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.

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.

Nordex USA Inc. announced that it was beginning construction on its $100 million wind turbine manufacturing plant at Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Jonesboro plant, which is the German company’s first in the U.S., will employ 700 people at an average wage of $17 an hour. The nacelle plant will be built on 187 acres in the Craighead Technology Park and will have 115,000 square feet of production space, 10,000 square feet for a Training Academy and 35,000 square feet of office space.

"In a time when our economy has slowed, it’s gratifying to see the creation of high-paying jobs in the clean-energy sector,” Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said. “In Arkansas, jobs in clean-energy industries are outpacing the overall job market, and Nordex is helping to drive that."

With a typical wind turbine requiring about 8,000 components, that will mean a ripple effect in related jobs in the supply chain. Additional jobs will be created through the contracting of services. For example, Nordex has hired the construction firm, H&M Company, Inc. of Jackson, Tennessee, which will dedicate between 250 and 300 workers to the construction project. In addition, Nordex aims to completely localize its suppliers within the next three to four years, as the wind industry matures, which will further stimulate domestic manufacturing.

"There’s no doubt we’ve seen a surge of interest among wind industry players in Northeastern Arkansas since Nordex announced it would build here last October," said Mark Young, President and CEO of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce, with whom Nordex has worked closely on site selection.

According to Nordex USA, the U.S. could well be the world’s biggest wind market as early as next year. That means more sustainable power – and more jobs. Wind energy is the most affordable renewable energy and at some locations simply the most competitive. Power generation costs have fallen by 50% in the last 15 years, moving the generation costs of wind power system close to grid parity. Wind power could help to reduce CO2 emissions by 10 billion tons within twelve years and cover around 12 percent of the world’s energy requirements.

"After much careful planning, we are eager to break ground and make this plant a reality," said Ralf Sigrist, president and CEO of Nordex USA of Chicago, in a news release. "The plant is critical to our goal of generating 20% of global revenue in the US, and I must say I am extremely pleased that construction will begin on schedule." (continued below)

For the state of Arkansas, Nordex believes wind power will play an increasingly significant role. "We want to demonstrate that wind is not only a job engine but also a viable energy source for Arkansas," said Mr. Sigrist. "We are confident that what makes environmental and, in particular, economic sense will gain broad acceptance among policy makers and constituents, and that a national Renewable Energy Standard will be adopted to direct energy policy into the right direction" Construction will occur in two phases, beginning with the nacelle assembly plant and then the rotor blade manufacturing facility.

The nacelle assembly will start in the second half of 2010 and be fully operational by 2012. It will have an annual production capacity of 300 turbines, or 750 megawatts. The entire facility will be fully operational by 2014. "The U.S. is hungry for wind power," Sigrist said , "and Jonesboro will supply it with the highest-quality turbines in the world."

The Jonesboro operation will be an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) producing one of the largest classes of wind turbines in the world, the 2.5 megawatt N90 and N100. In the US, each of these utility-scale turbines is capable of generating enough renewable energy to power about 700 homes. Nordex was the first manufacturer to build a turbine this large in 2000 and has the longest track record for reliability in the class.

"The wind industry is fairly young in the US, so we have to train people from the ground up," said Joe Brenner, Vice President of Production for Nordex USA. "Making turbines requires specialized skills. It’s not just a $100 million facility. It’s a new industry, and the most important resource we can put time and money into is our people."

More Arkansas Stimulus Plans

Killing Cancer in Arkansas with Nanomedicine

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (also in Little Rock) may be on the verge of making cancer less of a threat while reducing the cost of cancer treatment. Thanks in part to National Institutes of Health grants under President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy could be replaced within ten years.

Names that may quickly jump into mind when thinking about Arkansas include, of course, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell and Billy Bob Thornton. Names that may be destined to become a part of Arkansas history are Vladimir Zharov and Alex Biris. Dr. Zharov is director of the Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratories of the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. Dr. Biris is the chief scientist at UALR’s Nanotechnology Center.

The technology sounds simple enough: tag a cancer cell with a carbon nanotube and heat it with a laser to destroy it. Nanotechnology involves really small particles; a nanometer is 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. The process developed in Little Rock detects, tracks and destroys cancer cells in real time. Raman spectroscopy is the technology used to monitor the nanoparticles moving through the blood stream and attaching themselves to cancerous cells.

The process has already tested successfully with lab rats. Dr. Ekaterina Glanzha of UAMS assisted Biris and Zharov when they injected a rat’s tail with a single cancer cell tagged with a nanotube. Using the Raman spectroscopy they watched the cell move through the circulatory system to the ear. The targeted cell was then destroyed with a laser, and it completely disintegrated within hours.

Dr. Daniel Casciano, project adviser and former director of the Food & Drug Administration’s National Center for Toxicological Research south of Little Rock, said, "This represents a more exact, more precise and more cost-effective means of treating cancer. And there is a therapeutic benefit as well because we can target the cancer cells without killing or injuring normal cells." (continued below)

Several other Arkansas universities have participated in the research along with NCTR. They are the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Central Arkansas at Conway, Arkansas State University at Jonesboro and Arkansas Tech University at Russellville. Early plans are underway for creation of an Arkansas nanomedical center in Little Rock to coordinate future work.

Because of the amount of information already available about breast and prostate cancer, these are the two cancers that will probably be targeted first with the new technology. Dr. Zharov said, however, that the door is now open for other applications such as treating stroke, heart attack, infections and neurological disorders.

Dr. Mary Good is dean of UALR’s Engineering and Information Technology and previously served the Clinton administration as technology undersecretary of commerce. She said, "The research Dr. Biris and Dr. Zharov have conducted indeed is significant and promising. It points to a whole new direction for medical applications for nanoparticles. There still is extensive time needed for research into the ultimate utility for these approaches and for human subject experiments. But this early work is exciting and provides long-term hope for more effective cancer treatments."

About the Scientists

Zharov obtained his Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees at Moscow State Technical University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Lawrence National Laboratory of the University of California. He served as professor and chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Moscow University.

Since 2000, he has been a professor and director of the Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratories at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. Zharov has authored and co-authored five books, 40 patents, and published close to 200 papers. He is the principle investigator in 12 grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense. He has unique interdisciplinary skills in physics, biology and medicine.

Biris earned his Ph.D. at UALR and joined the faculty in 2006. He and his team have filed 11 patent applications in nanotechnology, bio-nanotechnology, space exploration, and materials science areas. He is fully involved in studying the interaction of nanomaterials with biological systems and using use such novel nanostructures for targeting and killing cancer cells. He has more than 160 papers published in peer reviewed journals or presented at international conferences.

He was part of the team that designed and developed a newly patented electrodynamic screen for space exploration in collaboration with NASA. Patent applications are pending on his new method and technology for producing large quantities of carbon nanotubes with high purity. He led the design and development of carbon nanostructures-based filters to efficiently remove bio-chemical contaminants from air and water.

In addition to his groundbreaking research and work with graduate and undergraguate students, Biris works one-on-one with gifted middle- and high school students in Arkansas.