Category Archives: Current Events

Hogs mentioned in national football recruiting article (Lane Kiffin is an idiot by the way)

January 25, 2013 – 7:40 am

adam brimer/News Sentinel<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin reacts to a call during the Vols’ 31-16 win over Vanderbilt in 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> ” /> </a></p><br /> <div><br /> <p>Photo by <a title=Adam Brimer // Buy this photo

Several SEC schools are mentioned in this article below that starts off talking about USC’s drop in national recruiting polls. Lane Kiffin is not so bright after all. I have written about Kiffin several times before, and I predicted that his team would flop this year and that the arrogant Kiffin that we saw at Tennessee would be coming back and sure enough he didn’t let us down. He even said that the honor of being ranked #1 in the preseason proved that his Trojans had weathered the NCAA sanctions and would do fine from now on. There is only one problem with that: Kiffin had USC appeal the sanctions for two years which means the recruiting sanctions actually take place in 2012-2014!!!!! THINGS WILL GET MUCH WORSE BEFORE THEY GET BETTER FOR LANE KIFFIN!!!! I have even heard rumors that he may get fired later this year if he doesn’t pull a miracle.

Article from Rivals:

Mike Farrell is the National Football Recruiting Analyst for Rivals.com. Want more of what’s on Mike’s mind throughout the week? Follow him on Twitter @rivalsmike.

Rivals.com national analyst Mike Farrell is never shy to express his opinion on everything from commitments to rankings to how on-field performance affects recruiting. In this weekly feature — Inside the Mind of Mike — the most experienced analyst in the industry gives some of his thoughts on the events of the past week.

Deep Thoughts

We knew the USC class would be the most interesting and exciting to follow down the stretch because so many of the commitments were taking visits, and Lane Kiffin is inadvertently helping that happen. Kiffin waited quite a long time to hire a defensive coordinator to replace his dad and then his new guy, Clancy Pendergast, decides he wants to coach defensive backs on his own, so Kiffin fires defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders two weeks before Signing Day.

Will changes to USC’s defensive staff affect the commitment of five-star CB Jalen Ramsey?

That’s a big problem because five-star cornerback Jalen Ramsey liked Sanders and Sanders was working with super recruiter Tee Martin on players such as Matthew Thomas and Quinton Powell. Luckily for USC, defensive backs Su’a Cravens, Chris Hawkins and Leon McQuay III are already enrolled. While it’s doubtful Cravens would have ever flipped, Hawkins did flirt with other schools and who knows how it would have affected McQuay had he still been available.

With the de-commitment of Jason Hatcher this week, USC has lost six commitments from a class that was once No. 1 in the nation and is now No. 7 and potentially sliding. In addition to Hatcher, USC has parted ways with Sebastian Larue, Eddie Vanderdoes, Max Redfield, Eldridge Massington and Kylie Fitts. Massington and Larue might have been USC decisions and we all know the Fitts situation by now, but losing Hatcher, Redfield and Vanderdoes really hurt.

USC could lure Fitts back into the fold, although I think that’s a long shot, and the Trojans could still end up with Vanderdoes. USC is also still involved with some players such as Thomas, Powell and Tyrell Robinson and Tyree Robinson. However, it could be more important for the class to keep Ramsey, Torrodney Prevot and Ty Isaac.

Predicting how it will play out is impossible, but I think two things are very clear: First, USC will still finish with a very quality recruiting class with an average star ranking that will make every other Pac-12 team jealous. But second, the last month has shined a light on Kiffin when it comes to his current team as well as his recruiting ability. USC fans have to be a little worried moving forward about the stability of the program under their head coach. A whole lot has gone wrong for USC since the Trojans were many pundits’ pre-season No. 1 in August.

[ MORE: Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings ]

With the USC topic comes this — a verbal commitment is now only an indicator as to who leads for a prospect more than at any point in recruiting history. There are as many prospects “committed” taking official visits this January than there are non-committed players.

Much of this would be eliminated if the NCAA got its stuff together and insisted and pushed for an early signing period in August, but instead the organization is shrugging its collective shoulders with new recruiting rules and saying it can’t police the process. Unlimited text messages, phone calls, no limitations on mailings, more coaches on the road at the same time and earlier contact with prospects will only add to the confusion and lead to more worthless early commitments. Any 2014 commitment a school gets can now be considered “soft” for the most part and is an indication of who has the early lead. We’ve seen that twice this week already with Georgia running back Stanley Williams, a UGA commitment, at least being interested in taking a Notre Dame visit (long story there) and Michigan State wide receiver commitment Drake Harris remaining “committed” to the Spartans, but opening the process at the same time. Watch for even more early commitments in the 2014 and even the 2015 class, but also more official visits while “committed” with these new rules.

I mentioned a few Mind of Mikes ago that UCLA was going to finish strong and Wednesday was a huge key to that finish. Landing safeties Tahaan Goodman and Priest Willis, long considered a package deal, is huge.

Priest Willis and Tahaan Goodman were long considered a package deal.

If anyone would have said six months ago that the Bruins would be two spots away from USC in our national team rankings in late January, they would have been called crazy. The race for No. 2 in the Pac-12 is an interesting one and doesn’t include Oregon or Stanford after both finished in the national top 16 a year ago. UCLA and Washington will slug this out until the end, but neither will pass USC.

I get asked every day about the following guys multiple times — DE Carl Lawson, RB Derrick Green, DB Jalen Ramsey, LB Reuben Foster, OT Laremy Tunsil, LB Matthew Thomas, DT Eddie Vanderdoes, DT Montravius Adams, DB Vonn Bell and DT A’Shawn Robinson, all five stars. Some guys are a little easier to read than others. But it seems right now Green is favoring Michigan, Tunsil is a clear lean toward Georgia, Adams is leaning toward Clemson and Robinson is likely to stick with Texas. However, with others, it’s all about gut feeling, so as of right now here are my best guesses: Lawson to Tennessee, Ramsey to Florida, Foster to Auburn, Thomas to Miami, Vanderdoes to UCLA and Bell to Alabama. Let the yelling begin and keep in mind, some of these guys have official visits left so anything can change.

One player I don’t get asked about is the nation’s No. 1, defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, and there’s a good reason. He’s a done deal to Ole Miss, barring something crazy. Even the schools recruiting against the Rebels feel he’s headed there, although they won’t give up. Not a lot of drama here it appears unless he shocks the world.

Rankings thoughts

The prospect who had the biggest fall from grace since the start of our rankings was obviously Texas quarterback commitment Tyrone Swoopes, whose junior film was amazing and started off as a five-star. We expected Swoopes to improve his passing mechanics but even if he didn’t, we expected another dominant senior season against lesser competition in Texas. None of that happened. Now the next Vince Young label is gone. While we still feel Swoopes has tremendous potential, there was no way to justify a Rivals250 rating.

Shane Morris did not play up to his five-star status.

Another quarterback who was once a five-star, Shane Morris, fell to four stars and the bottom line was this — Morris struggles with progressions and throwing across his body and until those things are corrected, there was no way to justify keeping him as a five-star. Strong arm or not, mononucleosis or not, the quarterback position is scrutinized the most and Morris didn’t play up to his status.

The guy I think just missed five-star status who will be an absolute star in college? Ohio State commitment Jalin Marshall. In Urban Meyer‘s offense, this kid could have a special season.

Derrick Henry earned his designation as a running back from Rivals.com after his performance at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, but didn’t get his fifth star, and Alabama fans think we’re nuts. We may be proven wrong in the end, but Henry’s situation reminds me a lot of James Wilder Jr. back in the 2011 class. We thought Wilder would be a better linebacker than a running back, that he was too big and upright to be a natural tailback and we had him rated as an athlete for much of the process. However, we flipped him to running back in the end and he kept his initial five-star status. So what’s the difference and why hasn’t Henry been a five-star since the start? Henry hasn’t proven he can play another position like Wilder did (136 tackles and 19 sacks as a senior), so the versatility is not there. Wilder Jr. has been a solid situational back for Florida State with 12 career touchdowns, but he hasn’t lived up to five-star running back expectations. Will Henry prove us wrong? Time will tell.

Of the 33 five-stars in our final rankings, the Big 12 has only one — that’s right, one — committed right now. That’s as many as the Big East, one less than the Big Ten and the ACC and two less than Notre Dame alone. The SEC leads the way with nine followed by the Pac-12 with seven. Eight of the 33 remain uncommitted at this time.

I might look back on this column in a few years and be way off, but I think this year’s Rivals100 has as many potential busts as it has booms, more than any other year in recent memory. For every player I see as a “can’t miss” on and off the field, I see another one with a ton of talent who could struggle with academics, off-field issues or attitude. Not going to name names, but I think many of them are obvious, or at least they are to me.

Quick Hitters

2014 four-star running back Shai McKenzie of Washington, Pa., continues to pile up the offers, and on Tuesday added two more from Penn State and Wisconsin. However, at this point McKenzie is leaning toward playing in the SEC and warmer weather. Tennessee is his only SEC offer, but look for more to arrive in the coming months. If he does stay more local, Pittsburgh has the best chance at this time, and the Panthers have done a solid job keeping Western Pennsylvania kids home lately, aside from Robert Foster — who could still flip. Counting out the Panthers would be premature.

Pitt will do what it can to keep local product Shai McKenzie.

One of the more unpredictable recruiting sagas has involved four-star cornerback Mackensie Alexander from Immokalee, Fla. Depending what day of the week you talk to Alexander, or his brother Mackenro Alexander, it is likely their situation will change. I mention Mackenro because most feel that both will sign with the same school and at times he has been more outspoken. Rumors surfaced last weekend that Mackensie had committed to Mississippi State during his official visit, but that was proven false. Now it has been confirmed that the brothers plan to visit Rutgers this weekend, which was a rather random addition to the conversation about a month ago. Clemson is still seen as the leader, but considering how this has gone so far, it would be folly to pick a leader. Alexander is one player I could see delaying his decision past Signing Day, and I’m not convinced the brothers will end up at the same school.

Four-star wide receiver Devon Allen has long hinted that if Oregon were to offer him they would immediately move to the top of his list. Well, new head coach Mark Helfrich finally gave Allen the news he had been waiting for on Tuesday, but the question remains, was Allen only interested in Chip Kelly’s Ducks? Some assumed that a commitment might quickly follow, but that has yet to happen. Allen has one more visit set at this time to Arkansas during the weekend of Feb. 1, and while the Ducks are now seen as the leader, the Razorbacks, UCLA and Stanford continue to be in the chase. Watch out for Stanford, especially if he is admitted, and this could end up being an Oregon-Stanford battle.

The battle for Tanner McEvoy between Oregon and West Virginia continues. Most people assume West Virginia leads, as it’s his obvious destination for a chance of early playing time with Eugene Smith moving onto the NFL. But now with Brian Bennett transferring out of Oregon, could this make the Ducks more of a threat again? Marcus Mariotta is obviously still the main man in Eugene, but now, without anyone behind him with any experience, it should be interesting to see if the Oregon makes a bigger push on McEvoy. You still have to think Mountaineers here.

After the departure of Chip Kelly to the NFL, the commitment of twins Tyree Robinson and Tyrell Robinson seemed the most strained. The duo took an official visit to USC last weekend and the outcome has been more positive for the Ducks than assumed. At this time, they still have another visit lined up to Washington, but Oregon is in a much better position with the twins than they were when Kelly departed. Washington, however, remains a threat.

Four-star wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who is committed to Pittsburgh, is still scheduled to take an official visit to Tennessee. However, the good news for Pitt fans is that Penn State‘s late push to get the in-state receiver to Happy Valley for an official visit came up short. Boyd is still considered a pretty solid Pitt commitment despite his upcoming visit to Knoxville, but once again you never know what can happen during an official visit weekend. The Vols will push hard.

Despite losing Na’Ty Rodgers to South Carolina, things look good for Maryland with linebacker Yannick Ngakoue for a re-commitment. FSU was hot for a bit with him, but the Gamecocks have been in this race the longest. In the end, I feel he’ll choose the Terps again and play with good friend Derwin Gray.

WR Marquez North will announce on Signing Day at his school and choose between Tennessee and North Carolina. Gut feeling is North Carolina here, since the Heels got the last official and are favorites of his parents. But Tennessee has made this very close.

You’d think Texas A&M has enough potential wide receivers even with the de-commitment of Tony Stevens to Auburn, but the Aggies are joining Florida in going after FSU commitment Levonte Whitfield. You can’t blame Kevin Sumlin for striking while the iron, or in this case Johnny Football, is hot. Whitfield is tiny but he’s electric. The Aggies are also now the leader for former USC commitment Sebastian Larue now that Notre Dame dropped out. But the question begs to be asked — how does A&M have room if all these guys want to jump on board? It wouldn’t shock me if Larue ended up at a school that either just offered him or will offer late.

Penn State is ranked ahead of Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa in our Big Ten team rankings. Bill O’Brien has done an amazing job since that day in July when the sanctions came down and the others have certainly underachieved for different reasons this recruiting year.

Urban Meyer wants at least two wide receivers, it appears down the stretch here and that doesn’t bode well for some schools. Meyer is targeting two Oregon commitments in Darren Carrington and Dontre Wilson (wanted as a slot receiver) and a Mississippi State commit in Corey Smith. Betcha a dollar he lands one of them. Any takers?

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Peyton Manning speaking in Little Rock on June 1, 2013

January 23, 2013 – 10:35 am
denver-broncos-quarterback-peyton-manning-calls-a-play-during-the-first-half-of-an-nfl-football-game-sunday-nov-25-2012-in-kansas-city-mo-ap-photocharlie-riedel

PHOTO BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning calls a play during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

I have read a lot about Peyton Manning in the past and I got to see him play when he was the Vol quarterback and I was excited to hear that he will be speaking in Little Rock on June 1, 2013.

LIKE IT IS

One of NFL’s best will honor state’s best

LITTLE ROCK — Peyton Manning is coming to the Rock.

Manning, perhaps the most prolific quarterback in NFL history (he currently holds 19 records), does only a handful of speeches each year, but Tabitha Cunningham, events manager for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, zeroed in on him from the very start and managed to get him as the keynote speaker for the first All-Arkansas Preps sports banquet.

In all honesty, his fee isn’t cheap, but you wouldn’t expect a Super Bowl MVP to be a bargain.

The banquet, which will be June 1 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, may be one of the hardest tickets to come by in the history of sports banquets. Not just because of Manning, but because there will be approximately 300 athletes named to the All-Arkansas Preps teams as well as an outstanding player of the year, male and female, for the eight sports.

The awards include first-, second- and all-sophomore teams for football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball, boys soccer, girls soccer and softball. Boys and girls in golf, tennis and track and field will come from championship events or the Meet of Champs.

Coaches also will be honored in the sports, and there will be three athletic/ academic/community awards.

St. Vincent Health System is the main sponsor, and it was fitting that Tuesday’s announcement was at its partner, D1 Sports.

Keith Jackson, who has agreed to be the master of ceremonies, was on hand for the news conference. So was Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee, who is part owner and works out at D1, and he really liked the idea of an allencompassing celebration of so many athletes.

For decades, football and basketball players have been named to the Democrat-Gazette’s All-Arkansas teams, but this is the first time to embrace eight different sports.

Some of the All-Arkansas athletes have already been announced in the newspaper, and among the outstanding players of the year on handfor the announcement were Central Arkansas Christian’s Landon Hearnes (boys golf), Conway’s Summar Roachell (girls golf), Pulaski Academy’s Julio Olaya (boys tennis) and Conway’s Janet Taylor (golf coach of the year).

Others who have already been named winners but were unable to make the trip Tuesday were Hot Springs Lakeside’s Mary Wright (girls tennis) and Shawny Green (tennis coach of the year) and Greenwood’s Drew Morgan (football) and Rick Jones (football coach of the year).

The honorees are chosen by a committee of coaches and sportswriters.

“I still remember opening the Arkansas Democrat to see who made the All-Arkansas team. It was a thrill,” said Jackson, a two-time collegiate All-American who spentnine years in the NFL and is the founder of Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids. “An event such as this will take it to another level.”

Peter Banko, president and CEO of St. Vincent Health System, will present the St. Vincent Award to a studentathlete who overcame a health issue. The P.A.R.K. Education Award will go to an athlete who has made great achievements on the field and in the classroom. The Hussman Award will go to an athlete who has excelled on the field and in their community.

Nominations for those three awards are being accepted from coaches, teachers and the general public at allarkansaspreps@arkansasonline.com.

The athletes and coaches are why this newspaper decided to undertake such a major banquet, but the keynote speaker was also a major part of the planning.

“When we first started planning this event, the one name that kept coming up was Peyton Manning,” Cunningham said. “We are also thankful for our sponsors for joining us to make this event a great experience for everyone.”

Metropolitan National Bank, Academy Sports and Arkansas Select Buick GMC Dealers are also sponsoring the event, and the plan is for this to become an annual event.

More information on table sponsorships – and they won’t last long – can be obtained by calling (501) 378-3553.

Sports, Pages 17 on 01/23/2013

Print Headline: One of NFL’s best will honor state’s best

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Tennessee Vols thrilled about not playing Hogs in football this year!!!

 

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Bailouts are legal corruption

January 23, 2013 – 7:25 am

There is no free money out there. Somebody has to always pay.

Bailout Nation

January 13, 2013 by Dan Mitchell

I have a serious question for readers. What’s worse, bailouts for government or bailouts for the private sector?

Yes, both are bad, but is it worse to bail out a bankrupt entitlement program, such as Social Security, or it is worse to bail out an industry, such as the financial sector?

Bailout gravy train cartoonTo bail out the housing sector, or to bail out Medicare? Fannie and Freddie, or GM and Chrysler?

All these examples involve huge amounts of money, and both private-sector and public-sector bailouts have perverse long-run effects, but which is worse?

And don’t forget there are lots of other bailouts in our future, as discussed on this interview for Fox Business News.

The interview took place before Christmas, but the topic is even more relevant today since the budget season is about to begin.

Most of the discussion was about government agencies and programs that may get more handouts, though bailouts for the Federal Housing Administration and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation would be indirect bailouts for big business and housing.

So we’d get the worst of all worlds, more government spending and more cronyism.

Or, as they call it in Washington, a win-win situation.

But I call it legal corruption.

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute, Economist Dan Mitchell | Comments (0)

Paul Greenberg became pro-life because we are all “endowed with certain unalienable rights”

January 22, 2013 – 4:16 pm

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Paul Greenberg (journalist) | Wikipedia audio article

On January 20, 2013 I heard Paul Greenberg talk about the words of Thomas Jefferson that we are all “endowed with certain unalienable rights” and the most important one is the right to life. He mentioned this also in this speech below from 2011:

Paul Greenberg Dinner Speech 2011 E-mail
Fall 2011 Issue
Some of you I have read after for years, others I have depended on for years—without ever having met you before this night. Every time a copy of the Human Life Review arrives in its plain brown wrapper, like a division of fresh reinforcements arriving at the front, I am grateful again for Maria McFadden Maffucci and her selfless corps of volunteers; her editors like Anne Conlon, her helpers, her subscribers, Grazi, signora!THANK YOU, all of you, at the Review. Praise the Lord and keep passin’ the ammunition.And Charmaine Yoest—and her people at Americans United for Life—those folks know their material, and keep up with every latest development. No wonder AUL has been described as the most influential group on Capitol Hill. Their numbers may be few, but I know their impact is huge, and not just on Capitol Hill. They’ve demonstrated that, occasionally, even Washington will listen to the voice of reason. Thank you, Charmaine Yoest.

And what a pleasure to finally meet Jack Fowler, through whom I got the rare privilege of actually corresponding with the legendary—if more than a bit reclusive—Florence King about doing a collection of her book reviews, most of which were far superior to the books she was reviewing. She’s a lady who tends to keep her own counsel, which is understandable. Hers is so much better than most people’s.

Each of us followed his own path to meet here tonight. Some came to the cause early; they were present at the creation of the Human Life Review in 1975. Others, like me, the slow learners, arrived late.

When Roe v. Wade was first pronounced from on high, I welcomed it. As a young editorial writer in Pine Bluff, Ark., I believed the court’s assurances that its ruling was not blanket permission for abortion, but a carefully crafted, limited decision applicable only in rare cases. Even Mr. Justice Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion, told us that Roe did not grant blanket license for the killing of the innocents. He seems to have managed to fool even himself. He certainly fooled me. I swallowed the line whole, and regurgitated it regularly in learned editorials. For years. Though it took more and more effort to rationalize it as the years passed. It can be a strain, sophistry. But editorial writers can acquire a certain affinity for it.

The right to life need not be fully respected from conception, I earnestly explained. It grows with each stage of fetal development until a full human being is formed. (As if any of us even now are still not developing as human beings.) I went into all this in an extended debate in the columns of the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Commercial with a fiery young Baptist minister in town named Mike Huckabee. I kept trying to tell the Reverend Huckabee that life is one thing, personhood quite another. He wouldn’t buy it. Though it’s an engaging argument. For a fatal while. As if those of us who would confer personhood on others couldn’t just as easily revoke it. Over the long course of history, whenever we have decided that some category of human beings is less than fully human, and so their rights need not be fully respected, even their right to life, terrible consequences have followed. That we in this time in this country have grown used to the consequences of Roe, that we now pass over them as part of the ordinary backdrop of our lives, does not make those consequences any less terrible. But only more chilling. Call it the banality of evil. It is the oldest of temptations: Eat of the fruit of this tree and you shall be as gods, having the knowledge of good and evil, deciding who shall live and who shall die. Yes, I’d been taught by Mary Warters in her biology and genetics classes at Centenary College in Shreveport that human life was one unbroken continuity from life to death, and the code to its development was present from its very first, microscopic origin. From its conception. But I wanted to believe human rights developed differently, especially the right to life. As if we had not all been endowed with certain unalienable rights. My reasons were compassionate. Who would not want to spare mothers the burden of carrying the deformed? Why not just allow physicians to eliminate the deformity? End of Problem.

I hadn’t yet come across Flannery O’Connor’s warning that tenderness leads to the gas chambers. Then . . . one day . . . I don’t know exactly when . . . Something Happened.

It always does. Eventually. It just takes longer for some of us to catch on. But I couldn’t help noticing after a while that the number of abortions in this country had begun to mount year after year—into the millions. Perfectly healthy babies were being aborted for socio-economic reasons. And among ethnic groups, the highest proportions of abortions were being performed on black women. (Last I checked, something like 37 percent of American abortions were being done on African-American women, though they make up less than 13 percent of the U.S. population.) Eugenics was showing its true face again. And it isn’t pretty. No matter how hard a later generation has tried to clean up Margaret Sanger’s image as the sainted founder of Planned Parenthood. The truth has a way of outing. In this case, in her own self-incriminating words. Abortion was also touted as a preventive for poverty. All you had to do was eliminate the poor. Even before they were born. They were, in the phrase of the advanced, Darwinian thinkers of the last century, surplus population. With a little verbal manipulation, any crime can be rationalized, even promoted. Verbicide precedes homicide. First dehumanize the other, then anything is permitted. The trick is to speak of fetuses, not unborn children. So long as the victims are a faceless abstraction, anything can be done to them. Vocabulary remains the decisive turning point. Like the Little Round Top, of every political engagement.

Just don’t look too closely at those sonograms. The way I studied the first pictures of my first grandson. Astounding. We are indeed strangely and wonderfully made.

By now the toll has reached some 50 million of those wondrous creations aborted in America since 1973. That’s not some abstract theory or philosophical argument. It’s a fact, and facts are stubborn things. Some even carry their own imperatives with them. And can be ignored only so long. So I changed my mind, and changed sides.

There is something about the miracle that is life, and the moral imperative to respect that dignity . . . that in the end will not be denied. Whether the issue is civil rights in the middle years of the 20th Century or abortion and euthanasia today, a still small voice keeps asking: Whose side are you on? That of life of or death? And commands: Uvacharta b’chayim. Choose Life. Not just at the beginning but at the end. For beware: You start off opposing abortion and pretty soon you’ll be expressing doubts about infanticide and euthanasia, too. One thing leads to another. One realization, one moment of connection, one little detail in a news story, and the light will come on. Be careful. That’s all it may take.

When Terri Schiavo—that was her name, remember?—when she was denied food and water by order of the court, it took her 13 long, slow, agonizing days to die. Of dehydration. Thirteen days. It would have been kinder to shoot her. But that would have been against the law, and we all know the law is just. Funny how, long after you’ve forgotten everything else about some big story at the time, one detail will stick in your mind. Have you ever sat by the bedside of a dying patient—a father or mother, perhaps, or anyone you loved—and given the patient a little chipped ice? And seen, or at least imagined, the relief and inaudible thank you in the drug-dimmed eyes? After all the futile treatments and the succession of helpless doctors, when grief has come long before death, you sit there with a little cracked ice for her parched mouth and throat, and think . . . Well, dammit, at least I can do this one little thing. At least I’m not totally useless. However much or however little the ice might help the patient, it certainly helps the caregiver. You realize why people go into nursing. Can there be any greater satisfaction than this?

But when the law decreed that one Terri Schiavo was to be given no food or water, it meant no food or water. In any form. That’s what the court, the sheriff’s deputies at the hospital, the whole clanking machinery of the law was there for—to see that the severe decree was carried out. That is what we have come to in this country. That’s what the new science of Bioethics at the dawn of the 21st Century had come down to in the end: No cracked ice for Terri Schiavo. The doctors and nurses who had cared for her for years were now forbidden to give her even a single chip.

Of all that whole long, confused cruel farrago of law and politics and what all else known as the Schiavo Affair, that’s the detail that has stayed with me. Long after I’ve forgotten even what she looked like. This is the point we have reached in our advanced era, or been reduced to. I suspect most Americans didn’t want to think about it all after a while, let alone talk about it. We wanted to Move On. It’s been said before: The evils that befall the world are not nearly so often the product of bad people as they are the result of good people who remain silent when they know they should speak out. Well, tonight we’re speaking out, and we’re not going away. All you people aren’t supposed to be here, you know. “There’s nothing to see here, Move along.” Didn’t you know this issue was settled years ago, decades ago? In a definitive decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is Settled Law. So we are told every time we express a doubt about this pervasive culture of death. Haven’t we heard of Roe v. Wade? Don’t we know we’re fighting for a lost cause? Abortion on demand is the law of the land, and always will be. So we’re told. Just as a different generation of Americans was told that Dred Scott v. Sandford was the law of the land. The slavery question had been settled once and for all. All the states were now going to be slave states. When it came to having any rights, Negro slaves were but chattel—property like any other. Case closed. To paraphrase my favorite line from a Ring Lardner short story: Shut up, they explained.

Those old-time abolitionists and Republicans and Free-Soil Democrats and Antislavery Whigs—whose portraits now adorn the walls of this hall here at the Union League club—were a motley crew, as variegated as we are tonight. They, too, were were fighting for a supposedly hopeless cause, that of freedom. But they understood something the sophisticates of their time didn’t: No good cause is forever lost. Because no cause is forever won. That’s the nature of politics. Of ideas. Of life.

Pro-lifers? We’re supposed to have vanished years ago, you and I.We’re all just antiques, holdovers from the past, cultural artifacts, living fossils. That’s what Arnold J. Toynbee, the great pseudo-historian of the past century, called us Jews. Just the remains of an earlier day, of an archaic way of thinking that once held life sacred. Why, we’re all just a collection of dry bones. Dry bones? These bones live. Reactionaries? You bet we are. We have so many horrors to react against.

Maybe once in a generation a great issue arises—a watershed issue. One that can no longer be put off, compromised, blurred . One that will no longer be denied. But returns again and again. With the obdurate force of a moral conviction. Slavery was such an issue. Civil rights was such an issue, and it led to a Second Reconstruction. If the distinguished jurists of the U.S. Supreme Court thought they could end this discussion, they couldn’t. We have only begun to fight; to speak, to witness, and we will be heard. Will we prevail some day? I have no idea. But allow me to share a secret: It doesn’t matter. Win or lose this case or that case, this election or that election, it doesn’t matter.

Whittaker Chambers, the long hard Cold War was just beginning, was convinced he was leaving the winning side for the losing side of history. As an old party man, he knew the iron Laws of History. Resistance was useless. The Party would win in the end. Big Brother would triumph. Forever and ever. It was inevitable. But it didn’t matter. He would witness.

In 1982, another witness, Walker Percy, M.D. and writer, wrote an imperishable little essay, “A View of Abortion, With Something to Offend Eveybody,” a title that is irresistible to any editorial writer worth his salt. Dr. Percy ended his essay with a few words addressed to the opposition: “To pro-abortionists: According to the opinion polls, it looks as if you may get your way. But you’re not going to have it both ways. You’re going to be told what you’re doing.’’ And that’s what matters. To bear witness.

We’ve become very good at preaching to the converted, we pro-lifers. So good at it we may have forgotten what Martin Luther King Jr. tried to teach us—that we have a hidden ally in the hearts of our opponents. And we must never cease appealing to it. They are not our enemies, but our allies in waiting. They have consciences. They’ll come around. I did.

In another publication, the Book of Daniel, it is recorded that the Hebrew children—Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego—were called before the high king of Babylon, the great and mighty Nebudchadnezzar, and told to bow down before the sacred idol he had made—or they would be flung into the fiery furnace. And “they made him an answer: If it be so, our god whom we served is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. “But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up.”

Let us trust that the cause of life will yet prevail. BUT IF NOT . . . we will not bow down before their idol, nor sacrifice our children to it. We will witness, and not grow faint. We will be strong and grow stronger. For we will strengthen one another. As on this night.

L’chaim! To Life!

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Should Michele Bachmann be punished for taking pro-life views from Schaeffer and Koop? (March for Life January 20, 2013)

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A young Dr. C. Everett Koop pictured below.   Dr. C. Everett Koop and Dr. Francis Schaeffer both came together to write the book “Whatever Happened to the HumanRace?” and that book probably did more to fire up the pro-life movement than anything else. I was thinking about the March for Life that is coming […]

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President Obama should be protecting unborn children!!!! (Part 24)

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Why do religious institutions have to provide a way for their employees to get abortions under Obamacare?

January 22, 2013 – 1:54 am

Religious Liberty: Obamacare’s First Casualty

Why do religious institutions have to provide a way for their employees to get abortions under Obamacare? Take a look at this article below:

Americans Recognize Obamacare’s Religious Liberty Problem

Sarah Torre

December 8, 2012 at 9:00 am

Americans see the problem with the religious liberty violation at the leading edge of Obamacare implementation, according to a new poll released by Rasmussen Reports this week.

The poll shows that by a margin of 46–41, likely American voters support a religious exemption for churches, religious organizations, and businesses from Obamacare’s anti-conscience Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate. Sadly, the coercive dictates of the Obamacare bureaucracy don’t hold the same respect for conscience and religious freedom.

The Obamacare anti-conscience mandate, which forces almost all employers to provide and pay for coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, is accompanied by an offensively narrow religious exemption that effectively covers only formal houses of worship. Countless other employers—such as religious social service providers, schools, and business owners—are forced to pay for the mandated drugs and services regardless of religious or moral objections.

The consequences for non-compliance are steep. Hefty government fines—to the tune of millions of dollars for some companies—threaten not only employers’ religious freedom but their livelihoods.

Americans’ wariness over forcing employers to pay for mandated services in conflict with their deeply held beliefs is a concern shared by more than a few federal judges. Just last week, a fourth federal court halted enforcement of the anti-conscience mandate against a business owner. Tyndale House Publishers, one of the nation’s largest Bible retailers, won a preliminary injunction against the mandate that would have forced the for-profit company to pay for abortion-inducing drugs in its employee health plan in violation of the business’s Christian principles. Three other family-owned businesses—Hercules Industries, Weingartz Supply Company, and O’Brien Industrial Holdings—have also won preliminary injunctions against the mandate.

Many Americans—and certainly the more than 110 plaintiffs suing over the mandate—understand the offensiveness of the rule’s current, miniscule religious exemption. But concern over the mandate’s assault on religious freedom isn’t merely caused by the narrowness of this particular religious exemption. The root of the mandate’s disregard for Americans’ freedoms is found in the broader coercion of an invasive health care law that dictates what insurance companies must cover, what employers must provide, and what individuals must purchase.

Under a one-size-fits-all, government-controlled health care system, conflicts with religious freedom and individual liberty are only likely to increase.

In a separate Rasmussen poll from earlier this year, more than half of likely voters admitted they hadn’t personally felt any impact of the health care law, much of which won’t be implemented until 2014. Americans have yet to experience the full weight of Obamacare’s countless, liberty-crushing mandates that will crush individual choice in health care and place burdensome costs on businesses and individuals.

The anti-conscience mandate’s assault on religious freedom is only one of the first tastes of Obamacare’s coercive takeover of the health care system. The fact that almost half of likely voters recognize the need to protect employers’ religious freedom should signal greater concern for future dictates from a law that cedes discretion over personal health care decisions and consumer choice to unelected bureaucrats.

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Healthcare, President Obama | Comments (0)

Otis Redding and Memphis “Music Monday”

January 21, 2013 – 7:23 am

(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay

Uploaded by on Jun 9, 2010

Downtown Memphis, July 9, 2010, solo by Taylor G. Daniel of Germantown. This song was actually sung just a few miles away from where Redding originally recorded it in downtown Memphis at Stax Records.

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Over the years Otis Redding’s influence has just grown. As you see above his music is still being sung today.

Below is an article from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Stax exhibit salutes ties to Otis Redding

  • By Bob Mehr
  • Memphis Commercial Appeal
  • Posted September 6, 2011 at 6:06 p.m., updated September 6, 2011 at 10:59 p.m.
Otis Redding with Otis III.

Photo by Courtesy of Zelma Redding

Otis Redding with Otis III.

Otis Redding was known as the 'King of the Memphis Sound.' He came to Memphis in 1962 with Johnny Jenkins and the Pinepoppers. During a recording session at Stax, he asked if he could record a song he had written. The result was his first hit, 'Arms of Mine.' Among the hits that pushed him to the top ranks of the recording industry were 'Respect,' 'Try a Little Tenderness,' 'Knock on Wood' and his posthumous #1 single '(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay'. Redding and five of the seven member Bar-Kays were killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisc., Dec. 10, 1967. Photo by Volt RecordsOtis Redding was known as the “King of the Memphis Sound.” He came to Memphis in 1962 with Johnny Jenkins and the Pinepoppers. During a recording session at Stax, he asked if he could record a song he had written. The result was his first hit, “Arms of Mine.” Among the hits that pushed him to the top ranks of the recording industry were “Respect,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Knock on Wood” and his posthumous #1 single “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay”. Redding and five of the seven member Bar-Kays were killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisc., Dec. 10, 1967.

A new exhibit celebrating the life and legacy of soul music legend Otis Redding opens at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music this week.

“I’ve Got Dreams To Remember: An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding” will feature rarely seen personal items and objects, courtesy of Redding’s widow.

To mark what would have been Redding’s 70th birthday, a special opening event will take place at the Stax Museum from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free and the celebration is open to the general public.

Some of the pieces in the new exhibit were previously featured in an exhibit at Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, including the red velvet graduation cap Redding wore on the cover of his famed Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul LP.

Others, including the two Grammy awards Redding won posthumously for the song “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” following his death in a 1967 plane crash, have never been on display before.

This is the second Stax exhibit of Redding items from his family’s estate. In 2007, the museum hosted “Otis Redding: From Macon to Memphis” marking the 40th anniversary of the singer’s passing.

“It’s been interesting to get to know the Redding family and work with them,” said Tim Sampson, communications director for the Stax Museum. “Otis Redding was so important to Stax.

“And so it’s important for us to keep showing as many sides of Otis as we can through these types of exhibits.”

“I’ve Got Dreams to Remember” will be on display through March 31, 2012, at the museum at 926 E. McLemore.

For information, go to staxmuseum.com.

— Bob Mehr: (901) 529-2517

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Open letter to President Obama (Part 223)

January 21, 2013 – 7:20 am

(This letter was mailed before September 1, 2012)

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 Flat Tax is the way to go.

I appeared on CNBC a couple of days ago to discuss a new report which claims that some big U.S. companies “only” paid 9 percent of their income to the government.

While I’m a bit skeptical of the numbers (did it include the taxes paid to foreign governments, for instance, which can be substantial for multinational firms?), I confess I didn’t read the report.

So I focused on the best way of getting rid of corrupt loopholes while simultaneously boosting the competitiveness of America companies.

In other words, I said we should rip up the wretched internal revenue code and implement a simple and fair flat tax.

As is my habit, allow me to emphasize a few points from the interview.

  1. It’s good to keep money in the productive sector of the economy because we shouldn’t feed the spending addiction in DC.
  2. If tax rates are low, there’s much less incentive for companies to lobby for loopholes.
  3. The only feasible and desirable tax reform is to simultaneously eliminate tax breaks while lowering tax rates.
  4. The marginal tax rate is what determines incentives for new investment and job creation, which is why America’s highest-in-the-world 35 percent corporate tax rate is a major problem even if average tax rates are much lower.

Sadly, I’m not holding my breath expecting improvements.

Even though tax reform should appeal to well-meaning liberals, Obama seems committed to the class-warfare approach . Romney, meanwhile, mostly wants to tinker with the current system (when he’s not saying worrisome things about a value-added tax).

____________

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 | Also posted in President Obama | Tagged | Comments (0)

Heritage Foundation Videos and Interviews are displayed on www.thedailyhatch.org

January 19, 2013 – 4:43 am

Sen. Mitch McConnell: Americans Don’t Approve of Anything Obama Has Done

Uploaded by on Dec 8, 2011

In an exclusive interview at The Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sharply criticized President Obama for engaging in class warfare and accused him of shifting the focus away from his own failed policies in advance of next year’s election.

“My view is he’ll have a hard time convincing Americans he deserves four more years of this,” McConnell said. “There’s nothing he’s done the American people approve of, so of course, he’s trying to change the subject.”

__________

I love these videos from the Heritage Foundation. They include great interviews and very good illustrations. Below are some links.

What is School Choice?

Uploaded by on Aug 2, 2011

School choice offers families the opportunity to select schools that meet their child’s needs. Watch the video from Heritage Foundation explaining school choice, how it benefits parents and children and why school choice is needed.

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HERITAGE FOUNDATION VIDEO:What is School Choice?

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By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in spending out of control, Taxes | Comments (0)

How good is Arkansas doing in football recruiting in 2013?

January 18, 2013 – 8:19 am

It is truly sad that Arkansas is ranked #62 in recruiting in the 2013 football class so far. The thing that troubles me the most is that there are 4 schools in the SEC that have brought in new coaches and Arkansas is one of them. However, what upsets me most is that the other three are ranked higher than the Hogs. Auburn is ranked #20, Tennessee is ranked #29 and Kentucky is #37. I truly do understand that Tennessee is ranked ahead of Arkansas. They have always been ahead of us in recruiting it seems, but I am upset about Auburn being ahead of us for two reasons. First, we could have had Gus Malzahn as our coach. Second, we could have Tim Horton on our staff but we didn’t offer him a job and now he works for Auburn. WHAT REALLY MAKES ME MAD IS THAT KENTUCKY IS AHEAD OF US!!!!! THEY ARE A BASKETBALL SCHOOL!!!! I do think we have a great coach but he should have known that we need some former Hogs on this staff. I think he finally figured that out and hired Barry Lunny yesterday. Here is what Rivals has to say about our class at this point.

Florida 26 1 15 10 3.65 2790
#2 Notre Dame 22 3 13 6 3.86 2755
#3 Alabama 21 2 12 7 3.76 2732
#4 Ohio State 22 0 14 7 3.59 2684
#5 Michigan 26 1 15 9 3.62 2592
#6 LSU 25 0 17 8 3.68 2575
#7 USC 14 6 8 0 4.43 2496
#8 Texas A&M 34 0 15 18 3.41 2428
#9 Georgia 29 0 14 15 3.48 2235
#10 Florida State 17 0 8 8 3.41 1936
#11 Mississippi 22 1 5 16 3.32 1925
#12 Washington 21 0 8 13 3.38 1901
#13 UCLA 20 0 11 8 3.5 1886
#14 Oklahoma 20 0 6 11 3.21 1817
#15 Virginia Tech 19 1 4 14 3.32 1782
#16 Vanderbilt 21 0 2 19 3.1 1765
#17 South Carolina 19 0 5 14 3.26 1762
#18 Texas 13 1 8 4 3.77 1746
#19 Nebraska 20 0 5 12 3.1 1715
#20 Auburn 15 1 7 7 3.6 1649
#21 West Virginia 23 0 2 19 3.05 1638
#22 North Carolina 18 0 3 15 3.17 1608
#23 Oklahoma State 20 0 4 14 3.1 1580
#24 Mississippi State 22 0 3 15 2.95 1564
#25 Arizona 25 0 2 18 2.88 1556
#26 California 22 0 4 16 3.09 1541
#27 Clemson 15 0 7 7 3.4 1507
#28 Baylor 21 0 2 13 2.85 1498
#29 Tennessee 18 0 4 13 3.17 1488
#30 Pittsburgh 25 0 3 13 2.76 1485
#31 Virginia 18 1 2 13 3.18 1480
#32 Arizona State 22 0 2 16 2.95 1478
#33 Illinois 24 0 2 15 2.79 1456
#34 Utah 26 0 1 20 2.88 1425
#35 Kansas 24 0 2 19 2.96 1410
#36 Missouri 18 0 1 17 3.06 1389
#37 TCU 18 0 1 15 2.94 1380
#37 Kentucky 20 0 1 17 3 1380
#39 Rutgers 21 0 1 15 2.85 1377
#40 Maryland 19 1 3 9 2.95 1337
#41 Houston 25 0 0 17 2.68 1335
#42 Penn State 17 0 4 8 3 1326
#43 Northwestern 19 0 1 15 2.89 1320
#44 Oregon 13 1 5 5 3.38 1314
#45 Indiana 19 0 4 9 2.89 1307
#46 Washington State 23 0 1 15 2.77 1305
#46 Oregon State 21 0 1 15 2.89 1305
#48 Wisconsin 16 0 3 11 3.06 1299
#49 Michigan State 15 0 2 13 3.13 1283
#50 Kansas State 20 0 1 12 2.7 1260
#51 Iowa State 22 0 1 12 2.64 1245
#52 Stanford 12 0 4 8 3.33 1227
#53 Georgia Tech 16 0 0 15 2.94 1140
#53 Boise State 21 0 0 12 2.6 1140
#53 Wake Forest 19 0 0 13 2.68 1140
#56 Southern Methodist 25 0 0 9 2.36 1125
#57 North Carolina State 18 0 0 14 2.82 1095
#58 Miami (FL) 12 0 5 7 3.42 1093
#59 Brigham Young 26 0 1 8 2.42 1065
#59 Iowa 15 0 0 15 3 1065
#59 Louisville 13 0 3 9 3.15 1065
#62 Arkansas 13 0 1 11 3 1001

 

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

When are limits going to be placed on federal government?

January 17, 2013 – 9:51 am

I think the federal government needs a lot of limitations put on it but it still keeps growing and growing in power.

Thomas Sowell, George Will, and Walter Williams have all explained that the Constitution imposes strict limits on the powers of the federal government. This means, for all intents and purposes, that it is a somewhat anti-democratic document.

And by anti-democratic, I mean the Constitution puts restrictions on democracy (not restrictions on the Democratic Party, though in this case…).

More specifically, it doesn’t matter if a majority of people want Obamacare or a Department of Education. We live in a constitutional republic, a system specifically designed to protect individual liberties from tyranny.

The Founding Fathers obviously didn’t want our freedoms to be subject to the whims of a king, but they also wanted to protect us from the tyranny of the majority.

This is one of the reasons why I’m so happy to share this short video from the folks at the Institute of Humane Studies. The Supreme Court may have wimped out in fulfilling its role of  protecting us against untrammeled majoritarianism, but at least we can understand why it’s a good idea to protect economic liberty.

Published on Sep 6, 2012 by

Under a democratic system of government, how is an individual protected from the tyranny of the majority? According to Professor Munger, democratic constitutions consist of two parts: one defining the limits within which decisions can be made democratically, and the other establishing the process by which decisions will be made. In the United States Constitution, the individual is protected from majority decisions. Professor Munger warns, however, that these protections are slowly being stripped away as American courts of law fail to recognize the limits of what can be decided by majority rule. Professor Munger uses the case of Kelo v. New London to illustrate the dangers of confusing majority rule with a democratic system.

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I particularly like the fact that the video cites the Supreme Court’s horrific Kelo decision.

By the way, if you want to understand the other side of the debate (or if you want to enjoy a good laugh), you can peruse my post on E.J. Dionne’s failure to understand history and constitutional governance.

P.S. I applied the lessons of this video in my post about why the U.S. government should promote liberty rather than democracy in the Middle East.

P.P.S. They probably don’t realize it, but Republicans actually came out against marjoritarianism in their party platform.

P.P.P.S. There is at least one Republican who is against majoritarianism (and for the right reason). Click here for the answer.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)