The Tea Party Express Tour motored into Little Rock April 3, 2010 to the excitement of a few hundred people gathered at the Arkansas State Capitol.

A number of those gathered were Tea Party regulars, having been in Washington on September 12, 2009 and also in Searchlight, Nevada a few days earlier. I talked to one man who was joining the caravan in Little Rock and planned to continue his travels through the rally in St. Louis on Monday, April 5.

I circled the crowd and weaved through those gathered numerous times and am quite happy to report that I saw no display of weapons. These people had peaceably gathered to express their displeasure with the way things were going in Washington D. C. That’s the way it should be.

A few political candidates were in attendance: Trevor Drown is running as an independent for U. S. Senate; Conrad Reynolds is running for the same position on the Republican ticket, as is State Senator Kim Hendren. I did not see any other candidates I recognized. If there was a theme, it’s that Blanche Lincoln needs to be voted out of office. The banner pictured here stood above a table where attendees could sign a petition to get Trevor Drown’s name on the ballot. He needs to gather 10,000 signatures. You can learn more about these candidates at Arkansas Senate Election 2010.

Singer Songwriter Diana Nagy led the crowd in singing the National Anthem, even though her voice had almost disappeared due to the several months of traveling and singing in all sorts of weather conditions. I am including a video of Diana leading this song at another rally where her voice was much better than when she visited Little Rock.

Diana was followed by Singer songwriter Lloyd Marcus, who performed his Tea Party Anthem, in almost the exact way as shown in this video taped in San Antonio in September, 2009.

I’ll be adding a few more thoughts about the Tea Party movement over the next few weeks and months. After attending the Little Rock rally, it doesn’t appear as bad as portrayed by some media outlets, nor is it as good as portrayed by others. Certainly, I saw a few things at the rally I could not support, but, honestly, I could say that about any political rally. Please support our supporters.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter is running for the United States Senate. His primary challenger is Blanche Lincoln, the current Senator who has become highly unpopular in her home state because of consistently waffling or not favoring issues of importance to her constituents.

Bill Halter can win. He was instrumental in helping set up a free health clinic for Arkansans in association with the initiative begun by Keith Olbermann. He led the fight for the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery which is the only lottery in the United States that provides 100% of its funds to college scholarships.

Arkansas students with a 2.5 GPA who attend an Arkansas college can apply for $5,000 per year in scholarship funds.

Since his announcement on March 1, support has flowed to him from many directions, not the least of which are Arkansas supporters who have given an average $30 contribution. The number of these contributions generated over $1 million dollars in a short amount of time. The national media has taken notice (see below).

The Ed Show Interview

The Rachel Maddow Interview

Arkansas Free Health Care Clinic

Bill Halter Announcement

Learn More About Bill Halter

Bill Halter on Facebook

Bill Halter on Twitter

Bill Halter on MySpace

See more about the Arkansas Senate Election in 2010

Senator Blanche Lincoln is currently the only candidate from the Democratic Party (and probably will stay that way) for the United States Senate in the 2010 Election, but she has drawn opponents from across the wide spectrum of the Natural State’s Wannabe Population.

It sorta reminds me of roadkill on a hot Texas highway with an entire army of buzzards circling. This feast appears that it will also feature a fruitcake or two. One of her opponents has a history of two statewide races, but he lost both of them. One of those races featured him as the Republican nominee against the good Senator Lincoln the last time she ran.

Apparently, this is the year of the soldier. There are two colonels and a Green Beret that served in Afghanistan in the race. There is a Green Party candidate who favors Medicare for All. There are two guys calling themselves Independents, though one of them spoke at a Tea Party rally where the other person on the stage was Michelle Malkin, a Fox News contributor.

Those of you who have followed my opinions about Senator Lincoln know that I think she really let America down on the health care issue, sort of like might near every other dude and dudette in the United States Senate. You know that rather than 1,700 or 17,000 pages of junk, I’d have preferred just a few short words, "Medicare is available to everyone who wants it." That way, the folks who think their current health insurance is the bee knees could have continued on like nobody’s business. And those who don’t live amidst delusion could have chosen Medicare. The Medicaid program could have been blended in like folding eggs into a cake recipe, and all those administrative costs eliminated. And ol’ Ben Nelson would not be guilty of extortion. But, alas and alack…

Arkansas Political Retirements

United States Congressmen from Arkansas, Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, have announced their retirement. I’ve been a long time supporter of Vic, ever since he ran the first time and walked up to me while I was mowing the yard and asked for my vote. For those who don’t know, Vic’s wife surprised him with triplets not too long ago. And I’m kinda thinking she told him to come home and help take care of ‘em. My wife woulda shot me if she’d had triplets, so I’m thinking Vic is making the right move.

I also applaud Mr. Berry for his decision. Now, I know a lot of folks might think a 67-year old is a young man when it comes to Washington. That, of course, is one of the problems. But Congressman Berry is a 67-year old lifelong farmer. Farmer’s ain’t like other people. They work their butts off. Well, maybe not those corporate farmers drawing huge subsidies from the government. If you ain’t never been up in northeast Arkansas where Mr. Berry hails from, you ain’t seen what farming can do to a body. There was a time in my life when my backyard was a soybean field and just across the road from my front yard was a cotton field that stretched as far as the eye could see. Now, while a lot of things might be modernized, I’ve seen a lot of folks walking that cotton field with a hoe (the tool with a cutting edge) chopping cotton.

I wouldn’t make too much of the fact the McCain carried Berry’s district in 2008. It wasn’t because people liked his politics. And I fully expect the Democrats to come up with somebody that will keep the Republicans out. They been a might testy in that area of Arkansas since 1861. Y’all remember how Arkansas voted to NOT join the Confederacy. A few weeks later, President Abe Lincoln told the Arkansas governmor to send 700 troops to fight against the folks in South Carolina and Georgia – you know, where the Arkansans had moved from and still had tons of kinfolks there. A few weeks after that Arkansas took a vote to rethink their allegiance to Abe. For you historical-buff types, the army of Mr. Lincoln never captured the Arkansas government and folks up in northeast Arkansas know full well in their hearts that Arkansas never surrendered. Add on the reconstructionists and those called carpetbaggers that came after the war, and there just ain’t much taste for Republicans in Berry’s district.

Anyway, things ought to be sizzlin’ in Arkansas during this political season. The folks at Online Little Rock have an Arkansas Elections 2010 section that grows and grows as more folks throw their hats into more rings. You might also be interested in the American Beer Party Movement – don’t be messin’ with Sweet Tea in Arkansas.

Other Websites that Support Uncle Brice

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.