550 Attend John Stossel Mtg in Jonesboro/800 in Little Rock/345 in Texarkana

Jonesboro: Anyone would have had a hard time adding any information to the knowledge this group already had on government run health care or to entertain them. But John Stossel was able to do both. The audience could complete several of the sentences and nod and applaud at every allusion made to any aspect of the health care bill or health care discussion made by those who introduced Stossel. It was obvious the 500 plus people had been thoroughly educated on the topic by Fox. Below the following excerpts from newspaper articles are a few of the applause lines by Stossel.

The meeting was well covered across the state except KAIT television in Jonesboro who ignored it. In fact Google showed 67 possible articles and blog reports on the meeting.

From American For Prosperity excerpts (organization that brought John Stossel to Arkansas)
"At 7am this morning-- yes I said 7am--345 activists joined us bright and early in Texarkana for a rousing town hall meeting. We were in the district of Congressional Blue Dog leader Mike Ross, and hundreds of folks signed the “Hands Off My Health Care” petition urging Congressman Ross to do the right thing for Arkansas.

"Next we arrived in Little Rock, after a two hour drive, where over 800 Arkansas citizens from all walks of life overflowed a large auditorium. http://www.americansforprosperity.com/102909-road-arkansas-john-stossel

From Jonesboro Sun (Excerpts)
Stossel rally draws 500

JONESBORO — About 500 people crammed into a hotel ballroom Thursday to express their displeasure with what supporters say is the potential of government-run health care.A group, Americans for Prosperity, hosted the meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn on Caraway Road featuring Fox Business Network host John Stossel.Stossel, who formerly appeared on the ABC newsmagazine “20/20,” said he believes a free market-based system will address many of the issues in the health-care debate.“Right now, the numbers don’t add up,” Stossel said of a $894 billion plan brought forward Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “The current system is unsustainable. I believe President Obama is right on that issue. But we have a $36 trillion liability with Medicare and Medicaid.” Rest of article can be read at this link. http://www.jonesborosun.com/story.php?ID=40442

Arkansas News Bureau excerpts
Stossel talks health care; Lincoln won’t rule out filibuster
By John LyonArkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Government-run health insurance is a “ponzi scheme,” former television newsman John Stossel told about 800 people today at a forum on health care.

“They locked Bernie Madoff up for running a ponzi scheme, but Congress walks free,” Stossel said at a forum in Little Rock sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. “There’s no way it can keep going this way.”

Eventually the government will create “something like death panels” to ration care, Stossel said.

“At some point they’re going to have to say, ‘No, you can’t have that. You can’t have this experimental drug.’ That’s what happens when other people pay for your needs,” he said.
Link to rest of the story:
http://arkansasnews.com/2009/10/29/stossel-government-run-health-insurance-%E2%80%98ponzi-scheme%E2%80%99/

Other Quotes and Applause Lines by John Stossel

Stossel gave federal fund insurance as an example of government irresponsibility in sort of a parable: Went something like this. "I want to buy a house. I go to my father and say I want to buy a beach house. Will you help me with the mortgage? He said, No, are you nuts? It is on sand next to the ocean. I said but actually Dad we can't lose because there is this program called federal fund insurance. This program called the federal fund insurance is like the public option - it is going to break even! They offer me this policy for $100 to $200.00 a year. Eight years later, the ocean came and sucked out the lower floor. I want to hank you. I did not invite any of you there, but you paid for it. And it happened again – the whole house went down, and you paid for it again.

Stossel asked "How Big Should Government Be? Percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) is a good way to frame it. For most of the history of American government the GDP was less than 5%." Then he showed on the graph how it has risen in recent years.

"I would say that the government is spending money like drunken sailors - but that would be unfair to the sailors because they are spending their OWN money."

So what's the answer? I say it is to unleash the force that has done wonderful things for us all over the world. The free market.

"We know what works We are just not trying it here because capitalism has become a pariah in the universities and every news room I have worked in - until this one I just go to." [Loud applause]

In his closing remark in discussing free enterprise and the government, Stossel said, "We can go to a foreign country and stick a piece of plastic in the wall and cash will come out. You can give the same piece of plastic to a total stranger who doesn't even speak English, and he will rent you a car for a week. And when you get home, VISA or Master card will have the accounting correct to a penny. By contrast, the government can't even count the votes accurately. Now we are going to turn health care over to the government. I hope not. "

Paper Media Ax Falls

Ozarks Unbound has a list of job cuts from the merger of the Dem-Gaz and the Morning News. Looks like some good people lost their jobs. Gary Lookadoo of the Benton County Daily Record for example, was always very fair in his coverage.

Note also the comments below at that link. There is a lot of talk about how the people who run The Morning News are not good people to work for even in the best of times.

Can any of this save the print media in this state?

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On a distantly related side note, I entered an essay in a Washington Post contest, and did not win. Still, my topic was how do papers survive and I answered that question for WaPo. Much of it is applicable to the new state paper, so I offer it for your consideration:

Much has been said about the coming death of big newspapers. But newspapers don’t have to die, they only have to adapt. Paradoxically, the best way to save the newspaper business is for the top players to stop looking at themselves as a newspaper for one city, and start seeing themselves as providers of news and analysis that is distributed across many mediums throughout the nation.

If you see your market as Washington D.C. area newspaper readers, then you are limiting yourself to a pie that already has many players scrapping for tiny slices. The real potential lies in viewing Washington not as your market, but as your product. You are well positioned in the nation’s capitol to gather critical data and turn that data into information. Right now you mostly package and sell that information one way- as a D.C. area newspaper. The path to not only survival but prosperity lies in repackaging that information many ways and distributing it to what should be your primary market, the heartland of America.

What I am suggesting is that you take the same information you are generating from your newspaper reporting and use it to launch an internet-based twenty-four-hour news and information video channel. Let’s call it an I-channel. You would really only need about fifteen programs plus a top-of-the-hour news feed. Most of them would get replayed at night, and all of them archived for a week or so.

If Hulu can make money with what used to be television programming over the internet (and it is) then so can the Washington Post. You could even one-up Hulu because they can’t resell their content, but you can. You can syndicate it to cable companies and satellite television companies. Then you can syndicate the audio feeds from those programs all over again as radio. You are making money more ways on the same information presented in different packages. This will help capitalize your news-gathering, and that will add value to your downstream products.

With blue screens and net meeting software, the technical challenges of a distributed production network will not be the greatest obstacle. The marketing challenge will be harder. The heartland does not view the world the way the beltway does. To market to the heartland you need personalities who can bridge this gap.

Wal-Mart Et al Oppose Public Option

The big boys have figured out that the government is going to underpay doctors who will then make it up on their privately insured patients.

AR GOP to Raise Filing Fees for Senate?

I heard a rumor that the state Republican party was considering a hefty increase in the already hefty $10,000 filing fee they assess candidates for their U.S. Senate nomination. That goes right to the party as the taxpayers finance the primary elections.

Ten grand is already enough to "keep out the riff-raff". The only reason, besides simple greed, to raise it higher is to make entry into the race all but impossible for any but the best-funded (read most establishment) candidates. No populists need apply.

Just a rumor, but if true one that would be outrageous. Let the people decide!

Huckabee Takes Conservative Party's Money, Does Not Mention Hoffman

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee Talks About His Bold Leadership
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The Conservative Party of New York paid Mike Huckabee good money to speak at their event. Less than 30 miles away their candidate, Doug Hoffman, was doing some late campaigning in a hotly contested special election for the 23rd congressional district of New York. The Republican candidate, selected by the County Chairman rather than by a vote of the grass-roots, is an ultra liberal on everything but gun rights. This is a conservative up-state district. That is why the latest polls show Hoffman beating her and the Democrat in the three way race that ends next Tuesday. Hoffman is far more in line with Huckabee's professed values than any candidate in the race, and even Mike Huckabee has said so.

The RNC may leave right-wing candidates hanging out to dry, but they spare no expense to prop up lefties like Arlen Spectre (who rewarded them by switching to the Democratic party) and Scozzawhatshername, their candidate in NY23. They have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars and sent out of state shock troops to bang on doors for her. Still, the polls show it to be a two person race between Hoffman and the Democrat. Let me add that Hoffman wanted to run as a Republican, but was turned away in favor of the ultra-liberal Scozzawhatshernameitdoesnotmatterbecausesheisabouttogoaway.

Sarah Palin took a principled stand and stood up to the RNC and endorsed Hoffman in the race. Fred Thompson and Tim Pawlenty soon did the same. Newt Gingrich scolded them for it and tried to get folks to hold their nose one more time. Political leaders from across the nation are taking a stand. But while these statesmen were biting the bullet, Mike Huckabee was biting his nails. He went to the dinner, took the money, and gave a speech which did not mention Hoffman.

Many of his more idealistic supporters back home are perplexed by the move. I will explain it to you. Mike Huckabee cares about Mike Huckabee much more than he cares about anybody else. He cares about Mike Huckabee much more than he does about any cause, including the causes he has made a good living off of. When I was one of a roomful of state legislative candidates back in 98, he told us straight up that he was not going to risk anything for any of us because he cared about his race more than ours. That was Huckabee then and it is Huckabee now. I say without malice that he is a self-serving politician because it is the truth. Those who love him, don't hate me for saying it. Either accept him for who he is or move on. Don't even take my word for it then, look at his actions.

Huckabee does not want to offend the Republican beltway big dogs- the very people that the grassroots are furious at. Why is he doing it? Can you think of any explanation besides either cowardice or perceived self-interest? I don't write this simply because Huckabee would not endorse Hoffman. He was not obligated to any more than any other national leader claiming the mantle of conservative champion. But he accepted the role of keynote speaker at the Conservative Party event. He took their money and then left them hanging on the big issue, just like the RNC leaves committed conservative candidates hanging and has for years. I used a picture of a chicken to represent the ex-Governor, but I should have used a photo of what comes out of the chicken (and I don't mean eggs) to describe the character of his actions in taking the money to give that speech and then ducking out on the big issue of the day.

Countdown to Accountablilty in State Capitol Rotunda

Gather together with the Pulaski County Tea Party on November 2 2009 as we from all parts of the State of Arkansas, all races, all people who want accountability of our government back to the people. Let us stand together in one large voice and announce that in one year we are coming back with our vote for a difference we can believe in.

On November 2, 2009 at 12:00pm show up from every corner of our State and fill the halls of our Capital and send a clear message we are coming back in one year for our government.

Contact all your friends and we need a count of this major statement to the elected we are not going away and we are in one voice.

We the people are the boss not the elected.

Evolutionists Still Broke, But Bold

The Cambrian Explosion: Multicellular animals with true tissues appear for the first time in a multitude of new forms.
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A Science Daily article reports about a novel theory to explain the Cambrian Explosion. This is a very narrow window in Earth's history in which basically every body plan (phylum) of animal life we have today, and many more that have gone extinct, show up in the fossil record in a geological instant. There is simply no evolutionary mechanism by which such vast amount change can happen in such a relatively brief period of time. Because of this, evos have been trying to explain away the Cambrian Explosion for years, mostly by spinning fanciful tales of how the creatures were already there, but not fossilized until certain environmental conditions occurred. In other words, an idea that does not rest on evidence but rather attempts to explain the absence of expected evidence.

The article boasts "the question of what was the trigger for the single cell microorganisms to assemble and organize into multicellular organisms has remained unanswered until now." But the question remains unanswered in the article, and instead only experiment-free speculation is offered. Their experiment only tested the effect that an increase in dissolved calcium had on the properties of a single molecule in marine sponges. Sponges are simple animals, but they don't have true tissues, and they were already around at the start of the Cambrian. Perhaps more calcium in the water does help the molecule that allows them to adhere to other sponge cells work more effectively, but the way the article tries to take that tiny fact and blow it up into "the explanation" for the origin of true multicellular animals is preposterous. Evolutionists are broke. They are going on pure bluff now. It's a bigger science hoax that global warming.

I tell you what, let me just quote a paragraph from the poorly-worded article and you judge for yourself...

"The researchers succeeded to show that the massive and sudden surge in the calcium concentration of the Cambrian seawater -- that is believed to be the result of volcanically active midocean ridges -- not only initiated the buildup of calcified shells, but was also mandatory for the aggregation and stabilisation of multicellular sponge structures. This allows, on the other hand, to formulate a novel theory where the geologically induced increase of marine calcium might be the key for understanding the Cambrian Explosion of Life."

Notice that they did not use calcium to turn single-celled animals into sponges. They did not get a sponge to become any other type of creature by increasing calcium. All they showed was that one part of cell adhesion between sponge cells works better when there is more calcium. To claim that is any explanation at all for the fossil evidence from the Cambrian is absurd. Claims like this masquerading as science deserve to be mocked by people who really care about the integrity of the scientific process.

Mark Twain once wrote that only with science can a man get such a wholesale return of conjecture based on such a trifling investment of fact.

Coleman Wins Straw Poll in 4th District

The Arkansas Senate race is still far from sorted out on the Republican side. The Tolbert Report makes a vague reference to Coleman winning a straw poll recently among 4th district Republicans. That south Arkansas region is Huckabee country, and it is not surprising that someone with close ties to the ex-Governor would win a straw poll down there. Of course, Benton County alone will have more votes than the whole 4th district when the GOP primary election comes around, but winning is better than not winning.

This race is getting very complicated.

Regulation Without Reprensentation on Beaver Lake

One of the main things that led to the American Revolution was that the colonists could be subjected to taxes imposed by the English Parliament, but could not vote for Parliament. Founding father James Otis spoke for many when he said, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” How would James Otis feel about regulation without representation? My guess is exactly the same. Yet many property owners in northeast Benton, Washington, and Madison counties feel like that is exactly what they are facing in their struggles with the Beaver Water District.

Regulation is where the government allows you to retain title to your property, but restricts the ways in which you can use it. Regulations have their place, but it is my belief that in the balance between too little regulation and too much, most areas of our lives these days are over regulated by the government. Bob Kossieck of the NWA Property Owners Association (of which I am a member) wants to call to our attention that the Beaver Water District is seeking the enforcement of more, much more, regulation over the freedoms of property owners in the Beaver Lake Water Shed.

As I have said, regulations have their place, and ensuring safe quality drinking water is one of them. Kossieck showed me data indicating that the quality of the drinking water in Beaver Lake has actually risen over the past 25 years, not fallen. He attributes this to better manure management in the poultry industry and improvements by city water and sewer departments so that their effluent into the lake is cleaner. The bottom line is that we don’t need more onerous regulations enforced on Beaver Lake property owners to get clean drinking water. We already have it.

Kossieck also claims that the Madison County Water District eliminates the odor associated with lake turnover by the use of inexpensive additives. Why doesn’t the Beaver Lake Water District employee the same techniques? Kossieck believes it has been taken over by radical environmental interests who would rather keep people on edge about water quality in order to press for unneeded additional regulations. An easy way to do that is to leave a problem that could easily be fixed hanging around.

But we just now get to the really interesting part. When the Beaver Water District first started pushing for enforcement of radical restrictions on the use of private property the NWA Property Owners Association decided to use the democratic process to protect their rights. They backed one of their own, Herb Hawkins, to run for the Board of Directors. Hawkins won the election. The other directors are mostly bankers and lawyers who defer to the CEO of the district, Alan Fortenberry. Still, Hawkins was a voice for rural landowners.

At that point Kossieck told me that the district lobbied for and had approved a change in state law concerning the election of their board members. The district gets $1.50 a month off of all of the water bills in the four large cities they sell to, so the money potential to make things happen is there. Now, instead of all citizens in the county voting on who runs the water district, only residents of the cities that the district sold water to are allowed to vote or hold office. Mr. Hawkins will not be eligible to run for re-election to the position on the board that he now holds. Voters in the rural areas of the two counties now have no vote against a board that has allowed the district to push for onerous regulations on their land.
-+

74% Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Out of Touch/Rasmussen Poll

"Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republican voters say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide over the past several years.

"The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 18% of GOP voters believe their elected officials have done a good job representing the base.

"Most Republican voters (55%) say that the average Republican in Congress is more liberal than the average Republican voter.

"Just 18% of Democrats believe than the GOP representatives in Congress are more liberal than GOP voters.

See this link for several more interesting findings from Rasmussen - Dated September 1, 09

The quote, "We believe easily what we hope for earnestly" could very well fit the findings that only 18% of Democrats believe the GOP representatives in Congress are more liberal than GOP voters. This fact in itself shows how out of touch Democrats are with reality.

Martin on How State Budget Process is Rigged for Growth of Government

Cut more spending now? Why should we do that, eh?
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Representative Mark Martin has a good read up on some of the continuing games Governor Mike Beebe is playing with state revenue forecasts, and even more fundamentally, on the budget process itself.

Here is one of the jewels from his piece, "the failure to limit appropriations to revenue forecasts cause every ounce of surplus to be sucked into an ever increasing size of state government. It virtually insures that tax cuts are rare. It almost always means that the state government will grow at a rate equal to the fastest rate of growth of the economy during the good times and forces tax increases to maintain the current rate of spending during the bad times."

Please read the piece. Here is what I take from it: It is likely that the Governor's failure to further adjust the budget now will set us up for a planned "emergency" tax increase in the next year.

Which Republican Candidate Relies on John Brummet Endorsement in Fundraising Flyer

Go to this link http://www.wpaag.org/Gilbert%20Baker%20fundraising%20letter%20-%20Brummett.htm
to view a scan of the fundraising flyer. This flyer shows how out of touch the candidate is with the true conservative component of the Republican Party? He thinks that John Brummet's and the Democrat Gazette's endorsements will win him votes?

Or if you don't have time to go to the link, read the quotes from the flyer below:

Baker
U.S. SENATE

"He has a demonstrated ability..to attract
conservative Democrats."
- John Brummet, 9/2/09

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

"Senator Baker...[has] the connections and the know how to get the job done, and years of criticism behind him to show for it. If we all learn from our critics - and we should if we're listening - then Gilbert Baker's picked up the equivalent of a couple of Ph.D.'s in political science.
Editorial, 10/30/08

These are not exceptional endorsements so the candidate must think Brummett and Arkansas Democrat Gazette will carry a heavy weight with voters!

Tennesse Continues to Impress in Battle to Re-Claim Constitution

Tennessee Resolution 108 sends greetings to other states and asks them to join with the volunteer state in rebuking the federal government for the usurpation of the rights of both the states and the people. This article about it is worth the read.

Clunkers Math

From Dave Stokes:

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.

A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year.

So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per vehicle, per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.

More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars

So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars for this program to save $350 million.

We spend $8.57 for every dollar saved.

How good a deal was that?

House Republicans May Face Civil War - Conservatives vs Republican Establishment

House Republicans may face a ‘civil war’ over Scozzafava bid

The House GOP conference is bitterly divided over a centrist New York Republican’s run for the House seat vacated by Army Secretary John McHugh.

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, who backs abortion rights and has voiced support for gay rights, has drawn a challenger from the right who is running on the Conservative Party line. And though House leaders have urged conference members to donate, many have pointedly refused to back Scozzafava

The Club for Growth, Concerned Women of America, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and evangelical leader Gary Bauer have all endorsed Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate.

The divide could foreshadow bigger troubles ahead for a party that hopes to make big gains in the House in 2010 and dreams of taking back the majority. Some members think that will be impossible as long as the party is divided over supporting centrist candidates.

“The Hoffman campaign is a real revolt against the Republican establishment and leadership, not just in New York but nationally,” said a conservative GOP congressman, adding that Scozzafava’s candidacy “could set off a civil war inside the Republican Party.”

Just 17 members — about 10 percent of the GOP conference — have written checks to Scozzafava’s campaign. They include House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is in charge of recruiting candidates to run next year.

Notably absent from that list is Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the Republican Conference chairman. Pence, the former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, has refused to endorse Scozzafava.

For rest of article, see this link: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63163-house-gop-may-face-a-civil-war-over-scozzafava

Reynolds Wins College Republicans Senate Straw Poll

Col. Conrad Reynolds has won the Arkansas College Republicans Straw Poll for U.S. Senate which was held yesterday. I don't have any other details at this time, but obviously it is good news for him and bad news for Sen. Gilbert Baker and Curtis Coleman, the two men in the race with the most money and high-profile backing.

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UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
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The top investigative journalist in the state is not a paid reporter for the state-controlled newspapers, its Jason Tolbert (except on education issues where our own Debbie Pelley reigns supreme). The Tolbert Report has in-depth coverage of the College Republican Event.

"Medicare for All"

The Arkansas Times is running with Mike Ross' passing comments, likely stemming from frustrations about the increasingly complex beast of a health care meddling bill they are brewing, about simply having "Medicare for all".

Max Brantley writes that "the simple clarity and good sense of Medicare for all overtakes me."

Statists from both the left and the right live in a dream world, where someone else pays for all the "good sense" they dream up. The main reason we grownups have for telling you liberal kiddies "no" to Medicare for all is the same reason we use to tell the kiddies on the right "no" to America policing the world and occupying over 100 countries in order to "make us safe". We can't afford it. It doesn't matter if you think its a good idea, or a bad idea. We don't have the money. All we can do with these unsustainable polices is put the bills for them on the national credit card until the Chinese tell us we are over limit. Grow up kids, I'm begging you.

As a matter of fact, we don't even have the money to continue paying for Medicare for the narrow slice of the population which is now receiving it.

Medicare part A is currently all but insolvent. By that I mean that amount of money spent on part A exceeds the amount collected in payroll taxes. A few years ago, before baby boomers started retiring, the amount collected exceeded the amount spent, so there was a "trust fund" accumulation called the Medicare HI trust fund.

There is no money in this fund, it was all spent for other stuff and the only "assets" in the fund is a bunch of IOU's from the Federal government. They now have to pay back those IOU's by borrowing from someone else, but even if all of the money was really there, the HI fund will be depleted in ten years. In 2019 the HI fund is projected to be exhausted and collections will only amount to 78% of expenditures. From there it gets worse.

That is part A, but what about parts B (doctor's visits) and D (prescription drug coverage)? Those are funded by a combination of premiums and general revenues. Did you realize that much of Medicare is funded by general revenues, or did you think that your payroll deduction covered it? Sorry Charlie, those payroll taxes are not even close to covering it. General revenues currently pay for about half of Medicare spending, and it is projected to get worse.

A few years ago, about one of every six Federal revenue dollars went to Medicare. In forty years, assuming federal taxes stay proportional, it will consume one of every two dollars! That does not even count Social Security, which is a model of stability by comparison.

The reason Medicare looks so good compared to private insurance is that private insurance is run by grown-ups who are responsible enough to make sure the services they provide are sustainable. The insurance companies may not be ethical, but they are honest. They exercise the brutal honesty that the laws of economics demand.

Medicare on the other hand, is run by egotistical politicians who have flattered and indulged people in order to betray them. They are neither ethical nor honest. They don't care about the bottom line, or the economic realities. They look only to the next election, not the next generation.

They see their job as redistribution of wealth, plundering group X to get the votes and cheers from group Y. And whose wealth is easier to plunder than that of the next generation? They are not around to complain or vote against the pillaging of their future income. The unborn are easy victims of our political class, hence the massive use of debt to pay for outlandish political promises.

Private insurance companies ration services right now, so they are the bad guy. At some point, when the Chinese communists tire of loaning our government money, government will start rationing all the health care it pays for. Unfortunately it is easier to change insurance companies than it is to change governments.

Beware DC Establishment in Campaigns

Beware of the Republican Establishment
by Bay Buchanan

Between the town hall meetings and the tea party rallies, millions of Americans are taking to the streets to protest a government gone berserk. They are angry and determined to take their country back. But there are snakes in the grass intent on using this movement to return to power, not the people, but the Republican establishment. If this happens we lose everything, including our country.

To succeed, the rebellion must produce candidates with fresh faces--populists who share our outrage for the arrogance of Washington, individuals who will fight for American workers and American families. We need primaries to nominate candidates that aren't owned by party leaders, powerful special interests, nor Corporate America.

Last year, seventy-five percent of Americans believed the country was headed in the wrong direction and they threw out the bums -- Republican bums. Obama and his comrades misinterpreted the victory, believing it was all about them, and proceeded to impose a big government leftist agenda on a conservative nation. Now voters are ready to throw out this new set of bums.

Enter the Republican establishment. They sold this country out when they were in power and can't ever be trusted again. But they see an opening and are setting the stage for their own return. They are handpicking candidates -- Bush-likes and Bush-lites -- to run against conservatives in primaries. Many are retreads, all are available for purchase. Then the party elite endorses their candidate early in the primary, fills their coffers with millions from corporate PACs and special interests, pressures party regulars to get in line, and sends word to the grassroots candidates: "Drop out -- you can't win".

Their game plan: shut out the conservative populists. But if candidates running for office because of love of country are marginalized by the party elite, in favor of career politicians beholden to party leaders, we are lost -- and so is America.

Look at the Senate races. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), led by Sen. John Cornyn, has already endorsed in half a dozen Republican primaries, with more to come. Solid conservatives with great credentials -- new faces, future leaders, threats to the party elite -- were already announced candidates in many of these races. But Cornyn and his cronies aren't about to let the rank and file choose the candidates -- too risky. A man of the people might slip through and too many of them could lead to government by the people.

In Florida, the NRSC endorsed Gov. Charlie Crist, an Arlen Specter Republican, who is running against a young conservative Cuban-American Marco Rubio. Rubio was a long shot but the NRSC endorsement so outraged conservatives nationwide it breathed new life into his campaign.

In Colorado, District Attorney Ken Buck, a tough prosecutor of illegal aliens, was gaining traction in his campaign for U.S. Senate. Enter John McCain. He calls Jane Norton, former Lt Governor and state chairman of his presidential bid, and convinces her to run against Buck, promising the NRSC endorsement, plenty of money, and a lock on the nomination. Le Moine Dowd, a grassroots activist, summed it up perfectly: "Do we want the NRSC deciding our candidate? Does this action by the NRSC make the primary election irrelevant? Does it make the Colorado Republican Party irrelevant?"

In Ohio, Rob Portman, a former pro-amnesty congressman and Bush trade rep, announced his bid for the U.S. Senate earlier this year. Then Tom Ganley, a conservative businessman from Cleveland infuriated by the massive uncontrolled spending of Washington, decided to run. Mortal sin, declared the party, which told this self-made successful businessman to get out of the race, that "the U.S. Senate isn't an entry level position." The NRSC endorsed Portman and are in full campaign mode. (Do these nitwits really think one of the architects of the Bush policy that sent our jobs overseas is going to win the general election in a state with 11% unemployment?)

This same scenario is being repeated in a dozen other states. The political bosses are adamant that our candidates look and talk like them -- the kind that will get in line behind them. Leaders that rise up out of the rebellion and run for office will be a problem for them. So the snakes are out to stop them.

The rebellion must start to focus on producing candidates that will do represent the American people in Washington -- then we must rally behind them and defeat the establishment candidates in the primaries. If that doesn't work, we must field candidates to run as independents in the general. The country is too important to let the establishment of either party continue to have their way with her.

Duplicitous Games on Health Care

Here is my take on what Blanche Lincoln is up to on health care. She gave a crucial committee vote to the Bill from Max Baucus. Baucus himself played a cute trick by giving the CBO what was little more than a shell-bill and asked them to run the numbers. CBO said the bill would be close to deficit-neutral, but warned that many provisions of the bill were not filled in.

Baucus and company then waive the CBO results around in order to give the impression that the bill is deficit neutral, knowing all the while that it will be merged with two other senate bills that passed through other committees (but not Senate finance). Language from those bills will be used to fill in the blank spots in the Baucus bill that the CBO commented on. Lincoln et al will then use this fig leaf to say that the bill that THEY voted for was "deficit neutral."

I think Lincoln is hoping for a situation where she can vote-trade.

Secure Arkansas Does Not Give Up Easily

It looks like they once again intend to sponsor a ballot initiative to deny certain public benefits to persons in the country illegally. You will recall that they came close to getting the 100,000 signatures needed to get it on the ballot last time, even with Attorney General Dustin McDaniel running out the clock on them every chance he could.

State Foists Prisoners on Counties

Readers of this space will know that I am skeptical of “government as god”. What I mean by that is I don’t think that government can successfully provide a program to answer every human need. There are some things, good things, that ought to be done, but that does not mean that the government should be the one that does it. Politicians can’t answer our every need, but they can sure bankrupt us trying.

This view is not at all anti-government. Scripture teaches that government is God’s minister to do certain things, so the man who is against all government is also against God. According to Romans 13, human government is ordained as God’s minister to honor those who do good and bring wrath on evil doers.

The problem is that human government does not limit itself to the role laid out for it in scripture. There are too many historical examples where those who run government get big ideas about their own wisdom. Instead of serving as God’s minister, they try to be His replacement. This doesn’t work out too well. Government gets so busy trying to do everything, that it doesn’t do anything well, including the stuff it is supposed to be doing. That includes the “bringing wrath on evil-doers” role.

Here is the practical application to the principles described above. Arkansas has a problem with prison overcrowding. It is one that threatens to make us less safe because the system increasingly has no place to put the bad guys that it should be punishing. Instead of dealing with the matter, the state government is spending all kinds of money doing other things that are not its responsibility. And it is dealing with it in another way too. It is foisting these state prisoners off on country jails. Our county jails are loaded with state prisoners.

It costs the state an average of about $56 a day to house an inmate in the state’s correctional facilities. The state forces counties to keep inmates and pays them only $28 per day to house inmates in county jails. Some of these inmates don’t belong in county jails. They should be in a more secure facility. Some of them are hardened criminals and should be kept away from people who are only in jail for a short stint for relatively minor offenses.

What does it cost the county to house these inmates? I don’t know the figures for Benton County, but State Representative Allen Kerr says that the jail in Pulaski County spends about $52 per inmate per day. That means that the state is forcing the counties to house these inmates for about half of what it really costs to house them. Well over 1,000 prisoners are being kept in county jails this way according to Kerr. Many times the state deliberately delays taking them from the county jails.

The state has no incentive to clean up its act when it can force the county to take its prisoners at a loss. Representative Kerr sponsored a bill that would raise the re-imbursement rate to $40 a day. This would not fix the problem, but it would take away at least most of the financial incentive that the state has to pawn prisoners off on the counties. Governor Beebe apparently used pressure to stop Kerr’s bill from passing in the Senate. It was kicked into an interim study. Normally this is a death-knell for a bill, but this issue won’t go away. If Kerr can get a favorable interim study, he might be able to get this partial solution another look.

Helena-West Helena Finances Amiss

There is just one example after another of financial shennanigans listed in this auditor's report for the city of Helena-West Helena. Read the first ten pages and see what I mean.

But do you think lefty hit man John Brummet will write a column deriding the city or the people it elects? I doubt it. He does not hesitate for a second however, to castigate Fort Smith, a city that is a model of decorum, proper financial practice, and general good government by comparison.

Of the two cities, which one most deserves to be mocked for the people it elects to office? The right answer might be "neither", but Brummett pours out the contempt for the one that most has its house in order.

Rep. Mark Martin's "Off the Marble" blog first alerted us to this story.

Money Quotes on the "Federal Reserve"

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Thomas Jefferson once said, “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

The so-called “Federal Reserve” is just what Jefferson warned about. It is no more “Federal” than Fed-Ex. It is instead a group of a dozen private companies who have been given a monopoly power by Congress to issue our currency and control the money supply in the United States. When the government wants to borrow money, instead of issuing its own currency, as Jefferson wanted, it instead goes to the Federal Reserve Banks and sells a bond to the banks. So the banks get the bonds from our government, and in exchange the government gets “Federal Reserve Notes” created from thin air.

Since Congress created the Federal Reserve in 1913, the dollar has lost more than ninety five percent of its purchasing power. In 1913 one dollar could buy about six loaves of bread. Now it can even buy one loaf. What happened to the purchasing power of the dollars in your paycheck? The value of your dollars was stolen through inflation. Inflation is the result of too much money being circulated compared to the amount of goods (like loaves of bread) and services in the economy.

The Federal Reserve does not want inflation, in fact it would rather there be none. It even talks a good game about keeping inflation in check. But the bottom line is that the Federal Reserve makes money by charging interest on the money and credit that it creates. The more money it creates then the more interest it collects. So even though it does not want to destroy the value of a dollar, that destruction is the inevitable result of what they do.

They make money creating money and credit. So if the price of that is inflation, then it is a price that they are more than willing to have you pay. The value of your dollars is sucked down with every new dollar they make, so that they take your money without you even noticing they took it. You still have the same pile of dollars you had, but now you notice they don’t buy very much. It’s because they created a huge pile of dollars that they are sitting one, and therefore the value of yours is now much less.

Soon after the Federal Reserve was created in 1913 the easy credit it created caused “The Roaring Twenties”. When that bubble collapsed, it was called “The Great Depression”. The banks got everybody over-extended on credit, then when they withdrew the credit, asset prices collapsed. The banks were then able to buy up huge chunks of the country at bargain prices. Now it looks like they are at it again. The banks are sitting on tons of bailout money, but credit is drying up. American fiscal history since 1913 is the very same boom-bust cycle that Jefferson warned us about.

Inventor Thomas Edison on the Federal Reserve: “It is absurd to say our Country can issue bonds and cannot issue currency. Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People. If the currency issued by the People were no good, then the bonds would be no good, either.”

Lincoln and Pryor Push Extra Planes on Air Force

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Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor have voted to buy the Air Force more C-17s (an aging cargo transport plane) than the Air Force itself wants. Some parts for the plane are made here in Arkansas.

Certainly the military can go through enough money on its own. Although they ought to be funded sufficiently to perform their legitimate constitutional duties, they don't need help spending taxpayer money. But our esteemed senators want to help them anyway, by pushing planes on them that they have not requested.

At a time when our treasury has been emptied and our economy gutted, our elected officials seem oblivious to the long term consequences of their actions. Political "realty" has eclipsed fiscal reality. At least for a little bit longer. In the long run, truth will assert itself. By then though, our politicians will have completed their task of looting the public on behalf of their "friends" and nothing will be left.

TEA Party Leaders Turn on GOP Leadership

They couldn't be credible any other way, since the national GOP has devolved into "that other political entity out to loot the country on behalf of its friends." While the GOP establishment tried to make it another useful tool, the grassroots folks running it are turning it into their worst nightmare, a launch-pad for insurgent candidates who are challenging incumbents favored by Washington. This article about the dust up is well worth a read.

DNA Packing from the "Evolve This" File

A new article from pro-evolution Science Daily offers strong support for the Intelligent Design Theory without even knowing it. It turns out that DNA is not only packed in a double helix, but the way the helix is folded in on itself and stored is remarkably, or perhaps miraculously, efficient.

One of the most amazing discoveries has to do with information storage of DNA,"the human genome is organized into two separate compartments, keeping active genes separate and accessible while sequestering unused DNA in a denser storage compartment. Chromosomes snake in and out of the two compartments repeatedly as their DNA alternates between active, gene-rich and inactive, gene-poor stretches."

The second amazing discovery is that the cell uses a structure called a fractal gobule to fold the helix extremely tight without jamming it up. The information density in the nucleus is trillions of times higher than on a computer chip.

Perhaps you are thinking that this level of elegance in problem solving and display of code-packing skills trillions of times the level of IBM engineers seems more likely to be the result of intelligent design rather than random forces.

Well, the guys who wrote the article might tell you that you were wrong, but even the language that they use in the article communicates that the results are so much like those of Intelligent Design that they can't use any other language to tell you what has been found.

""Nature's devised a stunningly elegant solution to storing information -- a super-dense, knot-free structure," says senior author Eric Lander". Nature has devised?

""Cells cleverly separate the most active genes into their own special neighborhood, to make it easier for proteins and other regulators to reach them," says Job Dekker."

Cells cleverly separate? Why, those are some mighty clever single cells, aren't they?

Paul on Nobel Peace Prize Going to Obama

Ron Paul deserved it more than Obama. Paul is the one that made the case for American non-interventionism, and he had the courage to do it to a Republican audience. That is, one that has bought into the idea that we can only be "safe" when we occupy half the planet with our troops for as long as the Chi-coms are willing to finance the spending required to do it.

This is not Obama's fault. The problem lies with the Nobel Committee itself. They have made a mockery of the process and destroyed the credibility of a once cherished award. This is worse than when they gave a Nobel Prize to Al Gore for being wrong about global warming.

Duggar Family Welcomes First Grandchild

Mackynzie Renee Duggar, daughter of Josh and Anna Duggar, was born Thursday evening. She is the latest addition to the Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar clan. Congratulations to them all!

MSNBC Coverage

I Woke Up With A Quote in My Head

A foolish heart produces a darkened mind. A mind that cannot comprehend the light of God's truth, or even operate based on the real universe that the light illuminates. Such a being can only grope about in the dark, oblivious to principle, perceiving no further than what they can feel.

Ratigan on "Corporate Communism"

It is one of the weaknesses of the free enterprise system that those who benefit from it are not necessarily interested in maintaining it once they are on top.

Gilbert Baker No Shows

**** UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE ****

No less a personage than the illustrious Jason Tolbert says that the Senator's office told him before the event that he would not be there. That leads me to believe that the slip-up was on the PCRC end, and not with Baker's office.

*** HAVE YOU SEEN ME? ***

I am a State Senator Who is Running for U.S. Senate. I have turned up missing for at least two Pulaski County Events in the last week without explanation. If you think you know where you can find me, please give me a huge campaign contribution as soon as possible.
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Does anybody know what is going on with State Senator Gilbert Baker? The word is that he failed to show a few days ago at the Pulaski County Republican Committee meeting at which he was expected to be the keynote speaker. Rival candidate Col. Conrad Reynolds took advantage of the void to address the committee. I don't want to be a jerk about it if his daughter was in the emergency room or anything (to my knowledge nothing like that was going on), but he could have at least called, right?

Baker has shown strong fund-raising capability. That seems to be all the media, and even some other blogs, want to talk about. I think we are missing a story. Baker is too good at fund raising to be this bad at shoe-leather campaigning. It is not like he is so popular in NWA that he can afford to blow off Pulaski County. Does anybody know what is going on?

That's So Gay!

The Gay-Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has a mission of suppressing the free-speech rights of all Americans who are opposed to the homosexual agenda. They do this primarily through the use of propaganda which attempts to re-define disagreement with their behavior and/or political positions as a mental illness ("homophobia"). This is a perversion of the cultural norm from only a generation ago in which homosexuality itself was classified by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental disorder.

No nation in the history of the human race ever attained, or maintained, greatness by promoting homosexuality. The truth is quite the reverse, many nations attained and maintained greatness by honoring the traditional family. Near the latter end of many great nations, the drift away from this cultural imperative was a harbinger of societal decline. These are the facts of history, and facts are stubborn things.

Our the Ad Council is jumping in with both feet, and your money, to bolster the propaganda efforts of the gay lobby. The Ad Council now runs annoying commercials telling people to stop using the word "gay" to mean stupid, twisted, or wrong. See this link with GLSEN and Ad Council logos on the bottom left.

The gist of the radio ad is that the word "gay" once meant happy or joyful, then it came to mean "homosexual". Now people who use it to mean "messed up" or "wrong" are supposed to "knock it off". Knock it off yourselves deviants. It was you people who first hijacked the word "gay" to falsely describe yourselves as a recruiting tool. Junior high kids, in their brutal beautiful honesty, thought that gay meant "homosexual" as you wanted, but they also happened to think that "homosexual" meant "twisted", "messed up" or "wrong". So they started using that as a synonym for such. So are YOU allowed to hijack language but no one else is? Why wasn't the Ad Council spending tax dollars to tell people not to use a word that meant "happy" to describe "homosexuals"?

Another example of special rights for homosexuals I guess. THEY get to redefine words, but the rest of us are to be chided by a propaganda campaign if we fail to use words as THEY think we should.

That's so gay.

FTC Votes to Regulate Bloggers

The camel puts his nose under the tent, and soon takes it over.
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Is no vote of Congress even required for this new attack on our rights? As of now, the regulations (with excessive fines) applies only to bloggers who don't revel their compensation on products they talk about. That's today, what will they regulate tomorrow? Will this be used to clamp down on political speech if some connection can be shown something a blogger had done to make money and their articles on the internet?

Fayetteville $113 Million Education Plan Based On Failed Reforms

A Northeast School District Has Already Experimented (in The Early 90's) With The 21st Century Reforms That Fayetteville is Planning - With Drastic Results.

Fayetteville is in the process of implementing an educational system that is just a new round of the ever evolving controversial Outcome Based Education (OBE) trend a few years ago. OBE proponents advocate:

No competition
No grade levels
No grades
No time limits
New types of tests (Portfolios)
No textbooks
No memorization or drills
No Carnegie Units
Hands-On Fun Projects

The school administrators plan to build a $113 Million building to accommodate their new educational plans. In their words, "In December 2008, the board voted to set a target size for a new high school of 3,000 students in grades 9-12, to be contingent upon the curriculum and architectural design being centered around a 21st century learning model and small learning community concepts." http://www.fayar.net/community/fhsfaq.html#rogerssdale1

For these new reforms in Fayetteville administrators' own words, see the bullet points at the end of the article "Building 21st Century Learning System" at this link: http://www.fayar.net:80/community/p21cbuilding21csystem.html

These reforms that Fayetteville plans to implement are the type of reforms that the US stimulus money is funding and encouraging despite the fact that they have failed over and over across the country. In fact, another school district in Northeast Arkansas (Paragould) had a painful failure with 21st century learning in the early 1990's.

This district received all kinds of awards, accolades, grant money, and were frequently featured in newspaper articles for their innovative non-traditional methods as one of a "handful" of such schools in the nation. However, their test scores began to plummet. About three years after the plan was in place, the community became involved, and sponsored town meetings exposing what was going on in the schools.

Students gave presentations at one of the community meetings detailing the problems with the methods used in the schools. (See excerpts from these students' speeches in # 8 of documentation below.) Both the superintendent and principal resigned when the community became aware that their school test scores, once among the highest in the county, dropped to the lowest in the county. The next year, the newly hired superintendent and school board began returning the school to basics.

Details are given below, and the major newspaper stories are given as footnotes in the article below. This story is typical of many other experiments in Arkansas and across the country. Below are the details, an article worth reading for anyone interested in educational reforms and for anyone interested in the way our taxes are being spent and will be spent through the stimulus money.

Topics Included Below:

Paragould, Arkansas School Becomes School of the 21st Century
School Begins To Receive Awards in 1993
Community Meetings As Test Scores Drop & Methods Revealed (Bullet Points)
In 1996 Supt. & Principal Resign As Test Scores Drop to Lowest In The County
In 1997 New Superintendent and School Board Move School Back to Basics
Students Detail Problems With Teaching Techniques

For rest of article see this link: http://www.wpaag.org/Paragould-Fayetteville%2021st%20century%20Reforms.htm or click on Monday below:

"Safe Schools Czar" Covered For School Boy Sodomizer

Czar Ivan the Terrible. Amazingly, I would feel more comfortable with HIM as "Safe Schools Czar" than Kevin Jennings, the man President* Obama actually appointed to the post.

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Mass Resistance has a shocking piece up about Kevin Jennings, the homosexual activist that Obama appointed to be "Safe Schools Czar". The word "Czar" is a derivative of the word "Caesar", which means emperor.

Just one excerpt from the link above....

Recently the Americans for Truth website and others publicized an outrageous incident that took place back when Jennings was a teacher at a private school in Massachusetts, which he wrote about in a book. In the book (and in a subsequent taped interview) Jennings describes how he counseled a 15-year-old boy at the school to continue having a sexual relationship with an adult man the boy met in a bus station restroom. Jennings even described how the boy seemed happier the more the man sodomized him. Jennings never reported any of this to authorities, but instead encouraged the boy to "use condoms."

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*status unconfirmed

That's What I've Been Sayin'

Emmerich De Vattel's "The Law of Nations" is the only book referenced in the U.S. Constitution. I was struck by this passage, which says so well many of the things that I have been thinking when I consider the direction of social and fiscal policy in this nation over the last five or six decades...

§ 116. The nation may hence discover the intention of its rulers.

It is an incontestable truth, that the virtues of the citizens constitute the most happy dispositions that can be desired by a just and wise government. Here then is an infallible criterion, by which the nation may judge of the intentions of those who govern it. If they endeavour to render the great and the common people virtuous, their views are pure and upright; and you may rest assured that they solely aim at the great end of government — the happiness and glory of the nation. But if they corrupt the morals of the people, spread a taste for luxury, effeminacy, a rage for licentious pleasures — if they stimulate the higher orders to a ruinous pomp and extravagance — beware, citizens! beware of those corruptors! they only aim at purchasing slaves in order to exercise over them an arbitrary sway.

Olympic Committe Has Great Voting System

Even though they are clearly racist (because they disagree with Barack Obama as to where the 2016 Olympics should be held and those who disagree with Obama are by default racists) the Olympic Committee has a very smart system for counting the votes.
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Did you notice the method that the Olympic Committee used to count votes when they were deciding which city would host the 2016 games? They used what amounts to an instant run-off or some similar ranked choice system. In this method, voters give not only their first choice, but there second, and perhaps third choice as well. If their first choice finishes last and no candidate gets a majority, vote counters look to see who their second choice is and the process is repeated again. The candidate with the lowest vote totals is dropped from the count and counters see who that candidate's voters chose next.

The system is used in many areas of life, including at the Republican National Convention and even at our local Tea Party.

The system eliminates the biggest weakness of our current elections, there is too little choice because a third candidate would split the vote and so other candidates are afraid to run and voters are afraid to vote for them when they do run. People are afraid if they vote their conscience then the result will be that the most objectionable candidate would win with less than 50% on a split vote.

It is time that we adopted a system like this so that people can vote their conscience without fear.

Is Jim Holt Going to Jump in the Senate Race?

UPDATE***UPDATE****UPDATE

Arkansas Watch Contributor Debbie Pelley has spoken to Holt and adds this to the story....

I talked to Senator Holt just before he had this interview with the writer of the following article by Jim Brown. He truly wants to do the right thing for the people at this time. My concern (and I think Senator Holt agrees with me) is that the leadership of the Republican party has picked the candidate for US Senate for us again in Arkansas and are throwing all their weight and money behind him, and not giving the people the opportunity to make the decision nor a chance to really see how this candidate has voted in the past - much like they did with the candidate for US President in this last election. The real Republicans (the people) desire less government control. The leaders of the Party spout that line but never govern that way. Most of the Republican candidates in the race now have not stood against the pressure nor have no voting record to see how they will stand.

Senator Jim Holt is the only person I know that fits the mood of the people at this time (and has stood the test and never wavered) - to take our country back from the big government bureaucrats, whether they be Republicans or Democrats. I truly desire your prayers for Senator Holt and know that he does too in this matter. I know it will be a fierce battle within the Republican Party if he chooses to run and would be an intense battle for him and his family. If Senator Holt could win, it would go farther toward the conservatives taking back control of the Republican Party than anything I know of. Remember Senator Holt won 44% of the vote against Lincoln five years ago, spending only $153,000 while she spent $5.8 million (she spent 35 times as much as Holt did.) Lincoln was not vulnerable at that time, but very vulnerable now. Besides that, the people are waking up now with the Tea Parties and all.
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One News Now claims he told them that he is praying about it. They also note that he contends that five of the six candidates in the GOP primary field in Arkansas "have a track record of voting for bigger government and larger taxes."

I don't know who the sixth man is, but three of them have never been in government, so I don't know how that works out. Still, the expression on the faces of the staffers at GOP HQ when this news gets out there should be priceless.

Dead Possum Outpolls Blanche Lincoln

The latest numbers from Rasmussen tell a scary story for incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln. All Republican candidates that they named out-polled the Senator. State Senator Gilbert Baker, State Senator Kim Hendren, business man Curtis Coleman, and even self-proclaimed former "state" Tea Party head Tom Cox all lead her. I have a feeling if other names had been included (Conrad Reynolds, Buddy Rogers and some others are also considering the race) some of them would have topped her too.

Not one of the Republican candidates has a "very favorable" rating out of the single digits. That tells me 1) people are not FOR them, they are AGAINST Blanche Lincoln, and 2) Since about anyone is competitive against her the Republican SOP of rallying around the candidate that the establishment tells us "can win" mostly does not apply to this race. Any of them "can win" against her, so voters can get the luxury of picking an opponent for her based on whether or not they actually like the candidate and their positions rather than holding their noses and voting for some candidates they consider to be a dubious character whose chief virtue is that they "can win".