Someone emailed this morning with the question:

Why don’t we have any liberal think tanks in Arkansas?

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Our perpetually “red” state has the same problems that other states have. We deal daily with education, sex education (or the lack thereof), AIDS, labor issues, gender inequality, gay  ssues, poverty, housing, civil liberties – the list goes on and on.

We need dedicated men and women to study and report on these issues as they pertain to Arkansas. And yes, from a liberal perspective, I think.

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Every time one of these issues is on the front burner, a spokesperson who is from such a think tank could be speaking to newspapers and TV reporters.  It would be good for people to know that liberals haven’t been hunted out of extinction just yet, but are actually thriving.

Well, semi-thriving.

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The only problem of course, is that  Arkansas media might fall into the trap that national media has already fallen into – that of ignoring the views of a think tank simply because it is liberal, but absolutely fawning over the members pf a conservative think tank.

Then again, since we really don’t have any conservative think tanks in Arkansas, that wouldn’t be a problem for a while.

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And you know what? Fayetteville would be the perfect place to start one. Hell, I’d work for one if they offered me a job.

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Did Dan Coody tell a lie to the U.S. Conference of Mayors?

I’m running this again, because not everyone caught it the first time. So, the question is – on June 12, 2008, Dan Coody announces – with great fanfare – that the city will no longer use public funds to buy bottled water And yet Dan pops out with this statement this year:

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But it’s not just the larger cities that support the ban. Dan Coody, mayor of Fayetteville, Arkansas, population 68,000-plus, and co-chair of the Conference’s Water Council, said his city discontinued the use of bottled water several years ago.

http://waterwebster.com/USConferenceMayors2008BottledWater.htm

Several years ago??? What is that all about? Did Dan  stretch the truth, just to make himself seem a little bit cooler in the eyes of his fellow mayors?

If Dan did lie, what are we gonna do about it?

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*****
Quote of the Day

I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant. – Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Language of the Night”

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Sarah Palin and the Pledge of Allegiance

From Michael Tomasky’s blog, which he writes for the Guardian:

In 2006, the Alaska state branch of the right-wing Eagle Forum asked gubernatorial candidate Sarah Palin if she was offended by the inclusion of the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance:

“Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its [sic] good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.”

To read more:

,www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/sep/01/palin

rsdrake@nwark.com

 

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