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That’s so 225 years ago!
According to a new study to be published in the prestigious “New York University Law Review,” the 21st century has seen an alarming drop in the international prestige of the United States Constitution.
Fewer and fewer foreign judges cite American precedent (“*Sigh* The cat lady down the street is on vacation, so I guess I’ll have to turn to the Americans for an opinion…”), and only a miniscule number of new or revised constitutions use our treasured 1787 document as a model. -
Video chat: Next best to being there
It’s been a very long time since I have seen my oldest daughter, Shay, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla. Even though we speak on the phone, it’s just not the same.
She has been after me to get a web cam so we can “Skype.” Skype is a free program that allows users to do free video calling. I finally got a web cam and got to see my little 24-year-old girl over the weekend. It was so nice to see her face, her smile and her expressions. -
Surely they jest
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Johnny Carson used to say when truth trumped fiction in one of his monologues. The line is perfect for the current GOP presidential campaign, where the candidates’ seemingly serious pronouncements leave joke writers with little to add.
The last time national politics provided such comedic lowlights was in 2008, when Tina Fey did her first Sarah Palin send-up on Saturday Night Live with a script that was remarkably close to Palin’s actual remarks, including, “I can see Russia from my house.” Who could make that up? -
Letter to the editor
Health care a blessing, not a right
Dear Editor:
A couple of nights ago, I visited a fast food restaurant with my son to get a late night snack and to do a little father-son bonding. My son knew the cashier and began a conversation in which they discussed the fact that both of them were suffering from a toothache. My son said that he was going to the dentist the next day, and the cashier said that she was going to have to tough it out because she didn’t have any insurance. -
Notes on some Batesville folk
PERSON A:
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Confederate Army divisions forming
One hundred fifty years ago, Arkansas newspapers were busily reporting the goings-on from governmental and military officials in hopes of drumming up more support from the citizens of this state.
One editor commented, in fact, that “It is undeniably true that the number of men furnished by certain sections of the State is grossly inadequate to the amount of population, and to the capacity and bounden duty of those sections to turn out soldiers for the defense and honor of the government.” -
‘The Market’ has chosen winner in culture wars
“Gen X” was popularized as an advertising term. Marketers used the label to describe young people of the late ’80s, and the focus was on how to sell goods to the MTV generation.
Advertisements at that time, just as one example, started to feature unmarried couples to appeal to this group of consumers. This was a first and in the early ’90s it was pushing the envelope. It apparently resonated. The advertisers gauged correctly and sold their products to Americans with the now documented lowest marriage rate in history. -
Letter to the Editor
Tax may send shoppers online
Dear editor:
It looks like 2012 could be a “taxing” year for most Independence County residents. Especially for those of us who have an inclination to buy our goods and services locally and purchase very much motor vehicle fuel. -
Letter to the Editor
Sports editor’s note: Because many student transfers occur from circulation area schools to schools in and out of the circulation area, and vice versa — including many who are not involved in athletics — the Guard does not run stories concerning those transfers (there are brief mentions in school board articles, but no students are named). The Guard does identify the player(s) who transfer and the schools involved in advance stories about the sport(s) in which the athlete(s) will first compete.
Ready to boycott merchants
Dear editor: -
Letter to the Editor
Questioning student transfers
Dear editor:
We are rather new to the Batesville area. We really like it here. One of the things we like is that the town is small so one can easily get a feeling of community. We enjoy the high school athletic games. We have attended the football games held at Batesville High. One of the young men that we went to cheer on is Jordan Childress. I understand that he is no longer with the team. I thought that he was rather good. I was sorry that we lost him. -
Letter to the Editor
Another writer appalled at comments about Westside
Dear editor:
I am appalled at some of the comments made at the meeting for the homeless that was reported in the Wednesday, February 1st, Daily Guard. -
Old Hickory: The board of education
I stopped to pick up a video and ran into Lenny, whom I hadn’t seen in years. He greeted me, and then he asked, “Do you remember in sixth grade when Mrs. M paddled you?”
I asked him why that was the thing he always remembered about me.
“Well, shoot!” he said. “You were the teacher’s pet, and yet you were the only one she ever paddled herself!”
It was true. Her policy was that she never paddled anyone. Instead, she made the offenders paddle each other, and they had to do it until she felt they got it right, meaning hard enough.
