Arkansas Blog

My kind of straight parent.
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Apologize for off topic but important for all:

No one is falling for the Clean Coal banner ads found on Ark ties website of late I hope. Truth in advertising would say: Coal Power Is Poison. We must stop the Turk Plant. Not acceptable for so many reasons. Horrible for Arkansas families and people, environment, public health and yes, economic development too, in all four corners of our state. Tell Mike Ross that. This is a tragedy for our state. A tragedy that we will look back on, our children will look back on with disgust.

Clean Coal may exist 50 or so years from now. Today, even with the best technology available, what they tout as clean coal is just coal that is less poisonous than it was 30 years ago but still extremely, horribly poisonous. It's killing us, our planet, our future. Other states are stopping Coal Fired Plants. Many in fact. Their citizens, from all walks of life, are uniting, coming together and saying NO. We know too much today. They are demanding that it be stopped. Now. Not tomorrow but now.

We can too Arkansas. Do our leaders want a toxic legacy tied to them or do they want to lead, work on our behalf to create a future based on the best information available to us and for our best interests? Coal is simply not an acceptable answer today! Resist their slick ads. We are all smarter than that.

Coal Power Is Poison. Simple truth. Not an overstatement. So every time you see a Clean Coal ad, ads which are financed by millions from the Energy Industry and special interests tied to Coal, remember that please.

We can do better here. Other states are. We must too. Let Mike Ross know that you do not appreciate his support of the Coal Power plant and that eventually, when everyone learns the truth about the tragedy that this plant will be for our people and state, he'll be forever tied to the toxic legacy left behind, when he had other options, options that were better for Arkansas. Too much at stake.

congressman Mike Ross in Washington:
Washington
2436 Rayburn House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
1-800-223-2220
(202) 225-1314 Fax

El Dorado

El Dorado
Union County Courthouse
Suite 406
101 North Washington Street
El Dorado, AR 71730
(870) 881-0681
(870) 881-0683 Fax

Email Congressman Ross:

http://ross.house.gov/?sectionid=77§iontree=76,77

Thanks.

One last comment about Clean Coal ads found here of late:

Don't fall for the message that Coal is less expensive than other options. FACT: 115,000 Arkansas families will be getting 16 to 20% rate increases--this just for starters--and slated to begin later this year from SWEPCO, the developer of the Turk Coal Plant. So again, just don't fall for their lies. They are counting on it.

If you begin to add in other costs associated with the Turk Coal plant it is the most expensive option by far. Not even a question about that. Better to ask him about that.

Ask Congressman Mike Ross why he is opting for the poisonous, expensive "solution" that is the worst possible choice for Arkansas both now and for generations to come and this for a plant we don't even need?

That's the message a truthful ad would ask you to send.

I just looked in my Webster's Collegiate. Under the entry for "weasel" there is a photo of Doyle (Put Me In Your Will, Granny) Webb.

"FACT: 115,000 Arkansas families will be getting 16 to 20% rate increases--this just for starters--and slated to begin later this year from SWEPCO, the developer of the Turk Coal Plant. So again, just don't fall for their lies. They are counting on it."

SWEPCO hasn't had a rate increase in 23 years. How many increase has your power provider had in 23 years?
(Damn! I hate defending any corporation)

Doyle Dumbass strikes again. Republican party membership begins a mysterious wane.

Cato:

That may be true. But it's not about how long it's been since the last one but the extent of this one and the reason behind it. This rate increase is bad for Arkansas on so many levels. It's not the fact of the rate increase. It's why. For what? Is it a good reason or a poor reason? Is it justified?
Consider one of the their stated reasons, justifications for the increase. This rate increase is directly associated with the construction of the John Turk Plant. This in stated in statements put forth by SWEPCO and submitted for the record in the rate request.

SWEPCO is raising raise rates on 115,000 families during the worst economic crisis in generations to pay for this poisonous plant, a plant that is not needed. During permit hearings SWEPCO went to great effort and expense to tell the media and the public how cheap their energy was and what a great deal this was for the public. Now, after they get the permit to proceed and have started site development, and given what we know about Coal-power, yes, even with the latest technology, it is deeply irresponsible of them to put their poor, short-sighted, toxic investments on the backs of the public. Owing to that, among other things, the Plant should be revised and be rejected d by the Arkansas Public Service Commission.

A Republican friend of mine says ". . . all we need, another democrat who believes the Democratic Party has all the answers, all the solutions and the innocence of a new born baby . . ."

My response was -
"My innocence (if I had any after Nixon/Ford/Reagan/Bush I) left about seven years ago, as I watched the Republican party/administration doing it's best to wreck the United States. Not because it wanted to do that, but because it didn't have a clue about what to do once it was in power and could not admit a mistake without imploding.

None of us believe the Democratic Party has all the answers, but after the previous eight years we are leaning pretty far to that side to stay upright. Not to mention what we see the Republican party doing at present to help the country . . . attack Nancy Pelosi to leesen the guilt of Cheney/Bush torture and rave about a silicone injected beauty contestant that swore on her entrey application that there were no risque photos of her to embarrass the competition organization because she does like gays?"

I hope I dont offend any nice people named Doyle out there, but let's face it: If you had a pet weasel (I guess we could pretend Granny left him to you in her will), dont you think Doyle would be a good name for it?

What a snake in the grass he is. How is he supposed to have time left over to do his proper job after he spends all this time hating that dreadful lesbian woman and trying to spread his hate around? IS that his job, the position to which he was elected, Arkansas' Official Lesbian Hater??

Everybody knows the chirrens are better off with a crazy wingnut family than with one of them homosexuals. How much does the state pay you to take in a foster child anyway? I might ought to get me a couple of those. Im not a lesbian, but Im single; Im a Baptist but Im a very liberal Democrat. nevermind then -- I might as well forget that, right?

well, none of this matters. I just read on MSN's home page that Jon and Kate Goslin or whatever their names are, the stars (and parents) of Jon & Kate Plus Eight -- her brother says their marriage is in a shambles. If you have eight kids, how do you decide who gets stuck with custody of them if you divorce?? Will the couple stay married for the sake of, not the kids, but their reality TV show??? Stay tuned.

Cato, thats hilarious. I didnt even see your post up there at first. Next time dear ol' dad should check for undercover cops -- A fine mess this world is in when a man can't even buy his son a hooker for his 14th birthday, isnt it?? I vote we send Doyle Webb over across the pond to fix this.

everyone should give Cato's post a look up there. Its amazing how stupid some people are. But hey, they aren't gay, so thats fine, right?

No, the Democratic Party doesn't have all the answers, but at least their not the party of the bat-shit crazy who cheat elderly clients, think torture is ducky, and go around calling people, "that lesbian", "that Jew."

We need an opposition party to try to help keep everyone honest, but Republicans have become insane and not only aren't a political party any more....they're a canker sore on our shared lips of life. Then add the Pryors & Lincolns of the world....and it's no wonder that America is 2 shakes away from being the new USSR.

How do the people that Doyle Webb represents stand him? Why no recall.....after he got caught with his hands in a dead widow's panties? His constituents are to blame....shame on you for leaving this pustular growth in office. Come get your Pox!

He's worried that as chairperson of a budget committee, she'll undo a law?? No matter what you think of his (repellent) views, this man flat out has no idea how government works. Doyle constituents--your guy needs lesson in legislative process...as well as a good swift kick in the rear!

>>SWEPCO hasn't had a rate increase in 23 years. How many increase has your power provider had in 23 years?
(Damn! I hate defending any corporation)<<

First, you should research your monthly bill you receive from SWEPCO. I do. It's pretty easy to do.
Look on that line that says "fuel rate adjustment."
The increases are built in. Pretty good deal. There's the "basic" rate which hasn't changed much in
23 years, then there is the "adjusted" rate which changes all year long.

When was the last time your "adjusted" rate was lowered?

.

Let's ask the gay-bashing wingnuts for a real show of hands. Many of them own a bidness or are in bidness.

Let's ask them how many post signs saying-

"I don't sell homes to gays."

"We do not sell cars to gays."

"We do not offer our legal services to gays."

"We will not provide dental services to gays."

"Our law offices will not represent gay clients."

Cato,

I grew up in an artsy family and of course you need to be able to draw or paint them nude before you are able to paint them with clothes correctly. So we were "exposed" much earlier than most kids.

So nudity to my father seemed natural. I can't say that he might not have offered the same deal to me when I turned 14 but dad had one other trait that would have made me decline the offer.

Dad was cheap as all getout. With art to pay the bills and six kids that as he often mentioned "got hungry a couple times a day" he was a skin flint.

Our "allowance" in the mid 60's was 10 cents a week. It was a big deal on Saturday morning. He would ask each of us, "if I checked with mom would she say that you had (raked & burned pine needles, taken out the trash, hung clothes on the line, mowed the yard, looked after the younger kids, set the table, etc.) without being asked?" We always said yes. We got a dime.

With that dime and a Yahoo Mountain Dew bottle -"it'l tickle your innards"- or a Dr. Pepper -"it's good at 10, 2 or 4"- we could walk 2 blocks to "Louie's" on 20th street and shop for candy for about a half hour.

1 cent bought two Super Bubbles or Jolly Ranchers. a nickle got a candy necklace or box of candy cigarettes. That way you could pretend to be a grownup and smoke cigarettes. Or 5 cents got you wax lips or a little pack of wax coke bottles with syrup in them. Or, I almost forgot about Pixie Sticks.

10 cents got a 6 oz Coke or a 12 oz Pepsi. Pepsi had the chance to win 25 cents under the bottle cap. That was how they got you to practice gambling.

A lot of kid candy helped you prctice adult vices. cigarettes-smoking, Pepsi-gambling, and candy necklaces-expensive jewelry.

Any way, for my 14th birthday if my dad had sprung to get a woman to lay my virginity to rest, I suspect the term 2 bit whore might have an accurate possibility. For you youngsters out there. 2 bits is 25 cents. (nearly 3 weeks allowance).

I can only imagine what his pay scale would have "bought" for me.

"Hey son pick out any one you like but not those new ones, pick one on the clearance rack."

I don't know where you lived Citizen but in Hot Springs you couldn't even buy a rubber for two bits.
By the mid 60s they were 50cents a pack.

So, citizen, you are telling us you were corrupted at a very early age? LOL

Elwood, I will compare SWEPCO rates with other power company in the region and I'll just bet old Louie and I are in hog heaven. And get this.....a large portion of our are Rural Electric Cooperatives energery sold to their rural customers is bought from SWEPCO. And.......the rates can't be increased with out government permission.

Citizen1: "Hey son pick out any one you like but not those new ones, pick one on the clearance rack."

Is that a small-chested prostitute?

The SWEPCO rates are being raised in part to pay for the new coal plant BEFORE it's built.

if you don't want coal plants, and I'm not informed enough about them to say I do or don't -- but if you don't want them you have to offer an alternative. can you persuade people to allow more nuclear power plants to be built? Im not worried that the nuclear plant near Russellville is going to blow up or that some fool with 100 automatic machine guns is going to storm the place.

I'd be fine with more nuclear power plants, but my ex used to work at Nuclear One, so Im more familiar with them than your average Arkansan, I suppose. I've even been on a tour - they patted me down when I was pregnant and said I was the first pregnant woman ever to tour the plant in their memory. And my kids weren't born wtih two heads. ;)

im not real familiar with hookers, either, but I do think when I was 14 it would've cost more than a quarter to hire an escort service to "break in" your daughter.

>>Elwood, I will compare SWEPCO rates with other power company in the region and I'll just bet old Louie and I are in hog heaven. And get this.....a large portion of our are Rural Electric Cooperatives energery sold to their rural customers is bought from SWEPCO.<<

Cato,
My old faculty advisor in Accounting at UA used to audit utilities for the state commission. So he passed along a few tricks they use.
Do not compare basic statutory rates. Compare billed rates. Then if possible compare actual billings to kilowatt hours.

I would bet you that SWEPCO will make it impossible to that.

Somehow even struggling with 23 yr old statutory rates SWEPCO earns a net profit about
5x greater than Wal-Mart's net profit percent.

As JD has noted above they are using ratepayers to finance capital development. That's a nice trick to get around raising capital without issuing any capital stock to the people who are paying for your new capital.

Arkansas, the ugly girl who puts out too easily and never gets asked to the dance.
Pull your skirt down Cato.
.

Perp,

By the time they hit the clearance area they were less likely to be small-chested then to be low chested.

Cat o,

I grew up in LR on Monroe just off 12th street. Across the street from Highland Courts "housing projects". When they bulldozed the courts they also took out our house but we had moved 6 blocks down Monroe by then.

Being Catholic I would have had no idea what what rubbers cost. If you remember we had the motto of "if you can't out think em, out number em!"

Catholic explained the six kids situation. We would have had more but since we did get hungry a couple times a day, dad spent a lot of time working to cover the feed bill. That slowed the propogation. My dad worked all day every day except Sunday he worked half a day. On his way to work he would drop us off at school and come home about 10 pm. Every other Sunday he would take off and pile us all in the VW bus and we would go get our "taxes worth" and hit a park. Always outdoors, and always free.

I knew the exhibits at McArthur Park Museum word for word. I knew every trail in Burns Park, Boyle, Alsop and later Kanis and Reservoir by heart. We were on a first name basis with the State Capitol, guards. They would let us in to roam the halls and get lessons on freedom and liberty from my dad.

I guess you may now get an idea of why I go as Citizen1.

Some times we would go to church early and for our Sunday outing we would make it all the way to Petit Jean or Hot Springs.

I guess that my dad shaped me more than he ever dreamed. That would explain my love of the outdoors and parks and forests but also explain why I am in my office on a sunny Saturday. But I do also enjoy the AT site so I can converse with my friends I have never met.

Tina
>>if you don't want coal plants, and I'm not informed enough about them to say I do or don't -- but if you don't want them you have to offer an alternative<<

Believe me you don't want coal plants. They are the worst choice by far of all avialable on economic development, pollution, environmental, public and personal health grounds. They are five steps backward when we should be striving to leap frog ahead. Just because we are apoor state doesn't mena we need ot be a pushover for anything they throw our way, not matter how short-sighted, or yes, poisonous inso many ways. There are alternatives right now that are better and doable, but the fact is we do not need this power right now. Not even for the foreseeable future. There is no real demand for it here in Arkansas.

Also, it is not really up to us to know the exact answer to this problem but the first part of this must be to stop the further building of poisonous Coal Powered plants here in our state. We know too much today. We can do better. We must do better. 86 planst have been stopped by citizen-led efforts across the United States in the past few years. Yet, we will build one? Yeah, give it to the poor state, they'll take it. They'll take anything.

It is not cceptable to build a coal fired plant given all that we know today and given the options and the specifc facts as they relate to the Turk Power plant.

Citizen1,

I guess I was more fortunate (fiscally blessed) in the late fifties - early sixties, before I was a teenager. Dad based ours on the cost of a Saturday movie at the Majestic (horror and science fiction double features) or Rialto (main stream movies with newsreel, cartoon and a short) theatres. A dime for the ticket to get in and a nickle for popcorn and a nickle for a Coca Cola.

Once we were teenagers, the admission price went up to a quarter. That was o.k. because by then we could get a social security number and work at the local grocery stores on Saturdays and summer vacation weekends for a buck a day or ride our bicycles out to the country club and caddy.

El Dorado didn't have parks like Burns, Boyle, Alsop, but our family (grandfather's) farm was outside the city limits (within bicycle range) with a plum and peach orchards, a couple of covey of quail, rabbits and plenty of squirrels to hunt, play in the woods and creek. However, my Dad was a little more strict, the mowing, emptying the trash for Mom, edging, wash disehes, set table, etc. were chores and you did your chores to get the twenty cents allowance.

God, I miss the good ol' days when all we worried about was how not to be bored!

Talking about gays, Chairman Steele (RNC) has a real howler going on over at HufPo:

Michael Steele: Gay Marriage Is Bad For Small Businesses

"The chief of the Republican National Committee has been criticized by some social conservatives in recent weeks after GQ magazine quoted him as saying he opposed gay marriage but wasn't going to "beat people upside the head about it."

clicky

"Arkansas, the ugly girl who puts out too easily and never gets asked to the dance.
Pull your skirt down Cato. "

Yeah, but my rates are still cheaper than yours, hound dog.

SEPARATION OF RAUNCH AND STATE

(It's still legal - and always God-honoring - to air messages like the following. See Ezekiel 3:18-19. In light of government backing of raunchy behavior (such offenders were even executed in early America!), maybe the separation we really need is the "separation of raunch and state"!)

In Luke 17 in the New Testament, Jesus said that one of the big "signs" that will happen shortly before His return to earth as Judge will be a repeat of the "days of Lot" (see Genesis 19 for details). So gays are actually helping to fulfill this same worldwide "sign" (and making the Bible even more believable!) and thus hurrying up the return of the Judge! They are accomplishing what many preachers haven't accomplished! Gays couldn't have accomplished this by just coming out of closets into bedrooms. Instead, they invented new architecture - you know, closets opening on to Main Streets where little kids would be able to watch naked men having sex with each other at festivals in places like San Francisco (where their underground saint - San Andreas - may soon get a big jolt out of what's going on over his head!). Thanks, gays, for figuring out how to bring back our resurrected Saviour even quicker!

[If you would care to learn about the depraved human "pigpen" that regularly occurs in Nancy Pelosi's district in California, Google "Zombietime" and click on "Up Your Alley Fair" in the left column. And to think - horrors - that she is only two levels away from being President!]