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oselatra · 8 years

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Taking on trainers

As our legislators return to work this week, they will take up House Bill 1040, preventing athletic trainers from practicing in nonclinical settings and severely restricting what they can do to provide assistance to students.

Taking on trainers

As someone who has worked in college athletics for the better part of the last 15 years, I have seen up close the fine work that our certified athletic trainers do to keep our student athletes healthy.

However, State Rep. Joe Farrer (R-Austin) apparently does not see the value in the services provided by my colleagues in the athletic training profession. Perhaps, as a physical therapist, he stands to have a personal financial gain due to these restrictions, as the treatment of certain spine injuries and post-surgery rehabilitation — treatments that ATCs are licensed to conduct — would be reserved for off-site physical therapists under this legislation.

In a Dec. 20 story on KARK-TV, Channel 4, Farrer was quoted as saying "some local physical therapists and I have had some issues with some of the athletic trainers in our area. We need to clear up some of these issues."

Perhaps Farrer would like to clear up his conflict of interest in introducing this insidious legislation — if conflicts of interest even bother us anymore. But that is unlikely, as he was apparently "too busy" to discuss this legislation with KFSM-TV, Channel 5, in Fort Smith earlier this week.

Certified athletic trainers not only help students heal from injuries, they help prevent injuries, and in some cases, they save lives. Would the same interventions by athletic trainers that saved the life of a college student athlete in Arkansas be illegal because of Farrer's issues?

Just a few short days ago, the Mississippi State University basketball team's bus was just 200 yards away from a car that flipped in a single-car accident. Riders on the bus pulled the driver from her car, and she was then evaluated by the team's athletic trainer. Would that evaluation be illegal in Arkansas because of Farrer's issues?

The needs of our students are greater than any issues causing Farrer any personal consternation, and frankly, his complete lack of sound judgment in introducing this terrible bill gives me full confidence to say that I trust the talented and competent certified athletic trainers in the state of Arkansas far more than a politician with an axe to grind.

This bill currently sits with the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee in the House. I implore the members of that committee not to let Farrer's issues take precedence over the wellbeing of Arkansas students. Kill this atrocious legislation immediately.

Paul T. Smith

Russellville

The fallacy of deterrence

Last week's article "The 91st Arkansas General Assembly: It's going to be a beast" was, overall, an excellent summary of significant legislation we may expect this year. However, I wish to correct one statement from the article regarding guns on college campuses.

In reviewing circumstances related to the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon (2015), the article incorrectly stated that UCC banned guns in violation of Oregon state law. In fact, individuals (including students) with concealed handgun permits were allowed to carry their weapons on the UCC campus and in classrooms. This fact was reported by Politifact in November 2015 when a Florida state senator declared UCC was a gun-free zone).

UCC was anything but a gun-free zone. It was known at the time of the shooting that many students had concealed handgun licenses and were carrying concealed handguns on campus. At least one of those students spoke to news media immediately following the shooting.

We are told that permitting concealed handguns on college campuses will deter mass shooters. UCC proves the fallacy of the "deterrence" argument. Knowing there were armed civilians on the UCC campus, the shooter attacked anyway. Perhaps he was hoping for a firefight that would create additional casualties? We may never know, or we may learn more when the final report of the shooting is released later this year.

Stephen Boss

Arkansans Against Guns On Campus

Fayetteville

From the web

In response to "The 91st Arkansas General Assembly: It's going to be a beast":

2017 will be the first year where we really find out exactly how heartless some of our elected legislators can actually be. We had better buckle up, because we're in for a long, bumpy ride here in Darkansas!

RYD

Thank you to the Arkansas Times for organizing this important information. Thank you Rep. Greg Leding for providing the public with a plan of action. There are still a few legislators with common sense and decent morals. I know their names. I really believe we need to hire an exorcist for the Arkansas State Legislature. They are being socially harmful, irresponsible, unreasonable, irrational, counterproductive, discriminatory, overreaching and they are hurting the state economically by driving away business and tourists. Why do they hate the people of Arkansas? Because we get in the way of the Arkansas Legislature's true God: power and greed. The political machines have offered them a lot of easy money to go down in the history books as unpatriotic traitors to their state and their country.

ShineonLibby

In response to Ernest Dumas' Jan. 12 column, "Glass houses":

The USA has meddled in the attempts of people in numerous other countries to govern themselves. That other countries and governments, and corporations spanning all the above, might use psy-ops to influence our governance should be understood. However, we should hold our leaders accountable for making false, perhaps dishonest, perhaps misinformed (lying or just dumb) statements to us, and we should try to educate an electorate capable of recognizing and responding to such challenges. These are likely to be the nature of future invasions of our borders. The redcoats are coming, via the internet and similar mechanisms, not so much by the boats and planes of yesteryear. I felt much better having a president who demonstrated the capacity to comprehend, understand and work in the nuanced gray areas of modern challenges than I feel looking forward to having a simpleminded bully thumping his chest and not really thinking about anything in particular.

deadseasquirrel

In response to Gene Lyons' Jan. 12 column, "Hillbillies":

I mostly agree with Gene; however, he failed to point out that, in the introduction to the book, J.D. Vance stated that he was a conservative in his political views and was not pretending to present an academic and unbiased viewpoint of his subjects. This book was too personal for that. This explains his tendency to assign some blame to the "hillbillies" for their own predicament. However, that does not diminish his explanation of the failure of government, or why the people are the way they are.

plainjim

Because I put my name on what I write, I have avoided many discussions on race in Arkansas. Perhaps I need to find a pen name, because my experience has been that anyone who contends there isn't hateful and two-faced racism from border to border in this state has lived a sheltered life. Regarding the book, I don't understand the empathy for the racist views. Call it as you see it, if you're gonna write about it.

Rick Fahr

I've seen Mr. Vance interviewed once about his alleged "memoir."

It took even the likes of me about three minutes to determine that he is a complete and utter fraud; he's had about as "hardscrabble" a life as Ivanka Trump and, since she's at least nominally in business, she probably works a lot harder.

Of course, you may want to buy this big pile of crap for investment purposes; I hear that a copy of Clifford Irving's bio of Howard Hughes commands a high price on eBay these days.

Joe Quimby

My problem with the haters is that they have pretty much destroyed the concept of "common good," and are against anything that would improve the common good because it would help people they don't approve of. Doesn't matter why they don't approve, they're just against helping those "others" even if it would also help them. And "others" is most easily defined by race. Because it's so easy.

Vance at least acknowledges that he doesn't understand why more people don't escape the same way he has, which, in my mind, makes him a whole lot less smart than what he thinks he is.

Vanessa

On the issue of hate: Many ignored voters felt "hated" by the press and Clintonites — constantly referred to as "uneducated" — as if formal schooling is the only definition of "educated" — and constantly lumped together as racists, xenophobia-ites, etc., and totally ignored by the Democrats. Vladimir Putin didn't stop Clinton from going to Wisconsin. The self-righteousness of the press was truly ridiculous and still is. Liberal used to mean caring for all the people — whatever happened to that concept? Hubris.

Investigator of both sides

Taking on trainers

#Taking on trainers

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oselatra · 6 years

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Re: bad law

Leave it to a lawyer to twist Scripture to benefit criminals.

From the web

In response to Autumn Tolbert's May 17 column, "Bad Law," about an Arkansas law that targets drug users who carry their own needles:

Leave it to a lawyer to twist Scripture to benefit criminals.

Holding people responsible for their behavior, both good and bad, is also an act of mercy. It is not merciful to help people stay addicted. It is not merciful to create an addict's paradise like San Francisco or San Diego where the needle problem has become an actual health hazard.

Sure, as Autumn noted, some are "functional" addicts, but their function is way down from where it would be if they weren't addled by drugs. I have seen a mother tend her child while he was bedridden, a quadriplegic since his teens from a spinal stroke. She functioned, most days. Other days, she was absolutely useless, and her 30-year-old son would call me to wipe his ass because he was sitting in his own shit for hours because his mom was out.

She is dead, now. Her son is now without parents. Such mercy.

If you truly applied the WWJD standard, Jesus would say stop the drugs and look to God for help. Jesus certainly wouldn't say free needles.

Look to San Fran for what happens when you decriminalize needles.

Steven E

I don't believe in encouraging or supporting drug addiction; however, HIV and hepatitis are on the rise. Seems like people would want these diseases controlled instead of spread. One way of doing this is by limiting the sharing or reuse of dirty needles.

NiNi Frisby

In response to Gene Lyons' May 22 column, "Talking baseball":

Purist here. Baseball is a game for radio. None of those technical niceties have improved the game. If anything they have resulted in creating choppiness by artificially halting the arc and the pacing of the games' rhythms. But then, I still think designated hitters are wrong. Radio and baseball are a natural fit. Or used to be, anyway. Peewee Reese and Dizzy Dean were TV announcers, but you listened to them as much as you watched the screen back then. Arkansas is still Cardinal country — though not as thoroughly as it once was — because of radio. It's one of very few games in which the defense controls the ball, except even that has been usurped by the need to sell advertising. Then there's the whole reality of attempts to speed up the pace and improve hitting/scoring. And how there aren't just starters and relievers anymore. There are like a half-dozen categories of relievers. I love 1-0 pitching duels and starters who can pitch a whole game. The purity of the game is gone at the Major League level. Minor league ball and American Legion ball are still good in person, though. But then I'm someone who got caught trying to sneak a transistor radio in third grade to listen to the World Series. And had hardballs confiscated because we were only allowed softballs at recess. And I still believe that someday there will be a girl who is good enough to play.

Vanessa

Vanessa, amen. In the fourth and fifth grades, I would walk home for lunch to watch an inning or two of the Braves-Yankees World Series games. Regarding radio, your comments call to my mind the Paul Simon song, "Kodachrome": "They could never match my sweet imagination ... ." The station was 1120 AM out of St. Louis. Wasn't it KMOX? As to softball, how much do you know about Joan Joyce, Kathy Arendsen or Barbara Rinaldi? Joan pitched to Ted Williams. Fifteen pitches, one foul ball. The online version of this saga is somewhat different, but with the same message.

deadseasquirrel

In response to the May 21 Arkansas Blog post "Baker Kurrus will run for Little Rock mayor":

"I think I can be effective in the form of government we have."

Same thing the present mayor told our group in my living room years ago, when we were about to collect enough signatures to call for an election to remove the at-large director positions, in a successful action to torpedo our efforts.

So you make your own call on how effective he has been with the at-large running around behind him.

I predict the same outcome for any of the present candidates that will run and be elected: The at-large and deep-pocket interests will continue to run the show at city hall.

Clayton J

For the one year that Baker Kurrus was superintendent of the Little Rock School District, everyone said he did a good job and was great at organizing and getting the school district functioning again. Then, out of the blue, Education Commissioner Johnny Key, slave to the charter school lobby, fired him and replaced him with Michael Poore. It would be great if Kurrus could bring some intelligence and sanity to the mayor's office, like he did the school district. He probably could if obstructionist, bully politicians would stay out of his way.

ShineOnLibby

Until the Chamber of Commerce crowd realizes that the best interests of the poorest minority residents of Little Rock represent also the best interests of the business community, there will be strife and disunity. One way to change the scenario is to change to a mayor-council form of government, where the voters control the political dynamics of city government, where there are no "at-large directors" who always seem to be the Chamber of Commerce candidates. The mayor-council form is the most democratic form of city government and the most responsive to the concerns of the residents.

plainjim

Re: bad law

#Re: bad law

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oselatra · 6 years

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Allow comfort dogs

I was dismayed to read of Judge Wendell Griffen's recent ruling against allowing comfort dogs for child sexual abuse victims in criminal court proceedings.

Allow comfort dogs

I was dismayed to read of Judge Wendell Griffen's recent ruling against allowing comfort dogs for child sexual abuse victims in criminal court proceedings. It seems to be a ruling based on politics and bureaucracy [judges "controlling" their courtrooms] rather than the pursuit of justice. To say the judicial and legislative branches never intersect is simply wrong. Our courts already make mandated accommodations for blind, hearing-impaired or non-English speaking witnesses, to mention just a few. Accommodations are so that witnesses can fully participate and give the court the best possible information for rendering a just verdict. Why would we do any less for child sexual abuse victims?

There is a strong body of research and professional evidence on the benefits and effectiveness of comfort dogs for child witnesses. This ruling is an attack on children's protection, their ability to be effective witnesses, and to find justice in our courts. These children are confronting a power abuser who badly used and hurt them — a terrifying person to face in court. But I have seen child victims willing to testify in order to stand up for themselves or, more touchingly, to protect other children. Comfort dogs allow child witnesses to better cope with fear and anxiety, making their testimony more accurate and meaningful.

Stacking the deck against children in court is cruel, wrong and not in the interest of justice. Surely the system will not abandon child victims and allow this dangerous, wrong-headed ruling to stand.

Carolyn Layman Gordon

Former chair,

Arkansas Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse

Purple is the new green

Six-and-a-half-billion dollars were spent on the 2016 election and most all of it went to battleground states. Nearly half a billion went into Ohio alone. By comparison, Arkansas got diddly-squat. No one is going to spend big money on a state that is fully ++committed to one party or the other. The money doesn't flow to red or blue, it goes purple.

Listen up, people, we're leaving money on the table here. Let's put aside our partisanship, work together and go for the gold. The next time, and every time, a pollster asks your opinion on a political matter answer it with either "Don't Know," "Undecided" or "None of the Above." This will lay the groundwork for the upcoming election cycle.

This fall, when you go into a voting booth, don't look at the names on the slate but rather at your Social Security number. If it is even, then you vote Democratic and if it is odd, vote Republican. If we all do this the elections in Arkansas will be decided by the thinnest of margins. The recounts will go on until Easter. Come the 2020 presidential election the manna will flow.

David Rose

Hot Springs

Vote NO on Issue 1

I want to make sure you know what's at stake with Issue 1, which is going to be on the ballot this November to change the Arkansas Constitution in several significant ways.

It was put there by special interests and corporations that will hurt our community and put our families at risk. We all know how important family, community and the joy of life is to all of us. But politicians in Little Rock don't see it that way. By passing Issue 1 this November, they want to put a one-size-fits-all value on human life that eliminates our constitutional right to a citizen jury trial unencumbered by arbitrary regulations.

I'm voting NO on Issue 1 this November.

Furonda Brasfield

Little Rock

From the web

In response to the May 10 Arkansas Times cover story "Battling to retake Arkansas's 2nd Congressional District":

Those running for office in Arkansas as Democrats who argue that the opposing Democratic candidates are not progressive enough all have one thing in common: They're gonna lose. This is Arkansas. We were a very blue state for a very long time, but our Democrats tended to be to the right of a lot of Republican politicians on the West Coast or in the Northeast. It's always been a pretty conservative state, even when it was a blue state. California liberal types are never going to win here.

These people need to get real. Republicans dominate everything now, and if Democrats are going to make inroads they need candidates who will appeal to the majority of voters in their districts. A "Republican-light" lawmaker in the federal House or Senate is still going to vote with Democrats most of the time. In state or federal legislative bodies, they're still going to be sort of a check and balance against the other side, which completely dominates basically all three branches of the federal government and most states' governments and certainly our government here in Arkansas.

BigJohn

In response to Gene Lyons' May 10 column "Trump under oath? No.":

[Special counsel Robert] Mueller's report may be devastating to you or me, but it won't change the mind of [President Trump's] base. Assuming the report says Trump was laundering money from Russian oligarchs through purchases of various properties, his base and Fox News will just say he was a shrewd businessman who knew how to make a deal. Even our spineless Republican congressmen will find a way to rationalize Trump's crimes and will refuse to hold him accountable.

Bad Earl

You can fool some of the people all of the time.

I have zero interest in any testimony by President Trump not under oath.

I will not believe, without substantiation, anything he says under oath. Even with considerable supporting evidence, Trump saying something would diminish my expectation that the statements were correct.

deadseasquirrel

Allow comfort dogs

#Allow comfort dogs

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oselatra · 7 years

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NOT ME!

I never groped a woman or did any of those other things that are flashing across the news outlets every day. True enough, I never had a "real" job, at least not one in an office environment, but the idea of invading a person's privacy in such a manner is just foreign to me. I mean, it's not like I'm constantly fighting off the urge to grope, like an alcoholic fighting off the urge to knock back a bottle of Schnapps.

NOT ME!

And what about the other men in the workplace, the non-gropers? Why don't they explain to the gropers that what they are doing is just not acceptable?

We need two things here. We need all the non-gropers to stand up and say, "NOT ME." Then we need them to take the gropers aside and enlighten those Neanderthals.

David Rose

Hot Springs

From the web

In response to the Nov. 6 Arkansas Blog post, "Supreme Court refuses to hear Mike Maggio's appeal":

It's a shame he only got 10 years. I wonder what the parole possibilities are? He won't serve enough time, in my opinion, for the incredible abuse of trust given a judge. He's contributed to the downfall of the entire justice system. Here's hoping that his income is attached for the rest of his life to pay off the civil case.

Perplexed

Shouldn't he have to serve extra time for showing what an a-hole he is? Remember geaux tigers?

Maxifer

There is no parole in the federal system, Perplexed, so he will serve all of his time, less a little bit (matter of a few months at most) off of that if he behaves himself. This is what is so great about federal sentencing vis-a-vis state ones. In the federal cases, you know how much time a person is going to serve, whereas in state sentencing, you have to divide the sentence handed down by either one-sixth, one-third, one-half or 70 percent, depending on the severity of the crime.

plainjim

In response to the Nov. 5 Arkansas Blog post, "More than 20 dead in mass shooting in Texas church":

Dear Sutherland, how are those thoughts and prayers working for y'all?

Vanessa

Vanessa, what a heartless comment.

Downtowner

Eagerly anticipating the athleticism from the usual sources as they bend, twist and turn to keep from calling this, like the Vegas massacre, an act of terrorism, yet speak with such rapid assurance when the perp is identified as having one of those funny names.

During the interregnum, before such is revealed, it's "thoughts & prayers" down the line from the blowhards and puffers.

tsallernarng

For those who disliked Vanessa's earlier post, explain to me, precisely, what benefit has ever accrued to the victims, as opposed to the self-indulgently thoughtful and prayerful, from thoughts and prayers.

Silverback66

Ho hum. Just part of the daily price of no coherent gun policy in the good old U.S.A. No amount of prayer will change that reality. Gotta wonder if our elected leaders see such mass shooting events as entertainment because they sure as hell aren't lifting so much as a little finger to do anything to change the status quo.

Damn shame, too. Maybe one of us on this blog will be in the next batch of mass victims. We can call it U.S.A. Roulette, just with more firepower and far more dead and wounded.

Oh, and where were the good guys with the guns we always hear will stop a bad guy with a gun like this? Or did Texas confiscate all the guns, and that news just hasn't percolated across the border yet?

Sound Policy

Just decided to buy a gun this week. Guess this is not the place for a recommendation on what kind to get.

Screen name taken

What makes me most sad about any of the mass shootings is that they even happen to begin with and that none of the perpetrators are being captured alive. The last mass shooting I can remember where the shooter was captured alive was the during the Planned Parenthood murders in Colorado Springs in 2015. Something is deeply wrong in our U.S.A. I believe in the right to bear arms, but I also believe that gun-worship is empowering the mentally ill to commit mass murder. So many hateful paranoid men thinking an assault rifle is going to right all the imaginary wrongs they feel have been done against them.

Artificial Intelligence

In defense of Vanessa, some version of the point she was trying to make has been all over Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere all afternoon and this evening. Maybe she was the first one to "go there" on the blog, but she is definitely not the first to say it. It was out there well before it showed up here. People are tired of hearing "thoughts and prayers" and then that's the end of it. Anyone can say that. It's beginning to ring hollow and I cringe whenever I hear it now. If "thoughts and prayers" help in any way, how could this have happened in the most holy of places?

Something evil has been unleashed and is running amok in the U.S.A. I have no idea how we are going to find our way back to civilization, but I'm sure it will take more than a catch phrase to fix this mess.

mountaingirl

Thoughts and prayers never solved any crimes. It is just an excuse, a damned cover-up for insensitive politicians who don't want to solve what is one of the biggest — if not the single biggest — dangers of our modern society: the uninhibited access to weapons capable of mass killings. Politicians hide behind their thoughts and prayers while people are being killed. This same thing could happen at my church. We don't take any security measures because everyone should be welcomed to the house of the Lord. Speaking of "thoughts and prayers," how many of us really believe that the politicians are sincere in their offering them up?

plainjim

In response to the Nov. 5 Arkansas Blog post, "Honeymoon's over for Sarah Huckabee Sanders":

Dear Media, please keep it up. Sarah Huckabee upstaging her boss will simply shorten her time in the spotlight, and the administration will have to reach even lower for a spokesperson.

Vanessa

Better yet, Vanessa, if our world ever regains it sanity then maybe she'll never have a decent job again.

wannabee conservative

I notice lately she's taken to occasional attempted humor. Her jokes fall flat just like her dad's ... but without the outhouse flavor.

Do you Kool-Aid drinkers ever get tired of tearing down successful people just because you oppose their political views? Guess they are OK as long as they agree with your views but look out if they do not. What a collective bunch of phonies.

Razorblade

So, the willingness to lie to the nation on a daily basis meets the description of "successful"? The ability to ignore the voice inside yourself that whispers "you're not telling the truth" is admirable?

Such is the thought process of a party-before-country Republican. The blog members can expect to be chastised by Mr. Razorblade for criticizing Manafort, Gates, Flynn and Flynn Jr., when their chances to lie in the spotlight come along, soon.

Emersum Biggins

Prediction: Barring total implosion, she keeps this gig up just long enough to declare for Boozman's seat when he formally announces he's not running for re-election.

Pygface

In response to the Nov. 3 Arkansas Blog post "State tourism official warns of economic damage from 'bathroom bill' ":

Unfortunately, the political atmosphere is one reason we've decided to move back to our home state. Won't miss the regression of women's rights, the push for more religion interference in public schools and the narrow-minded views of LGBTQ citizens. What ever happened to the Arkansas of David Pryor and Dale Bumpers? Instead we get Rutledge, Rapert and Mr. Re-Homing Harris. Truly sad.

Irishgirl2012

I just moved back to Arkansas from the bluest city in one of the bluest states in these united. To those of you bemoaning the present political climate in Arkansas, oh, and let me add J. William Fulbright and William J. Clinton, let me offer this nugget of consolation: The people and policies that so bedevil you in the present day will be swept away by the inevitable tide of progress. The past that the others are trying to regain is not coming back. The present, such as it is, will be transformed into the future that is evident in the more progressive societies in our country and world.

Inequities persist, but many of those prejudices of our past have been eroded in ways that may not be appreciated. Mixed race families might be a bit odd in some corners of Arkansas, but are not illegal and for the most part do not attract all that much attention. The public persons who formerly hid in the closet who have come out, well, that does not attract all that much attention, really no big deal, at least if they stick to consenting adults.

Yes, a rational, educated and thoughtful people should not take so long to do the right thing, but if you are smart enough to realize things should be better, you should be smart enough to realize that most of our fellow Americans, perhaps especially Arkansans, are not. Take some solace in the fact that Jeff Sessions, Donny Trump and Harvey Weinstein, among others, are not from Arkansas. We begat Johnny Cash, Jim Jones, Douglas Blackmon and Jeff Nichols. Take some pride in their works, and don't take any crap from others, and surely don't crap all over yourself.

Get to work, register, think and vote. Go get 'em.

deadseasquirrel

In response to a Nov. 1 Arkansas Blog post about Sarah Huckabee Sanders' defense of the weird characterization of the Civil War by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly:

Sarah may be dishonest, but she is not dumb, as many here try to portray her. She is an expert in the mechanics and the machinations of a political campaign. As White House press secretary, she is still running a political campaign. She did a good job managing John Boozman's 2010 campaign for the Senate, as well as her daddy's go-nowhere presidential campaign in 2012. She is politically savvy, and knows that politicians are rarely punished for lying. She also knows how to avoid critics. She simply quit communicating with the Arkansas Times, took the Times off the list of media receiving notices and never returned Max's phone calls, according to what he has posted previously. Politics is a duplicitous game at its best. She knows how to practice duplicity very well.

plainjim

NOT ME!

#NOT ME!

0 notes

oselatra · 8 years

Text

More of the same

Authoritarian? C'mon, folks. The extremes of both sides are completely drowning out the bipartisan middle's take (that maybe I'm just naive enough to still claim exists).

More of the same

Authoritarian? C'mon, folks. The extremes of both sides are completely drowning out the bipartisan middle's take (that maybe I'm just naive enough to still claim exists).

I've been very concerned about the breadth of executive branch power over the past 16 years and this all seems to be a continuation. With George W. Bush's White House counsel torture memos and Obama's unprecedented use of the 1917 Espionage Act against nine whistleblowers and skirting congressional obstructionism with reliance on wide-ranging executive orders, some truly terrible precedents have been set for the future. And yes, they set up entirely too well for the current fellow in office, who's not too big on "process."

This is why we've got to hold leaders within our chosen political parties accountable and not be so shortsighted about important principles. We should certainly always stand up for free speech and government transparency. Am I right, or am I right?

Jeff B. Woodmansee

Associate Professor

UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law

From the web

In response to last week's cover story, "Big Ideas for Arkansas":

Thank you for this always-interesting feature, Arkansas Times!

I would like to clarify a claim made by Marion Humphrey Jr. in regard to how many Rock Region METRO student 31-day passes eSTEM distributes to its students. The eSTEM CFO, Mark Milhollen, told me that eSTEM has roughly 100 students using these passes as of Jan. 27. With a current enrollment of 1,462, 100 students is 7 percent of the student population at eSTEM.

Our public transit system is serving students of a variety of ages every weekday, taking them to educational opportunities throughout the county. Whatever your beliefs on charter schools, it makes great sense for as many students who are able, whether they are public school students (including traditional public school students and charter school students) or private school students, to make use of our community's existing public transportation resources. With more investment, our system could reach even more area students, helping to reduce traffic congestion and giving parents and other caregivers an opportunity to let a professional driver get their students to school with safe, reliable and affordable transportation. We enjoy connecting people with opportunities, including the students of Pulaski County! Parents and educators can learn more about our system at rrmetro.org.

Thanks for your support of public transit, and ride on!

Becca Green

Director of Public Outreach

Rock Region METRO

North Little Rock

Regarding the post about recess in elementary schools, I agree wholeheartedly. However, I believe one of our wonderful state senators was trying to get a law passed requiring a cursive writing class at some grade. This would be great for the future learning and production of our youth. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)

Spicolihog

In response to the Jan. 30 Arkansas Blog post, "Gov. Hutchinson's scam to slip giveaway for soda industry into military retirement tax exemption bill":

Our state has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country. So, let's make it easier for the sugar peddlers to feed the beast.

And blending one bill with another that has nothing to do with one another is pathetic and dishonest. This is another example of our elected officials not giving a crap about our military and pathetically sliding a crappy bill underneath their sacrifice.

yapperjohn

More of Asa and crew's corporate welfare. Make the corporations earn their money honestly, and not rely on taxpayers to make a profit.

Sound Policy

Ah, the incredible honesty of Republican lawmakers. Now they've got one of America's greatest scammers in the White House (remind me: how many bankruptcies did Obama go through before getting elected? How many divorces?), they have a true professional to emulate.

peterjkraus

Always spineless Asa, always!

What a crock of stinking doodoo, brought to us by those self-professed small-government, fiscally conservative, lying liars with R after their names!

I choose to call them "Teapublibans."

RYD

In response to the Jan. 30 Arkansas Blog post "Remove two LR high schools from 'academic distress' list, Education Dept. recommends":

And so it continues. LRSD with 48 schools has 6 (12 percent) declared academically deficient and get taken over while a state-sponsored charter school in Little Rock has never passed the requirement (100 percent fail) and they give it another 13 years of uneducating people. How many other charters and private schools are getting a Republican Board of Education free pass?

couldn't be better

Time for Johnny Key to leave LRSD alone and to return the district to local control. He had little or nothing to do with LRSD's improvements, so his usefulness is questionable anyway.

Jake da Snake

What happens to Michael Poore if the district is returned to local control? Does he have a contract that guarantees him a certain term as superintendent? I watched him when he was superintendent in Bentonville, and he served creditably. I thought he was crazy when he gave up that position to take the Little Rock one. Time will tell whether he will survive or not.

plainjim

In response to the Jan. 30 Arkansas Blog post "Bentley's bill restricting use of food stamps passes House":

Are they going to give grocery store owners' tax breaks or pay them for the expense of making all these changes? Will there be blind studies to show the results of this action?

Maxifer

I am really not as naive as the following comment might make me appear, and far be it from me to defend a woman who would threaten to use her elected position to take a game warden's job for giving her husband a ticket, but removing public funds from the purchase of foods that are clearly unhealthy is not a terrible idea. Such an action would not correct the problem of poverty-induced obesity, but at least the action would diminish the enablement a bit. The people of limited disposable funds do not have to eat for satiation; they just do so out of habit, and no small amount of susceptibility to advertising. The amount of sugar added to everything from children's cereals to salad dressings is huge, disappointing, and entirely intentional. Putting a bit of economic pressure on the decision process as to what to buy and eat would help. The major transgressors, such as sugary soft drinks, are very easy to identify. If Asa is trying to slip through additional support for the soft drink industry, I just cannot imagine how any decent human being could be part of such an action and how anyone could sleep at night.

deadseasquirrel

You know, Mary does not not exactly fit the profile of someone who has been eating healthy, and she has all the money she needs to do so. The poor people she has targeted have to try to eat enough bulk to make them feel sated, whether healthy or not, so as to just get through the night and live another day. The smugness and condescension on these dictatorial legislators continues to dismay me. Remember, she is the one who threatened a game warden with his job when he ticketed her husband. Why do we elect these kinds of people in Arkansas, when there are so many more people who could do a better job?

plainjim

She wrote this bill from the back of her rainbow-farting unicorn, so, you know it's grounded in reality.

dimplasm

More of the same

#More of the same

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