My old friend and boss, Michael Tilley, sent this over to me today.
Yes, Tilley's new publication, The City Wire, has decided to pick up a column I write for my current employer that is picked up by about 20 publications in Arkansas. The City Wire is a bit of a first for us because it's entirely Internet-based while the rest of the publications that pick up my column are still primarily print-based.
What is unique, of course, is that I sent that column out today and Tilley put it up immediately, thus beating everyone else to the punch. I've known Tilley since my days as a business reporter at The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas in Springdale. He was the business editor of both The Morning News and the Southwest Times-Record in Fort Smith.
He's a good guy and I'm glad he's picking up my column. I hope he does very well with his new endeavor and, given his drive, intelligence and determination, I'm sure he will.
So, y'all go ahead and take a look at my column if you want to see The Hawg wearing a suit and grinning like an idiot. Heh, heh.
Yes, once again it's time to recognize the top Entrecard droppers of the month.
We had a lot of visitors here at The All Arkie Army in December and that's impressive seeing how the Christmas season kept a lot of people busy.
So, here are the top Entrecard visitors for December:
1. Crotchety Old Man -- and he's an All Arkie Army member, to boot! Yay!
2. BMWF1Blog
3. Of Trends and Aces
4. The Natural State Hawg -- Yes, the administrator of the All Arkie Army places a pitiful fourth on the "top droppers" list. Awful!
5. The Way I See It
6. Beyond Left Field
7. PaulsHealthBlog.com -- Yet another valued member of the All Arkie Army!
8. pamibe
9. The Half-Life of Linoleum
10. Political Conservatives -- a site run by two members of the All Arkie Army.
Thanks, folks. The visits are appreciated.
Link: [Berrin Art Jewelry]
Link: [Bob McCarty Writes]
Link: [Deuddersun Says...]
Link: [MeHeNDi]ARRA News Service: Jason Tolbert on the Tobert Report today ends year 2009 reporting on an Arkansas version of "Chicago style" politics. In summary, we have an elected constitutional officer who is Arkansas Chief Law enforcement officer advocating for and paying for a defeat of constitutional amendment in the past and now espousing that he can defend the very same amendment in a court case now challenging the amendment passed by the citizen's of Arkansas. And we thought their was no shame in Little Rock when Bill Clinton was AG. Below Jason explains about the latest "Dustin dust-up":
After seeing this photograph from the Arkansas Times of Attorney General Dustin McDaniel at a fundraiser for Arkansas Families First, the group formed to oppose Initiated Act 1, I decided to go down to the Arkansas Ethics Commission on my lunch break and take a look at their financial disclosure statements. My hunch was right.
The McDaniel Leadership PAC contributed $1,000 on October 28, 2008 to support Arkansas Families First in their campaign against Initiated Act 1. According to the PAC’s filing with the Arkansas Secretary of State, Dustin McDaniel serves as chairman of this PAC. (As a side note, fellow blogger Blake Rutherford serves as the treasurer.)
This is significant because as the Attorney General for Arkansas, McDaniel’s office now serves as the defense attorney in representing the state of Arkansas against the ACLU’s court challenge of Initiated Act 1. McDaniel’s Chief Deputy Attorney General Justin Allen told the Associated Press yesterday that his office will still be the ones defending the lawsuit.
I cannot help but wonder how someone who has contributed financially for a measure’s defeat can now be the advocate for the people of Arkansas in defense of that passed measure. I am certainly not a lawyer but referring to a borrowed copy of Howard Brill’s “Arkansas Professional and Judicial Ethics,” this appears to be a violation of Rule 1.7 defining a conflict of interest. The rule states “A concurrent conflict of interest exists if …. there is a significant risk that the representation of one of more clients will be materially limited … by a personal interest of the lawyer.”
Is this circumstance not a clear example of this definition? The rule goes on to discuss several requirements for a lawyer to overcome this conflict including if “each affected client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing.” The clients in this case would be a people of Arkansas, particularly the 586,248 Arkansans who voted for the Act. I am not sure how McDaniel is going to pull that one off.
Link: [Autorotate's Flying Circus]
Link: [Lonely Planet]
Link: [Surfer Jerry]
“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time. Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.” This is subject to change, however. In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while. For rants promote change, and change can be good—right? Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (I am told).
Clint Ashcraft has long known he'd like the opportunity to one day be the football coach at Conway High.
That day has now come.
The former Siloam Springs coach was hired by the Conway School District's Board of Education in a special meeting Thursday night. Ashcraft replaces Kenny Smith, who led the Wampus Cats the past 18 years and finished his tenure as the program's winningest coach with a 129-75 record before announcing his resignation last month.
"I'm elated to have this opportunity," Ashcraft said during a telephone interview Thursday. "It's a great community and a great location. I always thought it'd be a great job to be at Conway."
Read the entire story here.
Link: [SillyGrrl]
Link: [Caraga...Rising Paradise]
Link: [AardvArt In A FieldofClover]
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The ever-growing Arkansas family has added a holiday bundle-of-joy to their brood.
That's right folks, Michelle Duggar, has given birth to her 18th child.
The Arkansas supermom delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.
"The ultimate Christmas gift from God," said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. "She's just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters."
The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.
Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.
"We both would love to have more," he said. Jim Bob Duggar is 43, a year older than his wife. Their oldest child, Joshua, is 20.
The cable network TLC broadcasts a weekly show about the Duggars, called "Seventeen and Counting." Chris Finnegan of TLC — which handles public relations for the Duggar family — said the show's name would be updated to account for the latest addition to the family. He said TLC also will air a show Monday on the baby's delivery.
"Our whole family is excited about Jordyn's addition to our family," Jim Bob Duggar said. "She's just perfect in every way."
With the latest addition, the Duggars’ 18 natural children range in age from 20 years to one day old. Included in the mix are 10 boys and now eight girls — Joshua, twins Jana and John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, and Jordyn-Grace.
With two sets of twins, Michelle, has gone through 15 pregnancies that ended in 13 natural deliveries and two Caesarean sections.
Both Michelle and Jim Bob — a former state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives — are real estate agents. They claim their family is debt-free, with the entire bunch helping to build their 7,000-square-foot home in Tontitown. And they are enriched by a devout faith in their religion.
The Duggars are followers of the evangelical Christian movement called Quiverful, which teaches that children are God’s blessing and that husbands and wives should happily welcome every child they are given. In fact, the Duggars' website quotes, “Children are a heritage of the Lord” from verse 3 of the 123rd Psalm.
Source: here
I absolutely hate cold weather.
Sadly, we've got a ton of it here in the Natural State tonight. Yes, old man winter decided to pay Arkansas a visit today and we've got a mess brewing.
I, The Hawg, have marked the spot on the latest map from the National Weather Service that shows I'm smack dab in the middle of all this rotten weather. We Saline County folks don't cope with this stuff well.
In fact, most Arkansans don't react well to ice covered roads. If a snow flake hits the ground and sticks, that's a sure sign it's time to shut the town down for a couple of days and wait for it to melt. We don't know how to drive on this stuff in Arkansas and I, for one, don't care to learn.
I'm hoping it works out that way tomorrow. We're supposed to get more sleet and freezing rain -- perhaps enough so that schools will be canceled and we'll get to stay home from work. The break won't last long, however -- it's supposed to be in the 40s by Wednesday and then in the 60s by Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Ah, that's how it is in Arkansas. Don't like the weather? Give it a minute and it will change.
Meanwhile, it's time to break out my favorite lawyer joke:
Friendly The Hawg: It's cold out there.
You: How cold is it, The Hawg?
Friendly The Hawg: So cold that I went downtown and the lawyers had their hands in their own pockets!
I've been lazy lately
Yes, I haven't been too active here or at The Natural State Hawg these past few days. To quote an e-mail I got a couple of years ago that still gives me a chuckle, "Oh well. It Christmas."
And because it Christmas, I've been busy with family and such. While I'm well aware that some people have been disappointed that my inane prattle hasn't been thrown around as often as it was just a few weeks ago, I'll be back to my old self before long.
Link: [A Beer Sort Of Blog]
Link: [Branson EDGE]
Link: [Octavine Illustration]
Link: [Predator Press]
Link: [The Slap & Tickle]Go ahead and click on the below commercial posted on YouTube and prepare to be amazed. Bear in mind that this guy is, apparently, a legitimate businessman in the Chicago area. I hope so because this has to be one of the top marketing schemes of all time.
If you want to check out this cat's Internet site, just click right here.
Here's Bella, our dachsador, busily doing, err, something.
Be sure to visit the other Wordless Wednesday participants (or submit something of your own) by clicking right here.
Last night, my husband and I went to my company's Christmas party in Conway.
Carol, one of my coworkers, is so very gracious and every year, without fail, she offers to host the party. And even though her house is large, by the time everyone arrives, there is standing room only.
We all look forward to the Christmas party because it's a time when everyone can relax and enjoy each other's company outside the work environment. It's also neat to meet coworker's spouses or dates.
But the main reason I look forward to our Christmas party is the infamous "White Elephant Gift Exchange".
I cannot possibly convey in a post how much fun we have playing this silly little game. First of all, I work with a fun, great group of people. That's the first necessary ingredient. Add in some gag gifts, gifts of an alcoholic nature, girly gifts, tools, toys, etc. and you're gonna have some laughs!
The game starts out pretty boring: people opening gifts - everybody saying, "Ooh", "Aah" etc. It starts getting interesting, however, when the first gag gift is opened.
Last night's first gag gift was a Snoop Dogg doll! What made it even funnier is the guy who opened it is a white computer techie who was wearing Wrangler jeans, a cowboy shirt and boots! It's painfully obvious, rap music is not his thing. Anyway, everybody starts hootin' and hollerin' and saying "Ooh!!!!, Alright Michael! WOO HOO!!!" He smiles, takes a bow, and goes back to his seat. Then about ten minutes later, somebody steals it from him! I sure didn't see that coming. I elbowed my husband and said, "Honey, you ought to steal it and give it to your brother for Christmas!" Paul's brother, David, likes rap music and they always give each other gag gifts at Christmas. Well, Paul never got the chance because someone stole Snoop Dogg again and after that, the rap doll was frozen and couldn't be stolen again.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Link: [FreshRevision]
Link: [Homemade Pizza]
Link: [Mom's Crazy Life]
Link: [Snitterdog]
Link: [Section Hiker]A good friend of mine sent this to me today and I couldn't help but to pass it along, as it has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a very LONG time
3 Unused LSU Timeouts for sale on Craigslist: http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/spo/940244949.html
Gotta love me some Hog's football!!
Willy is hearing the stories this morning that the Automakers are getting the message and they are going back to congress to plead their case for a bailout and are traveling in their hybrid vehicles instead of their corporate jets.
They are saying that they have to have money because if they don't get it soon that their mismanagement to date will cause them to go bankrupt this month. If they get the bailout they will sell their corporate jobs, they will figure out how to make cars go further on a gallon of gas, the CEO will work for $1/year + expenses and they will sell the corporate jets.
This they say will bring them back to profitability if Americans-- Many who cut from their jobs by the automakers, will then buy more cars and drive more miles and use more gas and spend more money on credit cards and ..........
Willy has debt, but the problem is that Willy has not let his debt get totally out of hand. Willy has spent beyond his means sometimes but Willy took a look and pulled in the reins and got it back in hand all by himself.
Willy needs someone to help Willy to financially figure out how to get in the mess that the automakers are in so Willy can get the bail out. Willy believes if the government will give him only about 1/100 of 1% of the $800 million bailout money, then willy will be debt free.
My plan is that if the government could spare Willy that small amount then Willy pays off all debts. That allows Willy to save a small part of his salary and then spend the rest on big cars, great vacations and many other things that will give people jobs.
That would spur the economy.
Listen to the Video from Fred Thompson - like him or not - he has a humorous- sarcastic take on the whole mess. Willy thinks Fred should send him some money.
Listen to Fred - come on it wont hurt you.
10-4 Willy
Ah, the Flaming Lips. Remember when that was an actual rock band? Some of us do.
Go ahead and visit the other Wordless Wednesday participants (or submit something of your own) by clicking right here.