Free Republic

Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln has found herself right in the middle of the national debate over health care, and that’s a tough spot as she prepares to face Arkansas voters in 2010. As she did in September, Lincoln trails four possible Republican challengers in the latest Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey. In fact, support for the incumbent ranges from only 39% to 41% in these match-ups. The two-term senator, who was reelected with 54% of the vote in 2004, appears more vulnerable because of her visible and pivotal role in the Senate debate over health care. Lincoln was the last...

LITTLE ROCK — An alleged accomplice of Maurice Clemmons, suspected of slaying four Washington state police officers before being gunned down himself, served prison time with Clemmons in Arkansas and is a wanted man in his home state. Washington authorities filed rendering criminal assistance charges today against Darcus D. Allen, the alleged getaway driver for Clemmons, who police say shot to death four police officers early Sunday at a Parkland, Wash., coffee shop. A lone police officer shot Clemmons to death early Tuesday in Seattle while investigating a stolen vehicle. Authorities today pressed charges against others accused of aiding Clemmons’...

Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK — An alleged accomplice of Maurice Clemmons, suspected of slaying four Washington state police officers before being gunned down himself, served prison time with Clemmons in Arkansas and is a wanted man in his home state. Washington authorities filed rendering criminal assistance charges today against Darcus D. Allen, the alleged getaway driver for Clemmons, who police say shot to death four police officers early Sunday at a Parkland, Wash., coffee shop. A lone police officer shot Clemmons to death early Tuesday in Seattle while investigating a stolen vehicle. Authorities today pressed charges against others accused...

The Arkansas coordinator for former governor Mike Huckabee's political action committee, Huck PAC, resigned Tuesday, citing in part the controversy over Huckabee's decision nine years ago to commute the sentence of a man later linked to the shooting deaths of four police officers Sunday. "With a heavy heart - I just resigned as Arkansas coordinator for HuckPAC - one of the toughest things I have ever done in politics," Jason Tolbert tweeted Tuesday morning. "Some have asked about the timing. As most could imagine, the recent news of the last two days along with the response did play a role...

Images of Prosecutor's strongly voiced complaints against Huckabee's clemencies, and a response stating that Huckabee "laughed out loud" upon reading it and suggesting the Prosecutor "cut down on your caffeine consumption". Click to view images of original documents.

Mike Huckabee is out there attacking his attackers. "It really does show how sick our society has become that people are more concerned about a campaign three years from now than those grieving families in Washington." No, Mr. Huckster, that's not it at all. The fact is that the time to think about the grieving families in Washington would have been IN ADVANCE, so they wouldn't be grieving. Gov. Huckster faced PLENTY of opposition back home to his outrageous clemency policies, and he was warned that violent criminals become recidivists. In other words, he was warned that turning violent offenders...

The Arkansas coordinator for Mike Huckabee's political action committee resigned Tuesday, citing the former Arkansas governor's decision nine years ago to grant clemency to Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of murdering four police officers in Washington state. Jason Tolbert, who runs a conservative blog, served as Arkansas state coordinator for HuckPAC in a volunteer capacity. "My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration," Tolbert wrote on his Web site. "Some have asked about the timing. As most could imagine, the recent news of the last two days along with the response did play...

Pierce County authorities say a man who served time in an Arkansas prison with Maurice Clemmons has been identified as the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of four Lakewood police officers. Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says Darcus D. Allen is being held in Pierce County for investigation of rendering criminal assistance. Troyer says Allen will be charged on Wednesday in connection with Sunday's police shooting. Allen was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a 1990 double murder at a Little Rock liquor store. He was paroled in 2004. Arkansas prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler says Allen and Clemmons never...

A man police said drove the getaway car for Maurice Clemmons when Clemmons fatally shot four Lakewood police officer is in custody and was in prison with him in Arkansas, sources told our CNN affilliate station KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. To read KIRO-TV's story click here. A lone Seattle police officer is being credited with finding and shooting suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons. Authorities say the officer spotted a stolen car in front of a house in Seattle, then shot and killed a man he recognized as Clemmons. Clemmons was reportedly approaching and confronting the officer when he was shot....

If you liked George W. Bush's brand of big-spending, big-government conservatism, you'll love Mike Huckabee. BY MICHAEL D. TANNER Most of the leading Republicans running for president show some support for Bush's ideology, but no other candidate so completely embodies it. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation. The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state's debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the...

If clemency for Maurice Clemmons were the only fatal error committed by Mike Huckabee as governor of Arkansas, he might be able to shift blame to the state's law enforcement system and even run for president again in 2012. Yet the Clemmons commutation that he granted nine years ago is only one among several cases that raise serious questions about Huckabee's judgment.

Under fire for commuting the sentence of suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called some of the criticisms “disgusting” and suggested they were attempts to score political points. “It really does show how sick our society has become that people are more concerned about a campaign three years from now than those grieving families in Washington,” Huckabee said during an interview on Joe Scarborough’s radio show. “It is disgusting, but people use anything as a political weapon.” Huckabee granted Clemmons, a suspect in the killings of four police officers in Washington state over the weekend,...

Documents released this morning by the Arkansas Parole Board show police slaying suspect Maurice Clemmons was supposed to remain in prison there until at least 2015, but won his release by claiming he'd changed while behind bars. Clemmons' appeal for clemency was granted in May 2000 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, who commuted Clemmons sentence and made him immediately eligible for parole. Clemmons wrote in an appeal to Huckabee that he'd been sent to prison after an extended crime spree that started in 1989 when he was a teenager — and that he was a different person now. At the time...

Mike Huckabee said today it's "less likely than more likely" that he'll run for president in 2012. Recent polling has shown him to be the most popular candidate among Iowa Republicans, but Huckabee told Chris Wallace on Fox New Sunday today that polling isn't the only factor. "There's a whole different deal of saying some folks take a poll and whether there's the financial support," he said. Huckabee said he's enjoying his current gig as a Fox News host, and wants to see what the political climate is like heading into 2012.

When Fox News' Bill O'Reilly hosts former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tonight, O'Reilly might consult the "Arkansas Blog" at the Arkansas Times for some questions to pose to the man who commuted Maurice Clemmons' prison sentence. Don't hold your breath. "What do you think the chances are of a Fox host asking tough questions of another Fox host?" asks Arkansas Blog. Here is what inquiring minds in Clemmons' former home state would like to find out, courtesy of the Blog: "Will Huckabee reveal office memos that led to his recommendation for commutation?" "Will he reveal office communication with the parole...

The murder of four police officers in a suburban Seattle coffee shop on Sunday took a decidedly political turn when it was discovered that the prime suspect in the killings was once granted clemency by Mike Huckabee.

The Seattle Times reports that the man suspected of shooting four police officers in Washington State was granted clemency in Arkansas nine years ago by then-Governor Mike Huckabee.

The man sought for questioning in the execution of four Lakewood police officers was granted clemency in 2000 by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and released on bail just six days ago on a child rape charge in Washington state. Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing this morning of four Lakewood police officers, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health. Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.

Sunday, November 29, 2009 - 19:44:51 Ark. ex-con of interest in slayings The tip I gave you earlier is panning out. Washington autthorities are seeking Maurice Clemmons, 37, for questioning in the slaying of four Washington police officers. Clemmons is wanted in Arkansas, where he has an extensive criminal record, according to unnamed sources in early reports. Clemmons also is mentioned in this report. My source says the man wanted for questioning is believed to be the same Maurice Clemmons as an Arkansas ex-con with an extensive record of armed robbery who became a subject of some controversy for political...

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health. Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protestations of prosecutors. "This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' Pulaski County said Sunday night when informed that Clemmons was being sought in connection to the killings. Clemmons' criminal history includes at least five felony convictions...

With a rapidly changing political atmosphere, the 36 Senate seats up for election in 2010 are drawing a big field of office seekers. But before Republicans can try their luck after eight years of Democratic gains, both parties have to settle their own internal struggles. A look at three key primaries: Florida Republican primary Aug. 24, 2010 The combatants Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio is a conservative darling and the face of a possible new generation of Republicans. He's 38, the son of Cuban immigrants and a strong retail politician. His campaign to take the seat formerly held by...

Police beat ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Two gunmen rob Razorback Pizza Two men armed with handguns robbed Razorback Pizza in southwest Little Rock late Sunday, forcing people to the floor before taking money from the register, safe, employees and customers and firing shots randomly as they ran away. No one was injured. The men walked into the restaurant at 10900 Stagecoach Road not long after 9:30 p.m. showing their weapons, police said. They ordered customers and employees to put their personal belongings — wallets, cell phones and other items — into bags. The gunmen then forced the customers from the bar into...

For Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the moderate Arkansas Democrat, the nation’s health-care woes may lead to more headaches than any medicine could alleviate. Lincoln is a pivotal vote on the motion to begin debate on Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s health-care legislation; if the motion passes, she could be the swing vote on the eventual motion to close debate. Her decision isn’t simply a calculation about winning the right number of concessions, as perhaps President Obama and the Democratic leadership hope; it’s about her political survival. The pressure in Washington may be significant — Lincoln has had sit-down meetings with Obama...

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state. And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going...

“Oh, I can’t think about this now! I’ll go crazy if I do! I’ll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters?” —Scarlett O’Hara, Gone With the Wind Like the calculating Southern belle in Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel, who endeavored to ignore the realities and consequences of war, Sen. Blanche Lincoln is bent on making the rest of us believe she is the most reluctant participant in the most epic of legislative wars. Lincoln, the last holdout, didn’t want to be on the...

In response to Senator Lincoln's decision to vote in favor of cloture, Governor Palin tweets the following: Not sure I can convince Sen. Lincoln to vote no - but will do everything in my pwr to convince my friends in Arkansas to vote against her.,/u>,/b> Senator Lincoln is up for re-election in Arkansas in 2010. Only 29% of Arkansans support Obama's healthcare plan.

Democrats on Saturday clinched the votes needed to advance the Senate's version of President Obama's health care overhaul to the floor for a historic debate scheduled to begin shortly after 8 p.m..

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said she’d deliver the deciding vote to push forward with a sweeping health reform plan in the Senate Saturday, ending days of speculation over whether President Barack Obama’s signature priority would proceed to the floor or suffer a debilitating blow. As with several centrists before her, Lincoln’s yes vote to start debate came wrapped in series of serious concerns about the current bill – and she said it would require major revisions before she could cast a similar vote in favor of final passage. "I'm prepared to vote against moving to the next stage of consideration...

it's done folks...

WASHINGTON — Chances are that Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln won’t be sharing her big secrets with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., anytime soon. Durbin, the Senate majority whip, spent Friday afternoon backtracking from comments that appeared to out Lincoln as a supporter of Saturday’s cloture motion aimed at advancing the Senate version of health-care reform to the floor. Lincoln and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., are the only two voters yet to publicly declare their intentions for the motion.Durbin told reporters Friday that Lincoln has already made up her mind about the vote and conveyed her decision to Senate Majority Leader...

Yesterday, The Arkansas Hands-Off Healthcare Bus Tour went through Arkansas. Guest speakers included Dick Morris, Jim Miller of 60 Plus, Dr. Kathy Chenault, and Teresa Oakle. Here is some video footage of that event. More footage will come soon. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5433-Little-Rock-Immigration-Examiner~y2009m11d20-Healthcare-video--Events http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rho6J-7Jr6w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skJGUUmVsRU Same video in case there are problems with youtube. http://keeparkansaslegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/hands-off-healthcare-video-footage.html Saturday November 21st. We will need as many Secure Arkansas Volunteers as possible for the Arkansas Razorbacks game. You can show up on your own or call 501-412-4063 to meet with other Secure Arkansas members. You will be called back within a few minutes. Sunday November 22nd The...

Trying to rain on Jolly St.Nick? The United States Post Office will not be forwarding letters to Santa at the North Pole this year. Other programs and private efforts go on, but some are questioning why the USPS is unwilling to forward letters to the North Poll where volunteers – not employees – respond to the kids with letters including sought-after North Pole postmarks on the letter.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting three veteran Democrats who voted for the House version of the health care bill in a weeklong round of television ads that will begin airing on Thursday. The new 30-second spots hit Democratic Reps. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Vic Snyder of Arkansas and John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina for their votes by using the words of fellow Democratic legislators who opposed the legislation. Among the statements the NRCC uses in it' new ad against Pomeroy is one released by the office of Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., when he announced he...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

Called to a home to help control an "unruly child," an Ozark, Arkansas police officer was given permission by the girl's mother to a taser to subdue the child. According to 40/29 News the girl's father is outraged that the police would use a taser on such a young child. "I would like to say Ozark police Tased this little girl right here," the girl's father, Anthony Medlock, told 40/29 News. "Ten years old and [they] shot electricity through her body, and I want to know how the heck in God's green earth can they get away with this." According...

OZARK, Ark. — Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle says one of his officers used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl who was combative when the officer tried to get the girl into a patrol car to be taken to a youth shelter. Noggle said Tuesday that officer Dustin Bradshaw went to the girl's home after her mother called police woman called police. According to a report filed by Bradshaw on Thursday, the officer found the girl on the floor of the house screaming and crying. She refused to follow her mother's instructions and the mother told Bradshaw to use his...

A 10-year-old Arkansas boy named Will Phillips has decided that he cannot in good conscience pledge allegiance to the flag as long as the country for which it stands refuses legal equality to its LGBT citizens. The West Fork School District fifth grade student clashed with a substitute teacher for his refusal to stand for the pledge, prompting a call to Will’s mother, Laura Phillips. When the principal acknowledged that Will has the right to refuse to say the pledge, Ms. Phillips asked that her son receive an apology — a request that the principal declined to honor. Laura Phillips...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A jury sentenced a man to life in prison Thursday for the beating death of a popular Arkansas television personality, sparing him the death penalty after hearing testimony about his rocky upbringing by an abusive, drug-addicted mother. Jurors deliberated less than three hours before recommending that Curtis Lavelle Vance, 29, be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the death of Anne Pressly. They also handed down a life sentence for rape, 20 years for burglary and 10 years for theft.Pressly, 26, was an anchor on KATV's "Daybreak" program and had a bit part in...

Will Phillips isn't like other boys his age. For one thing, he's smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what's playing on Radio Disney. It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will's mother. “Yes, my son...

Prosecutors rested their capital murder case against Curtis Lavelle Vance, 29, after testimony from the state's deputy medical examiner, who spoke about Pressly's final moments of consciousness. Vance, of Marianna, has pleaded not guilty to murder, rape and burglary. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Dr. Stephen Erickson said an examination of Pressly's body after her death revealed that her face shattered "like an egg" during the attack. "I could feel crunchiness" while examining Pressly's face, he said. A photo he used showed her nose pushed to one side. Erickson said some type of object likely was used...

Former Nature editor Philip Ball once commented that ‘there is no assembly plant so delicate, versatile and adaptive as the cell” (1). Emeritus Professor Theodore Brown chose to wax metaphorical by likening the cell to a fully-fledged factory, with its own complex functional relationships and interactions akin to what we observe in our own manufacturing facilities (2). In recent years the seemingly intractable problem of explaining how the first cell came into existence through chance events, otherwise known as the ‘Chance Hypothesis’, has become more acute than ever as scientists have begun to realize that a minimum suite of functional...

My wife wanted to know what is happening concerning this Islamic terrorist. I googled him and could only find stories from back in June. I did a Wikipedia search and got this - The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting was an incident on June 1, 2009 in which an assailant opened fire on a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. Private William Long of Conway, Arkansas was killed and Private Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Arkansas was wounded.Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, an American who had converted to Islam and was previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, became the...

Live Threads of the Healthcare Debate that could be voted on this weekend. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380972/posts?q=1&;page=251 http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx Different reports are coming in about what some of the Arkansas Representatives will do. John Boozeman is a solid NO vote. Rep Berry has "concerns regarding how the plan is paid for", but Obamacare is often changed to give the apperance of not costing as much. Mike Ross has expressed concern over public option, but that is also not a definite NO. According to David Meeks, Rep Snyder's office had said that he wouldn't for a bill that "funds abortion", however Obamacare supporters had claimed...

The plan to attack the Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey this year, they wanted to "kill as many soldiers as possible!" Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages. The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April. The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of...

Man charged in soldier's death seeks trial delayPosted: October 27, 2009 - 12:40pm LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Attorneys for the man charged with capital murder of an Army soldier at a Little Rock recruiting station are asking for a delay in the start of his trial. Lawyers for 24-year-old Abdulhakim Muhammad say in a motion filed last week that they need more time to go through evidence in the case. The current trial date is Feb. 15. Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe. He's charged in the June shooting death of 23-year-old Pvt. William Long of Conway and in the wounding...

While roaming the grounds of the US Capitol yesterday, Kristinn Taylor obtained a list of possible democrat defectors of the now infamous “Healthcare” bill. Kristinn was asked to post this list of wobbly democrats on FreeRepublic in an effort to mobilize our forces and overwhelm these members with phone calls and e-mails asking them to vote NO on the socialization of our healthcare. We also learned that Nancy Pelosi had just scheduled the vote for tomorrow; Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM. For all those who were unable to answer the call to surround the Capitol yesterday, here is...

Trying to find out if any Arkansas women are driving to DC for the Thursday showdown??? If you are driving or flying please let me know I am trying to figure out how to go. Thank you I live 30 miles outside Little Rock Arkansas

August 8, 2006 These are the Blue Dog democrats to pound on obamacare Part #1 Jason Altmire (PA-4) Aliquippa Office 2110 McLean St. Aliquippa, PA 15001 ph: 724-378-0928 fx: 724-378-6171 Natrona Heights Office 2124 Freeport Road Natrona Heights, PA 15065 ph: 724-226-1304 fx: 724-226-1308 Washington DC Office 332 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 ph: 202-225-2565 fx: 202-226-2274 Satellite Offices Cranberry Township Office Cranberry Township Municipal Building 2525 Rochester Road Cranberry Township, PA 16066-6499 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm - First and Third Thursdays of every month Ellwood City Office Ellwood City Municipal Building Lawrence Avenue Ellwood City, PA 16117 2:00...

Research 2000, in conjunction with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, has polled the Arkansas Senate race. The good news for Blanche Lincoln is that she leads her opponents; she leads Gilbert Baker 41%-39% and she leads Curtis Coleman 43%-38%. The bad news is that I follow Senate races like Kirstie Alley follows the Swiss Made Fudge catalog, and I still have to look up who Gilbert Baker and Curtis Coleman are (the answer, according to Politics1, is "state senate minority leader" and "Republican activist"). Senators who have trouble getting to 40%, let alone 50%, against completely unknown opponents don't last...

Nothing to fear—yet Gene Lyons Nobody should be surprised to see the nation’s esteemed celebrity news media align with FOX News against the White House, although even a cynical observer like me found the unanimity mildly shocking. Don’t they remember what journalism was supposed to be? Supposedly, the press regulates its own behavior. In reality, that’s been a joke for two decades. “Claiming the moral authority of a code of professional ethics it idealizes in the abstract but repudiates in practice,” I wrote in 2003, “today’s Washington press corps has grown as decadent and self-protective as any politician or interest...