Jennifer Smith

The most beautiful woman in the world, my wife.



One thing surpasses admiring this monument to her beauty and that was being behind the camera to capture it.

Business in Arkansas and Governor Mike Huckabee, Business as Usual = Stupidity as Usual

A recent article in Forbes magazine talks about a new $880 million steel mill that just opened in Columbus, Mississippi (population 26,000). The steel mill was made possible by Alexey Mordashov, a Russian billionaire and owner of Russia's largest steel producer.

My home state of Arkansas was turned down as a home for the steel mill and all the jobs that come with it. According to the article, "the project floundered when the state's electric authority demanded an extra charge--$8.5 million--to build a power line to the plant." In Mississippi, however, the Tennessee Valley Authority built a power line to the plant at half that price. Plus, the steel company, SeverCorr, got additional concessions from the state, "$103 million, including $30 million in grants and a $60 million loan guarantee".

Workers at the plant will earn an average of $85,000 per year. That is big money in either state.

This is not the first big-fish employer the state of Arkansas as run off.

Our governor, Mike Huckabee, is running for President of the United States and, quite surprisingly to me, is still in the race and getting a lot of press. In fact, it's absolutely shocking to me! No one in the national press has yet asked the question, "What, Mr. Huckabee, have you accomplished in Arkansas?" The answer, nothing.

I am currently not a registered Democrat or a registered Republican, and I can personally state, as a life-long resident of this state, that there are absolutely no accomplishments whatsoever that I can contribute to Governor Huckabee during his term in office, with the sole, yet arguable, exception of him spending a lot of money to renovate the Governor's Mansion. (During which he lived in a house trailer and was a complete embarrassment to the state.) Nothing comes to mind. In fact, I used to attend the same church that Governor Huckabee attended, that is, when he wasn't flying around the country as President of the Governors Association, at taxpayer's expense I might add; yet, I can still honestly state that Huckabee has done nothing whatsoever to improve the state in any way or bring business here.

He's a good person. He's a nice person. I don't deny any of that. However, it's sad and pathetic that he is being given a chance on the national stage to run for President solely due to his "good ole boy" nature, especially after seven of the worst years of our union in the hands of an equally inept and unintelligent "leader".