Ten Years of Feeding COP 24/7
Doing COP 24/7 often reminds me of the 1986 movie "Little Shop of Horrors," in which a nerdish florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who
demands to be fed.
OK, that's what happened in the movie and may a bit of a stretch.
But I have to admit that I've seen it more than five times including its initial movie debut. With that said, as the "nerd" or as some prefer to characterize me as an "elitist snob," I have learned over the past years that producing this platform takes considerable effort and commitment. It has to be "fed" a daily diet of fresh crackling content, assorted links, interesting video and meaty facts that has kept it moving in the right direction.
Recently I got a notice from my subscriber tracker that one reader left the roost because our offering wasn't seen as "relevant." I beg to differ, perhaps not relevant in their life at the moment but at its core this portal has been forthright in its tenants to be "empowering, educating and entertaining."
With that wide of scope, there's always something for everyone and COP 24/7 has a distinct track record of giving it to you from the obscure to often times the absurd. I never quite know what items will appear or take the lead on a daily basis. Fortunately using Blogger expert tools I can optimize my time with scheduled content and other features.
Since it's 2004 launch, I had no clue then as to what a "blogger" was or even how to do it. I had in mind that at least I could share some of my thoughts and perhaps garner some type of response or discussion. Along the way and up until this post which is 1125, I've offered this digital space as the town square for all to contribute, refute, be opinionated or decry their beliefs. In 2014, COP 24/7 will stay on the scene with breaking news, updates and spotlights on more of what we know our readers are looking for!
Lt. Darr: You Ain't Gone Yet?
As of this post Lieutenant Governor Darr still ain't left the room! Despite howls and reports that Republican Lt. Gov. candidate State Representative Andy Mayberry (R-Hensley) called last week on Lt. Gov. Mark Darr (R) to resign amidst a recent ruling from the Arkansas Ethics Commission, and other candidates and legislative leaders joined the chorus calling for Darr to step down.
As a reminder, Darr accepted an $11,000 fine from the commission for violations concerning discrepancies on his campaign filing reports. The violations were brought to the Ethics Commission’s attention through a complaint filed by fellow blogger Matt Campbell.
In a previous post, COP 24/7 cited that other individuals subject to similar infractions not only were forced out of their jobs but many served jail time. Further scratching our head, why does it seems that these politicos whom earn tidy incomes such as Darr's over $41,000 for what amounted to part-time work seem to get fines and a chance to just move on.
All of this flies in the face of those 1.5 Million individuals loosing their UC as they await bipartisan action on the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) that was introduced yesterday by Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) that would continue long term unemployment insurance benefits for three months.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of the Arkansas House said they are prepared to push for impeachment of Darr if he does not resign before the fiscal session in February. Hey Lt. Darr, could COP 24/7 suggest that you just cough up what you owe and merely slither away back under the rock from which you came.
Holy Ballot Initiative and More
Surely you've heard that numerous factions across the state are on the move concerning the question of marriage equality. With the onset of Utah and New Mexico among other states blazing forward on this issue, there has been much talk and backtalk as to the level of support from national
organizations, a who's who of allies including actress and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams whom have shared their views. The temperament of locals who will have to be engaged in the process seems to be energized.
So what do we know? Pay attention because this takes a little thinking.
For one, Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel approved language for a 2016 ballot initiative back in November 2013 that would repeal the state's constitutional ban on marriage equality, and would declare that marriage is a "union between two people regardless of sex."
That proposal was submitted by the Arkansas Initiative for Marriage Equality, which can now begin collecting the 78,133 signatures from registered voters needed to qualify for the 2016 ballot. Unfortunately the flip side of this is the fact that Arkansas voters approved the constitutional ban on marriage equality by a margin of 75 percent in 2004 and current polls, depending on who you ask, many folks have a different take on the situation.
Although such polls are fluctuating all across the board from below 40 percent to a Human Rights www.thinkprogress.org .
Campaign poll, which optimistically pointed out that 61 percent of voters under the age of 30 do support marriage equality, which is encouraging, but not promising, according to sourced material at
Then we have the Arkansans for Equality entity who will also be seeking thousands of signatures to repeal Amendment 83 based on the premise to repeal the constitutional amendment, but wouldn’t change the law banning same-sex marriage. The legislature would still have to take that step, although without the constitutional language, the Arkansas Supreme Court could also potentially arrive at a ruling that the law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
Adding to this equality trinity approach is a SSM lawsuit now under the scrutiny of Judge Piazza which did a "dismiss and deny" action that will allow for a trial to move forward sometime in the near future. Did you get all of that? Its certainly a lot to either think about or not. Nevertheless, COP 24/7 applauds all this action and reaction in this arena.
As inquiring minds would have it, there are still a few questions that I find intriguing. Such as where is the money coming from to support all this canvassing? Is the work being done on the lawsuit pro-bono? Exactly what level of support is being funneled into the state from national entities? What's the strategy to sustain such a surmountable task? And finally, if all this goes south, then what? So many question and we will be reporting the answers as we find them. Stay tuned....
Doing COP 24/7 often reminds me of the 1986 movie "Little Shop of Horrors," in which a nerdish florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
OK, that's what happened in the movie and may a bit of a stretch.
But I have to admit that I've seen it more than five times including its initial movie debut. With that said, as the "nerd" or as some prefer to characterize me as an "elitist snob," I have learned over the past years that producing this platform takes considerable effort and commitment. It has to be "fed" a daily diet of fresh crackling content, assorted links, interesting video and meaty facts that has kept it moving in the right direction.
Recently I got a notice from my subscriber tracker that one reader left the roost because our offering wasn't seen as "relevant." I beg to differ, perhaps not relevant in their life at the moment but at its core this portal has been forthright in its tenants to be "empowering, educating and entertaining."
With that wide of scope, there's always something for everyone and COP 24/7 has a distinct track record of giving it to you from the obscure to often times the absurd. I never quite know what items will appear or take the lead on a daily basis. Fortunately using Blogger expert tools I can optimize my time with scheduled content and other features.
Since it's 2004 launch, I had no clue then as to what a "blogger" was or even how to do it. I had in mind that at least I could share some of my thoughts and perhaps garner some type of response or discussion. Along the way and up until this post which is 1125, I've offered this digital space as the town square for all to contribute, refute, be opinionated or decry their beliefs. In 2014, COP 24/7 will stay on the scene with breaking news, updates and spotlights on more of what we know our readers are looking for!
As of this post Lieutenant Governor Darr still ain't left the room! Despite howls and reports that Republican Lt. Gov. candidate State Representative Andy Mayberry (R-Hensley) called last week on Lt. Gov. Mark Darr (R) to resign amidst a recent ruling from the Arkansas Ethics Commission, and other candidates and legislative leaders joined the chorus calling for Darr to step down.
As a reminder, Darr accepted an $11,000 fine from the commission for violations concerning discrepancies on his campaign filing reports. The violations were brought to the Ethics Commission’s attention through a complaint filed by fellow blogger Matt Campbell.
In a previous post, COP 24/7 cited that other individuals subject to similar infractions not only were forced out of their jobs but many served jail time. Further scratching our head, why does it seems that these politicos whom earn tidy incomes such as Darr's over $41,000 for what amounted to part-time work seem to get fines and a chance to just move on.All of this flies in the face of those 1.5 Million individuals loosing their UC as they await bipartisan action on the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) that was introduced yesterday by Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) that would continue long term unemployment insurance benefits for three months.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of the Arkansas House said they are prepared to push for impeachment of Darr if he does not resign before the fiscal session in February. Hey Lt. Darr, could COP 24/7 suggest that you just cough up what you owe and merely slither away back under the rock from which you came.
Holy Ballot Initiative and More
Surely you've heard that numerous factions across the state are on the move concerning the question of marriage equality. With the onset of Utah and New Mexico among other states blazing forward on this issue, there has been much talk and backtalk as to the level of support from national organizations, a who's who of allies including actress and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams whom have shared their views. The temperament of locals who will have to be engaged in the process seems to be energized.
So what do we know? Pay attention because this takes a little thinking.
For one, Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel approved language for a 2016 ballot initiative back in November 2013 that would repeal the state's constitutional ban on marriage equality, and would declare that marriage is a "union between two people regardless of sex."
That proposal was submitted by the Arkansas Initiative for Marriage Equality, which can now begin collecting the 78,133 signatures from registered voters needed to qualify for the 2016 ballot. Unfortunately the flip side of this is the fact that Arkansas voters approved the constitutional ban on marriage equality by a margin of 75 percent in 2004 and current polls, depending on who you ask, many folks have a different take on the situation.
Although such polls are fluctuating all across the board from below 40 percent to a Human Rights www.thinkprogress.org .Campaign poll, which optimistically pointed out that 61 percent of voters under the age of 30 do support marriage equality, which is encouraging, but not promising, according to sourced material at
Then we have the Arkansans for Equality entity who will also be seeking thousands of signatures to repeal Amendment 83 based on the premise to repeal the constitutional amendment, but wouldn’t change the law banning same-sex marriage. The legislature would still have to take that step, although without the constitutional language, the Arkansas Supreme Court could also potentially arrive at a ruling that the law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
Adding to this equality trinity approach is a SSM lawsuit now under the scrutiny of Judge Piazza which did a "dismiss and deny" action that will allow for a trial to move forward sometime in the near future. Did you get all of that? Its certainly a lot to either think about or not. Nevertheless, COP 24/7 applauds all this action and reaction in this arena.
As inquiring minds would have it, there are still a few questions that I find intriguing. Such as where is the money coming from to support all this canvassing? Is the work being done on the lawsuit pro-bono? Exactly what level of support is being funneled into the state from national entities? What's the strategy to sustain such a surmountable task? And finally, if all this goes south, then what? So many question and we will be reporting the answers as we find them. Stay tuned....
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