Arkie Liberal's blog
Posted at 2:55pm on Jun. 4, 2006 Congress, the President, and the 2006 elections
By Arkie Liberal
Here's a question--does Congress deserve re-election? I'm not talking about Democrats taking over. Even if the Democrats do manage to get one or both chambers in November, by and large will still almost all the incumbents who have run for re-election return. And I doubt many Americans, regardless of their ideology, will think that's a good thing.
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Posted at 10:07am on Apr. 21, 2006 10 Things a patriot can do
By Arkie Liberal
I believe patriotism involves action, and at times even sacrifice. By way of starting a conversation, I am suggesting 10 things a patriot can do.
- Read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
- Invite a neighbor for dinner. This strengthens communities, and strong communities make a strong nation.
- Buy American. I am a strong believer in free trade. I freely decide to buy American, and feel patriotic doing so.
- Volunteer in your community--see #2
- Read the Federalist Papers and study American history.
- Attend local government meetings.
- Register and vote. Consider running for office.
- Visit historic locations, not as tourist sites, but as places of reverence. Valley Forge and Gettysburg are places where we can all consider those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
- Devote serious time and study to signficant issues of the day.
- This is a beautiful country. Work to preserve that beauty.
Some may find some of these things controversial. Consider #10--I am not saying we need laws here. You can decide for yourself how you want to do #10.
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Posted at 10:42am on Apr. 8, 2006 Huckabee Update
By Arkie Liberal
The Arkansas Legislature just finished a brief special session. Normally, the Arkansas Legislature meets every two years, but recently, in order to respond to court-orders regarding education, they've had to meet in special session.
However, this time around, while the main reason for the session was yet again education funding, they also took on several high-profile issues. Here's a brief rundown: Basically under court order, more spending for education is on the way--essentially, it will give teachers a cost of living raise at state, not local distric expense.
Most visibly, Arkansas will raise the minimum wage (with a few exceptions) to 6.25. Huckabee will sign. The politics here are, I think relevant. Other than the hospitality industry, the business community preferred this to a proposed constitutional amendment, which polling data showed would pass pretty easily in the state. Arkansas Business was in favor of the bill. A constitutional amendment would have built in cost of living increases in the minimum wage, and as a constitutional provision, would have been very difficult to adjust. The votes in both houses of the legislature were overwhelming in favor.
Second, a broad smoking ban is also in place. It's not as restrictive as some blue states, but for Arkansas, it's pretty restrictive.
Third, there is no in place legislating barring demonstrations at funerals. This is in response to the group protesting soldiers funerals.
Given that my political views are not exactly in line with most of the thinking here, if you are concerned about my perspective of these issues, do feel free to look into this stuff on your own. I am doing my best to present this fairly, as something that probably won't get much national attention, but might be relevant in the upcoming Presidential contest. Alas, the main state news paper is subscription only, and it would give you a more conservative perspective.
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Posted at 6:36pm on Mar. 15, 2006 Huckabee
By Arkie Liberal
Note: I wrote this diary in a response to a question on another thread.
I like Huckabee--I'm not sure if you'll think that is a good thing, coming from an Arkie Liberal who traces his roots to the Northeast. He's been governor ten years, and the state is in better shape now than it was when he started. He weathered the fiscal crisis nearly all states faced very well. Education and roads have improved measurably during this time. He has done a great deal to improve access to healthcare, especially children, and is now embarking on an innovative program to help small business provide health insurance to their employees.
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Posted at 11:40am on Feb. 9, 2006 It's the Enlightenment
By Arkie Liberal
I've read through a number of threads concerning the fanatical Islamic response to the Danish cartoons. In general, I find the responses sadly lacking. We see discussions concerning an inevitable clash of civilizations, we see some advising prudence, and some defending free speech. But all these ideas share a link, which far too many have forgotten.
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Posted at 12:33pm on Dec. 12, 2005 Iraqis optimistic
By Arkie Liberal
Maybe you missed it this morning--I heard about it on NPR--ABC News and the BBC commissioned a poll of Iraqis, and found that while they are not thrilled with the current state of their country as a whole, 70 percent of them their own lives are good or quite good.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4514414.stm
http://abcnews.go.com/International/PollVault/story?id=1389228
Lots of interesting details here, and at least the BBC site provides a fairly detailed breakdown of the results, though I haven't had time to look closely at it. Not surprisingly, one potential problem is that Sunnis do not seem to be sharing in the optimism.
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