Arkansas Blog

Just a friendly heads up for any patriotic slackers out there, Arkansas's primary voter registration deadline is January 4.

Go Hogs!

Check out Juan Cole's dissection of Huck's ignorance at http://www.juancole.com/2007/12/huckabee-obsesses-about-660-pakistani.html

The Pakistanis are blaming Al Quaida for the Bhutto assassination. We blame Al Quaida for most of the violence in Iraq (remember when the problem there was Saddam Hussein?). Al Quaida seems to be to blame for almost everything, at least everything we're not blaming on the Taliban. I thought getting rid of Al Quaida and the Taliban was supposed to be our main goal after 9/11; they seem stronger than ever before.

Heck of a job, Georgie.

A lobbyist, on his way home from work in Washington, D.C., came to a dead halt in traffic and thought to himself, "Wow, this traffic seems worse than usual." He noticed a police officer walking between the lines of stopped cars, so he rolled down his window and asked, "Officer, what's the hold-up?"

The officer replied, "The President is depressed, so he stopped his motorcade and is threatening to douse himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He says no one believes his stories about why we went to war in Iraq, or the worsening deficit and economy, or that his tax cuts won't help anyone except his wealthy friends. So we're taking up a collection for him."

The lobbyist asked, "How much have you got so far?"

The officer replied, "About four gallons, but a lot of folks are still siphoning."

File this under "Pandering".

(Just in case you missed this article last week, it's worth a reminder since Mike Huckabee's recent gaffes have become more widely noticed with ominous implications.)

------
"Who is your favorite author?" Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments.
Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss.
In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level.
"My favorite author is C. S. Lewis," she said.

The Trumpeter Swans are back at the Boxley Mill Pond! Four adults and one cygnet! WooHoo.

Have you noticed how quiet it is on the media front about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Even quiet on this blog. It's as if national amnesia has struck the past few days. Something as important to us as those wars and yet they get out shouted on the front pages. Strange country, America.

Hoping for a better year to come.

Cato, I have felt that way for the last six months in re US media.. At least when they aren't talking about Iraq they aren't spewing propaganda.

Check out:

http://66.111.34.180/look/english/index.tpl

http://mainandcentral.org/

http://gorillasguides.com/ (not all English but a must read blog, imo)

This good article in a Chinese publication is linked in the main post of MainandCentra.orgl: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/28/content_7332196.htm

In short.. Lots of death and violence continues unabated. Where some calm can be found it's generally because we the US are buying a lot of silence right now.. temporary silence.. and I mean buying it on many levels at great unsustainable cost in money and weaponry. That's right financing and resupplying many of the same folks who have and want to kill our troops and see us leave Iraq forever.

I correspond several times a week with Europeans who are now or have been serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They are also folks who have adopted orphaned Iraqi and Afghan children into their own family. The chess pieces are moving, some consolidation is happening.. but the fuse is still lit..and it's a very short fuse on many levels. There are two main entities which unite Iraqis as a people in complete rage.. US and the Al Qaeda/Saudis/death squads or whatever one wants to call them, as one acquaintance recently told me, and we (USA) will either have to completely leave or kill another twenty million or more..

I will be the first to admit I don't understand a lot of it nor do I always feel certain in what precise details I should believe..but allowing oneself to think for a moment things are better over there would be naive and foolish, imo.

Here is another nice little story about the MSM and how they select there news stories.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/94/has-fox-news-excluded-ron-paul

Something that you might find interesting for the early primaries. On January 6th the Fox News will have a Republican forum in New Hampshire. then only man that opposes the war in the Republican field will be excluded from this debate. He has raised $18+ million this quarter but they give no reason to why they are excluding him. Hmmmm...... MSM doing there usual!!! FEED THE SHEEP!!

Cato - Du, who helps run gorillasguides just said the following which makes an awful lot of sense to me:

They just want foreigners out. My hunch is that it'll settle down to some sort of arrangement similar to what was there before. I would think that a lot of Dawa (Maliki's party) and SIIC (the al-Hakim's) will decide to either side with the resistance and Sadrists (often the same thing) or to run away which they have lots of experience of doing. The Kurds - they'll knuckle under or face a three sided attack and that really would be a bloodbath. The Arab parts there'll be some fighting but it'll be more consolidation of position than anything else. Lots of Chinese and Malaysian businessmen will get very rich.

DOn't take this the wrong way - mostly what will "work" is the fact that the resistance won't give up. Politically in the states there's a chance but I think it slim that people like some you find here will reform the place. My gut feeling though is that like the Vietnam peace movement before it the main role of the peace movements and bring 'em home movements will be to provide political cover for your ruling class to cut and run.

I hope I'm wrong with that last, but I'm not optimistic that the situation in the US will get better any time soon.

for the first time in my life i am finding myself rooting for penn state. i would like to see joe get his 500th. i haven't heard eddie robinson mentioned. where does he stand in the record chase?

Eddie stands pat, having died in April. Unlike Frank Broyles, he no longer draws a salary.

That young Aggie who made fun of Joe Pa.....wonder if he saw his grandparents at Christmas?

Zonker, no records are at stake tonight. It was merely Joe Pa's 500th game to coach. Win or lose, 500 is in the books. In that time, he's 371-125-3. Paterno will have to coach another seven or eight seasons to beat Eddie Robinson's mark of 591 games coached (he was 408-168-15 all-time). I'm constantly amazed by Paterno's ability to get up and go to work every morning... but I'll be suprised if he had another 91 games in him.

Click on handle for full story

"The Iraqi interior ministry lauded its achievements over the past year on Saturday, saying that 75 percent of Al-Qaeda's networks in the country had been destroyed in 12 months. Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf also outlined sharp falls in the numbers of assassinations, kidnappings and death squad murders. . . . Khalaf said kidnappings were down 70 percent and that an average of three to five people killed by death squads were being found each day in Baghdad compared with 15 to 20 a day in February. . . ."

Hmmmmmm? 327 days with the death squad to reducing from 20 to 5 a day indicates 4,080 killed by death squads in Baghdad since February 1, 2007 (327 days). How many since May 2, 2003? How many of the estimated 7,000,000 Baghdadians have fled with the other estimated 2 million plus refugees?

More importantly, is the reduction because of law enforcement or just progress in the ethnic cleansing by the Shia militia??????????

3 to 5 executed by death squads every day make Hocus-Potus's assertions of a new effective democracy rather hollow even when measured agains his and Cheney's gaffes.

387 days and counting to the end of an error!

I checked out the blog about Huck's response to the assassination in Pakistan:
http://www.juancole.com/2007/12/huckabee-obsesses-about-660-pakistani.html

Compare his response to that of Hillary, reported on the blog. No wonder many dems are supporting Huck. Even Kucinich could beat Huck easily in '08. Hopefully Kucinich will be running as a Green at the time.

Dear friends,

Here's hoping that none of you will drive during this holiday weekend (or any other time) if you've been drinking. The Arkansas State Police Web site reports that as of December 28, 2007, six hundred twenty-six (626) people have died this year in Arkansas traffic accidents; and the number will probably have grown by the time your eyes are scanning these lines.

Being the bright, well-read people you are, you undoubtedly know that alcohol is involved in more than 35% of Arkansas's fatal wrecks. What you may not know is that while we may rank 47th or 49th in many categories, Arkansas ranks 9th highest in the nation in fatal traffic accidents. This is truly sad commentary. Click on my name for a brief (and disturbing) video illustrating what can and does happen every day on U.S. highways.

Durango

I know max rarely misses a Hucka-a-beat.. but just in case

The Cincinnati Beacon
Is Mike Huckabee Going to Rock & Roll Hell? A Letter to Evangelist Bill Gothard from Justin Jeffre

Bill Gothard PhD, Founder/President
The Institute in Basic Life Principles
Oak Brook, IL

Dear Dr. Gothard:

For the past couple years, my colleague, the Dean of Cincinnati, has been writing articles about you and your various enterprises. Before then I'd never even heard of you, your institute, your "character-building" seminars, your unaccredited medical school, your unaccredited law school, your nursing program, your Children's Institute, your bible-centered paramilitary boot camp, your music school, your culinary arts program, your Institute of Photographic Studies, your resort-style training center in Guadalajara, your upholstery training program, your hair design program, etc. As you know, I'm just scratching the surface - the list keeps just on going and according to this 2006 In These Times cover story, The Cult of Character, business is booming:

Gothard, the 74-year-old, unmarried man at the head of the Oak Brook, Illinois-based Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) - which brings in an estimated profit of at least $63 million annually - has been in the evangelism business since 1964.

But my letter today concerns matters far more serious than earthly possessions and multi-million dollar bank accounts. Today I'm asking you to save the eternal soul of the man you support to be the next President of the United States - Mike Huckabee. Thanks again to recent articles by The Dean, I learned that you and Governor Huckabee are longtime associates and that you were photographed together at a recent "Huckabee for President" campaign event at a Houston home. I also came across a December 13 Denver Post article about Matthew Murray, the young Colorado church shooter, which includes:

( Link to the rest of the article at my name)

If I may sneak something in between Hogs and Huck:

THANK YOU REP. LINDSLEY SMITH FOR THE ENABLING LEGISLATION!

Conway Corp. recently made a few changes to their electrical supply grid to allow for net metering. This means if a Conway structure produces more electricity than it's taking in from the city power grid, its meter runs backwards.

If the meter has run backwards more than forwards at the end of the month, the customer gets a credit on their electricity account. Effectively, it's selling the electricity back to Conway Corp.

So far, the only structure making use of the change is the home of Jim and Pamela Mosley, near Hendrix College.

story at bluename

Having Ma home for the holidays a couple of times has opened my eyes to a giant weirdness I didn't know about before. It's called the Hallmark Channel. Ohlordgod....it must be what Bush supporters watch when they're full of Fox News. I haven't been this creeped out in years!

I only watched 8 or 9 Hallmark made movies with Ma....and it was like being nailed on the cross. Here's what you get in each and every one of them. Model looking white people. You have a young girl (for some reason Hallmark thinks 34 is young), who is engaged to a creep. You know he's a creep the minute you set eyes on him, but no one else in the Hallmark movie can spot it. These girls-women are always somehow connected to a community shelter or food give-away to the poor program. Each girl-woman has a Donna Reed mother and a crusty old father usually played by some ancient Hollywood star like Earnest Borgnine.

In about every one I watched, the creepy boyfriend gives the girl-woman an engagement ring. The funny part is everyone of them comes in a box with KAY Jewelers written in big letters on the top of the box....Every kiss begins with Kay. Enter the wholesome young (33-35) year old stranger....either home from Iraq or a jet-setting architect about to learn a lesson about small town life. These Hallmark movies are either set in NYC or out in the Rocky's with more snow covered peaks than in a Thomas Kincaid print.

In between going to church services, very bland non-denominational church services, the girl-woman finds herself falling in love with the hunky stranger. If it's set in NYC....a crisis at the community center brings them together...if it's out west....wolves or lost cattle or an avalanche brings them together. The virginal 34 year old girl-woman somehow gets kissed by the hunky stranger...and suddenly she can see what we've seen from the beginning...that her boyfriend is a creep.

She gives back the Kay diamond, one time right in the church service......and she and the crusty old father go chase down the hunky stranger who has left town because he can't stand to see her cry. Then they all live happily ever after...and assuming she's still ovulating at her advanced age.....winds up with a house full of model looking white kids and starts the whole damn process over again.

It's CREEPY! It's situations not found in reality since 1935. Bad acting.....thin plots.....perfect scenery.....no ethnic types...even the homeless are white and lovable. It is BushWorld! And by the time I got Ma back to the rest home....my mind was numb. I couldn't find my crotch. I wanted a station wagon and cloth napkins and a FK'ing Kay diamond for every finger.

Hallmark movies make Davy & Goliath seem real. This channel must be ruining our old people! It's some kind of Rovian mind control. Use your parental channel blocker to get the damn thing off your TV and while you're visiting the parents over the holidays........zap their Hallmark channel too!

At no other time in our lives has it been more important to have a good grasp on reality! A numbed out, dumbed down nation is a nation that can be stolen! Be on the lookout for possible brain mushing programs.....at least until after November, 2008. The Greatest Generation once protected us, now it's our turn to protect them. Down with the Hallmark Channel! Now....I have the urge for some warm milk as I leaf thru my new Sansabelt slacks catalog.........grrrrrr

Use your parental channel blocker to get the damn thing off your TV ..<<< DBI

You are cracking me up in these cold hills! Giving "parential channel blocker" a new twist are we? Never thought we would need to filter out FOXlies for our aged ones. Were they selling embossed pencils during the ads? I came across one the aged who watched the fantasy White shows once. Her son, my age, had to take away momma's credit cards and have her checks co-signed as momma had been ordering thousands of embossed pencils (via TV 800 numbers) to give to friends. That was during Bush, ver 1 presidency. POTUS has a lot of influence over what is allowed on TV.

CATO, For the latest on turncoat Joe Liberman, click bluename

jazz, that cracked me up. Thank you! I'm going to be polishing that one up for New Year's Eve.

DBI; laughing and crying at your always insightful, entertaining posts. You will wear a
crown for your good care of, "Ma." Have you ever watched the Lifetime movies?? My baby
daughter is a fan so I have been forced to check it out, always a young woman being
raped, chased, stalked, murdered, burned alive, impregnated, by some pimp, drug dealer, ex
lover, ex married lover,,,,,,I must admit I am a big fan of Judge Judy, full disclouser. I tape
her every aft., to watch next day, when and if, news gets slow or repetitive. Gives me a
chance to shake my head at human nature.
Glad you had your Ma for the holiday, I did the same for mine. At my age, 74, I look at every
holiday, birthday, graduation, HELL, sunrise, as my last and try to squeeze every moment
for everything its worth.
Holy shit, I keep wishing to wake up senile, completely oblivious to all pain, worry, unhappiness,
hurt, disappointment, having to think of another year of idiot/vice..............
but,,,,the old brain seems as keen as ever, tho I've done my best to dull it, Judge Judy
helps for one hour a day.
If I did wake up senile, and not know my darling Frenchie, that would be a loss but, on the
other hand, I wouldn't know it was a loss. Lots of old baptist ladies, in Hot Springs, wishing
me dead,,,,they just don't know my Frenchman.

disclosure....caught it too late

MEMORIES

Here ye go,,,for New Year

Has anybody noticed how freaking wonderful it is that Dick Vitale is silenced due to throat surgery? Hopefully, it will be permanent.

Deathbyinches, I snarfed over your entry. Especially the crotch line.

A matter of personal interest to me... in all of Arkansas, what's the most unique, neat thing you can think of? Place you like to or just have to visit?

I have a list... but I'll start with one: Mammoth Spring.

Alum Rock Cave, above Greers Ferry Lake SW across from Choctaw. AWESOME views, especially at sunset.

Sorry to be a little late, Kat. Before we had children it was my dream to spend their childhood years taking them to visit every one of Arkansas's 75 counties, thinking it's better to investigate your home state first before you go trekking all over the world.

Well...poverty and lack of time put an end to that, but it was a nice thought. We love Eureka Springs...only a Commie wouldn't. White Rock north of Fort Baptist is gorgeous...... Maybe it's all the times I've traveled it since birth...but I love about all of old Highway 71 north between Alma and Fayetteville. It would be perfect for a once a year international road race up or down the hill, I've dreamed of it since my college days when Highway 71 was every college boy's favorite race track.

But what grooves my hoover most is the downtown part of Fort Smith. I love battered old Garrison Avenue...it's in my blood. I love the National Historic site and Judge Parker's courthouse. I love our underfunded and directionless museum. I can't wait for the US Marshals Museum to start sprouting. I love the historic district...every old house there feels like a friend of mine.

I love our dirty Arkansas River...the most neglected river in America, at least the part around FS. Never have I seen a trickle of water so ignored by a city. Any stranger can see for some reason we have turned our backs and pretend the 7th largest river in the US doesn't lap around 3 sides of Fort Smith. But I still love it and now and then I have to go watch it roll by as I try to regain some sanity. Fort Smith may yet become a great tourist destination, if we can ever get rid of this mean spirit and small mindedness. So...I love Eureka Springs, but I love Fort Smith the bestest.

Kat, ditto all that DBI has said about Fort Smith. It's one of Arkansas's best kept secrets, and why the folks out there don't do more to promote the city is beyond me.

After taking in Fort Smith, I'd add venturing into the historic downtown district of next-door neighbor Van Buren. Interesting shops, antique stores, etc. Also, consider a train ride from Van Buren to Springdale; a neat experience, especially if you've got young kiddies along who know nothing about old-time trains.

Unique? Make the drive up Hwy. 7 from Russellville to Harrison, and plan on stopping at the Cliff House Inn and Restaurant near Jasper for lunch or dinner, and perhaps an overnight stat. The Cliff House hovers over "The Grand Canyon of the Ozarks." The views from the restaurant's deck are absolutely spectacular! For all I know, the place doesn't operate in winter, so check it out before you go.

Don't forget Mountain View. Stay overnight at one of the bed & breakfast places on or near the square, and be sure to take in the local musicians playing blue grass and other types of music on the square. It's a big-time treat. Also, visit the nearby Ozark Folk Center State Park and Blanchard Springs caverns. Outstanding!

Hey, gimme a ring. I might invite myself to ride along with ya!