Arkansas Tonight

WE NOW HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR WAL-MART

2009-06-30T21:46:00.000-05:00

We've always been quick to criticize TWLR (the world's largest retailer) for anti-working-class policies, so tonight we have to congratulate Sam's empire for getting onboard with healthcare reform, joining union SEIU to support an employer mandate.

Here you can read more: BREAKING: Wal-Mart (!) Backs Key Reform Principle - The Treatment - still, it would be nice if they would go a step beyond and allow unionization. Hell, they do it in China! Not good enough for the US?

Anyway, Wal-Mart, job well done!

LA TIMES: MICHAEL JACKSON DIES AT AGE 50

2009-06-25T17:42:00.004-05:00

Sorry to post news on entertainment, but this is big. The Los Angeles Times, CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News are all confirming that pop icon Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. Wire reports say that he was taken from his Los Angeles home by ambulance after suffering from cardiac arrest. Word from UCLA Medical Center is that most of the Jackson family is at the hospital as are many, many fans.

SANFORD ADMITS AFFAIR; ANALYSTS SAY POLITICAL CAREER OVER

2009-06-25T11:30:00.001-05:00

Well, I guess I should have given Mark Sanford the benefit of the doubt. He was, in fact, in Argentina, visiting the woman he's been having an affair with for the last year. It's a shame that it had to come down to this, for him and for his family. And as I heard someone say on ABC News Radio this morning, it's over, his entire political career is over. He has proven himself to be erratic and not able to properly balance his personal and professional life. He just completely left the state and the country for a woman without telling anyone where he was going. At least when Bill Clinton was getting serviced he could multi-task.

The bigger issue that comes up here isn't Sanford or his ability to do his job. Instead it all comes back to Republican hypocrisy. You see, the party claims to be the moral authority on everything and yet they can't even live up to their own standards. That was the great thing about Bill Clinton: everyone knew about him banging that Flowers woman and yet the country voted him into office anyway. The nation was fully aware of his actions, but I think what made it easier for them was the fact that he wasn't running a family values campaign. He never claimed to be God's moral authority on Earth. Republicans on the other hand claim to be God's political party, and yet we have John Ensign admitting just last week that he cheated on his wife, then Sanford this week, and we've also had Larry Craig trying to get gay sex in the restroom at the Minneapolis airport and Mark Foley sending explicit e-mails and IMs to underage boys. How about from now on the Republican Party stop acting like a bunch of pampas jackasses and instead start acting real. Admit that you're not perfect. Don't pull some B.S. about how much you love your family and then skip out of the country on father's day. If you're going to run on family values, how about you don't cheat on your wife? It's a novel idea, isn't it? If you run on family values and then you get caught in your tangled web of lies, it will cost you big time, just ask Tim Hutchinson. He lost his seat in the senate over it and Mark Pryor never even had to mention it.

SANFORD WAS IN SOUTH AMERICA; ANYBODY SMELL IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS?

2009-06-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

His staff told the world that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but the truth is that Gov. Mark Sanford (R - South Carolina) was actually in Argentina driving the coast of that nation, all alone, no security detail and no contact with his wife or state leaders (at least he's telling us he was in Argentina). It's the responsible thing to do, isn't it? I can't wait until this man runs for President and tries to explain that he just needed to clear his head. I'm sure there was some of that going on. What I'm waiting on is for someone, anyone is Argentina to come forward with a story about what Gov. Sanford was really doing there, if in fact he was there.

Now what I want to know is this: can't Sec. of State Hillary Clinton do some research of his passport file to see if he really was in Argentina or if he went to some other country? I just figure since he can't seem to tell us where he's going and since his staff can't seem to truthfully tell us where he's going, we should just pull the State Department into this mess, don't you think?

Also, at what point will the state house vote to begin impeachment proceedings against him? And since he's butted heads with almost everybody in the state legislature, how large of a margin will the state senate have when they vote to kick him out of office? If we've learned anything over the last several months, state legislatures are not afraid to kick their governor out of office. Just ask Rod Blagojevich.

FORT WORTH CHURCH KICKED OUT OF SBC OVER PHOTOS OF GAY MEMBERS

2009-06-23T14:30:00.002-05:00

A quick thank you to Brad Merrick in central Arkansas for sending this story my way.

This from The Washington Post:

The slowly shrinking Southern Baptist Convention voted on Tuesday to sever 125-year-old ties with a Texas church that allowed homosexual members to have their photos in the church directory.
Messengers (delegates) to the SBC's annual meeting voted overwhelmingly to disassociate from Forth Worth's Broadway Baptist Church, following an executive committee ruling Monday that the congregation "failed to establish its compliance" with the SBC rules that ban churches that "act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."
According to the Associated Baptist Press, "it was the first time the SBC has ejected a church simply because denominational officials perceive that the congregation is in violation of a policy prohibiting affiliation with pro-gay churches."

So let's get this straight...simply for publishing an innocent photo of a church attendee who is gay a church with a long history within the Southern Baptist Convention is kicked out? Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds this ludicrous.

How long will it take before the hate stops? Am I the only one seeing how stupid this is? I mean, if you want these people to come to follow Christ, wouldn't you want to welcome them to your place of worship and then leading by example instead of shunning them? No wonder conservative Christians are so hated by liberals. It is stories like this that makes people not be able to stand First Baptist Church of Springdale or other radically conservative churches throughout Arkansas and the nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Southern Baptists Reject Church

GOVERNOR CHECKS IN

2009-06-23T10:30:00.004-05:00

So it appears that Gov. Mark Sanford (R - South Carolina) has been found after getting national attention for his disappearing act over the weekend. The Associated Press is reporting that he is shocked and taken aback by all of the attention. Really? You didn't think it was a good idea to check in and maybe let your lieutenant governor know that you would be out of touch for the next several days? How is it that you are even thinking about running for president? At least George W. Bush let us know he would be in Crawford for months on end.

FRANK WANTS TO LEGALIZE POT

2009-06-23T10:05:00.001-05:00

Rep. Barney Frank (D - Massachusetts) has filed a bill to legalize marijuana. What do you think? How long until this dies? Will it die in committee or make it all the way to a floor vote? For more on the bill, click HERE and then come on back and tell me what you think.

WHERE IS SOUTH CAROLINA'S GOVERNOR?

2009-06-22T23:29:00.002-05:00

Yeah, that's right, apparently he is missing. So who's running the state? No one knows. Check out this LINK to an ABC News report on the topic.

WHY WAL-MART WORKERS NEED EFCA

2009-06-17T01:33:00.001-05:00

And, of course, on the other big company in the region - an interesting piece on how Sam's Empire treats employees interested in unionizing, with a case study from 8 years ago.

Why Wal-Mart Workers Need EFCA -- In These Times

DID TYSON FOODS BLOCK WORKPLACE SAFETY?

2009-06-17T01:26:00.000-05:00

Interesting piece from SEIU, which claims our own Tyson Foods and the US Chamber of Commerce worked to block workplace safety regs, resulting in the death of a Tyson employee in Texarkana in 2003.

SEIU also says a similar accident happened the year before, and Tyson didn't put into place safety regs to make sure it didn't happen again.

Hey, we know it's heresy to strike at the hand that feeds everyone, but we're interested here in getting some sort of response from Tyson Foods on this allegation. What happened, and have you been fighting safety regs? We'll print what you send us, no editing needed.

If you're interested in the full piece, here you go: SEIU - Service Employees International Union - US Chamber and Tyson Foods Fought Workplace Safety Measures

STAND WITH FREE IRAN!

2009-06-16T02:56:00.003-05:00

We've got to say something about this - we've been following Iran for the past 4 days now - the tweets coming out of there are amazing, almost as amazing as the solidarity of some 1-million people today protesting the fraudulent election of a dictator, backed by yet another Ayatollah. Also amazing? The violence perpetrated on the people who tried to cast votes - violence from the police, the militias, Hezbollah imported from Lebanon.

What also has us scratching our heads is the amazing lack of coverage you'll see about this in the mainstream media. Props to the NYTimes for keeping it on the front page, but a Pulitzer should go to Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post for liveblogging the uprising since it started, and he's still going strong.

There's just too much video to show here, too many amazing and terrible pictures as well.

We've changed our Twitter pic to the "stand with free iran" green symbol. Do the same, or go to the Huffington Post, read Nico's work, and find out how to turn your computer into a proxy server for the Green revolution in Iran, so those who want to oust Ahmadi and the Ayatollah will have a way around the secret police and Hezbollah, so they can keep getting out the information about what's happening in Iraq. If you feel you can use your computer to help them - here's the link and instructions on how you can strike a personal blow for freedom around the world - Austin Heap's site.

Some more from Pitney's live-blog - a list of 7 points protestors in Iran passed around Monday during the million-person protest:

1. Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader

2. Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts

3. Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader

4. Recognition of Mousavi as the President

5. Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution

6. unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners

7. Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret

Don't know about you, but that sounds like a) democracy, and b) revolution. Hell, they kicked out the Shah, then screwed up by letting the Ayatollah run things. Better late than never, we say.

All we can say is that we hope they burn the place down, and that the so-called President of Iran gets what he deserves, shortly.

PRYOR, LINCOLN VOTE IN FAVOR OF TOBACCO BILL

2009-06-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Arkansas' two U.S. senators, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, the latter of whom is up for re-election, voted for the new tobacco regulation bill last week. While it was probably the right thing to do I wonder if the GOP will try to somehow turn this on Lincoln when next year's election rolls around. They're desperate, so there's no telling what they might try in order to gain some ground in next year's race.

PALIN'S FAKE OUTRAGE

2009-06-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

One more reason to hate Sarah Palin: she can't take a joke. Here, she goes berserk on Matt Lauer. Seems she just didn't like Letterman joking about her, and she seems to both ignore his apology, and imply he might be a child molester. And we know why she's doing it - once again, for cheap political gain. She's disgusting. Enjoy the performance.

HAHAHAHAHAH - MISS CALI WHINES

2009-06-12T15:46:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Oh! My oh my - Miss California upset about getting the boot. We just couldn't help laughing our asses off over this. Need we say more? Enjoy the whining.

Wanna read more? Check it out - Carrie Prejean: My Miss California Firing Was "A Set Up."

Snicker - snicker.

EXTREMISTS, BOTH RIGHT- AND LEFT-WING, ARE A THREAT

2009-06-12T15:30:00.000-05:00

I'm sure by now, everyone and their brother has heard all about the old white racist who opened fire at the Holocaust Museum in Washington on Wednesday. He apparently fought in World War II, in both the Pacific and European theatres, and still for some reason denies that the Holocaust actually happened. He also stated all over the web that Barack Obama is not an American and that his birth certificate is not real. And to top it all off, police found a note in his car that essentially said that President Obama is being controlled by Jews.

Besides James von Brunn shooting up the Holocaust Museum, Dr. George Tiller was killed by an anti-abortion extremist and two soldiers were shot in Little Rock by Abdulhakim Muhammad, who told the Associated Press that what he did wasn't murder since America was in the Middle East killing innocent civilians.

We are in a time where extremists on both sides of the aisle are going crazy and acting out in order to justify their insane political views. When are we, as a nation, both Republicans and Democrats, going to stand up and say enough is enough? I have barely heard a peep out of any Republicans strongly denouncing what happened in Washington on Wednesday and I equally heard barely anything in the Muslim community denouncing the actions of the Little Rock shooter.

Before the election last year many extremists made statements saying that we needed to start a revolution if Obama won. Well, I think some people have taken that literal and if we as a society don't stand up and make it clear that this is not OK, then we will start having another mass of shootings and domestic terrorism just like we had in the 90s with the unabomber, school shootings, the '93 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing. When the Department of Homeland Security said that extreme right-wing groups were a threat to the safety of the nation, there should have been no condemnation of the DHS, but instead we should have asked how we can stop it. Their research and insight is now starting to show itself and we still don't even seem to realize it.

TRASHING THE NEWSPAPER BIZ

2009-06-12T02:48:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

End Times

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

Wow, amazing piece of editorial, disguised as comedy on "The Daily Show."

One of their "correspondents" visited the NY Times, and pretty much made fools of the management, and at the same time made some very salient points about newspapers (one might say some of the same criticisms apply to local television.)

At one point, our man on the street refers to the newsroom of the Times as a "walking colonial Williamsburg."

Most importantly, the main man as the paper is asked why anyone would like news that is 24-hours old.

We ask all defenders of the papers, along with media analysts like Blake at Blake's ThinkTank what they think of that. Isn't it the bottom line here?

Don't get us wrong - we like the Times. A couple of us have written for the papers, put them together, run them and spent a significant amount of time making them parts of our lives. But perhaps the time has come for big change. OK, that's already happened. Local TV is going through it now.

Just because the people who know the rules of journalism, writing and reporting haven't jumped ship all at once doesn't mean that won't happen sooner than later.

Feel free to weigh in. Many of us are still trying to see the future of the media, but we never come up with a clear picture of that. We think much of that future will be found right here, online. Yes, that includes television, where many of us have stopped watching TV on a regular basis, and find the programming we like online at our fingertips with a minium of annoying advertisements.

Oh, wise reader, show us the business model of the next generation.

We have to give a tip of the hat to the current reigning mega-news-site for letting us watch this.

Here's the link: Daily Show Visits New York Times: "Aged News" "Colonial Williamsburg" "My Grandma Would Love This" (VIDEO)

OBAMA IN EGYPT, OR, WHY HE WON

2009-06-05T00:24:00.003-05:00

Part of the President's speech in Cairo Thursday. Across the muslim world, many have praised his speech, which sought common ground. Some in the media have called the speech "transformative." If you take the time to listen to what he said, you'll understand why he won the election, and why he continues to do well everywhere. He's selling hope, and any politician that sells hope and indeed optimism can win the hearts of people everywhere, people sick to death of fighting and darkness. As the President spoke of hope and travelled to the Middle-East with an open hand and open heart, seeking to mend fences, back in the US, people like Rush Limbaugh compared him to Al Qaeda.

There's your answer - no matter how many tea bags some people pull out of their butts, how many racist signs and chants get made, how many times someone tries to call the President a "socialist" it hasn't worked. To the contrary - it's done nothing but hurt the cause of those screaming the loudest.

To those who want him gone - listen to him first and figure out what it is about him that appeals to a vast majority of people not only at home, but across the world.

It sounds corny, but perhaps this man has managed to restore that "Statue of Liberty" kind of image the rest of the world has always at least wanted to have about America. If you still have that image in your mind and soul, then the things Mr. Obama said today should resonate with you. It's a speech worth hearing. Just remember, while that man is out transcending worldwide problems and reaching out, doing things on a world stage, the morons are back at home on AM radio bitching about things they mostly have wrong, or simply like to lie about.

That's our rant for the day.

OBAMA'S MUSLIM ROOTS

2009-06-02T21:30:00.000-05:00

One wonders if the GOP are going to jump on this: ABC's Jake Tapper has an interesting blog post about Obama's trip to Egypt and his connections to the Muslim world. Maybe I need to not automatically jump to negative thinking, but I think Rush, Sean and Glenn will use Tapper's post to try to tear down the President and start up a lot of crap just like they did during the election. What do you think? Will this cause concern among Americans? If the radio and TV talking heads use this to try to hurt the President, will it come back to bite them in the butt?

SHOULD BILL O'REILLY BE HELD PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR TILLER'S MURDER?

2009-06-01T15:00:00.004-05:00

UPDATE 9:15 PM: Media Matters for America has some really good information about Dr. Tiller and Bill O'Reilly, including video of an ambush interview in 2007 and audio of O'Reilly saying this on his radio show in 2006, "...if I could get my hands on Tiller -- well, you know." To listen to the full audio, click HERE.

ORIGINAL POST: The headline is shocking, but so are all of the YouTube videos where you see Fox News' Bill O'Reilly repeatedly use the slogan "Tiller the Baby Killer" to refer to Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita abortion provider who was murdered yesterday while handing out bulletins at church. Questions are now being raised in the media and across the blogosphere about whether or not Bill O'Reilly in fact tried to incite violence against Dr. Tiller. Take a look at these two videos and then share your thoughts and opinions. Is O'Reilly really responsible for the murder of this man or are people drawing the wrong conclusion by connecting O'Reilly with Dr. Tiller's murder?

WORDS OF THE SO-CALLED "PRO LIFE" MOVEMENT

2009-05-31T20:52:00.000-05:00

After today's cold-blooded killing of Dr. Tiller in Wichita, seems Randall "A-hole" Terry, had something to say about it. He didn't condemn the killing in any way, instead, he went after the President.

This is the "pro-life" movement? You've got to be kidding us! There's nothing "pro-life" about Randall Terry, who doesn't mind the deaths of people opposed to his own viewpoint - it's one of the most contradictory things we've ever seen.

You wanna help? Make a donation to Planned Parenthood to show your disapproval of those who condone and abet murder, like the murder of Dr. Tiller in church today.

Here's more about Terry's insane comment: Randall Terry, Operation Rescue Founder, Says He's More Concerned About Obama's Reaction Than Tiller's Murder

ABORTION DOCTOR MURDERED AT CHURCH

2009-05-31T14:30:00.000-05:00

Dr. George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the U.S. to continue to perform late-term abortions, was shot and killed around 10 o'clock this morning as he was walking into his Wichita, Kansas, church, CNN.com reports.

With that in mind, I pose these questions to everyone reading: Does killing a man who performs abortions really achieve your goal of ending those abortions? How is killing a man the right answer? If you think abortion is murder, then how can you justify murdering the abortion doctor? Just a few things for all of us, especially the far right wingers, to think about.

WAS "MANCOW" WATERBOARDING FAKE?

2009-05-29T15:44:00.000-05:00

Around here, we generally enjoy Keith Olbermann's program, however, we tend to think this tidbit is the real-deal. Seems "Mancow" Muller, the shock-jock from Chicago faked his waterboarding, with a vet who knows nothing about the procedure performing it.

That doesn't surprise anyone here - including a vet familiar with waterboarding. All they were doing was pouring a gallon of water into Mr. Muller's mouth, and that's NOT waterboarding (no cheesecloth involved, we're told.)

Details about the payment of a donation from KO to Mancow's charity seems to back that up - maybe Mr. Olbermann will have to make a "special comment" about himself now. We'll keep watching, but this was too much.

Here's the link - Changing Channels - Keith Olbermann: not necessarily the news.

A LIVESTREAM VIDEO TEST

2009-05-29T01:49:00.001-05:00

Just testing livestream out for ArkTonight TV project. No programming, just camera testing right now, some audio.

INTERESTING STORIES @ HUFFPOST

2009-05-27T13:15:00.004-05:00

There are a few interesting reads over @ HuffPost today. The first link involves my favorite topic of discussion over the last several months, Illinois Senator Roland Burris. Also linked is a story about Tom Tancredo. You remember him, right? He was one of the bigots that ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year. Well, apparently he and el Rushbo think that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a racist. Ironic, isn't it? The other stories were linked by HuffPost and I thought they deserved a link from Arkansas Tonight as well. Enjoy.

The Huffington Post: Burris Promised He'd 'Do Something' For Blagojevich Before Senate Appointment

The Huffington Post: Tom Tancredo Calls Sotomayor Racist

CNN Political Ticker: Huckabee to endorse Rubio for Florida Senate seat

AMERICAblog News: Bush Solicitor General, Ted Olson, explains why he's now for gay marriage

The Huffington Post: Bernard Kerik, Indicted Ex-NYC Police Boss, Accused Of Lying To White House