Intimidating Arkansas Voters

The Democrats have found another way to suppress voters. Now you don't have to go to the voting line and threaten people's kneecaps. Presto! You can do it over the Internet.

A Massachusetts homosexual rights group posted online the names, addresses and zip codes of more than 83,000 Arkansans, who signed a petition to place a proposal to bar unmarried cohabiting couples from adopting or fostering children on the November 2008 ballot, the group said Tuesday.

The group has made a really big mistake. Christians, who comprise the majority of the signatures, are used to being persecuted. Heck, this will just make them more determine to make sure that America doesn't slip further into the cesspool of immorality.
Of course, you could petition Homeland Security because these people are basically making threats against an American voter, but Janet Napolitano has already declared war on those people who signed the petition.

Sen. Gilbert Baker, A Step Closer?

Is Sen. Gilbert Baker employing a publicity stunt that could help him gain more recognition if he chooses to run against Sen. Blanche Lincoln?

A proposed constitutional amendment requiring that union elections be conducted by secret ballots was filed with the attorney general's office on Thursday in an effort chaired by a potential Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
A group calling itself "Save Our Secret Ballot in Arkansas" filed the proposal with Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's office on Thursday. The group, chaired by Republican state Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway, filed paperwork with the state Ethics Commission on Wednesday.

I suppose it's one way to collect names that could possibly be potential volunteers and donors to his campaign. It could be a strong talking point in his campaign speeches.

Baker said his work on the amendment has nothing to do with his interest in a potential Senate bid. Baker is one of several Republicans considering running against Lincoln, who is seeking a third term. Sen. Kim Hendren of Gravette is the only Republican who has announced he's running.

Gee, I just find it awfully hard to believe him. Ahhh, don't you just love it? More speculation and gossip to chew over.

Twitter, Go To Jail

Maybe it's not such a good thing to Twitter in court.

Susan Henwood, a mother of four, has been sentenced to 30 days in the Tooele County Jail because she sent a text message about a court hearing she was observing. "She shouldn't be there. She did nothing wrong," her husband, Joshua Henwood, said.

I think people should treat Twitters as they would a phone call while they are in court hearing. Go outside and Twitter.

Twitter, A Flash in The Pan?

Have you joined the Twitter Craze? It seems like anybody who's anyone is Twittering. You have people who share their Twitter List and those who extol the virtues of Twitter. Fayetteville Alderman Matthew Petty, who Twitters during council meetings, is even trying to require the city to use Twitter. While Twitter has enjoyed a recent explosion in popularity just how many people are really using it? From Reuters,

Data from Nielsen Online, which measures Internet traffic, found that more than 60 percent of Twitter users stopped using the free social networking site a month after joining.

I can understand why people drop out it after awhile, it's extremely time consuming. I wonder about all these people Twittering. Do they have a job? Do they work for employers who don't mind that they spend time Twittering? I've tried to follow a few people and discovered that I just don't have the time. There are just too many other things to do and I just don't have the time to Twitter. It seems other people are feeling the same and Twitter may follow the path of many other fads.

But Martin said a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site's growth to a 10 percent reach figure over the longer term. "There simply aren't enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point," he said in a statement.

Morning Laugh

I just love a good laugh in the morning! From the Morning News.

"You may not agree with me," Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan told the City Council during its agenda session Tuesday. "But we had to start somewhere."
"So I hope you will bare with me and work with me," he added in somber, but sure tones. "We've got to work like a team, and work together."

I think going naked is going a bit too far for most people.

Living With Wildlife

If by chance you are going through Harrison, Arkansas, drop by the Home Depot. It has gotten an unique addition to the store.

A great horned owl now lives in the Harrison store's garden center, looking down on surprised customers shopping for flowers and paving stones.

I always like to see businesses accommodate wildlife. I hate it when development comes through and destroys the wildlife habitat. There were owls near my house but too much development has chased them off. I miss the meadowlarks too.

Rusty Scarborough, the education program coordinator at Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff, said the Home Depot would be a good spot for an owl. Rodents are the predominant food source for a great horned owl and stores with garden centers stock bird seed and crop seeds — big draws for rodents.

President Obama, Repeating History

From Professor Bainbridge


George Santayana famously warned that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. Aldous Huxley quipped that the most important thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history.

On Writing

That God I didn't make the List!

Earth Day Rant, The Rich Are Greener

Much of the foundation of the environmental movement is based on pure lies, distortions of questionable “science” and out and out fraud by politicians and “scientists”. Americans are depicted as evil for developing new technologies and living the good life. In order to achieve our wealth we raped the Earth and now we must be punished for it. We must strip ourselves of all the conveniences we enjoy because they pollute the Earth and we must live that impoverish life that keeps the Earth pure. President Obama and Congress are set to make sure that the American people achieve that Green Lifestyle. They are set to unleash the mother of all taxes on Americans to combat the fraudulent disaster called global warming. The EPA is set to regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act. Stop Global Warming, Don’t Breath!

Of course, President Obama and Congress are absolute idiots and their plans to save Earth aren’t going to work. The real problems in the world are largely tied to poverty and the oppression and corruption that facilitate it. John Tierney

In dozens of studies, researchers identified Kuznets curves for a variety of environmental problems. There are exceptions to the trend, especially in countries with inept governments and poor systems of property rights, but in general, richer is eventually greener. As incomes go up, people often focus first on cleaning up their drinking water, and then later on air pollutants like sulfur dioxide.
As their wealth grows, people consume more energy, but they move to more efficient and cleaner sources — from wood to coal and oil, and then to natural gas and nuclear power, progressively emitting less carbon per unit of energy. This global decarbonization trend has been proceeding at a remarkably steady rate since 1850, according to Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University and Paul Waggoner of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

Instead of impoverishing the rich in America, President Obama and Congress need to take steps to make the poor rich. If they continue on their current trend more people are going to be impoverished and they aren’t going to care about polluting the earth. They are going to live in cheap houses that aren’t energy efficient, they are going to drive their cars until they fall apart and they aren’t going to buy those more expensive “green” products.

CNN's Roesgen, After the Report

This is so great! All day I've been hearing about the shameful actions by Susan Roesgen, the CNN reporter who harassed attendees at yesterday's Chicago Tea Party. Instead of accurately reporting on the Tea Party, Roesgen picked people out of the crowd to confront and argue with, before signing off her report by labeling the tea party movement as "anti-government", "anti-CNN", "highly promoted by the right wing conservative network, FOX" and "not family viewing." The Founding Bloggers were there and shoot footage of what happened after the CNN camera was turned off.
These people can no longer be considered journalists. These people are activists out to spread the socialist propaganda and to destroy any one or anything that stands it the way of establishing America as a socialist country. From Drudge

FOX RATINGS SURGE ON PROTEST COVERAGE
8-11 PM ET

FOXNEWS 3,390,000
MSNBC 1,210,000
CNN 1,070,000
CNN HEADLINE 909,000

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,980,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,239,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,947,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,740,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,401,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,185,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,777,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,499,000
COMEDY COLBERT 1,446,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,336,000
CNN KING 1,292,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,149,000
CNN COOPER 1,021,000

Susan Roesgen revealed the soul of CNN, but guess who America is watching.

Lepaine Sharp-McHenry, Fayetteville Tea Party

Absolutely Wonderful Speaker!

Rolf Wilkin, Fayetteville Tea Party

You remember Rolf? The pizza guy who took on Gov. Beebe and won.

Tea Party Fayetteville, WOW!

Those of you who couldn't drag yourself out to the Tea Party at the Town Center in Fayetteville need to slap yourself across the face, several times. This was a historic day and you missed a fantastic event!






I got there early and there were already several hundred by my count. (Yes, I can count that high!) As time progressed the crowd got bigger. More people stated arriving after 5 PM. Those hardworking people who came after work.



I turned around after a speaker finished and WOW!
People had filled in the courtyard and in some of the stairways and even a few across the street on the Square. They were saying that about a Thousand people had come out. It's difficult to count because the Square has so many nooks and crannies.


The MSM, Congress and the President may just want to write this whole movement off, but they do so at their peril. The people here weren't Democrats and Republicans they were coming together as Americans. Americans that were sick and tired of an unresponsive, overspending, wasteful government. The biggest frustration I heard was people trying to contact their Congressmen and being given the brush off. People were no longer going to be ignored.


Nearly every speaker spoke about doing the next step. Yes, it's great that people were at the Tea Party, but they needed to do more. Everyone was encouraged to join other groups to change the government from the Congress to city governments. People were encourage to action, do something, anything. Nothing was going to change in Washington unless they did something.


Laurie and the Tea Party Committee did an absolutely wonderful job! Everything went smoothly and there were no disruptions. The speakers were not elected officials even though there a few of the state representatives and Washington Country JP's present. I have a few videos that I hope to get up soon. They need a little bit of editing.

UPDATE: Little Rock pictures!

I'm Baaack and Ready for the Tea Party!

Blogger has set me free and I am ready to go! I will be at the Tea Party in Fayetteville. I'm planning to be there early taking pictures and videos. A very special THANK YOU to David Kincaid for offering the use of The Arkansas Project in case I was still down. By the way, there is a nice overview of the Tea Party by Glenn Reynolds in the Wall Street Journal today for those who want to know what the heck it's all about.

I'm going to go to the Sonny Rollins concert after the Party, so I'll be posting very late tonight. I'm wearing my Tea Party T-Shirt to work and I have my sign and canned goods in the truck. I am so ready! How about you?

NW Arkansas Tea Party, Fayetteville

America is getting ready to get really Tea-ed off April 15th. NW Arkansas has two opportunities to let Washington know that we intend to end the tyranny of the big spending politicians. You still have a couple of days to make your signs. Laurie has sent out this press release for Fayetteville.

Subject: Tea Party Press Release
Fayetteville, Arkansas
For Immediate Release

The Fayetteville Arkansas Tax Day Tea Party citizens will be assembling in Downtown Fayetteville around the Fayetteville Square and Town Center plaza on April 15th at 4:00- 7:00 p.m.
The Fayetteville Arkansas Tax Day Tea Party is an informal demonstration organized of, by and for citizens who are no longer willing to tolerate an irresponsible, unresponsive government, Republican and Democrat alike. They do not agree with any form of government that continues to rapidly encroach on individual liberties while creating enormous and financially bloated government programs that are amassing crippling economic burdens for America’s future generations. Let us be clear in that we are not Anti-government, to the contrary WE are the government, as is stated in our founding documents by those who founded this nation in liberty.
The gathering is intended to send a firm and respectful statement: ENOUGH! Our mission is to unite the state of Arkansas district by district, so that we can affirm our state Constitution, confirm our sovereignty as a state, and enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Then to extend this sentiment state by state, to defend our national Constitution and our God given liberties. We will encourage attendees to become informed and significantly engaged so that they can defend and protect their individual rights, using the rule of law clearly set forth in our sacred Constitution.
Participants will depart with an informational sheet on how to stay involved united and determined in unbending resolve to effect the needed changes and recommitment to our founding documents.
There will be citizen speakers, patriotic music, voter registration tables and a canned food drive. Everyone is asked to bring some canned foods to help those people and families in need.

Elected officials from any political party are invited and welcome to attend. However, this is not intended as a forum for politicians to speak. Citizens of varied backgrounds who are organizing this informal protest of ongoing governmental policies ask:

That everyone attending please maintain an underlying spirit of civility and respect. We want a peaceful, unifying demonstration.

That anyone displaying signs please ensure they are not threatening or vulgar and that they focus on the issue at hand, overburdening tax debt of future generations caused by the out of control spending and our freedoms and liberties being usurped.

That everyone please clean-up after themselves and others when they see debris or trash. Downtown Fayetteville is a beautiful treasure and we want to make sure we leave it exactly as we find it.

Tax Day Tea Party Events are being held across the nation in 2,000 U.S. cities, at least 36 of which are in Arkansas. To be added to the Fayetteville Arkansas Tax Day Tea Party update/info list please email Laurie Masterson at laurie@mtconstruction.com

The Tea Party at Rogers will be from 530 to 730PM at the Frisco Stage. They don't have a Facebook Group but email sjohn0327@gmail.com for more information.

Governor Sanford, No More Debt

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is pushing back the tax and spend fever that is running through Washington. From his press release,

Governor Mark Sanford will be featured in a new television ad released tomorrow, the purpose of which is to educate South Carolinians/(AMERICANS) on the need for government to live within its means, not go further into debt,

Preach it, Gov.!

Casey and Oreo

Oreo is on vacation again and I caught up with him today at the Westwood Gardens. As you can see I am ready to chow down on some delicious ribs. Mmmm, I can just taste Penquin Ed's Bar-B-Que sauce and the nice crunch of those rib bones. Oh great! I'm slobbering over the tablecloth. I was so disappointed that I didn't win a prize last year. I really, really hope I win this year. Heck, even if I don't win this year, Valerie is still going to have to pick up some ribs when she goes to enter the contest. I'll leave a little gift on the bed if she doesn't.

Fayetteville Forward, Saturday

Saturday’s sessions were definitely better than the previous sessions. I didn’t have to walk out on this. The day started with a breakdown of the topics that people felt were important to them, something they had placed on their “dream tree”. The topics were eco-tourism, public education, green economy, creative economy, history heritage, alternative transportation, media communication, no growth economy, accessible health and economic incentives.
Thank you, Eva Madison and Rick Stroud, for leading the economic incentive group This group was probably the largest of groups and there were a good number of business leaders present. In the morning session the group just threw out ideas and there was a general discussion of the state of the business community in Fayetteville. The group narrowed its discussion to 3 items. 1) What infrastructure does Fayetteville have in place 2) What sources of Funding are available 3) What kind of businesses do we want to go after?

The afternoon session focused on the 3 items that was developed in the morning. But first, we focused on the concept of do we really want growth? No, I am not joking. There was a morning presentation which explored the concept of no more businesses and no more people. The one thing these sessions have produced was a gigantic “I Want” list from a majority of the participants. How in the world do these people think they are going to get their “Christmas List”? Do they think they’ll just magically appear? No! All the stuff that people want depends on sales and property taxes to fund them. More people and businesses mean that more taxes can be collected. Oh goody! That means there is money available to fund the “I Want” list. So, do we want economic growth? HELL, YES!

Any way, now that we got that bit of stupidity out of the way, let’s get to the concrete suggestions from the group. The group decided it was good to expand existing businesses like the Green Valley and the UA Genesis Technology and try to recruit medical, pharmaceutical and a non-profit’s headquarters. It was suggested that a citizen’s group be formed to help developers with taking their projects through the city’s onerous development review process. The idea is to streamline the process and make it quicker. The group finished with the suggestion to give the Mayor a $5 million dollar quick action closing fund.

The ideas, suggestions and comments from this group were very informative. I really think the Mayor needs to tap into this group. If you can get this group working together more often I believe Fayetteville could really see some solid economic growth. Some of the discussion was filmed and I recommend that you view it once it becomes available. I'll link it if it's possible.

Fayetteville Forward

It didn't feel like it was a group of people coming together to brainstorm about getting businesses to come to Fayetteville. It was more like one of those personal growth seminars which ask that you get in touch with yourself, your desires and feelings. The terms flung around were dream, imagine, care about, and envision. The big question was what did you what to have a high quality of life in Fayetteville?

I felt like I was in either a psychiatric self-esteem group or in a middle of a mystic "share and care" exercise. I've been in these types of seminars before and I've hated every minute of it. I'm not the type to do those warm, fuzzy, touchy, feely exercises. What I really want to know is; What The Heck Does This Have To Do With Getting Businesses Located In Fayetteville?
What people were presenting was big giant Dear Santa Christmas Wish List. They were like petulant children demanding that they be given presents. I want! I want! Waaah! Do they really expect businesses moving in to Fayetteville to provide them with their Wish List? What the seminar was focusing on was the demands of the citizens of Fayetteville rather than the needs of a potential employer. The demands weren't new either. If you've been to any of Fayetteville's "Vision Quests" you would be hearing the same old thing. The people at the seminar presented nothing new.


The most disturbing desire was that Fayetteville be a "Green City". That it have a reputation of being a sustainable city. It was implied that the environment had a bigger priority in the city than anything else. If I was an employer I heard that Fayetteville, in order to achieve it's "Greenness", will have policies, regulations, guidelines, fees and fines that ensure that any company operating in Fayetteville achieve "sustainability". I would see a big chuck of my profit down the tubes trying to obtain Fayetteville's "sustainability". Why aren't they finding ways to reward companies locating to Fayetteville. These are our stars. They should be treated like dignitaries. They are the ones that will bring more money into the city. With that money the city could begin to fulfill some of the desires of the citizens.
There's another seminar on Saturday. Hopefully it will answer my question. Why have this seminar? I don't want to feel like I'm in a middle of hippie commune with the people holding candles, singing Kum By Ya and eating vegetable quiche. If that's what they are going to do I'm ditching out for the afternoon.

The 2009 Tea Party Map

Sometimes the visual says it all. Play with the map here.

The Queen's iPod

Surely the news that Pres Obama gave the Queen of England an iPod as a gift was an April's Fools Joke. Nope! He really did give one to her. I wonder if he gave her the correct electrical plug for it. Anyway, Pres Obama did save himself from total disgrace by also giving her a "rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers".

The Geithner Tax Break Act

I think one of our own Representatives should introduce this in our legislature.

Rep. Dockham's bill would allow North Carolinians who owe $50,000 or less in back taxes on their state income tax to also avoid a penalty fine. "If he got that benefit, I think the average citizen should get the same courtesy," Dockham said.

Pres Obama is always whining about things being fair and equal. What could be more fair than ordinary citizens getting the same breaks politicians receive.