Arkansas Blog

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Just had some tasty barbeque at Hickory House BBQ in Forrest City... excellent grub! Click on bluename to see the pics.

Friday, March 28, 2008
Killing the Goose

The University of Arkansas System trustees voted today to raise fees and tuition rates for students at the University to take effect this fall. In-state students will see a 6% overall increase, including a rise in tuition from $159.05 per credit hour to $167. A full-time student taking 15 credit hours would pay tuition and fees of $6,399 in the fall semester, up from $6,038. At the law school, it will be $8,569.

...one of the many UA vice chancellors, said tuition is going up because of inflation and because money from the state wasn't keeping pace. Keeping pace with what, Don? The growing number of bureaucrats? The expenses for that new World Trade Center the UA opened up in Rogers? The salaries of custodial workers? The state increased funding for higher education by a record amount last year, and you're sitting on a billion dollar endowment.
Iconoclast ....

bluename for link

Since we often take our freedoms for granted, click on Cato

...and then there is Davidson, a small private school of 1,700. Kinda makes you think this is what collegitate athletics should be. Nice story. Click on Cato

This is from a retired friend and is soon to be published LTE:

"Some voters' attitudes about this election are
very disturbing. One friend told me that because he
was brought up in the Deep South he could not overcome
his programming enough to vote for either a woman or a
black. (I would be ashamed to admit that my prejudices
were stronger than I am.) Several friends have told me
that if Hillary or Obama doesn't win the nomination,
they'll vote for McCain instead. A columnist reports
that about a fifth of Clinton and Obama supporters say
they won't vote for the other candidate.
Friends, you have been hornswoggled and
bamboozled by the "right-wing media." The TV networks
are owned by huge conglomerates with military
contractors among their holdings. They are part of the
military-industrial complex President Eisenhower
warned us about. They support war policies and
Republicans.
The media encouraged this two-way race between a
woman and a black man in order to divide the
Democrats. Remember John Edwards? He was polling in
the same range as Obama and Clinton but the media
ignored and marginalized him until he dropped out. Now
they jump on every difference between the two
remaining candidates and expand endlessly on every
gaffe or guilt by association to demean both of them.
Here is why not to vote for McCain. He would
continue Bush's failed war policies, staying in Iraq
and probably expanding the war to Iran. McCain comes
from a long line of military leaders, including frank
imperialists. People need to ask themselves, do we
want to be the American Empire? We are already a ways
down that road. Don't kid yourself about helping the
Iraqis or Afghanis-their countries are already in
shambles from our "help." We are building permanent
bases and the largest embassy in the world in Iraq.
McCain gets a pass from the media. His changes of
mind would be called "flip-flops" in a Democratic
candidate. He even back-tracked on his earlier,
admirable opposition to torture. The recent NYTimes
story about the woman lobbyist was about lobbyist
influence more than about sex. It fell off the radar
screen very quickly. McCain was in trouble about
lobbyists before, as one of the "Keating Five."
McCain indicates he wouldn't interfere in the
current economic meltdown, an attitude resembling that
of Herbert Hoover in the early 1930s.
Another Republican administration would swing the
Supreme Court even further right. This not only
threatens Roe vs. Wade but continues a big business,
anti-labor agenda.
Don't let yourself be manipulated by the media.
Try to remember, this election isn't about
self-expression or indulging your prejudices. It is
about the future of this country, your children, and
quite possibly the planet."
---Coralie Koonce, author
"Models, Myths, and Muddles, Thinking Toward Survival"
.

Thanks, elwood.
Those high oil prices? The oil companies revived McCain. He was broke until he cut a deal with them.
Republicans are all about money. You guys remember that every time you fill up at the gas station. The gas station owners make nothing, and go in the hole if you use a credit card.
But the oil companies report record breaking profits every quarter.
I hate what this country has become.

Oil companies, Blackwater, GE/MSNBC or any other war profiteer should be considered criminals for making one penny in profit while troops are spilling blood and massive amounts of all our treasure in fight or occupations for robber baron empire.

As long as they make incredible war profits they will continue paying our politicians to keep us at war.

Well they really pulled out the big trucks for this Friday's news dump.

Is Pentagon using Guantanamo trials to influence election? (of course they are.... who needs habeas corpus)
<<<<

Also Brent Wilkes is out of prison after 1 month. (Hookergate and much much worse... Foggo Wilkes Cunningham etc..)
<<<<<<

Iraq: 1 killed, 6 wounded in mortar attack on VP's office
<<<<

Another Lobbyist.. Charlie Black, joins McCheney's campaign. (that's well over 50 lobbyists working for McCheney 'campaign 08
<<<<<<<<<<

interim appointment replaced Admiral Fallon..( Bush's preference in Afghanistan and the entire region.. prepare to see Pakistan and probably Iran explode).
<<<<<

White House to Seek New U.S. Power to Keep Markets Stable (more unitary executive... because Congress never says no)
<<<<<<

Bush Aide Resigns for Alleged Wrongdoing (stealing your money while working for the thief in chief)
<<<<<<<

Family's vigil ends with confirmation contractor died in Iraq (because Bushco doesn't want to admit any deaths.. even to the family members)
<<<<<<<<

At least one good thing happened.. Dem Governor Siegleman of Alabama got out of prison after nine months on appeal for a crime he did not commit.

And that's the very short list...

Click my name for a video link to what Barack Obama means to minorities. The video is of a poor predominantly black/latino neighborhood in the Bronx.

Yes, there are vast swaths of despondent minority groups across America who suffer from low expectations. There hopes for the future are, at best, careers in entertainment and sports, and more often, low wage service jobs, too often not commensurate to their intellects. As psychological study after study shows, students/children with low expectations (from society and themselves) often yield poor results.

This hope embodied by Obama for these groups and America/the world as a whole is just one of his many strengths. And importantly for all Americans, he's not THE black president, but a president who is black.

Nevertheless, he still outguns Hillary and McCain on merits alone.

On the news tonight Hillary was talking about a poll which wanted to know if she should pull out of the race. She said that 22% wanted her to pull out, 22% wants Obama to pull out and 62% wants both to stay in and the race to continue. Is this another case in which she misspoke or can she just not add? I don't know of any polls that sample 106% for their questions.

Nitpicker?!! +6% "margin of error" ;>) Fits right in with the intellect of the "average" voter - esp those cited above who will only vote for "their" Dem...50% HS dropout rate.
|

"...any other war profiteer should be considered criminals for making one penny in profit while troops are spilling blood and massive amounts of all our treasure in fight or occupations for robber baron empire." by Eureka Spgs.

Was it George Bernard Shaw or Bertrand Russell who remarked that if you remove any possibility for profit from war then there's nothing in human nature to compel it to happend?
.
Profiting from war is an American tradition which has been a well kept secret since our War of Independence wherein the merchants and well to do remained home and sold war goods at large profits to Washington's soldiers. After word leaked out and rumors spread George Washington's biggest problem became desertion. Appears that troopers back then understood what it meant to be fodder for merchants' greed. It took radio and TV to glamorize war and hypnotize young men into false sense of valor, especially for the merchants. Now all it takes is to export what were once good paying jobs to Third World nation so that the young in small towns across the nation have few or no choices.
.

An informative post with more detail and background on the sad story of the fallen nine year old iraqi boy killed by US, I mentioned last night.

"My brother is dead ... and I helped kill him" -- by the Rev. Mike Kinman
By
The Rev. Mike Kinman is the Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation

cut and paste or link at my name

elwood, Didn't we have laws against profiteering during the 2nd world war? i know Prescott Bush made his money off of Hitler early on.. but i thought for a short time anyway, it was illegal.

We gotta keep the faith, my brothers and sisters. In many ways this is the election of 1932 all over again. Entrenched Republicans who've spent a dozen years robbing and raping are wanting 4 more years offering more of the same. They're running a man old enough to have personally known Herbert Hoover. Blue is right, Republicans are all about money and not one single speck of anything else.

Assuming Cheney allows elections and assuming we can overcome Diebold and states like Florida and aren't screwed by our own Supreme Court, we can win this election with a black man or a woman. We can win and win it big. Anyone who says they'll vote for McCain IS a Republican, so ignore talk like that. Our national media has an agenda, it is the agenda of their Republican owners who are only interested in profits, who would gladly sell the United States down the river for another dime. They'll do anything to stir the shit so the foolish will tune in or buy their papers. We must be smarter than to fall for their tricks. Our candidates must be smarter than to fall for their tricks.

Here in Arkansas we must inform our neighbors that a vote for Pryor is a vote for Bush. It will be hard to cast a vote for the Green Party candidate this year. Not because she's a woman, but because we're in the habit of voting for a Democrat or a Republican. Well......look where that has gotten us. Arkansas cannot return a warmongering torture loving Bush devotee to Congress and expect Pryor to vote with either President Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. or President Hillary Clinton. Mark W. Pryor will remain in the LIEberman camp no matter whose President. We can stop him in his tracks by spreading the word of his sorry sorry record.

Though I know we're all sick of it, the hard part of this campaign season is yet to be on us. The ugly will not let up but only get worse as we march towards November. Not only will the dirty tricks get dirtier, we'll see incredible last ditch efforts by Cheney-Bush to finish their evil mission AND keep a hold on power by any means necessary. They don't mind killing in Iraq, why should it bother them to kill here at home? We're living the most dangerous year of our lives. Let the twisted political process proceed, but in November all Democrats must unite. No McCain. No Mark Pryor. No more war for oil!

Well, politics and McCain and Hillary and Barack and stuff is, you know, important and stuff.

But Donna Summer is coming out with her first truly "new" album in nearly 20 years. Which is really more important than, like, Democracy, Darfur, El Nino, Global Warming and everything.

"Crayons." To be released in May, 2008.

Teaser track? "I'm Afire." Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdHjtZ8fSE4

Granny Summer sings!

One listen? "Okay. Retro. Boring."

Two listens? "Uh, I'm actually LIKING it."

Three-to-five listens? Oh, shit: this is like smack. HOOKED!

Twenty-three listens? Have you actually DANCED to this shizz yet? Grab your favorite partner or improvise solo and you'll get my drift. Especially when it goes Latin.

Word. This dancefloor powerhouse is actually the WEAKEST track on "Crayons!" Disco Granny Donna's already mopping up Madonna and Mariah on dance-house floors around the world.

What a country! 4,000 American troops dead and tens of thousands more maimed (so far) and 1,000,000 Iraqis (so far) gave their lives to preserve our right to boogie.

Sorta like the 56,000 who gave their lives fighting the lie that was Vietnam (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, anybody?) so today we can sit on the veranda of the Hanoi Hilton and sip mai-tais. Raise your glasses! A toast to then-Secretary-of-Defense Robert McNamara -- "We were mistaken."

That's right. The Hippies nailed it back then: "Make love, not war." They were right about everything. The establishment existed to profit the military / industrial complex.

Same with this war. Halliburton? Blackwater?

Forget about it. Rock on!

Welcome back, Donna Summer, with your first "new" album since Vietnam.

I know your music has NOTHING to do with this. It's just good music. Hope you sell another 20 million albums, come May.

But still, in effect, then as now, you help us dance on the graves of our sons and daughters (except the sons and daughters of the Bushes, Cheneys, et al.), and forget the ugly truths.

Party on, Americans! Donna's back!

From the NY Times article on the Bush administration's proposal to strengthen (???) financial markets oversight:
"Bank supervision, now divided among five federal agencies, would be led by a Prudential Financial Regulator, which could send examiners into any bank or depository institution that is protected by either federal deposit insurance or other federal backstops."

SAY WHAT? Prudential Financial? Are we talking about Prudential Financial, Inc., "a financial services company in the United States, [which through] its subsidiaries and affiliates, . . . offers a wide array of financial products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage and relocation services," blah, blah, blah?
Are they talking about farming out bank regulations? Please tell me I've simply been misled by a similar, nay, identical, name. Please tell me this isn't the latest Rethuglican version of the fox in the henhouse. Please tell me this isn't Social Security privatization, the sequel.

Hey, I get the theme - maybe Aretha can come out with P-R-I-V-A-T-ize!! Bush, dickhead, McBush, Condi & Co. can be the chorus line...I'm liking it already. Sure Grammy nod!!!

good ltte El,

at name/link also,

John "W" McCain = More of the Same

(with "More" meaning "even worse")

as JWM is now on record advocating that Russia be kicked out of the G8 for, get this, "not being Democratic enough") and also wants to expand NATO into the Ukraine (and whyinthehell does NATO still exist when it's original mission no longer does?)

p.s. rather funny actual headline from the NY Times at name/link

Eeewww.

Good news: Enjoyed Catholic High Junktique
Bad News: Vacuum cleaner conks out yesterday
Good News: Sears has one on sale
Bad news: While at Sears, one of the tires goes completely flat
Good news: We're just 150 feet from the Sears Auto Center
Bad news: Check paperwork on tires & find they've been on car 5 years!
Good news: Sears is having a tire sale

Even better news: we were going on a long vacation soon and it sure was lucky to ave that one tire go flat today of all days!!

We are sacrificing some good beer this evening!!

Doigotta - If memory serves, Prudential Financial was purchased by Wachovia a year or two ago. Atleast their brokerage unit was.(I hope that's right?)

I think what they are trying to do is prevent another collapse like Bear Stearns. Alot of this exotic mortgage crap they dreamed up is still sitting on the books of Wall Street firms because no one will buy it. And for good reason. Now, if Bear Stearns was leveraged 33 to 1 you gotta believe there are other Major Firms in the same boat.

Now remember, Banks and Brokerages are not regulated by the same authorities. Having an agency that looks over both industries might not be such a bad thing.

If Bushco is behind anything, it's absolutely not regulation of the wealthy elite or their corporate machines. From what little I understand (emphasis on little).. this doesn't even attempt to regulate the very issues which allowed the sub prime schemes to wipe us out. Giving the Fed even further freedom to bail out the robber barons while both Bush and Keating 5 McCain tell the homeowners in jeopardy to take a hike to the nearest tent city or overpass.. is just cruel on every level.

It's all a diversion (hear 100's of billions or more in your tax money going down the drain, bailing out the people who developed the big theft schemes and implemented them to begin with).. even Hillary, who has a pretty good plan..screws up and asks Greenspan who got us into this mess..to help get us out.. That's like asking Cheney nicely to get us out of Iraq.

The Walll Street Barrett Jacksons of the world are the only winners these days. Ignorance and fear are the opiate of the masses.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services.

Treasury Secretary Rubin pushed it, BC43 signed it, then

In 1999, affirming his career-long interest in markets, Mr. Rubin joined Citigroup. Of note, the supermerger between Travelers Group and Citicorp was facilitated by the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act). This legislation was passed under the Clinton administration, days before Rubin's resignation.

= plenty of blame all around. perhaps in 2008 it is time to give a whole new crew/generation a chance?

Why do you Obama-nuts continue to
post about Obama? We don't care.
He will never win Arkansas and he
already lost the primary big time
here.

Quit wasting our time and yours.

To saywhat:

Hillary was right.
Click on my name to see the poll.

6% of Democratic supporters want
both candidates to drop out! I
guess they're sick of this crap
and want Edwards are someone else.

And perhaps your lazy ass should
google before hating on Hillary.

Twenty-two percent (22%) of Democratic
voters nationwide say that Hillary
Clinton should drop out of the race
for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
However, the latest Rasmussen Reports
national telephone survey found that an
identical number-22%--say that Barack
Obama should drop out.

62% of Democratic voters do not think
either candidate should withdraw from
the race as of yet.

Because Obama is winning..and he is the only one who inspires folks.

President Barack Hussein Obama. The kind of candidate the better part of American Democracy was designed to promote.

B and B.. why don't you come up with some valid positive things about your failed candidate for a change. Sucking on DLC faith based lemons is so 1996.

More from the Rasmussen poll:

Interestingly, Republicans are more eager
to see Clinton drop out rather than Obama.
Forty-one percent (41%) of GOP voters say
the former First Lady should withdraw while
just 24% say the same about the Senator
from Illinois. Among unaffiliated voters,
30% say Clinton should drop out while 25%
say the same about Obama.

Forty-seven percent (47%) of Obama supporters
think Clinton should drop out. Thirty-eight
percent (38%) of Clinton supporters say Obama
should drop out. Those who remain undecided
are a bit more likely to suggest that Obama
should leave. But, it's worth noting that less
than half of Obama supporters say Clinton
should withdraw, less than half of Clinton
supporters say Obama should withdraw, and
less than half of undecided voters say either
should withdraw at this time.

Click on name for more

Eureka, Hillary is more qualified and
she will fight for Democratic values.
That's why I'm suporting her.

You mention the DLC, yet you support
a candidate that says he's going to
work with Republicans. Screw them.
This country doesn't need someone to
bring the two parties together. It
needs a fighter.

Why are all of the idiots and Judas's out there continuing to call for Hillary to drop out of the campaign?

Because they are literally scared sh-tless that she can still "pull it off," that's why!

Leahy, Richardson, MoveOn and all of the other people out there are having their strings pulled and manipulated by the Obama campaign organization.

Hillary knows that.

She also knows that Pennsylvania, NC, Indiana, and Kentucky have not had their chance to weigh in on this election just yet. Obama's campaign knows that, too and that's why they are so frightened. Everyone who reads this Blog knows it, too, especially you Obamaists.

But...that's OK. We Hillary supporters are continuing to keep the faith. It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings and she hasn't even cleared her throat yet.

By the way...there is no way that Obama can win the General Election.

Can Hillary win it? I don't know, but Obama is dead meat.

Karl Rove has over 35 years of "experience", was in the Oval Office/White House helping the President make big decisions, is a "fighter", and has also successfully evaded being indicted (* so far)

yet no one in the GOP is asserting that Karl would be the best nominee for POTUS.

And how effective has that "fighter" been
at pushing Republican and conservative
policies?

VERY

If you are seriously comparing Hillary's
experience to Karl Rove's you are a fool.

heavens to Betsey Wright, who would want to replicate Karl Rove's "success" (four years of incredible victories followed by four more years of defense/decline) by supporting a candidate who can "outfight" and "outbully" (though that ability is now seriously in question) their opponents, when another candidate has demonstrated that it is possible to "outsmart" and "outinspire" political adversaries?

forgive me for being so foolish as to want 8 years of success so that those who will vote for the first time in 2016 will have something to build on instead of fix.

Eureka, Hillary is more qualified and
she will fight for Democratic values.

by B and B...

Values? You sound like Bush the elder there BB.. What Dem Clintonion values? Facts or fact based examples please.. just the facts.. Last I heard her speak up... she valued McCheneyCain more than the D party leading candidate. I find no value in that.

"Why do you Obama-nuts continue to
post about Obama? We don't care.
He will never win Arkansas and he
already lost the primary big time
here.
Quit wasting our time and yours."

Why do you Billary-nuts continue to post about Hillary? I don't care. Like Obama, She'll never win Arkansas in the general against McCain, he's ahead of her by 7 now. Quit wasting our time and yours on her sinking bid for the nomination. It's over for the Clintons in 2008, get over it.

I went back to the Times story to reread it and try to refute Goof's statement. There has been a slight change in the story since this morning. When I first read it, "Prudential Fianancial" was underlined and clicking on it took you to the Prudential Financial, Inc. website from which I quoted in my third paragraph.
Now the referring underline is gone, so presumably the "Prudential Financial Regulator" mentioned in the story refers to something other than the Prudential Financial, Inc.
I hope.

DAMMIT, fellow Dems, can we get focused here....The focus should be on defeating McCain.
Stop the infighting...leave that to Hillary and Barack. That will sort itself out when the nominee is selected.
I'll vote for either one of them, happily.