Over to you.
Sunday news of note:
* Pulaski jail inmate steals van during transfer and escapes, shucks van and jail clothes a short while later.
* Channel 4 summary on yesterday's health clinic:
90% of the people had at least 3 life threatening illnesses. 7 were rushed by ambulance to the [...]
Nate Silver offers some statistical evidence to back up my thinking that Sen. Blanche Lincoln didn't help herself by ultimately positioning herself as THE decisive vote on health and the focus of national reporting and interest groups. He looks to Montana, where two leading Democratic politicians have supported health' [...]
Sen. Blanche Lincoln's decisive vote on opening the health legislation debate lands her photo and an article about her vote at the top of the New York Times' website this morning. Good or bad?
Republicans think bad.
As the final Democrat to reveal her position, Mrs. Lincoln helped Republicans define her' [...]
The so-called "religious" right is praying for an end to Barack Obama's time in office -- one way or another. If you see one of these items, the wearer or owner does not wish the president well.
Diana Butler Bass at Beliefnet explains that Psalm 109 is [...]
Both Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich have it right. Sneer and dismiss Sarah Palin -- and/or the sentiment she taps -- at your political peril. Dowd writes that President Obama could use some of Palin's visceral appeal.
Palin can be stupefyingly simplistic, but she seems dynamic. Obama is impressively [...]
Have at it.
Celebrate a Hog win with visions of even better in 2010. Schedule announced today. Tenn. Tech., Louisiana-Monroe and U Texas El Paso are what the late Kim Brazzel called the "chitlins" of the schedule. Monroe and LSU in Little Rock.
[...]ABOVE: Cancer patient with an abscessed tooth and no health insurance.
MORE FROM CLINIC: The Times' Leslie Newell Peacock captured this video.
PATIENT TO POLITICIANS: 'Stand in these lines. Talk to these people.'
A doctor friend, who served a stint in today's clinic, writes:
What type of event in downtown LR do you carry your' [...]
As predicted Sen. Blanche Lincoln won't kill health reform legislation yet. She'll vote to open debate on legislation. Here's her speech. She indicated, however, that she WILL vote to filibuster a bill that includes a government-administered health option. I hope she gets that chance. And I hope she pays if her' [...]
Lobby of Convention Center. Photo by Brian Chilson.
Just a half hour after the noon opening of the C.A.R.E. free clinic at the Statehouse Convention Center, 200 patients have signed in and more are lined up outside the door. Entering patients are being greeted with loud cheers and applause from [...]
Has it peaked? Maybe. But some are still predicting a third wave. The South specifically mentioned.
[...]
Some 1,500 uninsured people are expected to seek medical attention at a free mass clinic at the Statehouse Convention center from noon to 7 p.m. today.
It might be that, sometime during the clinic, Sen. Blanche Lincoln will cast a deciding vote on whether to let the Senate [...]
I forgot to open the line.
I went to a party for former Bill Clinton staffers tonight. Saw, among many blog readers, Charles Eddie Smith.
Drove past teabaggers (40 or so?) with candles outside Blanche Lincoln's office. As a Democratic employee of a.g. McDaniel noted about the day, you've got Republicans fighting like' [...]
North Little Rock Alderman Cary Gaines, who represents Ward 3, has resigned from the City Council. He confirmed to me last week that he faced federal investigation related to the indictment of an accused Cabot bookmaker and drug dealer who was also accused of trying to influence Gaines to steer city business [...]
Columnist Joe Conason, in Little Rock this week to follow Bill Clinton for a coming book, dipped into senatorial politics and found an incumbent U.S. Senator, Blanche Lincoln, looking weak rather than thoughtful. He found pressure from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and a free health clinic and a not-thinly-veiled [...]
Rock Candy, our entertainment blog, has details on cancellation of Billy Joel/Elton John concert at Verizon Arena.
Says here that FBI is taking a look at a cop's Tasering of an Ozark girl, 10, who refused to take a shower.
Jordan Johnson tweets and twitpics that students at the Clinton School' [...]
State Supreme Court Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber has announced her retirement, creating a position for Gov. Mike Beebe to fill by appointment for a year until an election in 2010.
How's this for an intriguing candidate for that appointment -- Bill Bowen, retired lawyer, banker, gubernatorial chief of staff, UALR law school namesake?' [...]
Not all doctors are on the Republican bandwagon. One writes to me:
All the anti-reform 'no gub-mint' in health care Docs had ALL of their salary during their residency paid for by the Feds. If they hate the govenment so much, how 'bout they repay all that, with interest?
FYI,' [...]
Surprise. The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce does not want debate to open on health care legislation in the Senate. It wants it killed dead, now. It is rallying troops to pressure Sens. Pryor and Lincoln to filibuster what is traditionally a routine procedure to open debate.
Pryor has already [...]
Law enforcement sources say two suspects are in custody following the shootout Thursday night that left a Garland County sheriff's officer wounded and a suspect dead in a raid aimed at suspects in five slayings in Garland County Nov. 12.
The basics as told to me: Information was developed that led' [...]
Copy to Sen. Lincoln:
Survey says an overwhelming majority of Arkansas voters -- regardless of feelings on the legislation itself -- want debate in the Senate on the health reform bill. AND an up or down vote on the bill.
[...]From KARK Facebook page:
A 68-year-old woman was accidentally shot in the thigh by her husband while hunting in Grant County. He thought he was shooting at a deer. She's expected to make it.
[...]There are many lies from which to choose. Joan Walsh points out one Republican lie about "breast panels."
Republicans claim bureaucrats will deny mammograms to women under 50 thanks to Obama's push for reform.
It's an enormous lie. Various government advisory panels have been trying to ratchet up the age for [...]
Huffington Post takes note of a lightly covered speech by Mike Huckabee in which he termed "deplorable" and "shameful" the actions by Republicans who criticize every act by President Obama. He mentioned those who accused Obama of setting up a photo op by meeting the returning bodies of dead [...]
The Billionaire Koch Family's snake oil show, Toe-sucking Bro. Dick Morris lead pitchman, apparently has arrived in town to peddle its anti-healthcare sermon. A note from Capitol observer:
The "we hate poor people" bus is here. Looks like about 200-250 people, age range 40-70 (plus a few kids' [...]
Might this statement mean Sen. Lincoln might actually allow debate on a health care bill?
Key sentence:
Importantly, even if the Senate decides to open debate on this measure, there will be many days and weeks of efforts to improve it and I will look forward to your comments and observations.
Maybe she [...]
Looks like Entergy Arkansas is going to be able to get out of its system agreement with Entergy operating companies in other states. The deal allowed for rate equalization among the states, generally a bad deal for Arkansas.
Here's the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission news release.
From this week's Insider: Two weeks ago we reported on the efforts of the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers to put up a winter solstice display on the grounds of the state Capitol. Their application was denied last year because the secretary of state's office said it was not [...]
Through Wednesday afternoon, more than 900 people had signed up for appointments for free medical checks at the mass free clinic to be held from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Statehouse Convention Center. A spokesman said on the radio this morning that the doctors and nurses will also [...]
Business Week says Springdale is again this year the best city in Arkansas for raising kids. Criteria: School performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crime rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theaters, other amenities, and diversity.
Affordability, safety and school test scores were given the [...]
More kind words from John Brummett for Will Phillips of West Fork, an international symbol for his decision not to participate in Pledge of Allegiance exercises as a demonstration of support for those denied liberty and justice in these United States.
It has come to this. U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor forthrightly says he'll vote for a routine procedural motion to allow debate on health care legislation. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln can't even decide that.
The senator said he would vote to advance the measure to debate, but he emphasized that the [...]
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter talked on MSNBC tonight about Saturday's free medical clinic in Little Rock and the shame that a country of America's wealth leaves a half-million or more Arkansans without health coverage.
Lawrence O'Donnell, filling in for Keith Olbermann, asked if there was anything to calls from the left' [...]
You take it from here.
Social notes: CNN's John King is at Doe's. Columnist Joe Conason, who's working on a book on the post-presidential Bill Clinton, can be spotted there before too long, too. He'll be in the company of a gentleman rancher from Perry County, his "The Hunting of the [...]
The following takes my mind momentarily off all the grim words I heard at the Clinton Library luncheon about U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln's re-election campaign. Enthusiasm is lacking, to put it mildly. (Speaking of which, more bad poll numbers for her here.)
For entertainment, I recommend Jason Tolbert's report on [...]
The Sierra Club pleaded yesterday that environmental regulators not extend the life of the White Bluff coal-fired generating plant because of environmental damage done by such plants to air and water. (Saving ratepayers $1 billion also would be nice.) That sentiment and a dollar will get you a cup of [...]
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is scheduled for an appearance tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. The segment is expected to air about 7:15 p.m. our time.
Halter will talk about the free medical clinic to be held Saturday in Little Rock, an event promoted by Olbermann that Halter has helped [...]
E-mail to UAMS staff:
From: Long, Hosea
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 4:38 PM
To: HR Newsletter Distribution
Subject: Change in Holiday Leave Policy
We have reviewed our annual leave and holiday structure recently, comparing ourselves with other universities and state agencies. UAMS offers employees a very generous package of benefits, especially [...]
U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor's membership in the "Gang of 14" avoided a Democratic filibuster of some terrible judicial appointments by George Bush.
A couple of the Republicans in the gang now apparently believe the rules of civility have changed, what with a Democrat in the White House. John McCain and Lindsey Graham voted yesterday to [...]
Former President Bill Clinton promised renovation of the former Rock Island railroad bridge by his library would begin in 2010. He told a crowd of 1,000 gathered in a tent on the grounds of his library for the center's fifth anniversay -- as he'd told us in [...]
Americans United for Change is pushing back at the onslaught of advertising slamming U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder with a $75,000 ad buy in support of his and Rep. Marion Berry's vote on the health care bill. It's a drop in the bucket, I'd guess, against what the other side, U.S.' [...]
Here's that study mentioned earlier on the disproportionate tax burden faced by poor and lower-income working families. For example:
When all Arkansas taxes are totaled up, the study found that:
* Arkansas families earning less than $15,000—the poorest fifth of Arkansas non-elderly taxpayers—pay 12 percent of their income in Arkansas' [...]
You know an Ozark cop Tased a 10-year-old. You know the cop has defended his action. You know the chief has defended the action. The girl was struggling, she had to be subdued. That's is the line.
But I didn't know until reading the paper today that the officer was called to [...]
I'm wondering about local reaction to the huge national story about a federal panel's changed recommendations on breast screening.
The recommendations, issued Monday by a federal advisory panel, reversed widely promoted guidelines and were intended to reduce overtreatment. The panel said the benefits of screening women in their 40s —' [...]
Yet another story, in NY Times, identifies Sen. Blanche Lincoln as pivotal -- and a likely obstacle -- to health care legislation.
The controversy has become mind-numbing. The right-wingers say Lincoln must not vote to end a filibuster. She must allow an unending debate on the measure rather than a final [...]
