HEY, WHY SO SLOW?

A few of you have written (one called) to find out why things have been so slow on this blog as of late. One simple explanation for you -- I've been burning the proverbial candle at both ends again. This entire week, I've spent my mornings over at KFAY-AM filling in on the "Morning Report" for the vacationing Garry Campbell. Between that and some "extra" meetings over in TV land, things have been pretty darned hectic, but I expect the situation to loosen up here at the end of the week, so I can return to posting and updating the news headlines on a regular basis. We'll have a new edition of the show on this Saturday night, and we'll post that along with the last episode...apologies as well for the intermittent 24-7 audio feed -- our server survived a transformer explosion last night, so things have been a bit sketchy the last week. Hang in there, it'll pick up again in a couple of days. Best, Don

NEOCON PLAN TO FIGHT "THE PEACE" FAILING

One of Donald Rumsfeld's biggest tactical selling points for a way in Iraq had something to do with tha ability of American forces to fight and win the war with greater technology and fewer personnel...Mr. R didn't really think about winning peace. This piece shows proof of that.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon officials Tuesday told members of Congress about Army plans to call up as many as 6,500 reserve soldiers from a rarely tapped pool for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials said the troops will fill holes in units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the ongoing rotation of troops in and out of those combat zones.

NO "COFFIN RULE" NEEDED!

As a vet, I applaud this mother -- she's done the right thing, and brought honor to her son who gave the final full measure of service and deserves the attention from a grateful nation. The people who sent him away from home need to see him return.

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq invited news coverage of the arrival of her son's flag-draped casket at Sacramento International Airport.

Nearly a dozen reporters, photographers and television crews were present when the coffin of Army Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey, 34, was transferred to a hearse outside a cargo terminal late Sunday.

CAPTURED MARINE MEANS TROUBLE FOR MR. BUSH

Al-Jazeera TV claims insurgents in Iraq have captured a US Marine. Not something the administration will enjoy dealing with on Monday morning...here's the report from CNN.

The videotape showed the man, dressed in military fatigues, seated at a table with a blindfold around his head. It also showed Marine identification papers.

A coalition spokesman in Baghdad said he had no information on whether the report was true. "We're trying to confirm that," Maj. Earl Bluff said.

CNN is not releasing the man's name until his family has been notified.

Keep tuned here for more.

BOOK SETS RECORD, IGNORED BY "FAIR AND BALANCED MEDIA" (HA!)

They hate it. It drives them crazy. Bill Clinton's new book has shattered sales records, and continues to fly out the door of bookstores like the bestseller it is. However, some of those who ply the "right" side of the media street chose to ignore that, or simply dispute it outright. You'll have to make up your mind about why that happened. This piece on Media Matters shows many of the right-thinkers came up with a different story line. People like Sean Hannity, Brit Hume and Jerkin' Joe Scarborough on MSNBC seemed to think books sold briskly in major cities, but fell flat in the midwest and smaller towns. In fact, smaller southern towns including Joplin, Savannah and Port Arthur all reported strong sales. And, the man most likely to go out on a limb without facts, Matt Drudge, beat them all...

Washington Post "Reliable Source" columnist Richard Leiby reported on June 24 that Internet gossip Matt Drudge was slow to post the news from the publisher of former President Bill Clinton's new memoir, My Life, that the book -- with record sales of more than 400,000 copies -- had shattered the previous record for single-day sales for nonfiction. According to Leiby, "Drudge, usually one of the quickest cyber reporters around, picked up that story [announced at 1:30 p.m.] in the late afternoon, after we sent him requests for comment." In fact, throughout the day of June 23, while noting reports of strong sales by CNN, Reuters, and the Associated Press, Drudge tried mightily to create the false impression that the book was not selling well nationwide: The Drudge Report linked to a variety of regional and local news reports about weak demand for the book in some locations but ignored a slew of regional and local news reports about strong demand in many other places.

The day after the book release, a colleague in the local media here turned to me and wondered "why is it that liberal books dont' sell as well as conservative books?" I promptly reminded him Ann Coulter hasn't had anything on the bestseller list for awhile, but Al Franken, Jim Hightower, Joe Conasen, Richard Clarke anda host of other "liberal" (or anti-Bush") authors have been running the top ten, and guess what? The liberals don't have think tanks skewing the numbers by buying block shipments of their books to make the things look like best sellers.

Another wag once told me "conservatives have a lock on talk radio -- liberals will always have a lock on the more-thought intensive written word..." -- that sounds pretty elitist to me, but he may have had a point. Liberal books have been running the best seller list since last summer.

CLINTON, REAGAN AND AMERICA



-- Don Elkins
Friday "In Focus" Col. -- Northwest Arkansas Times

For the past two weeks, I’ve watched as Americans with differing political views discussed the legacies of two presidents.

Both presidents held office for two full terms, something that has become less common as the years pass.

Admirers cite both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as outstanding leaders.

Detractors keep things a little more realistic, as neither man measures up to someone like Abraham Lincoln as a leader.

Read the rest here.

PHEW, A BREAK!

So, it's Saturday morning, I've once again been up all night long lost in a long series of newspaper articles on-line. I'm watching C-SPAN right now and they've decided to do something about the latest Bush-Cheney ad, which manages to intersperse pictures of Adolf Hitler along with Michael Moore, Howard Dean and John Kerry, just to name a couple. Seems like the Republicans have done the same thing they screamed so loudly about Moveon.org doing. My thanks to Ratboy's Anvil, where I noticed this.

Other than that, I have to admit feeling just about exhausted at this point. I'm filling in on the morning news show on KFAY-AM all of next week, which means I'll be up at about 5:30 am and on-air there until about 7 a.m., at which time I'll try to get back home and get to sleep until about noon before I return to the television station for more of that fun. I've seriously considered giving some of this stuff up, but can't seem to make myself put it down. Few things allow me the freedom and ability to blow off steam like writing, so I do it as much as I can without passing out. Sleep is a precious commodity in my life.

Yes, I know the loading times on the page have become astronomical. I'm diligently working to go back and do what I should have in the beginning -- optimize those graphics for the net. I'm also trying to cut back on the links to places like Amazon.com. The nice thing about this remains it's flexibility as a project. What fascinates me is my ability to monitor who listens to the live feed on the page. The other night, someone in Uruguay listened to the radio show for about two hours -- my great thanks to whoever you are. Right now, I have about 14 hours worth of the show playing all day and all night long. The real pain is that the learning and work itself often take away from my ability to give you real insight into the new content. Ah well, like I said, it's a project.

I'll be taking a much needed vacation in about two weeks, and you can rest assured, I won't be doing much here during that period, unless something amazing happens.

HELLO, WORLD!

Our greetings to those of you from other countries visiting the website and listening to the show. so far, we've had visitors from Mexico, Korea, the UK, Italy, Malaysia, Austria, Gibraltar and the Phillipines (and of course, the most exotic of all, Tennessee!)

If you hail from outside the borders of the US, do us a favor -- post a comment here, tell us where you're from and give us your opinion!

DOES CONGRESS REALLY NEED TO VISIT BENTONVILLE?

A congressional subcommittee will visit Bentonville to hold a hearing on meth. Here are more details, including time and place...

BENTONVILLE — A congressional hearing Monday in Bentonville will give area experts a chance to testify about Arkansas’ growing methamphetamine problem. "It’s a great chance to talk about the problems that meth is causing in Arkansas," said Patrick Creamer, communications director for U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark. "It’s a great opportunity for our local folks who have to deal with this issue from the law enforcement end to the treatment end. They can talk to the chairman of the committee about what (meth) is doing to our community."

Oddly enough, maybe this isn't the attention Arkansans want brought to the state. A quick check of the DEA website shows something interesting. DEA cites Meth lab busts this way: in 1999, we saw 552. In 2000, 780; 2001 - 853. The site doesn't give figures for 2002 to the present date. I called State Police spokesman Bill Sadler to ask him if he had the missing figures. He gave me this -- he says state police shut down 346 of the labs in 2003-2004. OK -- looks like the meth problem hasn't become worse. So, I asked Rep. Boozman's people to give me the same figures from their sources. The Boozman camp tells me 1208 labs were shut down in 2003. They went even further to project 1305 labs shut down this year. The rest of their numbers jived with the DEA list.

So, we have a disconnect here. State police say things have slowed to 1997-1998 levels (Boozman numbers) but Boozman says things have become worse in Arkansas. He's not fishing for tax dollars and pork is he? I hope someone uses these figures to find out why we see a discrepancy and asks why Congress finds Bentonville so problematic they feel the need to bring and entire subcommittee meeting to the area. Could this have something to do with the Third District campaign?

FAHRENHEIT 911 OPENS TODAY

Let the games begin! The film that has already become a rallying point for supporters of both parties hits the theaters today in Arkansas. Some people have asked me whether it would actually play in Northwest Arkansas. If you go to Fandango.com and enter your zip code, you'll find the nearest theater and showtimes. In Fayetteville, the only place I found with the movie was the Malco Twin Mall at NWA Mall. The other was the Malco 12 in Fort Smith. I've heard from plenty of people who plan to see the film -- including one who asked me if I thought it would be "propaganda or fact." My response was "a little of both -- a typical Mike Moore production -- and enjoyable." Bear in mind, this movie got a great review from Fox News of all places. You don't have to agree with it to watch it and judge it on its merits.

Moore has quite few upset detractors. Thursday, a self-labelled conservative group asked the FEC whether tv ads for the film violate election law. From the Michael Moore website, the filmmaker talks about another group that has petitioned theaters to pull the movie from screens. As always, the solution to speech people don't like is not censorship, but simply more speech.

A Republican PR firm has formed a fake grassroots front group called "Move America Forward" to harass and intimidate theater owners into not showing "Fahrenheit 9/11." These are the same people who successfully badgered CBS into canceling the Reagan mini-series a few months ago. And they are spending a ton of money this week to threaten movie theaters who even think about showing our movie.

YOU WANT MORE ON WAL-MART? YOU GOT IT...

I had such a strong response about the Wal-Mart discrimination suit, I thought it only fair to throw a couple more stories about it and all things Wal-Mart in your direction.

First, as as member of the media, I have to tell you how tough it is to get any kind of comment from Wal-Mart, but I understand that, and might do the same in their shoes. It's a problem I've tried to deal with for a few years now. The world's largest bureacracy doesn't have to observe the First Amendment, as is there right as an American corporation, but it would benefit them greatly to develop longer term relationships with local media outlets, something I continue to work on. Until then, here's what other people say about the largest retailer in world history...

This comes from a Wal-Mart employee chat board...

"The Bentonville Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated and threatened with unemployment, but is shown token acts of kindness by Wal-Mart. It typically takes about three or four days for the psychological shift to take hold. A strategy of trying to keep Wal-Mart happy in order to stay employed becomes an obsessive identification with the likes and dislikes of Wal-Mart which has the result of warping your own psyche in such a way that you come to sympathize with your tormenter!"

This comes from another activist website, but originated with the LA Times.

April 29, 2003
Wal-Mart May Value Families, but Women?

By Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times Columnist

The economy being in the pits and all, I'd been thinking lately about getting a second job, just a bit of moonlighting to bring in a bit of extra mazuma.

So I went to this employment agency and told them what I was looking for, and they handed me a ballpoint pen and a clipboard and told me to sit down and fill out the job a pplication.

Name, address, experience, mm-hmm, right, check, got it. And then I got to the part of the form describing the job, and the work requirements:

"Must be willing to hang out at late hours at strip clubs, in the company of oversexed businessmen."

"Must answer to nicknames like 'Little Janie Q.'"

"Must accompany male executives and managers to lunch or dinner at T-and-A-themed restaurants, and be a good sport about it."

And I'm thinking, whoa, Nellie! Just what kind of job is it I'm applying for here? Escort service?

I turned over the form and scanned it for the job title. There it was: "Assistant department manager, Wal-Mart."

This comes from the ostensibly more pro-company Fortune Magazine.

Should We Admire Wal-Mart?
Some say it's evil. Others insist it's a model of all that's right with America. Who are we to believe?

By Jerry Useem

There is an evil company in Arkansas, some say. It's a discount store—a very, very big discount store—and it will do just about anything to get bigger. You've seen the headlines. Illegal immigrants mopping its floors. Workers locked inside overnight. A big gender discrimination suit. Wages low enough to make other companies' workers go on strike. And we know what it does to weaker suppliers and competitors. Crushing the dream of the independent proprietor—an ideal as American as Thomas Jefferson—it is the enemy of all that's good and right in our nation.

There is another big discount store in Arkansas, yet this one couldn't be more different from the first. Founded by a folksy entrepreneur whose notions of thrift, industry, and the square deal were pure Ben Franklin, this company is not a tyrant but a servant.

And, from the decidedly non-partisan USA Today.

Women say Wal-Mart execs knew of sex bias

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

Lawyers for women in a sex-discrimination class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) are laying the groundwork for showing that top executives at the retail giant knew that female employees were paid less and promoted less. They say e-mails and letters about discrimination were sent directly to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, concerns about the lack of women in management were brought to board members, and Wal-Mart's own internal studies found the company lagged behind other retailers in promoting women.

OUR IMPERIAL PRESIDENT

After the release of those classified documents on torture, one memo stood out above all others, and it's one that expresses a sentiment with very little basis in law. In part, here's what it said.

Bush's previously secret Feb. 7, 2002, order also agrees with Justice and Pentagon lawyers that a president can ignore U.S. law and treaties.

"I accept the legal conclusion of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice that I have the authority to suspend Geneva (conventions) as between the United States and Afghanistan," Bush wrote. "I reserve the right to exercise this authority in this or future conflicts."

AP SUES FOR ACCESS TO BUSH SERVICE RECORDS

The Associated Press sued the Pentagon and the Air Force on Tuesday, seeking access to all records of George W. Bush's military service during the Vietnam War. Read the full report here.

TSK, TSK, MR. VICE-PRESIDENT!

I don't whether to laugh at this, say it's an indicator of character, or just ignore it, but it was one of the more entertaining stories of the day. Seems Vice President Cheney may have gotten a little carried away on the floor of the Senate while talking with Senator Leahy of Vermont. Reports say Mr. Cheney used a classic old english phrase which I won't repeat here. Let's just say it's at the top of the George Carlin list. Here's a couple of excerpts from our friends at the AP.

"I think he was just having a bad day," Leahy said. "I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language on the floor."

Cheney's office also wouldn't go into detail, but confirmed the two men traded remarks.

"That doesn't sound like language that the vice president would use, but there was a frank exchange of views," said Kevin Kellems, a spokesman for Cheney.

KOREAN HOSTAGE DEAD

This comes from Al Jazeera, via CNN. The arab television network says militants have beheaded the hostage from South Korea. The group had demanded S. Korea stops plans to send three thousand troops to the region. Guess it doesn't have to worry about that. The victim - Kim Sun-Il, a 32 year old businessman. More to come.

WAL-MART FACES BIGGEST CLASS ACTION SUIT IN HISTORY!

This made second place on the front page of the NY Times internet edition this morning. This hits very close to home, as Wal-Mart's world headquarters sits just up the street from our studio. And, as usual, local media won't know anything about it, won't pursue it very much, or very well, and Wal-Mart will shut local reporters out completely, unless we use ambush tactics.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday approved class-action status for a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that has become the largest private civil rights case in U.S. history.

It could represent as many as 1.6 million current and former female employees of the retailing giant.

The suit alleges Wal-Mart created a system that frequently pays its female workers less than their male counterparts for comparable jobs and bypasses women for key promotions.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, sought to limit the scope of the lawsuit that was filed three years ago.

Throw that on top of the illegal immigrants sweeping Wal-Mart stores case, and you have the price of running the world's largest company.

FROM THE RIGHT: HUCK'S LIGHTER APPROACH TO HEALTH CARRIES WEIGHT

Our friend with the "Little Rock" dateline presents us with this piece, on the right honorable Gov. Huck's new crusade on health. Jeez, I still think Huck needs to actually eat now and again, he looks like a broomhandle! -- Ed.

It is easy to assume that Gov. Mike Huckabee's Healthy Arkansas initiative is just another plan dreamed up by left-leaning public health advocates. Being suspect is a healthy reaction to have, because so much about public health policy is normally scary - at least from a conservative perspective. Those assumptions didn't hold after a closer examination of the facts.

Many of the policy issues related to obesity in the country are about suing fast food chains or trying to limit access to certain kinds of foods. Huckabee's approach to the issue of obesity and public health isn't litigious or prohibitive in nature.

His approach to public health is very much based on the political philosophy that respects the spirit of liberty and freedom. It could be said that Huckabee's methods are a free market approach to healthy living.

Losing 105 pounds in a year's time allows him to speak with authority. Huckabee owned up to his own weight problem after being diagnosed with diabetes and says his physical conversion was of his own choosing.

Huckabee says he resented people who told him he was "big and fat." He makes the point that nobody forced him into losing the weight and specifically that the government didn't lose it for him. "If the government had decided for me, it wouldn't have changed my behavior," Huckabee said.

"If there is one thing you can't do is tell Americans they can't do something, because they will do it," he says. He claims the wrong approach to policy is to say, "I'm sorry that the cheeseburger is unlawful."

"Some of the same folks that say prohibition didn't help alcohol consumption think there should be prohibition on rib-eye steaks," he says.

Individuals who couldn't ban vending machines in high schools legislatively now want Huckabee to ban them through the newly created Child Health Advisory Committee. He won't do it. His approach is to let those kinds of regulations come from elected officials, not unelected boards.

"American people value individual liberties," he says. It was his own personal experience and belief in liberty that led him to craft a plan, which he says "builds incentives, a sense of purpose, and shows that there are real benefits to be gained by healthy living."

His plan includes offering incentives to state employees, which include discounts on health insurance premiums to those who practice healthy living and converting unused sick days into vacation time.

For Huckabee his approach makes good financial sense. Huckabee no longer has to take two blood-sugar medications, which he says is money in his pocket. He jokes that he can wear less-expensive, regular-sized clothing instead of being forced to shop at big and tall shops.

>From a macro sense, there is an enormous cost savings from good lifestyle choices. Rises in health care costs can be linked to unhealthy habits. The average cost of hospitalization for a diabetes patient is $12,000, which Huckabee believes could be avoided in most cases if individuals make the right choices.

Leading by example instead of spouting empty rhetoric targeting the food industry and creating incentives for healthy living rather than punishing poor lifestyle choices are good approaches to public health policy.

I asked David if this quote means the Governor would oppose that now-brewing amendment to ban gay marriage in Arkansas: "If there is one thing you can't do is tell Americans they can't do something, because they will do it," he (Huckabee) says.

David replies:"I'm not sure what Huckabee would say about that, but I think there are libertarians that would agree with you."

TERROR TEDDY BEAR! Courtesy of everybody's "gotcha" website, The Smoking Gun, this piece about the Justice Department gone out of freakin' control.

JUNE 22--The FBI has subpoenaed records related to the online sales of a teddy bear carrying the message "Bush Kills Arabs Dead," apparently as part of a probe into who delivered one of the plush toys to the Michigan home of a federal magistrate, The Smoking Gun has learned. But, TSG has discovered, the Detroit U.S. Attorney's grand jury investigation will find that the teddy bear, pictured at right, wasn't some sort of a terror threat, but rather a gag gift purchased by a friend of Mona Majzoub, the federal magistrate. Last July, a court panel selected Majzoub, a 55-year-old Arab American lawyer from Detroit, to fill an open magistrate's slot.

Not sure what to make of this, but it doesn't say good things about the FBI.

MORE SPOOKY NEWS

I hate to sound Libertarian here, but this piece in Capitol Hill Blue left me a little worried.

Each and every weekday, 11 federal judges meet in secret in Washington and review FBI and Department of Homeland Security requests for warrants to spy on Americans.

Ah, is that that knock on the door I hear now?

MILITARY NOT THAT DESPARATE

Seems the Armed Forces can still afford to be choosy about who wears the uniform. Not certain this story would go over well with the National Guard troops who have seen their tours in Baghdad extended and extended and extended...

Even with concerns growing about military troop strength, 770 people were discharged for homosexuality last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a new study shows. The figure, however, is significantly lower than the record 1,227 discharges in 2001 - just before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since "don't ask, don't tell" was adopted in 1994, nearly 10,000 military personnel have been discharged - including linguists, nuclear warfare experts and other key specialists.

And, on average, the court approves seven warrants a day, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Hey, and as a former member of the Armed Forces, I can tell you those are only the ones caught...

POLITICS: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

For the past four years, I’ve packed up the kids, grabbed the checkbook, and headed to a nearby farm just about two weeks before the fourth of July. As I write this, I haven yet to make that annual pilgrimage. made that annual journey.

Every year, it’s the same thing – squealing kids and bag upon bag of black cats, roman candles and those little cardboard tanks and chickens you set off in the driveway. Oops, I mean in a driveway outside Fayetteville! My family has always made a big deal out of Independence Day.

We’ve always had fireworks, in while living in places which prohibit the explosives. We always played at the pool, swallowed way too much barbeque and stayed up much too late after watching our local city fireworks show at sundown. This year marks an extra special July, because we find ourselves in a presidential election year. As fantastic as those of us who follow politics find celebrations over the holiday we’ll probably only see fireworks at the city park this year and not on the campaign trail anytime this month. We’ve entered the Mohave, the no-mans-land of the political season, that dead space – summer. Most of the campaigns in Arkansas will “play nice” and keep a low profile for the next couple of months, so we can expect very few pot shots from either side in the major races (at least in-state.) The dog days bring a chance to improve strategy, tactics, raise more funds, and plan, plan, plan.

About the time August arrives, we’ll start to hear rhetorical fireworks from all sides. In the Third District Congressional race, Democrat State Rep. Jan Judy continues with her bus tour of local towns. When the flak starts to fly, look for her to start questioning the legislative record of her opponent, Republican Congressman John Boozman. Two other races will also generate some heat and sparks in Northwest Arkansas. Reporters will wait to see how much an issue State Senator Jim Holt wants to make of abortion as he goes up against the very popular, and very well financed incumbent, Senator Blanche Lincoln.

THE RECORDS

When all that happens, you can expect candidates to start sniping at each other’s legislative records. If you want to get some idea of what the criticisms will be, and if you want to really find out what your elected officials have done, you need to do some rooting around. You might consider visiting a couple of websites before actually casting your ballot. I did exactly that, because I wanted to find out what the candidates did during the last session of their legislative bodies, respectively.

CONGRESS

For Congressman John Boozman? He sponsored six bills during the 108th Congress. He worked to have Congress commend the efforts of a student free enterprise group, he worked to honor the late Bernice Jones, and he sponsored a bill to increase cooperation between the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense. Mr. Boozman rounded things out by sponsoring a bill on the regulation of contact lenses as “medical devices” and he worked to have a post office renamed in honor of the late Harvey and Bernice Jones. He also worked to get some federal land set aside for a cemetery. So, shall we compare?

His Democrat colleague from the 4th District, Representative Mike Ross sponsored five bills, mostly on agriculture. His Democratic opponent, State Representative Jan Judy, sponsored four bills during the 84th session of the Arkansas General Assembly. She honored a dead person, urged Congress to pay for a VA home in Fayetteville, put up an education bill concerned with tax incentives and sponsored something called the “Family Resource Center Act.” So, we have the records in one race.

SENATE

In the race for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Blanche Lincoln has an impressive record this session. She sponsored 68 total pieces of legislation. On her agenda – repealing part of the estate tax, bills on the Child Tax Credit, Social Security, Medicare, Agriculture and of course, the mandatory cemetery bill – a Senate version of the one sponsored by Mr. Boozman in the house. By comparison, her colleague Mark Pryor, the junior senator, sponsored 14 bills. He worked on media ownership, drug prices and Medicare. Now, the sharp contrast comes here – how did the Republican Senate Candidate do during his session in the Arkansas Senate? Jim Holt sponsored 3 bills. One honored a dead person, another proposed having counselors talk to kids about college in the 9th grade, and the other was another school grade related bill.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

To find out how these same people voted on important issues, you’ll have to do some more research on your own, because there are so many sites which “rate” and “rank” voting records. For this article, I just thought I’d turn you in the direction of getting an answer to the pop-song question, “what have you done for me lately?” To get more on Congressional records, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/ and to take a look at what your state representatives and senators have done, pick up a local newspaper, or visit http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/.

GOOD OR BAD?

So, when August rolls around, and you really start hearing a lot about these people, perhaps you’ll have visited one of those websites to find out what kind of a worker each candidate has been. Of course, a long list of bills doesn’t mean a person has done a major amount of work. Rather, you should look at the nature of the bills themselves – what topics do they cover? How could they affect your life? You can even ask yourself to ‘follow the money’ and look at who might benefit from each bill the most. If you have an interest in campaign funding, and want to know who pays for those flashy ads on television, and who supports which candidate, you can get everything you need to know from http://www.opensecrets.org/. You’ll enjoy that one, and you’ll find out who trial lawyers like and who major mega-mammoth discount retailers want to see in office, as if you don’t already know the answer to both those questions.

A NASTY SURPRISE FOR THE PRESIDENT

Ah-ha! The Utah connection once again! Looks like the administration has a hard time vetting some of these folks, except on ideological grounds.

Thomas B. Griffith, President Bush's nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law in Utah without a state law license for the past four years, according to Utah state officials.

Griffith, the general counsel for Brigham Young University since August 2000, had previously failed to renew his law license in Washington for three years while he was a lawyer based in the District. It was a mistake he attributed to an oversight by his law firm's staff. But that lapse in his D.C. license, reported earlier this month by The Washington Post, subsequently prevented Griffith from receiving a law license in Utah when he moved there.

Read the rest here.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

24/7 AND LIVE BROADCASTS

We at Arkansas Tonight have decided to take another step in this project. We've added a 24-7 audio feed for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. You can either go to the right hand column and click on "Listen Live" to hear it, or you can click here to pull up the pop-up window. It already has a Windows media player loaded, and you'll join the programming in progress. On Saturday nights, we'll simulcast along with show on Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM in Fayetteville. If you live outside the broadcast signal and you have access to a computer, you'll be able to hear it. The rest of the time, the programming cycles through our most current program, and just keeps going back two months, without interruption. You shouldn't have a hard time listening, the audio quality is set up for slow connections and is about the same as AM radio. Let us know if you listen, and let us know if you have any problems hearing it. It should remain on from here on out, with announced breaks for maintenance.

Along those lines, we're in need of two things. First, more content for our 24-7 feed. If you have a program, or PSA's or would like to buy adds, just e-mail us here and we'll get your information and talk about working together. Our other big need is for people to do sales, on commission. Rest assured, the commission is much higher then you'd get selling regular radio time, and the prices are very competitive right now for clients... but don't expect them to stay that way. Again, send us an e-mail or call us at (479)957-1115 if you live in the area, have some experience selling radio and want to earn a few extra dollars.

SEXUAL POLITICS, AGAIN

Looks like the VP's lesbian daughter will have to put up with the displeasure of others who oppose a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage.

A series of simply animated cartoon panels features stick figures of Mary Cheney and Vice President Dick Cheney. One image reads, "Dick's daughter sold out to help Dick run again."

The story line refers to Mary Cheney's job as director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the GOP recruit homosexual voters during the 2002 midterm elections. She has been less visible this year while traveling with the vice president or working at campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va.

Hypocritical on Mary's part?

WHAT IMPROVING ECONOMY?

-- Don Elkins
Friday "In Focus" Col. -- Northwest Arkansas Times

We’ve collectively entered the quiet political doldrums of June. You may have noticed shortly after the Arkansas primaries, the back-and-forth of political battle, the acres of signs and the television coverage seemed to evaporate. Most of us will see more about the Razorback baseball team than about the November elections, at least for the rest of this month. And we can expect it to stay that way until later in August, maybe even until September when we get closer to the actual ballot. In the meantime, you can always tune in national coverage of the 9-11 hearings, listen to Vice President Cheney claim time and time again Saddam and Osama did have a connection, even as every investigator and panel says the bad guys had no relationship, and you can watch as more blood spills on the sands of Iraq and Israel. Last week, we said goodbye to a president.

This week, we’ve heard questions about the effectiveness of the Pentagon’s response to the 9-11 hijackers. We’ve seen more campaign ads and more poll numbers. Senator Kerry says he’ll expand the child tax credit if he gains the White House. President Bush tried to rally the troops with a speech at a military base.

The world turns, as they say.

But one particular story caught my eye early this week, and I think it’s the biggest “local” political story I’ve seen in some time. It didn’t seem to make much sense, and it came courtesy of the monthly Consumer Price Index. The Index posted numbers reaching three-and-a-half year highs.

Regardless, Wall Street seemed to love the report and the major indexes gained ground during the session. It took a little bit of digging and a quick look at the financial websites to find out why. If one stripped out the “volatile” costs of food and fuel, the overall indicator actually declined slightly, about a tenth of a percent, from April. But who among us actually “strips out” food and fuel?

Do you have that option?

A visit to the Department of Commerce website revealed prices for dairy products, something most of us use on a daily basis, have reached the highest levels Americans have seen since 1946 – shortly after World War II, and shortly after the end of food rationing. USDA says farmers get the highest prices for their goods since 1910. Pair that up with gas prices that have dropped some, but still remain in a range most of us consider astronomical for America and you have big trouble at home for those of us in the unwashed masses. On a local news program a few nights ago, a reporter talked to average Joe and Joanna walking out of a neighborhood supermarket. Did they notice the prices?

Did it bother them?

Those salt-of-the-earth types expressed real distress with the agony of picking up provisions. A look at average incomes will tell you most of us haven’t seen much of a raise lately. But, those shoppers did have some solutions.

They’d just have to make do with less, or go without.

If, like myself, you have kids running around the house, need to buy milk, baby formula, diapers, pay that overdue electric bill and still work 70 hours a week, “make do with less” just doesn’t do the trick. To make things worse, Harvard’s School of Public Health released a new study Wednesday. Those numbers tell this story; Americans “have fewer legal rights to time off to take care of family matters than workers in most other countries, and rank near the bottom in pregnancy and sick leave.” So, not only do you need a mortgage to feed your family each week, you work harder and longer to do it. Feeling the squeeze yet?

Throw the rising cost of health insurance premiums into the mix, and you have a real mess. As I wrote above -- most of us can’t “strip away” the fuel and food costs and most of us don’t have time for a long vacation or time with our kids. And, as that continues along with the political doldrums of summer, we’ll have time to sit and stew, sit and reaaaalllly think about it before going to the ballot box in November – if we can afford the gas by then to drive to our local polling places. So, we shouldn’t feel surprised when we pick up the papers and read headlines proclaiming most Americans haven’t heard the “good news” about the economy. Many don’t know the Administration says it generated 1.4 million new jobs. More don’t realize most of those jobs come from the so-called “service sector” – what analysts callously refer to as “McJobs” which often pay minimum wage, which doesn’t pay for kids and doesn’t pay for insurance, and sure doesn’t pay for milk at World War II prices and gas that costs so much it makes you feel like you still have that AMC Gremlin and can expect to wait in a long line at the station, just to drive off stone-cold broke. Remember the refrain in 1992?

“It’s the economy, stupid!”

Well, it’s still the economy, and no rosy picture painted by the Fed (which will increase interest rates in about a week) has yet stopped my jaw from hitting the ground when I look at the price of bread, butter, milk and eggs at the neighborhood grocery. Nor has the rosy picture managed to lower my blood pressure when I fill up my car. Will it become the top issue in November? That remains open to debate, but I won’t soon forget I can’t explain any of that to an infant, two other young children or my local power company each month when the squeeze makes me want to shoot my wallet with the nearest hunting rifle. Is our proverbial economic glass “half full” or “half empty?”

Either way, someone needs to fill the rest of the thing up again.

JOHNNY RAMONE LOSING CANCER FIGHT

A bit of information about me. I'm a big Ramones fan. One of my first "professional" interviews (in college) was with Joey Ramone. My very first date with my lovely wife was backstage at a Ramones concert in Salt Lake City. We walked through a door and ended up standing in the middle of the band as they argued about a concert tour to Japan. Needless to say, the language burned my wife's ears a bit. I've always enjoyed their work, and consider their music some of my favorite. I listen to it now, and my personal level of guitar expertise allows me to play most of their songs, just not as fast as Johnny Ramone can. This news saddened me when I learned about it last night. Johnny is a hardcore Republican, which was a strange thing for the punk movement in the 70s. However, I never tire of his very loud, very fast work. When he's gone, essentially there goes the Ramones. If you'll recall, Joey died of cancer (but not before composing song in honor of CNBC's Maria Baritoromo) and Dee Dee died of an overdose.

Our very best to Johnny and his family, may they have the strength to endure what must be a very difficult fight (prostate cancer.)

REAGAN RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN (and to life?)

You may recall as recently as a day or two back, Mr. Bush claimed he would not invoke the ghost of President Reagan in his campaign. Some analysts and pundits said that might be a wise move on the part of Mr. Bush, because he could suffer by comparison. It might also dredge up longing for the good ol' days, which to some might make the present look less spectacular than desired. Remember, Mr. Bush said he wouldn't do it, but like a good lawyer, he didn't say someone else wouldn't conjure up ol' number 40 for the cause. Seems exactly that has happened. The "Club for Growth" has come up with a real humdinger of an add guaranteed to really make independents and Democrats see red.

Steve Moore, the group's president, defended the timing of the ad, saying it was intentional because the public had been reminded for days about "Reagan's philosophy of peace through strength."

"We wanted to draw on how similar Bush and Reagan have been in terms of fighting evil," Moore said.

To read the rest, visit this URL. Feel like watching the ad? (windows media) click here. Very crafty work.

FROM THE RIGHT: COMPARING BUSH TO REAGAN CAN BE TRICKY

--David Sanders Little Rock

This follows along with the "Reagan Returns to Campaign" post above. Watch the commerical, then read this from our favorite right-of-center (and a hell of a writer) guy David. Curious as to your reponses.

The events surrounding the death of Ronald Reagan have afforded the country an opportunity to escape the confines of the current political environment. The body politic has been singularly focused on the Reagan legacy and how history will judge his presidency. Reagan's legacy of defeating communism, revitalizing the American economy, restoring the collective confidence and shifting the country's political foundations has not been universally accepted, but many historians have been fair by giving Reagan credit for accomplishing much of what he set out to do. Read the rest here.

TRUCE ENDS IN THE HOUSE

A long standing truce between both parties in the house on ethics charges has ended. The target? Texas Republican and House majority leader Tom DeLay. An outgoing Texas Democrat filed a long list of charges against DeLay. While filing the charges, Rep. Chris Bell said, ""It's my opinion Mr. DeLay is the most corrupt politician in America today." (CNN). From the same report, Bell added, ""This attack on Congress comes in the form of serious criminal acts including bribery, extortion, fraud, money laundering and the abuse of power." Partisan? Probably. Biased? Perhaps. Wrong? Congress will have to decide but the evidence outlined in the articles doesn't sound too good, a la Newt. For another version of the same story, look here.

NAME CALLING EQUALS LAWYERS

This comes courtesy of TalkLeft. Our favorite defender of the media, Eric Alterman, will use Bill O'Reilly's favorite tactic -- lawyering up on an opponent. Another case of bad karma for O'Reilly? TalkLeft writes...

On his show the other day, Fox News host Bill O'Reil