Category Archives: Current Events

F.A. Hayek part 1

May 14, 2012 – 4:41 am

Hayek on Socialism

Uploaded by on Aug 21, 2009

Friedrich Hayek talks about socialism.

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Socialism tries to plan out everything and it hurts the free market. We can see how this has played out especially in the last four years in the USA.

Glenn Beck Presents F A Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom” Part 1

Uploaded by on Jun 13, 2010

This video via user TheConservatube; thank you!

What F.A. Hayek saw, and what most all his contemporaries missed, was that every step away from the free market and toward government planning represented a compromise of human freedom generally and a step toward a form of dictatorship–and this is true in all times and places. He demonstrated this against every claim that government control was really only a means of increasing social well-being. Hayek said that government planning would make society less liveable, more brutal, more despotic. Socialism in all its forms is contrary to freedom.

Nazism, he wrote, is not different in kind from Communism. Further, he showed that the very forms of government that England and America were supposedly fighting abroad were being enacted at home, if under a different guise. Further steps down this road, he said, can only end in the abolition of effective liberty for everyone.

Capitalism, he wrote, is the only system of economics compatible with human dignity, prosperity, and liberty. To the extent we move away from that system, we empower the worst people in society to manage what they do not understand.

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

Spending more money on welfare is not the answer

May 13, 2012 – 4:28 pm

We have spent over 19 trillion on welfare since LBJ started the war on poverty and it has only brought us several generations who are dependent on the government.

Rachel Sheffield

April 20, 2012 at 2:45 pm

Multiple reports of welfare abuse have hit the headlines in recent weeks, from a million-dollar lottery winner receiving food stamps to a Massachusetts drug dealer attempting to use welfare cash to post bail and an Alabama nightclub advertising a “Food Stamp Friday” party.

These examples highlight the need to reform a welfare system that is contributing to a culture of entitlement. A crucial element of reform is tackling the ballooning costs of the welfare state, which has become the fastest growing part of government spending.

In a hearing on Tuesday headed by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI), Heritage senior fellow Robert Rector discussed the major growth in welfare costs and how to get spending under control.

First, Rector dispelled the myth that the 1996 welfare reforms ended “welfare as we know it.” In fact, he noted, since 1996 the U.S “spends 50 percent more on means-tested cash, food and housing than it did when Bill Clinton entered office on a promise to ‘end welfare as we know it.’”

The reforms have been significantly watered down over the last several years, and as Rector explained on Tuesday, they touched only one of dozens of federal welfare programs:

The public is almost totally unaware of the size and scope of government spending on the poor. This is because Congress and the mainstream media always discuss welfare in a fragmented, piecemeal basis. Each of the 79 programs is debated in isolation as if it were the only program affecting the poor. This piecemeal approach to welfare spending perpetuates the myth that spending on the poor is meager and grows little, if at all.

In reality, welfare programs are costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars each year. In fiscal year 2011, total welfare costs equaled $927 billion ($717 billion from the federal government and $210 billion from states).

From a historical perspective, since the War on Poverty began in the 1960s, the government has spent $19.8 trillion (inflation-adjusted) to fund a growing list of welfare programs. As Rector points out, this is nearly three times “the cost of all military wars in U.S. history from the Revolutionary War through the current war in Afghanistan.”

Yet, despite current annual welfare costs already twice the amount necessary “to lift all Americans out of poverty,” as Rector noted, President Obama plans to increase welfare spending. Welfare costs have already grown by a third since he came to office in 2009. And this isn’t temporary spending due to the recession. President Obama plans to grow welfare such that by 2022 costs will reach $1.56 trillion. Based on President Obama’s plan, in the next decade U.S. taxpayers will fork out roughly $12.7 trillion on welfare.

To control the burgeoning costs, Rector explained that Congress must put a cap on aggregate welfare spending. Once the current recession ends or by 2013 at the latest, welfare funding should be rolled back to pre-recession levels (adjusted for inflation) and then allowed to grow thereafter only at the rate of inflation. This would save U.S. taxpayers more than $2.7 trillion over 10 years. In addition to the spending cap, Congress should tackle the causes of poverty by promoting self-reliance through work requirements and time limits as well as efforts to strengthen marriage in low-income communities.

Pouring more federal dollars into welfare is creating a burden on taxpayers and promoting a system of government dependence. Reforming welfare by getting costs under control and promoting personal responsibility is an approach that not only respects American taxpayers but also benefits individuals in need.

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

“Tennis Tuesday” every week here on www.thedailyhatch.org

May 12, 2012 – 1:40 am

Every Tuesday you can find a great post like this one and below you can find some links to past posts.

From Wikipedia:

McEnroe won a total of 148 ATP titles (a record for a male professional) during his career — 77 in singles, 71 in men’s doubles, and 1 in mixed doubles (not counted as ATP title).He won seven Grand Slam singles titles. He also won a record eight year end championship titles overall, the Masters championships three times, and the WCT Finals,a record five times.His career singles match record was 875–198 (81.55%_. He posted the best single season match record (for a male player) in the Open Era with win-loss record: 82–3 (96.5%) set in 1984 and has the best Carpet Court career match winning percentage: 84.18% (411–346) of any player.

According to the ATP website, McEnroe had the edge in career matches on Jimmy Connors (20–14), Stefan Edberg (7–6), Mats Wilander (7–6), Michael Chang (4–1), Ilie Năstase (4–2), and Pat Cash (3–1). McEnroe was even with Björn Borg (7–7), Andre Agassi (2–2), and Michael Stich (1–1). He trailed against Pete Sampras (0–3), Goran Ivanišević (2–4), Boris Becker (2–8), Guillermo Vilas (5–6), Jim Courier (1–2), and Ivan Lendl (15–21). McEnroe won 12 of the last 14 matches with Connors, beginning with the 1983 Cincinnati tournament. Edberg won the last 5 matches with McEnroe, beginning with the 1989 tournament in Tokyo. McEnroe won 4 of the last 5 matches with Vilas, beginning with the 1981 tournament in Boca Raton, Florida. And Lendl won 11 of the last 12 matches with McEnroe, beginning with the 1985 US Open.

McEnroe, however, played in numerous events, including invitational tournaments, that are not covered by the ATP website. McEnroe won eight of those events and had wins and losses against the players listed in the preceding paragraph that are not reflected on the ATP website.

Grand Slam finals (11)

[edit] Singles: (7–4)

Wins (7)
Year Championship Surface Opponent in final Score in final
1979 US Open Hard United States Vitas Gerulaitis 7–5, 6–3, 6–3
1980 US Open (2) Hard Sweden Björn Borg 7–6(7–4), 6–1, 6–7(5–7), 5–7, 6–4
1981 Wimbledon Grass Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–4), 6–4
1981 US Open (3) Hard Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–3
1983 Wimbledon (2) Grass New Zealand Chris Lewis 6–2, 6–2, 6–2
1984 Wimbledon (3) Grass United States Jimmy Connors 6–1, 6–1, 6–2
1984 US Open (4) Hard Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–3, 6–4, 6–1
Runner-up (4)
Year Championship Surface Opponent in final Score in final
1980 Wimbledon Grass Sweden Björn Borg 6–1, 5–7, 3–6, 7–6(18–16), 6–8
1982 Wimbledon (2) Grass United States Jimmy Connors 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–7(5–7), 4–6
1984 French Open Clay Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 5–7, 5–7
1985 US Open Hard Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–7(1–7), 3–6, 4–6

Related posts:

Jack Sock “Tennis Tuesday”

2011 US Open Press Conferences: Jack Sock (Second Round) Uploaded by USOPEN on Sep 3, 2011 9/2/2011 http://www.usopen.org _________________ From Wikipedia: Jack Sock From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Jack Sock Country  United States Residence Overland Park, Kansas Born September 24, 1992 (1992-09-24) (age 19) Lincoln, Nebraska Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Weight 82 kg […]

Gael Monfils “Tennis Tuesday”

From Wikipedia: Gaël is nicknamed “La Monf“, or occasionally “Sliderman” due to his unusual sliding technique, especially on clay surfaces. He is of Caribbean heritage: his father, Rufin, a former football player employed as an agent for France Telecom, comes from the island of Guadeloupe, France. His mother, Sylvette, comes from the island of Martinique, […]

“Tennis Tuesday” David Wheaton (Part 4)

Testimony David Wheaton Tennis Uploaded by TheTrueSeven on Sep 23, 2011 Testimony David Wheaton Tennis David Wheaton WIMBLEDON : Grass Doesn’t Agree With Lendl Again July 02, 1991|BILL DWYRE | TIMES SPORTS EDITOR WIMBLEDON, England — Ivan Lendl, who crawled out of the coffin on Wimbledon’s graveyard court, No. 2, Sunday, succumbed on Centre Court […]

“Tennis Tuesday” John McEnroe part 6

McEnroe was McNasty on and off the court By Larry Schwartz Special to ESPN.com “I wanted to spend [the night] with my family and friends and the people who had supported me, not a bunch of stiffs who were 70-80 years old, telling you that you’re acting like a jerk,” says John McEnroe on ESPN […]

“Tennis Tuesday” John McEnroe part 5

Head-to-head [edit] Borg 9–11 McEnroe (7-7 at the main tour) No. Year Tournament Surface Round Winner Score 1 1978 Stockholm Hard SF McEnroe 6–3, 6–4 2 1979 Richmond Carpet SF Borg 4–6, 7–6(10-8), 6–3 3 1979 New Orleans Carpet SF McEnroe 5–7, 6–1, 7–6(8-6) 4 1979 Rotterdam Carpet F Borg 6–4, 6–2 5 1979 Dallas […]

 

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Goalkeeper is lucky sometimes (Soccer Saturday)

May 12, 2012 – 1:37 am

Vegalta Sendai were up 1-0 in the first half of their J-League match against defending champions Nagoya Grampus Eight when the losing home side’s keeper, Yoshinari Takagi, came out of his area to collect the ball. He took too long to clear it., allowing Atsushi Yanagisawa to take the ball off him for a seemingly easy chance at a wide-open net. But, Yanagisawa decided to shoot from outside the box instead of going in a bit closer and ended up putting his shot wide of the far post.

Yanagisawa fell over in shock, while Takagi quickly resumed play in the hopes that no one would remember his goof-up to start the series of goof-ups. In the end, the combination of flubs didn’t matter, though, and Vegalta held on to win 1-0.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

People in the Johnny Cash video “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”

May 11, 2012 – 12:10 pm

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Johnny Cash – God’s Gonna Cut You Down

MAY 15, 2007

Johnny Cash’s version of the traditional God’s Gonna Cut You Down, from the album “American V: A Hundred Highways”, was released as a music video on November 9 2006, just over three years after Cash died. Producer Rick Rubin opens the music video, saying, “You know, Johnny always wore black. He wore black because he identified with the poor and the downtrodden…”. What follows is a collection of black and white clips of well known pop artists wearing black, each interacting with the song in their own way. Some use religious imagery. Howard sits in his limo reading from Ezekiel 34, a Biblical passage warning about impending judgment for false shepherd. Bono leaning on a graffiti-filled wall between angel’s wings and a halo, pointing to the words, “Sinners Make The Best Saints. J.C. R.I.P.” A number of artists wear or hold crosses.

Faces in Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down music video

Artists appear in this order: Rick Rubin, Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Terence Howard, Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Q-Tip, Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Kate Moss, Sir Peter Blake (Sgt Peppers Artist), Sheryl Crow, Denis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Tommy Lee, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire (Dixie Chicks), Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Bono, Shelby Lynne, Anthony Kiedis, Travis Barker, Lisa Marie Presley, Kid Rock, Jay Z, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Depp, Graham Nash, Brian Wilson, Rick Rubin and Owen Wilson. The video finishes with Rick Rubin traveling to a seaside cliff with friend Owen Wilson to throw a bouquet of flowers up in the air.

Wikipedia noted:

Johnny Cash recorded a version of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2003, with an arrangement quite different from most known gospel versions of the song.

A music video, directed by Tony Kaye,[1] was made for this version in late 2006. It featured a number of celebrities, including:

In order of appearance; Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Terrence Howard, Flea, Q-Tip, Adam Levine, Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Kate Moss, Sir Peter Blake, Sheryl Crow, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee, Tommy Lee, the Dixie Chicks, Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Bono, Shelby Lynne, Anthony Kiedis, Travis Barker, Lisa Marie Presley, Kid Rock, Jay-Z, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Depp, Graham Nash (holding photos of Johnny Cash), Brian Wilson.

It also briefly features archive footage of Cash himself. The video was shot entirely in black and white. Since its release, both the song and video have seen moderate airplay.

The video won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

The video was also covered by Rebel Son, Adding a little bit more upbeat sound to the song, Released on the “All my Demons” album.

  • God’s Gonna Cut You Down

  • The video also briefly features archive footage of Cash himself. Since its release, both the song and video have seen moderate airplay. The video won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.The Johnny Cash version can also be heard in the following:

    Other artists[edit]

    American singer and civil rights activist Odetta recorded a traditional version of the song. Musician Sean Michel covered the song during his audition on Season 6 of American Idol. Matchbox Twenty also used the song before playing “How Far We’ve Come” on their “Exile in America” tour.

  • The New Jersey rock band The Gaslight Anthem have also covered the song.[citation needed] Canadian rock band Three Days Grace has used the song in the opening of their live shows, as well as the rock band Staind . Bobbie Gentry recorded a version as “Sermon” on her album The Delta Sweete. Guitarist Bill Leverty recorded a version for his third solo project Deep South, a tribute album of traditional songs. Tom Jones recorded an up-tempo version which appears on his 2010 album Praise & Blame. Pow woW recorded a version with the Golden Gate Quartet for their 1992 album Regagner les Plaines and performed a live version with the quartet in 2008. A cover of the song by Blues Saraceno was used for the Season 8 trailer of the TV series Dexter. Pedro Costarecorded a neo-blues version for the Discovery channel TV show Weed Country (2013). Virginia based folk rock band Carbon Leaf covered the song many times during their live shows.

  • Chart positions[edit]

    Moby version: “Run On”[edit]

    Chart (1999) Peak
    position
    UK Singles Chart 33

    Johnny Cash version[edit]

    Chart (2006) Peak
    position
    UK Singles Chart 77

  • American Idol contestant ministers in Chile

    by Tristan Taylor, posted Wednesday, August 18, 2010 (5 years ago)
  • SANTIAGO, Chile (BP)–Sean Michel smiled through his distinctive, foot-long beard as he slid the guitar strap over his shoulder and greeted the crowd at El Huevo nightclub with what little Spanish he knows. The former American Idol contestant and his band then erupted into the sounds of Mississippi Delta blues-rock.But unlike other musicians who played that night, the Sean Michel band sang about every person’s need for God and the salvation that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ.”We came down [to Chile] to open doors that other ministries couldn’t,” said Jay Newman, Michel’s manager. “To get in places that only a rock band could — to create a vision for new church-planting movements among the underground, disenfranchised subcultures of Chile.”The Sean Michel band recently traveled through central Chile playing more than 15 shows in bars, churches, schools and parks. The group consists of Southern Baptists Sean Michel, lead singer; Alvin Rapien, lead guitarist; Seth Atchley, bass guitarist; and Tyler Groves, drummer.”Although we’re a blues rock ‘n’ roll band, we’re an extension of the church,” Michel said. “We’re kind of like ‘musicianaries,’ if you will.”MISSIONS-MINDED MUSICIANSThe band formed after Michel and Newman met as students at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. While there, the two began recording and selling Michel’s music as a way to raise money for mission trips to Africa and Asia.

    “We were just trying to raise money for a mission trip, but we’d also seen God speaking to people through the music,” Michel said. “So we were like, ‘Well, maybe we need to do something with this,’ and we became a music ministry. But it’s always been rooted in missions and … in the Great Commission.”

    Michel graduated from Ouachita in 2001, Newman in 2004. In 2007, Newman talked Michel into auditioning for American Idol. The exposure Michel received through the television show gained a wider audience for their ministry.

    “The whole American Idol thing was so weird,” Michel said. “We just kind of went on a whim. But the Lord used it in a big way.”

    During his tryout, Michel belted out a soulful rendition of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The video of the audition went viral on the Internet.

    Soon he was doing radio interviews in which he identified himself as a Christian and directed listeners to the band’s Gospel-laden MySpace page. On their next mission trip to Asia, Michel and Newman found that being recognizable gave them access to venues they couldn’t have entered before.

    The band is now an official extension of First Southern Baptist Church of Bryant, Ark., where the musicians have long been active members serving in the music and youth ministries. Every mission trip they have taken has involved working with International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries.

    “We’re Southern Baptist,” Michel said. “That’s who we roll with.”

    TOUR DE FAITH

    “With short-term mission trips, you can plan, but you just got to be willing for your plans to change,” said Michel. When the band arrived in Chile, they were surprised to find that their schedule wasn’t nearly as full as expected. Almost no public venues had booked shows, and many rock-wary churches had declined to host the band.

    “The biggest barrier we had was the pastors,” said Cliff Case, an IMB missionary in Santiago, Chile, and a 1984 graduate of Ouachita Baptist. “The older pastors on two or three different occasions gave excuses for not doing it. It was a real frustration in that sense.”

    Disappointed by the lack of interest, the band prayed for God’s help. They met Jose Campos — or Pépe, as the band came to know him. Campos works with music and youth for the Ministry of the Down and Out, an independent Christian ministry that seeks to reach the often-overlooked demographics of Santiago.

    Campos was able to use his connections to book shows for the band in venues they wouldn’t have known about otherwise.

    “Had we met Pépe (Campos) two or three weeks before the group came, there’s no telling how many shows we might have done,” said Case, who met Newman at Ouachita when Case and his wife, Cinthy, were missionaries-in-residence there.

    Campos booked the show at El Huevo, possibly Chile’s most popular club. Playing there has given the band musical credibility among Chilean rockers. And, one Chilean church reported that a youth accepted Christ after hearing Newman talk before a show. The band already is contemplating a return tour next year.

    OPENING NEW DOORS

    Sharing the Gospel through their songs is only the beginning for the Sean Michel band. Their vision is to be a catalyst to help churches — and missionaries — connect with the lost people of their communities.

    “God is not saving the world through rock bands,” Michel said. “He’s saving the world through the church. And it will always be through the local body.”

    The band wants to see churches take ministry beyond the church doors.

    “If you’re going to want to legitimately reach lost people, you’re going to have to get out,” Michel said. “Go out into the dark places. Those are the places we need to be to reach out.”

    The band’s ministry in Chile opened new doors for IMB missionaries to reach the young, musical subculture of Chilean society.

    “They laid the groundwork for more opportunities,” Case said. “Now we have a network of who to talk to and how to get organized. We can focus on how to use the work they’re doing so we can win people to the Lord and plant some churches.”

    Tristan Taylor is an International Mission Board writer living in the Americas.

  • TIMBERLAKE’S BRAINSTORM: JOHNNY CASH VIDEO WITH KANYE, JIGGA, DEPP, OTHERS

    CLIP ALSO STARS BONO, CHRIS MARTIN, TERRENCE HOWARD, CHRIS ROCK, ADAM LEVINE, AMY LEE, TOMMY LEE.

    If Justin Timberlake adds any more titles to his résumé, we’re not going to be able to fit them all onto a single line. The singer/actor/dancer/producer/clothing designer has tacked video-treatment writer onto his long list of recent endeavors, courtesy of the moody new clip for the Johnny Cash song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”The concept for the all-star video came to Timberlake while he was taking a break from recording with producer Rick Rubin, who helmed Cash’s award-winning Americanalbum series and Timberlake’s “(Another Song) All Over Again.”

    “We were in the studio and we took a break to listen to the new Johnny Cash album [American V: A Hundred Highways], which was not yet released at that point,” Rubin said. “And when we got to that song, [Justin] said, ‘Stop!’ ”

    Timberlake then laid out a plan for a video to accompany the spare, moody song, which would feature a series of stars dressed in Cash’s signature black. “And he said, ‘I’m signing up to be the first one,’ ” Rubin said.

    Timberlake tops a list of 36 stars who appear in the clip, including Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, actor Terrence Howard, Anthony Kiedis and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chris Rock, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Kate Moss, Sheryl Crow, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Tommy Lee, the Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, Bono, (+44)’s Travis Barker, Kid Rock, Jay-Z and Johnny Depp.

    “I had no idea yet how to market the album, which I’d just finished, since Johnny [Cash, who passed away in 2003] was not there and I wasn’t thinking about doing a video,” Rubin said (see “Johnny Cash Dead At 71”).

    Inspired by Timberlake’s brainstorm, Rubin called up acclaimed video director Mark Romanek, who helmed the award-winning clip for Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” (see “Johnny Cash Says Unlike Most Videos, ‘Hurt’ Wasn’t Too Painful”). Though Romanek loved the concept and added some ideas to it, he couldn’t sign on due to scheduling conflicts, so he suggested controversial director Tony Kaye (“American History X”). Kaye, who directed the time-tripping clip for the Chili Peppers’ “Dani California” (which is from an album also produced by Rubin), hasn’t directed many rock videos, but like many of the celebs in the shoot, he’s among the luminaries in Rubin’s thick address book of friends and professional acquaintances.

    “I got together with Tony — he loved Johnny and he’s really interested in the idea of music driving images,” Rubin said. Once they agreed on the concept, Rubin asked a few friends to make a list of the 10 coolest people on the planet. “At least five of the people in the video were on everyone’s list,” he said, “and Iggy was on a lot of lists, so it just felt right to open with him. I don’t know what that message is, but it just feels right.”

    Like the other stars, punk icon Pop is filmed wearing all black. The film’s lightning-fast, blink-and-you-might-miss-it series of quick-edit shots (many of which are close-ups of the stars’ faces) contrast with the slow tempo of the song.

    The video progresses through a series of quick mini-dramas, most of which were improvised, including Howard in a limo reading a Bible, Rock singing along with the lyrics, Timberlake staring at the camera, Depp standing on a balcony playing guitar, and Bono leaning on a graffiti-filled wall between angel’s wings and a halo while wearing a paper hat. The segments were filmed in Los Angeles, New York, London and (in Richards’ case) Amsterdam.

    Rubin said that for many of the artists in the clip — who also include Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Q-Tip, Dennis Hopper, the Clash’s Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Shelby Lynne, Lisa Marie Presley, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Graham Nash and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson — their reactions capture reflective moments spurred by hearing the song for the first time. Lynne sheds tears in an intense closeup, and a serious-looking Kid Rock stomps and claps his hands along to the funereal beat. “Each person got to design their own moment,” Rubin said. “But Tony was looking more for the instant emotional impact than a pre-planned skit. Nobody was asked to lip-sync, so pretty much everything was spontaneous.”

    After a slide-show-like recap of all the famous faces, the clip ends with Rubin and actor Owen Wilson sitting somberly in the back of a limousine.

    We get Iggy and Bono, but what’s Wilson’s connection to the whole thing? “It just made sense that if I was honoring Johnny, I’d have a friend there with me,” Rubin said.

    He also said Kaye has directed a clip for the Cash tune “Help Me” that is not celebrity-driven, but is equally gripping and slated for release in the coming months.

  • Related posts:

  • Johnny Cash (Part 4)

    I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978.  Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around   “Being a Christian isn’t for sissies,” Cash said once. “It takes a real man to live for God—a lot more man than to live for the devil, […]

  • Johnny Cash a Christian?

    I got to see Johnny Cash perform in Memphis in 1978 and I actually knew his nephew very well. He was an outspoken Christian and evangelical. Here is an article that discusses this. Johnny Cash’s Complicated Faith Dave Urbanski <!– var fbShare = { google_analytics: ‘true’, } tweetmeme_source = ‘RELEVANTMag’; –> Unwrapping the enigma of […]

    Johnny Cash (Part 3)

    I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978.  Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around   A Walking Contradiction Cash’s daughter, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, once pointed out that “my father was raised a Baptist, but he has the soul of a mystic. He’s […]

    Johnny Cash (Part 2)

    I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978 at a Billy Graham Crusade in Memphis. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around Cash also made major headlines when he shared his faith on The Johnny Cash Show, a popular variety program on ABC […]

    Johnny Cash (Part 1)

    I got to hear Johnny Cash sing in person back in 1978. Here is a portion of an article about his Christian Testimony. The Man Came Around Johnny Cash was not ashamed of his Christian faith—though it was sometimes a messy faith—and even got some encouragement from Billy Graham along the way. Dave Urbanski | […]

  • People in the Johnny Cash video “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”

    Wikipedia noted: Johnny Cash recorded a version of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2003, with an arrangement quite different from most known gospel versions of the song. A music video, directed by Tony Kaye,[1] was made for this version in late 2006. It featured a number of celebrities, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Tagged , | Comments (4)

Margaret Thatcher exposed the real liberal agenda

May 11, 2012 – 6:45 am

Uploaded by on Jan 18, 2009

Margaret Thatcher’s last House of Commons Speech on November 22, 1990.

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Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher:

People on all levels of income are better off than they were in 1979. The hon. Gentleman is saying that he would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. That way one will never create the wealth for better social services, as we have. What a policy. Yes, he would rather have the poor poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. That is the Liberal policy.

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No wonder Ronald Wilson Reagan (who I named my son Wilson after) and Prime Minister Thatcher were good friends. They both saw through the motives of the liberals.

I shared an amazing video last year featuring Margaret Thatcher exposing the left for wanting to keep the poor destitute if that was the price of hurting the so-called rich.

Deroy Murdock makes similar points in a great column for National Review.

For too many liberals like Obama, “fairness” is not about enriching the modest; it’s about impoverishing the moneyed. Multibillionaire Warren Buffett has energized liberals with his still-unverified claim that his tax rate lags his secretary’s. …Somehow, reducing the secretary’s taxes never came up. Instead liberals demand the so-called Buffett Rule, an instrument for bludgeoning the successful rather than boosting the downtrodden. …Here’s how the Right should challenge the Left: “If you dislike income inequality, lift those with the least. Let’s adopt universal school choice, allow personal Social Security retirement accounts (to democratize long-term capital accumulation), radically reduce or eliminate America’s anti-competitive 35 percent corporate tax (to supercharge businesses), and pass right-to-work laws (so the jobless won’t fester outside closed shops). Let’s build the Keystone Pipeline (to create 20,000 blue-collar positions right now and lower everyone’s energy costs), frack for natural gas, and tame the EPA, OSHA, SEC, and other power-mad bureaucracies, so U.S. companies will stay here, and foreign firms will move in.”

Needless to say, the left will not accept Deroy’s challenge.

Too many of them care about enriching teacher unions, for instance, more than they care about educational opportunity for poor children.

And most leftist leaders would like to impose higher tax rates on success, even if the government collects less revenue.

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

Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 5)

May 11, 2012 – 6:34 am

Saturday 14 July 2012

Switchfoot

Venue

Magic Springs Theme Park 1701 E. Grand Ave. 71901 Hot Springs, AR, US

Venue info and map

Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 5)

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.

Switchfoot: Oh! Gravity. The Meaning Behind

 Posted: Friday, December 22, 2006, 12:24 (GMT)

Oh! Gravity.
The Songs by Jon Foreman

grav•i•ty (grv-t) n.
– The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
– Grave consequence; seriousness or importance
– Solemnity or dignity of manner.

Meaning Behind Songs

Oh! Gravity is a conversation with a well-known law of physics. The question is this: If in the physical world things naturally move closer together, why are we falling apart? War and rumors of war, divorce, hatred, violence, and everything else on the evening news seems to contradict gravity. This song is a fun happy-clappy tune about a grave matter: “Sons of my enemies, why can’t we seem to keep it together?”

American Dream. I am proud to be an American. Proud of my grandfather who was shot down in world war two. Proud of some of my best friends who are in the Marines. I believe in a nation that is serving a higher calling than a TV. I have nothing against the material world. I have nothing against consumerism as a social structure. Certainly we are consumers with physical bodies, but if that’s all we are we’ve lost what it means to be human. When success is equated with excess the ambition for excess wrecks us. As the top of the mind becomes the bottom line when success is equated with excess.

Dirty Second Hands. the machine. the clock. our own hands. The dirty second hand of time is always ticking- bringing us and all that we have worked so hard to achieve closer to the grave and the second hand store. In my fight with depression, lust, pride, and boredom I have found that the biggest challenger is often within me. The very machinery that I loathe and have fought so hard to defeat stares back at me from the mirror. This mechanism is always ticking. And in my spiritual life I have found that this is a part of me that has to die everyday if I am to be truly alive.

Awakening. How quickly I am lulled back to sleep! How quickly I forget. In one of my favorite Wilco songs Jeff Tweedy sings, “You know I would die if I could come back new.” Perhaps to be truly reborn death is not optional. Here’s a firsthand story about new life, it always starts at the bottom.

Circles. Here’s a tune that had its roots in the past. We actually played a version of this song a few tours ago while we were gearing up for the recording of “nothing is sound.” It’s an ecclesiastical song about the modern machine. We tracked a previous version of this song while we were tracking stars. But something about the song was never quite right. When Sean and Sarah Watkins (our friends from Nickel Creek) came in, the song took on a new life and became something truly special. The end of the song represents one of my favorite moments we’ve ever had on a CD.


Amateur Lovers. Oh that we knew how to love each other well! Here’s a song that elaborates on the title track with another set of social-physics questions. We all need love so badly- it’s how we were made. And yet we’re so bad at loving one another. It’s our attempt to put another matter of grave consequence in the skin of a pop tune.

Faust, Midas, and Myself. Two mythologies and the truth. Or more specifically, a man who makes a deal with the devil, a man who has a touch of gold, and my own personal struggles. CS Lewis had a lot to say about mythology. On one occasion he said that he writes fantasy to get past the watchful dragons of religion. That’s why I write music, because our minds are often so closed that even the truth can’t fit in to set us free. This is a story about following the fantasy and seeing where it leads. Sometimes the dreams turn into nightmares… In a million ways, I know firsthand that the taste turns sour very quickly.

Head Over Heals. This is an honest love song. Love is not a silk flower- always bright, with artificially whitened teeth and a fake tan. No, love is a fight. Love is what happens when you’ve been hurt and you want to quit. Love is what happens when you decide not to. Love is not the beginning of the story but the ending. Perhaps the thirty-minute sitcom has done a disservice to the sheer magnitude of what love is.

Yesterdays. I wrote this with my brother. The song is very straightforward. I have hope in this life and beyond the grave.

Burn Out Bright. One of two tracks on the record that is a command. Seems like every story I can relate to starts off with a broken heart, broken dreams and bleeding parts. There’s a story I know about a man named Israel who wrestled with God. From that day on he walked with a limp. I guess in a lot of ways I don’t trust a man who doesn’t have a limp. The future is yet unwritten. Write it well.

4:12. Another musical thesis on the subject of materialism. I’ve heard it said that we are souls and we have bodies. And yet our physical world is always hungry, always thirsty, always watching, always listening. It gets to the point where I begin to believe that all we are and that all of our dreams are nothing more than material. That love and fear and pain and justice are material? It’s nonsensical.

Let Your Love Be Strong. My wife’s favorite song. This one means a lot to me. “Maybe I’m just idealistic to assume that truth could be fact and form, that love could be a verb, maybe I’m just a little misinformed.” I wrote this one after a long walk in the early morning before the sun came up. I was sitting out by the train tracks halfway between the ocean and the freeway. When everything in your life falls apart you begin to realize what’s worth holding on to and who’s got a hold on you. Let the world fall apart … all of my life rests upon the love that created every breath I have been given.

*a footnote:
I have a hard time explaining what I do for a living. I sometimes wish I played the role of inventor: purposefully creative, a wizard with notes and words. But in fact my occupation is much more like an archeologist. Always digging. Always sorting. And occasionally I feel that I stumble across something truly remarkable. Like a hidden city buried in the ground, the notes and words seem to have been there long before me- as though the song would exist without my involvement. Or maybe it’s more like farming. Preparing the soil, planting, watering, pruning and caring for these ideas hoping to see a bumper crop yet knowing that the outcome is almost entirely out of my hands.

With that in mind, this collection of songs then is something that I can only partly take credit for. Most of my favorite moments on the record represent the times when my fingerprints are the lightest, where my own self-conscious second-guessing is absent and the buried city can speak for itself. I suppose to some extent I’m talking about honesty- allowing a song to be itself rather than forcing your own will upon it. This was a goal not only in the writing process but in the studio as well. Many times on this record we deliberately went back to the first take and the rough draft to find our direction simply because the first response to the song is often the most honest. Your first instincts might be poorly played or incomplete but they were honest.

I am so proud of these songs, like I am proud of my friends or as I imagine a father would be proud of his son. I truly feel like there is only so much credit that be given to the songwriter, for the buried city was waiting there all along.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

John Calipari target of Lexington paper carton

May 10, 2012 – 9:51 am

I have to admit that I always pull for the SEC teams to win but I made an exception when Kentucky made it to the final four this year. Maybe the point of this carton below had something to do with it. I am not a Tennessee fan but I pull for them to beat Kentucky everytime they play.

The Herald-Leader continues to dig its own grave, almost to six-feet

by Drew Franklin @ 10:40 am. Filed under Blue Blooded Opinions

This political cartoon making fun of John Calipari ran in the Lexington Herald-Leader today and I have a very good feeling it isn’t going to go over well.

I feel sorry for whoever is working the newspaper’s cancellation desk because it’s going to be a busy day on the phones. I hope they packed a lunch.

The Herald-Leader

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276 Responses to “The Herald-Leader continues to dig its own grave, almost to six-feet”

  1. Jatt Mones Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:41 am I honestly can’t believe people still subscribe to that crap paper.
  2. Whysoserious Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:42 am Wtf?

    How could you be so dumb to run something like this?

    I don’t have a HL subscription, but I’m going to call and cancel anyways.

  3. I know this Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:42 am Joel Pett, the cartoonist, was a longtime political cartoonist at the Bloomington Herald Telephone (aka the Horrible-Terrible) during the Knight years.
  4. Jarrod Polson is the new Zack Morris Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:43 am Who knew Jerry Tipton could draw?
  5. Keith R. Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:43 am I think it’s time that KSR stops mentioning them in daily news. But you have to have something to put in here, right?
  6. James K Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:43 am That’s the most insulting thing I’ve seen from the LHL. I never read their paper, and they are just trying to get people to come to the site. Unbelievable. If Cal threatened to shut them out before, what is it going to be like now?
  7. GrumpyOldDude Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:44 am They even have John Clay jumping on the bashing bandwagon today…….idiots.
  8. RCS Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:47 am I generally think fans overreact to the local media, but I must say the HL has taken a pretty negative stance on UK. Tipton really is a caricature this point, coming up with new and creative ways to spin stores to the negative. That said, it has lost almost all of its relevance so I don’t think it really matters.
  9. Allen Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:47 am 5- If you don’t like it, go to a different website and stop coming to this one.
  10. Used to be a HL reader Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:49 am Ever since I found KSR, I stopped checking the HL website. Thank you KSR, and R.I.P. HL.
  11. ltothaj1 Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am WOW, are they trying to put the Herald under? unbelievable
  12. Num1CatFan Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am The Herald Mis-Leader
  13. JMF Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am Just dumb business move on HL’s part. They wonder why subscription #’s continue to decline.
  14. G Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am Joel Pett is lucky that he doesn’t have a Twitter
  15. Wow Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am The LHL has been irrelevant to me for a long time. I don’t read it, link to it, or think about it.
  16. MKG Fan Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am Time to short sell LHL stock.
  17. catcard202 Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:51 am IMO, UK should just disassociate themselves from the LHL / any LHL employee & be done w/ it. Revoke all access, deny any request made & be VERY PUBLIC as to WHY the LHL has been banished (via other media avenues).
  18. El Stumperino Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:51 am Dollar signs on the trophy, that’s uncalled for and totally offensive.
  19. mateotemprano Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:51 am was this drawn by joel pett or “not joel pett”?

    never mind– the LHL is incapable of self-deprecating satire…

  20. Jezz Says:
    May 8th, 2012 at 10:52 am This newspaper needs to die slowly and painfully.

    This is the LEXINGTON Herald Leader. Go away if you want to hate on the University of Kentucky or just accept the bankruptcy that’s coming your way.

  21. Post national championship interviews with John Calipari

    Kentucky’s John Calipari on being a National Champion Uploaded by CBSSports on Apr 3, 2012 Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari talks to Tim Brando about what it feels like to finally win a national title ________ John Calipari and Darius Miller speak at UK championship celebration ____________ _____________ Related posts: If Calipari had stayed at […]

    PBS: Post Kentucky, Assessing NBA’s One-And-Done Rule

    Post Kentucky, Assessing NBA’s One-And-Done Rule Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Apr 3, 2012 As Kentucky fans celebrate their latest basketball championship, the team’s dominance has revived questions about the NBA’s One-and-Done rule, which requires players to be 19 and just one year out of high school. Gwen Ifill and guests discuss. ____________ Uploaded by worldnewslive4u […]

    If Calipari had stayed at Memphis he could have won a national championship earlier!!!

    John Calipari’s Kentucky program isn’t just No. 1 in the country. It’s the hottest program since UCLA used to win it all every year. (Getty Images) The conventional thinking is that John Calipari won a national title because he went to Kentucky.  However, when he left Memphis he had the best recruiting class in the […]

    Calipari’s super recruiting success all started after Derrick Rose’s #1 draft pick in NBA

    One Shining Moment 2012 HD Everything you will read below by Dan Wetzel is true, but it all started when Derrick Rose was taken first in the NBA draft after spending one year under Calipari at Memphis. John Calipari stuggled to recruit top players to Memphis the first 4 years he was there because the […]

    Prediction:Calipari’s Wildcats will win with comeback in last 2 minutes over Kansas

    Kansas will build a good lead going inside of two minutes and then Kentucky will hit some big shots and Kansas will miss some key free throws as Calipari’s Wildcats squeeze out a victory. I do think it will be dramatic and it will be totally opposite of what happened to Calipari’s team in 2008. […]

    John Calipari’s best recruiting class of all time fell apart

     Enlarge   John Calipari address the press on his first day as Kentucky basketball coach. John Calipari stuggled to recruit top players to Memphis the first 4 years he was there because the “one and done” rule had not been put into place yet and many of the talented recruits of his skipped college and […]

    John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 8)

    #1 Kansas vs #1 Memphis National Championship 2008 (Part 3) The paths of Self and Calipari cross for championship By Kory Carpenter Sunday, April 1, 2012 More New Orleans, La. — Bill Self’s start in coaching is probably well known by now. A guard on the Oklahoma State basketball team, he worked at a Kansas […]

    John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 7)

    Kansas vs. Memphis – 2008 NCAA Title Game Highlights (HD) Kentucky vs. Kansas: Bill Self a Fitting Final Obstacle to John Calipari’s Title By Josh Martin (Featured Columnist) on April 2, 2012   Stacy Revere/Getty Images The long and winding road to an NCAA Tournament title has led John Calipari back to Bill Self‘s door. […]

    John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 6)

    Memphis Tigers John Calipari Interview 2008 Basketball Final FOX Sports Exclusive Calipari, Self more than just recruiters   NEW ORLEANS There is an inherent silliness to a profession like the one that has made rich men of John Calipari and Bill Self. They spend months, even years, burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel and […]

    John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 5)

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

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

May 10, 2012 – 6:57 am

Switchfoot The Documentary

Saturday 14 July 2012

Switchfoot

Venue

Magic Springs Theme Park 1701 E. Grand Ave. 71901 Hot Springs, AR, US

Venue info and map

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.

___________________________________

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 | Comments (0)

One of Waldron’s best died this week: Don Sevier

May 9, 2012 – 8:51 pm

One of Waldron’s best died this week.

Coach Don Sevier

 

Coach Don Sevier

  • BORN: August 17, 1934
  • DIED: May 5, 2012
  • LOCATION: Russellville, Arkansas

Coach Don Sevier, 77, a true Arkansas sports legend, passed away on Saturday, May 5, 2012, while holding his wife and daughters’ hand at the Johnson Regional Medical Center in Clarksville.
Coach Sevier was a standout high school athlete at Waldron High School and a two sport star in basketball and football at Arkansas Tech where he graduated in 1957. Don was offered a professional football contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League and a basketball contract with the Phillips 66ers but chose to devote his life to coaching and teaching young men. Coach Sevier coached former White House Chief of Staff Mack McClarty when Mack was in Junior High and went on to teach and coach for nearly forty years at Hope, El Dorado and Russellville High Schools and Arkansas Tech University where the Wonderboys played for the NAIA national championship in football in 1971, as Don assisted then head coach, Don Dempsey.
Coach Sevier finished his career at Arkansas Tech by serving as the Director of Athletics for nineteen years. During that time, he was instrumental in the leadership of the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference and was a true pioneer in helping Arkansas Tech transition to the NCAA and helped form and compete in the most powerful division two conference, The Gulf South. Don’s original belief was that the Arkansas schools would be better off competing in a smaller league made up of the old “AIC” and the division two schools in Oklahoma. Coach Sevier saw that come to fruition this year in the formation of the new Great American Conference. For his service to Arkansas Tech, Don was inducted into the Arkansas Tech Hall of Distinction in 2001.
Don was a man of solid character, honesty and faith and cherished so much the relationships he fostered with players, coaches and other administrators throughout his career. Coach Sevier retired in 1994 and enjoyed spending time with friends and family. Don was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Russellville.
Coach Sevier is survived by his wife of fifty-six years, Joan of Russellville; his only daughter, Jolie Leeds; his son-in-law, Dr. Blaine Leeds; and two grandsons, Brandt and Brennan Leeds, all of Clarksville. Coach Sevier’s nephew, the Mike and Cindy Webb family, their children and grandchildren reside in Ft. Smith.
The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, at First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Roy Smith and Mr. Jerry Burns officiating. Burial will be at 4:30 p.m. at Duncan Cemetery at Waldron under the direction of Shinn Funeral Service.
Honorary pallbearers will be Leon Anderson, Rick Thone, Jim Murphy, Kelly Davis, Howard Ritchie, Dr. Stanley Teeter, Dr. Robert Thurlby, Dan Leeds, Charley Ford, Jerry Burns, Chuck Horn, Don Dempsey, Billy Gene Davis, John Montgomery, Cleo Simmons, Bill McSpadden, Ed Bates, Larry Brown, Joe Hoing, Jim Parker and every young man his life influenced.
The family will receive friends following the service in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts in Coach Sevier’s name may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Russellville at 479-968-1232 or to the Don and Joan Sevier Endowment Scholarship to Arkansas Tech through the Johnson County Community Foundation at 479-754-5842.

______________

Don played for my wife’s grandfather LR “Tom” Sawyer. Here is a post I did on him earlier and it mentions Don.

My wife’s grandfather was Lecil Richard “Tom” Sawyer and he lived from September 30, 1906 to September 5, 2004. He was one of the most outstanding men I have ever known. In Waldron, he was a legendary football coach that won 87% of games during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, and they would later name the football field after him.
Coach Sawyer was married for over 60 years to Vera Mae Martin Sawyer, and their children are Tom Franklin Sawyer of Houston, Texas (who is my father-in-law) and State Senator Mary Anne Salmon of North Little Rock (who is my wife’s aunt).
Most of the details for this article come from an interview I had on Dec. 22nd with Edward “Odell” Fryar who was a running back on the Waldron Bulldog team. Odell and his wife Peggy live in Little Rock, and I got to know them in 1983 when I was a member of Little Rock’s First Baptist Church.
“Coach Sawyer was probably the best high school football coach in Arkansas,” Fryar said. “He was a task master on the practice field and made sure every player played hard every play. Moreover, he was an even better person off the field.”
Tom Franklin Sawyer noted, “My father cared about his players, but he got the most out of them. I remember that if a running back fumbled the ball in a game, then that player would carry a football with him to all his school classes the next week.”
“My father was a great motivator and encourager and those two qualities brought out the best in his players,” daughter Mary Anne Salmon said.
Fryar was a junior on the  district winning 1948 team, and actually Waldron won the district all three years that Fryar was on the team (1947-49). Waldron was a small town of only 1,292 people in 1948 and Benton had over 6,000 people. Fryar said it was not unusual for Waldron to have 30 players dressed out and to be facing teams that had many more players and also the opposing players would be much larger than they were.
The day after Thanksgiving in 1948, Waldron had traveled to Bentonville and beat the undefeated Tigers. Fryar said that the Tigers should have won the game, but  two trick plays resulted in big plays for Waldron.
The first was on a kick off when Herman Jones faked a hand off to Buddy Rogers while returning a kickoff, and all the team blocked for Rogers. The result was that the whole Bentonville team tried to pursue Rogers while Jones hid the ball on his hip and ran slowly all the way to the 10 -yard line.
The second trick play involved Fryar getting a pitch from the quarterback, Leon Bobbitt, and running hard to the left. When the defense  rushed him,  he threw a long 45 -yard lofty pass to Bush McGaugh who was wide open, and McGaugh ran under it and took it for a long touchdown play. That resulted in a  20-19 victory over a very good Bentonville team. Now, Waldron would advance to play the Benton Panthers in the state playoffs.
The victory over Bentonville was a costly one for the Waldron Bulldogs. Johnny Evans, the star running back,was banged up and Fryar had to replace him most of the time for the Benton game.
Fryar said there was  a big crowd on hand and a thick fog settling over the field. The Panthers had more players suited out than Waldron, and they looked much bigger than the Bulldogs did too. However, Waldron had the tallest player on the field with tight end Don Sevier who was 6-8, and later Sevier earned All Conference honors for Arkansas Tech in basketball as their center, and eventually served as the Athletic Director for Arkansas Tech.
Benton Panther standout players included Bill Level, a 225 lb tackle, who was a four year letterman, and “Shoat” Shoppach, 165 lb left halfback.
According to the December 9, 1948 issue of The Benton Courier, the Benton Panthers defeated Waldron 13-6 at C.W. Lewis Stadium. Here is what the article reported:
The Benton Panthers were pushed to defeat the unbeaten and untied Waldron Bulldogs 13-6 at Lewis Stadium Friday night.
The Panthers scored late in the second quarter on a pass from Erwin to Jennings, who was standing in the end zone. Lovell’s try for the extra point was good. The Panthers led 7-0 at the half.
Benton kicked off to start the last half. One play after the kick off Buddy Rogers got on a 75 yard run, and was brought down on the 5 yard line. Two plays later Herman Jones try for the extra point was blocked. Benton led 7-6.
Benton scored in the last quarter on a pass from Erwin to Smith that was good for 35 yards and Smith ran 20 more to score. Lovell’s kick for the extra point was blocked.
Waldron was hampered by injuries, and many of the players had to be taken from the field. There was a fog all the last half which made seeing the ball difficult for the players, as well as the fans.
The final score was Benton 13, Waldron 6.
Probably the greatest legacy that Sawyer had was the family and friends that he influenced. Not only did Sawyer serve as football coach but he was the Waldron School Superintendent from 1934 to 1975 and Mayor of Waldron from 1975 to 1983. He also taught a men’s Sunday School Class at the Waldron First Baptist Church for many years.
“There are few people in my life that have received the level of respect I hold for L.R. “Tom” Sawyer,” state representative Terry Rice of Waldron said. “I guess the saying, ‘You give respect, you get respect’ fits well here. Whether it was a small child who needed reassuring, a student who had acted up, or an adult from any walk of life, I witnessed someone who could be as kind, as tough, or as knowledgeable as possible while always listening”
Rice said that even though Sawyer could have moved on to have “achieve lofty heights and big pay,” he chose to stay and touch the lives of thousands of people in Scott County.
William Roy Wilson, Jr., an United States Senior District Judge, recalls a story from his senior year at Waldron High School involving Sawyer and some chewing gum.
“I was in the library chewing gum, and Mr. Sawyer called me outside and told me, ‘Billy Roy, you are kind of a leader and I need for you do me a favor,” Wilson recalls. “’If you see anyone chewing gum, tell them it is against the rules and I am sure they will listen to you.’ I swallowed that gum on the spot.”
About a year ago, my wife Jill and I talked about the legacy of her grandfather  who we called, “PapPaw.” I told her that I decided to have my grandkids call me PapPaw out of honor of the memory of her grandfather. The complicating factor was that my 3 yr old grandson, Luke Hatcher, had already been calling me “Granddaddy.” However, he did well in the transition, and he told my son , “Granddaddy wants me to call him PapPaw!!!”
I hope that one day Luke will ask me why I chose the name “PapPaw, and I will be glad to tell him.
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Everette Hatcher is a regular contributor to The Saline Courier. He is the fourth generation in his family to work in the broom manufacturing business. Everette and his wife Jill have four children and live in Alexander.

LR “Tom” Sawyer shown at his desk at Waldron School District around 1940.

 
By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)