Wealth

Thanks to Bob.

The “Very Poor” Romney’s Not Concerned About.

"’Very poor’ means those having an annual income under $200,000.00 & a net worth of under 2.4 million.”

Something progressives, liberals and environmentalist should read.

It is my view that America has lost its commitment to reason.  The left is guided by emotion and the right by belief.  Reason resides in neither.  One can doubtless fault the following but there is a great deal of truth stated here.  Few will read it, though they may read about it, because the modern American attention span is about as broad as the wave length of blue light and we are all too busy to be bother with what is really important.  If anything does not instantly stimulate our emotions or our beliefs, as the case may be, if it requires nuanced consideration or calculation, we turn it off.  Still I commend it none the less.  (P.S. I do not claim exception.  I too skimmed parts, when I knew where he was going.  The point is to absorb and consider the argument.)

http://activistteacher.blogspot.com/2007/02/global-warming-truth-or-dare.html

I Wish I'd Said This, But Glad Portia Did Since I Didn't.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

Portia

Thanks to Dick & his Mother.

Eureka

20-Jan 1986 John Fuller Cross, President of Bank of Eureka Springs, refused to close his bank on Martin Luther King Day, saying it would only encourage Jews, women, Mexicans and homosexuals to demand a special holiday for them, too.

20-Jan 1987 Eureka Springs Ministerial Alliance denounced “Pass the Ammunition” to be filmed at Eureka Springs, as full of nudity, sex, obscenity, perversity, drugs, vulgarity, racism and violence.

                              

From Smith's AlternativeArkansas History.

Getting the Creeps.

 See, Newt Gingrich creeping up on Mitt Romney in a creepy way by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times

Canada for President? An Option Worth Considering.

Thanks to Linda.

So Many Good Times, So Many Good Bye's.

Take it away Lacy:

I like your record-the best to you dear.

Thinking of the World as Existing in Relation to the Mystery of God

"Our present ecological crisis, the biggest single practical threat to our human existence in the middle to long term, has, religious people would say, a great deal to do with our failure to think of the world as existing in relation to the mystery of God, not just as a huge warehouse of stuff to be used for our convenience." - Rowan Williams
Thanks to Reverend Sandi.

The Good Old Days When The Air Was Clean and Sex Was Dirty.

Apparently, it was ok to be gay but not nekkid.  “8-Jan 1954 Fort Smith radio preacher Braxton B. Sawyer claimed to have recordings of youths admitting to "immoralities" at a nudist camp at Dunn's Spring near Evansville.”  Smith's Alternative Arkansas History & Thanks to Orve.

An Albanian Anthem with Thanks to Alabama.

There she is sitting there
Out behind the smoke house in her rocking chair
She don't do nothin'
She don't say nothin'
She don't feel nothin'
She don't know nothin'
Maybe she's crazy I don't know
But maybe that's why I love her so

Her papa was a midget
Her mama was a whore
Her grandad was a newsboy 'til he was eighty four
Man don't you think I know she hates me
Man don't you think I know that she's no good
If she knew how she'd be unfaithful to me
I think she'd kill me if she could
Maybe she's crazy I don't know
But maybe that's why I love her so

I'm not afraid of the greywolf
Who stalks through our forest at dawn
As long as I have her beside me
I have the strength to carry on

Today we will be married
And all the freaks that she knows will be there
And all the people from the village will be there
To congratulate us
I will carry her across the threshold
I will make dim the light
I will attempt to spend my love within her
But though I try with all my might
She will laugh at my mighty sword
She will laugh at my mighty sword
Why must everybody laugh at my mighty sword?
Lord, hep me if you will
Maybe we're both crazy, I don't know
Maybe that's why I love her so 

A Wedding In Cherokee County by Randy Newman

The Transformer Tried.

"29-Dec 1970 Governor Winthrop Rockefeller commuted to life sentences all 15 men on death row."  From Smith's Alternative Arkansas History 
They don't seem to be making Republicans like this anymore.  It's ironic that the very type that he fought ended up controlling the Republican Party that he helped birth.

This is the 2nd Anniversary of Barbara & Jim's 25th

I tried to get Jim to sing at least the chorus of Hard Dog, as he used to sing it to her:

"I give you my love and I give you my money

but you've got the feelings of a fence post honey.

I don't hold a grudge I just carry a torch.

You're a hard dog to keep under the porch."

He won't let me record it and I couldn't find the Gail Davies version, but Ruby Andrews does a pretty fair job. 

Here's to a  pretty good cowboy and and a pretty good cowgirl,  They are still a couple of my favorite individuals.  Happy trails.

A Celebration of Life by The Sultry Sirens of Sin.

Arkansasyers and Those from Off-Properly Pronouncing Arkansas is Not Only The Right Thing to Do. It's the Law.

Arkansas Code 1-4-105. Pronunciation of state name. Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings. And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history and the early usage of the American immigrants. Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged. Concurrent Resolution No. 4, Acts 1881, p. 216 "

Thanks to Dr. Stephen Smith for his "Smith's Alternative Arkansas History" including the post for December 21st which included inter alia: 

21-Dec 1940 William Roberts and Bill Griffith arrested for distributing religious magazines Watchtower and Consolation without a city license or occupational tax under Hot Springs Ordinance 559. 

21-Dec 1944 Little Rock City Council demands to know why an indecent "hootchy-kootchy" show was allowed to operate at 114 W. Markham St. for several months before finally was closed by police.  

21-Dec 1984 Arkansas Supreme Court affirms jury award of $20,850 against Wal-Mart for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress of Katherine Yarbrough. 

21-Dec 1998 Arkansas Supreme Court rules that Attorney General Winston Bryant has standing under the Freedom of Information Act to request withheld records of Governor Mike Huckabee's hokey complaint hotline." Thanks also to Gale Wingate who asked Dr. Steve if there was “a law about pronouncing Arkansas as anything other than Arkansaw not Arkanasan" and again to the good doctor for providing the answer.

Perspective

Many have made fun of Kim Jong Il in the last few days.  Many others feel profound sorrow at his passing.  Why is there such a difference?  Racism is always a possibility.  Political differences also play a role.  I fear, however, that the big difference is because of the information we do or do not receive.    North Koreans hear or read only what the government allows.  Most of that was propaganda praising Kim Jong Il.
We have freedom of the press guaranteed by our constitution, but so does North Korea.  Are we better informed than they?  I think so.  We get more than one side of things.  I fear though that the cowardly nature of much of our main stream media dooms us to merely hear propaganda from the several sides.  See, Gross Failure of the Media by Cenk Uygur
Our commercial media don’t want to offend advertisers.   They, therefore,  merely parrot what each side is saying.  This practice can cause our decision making to be based on platitudes, and sound bites made by partisan talking heads.  As a result, we often vote against the best interests of ourselves and our country.

Putting Christ Back In Christmas.

Thanks to Bob.

Thanks for Your Insight and Indignation Christopher.

Christopher Hitchens made us think and made some of us plumb mad.   Here are two representative views:

 "Christopher Hitchens died yesterday at M D Anderson in Houston. Now, is there anyone left to tell us the truth.  Some have said he forever raised our level of indignation about the autocratic belief systems of the world.  I sadly suspect  Nikki Giovanni (my favorite poet) is correct when she says 'willful ignorance will overpower indignation every time.'” Young Art

“Jesus has finally killed Christopher Hitchens. The delay resulted, not from lack of provocation, but from chronic absentmindedness.” Mrs. Betty Bowers

We May Become Slim, But You'll Still Be an Ass.

Merry Christmas to Cowboys & Cowgirls.

Lynn, Dena, Sheila, Martha, Le Ann, Annie, Jane, Myra Belle, Sissy, Delores, Bonanza, Debbie, Heather, Gloria, Dale, Mike, Lefty, Roy, Gene, Rowdy, Gil, Augustus, Woodrow, Butch, Sundance, Jack, Wylie, Slim and Tex are some of the best.