Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lottery

Its funny to see the Halter people off kilter…(H/T to Brantley)…

“One thing you need to realize, if you adopt a lottery,” I said as part of this summary, citing two of the least-disputed findings in the academic literature on the subject, “is that a steeply disproportionate share of lottery tickets are going to be bought by poor and working-class people and a steeply disproportionate share of the college scholarships are going to go to the sons and daughters of middle and upper-middle-class families. It’s kind of curious that it’s Democrats who promote lotteries, but it’s been one of the few winning issues they’ve had in the South.”

Little did I know the wrath I was arousing. All four Little Rock television stations were there (“That’s a first for us,” one of my hosts marveled; “even Madeleine Albright didn’t get all four”), along with some print reporters. The next day’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette featured a front-page story on my talk that included the following two paragraphs:

“Halter spokesman Bud Jackson said Arkansans ‘are smart enough to trust the facts over some kooky college professor trying to turn a quick buck with a book that is several chapters short of being an honest and complete representation of reality.’

“Arkansans ‘would also be thrilled to know that the kooky professor would prefer tax hikes for all people rather than a voluntary game that would benefit tens of thousands of Arkansans with new scholarships.’”

Well, you got me, Bill Halter. Just another kooky professor trying to get rich by running the well-known scam of university press publishing.

And, yes, if state-funded college scholarships are a good idea—and I think they are—then go out and do the hard work of persuading people to fund them with their taxes. Don’t use the power and moral authority of the state to sucker poor people into losing money in weak-odds lotteries so that kids whose families can afford to send them to college can do so at a discount.

And so it is with the lottery…Take money from the poor and give it to the rich…Give the gov’t more power…Its easy to give it…much harder to get it back…

Money Grab

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.

 

Stevens Indicted

You knew it would happen…

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

Me Not So Sure

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…

Brett Favre

Rarely do I get in here and talk sports…but let me say this…If a guy wins 3 MVP’s (Record BTW), a Super Bowl, and is considered the most fun to ever play his position (my favorite), has all the records…If this guy wants to retire and then come back…I would let him…He has earned it…

Not to mention the fact he is coming off his best season statistically…

Murder By Illegal Immigrant

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…?

The Real Dark Knight

I loved this article because it speaks to a certain truth that I was telling my father about the other day…

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That’s not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a “W.”

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

1968 Election

In 1968 election was won by Dick Nixon…At the time Democrats had won 7 of the last 9 presidential elections…A lot of people think the reason Dems lost control was the major breakup in the party…

Fast forward to 2008…Republicans have won 7 of the last 10 elections…And now McCain’s VP selection is seen as the last chance to hold the breaking Reagan Coalition…

Republicans have got to change…they have got to become more socially conscious of the world around them…they have to understand peoples needs…I’m afraid if we as a party don’t do a better job embracing this then will be wonder the political wilderness for a long time…

Aaron Schock

This guy is vying to become the first member of the US House born in the 80’s…He is having a fundraiser today headlined by the President…If elected he will be only 27 when he starts to serve…Take a look at a TV ad he had back in 2006 for his re-election to the state house in Illinois…

McCain Won’t Indulge In Euro Bashing

He’s certainly not trying to play to the base with his absence on the Euro bashing…