This short posting at buzzflash has been circulating around since yesterday. We can't vouch for its authenticity, but it at least rings true:

Steak Night at the Deer Camp - A South Arkansas Message to George W.
by John R. Bomar

Hey George, I hate to have tell you this, son, but they’re talking bad about you out at the deer camp. That’s real bad. When you’ve lost the deer-camp-boys you’re in big trouble around here.

You see, these are the real good ol’ boys, the ones who make up the backbone in this part of the woods. They’re the ones who build the houses, sell the insurance, install the plumbing and fix your air conditioner when it goes on the blink. They’re just regular, hard working Joe’s trying to make life a little better and get ahead. And up to now they’ve done pretty good. Many of them own their own businesses and are members of the chamber and pay a lot of taxes – a lot of taxes. And a whole bunch of them read the papers and keep up with what’s going on in the world.

George, they’re a calling you a liar. Yep, they are. And if it’s one thing they don’t cotton to, it’s a liar, George. They know liars; they’ve had liars for employees and dealt with liars in trying to do businesses. “Cain’t’ trust a liar” just about sums it up around here, George.

Now, if you’re a known liar we’d give you a nod in passing, but we wouldn’t stop to talk. We’d try to be sociable enough if forced to be around you, but we’d leave as soon as possible. Out at the deer camp we’d mostly try and leave you out of the conversation, but if your name came up we’d all give each other that look that says; “yea, we know about dealin’ with him.”

That’s bad George. Real bad … real hard to get over around here, George.

I guess it’s partly cause we come from pioneer stock. Most of our people moved here from Tennessee and Alabama, and before that Georgia and the Carolinas and some from Virginia. We come from a long line of survivors, George. Only the survivors got this far. They survived by their wits and hard, honest work, with a little luck thrown in. Excuse’ me for saying so, but they also learnt’ real early how to separate the chicken salad from the chicken s****, George. They watched out for what people did rather than pay too much attention to what they said. Their Grandpas taught em’ that.

And, oh yea, these ol’ boys, they really don’t like being played for a fool when they’ve kindly given you the benefit of the doubt. On a scale of one to ten George, that’s a ten.

Yep, deer-camp-boys are proud of their roots and try and hold on to the old ways, as much as they can nowadays. They know the understanding and teachings of their Grannies come hard learned. They’re hardscrabble folk, George, and they judge a man by his handshake, the honesty in his eye and the sincerity in his voice. They’re nice enough when you first meet, that’s the way their Mama’s raised them, but they don’t really take you in till you’ve proved yourself. You know that puddin’ George, its proof tells the tale.

Well, guess that’s about it, friend. Just thought I’d pass this along in case you was interested. Cause when you lose the deer-camp-boys around here, George, there ain’t much left.

John R. Bomar
Arkadelphia, Arkansas

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday launched formal investigations into pay-for-play practices at four of the nation's largest radio corporations, the biggest federal inquiry into radio bribery since the congressional payola hearings of 1960.

Two FCC officials with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that the agency had requested documents from Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. over allegations that radio programmers had received cash, checks, clothing and other gifts in exchange for playing certain songs without revealing the deals to listeners, a violation of federal rules.

Plans for a tax increment financing district in Rogers may be over.

Two of five major street projects in Rogers' tax increment financing plan are funded and with little hope of implementing a successful district that won't be challenged in court, the city is likely to drop the idea and look for other financing for the remaining projects, Rogers Mayor Steve Womack said Wednesday.

Benton County Collector Greg Hoggatt would be pleased to hear that. Figuring out the distribution of tax collections for property within the district boundary is so complicated that he sent letters to property owners in the district to say their property tax statements will be late this year.

"We just don't have the information we need to know how the millage should be distributed," Hoggatt said. "It's been a little bit troublesome this year between that and all the annexations."

It's the Got Arkansas a Raise Victory Party, from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight at Sticky
Fingerz. Admission is $6.25, get it? Chicken wings are on the menu.

Dr. Albert Reece,

But UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor said that “on behalf of UAMS, since he’s come to the College of Medicine Dr. Reece has made such a difference … and I’m not surprised that somebody of his stature and track record would have opportunities at other places.”

Reece, an ob-gyn specialist in high-risk pregnancy who came to UAMS in 2002, is rumored to be in the running for dean of the college of medicine at UMMC. The Times is waiting to hear from UMMC on how short the list is.

UMMC Dean of the School of Medicine Donald E. Wilson announced last year he would retire Sept. 1. When Dr. Wilson took the helm at the School of Medicine in 1991, he became the nation’s first African-American dean at a predominantly white medical school. Today, the School of Medicine has one of the most diverse student bodies in the country and the number of African-American faculty members has doubled.

Sean Wilentz, the Princeton presidential historian, writes in Rolling Stone:

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

From time to time, after hours, I kick back with my colleagues at Princeton to argue idly about which president really was the worst of them all. For years, these perennial debates have largely focused on the same handful of chief executives whom national polls of historians, from across the ideological and political spectrum, routinely cite as the bottom of the presidential barrel. Was the lousiest James Buchanan, who, confronted with Southern secession in 1860, dithered to a degree that, as his most recent biographer has said, probably amounted to disloyalty -- and who handed to his successor, Abraham Lincoln, a nation already torn asunder? Was it Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, who actively sided with former Confederates and undermined Reconstruction? What about the amiably incompetent Warren G. Harding, whose administration was fabulously corrupt? Or, though he has his defenders, Herbert Hoover, who tried some reforms but remained imprisoned in his own outmoded individualist ethic and collapsed under the weight of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the Depression's onset? The younger historians always put in a word for Richard M. Nixon, the only American president forced to resign from office.

Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies." In fact, roughly one in ten of those who called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only contestant.

Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Khakis & Catfish Young Democrats Convention among festivities

LITLE ROCK – More than 1,000 Arkansas Democrats are expected to be in Little Rock this Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a host of events making up Democratic Weekend 2006.

Chief among the festivities is Saturday night’s traditional Jefferson-Jackson Dinner featuring keynote speaker, former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland and emcee Gen. Wesley Clark. Other activities include Friday evening’s Khakis & Catfish get-together on the Old Statehouse lawn and the three-day Young Democrats of Arkansas state convention which also begins Friday night.

The Young Democrats convention will also be the site of some other exciting events. Sen. Cleland and Gen. Clark will address the YD’s at the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial on the State Capitol grounds as part of a Democratic veterans rally at 4 p.m. Saturday. The convention will also host debates between Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidates at 11:15 a.m. and Attorney General candidates at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Arkansas Education Association building.

A few tickets remain for the debates and there is also some space left for a Saturday Bar-B-Q with Congressman Vic Snyder behind the DPA headquarters at 12:15 p.m. Tickets to the debate are free. It’s $10 to attend the Bar-B-Q. To attend either activity, please contact Jamie Oliver at convention@ydarkansas.org.

“This is truly an exciting time to be an Arkansas Democrat. Over the past year, the Party staff and I have worked diligently to make the Party more open, more inclusive and more responsive to the needs and suggestions of our members,” said Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Jason Willett. “It is truly a new day at the Party – a commitment to make the Democratic Party of Arkansas stronger than ever will only intensify in the coming months.

“Our priorities are clear. We will take back the Governor’s Mansion. We will regain the office of Lieutenant Governor. We will maintain our strength at the federal, state and county level.

“In roughly 200 days, Mike Beebe will be elected the next Governor of Arkansas and restore common sense values and a tireless fight for our state’s seniors and working families to that office.

“This weekend shows our commitment to the Democratic cause, our shared values and our candidates as they fight for the right to represent all Arkansans.”

Tickets to the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner are $100 each. Khakis & Catfish tickets are $25 apiece. Discounts are available to anyone who orders tickets to both events. Tickets are available at the DPA website, www.arkdems.org, or offsite, https://www.d4d.org/arjjdinner2006.htm, or by contacting Party Finance Director Katie Bodenhamer at (501) 374-2361 or at Katie@arkdems.org.

That's pretty disappointing, considering one of the best things about Greers Ferry Lake always has been its relative serenity. There are as many sailboats out there as motor boats, and there is not nearly as much noise or activity as on Lake Hamilton, for instance.

From the Sierra Club press release:

“Ocean powerboat racing is dangerous, noisy, and disruptive to the quiet enjoyment of Greers Ferry Lake,” said Chyenne Morning Star, spokesperson for The Committee for the Preservation of Greers Ferry Lake.  “What we’re talking about is allowing ocean powerboats to race on Greers Ferry at nearly 200 miles per hour.  I don’t live in this area to listen to the deafening noise of ocean powerboats, and neither do the nearly five hundred people who’ve signed our petition against allowing the races.”

In addition to ignoring the wishes of hundreds of local residents and their representatives, the Corps of Engineers has also flatly refused a request to conduct an Environmental Impact Study before granting the racing permit.  The negative environmental effects of ocean powerboat racing on the wildlife, shoreline, and water of Greers Ferry Lake is unknown.

Morningstar concluded by saying, “This permit was issued without respecting the wishes of local residents and with no study at all of the environmental impact to beautiful Greers Ferry Lake.  We urge the Corps of Engineers to rescind this permit, respect the wishes of local residents, and do their homework before risking our waterway.”

Huckabee is right on principle, but he's wrong if the only option now is to sustain his veto and end or put a big question mark on a worthy program.

Huckabee is right in griping that this is yet another federal program on which the state inherits the cost now that federal money has run out. He's right in saying it's better funded out of general revenue or the huge state surplus. (He's right in thinking, if he didn't say it, that legislators are greedy hogs who are rubbing hands with glee at the thought of filling Bigelow potholes in 2007 with that growing surplus.)

But he's wrong to suggest Higher Education scholarship funds, which will be used for interim support, are imperiled by the small appropriation. There's a healthy surplus there for a temporary source of money. Let it be spent, but the legislature shouldn't use funny money to perpetuate the program in 2007.

Just to show you the lengths we go to bring you the news, that's me with Drew Pritt at the Democratic Party's karaoke get-together at Sticky Fingerz last night.

It was a good turnout, with several office-holders (newly-elected House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson and Pulaski County Clerk Pat O'Brien) and candidates (attorney general hopeful Paul Suskie and Dist. 37 House candidate Jesse Gibson) in attendance.

Some of the conversation was predictably awkward, especially considering Pritt's action yesterday challenging Bill Halter's eligibility to run for lieutenant governor.

Songs ranged from Democratic Party chairman Jason Willett's rendition of "Suspicious Minds" (pretty good, actually) to Pritt's full-throated version of "When You're Good to Mama" from the musical "Chicago" (um, check please).

Everyone was in good spirits, though, and after sleeping off their hangovers I'm sure they'll be back to bashing each other's heads in through the May 23 primary.