Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 1)
My niece Mallory Nail went to see Switchfoot in concert at John Brown University on Oct 14, 2011 and I am very jealous.
969 Switchfoot Interview #2
Interview with Tim Foreman and Chad Butler airing March 13th, 2007.
Discuss: idea of success, fan interaction
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Switchfoot is a Christian Band with a great message (Part 1)
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.
Rock band Switchfoot took the stage in Buffalo last night with label mates and co-headliners Copeland. I was fortunate not only to watch the show, but to interview both bassist Tim Foreman from Switchfoot and lead singer Bryan Laurenson from Copeland as well. Here is what they had to say:
StaticNoise: Switchfoot was first noticed as Christian band. Is that a stereotype or mold that the band is trying to break now?? Tim Foreman: “We’ve always been pretty honest about our faith. From one sense it is a compliment. To be associated with Christ, in my opinion, it is a really high honor. As an artist, though, it is can be limiting in the scope that what you are trying to do if you are grouped in that genre. If I was not a Christian, I wouldn’t listen to the songs and somehow they would not relate to me. We always tried to write music for everyone. We’ve been labeled a lot of things—Christian, Political, etcetera, but we just want to make music that is outside of the box.”
SN: Tim Palmer, who is noted for his work with U2’s Joshua Tree and Grammy award winning producer Steve Lillywhite worked on your latest album Oh! Gravity. Was this the first time you worked with both producers??
TF: “Yes! It seems like you have to be British to work on the track.” Foreman says with a chuckle. “Those guys are our heroes. They have been involved with a lot of our favorite records. What they both brought to the table was a big picture perspective. Lillywhite was big on not soloing tracks. Lillywhite wanted us to hear it when things came together.”
SN: So is the more edgier Switchfoot, then??
TF: “It’s a little bit more reckless. More reckless in the way that it’s not taken itself too seriously. When we started recording Oh! Gravity, we weren’t trying to make a record. We just had some free time and some songs and we wanted to record an EP. I think when you are recording when not thinking about it, there’s a lot of freedom there.”
SN: What is the best city you have played in so far on this tour and where do you think Buffalo will rank after tonight??
TF: “We had some great shows so far and I expect big things from Buffalo after tonight.”
This 10.5 minute Power Point presentation gives statements from Church leaders (early and late) regarding the Christian Church’s opposition to abortion.
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I learned so much from the books and films of Francis Schaeffer. He really got me excited about the pro-life movement. In order to understand where I am coming from it is best to take a look at where Schaeffer was coming from and his thought processes. Take a look at this article below that appeared 13 years after his death in Christianity Today.
Looking back it seems now that many of the things that Schaeffer saw coming in the future if secular man continued down this path of humanism have actually happened. Michael Hamilton has commented:
The conceptual centerpiece of Schaeffer’s historical view is the triumph of relativism in the modern post-Christian world: “Modern men, in the absence of absolutes, have polluted all aspects of morality, making standards completely hedonistic and relativistic.” He would not have been surprised by the advent of “postmodern” thought, which has built countless altars to relativism across the intellectual landscape. Nor would he have been surprised by the resultant moral vacuum that characterizes much contemporary academic thinking. In a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education,anthropologist Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban agonized over the fact that her discipline’s prime directive—cultural relativism—left her with no rationale for opposing rape or racial genocide in other cultures. One can almost hear Francis Schaeffer saying, “I told you so.”
In particular, he appears to have been prescient on the issue of human life. In 1976 he observed that “in regard to the fetus, the courts have arbitrarily separated ‘aliveness’ from ‘personhood,’ and if this is so, why not arbitrarily do the same with the aged? So the steps move along, and euthanasia may well become increasingly acceptable. And if so, why not keep alive the bodies of … persons in whom the brain wave is flat to harvest from them body parts and blood?” Schaeffer’s bleak vision is now daily news. “Cadaver Jack” Kevorkian has already killed more people than Ted Bundy, but the state of Michigan cannot muster the political will to stop him. A federal court has forbidden the state of Washington to pass laws preventing doctors from killing their patients, while the University of Washington is permitted to scavenge and sell the body parts of thousands of aborted children every year.
Thirteen years after his death, Schaeffer’s vision and frustrations continue to haunt evangelicalism.
by Michael S. Hamilton | posted 3/03/1997 12:00AM
The meaning of Francis Schaeffer
By the end of his life, Francis Schaeffer had come full circle. A ministry born in the ecclesiastical battles of the early twentieth century now completed its course by urging evangelicals on to another round of internecine warfare. And when all was said and done, evangelicals still did not know what to make of him. Commentators struggling to characterize him adequately have tried to attach a number of labels—pastor, evangelist, pre-evangelist, apologist, missionary to intellectuals, guru to fundamentalists, philosopher, prophet.
There is an element of truth in all these labels; each, by itself, reduces him beyond recognition. Clearly he was evangelicalism’s most important public intellectual in the 20 years before his death. Ideas were to him literally matters of life and death. History, thought Schaeffer, taught that the intellectual base on which a people build their society will determine that society’s laws and character: “There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people.” His singular message was that a society cannot hope for righteousness and justice without thinking the thoughts of God from the bottom up.
Despite Schaeffer’s errors of detail, some critics have recently allowed that his big picture has proven durable. The conceptual centerpiece of Schaeffer’s historical view is the triumph of relativism in the modern post-Christian world: “Modern men, in the absence of absolutes, have polluted all aspects of morality, making standards completely hedonistic and relativistic.” He would not have been surprised by the advent of “postmodern” thought, which has built countless altars to relativism across the intellectual landscape. Nor would he have been surprised by the resultant moral vacuum that characterizes much contemporary academic thinking. In a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, anthropologist Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban agonized over the fact that her discipline’s prime directive—cultural relativism—left her with no rationale for opposing rape or racial genocide in other cultures. One can almost hear Francis Schaeffer saying, “I told you so.”
In particular, he appears to have been prescient on the issue of human life. In 1976 he observed that “in regard to the fetus, the courts have arbitrarily separated ‘aliveness’ from ‘personhood,’ and if this is so, why not arbitrarily do the same with the aged? So the steps move along, and euthanasia may well become increasingly acceptable. And if so, why not keep alive the bodies of … persons in whom the brain wave is flat to harvest from them body parts and blood?” Schaeffer’s bleak vision is now daily news. “Cadaver Jack” Kevorkian has already killed more people than Ted Bundy, but the state of Michigan cannot muster the political will to stop him. A federal court has forbidden the state of Washington to pass laws preventing doctors from killing their patients, while the University of Washington is permitted to scavenge and sell the body parts of thousands of aborted children every year.
In Francis Schaeffer’s later years, he seemed to act as though the social order perhaps could be reformed from the top down, beginning with laws and proceeding toward intellectual foundations. This is almost certainly due to the fact that he was thoroughly radicalized by the merciless killing of millions of unborn children. If his later actions were inconsistent with his philosophy, they were certainly understandable. To echo pro-choice historian Garry Wills, if one really does think that abortion is the taking of innocent human life, surely Schaeffer’s response makes sense.
In trying to assess the meaning of Francis Schaeffer, it is instructive to compare him to Billy Graham. Both reached the peak of their influence at about the same time, and both had an immeasurable impact on American evangelicalism. Graham in many ways represents the moderate middle of evangelicalism—defusing controversy, wishing the best for everyone, friend of both Republicans and Democrats, slow to disturb middle-class conventions, willing to cooperate with anyone who will let him preach the gospel. As historian Grant Wacker once wrote, “When Graham spoke, middle America heard itself.” It was just as natural to see Graham and the President on the fairway together as to see Graham on a platform with a Bible in his hands.
But one can no more imagine Francis Schaeffer playing golf with the rich and famous than one can imagine Mother Teresa shopping for furs in I. Magnin. If Graham represents evangelicalism’s smooth center, Schaeffer represents its crushed-glass edges. Evangelicalism by its nature blurs denominational distinctions, but Schaeffer’s own version of Christianity was tightly sectarian. Graham lent his name widely and welcomed allies from all corners, but Schaeffer refused all alliances. Those who were not his followers but believed in his aims he categorized as cobelligerents in the war against the secularizing and dehumanizing trajectory of modern culture. While Graham appealed to the majority in the middle, Schaeffer attacked the middle for failing to see the direction it was headed. It is no accident that his strongest impact has been among those who have a bone to pick with the middle class—dropouts, intellectuals, and that remarkable recent phenomenon, formerly respectable citizens who have begun to perceive the American judiciary as a refuge for scoundrels.
In short, Francis Schaeffer represents that part of evangelical Christianity that has always been ill at ease with the world in which it finds itself. He once said, “In my teaching, I put a great deal of weight on the fact that we live in an abnormal world. I personally could not stand this world, if I did not understand it is abnormal—that it is not the way God made it.” Perhaps, then, this is his most enduring legacy—his crystalline vision of the vast difference between the world God designed and the world that is the work of our hands.
Michael S. Hamilton is coordinator of the Pew Scholars Programs and concurrent assistant professor of history, University of Notre Dame.
READ THIS FIRST: In decline of all civilizations we first see a war against the freedom of ideas. Discussion is limited or prohibited. Speakers at universities are shouted down. Corruption takes over city governments and towns as dishonesty and corruption expands. Small stores have to shut down because none are honest enough to run a cash register. The stock of stores is looted by employees and pilfered and shop owners flee. Stock markets are rife with manipulation and the plague of dishonesty. We have learned that sound and lasting civilized ideas are built upon very rare and special foundations. Frances Schaeffer is one guy who has sparked my own thinking and study. He has influenced my writing and prison ministry greatly. Humans must be convinced intellectually, historically and reasonably as well as through the Biblical teachings. Francis Shaeffer has helped all of us wade through this vast propaganda sewer to approach fundamental questions, one of which is: “Why do nations and empires decline?”
Jeffrey Miron is senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Miron is the author of Libertarianism, from A to Z and a member of Expert Insight.
In a recent discussion of what his administration might accomplish, Mitt Romney claimed that “by virtue of the policies that we put in place, we’d get the unemployment rate down to 6%, and perhaps a little lower,” over a period of four years.
Is this goal attainable?
It is. Indeed, it is not that tough a task. If the United States avoids new growth-retarding policies, such as the tax hikes scheduled for January 1, the economy’s natural adjustments will lower unemployment substantially. These include downward adjustments in wages, reallocation of job-seekers from slower to faster growing sectors and regions, reduced in-migration plus increased out-migration, and withdrawals from the labor force.
Jeffrey Miron is senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Miron is the author of Libertarianism, from A to Z and a member of Expert Insight.
These adjustments do not always work quickly or for everyone (not every former construction worker can become a computer technician). But history suggests the adjustments do occur, as they have since the recession began. Over the next four years, they will continue to lower the unemployment rate, if not to 6%, at least near that territory.
The more important task for either presidential candidate is restoring the economy to its prerecession growth path. Real GDP has historically grown about 3% per year, and major downturns have been followed by strong recoveries. Within two to three years, therefore, output is typically “back where it would have been.”
In this recession, the rapid recovery phase has so far been absent; real GDP is still well below where one would have predicted pre-2008, and with average growth under 3% since the recession ended, the gap grows larger every quarter.
So can Romney, or anyone, get us back to a higher growth rate? Yes. Here is a program that will restore U.S. economic performance:
Cancel all the tax increases scheduled to take effect at the end of 2012 and provide tax stability going forward. Make (all) the Bush tax cuts permanent. Repeal the alternative minimum tax. Eliminate the health care law’s increases in the hospital insurance tax. All this will stimulate in the short term and set the stage for long-term growth.
Reform the tax code by eliminating the misguided deductions, exemptions, credits and loopholes that distort incentives and reward special interests. These features include big-ticket items like the deductibility of mortgage interest and employer-paid health insurance premiums, plus myriad small but senseless other provisions.
Lower the corporate income tax rate. The U.S. corporate tax environment is one of the least business-friendly in the world. Driving investment overseas cannot be good policy.
Slow the growth of entitlements. The U.S. can afford a social safety net, but our current programs are not sustainable, even in a robustly growing economy. Everyone should agree, at a minimum, to cuts that are sufficient to prevent these programs — Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security — from bankrupting the country.
Embrace immigration. Despite recent difficulties, the United States is still an attractive destination for those seeking a better life. By expanding immigration for low-skill workers, we restrain labor costs and reduce out-migration of manufacturing and other business. By easing immigration for high-skill workers — many of them trained in the United States at taxpayer expense — we get a return on our investment and retain industrious and innovative people.
Scale back military involvements around the world. A strong national defense makes sense, but it must focus on protecting the United States, not paying for Europe’s defense or trying to force democracy down the throats of countries that are not receptive.
Cease the campaign against carbon-based fuels. Green energy may have its day, but only when coal, oil and gas become truly scarce. In the foreseeable future, traditional energy is much cheaper, and subsidies for alternative energy are a waste.
Stop scapegoating the rich and pretending that tax-hikes on the 1% can balance the budget. Everyone knows the numbers do not add up.
Respect capitalism. Anti-business rhetoric, which casts all success as undeserved, and which fails to recognize the improvements in material well-being that result from entrepreneurial success, just drive away talented people and guarantee our economic demise.
If the United States adopts these policies, it will not only attain Romney’s 6% unemployment goal, it will once again be the economic beacon of the world.
Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme but Blake who is a blogger said I was off base. Ark Times reader says Social Security is not Ponzi Scheme Social Security Disaster Walter E. Williams Columnist, Townhall.com Politicians who are principled enough to point out the fraud of Social Security, referring to it as a lie and […]
We got to do something soon about Social Security. The Case for Social Security Personal Accounts Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell There are two crises facing Social Security. First the program has a gigantic unfunded liability, largely caused by demographics. Second, the program is a very bad deal for younger workers, making them pay record […]
Senator Obama’s Social Security Tax Plan Uploaded by afq2007 on Jul 23, 2008 In addition to several other tax increases, Senator Barack Obama wants to increase the Social Security payroll tax burden by imposing the tax on income above $250,000. This would be a sharp departure from current law, which only requires that the tax […]
Saving Social Security with Personal Retirement Accounts Uploaded by afq2007 on Jan 10, 2011 There are two crises facing Social Security. First the program has a gigantic unfunded liability, largely thanks to demographics. Second, the program is a very bad deal for younger workers, making them pay record amounts of tax in exchange for comparatively meager benefits. This […]
“Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” Heritage Foundation, May 10, 2011 by Stuart Butler, Ph.D. , Alison Acosta Fraser and William Beach is one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, but […]
Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? I just started a series on this subject. In this article below you will see where the name “Ponzi scheme” came from and if it should be applied to the Social Security System. Ponzi! Ponzi! Ponzi! 9/14/2011 | Email John Stossel | Columnist’s Archive Ponzi! Ponzi! Ponzi! There, I […]
Uploaded by LibertyPen on Jan 8, 2009 Professor Williams explains what’s ahead for Social Security Dan Mitchell on Social Security I have said that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and sometimes you will hear someone in the public say the same thing. Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme by Michael D. Tanner Michael Tanner […]
Every Friday you need to click on www.theDailyHatch.org if you would like to see a video clip of Milton Friedman as he shares his common sense conservative economic views. Many of his articles are posted too. I remember growing up and reading those great articles every week in Newsweek. They are just as relevant today as they were then.
So many points brought up by liberals sound so good at first but really are easy to answer logically. Take the example below.
I remember like yesterday when I saw Milton Friedman on the Phil Donahue Show. Donahue had thrown up one of those liberal accusations against the free enterprise system. Below is the exchange that I saw that day:
Phil Donahue: When you see around the globe, the mal-distribution of wealth, a desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries. When you see so few “haves” and so many “have-nots.” When you see the greed and the concentration of power. Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed is a good idea to run on?
Milton Friedman: Well first of all tell me is there some society you know that doesn’t run on Greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy, it’s only the other fellow who is greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.
The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.
In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about – the only cases in recorded history – are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade.
If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.
Donahue: But it seems to reward not virtue as much as ability to manipulate the system…
Friedman: And what does reward virtue? You think the Communist commissar rewarded virtue? You think a Hitler rewarded virtue? You think – excuse me – if you’ll pardon me – do you think American Presidents reward virtue ?
Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout ?
Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest ? You know, I think you’re taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us ? Well, I don’t even trust you to do that.
Milton Friedman – Redistribution of Wealth Uploaded by LibertyPen on Feb 12, 2010 Milton Friedman clears up misconceptions about wealth redistribution, in general, and inheritance tax, in particular. http://www.LibertyPen.com __________________ Check out this excellent article below on equality from today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (paywall): What is equality? By Bradley Gitz This article was published today at 3:00 […]
Milton Friedman: Life and ideas – Part 05 99th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s birth (Part 13) Milton Friedman was born on July 31, 1912 and he died November 16, 2006. I started posting tributes of him on July 31 and I hope to continue them until his 100th birthday. Here is another tribute below: Sheldon […]
Milton Friedman on the Causes of Inflation (“Friedman Friday” Part 4) FRIEDMAN FRIDAY APPEARS EVERY FRIDAY AND IS HONOR OF THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST MILTON FRIEDMAN Famous Friedman Quotes By John Beagle Milton Friedman – University of Chicago School of Economics Professor As I read the comments by Milton Friedman, I can’t help but think […]
FRIEDMAN FRIDAY APPEARS EVERY FRIDAY AND IS HONOR OF THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST MILTON FRIEDMAN. The Power Of Choice By John Beagle An interesting compilation of Milton Freeman as an economic freedom philosopher. Milton makes the case for economic freedom as a precondition for political freedom. The title of this video, The Power of Choice […]
Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman! Author: Jonathan Wood Milton Friedman, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, would have turned 99 on Sunday. Though few individuals have been as deserving of praise, Milton Friedman was “much more interested in having people thinking about the ideas” than the person having them. In that spirit, we […]
Ep. 8 – Who Protects the Worker [1/7]. Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose (1980) Speakers at the First Richmond Tea Party, October 8-9, 2010 John Fund John Fund is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and its OpinionJournal.com and an on-air contributor to 24-hour cable news networks CNBC and MSNBC. He is the […]
Dallas Fed president and CEO Richard W. Fisher sat down with economist Milton Friedman on October 19, 2005, as part of ongoing discussions with the Nobel Prize winner. In this clip, Friedman argues for a reduction in government spending. I really wish that Senator Pryor would see the wisdom of supporting the Balanced Budget amendment. […]
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below: Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few […]
I will be eating there on August 1, 2012. Yesterday I was in Memphis on a business trip and I heard Mike Huckabee’s radio show. On the show he quoted his good friend “Houston Nutt” who told his players not to stoop to antics when they score but to act like they have been there before when they get to the endzone. Likewise Mike urged his radio listeners to go to ChickFila and buy something on August 1 but they don’t have to stand out front and hold signs, but instead just act like you have been there before.
Same-sex marriage is a hot-button issue that divides the country and arouses passions on both sides. Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, in a recent interview with the Baptist Press responded to a question about opposition toward his support of the traditional family that he was “guilty as charged.” Cathy continued, “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
This was too much for Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino, who announced that Chick-fil-A was not welcome in his fair city and that, “If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult – unless they open up their policies.” In a letter to Mr. Cathy, Menino wrote, “[t]here is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.” When subsequently pressed by a reporter, he stated, “I think businesses should be neutral on [the same-sex marriage issue]. They should be selling chicken.” Does anybody believe that if a prospective store owner had publicly announced that he favored same-sex marriage, Mayor Menino would have said, “Shut up and sell chicken”?
Not to be outdone, Chicago Alderman Proco “Joe” Moreno announced: “Because of [Cathy’s] ignorance, I will now be denying Chick-fil-A’s permit to open a restaurant in the 1st Ward.” In the Windy City, they have a quaint little tradition called the aldermanic privilege in which City Council members defer to the opinion of the ward alderman on local issues.Moreno said he would not change his view until Chick-fil-A does “a complete 180,” including issuing a public apology from Cathy.
Shortly thereafter, Mayor Rahm Emanuel chimed in that “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values.…And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.” A spokeswoman later clarified, though, that Emanuel “did not say that he would block or play any role in the company opening a new business” in Chicago.
While a government official may deny a business permit (or take any number of other official actions) for non-discriminatory, relevant reasons, he may not do so because he doesn’t like things that the applicant has said. In Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr (1996), the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech prevented the Board from terminating its contract with Umbehr solely because he had said critical things about the Board. Speaking for the majority, Justice O’Connor stated:
Recognizing that constitutional violations may arise from the deterrent, or “chilling,” effect of governmental efforts that fall short of a direct prohibition against the exercise of First Amendment rights, our modern “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine holds that the government may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected freedom of speech even if he has no entitlement to that benefit.
If individuals choose to boycott Chick-fil-A or express their outrage, that is their right. Private individuals, unlike government officials acting in their official capacity, can engage in all sorts of viewpoint discrimination. Similarly, if Chick-fil-A violates any federal or state anti-discrimination laws in its hiring or serving decisions, it can expect to suffer the consequences.
However, unless and until that happens, the owners of Chick-fil-A are well within their rights to say what they want and to put into effect their professed desire to operate Chick-fil-A based “on biblical principles.” Fortunately, Mayor Menino now appears to have backed off his initial stance, thereby indicating that perhaps there is a place for freedom of speech on Freedom Trail. Let’s hope that Chicago follows suit soon.
As Sir Winston Churchill once stated, “Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
The power that government officials have when it comes to regulating businesses (and individuals, for that matter) is great, and the danger that those officials will pick winners and losers of the government’s largesse based on who the applicant supports or what the applicant believes, rather than on the merits of the application itself, is high. Let’s hope that cooler heads, and the First Amendment values that we all hold dear, prevail.
Washington Times article supports Chick-fil-A day of Appreciation NANCE AND DIAZ: Happy Chick-fil-A Day of Appreciation Americans fight anti-Christian bigotry By Penny Young Nance and Mario Diaz Chick-fil-A may not represent Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s perception of “Chicago values,” but it sure represents the values of “We the People.” Today, millions of Americans, including the […]
This July 19, 2012, photo shows a Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant in Atlanta. (AP)____________ A friend of mine is involved in a Russian Baptist Church in California and he told me that there are 52 Chick-Fil-As in California and none of the 30 in attendence had ever been to one or even heard of them. Since […]
I will be eating there on August 1, 2012. Yesterday I was in Memphis on a business trip and I heard Mike Huckabee’s radio show. On the show he quoted his good friend “Houston Nutt” who told his players not to stoop to antics when they score but to act like they have been there […]
We need to cut Food Stamp program and not extend it. However, it seems that people tell the taxpayers back home they are going to Washington and cut government spending but once they get up there they just fall in line with everyone else that keeps spending our money. I am glad that at least these 16 brave Senators voted against doing that. I wish we had some more brave Senators and Representatives up there in Washington.
The vote count was 64 to 35. All but five Democrats joined 16 Republicans in voting to pass the bill. However, it appears that many of the no votes had nothing to do with concerns about the legislation’s burden on taxpayers. Republican Senators John Boozman (AR), Saxby Chambliss (GA), Thad Cochran (MS), Johnny Isakson (GA), and Roger Wicker (MS) and Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu (LA) all issued a press release stating that they voted against the bill because it didn’t sufficiently benefit farmers in their state. It’s possible that others voted against it on grounds that the bill wasn’t big government enough.
Here are the 16 Senate Republicans (members of the so-called “Party of Limited Government”) who voted for the monstrosity:
Lamar Alexander (TN)
John Barrasso (WY)
Roy Blunt (MO)
Scott Brown (MA)
Dan Coats (IN)
Susan Collins (ME)
Mike Enzi (WY)
Chuck Grassley (IA)
John Hoeven (ND)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Mike Johanns (NE)
Richard Lugar (IN)
Jerry Moran (KS)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Olympia Snowe (ME)
John Thune (SD)
A final note:
Farm subsidies are the quintessential example of special-interest spending. But a Washington Times article shows that even programs like food stamps have moneyed interests working behind the scenes to increase spending:
Coinciding with lobbying by convenience stores, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program in conjunction with states, contends that disclosing how much each store authorized to accept benefits, known as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), receives in taxpayer funds would amount to revealing trade secrets. As a result, fraud is hard to track and the efficacy of the massive program is impossible to evaluate…
Profiting from the poor’s taxpayer-funded purchases has become big business for a mix of major companies and corner bodegas, which have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the USDA to keep the money flowing freely. The National Association of Convenience Store Operators alone spends millions of dollars on lobbying yearly, including $1 million in the first quarter of this year. In February, 7-Eleven hired a former aide to House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, to lobby on “issues related to the general application and approval process for qualified establishments serving SNAP-eligible recipients.”
My friend Steve Ellis from Taxpayers for Common Sense nails it:
“USDA hides behind a specious proprietary data argument: The public doesn’t want to know internal business decisions or information about specific individuals’ finances,” he said. “The USDA sees retailers, junk food manufacturers and the big ag lobby as their customers, rather than the taxpayer.”
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
On my blog www.thedailyhatch.org I have an extensive list of posts that have both videos and transcripts of MiltonFriedman’s interviews and speeches. Here below is just small list of those and more can be accessed by clicking on “Milton Friedman” on the side of this page or searching for Milton Friedman also.
Milton Friedman videos and transcripts Part 3 On my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org I have an extensive list of posts that have both videos and transcripts of MiltonFriedman’s interviews and speeches. Here below is just small list of those and more can be accessed by clicking on “Milton Friedman” on the side of this page or searching […]
Milton Friedman videos and transcripts Part 2 On my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org I have an extensive list of posts that have both videos and transcripts of MiltonFriedman’s interviews and speeches. Here below is just small list of those and more can be accessed by clicking on “Milton Friedman” on the side of this page or searching […]
Milton Friedman videos and transcripts Part 1 On my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org I have an extensive list of posts that have both videos and transcripts of MiltonFriedman’s interviews and speeches. Here below is just small list of those and more can be accessed by clicking on “Milton Friedman” on the side of this page or searching […]
Liberals like President Obama want to shoot for an equality of outcome. That system does not work. In fact, our free society allows for the closest gap between the wealthy and the poor. Unlike other countries where free enterprise and other freedoms are not present. This is a seven part series. Created Equal [4/7]. Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose […]
Milton Friedman was right about Obama’s misguided view of stimulus many years ago Milton Friedman knew it a long time ago that President Obama was wrong when he blamed the ATM for unemployment. Take a look at this video clip below. He exposes the falacy that ignoring the principle of efficency will help create jobs. This […]
Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 1 of 6. Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: Friedman: These youngsters are beginning another day at one of America’s public schools, Hyde Park High School in Boston. What happens when […]
Next year is the 100th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s birth and I get on the computer today and read an article published today on the National Review Online and it quotes Milton Friedman. I wish we would listen to Milton Friedman more often. This article below quotes Friedman and today I am starting a series […]
What does created equal mean according to Milton Friedman? In his article “A test for first among equals,” Arkansas News Bureau, September 30, 2011, Matthew Pate asserted: Among the most familiar passages in the Declaration of Independence is the section reading, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that […]
Milton Friedman’s solution to limiting poverty Liberals just don’t get it. They should listen to Milton Friedman (who is quoted in this video below concerning the best way to limit poverty). New Video Shows the War on Poverty Is a Failure Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has released another […]
Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “Created Equal” (Part 3 of transcript and video) Liberals like President Obama want to shoot for an equality of outcome. That system does not work. In fact, our free society allows for the closest gap between the wealthy and the poor. Unlike other countries where free enterprise and other […]
Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “Created Equal” (Part 2 of transcript and video) Liberals like President Obama want to shoot for an equality of outcome. That system does not work. In fact, our free society allows for the closest gap between the wealthy and the poor. Unlike other countries where free enterprise and other freedoms are […]
I am currently going through his film series “Free to Choose” which is one the most powerful film series I have ever seen. PART 4 of 7 The massive growth of central government that started after the depression has continued ever since. If anything, it has even speeded up in recent years. Each year there […]
If you would like to see the first three episodes on inflation in Milton Friedman’s film series “Free to Choose” then go to a previous post I did. Ep. 9 – How to Cure Inflation [4/7]. Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose (1980) Uploaded by investbligurucom on Jun 16, 2010 While many people have a fairly […]
When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, it is simply not fair. Home-field advantage is a big thing in college football, and some teams have it way more than others.
There are 124 FBS college football teams, and when it comes to the stadiums they play in, they are obviously not all created equal.
There is a monumental difference from the top teams on the list to the bottom teams on the list. Either way, here it is: a complete ranking of the college football stadiums 1-124.
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Most people in this part of the country knew that Alabama was going to be close to the top of the list. I have seen Alabama play several times over the last 3 decades and they are the real deal.
Paul William “Bear” Bryant is one of America’s all-time most successful college football coaches. At the time of his death, he had won more games than any other coach, including the legendary Amos Alonzo Staggs and Pop Warner. Arkansas-born Bryant remains an icon not only for athletic accomplishments but for personal strength, determination, and the will to win.
Paul William Bryant was born on September 11, 1913, near Kingsland (Cleveland County) in south central Arkansas, to William Monroe Bryant, a farmer, and Dora Ida Kilgore Bryant, a homemaker. Bryant was the eighth surviving child (three died at birth) of a total of nine. He had four brothers and four sisters and was the youngest boy, with one sister born four years after him. Their home was a three-square-mile area called Moro Bottom (sometimes referred to as Moro Bottoms), an unincorporated place where seven families lived.
Due to his father’s ill health and the family’s poverty, Bryant often stayed with his grandfather, W. L. Kilgore, in nearby Fordyce (Dallas County), where he discovered football, playing for the Fordyce High School Redbugs. In 1927, he entered a contest at the Fordyce Theatre promising a dollar to anyone who could wrestle a bear. The teenage Bryant was never paid but acquired the nickname “Bear.”
His 1930–31 Fordyce team had a perfect season and won the 1931 Arkansas High School Football State Championship. An assistant coach from Alabama came to Fordyce in 1931 to scout two other players (who decided to go to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville) and ended up signing Bryant to an athletic scholarship for the University of Alabama.
As an Alabama player, Bryant helped his team win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship during the SEC’s inaugural season in 1933, playing right offensive end. During a 1935 game against Tennessee, Bryant led Alabama to a 25–0 victory despite playing with a broken bone in his leg. That same year, he married campus beauty queen Mary Harmon Black, with whom he had two children, Mae Martin and Paul Jr. Before graduating from the University of Alabama in 1936, Bryant played in the Rose Bowl and helped his team claim the national title.
In 1941, after coaching at Union College (now Union University in Jackson, Tennessee) and Vanderbilt University, Bryant was on his way to Arkansas, where he was being considered to be head coach of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, when he heard that World War II had begun. He promptly enlisted in the Navy rather than join the Razorbacks. After his military service, he coached football at universities including Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, where his legend grew in a game when his Aggies trailed 12–0 in the final two minutes yet still managed to win. Bryant had told his team there was still time for them to win if they believed they could, and they went on to score twenty unanswered points, winning the game.
In 1958, Bryant began his twenty-five year tenure as head coach of the University of Alabama. Under Bryant, the Alabama Crimson Tide won national titles in 1961, 1964, 1965, 1978, and 1979. Bryant won this last championship with a perfect season, including his defeat of Lou Holtz’s Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sugar Bowl. He announced his retirement in 1982, with the Crimson Tide winning his last bowl game, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, on December 29. His record at Alabama was 232–46–9, with his team playing in twenty-four consecutive post-season bowl games. Bryant was Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year ten times, a four-time National Coach of the Year, and he received one and a half votes for the Democratic presidential nomination at the 1968 Chicago convention.
Less than one month after winning the 1982 Liberty Bowl, sixty-nine-year-old Paul “Bear” Bryant died of a heart attack. Following a funeral procession which ran for three miles, he was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Alabama. A month after his death, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, by Ronald Reagan. At the time of his death, he was the all-time most successful coach in American college football history.
For additional information: Barra, Allen. The Last Coach: A Life of Paul “Bear” Bryant. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Briley, John David. Career in Crisis: Paul “Bear” Bryant and the 1971 Season of Change. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2006.
Bryant, Paul W., and John Underwood. Bear: The Hard Life and Good Times of Alabama’s Coach Bryant. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.Dunnavant, Keith. Coach: The Life of Paul “Bear” Bryant. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Herskowitz, Mickey. The Legend of Bear Bryant. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986.
Bryant-Denny Stadium is the fifth-largest stadium in the country with a seating capacity of 101,821 people.
It was constructed originally in 1921, and at that point, only had room for 12,000 fans. They have since made a few additions to the place.
Tailgating here is a must, as motor homes can seemingly be seen for miles around the stadium.
The team makes the “Walk of the Champions” before the game. The crowd is screaming and yelling throughout, giving the Crimson Tide the biggest home-field advantage in the SEC.
1. Memorial Stadium: Clemson Tigers
Known nationwide as “Death Valley,” this venue is the best place in the country to enjoy a college football game.
It seats 80,301 and was built in 1942. The stadium will be filled with orange, as the crowd loves to support their Tigers.
There are not many fans in the country that are more passionate about their team than this group.
When Clemson is playing well and the game is going good, the noise in here is as loud as it gets in college football.
Tennessee Football – Johnny Majors – GREAT – Joining the VOLS in 1952 Uploaded by TheMemphisSlim on Sep 3, 2010 Johnny Majors from Huntland, TN tried out for the UT Football team weighing 150 pounds. His Father, Shirley Majors his HS Coach,encourage him and then 4 younger brothers all to be Vols. Johnny Majors was […]
South Carolina D vs Arkansas O 2011 Tennessee ’86 Sugar Bowl Memories by Russ Finley Uploaded by yankeefanintenn on Dec 12, 2009 All video footage is copyright of WATE-TV6 and the University of Tennessee, but legally reproduced here in conjunction with Fair Use laws. Vols feature (1986 win over Miami 35-7 in the USF&G Sugar […]
Vanderbilt Highlights vs. Arkansas – Oct. 29, 2011 Memphis 21 Tennessee 17 excerpt from “1996 Tiger Football Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, […]
Final Moments of Kentucky vs. Tennessee Football Game 2011 Uploaded by videorocker112 on Nov 27, 2011 Kentucky wins 10-7 and ends the 26 year losing streak!! Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When […]
THE FLEA KICKER – Nebraska vs. Missouri 1997 Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, it is simply not fair. Home-field advantage is a […]
Arkansas vs. Troy (2007 Football) 2010 Music City Bowl North Carolina vs Tennessee Uploaded by piotrkol1 on Jan 1, 2011 Highlights of North Carolina’s win over Tennessee in the 2010 Music City Bowl. Tennessee had the home-field advantage with the game being played at LP Field in Nashville, and the Volunteers thought they had won […]
Rice 27 BYU 14 (1997 2nd half) Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, it is simply not fair. Home-field advantage is a big […]
Kansas Football 2007 Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, it is simply not fair. Home-field advantage is a big thing in college football, […]
2011 Arkansas State Football Highlights Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for some teams, it is simply not fair. Home-field advantage is a big thing in […]
Arkansas VS Tulsa 2008 Uploaded by jonesark on Nov 2, 2008 Arkansas entering the field to play #19 Tulsa. Here is a list of the top football stadiums in the country. Power Ranking All 124 College Football Stadiums By Alex Callos (Featured Columnist) on April 19, 2012 When it comes to college football stadiums, for […]
The Cato Institute’s Roger Pilon, Ilya Shapiro, Michael F. Cannon, Michael D. Tanner and Trevor Burrus evaluate today’s ruling on ObamaCare at the Supreme Court.
Video produced by Caleb O. Brown and Austin Bragg.
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President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
When I think about how Obamacare would work it turns my attention to how our federal government has run other things so far. When I think of an inner city youth and the opportunities he or her has at our fine public schools today it makes me proud of how our federal government has made such a great educational experience possible for this younger generation. (I guess you have picked up on how I am being very silly and trying to make you laugh.)
The sad truth is that a private voucher program would bring in competition and generate these results but the federal government would rather that does not happen because they want to keep their hand in everything.
We got to get a voucher system in place so inner city youth can have the educational opportunities they deserve.
Thanks to today’s Supreme Court ruling, the federal government has gained broad new powers to control the nation’s health care system. This, we are told by the President and his fellow travelers, will save money, expand access, and improve quality. One way to gauge the chances of that is to see what benefits federal oversight has brought to education in the one district in the nation over which Congress has ultimate authority: the District of Columbia public schools.
As I wrote earlier this week, the Census Bureau has now confirmed my finding that DC public schools spend about $30,000 / pupil annually. That is more than double the national average of public schools. Access to schooling may be universal in the District, but access to a quality education is not. As Economist Mark Perry writes, despite its stratospheric spending, DC’s graduation rate of 58.6% is far lower than the national average of 75.5%. The academic performance of its students is also significantly below the national average, and also below the average for other big city districts–in both reading and mathematics. Its achievement gaps by race and socio-economic status are also larger than in other public school districts.
That is how the only public school district in the nation under the control of Congress performs. Nor have nationwide federal education programs shown promise, as the chart below illustrates.
If our experience with education is any guide, a bigger federal role in health care does not bode well.
Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times Blog reports today that Mitt Romney is for school vouchers. I am glad to hear that. Over and over we hear that the reason private schools are better is because they don’t have to keep the troubling making kids. It reminds me of this short film that I saw many […]
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
John Brummett (10-26-11, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette online edition) does not want charter schools to put public schools out of business but he wants them to show public schools how to do it. (Paywall) I seek in these matters a kind of Clintonian third-way finesse: I support charter schools only to the extent that they should be […]
Introducing the ‘Obama Rule’ Posted by Neal McCluskey In his latest weekly radio address, President Obama featured what will no doubt be a mainstay of his reelection campaign: the “Buffett Rule,” which says that rich people should pay at least the same tax rate as middle-class folks. It’s named after mega-investor Warren Buffett, who famously declared […]
Everywhere school vouchers have been tried they have been met with great success. Why do you think President Obama got rid of them in Washington D.C.? It was a political disaster for him because the school unions had always opposed them and their success made Obama’s allies look bad. In 1980 when I first sat […]
What is School Choice? Uploaded by HeritageFoundation 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.
Why have blacks that live in bad areas been condemned to inferior schools? A young lady floated an idea out there and was severly punished for her thoughts: Girl Likens Public School Failure to Ban on Teaching Slaves to Read Posted by Andrew J. Coulson A 13-year-old black girl from Rochester likens the pedagogical […]
Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 6 of 6. Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: FRIEDMAN: But I personally think it’s a good thing. But I don’t see that any reason whatsoever why I shouldn’t have been required […]
Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 5 of 6. Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: Are your voucher schools going to accept these tough children? COONS: You bet they are. (Several talking at once.) COONS: May I answer […]
Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 4 of 6. Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: It seems to me that if one is truly interested in liberty, which I think is the ultimate value that Milton Friedman talks […]
Friedman Friday” Free to Choose by Milton Friedman: Episode “What is wrong with our schools?” (Part 3 of transcript and video) Here is the video clip and transcript of the film series FREE TO CHOOSE episode “What is wrong with our schools?” Part 3 of 6. Volume 6 – What’s Wrong with our Schools Transcript: If it […]
