The improving day calls me to other activities. I'm opening the Sunday line early. I may return. I may not. Meanwhile:
* REMEMBER CARIBOU BARBIE?Tom Cotton made Fox News' Sunday gasbag event yet again today, continuing signs that the Right Wing Establishment is pushing him hard as the candidate to oppose U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor in 2014. But let's not stop there. From Fox 16:
Cotton joined a panel that included liberal columnist Juan Williams and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. At the end of the segment, Kristol, who was chuckling at the time, said the GOP should go with a Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton presidential ticket in 2016.
Joking? Given Kristol's unstinting and unceasing praise of Cotton, I'm not so sure. Reminder: Bill Kristol is the man whose political acumen and good judgment lifted Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket in 2008.
* DEATH ON THE INTERSTATE: The Arkansas State Police sends words of an apparent homicide in Conway:
The Arkansas State Police wants to hear from anyone who was passing through Conway along Interstate 40 early this morning (Sunday, February 10th). What may have appeared to motorists as a drunk driver or a wrecked pick-up truck is now part of a homicide investigation.
State Troopers were dispatched shortly after 5 AM to a stretch of I-40 westbound at the 129 mile marker near Dave Ward Drive. A caller reported what appeared to be a drunk driver in the area, followed by a call of a wrecked black Nissan pick-up truck.
The first State Trooper on the scene found the driver of the truck. Jose Martinez, 31, of Conway was transported by ambulance from the scene and later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division are continuing their investigation but preliminarily suspect someone pulled-up along Martinez’s truck and shot him.
Martinez’s body has been transported to the State Crime Laboratory for an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.
Anyone with information about what they saw on the highway or if they know anything about the homicide can call (501) 618-8100.