Rett Hatcher & Company

McCain’s 2000 communications director, Dan Schnur makes a great point…

Conventional wisdom correctly suggests that Mr. McCain could benefit from a running mate who adds credibility on economic issues and excites the Republicans’ conservative base. Mr. Romney’s accomplishments in the private sector would be valuable in a discussion of jobs creation and economic growth, but he was attacked relentlessly in his campaign for Senate against Ted Kennedy for the layoffs and downsizing that occurred in companies he had acquired. At a time when voters are worried about their own job security, those same criticisms could pack greater punch this year.

Mr. Romney’s ability to motivate the G.O.P. base is even more of an open question. While Mr. McCain is still trying to shore up his support among conservatives, there’s no evidence that Mr. Romney, who lost those voters to John McCain and Mike Huckabee in the primaries, would help close the sale. Already, several religious conservative leaders have come forward warning that naming Mitt Romney would be counterproductive. Indeed, Mr. McCain can still rally these voters on his own by talking about national security, tax cuts and energy policy, or by scaring them about Barack Obama. But it’s hard to see how Mr. Romney makes that rally any easier.

Since I’ve been a bit more light on the posting I thought a few new blogs on the blogroll would be good…

The Arkansas Project seems to be the brainchild of David Kinkade…I absolutely love it…Seems so far to be very insightful and will definitely get a daily look from me….I’m interested to see where Dan Greenberg goes with his thoughts on the Dwayne Dobbins case…The bottom line is I don’t care if its legal or not, Child Molestors don’t deserve to be seated in the House…Then again I tend to think the LA law that was struck down a few months ago was a good one to have…But I digress…Great Blog for junkies and non junkies alike…

Under The Dome is a great insight for what is going on around the state govt….Keep in mind the author is our favorite punching bag, Democrat House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson…If you can get past his Liberal tilt on some issues, you should enjoy the site…

Interesting to see how this plays out…20% is a lot of money and could be used in the general fund….

A state lawmaker says agencies not involved in wildlife protection should have a piece of the 29.5 million dollar the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will receive from leasing more than 11,500 acres to a natural gas firm.

The Game and Fish Commission says it will begin negotiations with two state agencies to use part of the lease money for environmental protections. But a deputy director of the agency says it would probably resist directing the money toward non-wildlife agencies.

Senator Steve Faris says he’ll ask lawmakers to refer to voters a constitutional amendment allowing money raised from oil, gas and mineral deposits on land owned by the state Game and Fish Commission to the state’s general revenues, rather than only for the commission’s use.

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission voted yesterday to accept the terms of the leases with Chesapeake Energy Corporation in the Gulf Mountain and Petit Jean River wildlife management areas after taking bids on the opportunity to explore the lands. The leases will allow the Oklahoma City-based company to have access to more than 7,500 acres at Petit Jean River in Yell County and nearly 4,000 acres at Gulf Mountain in Van Buren County.

The leases also entitle the commission to a 20-percent royalty on any natural gas pumped from the sites, money that - if it comes in - will be used to improve state lands. The deal is the company’s largest mineral-rights lease ever in Arkansas.

 

Most of the this article about the Tory rebound in Britain I agree with…But I can tell you that the below part won’t work…

*It’s not about ideology. It’s about you. This lesson is fundamental. “The problem was with Conservatives, not with conservatism,” says Tory pollster Rick Nye. Daniel Finkelstein, the chief editorial writer of the Times and formerly a Cameron adviser, told me a particularly revealing anecdote about this problem. When foreign secretary Robin Cook left his wife for another woman in 1997, a poll found that a majority of Brits assumed Cook was a Conservative since his behavior was bad. He, of course, was a well-known Labourite. Another example: A question about an issue was asked twice in a poll, with the only difference being Conservatives were identified with the issue the second time. Support fell 30 percent.

At the party conference in 2002, an MP named Theresa May made a memorable comment. “You know what some people call us,” she said. “The nasty party.” That hurt, but few disputed it. Many voters had grown to loathe Conservatives and weren’t willing to listen to them. Conservatives, unfairly or not, were identified with racism, anti-immigrant bigotry, homophobia, lack of equality for women, and dislike of anyone outside their social milieu. “You had to fix the brand before you could move forward on issues,” says Nye.

Cameron has pretty much fixed it. His favorite word is “modern,” as in “the modern Conservative party.” Naturally he and his advisers are known as “modernizers,” the more persistent of them as “ultra-modernizers.” Cameron began to talk incessantly about the environment and global warming. Why? The issue is “a symbol of modernity,” according to Hilton. Cameron vowed that half the Tory candidates in the next election would be women. (Actually, about 30 percent will be.) He’s taken socially liberal positions. Just two weeks ago, he publicly congratulated a member of his shadow cabinet, Alan Duncan, on his civil union with a male partner. The party aims to be inclusive. He put a Muslim woman in his shadow cabinet. Cameron understands “the big tent thing,” says Tim Montgomerie, creator of the influential Tory website -ConservativeHome.com.

If the Republican Party abandons the Social Conservatives then they will go without power for a very long time…

Heard about this story in the news last week…

Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, 26, is charged with killing Alonzo Foster Jr., 22, of Ash Flat and formerly of Norfork, at a creek in Ozark County, Mo., authorities said.

Foster was with about 10 people swimming in Lick Creek near the Mammoth, Mo., area Sunday afternoon and was getting ready to build a fire to cook hot dogs, family members said. About 4 p.m., the landowner, Alicia Sanders, went down to get them off her property, Ozark County Sheriff Raymond Pace said. Her son-in-law, Sesena-Murrieta, was present, he said.

Pace reported an argument began, which led to shoving, and Sesena-Murrieta pulled out a .38-caliber snub-nosed pistol and shot Foster four times, Pace said.

Foster’s parents, Alonzo and Sandy Foster, said they heard no fighting and were getting ready to leave when their son was shot.

While the group was at the creek, Sesena-Murrieta came down to the bank on a 4-wheeler for a short time and left, said Alonzo Foster, 45, of Ash Flat and formerly of Norfork. Sanders came to ask them to leave, and Sesena-Murrieta came back to the area, he said. Foster said they spoke to her and agreed to leave and suddenly they heard their son getting shot behind them a few feet away.

Foster said they heard no loud words or fighting between his son and Sesena-Murrieta. He added they had swam and picnicked at the creek thousands of times and didn’t see any no-trespassing signs, he said. Family members who did not know what had happened came down to the same spot to swim later and did not see any no-trespassing signs nor were they asked to leave, they said.

Authorities said Sesena-Murrieta, who was living in Mammoth, fled to Gassville after the shooting. His wife convinced him to return and he turned himself in, Pace said. Sesena-Murrieta is from Mexico and is in the United States illegally, Pace said.

How many legislators have stood in the way of handling Illegals…Gov. Beebe…Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to let the Feds handle it…?