.

Every once in a while, even a blind pig finds an acorn...

GO SOX! Game 7 tomorrow.

I'll take the punch, Dog. I don't know any of the players in that AYPN row, but if I were siding with any views in that thread, your voice seemed more reasonable than some of the others. That, and what, $2?, will buy you a cup of coffee.

"Either Way" confession: I lifted that from Jim Guy, when he was governor. That was so long ago, at least I get points for memory.

Someone's lying! I wonder whom ????

". . . Despite hopes that the U.S. military "surge" in Iraq would encourage economic and political headway and sap the strength of the insurgency, very little lasting progress has been achieved, according to a new U.S. report.

The study, based on the assessments of dozens of U.S. military and civilian officials working at local levels across Iraq, runs counter to the optimistic forecasts by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. It said that with the exception of Anbar province, there has been "little progress" toward political reconciliation, a key U.S. goal in Iraq. . . .

. . . "The information that we're getting from the commanders and from the ambassador doesn't square with that," Gates said at a Pentagon news briefing. "Our sense is that, in fact, there is progress in these areas - more than we would have expected.". . .

. . . Adm. Mike Mullen, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . . . cited a butcher at a local market just outside Baghdad who until recently was selling a sheep every week. Now, the butcher is selling a sheep every day, Mullen said.

"I don't want to overly state it ... but it's starting to happen," he said."

Click on handle for full article

Well I'll readily admit that age/other things have got my brain playing tricks, but...that 'thread' just up and magically moved deep into the archives...that's my story...and I'm sticking with it.

This weather is so beautiful that I'm able to put monkeyboy and his immoral war out of my mind for a few hours...yeah! Speaking of mind vacations...went to Fayetteville last weekend (son moved there) and went to be best farmer's market I've ever been to; plus every other person had their dog out for the day (mostly mutts, like my Lucky, too). Between the bounty of vegetables/fruit/flowers and dog-lovin' people I almost forgot I was in Razorback land. I'm going to find it hard to be satisfied with Conway's market and Conway's lack of dog-love! Go Fayetteville!!!

More good news: My young brother (who spent a year in Egypt/Iraq) seems to have been able to put the war behind him enough to get on with his life (and it was iffy for awhile). The military actually come through, therapy wise, and he availed himself of the offered help...good news in an otherwise endless sea of broken vets who're being screwed by our government. He's set to get his degree next year...but we're just happy he's alive and approaching healthy.

Oh yeah...loved Friday night's photos, Jake...though I'm a butter/honey fan.

Hey, this was sposed to be about the Razorbacks! Not fair. I had to read all of the other tripe to get this far down. What's an archive? Isn't it something you put in salads?

Thanks for the kind notes about the pix.

Anyway, all this breakfast palaver reminds me of my southern roots at the dining table. My dad's favorite part of the morning meal to this day remains those steaming homemade biscuits, a pat of melted butter oozing in between, and when he broke the biscuit open, he would smother it in ribbon cane syrup.
Being more of a youngster at heart, I still like the peanut butter and jam filling for those delicious biscuits. Sadly, due to mom's Alzheimers, those days are long past.
It's an altogether different story with my wife who is from the Odenwald in Germany. German rolls and plenty of goodies piled on the table are more to her liking. There's a picture on one of my sets called Oberstdorf when we visited her brother and sister-in-law down in Southern Germany. Talk about a Continental breakfast supremo!! Of course, when you're heading out to hike in the mountains, such a meal is necessary to survive the trek.
Click on name for the picture.

OOOO, Jake. That all looks so wonderful, not least because it looks so familiar to me. As a young army lieutenant, I enjoyed many breakfasts very like that one at the table of the family I lived with while stationed in Helmstedt (then also known as Checkpoint Alpha). Horst, Marlies and son Berni loved stuffing me with the freshest, most delicious goodies I have ever experienced.

One Sunday Berni and I came down to breakfast to discover that Mami and Papi had driven to Bremerhaven before the crack of dawn and returned in time to serve us fresh, hot, fried eel--the only time I remember having a cooked breakfast--well, more of a Sunday brunch. Another time, I was summoned home from work for a lunch of fresh-from-the-field white asparagus, lightly poached, tender and dripping in butter. The hot meal each day was always lunch, while supper usually resembled breakfast, only it was accompanied by beer--kept, unrefrigerated, in the cellar.

I missed them terribly after being posted back to Berlin, but managed to visit them several times, including holidays, during the rest of my time in Germany. What memories. Thanks.

Is long hair on boys Constitutional? A couple in Eureka Springs, AR is about to learn.

By Terry Shirley

EUREKA SPRINGS -- "Bobby Conway is a brave young man to stand up for his Constitutional rights," his attorney, Gerald Kent Crow said and added, "so I'm going to stand up with him."

click on blue name.

eLwood, I just love it when some asinine public entity decides to waste a ton of tax money litigating such an important issue as the length of a kid's hair. Years ago Parks and Tourism wasted another small fortune litigating the issue whether they could fire a park ranger who was an otherwise exemplary employee simply because the guy would not cut his pony tail. I believe the good old 8th Circuit in its infinite wisdom decided against the pony tail, so not only was a lot of money wasted which could have been put to better use, the state lost a good, dedicated employee; and probably many cases of more significance were unable to get a reasonably timely hearing because the docket was being crowded by crap like this. But the state was saved from men with pony tails, and can't we all agree that's what's really important?

Great picture Jake. When Mr. EY and I went to Italy last year, he loved the breakfasts: coppa, proscuitto, a couple of cheeses (always Parmesan) and bread. I added yogurt and we might do a little fruit. Yesterday, I did us a brunch of proscuitto and parm. He loved it.

That is good news, Zelda, about your brother. May he continue to improve....anyone who
can get home in one piece from that God awful place is lucky indeed.
A little more about breakfast foods....my Grandad always ended his meal with peanut butter &
honey on one of my Granma's big fluffy biscuits.......on the other hand,,,, my first father-in-law,
keep in mind they were from Hope, Ark....might explain a few things....would save his
biscuit crust, at end of meal stuff them in his big coffee mug with pats of butter & hot coffee
poured over the mess till it made a mush he ate with a knife....I was very young & green &
would sit there gagging & crosseyed.

Holy crap! I thought republicans were against same sex marriage; but obviously Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay have married up and spawned and named the little booger Mondo Freak. And little MF has up and followed his two daddies into politics, albeit on a rather small scale. Oh, well, no election is too small to manipulate in republicanland. Wonder if they used little tiny toy Diebold machines to count the votes? And next a possible JP position for one of the guys. It's like the little tyke is ready to graduate up from the trike to his first bike with the training wheels. I can see the e-mails now: watch out for females moving into the district!

Poor kids -- one can only speculate what has caused this intense fear and loathing of women (other than bad parenting by Tom and Newt): small penis, ignored by mommy, mean daddy, not only couldn't get to first base with girls but couldn't even get up to bat, literally; but it's a shame to see this group take over what seems to have been in the past a useful, helpful organization to young professionals. They'll probably do to it what Dubya has done to the country and what the neocons and religious nuts have done to the republican party. Anyone who thinks their prejudices are not now the policy of the organization needs to wake up -- they might as well have put up a sign reading "only white boys allowed."

And I am absolutely amazed at the people who faulted Max Brantley for publishing this. The sooner the stench of this sort of behavior can be made public, the sooner the little twits can be brought to account. It will be interesting to see what, if any, steps the Board will take to correct the situation. In the meantime, the Times should continue to shine a bright light on the situation. It may be small potatoes now, but this is probably exactly how Newt got started. We don't want to wake up one morning to find one of these neanderthals representing us in Congress.

And thanks to Zelda. I had never noticed the "archives" thing. The number of arguments I have needlessly lost to eLwood and DBI because I didn't get back online in time to have the last word. Oh, the humanity.

Oh my yokel-ism is showing...yuck to fried eel...and for breakfast it's a double yuck!

I discover amazing little things every day I'm online, vegan4hillary...things so simple I don't mention them to hubby anymore (the 'attitude' is just not worth it...'You didn't know that?!?!'...jerk).

Zelda, please feel free to mention the things you discover to me -- I'm remarkably unobservant and need the help. Even if I weren't a vegetarian, I would agree with you about the fried eel. The last thing like that I tried (many years ago, pre-vegan) was calamari, and my opinion was that eating squid was much like trying to eat rubber bands. I really miss the woman who owned the vegan restaurant we used to eat at, though. She was always introducing us to new and delicious and (to us) exotic foods. We were always trying to talk her out of putting sugar in the cornbread.

Jake, I'm very late to this thread, but the photos are magnificent!