Stuff From Around Arkansas, July 24

July 24, 2009

Rock Star: GOP Rep. Allen Kerr continues push to expose sleazy ‘double dipping’ elected officials getting paid twice. Bravo. (Arkansas News Bureau)

Enemies List: Marginal minor GOP Senate hopeful says something dorky; world hyperventilates. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

The Verdict: Weirdo evangelist Tony Alamo found guilty on multiple counts of being a skeezy pervo, which turns out to be the least surprising news of the day. (KATV)

Structural Deficit: Mike Huckabee’s PAC comes in for “restructuring,” which should be interpreted to mean that Huckabee continues to be a terrible fundraiser. (Arkansas Business)

Wage Against the Machine: Minimum wage jumps 70 cents today to $7.25 per hour. Some say that’s not a lot, but it’s still $7.25 more per hour than this blog pays. (Talk Business)

Scenes From a Tweet-Up: Photos from Little Rock Tweet-Up event, lovingly curated by media historian Lance Turner. Was it just last night? It seems an eternity ago. (Me Lance Turner, You Blog)

Pool Report: Blogger Blake Rutherford will take one for the team and cover the Arkansas Democratic Party’s big fundraising dinner tonight. (Blake’s Think Tank)

Hate Crimes: Blogger Jason Tolbert thinks Arkansas Democrats hate bloggers, but it turns out Arkansas Democrats just hate Tolbert and his stupid little Flipcam. (The Tolbert Report)

Face Off: Man sues Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport after falling on sidewalk and injuring his face. In response, the airport’s attorney asked “Does your face hurt? Because it’s killing me!” before dissolving into giggles and being removed from the case. (Morning News of NWA)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Arkansas To Obama: Keep Your Health Care ‘Reform,’ Loser

July 23, 2009

Over at Talk Business, Roby Brock’s magical polling machine, which has been stirring the pot all week on topics like news consumption preferences and the Arkansas lottery, is making more noise today with the results of his latest poll on health care reform.

Roby’s polling reveals that fully 86 percent of Arkansans are “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with their health care coverage (and that 74 percent are covered by private insurers).

Maybe Democratic Rep. Mike Ross, who’s been taking heat from lefty bloggers for the last week for slowing down action on health care in the house, was on to something all along? Check out Roby’s full report.

Filed Under: Arkansas Politics

What The Hell Is Jay Barth Talking About?

July 23, 2009
Barth

Barth

The Arkansas Times’ Gerard Matthews has a well-reported piece on the Arkansas lottery and some of the challenges that the latest big scam promising new venture will face in its initial start-up.

An Arkansas Project reader also read the piece and notes this quote from Hendrix College political scientist professor Jay Barth, who’s also a Democratic candidate for state Senate:

He says the ability to implement public policy directed toward altering education in Arkansas says a lot about how the culture is changing.

“The overwhelming majority by which it was passed does say something about the state’s relatively new commitment to education,” Barth says. “The populace is committed in a real way to educational change and I think that’s part of the lasting legacy of the Clinton era. [Bill] Clinton’s governorship really took a step toward saying education is key to changing this state and I think this is a continuation of that trend.”

Hm. That sounds pretty noble, but I would suggest that the overwhelming vote in favor of the lottery had less to do with Arkansans being “committed in a real way to educational change” and more to do with Arkansans who were “committed to the hope that they’ll score a shit ton of free money by winning the lottery.” It’s a subtle difference.

That quibble aside, read the whole thing.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

It Is Time to Tweet the Tweet Up, Mothertweeters

July 23, 2009
Blake Rutherford (center) regales his fans with amazing tales of his blogging adventures at June 2009 Tweet-Up at Capital Grill.

Blake Rutherford (center) regales his fans with amazing tales of his blogging adventures at June 2009 Tweet-Up at Capital Grill.

The third monthly Little Rock Tweet-Up is slated for this evening at the Copper Grill at 5:30 p.m.

There’s more details over here, and I’m sure you’ll want to be there, because it’s exactly the type of thing you seem to enjoy. Or maybe not. Frankly, I can’t make heads or tails of what it is that you like anymore. You’ve changed, man.

Filed Under: Arkansas Media Tagged With: ,

New Kids On The Blog*

July 23, 2009

*Sometimes you just write a headline and you say to yourself, man, that is solid gold.

It’s been over a week since we announced a new entry to the central Arkansas blogosphere, so, hey, look at that, here’s something new. Bloghawgs is a joint production from Democratic political consultant Brett Kincaid and attorney Adam Butler, and it’s already off to a lively start. But wait, “Bloghawgs”? That’s a terrible name for a blog. It’s almost as bad as “The Arkansas Project.”

The new venture will be heavy on sports and political commentary with a liberal leaning, meaning it will probably hold absolutely nothing of interest to me. But if those are your things, then by all means go get your rocks off.

Filed Under: Arkansas Media Tagged With: ,

Stuff From Around Arkansas, July 22

July 22, 2009

Smoked Out: On third anniversary of state ban on smoking in restaurants, anti-smoking zealots call for strengthening of the law, presumably to include rounding up smokers and housing them in re-education camps in remote corner of Newton County. (Arkansas News Bureau)

Screwed: Alabama Republican Congressional candidate goes tens of thousands of dollars into the red due to expenses from Mike Huckabee endorsement. I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way, is it? (The Hill)

Eyes on Ernie: Blogger Jason Tolbert has video of embattled Arkansas lottery boss Ernie Passailaigue turning on the charm with reporters at Little Rock lunch. And by “turning on the charm” I mean “getting testy and defensive,” of course. Or will a new legislative report requested by GOP Rep. Jonathan Dismang exonerate Ernie P.’s free-spending ways? (The Tolbert Report)

Dipsticks: GOP Rep. Allen Kerr is looking into phenomenon of “double-dipping” elected officials, a hopelessly corrupt practice explained nicely here. (The Arkansas Times)

Holding Out for a Hero: Blogger Zack Stovall evaluates the “Ricky Randoms” crowding into the 2010 U.S. Senate race on the GOP side. (Unfamous First Words)

The Living Dead: Zombies! In Rogers! Oh, it’s just a movie shoot…OR IS IT?!? (Benton County Daily Record)

Clock-Watcher: Here’s columnist David Sanders checking in on Democratic Rep. Mike Ross’s efforts to slow down the runaway train of health care reform. That’s probably a very good idea. (Arkansas News Bureau)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Another poll from multimedia impresario Roby Brock, today looking at where Arkansans get their news. If you work in the newspaper business, don’t even click on this link. Just weep quietly for a few minutes and then go fill out that law school application you’ve been keeping stashed in your desk. (Talk Business)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Cultural Learnings of Democrat for Make Benefit Glorious Party of Republican (Updated!)

July 21, 2009

UPDATE: Lots of comments below with good discussion, and check out Blake Rutherford’s response over at Blake’s Think Tank, where the back and forth continues.

Arkansas political history is fascinating and instructive. It is also readily available if you wish to learn on your own. Arkansas politicos like to talk about the old times and how things once were. If you can get past the fact that 90 percent of the people with longevity in Arkansas politics are Democrats, then you can tap into a treasure trove of political experience.

Unfortunately, Arkansas Republicans who have had some political success disappear soon after they leave office. If they don’t get a TV show, they just disappear from the scene and are rarely heard from again. One would be hard pressed to visit with former Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt or, for that matter, former Rep. Stephen Bright. But you can’t throw a rock in downtown Little Rock without hitting two former Democratic legislators in the head.

Fortunately, these Democrats are eager to relate stories of their glory days with intellectually curious young Republicans. Probably the first story these generous souls will share is how some influential Democrat helped them along in their career. They will tell you about how they were mentored and how they, in turn, mentored someone else. They’ll explain how Paul planted and Apollos watered, and soon the political seeds planted grew into actual office holding flowers.

Then you’ll probably hear two second-hand stories if you visit long enough. One is the story of Bill Clinton saying he didn’t need a party to win; all he needed was one supporter in each county. Then they’ll relate how Clinton staged his 1982 comeback based on that theory.

The other story is how a group of young hopefuls drank a bottle of wine one evening and plotted their futures, taking an oath to assist one another achieve their goals. The story will end that 20 years later, they had all reached the offices/positions/jobs they had plotted for and how many of today’s judges, reporters, bankers, congressmen, etc. were a part of this junta .

These stories illuminate what we lack as Republicans in Arkansas. On some level, we know these lessons, but don’t like to admit them.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Republicans Tagged With: ,

More Great Moments In Political Cartooning!

July 21, 2009

A few months ago, we busted political cartoonist Vic Harville’s chops for phoning it in with this terrible piece of Photoshop crap marking the inauguration of President Obama.

Well, the Arkansas News Bureau cartoonist is phoning it in again, marking the death of broadcasting giant Walter Cronkite with this lazy and insight-free Photoshop job:

(Image: Arkansas News Bureau)

Oh, wow, what a powerful statement, presented as only a highly-paid newspaper political cartoonist could! Maybe if I really, really put my mind to it, I could attain such heights. Hmmmm, let’s see….

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Media Tagged With: ,

A Stray Thought On Blanche Lincoln’s Money

July 20, 2009

Regular readers of this blog know all too well my unhealthy obsession with campaign money matters, especially as they relate to the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Arkansas.

Now here’s retired Army Col. Conrad Reynolds, who announced Monday he is running as a Republican to challenge Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, telling the AP he intends to raise $500,000 by the end of the year.

Let’s run a little thought experiment here. Lincoln has raised an average of about $500,000 each month this year, for a total of about $3 million to date. If she were to continue raising money at that rate for the next 16 months—not even speeding up her pace, just staying steady at the pace she’s kept up to date—she could conceivably raise $11 MILLION for the whole race.

I’m not saying she WILL raise that much money—only that there’s a conceivable pathway to such numbers.

I’m also not saying that the Republican challenger will need to match her dollar for dollar to be competitive. But he’ll still need a lot. The question is, do any of the Republican hopefuls really grasp how much money they’re going to need to do this?

$11 million? I don’t even know how you would spend that much money on a race in Arkansas, do you? I suppose you could if you were to pay your campaign staff salaries so big they would make Ernie Passailaigue blush.

I’m just kidding, of course. I can’t even imagine a salary number so big that it would make Ernie Passailaigue blush.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Stuff From Around Arkansas, July 20

July 20, 2009
Sarah Slocum. She is your new Miss Arkansas.

Sarah Slocum. She is your new Miss Arkansas.

Here, here’s a few things from around your beloved Natural State.

The Importance of Being Ernie: The numbers are in, thanks to Roby Brock’s polling, and 81 percent of Arkansans agree that state lottery director Ernie P. is an overpaid hack. When asked for comment, Ernie P. just started laughing and said he had to get to the bank. (Political Buzz)

D’arr, Matey: Ninja blogger Jason Tolbert features interview with GOP lieutenant governor candidate Mark Darr, who kicked off his campaign this weekend. (The Tolbert Report)

Sarah Smile: Sarah Slocum is your new Miss Arkansas. What is it about beauty pageants that they manage to take a bunch of good looking women parading around and turn it into the most boring thing on earth? I almost fell asleep just typing this. (AP)

Porn to Be Wild: Arkansas is one of the top 10 states for online pornography consumption. YES! We did it! (The Fayetteville Flyer)

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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