Yearly Archives: 2012

Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 158)

August 20, 2012 – 7:59 am

Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:

Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

On May 11, 2011,  I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:

Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner.  I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.

I just did. I went to the Senator’s website and sent this below:

Below is an excellent plan to balance the budget through spending cuts from Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute written in April of 2011. Here is the first part.

A Plan to Cut Spending and Balance the Federal Budget

by Chris Edwards, Cato Institute

Introduction
Reducing Spending over 10 Years
Spending Cut Details
Subsidies to Individuals and Businesses
Aid to State and Local Governments
Military Expenses
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
Privatization
Conclusions
 

Introduction

Federal spending is soaring, and government debt is piling up at more than a trillion dollars a year. Official projections show rivers of red ink for years to come unless policymakers enact major budget reforms. Unless spending is cut, the United States is headed for economic ruin.

The results of the 2010 elections made clear that Americans want an end to the spending spree in Washington. People fear that today’s spendthrift policies may lead to large tax increases and a lower standard of living for themselves and their children. The public has given Congress marching orders to start cutting spending and rein in debt.

Policymakers should implement an emergency plan of cuts to defense, domestic, and entitlement programs. This essay proposes spending cuts of more than $1 trillion annually by 2021, which would balance the budget without resorting to damaging tax increases. Federal spending would be reduced to 18.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2021 under the plan, which compares to President Obama’s projected spending that year of 24.2 percent of GDP.

Each of the spending cuts proposed here would make sense whether or not the government was running deficits. That’s because many federal programs reduce individual freedom and cause economic distortions. If these programs were cut, resources would flow from lower-return government activities to higher-return activities in the private sector.

In recent decades, the federal government has expanded into hundreds of areas that should be left to state and local governments, businesses, charities, and individuals. That expansion is sucking the life out of the private economy and creating a top-down bureaucratic society that is alien to American traditions. Cutting federal spending would enhance civil liberties by dispersing power from Washington.

The need to cut spending and debt is urgent. Numerous committees, think tanks, and members of Congress have proposed plans to tackle ongoing deficits, including the House Budget Committee, the House Republican Study Committee, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), and President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The various plans are not in agreement about the role of taxes in reducing deficits, but there is fairly broad support for substantial spending cuts, particularly cuts to entitlement programs.

The plan presented here does not include tax increases. Official budget projections show that federal debt is exploding because spending is at abnormally high levels. With the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in place, and with continued relief from the alternative minimum tax, federal revenues are expected to rise to at least 18 percent of GDP in coming years, which is about the average over recent decades. By contrast, it is federal spending—currently at more than 24 percent of GDP—that is above normal levels. During the last two years of the Clinton administration a decade ago, federal spending was just 18 percent of GDP.

Some analysts claim that cutting government spending would hurt the economy, but that idea is based on faulty Keynesian theories. In fact, federal spending cuts would shift resources from often mismanaged and damaging government programs to the more productive private sector, thus increasing overall GDP. Consider Canada’s experience. In the mid-1990s, the country faced a debt crisis caused by runaway government spending—similar to our current situation. The Canadian government changed course and slashed total spending 10 percent in just two years and then held it roughly flat for another three years.1 The Canadian economy did not sink into recession, but was instead launched on a 15-year economic boom.

Policymakers shouldn’t think of spending cuts as a necessary evil needed to reduce debt. Rather, the government’s fiscal mess is an opportunity to make reforms that would spur growth and expand individual freedom. The plan below includes a menu of spending cut options for Congress, and further reforms are described at www.DownsizingGovernment.org.
 

Reducing Spending over 10 Years

This section illustrates how a reduction in spending could eliminate the federal budget deficit over 10 years. It shows projections of revenues and spending as a share of GDP based on the March 2011 Congressional Budget Office estimates.2 My projections for revenues assume the extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax cuts, extension of alternative minimum tax relief, and repeal of the tax increases in the 2010 health care law.3 My projections for spending adjust the CBO baseline to include more realistic assumptions regarding troop reductions in Iraq and Afghanistan and the extension of the Medicare “doc fix.”4

In Figure 1, the bottom line shows that federal revenues with tax relief in place are expected to rise to 18.0 percent of GDP by 2021 as the economy recovers and resumes normal growth. The top line shows President Obama’s proposed spending based on his fiscal 2012 budget.5 As a share of GDP, spending is expected to dip the next few years as funding from the 2009 “stimulus” bill peters out and war costs fall, but spending is expected to start rising again after that. That high spending path would lead to higher taxes, higher debt, or both.

Figure 1.
Projected Federal Revenues and Spending Percent of GDP
Figure 1. 

The middle line in the chart shows spending under the balanced budget plan. Under this plan, spending cuts of more than $1 trillion annually by 2021 would be phased in over 10 years.6 Those cuts would generate substantial interest savings by 2021, and total federal spending would fall to 18.0 percent of GDP—the same level as federal revenues that year. With those cuts, federal public debt would peak at 75 percent of GDP in 2013 and then fall to 64 percent of GDP by 2021.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in spending out of control | Comments (0)

Open letter to Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney on our pro-life views (Part 2)

August 20, 2012 – 7:12 am

What Ever Happened to the Human Race?

To Mitt Romney, Box 96861, Washington, DC 20090-6861,  From Everette Hatcher of www.thedailyhatch.org 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002

Did we forgive George Bush in 1988 for being pro-choice originally in 1980? We sure did. In fact, my former pastor, Adrian Rogers, had a chance to visit with Bush several times. He told him that the Religious Right did not have enough votes to get him elected on their own, but if he ever went against the pro-life view then they could definately derail his election bid.

Today I am writing you to remind you of the same thing. We in the pro-life movement are firmly behind you but we want to know some of the reasons are passionately pro-life.

We really need some prolife judges appointed soon  that will respect the sanctity of human life including that of unborn children. It is truly a holocaust now in the USA.

The Abortion Holocaust

Article ID: DA375

By: Hank Hanegraaff

The following is an excerpt from article DA375 by Hank Hanegraaff. The full article can be found by following the link below the excerpt.

For hundreds of years the Lord had warned the Israelites through His prophets. Now it was too late! Darkness had descended upon the Promised Land. The people of Israel had become the slaves of the mighty Assyrians. Although the tribe of Judah to the south had miraculously survived the initial onslaught, they somehow blithely managed to ignore the lesson of history.

2 Kings tells us that Ahaz, king of Judah, “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites” (16:3).

The nation of Israel had indeed become a mirror reflection of the pagan culture by which they found themselves surrounded. True prophets continued to warn God’s people that their wickedness would inexorably lead to destruction, but their words fell on deaf ears. The rulers of the land had become so corrupt that they even hired false prophets to tell them what their itching ears wanted to hear.

Finally, the inevitable occurred. The ax of God’s judgment fell. Babylon leveled Jerusalem, and the people of Judah were driven from their land of promise.

Today America, like ancient Israel, is turning a deaf ear to the lesson of history. We have repeatedly violated God’s commands, as if we could do so with impunity. We have failed to heed the warnings of His prophets and have embraced the new paganism of our times. Indeed, our ways have become detestable to the Lord; we have forgotten His command: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God” (Deut. 18:9-12; emphasis added).

Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer warned us that abortion would be the watershed issue of our era. He said, “Of all the subjects relating to the erosion of the sanctity of human life, abortion is the keystone. It is the first and crucial issue that has been overwhelming in changing attitudes toward the value of life in general.”1

Schaeffer’s warning has tragically fallen on deaf ears. For more than two decades we have sacrificed our children on the altars of hedonism. And even now, the ax of God’s judgment has been laid to the root.

Two thousand years ago Christ warned us that “the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’” (Luke 23:29). The present day abortion holocaust has driven those words home in dramatic fashion. Consider the statements of some of the spiritual and secular leaders of our age:

• Beverly Harrison (professor of Christian ethics at Union Theological Seminary) —“Infanticide is not a great wrong. I do not want to be construed as condemning women who, under certain circumstances, quietly put their infants to death” (emphasis in original).2

• Esther Langston (professor of social work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas): “What we are saying is that abortion becomes one of the choices and the person has the right to choose whatever it is that is…best for them in the situation in which they find themselves, be it abortion, to keep the baby, to adopt it, to sell it, to leave it in a dumpster, to put it on your porch, whatever; it’s the person’s right to choose.”3

• Mary S. Calderone, M.D. (head of SIECUS — Sex Information and Education Council of the United States): “We have yet to beat our drums for birth control in the way we beat them for polio vaccine, we are still unable to put babies in the class of dangerous epidemics, even though this is the exact truth.”4

• Margaret Sanger (the late founder of Planned Parenthood): “The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it.”5

• Nobel Prize laureate James Watson (co-discoverer of DNA) — “Because of the limitations of present detection methods, most birth defects are not discovered until birth. . . . However if a child was not declared alive until 3 days after birth . . . the doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering.”6

Perhaps most frightening of all, President Clinton signed into law the National Institute of Health Revitalization Act. As a direct result it is now legal not only to kill but also to carve up murdered babies and use them for fetal tissue research.7

While pondering this horrifying reality, remember that the present-day holocaust is government-funded. It means that you and I are footing the bill!8

Make no mistake: “Choice” advocates like Clinton, Congress, and the Courts are not the friends of children. America’s unthinking submission to their twisted arguments is moving us progressively toward social genocide of a magnitude eclipsing that of Hitler, Stalin, Somalia, and the Serb-Croate conflict.

The movement’s own label — “pro-choice” — is a twisted deception, covering up a nationally sanctioned holocaust in which the “right” to choose to kill a child reigns supreme over:

• the baby’s human rights;

• the rights of the parents of a pregnant minor;

• the rights of the preborn’s father;

• the mother’s right to accurate information about fetal development and the negative consequences of abortion;

• the rights of society to protect all its members — no matter what their social status, economic situation, or physical limitations.

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

Federal spending by Obama is going up at record pace

August 20, 2012 – 7:08 am

Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Bigger Gov’t Is Not Stimulus

Uploaded by on Dec 15, 2008

Based on a theory known as Keynesianism, politicians are resuscitating the notion that more government spending can stimulate an economy. This mini-documentary produced by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation examines both theory and evidence and finds that allowing politicians to spend more money is not a recipe for better economic performance.

_____________

I have a lot of respect for Tea Party heroes like Tim Huelskamp , Idaho First District Congressman Raúl R. Labrador, and Justin Amash who are willing to vote against proposals that increase our spending,  and they want to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment.    

It is a fact that we must balance the budget soon. I do not believe that we can wait to balance the budget at some distant time in the future. The financial markets will not allow us a long time to get our house in order. Look at how things have been going the last four years and no matter how anyone tries to spin it, we are going down the financial drain fast.

Mike Brownfield

May 25, 2012 at 8:48 am

There are some things that are so apparent that they’re not even worth mentioning. What goes up must come down. The earth is round. President Barack Obama is a big spender. But this week, some in the media and in the White House are denying one of these totally obvious truths. It shouldn’t be a big surprise which one it is.

On Tuesday, MarketWatch’s Rex Nutting wrote that claims of Obama’s big spending ways are overblown and that the “Obama spending binge never happened.” In a press gaggle on Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney picked up on the argument and claimed that “this President has been–has demonstrated significant fiscal restraint and acted with great fiscal responsibility.”

But sure as the sun rises in the east, not in the west, claims of Obama’s supposed “fiscal restraint” are just plain wrong. Heritage’s J.D. Foster explains:

Federal spending as a share of the economy will average over 24 percent during Obama’s term, and each and every year of that term will see a higher share than during any year since the Second World War. That apparently qualifies as ‘significant fiscal restraint’ Obama-style.

Fiscal responsibility? Obama has had by far the largest budget deficits, driven in large part by the eruption in spending.

Heritage’s Alison Fraser and Emily Goff thoroughly dismantle of the Nutting-Carney claim and point out that President Obama’s near-trillion-dollar stimulus “drove spending to a record 25.2 percent of the economy in 2009 and deficits topped $1 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history.”

You can see the proof for yourself in Heritage’s 2012 edition of the Federal Budget in Pictures. Of the last ten presidents, going back to John F. Kennedy, president Obama’s budget deficits as a percentage of GDP have exploded. And if you take a look at where spending is headed under President Obama’s budget, you’ll see that the country’s debt crisis just keeps getting worse. The President’s FY 2013 budget would increase the debt to 76.5 percent of GDP by 2022, despite $2 trillion in tax hikes. That’s not “fiscal restraint,” no matter how you slice it.

As bad as spending is today, President Obama wants to spend more, especially on transportation, infrastructure, education and research. He says that more spending, paid for with higher taxes, is the key to getting the U.S. economy back on track — even though that strategy has failed miserably over the past three years. Here’s the president’s problem. The American people don’t want Washington to spend more, they want it to spend less. They don’t want Washington to tax more, they want it to tax less. According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 53 percent of voters believe that tax cuts help the economy, and most say that more government spending has a negative impact.

The president wants to have it both ways. He’d like to be viewed as someone who cuts taxes and has demonstrated fiscal restraint, but he also wants to keep on taxing and spending. But sure as apples fall from trees and go down, not up, President Obama is a big spender who has done anything but show fiscal restraint. There are some laws of nature that just can’t be denied.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama, spending out of control | Comments (0)

Open letter to President Obama (Part 127)

August 20, 2012 – 7:07 am

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

Liberals sometime just lose track of reality. Unemployment benefits were originally set up for a 3 month period, but the Democrats have extended it to almost two years!! What will be the result?

I don’t now why I bothered spending all that time perusing the writings of Paul Krugman and Larry Summers in order to produce my previous blog post when this Michael Ramirez cartoon makes the same point in a much simpler way.

Michael Ramirez

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama, spending out of control, Taxes | Comments (0)

Listing of transcripts and videos of Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” on www.theDailyHatch.org

August 20, 2012 – 5:12 am

Everywhere school vouchers have been tried they have been met with great success. Why do you think President Obama got rid of them in Washington D.C.? It was a political disaster for him because the school unions had always opposed them and their success made Obama’s allies look bad.

In 1980 when I first sat down and read the book “Free to Choose” I was involved in Ronald Reagan’s campaign for president and excited about the race. Milton Friedman’s books and film series really helped form my conservative views. Take a look at one of my favorite films of his and this one deals with school vouchers:

Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 1 of 6.

 
Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools
Transcript:
Friedman: These youngsters are beginning another day at one of America’s public schools, Hyde Park High School in Boston. What happens when they pass through those doors is a vivid illustration of some of the problems facing America’s schools.
They have to pass through metal detectors. They are faced by security guards looking for hidden weapons. They are watched over by armed police. Isn’t that awful. What a way for kids to have to go to school, through metal detectors and to be searched. What can they conceivably learn under such circumstances. Nobody is happy with this kind of education. The taxpayers surely aren’t. This isn’t cheap education. After all, those uniformed policemen, those metal detectors have to be paid for.
What about the broken windows, the torn school books, and the smashed school equipment. The teachers who teach here don’t like this kind of situation. The students don’t like to come here to go to school, and most of all, the parents __ they are the ones who get the worst deal __ they pay taxes like the rest of us and they are just as concerned about the kind of education that their kids get as the rest of us are. They know their kids are getting a bad education but they feel trapped. Many of them can see no alternative but to continue sending their kids to schools like this.
To go back to the beginning, it all started with the fine idea that every child should have a chance to learn his three R’s. Sometimes in June when it gets hot, the kids come out in the yard to do their lessons, all 15 of them, ages 5 to 13, along with their teacher. This is the last one-room schoolhouse still operating in the state of Vermont. That is the way it used to be. Parental control, parents choosing the teacher, parents monitoring the schooling, parents even getting together and chipping in to paint the schoolhouse as they did here just a few weeks ago. Parental concern is still here as much in the slums of the big cities as in Bucolic, Vermont. But control by parents over the schooling of their children is today the exception, not the rule.
Increasingly, schools have come under the control of centralized administration, professional educators deciding what shall be taught, who shall do the teaching, and even what children shall go to what school. The people who lose most from this system are the poor and the disadvantaged in the large cities. They are simply stuck. They have no alternative.
Of course, if you are well off you do have a choice. You can send your child to a private school or you can move to an area where the public schools are excellent, as the parents of many of these students have done. These students are graduating from Weston High School in one of Boston’s wealthier suburbs. Their parents pay taxes instead of tuition and they certainly get better value for their money than do the parents in Hyde Park. That is partly because they have kept a good deal of control over the local schools, and in the process, they have managed to retain many of the virtues of the one-room schoolhouse.
Students here, like Barbara King, get the equivalent of a private education. They have excellent recreational facilities. They have a teaching staff that is dedicated and responsive to parents and students. There is an atmosphere which encourages learning, yet the cost per pupil here is no higher than in many of our inner city schools. The difference is that at Weston, it all goes for education that the parents still retain a good deal of control.
Unfortunately, most parents have lost control over how their tax money in spent. Avabelle goes to Hyde Park High. Her parents too want her to have a good education, but many of the students here are not interested in schooling, and the teachers, however dedicated, soon lose heart in an atmosphere like this. Avabelle’s parents are certainly not getting value for their tax money.
Caroline Bell, Parent: I think it is a shame, really, that parents are being ripped off like we are. I am talking about parents like me that work every day, scuffle to try to make ends meet. We send our kids to school hoping that they will receive something that will benefit them in the future for when they go out here and compete in the job market. Unfortunately, none of that is taking place at Hyde Park.
Friedman: Children like Ava are being shortchanged by a system that was designed to help. But there are ways to help give parents more say over their children’s schooling.
This is a fundraising evening for a school supported by a voluntary organization, New York’s Inner City Scholarship Fund. The prints that have brought people here have been loaned by wealthy Japanese industrialist. Events like this have helped raise two million dollars to finance Catholic parochial schools in New York. The people here are part of a long American tradition. The results of their private voluntary activities have been remarkable.
This is one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City: the Bronx. Yet this parochial school, supported by the fund, is a joy to visit. The youngsters here from poor families are at Saint John Christians because their parents have picked this school and their parents are paying some of the costs from their own pockets. The children are well behaved, eager to learn, the teachers are dedicated. The cost per pupil here is far less than in the public schools, yet on the average the children are two grades ahead. That is because teachers and parents are free to choose how the children shall be taught. Private money has replaced the tax money and so control has been taken away from the bureaucrats and put back where it belongs.
This doesn’t work just for younger children. In the 60’s, Harlem was devastated by riots. It was a hot bed of trouble. Many teenagers dropped out of school.
_____
 
 
Milton Friedman congratulated by President Ronald Reagan. © 2008 Free To Choose Media, courtesy of the Power of Choice press kit

Here are some great jobs about Milton Friedman:

“Milton Friedman is a scholar of first rank whose original contributions to economic science have made him one of the greatest thinkers in modern history.”
—President Ronald Reagan

“How grateful I have been over the years for the cogency of Friedman’s ideas which have influenced me. Cherishers of freedom will be indebted to him for generations to come.”
—Alan Greenspan, former Chairman, Federal Reserve System

“Right at this moment there are people all over the land, I could put dots on the map, who are trying to prove Milton wrong. At some point, somebody else is trying to prove he’s right That’s what I call influence.”
—Paul Samuelson, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science

“Friedman’s influence reaches far beyond the academic community and the world of economics. Rather than lock himself in an ivory tower, he has joined the fray to fight for the survival of this great country of ours.”
—William E. Simon, former Secretary of the Treasury

“Milton Friedman is the most original social thinker of the era.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith, former Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Other segments: 

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 6 of transcript and video)

Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 6 of 6.   Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: FRIEDMAN: But I personally think it’s a good thing. But I don’t see that any reason whatsoever why I shouldn’t have been required […]

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 5 of transcript and video)

Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 5 of 6.   Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: Are your voucher schools  going to accept these tough children? COONS: You bet they are. (Several talking at once.) COONS: May I answer […]

 

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 3 of transcript and video)

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 3 of transcript and video) Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 3 of 6.   Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: If it […]

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 2 of transcript and video)

Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 2 of 6.   Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: Groups of concerned parents and teachers decided to do something about it. They used private funds to take over empty stores and they […]

Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 1 of transcript and video)

Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 1 of 6.   Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: Friedman: These youngsters are beginning another day at one of America’s public schools, Hyde Park High School in Boston. What happens when […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman, Vouchers | Comments (0)

A NOTE ON THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

August 20, 2012 – 1:26 am

 

A NOTE ON THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

“…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

(Each year information about those who signed the Declaration of Independence is circulated, not all of which is accurate. The following note is based on research in several established sources, which are noted below.)

Fifty-six individuals from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. Pennsylvania sent nine delegates to the congress, followed by Virginia with seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey with five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island, the smallest colony, sent only two delegates to Philadelphia.

Eight of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers, two were cousins, and one was an orphan. The average age of a signer was 45. The oldest delegate was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, who was 70 when he signed the Declaration. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr., of South Carolina, who was 27.

Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Forty-two signers had served in their colonial legislatures. Twenty-two were lawyers-although William Hooper of North Carolina was “disbarred” when he spoke out against the Crown-and nine were judges. Stephen Hopkins had been Governor of Rhode Island.

Although two others had been clergy previously, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend-he wore his pontificals to the sessions. Almost all were Protestant Christians; Charles Carroll of Maryland was the only Roman Catholic signer.

Seven of the signers were educated at Harvard, four each at Yale and William & Mary, and three at Princeton. John Witherspoon was the president of Princeton and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary, where his students included the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.

Seventeen of the signers served in the military during the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was one of the commanding officers in the decisive Saratoga campaign. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a Major General in the Delaware militia and John Hancock was the same in the Massachusetts militia.

Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton (South Carolina) were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780; Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists and died in 1781.

Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy-compelled to remove my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians.” Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis’s New York home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey and he died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson (both of Virginia) lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort, but were never repaid.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six-Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Reed-signed the United States Constitution. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts attended the federal convention and, though he later supported the document, refused to sign the Constitution.

After the Revolution, 13 of the signers went on to become governors, and 18 served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the United States House of Representatives, and six became United States Senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Justices of the United States Supreme Court.

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became Vice President, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became President. The sons of signers John Adams and Benjamin Harrison also became Presidents.

Five signers played major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities: Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania; Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Benjamin Rush and Dickinson College; Lewis Morris and New York University; and George Walton and the University of Georgia. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Charles Carroll of Maryland was the last signer to die-in 1832 at the age of 95.

Sources: Robert Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States, with Biographical Notices of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Brattleboro Typographical Company, 1839); John and Katherine Bakeless, Signers of the Declaration (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969); Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).

This essay was published June 28, 2007. Originally published as Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1451 on June 19, 2001.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Founding Fathers | Comments (0)

“Music Monday” Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 4)

August 20, 2012 – 1:21 am

Switchfoot The Documentary

Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 4)

One of my favorite bands is Switchfoot. Tim Foreman is the front man and this band has always been very vocal about their Christian faith. I am really enjoying this series on their band.

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Interview: Switchfoot Unplugged

Fri, Feb. 09, 2007 Posted: 10:48 AM EST

LONDON – Switchfoot has come a long way. After their album The Beautiful Letdown went double-platinum in 2004, Switchfoot’s ensuing projects have been getting better and better. The group recently released their latest project Oh! Gravity..

Despite being critically acclaimed on a worldwide scale, the five-piece Californian rock band remains as humble as ever, long having claimed to be “Christian by faith, not by genre.” Switchfoot frontman Jonathan Foreman likes to emphasize that who you are offstage is what really matters, and that life should be your testimony as a Christian.

The following is an exclusive interview with three of the five Switchfoot members – Jonathan Foreman (lead singer), Jerome Fontamillas (background vocals, keys, guitar), and Drew Shirley (guitar) – offstage at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire during their European tour.

How is the European tour going so far?

Jerome: It’s amazing.

Drew: Great.

Jonathan: It’s something to be thankful for. You can come half-way around the world and you have people singing along. That’s an honor.

Any memorable experiences?

Jonathan: [In Germany], we went to the club next door, and there was a jazz session.

Jerome: In Hamburg.

Jonathan: Yeah. There was a club next door that was…

Drew: … a bit open-minded.

Jonathan: A little bit of mic-nite. So there were all these guys with trumpets.

Jerome: Flute players!

Jonathan: It was a club where we found out that the Beatles used to play in. So [I nudged the guys] and said ‘We gotta play there!’ So we went over there, and it was great. We had the flute player join in on ‘Let Your Love Be Strong’…

Jerome: ‘Faust, Midas, and Myself.’ (Both tracks from Oh! Gravity.)

Jonathan: Yeah, ‘Faust’… It’s stuff like that that keeps it fresh, you know?

It’s great that your music is spreading all around the world. I was in Korea two years ago and your music was playing in a restaurant there.

Jonathan: Cool. I’ve got a lot of Korean friends. Our first record The Legend of Chin was named after a friend who is Korean.

So what’s the next step for lowercase people (the online magazine founded by Switchfoot) ?

Jonathan: It’s kind of one of those dreams that you start off with a lot of passion, and not really have any idea or experience of what you’re getting into. We partnered with Geneva Global and that’s been great because they have a lot of experience. I think it’s a lot more of opening our eyes and looking around and hopefully diving in where people need us and our help. There are a lot of incredible organizations that are helping people around the world, and we don’t want to be stepping on somebody’s toes. That requires a lot of thought. So we’re kind of figuring out what the next place to hit is. You only get so many punches, and you want to make each one count.

Let’s talk about your new album. What’s the main message you want to get across through Oh! Gravity.?

Jonathan: I think it’s not as simplistic as having just one message. I think every song has something to say – maybe in different layers. It’s kind of like a relationship. If I was gonna sum up my relationship with Drew, there probably will be a lot of different aspects and facets that we have. In the same way when we’re working on a record, you’re dealing with so many different layers. So for this, if I were to sum it up, I think it’ll be the idea around gravity, like the title – the idea that everything keeps falling apart when it’s supposed to be together. It seems like we daily defy the law of physics, the law of gravity.

(Holding up the album cover) What’s the concept of this drawing? Is that … blood on Jerome’s head?

Jerome: Could be!

Drew: Jerome had a head-bleed that day. (laughter)

Jonathan: We put a lot of the songs in artwork. When you open it up (opens album cover) there are all these hidden stories that we put in there. Different symbols and things that we think are important to the song.

What do these symbols mean (points to a drawing)?

Jonathan: Well, all of them are very subjective and can be interpreted in different ways. All the songs you can see down here: ‘Circles,’ ‘American Dream,’ ‘Yesterdays,’ ‘Dirty Second Hands’ … this is a clock … a boat … and we liked the idea of the bird – but birds have been done so much. There’s a surfboard and a whale there.

Back in the days, you had all these different records you can look at. You have it up, you know, it was a very discernable element of music where you can look at the record as you listen to it. We wanted something that was as large as a record to be able to look at the whole time you’re looking at it. It was fun to make.

Well, it does look fun.

Jonathan: Every one of these were drawn separately …

Drew: … and put together like a collage.

Jerome: Yeah. Like this was a certain section, and that was a section, etc.

Is that an octopus there?

Jonathan: It can be whatever you want it to be. I thought it was a snail.

Drew: I thought it was a fruit necklace.

(Laughter)

So, have you guys heard about the U2charist? It’s an adapted Holy Communion service that uses U2’s songs in place of hymns.

Drew: Yeah, I read about it.

What are your thoughts on that?

Jonathan: When Handel’s ‘Messiah’ was performed in opera houses, people were outraged. ‘Why is this music being sung outside the church? You shouldn’t do it.’ With Johnny Cash, he wanted to play gospel but certain records wouldn’t let him come out with that. I think it’s a struggle we’ll have to continue to deal with. It’s a timeless struggle. You have faith, commerce, and art colliding at the same point. As musicians, we believe in God, we like music, and we also try to pay rent. This is something you wrestle with every time you pick up your guitar. But I think it’s cool; it sounds exciting. It’s like everything; you have different challenges you face with that kind of approach.

Would you like your songs to be sung in churches?

Jonathan: Part of me would be honored, you know, but part of me thinks it might be taking it out of context almost. There are just so many anthems to God from celebrity rock clubs… My idea of worship is more like straight Old Testament songs. I’m a little bit more traditional (smiles) … a bit conservative.

You like them being distinguished?

Jonathan: Yea, like oil and water. But I like modern music. I like U2!

So how do you live out your Christian faith when you’re offstage?

Jonathan: I think the term ‘Christian’ is something that has to be said about you, from a third party, rather than boastfully saying it yourself. It’s easier for me to say, ‘I can fly,’ ‘I can jump off of a building and live,’ ‘I could do all these ridiculous things’ – but the harder thing is for us to actually do it. As far as what we do offstage, we certainly don’t have any book, where it goes ‘do this, this, this,’ and everything goes perfectly. That’s the whole point of the song ‘Amateur Lovers’ (Oh! Gravity.) – the idea that I’ve got a lot to learn. I think all of us [are] still learning – screwing up daily.

Drew: Practicing faith – screwing up daily.

Jonathan: Yeah, so we’re all learning from it and hopefully moving forward. I think to call yourself anything more than a sinner is a lie.

Drew: Seriously.

Jonathan: Thinking that you’re better than somebody else. I think that’s another thing that keeps us at where we are at. Singing songs at clubs, pubs, and bars – even churches…. There is no safe place. There is no industry that is not tainted with greed, pride, lust, fear – all these negative things – including the Christian music industry. So to think that you’re going to be applying a record or a product or a book that’s outside of that is almost untrue.

For us, it’s about living everyday to the fullest. We’re trying to practice daily the Kingdom of Heaven for the Audience of One.

Courtney Lee
Christian Post Correspondent

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

Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland (Schaeffer Sunday)

August 18, 2012 – 10:00 pm

L’Abri : Sounds & Sites of a Shelter

Uploaded by on Nov 12, 2006

A fun video of the day in the life at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. I made this video in 2003 while there and I was trying to capture the sounds and everyday life of it. Was on the Labri.org site for quite sometime. Not meant to be the end all video of what L’Abri is like today, but trying to make an entertaining video for the students and people who are curious about what L’Abri is.

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L’Abri : Sounds & Sites of a Shelter

Uploaded by on Nov 12, 2006

A fun video of the day in the life at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. I made this video in 2003 while there and I was trying to capture the sounds and everyday life of it. Was on the Labri.org site for quite sometime. Not meant to be the end all video of what L’Abri is like today, but trying to make an entertaining video for the students and people who are curious about what L’Abri is.

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L’Abri crew in the Vaud Alps

Uploaded on Jun 10, 2006

hiking up high – the sound is a little behind the picture for some reason

 

SOUNDWORD LABRI CONFERENCE VIDEO – Five Ideas – An Introduction to L’Abri – DICK KEYES – 1984

Published on Jan 27, 2014

This video is part of the Sound Word L’Abri Conference videos from the last two years of Dr. Schaeffer’s life. Here Dick Keyes gives five points of emphasis that describe the work of L’Abri Fellowship.

Read more about this series here: http://francisschaefferstudies.blogsp…

 

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 1

Uploaded on Nov 20, 2007

This is part one of a series of videos I made during one day at Swiss L’Abri in Huemoz, Switzerland. If you want to know more about L’Abri you can go to http://www.labri.org or my blog at iamchrismartin.blogspot.com

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 2

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 3

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 4

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 5

A Day at Swiss L’Abri – pt 6

L’abri

 

 

Swiss L’abri

Uploaded on Jul 22, 2006

L’abri is many things–a shelter, a community, a thinktank, study center, and a home. I lived here for two months in the summer of 2006, and this video is an attempt to capture some of the memories.

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L’Abri: 6 Months

Uploaded on Jan 27, 2007

Video I made for the L’Abri website with music by Jozef Luptak. It’s a montage of the people and the day in the life of at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. Music performed live by Jozef Luptak in the Chapel in Huemoz.

I love Francis Schaeffer’s works. I remember like yesterday when I was in Switzerland in 1981 looking for directions to get to L’Abri. I never found the directions and I regret that even till today.  Below is a fine paper on Schaeffer and L’Abri:

Francis Schaeffer
Celebrating Fifty Years Of L’abri
By Gene Edward Veith
“The Legacy of FRANCIS SCHAEFFER – Celebrating 50 years of L’Abri” by Gene Edward Veith was the cover story of the March 26 World. Dr. Veith the cultural editor of World, wrote:”Half a century ago, an American pastor named Francis Schaeffer opened his home in Switzerland to anyone who was struggling with the basic questions of life. It was the beginning of L’Abri, a word meaning ‘shelter.’ Over the years, student backpackers, troubled atheists, and thoughtful Christians found their way to this chalet in the Alps. Here they met biblical truth, explained not only with a sophistication that was then rare in evangelicalism- but lived out.”Many who trekked the Alpine hillsides to L’Abri became Christians and learned how to engage their cultures and to apply their faith to all of life. Two generations on, the influence of Francis and Edith Schaeffer and the ministry of L’Abri is evident among evangelical Christians everywhere in their approach not only to evangelism and the church but also to the sciences, arts, business, and politics.”Schaeffer died of cancer in 1984. But L’Abri continues with branches all over the world: in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, England, Korea, Canada, and two in the United States (in Southborough, Mass., and Rochester, Minn.). These centers for training in Christian philosophy are the legacy of a man who – according to long-time associate and founder of the Francis Schaeffer Institute Jerram Barrs – never considered himself a theologian or philosopher, but simply a pastor and an evangelist.”Schaeffer became a Christian when he was 17, after reading the Bible from beginning to end and finding that it gave answers to questions he struggled with. He studied at Faith Seminary and pastured churches in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis. In St. Louis, Schaeffer and his wife Edith started a ministry, Children for Christ. At the same time, conflicts and schisms in the Presbyterian Church forced him to defend a high view of Scripture against liberal theology. He started the International Council of Christian Churches to counter the World Council of Churches. This took him to Europe, where he settled in Switzerland in 1948. But L’Abri had its genesis in a spiritual crisis that engulfed Schaeffer in 1950-1951. Depressed by church politics and power struggles, Schaeffer wrestled with the question: ‘How could people stand for truth and purity and God’s holiness without ugliness and harshness?’ He became dissatisfied, too, with his own failures to live out the faith as the Bible describes it, according to Mr. Barrs.

“Schaeffer felt these problems so deeply that he began to question whether Christianity, if it has so little effect, could be true. Once again, as he did when he was 17, he plunged into Bible reading in search of answers. He found them, becoming convinced that not only salvation but sanctification and the whole of the Christian’s life are by faith. ‘The sun came out again,’ he said, and he found ‘a new song in my heart.’ Now, in addition to holding Bible studies in the Schaeffer home and working with children, the Schaeffers began discussion groups for their teenage daughters and friends to hear their questions and to tell about the Bible’s answers.

“On June 5, 1955, the Schaeffers drew up a plan to turn their home into a place where people could come to work out their problems and to practice ‘true spirituality.’ Without finances and with no assurance that they would be allowed to stay in Switzerland, the Schaeffers purchased property in Huemoz, a rural village high in the mountains with a spectacular view of the Alps. Ranald Macaulay, a student at Cambridge who became involved with the Schaeffers in the early days (and later married their daughter Susan), said the founding of L’Abri was consistent with its organizing principle: to live in constant dependence on the grace of God.

“At a March 11-13 2005 Jubilee for L’Abri Fellowship at the America’s Center in St. Louis, Mr. Macaulay said the Schaeffers resolved to do no advertising for workers, no marketing to attract newcomers, no fundraising, and no planning – principles in stark contrast to most other ministries. The Schaeffers saw L’Abri as a unique experiment. They did not necessarily recommend this radical dependence on God’s providence as a pattern for other ministries, but the needs always were met. Concerned with reaching individuals, the Schaeffers were content with small numbers. Over time, however, the effect of their work multiplied. Over 1,000 L’Abri alumni attended the jubilee celebration, an event that was equal parts conference and family reunion.

“Os Guinness, Harold O.J. Brown, and Chuck Colson – all major evangelical thinkers who were shaped by L’Abri-gave addresses. Screenwriter Brian Godawa, who wrote To End All Wars, gave a workshop on transforming Hollywood. Theologian and cultural critic Vishal Mangaiwadi, from India, talked about his upcoming television documentary series on the impact of the Bible, The Book of the Millennium. Book tables overflowed with titles by L’Abri alumni. Workshops focused on the various facets of the Central Themes of L’Abri, ‘Transforming All of Life,’ and ‘True Spirituality.’ The evenings closed with classical music concerts.”

“Schaeffer persuaded nonbelievers to face up to the contradictions in their own worldviews by revealing their inability to account for what is most important in life (love, beauty, meaning). He would, as he described it, ‘take the roof off,’ bringing the nonbeliever almost to the point of despair, to acknowledge his lost condition. Then he applied the gospel of Christ. While conversant with the theology of Kuyper, Dooyeweerd, and Van Til, Schaeffer was captive only to the worldview set forth in the Bible-God’s good creation, man’s fall into sin and its consequences, the redemption through Christ-which he said accords with reality in all of its dimensions. Nonbelievers cannot bring themselves to be completely consistent with their own presuppositions, an inconsistency that is a result of common grace. Thus, illogically, he wrote in 1948, ‘men have in their accepted worldviews various amounts of that which is ours. But, illogical though it may be, it is there and we can appeal to it.’

“‘Even with hostile visitors,’ Mr. Barrs said, Schaeffer ‘had an acute sense of people’s brokenness and fallenness,’ and ‘thus would treat them with compassion.’ Mr. Guinness said that the genius of Schaeffer’s apologetics has yet to be fully unwrapped.’ When asked about reaching the culture, Mr. Guinness said that one of Schaeffer’s great insights is that we have to reach not cultures but individuals. Each individual has his or her own questions, personal struggles, and moral brokenness. Schaeffer took them all seriously, addressing people one by one, while giving them-sometimes for the first time-a sense of belonging to a community.

“Many approaches to evangelism and church growth today are impersonal, relying on manipulative formulas and the techniques of mass marketing and consumerism. L’Abri honors the dignity and the distinct spiritual needs of each individual. Many evangelicals think Christianity needs to be dumbed down and made easier to make it attractive to people today. L’Abri teaches that Christianity has substance and depth, that it has something to offer to thoughtful, educated people, and that – undiluted – biblical Christianity can change their lives.

“Fifty years later, evangelicalism once again faces the problem of being negative or ineffectual, worldly, or out of touch. L’Abri remains.”

(c) Gene Edward Veith
Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development http://www.truespirituality.org/
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Comments (0)

Open letter to President Obama (Part 126 B)

August 18, 2012 – 9:58 pm

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

The buck stops at your desk. I just don’t understand why you think we can go on and act like everything is okay when we have a trillion dollar deficit. Sometimes you run across some very wise words like I did the other day. Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp made the following comment on the irresponsible  Budget Control Act of August 1, 2011:

I refuse to dig America into a deeper and un-scalable hole. I refuse to be complicit in recklessly spending and borrowing on the backs of the next generation. And, I believe conservatives should make good on their promises to cut trillions in spending…”

Ted DeHaven noted his his article, “Freshman Republicans switch from Tea to Kool-Aid,”  Cato Institute Blog, May 17, 2012:

This week the Club for Growth released a study of votes cast in 2011 by the 87 Republicans elected to the House in November 2010. The Club found that “In many cases, the rhetoric of the so-called “Tea Party” freshmen simply didn’t match their records.” Particularly disconcerting is the fact that so many GOP newcomers cast votes against spending cuts.

The study comes on the heels of three telling votes taken last week in the House that should have been slam-dunks for members who possess the slightest regard for limited government and free markets. Alas, only 26 of the 87 members of the “Tea Party class” voted to defund both the Economic Development Administration and the president’s new Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia program (see my previous discussion of these votes here) and against reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank (see my colleague Sallie James’s excoriation of that vote here).

One of those Tea Party heroes was Tim Huelskamp of Kansas. Last year I posted this below concerning his conservative views and his willingness to vote against the debt ceiling increase:

August 1, 2011

Congressman Huelskamp: My Constituents and Our Economy Deserve a Long-Term Solution

(WASHINGTON) – Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp issued the following statement after voting against the Budget Control Act:

“My fellow freshmen and I were sent to Washington to end tricks and gimmicks that put America in this position,” Congressman Tim Huelskamp said. “I voted ‘no’ today because I refuse to dig America into a deeper and un-scalable hole. I refuse to be complicit in recklessly spending and borrowing on the backs of the next generation. And, I believe conservatives should make good on their promises to cut trillions in spending, enact structural reforms, and fill the role of elected representatives, rather than hand control to an exclusive committee.”

“Back in April – when I voted against the continuing resolution for this year – I said ‘no’ because the cuts were minimal. I came to the same conclusion today: these are paltry cuts compared to the $14.3 trillion in debt we already have and the $7 trillion in new debt we can expect in the next decade. This is not a path to fiscal solvency, it’s a path to fiscal insanity. My constituents and our economy deserve a long-term solution that ends the biggest problem: we simply spend too much.”

“Despite having pledged to the American people an open and transparent process and despite having months to fix this problem, we were asked to vote in the 11th hour for a bill that the public had less than 16 hours to read and understand. The culture of fiscal irresponsibility may not have been created by this Congress, but we were sent here to put an end to it; I’m afraid this bill does not rise to that occasion.”

_________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama, spending out of control, Taxes | Comments (0)

10 most hated men in SEC football

August 17, 2012 – 6:34 pm

Got this off the internet:


Nutt makes the top 10 for one of the few times in his SEC Coaching Career

10 Most Hated Men in the SEC

There is no doubt that the college football conference with the most emotion is the SEC.  One of those emotions is hate and this is the list of the 10 most hated people in the SEC.

10. Houston Nutt Head Coach Ole Miss– It’s hard to believe that the longest continuous coach in the SEC is Houston Nutt.  Nutt has been in the SEC as head coach of Arkansas and Ole Miss since 1998.  While he’s great for a sound bite and even better for a humorous photo, Nutt is thought of by most to be the sleaziest coach in the SEC.

This is a man that has a rule unofficially named after him due to his practice of oversigning recruits(he signed 37 recruits 3 years ago).  Nutt also is the man who gave Jeremiah Masoli a chance to be the QB at Ole Miss last year when few other major schools would touch the troubled QB.  Nutt might be the most hated man in Arkansas Football History.  Nutt left the football team in the late 70s as a player, lied to OC Gus Malzahn, led an attack against Mitch Mustain, and left the Hogs to coach a rival team.  Houston also hasn’t helped himself inside the SEC with his crazy post game celebrations that have included such classy moments like destroying the hedges in Auburn’s endzone so he could sing the Arkansas Fight Song.

9. Bobby Lowder Auburn University trustee–  Lowder has been a member of the Auburn Board of Trustees since 1983.  During his tenure he has become one of the most powerful men behind the scenes in the SEC.

Many credit Lowder to be responsible for every Auburn coaching hire since Pat Dye was hired nearly 25 years ago.  In 2003 when Auburn AD David Housel and University President William Walker Jr. privately met with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino, it was Lowder’s jet that was used for transportation.  On May 16, 2011 Lower asked Governor Robert Bentley to remove his name for reappointment on the Auburn Board of Trustees.

8. Lane Kiffin head coach Southern California– 2 years ago Kiffin might be number one on this list, but as time has passed so has the hate of Kiffin.  Still, fans don’t forget.

Tennessee fans won’t forget the way he left the team in the middle of the night, causing small riots around the UT campus.  Kiffin left Tennessee with a NCAA investigation that is still on going today.  Kiffin also angered fans at South Carolina telling recruits that if they go to South Carolina they will just be “gas pumpers”.  Kiffin also got into a bickering match with Gamecock coach Steve Spurrier over his NCAA recruiting test he had to take to become UT head coach.  Kiffin even angered Gator fans by accusing head coach Urban Meyer of committing a recruiting violation, when in reality it wasn’t a violation.

The daddy’s boy who ran his mouth too much, ran out of the SEC before he truly got what was coming to him.

7. LSU Fans– Personally, I have always had a good time in Baton Rouge.  I love being offered Cajun Food at a tailgate.  Unfortunately most in the SEC don’t see the Tiger fans this way.

LSU has the reputation of being the rowdiest and most rude fans in the SEC.  Accounts of bottles of urine being thrown at opposing fans aren’t uncommon.  The fans certainly do know how to have a good time.  A night at Tiger Stadium is basically Mardi Gras in a football stadium, anything goes.

A LSU fan once summed it up best for a friend of mine by saying in a thick accent “Before and after the game you and I are friends, during the game “F” you”.

6. Steve Spurrier Head Coach South Carolina- Since taking the job at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier has admitted that coaching in the NFL humbled him a bit.  He’s no longer the cocky college football coach that poked fun at teams he whipped in the 90s.

When his Florida teams were on the top of the college football world Spurrier found ways to not only beat up opponents on the field, but also off.   It could’ve been a jab at Ray Goff or making fun of Auburn’s Library being full of coloring books, but Spurrier always found a way to rub SEC fans the wrong way.  Most fans still haven’t forgotten the younger Spurrier, and while the media loves him for sound bites, he’s still one of the most hated men in the SEC.

5. Jim Delany Commissioner of the Big 10 Conference– The SEC and Big 10 have had a conference rivalry going on for many years now.  The leader of the Big 10 is Jim Delany.

Delany seems to find every excuse in the book as to why his conference can’t compete with the SEC in football.  He blames it on SEC schools oversigning, he believes the academics of the SEC are lower tier, and he thinks of the SEC as a corrupt conference.  Delany chooses to ignore the changing demographics in the United States and ignores how the game of College Football has started to showcase Southern Speed over Big 10 brute.  He also seems so worried about the SEC’s ethics that Ohio State’s scandal slipped right under his nose.

4. Charles Robinson Yahoo Sports Writer–  If Charles Robinson is talking about your school then you might as well prepare for a bowl ban and a loss of scholarships.  Robinson has become the leading investigative reporter in the NCAA over the last few years.  You have to respect the man’s ability to find a story, but fans hate it when he publishes a story about their school.

3. Harvery Updyke Jr. “Al from Dadeville”- On Jan 27, 2011 a man going by the name Al called into the Paul Finebaum show claiming to have poisoned the 130 year old Oak Trees at Toomer’s Corner on the Campus of Auburn University.  After the call was traced and lethal injections of Spike 80DF were found at the site of the trees, police arrested Harvey Updyke of Dadeville, Alabama.  Updyke said he did this as revenge for Auburn fans rolling Toomer’s Corner after Bear Bryant’s Death in 1983 and for a Cam Newton jersey being draped on The Bear’s statue outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.  Updyke’s actions were condemned by both the president of Auburn and Alabama.

2. Cam Newton QB Carolina Panthers– Newton might be the most hated athlete ever to step foot on a SEC football field.

Newton originally played for the Florida Gators as Tim Tebow’s backup, but decided to transfer because he was suspended for stealing a laptop computer.  It was also reported by Fox Sports that Newton was facing expulsion due to academic cheating.

After spending a year in JUCO, Newton came to the SEC and shocked everyone by winning the Heisman Trophy and leading Auburn to the National Championship.  For most of the second part of the 2010 season Newton’s elgibility was under review by the media and NCAA.  Newton’s father was accused by Kenny Rogers, a former Mississippi State player, of asking for $100,000-$180,000 for this son to play for the Bulldogs.

It was later proven that Cecil Newton did indeed ask MSU to pay this amount for his son.  The NCAA has yet to be able to prove if Cam Newton knew about the situation and if Auburn ever gave Newton any money to play for the Tigers.

1. Paul Finebaum columnist and radio host- The leading media voice in the South is no doubt Paul Finebaum.  When he speaks, everyone tends to listen even if they don’t like what he has to say.

There really isn’t a fanbase in the SEC that Finebaum hasn’t angered at one point or another.  One reason Bama fans tend to hate him is because in 1993 Finebaum broke a story about Antonio Langham signing a contract with a sports agent while playing for Alabama(1 year after their 92 National Championship).  Finebaum has also reported on rumors that Steve Spurrier would coach at Alabama after Shula was fired and that Urban Meyer would take the Notre Dame job.   He’s said such things to anger Razorback fans, like saying Arkansas being in the SEC doesn’t benefit the SEC.

Listening to Finebaum’s syndicated radio show is like listening to Jerry Springer at times.  He’s certainly found a niche that works because his show now can be heard nationwide on Sirius/XM. Paul does give fantastic interviews and has some great guests, but thanks to him callers like Tammy are now national celebs.

Matt Barber
dixiefriedsports@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/#!/dixiefriedsport

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