One has to wonder that if time and money can be found to remodel a home, send kids to exclusive private schools, purchase commercial property and run your own business... maybe money can be found for other things...maybe Dad should drop his woodworking hobby and get a real job that offers health insurance rather than making people like me (also with 4 kids in a 600sf smaller house and tuition $16,000 less per kid and no commercial property ownership) pay for it in my taxes.
This was Arkansas’s hottest summer on record, and the evidence that our Earth is warming cannot be ignored.
The Weather Service Reports that 2007 was the 12th hottest summer on record since 1880 and August was the hottest August since 1954 but not in terms of average temps, in contrast July was the coolest July since 2004.
Solving the erosion problem at Red Oak Park has been put on hold again. The Fayetteville City Council wants to hear more possible solutions to the erosion beside eliminating some trees. Dale Evans of the Game and Fish Commission has modified his solution to the erosion. It saves additional trees but a fair number will still come down. Carole Jone, Park Planner, said that of the proposed trees to be removed, 47% are already compromised and consider unsavable. The idea of having a retention pond at the south end was brought up but there isn't enough room for one and the erosion problem still needs to be addressed.
Last night the Fayetteville City Council approved the Woodstock Community off of Wedington Ave. I would image construction will start fairly soon. Yuck! Hank Broyles did make some changes to accommodate neighborhood concerns. Building heights were changed on those directly facing Wedington and 46th street. Actually only half of the building heights were change, but it was the ones facing houses across the street that were reduced. There are a number of changes for 46th street. There are going to be 2 speed tables installed (really smart idea) and an extended sidewalk on one side. I really appreciate the changes Hank has made. I'm still going to save money to move. I still think I'm going to have a hard time living next a commercial, high density community. By the time I've saved enough money I'll know for sure.
Allen said people see the city is "trying to clean up the sewer debacle, " and just passed 1 cent sales tax for transportation projects, so many think city officials simply can’t manage money.
Coody took offense to Allen’s use of the word debacle when speaking about the $ 186 million Wastewater System Improvement Project, which was originally scheduled to cost $ 120 million and be finished in September 2005. Coody described being more than $ 70 million over budget and three years behind schedule as the project’s " only hiccup."
Of course, residents also have a certain level of culpability, Coody said. " If they would just shop in Fayetteville we would’t have to have these discussions, " he said.
"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time so that when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college, or maybe they will be able to put a down payment on their first home, or go into business."
Oh man! It's no fun putting the cats on a diet. Every time I walk into the kitchen the cats come running looking for food. It's really hard to resist their pleading little eyes. 
What you are looking at is the compilation of a week long charrette of Walker Park and the surrounding neighborhoods. Karen Minkel, long range planner from the City of Fayetteville presented the ideas from the groups that met. The master plan calls for more streets and sidewalks so that residents had better access to the park and downtown Fayetteville. People wanted Jefferson School to remain a center point in the neighbor, something like the Square in downtown Fayetteville. There were a lot of ideas for Walker Park itself. It's amazing how little of the park is utilized. Residents asked for a dog park, an amphitheater, a splash pad, more walking trails, community gardens and a children's park on the north side. The residents and city employees have really done a great job. The plan looked really great. Too bad it's going to take years to produce.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy piled pressure on Iran at the United Nations Tuesday, saying it would be unacceptable for the Islamic republic to get hold of nuclear weapons.
"Iran has the right to nuclear energy," Sarkozy told world leaders at the General Assembly's 62nd session here. "But allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons would mean an unacceptable risk for regional and world stability."
In recent weeks, state agency heads appeared before legislative committees detailing what they had found. To those Republicans, it appeared they were making progress by bringing attention to an aspect of illegal immigration that hadn't been considered.
In one e-mail to Ray, Woods related that he'd talked to Tyson's Archie Schaffer, who apparently didn't like all the attention on illegal immigration. Woods said in the e-mail that Schaffer had told him he would oppose bills dealing with immigration.
That evoked a response from Ray, in which she began lecturing the lawmaker:
"I understand that fighting hard for your constituents' wants is very important. But I think as an elected official, it is more important that you fight for what they need, not necessarily what they want." "I'm going to side with the businesses on this one. Be careful!!" she warned.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Friday, September 21, 2007, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I call upon the people of the United States to join me in honoring and remembering all former American prisoners of war and those missing in action who valiantly served our great country.
I took this quiz. Casey scored a 90. I knew he was a smart cookie, which he is asking for since he's such a good boy. Now if only he can tell me what he's allergic to. I had to take him to the vet Friday. He's been stinking really bad lately and nothing I've done has gotten rid of it. He got a steroid shot, antibiotics, fish oil capsules and a shampoo. I got the shampoo for free, the vet is testing it out on Casey. It's been a couple of days and while Casey hasn't stopped completely stinking, it is much more tolerable.
"The party's position on immigration, coming from me, the chairman, is that is a federal issue that has got to be determined by the president and Congress," Milligan said. "They've got to come to a meeting of the minds. Anything that's done internally statewide (through) legislation is probably going to have a difficult time ... trumping federal law."
said it is too soon to say what kind of legislation, if any, may result from the interim study, but he said in the absence of immigration reform at the federal level, the Legislature has a responsibility at least to study the issue.
But with both the executive director and the chairman of the state Republican Party speaking against immigration reform at the state level, the party leadership appears to be at odds with Green and other Republican lawmakers who say the state may need to act on immigration.
Parents are also portrayed in Palestinian society as supporting their children's death. "Al-Ayyam" newspaper quotes a mother who encouraged her sons to sacrifice themselves for Palestinian beliefs:
"The danger of injury to the boy Tzabar Ashkaram, 18, paralysis and permanent disability, just added to his mother's determination to encourage her sons to participate in the intifada riots... the fact of his injury by a live bullet did not cause her to mourn. She said she had previously lost her older son, Iyyad." (Nov. 1, 2000)
Another Palestinian mother was quoted in the London Times: "I am happy that [my 13-year-old son] has been martyred. I will sacrifice all my [12] sons and daughters to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem."
BBC broadcast a video of a proud Palestinian mother embracing her son and sends him proudly on his way to kill Jews. "God willing you will succeed," she says. "May every bullet hit its target, and may God give you martyrdom. This is the best day of my life."
Boy, I have been so busy that I haven't had time to really keep up with what's happening in the world. I sat all Sunday morning reading. It was really quite enjoyable. The morning was perfect to sit on the patio with a cup of coffee and a stack of stuff to read. Eli and Bows made sure that none of the papers would fly off the table.
I managed to pop in on the ribbon cutting of the new Sam's Club in Fayetteville. As you can imagine most of Fayetteville's leadership was on hand to welcome the opening. Sam's Club will be generating a lot of revenue for Fayetteville. I popped in later for lunch to check out the store. It's pretty much laid out like the one in Bentonville. I think it's a bit smaller. It does have the deli which has a few prepared meals, very nice. It has the gas station and the gas appears to be the cheapest in Fayetteville, but I think it's still cheaper up north. Well, it close to work and home, so I may be shopping at this store instead of the one in Bentonville. 
This store is a bit unique. It sits next to a ecologically sensitive area, Clabber Creek. Sam's Club has work with the Audubon Society and Sierra Club to protect the land and a few endangered species. This retention pond cleans water coming off Sam's Club before it is dumped back into the creek. A lot of the cleansing is done by plants specifically planted for that purpose. It looks a bit disturbed now but within a year it should look gorgeous and be a beautiful site for bird watching.
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has taken to calling himself a “fiscal conservative,” but who ever heard of a fiscal conservative who raised taxes and spending through the roof while governor of Arkansas? Mike Huckabee is also calling himself “a different kind of Republican,” but that’s just a codeword for a big-government Republican who wants to cover up his tax-and-spend record with folksy talking points and one-liners. Sorry Tax Hike Mike. No dice.
Members of his organization and its supporters, who helped campaign for the state’s ban on gay marriage in 2004, have been looking for a way to keep homosexuals from adopting or becoming foster parents. The group failed to push through the General Assembly this spring a bill that would have banned all homosexuals and cohabiting couples from adopting or becoming foster parents.
"The sexual orientation of the men was a significant cause of people not ‘thinking the unthinkable’.
"It was clear that a number of staff were afraid of being thought homophobic.
"The fear of being discriminatory led them to fail to discriminate between the appropriate and the abusive."
With no date for the release, questions are being raised about whether political pressure is behind its current status as a stalled or discarded DVD project. The reasons are murky, but the miniseries' writer, Cyrus Nowrasteh, believes it's crystal clear: Powerful forces are out to protect Bill Clinton's presidential legacy and shield Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) from any potential collateral damage in her bid for the White House.
This afternoon the City of Fayetteville held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly constructed extension of the Lake Fayetteville Trail. This is a asphalt multi-use trail. It's really nice for those who like to ride bikes on pavement and you can even get a motorized wheelchair on it. I myself still use the undeveloped trail, because I like the more natural feel. This trail will allow more people to enjoy more of Lake Fayetteville.
Negative reaction to this summer’s flop Live Earth concert, promoted by Al Gore, was cited as a factor. Audience feedback found that viewers wanted serious, informed programmes about the planet’s future.
His environmental documentary, "The 11th Hour," has been a total bust at the box office. After 18 days in release, the film has grossed only $417,913 from ticket sales. The 90-minute snore-fest is playing on 111 screens this week, but that number is likely to be reduced this Friday.
You’d think Mayor Womack would want to hear other views, especially on a subject as touchy as this one.
Some employers in Northwest Arkansas may be finding a competitive advantage by exploiting immigrants.
Townsend said that while immigrants are often working for lower wages, they are in better situations than if they did not come to the U.S. For many the risks of being an illegal immigrant are much more favorable than those of staying in their native land.
Ironically, this aging high school football stadium has no functioning drinking fountains, no easily-accessible potable water, and even has warning signs on the restrooms that say "Do not drink water from the sinks."
(Mark)Pryor follows the lead of other politicans, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, in returning thousands of dollars from Hsu. A judge in San Mateo County Superior Court ordered Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond Friday after Hsu turned himself in.
Oh my Goodness! What a great weekend! I don't think I've ever had a nicer weekend since living here. The temperatures have always been HOT! The weather was perfect. There morning were cool enough that I was able to work in the garden Saturday and hike around Lake Fayetteville Sunday. I wasn't baking went I went to the Clothesline Fair, Sunday afternoon. It was actually nice to stroll around. I am paying for all the activities. I am really sore, particularly my leg muscles. Well, I'm taking advantage of Labor Day by putzing around the house.
the Highway Trust Fund (HTF ) will be in the red by as much as $ 4. 3 billion by the end of fiscal year 2009, even before the current transportation bill has expired.
And while it’s not up to the appropriations committee to propose or pass legislative fixes (in fact, they are forbidden from doing so ), its deep concern for the state of the HTF was apparently not enough to stop them from allowing 1, 400 congressional and administrative earmarks worth more than $ 2. 2 billion in its bill. The Senate will surely want its share of the pork as well, and taken together you can start to understand how big a problem this is.
Here's a pop quiz: How much money has Uncle Sam spent on New Orleans and the Gulf region since Hurricane Katrina ripped the place apart? I'll give you the answer because you'll never guess it. The grand total is $127 billion (including tax relief).
Well, the White House fact sheet says $24 billion has been used to build houses and schools, repair damaged infrastructure and provide victims with a place to live. The fact sheet goes on to say that $7.1 billion went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the levees; that the U.S. Department of Education spent $2 billion on local schools; and that the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries has awarded more than $2.5 million (the pikers). The administration also provided $16.7 billion as part of the largest housing-recovery program in U.S. history.
Remember President Reagan's line during the 1980 campaign about how LBJ fought a big-government spending war against poverty, and poverty won? Well think of all this Katrina spending as the Great Society Redux. And it failed. I suppose the current Bush administration would like to label this "compassionate conservatism." But guess what? That failed, too.
The solution to that problem [of immigration ] is to open the communication channels, to open the doors to the community," Chao told a meeting of the Arkansas Committee on Foreign Relations. "They’re going to close the door."
Even so, nothing Craig did should constitute a crime, with the possible extreme interpretation of battery by touching his foot to the undercover officer. A series of signals that consist of foot-tapping and hand-swiping harms no one but the reputation of the man using them.
The appointee will inevitably be charged, among other things, with investigating the firing of eight U. S. attorneys, possible perjury by Gonzales and others who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and whatever additional matters Senate Democrats’ fertile imaginations can pack into the special prosecutor’s charter. Grand juries will be convened, subpoenas issued, witnesses badgered, documents demanded from the White House, and so on, through the full repertoire of special prosecutors’ antics.
What a nice little storm this morning. I got over 2 inches of rain. I didn't mind one bit that the thunder and lightening woke me up. Of course, Trixie was going nuts. I think she tried to crawl under the bed a couple of times. The geese are back. I noticed them while I was out shopping and a few flew over the house. I'm also getting a bunch of hummingbirds at the feeder. I've been refilling the feeder every other day. It makes me wonder if we are going to get an early winter.
FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Mobile phone service has been knocked out to thousands of customers across northwest Arkansas and River Valley on Thursday.
A severed fiber-optic line knocked out service at about 2:30 p.m. by a backhoe operator between Van Buren and Fort Smith, representatives with AT&T said.
Officials said the outage is widespread and affecting AT&T customers and several other carriers.
The Human of the house has decided that we cats need to lose a few pounds. She has refused to give us all the food we've demanded. No matter how cute we try to look, she still refuses to give us more food. The pathetic "we're starving" meow isn't working either. We have to keep trying. I'm sure she'll give in to us eventually.
Among those who had read at least one book, liberals typically read nine books in the year, with half reading more than that and half less. Conservatives typically read eight, moderates five. By slightly wider margins, Democrats tended to read more books than Republicans and independents.
..the journal Science last Friday concluded that the continued burning of oil-related energy products combined with the planting of additional forests is better for the environment than the manufacture and use of biofuels such as ethanol.
In fact, the authors suggested that governments across the globe move away from biofuels as a global warming solution completely, and instead focus moneys and energies on reforestation and increasing the efficiencies involved with the burning of fossil fuels.
The reason is that producing biofuel is not a "green process". It requires tractors and fertilisers and land, all of which means burning fossil fuels to make "green" fuel. In the case of bioethanol produced from corn – an alternative to oil..
What is more, environmentalists have expressed concerns that the growing political backing that biofuel is enjoying will mean forests will be chopped down to make room for biofuel crops such as maize and sugarcane.
The safety problems affecting Chinese goods spread from toys to textiles on Monday as New Zealand said it would investigate allegations that imported children’s clothes contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde.
A law passed this year allows Arkansans of any age — even infants — to marry if their parents agree, and the governor may have to call a special session to fix the mistake, lawmakers said Friday.
The legislation was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent, bill sponsor Rep. Will Bond said. An extraneous "not" in the bill, however, allows anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it.
My first heresy says that all the fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated. Here I am opposing the holy brotherhood of climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe the numbers predicted by the computer models. Of course, they say, I have no degree in meteorology and I am therefore not qualified to speak. But I have studied the climate models and I know what they can do. The models solve the equations of fluid dynamics, and they do a very good job of describing the fluid motions of the atmosphere and the oceans. They do a very poor job of describing the clouds, the dust, the chemistry and the biology of fields and farms and forests. They do not begin to describe the real world that we live in. The real world is muddy and messy and full of things that we do not yet understand.
When I listen to the public debates about climate change, I am impressed by the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations and the superficiality of our theories. Many of the basic processes of planetary ecology are poorly understood. They must be better understood before we can reach an accurate diagnosis of the present condition of our planet. When we are trying to take care of a planet, just as when we are taking care of a human patient, diseases must be diagnosed before they can be cured. We need to observe and measure what is going on in the biosphere, rather than relying on computer models.
When I first moved into this neighborhood this stream did not exist in Red Oak Park. Storm water from the surrounding developments has eroded this little valley and when it rains water gushes through this bed. In some spots it has carved deeply to the bed rock and other places is eating away at the banks. A number of trees have had their roots undercut and other trees are threatened.
The AR Game and Fish Commission Stream Team has worked together with the Parks and Recreation staff to solve the problem. The solution involves recreating the bed, stabilizing the banks and placing blocks of stones along the stream in an effort to slow the water down. In the process of creating the new bed some trees will have to be cut. This disturbs some people, like Mayor Coody."If we try to fix the problem on the upstream side of the street, they’ll be taking out huge swaths of huge trees that you’ll need to decide if you want to lose or not because it will change the character of that piece of land dramatically," he told the council. "You all need to just go take a look with your two eyeballs before approving this out of hand."
A majority of the residents meeting Monday night with the Parks and Recreation staff approved the plan, although mourning the loss of some trees. One resident suggested that some of the removed trees be re-used as perhaps some sort of a memorial. One small group of residents wanted the problem dealt with at the southern most tip of the park in the form of a detention pond. The problem with that is they would have to remove a number of houses at that end and convince the remaining home-owners that they would want to live next to it. I look at this problem as we would in the medical field. We have to remove a diseased part and to ensure healing we'll have to not only removed the diseased portion but some of the healthy parts to ensure a complete healing. Removing some trees to ensure a healthy and enjoyable park is the right thing to do.
Ick! It's hot and sticky, even in the early morning or at night. The cats have no interest in going outside and prowling around. They just plop down on the porch floor as Bows is demonstrating. With the fan going it's not a bad place to sit. 
I haven't shown a picture of the dogs for awhile. Casey has developed hot spots the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping it's because of the heat. I'm keeping him inside the house and he's wearing that Elizabethan collar. Fortunately he doesn't seem to mind it much. Trixie is really feeling her age. I've stopped taking her to the Farmer's Market. The crowds, noise and other dogs made her uncomfortable. She doesn't like to go outside particularly at night. Sigh, it's sad to see her slow down."The troubling fact is that taking a lot of exercise and then eating a bit more food is not good for the global atmosphere. Eating less and driving to save energy would be better.”
But there are other ways to reduce the carbon footprint. "Don’t buy anything from the supermarket," Mr Goodall said, "or anything that’s travelled too far."
Vet Elaine Pendlebury said much of the problem was because of owners giving their cats calorie-laden treats.
Oh Boy! Was I glad they held the concert in the community building. It was just perfect to sit inside and listen to the music with a cold drink and a nice dinner. It's too bad I couldn't stay longer. They did a really good job organizing it and everyone looked like they were having a good time. Even this trio of young ladies who were signing a card for Adam.
Congratulations to Michelle and Jim Bob Dugger on the birth of their 17th child. Most people are amazed on how many they have and also at the prospect of the possibility of more children. Maybe 20? Having met the children, I'm all for them having more. Michelle and Jim are wonderful parents and there need to be more like them. 
It must be at least 90 degrees outside. I'm mowing the lawn and pulling out some weeds. It sure is hot! Casey's pool needs to be dumped because it has acquired some mosquito larvae and I smell something dead around the dog houses. Yup, there it is, under one of the houses, a dead bird. Toss that over the fence. Last thing I need to do is water all the vegetable and flower beds. Ozark Regional Transit, which operates bus lines in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville, is looking at the possibility of a dedicated revenue source, possibly a sales tax, to support those bus routes.
