Dick Cheney appointed to hunting safety commission? Better chance of that than politicians correcting housing problem

Mark Calabria from the Cato Institute on Financial Regulation

Mark Calabria from the Cato Institute joins Crane to discuss financial regulation

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Can liberal politicians correct the housing problem? No way!!

Uh-Oh: Bipartisan Housing Commission Announced

Posted by Tad DeHaven

The words “bipartisan” and “commission” usually send a chill down my spine. I felt such a chill when I learned that the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) had formed a Housing Commission to “address the long-term challenges facing a struggling housing sector.” My initial reaction was confirmed when I read that it would be chaired by former government officials and politicians of the establishment type:

  • Christopher “Kit” Bond – former U.S. senator (R-MO)
  • Henry Cisneros – Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary under President Bill Clinton
  • Mel Martinez – former U.S. senator (R-FL) and HUD secretary under President George W. Bush
  • George Mitchell – former Senate majority leader (D-ME) and BPC co-founder

The most disturbing name is Henry Cisneros. Policies implemented by Cisneros’s HUD helped lead to the housing bubble and bust (see this section on Cisneros from a Cato essay on HUD Scandals). What’s next, Dick Cheney on a hunting safety commission?

Christopher “Kit” Bond, former appropriator and proud porker, hangs himself with his statement on the BPC’s website:

Since serving as Missouri’s Governor, and then as a United States Senator, I have worked to be an advocate for improving public housing and advancing community development. Some of my proudest achievements are helping shape housing policy and programs in homelessness, rural housing, public housing, HOPE VI, and affordable housing. None of these successes would have been possible without strong partners on the other side of the aisle.

In fact, my fellow Commission Co-Chair, and former HUD Secretary, Henry Cisneros and I, were referred to in a 1996 Wall Street Journal article as the ‘Odd Couple’ of federal housing policy – a moniker I still wear as a badge of honor. Though it was a different time in our nation’s history, Henry and I were then – as we are now – committed to coming together to address long-ignored problems with immense implications.

The federal government’s abysmal record on housing (see these Cato essays here for more) is a poster child for government failure. But not only does Bond consider his support for these programs to be among his “proudest” achievements, he actually states that collaborating with Cisneros back in the 1990s is a “badge of honor.”

I’m not sure what Mel Martinez has going for him on housing policy other than that his relatively short tenure as HUD secretary under Bush wasn’t marred by scandal like his successor’s, Alphonso Jackson. At least Martinez acknowledges that the Bush administration continued the Clinton administration’s misplaced emphasis on expanding homeownership.

As for George Mitchell, his claim to federal housing policy fame is that he authored the creation of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Here’s what a Cato essay on public housing has to say about the LIHTC:

Another response to the failure of traditional public housing has been the creation of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit in 1986, which currently subsidizes construction or rehabilitation of roughly 70,000 units of low-income housing each year. This is another failed attempt to manipulate markets, and it has a variety of negative effects. For one thing, the structure of the tax credit program encourages the location of projects in particularly low-income areas, thus exacerbating the concentration of poverty in cities, just as traditional public housing did. Also, the method of allocating tax credits to the states results in many subsidies going to areas of the country where few housing affordability problems exist.

Further, the projects built under the LIHTC program have income caps for tenants, which create the same disincentive effects for personal advancement that traditional welfare programs do. Finally, the program essentially functions as a subsidy program for developers. Economists Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko argue that developers effectively pocket the $4 billion or so in annual federal tax credits, while the rents in buildings constructed under the program are generally no lower than they would have been in the absence of the program.

In a nutshell: an establishment commission is planning to “reform the nation’s housing policy by crafting a package of realistic and actionable policy recommendations” for the Beltway establishment’s consideration. Hold onto your wallets, taxpayers.

November 10, 2011 – 9:04 am Categories: Cato Institute, Current Events | Post a comment

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Rex Nelson on the Battle of the Ravine (Part 2)

Battle of the Ravine 2010

Uploaded by on Nov 2, 2010

This year, several events led up to the annual Battle of the Ravine, including a pep rally and Henderson Halloween in downtown Arkadelphia, a “bash” at the Barkman House, and the traditional tailgating. And, of course, the Reddies won the “Battle” with a 35-26 win over OBU!

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Rex Nelson talks about last year’s battle of the ravine.

Crossing the ravine

I wrote last week about the 84th Battle of the Ravine in Arkadelphia. The game itself wasn’t as close as some past games had been as Henderson defeated Ouachita by a final score of 35-26.

But the weather was perfect, and both teams had talent as a crowd of almost 10,000 people looked on.

Something struck me as I spent the day at Henderson’s Carpenter-Haygood Stadium: From an economic and community development standpoint, Arkadelphia is finally getting its act together. A look at the election maps from Tuesday, unfortunately, shows that Clark County remains stuck in a one-party mentality that has stunted fresh thinking there for far too long. But that too will change at some point.

As noted in last week’s post, the football series between Ouachita and Henderson was halted from 1951 until 1963 due to excessive vandalism. Prior to that 1951 suspension, however, an energetic chapter of Arkadelphia Jaycees worked during the late 1940s to transform the Battle of the Ravine into a weeklong series of activities that people across the state and region would want to attend. Arkadelphia was perhaps the most progressive city in the southern half of the state back then.

As part of the economic and community development work I did during my 13 years in government, I constantly preached that communities must identify what makes them different and then build on those assets. Arkadelphia, for example, is different from other towns in the southern half of Arkansas because it’s the home of two four-year universities. That’s what sets it apart from Malvern, Camden, Magnolia, Monticello and all the rest.

And it already has this unique annual event — the one college football game in the country in which the visiting team actually walks to a road game since U.S. Highway 67 is all that separates the two stadiums.

After ending the spring Festival of Two Rivers a few years back, business and civic leaders in Arkadelphia struggled to come up with something new. As is so often the case in communities, the answer was right in front of them. The Battle of the Ravine is unique. They should build events around it, just as the Jaycees had done back in the 1940s, and then promote the festival statewide. I preached on that subject in appearances before the Arkadelphia Football Club and Leadership Clark County.

Fortunately, there’s a new generation of leaders now stepping forward in a city that has been stagnant from a population growth standpoint for decades. Those young leaders seized on the idea. Led by people such as Blake Bell of Edward Jones, they created a festival known as the Rally on the Ravine and came up with complementary events such as a golf tournament, a community pep rally and a road race.

Spurred by Bell and other graduates of Leadership Clark County, the group behind the Rally on the Ravine obtained sponsorship money from a variety of sources. Southern Bancorp was the title sponsor. The next two largest sponsors were the Ross Foundation and the Arnold Batson Turner & Turner law firm.

In the next tier of sponsors were Leadership Clark County, the Dawson Educational Cooperative, the Arkadelphia School District, the city of Arkadelphia, Summit Bank, Edward Jones, Vision Source, Treadway Electric, state Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, Print Mania, Minks Inc. Design and the two universities.

It was an unqualified success and no doubt will grow in future years. These young leaders should shoot for the stars. Occasionally, ESPN will take its “College GameDay” program to a small college. For years, Henderson sports information director Troy Mitchell has been working to get ESPN interested in the Battle of the Ravine. The cable network has yet to bite, missing an opportunity to show viewers across the country what small college football is really all about. Attracting ESPN to Arkadelphia could be one of the goals of the leadership group.

In a state that’s painted Razorback red this time each year, the football rivalry between Henderson and Ouachita has never received the attention it deserves. In fact, it sometimes get more attention outside the state than inside Arkansas.

A recent feature article in Touchdown Illustrated, a publication distributed during football games at colleges and universities across the country, began this way: “There is a small town in southern Arkansas where two rivers meet, with a highly traveled scenic highway and two institutions of higher learning within a stone’s throw of one another. This town is Arkadelphia, Ark., and one day each year it plays host to the most unique sports event in intercollegiate athletics.”

You read that correctly. A national publication called the Battle of the Ravine “the most unique sports event” in all of college sports.

Having started in 1895, it’s one of the oldest rivalries in the country. Harvard has been playing Yale since 1875 in what’s known simply as The Game. Amherst has been playing Williams since 1884 in what’s known as the Biggest Little Game in America. Army has been playing Navy since 1890. Alabama has been playing Auburn in the Iron Bowl since 1893.

But the Battle of the Ravine is older than rivalries such as Clemson vs. South Carolina, Ohio State vs. Michigan and Oklahoma vs. Texas. And you can’t get more evenly matched. Following Henderson’s victory last Satuday, the series is even at 39-39-6.

Ouachita athletic director David Sharp put it this way in the Touchdown Illustrated story: “There is not a more unique setting for a game. This is the only place where you can literally take a driver and a 3-wood and hit from one school’s stadium to the other.”

The story also reported on the pranks that are so much a part of this crosstown rivalry: “Along with the game are the shenanigans that lead up to that day. There are always pranks and practical jokes in which students from both schools participate. The pranks intensify during game week. Those involved in these pranks include members of both institutions’ current faculty, vice presidents and government officials. Even former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was involved in lighting Henderson’s homecoming bonfire a day earlier than scheduled.

“Other pranks include HSU sorority and fraternity members painting marshmallows in the school’s red and gray and having a crop-duster drop them on OBU’s side of the street; diesel fuel used to burn OBU into the grass on Henderson’s main campus; and Henderson students painting the Tiger statue. Ouachita students would sabotage the Henderson fountain, which is a focal point of the Henderson campus. … Students have been known to put purple dye or fizzies in the fountain.

“During game week, numerous monuments and memorials on both campuses are heavily covered in plastic to prevent them from being painted, as well as each school’s football stadium lights remain on throughout the evening. … The game won’t draw 100,000 fans, but rather 10,000, and each and every one will come away knowing they have been part of one of the most storied events in all of college football.”

To borrow the cliche, you simply can’t buy national attention that good.

Enrollment is up at both Henderson and Ouachita this summer. There seems to be a renewed spirit in the town. The Battle of the Ravine is simply one piece in a very large community development puzzle, but the crop of young leaders must build on the successes of last week as they work to help an Arkansas city finally achieve its potential.

November 10, 2011 – 7:19 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? (Part 15 Thirsty Thursday, Open letter to Senator Pryor)

Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? (Part 15 Thirsty Thursday, Open letter to Senator Pryor)

Dear Senator Pryor,

Why not pass the Balanced  Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion).

On my blog www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, I did not see any of them in the recent debt deal that Congress adopted. Now I am trying another approach. Every week from now on I will send you an email explaining different reasons why we need the Balanced Budget Amendment. It will appear on my blog on “Thirsty Thursday” because the government is always thirsty for more money to spend.

Burton Opposes Sham Deficit Reduction Deal

Posted by Joshua Gillespie on August 1, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                        CONTACT: Joshua Gillespie
August 1, 2011                                                                                                      (202)225-2276

Burton Opposes Sham Deficit Reduction Deal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives’ approved the deficit reduction deal negotiated with President Obama and Senate Democrats:

“Our nation has never defaulted in its history and we must take action to continue to meet our financial obligations.  However, in good conscience I could not support the deficit reduction package worked out this past weekend.  I have said repeatedly that Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem and this bill does nothing to change the spending culture ingrained in Washington. 

“First, A Balanced Budget Amendment is the ONLY way to finally force Washington to live within its means.  However, unlike the Cut, Cap and Balance Act or the Boehner proposal passed by the House of Representatives, the deficit reduction deal does not require a Balanced Budget Amendment be sent to the States for ratification before the President is granted a debt ceiling increase; it merely requires a vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment.  Passing a Balanced Budget Amendment requires a 2/3rds vote in the House and Senate and a majority of Democrats have already expressed opposition to a Balanced Budget Amendment, so obtaining the necessary votes without significant leverage – such as the threat of default – is highly unlikely;

“Second, the deficit reduction deal does not prevent future tax increases or reduce the size of government.   In fact, the deficit reduction deal assumes that all the Bush tax cuts expire in December 2012.  In other words the additional revenue is already built into the bill which would make it difficult if not impossible to meet the deficit reduction targets AND extend the Bush tax cuts beyond 2012.  In addition, the suggestion that it is impossible for the Joint Committee to raise additional tax revenue simply is not accurate, it’s false;

“Third, the automatic spending cuts placed in the deal to force Congress to maintain fiscal discipline are unrealistic and unworkable.  Half of the proposed automatic cuts would come from defense programs which will undermine our ability to project power, strengthen our adversaries, and weaken our alliances.  Additional automatic cuts will come from Medicare providers; already underpaid by Medicare.  Historically Congress has rolled back any proposed cuts to Medicare providers and there is no reason to believe Congress won’t do so again.  It is also unrealistic to believe Congress will allow substantial cuts to defense spending while our troops are engaged in three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya);

“Finally, the deficit reduction deal may be unconstitutional.  The deficit reduction deal allows the President to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling subject to a resolution of disapproval by the Congress (which the President can veto).  The debt limit is a statutory requirement and must therefore be changed by law.   ONLY Congress has the power to make law not the President; and Congress cannot, and most importantly should not, surrender this power to the president.

“The American people want a solution to this crisis, not a deal that allows Washington to kick the can down the road once again. Regrettably, the deficit reduction deal is not that solution.”

November 10, 2011 – 12:16 am Categories: spending out of control | Post a comment

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Football Preview of UT Vols at Arkansas 11-12-11

I got to see Tennessee play at Alabama on tv and the score was 6-0 at the half. The funny thing is that Arkansas also had success in the first half against Alabama. However, the depth started to show in the 2nd half and Bama went on to win both games easily.

I spend a lot of time reading what our Arkansas newspapers have to say about the Razorbacks but I enjoy reading what other papers have to say too. Below is an article from John Adams who writes in Knoxville, TN for the Vols.

John Adams: Arkansas’ offense more fun to watch than defend

By John Adams

Monday, November 7, 2011

Tennessee has played No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Alabama. It has played three other teams currently ranked in the top 25.

But it hasn’t played an offense more capable of exposing its defensive shortcomings than Arkansas.

Even in a 4-5 start, UT’s defense has surpassed preseason expectations. Only three of its nine opponents have exceeded their scoring average at UT’s expense; in the last two games, it has given up just 14 points.

You will have a better idea of its defensive progress Saturday evening in Fayetteville.

Arkansas leads the SEC in points, yardage and first downs. It has the conference’s No. 1 passer in Tyler Wilson and two of its four most productive receivers in Jarius Wright and Joe Adams.

“Statistically speaking, they’re the best throwing team in the league,” UT coach Derek Dooley said at Monday’s media luncheon. “They have a quarterback who has a real playmaking mentality, a little bit like Tyler (Bray) has, and they have a lot of speed.

“It’s not just that they run fast. They play fast.

“And they play with a lot of swagger. Every time a team inches close to them, they answer the bell.”

Their success stems from more than speed. It’s also a testament to the strategical skills of coach Bobby Petrino, who has assembled the SEC’s most productive offense despite losing All-SEC running back Knile Davis to a season-ending injury in preseason.

“Every game, he comes up with a play that’s like an automatic touchdown,” Arkansas wide receiver Jarius Wright said this summer at the SEC Football Media Days. “That gives us a world of confidence.”

As Dooley said, you can see it in their play. The Razorbacks play as though they expect to score — a lot.

They have done that consistently since the end of Petrino’s first season when his team had all sorts of offensive limitations, especially at quarterback. It didn’t score more than

28 points in any of its first nine games and managed just 31 in one three-game stretch.

By the end of a losing season, when the Hogs upset LSU 31-30, you could see the transformation.

The Razorbacks have scored 30 or more points in 27 of their last 36 games despite playing in the best defensive conference in the country.

One of UT’s biggest challenges will be pressuring Wilson. Arkansas’ inability to slow Alabama’s pass rush figured prominently in its only defeat. But at no point in the season has the Vols’ pass rush been confused with Alabama’s.

Another challenge will be avoiding big plays against a versatile passing attack that spreads the ball around to wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. Sure tackling will be crucial against receivers capable of turning a short pass into a big gain.

Nor can UT ignore the running game, which struggled earlier without Davis but has progressed recently behind Dennis Johnson. He had 86 yards on 15 carries against South Carolina last week after gaining 160 on Ole Miss two weeks earlier.

“Bobby has always done a good job of running the ball,” Dooley. “They’re the other pro-style team in our league, so we enjoying watching them.”

Watching them might be more fun from a distance.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.

November 9, 2011 – 2:17 pm Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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“Trust-fund babies?”

President Obama and other politicians are advocating higher taxes, with a particular emphasis on class-warfare taxes targeting the so-called rich. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains why fiscal policy based on hate and envy is fundamentally misguided. For more information please visit our web page: www.freedomandprosperity.org.

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Are all those rich people born that way?

The Real “1 Percent”

by Michael D. Tanner

This article appeared in The New York Post on November 8, 2011.

So just who are those top 1 percent of Americans that we’re all supposed to hate?

If you listen to President Obama, the protesters at Occupy Wall Street, and much of the media, it’s obvious. They’re either “trust-fund babies” who inherited their money, or greedy bankers and hedge-fund managers. Certainly, they haven’t worked especially hard for their money. While the recession has thrown millions of Americans out of work, they’ve been getting even richer. Worse, they don’t even pay their fair share in taxes: Millionaires and billionaires are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

In reality, each of these stereotypes is wrong.

By and large, the wealthy have worked hard for their money.

Roughly 80 percent of millionaires in America are the first generation of their family to be rich. They didn’t inherit their wealth; they earned it. How? According to a recent survey of the top 1 percent of American earners, slightly less than 14 percent were involved in banking or finance.

Roughly a third were entrepreneurs or managers of nonfinancial businesses. Nearly 16 percent were doctors or other medical professionals.

Lawyers made up slightly more than 8 percent, and engineers, scientists and computer professionals another 6.6 percent.

Sports and entertainment figures — the folks flying in on their private jets to express solidarity with Occupy Wall Street — composed almost 2 percent.

By and large, the wealthy have worked hard for their money. NYU sociologist Dalton Conley says that “higher-income folks work more hours than lower-wage earners do.”

Because so much of their income is tied up in investments, the recession has hit the rich especially hard. Much attention has been paid recently to a Congressional Budget Office study that showed incomes for the top 1 percent rose far faster from 1980 until 2007 than for the rest of us. But the nonpartisan Tax Foundation has found that since 2007, there has been a 39 percent decline in the number of American millionaires.

Among the “super-rich,” the decline has been even sharper: The number of Americans earning more than $10 million a year has fallen by 55 percent. In fact, while in 2008 the top 1 percent earned 20 percent of all income here, that figure has declined to just 16 percent. Inequality in America is declining.

As for not paying their fair share, the top 1 percent pay 36.7 percent of all federal income taxes. Because, as noted above, they earn just 16 percent of all income, that certainly seems likemore than a fair share.

Maybe Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary, as he claims. But the comparison is misleading because Buffett’s income comes mostly from capital gains, which were already taxed at their origin through the corporate-income tax.

Moreover, the Buffetts of the world are clearly an exception. Overall, the rich pay an effective tax rate (after all deductions and exemptions) of roughly 24 percent. For all taxpayers as a group, the average effective tax rate is about 11 percent.

Beyond taxes, the rich also pay in terms of private charity. Households with more than $1 million in income donated more than $150 billion to charity last year, roughly half of all US charitable donations. Greedy? It hardly seems so.

Michael Tanner is a Cato Institute senior fellow.

More by Michael D. Tanner

And let us not forget the fact that the rich provide the investment capital that funds ventures, creates jobs and spurs innovation. The money that the rich save and invest is the money that companies use to start or expand businesses, buy machinery and other physical capital and hire workers.

It has become fashionable to ridicule the idea of the rich as “job creators,” but if the rich don’t create jobs, who will? How many workers have been hired recently by the poor?

No doubt dishonest or unscrupulous businessmen have gotten rich by taking advantage of others. And few of us are likely to lose much sleep over the plight of the rich.

But shouldn’t public policy be based on something more than class warfare, envy and stereotypes?

November 9, 2011 – 10:49 am Categories: Cato Institute | Post a comment

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Majors speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club (Part 4) jh72

Interview with Johnny Majors after 1982 Kentucky game

Jim Harris wrote these words about the Arkansas/Tennessee football series in the past:

THE TENNESSEE CONNECTION: Johnny Majors, who led Pittsburgh to the 1976 national championship and directed his alma mater, Tennessee, to SEC championships in 1985, 1989 and 1990, returned to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday.

Majors was enjoying the plight of his successor, Phil Fulmer, in 2008 when he last visited and Fulmer was headed out the door in Knoxville. Majors made it no secret that Fulmer had back-stabbed the former Volunteer great as a player and coach to get the head coaching job during the 1992 season.

When Arkansas and Tennessee meet Saturday, it will mark the first meeting since 2007. Both schools started as permanent opponents in 1992, following the SEC’s first expansion with the addition of the Razorbacks and South Carolina. Following the 2002 season, the SEC moved away from two cross-division rivals and the annual Arkansas-Tennessee game went away until UT reappeared on the Arkansas schedule in 2006.

Former Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles was all for Tennessee as the Hogs’ regular SEC East rival, not only because of the state’s proximity to eastern Arkansas, but because the two football programs shared a deep bond.

Below is a picture of Lane Kiffin with Johnny Majors.

Image Detail

I got to hear Johnny Majors speak at the November 7, 2011 Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting. Below is a story about Johnny Majors from 2001:

To Me, Johnny MajorsIs ATennesseeMan
Story by Wayne Phillips, The Greeneville Sun
 

     To me, Johnny Majors is and always will be a Tennesseeman.
He was born in Tennessee, played at Tennessee and was a pretty darn good coach at Tennessee.
It’s unfortunate that Majors feels the way he does about the university. But almost a decade after he left Tennessee with hard feelings, he still harbors an obvious hurt and anger towards some folks in Knoxville.
Majors feels a lack of loyalty by some members of his staff and non-support from Athletic Director Doug Dickey and then-President Joe Johnson led to his departure at the university in 1992. It was the year that he had heart surgery, and Phillip Fulmer took over the team while he was laid up. Majors eventually came back to coach later in the season, but it would be his last in Knoxville.
Majors was a visitor in Greeneville on Saturday. He came to speak at the Boys & Girls Club’s Champions Dinner that night, but he spent much of the day touring the city with Kathy Knight, who was chairman of the dinner. In addition to her many other civic duties, Kathy is the Accent Editor at The Greeneville Sun.
I met Majors in the lobby of the General Morgan Inn Saturday afternoon, and he chatted freely with me for about an hour, almost making him late for the reception scheduled at Link Hills prior to the dinner. I covered the Vols while Majors was coach. Although I didn’t necessarily agree with all his calls and decisions as coach, I did like him because he was Big Orange through and through.
We talked about lots of things. I didn’t press him about his leaving Tennessee because I knew that was still a sore spot with him. He did volunteer some comments, though, that left no doubt that he still harbors some ill feelings.
Majors was raised in the small town of Lynchburg, and his dad, Shirley Majors, was a football coach, first at the high school level and then for over 20 years at the University of the South.
A history buff, Majors seldom travels anywhere now without asking to see all the sights of that particular area. He was impressed with Greeneville. He didn’t know much about our town before, except that one of his teammates in 1953 was a big guy named Charlie Rader from Greeneville, a man he described as “extremely intelligent and an excellent football player.”
Majors retired from coaching in 1996 and since that time has served as a special assistant to the chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He said much of his duties involve fund-raising and speeches. He also plays golf “every chance I get.”
His first year out of football left him “sort of lost,” Majors said.
“My dad began coaching football in 1943, and from 1943 until 1996 I had been around football,” he said. “That’s 53 years. Naturally I missed it. I missed being around the players and the coaches and every thing.”
Majors said he still watches a lot of football on television, but he doesn’t miss coaching as much as he used to.
He said he always thought recruiting was a challenge, “and I even enjoyed that up to
a point.” He was obviously a good recruiter, as his record shows. He turned a downtrodden Iowa State program into a winner in his first head coaching job, then was summoned to revive a Pittsburgh program that was struggling. All he did there was win a national championship with Tony Dorsett.
“You never know how good the player will become when you recruit him, but everybody thought Dorsett would be great, and he was,” Majors said.
He said Reggie White, the defensive lineman who he recruited from Chattanooga to play at UT and who went on to become a great player with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, was cut out of the same cloth.

When Tennessee began looking for a coach to replace Bill Battle in 1977, Majors seemed almost a natural. A former All-American tailback, he was greeted with open arms by the faithful back home. Tennessee was struggling at the time just as Iowa State and Pitt had been in his ventures there, but he quickly got things going in the right direction at UT and won Southeastern Conference titles in 1985, 1989 and 1990.
But he left Tennessee in anger, and has been back on campus only one time since. He did come to the reunion of the Sugar Bowl champs of 1990 last season. The team and coaches were introduced at halftime of a football game and were met with a rousing roar of approval.
“I did that for the players,” he said. “But the people in Knoxville were very nice to me.”
“I left UT with a winning program,” he said, with a touch of bitterness in his voice. “I never had the luxury of taking over as a coach and having it laid out on a silver platter.”
Majors recalled a lot of ball games, both as a player and a coach. He likes to talk about quick kicks, something that’s almost a lost art in college football nowadays.
He recalled a quick kick against Georgia Tech that he booted for 69 yards. As a coach, two of his fondest memories involved quick kicks.
“One came in 1983 against Alabama in Birmingham,” he recalled. “We had it third down and 24 from our 25, and we got out of trouble with a quick kick and went on to win the game. Another was during a wind storm in Nashville against Vanderbilt. We had it second down with the wind at our back and we sneaked the punter in before the quarter changed and we’d lose the wind advantage. Colquitt kicked it and it rolled 81 yards to the 2 yard line.”
The four wins over Alabama rank high on the list of Majors’ accomplishments at Tennessee, including the last year that Bear Bryant was in charge of the Crimson Tide.
The win over highly-favored Miami in the 1990 Sugar Bowl was also a highlight that he fondly recalls, as well as the 1991 Notre Dame game in South Bend when the Vols staged the biggest comeback in school history, trailing 31-7 before coming back to win.
He still keeps track of many of his former players. Two weeks ago, there was a reunion of the 1976 national champion Pittsburgh team and he said several of those players spent time at his home with him and wife Marylynne. There has also been a recent reunion at Iowa State for the 30th anniversary of the Sun Bowl team that Majors coached in 1971.
He also keeps track of many of his former assistant coaches. Walt Harris, an offensive coordinator for six years under Majors at Tennessee, is the head coach at Pitt  “He’s done a fine job over the years,” Major said. “He was also one of the most loyal coaches I had at Tennessee.”Loyalty was a word that he used often, both in the interview with me and later in the evening during his speech at the banquet, attended by some 200 people. He still feels that he was betrayed by some of his own assistant coaches while he was in Knoxville.
      I think he was surprised at the number of people who asked him for his autograph while at the Saturday night dinner. Whether you liked him as a coach or not, he is obviously a coaching legend, and to have him in our midst for a day and evening was nice. He did an excellent job as speaker, and the Boys & Girls Club was the big winner, taking in some $25,000 in the fund-raiser.   I hope someday Johnny Majors will bury some of the bitterness that he holds toward theUniversity ofTennessee. There are two sides to every story, and I’m sure the university people have a different story to tell than does Johnny. But the hurt he felt when he left the university squeezed most of the orange blood out of his veins.  I hope there’s still some orange blood there. Because to me, and apparently a lot of other people that I’ve talked to over the years, Johnny Majors will always be aTennessee man.

 
    
November 9, 2011 – 10:18 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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

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

By Jeff Borzello

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

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

1. Shabazz Muhammad (No. 1 overall)

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

2. Alex Poythress (No. 12)

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

3. Amile Jefferson (No. 13)

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

4. Anthony Bennett (No. 14)

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

5. Gary Harris (No. 15)

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

6. Jarnell Stokes (No. 16)

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

7. Robert Carter (No. 19)

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

8. Devonta Pollard (No. 20)

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

9. Tony Parker (No. 22)

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

Prediction: Duke

10. Robert Upshaw (No. 40)

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

11. Torian Graham (No. 41)

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

12. Savon Goodman (No. 49)

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

13. Andrew White (No. 51)

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

14. Ricardo Gathers (No. 52)

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

15. Winston Shepard (No. 53)

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

16. Zena Edosomwan (No. 62)

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

17. Wanaah Bail (No. 74)

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

18. Nino Jackson (No. 76)

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

19. Charles Mitchell (No. 92)

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

20. Philip Nolan (No. 93)

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

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

November 9, 2011 – 9:19 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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

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

College football: Week 11 (Battle of the Ravine)

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

Ouachita Baptist University vs. Henderson State University.

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

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

Remember, it was on my Arkansas bucket list.

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

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

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

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

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

Think about that for a moment.

Not fly. Not bus.

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

It’s something every college football fan should see.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On to the picks for Week 11:

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

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

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

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

November 9, 2011 – 7:12 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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

 

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

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

_____________

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

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

 A. Change in conviction from earlier modern scientists.

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

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

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

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

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

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

E P I S O D E 6

How Should We Then Live 6#1

T h e

SCIENTIFIC AGE

I. Church Attacks on Copernican Science Were Philosophical

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

II. Examples of Biblical Influence

A. Pascal’s work.

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

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

B. Newton

1. Speed of sound and gravity.

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

C. Francis Bacon

1. Stressed careful observation and systematic collection of information.

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

D. Faraday

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

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

III. Scientific Aspects of Biblical Influence

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Master idea of biblical science.

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

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

c) Human choices therefore have meaning and effect.

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

IV. Shift in Modern Science

A. Change in conviction from earlier modern scientists.

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

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

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

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

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

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

(John Lennox discusses the fact that evolution requires faith)

D. Natural selection and Nazi ideology.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

6. Each theory of conditioning leads to social application.

a) Koestler: tranquilizer to cure human aggression.

b) Clark and Lee: controlling aggressions of politicians.

c) Kranty: control reproduction through the water supply.

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

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

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

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

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

Questions

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

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

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

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

Key Events and Persons

Copernicus: 1475-1543

Francis Bacon: 1561-1626

Novum Organum Scientiarum: 1620

Galileo: 1564-1642

Pascal: 1623-1662

Isaac Newton: 1642-1727

Principia Mathematica: 1687

Michael Faraday: 1791-1867

Charles Darwin: 1809-1882

Origin of Species: 1859

Herbert Spencer: 1820-1903

Albert Einstein: 1879-1955

Russel Lee: 1895-

Heinrich Himmler: 1900-1945

B.F. Skinner: 1904-1990

Arthur Koestler: 1905-

Kenneth B. Clark: 1914-

Murray Eden: 1920-

Kermit Kranty: 1923-

Skinner’s Beyond Freedom and Dignity: 1971

Further Study

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monograph, no. 5 (1967).

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

November 9, 2011 – 5:12 am Categories: Atheists Confronted, Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Post a comment

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

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

Woody Allen interview 1971 PART 1/4

Uploaded by on Jul 21, 2008

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

__________________________

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

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

Love and Death (1975)

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

Annie Hall (1977)

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

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

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November 9, 2011 – 12:00 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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