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Friday, February 27, 2009 - 15:41:51
Nightbird Books - what were you thinking?
Last year I was sent a book from the Arkansas Free Press to review, Paul Lake’s “political fable ” Cry Wolf. I had high hopes when I began reading the novel, especially as it billed itself as “ . . . an Animal Farm for the 21st century: a brilliant allegory of the political challenges we face in post 9/11 America.”
A more detailed description is found on the website of Fayetteville’s Nightbird Books, where author Lake is a a guest this Saturday morning.
Paul Lake's Cry Wolf is a powerful tale about America's place in the world and a warning about the inherent dangers of unregulated immigration and identity politics. This narrative tells the story of the animals of Green Pastures Farm. The farm's balance and peace is irrevocably shaken when a wounded doe is allowed into the farm enclosure and is followed by an influx of other wild animals who threaten not only the farm's hard-earned winter food supply, but the very ideals on which Green Pastures Farm was founded.
http://www.localendar.com/public/nightbirdbooks
Though my review has not yet seen print, since the Free Press is on a publishing hiatus, I feel I have to say something today about Cry Wolf. It is powerful only in the sense that Paul Lake seems to enforce every cliche and fear that a society may have of The Others - those not a natural part of our group.
It is an indictment of diversity, and education, and common sense. As I was reading it, I felt it was a love song to nativism, and even to bigotry, in that the creatures from the outside are depicted as the most unappealing animals (foxes, skunks, possums) - except for the injured doe which first appears on the farm.
Considering the well-deserved reputation that Nightbird Books has for quality presentations in the community, would it be too much to ask that someone from Nightbird actually have read the book before booking this event?
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Cry Wolf has one thing going for it, though
My own novel, Freedom Run, has a cover which can most charitably be described as wretched. So the cover on Cry Wolf, by artist J.P. Targete, a particularly beautiful one, drew me in. Sad to say, once more, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
*****
Quote of the Day
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will have to deal with pain. - James Baldwin
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ERA: Let the Panic begin!
The Family Council has been making “robo-calls” and sending out emails, warning us all of the dangers to our society if the Arkansas legislature passes the ERA. Among their scare tactics, according to the email I got today:
1. The proposed Federal Equal Rights Amendment would make all state and federal laws gender neutral. Since laws could no longer be based on gender, Arkansas' law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman would be in serious jeopardy.
2. Restrictions on abortions would likely be ruled as discrimination against women, since they are the only ones who have abortions.
3. A Federal Equal Rights Amendment would be used to attack same-sex organizations like the Boy Scouts of America for "discrimination".
4. It would create issues regarding the drafting of women into the military and female soldiers serving in combat.
5. Insurance companies might not be able to set different rates for men and women.
6. Fraternities, sororities, and all-male or all-female schools would be in serious jeopardy.
Not to mention uni-sex bathrooms in our public schools! Well, they haven’t tried that one yet, but surely it’s only a matter of time.
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Best name for a bar - bar none
When I spent my freshman year at Penn State, it was at a satellite campus located in Throop, Pennsylvania. A few blocks from campus was a bar named, The Throop College of Beer Knowledge.
It being the 1970s, a side door was marked, “Co-Ed Entrance.”
Monday, February 23, 2009 - 10:43:26
Confrontation
It may be difficult for some, especially those who have recently moved to the New York City of the Ozarks, to understand that Fayetteville was once a city very much at war with itself. Pick an issue - ambulance companies, changing the form of city government, public access, park land, environmental protection, job protection for gay employees - - and you’d have citizens manning the barricades against what was often an unfriendly city government.
Fayetteville City Board (later City Council) and Washington County Quorum Court meetings were often loud, angry affairs. The old joke they used to tell about Club West and Dickson’s Street’s The Landing Strip was often applied to Fayetteville City Council meetings:
They would search you at the door for a gun or a knife; if you didn’t have one, they gave you one.
But the most contentious issue of all, and which some felt seemed to tie most issues together, was the infamous incinerator issue. Some may enjoy this glimpse at the past, when the issue was winding down. This is a also a chapter from "Ozark Mosaic."
Confrontation
Arkansas Supreme Court deals with Incinerator issue
Written by Richard S. Drake
The road to last week’s Arkansas Supreme Court decision dealing with Fayetteville's incinerator has been littered with lawsuits, both filed and threatened. Like an epic motion picture, which it has occasionally resembled, it seems to have featured a cast of thousands.
Wednesday, July 5, saw the latest skirmish in a verbal battle between Joe Robson, original plaintiff in the incinerator lawsuit, and members of Fayetteville’s City Council. Reading from a prepared statement, Robson challenged certain assumptions he felt the city council was holding concerning how to react to the Supreme Court’s judgement.
The 7-0 ruling declared the $2.02 monthly sanitation charge imposed on Fayetteville residents through their water bill to pay a bonded indebtedness by the Northwest Arkansas Resource Recovery Authority was an illegal exaction. They also ruled the original pact between Fayetteville and the Authority null and void.
The council voted to request a rehearing before the Supreme Court, though few observers see any chance for the court to reverse itself.
In addition to Fayetteville and the authority, other defendants were the city of West Fork, Washington County, Union National Bank, and the Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, based in Little Rock. An attorney from Financial Guaranty shared speaking time with Fayetteville attorney Kitty Gay during oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
Verbal Skirmishing
Initially reading from his prepared statement, Robson suggested that the city of Fayetteville was merely trying to “buy some time” with regards to the lawsuit. He also said, “Things were misstated all along. To some, 'a win' would mean paying the debts of another corporation." He also said that to continue “with this charade is a tragic waste of money.”
The court's decision came as welcome news to Fayetteville residents Katherine Barnhart and Robson, who have both served as plaintiffs in the case, which has stretched on since 1989, when Robson, then a Washington County Justice of the Peace, filed the lawsuit. Later, after it was declared a class-action suit, Katherine Barnhart was named as class representative. It has been at Barnhart's direction that the lawyers have taken over the last several years.
During the verbal sparring between Robson and the council, Barnhart sat quietly in the audience with her two attorneys. Neither she nor they chose to speak at any point during the proceedings.
The Northwest Arkansas Resource Recovery Authority, formed in 1982, can no longer count on Fayetteville residents to pay its debt. E. Kent Hirsch, one of Barnhart's attorneys, said that the ruling was a victory for Fayetteville residents. He claimed that residents of this city would save over fourteen million dollars as a result of the lawsuit. Around four million dollars has been collected since 1989, whet the sanitation fee went into effect. Several million dollars have been paid out in legal fees in that time.
Legal Fees Continue to Mount
However, both Walter Niblock and Kitty Gay, who have been handling the city's legal work in this matter for several. years, declined to work for free, when asked point blank by Alderman Woody Bassett Wednesday night. He said that he was merely trying to find a way to stop some of the mounting expenditures. As result, he wanted City Attorney Jerry Rose to handle the rehearing petition.
Gay told Bassett that she had charged the city a flat rate of one hundred dollars an hour, which she said was lower than her usual fee. She also said that she has never considered raising her fee.
In the matter of fees, Hirsch has also indicated last week that he and co-counsel Dale Evans would ask for “reasonable attorney fees.” Attorneys who had previously separated from the case, Gordon Cummings and Larry Froelich, would also be in line for remuneration.
In a city that has seen Springdale attorney John Lisle awarded $2.76 million in attorney fees for his work in a case that returned one million dollars to taxpayers as a result of a 1992 sales tax case, this is not particularly welcome news, coupled with the fact that Fayetteville, like so many other cities, is also in danger of losing a substantial amount of money from the county sales tax.
It is also possible that third-party claims may be filed against A.G. Edwards, the Wright, Lindsey and Jennings law firm, the Rose law firm, and former Fayetteville City Attorney Jim McCord. Fayetteville’s city council may face the prospect of pursuing legal action against those with whom it was once in partnership.
And, of course, Financial Guaranty may decide to sue the city for lost funds.
Third-Party Lawsuits a Possibility
Rose indicated that he had never seen any evidence of bad faith on anyone’s part since he first became involved with the case as city attorney in 1989.
Alderman Stephen Miller said that, “Very bad advice was given by people who should have known better. There has to be some satisfaction from the people who sold us down the river.”
Suggesting that the bad advice constituted “legal malpractice,” Robson admonished the city not to go after the taxpayers.
He complained that he had never been a part of any official discussion concerning just what the city should do regarding legal strategy. He said that he thought he should be a participant in such discussions.
He also reiterated a point he had made in previous arguments before the council, that certain aldermen should not even broach any opinions concerning third party lawsuits, an apparent reference to Woody Bassett, whose sister's law firm (Wright, Lindsey and Jennings) may be named a defendant, should such an occasion arise.
After making the point several times, Bassett responded, asking Robson if he were speaking about him. Robson countered by quoting from the “Rules of Order and Procedure - Mayor/City Council,” which are the rules under which aldermen must conduct themselves.
Under the heading of “Personal Interest,” is the following:
“No member of the City Council with a direct or indirect financial or personal interest in any item before the City Council shall participate in the discussion of voting on such matter.”
Finally, saying that he needed to "clear this up," Bassett said his position was, “Unless the decision is changed by the Supreme Court, it is clear that potential third parties should be sued.”
In clear rebuttal to Robson' s reading from the procedural rules, Bassett said; “I intend to stay involved in this discussion as long as I’m up here.” He also said, “We're going to get through this,” and that Fayetteville would be stronger for having done so.
The council voted to have city attorney Rose pursue the rehearing request.
Ozark Gazette - July 10, 1995
Sunday, February 22, 2009 - 11:29:34
Employee Free Choice Act: George? Is anyone home?
November, 1972: I - along with about 400 other people in the country - voted for Democratic candidate George McGovern for president. It was a pretty easy choice. McGovern versus the Anti-Christ of American politics, Richard Nixon.
Sadly, a lot of other voters didn’t feel the same way I did. Nevertheless, I was proud to vote for McGovern, and have been proud to this very day. Until recently, that is.
A lot of conservatives adore McGovern at the moment, even the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which voted to award him the the “Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/18/mcgovern-cpac/
Sadly, he has announced that due to other commitments, he will unable to attend their gathering in person to accept the award.
Why the adoration on the part of the Right? Well, of late McGovern has been the tool of those who are terrified of the Employee Free Choice Act. In a series of Op Eds and TV commercials, he has been attacking the Employee Free Choice Act, helping to spread the canard that the act will ban “secret ballots.”
As Rick Perlstein wrote in October of last year, in “George McGovern Continues to Sell Out Labor”:
. . . Govern's claim - that the Employee Free Choice Act takes away "secret ballots" for union elections - is not true. The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers the choice to form a union, taking away businesses' veto power on the matter. Basically, once 50% +1 of workers in a workplace say they want a union, they get their union if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. But today, even if 100% of workers want a union, the employer can veto it. Rick Perlstein explains the situation well, via economist Dean Baker:
"The only change with the Employee Free Choice Act is whether card check recognition is at the discretion of the employer of the worker. In other words, it changes absolutely ZERO about whether the right of workers to organize is determined by secret ballot or not. The only thing it changes is who gets to decide the manner of certification, workers or employers."
Why is it a good thing if it's easier for workers to form unions? Take a look around. Do you think it's any surprise that the worst economic crisis in decades comes when the fewest workers are organized in unions?
When workers are able to form or join a union, workplaces across the country are more fair, giving people the chance to earn better wages and benefits - and protecting against excesses like we're seeing in corporate America today.
Look at what kind of a difference unions make:
* Union members earn 30% more than non-union workers.
* Workers in unions are 59% more likely be covered by employer-provided health insurance.
* A large union presence in an industry or region can raise wages even for non-union workers.
* Patients suffering heart attacks have a 5.5% greater chance of survival if their nurses are union members . . .
I put the above paragraphs in bold about the truth concerning the Employee Free Choice Act because it just can’t be said too many times. One can say that McGovern is out of touch, but we are also all aware, I think, that his relations with organized labor in 1972 were not all that firm.
Even so, for one of the lights of the Democratic party, one of the reasons that so may became active in the politics in the first place, to virtually betray the people who have long respected him, is more than a a little hard to swallow. Damn it, he gave us reasons to believe that it didn’t have to be business as usual.
And here is now, telling us that business as usual isn’t such a bad thing, after all.
The best comment I found online was posted by “Hugh,” who wrote:
I have to agree with George McGovern. What have unions ever given workers in this country besides higher wages, better working conditions, healthcare, and in the past job protection and pensions? It about time that workers were freed from these pernicious influences. Go, George, go. The 19th century probably looks good when you are in your dotage.
Oh, George . . .
******
Quote of the Day
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. - Abraham Lincoln
*****
On the Air with Dylan Ferrell
Dylan Ferrell, host of the popular political/social commentary C.A.T. program “WTF,” will be my guest next week on “On the Air with Richard S. Drake.”
Ferrell will give his views on such subjects as global warming, gay foster parenting, Sarah Palin, and those he sees as the best and worst Arkansas legislators - among many other topics of interest.
The program also includes excerpts from “WTF,” which has a large viewership.
Show days and times
Monday - Feb. 23 (7pm)
Tuesday - Feb. 24 (noon)
Saturday - Feb. 28 (6pm)
C.A.T. is shown on Channel 18 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville.
Those outside the Fayetteville viewing area can see the program online at: www.catfayetteville.org/
Programs online are shown in “real time,” meaning that they are shown at the same time as they are shown on C.A.T.
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The First Fayetteville Goddess Festival: Goddesses, Angels, and Amazons
The Festival will begin on Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 5:00pm with an exciting Artist and
Art Show Reception, where the artwork of numerous artists, all reflecting powerful female images can be seen.
Like the Festival itself, the artworks show a true range of diversity in style and expression. Goddess, Angel, or Amazon, their common thread is their personal interpretation and portrayal of the 'Divine Feminine'.
Refreshments will be served.
The art gallery showing is free and open to the public and will hang during the entire month of March.
The month long Festival includes many special events, concerts and workshops, and is being held in
Ultra Studios, 118 W. South Street (corner Archibald Yell Blvd).
All are invited to stay after the reception for the Opening Ritual beginning at 7:00pm where you can join in a celebration of the spirit, energy, and magic that brought forth the First Fayetteville Goddess Festival: Goddesses, Angels, and Amazons.
Meet the Producers (Diana Rivers and Vickie Kelley) and the women who comprise the Producers' Circle, and representatives of OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology, who are the sponsors of the Festival.
The Opening Ritual, with focus on 3 words: invocation, dedication, and celebration, will include a staged reading of "Sisters Let Us Remember" and "Time to Bring the Goddess Home Again".
Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 15:57:49
Lisa Martinovic: Fare Thee Well, Brenda
Lisa Martinovic has written a beautiful tribute to Brenda Moossy, which she has given kind permission to reprint here. What follows in an excerpt; the remainder can be found at Lisa’s website, given below.
All the poems and excerpts in this piece were written by Brenda Moossy.
“What if……
I stare at the heavens and the sky cracks wide?”
Angels could slip through in the blinding.
Stars rip from the firmament
form letters words prophecies of light
No matter
No matter
I will watch for the miracles to fall.
I want to see the stars, Mister.
I got to see the stars.
from "What I Said to the Man Installing the Hot Tub"
Those are the words, the inimitable poetic voice, of Brenda Moossy: poet, slammer, mother, nurse, extraordinary soul, and beloved friend.
There will be no more poems from Brenda. She's gone on to dazzle the heavens. For the earthbound, she left a body of work that deserves to be treasured for as long as people treasure poetry.
Brenda Joyce Moossy was born on January 21, 1949, in the small east Texas bayou town of Gladewater. She was the youngest child and only daughter of Lebanese immigrants who raised her up to be a good Catholic girl. Instead, Brenda harvested her strange and fertile roots to create poetry of stunning power and originality: she became a conjure woman of her own making.
In my prime,
I could make a creek run backwards.
I could steal food from out a buzzard’s beak
an’’ if my skin turned silver enough,
I could even fly.
I could stalk a winter sun thru naked forests,
screeching the song of the peregrine.
My legs were strong of bone.
My toes would splay flat on cold, wet ground
leaf and mud would cling
to my feet like fussy babies.
from "Legend"
Like many of us who came of age in the 50s and 60s, Brenda fled home as soon as she could chart her escape route. It was 1967, the fall after the Summer of Love, when Brenda lit out for Austin to attend the University of Texas. Freed from the expectations she was born to, she thrilled to the social liberation and political tumult of the times, discovered feminism and drugs, became a hippie. Brenda took a certain pride in telling people that she flunked out three times——because “the streets were far more interesting than the classrooms.”
The adventure migrated to rural Arkansas where Brenda and a group of friends formed the Blunderosa Commune and attempted to live off the land. They lasted about five months.
“We didn’t have a clue as to what we were doing,” said Brenda about this chapter of her life. The locals would drive up to the commune fence just for the entertainment of watching the hippies bungle their daily activities. Thus humbled, the hippies moved back to town.
Brenda settled in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and resumed her formal education at the University of Arkansas, intent on becoming a doctor. When pregnancy intervened, Brenda accelerated her studies to graduate with a degree in nursing and life as a single mom.
Her son, Peter, has always been the precious centerpoint of her life. Those of us who knew them both could always feel the immense love and respect between them. Peter is now married to Jennifer Price, and the father of Jacob, 4, and Eli, 1. The grandchildren that Brenda adored, and with whom she had so little time, called her Sittie, an Arabic term of endearment for grandmother.
To read more:
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 11:50:12
Red Dirt? Take that, city slickers!
It’s not hard to imagine that somewhere in his prison cell, Wayne Fincher is smiling this morning.
A few years ago, the self-styled “Lt. Commander” of the Washington County Militia was on my show, and just couldn’t seem to stop talking about “red dirt” - as if the battle over this fabled substance would be the final, glorious battle between atheistic socialists and Christian property rights activists.
Today we see the article in the Northwest Arkansas Times (“Neighbors decry noise, effects of blasting at Big Red Dirt Farm”) telling of how folks in Fayetteville are tired of the late night blasting at the Big Red Dirt Farm, located just off Hamstring Road, near Wedington Drive.
http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/74075/
My favorite part of the story:
The issue dates back to 2004, when about 50 acres were purchased by the William G. Sweetser Trust and A. Brad Johnson, who began farming the land for its rich, red dirt. Soon, the company decided to harvest the pillars of limestone that ran up through the dirt. Bolen said that was when his headaches started.
"They decided to fire up a rock crusher at 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday night," Bolen told Lucas and Lewis.
Washington County got involved when Bolen contacted his local justice of the peace who set up a meeting with Bolen and the site's owners. Bolen said the noise stopped for a little while, but picked up again and with greater force.
It’s not my favorite because of the obvious abuse that Bolen and others are experiencing; it’s my favorite because people have forgotten what insensitive louts those who claim property rights Über Alles can be.
It sort of takes us back to the bad old days of the 990s, when talk radio and the and the radical property rights group Take Back Arkansas terrorized public officials.
Even though Comrade Fincher is otherwise occupied at the moment, you can bet that his friends on the lunatic fringe of the property rights movement in Washington County - and there are a whole bunch of ‘em - are just looking forward to this fight.
******
Quote of the Day
Goldfinger said, "Mr. Bond, we have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.'" - Ian Fleming, "Goldfinger"
*****
Got way too many books?
I never thought I'd have too many books, but the older I get, I find myself with too much of almost everything. It's just how life is. An excellent way to spread the joy of reading is to make a donation of books you are not likely to read again is to libraries in your area. Small libraries especially need the books - or the money they will make by putting your donations in their used book stores. These bookstores are often wonderful places to find books.
The best such bookstore in Northwest Arkansas is in Winslow; their used book store is itself practically the size of a small library.
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Well, if you really want to improve Fayetteville Public Library
“Library brainstorms ways to improve” proclaims the headline on page two of the NWA Times this morning. Well, as much as I love the Fayetteville library, I have to add my voice to the many out there who have been asking for the return of the magazine exchange table/rack.
They have one at Farmington.
They have one at West Fork.
They have one at Winslow.
They have one at Elkins.
Come on, Fayetteville, are you gonna let these guys offer a service you won’t even consider? What is the big deal here?
Sunday, February 15, 2009 - 09:53:40
Program Schedule? We don't need your stinking program schedule!
After long years of providing a public service of publishing the weekly schedules of Community Access Television, Fayetteville Government Channel and Jones TV, this week the Northwest Arkansas Times informed them all that they would no longer be running them.
The NWA Times intends to use the space for ads.
Today’s edition features a small box, telling readers where they can go online to find the schedules. I know many who clipped the various schedules out of the papers, marking which programs they wanted to watch that week.
I think that many of us are mindful of the fact that many poorer households still don’t have a computer in their homes, hence the popularity of the computers in public libraries.
This was one of those small, unheralded services to the community that the Times never received enough credit for. They don’t deserve much credit for unceremoniously yanking them out.
******
Quote of the Day
Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own. - Doug Larson
*****
Stop the Presses! KNWA Anchors Compete for Ted Baxter Award
The day before Valentine’s Day two anchors on KNWA actually interrupted their news broadcast to “interview” someone from a local pizza service, which was having a special on heart-shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day.
Forgive me my bad joke, but this was even cheesier than when they used to give over part of their program to the publisher from Celebrate magazine, so that she could essentially do a promo for her publication.
Prostituting the news. Edward R. Murrow would be so proud . . .
****
2007 AT&T forum - the Promise and the Reality?
In early 2007, Fayetteville held a public forum dealing with the proposed contract with AT&T. The forum, which was put together by the Telecomm Board, featured representatives from AT&T, local government, the Telecomm Board, and members of the community.
Many members of the community were contacted for input, when putting together questions for the forum.
Now, when many members of the public seem concerned about AT&T's u-verse - particularly as it relates to PEG programming - it may be time to revisit that forum, and hear the concerns raised by the public, and the responses and reassurances given by those from AT&T.
The forum will be replayed on Community Access Television on Sunday (9:30pm), and Friday (7:30pm).
C.A.T. is shown on Channel 18 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville.
Those outside the Fayetteville viewing area can see the program online at: www.catfayetteville.org/
Programs shown on the website are seen at the same time as they are shown on C.A.T.
Friday, February 13, 2009 - 14:05:29
Creation Science/Intelligent Design Propaganda in Rogers High School?
Darrel Henschell of the Fayetteville Freethinkers reports that:
A senior high student at Roger's High School has reported on our Fayetteville Freethinker board that a biology teacher has had the class watch Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."
And no, it wasn't an exercise in discerning what propaganda looks like.
The student observes:
"He [the teacher] denies any evidence of fossils between reptiles and birds (even after I handed him an article discussing several) and probably all other fossils. The man claims that apparently the only eight* ancestors of men's fossils have been disproven, or something like that. He also made the argument from authority, "I can't believe you're arguing with a biology teacher about this."
For more about the Fayetteville Free Thinkers:
http://fayfreethinkers.com/forums
******
Quote of the Day
"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican." --H.L. Mencken
No Sick Days for You!
Christian Reconstructionism conference set in Rogers
Losing Brenda Moossy
Cuba: Surviving the Blockade
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