Name Change

At lunch time I sat down to read the Northwest Arkansas Times article about the candidates for District 89, Gene Long and Jim House. As I was ending the first column I noticed that Jim was now running against some one named Baker. Who the hell is Baker? I continued reading and the article kept on mentioning this dude Baker. Ok, the options are: 1) Gene Long has changed his name to Gene Baker 2) this dude Baker iced Long and is taking over his life or 3) the writer and editor were up drinking all night. At least the on-line article is correct.

Fayetteville Frisco Trail, Hoover Memorial

I didn't get a chance to go to the dedication early this afternoon. I stopped by after work to see it and take Casey out for a walk. What a beautiful day! The Monument is just off of Center street. The Fayetteville Arts Council and Parks and Recreation picked a perfect spot for it. It really fits quite well with the rest of its surroundings and doesn't interfere with the natural areas along the trail. The piece is titled "City Fragments". The Monument is in place to honor the Hoover family who were tragically killed in an accident last year. The estate of the Hoover Family donated a piece of Steve Hoover's artwork. They refurbished and powder coated the piece back to its original orange color.

Help the Fayetteville Library

The Fayetteville Library is facing some budgetary uncertainly because the decline in the stock market has affected the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation. The library may have to ax programs due to cuts in funding from the Foundation. The library was set to ask the Fayetteville City Council for additional funding for an increase in operating hours and more materials. With a difficult economy people have been utilizing the library more frequently. However, there is an opportunity to help the library.

The Friends of the Fayetteville Public Library will host the Annual Silent Auction from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. The group is currently asking residents to donate new and gently used items for the sale. Items being accepted include jewelry, household items, electronics, artwork and furniture.

All right, I know we all have something that we can donate to the library. It'll be a good time to do some cleaning out of your closets, decluttering the coffee table or reducing the number of nick-knacks.

Washington County, Vote at Rodeo Grounds

The closure of the Washington County courthouse parking deck may be an inconvience some early voters may ignore. It certainly can be an adventure riding the Ozark Regional Transit shuttle from the parking deck at Central United Methodit Church. For those of us who really don't want the hassle of finding a parking spot or riding the shuttle there is another option. You can vote early at the Rodeo Grounds Community Center in Springdale. The hours are Noon till 6 PM Mon -Fri this week and next. You can also vote there this this Sat and next (Nov 1) from 10 Am till 2 PM. There is plenty of parking available.

A New Word for Racism

I wonder what history book Lewis Diuguid has been reading. He probably got a hold of one of those alternative history books. Where else could he get such a dim-witted idea that socialism is a code word for being black? Nope, I checked the dictionary and it still says its code for someone who believes in wealth redistribution and total government control. It doesn’t say anything about some one who dares to contradict, challenge or quantify Obama, the One and only Messiah.

Biden Doubts Obama's Ability to Lead

Biden’s gaff stumbles into the truth. Obama’s inexperience and his stated preference to talking rather than action are going to invite some country to initiate an international crisis. It appears that Biden even doubts that Obama and any of his advisers will respond to the crisis that would arouse any confidence in his ability to lead.

"And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

We already know that Obama is soft on terrorism and that he’s going to abandon Iraq. You can bet that we’re going to have more killings of Americans if not another attack in America. Iran will get the nukes it wants because Obama’s lips will be to busy flapping to act on Iran. Israel would lose the support of America and will be facing Iran on its own. How about we select a leader that no country or organization is going to mess with. Why don’t we have a President in office that’s not going to abandon our friends and will protect us from our enemies? Why don’t we elect a President who has character, guts, courage and loyalty? How about we elect John McCain for President and not worry about an international crisis.

Craft Fairs, War Eagle and Bella Vista

I took time this week to go to a couple of fairs. What a beautiful day! The weather was perfect, cool and sunny. War Eagle was as crowded as ever. I also hit the Bella Vista fair. This one is very similar to what the Applegate Fair was like. I am not going to go 100 miles to go to it's new location at Mulberry Mountain, especially since there are so many fairs closer to home.

I stopped by Lori Ellyn's pottery booth. I like her work and I have several pieces of her work. Unfortunately, she had a large platter that looked exactly like Eli so I had to get it. She had a new line of pots that looked cute, but I had already spent too much money.

There were a few new items this year. A lot of the time you start seeing the same old things and you wonder if it's worth it to keep coming to the fairs. The one thing I didn't see were primitive Christmas ornaments. I decorate my Christmas tree with them and I usually am able to purchase several. I may have to go to the Christmas fairs to pick some more up for my collection. Shopping was successful. I stayed on budget and purchased most of my Christmas presents.

Grand Opening, Scull Creek Trail

Bikes, bikes everywhere and bikes of every type. While there were some walkers who showed up for the opening it definitely was a day for the bikers. There were a few more exotic bikes and a couple of homemade bikes. One of the homemade ones was an adapted water paddle boat. People were talking about the ability to bike to shops and restaurants. They were showing off their bike baskets and bags to store their shopping purchases. Wade Colwell was really pleased at the turnout and kept saying "Wow".

They were serving up hot dogs, vegi hamburgers, cookies and drinks for several hours with live music in the background. The Beaver Water District handed out free water bottles, which I really needed because I forgot to bring mine. Dot brought some really delicious red/white and blue cookies. Mmmmmm!

Mayor Coody and Matt Mihalevich drew the names to win the "trail" prizes. Dang! I didn't win anything. The City construction crew did a really great job in getting the trail completed for the Grand Opening. The Fulbright Tunnel was free of water and gravel and it was lit. They solved the seepage problem by carving gutters on the side. I hope it works when there is heavy rain. Judging by the number of people on the trail I'd say that the event was wildly successful. Matt and the construction crew have done an absolutely wonderful job!

The Staycation

I am on vacation this week. With money being tight this year I'm taking the opportunity to repair the rock wall and brick patio I put in over ten years ago. I didn't know what I was doing when I first put up the rock wall so the rocks were falling down. Also, the truckloads of dirt I put in had settled down so it needed to be re-leveled. When I saw the rocks I had originally put up, I can't believe I did such a bad job of it. Oh well, live and learn. Before I started putting the dirt back in, the supervisors, (Eli, Bows and Toby) inspected my handiwork.

I've been using more appropriate rocks this time and putting in gravel and rocks behind the wall to re-enforce it. I even put down a concrete bed on the one corner to help stabilize it. Toby has been a real pain in the butt while I've been working. He's either been chasing all the bugs I've disturbed or running up the hills of dirt or along the trench. I've had to keep checking where he was before I threw in some dirt or gravel. Oh, the life of a kitten!

More cats at Friday Ark

From Joe the Plummer

Interview Excerpts

You start giving people stuff, and then they start expecting it – and that scares me. A lot of people expect it now. They get upset when their check’s late, they get upset when they don’t get as many benefits as they used to, or when different government agencies are cut or spending is cut here and there for whatever reason – people get upset at that. And that’s because they’re used to getting it and they want more. I mean, everyone’s always gonna want more. People work the system left and right to get more out of welfare, to get more out of state assistance, federal assistance. And if government’s there for them, they’re gonna keep on trying to manipulate it to get more out of it. You got people that come along and say, “Hey, I wanna help you people,” I mean, they’re all ears! They’re like, “Hey, you can help me more, I don’t have to work as hard, I don’t have to do as much, and you’re gonna give me this?

Oh, gee! He's describing the people in the Democrat party.

There’s a lot of things I wish McCain would say. As far as this, yes, I would like him to speak. Not so much about small businesses, but just people in general that make this money. It’s not up to them to help America, I mean – let me rephrase that. It’s not – they shouldn’t be taxed more because they’ve succeeded. That’s envy and jealousy. Get off your butt and go work. Don’t sit there and expect the government to give it to you.

Democrat's class warfare. You need to punish those who succeed and take their money away and give it to those the Democrats deem more worthy to receive it.

The GOP and Squirrels?

From their blog.

Welcome! We are a group of concerned squirrels traveling around the country in an effort to highlight Barack Obama’s relationship with ACORN, a group that is being investigated for wide-scale voter fraud.

The Internet, Good for Your Brain

Thank God!

For middle-aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests. A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulated centres in the brain that controlled decision-making and complex reasoning.

It's certainly good news considering the amount of time I spend reading on the Internet.

Wall Street Ow!

Here we go again, down! What a roller coaster!

Retail sales fell sharply in September as consumers shunned department stores, auto showrooms and shopping malls, ratcheting back spending for a third consecutive month. Economic activity slowed across the country,

Well, we knew that was going to happen. People have been spending much more on gas, so of course we're spending less on other things. I was balancing my checking account this weekend and boy was it easy to do. Not that many checks and ATM withdraws to clear. I have definitely been spending less. It's strange that the Dow went down so much on the news that we're spending less. It's not a surprise.

Reveal Obama's Character, You're a Racist

From Melanie Phillips

You have to pinch yourself - a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters, is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. And apparently it's considered impolite to say so.

No! You are a racist! A flaming racist!

Judge Hunton, Tossing in Eminent Domain

Why? Why would you purchase a building knowing that the parking that's needed hasn't been found yet? Judge Hunton is going to end his career as a county judge on a dumb-ass decision of using eminent domain to get parking. Judge Hunton wants to destroy homes and businesses for a stupid parking lot? I'm sure the city of Fayetteville is going to be happy to lose the taxes they've been getting from those properties. It's just too bad that the Quorum Court did not plan out the parking before they bought the Terminella Building. Interestingly, Judge Hunton's plan may cause trouble for his son, Earl Hunton, who is running against Mark Martin for State Representative. Eminent Domain is extremely unpopular with voters, so Earl will have to distance himself from his father on this issue. It's possible Mark can make an issue of it. You know, "like father, like son". It must make interesting talk around the Hunton family dinner table.

Wall Street Wow!

Holy Cow! What a week! Boy, there are a lot of people who are sorry they sold their stocks last week. I was wondering why the stock market was diving last week. I was told that many people were panicking and selling off. Many mutual funds were selling their holdings to pay the people who wanted out. Today,I bet many people saw that there were many companies who stock is now undervalued and snatched it up. I sure hope that whoever is managing my funds were smart enough to do the same. LGF reminds people of the message from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Obama, Spread the Wealth Around

A plumber confronted Obama in an Ohio neighborhood, this weekend. The man asked Obama, "Why do want to raise my taxes? My business makes more than 250k a year." Obama told him he needed to "spread" the wealth to those who don't have what he has. Yeah, that guy probably worked his butt off and made a lot of sacrifices to own his own business. The Three Amigos; Obama, Reed, and Pelosi, will take it away from him to give it to some one who refused to work hard to be successful. It's against all the values America stands for. This is socialism, pure and simple.

Scull Creek Trail, Getting Ready

Today a few volunteers joined Matt Mihalevich on a tour of Scull Creek Trail. These will be the volunteers who will be leading guided tours of the trail. Yeah, yeah they are all riding bikes but there will be people doing guided walking tours. The grand opening is Oct. 18th starting at 11:00 AM. There will be food, music and a drawings for prizes. You just have to come to officially open up Fayetteville's most significant trail! See the flyer and map for parking directions.

One of the highlights of the trail will be the Fulbright Tunnel. You can go through it now but it still needs some work. There is a problem with water seepage, which at this point can't be solved but will be managed. Matt is pointing out where the troll likes to hide and scare people. OK, OK, there really isn't a troll that lives there. The tunnel does have great acoustics and there is a spooky feeling walking under the freeway.

Grand Opening Flyer and Map

Computer Lessons

This is not good for me. Eli has been teaching Toby the kitten the finer points of distrupting my ability to work at the computer.

More cats at Friday Ark

What Voter Fraud?

ACORN is doing an absolutely wonderful job! Indianapolis has registered 105% of it's population to vote. Absolutely amazing!

Investigate and Prosecute Barney Frank and Chris Dodd

Hit em and Hit em hard, John! We demand that justice be done!
via Breitbart TV.

"The fact is that the same people claiming credit for this rescue are the same ones that were willing co-conspirators in causing this problem that it is. And you know their names. And you will know more of their names. Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd are two of them."

Whores for Obama

CBS News' Dean Reynolds had better hope that he doesn't get re-assigned back to the Obama plane.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.
The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

Dean figures that the Obama campaign is just to busy to focus on mundane thinks like reporters. Dean, the truth is, you and your fellow reporters are whores from the street. Obama has bought you. You are going to do what ever he says and put up with everything he does. He bought you really cheap, so he's going to treat you like the cheap sluts you are. McCain is treating you with respect even though he knows that you've been slutting for Obama. He's like those mission people trying to get you to clean up, get off the street and respect yourself.

Potecting Criminals

Government stupidity in action.

A gardener who fenced off his allotment with barbed wire after being targeted by thieves has been ordered to take it down – in case intruders scratch themselves.

Mr Malcolm's plight comes just weeks after Bristol council angered allotment holders by urging them not to lock their sheds in case burglars damaged them breaking in.

Would this same policy apply to prisons too?

Committ Suicide, Vote Obama

I don't understand this. The thought is that Democrats are better at economics and that is the reason why Obama is gaining in the polls. However, Obama's tax and redistribute policies will not resurrect jobs, wages, or the price of stocks in American retirement accounts. Ordinary Americans who have to earn their livings outside the ivory towers of Wall Street will be not much better off two years from now. In fact, Obama's policies may make economic conditions worse. It's even odder that people would vote for Democrats whose socialist policy in regards to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac caused the current economic disaster. Why would people let Democrats have even more control to do further damage? Why give them the chance to really screw up Social Security, Medicare and health care? Are Americans an a suicidal binge?

Criticize the Democrats, You're Racist

"Let's be honest." If Barney Frank had a shred of integrity, he would resign. No, instead he utters the most contemptible of dodges.

"They get to take things out on poor people," Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people."

Gee, you're racist if you criticize Obama, you're racist if you criticize Democrats and you're particularly racist for calling out the Democrats for pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying bad loans. What was racist was the legislation that allowed this to occur. People like Frank and his ilk were the racists. The poor were promised home ownership which was yanked away when they were lied to about being able to afford it.

McCain, Unveiling the Real Obama

It's about time McCain started discussing the hidden Obama. You know, the one the MSM has been trying to hide from the American public. He's doing a good job of it and I hope he continues it in the debate.

This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it was only a matter of time before a contagion of unsustainable debt began to spread. This corruption was encouraged by Democrats in Congress, and abetted by Senator Obama.
Senator Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed. But the truth is I was the one who called at the time for tighter restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place.
Senator Obama was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. As recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, "a good idea." Well, Senator Obama, that "good idea" has now plunged this country into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
To hear him talk now, you'd think he'd always opposed the dangerous practices at these institutions. But there is absolutely nothing in his record to suggest he did. He was surely familiar with the people who were creating this problem. The executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have advised him, and he has taken their money for his campaign.
He has received more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other senator in history, with the exception of the chairman of the committee overseeing them.

If McCain really wants to win the White House, he needs to come out swinging like this EVERY, SINGLE, DAY. Just ignore the whining from Obama about how mean the Republicans are being to him. And racist! Gee, I mustn't forget the racism!

The War of the Water Bottles

Earlier this year Mayor Coody declared war on bottled water. He joined the national movement to reduce the consumption of bottled water because they were filling up the landfills. He said he was not going to purchase bottled water with public funds. Of course, I poked a little fun of his joining the kool-aid crowd. If Mayor Coody believes that the lowly water bottle is evil, why he is excited about not just one, but two bottling companies who are considering moving into Fayetteville?

Bruarfoss exports bottled water and small, medium and large bulk water from Iceland's most pristine water sources, according to its Web site. The company sells water that melts from the glaciers in Iceland and is hoping to become a supplier for Wal-Mart, he said.
On Friday, the Fayetteville Economic Development Council and Global Java announced another water company, this one from Sweden, is also considering a move to Fayetteville.

I wonder what changed his mind about those bottles? Oh, wait a moment, he's up for re-election and the one of the biggest issues for Fayetteville is economic development. I guess when there's a choice between going green and economic development, green loses. Bless his little global warming heart.
I did get a little bit “holier than thou”, because I said that I filtered my water instead of buying those bottles. Apparently I’m not as green as I thought I was.

But some of those spots are being lampooned by people who point out that water filters cannot be recycled, at least in the United States. "In order to give up bottled water, you have to switch to another plastic product that’s not recyclable," said Beth Terry of Oakland, Calif., who has started an online campaign to try to persuade Clorox, the company that owns Brita, to start recycling the filters.

Dang, I so enjoyed that moment!

Thoughts on the VP Debate

I must admit that I was anxious about Sarah Palin's performance at the debate Thursday night. I should have known. Sarah did remarkably well. She was definitely more personable than Biden. There were times it appeared she struggle a bit and appeared to be vague. I guess that just comes from not have any national experience. Yet, she held her own for some one that didn't have Biden's Washington experience. I must say her "doggone it" and her winks just endeared her to me. I liked her line "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again." I think she needs to keep reminding people that Obama and Biden seem to be running against President Bush.
Biden was doing well for awhile then he started throwing alot of bunk on foreign policy. I wish Sarah had the foreign policy experience to call him out on it. As the debate went on Biden's performance started to get disturbing. He was throwing around a lot of statements that just sounded like a lot of bull shit. Several statements I knew absolutely were wrong. I knew Obama had said he'd sit down unconditionally with M A of Iran, that McCain voted for troop funding(sans timeline), that $42,000 tax raise Obama voted for, and Biden's own stated opposition to clean coal. I must say, he showed himself to be an exceptionally liar. He made stuff up with great passion and conviction you would believe him if you didn't know better. Of course, people kept track of those whoppers. I think he showed that he knew he lost the debate when he started flinging his bull shit. I guess Biden's gravitas is derived from his ability to lie so well.

Nations Fear Russia More Than Global Warming

Russia's invasion of Georgia has caused a six nation bloc to sign a pact to fight a proposal designed to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

While Poland currently relies on its domestic coal reserves to meet 90 per cent of its energy needs, other countries in the block fear they will be trapped in permanent dependence on the Kremlin. "We are dependent on Russia for 97 per cent of our gas and more than 90 per cent of our petrol," said Jan Skoda, Slovakia's foreign ministry spokesman. "We're caught with a double-edged sword. We are concerned that dependence of any kind is not good for our or anybody's strategic interests."

These countries realize that giving up the ability to produce affordable energy exposes them to the Moscow's tyranny. Lord knows what Moscow would do to these nations if their stranglehold on the European energy market intensifies. Russia is finding they don't need nuclear warheads to threaten nations. They just have to manipulate their energy supply. What's more important? Fighting global warming or retaining the security of your nation?

Trek For Trig

I stopped in on the Trek for Trig fundraiser at the Fayetteville High School. They were having a couple of people walk the track while they were taking donations and selling T-Shirts. The T-Shirts were really nice but I didn't get one. I way too many T-Shirts as it is. I did leave a nice donation to make up for it. It was a very pleasant day to walk the track. It was cloudy so it wasn't that hot walking the track. There was a football game in progress while people walked, so they were able to tap the game attendees for donations too.

Fayetteville, Do Adults or Children Run The City?

Children, if you don't stop fighting and play nice I'll take away the toys and you can stand in the corner. Bobby sounds like a child who's going to hold his breath until he gets his way. OK, OK, I know it's just politics but it just appears childish. With this being an election year the Mayor and the City Council are not going to pass a budget before election day. They'll hold meetings and snipe at each other but they'll not do anything because it looks like they are going to be raising property taxes this year. Those running for office aren't going to have a tax hike hung around their neck.

You Can Get Credit Too Easily

I had an interesting conversation today at work. I explained that I had been to the BBB and I was wishing I could get a motorcycle. My co-worker asked why I didn't, to which I said I bought what I could afford. My co-worker thought I was nuts and that I could just go to the dealer and get credit. The dealer would be glad to work out a deal he said. I think his attitude reflects the financial problems that's occurring today. Too many people buy on credit and abhor the idea of saving your money and then purchasing what you want. People insist on instant gratification and refrain from discipline. It's sad to think that I may be part of a minority.