A prayer on this Election Day

From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

For Our Country.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favour and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Filed under: Commentary, National politics

Republicans love affair with ignorance

Some of you will not like this, and I am so sorry. I’m up late getting tomorrow’s radio headlines together, and there are several really juicy feature stories floating around on the internet. A Vancouver web site called Straight.com has a marvelous feature on the GOP’s unceasing flirtation with dumbness.

Let me whet your appetite.

Huddled together in perpetual fear in states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Montana and Kansas are millions of people petrified that the terrorists could be coming for them at any moment, just as they knew that the Communists were coming in decades past.

These people may not be able to find Canada on a map–let alone Afghanistan–but they sure as hell know what they know and what they know for sure is that the enemy of all civilization, aside from gay marriage, of course, is definitely Islam.

Unwinnable Wars
If they really like waging unwinnable wars, perhaps they should go back to fighting the “war on gays” and the “war on drugs” instead of this distant, far-off, overseas “war on terror”.

The people of, say, Knoxville or Texarkana may have never met a Muslim but they sure as hell have met someone who they suspected of being gay or of smoking a joint, so this makes the whole war so much more immediate and real. And some of those pot smokers and gays have even been known to indulge in that hideous thing known as premarital sex, so there’s a whole other war to be fought there as well.

You were warned, so don’t complain.

I have no complaint with serous conservatives who are willing to conduct civil arguments, but there is darned little of that left any more.

Filed under: Arkansas, Commentary, National politics, Obama

Democratic gains in congress do not mean more liberals (whatever the hell that is)

All I know is when people call em a liberal, it’s not a compliment. The ugly name calling and labeling is, as you know, just another way of making people, who ought to at least have a say,shut up.

Anyway, the far right has been howling about how, when Democrats gain seats in Congress, you can get ready for the next Communist revolution. It turns out, however, that the reality is a bit different. No more reliable conservative source than the Washington Times lays it out. You can read it all here, but the Arkansas angle is this:

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a Blue Dog leader, told the Wall Street Journal last week that the coalition could rise to 61 votes in the new Congress. If the party as a whole gains 25 seats, as many forecasters now say, Blue Dogs in that case would constitute 23.5 percent of the new House Democratic caucus of 260.

Our Junior U. S. Senator ought to be a Republican. blanche is not all that much left either. In other words, life will go on.

Filed under: Arkansas, Commentary, National politics

Election Night Happenings, Lynch and Vickery on KARK for election color and commentary

Let’s see. The Greens are at Juanita’s. Max Alan and the Arkansas Times gang are in the River Market. Darn. Bill Vickery and I are WORKING on KARK TV Channel 4! Tune in for that famous verbal confrontation you have come to appreciate on the Wednesday Wake Up!

Filed under: Arkansas, Commentary, Obama, Promotion

A little business news, anybody?

It has been a somewhat busy day here. Gus Malzahn was an outstanding speaker in front of an overflow Little Rock Touchdown Club. He reflected on the weekend loss and we all mourned over Phil Fulmer. 

Rex Nelson observed the hazards of being out of work in a touch job market. Since I am still looking for my new third job, there is no argument on that over here. 

Roby Brock has been working over at the BizBlog on  TalkBusiness.net, one of our favorite web stops. There is some good news for Fort Smith’s economy from Baldor, and Don Tyson has not lost his “vision thing.” 

Max has been slaving away over at Arkansas Times. He got the word from Terry Hastings that the Gwatney murder investigation is winding down. Don’t look for any huge shocks.

Filed under: Arkansas, Economy

A quick glance at early Monday’s news

For the campaign wrap-up, look for my weekly column in the Arkansas section of the Democrat-Gazette. I am on the Voices page and my opinions always rock the house.

Also, remember that Bill Vickery and I provide color and commentary on election night at KARK TV Channel 4.  We will then be back Wednesday morning at 6:45.

My morning headlines are on K-106.3 The Greatest Hits of All Time with John Lee and Spirit FM with Don Burns at 93.3 and 100.7. AND, 100 kw.Y-95 in Camden. You can hear my morning updates all over south Arkansas on this MONSTER FM powerhouse.

Razorback Foundation Board members officially removed Chuck Dicus from his position as president and promoted Harold Horton to the position Saturday, and Arkansas defeats nationally ranked Tulsa Hurricane 30-23. Tulsa’s Gus Malzahn is the speaker at today’s Little Rock Touchdown Club.

Arkansas voters broke a record Friday with more than 314,000 ballots cast in early voting. Today, there is early voting at only one location in each county.

Gov. Mike Beebe says that he wants some of the state’s financial surplus of more than $300 million reserved to fund essential services if state revenue drops.

The faculty and staff senates of the University of Central Arkansas have asked Gov. Mike Beebe to reappoint Dr. Michael Stanton, a university trustee who made public a memo by former UCA President Lu Hardin that eventually led to Hardin’s resignation.

More than one-third of Arkansas schools need improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The list of schools in the state categorized as in “school improvement” rose to 375 this year, an increase of 50 over the previous year. Arkansas has 1,087 public schools.

The director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality informs environmental advocates that she plans to step up inspections of drillwater storage facilities.

Federal officials say a 2.7-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday night near the community of Magnet Cove in Hot Spring County.

Clark County will stay dry after a Supreme Court ruling that some of the petition signatures were from those who had not yet registered to vote. That measure will not be counted in tomorrow’s General Election.

Eddie Free’s name will be on the ballot for Springdale City Council, even though the 50-year-old recently died.

Arkansas State Police are collecting data on traffic accidents related to text messaging to determine how much of a problem the practice is. State Police say the number of traffic fatalities related to drugs or alcohol fell 10.1% last year and 2.3% overall.

Students, assisted by about 60 staff members and 100 volunteers at Vilonia Primary School planted 2008 tulip bulbs Friday in less than a minute. That’s a world record.

A Greenwood judge declared a mistrial in the murder case against an 85-year-old Mansfield man accused of fatally stabbing his wife and turning the knife on himself,  after the jury reported itself to be deadlocked.

Jeffrey W. Ubben, managing partner of ValueAct Capital Master Fund LP, is resigning from Acxiom Corp.’s board of directors.

Little Rock Air Force Base’s growth spurt continues with an unprecedented $5 million gift from the city of Jacksonville to help build a new education center.

Searcy police are investigating the robbery of a Regions Bank branch Friday afternoon. 

Filed under: Arkansas