Arkansas Blog

Now I just know this will make everyone's Friday night. I copied this from an article in the New York Daily News. I didn't want to copy the whole thing (makes my computer mad sometimes) but another important element of this here story is that Joshua told the press they didnt know if they would name all their kids something that started with "M" but would take that as it comes.

And guess what? The Duggars are all set to appear on Huckabee's show on Fox! Quick, run for cover! Hit OFF on your tv set before it explodes with outrage!!!!!

By the way, I would surely like to know why Joshua is expecting "his" first child ... and announced "his" plans to name her Mackynzie Renee. Is he the first pregnant man in history or does the little woman only speak when she has special permission??
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Joshua, the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's 18-kid clan, is expecting his first child in October. He just announced his plans to call her Mackynzie Renée.

As for the being the newest star of the hit reality show, Anna, whose wedding to Josh was chronicled by the series, said she couldn't be happier.

It has been neat because they are doing such a great job of documenting our lives right now. We focus on pleasing the Lord, and trying to be who we really are. That's what's important," she said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/07/31/2009-07-31_newest_duggar_baby_gets_a_name_josua_and_anna_duggar_will_name_daughter_.html#ixzz0MscHrUPo

Was watching the local amusing 6:00 O'clock report and all the buzz is the clunker trade-in
program. Seems the additional two billion will tide them over the weekend.

What do you bet the NWA dealers, sales people and most buyers will forget who delivered it.
No thanks to Boozman.

How many Ark Times bloggers were grandparents at 43?

How many of your children could be grandparents at 43?

Too much sex and too little education.
Not recommended for non-TV stars.
.

"What do you bet the NWA dealers, sales people and most buyers will forget who delivered it"

Perfect, eLwood. Maybe the most profound statement I've heard in quite a while.
As long as it is for them, the good ol' boys will take and take. But, if that booty is going to somebody else, well, that's another matter.

Jeez eL - I wasn't a parent until I was 35.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRENCHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good cake Shannon.............
Another cake and party from his friends at the office..........
calls for 2 days, local and Canada, table full of cards n' gifts, you are loved.

Je t'aime mon amour

The Log Cabin Democrat says a helicopter has crashed near Greenbrier.

Hey, fellow bloggers, B.J. Sams' retirement prompts me to ask you a question: Are you on track for a financially secure retirement? Ya don't know? And ya want a simple method to find out? Brett Hammond, TIAA-CREF's chief investment strategist, provides one in the August 3, 2009, issue of Bidness Week. It's based on asset-to-salary ratios at different points in your career.

If you're a teacher, a hospital worker, or otherwise employed in the nonprofit sector, you'll need 50% of pre-retirement income from your nest egg, says Hammond. If you're a corporate employee (where salaries are usually higher), you might need 60% from your 401(k)s, with Social Security filling in the gap.

How will you know if your nest egg will cover 60% of pre-retirement income once you've quit working? If you're 35 and plan to retire at 65, you need 2.1 times your annual salary to be on track. By 45, you'd better have 3.6 times. At 55, the multiple rises to 5.4 times. And by the time you retire, you'll want your nest egg to be 7.7 times your salary.

Here are the assumptions Hammond has built into his formula: A 10% contribution rate, including any employer matching contributions; 4% salary growth, a bit ahead of inflation; a 6% return on investments; and a 25-year retirement period to finance, which would be paid for by purchasing a low-cost annuity at retirement.

So, there. Git 'er done. Yer welcome.

PS: About a year ago I read an article about how poorly Americans were preparing for retirement. The numbers were so astounding that I wrote them down. Here they are: Two-thirds of Americans have saved nothing for retirement. Only 36% have saved as much as $10,000. Just 27% have saved as much as $100,000. Most people put more thought into where they're going to dine Friday night than they do planning for retirement.

Happy Birthday Frenchie!

eLwood, that's an excellent point. I didnt have my first until I was 27. I read somewhere recently that 63% of grandparents in Arkansas are raising their grandkids full-time.

one of my friends, God bless her, has a foster child whose mother and grandmother are frequently arrested together at some horrendous "party" or another. Both on SSDI. Both on food stamps - or they were untili my friend reported that they were collecting food stamps for the child she was raising. last we heard, they were both in jail. but at least they can't ruin this little boy's life.

The Chris Bahn link sends you to the Huckpac page of what looks numerical pornography.

My mother was 42 when I was born. The folks met before the war and married soon after at the age of 32 and had 10 kids from a total of 12 pregnancies. I was lucky #7. They were bound and determined to have their own army of priests and nuns. It didn't work. I'm getting my first daughter in law soon. Grandbabies will follow I am certain. We are a family of slow starting breeders but we are good at playing catchup.

Now I would say this is a marinade I could live without..............clicky

News Alert
from The Wall Street Journal

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-28 to approve a sweeping health-care bill, clearing the way for a September showdown on President Obama's top domestic priority.

Energy and Commerce was the last of three House committees to act on the health bill. The vote came on the last day of the House's session before its annual summer recess.

In the Senate, many deadlines came and went as Sen. Max Baucus struggled to piece together a bipartisan bill. On Friday, Mr. Baucus and a group of senators struggling to write bipartisan legislation had set a new deadline: Sept. 15.

The House and Senate -- which begins its recess next Friday -- will head home without meeting President Obama's goal of passing major health-care bills before adjourning.

But the debate so far has crystallized the battle lines over the proposal to help cover the nation's estimated 46 million uninsured people.

Happy Birthday to Frenchie!

I'm a first time grandmother at 58. Didn't have kids until I was around 30 and they waited until their late 20's.

Actually 43 is not too bad considering I work with someone who became a grandparent at 33 when her 18 year old daughter had a baby. That's progress--not having a baby at 15 like your mother did!

Tina--I noticed that too about the Duggar boy when he was on the Today show not long ago. It was "his" baby. I'd say he needs to get his pronouns figured out soon.

This is a story (at clicky) which reminds me that full gay rights may NOT be achieved in my lifetime, after all.

It's about the Hawaii head football coach at the Western Athletic Conference media meeting. He was addressing the assembled media from a dais in a very scripted-type setting and quipped how the Notre Dame players did a "faggot dance'' the night before the Aloha Bowl last year.

He has since apologized and said he has "nothing against homosexuals'' and was only joking. Evidently, this has satisfied the powers-that-be at the University of Hawaii and the WAC Conference (thus, the NCAA).

What if he had described it as a "n*gger dance,'' or a "c*nt dance?'' I think he would've been fired on the spot.

But no...the comments I read at most of the jock-strap websites not only backed him up and insisted no apology was needed, but they wanted him to call gays slurs much, much worse.

Damn, we've got a long way to go.

MSNBC says it was a fixed wing plane that went down. Do the clicky.

Who says you can't find happiness. Click on Cato

Fireworks on our secret part of the lake, guess they know it is a good man's birthday.
My Mom blessed the world with moi at 17, I made her G'ma when I was 19, so guess that made
her around 36, don't hold me to that....I kant count, mental block, when I see numbers my
eyes spin around in their socket. I was g'ma at 45....my kids finished college, married then got
the babies.....not so with my grans...............new world.
That Duggar baby mama ,,,she needs a talkin to from someone like me,,if that was one of my
daughters I'd turn into a female Hulk, and that ain't a pretty picture.

Cato:

That is old news and not even true anymore. They are no longer dating.
DId you know that John Ramsey lives in Little Rock now? And, it is within a few miles from where I live.

I second what Cammack said.

I clicked Cato's post and thought I had some big scoop to tell my wife. She tends to keep up with that Nancy Grace telethon of missing or possibly murdered blondes.

I get a sneer and a "that's old news from years ago" comment. Then I look at Cato's post and it is talking about 2007.

Cato, nowdays we have this internet blogging thingy and "old news" is anything from before lunch.

Yesterday is "archival" before that is irrelevant, or so says my wife.

jazzy, It sounds like Frenchie had a great birthday. Ya'll have fireworks with some regularity on your part of the lake. A firework fairy blessing your family on all important occasions. LOL

Why does John Ramsey live in Little Rock??

'Cause they's lots of good lookin' wimmin, heah, Nanc. You better look out!

JEEZ! We can have 3 billion subsidies for a CLUNKERS exchange program...but the heck with health insurance let's buy a NEW CAR Ethel!"

"The U.S. House opened debate on an emergency measure to add as much as $2 billion to the "cash for clunkers" program after a burst of demand exhausted most of the initial $1 billion."

3 billion for beat-up SUV's...ZERO A "big goose egg" for beat-up Papa & Mama lil child'n!

"House Democrats have proposed a sliding scale of subsidies so that new health insurance mandates don't impose a disproportionate - and ultimately unaffordable - burden on working- and middle-class families. Without that feature, Democrats would risk a serious backlash if costs become too great and households rebel against the health care mandate. And the House maneuvering is important as a preview of the larger battle ahead in the Senate, where the Finance Committee is proposing far less generous subsidies.

The impact is real. For a family of four earning from $77,000 to $88,000, the new language from the House Energy and Commerce Committee could require an additional $770 a year - or three-quarters of Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit. For those closer to the poverty line, such as a family of four earning $44,000 to $55,000, the relative impact would be even greater.

Reducing the subsidies would help scale back the cost of the plan by almost $60 billion over 10 years - a major goal for the Blue Dogs. But Congressional Budget Office estimates show that most - if not all - of these savings are effectively given away by the same moderates under pressure from local hospitals and Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans to blunt the public plan option." [LINK]

...

"We saved rural hospitals from disaster," Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.)

BlueCross Democrats I hope you have a great August VACATION on BCBS's dime.

"Hello, everybody, this is your action news reporter with all the news
that is news across the nation, on the scene at the supermarket. There
seems to have been some disturbance here. Pardon me, sir, did you see
what happened?

(Witness):
Yeah, I did. I's standin' overe there by the tomaters, and here he
come, running through the pole beans, through the fruits and vegetables,
nekkid as a jay bird. And I hollered over t' Ethel, I said, "Don't
look, Ethel!" But it's too late, she'd already been incensed."
...

Nanc:

John Ramsey has a good friend named Ron Cameron. This is the guy that that owns Mountaire Corp.
Also, when he was dating Beth Twitty, they were here some because she is from Pine Bluff.

John Ramsey testified before the legislature here about "Juli's Law" which requires DNA collection after someone is arrested for certain crimes.

Dang. You guys are right! I didn't notice. I went to my blog source and they had just posted it so I assumed it was new. That's what I get for not being a celeb follower. Now, who is this M. Jackson you twerps are always talking about?

I completely do not understand the purpose of the cash for clunkers deal.

when Im driving a clunker it is because I dont have the money for something nice. So do i really need a new car? how am I going to pay the sales tax, plus 4 + years of ........ presumably fairly high payments considering its a new car? am I missing something here?

it wouldnt be the first time Ive done already been incensed, just like Ethel! but this car deal could leave people in a mess, right?

I just wish Hillary were black. think of the fits THAT would cause.

Max, certainly you realize the only reason Frank pushed for the games to be played all in Fayetteville (or mostly in Fayetteville) was to facilitate more money into his and the UA's hands. It had nothing to do with Frank thinking the games should be played on campus, or he would have pushed for that in 1958. John White is who espoused the idea that the games should be played on campus only, anyway. While you no doubt believe it too, I doubt more money is your reasoning.

Late, as usual, mea culpa.

Joyeux anniversaire tardif, Armand!

My mother celebrated her 100th birthday, Sunday, Armand. I am driving her down to our Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast) for the annual family vacation, today.

Clik for your card.