Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Bradley R. Gitz wrote an excellent article about lawmakers that are not taking the debt serious. Here is a portion of the article “Heads in the sand,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 24, 2011:
With those grand hopes now crushed by hard budget realities, the embittered response to our budget crisis on the left is to deny that it even exists, or to claim that it is of such modest nature that it can be taken care of by raising taxes on “the rich” only—a proposition which no reputable economist agrees with. There is simply no serious discussion taking place at present on the left about how to prevent a looming national financial collapse. There is nodebate because there are no conceptual categories or even terminology in such quarters for dealing with such problems, only a mindset that says government must always do and spend more (which is, of course, precisely the mindset that brought us to our current impasse). Liberals cannot work in a bipartisan manner with Republicans to cut spending because it would mean abandoning their rationale for political existence. There are no takers for the Founders’ idea of “limited government” any longer among Democrats, only a powerful addiction that requires fixes in the form of new government programs and functions. The problem isn’t just that Democrats aren’t serious about the budget deficit. It is that they refuse to allow anyone else to be. Those proposing even modest budget cuts are said to be waging “war” on (take your pick) the poor, women, minorities, children, homosexuals, and the elderly, not to mention the environment and education and whatever else can be added to enhance the hysteria level. The real issue here, then, isn’t liberal demagoguery. That can always be expected. Rather, it is whether, as Democrats are betting, the American people are so dumb it will work. —––––– •–––––— Free-lance columnist Bradley R. Gitz, who lives and teaches in Batesville, received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois.
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 8pm CST on April 27, 2011.
Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.
The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R–KY)—but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department’s budget.
Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches—even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.
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Kate Middleton shakes hands with well-wishers following a visit with fiance Prince William to Darwen Aldridge Community Academy in Darwen, northwest England, April 11, 2011.
Kate Middleton was filmed doing some pre-wedding shopping at bargain stores in London. Royal watcher Victoria Arbiter dishes on the latest wedding details.
Today I got to attend the first ever “Conservative Lunch Series” presented by KARN and Americans for Prosperity Foundation at the Little Rock Hilton on University Avenue. This monthly luncheon will be held the fourth Wednesday of every month. The speaker for today’s luncheon was John Fund.
John Fund writes the weekly “On the Trail” column for OpinionJournal.com. He is author of “Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy” (Encounter, 2004).
He joined The Wall Street Journal as a deputy editorial features editor in 1984 and was a member of the editorial board from 1995 through 2001. The articles he has written have appeared in Esquire, Reader’s Digest, Reason, The New Republic, and National Review. He became an editorial page writer specializing in politics and government in October 1986 and was a member of the Journal’s editorial board from 1995 through 2001. Next month’s guest speaker will be Andrew Breitbart.
First, we got to hear from Dave Elswick of KARN who came up with the idea of this luncheon, and then from Teresa Crossland of Americans for Prosperity. After listening to their inspiring short talks I had determined in my heart that I was going to get the word out about these luncheons to all my conservative friends who want to know what is going on politically in Washington and in our beloved Arkansas.
John Fund touched on several subjects but the one that caught my interest the most is the observation that he made about the behavior of three Democrat Presidents: Jimmy Carter (elected in 1976), Bill Clinton (elected 1992) and Barack Obama (elected 2008).
Fund mentioned a meeting that Ronald Reagan had with his former campaign advisors shortly after Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. In that speech Reagan told them that Democrats can’t get their way unless a couple of things happen. First, Republicans forsake their values and join them. Unfortunately, Richard Nixon had done that just a few years earlier. Second, liberals have to be smart enough to run a candidate that will appear to govern from the middle. However, Reagan told his campaign workers that sure enough the only problem for that Democrat that gets elected President is that he will be required by the liberals in Congress to govern from the left and that is a prescription for disaster every time. Whenever and wherever liberalism has been tried, it has always failed.
Fund said sure enough 3 years later President Carter had brought on the USA 21% interest rates, 12% inflation and 10% unemployment and Reagan’s slogan was:
“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”
Fund went down the events surrounding Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama and drew comparisons. It was amazing to listen to the insights that Reagan had in 1976 and how these events happened over and over.
Not only did Jimmy Carter scare the public with his liberal policies, but the first thing Bill Clinton did when he was elected was scare the public with his “Hillarycare” healthcare bill and the result was the landslide victory for Republicans in 1994. The same could be said for President Obama in 2010!!!!
Fund noted that the Republicans have a refreshing group of candidates that will be running in the Republican Primary this time around. He did call Donald Trump an entertainer that will drop out and not run. He also said that Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels (Tolbert says Daniels will decide shortly if he will run) and several other candidates had a good chance to win. I was wondering if he would give more names and possibly comment on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, but he didn”t.
Someone a lot more in the know than me floats another theory. According to the scuttlebutt, Barbour’s exit yesterday has begun to tip the scales in favor of Huckabee pulling the trigger on jumping into the race but it has also changed his way of thinking.
Fund noted that this year will be different than the past because we will have fresh blood in the race. Fund observed, “Republicans have had a Bush, Nixon, or Dole on the ticket every election since 1948 except one (1964).”
How do the Republicans and Democrats go about picking their presidential candidates. Fund asserted,“The republicans have a shallow gene pool, but the democrats are like kids on blind dates that keep falling in love. They fell in love with Carter, Kerry, Dukakis, and now Obama.”
The Democrats use a “Blind date” method of selecting the Presidential candidate. Who is popular? Who has the charisma? They look at everyone, find someone interesting, and decide to “try them out”. After they are elected, everyone gets to know who they are and what they stand for as a President. There were a lot of chuckles when this theory was disclosed. Mr. Fund went on to prove his point by a brief review of some candidates in the last century. There did seem to be a preponderance of evidence to prove the point.
What about the Republicans? Who is next in line? There is a definite pattern of behavior from 1948 through 2008. They tend to nominate whoever has been around a while.
Mr Fund did take time to sign copies of his book and I briefly got to visit with him when I was getting a copy signed. I told him that I blogged about him this week (yesterday and the day before ) and he asked my site. Instead of telling him to type in www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com , I told him to google “Milton Friedman Arkansas” and my website would come up a lot since I have a lot of Friedman video clips and quotes on my blog.
Next month’s guest is Andrew Breitbart and the luncheon will be held on Wednesday May 25th. This is the first in a series of posts that I will be making over the next few days on the things that I learned at today’s luncheon. I want to encourage everyone to check out next month’s luncheon.
Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart is publisher of the news portals Breitbart.com and Breitbart.tv, and BigHollywood.com. Andrew co-wrote the best-selling attack on celebrity culture, Hollywood, Interrupted and was the primary developer for The Huffington Post.
John Fund
John Fund is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and its OpinionJournal.com and an on-air contributor to 24-hour cable news networks CNBC and MSNBC. He is the author of several best selling books.
David Boaz of CATO joins John to discuss the massive impact of Milton Friedman on America and the world.
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He was interviewed by Alice, a ten year old cancer patient
Kate Middleton visits the Youth Action Northern Ireland center in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 8, 2011.
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Kate Middleton arrives with fiance Prince William (not pictured) at the official opening of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy on April 11, 2011, in Darwen, northwest England.
KATE MIDDLETON The Girl Who Would Be Paparazzi Queen
Out: Barack and Michelle Obama
The queen sent gold-embossed invitations to 40 heads of state, but not to President Obama or first lady Michelle. The Obamas will get an official state visit in May, however, the first of its kind since 2003. It was suggested that the state visit is compensation for the missing wedding invitation—all because of the extra security costs involved with protecting the president.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Bradley R. Gitz wrote an excellent article about lawmakers that are not taking the debt serious. Here is a portion of the article “Heads in the sand,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 24, 2011:
____________________________________ When Ryan put forth his long-term budget proposals, there was still some hope that the other side would join the conversation by offering its own plan. What the president offered instead in his recent speech at George Washington University was a shameless campaign document accusing the GOP of wanting to throw granny into the snow and starve little kids. Ryan and Republicans had to have known this was coming. After all, by presenting a clear plan to reduce our gaping deficit and reform our unsustainable entitlement programs, they were striking at the heart of the Democratic empire. Democrats don’t do budget cuts and they don’t do tax reform, even if both have become necessary for the very survival of the welfare state they cherish. Apart from the inherent ideological revulsion on the left to any reform that entails government spending less than before are also the consequences of dashed expectations. When Barack Obama was elected president, the assumption was that he would dramatically expand the role and size of government by creating a third installment of the New Deal (LBJ’s Great Society in the 1960s having been the second). There was no talk of reforming entitlements or of the structural insolvency of already existing social programs; rather, the focus was almost entirely upon all those new “investments” that would flesh out a new progressive era of American governance.
•–––––— Free-lance columnist Bradley R. Gitz, who lives and teaches in Batesville, received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois.
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 9:16 am CST on April 27, 2011.
A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.
The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.
Washington spent $126 million in 2009 on projects associated with the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D–MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.
The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.
The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.
Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines—plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.
More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.
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Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry talked about their potential future roles in the Royal Air Force. (June 18)
Kate Middleton arrives at City Hall on March 8, 2011, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Prince William gives a rare interview. Prince William of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21st June 1982), KG, is the elder son of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As such, he is second in the line of succession to 16 independent states, although he is resident and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, the oldest realm. PUBLIC COMAIN News item
Britain’s Prince William watches, as Kate Middleton flips a pancake at a display by the charity Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children, outside the City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, March 8, 2011.
He was interviewed by Alice, a ten year old cancer patient
Kate Middleton, fiancee of Britain’s Prince William, meets the public after a visit to Belfast City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 8, 2011.
Milton Friedman on Phil Donahue Show in 1980 provides a direct and to-the-point defense of capitalism and free trade. He explains how governmental regulations, no matter how well-intended, are inevitably infiltrated by business interests which use governmental power to stifle competition.
The disagreement is over the solutions — on what spending to cut; what taxes to raise (basically none ever, according to Boozman); whether or not to enact a balanced budget amendment (Boozman says yes; Pryor no); and on what policies would promote the kind of economic growth that would make this a little easier.
In Feb of 1983 Milton Friedman wrote the article “Washington:Less Red Ink (An argument that the balanced-budget amendent would be a rare merging of public and private interests),” and here is a portion of that article:
Here, for their consideration, are my answers to the principal objections to the proposed amendment that I have come across, other than those that arise from a desire to have a still-bigger government:
**3. The amendment is substantive, not procedural and the Constitution should be limited to procedural matters. The fate of the Prohibition amendment is a cautionary tale that should give us pause in enacting substantive amendments.**
If this amendment is substantive, so is the income-tax (sixteenth) amendment and so are many specific provisions of the Constitution. The income-tax amendment does not specify the rate of tax. It leaves that to Congress. Similarly, this amendment does not specify the size of the budget. It simply outlines a procedure for approving it: the same as now exists if total legislated outlays do not exceed an amount determined by prior events (the prior budget and the prior growth in national income); and by a majority of 60 percent if total legislated outlays do exceed that amount. The requirement of a supernormal majority is neither substantive nor undemocratic nor unprecedented. Witness the two-thirds majority necessary to override a presidential veto or to approve a treaty.
The prohibition amendment was incompatible with the basic aim of the Constitution, because it was not directed at limiting government. On the contrary, it limited the people and freed government to control them. The balanced-budget-tax-limitation amendment is thoroughly compatible with the basic role of the Constitution, because it seeks to improve the ability of the public to limit government.
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At a Fashion Show
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Guildhall in London for a fashion show, November 1982. She is wearing a blue dress by Bruce Oldfield. She is accompanied by her lady-in-waiting Anne Beckwith-Smith. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
Lady Diana and Prince Charles.
Associated Press
JULY 26, 1981: The glass coach of Lady Diana Spencer’s bridal procession is seen during the “outside rehearsal” of the Royal wedding in London.
Prince William speaks of his mother
Kate Middleton and Britain’s Prince William smile as they visit Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, Feb. 24, 2011.
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Find out how William pays tribute to his mother during an interview with Ben Fogle in Africa for Sky One.
Kate Middleton, fiancee to Britain’s Prince William, is seen as they visit Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station for a Naming ceremony and Service dedication for the Royal National Lifeboat Instution’s (RNLI) new Atlantic 85 Lifeboat, “Hereford Endeavour,” on the island of Anglesey, Wales, Feb. 24, 2011.
Another tough night of storms and tornadoes but no one was killed. On Monday night in Arkansas eight people were killed. I did hear that three 18 wheeler trucks were turned over by the wind though.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 6:59 am CST on April 27, 2011.
Bradley R. Gitz wrote an excellent article about lawmakers that are not taking the debt serious. Here is a portion of the article “Heads in the sand,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 24, 2011:
The American public seems to have finally become alert to the fact that the nation’s finances are slipping over the edge. Paul Ryan’s “roadmap” has performed a useful public service in this regard. Taken together with the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission, we now have, at least on paper, a vision of how we can get out of the mess we’re in. Along these lines, the columnist Charles Krauthammer has suggested a “grand compromise” which essentially merges the ideas of Wisconsin Congressman Ryan with Simpson-Bowles by combining Ryan’s $6 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years with a nudge of the top marginal rate to 28 percent, producing a closing of the deficit gap with a federal budget at about the average post-World War II level of 20 percent of GDP. Except that liberals aren’t interested, at least not in the part about cutting spending and reforming entitlements and cleaning up the tax code (which are all of a piece). What they are interested in, and displaying plenty of, beginning with President Obama himself, is demagogy.
Free-lance columnist Bradley R. Gitz, who lives and teaches in Batesville, received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois.
The State Department will spend $450,000 on art shows in Venice, Italy.
During a recent three-day conference, NASA spent $62,611 on “light refreshments” for its 317 attendees—$66 per day per person. NASA officials said such expensive snacks were needed to keep its officials from wandering away from the conference.
NASA spent $500 million constructing a 355-foot steel tower to launch a rocket that is now unlikely to ever be built.
The Congressional Research Service has confirmed that the new health care law may subsidize Viagra and other sexual performance drugs for convicted rapists and sex offenders.
Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.
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Light Blue Dress
The Princess of Wales arrives at St David’s Hall in Cardiff, for a charity concert, October 1982. She wears a gown by the Emmanuels. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
Part 8
Associated Press
JULY 29, 1981: Prince Charles looks at his beaming bride, the Princess of Wales, at the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral steps after their marriage in London July 29, 1981.
Above: The Reagans at the White House in 1985. Photo taken by Harry Benson
Second Reagan-Mondale presidential debate 1984 #2
Oct 21, 1984 Debate between President Reagan v Walter Mondale
MS. GEYER: Mr. President, in the last few months it has seemed more and more that your policies in Central America were beginning to work. Yet, just at this moment, we are confronted with the extraordinary story of a CIA guerrilla manual for the anti-Sandinista contras whom we are backing, which advocates not only assassinations of Sandinistas but the hiring of criminals to assassinate the guerrillas we are supporting in order to create martyrs. Is this not, in effect, our own state-supported terrorism?
THE PRESIDENT: No, but I’m glad you asked that question, because I know it’s on many peoples’ minds. I have ordered an investigation. I know that the CIA is already going forward with one. We have a gentleman down in Nicaragua who is on contract to the CIA, advising — supposedly on military tactics — the contras. And he drew up this manual. It was turned over to the agency head of the CIA in Nicaragua to be printed. And a number of pages were excised by that agency head there, the man in charge, and he sent it on up here to CIA, where more pages were excised before it was printed. But some way or other, there were 12 of the original copies that got out down there and were not submitted for this printing process by the CIA.
Now, those are the details as we have them. And as soon as we have an investigation and find out where any blame lies for the few that did not get excised or changed, we certainly are going to do something about that. We’ll take the proper action at the proper time.
I was very interested to hear about Central America and our process down there, and I thought for a moment that instead of a debate I was going to find Mr. Mondale in complete agreement with what we’re doing, because the plan that he has outlined is the one we’ve been following for quite some time, including diplomatic processes throughout Central America and working closely with the Contadora group.
So, I can only tell you about the manual — that we’re not in the habit of assigning guilt before there has been proper evidence produced and proof of that guilt. But if guilt is established, whoever is guilty we will treat with that situation then, and they will be removed.
MS. GEYER: Well, Mr. President, you are implying then that the CIA in Nicaragua is directing the contras there. I’d also like to ask whether having the CIA investigate its own manual in such a sensitive area is not sort of like sending the fox into the chicken coop a second time?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m afraid I misspoke when I said a CIA head in Nicaragua. There’s not someone there directing all of this activity. There are, as you know, CIA men stationed in other countries in the world and, certainly, in Central America. And so it was a man down there in that area that this was delivered to, and he recognized that what was in that manual was in direct contravention of my own Executive order, in December of 1981, that we would have nothing to do with regard to political assassinations.
MR. NEWMAN: Mr. Mondale, your rebuttal.
MR. MONDALE: What is a President charged with doing when he takes his oath of office? He raises his right hand and takes an oath of office to take care to faithfully execute the laws of the land. A President can’t know everything, but a President has to know those things that are essential to his leadership and the enforcement of our laws.
This manual — several thousands of which were produced — was distributed, ordering political assassinations, hiring of criminals, and other forms of terrorism. Some of it was excised, but the part dealing with political terrorism was continued. How can this happen? How can something this serious occur in an administration and have a President of the United States in a situation like this say he didn’t know? A President must know these things. I don’t know which is worse, not knowing or knowing and not stopping it.
And what about the mining of the harbors in Nicaragua which violated international law? This has hurt this country, and a President’s supposed to command.
MR. NEWMAN: Mr. President, your rebuttal.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I have so many things there to respond to, I’m going to pick out something you said earlier. You’ve been all over the country repeating something that, I will admit, the press has also been repeating — that I believed that nuclear missiles could be fired and then called back. I never, ever conceived of such a thing. I never said any such thing.
In a discussion of our strategic arms negotiations, I said that submarines carrying missiles and airplanes carrying missiles were more conventional-type weapons, not as destabilizing as the land-based missiles, and that they were also weapons that — or carriers — that if they were sent out and there was a change, you could call them back before they had launched their missiles.
But I hope that from here on you will no longer be saying that particular thing, which is absolutely false. How anyone could think that any sane person would believe you could call back a nuclear missile, I think is as ridiculous as the whole concept has been. So, thank you for giving me a chance to straighten the record. I’m sure that you appreciate that. [Laughter]
It has been 150 years since the beginning of the Civil War that started in April of 1861 at Ft Sumter.
Civil War Veterans’ 1924 Reunion
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Stephenville, Erath County, Texas
This July 11, 1924 photo of Civil War veterans taken at the north entrance to the Erath County Courthouse by Stephenville’s famous photographer, Baxley. Please send the military unit/s in which each of the following soldiers served, along with their vital data, i.e. full name, birth and death years and counties, and marriage data.
Numbered men in photograph: (1) Dr. J.B. McGauhy; (2) J.C. Wright; (3) J.A. Cherry; (4) F.M. Marrs; (5) W.H. Pate; (6) G.W. Ledia; (7) W.P. Orr; (8) John Martin; (9) W.P. Chapman; (10) Mac D. Reid; (11) G.L. McIlhany; (12) N. McLaughlin; (13) James Collins; (14) W.R. Wolverton; (15) J.L. Bird; (16) T.B. Tudor; (17) A.L. Murphy; (18) A.C. McAlister; (19) J.F. Henderson; (20) J J. Marrs; (21) J.A. Buntin; (22) — Bassett; (23) Mack Wilson; ***(24) J.A. Shelton; (25) J. Matt Roberson; (26) __. This 1924 listing is alphabetized below the photo that can be enlarged by clicking on photo then clicking on the 2nd photo’s arrows in the lower right corner.
Oh, What A Tangled Web She Weaved
Review by Kim Cantrell
On March 12, 1982, Ron Orsini was murdered in his home while he lay sleeping in his bed.
His widow, Mary Lee, and her 13-year-old daughter swore they never heard anyone inside the home or the sound of gunfire.
Although it was suspected and despite intense investigations, police were unable to prove that Mary Lee had murdered Ron.
And that should have been the end of the story.
But it wasn’t.
For the next two years, Mary Lee Orsini made wild claims about shadowy figures breaking into her home, chasing her in rural parts of North Little Rock, and of an underworld conspiracy that included many members of law enforcement.
And then Mary Lee’s attorney – who had represented her during the grand jury hearing in the matter of Ron’s death – came home to find his wife had been fatally shot.
Mary Lee’s claim was that it was part of a conspiracy.
But this time even the Pulaski County’s Sheriff’s testimony in her favor couldn’t save her.
Author Gene Lyons manages to relay the in a clear, comprehensive manner a story that if described as complicated would be an understatement.
Full of twist and turns, ups and downs, Widow’s Web is a most definitely edge-of-seat thriller; a real-life, honest-to-God story.
Heard that old saying, “You can’t make this stuff up?” That definitely applies to Mary Lee Orsini.
If you haven’t yet read Widow’s Web, you must put this one you list. You’re missing one heck of a story if you don’t!
Movies:Seduction In Travis County, a made-for-television movie which aired in 1991 on CBS (USA). Sold on VHS only under the title Blind Judgement
Updates on Mary Lee Orsini and Others:
On August 11, 2003, Mary Lee Orsini died of a heart attack at Newport, Arkansas, hopsital near the McPherson Unit where she was serving her life sentence. She was 55-years-old.
Just three weeks before her death, Mary Lee confessed to investigators that she had killed Ron. She also told them that she was involved in an affair with Bill McArthur but he had no knowledge of her plans to kill his wife, Alice.
Euguene “Yankee” Hall continues to serve a life sentence at the Cummins Unit in Grady, Arkansas.
Sheriff Tommy Robinson served one term as a U.S. Congressman. Following the end of his political career, Robinson has piddled as owner of a couple of businesses; eventually winding in bankruptcy. Refusing to comply with bankruptcy proceedings, Robinson was ordered to jail in 2008 for contempt.
Updates on Tiffany Orsini, who would now be 41-years-old, could not be located.
Another bad group of tornadoes heading to Central Arkansas tonight. Yesterday eight people were killed in Arkansas.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Spendthrift politicians and runaway spending. Is a balanced budget amendment the answer? Professor Williams looks at the situation. (He argues for law banning spending over certain limit of GDP, not for the balanced budget amendment.)
Wall Street Journal columnist and FOX News contributor John Fund talks to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy about the 2010 elections and their implications in Michigan as well as the evolution and impact of Alternative/New Media on the political landscape in Michigan and beyond.
Mr. Obama’s budget speech makes more sense when one realizes that his sinking poll numbers indicate an erosion in support with his liberal base.
At first glance, President Obama’s partisan speech last week attacking GOP budget proposals was precisely what an incumbent running for re-election shouldn’t do. It was not a speech designed to appeal to independent voters, a group Mr. Obama has suffered serious erosion with.
But Mr. Obama’s tone makes more sense when one realizes that his sinking poll numbers also indicate an erosion in support with his liberal base.
The more that Mr. Obama feels he has to haul out class-warfare rhetoric and avoid offering serious proposals to stave off a fiscal crisis, the more he is endangering his standing with independent voters who remain unsettled by a sluggish recovery. The latest Gallup Poll pegs Mr. Obama’s support among independents at just 35%. Right now, Mr. Obama is more concerned with shoring up his liberal base than with wooing independents. That’s a sign of weakness.
Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund speaks to Americans for Prosperity Illinois, Part 3
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 3:57 pm CST on April 26, 2011.
The Legal Services Corporation, which is supposed to provide legal services to the poor, has repeatedly ignored warnings to stop spending its money on alcohol. It also funds limousines, first-class airfare, and “death by Chocolate” pastries for its executives.
The Department of Energy spent nine years and $153 million on an obsolete cyber-security project that was supposed to safeguard America’s nuclear weapons information.
The stimulus set aside $350 million for a national broadband coverage map—even though one private firm stated it could create one for $3.5 million.
Fannie Mae—now backed up by taxpayers—paid $6.3 million in legal defense costs for ousted executives such as Franklin Raines. An additional $16.8 million was spent defending Fannie Mae’s regulators in litigation against the former executives.
The Census Bureau spent $2.5 million on Super Bowl ads, and on-air mentions by sportscasters.
New documents reveal that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lost 1,000 computers in 2008. Not to be outdone, Homeland Security officers lost nearly 200 guns in places like restaurant restrooms, convenience stores, and bowling alleys. Several of the guns ended up in the hands of criminals.
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Attending a Wedding
Princess Diana wearing a pink outfit at the wedding of her former flatmate Carolyn Pride and William Bartholomew, London, September 1982. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Getty Images)
Part 7
Associated Press
JULY 29, 1981: Prince Charles kisses his bride’s hand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London July 29, 1981.
Take a look at this video from last week in the St. Louis Airport:
Milton Friedman on Phil Donahue Show in 1980 provides a direct and to-the-point defense of capitalism and free trade. He explains how governmental regulations, no matter how well-intended, are inevitably infiltrated by business interests which use governmental power to stifle competition.
The disagreement is over the solutions — on what spending to cut; what taxes to raise (basically none ever, according to Boozman); whether or not to enact a balanced budget amendment (Boozman says yes; Pryor no); and on what policies would promote the kind of economic growth that would make this a little easier.
The House passed a Balanced Budget Amendment in 1995 as part of the “Contract for America.” As mentioned, the BBA failed in the Senate in 1997 by one vote.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R.-Va.) reintroduced that same BBA from 1995 at the beginning of this year as HJ Res 2, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee. The bill has 215 co-sponsors, including 13 Democrats: Jason Altmire (Pa.), Sanford Bishop (Ga.), Dan Boren (Okla.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Henry Cuellar (Tex.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Jane Harman (Calif.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Mike Ross (Ark.), and David Scott (Ga.).
There is no doubt that Ross is more conservative than Pryor, but he is also has been targeted by the Republicans. Jason Tolbert reported today:
In Feb of 1983 Milton Friedman wrote the article “Washington:Less Red Ink (An argument that the balanced-budget amendent would be a rare merging of public and private interests),” and here is a portion of that article:
Here, for their consideration, are my answers to the principal objections to the proposed amendment that I have come across, other than those that arise from a desire to have a still-bigger government:
**2. The President and Congress are guilty of hypocrisy in voting simultaneously for a large current deficit and for a constitutional amendment to prevent future deficits.**
Of course, I have long believed that congressional hypocrisy and shortsightedness are the only reasons there is a ghost of a chance of getting Congress to pass an amendment limiting itself. Most members of Congress will do anything to postpone the problems they face by a couple of years–only Wall Street has a shorter perspective. If the hypocrisy did not exist, if Congress behaved “responsibly,” there would be no need for the amendment. Congress’s irresponsibility is the reason we need an amendment and at the same time the reason that there is a chance of getting one.
Hypocrisy may eventually lead to the passing of the amendment. But hypocrisy will not prevent the amendment from having important effects three or four years down the line–and from casting its shadow on events even earlier. Congress will not violate the Constitution lightly. Members of Congress will wriggle and squirm; they will seek, and no doubt find, subterfuges and evasions. But their actions will be significantly affected by the existence of the amendment. The experience of several states that have passed similar tax-limitation amendments provides ample evidence of that.
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Gala Recital Dress
The Princess of Wales attends a gala recital evening at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, November 1981. She is wearing a dress by Bellville Sassoon. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
Part 6
Associated Press
JULY 29, 1981: Prince Charles and his bride Diana, the new Princess of Wales, are cheered by the crowd thronging the Royal Processional route back to Buckingham Palace after their marriage in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Tornado that hit Central Arkansas 4.25.11
We had a tough night with the storms last night. My son and his family came over and we watched the live weather coverage from 5:30pm to 8:30pm last night as tornadoes went through our county (Saline) but most the damage was just past us.
(Vilonia, AR) — Emergency officials say five deaths are attributed to severe weather in Arkansas on Monday.
Two people were killed in a violent tornado that hit the Faulkner County town of Vilonia.
Officials are not releasing the names or ages of the victims, but did confirm the two fatalities occurred in two different homes.
According to Stephan Hawks, Public Information Officer for Faulkner County, the storm left a path of destruction approximately 3 miles wide and 15 miles long, and destroyed 14 to 16 homes in Vilonia.
Storm spotters reported the width of the tornado was at least a half-mile wide and sent debris flying into the air.
Three other deaths in the state are a result of flash flooding.
One woman died in Washington County when her vehicle was swept into the Illinois River.
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder says the victim, Consuelo Santillano of West Fork, attempted to drive her van through high water on Highway 265 when the vehicle stalled.
She reportedly made it out of the vehicle, but was swept into the flood waters.
Her son was a passenger in the vehicle, but escaped without injuries.
Two more deaths were recorded in Madison County, where an elderly couple drowned in War Eagle Creek.
Officials are not releasing the names of the couple who died, but said they were attempting to drive through rushing water covering Highway 23 between Huntsville and Witter when their vehicle was carried away.
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Emergency officials say seven deaths are attributed to severe weather in Arkansas on Monday.
Four people were killed in a violent tornado that hit the Faulkner County town of Vilonia.
Officials are not releasing the names or ages of the victims.
According to Stephan Hawks, Public Information Officer for Faulkner County, the storm left a path of destruction approximately 3 miles wide and 15 miles long, and destroyed 14 to 16 homes in Vilonia.
Storm spotters reported the width of the tornado was at least a half-mile wide and sent debris flying into the air.
John Fund’s speech at Right Nation 2010, the unprecedented gathering of conservatives, Republicans, and Tea Party independents on September 18th just outside Chicago.
Mr. Obama’s budget speech makes more sense when one realizes that his sinking poll numbers indicate an erosion in support with his liberal base.
At first glance, President Obama’s partisan speech last week attacking GOP budget proposals was precisely what an incumbent running for re-election shouldn’t do. It was not a speech designed to appeal to independent voters, a group Mr. Obama has suffered serious erosion with.
But Mr. Obama’s tone makes more sense when one realizes that his sinking poll numbers also indicate an erosion in support with his liberal base.
Mr. Obama is also hurting with another key element of his coalition: Hispanics. His job approval with them is now only 54% in the latest Gallup poll, down from 73% two years ago. Similarly, voters under the age of 30 give him a tepid 55% approval rating.
Obama strategists thought they had dodged a bullet earlier this year when it became unlikely the president would attract a serious primary opponent like Howard Dean or former Sen. Russ Feingold. But now it’s clear that Mr. Obama has to worry that a dispirited liberal base could stay home in 2012, or that a spoiler third-party candidate could drain votes away from him the way Ralph Nader did with Al Gore in 2000.
Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund speaks to Americans for Prosperity Illinois Part 2
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 6:54 am CST on April 26, 2011.
Improper or fraudulent Medicare spending now totals $47 billion annually—12.4 percent of its budget.
New York distributed $140 million in stimulus money into the individual accounts of families on welfare, yet neglected to mention it was intended for school supplies. Local ATMs were depleted, and much of the money was reportedly spent on “flat screen TV’s, iPods and video gaming systems” as well as “cigarettes and beer.”
Washington will spend $615,175 on an archive honoring the Grateful Dead.
Federal employees owe more than $3 billion in income taxes they failed to pay in 2008.
Each month, taxpayers provide $40,000 worth of office space, cell phones, staff, and an SUV for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who currently works as a lobbyist for private corporations and foreign governments.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her staff have charged taxpayers $101,000 for “in-flight services”—including food and liquor—during trips on Air Force jets over the last two years. Charges reportedly include “Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, and Corona beer.”
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Out: Tony and Cherie Blair
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair didn’t get invited, prompting rumors that it was a deliberate snub to the former Labour leader, who clashed with the queen over her handling of Princess Di’s funeral. Cherie, too, would have reason to be snubbed: She refused to curtsy for members of the royal family.
Katie Nicholl, author of “Behind the Palace Walls” talks to Erica Hill about Kate Middleton, the commoner about to join the royal family.
2007
A jaunty brown beret topped off Middleton’s breezy look at the Cheltenham Festival races.
Raising the debt ceiling is essential to paying our debts and keeping the national and world economy functioning. Spending cuts must be made in the future, not by reneging on debt from the past. It is disingenuous to join these issues.
Nine times in the last decade the federal government has crept near its debt ceiling and Congress has voted to raise it.
Tea party types say they intend this time to tie their votes to raise the debt limit to actual and concurrent spending reductions.
But this is no equation. You absolutely owe your debt. Quite separately, it’s up to your future behavior whether you can fashion spending reductions to gain control of tomorrow’s debt so that you don’t have to keep dealing with these kinds of untenable financial and political situations.
Our legal debt limit is $14.3 trillion. We are at $14.1 trillion and counting. A lot of fast compounding is going on. We’ll reach the limit about May 16.
Politically, this is what is likely to happen: Conservatives playing to the tea-drunken grandstand will engage in yet another round of brinkmanship, braying about spending reductions and casting at least one vote — for next year’s campaign literature — against raising the ceiling.
Then they will cut a deal in the last hours that could have been consummated more responsibly weeks before, thus avoiding uncertain and damaging signals to global financial markets that prompted Standard & Poor’s to start talking about downgrading the United States’ credit rating.
There even is talk in credible circles that conservatives will let the deadline pass, and choose to wait for the visible beginnings of calamity, before coming around.
That would be even more irresponsible than the minority vote cast in 2006 against raising the debt ceiling by a young liberal Democratic senator from Illinois.
Yes, Barack Obama did that. He ought to be ashamed. In a way, he deserves the irresponsibility that bedevils him now.
But at least his vote didn’t have real consequences, being merely hollow and demagogic.
It didn’t hurt anything except, that is, the young senator’s credibility in the unlikely event he ever became president and encountered a tea party revolution. And who could have dreamed of either of those things happening?
Deficit spending has not prevented a recession. Moreover, there is reason to believe that not extending the debt limit will actually be good for the economy. Government spending will be curtailed. Some government services will also be curtailed. This provides fertile ground for more free enterprise solutions, more little companies, more employment in the private sector and more GDP growth. Why should we believe those who say increase the debt ceiling or suffer a recession?
Using the FY 2010 numbers above we can see that in order not to create more debt, Congress would have to hold spending, including debt service, to $2,162 Billion. Congress would have to cut $1,294 Billion from FY 2010 spending levels to do that. Where would you cut?
We can fund Social Security and Defense without borrowing. However, the first call on available funds would have to be servicing the current debt. We might have to change Medicare and Medicaid along the lines suggested by Paul Ryan and we would have to be very careful about everything else. Wouldn’t this be a good thing? Just think, after a few years, Congress might actually start to think about surplus budgets to pay down debt and gain spending flexibility from lower debt service costs.
Finally, since Congress will never cut spending enough to balance the budget, it is necessary to force that action via refusal to increase the debt limit. There is no time like the present to do this.
JUNE 10, 1981: The Royal Wedding stamps featuring Britain’s Prince Charles and his bride to be Lady Diana Spencer went on sale a week before their wedding on July 29, 1981. In values of 14 and 25 pence (28 and 50 cents), they were designed by Jeffrey Matthews and the photograph was specially taken by Lord Snowdon.
Associated Press
JULY 29, 1981: Prince Charles and his bride the Princess of Wales wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their marriage at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Standing with them on the balcony are: Edward van Cutsem (one of the pages) and Catherine Cameron, 6, one of the five bridesmaids.
Associated Press
JULY 29, 1981: With a 7.6-meter (25-foot) sweeping train, Lady Diana Spencer leaves St. Paul’s Cathedral arm-in-arm with Prince Charles after their wedding ceremony. Nearly a million well-wishers crowded the two-mile route to Buckingham Palace.
ABC’s Barbara Walters talks to WISN 12’s Patrick Paolantonio about her special tonight on the upcoming royal wedding.
Andrew Breitbart
John Fund
