Yearly Archives: 2011

Will Arkansas get Stokes to sign? CBS predicts the answer is no

November 9, 2011 – 9:19 am

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported today that Arkansas is after a top high school basketball player named Jarnell Stokes. My sources tell me he is leaning to signing with Kentucky. Below are the predictions of a sports writer from CBS.

By Jeff Borzello

Over the past few years, the early signing period in college basketball recruiting hasn’t had too much drama. With players making commitments earlier and earlier, the majority of the top-100 kids have pledged to a school prior to November. This year, though, has the potential to be different. Of our top 100 players in the class of 2012, 80 are already committed. Despite that, nine of the 24 five-star prospects are still open and several could be on the verge of announcing in the next couple of weeks.

Where do the 20 uncommitted players in our top 100 stand? Here’s a look at their recruitments – as well as where we think they will end up.

1. Shabazz Muhammad (No. 1 overall)

Considering: Kentucky, UCLA, Duke, Arizona, UNLV, Kansas, Texas A&M
Will wait until the spring to sign, and UCLA still seems like the leader. Kentucky, Duke, UNLV chasing.
Prediction: UCLA

2. Alex Poythress (No. 12)

Considering: Memphis, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida
Plans to announce on Thursday, with Memphis, Kentucky and Vanderbilt all feeling like they have a chance.
Prediction: Kentucky

3. Amile Jefferson (No. 13)

Considering: Connecticut, North Carolina State, Kentucky, Ohio State, Stanford
Doesn’t have a set date for his decision, but he will get it done in the early period. Wide open, but he visited NC State this past weekend.
Prediction: North Carolina State

4. Anthony Bennett (No. 14)

Considering: Florida, Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, UNLV, Washington, West Virginia
Don’t expect a quick resolution to this recruiting. Still very wide open, and will be a spring signee.
Prediction: Connecticut

5. Gary Harris (No. 15)

Considering: Michigan State, Purdue, Kentucky, Indiana
One of the most hotly-contested recruitments in the country, Harris is close to a decision. Up in the air at this point.
Prediction: Michigan State

6. Jarnell Stokes (No. 16)

Considering: Florida, Arkansas, Memphis, Kentucky, Tennessee
Kentucky turning up the heat on Stokes recently makes this recruitment even tougher to read, as Arkansas and Memphis were the favorites.
Prediction: Memphis

7. Robert Carter (No. 19)

Considering: Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Florida State
Will announce his decision on Thursday, in Atlanta. Georgia Tech has emerged as the leader heading down the stretch.
Prediction: Georgia Tech

8. Devonta Pollard (No. 20)

Considering: Kentucky, Georgetown, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Texas, Alabama, Marquette
Because Pollard plays football, he’s not very focused on recruiting right now. Will be a spring signee, with the SEC looking likely.
Prediction: Kentucky

9. Tony Parker (No. 22)

Considering: Duke, Memphis, UCLA, Ohio State, Georgetown
This is an interesting recruitment, with plenty of twists and turns. Has taken multiple visits, with the most recent coming to Duke.

Prediction: Duke

10. Robert Upshaw (No. 40)

Considering: Kansas State, Fresno State, Georgetown, Louisville
Down to four and likely to make a decision in the next week or two. Fresno native has his hometown school high, but Louisville also feels good.
Prediction: Louisville

11. Torian Graham (No. 41)

Considering: Maryland, Texas
Since Graham decommitted from North Carolina State, there hasn’t been much about his recruitment. Maryland has made a good push.
Prediction: Maryland

12. Savon Goodman (No. 49)

Considering: Temple, USC, Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova, Pittsburgh
Former Villanova commit has taken time off from the recruiting circuit to focus on academics, but he might have to reclassify.
Prediction: Reclassify to 2013

13. Andrew White (No. 51)

Considering: Kansas, Texas, Georgetown, Louisville, North Carolina State, Richmond
Still wide open and with no favorites, White looks like he will end his recruitment fairly soon. Plenty of high-major schools coming on strong.
Prediction: Richmond

14. Ricardo Gathers (No. 52)

Considering: St. John’s, Texas, LSU
Gathers decommitted from St. John’s on Tuesday evening, announcing that he would sign in the spring. Unclear who’s now in the mix.
Prediction: LSU?

15. Winston Shepard (No. 53)

Considering: New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Oklahoma State, Georgia, UNLV, UTEP, San Diego State
Another West coast kid that will likely wait until the spring, Shepard still plans on taking more official visits.
Prediction: New Mexico

16. Zena Edosomwan (No. 62)

Considering: USC, California, Washington, Harvard, Texas
This one won’t end until the spring. USC is definitely in a strong position, but look out for Harvard – if he gets admitted to the school.
Prediction: Harvard

17. Wanaah Bail (No. 74)

Considering: Oregon, Texas Tech, Houston
It looked like Bail was going to make a decision last month, but he pushed it back and now looks to be wide open in the process.
Prediction: Oregon

18. Nino Jackson (No. 76)

Considering: Kansas, Missouri, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
It’s really difficult to get a read on Jackson’s recruitment, as he didn’t play AAU and took awhile to decide on a high school.
Prediction: Junior college/Prep

19. Charles Mitchell (No. 92)

Considering: Seton Hall, Maryland, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Florida State
There hasn’t been a ton of action in his recruitment lately, outside of a visit to Seton Hall. Could become a hotter commodity late.
Prediction: Tennessee

20. Philip Nolan (No. 93)

Considering: Clemson, Marquette, Minnesota, Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
Another player who hasn’t advanced much in the process. Seems fickle about making a decision early, which could scare some away.
Prediction: Marquette

Photos: Las Vegas Sun, ESPN.com, Nation of Blue, LA Daily News

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Rex Nelson on the Battle of the Ravine (Part 1)

November 9, 2011 – 7:12 am

Rex Nelson knows more about the “Battle of the Ravine” than anyone else.

College football: Week 11 (Battle of the Ravine)

It’s the week of the Battle of the Ravine, the most unique rivalry in all of college football.

Ouachita Baptist University vs. Henderson State University.

The game will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ouachita’s A.U. Williams Field in Arkadelphia.

If you’ve never been to one of these games, you owe it to yourself to attend.

Remember, it was on my Arkansas bucket list.

Larry Lacewell told me recently, “That was among the things I always wanted to go to. I never did it because I was coaching all those years. Last year, I picked up the paper, saw that it was Battle of the Ravine day and drove to Arkadelphia. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.”

The weather should be nice Saturday. And the 1 p.m. kickoff allows even those who live in Little Rock to be back home in time to watch the 5 p.m. Arkansas-Tennessee game on television.

Get there early. There will be a large tailgate party with all kinds of food available. The party will begin at 10 a.m. on the Henderson side of U.S. Highway 67.

You can park on either the Henderson side or the Ouachita side and walk to the game.

At about 11:45 a.m., the Henderson Reddies will walk to a road game.

Think about that for a moment.

Not fly. Not bus.

This is a college football rivalry in which the visiting team simply walks across the street.

It’s something every college football fan should see.

Also consider that the two schools have played each other in football 84 times through the years and the series is dead even at 39-39-6.

Dead even for a series that began in 1895: Isn’t that amazing?

The game has been decided by a touchdown or less 37 times through the years with Ouachita holding a 19-12-6 advantage in the close games.

Add to all of the tradition the fact that these are the two best Division II football teams in Arkansas this year.

Ouachita has already wrapped up the first Great American Conference title with records of 7-2 overall and 6-0 in conference play. Henderson would love nothing more than to cost the Tigers a trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The series was suspended due to excessive vandalism from 1951 until 1963. I grew up about a block from A.U. Williams Field. I lived in Washington, D.C., for a few years in the 1980s, but I’ve only missed three of these games since the series resumed in 1963. I was 4 years old at the time. That means this will be my 46th Battle of the Ravine.

I hope you’ll join me in Arkadelphia on Saturday. You won’t regret it.

We were 7-2 on picks last week, making the record 66-18 for the season.

On to the picks for Week 11:

Arkansas 44, Tennessee 21 — The Hogs looked much better at home against South Carolina than they had looked in victories on the road at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Poor Tennessee. This once-proud program finds itself without a victory in Southeastern Conference play. How bad has it gotten in Knoxville? Consider this: The starting kicker injured his leg in practice on Thursday of last week. The backup kicker pulled a muscle while warming up Saturday. Coach Derek Dooley had a nose guard practicing kicks while he made a call on his cell phone to the campus police. He asked the police to escort a redshirt freshman kicker named Derrick Brodus from his fraternity house to Neyland Stadium. That led to this great quote from Dooley: “It’s a good thing he wasn’t having too much fun on a Saturday afternoon. I told the coaches an intoxicated Brodus is better than nobody. Just get him here.”

Ouachita 31, Henderson 30 — This game should be close. This will only be Ouachita’s fourth home game of the season. The Tigers went on the road six times in an eight-week period and compiled a record of 5-1 in those six road games. They only lost at Delta State, the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II. Ouachita is the only college program at any level in the state to have compiled four consecutive winning seasons. The Tigers defeated Southeastern Oklahoma, 21-18, in Durant, Okla., last Saturday to secure the GAC crown. Henderson, meanwhile, posted a 16-10 nonconference victory over McKendree.

Arkansas State 32, Louisiana-Lafayette 28 — This is a huge game for the Red Wolves as they seek to win a Sun Belt Conference championship in the first year of the Hugh Freeze era. ASU is still alone atop the conference standings following a 39-21 win at Florida Atlantic. The Red Wolves are 7-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play. That’s the best start for an Arkansas State team since 1986. Louisiana-Lafayette comes to Jonesboro with records of 8-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play. ASU quarterback Ryan Aplin was 24 of 27 passing last Saturday for 244 yards and one touchdown. Meanwhile, the Ragin’ Cajuns scored two touchdowns in the final minutes of Saturday’s home finale for a 36-35 win over Louisiana-Monroe. Louisiana-Lafayette scored a touchdown with 2:05 left, recovered an onside kick and then scored again. The home crowd in Jonesboro (Hugh has them believing in northeast Arkansas) on Saturday afternoon should help the Red Wolves.

UCA 27, Texas State 24 — The Bears end the regular season with an important nonconference game against Texas State, a former Southland Conference opponent that’s moving up to the WAC. The game is important because the Bears need to win Saturday to be eligible for the playoffs. It would have to be an at-large berth, though, since Sam Houston State clinched the Southland Conference’s automatic berth last Saturday. Sam Houston would need to lose to Northwestern State this weekend for the Bears to win a share of the conference title. UCA won its sixth consecutive game last Saturday, 45-20 over Northwestern State. Texas State is 6-4. The wins have come by scores of 38-28 over Tarleton State, 35-26 over Stephen F. Austin, 38-12 over Nicholls, 21-14 over McNeese State, 46-21 over Lamar and 34-26 over Prairie View A&M. The losses have come by scores of 50-10 to Texas Tech, 45-10 to Wyoming, 38-28 to Southeastern Louisiana and 23-10 to Northwestern State.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Brantley condemns Mississippi personhood amendment because it “gives the status of a human being to a zygote” (Part 2)

November 9, 2011 – 5:12 am

 

Max Brantley (Arkansas Times Blog, Nov 8, 2011) wrote:

The world will watch today as Mississippi votes on a “personhood” amendment that begins protection at fertilization. It, in short, gives the status of a human being to a zygote.

_____________

Sometimes I wonder how we got to this place where the preborn are discarded? The answer is very simple. In the USA and in the western world we used to have a worldview that included biblical values. However, our worldview changed when we abandoned the view that the God of the Bible exists and have embraced the closed system view.

I am sharing with you a film series that I saw in 1979. In this film Francis Schaeffer asserted that was a shift in Modern Science.

 A. Change in conviction from earlier modern scientists.

B. From an open to a closed natural system: elimination of belief in a Creator.

1. Closed system derives not from the findings of science but from philosophy.

2. Now there is no place for the significance of Man, for morals, or for love.

C. Darwin taught that all life evolved through the survival of the fittest.

1. Serious problems inherent in Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism.

This is probably one of the most important episodes in the series.

E P I S O D E 6

How Should We Then Live 6#1

T h e

SCIENTIFIC AGE

I. Church Attacks on Copernican Science Were Philosophical

Galileo’s and Copernicus’ works did not contradict the Bible but the elements of Aristotle’s teaching which had entered the Church.

II. Examples of Biblical Influence

A. Pascal’s work.

1. First successful barometer; great writing of French prose.

2. Understood Man’s uniqueness: Man could contemplate, and Man had value to God.

B. Newton

1. Speed of sound and gravity.

2. For Newton and the other early scientists, no problem concerning the why, because they began with the existence of a personal God who had created the universe.

C. Francis Bacon

1. Stressed careful observation and systematic collection of information.

2. Bacon and the other early scientists took the Bible seriously, including its teaching concerning history and the cosmos.

D. Faraday

1. Crowning discovery was the induction of the electric current.

2. As a Christian, believed God’s Creation is for all men to understand and enjoy, not just for a scientific elite.

III. Scientific Aspects of Biblical Influence

A. Oppenheimer and Whitehead: biblical foundations of scientific revolution.

B. Not all early scientists individually Christian, but all lived within Christian thought forms. This gave a base for science to continue and develop.

C. The contrast between Christian-based science and Chinese and Arab science.

D. Christian emphasis on an ordered Creation reflects nature of reality and is therefore acted upon in all cultures, regardless of what they say their world view is.

1. Einstein’s theory of relativity does not imply relative universe.

2. Man acts on assumption of order, whether he likes it or not.

3. Master idea of biblical science.

a) Uniformity of natural causes in an open system: cause and effect works, but God and Man not trapped in a process.

b) All that exists is not a total cosmic machine.

c) Human choices therefore have meaning and effect.

d) The cosmic machine and the machines people make therefore not a threat.

IV. Shift in Modern Science

A. Change in conviction from earlier modern scientists.

B. From an open to a closed natural system: elimination of belief in a Creator.

1. Closed system derives not from the findings of science but from philosophy.

2. Now there is no place for the significance of Man, for morals, or for love.

C. Darwin taught that all life evolved through the survival of the fittest.

1. Serious problems inherent in Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism.

2. Extension of natural selection to society, politics and ethnics.

(John Lennox discusses the fact that evolution requires faith)

D. Natural selection and Nazi ideology.

E. The new authoritarianism: not the crudely dictatorial regimes of Hitler and Stalin. New regimes will be subtly manipulative, based on sophisticated arsenal of new techniques now available.

1. To obtain organs for transplants forces acceptance of new definition of death. Possible abuses.

2. Without the absolute line which Christianity gives of the total uniqueness of Man, people have no boundary line between what they can do and what they should do.

3. Moral and legal implications of Artificial Insemination by Donor (A.I.D.)

4. Skinner’s social psychology and the abolition of Man.

5. Tell people they are machines and they will tend to act accordingly.

 

6. Each theory of conditioning leads to social application.

a) Koestler: tranquilizer to cure human aggression.

b) Clark and Lee: controlling aggressions of politicians.

c) Kranty: control reproduction through the water supply.

7. Who controls the controllers? —The unasked question.

a) The basic question begged: the psycho-civilizer as King?

b) If people are machines, why should biological continuation have value?

V. Need to Reaffirm That  Which Was the Original Base for Modern Science

(John Lennox noted that Richard Dawkins admits that you can not have values based on absolutes and they can not have purpose in life.)

Questions

1. Explain the important contributions to science made by biblical principles.

2. How should our knowledge of the biblical view of work and nature affect our own attitudes to research, study of the Bible, and the use of our minds?

3. Does this segment help you to understand how and why men of great intellectual refinement in Nazi Germany could accept what was going on?

4. “Without the absolute line which Christianity gives of the total uniqueness of Man, people have no boundary line between what they can do and what they should do.” Discuss.

Key Events and Persons

Copernicus: 1475-1543

Francis Bacon: 1561-1626

Novum Organum Scientiarum: 1620

Galileo: 1564-1642

Pascal: 1623-1662

Isaac Newton: 1642-1727

Principia Mathematica: 1687

Michael Faraday: 1791-1867

Charles Darwin: 1809-1882

Origin of Species: 1859

Herbert Spencer: 1820-1903

Albert Einstein: 1879-1955

Russel Lee: 1895-

Heinrich Himmler: 1900-1945

B.F. Skinner: 1904-1990

Arthur Koestler: 1905-

Kenneth B. Clark: 1914-

Murray Eden: 1920-

Kermit Kranty: 1923-

Skinner’s Beyond Freedom and Dignity: 1971

Further Study

Robin Briggs, ed., The Scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (1969).

E.A. Burtt, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science (1932).

Arthur Koestler, The Watershed. A Biography of Johannes Kepler (1960).

Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the Machine (1967).

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (1945).

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1972).

D.M. Mackay, The Clockwork Image (1974).

Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution. Wistar Symposium

Monograph, no. 5 (1967).

B.F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971).

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Allen acts silly in 1971 interview (Part 1)

November 9, 2011 – 12:00 am

“Woody Wednesday” Allen acts silly in 1971 interview (Part 1)

Woody Allen interview 1971 PART 1/4

Uploaded by on Jul 21, 2008

Woody Allen interview from 1971, just after the worldwide release of ‘Bananas’

__________________________

Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of Woody Allen’s best films.

In the late ’60s, Woody Allen left the world of stand-up comedy behind for the movies. Since then, he’s become one of American cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers. Sure, he’s had his stinkers and his private life hasn’t been without controversy. But he’s also crafted some of Hollywood’s most thought-provoking comedies. Philosophical, self-deprecating and always more than a tad pessimistic, Allen adds another title to his oeuvre this Friday with Midnight in Paris. Whether it will be remembered as one of his greatest or another flop is too early to say, but its release gives us a chance to look back at some of his most indispensable works.

Love and Death (1975)

Allen’s Love and Death owes a lot to Tolstoy’s War and Peace and the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Death himself even makes an appearance, recalling the existential dread of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. But despite the movie’s many highbrow allusions, Allen is more concerned with simply having a good time. Gags and one-liners abound, making it, if not a comic masterpiece, a pretty good way to spend an hour and a half.

Annie Hall (1977)

Like Love and Death, this Oscar winner paired Allen and Diane Keaton as a couple. But unlike Love and Death, it’s less concerned with throw-away gags. Instead, Allen uses humor to explore the complicated nature of relationships and the difficulties of love and communication. And of course, there’s also his trademark pessimism. The film begins with a joke about two women on vacation in the Catskills. One says to the other, “Boy, the food in this place is terrible,” and the other replies, “Yeah I know, and such small portions.” Allen’s character, Alvy Singer, goes on to say, “That’s essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness—and it’s all over much too quickly.” In the end, Alvy’s salvation lies in art, for only there can he give life the happy ending it can’t have otherwise.

Related posts:

“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

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Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop were prophetic (jh29)

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“Woody Wednesday” Allen is searching for satisfaction in wrong place jh17

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“Woody Wednesday” Allen realizes if God doesn’t exist then all is meaningless (jh 15)

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“Woody Wednesday” How Allen’s film “Crimes and Misdemeanors makes the point that hell is necessary (jh 14)

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Agnostic Allen notes, “The people who successfully delude themselves seem happier than the people who can’t” (Woody Wednesday Part 5)

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A review of Woody Allen’s latest movie “Midnight in Paris” (Woody Wednesday Part 4)

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Woody Allen films and the issue of guilt (Woody Wednesday Part 3)

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According to Woody Allen Life is meaningless (Woody Wednesday Part 2)

Woody Allen, the film writer, director, and actor, has consistently populated his scripts with characters who exchange dialogue concerning meaning and purpose. In Hannah and Her Sisters a character named Mickey says, “Do you realize what a thread were all hanging by? Can you understand how meaningless everything is? Everything. I gotta get some answers.”{7} […]

“Woody Wednesday” Part 1 starts today, Complete listing of all posts on the historical people mentioned in “Midnight in Paris”

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By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Liberals’ solution for the poor is more welfare, but that will not work

November 8, 2011 – 9:10 pm

Milton Friedman’s solution to limiting poverty

Liberals like Michael Cook just don’t get it. They should listen to Milton Friedman (who is quoted in this video below concerning the best way to limit poverty).

New Video Shows the War on Poverty Is a Failure

Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has released another “Economics 101″ video, and this one has a very powerful message about the federal government’s so-called War on Poverty.

As explained by Hadley Heath of the Independent Women’s Forum, the various income redistribution schemes being imposed by Washington are bad for taxpayers — and bad for poor people.

Free Markets, Not Redistribution, Is Best Way to Reduce Poverty

Uploaded by  on Oct 3, 2011

The so-called War on Poverty has failed. Making government bigger and creating more federal redistribution programs has been bad news for taxpayers. But the welfare state also has been a disaster for the less fortunate, creating a flypaper effect that makes it difficult for people to lead independent and self-reliant lives. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video shows how the poverty rate was falling after World War II — but then stagnated once the federal government got involved. www.freedomandprosperity.org

_____________________________

___________

The video has a plethora of useful information, but the data on the poverty rate is particularly compelling. Prior to the War on Poverty, the United States was getting more prosperous with each passing year and there were dramatic reductions in the level of destitution.

But once the federal government got involved in the mid-1960s, the good news evaporated. Indeed, the poverty rate has basically stagnated for the past 40-plus years, usually hovering around 13 percent depending on economic conditions.

Another remarkable finding in the video is that poor people in America rarely suffer from material deprivation. Indeed, they have wide access to consumer goods that used to be considered luxuries – and they also have more housing space than the average European (and with Europe falling apart, the comparisons presumably will become even more noteworthy).

The most important message of the video, however, is that small government and economic freedom are the best answers for poverty. As Hadley explains, poor people can be liberated to live meaningful, self-reliant lives if we can reduce the heavy burden of the federal government.

Last but not least, the video doesn’t address every issue in great detail, and there are three additional points that should be added to any discussion of poverty.

  1. The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salariesadministering various programs.
  2. The Obama Administration is looking to re-define poverty in a way that would expand the welfare state andincrease the burden of redistribution programs.
  3. The welfare reform legislation of the 1990s was a small step in the right direction because it eliminated a federal entitlement and shifted responsibility back to the state level. This success story should be replicated for programs such as Medicaid.

This last point is worth emphasizing because it is also one of the core messages of the video. The federal government has done a terrible job dealing with poverty. The time has come to get Washington out of the racket of income redistribution.

Related posts by Milton Friedman. Pay attention to posts about poverty or FREE TO CHOOSE episode on “Cradle to Grave.”

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 Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan Liberals like President Obama (and John Brummett) want to shoot for an equality of outcome. That system does not work. In fact, our free society allows for the closest gap between the wealthy and the poor. Unlike other countries where free enterprise and other freedoms are not present.  This is a seven part series. […]

Ernest Istook of the Heritage Foundation speaks in Little Rock on 6-22-11 (Part 2)

The third monthly luncheon with featured speaker Ernest Istook was excellent. First, we got to hear from Dave Elswick of KARN   who came up with the idea of this luncheon, and then from Teresa Crossland of Americans for Prosperity. Below is a portion of Istook’s biography from the Heritage Foundation: Ernest Istook Distinguished Fellow Government Studies Ernest […]

Milton Friedman Friday:(“Free to Choose” episode 4 – From Cradle to Grave, Part 2 of 7)

 I am currently going through his film series “Free to Choose” which is one the most powerful film series I have ever seen. For the past 7 years Maureen Ramsey has had to buy food and clothes for her family out of a government handout. For the whole of that time, her husband, Steve, hasn’t […]

The poor in the USA have best chance in the world to go up

I love Milton Friedman’s film series “Free to Choose.” In that film series over and over it is shown that the ability to move from poor to rich is more abundant here than any other country in the world. This article below reminded me of that that. Are Poor Really Helpless Without Government? By Michael […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Cato Institute, Current Events, Milton Friedman | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Duggars expecting another baby (related links to Duggars)

November 8, 2011 – 2:47 pm

The Arkansas Times Blog reported today:

EXPECTING 20th: Michelle Duggar

  • EXPECTING 20th: Michelle Duggar

People magazine reports that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting their 20th child this spring. She’s 45 and had a rough time with her 19th, Josie, born prematurely weighing 22 ounces

Link includes video to TLC, where the Duggar-based reality show airs.

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Related links with the Duggars:

Duggars expecting another baby (related links to Duggars)

The Arkansas Times Blog reported today: EXPECTING 20th: Michelle Duggar People magazine reports that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting their 20th child this spring. She’s 45 and had a rough time with her 19th, Josie, born prematurely weighing 22 ounces Link includes video to TLC, where the Duggar-based reality show airs. ______________________ Related […]

Crowd at Occupy Arkansas pales in comparison to annual pro-life march

Demonstrators march through the streets of Little Rock on Saturday in a protest organized by Occupy Little Rock. (John Lyon photo) Occupy Arkansas got cranked up today in Little Rock with their first march and several hundred showed up. It was unlike the pro-life marches that I have been a part of that have had […]

Pro-life marchers turn to prayer

What Ever Happened to the Human Race? Jason Tolbert told a  story about pro-life marchers and their tactic of prayer: OWNER TURNS SPRINKLERS ON PRO-LIFE PRAYER VIGIL In July, I wrote about a new movement springing up in Arkansas that seeks to combat abortion not with violent protest, but with peaceful prayer demonstrations.  It is called “40 […]

Duggar’s first grandson born

TLC stars Josh and Anna Duggar with their newborn son — TLC I was walking at the Another Duggar Baby! Josh & Anna Duggar Welcome Baby Boy Yahoo News reported: The Duggar family continues to grow! Josh Duggar, 23, – the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle – and wife Anna, 22, welcomed their […]

Atheists confronted: How I confronted Carl Sagan the year before he died jh47

In today’s news you will read about Kirk Cameron taking on the atheist Stephen Hawking over some recent assertions he made concerning the existence of heaven. Back in December of 1995 I had the opportunity to correspond with Carl Sagan about a year before his untimely death. Sarah Anne Hughes in her article,”Kirk Cameron criticizes […]

Fox 16:Biased reporting on Marches

Rep. Tim Griffin and Lt. Gov. Mark Darr at the Arkansas March for Life in Little Rock from Tolbert Report. Go to Fox 16 website and you will read this story below and watch a video clip on both marches. What you will not read is the fact that only 150 people showed up for […]

33rd ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE:Little Rock Sun 2pm begins at Capital and Louisiana Streets

HALT:HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com President Obama on abortion Adrian Rogers (former President of Southern Baptist Convention): “I am not as afraid of the Communist, the Russians, the Chinese, as much as I am afraid of God.  If God be for us, who can be against us?  If God be against us, then who can be for us?  It […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Prolife | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Brantley condemns Mississippi personhood amendment because it “gives the status of a human being to a zygote” (Part 1)

November 8, 2011 – 1:44 pm

Liberals are really up in arms about what is happening in Mississippi. Max Brantley (Arkansas Times Blog, Nov 8, 2011) wrote:

The world will watch today as Mississippi votes on a “personhood” amendment that begins protection at fertilization. It, in short, gives the status of a human being to a zygote.

When does personhood begin?

Science Matters: Former supermodel Kathy Ireland tells Mike Huckabee about how she became pro-life after reading what the science books have to say.

My good friend Dr. Kevin R. Henke is a scientist and also an atheistic evolutionist. I had a lot of discussions with Kevin over religious views. I remember going over John 7:17 with him one day. It says:

John 7:17 (Amplified Bible)

17If any man desires to do His will (God’s pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My own accord and on My own authority.

I challenged Kevin to read a chapter a day of the Book of John and pray to God and ask God, “Dear God, if you are there then reveal yourself to me, and I pledge to serve you the rest of my life.”

Kevin did that and he even wrote down the thoughts that came to his mind and sent it to me and these thoughts filled a notebook.

Kevin did not become a Christian, but I am still praying for him. I do respect Kevin because he is an honest man. Interestingly enough he  told me that he was pro-life because the unborn baby has all the genetic code at  the time of conception that they will have for the rest of their life. Below are some other comments by other scientists:

Dr. Hymie Gordon (Mayo Clinic): “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”

Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth (Harvard University Medical School): “It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.”

Dr. Alfred Bongioanni (University of Pennsylvania): “I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception.”

Dr. Jerome LeJeune, “the Father of Modern Genetics” (University of Descartes, Paris): “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion . . . it is plain experimental evidence.”

Back on April 27, 2009 Fox News ran a story by Hollie McKay(“Supermodel Kathy Ireland Lashes Out Against Pro Choice,”) on Jill Ireland.

It’s no secret that the majority of Hollywood stars are strong advocates for a woman’s right to choose whether or not she wants to terminate a pregnancy, however former “Sports Illustrated” supermodel-turned-entrepreneur-turned-author Kathy Ireland has gone against the grain of the glitterati and spoken out against abortion.

“My entire life I was pro-choice — who was I to tell another woman what she could or couldn’t do with her body? But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I dove into the medical books, I dove into science,” Ireland told Tarts while promoting her insightful new book “Real Solutions for Busy Mom: Your Guide to Success and Sanity.”

“What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there, the DNA is determined, the blood type is determined, the sex is determined, the unique set of fingerprints that nobody has had or ever will have is already there.”

However Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life.

“I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time,” Ireland argued. “I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue.”

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Mike Huckabee, Prolife | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Johnny Majors speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 3)

November 8, 2011 – 7:30 am

I heard Johnny Majors speak at the November 7, 2011 Little Rock Touchdown Club. He talked about his respect for Frank Broyles and the great coach he was. He also said he saw a lot of those same great qualities in Derek Dooley.

Uploaded by  on Sep 3, 2010

Johnny Majors from Huntland, TN tried out for the UT Football team weighing 150 pounds. His Father, Shirley Majors his HS Coach,encourage him and then 4 younger brothers all to be Vols. Johnny Majors was the runner-up in 1956 for the Heisman Trophy to Paul Horning, on a loosing Notre Dame team. So much for Northern politics with writers.

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Majors: Dooley needs time

By Jeff Halpern

LITTLE ROCK — Johnny Majors played and coached at Tennessee and was an assistant at Arkansas. So when he sees the Tennessee Volunteers struggle, he knows what it is going to take for second-year coach Derek Dooley to turn things around.

Time.

Majors, 76, is retired and living in Knoxville, Tenn., and he understands where the Volunteers (4-5, 0-5 SEC) are at going into Saturday’s game against BCS No. 8 Arkansas (8-1, 4-1 SEC) in Fayetteville.

“The thing is, Derek Dooley inherited a program that was going downhill,” said Majors, the guest speaker Monday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club luncheon.

Majors said Tennessee’s slide began under Phil Fulmer. Lane Kiffin was hired to replace Fulmer, but Kiffin stayed for only the 2009 season before bolting for the head coaching job at Southern California.

Majors said he believes Kiffin would have stopped the slide had he stayed, but his sudden departure set the program back even more.

“Derek lost about a half a dozen players who either didn’t pan out or got hurt, and you can’t rebuild a program in a year or two,” Majors said. “It’s going to take at least three to four to be solid.

“So whenever people ask if Tennessee will be patient to give Derek Dooley the time to turn things around, I tell them they don’t have any choice but to give him time.”

Dooley, the son of former Georgia Coach Vince Dooley, is 10-12 overall and 3-10 in SEC games.

“He is intelligent and has a good background,” Majors said. “He worked seven years for Nick Saban at LSU and at the Miami Dolphins, so you know he has to be tough.”

Injuries also have been a problem of late. The Volunteers lost wide receiver Justin Hunter to a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament Sept. 17 in a 33-23 loss at Florida. Quarterback Tyler Bray broke his thumb in a 20-12 loss to Georgia on Oct. 8, leaving Matt Simms and Justin Worley to fill in.

Tennessee has had its moments this season. The Vols went into halftime tied 3-3 with Alabama before eventually losing 37-6. It held LSU scoreless in the first quarter but eventually were defeated 38-7.

“I told Derek after the LSU game that I know what he’s going through and have been there before, and that this, too, shall pass,” Majors said.

Under Majors, Tennessee was becaame of the premier teams in the country.

Tennessee went 116-62-8 from 1977-1992 and won three SEC titles with Majors as coach. Under Fulmer, Tennessee went 152-52-1, won two SEC titles and the 1998 national championship.

However, Tennessee went 29-21 overall and 17-15 in SEC games in Fulmer’s last four seasons, including losing seasons in 2005 (5-6) and 2008 (5-7). The Volunteers went 7-6 in Kiffin’s lone season, and they were 6-7 under Dooley last season.

“The thing I saw was recruiting went down the last few years under Fulmer,” Majors told members of the media after Monday’s luncheon. “I would work as an unpaid consultant for the East-West Shrine Game, and we would have at least 100 scouts and they would tell me that things were going down under Fulmer.

“It didn’t seem like they were doing a good job of evaluating prospects and had many discipline problems on and off the field and were beating themselves.

“You don’t win by accident, and you don’t lose by accident.”

While Majors didn’t mention Fulmer by name during his speech, it is no secret he and Fulmer, his offensive line coach from 1980-1988 and offensive coordinator from 1989-1992, do not get along.

Majors was forced to resign late in the 1992 season after the Volunteers went 2-3 following his return from heart surgery after Fulmer had guided Tennessee to a 3-0 start. Majors felt Fulmer maneuvered to get the head coaching job while he was recovering from surgery and that a promise was broken about a new seven-year contract.

When asked Monday about his relationship with Fulmer, he left little doubt about whether those feelings still lingered.

“I don’t need to go into that,” Majors said.

This article was published today at 5:08 a.m.

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Johnny Majors was a great quarterback for Tennessee.

Image Detail

 
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

“Tip Tuesday” Advice to Gene Simmons (Part 18)

November 8, 2011 – 12:50 am

Below is an article on the show: (This came out several months ago)

Gene Simmons gets ‘whipped’ on ‘Family Jewels’

Amanda Edwards / Getty Images Contributor

Gene Simmons took his son Nick to Israel, where the KISS frontman was born.

By Randee Dawn, TODAY.com contributor

It seemed that “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” might end prematurely: After Simmons’ longtime partner Shannon Tweed stormed off the set during an interview, the couple seemed on the verge of breaking up.

But for Simmons (who remains with Tweed), it’s all in a day’s work on the show, now in its sixth season.

“I get a good a**-whipping every episode,” he told TODAY.com. “In a very real way, the show forces me to confront real issues that you may take for granted.”

He said seeing himself on the show has made him “more reflective” on his own behavior.

“It’s one thing to live through it, and another when you sit down and watch it,” he said. “This way I can see how (Shannon) feels about it, and how I come off. It’s like having a separate pair of eyes watching me. Usually we’re too busy being ourselves to see ourselves.”

In this week’s episode (“Blood Is Thicker Than Hummus,” airing Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on A&E) though, Simmons ended up looking not just inside himself, but at his history. In the episode, Simmons, Tweed and their son Nick return to Israel, where Simmons was born. The musician, 61, had not visited since he emigrated with his mother at age 8.

“I came from a small town outside Haifa, which you can’t even pronounce or spell, but now it’s a modern place,” he said. “I remember hills and dirt roads.”

It was all a surprise planned by Tweed. “I knew nothing. We just went with the TV show because she thought I should visit my homeland. She also thought it was important for Nick to get a sense of where one of his parents came from. Shannon planned the whole thing – she was sneaky.”

Sophie, the couple’s daughter, was “stuck in school” and did not accompany them.

Tweed also engineered a family reunion: Simmons met a half-brother and half-sisters he never knew he had, and learned that his father, who left him and his mother when Simmons was around 7, had been married “as many as” six times.

“Who knows how many other kids he’s got?” said Simmons.

That’s all heavy stuff to show up on camera around the world, but the KISS leader takes it in stride.

“I don’t like it, but it’s necessary,” he said. “It’s important to get a sense of who came before you and why.”

Still, he added, “Celebrities – methinks they protest too much. When they don’t get attention, they complain. When they get too much attention, they complain. It’s just about complaining. I’m a lucky bastard, and anything’s OK with me. My hair’s all messed up in every episode, and I don’t care. I’m OK even if they visit me in the loo.”

_____________________________________

THE REASON THAT GENE IS GETTING BEAT UP ON THE TV SHOW EVERY WEEK IS BECAUSE HE STILL BELIEVES HE HAS THE RIGHT TO HAVE AFFAIRS.

My advice to Gene Simmons is very simple. Ann Wexler mentioned to him that there is a point where you have enough money and should turn your attention to other important things in his life like relationships. She implies that Gene is being selfish.

_____________________________-

Many times when a marriage is falling apart there is lots of selfishness that comes out in the open. It may be that a love of money is exposed or it may be a desire to satisfy carnal desires.

Here are some important points.  First, we are to be married and faithful to one lady. Gene has been having occasional affairs and deep down thinks he deserves the right to do this. However, that is not the plan that God has for us.

Second, we are to love our wife as Christ loves the church and that means we love her more than anything even money.

Brandon Barnard in his message “The Battle for Purity” at Fellowship Bible Church on July 24 said there were two paths. The path of impurity and the path of purity. Last time we looked at the path of impurity and today we want to look at the path of purity.

THOSE ON THE PATHWAY TO PURITY WILL PURSUE ALL PLEASURE IN CHRIST AND TAKE GREAT DELIGHT IN THEIR SPOUSE ALONE AND DRINK WATER FROM YOUR OWN CISTERN AND REJOICE IN THE WIFE OF YOUR YOUTH.

Proverbs 5:15-20 states:

15Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16Should your springs be scattered abroad,
   streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

19a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated[a] always in her love.
20Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[b]

Adrian Rogers – [2/3] How to Cultivate a Marriage

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

99th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s birth (Part 21) (“Free to Choose” episode 3 – Anatomy of a Crisis. part 7of 7)

November 8, 2011 – 12:08 am

Milton Friedman was born on July 31, 1912 and he died November 16, 2006. I started posting tributes of him on July 31 and I hope to continue them until his 100th birthday. Here is another tribute below:

TEMIN: We don’t think the big capital arose before the government did?
VON HOFFMAN: Listen, what are we doing here? I mean __ defending big government is like defending death and taxes. When was the last time you met anybody that was in favor of big government?
FRIEDMAN: Today, today I met Bob Lekachman, I met __
LEKACHMAN: But that’s not to say __ with discrimination __not per se.
VON HOFFMAN: You’re in favor of certain functions __
FRIEDMAN: I make a living by making distinctions, after all. Certainly not without qualification.
MCKENZIE: Von Hoffman, you have the floor.
VON HOFFMAN: What I was going to say is, I think most of us are not in favor of big government as a theory. The question that keeps haunting me here is, how do you, going back to your question of just the monetary regulation, how do you make __ and let’s assume that you can really, we’ll go a step further and we’ll say __ we’ll go all the way with you. We will install that mechanism. What makes you think that when the storms arise that, that the people running that mechanism are not going to misread, just as they did in the past?
FRIEDMAN: Because I’m gonna have __ if I had my way I would have a mechanism which didn’t require them to read anything.
VON HOFFMAN: In other words, simply a money formula.
FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.
VON HOFFMAN: Is cranked out in relation to the GNP regardless.
FRIEDMAN: Right.
TEMIN: The question is: How are you going to keep from tampering with this black box? Would you have a thing __
FRIEDMAN: I’m not gonna have a black box; I’m gonna have a very visible system. I have written out, as you know __
TEMIN: No, I know. Yeah, but the question is, no, you have the rule __
FRIEDMAN: __ at relative great length and precise details on what I would do.
TEMIN: __ it will calculate this, but then there’s going to be someone who’ll come in, the people that you dislike, they’ll say, “But we could do it a little bit better by doing it this way or that way.”
FRIEDMAN: Of course. Of course.
TEMIN: How will you keep them from doing it?
FRIEDMAN: Well, in the only way in which you can do it in a democratic society, by establishing both a written and an unwritten __ and the unwritten is just as important as the written __ an unwritten constitution on the part of the public at large, an acceptance of the view, that this is not what people in government ought to be doing. That it’s their problem
VON HOFFMAN: A highly sacred measure of __
FRIEDMAN: Well, if you want, but not necessarily sacred in the theological sense.
JAY: It’s unfair of people to say, Professor Friedman, he’s a bad doctor because people won’t actually take his medicine. I mean that is, that is not fair. But it does seem to me, and I say it again, that to reduce the whole debate to one, are you in favor of big government or small government, as though that is the only interesting or important political-economic choice we had to make, is very foolish.
FRIEDMAN: That is very foolish. I agree.
JAY: But __ and if you put it in that form, in practice in democratic societies, people will go on backing, supporting, and paying for big government. Because unless you __ in addition to pointing out the errors, defects, weaknesses, fallibilities, failures or government, you also describe in some detail, and to some attraction, the other changes that you’re going to make in the nongovernmental sector of the economy, which are going to give people the kind of protection, the kind of opportunities, the kind of fulfillment, the kind of stability, the kind of prosperity that they want. They are not going to buy it because you’re offering them a pig in the poke, and they will see it, whether or not you approve of the phrase, or whether or not I approve of the phrase, there’s going back to something which they’re glad to have got away from.
TEMIN: The question of how you draw the lines, and where you draw the lines is a difficult one, and I can’t see any possible way of somehow making a decision on that will stand like __ like the Rock of Gibraltar against all comers.
LEKACHMAN: I don’t think that the public is going to, nor should it, choose ideologically. I think it’s going to favor and disfavor certain activities of government out of its experience, by its perception of what’s good in its own interests and so on. And my __ I don’t preclude the possibility that there will be a different mixture of perceptions by the public which will lead to a shift in the functions of government. But I think it’s at least as possible that after the shift occurs, government will be perceived to have more functions as that it will have fewer functions.
VON HOFFMAN: It seems to me also that you could have the monetary policy that you are talking about, and have the very big HEW etcetera.
OFF SCREEN: Absolutely. Oh, yes.
VON HOFFMAN: And more easily.
FRIEDMAN: Unfortunately, you’re right.
VON HOFFMAN: Now could you dilate on that?
FRIEDMAN: No, no I __
VON HOFFMAN: No, I mean it, seriously.
FRIEDMAN: I agree with you. I agree with Nick. These are separable issues. And Peter Jay will agree with that, too. In fact he and I are in almost complete agreement on the desirable monetary policy. Where we differ is on these other policies, and there is certainly no doubt that you could have an essentially automatic stabilizing monetary policy of the kind which I’ve suggested, of a fixed rate of monetary growth, no discretionary intervention for cyclical purposes, and at the same time have a very big government on HEW, have all sorts of regulation, have tariffs and all other things. With respect to Peter Jay’s more general statement, it’s impossible not to agree with his statement, because it’s __ it concentrates on objectives and not on means. And the real issue has to do with means. What are the most appropriate and effective means which will give people the greatest assurance __ you can’t give them certainty __ but the greatest assurance that they will have a reasonably stable society with opportunity for themselves and their children, for their needs, for their wants. Of course.
MCKENZIE: We must end the discussion for this week and hope you’ll join us again for the next edition of Free to Choose.
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman | Comments (0)