ARRA News Service - As identified at the end of this video: All Politics are personal! Do you really want to really restore this Republic? We need you make some small sacrifice to make a difference so we all can be in the winner circle! Contact your local Republican party or a candidate that you like. Get involved, make a few phone calls, visit a few people, kick in $5 or whatever to their campaign, lets get others out to vote, so we can all meet in the winners circle.
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Pajamasmedia: You don't win elections by watching Glenn Beck. You've got to do the hard work - walk precincts, talk with neighbors and lick envelopes. Scott Ott, Stephen Green and Bill Whittle tell you what it will it take to deliver a Republican majority in Congress on Election Day. The midterm elections, Obama and the Tea Party Movement on this edition of Trifecta. [Video]

Chelsea Clinton's wedding sets a new record for the most media coverage gaining the least amount of information.

U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) sent out a news release the other day stating that $700 million in mortgage guarantees is on its way to the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program.

Big deal here in the natural state? You'd better believe it. Rural Development loans are available all over the state through private lenders and exist as one of he few "zero down" mortgage programs available. To say that program has helped boost housing markets here in the Natural State is an understatement.

You can read about Lincoln's announcement here.

The numbers are in and they're, well, not great.

The June housing market report for central Arkansas is available and you can read all 'bout it here.

Cheer up, ace. Things will get better.

Old time radio (OTR) has been a passion of mine since I was but a lad listening to Lum and Abner reruns on a radio station out of Hot Springs, Ark., with my dad in the 1970s.

A lot of those shows have held up very well over the years, while others exist as an odd reflection of the times in which they were made.

I was a Communist for the FBI is one of those "reflective" shows that reveal a lot about how Americans viewed Communists in the Red Scare days of the 1940s and 1950s. Click here to hear for yourself -- it's a great show, to be sure, and is as entertaining as it is a bit of an historic document.

For more OTR, click here and listen all you want.

A few weeks ago, your good friend The Hawg was told by his employer (the Arkansas Realtors Association) that his services as the director of media relations were no longer required.

Fine with me. The boss long regarded me as a weisenheimer and troublemaker, anyway, and the last couple of years at work had been decidedly weird.

While I'll find another job, I had a more immediate concern -- what would happen to the House to House column that I spent years developing and shipping to 20 newspapers in Arkansas? The answer to that question was simple enough -- adjust the focus of the column a bit and see if the good people over at the Mortgage Bankers Association of Arkansas would want to sponsor it.

As luck would have it, they liked the idea and a new column was born. Yes, we've even got some papers running it. If you'd like to see the first column in my new series, just click here.

Well, the nervous biddy squad has officially invaded my town.

Yes, indeed. Setting off fireworks is now totally illegal in Benton, Ark. While towns run by city councils with a lick of sense generally make exceptions for people wanting to shoot off fireworks around the Fourth of July and New Year's Day, there is no such exception in place in my town.

And, man, does that suck.

You can read all about the ban here.

There's been a lot of information floating around about the tax credits for first time and repeat home buyers lately.

Some of it has been great and some of has ... not been.

To put the record straight, here are a couple of links to articles with all kinds of information about the tax credits:

* Click here for an article about the extension of the closing date for the credits. That was signed into law and a post about that is here.

* Military personnel and some others have an extra year to buy homes and apply for the credit. Click here for information about that.

Lesterville2k2 - The members of the Democrat party have given us a lot to consider before voting in November 2010. This video presents just 11 reasons to consider voting for the Democrats. Are you motivated yet?

Video produced by Duane Lester. This is a great video for Tea Party members and others to share.

Folks, it may be time to eat crow.

After swearing off American vehicles, I traded in my Toyota Matrix for a Dodge Ram 1500 over the weekend.

Why? Well, you can read all about it on First Arkansas News.

Wandering into the fun-filled world of Web hosting is confusing, indeed.

Most small and medium-sized business owners realize the importance of having a strong presence on the Internet, but what must one do to build and maintain that presence? Who can help keep that presence up and running, offer 24-hour support, advice and all those other technical things that drive most of us nuts?

One company that can help with everything from hosting a site to maintaining on-site servers is Superb Servers. Do phrases like dedicated server hosting, managed hosting solutions and colocation services sound a bit "buzz wordy?" Those phrases make sense to the cats at Superb Servers, and that's all that matters -- if you want to expand your Internet presence, build a solid network, etc., that particular company can help.

Go with the experts, kids.

by William Warren:

Obama Labor appointees get massive pay raises. Sorry didn't you play the game. The rest of America is broke / in debt! [Video]

See what Willy and Juanita think about Blanche Lincoln, Bill Halter, Robbie Mills and John Boozeman as Willy takes a few minutes to visit down at Juanita's Road Kill Grill and Cantina.

May be surprised what Willy thinks

10-4 Willy

When should Willy be quiet.  Check out Hillbilly Willy -

Hillbilly Willy - Fun Food and Politics.

That's right -- we've got three people running for lieutenant governor here in the Natural State. Two Republicans face off in the primaries on May 18 and the winner of that will face the loan Democrat in the race in the November elections.

Click here to visit FirstArkansasNews.net and hear interviews with Democrat Shane Broadway and Republicans Donnie Copeland and Mark Darr. No endorsements. No loaded questions. No nonsense. Just the candidates telling voters why they should be elected. Don't miss it, bub!

Statistics are important regardless of what you do for a living. I use them every day in my job as a public relations guy and used them extensively as a business reporter. What do all those earning reports from, say, trucking companies mean? How can a housing report be properly analyzed unless you know what the numbers tell you?

Statistics are important but they're not always taught terribly well (my knowledge of statistics came through forcing myself to learn about them). For folks who are a bit lost when it comes to statistics, there's statistics help available. And here's the good news -- a statistics tutor might cost less than you think.

That's right -- finding someone to provide those statistics problems and statistics questions and explain what the purpose of running through those exercises actually is can be found quickly through the Internet. What's more, you can do it all online and find a custom program set up for students in ages K-12 and college. Some online tutoring, indeed, might be just the thing for a student getting ready to go back to school for the year (or one who is between semesters) and needs a little help before entering the classroom.

Check it out, kids.

Well, I went and started yet another blog -- FirstArkansasNews.net.

That one is designed to be, primarily, a news site featuring some journalists from across the state. A few of them have agreed to write for it and I do hope it's a success.

Meanwhile, check it out if you're so inclined. Want to write for it? We could use some more reporters who are willing to work for free in hopes of building up enough traffic to generate some ad revenue so I can start sending money to folks. If you're interested in that, click here to send me an email.