As I have explained previously, Huckabee is blessed with the gift of gab, one he refined as a teenage radio announcer and further honed as an ordained Southern Baptist preacher. He thinks he is Ronald Reagan, or, actually, even a little more adroit than Reagan.
Unlike the Gipper, Huckabee will venture at times, as he did disastrously last week, to step off the script and into a little jazz riffing.
Today’s question arises from the fact that Huckabee, out on the stump last week selling a book and keeping open his tepid interest in actually running for president, got all wound up on a New York right-wing radio talk show.
Actually I watched Huckabee’s show this week and he seemed to explain away a lot of these mistatements of his. I agree with Brummett that Huckabee does have the gift of gab just like Reagan did.
I do think that Huckabee’s most pressing challenge will be to explain all the pardons he handed out. Those usually have a way of coming back to haunt a governor. I actually was a Tennessee resident when Lamar Alexander had to be sworn into office early because Ray Blanton was practically letting everyone out of prison.
My Democratic relatives in Middle Tennessee used to tell me that they did not consider Lamar Alexander much of a leader because of his whimpy handshake, but I never got a comment from them on how Blanton does in the handshaking department. (By the way, I got to shake Lamar Alexander’s hand and I must be a whimp too because I thought he gave a firm handshake).
As you can see from my blog, I have done a lot of study on Ronald Reagan. Since I have lived in Arkansas since 1983, I have learned a lot about Huckabee too. In fact, I attended a service at First Baptist Church the first day Huckabee became the Governor of Arkansas. We prayed for him. Huckabee had lots of friends across the USA that were ministers. I remember back in 1992 when Huckabee was in a race for Senate against Dale Bumpers and I was at my parents property in Cordova at our annual Easter Egg Hunt. I ran into my former pastor Adrian Rogers and he asked me several questions about his “pal Mike Huckabee” and how the race was going.
I think that Huckabee will probably run for president because he knows he can go back to his job at Fox. We will just have to wait and see.
The first I heard of it, of what I call the Pig Trail gerrymander, I laughed hard.
But state Sen. Sue Madison of Fayetteville, Democratic chairman of the Senate State Agencies Committee that will consider such matters, says she expects this little gem to be formally proposed as a seriously intended congressional redistricting plan.
I was inclined to reject this out-of-hand as as hoax. But it’s not.
A devoted reader sends along an e-mail from Steve Clark, leader of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, to various community and elected leaders objecting to a purported congressional redistricting idea that would move Fayetteville and perhaps all of Washington County into the Fourth Congressional District. It’s now in the Republican 3rd.
I do not think this will happen because the map would look too crazy. The real gamble will be if the Democrats try to make a run at the 2nd district. I think that Tim Griffin has a bigger margin of victory now with the rapid growth of Saline County and Faulkner County to work with, and it would take a lot to put him at a disadvantage.
Hardin grew UCA as he grew his own profile. The school became the sustaining personal fiefdom for him …Hardin cut corners, because he could. He got in some kind of personal financial bind — the speculation is gambling — and broke both the bounds of decency and the law to forge a document and help himself to an early payout of deferred compensation.
I have always had mixed emotions when I have to stand behind long lines at the convience store waiting for the mainly poor people to finish buying all their lottery tickets. First, I really do want to tell them to take that money and buy milk for their kids. Second, I want to thank them for paying the voluntary tax that I am not dumb enough to pay. However, sometimes I want to tell them that the government is scamming them. I have been told that if gambling is wrong that I should not buy stocks because it is really the same thing. I don’t think that is correct and it reminds me of a story that my pastor used to tell.
Gambling is morally wrong. Why? Because nobody wins at gambling without somebody else losing. True, legitimate business is a win – win arrangement.
I make a widget. I sell it for a dollar. I get the dollar, you get the widget. I win and you win. In gambling, for every winner there must be a loser. Gambling is profit and pleasure at somebody else’s pain and loss.
Two people meet in a back alley and one puts a gun on the other person and takes what belongs to him, they call it thievery. But if two people meet in the casino and one takes what belongs to another, they call it gambling. Oh, they don’t call it gambling, they call it gaming.
When somebody gambles and wins, he has the spirit of thievery. When he gambles and loses, he’s been very foolish. So the Bible says in Habakkuk 2:6, “Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his!”
A great film clip I found on youtube that gives some statistics about gambling addictions.
President Reagan attending the Bob Hope Salute to the United States Air Force 40th Anniversary celebration with Kirk Cameron, Phyllis Diller, Lucille Ball and Emmanuel Lewis at Pope Air Force base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 5/10/87.
You will notice Kirk Cameron in the picture above. Cameron appeared in one of my favorite movies, “Fireproof.” That film really touched me, and I especially liked the end of the film. Here is a clip below.
Did you know that the movie “Fireproof” only had a budget of 1/2 million dollars and it opened #4 at the box office. It has earned over 33 million while in theaters and more than that in dvd sales. In fact, it ranked #41 in dvd sales for 2009 which outpaced many big budget films.
The book referenced in the movie “The Love Dare” has sold over 5 million copies and was on the NY Times Best Seller list for over a 100 weeks.
“Fireproof is about a firefighter, Caleb Holt, whose marriage has grown cold,” Stephen Kendrick, the writer and director, said. “Caleb’s father, a strong Christian, challenges his son to delay the divorce to read The Love Dare, which calls for 40 consecutive days of learning to show selfless love.”
Day One is the disarmingly simple idea that “love is patient.” Initially Caleb’s wife, Catherine, resents his efforts, which she sees as too little too late. Midway through the 40 days, Caleb despairs about her response and his own capacity to love. At that point, he accepts God’s sacrificial love for his sake. With his father’s encouragement, he sticks with it, learns to accept and give love, and ultimately restores his marriage.
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You will notice Lucy in the picture above with Ronald Reagan. Here below is a clip of Lucy trying to sell Vitameatavagamin
Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root. Well, from here I will go to Bonn and then Berlin, where there stands a grim symbol of power untamed. The Berlin Wall, that dreadful gray gash across the city, is in its third decade. It is the fitting signature of the regime that built it.
And a few hundred kilometers behind the Berlin Wall, there is another symbol. In the center of Warsaw, there is a sign that notes the distances to two capitals. In one direction it points toward Moscow. In the other it points toward Brussels, headquarters of Western Europe’s tangible unity. The marker says that the distances from Warsaw to Moscow and Warsaw to Brussels are equal. The sign makes this point: Poland is not East or West. Poland is at the center of European civilization. It has contributed mightily to that civilization. It is doing so today by being magnificently unreconciled to oppression.Poland’s struggle to be Poland and to secure the basic rights we often take for granted demonstrates why we dare not take those rights for granted. Gladstone, defending the Reform Bill of 1866, declared, “You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.” It was easier to believe in the march of democracy in Gladstone’s day — in that high noon of Victorian optimism.
We’re approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention — totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy’s enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order, because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not-at-all-fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than 30 years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.
The strength of the Solidarity movement in Poland demonstrates the truth told in an underground joke in the Soviet Union. It is that the Soviet Union would remain a one-party nation even if an opposition party were permitted, because everyone would join the opposition party.America’s time as a player on the stage of world history has been brief. I think understanding this fact has always made you patient with your younger cousins — well, not always patient. I do recall that on one occasion, Sir Winston Churchill said in exasperation about one of our most distinguished diplomats: “He is the only case I know of a bull who carries his china shop with him.”
But witty as Sir Winston was, he also had that special attribute of great statesmen — the gift of vision, the willingness to see the future based on the experience of the past. It is this sense of history, this understanding of the past that I want to talk with you about today, for it is in remembering what we share of the past that our two nations can make common cause for the future.
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Little known presidential facts:
James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) is the first president to ever talk on the phone. When he spoke to Alexander Graham Bell, who was at the other end 13 miles away, he said: “Please speak a little more slowly.”k
Twenty-ninth president Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) repeatedly made love to a young girl, Nan Britton, in a White House closet. On one occasion, Secret Service agents had to stop his wife from beating down the closet door.e
I think the real reason that people want to move their children to better schools is that they care about their children. Many black people are upset at inner city schools and are doing just that. For years the Memphis City School officials have claimed they have been victims of white flight. However, it appears the last ten years they have been victims of “everybody flight.” Over and over we have had to listen to all the allegations of racism leveled at those who leave the city limits to take their kids to schools that perform better. Maybe it is not about demographics but about discipline and demanding more of the students? Take a look at this article from the Commercial Appeal:
City officials across DeSoto County on Friday were relishing 2010 Census figures that showed sharp population increases — and signaled economic and service opportunities.
And while the overall growth came as no surprise, analysts at the University of Mississippi said there was one myth-busting figure: “Black flight” was a large factor in countywide growth. African-Americans make up nearly half of DeSoto’s 54,000-person population increase from the last census.
In Hernando, which more than doubled from 6,838 in the 2000 tally to 14,090, city Planning Director Bob Barber said: “The figures aren’t unexpected, but when it all becomes official it takes things out of the realm of speculation.
“By going to 10,000-plus, we register on more radar screens of private investors and developers looking for that threshold. As to the public sector, there now are things that we will be eligible for as a city that we weren’t previously.”
Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson said, “We’re always looking for new opportunities” in grants and enhancements to boost services.”
Southaven soared 69 percent in population to 48,982, and is now Mississippi’s third-largest city after Jackson and Gulfport. Olive Branch grew from 21,054 to 33,484; Horn Lake from 14,099 to 16,066; and rural Walls surged from a 2005 estimate of 452 to 1,162.
As a whole, DeSoto County’s population rose 50 percent, adding more than 54,000 for a total population of 161,252. That moves DeSoto from fifth to the state’s third-largest county, jumping over Rankin and Katrina-battered Jackson counties, said Clifford Holley, interim director of the Center for Population Studies at Ole Miss. Hinds, site of Jackson, is still the largest county, with coastal Harrison second.
But what struck Holley as interesting was that while notions are popular of white outflow from Shelby County feeding DeSoto’s growth, the census figures show that of the 54,000-person growth, 23,050 are listed as black residents.
“In 2000 there were only about 12,000 black people in DeSoto; now the figure nearly triples to 35,266 of the total population,” said Holley. Much of the black share, he said, must come from shifts from Shelby and even within Mississippi — people looking for higher-paying jobs, better schools, a safer place to live.
That makes sense to Hernando Mayor Johnson.
“It’s incredible — the jobs, schools, medical facilities and infrastructure that are such a draw to everyone,” he said. DeSoto’s growth “is just due to high standards that have been set — and people realize that. Here in our city, we really didn’t plan all this growth, we just set out to make Hernando a great place to live.”
I found this video from Reason TV that really tells the truth about the DC Voucher Program:
Barack Obama & the DC School Voucher Program: The president says he wants to do ‘what’s best for kids.’ So why won’t he save a proven program that helps low-income students?”
Mercedes Campbell is one of the 1,700 students in the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a school-voucher program authorized by Congress in 2004. The program gives students up to $7,500 to attend whatever school their parents choose. For kids like Mercedes, who now attends Georgetown Visitation Prep, the DC voucher program is a way out of one of the worst school districts in the country.
“It’s different, now that I go to Visitation,” says Mercedes. “I approach things differently. It’s like a whole new world, basically.”
The program is wildly popular with parents and children—there are four applicants for every available slot—and a recent Department of Education study found that participants do significantly better than their public school peers. Indeed, after three years in private schools, students who entered the program at its inception were 19 months ahead in reading of applicants unlucky enough to still be trapped in D.C.’s public schools.
Yet working with congressional Democrats and despite his pledge to put politics and ideology aside in education, the Obama administration has effectively killed the program through a backdoor legislative move. “[Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan will use only one test in what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars,” says the president. “It’s not whether it’s liberal or conservative, but whether it works.”
That sort of doublespeak has left many Obama supporters not just puzzled but outraged. Certainly, Mercedes is. “Out of everything else they can shut down or everything else they can advocate for, they want to take this one thing away?” Adds her mother, Ingrid, “We voted for you, we walked, we went to the parade, we stood freezing. Why?…Can you get this tape over to Obama and have him answer our questions? Why, sir, why?”
“Barack Obama and the DC School Voucher Program” is approximately 5.30 minutes long and was produced by Dan Hayes and Nick Gillespie.
I went to Memphis yesterday and I actually got to walk across a bridge over the Mississippi River. Frankly it was so frightening that I turned around and came back since the bridge was shaking so much.
George Washington wore a lot of hats: JUDGE; MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS; COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY; PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; “FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY”
You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.122
While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.123
The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.124
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would… most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of the mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion.125
President Reagan and Bob Hope performing at the Bob Hope Salute to the United Sates Air Force 40th Anniversary Celebration at the Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 5/10/87.
The full “Doctor, Doctor” scene including classic cameo by Bob Hope at the end!
I love Bob Hope movies. Hope came to play golf at the Pro-Am at the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic several times at Colonial Country Club. I grew up going to that tournament from 1975 to 1982 I went every year.
Former President George W. Bush delivers a eulogy for Ronald Reagan
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(I got to visit the Parliament in August of 1979 and I was amazed at all the great history.)
Funny SNL skit about the Queen.
My son Wilson loves this short from SNL about British movies
England is our best friend now This is an excerpt from the great address Ronald W. Reagan gave to Members of the British ParliamentJune 8, 1982My Lord Chancellor, Mr. Speaker:The journey of which this visit forms a part is a long one. Already it has taken me to two great cities of the West, Rome and Paris, and to the economic summit at Versailles. And there, once again, our sister democracies have proved that even in a time of severe economic strain, free peoples can work together freely and voluntarily to address problems as serious as inflation, unemployment, trade, and economic development in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity.Other milestones lie ahead. Later this week, in Germany, we and our NATO allies will discuss measures for our joint defense and America’s latest initiatives for a more peaceful, secure world through arms reductions.Each stop of this trip is important, but among them all, this moment occupies a special place in my heart and in the hearts of my countrymen — a moment of kinship and homecoming in these hallowed halls.Speaking for all Americans, I want to say how very much at home we feel in your house. Every American would, because this is, as we have been so eloquently told, one of democracy’s shrines. Here the rights of free people and the processes of representation have been debated and refined.It has been said that an institution is the lengthening shadow of a man. This institution is the lengthening shadow of all the men and women who have sat here and all those who have voted to send representatives here. This is my second visit to Great Britain as President of the United States. My first opportunity to stand on British soil occurred almost a year and a half ago when your Prime Minister graciously hosted a diplomatic dinner at the British Embassy in Washington. Mrs. Thatcher said then that she hoped I was not distressed to find staring down at me from the grand staircase a portrait of His Royal Majesty King George III. She suggested it was best to let bygones be bygones, and in view of our two countries’ remarkable friendship in succeeding years, she added that most Englishmen today would agree with Thomas Jefferson that “a little rebellion now and then is a very good thing.”
Little known presidential facts:
The only president to be unanimously elected was George Washington (1732-1799). He also refused to accept his presidential salary, which was $25,000 a year.b
Grover Cleveland was the only president in history to hold the job of a hangman. He was once the sheriff of Erie County, New York, and twice had to spring the trap at a hanging.k
3 Of 3 / Faith Of The Founding Fathers / American Heritage Series / David Barton
Last night at 10:45 after a visit to Walmart, I noticed 5 Bryant Policemen running across Reynolds Road and Murphey and I pulled in a parking lot to see all the action. Evidently someone tried to rob the McDonalds and then he ran across the street to the Taco Bell parking lot where he was handcuffed and surrounded by these 5 policemen.
Later firetrucks and an ambulance showed up with several police cars. That is the first excitement we have had in Bryant since seeing a drunk getting stuffed into a car by 3 policeman who had to kick the back of his legs in as he resisted getting into the car. My kids eyes were as big saucers that day, but I wanted them to see the end results of drinking and driving.
I found this on David Barton’s website. This is the text of George Washington’s October 3, 1789 national Thanksgiving Proclamation; as printed in The Providence Gazette and Country Journal, on October 17, 1789.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
Former President George H. W. Bush delivers a eulogy for Ronald Reagan
Well my high school basketball teams that I was following both lost yesterday. Valley Springs Boys beat my Arkansas Baptist Eagles and Rogers beat my Bryant Lady Hornets. I traveled to Searcy to watch the Eagles play a 8:30pm game (which started 45 minutes late) with my grandson Luke. We got home at 12:15 am and Luke was still wide awake!!!
In the video clip above you will see George H. W. Bush speaking. I got to meet him in 1980 when a student at Memphis State. I also got to meet Lamar Alexander who the governor of Tennessee and now is the U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
By Stewart D. McLaurin, Executive Director, The Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration
Planning a Centennial such as this takes on the form, feel, and intensity of a national political campaign, with millions of dollars to be raised, scores of events to be organized, deadlines to be met, and strong, widespread interest for participation. Leadership to plan and execute this year of events is a privilege as we honor a man whose life and legacy stands on its own and whose lasting lessons of leadership can still provide a road map for the next generation. It is a purposeful tribute to a man who began with humble Midwestern roots, began his career in sports broadcasting, found success in the entertainment industry, became the national spokesperson for GE Theater, ran for Governor of California and served two successful terms, then became President of the United States – and one of the greatest Americans in history.
This issue of CSQ Magazine contains perspectives of just a few of the Reagan Centennial partners. Many more than those reflected on these pages have made this celebration possible. The Centennial Web site (www.reagancentennial.com) gives in-depth information on the Centennial, all of our partners, and the events and initiatives that will take place around the globe over the
coming months.
The Reagan Library and Museum is the most visited of the 12 presidential libraries in the United States. The National Archives maintains and curates the archival elements of the Museum through extraordinary exhibits. And the Reagan Foundation hosts programs year-round to educate young and old about American government, the Presidency, and President Reagan.
As America honors our 40th President of the United States
on the Centennial of his birth and throughout 2011, we invite everyone to visit the Reagan Library and enjoy this incredible museum experience.
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Little known presidential facts:
The “S” in Harry S Truman doesn’t stand for anything; therefore, there is no period after his middle initial.j
Lincoln Logs are named after Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin where he was born. John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Francis Lloyd Wright, invented them.k
