Arkansas

40 Years Of Roe V Wade: Abortion Controversy Remains Red Hot!

Ronald 6 Comments

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision, declared the right of women to an abortion, with three Richard Nixon appointments to the Court–author of the decision Harry Blackmun, and Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Lewis Powell—joining two Eisenhower appointees—Potter Stewart and William Brennan—one Johnson appointee, Thurgood Marshall—and one Roosevelt appointee, William O. Douglas—in the majority.

Only Associate Justice Byron White, appointed by Kennedy; and William Rehnquist, appointed by Nixon, were in the minority.

Forty years later, the pro life and pro choice movements are still locked in constant combat, but with public opinion polls showing 54 percent want abortion rights retained all of the time or most of the time, with 44 percent against. And 70 percent in a poll do not want to see Roe V Wade overturned.

But meanwhile, Republican state legislatures in the past two years have passed a total of over 130 laws restricting the rights of abortion, and curbing the number of abortion providers.

Four states have made it almost impossible for women to obtain an abortion—Mississippi, Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

So the federal allowance for abortion may exist, but in the South and Great Plains areas of the nation, it is becoming nearly impossible for abortions to be obtained, no matter whether it is because of rape, incest, life of the mother, or just any other reason, whether seemingly justifiable or not.

Abortion is an emotional issue, and one that most people would say needs to remain legal and safe but also RARE, and should not be used as a method of birth control, or because of reckless personal behavior. It is not an issue that will disappear anytime soon, but for now, the odds of reversing Roe V. Wade on the national level are remote, as Barack Obama will not appoint a Supreme Court Justice who gives any hint of wishing to overturn what many call the most controversial decision of the latter half of the 20th century.

Pockets Of Opposition To Barack Obama In Democratic Presidential Primaries: What Does It Mean?

Ronald 2 Comments

Barack Obama may be popular among most Democrats, and is ahead in many polls nationally against Mitt Romney, but there certainly are areas where he is extremely unpopular, a lot of it based on his race, but also on cultural issues affected by religious beliefs, including gay marriage, abortion rights, and the role of women, and also based on backing of gun rights in the hinterland of the nation, with fear that Obama is out to take away one’s guns.

So we saw Oklahoma and West Virginia strongly against him earlier, and last night, we witnessed Arkansas and Kentucky also having strong opposition against him.

However, this must all be seen in perspective, as the lowest percentage Obama has received is the 57 percent in Oklahoma. Obama gained 58 percent in Arkansas and Kentucky and 59 percent in West Virginia.

If anyone running for any office gains between 57% and 59% of the vote, that is considered a landslide by any measure. The fact that the next lowest percentage was 76 percent in Louisiana, 79 percent in North Carolina, and 80 percent in Alabama tells us Obama has nothing to be worried about.

With only seven states yet to vote in Presidential primaries, the likelihood of any of those states voting lower percentages than these seven states mentioned above is extremely low.

So, yes, Barack Obama is opposed in portions of the country, primarily the South and Appalachia, but that is not a measurement of his overall popularity nationwide!

The “Old South” A Century And A Half After The Civil War: Still The Poorest Section Of America!

Ronald 6 Comments

Here we are 150 years after the Civil War era, and still, the “Old South” remains the poorest section of America.

It is astounding to realize that seven of the top ten poorest states are from the “Old South”–in ranked order from poorest forward being Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina, with two Borders states (West Virginia number 4 and Kentucky number 8) also on the list, along with the western state of Montana (number 6 on the list).

The only “Old South” states that are prosperous are Virginia, Georgia, Florida and Texas. Virginia (at least in the Northern part) is part of the Washington DC suburbs; Georgia has Atlanta as its major modernization motivation; Florida has the Northeastern influence in its Southern section; and Texas has major cities in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, and is, of course, a major oil state. But even all four of these states have major areas of poverty that are unacceptable!

It is a sad state of affairs that the South remains an area way behind the rest of the nation, and that race prejudice and anti-Yankee sentiment remains so strong, major factors in their continued inferiority!

Bill Clinton Pardons vs. Mike Huckabee And Haley Barbour Pardons: Double Standard!

Ronald Leave a comment

When Bill Clinton left the Presidency in 2001, he was embroiled in controversy over giving pardons to over two hundred individuals for drug offenses and white collar crimes, meaning financial violations. The turmoil went on for weeks, with Fox News Channel and conservative talk show hosts widely condemning his actions, and claiming he had committed insufferable harm.

But when Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee left office in 2007, he pardoned people who had committed heinous murders. And now, outgoing Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, supposedly a very bright and talented politician who had considered the Presidency, and had refused to pardon two African American sisters of a minor crime, but released them on condition that one sister would give a kidney donation to the other, which occurred after they were released, an ethical quandary medically. has gone beyond the pale completely!

Now, Barbour has given pardons to four people convicted of murder who had been allowed as inmates to work at the Governor’s mansion, along with at least 25 other people convicted of murder, manslaughter or homicide, a stunning development hard to explain.

And under the law, neither Huckabee back in 2007 nor Barbour today needs to do any explaining of the pardons, certainly far more heinous than any of the pardons Bill Clinton did in 2001!

This is another example of the double standard that exists, which allows Republicans a “free pass”, while Democrats are under constant attack by conservatives in radio and on Fox News Channel!

A Generation Of Bill Clinton: An Active, Historic, Influential Legacy!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today marks a generation, 20 years, of Bill Clinton being a national figure, with him announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President on this date in 1991.

Considered an underdog at the time, few expected that the Arkansas Governor would end up as our 42nd President!

Bill Clinton went on to serve two full terms in the White House, the only Democrat to do so since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Today, at age 65, having survived bypass heart surgery in 2005; having overcome impeachment charges in 1998-1999; having had a major impact on American history during his years as President from 1993-2001; having been involved in the unsuccessful attempt of his wife, Hillary Clinton, to be the Democratic nominee for President in 2008; and having seen her succeed in the US Senate and now as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, Clinton has been “giving back” to America and the world through his Clinton Global Initiative project, and is seen as one of the leading world statesmen!

Bill Clinton has pleased at times, and infuriated at times, those who have witnessed his historic roles in the past twenty years, including the author who has long had mixed feelings about his legacy and his private behavior.

But there is no doubt that Bill Clinton is still a national treasure, and that his Presidential Library in Little Rock will be a much visited place over the years by tourists and scholars, trying to analyze and evaluate the man and his Presidency.

So this is a moment to celebrate for Bill Clinton personally, and for the nation at large!

Unemployment Compensation Being Downsized In Many States!

Ronald Leave a comment

In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, many states run by Republicans are working to downsize unemployment compensation to those who lose their jobs.

We are witnessing more people long term unemployed, including “99ers” who have received benefits for nearly two years, and cannot find work. And many companies are now making it clear that they will only hire people already working, not anyone who is presently without employment.

So now, in the midst of this tragic situation, Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas, and Arizona are in the process of cutting basic unemployment benefits down from 26 weeks to 20 weeks, showing no concern at what that would do to families!

How obscene these GOP state governments have become, and what they fail to realize is that desperate people often will take desperate action, and gun violence is bound to shoot up as more Americans have no alternative for survival than to commit crimes!

This action by these various states and their governors is a crime against humanity, and it shows that these cynical politicians do not understand the basic reality that “there but for the grace of God go I!”.

This is not certainly Christian values, which conservatives and Republicans love to claim!

Correction! Arizona In 2011 Is Both Mississippi And South Carolina!

Ronald Leave a comment

The author has already labeled Arizona, with its anti immigration legislation targeted at Latinos and Hispanics, as the equivalent of Mississippi in its treatment of African Americans in the 1960s.

Now, Arizona must also be compared to South Carolina, with its threat of nullification of federal laws and the Constitution, which went on from the 1830s with John C. Calhoun, all the way up to Fort Sumter and the Civil War in 1861!

It is extremely ironic that just as we are about to commemorate the tragedy of the Civil War’s beginning on April 12, we now have the Arizona State Senate passing legislation declaring the power to nullify federal laws and the US Constitution if they do not like what is being done!

This idea of defiance was supposed to be settled by the Civil War prosecution by Abraham Lincoln, and also supposed to be resolved by US National Guard intervention in Arkansas in 1957 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and in Mississippi and Alabama in 1962 and 1963 by President John F. Kennedy!

Now, however, State Senator Russell Pearce of the Arizona legislature is promoting defiance of the federal government, not only on immigration matters and the health care law, but also on anything else that he and his followers believe is unconstitutional!

Apparently, they have learned nothing from history, and the reality that only the Supreme Court can declare actions of the executive and legislative branches unconstitutional!

To advocate anything else is TREASON, subject to prosecution by the federal government if action is actually taken, and if need be, Presidential control of the state National Guard to enforce federal laws and federal court decisions, just as in the South in the 1950s and 1960s!

Anyone living in Arizona should be ashamed of what their government leaders are advocating, a path that would lead to chaos and lawlessness and abuse of power by state outlaws, and it might be necessary at some point to enforce federal law by intervention by Federal authorities!

Hopefully, before we get into that kind of crisis, cooler heads will prevail, as states may not defy the US Constitution and be allowed to get away with it!

This is a warning to Governor Jan Brewer, State Senator Russell Pearce, and other radical right wingers: Shape up or else suffer the consequences of disobedience of constitutional law!

46 States Face Bankruptcy: Do The Republicans Have The Answer? :(

Ronald 1 Comment

In an unprecedented situation, 46 states now face bankruptcy, and are being forced to cut government workers and services, raise taxes and fees, and cut government pensions that were guaranteed to workers when they began to work for the state and local governments! 🙁

The states were prevented from such dire straits up to now because of the economic stimulus provided by the federal government, as the result of the initiatives of the Obama Administration!

The Republicans in the House now propose to do no more spending, as they emphasize the federal deficit, something that they caused by their reckless budgets under the Bush Administration, when they were in control of Congress for the first six years! But they also propose to cause more deficit by cutting taxes endlessly, and giving a great gift of most of the tax cut to those who do not need it, will not spend it, and are in many respects, very greedy and selfish! 🙁

So with more deficit being created, while unemployment compensation is not being extended, and hundreds of thousands of workers in state and local government are to be laid off, meaning they have no purchasing power and add to the already burgeoning unemployment rolls, the GOP prescription to do nothing will cause the Great Recession to turn into the Great Depression Number Two! 🙁

The American people are going to suffer mightily under this scenario, whether government workers or the general public! There will be increased crime, more fires not being able to be extinguished, more students per classroom making learning harder than ever, more libraries and parks shut down or cut down in hours, more prisoners released for lack of prison guards and adequate prison facilities! 🙁

All of this creates social dynamite, and the Republicans, who show clearly they only support the needs of the corporations and the wealthy elite, will have created a dangerous situation that might make the troubles of 2008-2010 look like a dream that people would wish for! 🙁

The only states that seem not to have a budget crisis are small states with small population–Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming–each with only one Congressman state wide–and Arkansas–the so called “Giant” of the group with a grand total of four Congressmen! So only four states with a total of seven House members represent states not having financial difficulties! 🙁

This situation is, obviously, an unmitigated disaster that is bound to get worse, if that is possible to imagine! 🙁

Arkansas School Board Member Clint McCance MUST Be Removed For Anti Gay Hate Mongering! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Clint McCance, the Vice President of the School Board of the Midland school district in northern Arkansas, who claims to be a “good Christian” has stirred up a tremendous outrage among decent people by issuing an anti gay tirade on his Facebook account! 🙁

Calling gays “fags” and “queers”, McCance asserted that he is disgusted that there is so much sympathy being expressed for gay kids who have committed suicide in recent weeks!

He said it would be best that all gays commit suicide, and that it was good that gays cannot procreate!

He also said that if his kids were gay, he would disown them, but that they were aware that they could not expect his love and support, were they to reveal themselves as gay!

It is horrible enough that such an excuse for a human being exists, and that he would treat his own children in such a despicable way, were they to be gay!

But it is absolutely unacceptable for such a hate monger and bigot to be involved on a school board which deals with the growth and development of children and adolescents, with the certainty that some are already, or will discover that they are gay!

No school board should contain people who promote such hate and narrow mindedness!

There must be a recall movement to remove this scum from the school board! Find another career, Mr. McCance, but not around children who will become your victims, and not around children who will feel they have an endorsement to bully other adolescents who might be gay!

What a disgrace and a commentary on supposedly “good Christians” who promote hate and prejudice in the name of Jesus Christ, who would not approve of such behavior!

Arkansas Primary Results Disillusioning But Also Important Statement About Democratic Party!

Ronald Leave a comment

The defeat of Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter by Senator Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas yesterday is disillusioning to liberals and progressives, but also an important statement about the Democratic Party nationally!

While labor unions and progressive organizations such as Moveon.org spent a lot of money trying to defeat Lincoln as too conservative, her narrow victory leads to two conclusions!

First, since Arkansas is basically more conservative than much of the nation, Lincoln has a better chance of defeating her Republican challenger for the seat, Congressman John Boozman. It will not be easy, so under the circumstances, her seniority and experience and the fact that no one considers her a liberal, should help her.

Secondly, the nomination of Lincoln demonstrates that the Democratic Party is one that has a “big tent”, and can contain within itself liberals, moderates, and even some conservatives. That is more than the Republican Party can claim, as it becomes more right wing and extremist by the day! 🙁