Less Fortunate Pirates by Bryan Borland Sibling Rivalry Press, $14.95, 87 pages Review by Michael Ernest Sweet I don’t often write book reviews anymore. I simply don’t have the time or interest. However, when Bryan Borland’s Less Fortunate Pirates came across my desk, I simply could not resist. Subtitled Poems From the First Year Without my Father the [...]

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Farewell Christopher Hitchens. Gone but not forgotten. A memorial for Hitchens (he died in December) was held in late April in New York City. The New York Times announcement of the event touched on some high points of Hitchens’ career, including his 20 year stint as columnist at Vanity Fair. It also mentioned that Hitchens [...]

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If you live in the US, mark your calenders: It’s the Great American Shake- out drill. check out this link for more information. so what do you do when an earthquake strikes? when I lived in Minnesota, we always kept emergency supplies in our car (in case we got caught in a snowstorm or skidded [...]

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The current suspect in the Lakewood police murder case had his lengthy prison sentence commuted nine years ago by then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Over the protests of law enforcement and his own state prosecutors, Huckabee commuted the sentence of Maurice Clemmons despite his long criminal record of violence and major concerns about his mental stability. [...]

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Why do we need federal laws to make bullying a crime?  And why do we need to require schools to have anti-bullying policies? The saga of Billy Wolfe should be enough to convince you.  Over a year ago, Billy was being bullied relentlessly by two bigger guys from his high school in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He [...]

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As anticipated, state legislatures across the country have been renewing and introducing new employment eligibility and compliance laws requiring the use of E-Verify. The latest bills to be introduced are from Arkansas, Nebraska, Indiana, and Wyoming. In Arkansas, State Representative Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, introduced HB 1093 which would require state agencies to use E-Verify [...]

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KATV Daybreak Anchorwoman Anne Pressly, 26 from Little Rock Arkansas was found Monday morning about a half hour before time for her to go to work by her mother. Anne’s mother tried calling her for her regular wake up call and when she didn’t get an answer she got worried and went to her apartment. [...]

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A morning anchorwoman for KATV-TV in Little Rock Arkansas was found in her home early Monday morning suffering from life threatening injuries apparently caused by someone beating her brutally. Anne Pressly, 26, was found by her mother around 4:30 am lying on her bed and bleeding from severe injuries, according to the police. “We do [...]

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Jumping off a sinking ship and jumping on the bandwagon are just doing what comes naturally, right? Not for Hillary Clinton’s supporters in KY, who stuck by their candidate, despite the certainty that Barack Obama’s win in OR would push him past her in pledged delegates. And as in WV and other states in which [...]

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New Jersey art dealer, George Wieschenberg of Lambertville, was sentenced to six years of prison for being a marijuana “farmer.” According to MSNBC, Wieschenberg, pleaded guilty to “operating a marijuana production facility,” in which he grew marijuana plants, said State Attorney General Anne Milgrim. Back in October of 2007, New Jersey State Police officers saw [...]

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When Hillary lies, does she know she is lying? Is she a reflexive liar, a compulsive liar, or a pathological liar? Does the staggering number of lies she has told during this campaign make her morally unfit for the office she seeks? Do the things about which she lied make her psychologically unfit? Consider these [...]

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Consider this abbreviated list of unseemly associations, and decide if you would vote for this person. The stories are all true, and they have been verified. For now, we will call the person “Candidate X.” But further in this article the person will be exposed, by name. One long term friend of Candidate X was [...]

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Much has been made by pundits and bloggers of this interview by New York Times reporter Elizabeth Bumiller aboard the McCain campaign plane, the point of which seemed to be to goad the clearly irked – but hardly enraged – GOP candidate (video link) into losing his temper so that she could write an article [...]

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John McCain (R-AZ) swept OH, RI, TX and VT by huge margins to secure his party’s nomination for the presidency, while Hillary Clinton (D-NY) staved Barack Obama (D-IL) off with double-digit margins in OH and VT and a narrow win in the TX primary (as of this writing, the TX caucuses have not been called, [...]

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Senator Clinton was civil until she started losing. Obama is answering her, charge by charge. This is not going to be enough. The Clintons have a veritable Kitchen Sink Factory to create weapons to hurl at their opponents. But Hillary’s own tub is full of dirty bathwater. Maybe it’s time for Obama to throw the [...]

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Building on last week’s “Potomac Primary,” Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) kept their winning streaks going.     In WI, Obama and McCain won by comfortable margins over Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Mike Huckabee (R-AR), respectively (58 percent to 41 percent in the Dem primary; 55 percent to 37 percent in the GOP primary). Though [...]

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Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell finds it “a little strange to see Hillary appearing so upset over MSNBC reporter David Shuster suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was being “pimped out” by Hillary’s campaign.” What happened to the hapless Shuster next is what Jonah Goldberg once termed “political correctness Kabuki theater”: So Shuster was substituting as [...]

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Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) were the big winners in the “Potomac Primary,” sweeping MD, VA and Washington, D.C. and winning by enormous margins over their opponents. Obama won MD with 60 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and McCain bested Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) [...]

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The Washington Post’s Libby Copeland wonders whether the presidential candidacy of Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) was “good for the Mormons.” She never really answers her own question, but The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press do: No, it was bad for the Mormons, because Romney’s run for the White House unambiguously revealed – [...]

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Talk about bad timing. On Friday, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) – who has endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) – called Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) to make the case that dropping out of the race was in the best interests of the party. The next day, Huckabee decisively won the KS caucus (60 percent to [...]

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When Mitt Romney (R-MA) spoke at the 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last year (“a smug demeanor and a smirk that set The Stiletto’s teeth on edge”), The Stiletto immediately pegged him as a phony. Her gut instincts proved out during the year that followed. Romney’s inauthenticity (some would call it a “candor [...]

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“. . . and we are political junkies.”–“Hi, Mark; hi Mom!” You’ll never catch Mom or me at a Twelve Step meeting. I don’t want “serenity.” I want adrenaline. I want to roll up one sleeve, plug my high speed internet cable into a vein, let my eyes roll back, and quiver uncontrollably when I [...]

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February 5, 2008 may go down in political history as the day Rush Limbaugh lost his grip on Republican voters – and the day Ann Coulter may have lost her grip altogether. Despite a concerted effort by the conservative chattering class to tar Sen. John McCain as a “liberal” or a “phony Republican,” and Fmr. [...]

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Barack Obama won more than half of the 22 Super Duper Tuesday states (12 to Hillary Clinton’s  8) – but Hillary’s wins came from such delegate-rich states as her adopted home state of NY, as well as CA, MA and NJ. Overall, 49 percent of voters supported Hillary, 46 percent supported Obama. Since none of [...]

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(London, UK) The Autism Awareness Campaign UK is urging the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt.Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of York, Rt.Rev.Dr.John Sentamu, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormack Murphy O’Connor and other senior church leaders to speak out on the suffering of some parents, carers and people with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome on Autism Sunday [...]

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Mitt Romney has a message for evangelicals: Your choice is between the Mormon and the “liberal” McCain. Reports the Los Angeles Times: Evangelicals can “vote for Mike Huckabee and feel good about their vote,” the former governor of Massachusetts told a Missouri TV station. “But they’re basically saying, ‘We’re going to give the conservative vote [...]

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The last Republican and Democrat presidential candidates left standing met for the final debates of the primary season in CA. The GOP debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley, was notable for the palpable loathing the two frontrunners have for each other. The Dem debate, held at the Kodak Theater in [...]

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    ALONG THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL Will A  Year of Firsts Yield  More of The Same Old, Same Old?   January 30, 2008   By RB Scott Boston, Massachusetts   Note:  RB Scott, a former staff writer and editor at Time, Life, People and Sports Illustrated, frequently writes about national politics.   As  the barrow [...]

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The FL Republican primary was do or die for Rudy Giuliani (NY). For weeks, pundits waited with bated breath to see whether Rudy would “do,” like John McCain (AZ) in NH or “die,” like Fred Thompson (TN) in SC. Well, the votes are in and Rudy’s out. McCain got 36 percent of the vote; Mitt [...]

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Boston, MA. January 18, 2008   Although Irish Setters have been sleeping around the family manse for years, it is apparent that Mitt Romney has failed to absorb and grasp the subtle messages and extensions of the adage “let sleeping dogs lie.”   That may be changing. Romney’s flare-up yesterday (1/17/2007) with the Associated Press’ [...]

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In the Republican and Democrat debates at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH, on January 5th the candidates had a common strategy: Keep kicking the presumed frontrunners when they’re down to make sure they stay down. Sen. John McCain (AZ), Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson (TN), Rep. Ron Paul (TX), Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (MA), Fmr. [...]

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I may vote for someone I don’t like. John Edwards is a junkyard dog dressed in a collie suit. He is not a nice guy. But the last thing we need in the White House is someone likeable who lacks the savvy and ruthlessness to muscle through nice “plans.” Behind the slick smile and underneath [...]

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Are the Stars and Planets Aligned Right for a President Huckabee? Did the Signs Point Toward a Huckabee Iowa Caucus Win? A Look at What Mike Huckabee’s Stars Say, According to Three Sources Now that the Iowa Caucus is over we thought we’d put together a more “concise” astrological reading on the winners, Mike Huckabee [...]

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Coincidentally, both The New York Times and The Washington Post ran stories about how the suddenness of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was a sort of pop quiz on foreign policy for the presidential candidates. The Times called it “a ghoulish sort of test: a chance to project leadership and competence – or not – [...]

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The Boston Globe reports that debate-weary voters are looking past the rehearsed sound bites to non-verbal cues in order to glean more meaningful insight into a candidate’s psyche than their poll-tested words can convey: The talking heads gab about front-runners and wannabes, attacks made and deflected, answers carefully parsed. But when Newbury Street hairstylist Mario [...]

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Mike Huckabee Latest ‘Media Darling’ Lots of Press Love Also Mean Lots of Press Scrutiny Son David’s Troubles Is the Romance with Press Over?  Mike Huckabee has found that along with press love comes press scrutiny. Touted with headlines such as the “surging” Huckabee, the “Huckabee support strong” and “Surprising Huckabee”, Huckabee’s campaign has to [...]

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The Press Fascination with Mike Huckabee What’s his P-Harmony Score? Why not Date for awhile first?  The news these days is full of Huckabee gushing. Words like, Huckabee “surges” to the head of the Iowa Poll. Gosh, darn, look at that Huckabee go. What a “nice” guy this Huckabee is. Makes one wonder, all these [...]

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At Times Revealing, Often Humorous  Some Forget, Some are Too Young to Remember  14 Bill Clinton Quotes to Start the Day Right Bill Clinton, variously referred to as “Bubba”, “Boy President” and “The Man from Hope”, has recently been traveling the country stumping for his wife, Hillary. Bill, fondly recalls the 1990s as a time [...]

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Three months to the day after the Dem presidential candidates gathered at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, for the “Univision” debate, the Republican candidates did the same. For those who were watching the Pittsburgh Steelers get their asses kicked by the New England Patriots and tuned in late or not at all, [...]

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Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) have taken the lead among Iowans who say they “definitely” or “probably” will attend their respective party caucuses on January 3rd, according to The Des Moines Register‘s latest poll. This is the first time Obama has beaten Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in the Register‘s poll [...]

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Before your New Year’s resolutions have all been broken and forgotten, the presidential nominations could be a done deal, what with IA holding its primary January 3rd, followed in rapid succession by NH on January 8th , MI on January 15th and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5th. Reports the Los Angeles [...]

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The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson captured The Stiletto’s sentiments to a T when he wrote in a recent column, “Finally, we’ve got a real presidential campaign on our hands. Wake up, those of you in the back row, because it looks as if the long-running seminar is finally over.” After detailing the internecine fighting between [...]

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Remember the warm reception that Rudy got when he spoke at Regent University back in July? Conservative televangelist Pat Robertson all-but-endorsed him then, and just made it official the other day at the National Press Club in Washington. The announcement came on the heels of Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (MA) snagging endorsements from Moral Majority [...]

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Though Fred Thompson finally ended his dance of the seven veils and revealed his candidacy to Jay Leno in a taped appearance on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” it’s Mike Huckabee – who has always made the most of his limited time in the spotlight as a second-tier candidate – who’s looking sexy after Wednesday’s “The First [...]

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On Thursday, Jim Bob, 42, and Michelle Duggar, 40, gave birth to their 17th child. Jennifer Danielle was born at 10:01 a.m. at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rogers, Arkansas by VBAC, or vaginal birth after Caesarean. Michelle Duggar began feeling contractions Wednesday night and went to the hospital at 5 a.m. on Thursday. Within 30 [...]

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A coach for the Tulsa Drillers was killed by a foul ball during a minor league baseball game on Sunday night. Coach Mike Coolbaugh was hit in the head by a line drive while coaching first-base during a Texas League game with the Arkansas Travelers. The ball was hit by Tino Sanchez in the ninth [...]

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On Saturday, a dozen riders on the X-Coaster at Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park were stuck hanging upside down and 150 feet off the ground after a power outage shut down the ride. It took 30 minutes for the Hot Springs city fire department in Arkansas to get the riders down using a ladder [...]

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The new identity theft protection and recovery service by Truston is live. The service is unique because it doesn’t require you to give up your personal information, which could be stored in a database, and used to commit identity theft if it falls into the wrong hands. In case you’ve missed the weekly stories, databases [...]

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First gypsies impersonate Dr. Phil and now someone is selling tickets to the Oprah show that smell a little “phishy.” Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan warned the public in a official statement: In this case, e-mail recipients are asked to submit personal information and told they will receive tickets to The Oprah Winfrey Show after [...]

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If this isn’t a public service announcement for the dangers of internet dating, than I don’t know what is. A man who was wanted on two counts of murder in Arkansas, was arrested in Wisconsin after he placed an ad on an internet dating site that included his name, address and picture and a line [...]

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South Australia is set to follow the US State of Arkansas by banning smoking in cars when children are present – and has taken the ban even further. Where Arkansas has a US$25.00 fine for smoking in a car prohibits smoking in a car that is carrying a child who is required to be restrained [...]

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I’ve had the opportunity to look at a lot of identity theft services, but until now – I’ve never run into one I considered “victim friendly.” I’ve written off most of the services I’ve seen — either because they were financial services products (created by those who had compromised victims themselves) — or they were [...]

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