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The Observation Deck
A blog of opinions on local, state and national issues
Posts filtered on Category
Should airports have passenger advocates?
The latest idea in the ongoing debate over searches of passengers at airports: Official consumer advocates. The concept seemed to move forward Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, where Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano endorsed Sen. Chuck Schumer's idea for passenger advocates in airports. Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have proposed […] [Read More]
Perfect safety not possible, desirable
"The public wants the airport experience to be predictable, hassle-free and airtight," says Kip Hawley in the Wall Street Journal. But "100% safety is unattainable," he says, and embracing some risk could reduce the hassle while making air travel safer. [Read More]
America trades freedom for security
The quest for security has transformed America into a police state, says Stephen Salisbury in TomDispatch. Police departments are purchasing high-tech armor and spy equipment while "interlinked video surveillance cameras and information databases are growing quietly on unobtrusive server farms everywhere," he says. [Read More]
Guantanamo's shameful history
Marking Guantánamo's 10-year anniversary, Vanity Fair denounces the U.S. detention center as an "an ugly damaging experiment" that became "a symbol of mistreatment and missteps in the prosecution of the war on terror." [Read More]
Close Gitmo before we see more of them
Guantanamo is a wound and stain on the United States, says Lt. Col. Donna Barlett, a member of the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps. Barlett warns in USA Today that if Guantanamo is not closed, we will see more Guantanamos. [Read More]
Spending priorities ignore realities
According to Caroline Arnold in Common Dreams, exponentially more people die annually from hunger than terrorism. Yet, the United States will spend an estimated $662 billion next year on fighting terrorism, Arnold says. [Read More]
The Senate vs. the Constitution
Our opinion: A U.S. Senate move to allow detention without charges or trial of U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism acts or ties is an assault on basic constitutional protections. Just how many amendments and clauses of the Constitution does Congress find so inconvenient that it feels compelled to legislate them away, under some misguided notion […] [Read More]
Operation payback
Our opinion: Aggressive police tactics against Muslims in New York City have backfired. Will that be enough to stop the spying? Well, now. What did they expect, these reigning experts in the New York Police Department? What, too, did their enablers at the CIA think, treating Muslims as some monolithic force requiring a level of spying, […] [Read More]
Drones are killing innocents, allies
In The New York Times, Clive Stafford Smith disputes the CIA's claim that innocents are spared by precision strikes against terrorists using unmanned drones. Drones are killing innocent civilians, he says, causing us to lose allies, one community at a time. [Read More]
Age old tactic is not a Muslim creation
Terrorism is not something that Muslim extremists invented, says Philip Jenkins in The American Conservative. In fact, Jenkins says, terrorism is a tactic used throughout history, with most of the practitioners defeated in the end, lost and finally forgotten. [Read More]
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This game is a part of the 2011 Illinois Boys State Football Playoff Bracket: IHSA - Class 8A tournament. These two teams meet in round 5 (State Championship). You can view the full bracket here.
(November 26, 2011: Bolingbrook, IL 60440) The Bolingbrook Raiders held off the visiting Loyola Academy Ramblers football team by a count of 21-17 in Saturday's non-league outing.
With the win, Bolingbrook upgrades its record to 13-1 on the season.
With the loss, Loyola Academy moves to 13-1 on the season.
LOY: 3:15 Reed Michalek 25 yd. run, PAT Will Cushwa kick good
BOLI: 9:32 Aaron Bailey 10 yd. run, PAT Adam Klein kick goodBOLI: 1:46 Jaden Huff 1 yd. run, PAT Adam Klein kick goodLOY: 0:05 Malcolm Weaver 4 yd. run, PAT Will Cushwa kick good
LOY: Will Cushwa 40 yd. FG
BOLI: 5:01 Aaron Bailey 33 yd. run, PAT Adam Klein kick good
Loyola Academy has not had any pro photos shot this year.
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Join MaxPreps now for free access to rankings for thousands of teams across all sports.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Argenta Film Series is a year round initiative featuring screenings and in-depth discussions with filmmakers and industry professionals from Arkansas and around the World. All events unless otherwise noted take place at the Argenta Community Theater.
LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents 'Cheap Thrills', April 17th
This April, LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents: Academy Nominated Cheap Thrills (85mins)
When: Thursday, April 17th, 7pm
Where: Argenta Community Theater 405 Main Street, NLR, 72114
Admission is FREE courtesy of William F. Laman Library. Seating is limited, RSVP HERE to reserve your seats.
Film Synopsis: Cheap Thrills follows Craig (Pat Healy, Compliance), a struggling family man who loses his low-wage job and is threatened with eviction. In an effort to delay facing the music at home, he heads to a local bar and encounters an old friend (Ethan Embry, Empire Records). The two friends are roped into a …
LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents the Academy Nominated 'Dallas Buyers Club' – February 20thThis February LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents the Academy Nominated Dallas Buyers Club (117min) When: Thursday, February 20, 7 p.m Where: Argenta Community Theater
Argenta Film Series Presents: Blackfish, January 28, 7pmThis January LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents Blackfish (83min) When: Tuesday, January 28, 7pm Where: Argenta Community Theater.
Argenta Film Series presents Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'With Christmas almost here, this month LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (Animated Feature - 76min). When: Thursday December 19, 7pm. Where: Argenta Community Theater. The Argenta Film Series screening is free to attend courtesy of William F. Laman Library. Seats are limited, so make sure to reserve your tickets by RSVPing at lrff.eventbrite.com
Remembering Hal Needham – Argenta Film Series presents Smokey and the BanditThis month as a tribute to Arkansas native and Hollywood director/stuntman and writer Hal Needham, the Little Rock Film Festival's AFS will screen the 1977 action comedy film Smokey and the Bandit – November 21, 7pm. Hal Needham received LRFF's 'Lifetime Achievement Award' in 2011. One of the most famous practitioners of his dangerous craft — Hal Needham died of cancer on Oct. 25 at age 82. In 2011 he also published a memoir, called Stuntman!: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life.
LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents 'Searching for Sugar Man'
Little Rock Film Festival's Argenta Film Series is back this Fall kicking off with the screening of Malik Bendjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man (85min), September 19th, 7pm at the Argenta Community Theater. The screening is free to attend courtesy of William F. Laman Library. Seats are limited, so make sure to reserve your tickets by RSVPing at lrff.eventbrite.com
Film Synopsis: Sixto Rodriguez was the greatest '70s U.S. rock icon who never was. His albums were critically well-received, but sales bombed, and he faded away into obscurity among rumors of a gruesome death. However, as fate would have it, a …
AFS presents JFK – an Oliver Stone film and a conversation with Photographer Willie Allen as part of "JFK 50 years later" exhibition series in North Little Rock
Little Rock Film Festival presents the Argenta Film Series screening of JFK – an Oliver Stone film, March 28th, 7pm at the Argenta Community Theatre. The screening is free to attend courtesy of William Laman Library. Seats are limited so make sure to reserve your tickets by RSVPing at lrff.eventbrite.com
Starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman and Kevin Bacon, JFK is about a New Orleans DA who discovers that there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story and takes it upon himself to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. …
LRFF's Argenta Film Series presents 2011 Academy Award winning – Best Documentary Feature – UndefeatedLRFF's Argenta Film Series presents 2011 Academy Award winning - Best Documentary Feature - Undefeated, Feb 21st, 7pm.
Argenta Film Series Presents: The American Scream
Michael Stephenson, the director of the critically-acclaimed documentary Best Worst Movie, will be in town to present his newest documentary The American Scream on October 18th at 7 p.m. at the Argenta Community Theater. The film is family friendly and is guaranteed to get you in the mood for Halloween. The American Scream is an unconventional look at the Halloween cultural phenomenon of homemade haunted houses and the enthusiasts behind the scenes. Filmed in the sleepy enclave of Fairhaven, MA, The American Scream follows the creative minds behind three local homemade haunts and their passionate – and sometimes …
Argenta Film Series kicks off with Warrior Champions on August 16th at 7 p.m.
With the Olympic Games in full swing, the Argenta Film Series will have a special screening of the film Warrior Champions, a documentary that follows the first injured Iraq war veterans to compete in the Paralympic Games. After losing limbs in combat, these soldiers are able to turn nightmares of war into Olympic dreams.
Wounded Iraq War Veteran Anthony Smith, Mark Leonard from Arkansas Freedom Fund, Producer Vincent Insalaco, and Director Craig Renaud will be in attendance.
To see a trailer for the film: www.warriorchampions.com
Admission is free. Screening takes place at the Argenta Community Theater. 405 Main Street. North …


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A couple of weekends ago, my daughter and I were planning on participating in the Falmouth Goat Race. This is an annual race that takes place on the last Saturday of September. We ran our first race last year when my pet goats were only 6 months old. My goat, Martha, almost made it to the finals. And the finals mean trophies—big trophies.
So in preparation for this year, we had been training. And then…rain, lots of rain, hit our area. Now the cancellation of the goat race is not huge as compared to the many people affected by the floods. My heart goes out to them. This is just one small story in the middle of thousands of other stories.
On the Saturday of the race, the weather was perfect. The sun was out, the temperature was great, but there had been so much rain that the ground was saturated. Hence, the cancellation of the race.
Now this race was special for us this year. This past May, my female goat had a baby. We named her Iris Pluie. Iris for the Goddess of the Rainbow and Pluie, French for rain. She was born on a day that saw a huge rainstorm and the threat of tornados. We had not planned for Iris, but goats will be goats. She was born and she was beautiful. Because her mother was tame, she was tame as compared with other nursing babies. She would sit on my lap and fall fast asleep. She was an imp and liked running and jumping and getting into the chicken house to get to the corn. (This is also a favorite pastime of her mother.)
And then in August, when we went to visit the goats (they board on a local farm), Iris was limp and listless. I sent my daughter scrambling to the house to get help, but Iris had a seizure and died.
I am not telling you this to try and make you sad. I'm writing about it for a few reasons. One, writing helps. That's why I share these writing prompts. That's why I write this blog. I believe in the healing power of writing. The second reason is that thinking about what happened, writing about it, grieving has helped me accept the understanding that without grief, we can't have joy.
Part of what has been so fun about my goats is being able to go and have the farm experience and have them run over, curious creatures that they are, for some affection. Iris Pluie made us laugh with her antics. She made my heart melt when she fell asleep in my lap and made little, mouth puckering sounds. She gave my daughter and I more reasons to bond. So the grief at losing Iris was difficult. But without the attachment that I had with her, I wouldn't have had the fun and loving moments. If we try to protect ourselves too much from hurt, then we can miss out on happiness. Without being willing to feel some of the difficult emotions, misery, grief, disappointment, we can't feel the positive ones of merriment giddiness, or delight. Without one, we can't have the other.
So, go, Write On!
Martha Peaslee Levine, MD