ColRebSez

On energy and other policies, conservatives and liberals can find common ground. In fact, we must!

2012-03-05T22:36:00.000-06:00

    I had a Facebook argument with a friend recently about energy policy and other things. Not a bad one, really more of a back-and-forth. He’s a liberal.
    Now when you say this you have to say it by stretching out the first syllable. Think back to how in the old days some old county official might have referred to the black guy out there carrying a sign for voter rights. He wasn’t merely a “troublemaker.” He was a “trou-----ble maker.” Well, my friend is a li------beral.
    But for all our differences there is within my conservatism quite a bit of populism. His realism is grounded, just barely in my view, in realism.
    There are some issues I don’t think we can ever agree on. He's liberal! He's terribly concerned about global warming. I’m not. If it does exist I think it benefits North America greatly. Bring it on. If I’m wrong, I’ll move to Canada. If I’m really wrong, our world is able to send a few billion bits of tinfoil confetti into the atmosphere.
    But despite our disagreements, there are things we can agree on. In the end we both want average Americans to have better lives. As far as energy policy is concerned, I am a supporter of “drill-baby-drill,” but I support it not so we can enjoy $2-a-gallon gasoline, but so we can be a self-sufficient nation. High-priced gasoline doesn’t bother me if it means we can wean ourselves from foreign oil. What I’m saying is I’d love to see gasoline prices that are really low and gasoline taxes that are – grab your seats boys – really high.
    Do we have to slap these taxes on tomorrow? Nope. Many people said Obama should have announced a 50-cent gas tax to go into effect in 2011 as soon as he was elected. Had he done so actual gas prices might be lower today – the threat of the tax would have encouraged better energy choices. But the point is that if we have to raise revenue, we need to do it through taxes. I support a $2 a gallon gas tax, imposed over eight years, 25 cents a year. If we have to tax things, there is no better way to raise revenue than to discourage those things which have hidden costs for our society, c.f. The Tragedy of the Commons.
    If we can come to an agreement with our liberal friends about the need to conserve energy, perhaps we can get them to agree that we need to develop the resources that we have – because they are substantial. If we really learn to conserve energy and then develop our oil resources in the arctic wasteland, offshore, with shale and ethanol, America can be a net exporter of oil. Think about it – we can live like Saudi sheiks! Because of our decision to debase the dollar we are going to need something to export in the future. With oil at $250 a barrel, which it soon will be, having a surplus will benefit the economy.
    There’s more to a comprehensive energy policy than simply conserving energy, drilling for oil and taxing gas. I’ll address some of these in a future post, perhaps sooner rather than later.
    I sometimes feel like we’re in a world where only a few dozen people are looking at our nation’s policies and asking, “What are we doing here? What are we trying to accomplish?” Please accept my invitation to join the club, if you aren’t already a member!
As for my li-----beral friend? He asks the same questions I ask and often comes to different conclusions. That’s okay. But on those occasions when the two of us agree? Well, we cannot possibly be wrong!
    So to my liberal friend I say and ask this. On the conservation end I'm willing to support measures that are far more draconian than those proposed by most. Now we come to production. I want us to be not just self-sufficient, but an oil exporter. What are you willing to support?

The cobbler has no shoes (or HHonors points)

2012-03-04T10:34:00.000-06:00

    Late last year I reported on the Hilton HHonors First Quarter Promotion, simply entitled More Points. It offers a bonus of 1,000 HHonors points per night.
    I get an especial thrill out of earning the maximum amount of airline and hotel points and Jinny doesn't want to fool with it, so that makes me the official Pointmeister of the Col. Reb household. I thought I had signed her up for the Hilton special, I really did!
    Apparently I didn't. I didn't see any bonus points posting in her account so I went to the sign up screen and put her name in, and instead of telling me she was already signed up it thanked me for registering. I checked her email, and there was no sign of my having signed up back in early January.
    I did sign Jinny up for a Delta Airlines bonus that gives her 2,012 HHonors points for every two night stay if she chooses Delta as her Double-Dip partner. At present she has one 2,012-point award, but there may be another waiting in the wings that hasn't posted yet.
    But thanks to my malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance or just plain stupidity, Jinny has missed out on roughly 12,000 HHonors points. That's 33-40 percent of a Paris-London-New York hotel room. Calculate the value of the room at $350, which is really on the low side, and my failure to get her signed up has cost our family $140 or more in quasi-luxury hotel value.
    What's done is done. In all honesty I remember signing her up; perhaps it was so soon the sign-up wasn't registering people properly. Learn from my mistake and treat good offers like voting. Sign up early and often.

Poor, pitiful, Georgetown coeds can pay $65,000 a year on school, but can't afford birth control

2012-03-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

    Much has been made about Rush Limbaugh's rather crude comments toward Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke, who he called a "slut" on his radio program. While I think Rush went a bit overboard, as he often does, Fluke's basic dishonesty certainly is designed to bring out the worst in people.
    Fluke, if you will remember, wanted to testify before Congress about the plight of poor Georgetown law students who couldn't afford birth control because the university wouldn't supply it to them for free through its health plan. In particular she cited the case of a classmate who needed hormonal birth control not to prevent pregnancy, as the friend is a lesbian, but to prevent ovarian cysts. Even though entitled, her classmate was unable to get her prescription filled and thus suffered a serious cyst. Therefore, Fluke argued, all women should get free birth control.
    I suppose it never occurred to Fluke to seek a law addressing her classmate's problem. In short, any insurer refusing to cover a hormonal birth control prescription that is given for other purposes would be subject to civil or criminal penalties. It's that simple; problem solved.
    But that's not enough for Fluke. She insists that all the other poor, underprivileged Georgetown girls who want to have birth control need it for free, too. If the insurance company isn't forced to give it to them for free, there's just no way they will ever be able to afford it.
    Tuition for one semester at Georgetown is almost $24,000, or $48,000 per year. Add $17,000 per year in living expenses and these girls have at least $65,000 to spend on going to one of the most elite law schools in the nation. I'm sure most of the rest of us spent far less on our schools.
    Of course, when these girls graduate they will have it made. The average private sector starting salary for a Georgetown Law grad is $160,000 per year.
    I think it's a great idea to use birth control while enjoying the gigantic sex orgy known as "Georgetown Law." But I find it outrageous that these overprivileged, oversexed coeds expect America's working men and women to pick up the tab for their extracurricular activities.
    Limbaugh's comment's were outrageous, but not nearly as outrageous as those of Fluke. These Georgetown women need to buy their own birth control. If they can afford $65,000 on college, they can afford $10 or so a month to avoid pregnancy.

Catholic church brouhaha shows need for Obamacare repeal

2012-03-03T11:28:00.000-06:00

    If you ever needed proof of the need to repeal Obamacare, look no further than the brouhaha over whether or not the Catholic church should be forced to offer birth control in its insurance plans.
    For the record, I support birth control. Although I don't believe making it more available wouldn't do much to reduce the illegitimacy rate, on the off chance that it would I am more than willing to support government programs to hand out free birth control through every health department in America.
    What I don't support is any plan that would force a church that is opposed to artificial birth control to purchase it, even if I think that church is wrong. In fact, I'm opposed to forcing anyone to purchase birth control or anything else. Obamacare doesn't allow for the slightest deviation from government mandate. Apparently everyone must now be cookie-cutter alike.
    The problem with our insurance companies and our government is that our government believes that the insurance companies exist in a Harry Potter land, where goods and services can be provided at no cost through the magic incantation of government edict. If the Catholic church doesn't want to pay for insurance, no problem. The government will simply require that anyone insured through the Catholic church be able to apply to the insurance company for birth control, which will then be provided to them absolutely free of charge.
    Since it's so easy, why doesn't Obama just order the insurance companies to offer all medicines for free? For that matter, why not require them to provide free houses to everyone and solve the homeless problem? Does anyone doubt that when the Catholic Church goes out to buy insurance that the insurance companies won't price in the cost of providing this "free" insurance? What a load of baloney!
    You see, each time the government makes demands on insurers, premiums have to go up. Want the insurers to be required to provide more mental health care? Okay, done. Your premiums have now gone up. Want your adult children to be on your policy (more likely if they are sickly, of course)? Okay, done. Your premiums have now gone up. Free birth control, higher premiums. More mandates, higher premiums. Want mandated coverage for pre-existing conditions? Okay, your premiums have just skyrocketed to Pluto and the quality of your insurance has gone to hell.
    Obamacare mandates health coverage. But employers who don't provide it will pay a small fine. Because of government interference, it will be much cheaper to pay the fine than to provide the ever-more-expensive insurance. Eventually everyone is going to be forced into a government "exchange," which is exactly what the socialists want. And the cost or tax on average Americans is going to get higher and higher even as our insurance coverage gets crappier and crappier.
    I happen to believe we need a system that will provide bare-bones health services to every American at no charge. To some degree this is already happening in an inefficient manner. But we ought to be able, as a society, to care for those most in need without tampering with the traditional relationship between employers and their employees, and insurers and their insured. We need room in our health care system for luxury plans, bare-bones plans, partial self-insurance plans and plans that don't cover birth control (or penicillin, or doctors whose names begin with a "Y," or anything else I'd like to exclude).
    What's at stake here is whether we will continue to live as a free and independent people, able to choose how we live our lives, or whether we will be herded along by the Democrats as socialist sheeple.

Ash's ACT score says he's ready for college (but don't tell him)

2012-03-01T16:36:00.001-06:00

    Everybody has the right to brag on their children. Ash gave me permission to brag on him.
    He took the ACT test a few weeks ago as part of the Duke TIP program. We didn't do the full regimen of practice tests that I suggested we might do back in September.
    He did take a few practice sections, but never finished a full ACT practice test. He scored a 28 on the reading in the practice test, versus a 22 on the real test. He made a 21 on the English on the practice test but pulled out a 25 on the real thing. Good thing, too, as Lucy made a 25 on the English practice test and was giving him grief.
    He ended up making a 24 composite, which is a score a lot of high school students would be glad to have. I'm not so much surprised by the score as I am by the distribution; I expected the reading to be higher and the science to be lower. But you take it as you get it!
    Too bad Duke TIP isn't offered in eighth grade. It will be three or four years before Ash takes the ACT again. If he can improve by two points per year, he'll do just fine!

As always, you can click on the photo for a better view.

Lusa has great sandwiches and pastries and I didn't even know it was there!

2012-02-29T18:38:00.000-06:00

    I visited Lusa Pastry Cafe today for the first time. I finished my eye appointment and figured I'd grab something to go while I waited a few minutes for my eyes to get back to normal.
    It features several pastry cabinets. I took a picture of one (I'm afraid my menu shot didn't turn out so hot). I ordered a crab salad sandwich for lunch. It was made with crab, not krab, and served on sourdough bread. Not bad at all!
    Next time I'll take Jinny and we'll split a dessert. Lusa's is located just north of town on North Lamar/Old 7, just south of the Beacon.

Mad-dog racist Obama plays race card, dares whites to complain

2012-02-27T22:14:00.002-06:00

    If you're a white politician it doesn't take much to be called a racist. Want to cut government spending? Racist! Want the government, employers and schools to be required to treat everyone equally? Racist!
    Remember the Willie Horton "Revolving Door" ad put out by the George Bush Sr., campaign? It featured perhaps two dozen white actors, but because one of the two black actors looked briefly at the camera the ad was called "racist."
    It was considered racist to mention crime at all in that race, as Democrat Michael Dukakis had furloughed a rabid killer by the name of Willie Horton who then went on to stab a man and rape his wife. Of course, anyone who dared to criticize Dukakis for granting this furlough was a "racist," because Horton just happened to be black.
    Let's think about this for a minute. If Horton had been white, the Bush campaign would have made just as much hay out of it. There are plenty of scary, dangerous white people out there, and if they are in jail for a heinous crime I would prefer they stay there instead of killing me. Apparently the Democrats have a rule: If a woman is raped by a white man, it is perfectly acceptable to complain, but if raped by a black she must just lay back and enjoy it, because to complain is to be "racist." Will American ever tell Obama and his ilk to just shut up?
    What we have been stuck with for the last three years is an openly racist president and an openly racist attorney general who see the Obama presidency as payback time. When attorney general Eric Holder was criticized for dropping all charges against a group of Black Panthers who brazenly threatened voters, his response was that any objection to letting the Panthers "walk" demeaned the suffering that blacks suffered in the early part of the Twentieth Century. By this idiot's thinking, he's got to sit idly by while crimes are committed against whites until his imaginary "score sheet" is even. Such an evil man; such an evil president.
    But just when you thought the racist slime that is Barack Obama couldn't stoop any lower, he stoops to conquer. Obama has now announced the formation of a new group, "African Americans for Obama." The video is below. Just imagine is Mitt Romney were to release a video touting a new group called "Whites for Romney," and adding that he wanted all Mormons to be sure to fire up the membership.
    A blog on the London Daily Mail responded with a story headlines, "Is Obama Losing His Mind?" The answer is no, anyone who has bothered to review the contents of his books or his statements knows Obama is a man who hates white people. Of course he would try to rally the troops, confident that those Joe Stalin called the "useful idiots" would support him no matter what.
    Obama and his police-state goons are pretty slick. Perhaps he may be re-elected. But let's cut to the chase. We all know it, it cannot be truthfully denied. Obama is a racist and those who support him are racists. He ought to have the decency to resign. If he won't resign he should be impeached. If we can't get enough decent people in Washington to impeach the bum, then the very least we can do is throw the bum out on election day.

Voice of the far left Tweets out bigotry

2012-02-24T16:11:00.001-06:00

    New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow is one of those "right-thinking" liberals who is always quick to find racism hiding behind every statement of any conservative politician.
    When Newt Gingrich points out that some poor children are never exposed to work, his statement is immediately twisted by people like Blow to suggest that Gingrich had claimed that NO poor people worked. In doing so, he demonstrated his intellectual dishonesty.
    To hear Blow tell it, there is only one person in America standing against religious and racial bigotry, and that person is Charles M. Blow. If you don't believe him, just visit the New York Times website and look at his column archive.
    Of course, there's not much explaining Blow's most recent comments (and, in fact, he has now apologized). During the most recent Republican debate, he sent out a Twitter "Tweet:" "Let me just tell you this Mitt "Muddle Mouth": I'm a single parent and my kids are *amazing*! Stick that in your magic underwear."
    Before we get to the bigotry in Blow's Tweet, let's look at the content. Romney obviously said something about the problem presented by the increasing numbers of single parents. It is a demonstrably proven fact that no matter the income, no matter the quality of parent, all other things being equal children fare much better in a two-parent family.
    Note what Blow does. Romney brings attention to one of the most important problems that our country faces, namely the fact that children reared by single parents have a higher risk of bad outcomes than children reared by two parents. No rational person can dispute this!
    But Blow twists it. He turns Romney's comments into an attack on all single parents, including himself.
    And so we come to the bigoted Tweet, which reference Romney's "magic underwear." So-called "magic underwear" are worn by Mormons after their first visit to the temple, as a constant reminder of their covenant with God. They are properly called a "temple garment," and they are really no different from religious items worn by people of other faiths. Jewish men wear the little hats, yarmulke, for example, and have other dress codes. Sikhs wear turbans and a special undergarment. In years past, men is some Christian denominations dressed in leisure suits, although this practice seems to have waned. There are other examples, but the fact is that it just isn't that uncommon for members of various faiths to have beliefs that might strike the rest of us as a bit odd. If their "odd" practice doesn't affect me, then why should I care?
    With all of this said, I'm glad Mr. Blow let go with his reprehensible Tweet. It helps remind the rest of us of the type of people we're dealing with: uninformed, hypocritical bigots.

Poor pleading means no relief for spatula-battered McDonald's customer

2012-02-22T22:21:00.004-06:00

    The following passage was written by retired circuit judge Henry Lackey in a case involving the Holly Springs McDonald's. The case is Parmenter v. J&B Enterprises. It's the type of legal writing that sticks with you.
    Facts in brief: Plaintiff Parmenter orders at drive-thru and becomes dissatisfied (I can sympathize so far). Enters restaurant and as part of argument with employee sez, “Bitch, you need to get out of my face.” Ms. Parmenter reportedly also used a racial slur, an epithet even.
    Following this, the McDonald's employee retreated to the kitchen where she took up a spatula. She did not, however, use it to flip burgers, but rather to whop Ms. Parmenter up side the head.
    Ms. Parmenter sued McDonald's and the franchise owner. She did not sue the spatula-wielding employee, nor did she claim assault, battery or any other intentional tort, cut rather negligent hiring, negligent supervision and so forth. This was likely a mistake.
    From Judge Lackey's order granting summary judgment in favor of McDonald's:

This dispute arose over an incident at the Golden Arches (McDonald[’]s) in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Apparently [p]laintiff, Kerri Parmenter, became upset over her victuals order and made inquiry about its condition. It is unclear to the [c]ourt the exact cause for [p]laintiff’s displeasure, whether the Big Mack was soggy, the fries limp, or the coffee cold, but in any event, [p]laintiff was unhappy and apparently voiced her annoyance to an employee who was engaged as a cashier. Apparently[,] harsh words we re exchanged, the exact nature of which a re unknown to the [c ]ourt at this time. It appears the employee took serious exception to [p]laintiff’ s inquiry, retreated to the recesses of the restaurant, retrieved a long cooking utensil which was referred to as a metal spatula[,] and used this instrument in a fashion contrary to its intended use or for which it was designed, but a use with which all mothers of young children are acquainted.

I agree with the court's decision in this case. Plaintiff sought relief on the basis of negligent hiring, not for battery. On the downside, I disagree with Mississippi's "scope of employment" rulings, which tend to state that if an employee commits an intentional tort that goes against company policy, the employer shouldn't be held liable since they are acting outside of their "scope of employment" by breaking the rules. Mississippi is certainly in the minority of states on this, and Mississippi is wrong.
If you've never visited the Holly Springs McDonald's, by all means drop by. There is no other like it.

In November 1966, Archie was the BMOC at Drew High School

2012-02-22T21:39:00.005-06:00

November 1966 was a big month for Drew High School senior Archie Manning. He was featured on the front page of the Drew Flash as Mr. Drew High School, in a photo for same, as a honor roll student, and as Student of the Month. The front page also said he was named to Who's Who for being Most Athletic and Most Versatile.
As always, you can click on the photo to bring up a copy big enough to read.

March is Thank a Democrat Month!

2012-02-22T19:09:00.005-06:00

    It looks like we may be headed towards $6 a gallon gas. It could put the economy back into a tailspin.
    Remember some years back when the liberals wailed that there was no need to drill in the Arctic wasteland because any oil found wouldn't benefit us for several years? Well, the several years are up and we sure could use the oil. But because of Democrats, we don't have any.
    The Democrats have steadfastly refused to allow drilling in the Arctic wasteland; they've blocked super-safe shallow-ocean drilling; they've opposed the conversion of oil shale into oil; they've even blocked the building of pipelines to bring much-needed oil from Canada to the U.S.
    And so our nation is going further and further into debt. Americans are paying higher and higher prices for gas to countries full of people who want nothing more than to blow up a stock exchange, airliner or major American landmark.
    Make no mistake, this has been an intentional plot by Democrats to cut off America's energy supply to further their radical global warming agenda. But all they've done is to wreck our economy and strengthen our enemies.
    So, be it resolved, I hereby declare the Month of March "Thank a Democrat Month."
    When you're busy pumping that $6-a-gallon gas, thank a Democrat. When you hear about what a shambles our economy is in, thank a Democrat. When nations that hate America humiliate us because we have to grovel for their oil, thank a Democrat. (Oh, and while we're at it, when your insurance premium skyrockets because the Democrats think they can just give away free medical care with a magic wand, thank a Democrat).
    So don't worry Democrats. We're willing to let you take all the credit. So thanks for everything. And don't worry, we won't forget you!

Britain raises taxes, revenue drops

2012-02-22T10:32:00.003-06:00

    The London Daily Telegraph has a story about how Great Britain raised its top tax rate to 50 percent. Instead of raising more revenue as expected, less money was collected by the treasury.
    The cutline under a photo illustration of a 50-pence piece says it all: "A Treasury source said the relatively poor revenues from self-assessment returns was partly down to highly-paid individuals arranging their affairs to avoid paying the 50p rate." Who'd a thunk it?
    Folks like me have been saying it all along: Soak-the-rich tax policies might make some people feel better, but they will harm the economy. The rich can and will stop earning taxable income, by working less, investing less, refusing to sell assets, or investing in non-income-producing assets. People can and will avoid taxable events, and when that happens, all of society suffers.
    Currently the top one percent of earners pay more than a third of all income tax collected. The top 10 percent pay 70 percent of all income taxes. The bottom 50 percent of earners pay about two percent of income taxes.
    Anyone who studies the figures will see that the percentage of tax revenue raised from top earners actually increased after the Bush tax cuts. In 1999, for example, the top 10 percent paid only 66.5 percent of taxes instead of the 70 percent paid in 2009. And the percentage raised from the bottom half has been cut in half, from four percent to just over two percent. With lowered taxes the rich worry less about paying taxes and just go out and make money.
    There's nothing wrong with making the rich pay more. Society spends a great deal of resources in protecting the assets of the rich, and it isn't unjust that they should pay for the service. But we need to recognize that high income taxes are counter-productive.
    A rational tax policy makes sure every citizen pays some type of tax. Everyone needs to be invested in government. Income tax rates should be kept low, so that they don't overly distort behavior. We can combine the low income tax with a wealth tax on the uber-wealthy; not the ruinous tax Huey Long proposed, but a lower wealth tax designed to raise revenue by taxing the mega-million and billion-dollar estates a nibble at a time. Add to the mix reasonable consumption taxes on those things we need to consume less of, whether its energy or cigarettes, and we are well on our way to a better and fairer tax code.
    You'll never hear these types of proposals from the left. They just want to raise income tax rates. If they succeed, revenues will drop and the economy will suffer. But the liberals can satisfy themselves with the knowledge that they have successfully punished industry and thrift.

Forget the haters, support charter schools

2012-02-21T22:15:00.005-06:00

    Educational choice is one step closer to reality after the Mississippi Senate Education Committee approved a charter school bill today. Unfortunately, the committee removed provisions that would have allowed for "virtual" schools.
    Of course the statists are upset. They want a government monopoly on education, no matter how sorry the quality might be. Other, more enlightened statists, would allow charter schools only in "failing" school districts.
    My problem is trying to figure out exactly what is "failing." Is it failing to not meet a state's minimum standards? I think for a high-poverty district, coming anywhere close to average should be heralded as a great success. Likewise, affluent districts full of high-IQ students shouldn't be considered successful merely because they've met standards created for average kids.
    We keep hearing that allowing charter schools will "siphon" money away from public education. How? If a public school has 2,000 students and an average class size of 18, then that school will employ approximately 111 teachers. If some students choose to go elsewhere, revenue goes down, but so does expense. Some teachers will be let go, and will likely take up work at the charter school. It's a zero-sum game; public schools are neither helped nor harmed by students leaving or entering the system.
    I'm sorry to see the education committe removed the provision for virtual education. While I consider pure virtual education a poor substitute for classroom education, it could do wonders for students who are homeschooled or in low-quality private schools.
    In fact, one of the things I noted on social media sites was that many liberals were opposed to virtual classrooms specifically because it might help home- or private schooled kids get a better education. These liberals are so full of hatred towards home and private schooling that they would rather deny education to these children than fund a state program that would guarantee every citizen of Mississippi a decent education.
    Congratulations to the Senate education committee for approving the charter school law. Let's hope the full Senate or House has the courage to reinsert the provisions for virtual classrooms.
    Our goal, as a state, should be to educate every child, not to satisfy the liberal haters.

Holly Springs native Marie Moore pens murder mystery

2012-02-15T07:56:00.004-06:00

    Marie Moore joins the ranks of Mississippi authors with her soon-to-be-released book, "Shore Excursions."
    If the book is successful she plans a series to feature Sidney Marsh, a Mississippian transplant in New York who works as a travel agent. Travel is a tough business these days, but Marsh succeeds by organizing and leading group tours. When the grim reaper visits a couple of her tour participants, Marsh insists on finding out what happened.
    I haven't had a chance to read the book yet as it hasn't been released. A few lucky souls who are higher on Marie's list have gotten review copies, and the book has received generally favorable reviews. The blogcritics.com review can be found here.
    Like many authors, Moore shares some of her personal experiences through her writing. She had her own travel agency in Holly Springs for many years, and got out of the business just as airline tickets started being booked over the Internet. So she has a good sense of timing! Her husband's works as an immigration judge took them to New York for several years. So her personal experiences should allow her to bring some life to her fictional character, Sidney Marsh.
    In any event, I'm looking forward to reading Marie's maiden book offering. My understanding is we won't have to wait very long for a sequel. The next book in the series, Game Drive, is in the final editing stages. If all goes well, it will be released by the end of the year.
    Good luck Marie from your former student, your former Memphis Press-Scimitar delivery boy, your former travel agency customer and your old friend!

Major folk music conference coming to Memphis Feb. 22-26

2012-02-14T20:16:00.003-06:00

    For those of you into folk music, a major folk music conference in Memphis next week is expected to draw more than 2,000.
    The 24th annual FOLK ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE will take place again in MEMPHIS FEBRUARY 22nd-26th, 2012. BOB LEFSETZ has been tapped as the keynote speaker. In addition, there are over 50 workshops, panel discussions and peer group meetings; 100+ industry exhibitors; a Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony; and over 500 artist performances. (Can you tell I cut and pasted that paragraph?)
    It seems to me this is a pretty major conference and not that well publicized. How I found out about it is a bit of a story.
    A few weeks ago I heard a song by The Nadas on Pandora that I really liked. I'm not sure I've ever even heard of them. Any way, I typed their name in Google, and what do you know but they're playing the Memphis conference.
    Will I attend the conference? Probably not. But it's there for anyone looking for something to do. And who knows? Maybe you'll spot me!

October 1966 -- Archie Manning senior class president

2012-02-12T18:47:00.006-06:00

In honor of Eli Manning's win at the Superbowl, I thought I would share this photo from the October 1966 Drew High School newspaper, in which Eli's dad, Archie, was installed as senior class president. The reproduction quality isn't all that great, but it's all I've got!
As always, you can click on the photo to blow it up large enough to read the story.

Birth control? Yes. Forcing Catholics to buy it? NO!

2012-02-10T07:22:00.006-06:00

    Although I am opposed to making the Catholic Church buy contraceptives -- including those which in their minds may induce abortion -- I support birth control.
    As I mentioned in my previous post, most Catholics don't agree with their church's position. Some say as many as 98 percent of Catholic women have used artificial birth control at some point, and a majority disagree with the official church position on birth control (I suspect the 98 percent figure is high).
    The fact that most members don't agree with the church's leadership is frequently cited by those who support requiring Catholic institutions to provide free contraceptives to their employees. What a dangerous precedent!
    Is the government now going to step in every time it feels a church's leadership is out of step with its members? If so, we may soon see female priests installed while escorted by federal marshals who threaten to kill anyone who tries to uphold church law. Apparently a majority of Seventh-Day Adventists don't adhere absolutely to that faith's call for vegetarianism. Shall we now require Seventh-Day institutions to serve pork chops with the threat of jail or death to those who refuse to comply.
    It simply isn't the proper role of government to pick and choose which religious liberties to trample based on the government's determination of how strongly the rank-and-file membership agrees with a policy.
    As I said before, in addition to eroding religious liberty, I think just giving out birth control pills for free is poor economic policy. It ignores the fact that many women, through forgetfulness don't finish their cycles, and would quit buying them if using their own money. And it will encourage doctors to prescribe to most expensive brands of birth control because, after all, it's free. Far better to at least have a co-pay, with a higher co-pay for the more expensive brands.
    As a matter of policy, if the government wants insurance to provide something for free, it ought to be paid for by the government, not by forcing insurance companies or churches to pay for it. If the government wants everyone to have free contraceptives, then enact a dedicated tax and use the proceeds to buy everyone free birth control -- and count me as a supporter.
    That's far more acceptable than pointing a gun at the Catholics and ordering them under threat of jail and death if they resist, to violate the tenants of their faith.

Forcing Catholics to buy birth control is assault on liberty

2012-02-08T22:51:00.004-06:00

    If you want another reason to be against Obamacare, consider the debate over whether the Catholic church should be forced to buy birth control for its employees.
    Official Catholic doctrine is that the use of artificial birth control is a sin, a position I disagree with. Most Catholics disagree, too. But that doesn't matter. It's still the position of the church. Most Baptists have had a drink or two, but that doesn't mean the government should be allowed to force the sale of beer in Baptist churches.
    The new government regulations will require all health insurance programs, including those of the Catholic church, to provide free birth control pills with so much as a co-pay. Not only is the government trampling on religious freedom, but they are depriving all of us of our financial freedom as well.
    Birth control pills certainly cost money, anywhere from $20 to $50 per month. I'm sure one can spend more, and will once these are completely covered by insurance. I've found that when doctors know I'm covered, they only write prescriptions for the most expensive medicines.
    Some women forget to take their birth control pills, and after a while realize it's not worth buying them if they aren't going to use them. So they use another method of birth control. No need to throw money away! Does anyone think that these women will make the same decision when its other people's money being wasted?
    If you look at what the government is doing with health insurance, it is requiring employers and insurers to provide all sorts of coverage at "no cost" to consumers. Of course, these costs must be paid, and the only way to pay them is to raise insurance rates on everyone.
    The whole purpose of insurance is to help us handle life's unexpected expenses. Birth control pills, which a woman will take every month for years, can hardly be called an unexpected expense. Would it make sense to require auto insurers to cover the cost of gasoline? Of course not! Everybody knows they need to buy gas, so let them buy their own instead of shifting the cost to their neighbors. It's the same with birth control pills.
    I'm not saying insurance companies should be prohibited from covering birth control pills. I'm just saying it should be the employer's choice.
    The Obama plan, which requires all employers, including churches, to hand out free pills without even a co-pay is not just an assault on religious freedom; it's an assault on economic good sense that undermines our health care system.

Cars.com ad shows how car dealers market to blacks

2012-02-06T22:33:00.006-06:00

    I found the Cars.com ad that ran during the Superbowl a bit disturbing. I'm not sure how many picked up on it. Steve Sailer did.
    Good salesmen know every trick. One of those tricks is to be aware that people don't like to admit that they can't afford the item being purchased. Zig Ziglar, who I love to listen to on tape, describes this in his tape series and book, Secrets of Closing the Sale, when he describes his experience of buying a Cadillac from master car salesman Chuck Bellows.
    This is especially true of black buyers. Studies have shown that blacks pay more for cars. Other studies have shown that at any given income level blacks are more likely to pay for first class plane tickets. Blacks seem to be far more prone to attacks on their ego than do white buyers.
    Make no mistake, the ego attack works on everyone, as illustrated by Ziglar's response to Bellows' question, "Is it too much?" But marketers use the attack with especial effectiveness on black customers. There's no racist design behind this. Salesmen just size up each customer and then squeeze out every dollar they can. They are doing nothing wrong. But as a society we ought to educate everyone on how to be better consumers.
    In the Superbowl cars.com ad, a black customer is in a car dealership while a "confidence puppet" is screaming "Oh baby, I want that car!" The black customer explains to the car salesman that he's researched the GAS MILEAGE, of all things, on cars.com, and therefore is ready to make a choice, and so "I'll take that one." There's no reference whatsoever to him having bargained over price, which in the final analysis is likely more important than the gas mileage.
    I'm sure I've been to the cars.com website before, but in the future I'm going to try not to use it. They have made it clear that they don't want to provide the type of information that consumers really need, which is the lowest price we have to pay to get the car, not the gas mileage.
    Based on their commercial, I can only conclude that the cars.com people are out to hoodwink us, not to help us.

(The link I've provided to the Ziglar book should take you directly to the Ziglar description of the car buying experience I described. I urge the reading of as many pages before and after as Google will permit. It's a great story!)

If the Super Bowl coin flip is "heads," Papa Johns is handing out free pizzas

2012-02-04T23:24:00.003-06:00

    Papa Johns pizza has a lot riding on Sunday's Super Bowl coin toss. If the toss comes up "heads" they're giving every "Papa Rewards" member a free pizza and Pepsi MAX. You can learn more and enroll in Papa Rewards here.
    My guess is even if the coin toss comes up "tails" they'll offer some type of consolation prize.
    I signed up tonight. You have until 6 p.m. Eastern Time (that's 5 p.m. here in Oxpatch) on game day to sign up.
    I'm signed up. Forget the Patriots or the Giants. Go Heads!

Mississippi ranks Number One in conservatism

2012-02-04T09:07:00.002-06:00

    A new Gallup survey ranks Mississippi as our nation's most conservative state, with 53.4 percent of respondents identifying themselves as conservative. Almost making the grade, in order, were Utah, Wyoming, Alabama and Louisiana.
    Wearing liberal dunce hats were the most liberal states, based on personal identification. Actually, most liberal of all wasn't a state but the District of Columbia, which makes sense as they produce nothing and merely feed off the rest of us. 39.8 percent of D.C. residents identify themselves as liberal. The federal district is followed by Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington state, and New York.
    Also of interest is that Mississippi had the fewest people identifying themselves as "liberal," with 10.9 percent claiming that benighted title (compared to 39.8 percent of D.C. residents). 31.2 percent of Mississippians called themselves "moderate." Of course, we all know that most "moderates" are merely liberals in sheep's clothing, but it doesn't affect Mississippi's No. 1 ranking.

Oxford Film Festival is Feb. 9-12, so be there!

2012-02-03T22:05:00.003-06:00

    If you’re looking for something to do, the Oxford Film Festival is next weekend, Thursday through Sunday, Feb. 9-12.
    It’s one of those events that you ought to come out and support just because it’s in Oxford. With that said, I viewed a few of the films last year and really enjoyed them. My only complaint was that I thought the schedule wasn’t put together as well as it could have been. Essentially anyone wanting to see the Mississippi films was precluded from seeing many of the other films due to some 20-minute overlaps. In particular I wanted to see The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History, but the schedule was set up to prevent moving from one track to another. Merely moving all the films in one of the tracks up by about 20 minutes last year would have allowed people to see more films of interest.
    Last year I really enjoyed the Mississippi Innocence film as well as When Cotton Blossoms, a biographical feature on the founder of the Piney Woods School.
    So what looks interesting this year? Clearly Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians is one to catch. Patriot Guard Riders features a motorcycle club which travels the country attending military funerals. Rhino Resurrected is the story of Rhino Records and a reunion of sorts that was held when that stores founder opened a new store.
    The Mississippi Documentaries are what I’m most interested in, and I’m not alone. To see these get in line early. There is a 30-minute interview with Dean Faulkner Wells, which I predict will pack the house. I get search hits on my blog every week from people doing Google searches for her obituary, a portion of which I published, so there is interest in her story.
    To Live and Die in Avoyelles Parish is a Southern Foodways Alliance film featuring a 30-hog roasting. Others include a feature on the Proud Larry’s music scene; Yocna, a feature on Yocna Bottom Farms; The Beacon, which features the restaurant; The Fifty-Nine Team, which looks at the personalities behind the 1959 Ole Miss National Championship football team, plus lots more.
    There are lots of other films. I’ve just listed a few that look interesting to me. Everyone will have their own favorites.
    For more information or tickets, visit the Oxford Film Festival website!

If this is global warming, count me in!

2012-02-02T16:14:00.004-06:00

    It was a beautiful Feb. 2 in Oxford, Mississippi today. I switched from a long-sleeve shirt to short sleeves and did some outdoor chores.
    It's been a very mild winter in the lower 48 states. The Global Warming crowd seizes on this and similar weather events as "proof" of man-made global warming. Of course, these people were silent a few years ago when it was so cold all summer long that I rarely could take my kids swimming.
    Just to share my opinion, I think it makes perfect sense that carbon dioxide could cause temperatures to rise. I also believe cyclical heat patterns from the sun have a lot to do with the climate here on Earth. And there is evidence that we may be headed for a period of global cooling, not warming.
    But let's accept for now the claim that all the warm weather we've been having is "proof" of global warming. We often hear of the terrible things global warming will bring, but clearly warm weather isn't all bad.
    In fact, one of the terrible things global warming is supposed to be causing is melting in the Arctic. No need to worry about that this winter. It's 50 below zero right now in most of Alaska, so it will stay frozen for quite a while.
    Meanwhile, let's consider this year's mild winter. If it is indeed man-made, what a wonderful thing we've done! Flu and other infectious diseases thrive on cold weather. That's why we haven't had much of a flu season this year. We don't enjoy paying our power bills, but we've hated it a lot less this winter. At our house, savings are likely to be well in excess of $1,000.
    Let's multiply that out. The United States has more than 114 million households. Let's assume a savings of $800 per household. That's a energy savings of almost $92 billion this winter alone. And it doesn't include another $30 billion or so that's been saved by commercial customers.
    Add up the energy savings and the time not lost to sickness -- not to mention death -- and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that our warm winter has saved our nation $400 billion or more this year.
    I'm sure global warming has a downside. But sometimes that's all we hear about. For example, they tell us that the increased carbon dioxide levels are likely to make poison ivy grow more aggressively. Okay, but if true it is also likely to increase corn and soybean yields and make trees grow faster (which will reduce carbon dioxide levels). So the bad is offset by the good.
    The real truth is that as the planet gets warmer or colder some areas will benefit and others will suffer. For now, we seem to be doing pretty well!

Sharing pizza best at Old Venice

2012-02-01T14:32:00.003-06:00

    Lucy and I went out last night to Old Venice Pizza in Oxford. I had a $20 gift certificate that I had won from the eatingoxford.com Food Fest that was held a few months ago, and figured I needed to use it before I lost it!
    I have to confess that I've been disappointed in Old Venice in the past. I like the atmosphere, but I just wasn't satisfied with the food.
    For this trip we agreed that we would just get a large pizza and share it. Ash didn't come (algebra project), so we figured a large would be big enough for us to take him a couple of slices.
    Our plain pepperoni pizza was just great. We ran up the tab a little bit by starting with salads, which were nice. I had a glass of wine. The total bill was $33, and there was plenty of pizza left over to take home. If we had left off the salads and the wine the total would have been under $20.
    I had the same experience with Soulshine Pizza around the corner. I really didn't like their specialty pizzas and found it expensive. They I insisted that the children just share a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza with me. Not only was the plain pepperoni better than the fancy stuff, but one large pizza was a whole lot cheaper.
    I never have figured out the "Old Venice" name. Venice isn't known for pizza at all; their cuisine is sea based. "Old Naples" might be a better name.

Newt's comments weren't tactful, but they were factual -- and needed

2012-01-29T15:41:00.003-06:00

    A year ago South Carolina’s lieutenant governor caused quite a ruckus when he suggested that welfare recipients who fail drug tests or refuse to attend parent-teacher conferences should lose their benefits.
    Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who was raised in a working-class family, quoted his grandmother: "My grandmother was not a highly-educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem. If you give an animal or a person ample food supply, they will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that, and so what you gotta do is you gotta curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."
    It’s important to note that Bauer never said anything about whites on welfare, or Indians on welfare, or blacks on welfare. He was only talking about the problem of welfare dependency and irresponsible behavior in general.
    Even though Bauer’s comments had nothing to do with race, they were immediately denounced by the Greenville, S.C., chapter of the NAACP, which said there was no need for him to apologize. The only acceptable action on his part would be to withdraw from the governor’s race. Why? What does welfare have to do with the NAACP?
    In Flint and Detroit, Mich., the NAACP protested a five-year limit on welfare payments. Other NAACP chapters have denounced efforts to limit welfare payments.
    When Valerie Jarrett spoke at the Martin Luther King memorial service at Ebenezer Baptist Church she politicized the event by criticizing Republicans for not supporting President Obama’s proposal to spend federal tax dollars to hire local policemen, firefighters and teachers. The congregants went wild.
    The fact is, of course, that not so much as one cent of federal money is ever supposed to be spent hiring local police, firefighters or teachers. These people are hired only through state and local taxes, not federal oppression. And yet Ms. Jarrett and the wildly cheering Ebenezer congregants have attempted to turn this purely political difference into a black-white issue.
    When a white politician tries to address this, he is suddenly branded a racist. Newt Gingrich dared to say that the NAACP should tell blacks they need paychecks, not welfare checks. A bunch of blacks acted insulted, but they shouldn’t be. It’s their own chapters that have promoted welfare.
    Newt said there were families and even neighborhoods where children were never exposed to honest work, and that the only role models they had were drug dealers. Racist, racist, racist! Or so the politically correct crowd roared. Anyone who thinks this is racist needs to read about the infamous Cabrini-Green project in Chicago, where a survey found that 29 percent of residents were employed full time and another 11 percent were employed part time. What the survey showed was that most residents were single mothers not working. The only work their kids saw anyone doing was the dealing of drugs. It’s just a fact, and it’s not racist to point it out.
    Most of Cabrini-Green has been torn down, with the last building coming down last year. And that’s a good thing! But there are other projects out there that are just as bad. And it should be noted that there are areas of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia where a culture of sloth, drug use and immorality have also taken hold of very substantial portions of the white community. It’s a problem, and if a black person wants to take note of the fact that it is a problem I offer them only thanks, not name-calling.
    There are dysfunctional pockets of poverty in this country. In urban areas the residents tend to be black. In rural areas outside the South the residents tend to be white. Frequently the behavior of these people perpetuates their poverty. That’s just a fact.
    If, as a society, we can’t even mention the fact that we have a problem we certainly aren’t going to begin to solve it. I will admit conservatives could sometimes use a little more tact in discussing these things, but I’d much rather support a candidate who talks about finding a solution to our nation’s problems than one who talks about how to be tactful about it.

Obama just made Jan Brewer a best-selling author

2012-01-26T13:39:00.004-06:00

    Although I am a great admirer of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, I didn't know she had written a book -- a life story and political memoir. I know now.
    She greeted President Barack Obama to her state on Wednesday, and Obama wasted no time in criticizing some of the things the book said about her efforts to control the plague of unlawful immigration afflicting her state and our nation. She defended herself, of course, and at one point wagged her finger at him. He then then turned away while she was still talking.
    I've found that if I disagree with someone, it's best not to bring up that disagreement while we're trying to be cordial. Obama apparently doesn't agree.
    Gov. Brewer has nothing to be mad about, though. I predict sales of her book will increase dramatically. In fact, they apparently already have. I had never heard of the book, but as of today it is ranked as Amazon's first or second ranked book on politics or social policy and 56th overall. According to one website that apparently tracks such things, yesterday Gov. Brewer's book came in as Amazon's 311,472th best seller.
    Thanks Mr. President!

Sen. Rand Paul should bring defamation action against lying airport goons

2012-01-26T12:19:00.005-06:00

    Sen. Rand Paul recently refused a TSA patdown at the Nashville airport after he set off a metal detector. Apparently these detectors are set to give false positives to force patdowns of people who don't really set off the machine. He wanted to just walk through again.
    An incident report describes Paul as acting in an "irate" manner. Yet a video of the entire incident shows Paul standing calmly inside a glass cubical. In other words, either the TSA or law enforcement officers intentionally lied about Paul's behavior for the purpose of defaming him.
    I do not believe their false and defamatory statements are privileged. There is no privilege for a law enforcement officer to file a false police report. Paul needs to file a defamation action against these goons.
    I respect that TSA officers have been given a job to do. But when they and police lie about innocent citizens they cross the line. They must be held to account.

Nancy Reagan said husband passed torch of conservatism to Newt

2012-01-26T08:38:00.006-06:00

    We've had to put up with a lot of bull malarkey recently about how Newt Gingrich "insulted" Ronald Reagan.
    And make no mistake: There were times when Newt Gingrich was highly critical of Reagan and the Reagan administration. The same is true for Ron Paul. Newt's criticism was based on the fact that he thought Reagan was being too liberal. I admire both Gingrich and Paul for holding Reagan's feet to the fire.
    Now think about it. We're constantly being warned that we shouldn't vote for Gingrich because he's a closet liberal. Now we're being told that we shouldn't vote for Gingrich because he thought Reagan was too liberal.
    In the world of politics, we sometimes criticize those with whom we agree. Over the years, Gingrich was one of Reagan's biggest supporters, and was one of the biggest supporters of the conservative cause. He was a maverick before John McCain knew what that word meant. When the rest of the Republican party was mucking about trying not to make waves he was screaming bloody murder. And more than anyone, he deserves the credit for engineering the Republican takeover of 1994, the effects of which are still being felt to this very day.
    Here's a video made long after Gingrich had "insulted" and criticized Reagan, in which Nancy Reagan claims that Barry Goldwater passed on the conservative mantle to Ronald Reagan, who in turn passed it on to Newt Gingrich.
    I grew up idolizing Ronald Reagan, but that doesn't mean I wasn't sometimes irritated with him. Gingrich's criticism of his rare liberal meanderings makes Gingrich more qualified to be president, not less.
    Oh, and here's the Youtube video of Nancy Reagan claiming that Ronald Reagan passed on the conservative mantle to Newt.

Now is time to plan for summer academic camp

2012-01-25T22:10:00.003-06:00

    If you are thinking about signing your kids up for a summer enrichment camp, now is the time.
    Two or three weeks at a summer enrichment camps generally costs a fraction of the price of a traditional summer camp. They offer a great time, and some education to boot!
    Lucy will be attending Concordia Language Villages for the fourth summer this year. She's attending Lac du Bois, which is the French village at Bemidji, Minn. They also offer programs at Hackensack, Minn., but my understanding is that the facilities at Bemidji are better.
    Concordia offers language immersion camps for all ages, from one-week camps for 7-year-olds to month-long camps offering high school and even college foreign language credit. In addition to common languages like French, Spanish and German, Concordia offers such languages as Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish.
    The only bad thing I can say about Concordia is that it shouldn't have to exist at all. French, German, Chinese and Japanese ought to be available at every elementary, jr. high and high school in the country. But since that is not going to happen, Concordia is the next best thing.
    You owe it to yourself to visit the Concordia Language Village website. Each village is designed with architecture designed to reflect that of the country whose language is being taught. There are some videos and photos from last year posted as well. Lucy has had a blast every year and is looking forward to another year of fun.
    A couple of years ago Lucy also attended Jr. Vet Camp at Auburn and really enjoyed it. Last year we waited too late to sign up and got shut out. This year the dates conflict with her language camp, so again she can't go. But she highly recommends it. Auburn has a beautiful campus, and the grounds around the residence halls are actually far prettier than at Ole Miss.
    Ash has not been interested in Concordia because he's been afraid he might learn something. But Ole Miss is offering a Summer Academy this year that offers actual high school credit to rising eighth-, ninth- and tenth-graders that is attracting his interest. Among the courses offered for his age cohort are Mississippi Writers, Environmental Chemistry, and Astronomy.
    Admission to the Ole Miss program is limited to students with a "B" or higher average in their four core subjects for the past three years and the Fall 2011 semester. They must have permission from their school principal and two teacher recommendations. The cost of the three-week program is $695 for day students and $1,460 for boarders. Ash told me he wanted to sleep in his own bed, to which I said, "Hooray!"
    There are lots of other academic programs out there, but you have to look a bit harder for ones that serve in the middle school bracket. But they are out there and worth looking for. If you are interested, sign up SOON! These programs tend to fill up quickly.
    Oh, and if anyone knows of a good creative writing program for rising seventh-graders, please let me know. I think Lucy is a star just waiting to shine.

My iPhone is dying and I want a decent-size phone, not a Chiclet

2012-01-22T18:57:00.008-06:00

    I need a new smart phone.
    Now wanting and needing are two different things. I've wanted a new cell phone for well over a year now. My iPhone 3GS has served me fairly well for the past three years or so, but more than a year ago the screen messed up a bit. I lost about an eighth of an inch on each side. Kind of annoying when the letters get cut out of text, but it's still worked just fine.
    The volume toggle fell off a few months ago. But I've still be able to adjust the volume, so just another hassle to live with.
    But now the "silence" toggle has broken. From time to time, the phone will ring even though in "silent" mode. And it constantly vibrates as if I'm switching it back and forth between silent and regular mode.
    I've been able to silence the ringer manually by going in to setting and cutting the volume down. But this is time consuming and means I don't hear calls if I don't stop to turn the volume back up. Bottom line is if your phone won't go to "silent," you can't go to church, funerals, picture shows, restaurants, or you name it.
    I've even decided what kind of phone I want: THE BIGGEST PHONE MADE! That may be the Galaxy Note, soon to be released for AT&T. It has a paltry 5.3-inch screen; bigger than the iPhone by far, but still way too small.
    Attention Cell Phone Makers! We aren't just using our phones to talk these days. We need to use them to navigate, to surf the web, and to take lots of notes. In other words, we need a really big screen.
    The Galaxy Note has been a big success in Europe, but prior to its release a lot of people were going around complaining that it was "too big," particularly that it was too big to fit in a pocket. What a crock! I can fit my Kindle Fire with its 7-inch screen in most of my pants pockets, so a teeny-tiny Galaxy Note will fit with no problem. I just wish it were bigger.
    When it comes to design, the rule is that "form follows function." What that means is that the form a thing takes should be determined by what its function is. Back when we were all merely talking on our cell phones it made sense to make them as small as possible. No longer. We use our phone for big things and thus need big phones.
    Most readers of this blog will perhaps fondly remember their first cell phone. Remember the large bag phone, the size of a very large lunch box. Remember how easy it was to carry it to a meeting or whatever when you needed to? Some people even had them built into briefcases, Maxwell Smart style. I loved my bag phone; it had great reception and the size simply was not a problem.
    Then came the "brick" phone. It was a huge cell phone that was designed to be more portable than a bag phone. No way was that thing going in a pocket, though. And the signal had a weaker wattage than the bag phone.
    If you were to see someone with a "brick" phone today, they would look goofy. But they didn't look goofy back then. We envied those lucky people.
    So the phone manufacturers need not worry about making their smart phones too big. Build them we enough power and we will come.
    Meanwhile, I'm eagerly awaiting the official U.S. launch of the Galaxy Note. Unless, of course, something larger and better comes along first.

Book describes horror of Dust Bowl and Hoover's unwitting role

2012-01-20T11:13:00.008-06:00

    In my recent post on Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's
Secret History of the Second World War
and Its Aftermath I mentioned that Hoover had a role in causing the Great Depression by advocating a $1 per bushel guarantee on the price of wheat in 1917 when he was head of the U.S. Food Administration.
    Woodrow Wilson had appointed Hoover to that position as the United States was entering World War I. Hoover was known at that time as one of the world's leading humanitarians. Hoover's proposal did exactly what it was designed to do in 1917 and the years afterwards: It dramatically increased crop production so that for the next several years the United States was able to feed both itself and Europe. Mass starvation was averted.
    In 1917 America was still an agricultural nation, and these high prices set in place one of the greatest financial booms of all times. The "roar" in the Roaring 20s came from the unprecedented farm profits shouting their way through America's economy.
    Prices stayed high for several years, but eventually the bottom fell out. The problems with American banks that surfaced in the 1930s had their beginnings in the farm crash of the mid-1920s. As farm prices fell farmers tried to raise more and more, making both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s much worse.
    My source for this information, and much more, was The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan.
     I read this almost five years ago, and it is one of the better books I've read. It describes the economic and ecological disaster that was the Dust Bowl. I've always heard of the Dust Bowl, but this book explains what it was really like and to some extent why it happened.
    I had never heard of "dust pneumonia," for example, but it was apparently not uncommon at the time for a child to be sitting a classroom one day where he would cough up some blood. A few days later he would be dead.
    If this book made enough of an impression on me that I'm still thinking about it almost five years later, obviously it is a good book. If you love learning about our nation's history, or just love a great story, this book is for you.
    I'm not sure I want to share all of this information with my Dad. He grew up blaming Herbert Hoover for all of the nation's ills. If he could lay credit or partial credit for the Dust Bowl on Hoover I don't think I could ever get him to "zip it," as Mort Downey used to say.
    On a self-serving note, if you should buy the book by using my link, I think I will earn a small commission. It won't cost you any more. So help the Colonel!

Ole Miss accounting school ranked 10th in nation

2012-01-20T09:27:00.002-06:00

    The Mississippi Business Journal reports that the most recent Public Account Report ranks the University of Mississippi School of Accounting as the 10th best in the nation.
    The master's and doctoral programs rank 11th and 12th respectively in those rankings.
    The Ole Miss Patterson School of Accounting is the only SEC school in the top 10. Other SEC schools ranked in the top 30 are the universities of Georgia (12), Florida (17), Alabama (20) and Tennessee (29).
    The survey also ranked schools for the first time by discarding all votes from those who ranked their own school as best in the nation. In that ranking, Ole Miss comes in either third or fourth place in each category.
    Ole Miss sure does mighty well for a bunch of slow-talking Southern boys! (And girls, of course),

Newt on Obama's Main Street town hall meeting

2012-01-20T09:17:00.004-06:00

Newt can be a funny guy, as when he talks about Obama holding an invitation-only town hall meeting on Main Street -- in Disney World. You may have to put up with an anti-Newt ad to see the video; you can skip the ad after five seconds.

Bettors drop Romney's S.C. victory odds from 93% to 38% in two days

2012-01-19T23:11:00.006-06:00

    Back in 2004 I had a lot of fun betting on political outcomes on Intrade.com, which allows the trading of shares in the happening of certain events. I didn't bet that much money, but won a little and had a pile of fun.
    At the end of the election season I withdrew my money. The government cracked down on Internet betting and so I can no longer place an Intrade bet with a credit card. I don't care enough about it to send them a check or wire transfer, so all I can do is watch.
    But Intrade is interesting to watch, because it tends to be ahead of the curve in predicting political outcomes. As well it should be, since people are having to put their money where their mouth is, by buying shares in outcomes.
    That doesn't mean Intrade shares can't be very volatile. Two days ago Mitt Romney was the overwhelming favorite to win the South Carolina primary. A "share" of Mitt Romney cost $9.30 and would return $10 on his victory. In other words the market was giving him a 93 percent chance of victory.
    Tonight a "share" of Mitt Roney is going for $3.78; the market is giving him only a 38 percent chance of winning. Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, is now given a 64 percent chance of South Carolina victory. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul both come in a two-tenths of one percent, so for you longshot players, there it is. (Note that Newt's total and Mitt's total exceed 100 percent. That's because each is traded individually. There is actually an opportunity for arbitrage on the Intrade system, although it requires far more money and faith than I have to spare.)
    So as of now, Newt Gingrich is the favorite to win in South Carolina. If anyone should tell you otherwise, tell them to put their money where they mouth is.
    But check the Intrade.com board before actually booking the bet!

Democrats propose 100 percent tax on 'unreasonable' profits

2012-01-19T20:16:00.004-06:00

    If you wonder why I fear Democrats, a recently filed bill that would tax "unreasonable" oil company profits ought to be reason enough.
You can read the story, Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits for yourself.
    This bill would tax oil profits over 105 percent of a "reasonable" level at 100 percent (in other words, more than five percent higher than the government target). That's right, the government will establish a "reasonable" amount of profit and anyone daring to make more will pay the entire amount to the government thourgh a 100 percent tax. According to The Hill, the proposed law would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms.
    The bill doesn't establish what a "reasonable" profit is, or how a "reasonable" profit is to be calculated. Is the driller of a 2-barrels-a-day stripper well to be taxed the same amount on his oil as the driller of a thousand-barrels-a-day gusher? Is a "reasonable profit" to be the same for someone who already has a well in production at the time of a price spike as it is for someone who rushes out and drills a spec well? If so, won't that be a disincentive for drillers to work to solve oil shortages?
    I hate high oil prices as much as the next guy, but if you look at the past several years you'll see that Obama's unprovoked attack on Libya has had as much to do with the increase in oil prices as any other factor. If a price must now be paid for Obama's folly, it should be done by levying a tax on his supporters, not by taxing the patriots who are supplying our country with oil. If the government wants lower oil prices, approve Arctic Wasteland drilling, approve offshore shallow-well drilling (not dangerous ultra-deep wells), approve the Keystone pipeline, approve oil share extraction.
    Instead the Democrats can only think tax, tax, tax, and they've finally come up with a tax rate they can live with: One Hundred Percent.
    It's heresy to say it these days, but it must be noted. Most oil companies are publicly traded, and every citizen can buy in and benefit from rising oil prices. Of course, they run the risk of falling oil prices, too, not to mention the outside possibility of an ecological disaster that will destroy their investment. If the government is going to confiscate "unreasonable" gains, shouldn't it be required to repay anyone who suffers an "unreasonable" loss?
    It's also grist for another column to note that programs such as this actually tend to produce the opposite of the desired effect. In other words, price caps turn into price floors and price floors turn into price caps. Look what happened to agricultural prices when the government quit supporting prices. If the government really wants to lower oil prices, then guarantee oil producers a minimum price of $70 per barrel for the next 10 years. That will get folks drilling and effectively cap oil prices at $70.
    If you want to know how this will turn out if this bill ever becomes law, the book has already been written. It's called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. If you haven't read it or read it lately, read it. Because we're living it today.

Herbert Hoover pens new book on secret history of WWII. Yes, Hoover!

2012-01-19T08:05:00.004-06:00

    I have a new book on my book list.
    The book is Freedom Betrayed by Herbert Hoover. That's right, Herbert Hoover. It's subtitle says it all: "Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath."
    Hoover apparently began writing the book prior to World War II and continued writing through the 1950s. The book was almost ready for publication at the time of Hoover's death in 1964. Instead of publishing the book his heirs decided to put the book on ice for almost 50 years.
    I'm not sure what motivated the heirs, but perhaps it is because the book doesn't toe the official line of America as a White Knight out to do good in the world. Hoover apparently believed we could have easily stayed out of WWII, and simply allowed Hitler and Stalin to tear each other to shreds. He believed we intentionally goaded Japan into attacking, which we did. Hoover felt even more strongly about America's decision to become an imperial power after WWII, a decision which has depleted our treasury and ended or destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of our nation's young men.
    Old-timers blame Hoover for the Great Depression, and they are right, but not for the reasons they think.
    Hoover was extremely active as a humanitarian all of his life. Prior to the U.S. entry into World War I he was a leader in European relief efforts. When the United States entered the war Woodrow Wilson appointed him head of the U.S. Food Administration. It was in that post that Hoover championed a price guarantee of $1 per bushel for wheat, which set into action an unprecidented agricultural boom that would only bust in the mid-1920s. It took several more years for the crisis to hit the financial sector, but when it did the Great Depression had begun.
    Also unknown by many is that Hoover attempted to increase government spending to soften the economic downturn. His efforts were thwarted by Democrats, who wanted economic conditions to remain as bad as possible in order to help them win the White House.
    In any event, Hoover's book is a must-read for anyone wanting to know the truth about what really happened before, during and after World War II. Those who only want the official self-serving version of history can likely give this book a pass.

Steve Sailer: Cruise liner captains don't go down with their ships

2012-01-18T23:30:00.003-06:00

Steve Sailer's iSteve Blog: Cruise liner captains don't go down with their ships...

    Steve Sailer once again comes up with a great story. This one is about a 1991 cruise ship disaster where the captain abandoned ship, leaving the passengers aboard. Sound familiar?
    The hero of the ship? A magician on board as an entertainer!
    Click the link above the read all about it.

Marianne Gingrich: Newt lucky to be rid of this hag

2012-01-18T23:05:00.004-06:00

    Marianne Gingrich has given another interview in which she tells the world what a cad her former husband Newt is.
    But it's a funny thing about Marianne. My guess is she won't spend much time talking about how she refused to move to Washington, even though Newt was one of the city's power players. Think of the uproar that was caused when it was revealed that Michelle Obama thought about not moving to Washington for six months so the kids could finish the year in Chicago. Newt needed her and she let him down every single day she sat on her duff in Georgia.
    Then there's the fact that Marianne abandoned Newt for six years. That's right, he came home and everything was gone, including her. After six years they reconciled but in the end it just didn't work out. Apparently during the long separation Newt had begun seeing his current wife, and even though Newt and Marianne attempted a reconciliation, it didn't work.
    And oh, my! It seems that it's just fine for Marianne to walk out on Newt, but let Newt be the one to decide he can't take it any more and suddenly he's the goat. And he did have the decency to talk to her. She just went missing.
    Marianne Gingrich is a horrid, wretched woman who is merely bitter because she didn't get the chance to do the dumping as she had done once before. Newt beat her to it. And dear friends, that for her is a bitter pill to swallow. Bitter, bitter, bitter.
    He's lucky to be rid of the hag.

We'll see how making the Coq au Vin ahead of time works

2012-01-12T22:26:00.002-06:00

    I'm ready to stick a roasting pan of Coq au Vin in the oven. Of course, it's after 10 p.m., which makes things a little late.
    I was at Sam's Club the other day and bought a big package of chicken legs, which is what I use for Coq au Vin. This dish has to be prepared a bit ahead as it needs from two to five hours to cook. As a practical matter it means I have to prepare it in the morning, when I'm not at my best. On Monday and Tuesday I had a terrible cold, and on Wednesday I just never got around to doing it.
    I wasn't about to let roughly 24 chicken legs go bad. So tonight I fixed the kids the Mahatma Saffron Rice and cream of mushroom soup casserole. I then immediately started on the Coq au Vin, which I stuck in the fridge to await our next evening meal.
    I'll cut to the chase. Tomorrow's supper is ready. All I have to do is stick it in the over. The only question in my mind is whether it will be as good after sitting for 15 hours in the fridge. It might be better!
    I'll post a comment to let anyone interested know how it turns out.

Pardon final step in rehabilitation, but many want only punishment

2012-01-12T17:11:00.006-06:00

    I admit to some surprise over the massive round of pardons issued by outgoing Mississippi's Gov. Haley Barbour. Yet the outrage also raises another question: Do we want our penal system to rehabilitate prisoners or merely punish them?
    Historically we wanted our penal system to do both. Yet the comments I've read in social networking and news sites suggest that most people want punishment, and after that more punishment. And then more. They aren't interested in rehabilitation.
    We all know that in many -- maybe even most -- cases rehabilitation isn't possible. A lot of the people who go to prison are just bad eggs. They can't be rehabilitated. Yet most of the people pardoned by Gov. Barbour seem like prime candidates for rehabilitation. In fact about 90 percent of those receiving pardons were already out of jail. Some had been out for 20 years or more. They are, by definition, rehabilitated. All the pardon did was allow them to hunt, vote and perhaps get a professional license.
    One of the things that is most troubling to all of us is to see a murderer go free. Yet the fact is that there is a fine line between murder and manslaughter, and many murders are the only crime a person ever commits. They become enraged and act out. Someone who is in prison for a first offense of murder, said murder not being committed for the primary purpose of theft, and who behaves as a model prisoner, is one of the least likely people in the jail to commit another crime.
    The Florida Bureau of Prisons produced a report on prisoner recidivism. I didn't study it at length, but it appears to have some interesting statistics. I've reproduced below a chart from the report showing factors affecting, both positively and negatively, male (but not female) recidivism rates. Note that the female chart is different. For example, black males have a higher-than-average recidivism rate but black females have a lower-than-average rate. More time in prison increases the recidivism rate for males while lowering it for females. (Yes, I know I've misspelled "ameliorating" in the chart.
    Our of Barbour's more than 200 pardons, my guess is that after the dust settles there will only be a dozen or so that really rankle. It just doesn't bother me for someone who has been out of jail for many years to get a pardon.
    This doesn't mean I'm not scratching my head over some of these pardons. I am. In some cases I disapprove.
    But this ought to give us a chance to ask ourselves some questions about our penal system and what we want it to do. Do we want it to rehabilitate prisoners or merely punish them. We ought to want both. But if we refuse to allow fully rehabilitated prisoners to return to society then we've decided that all we really want our penal system to do is punish and not rehabilitate.
    We need to do both.

(Click to enlarge chart)

Facebook apparently just wants to make us all really mad

2012-01-11T11:58:00.003-06:00

    I guess when an Internet company gets popular they have to start making people really mad. So it is with Facebook.
    For example, Facebook has something called "Timeline" view. I'm not sure what it is, but it is a terrible thing, and if you ever change to it you can't change back. Do a Google search and read (hear) the screams of anguish.
    Now Facebook has blocked the sharing of Blogger posts. No kidding. When I recently tried to share a post I was told my blog had a link that was "too spammy." Well, it turns out virtually everyone who uses Blogger is considered "too spammy."
    I've figured out a temporary workaround to the Facebook block. Apparently it only blocks Blogger status updates and shares. You can still post a blog post as a comment to an existing status update. So I guess that's what I'll do for now; I'll create a status update and then comment with a link to my post.
    Keep working at it Facebook. If you try hard enough you will kill the goose that laid the golden egg for you.
    Of course, you could treat us like valued customers! I suppose that's too much to ask.

Taxing other people for public good is not Christianity

2012-01-11T07:47:00.005-06:00

    It's been increasingly common in recent years for liberals to suggest that people who don't support lavish government spending aren't good Christians, or even can't be Christians.
    I actually attended a funeral in Oxford back in the 1990s where the pastor of one of Oxford's largest churches stated that he didn't see how anyone could consider themselves to be a Christian and not vote Democratic in the upcoming election. The comment came in reference to the fact that the deceased was a "Yellow-dog Democrat," but it is evidence of just how nutty some members of the Religious Left are.
    If you read the Bible, it's clear that Christ instructs all of us to help the poor, the sick, and to help each other. And Christ did just that in his personal life.
    What I have not been able to find in the Bible is Christ instructing people that it is good to force other people to help the poor, the sick or to help each other. Christ never agitated for forced charity.
    We know that Christ helped the sick and dying. But there were countless millions of sick and dying during Christ's time and he didn't help them all, even though he doubtless could have. Does that make him a bad Christian? (See, by the way, On Borrowed Time to understand the implications of doing away with death).
    We know that Christ could take a few loaves and fish and feed a multitude, which he did not because the people were in need but because he wanted them to stay and listen to his sermon. Yet the fact is that life at the time of Christ was hard and millions were starving. Christ did not feed them, even though he could have.
    Today's liberals would say this makes Christ a "bad Christian." I disagree.
    Let's consider what would have happened if Christ had simply handed out free food to everyone from the time He turned 13 until His crucifixion at 33. This could have been done by having Mana fall in the mornings, just as it did for the children of Israel during their 40 years in the Sinai.
    Yet what would have happened if Christ had done this? We know that in a subsistence society such as existed at that time population explodes when the food supply increases. Assuming a world population of 200 million on Christ's 13th birthday, it's safe to say that population would have increased to 600 million by the time of his death and the cessation of his miracles -- at which point 300 million to 500 million would have starved to death.
    Today's liberals would have berated Christ for being a bad Christian for not just feeding everyone willy-nilly. But as a matter of public policy Christ was right and the liberals are wrong. He was right not to have caused the starvation of hundreds of millions of people, even if it meant making hard choices.
    None of this is to say that welfare programs are good are bad. I think some are good and some are bad. Sometimes the programs are good but the rules are bad. But I support or oppose them on public policy grounds, not because I think being for or against them makes me a good or bad Christian. Likewise, I don't consider others to be good or bad Christians based on their support or opposition to these programs.
    It's not my job to rate the piety of others. But it doesn't make one a good Christian to support the taxation of others to carry out one's Christian duties.
    The fact is that two Christians can have differing opinions about what policies are in the best long-term interests of society. As long as they are sincere, their viewpoints are valid reflections of their Christian faith. They can have opposite views and still be good Christians.
    In the arena of politics and government, decisions ought to be made based on good long-term public policy, not by making baseless charges that one's opponents aren't good "Christians." There is a place for religion in politics, but that place is in one's own heart, not by publicly challenging and denouncing the faith of others.

They can't ban Tebow's Bible verses

2012-01-08T23:15:00.003-06:00

Miracle man Tim Tebow pulled out another overtime victory, this time against the the New England Patriots. Tebow's 80-yard touchdown pass on the first overtime play was the fastest overtime win in history.
Tebow passed for a total of 316 yards. 316? 3:16. Looks like the Bible verses are back.

Dictator Obama has arrived; will we allow him to stay?

2012-01-05T20:05:00.003-06:00

The dictatorship has arrived. The only question that remains is whether true Americans will stand up and throw Barack Obama out of office. It will not be easy -- he and his socialist supporters are willing to stop at nothing in their quest to have a one-time feast on America's seed corn.

Let me sidetrack my blog post here. I've called Obama a socialist. Whenever someone does this they are often ridiculed or called paranoid. Obama seems to deny being a socialist, and in his defense he does behave like a crony capitalist at times.

But the fact is that Obama and the Democrats constantly want to make America more like Socialist Europe, even though Europe's left-wing social experiments have thrown it into chaos. But whether socialism is good or bad is beside the point. My wife and I both have friends in Europe who are socialists. Everyone or virtually everyone in the Labor party in Britain is a socialist. Tony Blair is a socialist. Europe is full of socialists and they call themselves socialists. Obama's political views are certainly as liberal as those of Tony Blair's and those of other Europeans and therefore he is, by definition, a socialist.

    After Congress refused to pass the Obama-supported DREAM Act, which would have simply granted amnesty and citizenship to young illegal aliens who claimed they were attending college (merely enrolling anywhere would get them a 10-year reprieve), the Obama administration simply ordered the Immigration and Naturalization Service not to enforce the law. Essentially the administration passed the DREAM Act by executive order. (Another sidetrack: I'm all for allowing brilliant people to stay in American no matter how they got here; but allowing any moron who can shamble into a community college and register free citizenship is an affront).
    Now Obama has made four "recess" appointments to positions which require the advice and consent of the Senate during a time when the Senate was not in recess -- one to the new Consumer Protection agency and three to the decidedly anti-Southern National Labor Relations Board. Admittedly the Senate was only in pro forma session, but this has been used by Democrats to block Republican recess appointments and as a senator Obama was on record as supporting the tactic. As president he's changed tunes.
    As a practical matter I believe either the Constitution or Senate rules should be changed to require an up or down vote on each and every nomination presented by the president. Neither party should be allowed to "bottle-up" an appointment indefinitely. But the Democrats started this business of refusing to act on nominations and the Republicans only followed suit. Whoever's to blame, it's not good for the country.
     The problem is deciding which party gets the benefit of the new rule. Democrats deprived George Bush of his fair share of judicial nominations, for example. For things to be even Republicans have to prevent Democrats from being appointed. Whatever party is in power when the new rule is adopted will get a windfall of new appointments. But surely some compromise can be made where some bipartisan appointments can be made.
    But just because I believe the system should be changed doesn't I support violating the law. Obama has ignored the rule of law by purporting to make recess appointments while the Senate is not in formal recess. His "We Can't Wait" campaign is a threat not only to the Constitution, but to every American.
    We Can Wait. In fact, We Must Wait. We can support the Constitution. And we can throw this dreadful thug out of office.
    Senate Republicans have a duty to the Constitution not to allow a another Obama appointee to any position to be confirmed and to remain truly in session until this man is cast out of the presidency. We Can Save America.

I found details of long-ago bike trip up the Mosel and Rhine

2012-01-02T22:33:00.006-06:00

(Click to enlarge)

    When I was 14 I took a bicycle trip of Europe with a group out of Florida. It was a three-week trip loosely affiliated with a Baptist church out of Sarasota, Fla., under the direction of the Rev. Tom Watson and his two sons. I suppose I saw their advertisement on the bulletin board at the Holly Springs First Baptist Church Activities Center. I stumbled across my tour materials recently.
    It was a fun trip. There was a devotion time every night, and personally there was a little too much religious emphasis for me. But if you sign up to go it's something you put up with. Patricia Kennedy from Holly Springs also went and had a good time. Her sister, Sylvia, who was 19 or 20, went and was unaware of just how much of a church trip it was. She stayed for a week and then had enough of nightly devotions and went home.
    Our trip started in Luxembourg, and fresh off the plane we visited the American World War II cemetery. We then took a bus to our campsite, in Remich, on the Mosel River, which divides Luxembourg from Germany. From there we rode up the Mosel and then the Rhine, and made good time, as we made it to Cologne in four days. By comparison, some of the Mosel bike tours suggest Trier to Koblenz in six days; on that schedule it would have taken us at least eight days to reach Cologne.
    It looking at our itinerary, shown above, it looks like the trip organizers tended to bunk us down in out-of-the-way towns. I'm sure it was cheaper! We stayed exclusively in campsites, in four-person tents. Some of the campsites were actually pretty nice.
    The first part of the trip was easy biking. We rode up the Mosel and then the Rhine, so it was almost all flat land. It was only after Brussels, when we visited the site of the Battle of the Bulge, that things got tough. I think they call it the "bulge" because there is a "bulge" that you have to go over. No fun! On our first day we peddled 22 miles. On our last day we went more than 60. So we did increase in stamina as we traveled.
    Sites I remember: Trier, Burg Eltz Castle, Cologne, Holland countryside, Amsterdam, Brussels, Waterloo, Bulge, lots of neat, little villages.
    I'm not sure what happened to the Spinning Spokes program. It survived for a number of years. They were doing three tours a year, owned bicycles and had a couple of vans that would take the tents and kitchen gear. I guess nothing lasts forever.
    I'd love to take another bike trip up the Mosel and along the Rhine. There are companies that will sell you a bike trip for top dollar, but for the price they're charging I'd want a limo. I'd like to just take off and stay at youth hostels -- after all, they do have family rooms. Jinny informs me they aren't for our family!
    It was fun once. My guess is that it would be fun to do part of it again.

Hilton HHonors announces First Quarter 2012 promotion

2011-12-28T08:01:00.004-06:00

    Hilton has announced its First Quarter 2012 promotion, and while there is some moaning and groaning over at the flyertalk.com board, I think it's decent enough for several reasons.
    The promotion, simply called More Points, offers a bonus of 1,000 bonus HHonors points per night from Jan. 1 2012, to March 31, 2012. As an added bonus guests who stay at least two weekend nights, counting Thursday night as a weekend night, will get an additional 5,000 bonus points. So if I'm reading the offer correctly, a stay of Thursday and Friday night would garner 7,000 bonus points.
    Here's why I think the Hilton offer is generous enough. Promotions have been decreasing across the board at all hotel chains. Most hotels offer fewer promotions at the start of the year as everyone is concentrating on booking enough stays to guarantee their loyalty status for the next year. And many chains offer absolutely nothing until Feb. 1.
    Using Jinny as an example, she will need 28 Hilton stays to keep her Diamond status for 2013. There is a natural desire to get ahead of the curve and get a few more than 14 stays under her belt by July 1. That way she will almost be assured of making Diamond for the next year. Aware of this, the chains then roll out some better promotions after mid-year, to make sure that people who have already earned their tier status don't stray to greener pastures.
    The fact is that with this promotion a traveler with 12 nights that include two weekends is almost certain to earn enough regular and bonus points to get a free hotel room anywhere in the world. In places like London these rooms cost as much as $500 per night. So unless or until the program gets gutted, it's a pretty good deal.
    We can always hope for more, but for a First Quarter promotion I think it's okay. Be sure to check the exclusion list as a number of hotels aren't participating.

Twelve-day celebration better for Christmas

2011-12-25T08:14:00.003-06:00

    Today is the first day of Christmas!
    One of the many ideas my spousal unit has vetoed over the years has been my desire to celebrate Christmas and Santa Claus over 12 days instead of having a obscene mass of toys and presents dumped on the children on Christmas Day.
    My dream was to have a simple Christmas Day, with merely a stocking filled with a few small trinkets and perhaps one small gift. Then each day a new gift would arrive, with the biggest gift arriving on Christmas' final day, January 5, or perhaps three final gifts on January 6, Epiphany, which marks the arrival of the wise men bearing three gifts for baby Jesus.
    In these days when we hear of people using pepper spray and fists to beat other people to popular tennis shoes, a simple Christmas Day is mighty appealing. I think it's fair to say that the true meaning of Christmas shouldn't be about pepper spraying people to keep them from buying the items you wish to purchase. (As an aside, the stores which provide a limited number of deeply discounted sale items should be required to pay damages to people who are injured as a result. The injuries are foreseeable, therefore the merchants should be liable.)
    Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Christ. Celebrating it over 12 days with a more simple Christmas Day would promote that.
    Oh, and we could buy most of our gifts on deep discount at the after-Christmas sales. Half-price wrapping paper, too!
    Maybe next year.

On taxing wealth, Huey Long had it half right

2011-12-19T22:50:00.003-06:00

  If Huey Long were on the political scene today, chances are I would be dead set against him. He was a despot and a demagogue. And yet, if you look back at some of his proposals, they aren’t so radical at all. In fact, water them down a little and they make darn good sense!
  Some of Long’s proposals are already law. The credit for Social Security and other New Deal programs belongs to Huey Long, not Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt only enacted them in order to take the wind out of Long’s sails, as Long was a serious contender for the 1936 presidential election and was agitating mightily for them.
  Long’s signature campaign platform was his Share Our Wealth plan. Essentially this plan was designed to whittle down the large estates and help the poor. Long hadn’t done his math, because it really wasn’t going to help the poor that much, but he told one reporter that was a worry for another election.
  Long’s plan, which I don’t agree with entirely, would have effectively sought to cap both income and wealth. He started out wanting to tax estates of $50 million or more (1933 dollars!) but quickly amended this to estates of $5 million or more. His plan was to cap annual income at $1 million and to progressively tax large estates, so that a $5 million estate would pay a five percent annual estate tax and an estate of $8 million or more would pay an annual estate tax of eight percent. Although I don't agree with the scope of Long's plan, I am surprised that there is essentially no voice in America calling for any taxation on wealth. What voices there are call for a one-time, ruinous tax at the time of death, which is counterproductive.
  It’s worth noting that Long’s plan really wouldn’t confiscate these people’s wealth, only whittle it down – a death of a thousand cuts, if you will.
  So what would Long’s plan look like today? A million dollars in 1933 is almost equal to $18 million today. $5 million is almost equal to $80 million. I’m not in favor of capping income at all, but levying a few wealth taxes on estates of more than $80 million – or more than $10 million for that matter – isn’t going to harm anyone.
  Now let me add that I think high income taxes are always a bad idea. People really will quit working and quit investing. There are a lot of good reasons why we shouldn’t tax income at high rates, no matter how high that income is.
  But a small annual tax on wealth is another matter. I think Huey Long’s proposed eight percent tax on large estates is too large, but a two percent annual tax on large estates and a three percent tax on mega-estates isn’t going to “confiscate” anyone’s wealth. Make it four percent and you can do away with the death tax altogether.
  This wealth tax can also be applied to corporations that send their profits overseas. The corporation either has a net worth or not. If it does, tax it. I’m always amused when people like Warren Buffet call for an increase in the income tax. You could raise the income tax to 90 percent and it wouldn’t hurt Buffet, because he has very little income in relation to his wealth. He never sells anything, and thus never has to pay taxes on his profits. But tax his wealth, and suddenly this man will have to pay his fair share, and see if he doesn’t sing a different tune on taxes!
  Make no mistake, rich people contribute a lot to this country. I am a capitalist through and through. But over the last dozen years or so the moneyed interests have manipulated the system to profit when times are good and to have the taxpayers cover their losses when times are bad. Essentially over the past 10 years there has been a mass confiscation of wealth and income from the American middle class to transfer it to the high end of the upper class. Should we as a society snatch a little back it isn’t “confiscation.” It’s a self-help repossession.
  Our system is no longer a capitalist system, but a crony capitalist system, where spoils are distributed based on political contributions or racial affiliation. Most schemes to raise taxes do so by hitting the upper middle class while allowing the super-rich to avoid taxes. It’s wrong.
  If we follow Huey Long’s advice and tax wealth, we tax everyone, and tax everyone fairly. We just don’t need to go overboard while we’re doing it.

KLM Airlines to link Facebook to seat selection process

2011-12-18T17:35:00.001-06:00

    It had to happen. KLM Airlines is coming up with a system to allow customers to view Facebook profiles of potential seatmates.
    I'm a little uncertain exactly how this system would work. Personally I wish airlines would just enforce some rules, such as requiring big people to buy two seats, banning perfume or smelly people and requiring the upper legs and shoulders to be covered.
    The idea is that we're all going to socially network while flying on an airplane, and so we should pick someone we have something in common with to sit by. The problem is that most people want to be left alone when they fly. Years and years ago there was a computer game called Leisure Suit Larry. Larry gets trapped into a middle seat next to a guy in the aisle who won't shut up, and as a result he can't save the day as it were. The solution? Larry hands the guy a religious tract and tries to strike up a conversation. Mr. Verbose runs into the bathroom.
    I predict more people will act like Leisure Suit Larry than will try to act like a desirable networking partner. I don't want a stranger to pick me and then try to talk to me.
    If I ever fly an airline with this type of seating system, I'll be changing my profile picture to that of Jabba the Hut. I'll start posting things like "Lost three pounds this week. Down to 463!"; "Doctor says he can't find cause of body odor problem, but he's still working on it."; "Got a trip coming up and feel AWFUL. Hope I'm not coming down with the flu."
    That seems like the best way to get a row to myself.

In 1947 Jordan's king begged us to put end to Mid-East turmoil

2011-12-17T20:54:00.004-06:00

Here's an interesting essay, written back in 1947, by the king of Jordan, King Abdullah. Don't know if he had a speech writer, but it is a fine an essay as I've ever read. To understand the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs in the Mid-East, read this column. Then ask yourself, why didn't the United States allow some of these Jews to come here?
There's a lot to be said against the notion of "kings." But the royal family of Jordan ranks as one of the best in the world. It is a somewhat real, somewhat artificial dynasty, created from a family with Saudi roots and supposed descendancy from the prophet Mohamed. But if all royals acted like those in Jordan, the world would be a better place.

"As the Arabs see the Jews"
His Majesty King Abdullah,
The American Magazine
November, 1947

I am especially delighted to address an American audience, for the tragic problem of Palestine will never be solved without American understanding, American sympathy, American support.

So many billions of words have been written about Palestine—perhaps more than on any other subject in history—that I hesitate to add to them. Yet I am compelled to do so, for I am reluctantly convinced that the world in general, and America in particular, knows almost nothing of the true case for the Arabs.

We Arabs follow, perhaps far more than you think, the press of America. We are frankly disturbed to find that for every word printed on the Arab side, a thousand are printed on the Zionist side.

There are many reasons for this. You have many millions of Jewish citizens interested in this question. They are highly vocal and wise in the ways of publicity. There are few Arab citizens in America, and we are as yet unskilled in the technique of modern propaganda.

The results have been alarming for us. In your press we see a horrible caricature and are told it is our true portrait. In all justice, we cannot let this pass by default.

Our case is quite simple: For nearly 2,000 years Palestine has been almost 100 per cent Arab. It is still preponderantly Arab today, in spite of enormous Jewish immigration. But if this immigration continues we shall soon be outnumbered—a minority in our home.

Palestine is a small and very poor country, about the size of your state of Vermont. Its Arab population is only about 1,200,000. Already we have had forced on us, against our will, some 600,000 Zionist Jews. We are threatened with many hundreds of thousands more.

Our position is so simple and natural that we are amazed it should even be questioned. It is exactly the same position you in America take in regard to the unhappy European Jews. You are sorry for them, but you do not want them in your country.

We do not want them in ours, either. Not because they are Jews, but because they are foreigners. We would not want hundreds of thousands of foreigners in our country, be they Englishmen or Norwegians or Brazilians or whatever.

Think for a moment: In the last 25 years we have had one third of our entire population forced upon us. In America that would be the equivalent of 45,000,000 complete strangers admitted to your country, over your violent protest, since 1921. How would you have reacted to that?

Because of our perfectly natural dislike of being overwhelmed in our own homeland, we are called blind nationalists and heartless anti-Semites. This charge would be ludicrous were it not so dangerous.

No people on earth have been less "anti-Semitic" than the Arabs. The persecution of the Jews has been confined almost entirely to the Christian nations of the West. Jews, themselves, will admit that never since the Great Dispersion did Jews develop so freely and reach such importance as in Spain when it was an Arab possession. With very minor exceptions, Jews have lived for many centuries in the Middle East, in complete peace and friendliness with their Arab neighbours.

Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut and other Arab centres have always contained large and prosperous Jewish colonies. Until the Zionist invasion of Palestine began, these Jews received the most generous treatment—far, far better than in Christian Europe. Now, unhappily, for the first time in history, these Jews are beginning to feel the effects of Arab resistance to the Zionist assault. Most of them are as anxious as Arabs to stop it. Most of these Jews who have found happy homes among us resent, as we do, the coming of these strangers.

I was puzzled for a long time about the odd belief which apparently persists in America that Palestine has somehow "always been a Jewish land." Recently an American I talked to cleared up this mystery. He pointed out that the only things most Americans know about Palestine are what they read in the Bible. It was a Jewish land in those days, they reason, and they assume it has always remained so.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is absurd to reach so far back into the mists of history to argue about who should have Palestine today, and I apologise for it. Yet the Jews do this, and I must reply to their "historic claim." I wonder if the world has ever seen a stranger sight than a group of people seriously pretending to claim a land because their ancestors lived there some 2,000 years ago!

If you suggest that I am biased, I invite you to read any sound history of the period and verify the facts.

Such fragmentary records as we have indicate that the Jews were wandering nomads from Iraq who moved to southern Turkey, came south to Palestine, stayed there a short time, and then passed to Egypt, where they remained about 400 years. About 1300 BC (according to your calendar) they left Egypt and gradually conquered most—but not all—of the inhabitants of Palestine.

It is significant that the Philistines—not the Jews—gave their name to the country: "Palestine" is merely the Greek form of "Philistia."

Only once, during the empire of David and Solomon, did the Jews ever control nearly—but not all—the land which is today Palestine. This empire lasted only 70 years, ending in 926 BC. Only 250 years later the Kingdom of Judah had shrunk to a small province around Jerusalem, barely a quarter of modern Palestine.

In 63 BC the Jews were conquered by Roman Pompey, and never again had even the vestige of independence. The Roman Emperor Hadrian finally wiped them out about 135 AD. He utterly destroyed Jerusalem, rebuilt under another name, and for hundreds of years no Jew was permitted to enter it. A handful of Jews remained in Palestine but the vast majority were killed or scattered to other countries, in the Diaspora, or the Great Dispersion. From that time Palestine ceased to be a Jewish country, in any conceivable sense.

This was 1,815 years ago, and yet the Jews solemnly pretend they still own Palestine! If such fantasy were allowed, how the map of the world would dance about!

Italians might claim England, which the Romans held so long. England might claim France, "homeland" of the conquering Normans. And the French Normans might claim Norway, where their ancestors originated. And incidentally, we Arabs might claim Spain, which we held for 700 years.

Many Mexicans might claim Spain, "homeland" of their forefathers. They might even claim Texas, which was Mexican until 100 years ago. And suppose the American Indians claimed the "homeland" of which they were the sole, native, and ancient occupants until only some 450 years ago!

I am not being facetious. All these claims are just as valid—or just as fantastic—as the Jewish "historic connection" with Palestine. Most are more valid.

In any event, the great Moslem expansion about 650 AD finally settled things. It dominated Palestine completely. From that day on, Palestine was solidly Arabic in population, language, and religion. When British armies entered the country during the last war, they found 500,000 Arabs and only 65,000 Jews.

If solid, uninterrupted Arab occupation for nearly 1,300 years does not make a country "Arab", what does?

The Jews say, and rightly, that Palestine is the home of their religion. It is likewise the birthplace of Christianity, but would any Christian nation claim it on that account? In passing, let me say that the Christian Arabs—and there are many hundreds of thousands of them in the Arab World—are in absolute agreement with all other Arabs in opposing the Zionist invasion of Palestine.

May I also point out that Jerusalem is, after Mecca and Medina, the holiest place in Islam. In fact, in the early days of our religion, Moslems prayed toward Jerusalem instead of Mecca.

The Jewish "religious claim" to Palestine is as absurd as the "historic claim." The Holy Places, sacred to three great religions, must be open to all, the monopoly of none. Let us not confuse religion and politics.

We are told that we are inhumane and heartless because do not accept with open arms the perhaps 200,000 Jews in Europe who suffered so frightfully under Nazi cruelty, and who even now—almost three years after war’s end—still languish in cold, depressing camps.

Let me underline several facts. The unimaginable persecution of the Jews was not done by the Arabs: it was done by a Christian nation in the West. The war which ruined Europe and made it almost impossible for these Jews to rehabilitate themselves was fought by the Christian nations of the West. The rich and empty portions of the earth belong, not to the Arabs, but to the Christian nations of the West.

And yet, to ease their consciences, these Christian nations of the West are asking Palestine—a poor and tiny Moslem country of the East—to accept the entire burden. "We have hurt these people terribly," cries the West to the East. "Won’t you please take care of them for us?"

We find neither logic nor justice in this. Are we therefore "cruel and heartless nationalists"?

We are a generous people: we are proud that "Arab hospitality" is a phrase famous throughout the world. We are a humane people: no one was shocked more than we by the Hitlerite terror. No one pities the present plight of the desperate European Jews more than we.

But we say that Palestine has already sheltered 600,000 refugees. We believe that is enough to expect of us—even too much. We believe it is now the turn of the rest of the world to accept some of them.

I will be entirely frank with you. There is one thing the Arab world simply cannot understand. Of all the nations of the earth, America is most insistent that something be done for these suffering Jews of Europe. This feeling does credit to the humanity for which America is famous, and to that glorious inscription on your Statue of Liberty.

And yet this same America—the richest, greatest, most powerful nation the world has ever known—refuses to accept more than a token handful of these same Jews herself!

I hope you will not think I am being bitter about this. I have tried hard to understand that mysterious paradox, and I confess I cannot. Nor can any other Arab.

Perhaps you have been informed that "the Jews in Europe want to go to no other place except Palestine."

This myth is one of the greatest propaganda triumphs of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the organisation which promotes with fanatic zeal the emigration to Palestine. It is a subtle half-truth, thus doubly dangerous.

The astounding truth is that nobody on earth really knows where these unfortunate Jews really want to go!

You would think that in so grave a problem, the American, British, and other authorities responsible for the European Jews would have made a very careful survey, probably by vote, to find out where each Jew actually wants to go. Amazingly enough this has never been done! The Jewish Agency has prevented it.

Some time ago the American Military Governor in Germany was asked at a press conference how he was so certain that all Jews there wanted to go to Palestine. His answer was simple: "My Jewish advisors tell me so." He admitted no poll had ever been made. Preparations were indeed begun for one, but the Jewish Agency stepped in to stop it.

The truth is that the Jews in German camps are now subjected to a Zionist pressure campaign which learned much from the Nazi terror. It is dangerous for a Jew to say that he would rather go to some other country, not Palestine. Such dissenters have been severely beaten, and worse.

Not long ago, in Palestine, nearly 1,000 Austrian Jews informed the international refugee organisation that they would like to go back to Austria, and plans were made to repatriate them.

The Jewish Agency heard of this, and exerted enough political pressure to stop it. It would be bad propaganda for Zionism if Jews began leaving Palestine. The nearly 1,000 Austrian are still there, against their will.

The fact is that most of the European Jews are Western in culture and outlook, entirely urban in experience and habits. They cannot really have their hearts set on becoming pioneers in the barren, arid, cramped land which is Palestine.

One thing, however, is undoubtedly true. As matters stand now, most refugee Jews in Europe would, indeed, vote for Palestine, simply because they know no other country will have them.

If you or I were given a choice between a near-prison camp for the rest of our lives—or Palestine—we would both choose Palestine, too.

But open up any other alternative to them—give them any other choice, and see what happens!

No poll, however, will be worth anything unless the nations of the earth are willing to open their doors—just a little—to the Jews. In other words, if in such a poll a Jew says he wants to go to Sweden, Sweden must be willing to accept him. If he votes for America, you must let him come in.

Any other kind of poll would be a farce. For the desperate Jew, this is no idle testing of opinion: this is a grave matter of life or death. Unless he is absolutely sure that his vote means something, he will always vote for Palestine, so as not to risk his bird in the hand for one in the bush.

In any event, Palestine can accept no more. The 65,000 Jews in Palestine in 1918 have jumped to 600,000 today. We Arabs have increased, too, but not by immigration. The Jews were then a mere 11 per cent of our population. Today they are one third of it.

The rate of increase has been terrifying. In a few more years—unless stopped now—it will overwhelm us, and we shall be an important minority in our own home.

Surely the rest of the wide world is rich enough and generous enough to find a place for 200,000 Jews—about one third the number that tiny, poor Palestine has already sheltered. For the rest of the world, it is hardly a drop in the bucket. For us it means national suicide.

We are sometimes told that since the Jews came to Palestine, the Arab standard of living has improved. This is a most complicated question. But let us even assume, for the argument, that it is true. We would rather be a bit poorer, and masters of our own home. Is this unnatural?

The sorry story of the so-called "Balfour Declaration," which started Zionist immigration into Palestine, is too complicated to repeat here in detail. It is grounded in broken promises to the Arabs—promises made in cold print which admit no denying.

We utterly deny its validity. We utterly deny the right of Great Britain to give away Arab land for a "national home" for an entirely foreign people.

Even the League of Nations sanction does not alter this. At the time, not a single Arab state was a member of the League. We were not allowed to say a word in our own defense.

I must point out, again in friendly frankness, that America was nearly as responsible as Britain for this Balfour Declaration. President Wilson approved it before it was issued, and the American Congress adopted it word for word in a joint resolution on 30th June, 1922.

In the 1920s, Arabs were annoyed and insulted by Zionist immigration, but not alarmed by it. It was steady, but fairly small, as even the Zionist founders thought it would remain. Indeed for some years, more Jews left Palestine than entered it—in 1927 almost twice as many.

But two new factors, entirely unforeseen by Britain or the League or America or the most fervent Zionist, arose in the early thirties to raise the immigration to undreamed heights. One was the World Depression; the second the rise of Hitler.

In 1932, the year before Hitler came to power, only 9,500 Jews came to Palestine. We did not welcome them, but we were not afraid that, at that rate, our solid Arab majority would ever be in danger.

But the next year—the year of Hitler—it jumped to 30,000! In 1934 it was 42,000! In 1935 it reached 61,000!

It was no longer the orderly arrival of idealist Zionists. Rather, all Europe was pouring its frightened Jews upon us. Then, at last, we, too, became frightened. We knew that unless this enormous influx stopped, we were, as Arabs, doomed in our Palestine homeland. And we have not changed our minds.

I have the impression that many Americans believe the trouble in Palestine is very remote from them, that America had little to do with it, and that your only interest now is that of a humane bystander.

I believe that you do not realise how directly you are, as a nation, responsible in general for the whole Zionist move and specifically for the present terrorism. I call this to your attention because I am certain that if you realise your responsibility you will act fairly to admit it and assume it.

Quite aside from official American support for the "National Home" of the Balfour Declaration, the Zionist settlements in Palestine would have been almost impossible, on anything like the current scale, without American money. This was contributed by American Jewry in an idealistic effort to help their fellows.

The motive was worthy: the result were disastrous. The contributions were by private individuals, but they were almost entirely Americans, and, as a nation, only America can answer for it.

The present catastrophe may be laid almost entirely at your door. Your government, almost alone in the world, is insisting on the immediate admission of 100,000 more Jews into Palestine—to be followed by countless additional ones. This will have the most frightful consequences in bloody chaos beyond anything ever hinted at in Palestine before.

It is your press and political leadership, almost alone in the world, who press this demand. It is almost entirely American money which hires or buys the "refugee ships" that steam illegally toward Palestine: American money which pays their crews. The illegal immigration from Europe is arranged by the Jewish Agency, supported almost entirely by American funds. It is American dollars which support the terrorists, which buy the bullets and pistols that kill British soldiers—your allies—and Arab citizens—your friends.

We in the Arab world were stunned to hear that you permit open advertisements in newspapers asking for money to finance these terrorists, to arm them openly and deliberately for murder. We could not believe this could really happen in the modern world. Now we must believe it: we have seen the advertisements with our own eyes.

I point out these things because nothing less than complete frankness will be of use. The crisis is too stark for mere polite vagueness which means nothing.

I have the most complete confidence in the fair-mindedness and generosity of the American public. We Arabs ask no favours. We ask only that you know the full truth, not half of it. We ask only that when you judge the Palestine question, you put yourselves in our place.

What would your answer be if some outside agency told you that you must accept in America many millions of utter strangers in your midst—enough to dominate your country—merely because they insisted on going to America, and because their forefathers had once lived there some 2,000 years ago?

Our answer is the same.

And what would be your action if, in spite of your refusal, this outside agency began forcing them on you?

Ours will be the same.

Marriott 2012 First Quarter MegaBonus Promotion -- Stay twice, get one free

2011-12-15T21:01:00.004-06:00

    Marriott's first quarter MegaBonus promotion is the same they've had for the past several years. For most customers, it's stay two nights, get a free night certificate.
    Now for the fine print. The free night certificates are only good at Category 1-4 hotels. The certificates are only good for six months or so. And you can only earn two of them.
    But for the occasional customer, the Marriott deal is likely as good as it gets. Certainly anyone who stays in hotels at all would be foolish not to plan four Marriott stays from Feb. 1 to April 30, 2012, the promotion dates. Four stays gets two free nights.
    Admittedly the free nights aren't going to be in a top-flight Marriott. With a Cat-4 maximum, you're looking at a Courtyard or Springhill Suites, not a full Marriott. These hotels still often cost $150 per night, making this a great value.
    It should be noted that the Marriott bonus offers vary. High-frequency customers will tend to get bonus points offers. But the "stay two, get one" offer seems to be available to everyone else. It's a great deal. Some have reported success in calling to have their offer changed, so if you don't like your MegaBonus offer, call to ask for a change. Oh, and for those of you who want airline miles instead of the MegaBonus offer, Marriott is offering 2,000 bonus airline miles per stay. Not bad really, but not as good as the 5,000 Delta miles per stay from the summer of 2010. Those miles sent our Lucy to summer camp!
    Visit the marriott.com website to sign up.

You heard it hear first: Ron Paul to win Iowa

2011-12-14T11:13:00.004-06:00

You read it here first!
On Nov. 11 I reported that Newt Gingrich was moving up in the polls and Ron Paul was holding his on. I predicted that Paul might pull a "surprise" in Iowa.

Ron Paul supporters are likely the most devoted out of all the candidates, and my personal opinion is that Paul could surprise everyone with his showing in Iowa. Iowa rewards commitment and effort and I think Paul just might win, although I'm not sure how that is going to lead him to victories in other states.

    Since that post Gingrich has moved up dramatically in the polls. He leads in most states except New Hampshire, and leads Mitt Romney nationally. Recently Paul has shed his fourth-place role and is now in third-place nationally. And in Iowa two recent polls puts him in a strong second place behind Gingrich.
    If the election were to be held tomorrow, I think Paul would take Iowa. It's the intensity factor. I'd give Paul supporters an intensity factor of 9, Gingrich supports a 6 and Romney supporters a 2. These Paul supporters are going to make it to the caucuses and they're going to make it out in big numbers. Gingrich, meanwhile, is still suffering from a poor organization on the ground.
    The real question is what happens after Iowa. Paul is running a very strong third in New Hampshire. My new longshot prediction is that Romney will drop like a stone in New Hampshire after a terrible showing in Iowa and Gingrich will take the state with Paul coming in second. Then comes South Carolina and Florida, where Paul doesn't stand a chance. The best Paul can hope for in these states is second, and that's pushing it. But if Paul can limp into the Nevada and Maine caucuses, who knows.
    Oh, and the man the press just loves? Jon Huntsman may yet have some life in him. His recent one-on-one debate with Newt Gingrich elevated him and revealed him to be not quite the liberal everyone feared. He could be the guy people turn to to get the Gingrich without the Gingrich.

My spring letter to DM unpublished, my advice unheeded

2011-12-13T14:29:00.003-06:00

    I wrote the following letter to the editor to the Daily Mississippian back in the spring. It never ran. In their defense, I thought I was running it near the beginning of a new editor's term, which used to begin April 1. Apparently it arrived near the outgoing editor's end of term and was thrown in the wastebasket. I accompanied this letter with a cover asking that it be published so the staff could get student feedback, so there was no misunderstanding as to it being a private letter. The editor just didn't want the criticism.
    I am constantly disappointed in the Mississippian, in that I think quality should have gone up in tandem with technology over the past 25 years; it seems to have gone down. I exchanged a couple of messages with a staff member earlier this year, I was told that journalism faculty teaching reporting classes are not requiring their students to turn in two stories each week which can then be picked up by the student paper. If that's true, I think we need new faculty.
    As I point out in my unpublished letter, putting out a quality newspaper is easier today. Twenty-five years ago, publishing a "mug" shot might take two hours. The photo would have to be taken, the film developed and dried, the photo enlarged and dried, type modified to leave a hole in exactly the right space, a red-out put down, the photo sized, and so forth. Today a "mug" can be taken with most cell phones, emailed in, edited and on the page in five minutes. It's all done on the computer.
    But enough. Here's my letter, which was never published. I hope some newspaper staff members might make their way to this blog and heed some of the advice.

Dear Editor:
    The staff of The Daily Mississippian works hard. I know, I've been there. You are to be commended for your hard work and your desire to produce a product that serves everyone in the community. With that said, I would like to make some suggestions that in my opinion would improve the newspaper.
    Twenty-five years ago we were still laying out stories with photographic type set in strips. Photos had to be "shot" and pasted in. Including small "head" shots was actually quite difficult. Today, having a great paper design is easy. The Mississippian ought to be head-and-shoulders better in appearance and content than it was years ago, and quite honestly it's not.
    Here are my suggestions on how you can improve the paper:
    • Your coverage of campus events is very weak. Major events come and go and frequently aren't even mentioned in the paper. You need a Campus Calendar that runs every day. It should feature the Brown Bag lunches, the upcoming plays and musical performances, and any other not-for-profit event that is happening on campus or in Oxford. If it's happening it ought to be there. It may take up space, but it will be one of the most read parts of the paper.
    • Your paper needs shorter stories and more of them! Most people are not reading these giant blobs of gray that you are plopping down on the front page, and the ability to write really long stories does not make one a good journalist. You need lots of 6- to 8-inch stories and should limit most stories to 12 column inches. Perhaps one story a day can run longer – up to 24 inches – put please go ahead and jump the thing. The people who are interested will follow the jump, those who aren't will get enough info before the jump.
    Just to give you an example, right now there are ads in the paper for Barksdale Honors College students presenting their honors theses. Perhaps with the assistance of a journalism professor you could have had someone assigned to write a six-inch story with a mug-shot on each of these presentations. No need for an epistle, just a quick story. I assure you that more people would read 10 of these six-inch stores then would read one of the overwritten 60-inch masterpieces that you frequently have.
    • Your front page needs at least four stories every day. If there is a big Mississippi story, you should include it. You should devote a small amount of space inside to state and national news briefs. No need to run long stories – just give your readers the headlines and they can go to the Internet to get more if they want.
    • You need to use photographs more wisely. Put a frame around your photos. Run people small and things big. Lighten them up; they're over-inked. If you quote someone, run a tiny "mug" shot in the story whenever possible (eventually you should have a library of hundreds of "mugs."). Never run a photo without a cutline. Identify people in photos. If you have two photos on a page, make sure one is the dominant photo and is at least twice the size of any other photo.
    • Create multiple points of entry to your stories. That means that in addition to the headline virtually every story should have a roughly 14-point subhead over one column. Use mug shots. Use fact boxes. Use quote-outs. If you can put a dollar bill on the page and it only covers body type, you're doing something wrong.
    • Read and steal ideas from great newspapers. I may hate the politics of the Clarion-Ledger, but it, like almost all Gannett papers, is well designed. Learn from it. Join the Society for News Design and attend some workshops and the annual convention. The next one is in St. Louis this fall. Join and go! The last one I attended was almost 15 years ago, but I was sharing a drink with a fellow named Daryl, and after a while I couldn't stop myself. "Mr. Moen," I told him, "I enjoyed your text book." He thanked me for buying it. We all had a great time. Join this group and you will have the chance to learn from and with the best. Student memberships are only $60.
    • So have a good time. It doesn't always take more work to put out a better product. It just takes better choices. I hope you will consider some of the suggestions I've presented to you; and if not, you still have my best wishes for a great year.
Frank Hurdle
Oxford
DM Editor, 1987-88

Oxford Schools have orchestra concert, improvement on display

2011-12-11T14:00:00.005-06:00

    My sixth-grade daughter Lucy took part in the Oxford School District Orchestra's annual Christmas concert on Thursday, Dec. 8.
    The concert was really three concerts in one. First up was the Beginning Orchestra, made up mostly of 6th graders with a few 9th graders taking orchestra this year for the first time. Next up was the Intermediate Orchestra, made up of 7th and 8th graders. Last up was the High School Orchestra.
    The beginners started out by playing most or all of the songs they have done this semester. The first song was simply a one-string piece. They finished with Jingle Bells. You could really see the increase in complexity as the semester progressed. I've included a video below of the Beginner's penultimate piece, Ode to Joy. Oh, and if the camera seems to linger on a certain cello player, well that my prerogative.
    Next up was the Intermediate Orchestra. I've included just over a minute of their performance of Pacem Noel, a medley that includes The First Noel.
    Finally came the High School Orchestra. These kids were really doing some playing; they were truly outstanding. Their performance included a Christmas carol sing-along, and they ended with Fandango. Again I only filmed just over a minute of this. I regret not recording the whole piece, because when they finished it was a "wow" moment.
    I've posted three separate videos rather than making one long one. This is to allow those of you who just want to get a quick listen to each group to be able to do so without having to watch a five- or six-minute video. The difference in quality is pretty amazing, and you can see it by watching each clip for 10 or 15 seconds.
    The Oxford School District has a fine music program. The orchestra program is under the direction of Benji Wilson. The chorus is under the direction of Chris Brown. The Middle School band also does an outstanding job.
    Anyway, here's the clips for those of you who might want to take a peek:

Beginning Orchestra, Ode to Joy

7th & 8th Orchestra, Portion of Pacem Noel

High School Orchestra, Portion of Fandango (wish I had recorded all!)

Gingrich criticism shows disdain for working class

2011-12-05T22:09:00.002-06:00

    Let’s get something straigt. America’s child labor laws are truly stupid. Children ought to be able to work a few hours a week. It’s good for them and good for society.
    Newt Gingrich, of course, has been coming under fire for saying exactly this. In explaining his position he explained that poor children might be offered jobs working at school, such as helping in the office or assisting the janitor in cleaning the bathrooms.
    Needless to say, the liberals are up in arms. Bathrooms! They say any suggestion of any jobs for children other than that of president of the Coca-Cola Company is demeaning and will subject the children holding these jobs to ridicule. Note that no one is talking about forcing these children to work, only about allowing them to work if they wish to.
    I took over my brother’s afternoon paper route either at age 9 or on my 10th birthday. I remember my horror shortly after noon on Christmas 1970 when my older brother walked into the house with an air of satisfaction and said, “I picked up your papers for you.” I never dreamed there would be paper delivery on Christmas Day!
    I survived. When the weather was truly bad my mother would make my brother drive me on my route, or else she drove me herself. So I didn’t suffer, but I did sometimes get rained on. The notion that allowing children to work will kill them is just a giant load of, well.... But the average liberal today would never allow such a job.
    My paper-route job was actually part of a job chain. My brother had the route before me, and before him Franklin Harrison, and before him Don Dent. I don’t know who had it before him. Each of these three graduated from the paper route to shining shoes at Mr. Walker’s Barber Shop, and then to a job a Peel’s Drug Store. I retired after the paper route, but my brother followed the job chain.
    That meant he shined shoes at Mr. Walker’s Barber Shop. At the end of the day he was expected to sweep and mop, and as I recall was not paid one penny. His services were considered rent payment for the right to shine shoes in the store.
    Imagine, if you will, that Newt Gingrich were to suggest that a poor person might take a job at a barber shop shining shoes. “Shining shoes? How demeaning.” “Sweeping without pay? Slave labor!” You can bet if the liberals had their way jobs like shining shoes at Mr. Walker’s Barber Shop would simply no longer be available (and in fact they aren’t, as people don’t go to barbers much, anymore).
    The outrage of liberals over Gingrich’s comments demonstrates for me the disdain these people have for the working class. These people claim to represent the working class, yet they are outraged over the notion that a student might work as a janitor’s assistant to earn a few extra dollars. The idea of janitorial work is so repugnant to them that they can’t imagine that any person, student or otherwise, would want to do it. This is work Americans Won’t Do; that’s why liberals want to import so many illegal immigrants, which of course drives down wages to make sure that such work is work that American’s Won’t Do.
    I happen to like Newt Gingrich, but I recognize that those who dislike him are not without grounds. It boils down to having a different vision for America.
    Make no mistake, I’d rather be a brain surgeon than a school janitor. And I’d be more than happy to put America’s schoolchildren to work assisting brain surgeons, if they are able. But if not, perhaps they can assist the school janitor, instead.

No need to worry about Ron Paul's so-called 'extreme' views

2011-12-03T19:04:00.006-06:00

    Sometimes people say they like Ron Paul, but some of his views are "too extreme."
    Indeed, Paul is essentially a libertarian. Most Americans have a libertarian streak, but don't take it quite so far as Paul.
    Here's the thing to remember. Paul is running on a platform in which he is seeking to actually weaken the presidency. I've compared it to Mississippi's John Ed Ainsworth's run for state land commissioner, where he pledged to abolish the office if elected. He was and he did. Supposedly he ran on a $10,000 bet claiming that he could get elected with virtually no campaigning simply because his name would be at the top of the ballot.
    People forget that the president's job is simply to carry out the laws and policies passed by Congress. Obama, unfortunately, has ignored the Congress and acted as if he is a legislature of one. For example, when Congress refused to pass the DREAM Act, which would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, Obama instructed the INS to operate as if the law had been passed. That's the act of a dictator, not a president.
    Paul wants to weaken the presidency and to return our government to one governed by the Constitution. This means restoring power to the Congress and to the states. His role as president will be little more than a hired hand -- okay, an influential hired hand -- but one who obeys and enforces the laws passed by Congress.
    So no matter view Paul may have that you think is too extreme, you don't have to worry because it won't happen unless 51 senators and 218 House members agree with him. And if that happens, by definition it isn't out of the mainstream.
    One job that Paul takes seriously is that of commander in chief of the armed forces. He is morally bound not to go to war without Congressional authorization. Likewise, he wants to bring our troops home. No other candidate, in either party, supports peace. They all want more war, more death, and more money thrown down the toilet.
    If you don't like Paul, that's another matter; in that case don't vote for him. But if you do like him but have concerns, put those concerns to rest. His whole moral philosophy of governance is based on the duty of the executive to defer to the legislature and to respect the authority of the states. Isn't that what we all want?

Republican Jewish group bans Ron Paul from debate

2011-12-02T21:37:00.001-06:00

    In the News of the Disgusting, the Republican Jewish Coalition is holding a debate and everyone is invited except for Ron Paul. The most recent national polls show Paul in third place nationally and in second place position for the kick-off of the all-important Iowa caucuses. Nationally he’s behind Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, and nobody really likes Mitt Romney. Paul’s support is stout.
    Because if the intensity of his support, I think Paul may win the Iowa caucus. He has more cross-party support than any candidate. Unlike many or most Paul supporters, I also like Newt Gingrich, but I really like Ron Paul and am pulling hard for him.
    But the Republican Jewish Coalition has banned Paul from its debate. They say his views are out of the mainstream of the Republican party, and that to invite him would be the same as inviting Barack Obama (If they really believe that they are smoking crack).     The explanation:

Paul was not invited to attend the RJC’s candidates forum because the organization – as it has stated numerous times in the past – “rejects his misguided and extreme views,” said [RJC Executive Director Matt] Brooks.

    What Matt Brooks is saying is that Paul is opposed to massive foreign aid to Israel and he is opposed to continuing to involve our nation in war after war after war. That’s not acceptable to the American Jewish lobby. It’s extreme to support peace.
    What’s funny is that while Paul may not be popular amongst American Jews, many Jews in Israel would probably support him wholeheartedly. Israeli Jews understand how important it is to achieve peace, and they know that a hawkish, hard line isn’t always the best way to achieve that end. In fact, if you read stories sometimes about the most militant Israeli Jews who are out in their settlements clubbing their Palestinian neighbors, what you will find is that most of them are American Jews or their progeny who have emigrated to Israel.
    So what we have is the Republican Jewish Coalition stating for the record that the only presidential candidate who supports peace is too far outside the mainstream to even be heard. What they are afraid of, of course, is that more people will want peace than will want to go on helping Israel to beat up on the Palestinians and other assorted Arabs. My view is that if Israel wants to beat up on some Arabs they ought to do it on their own. America as a whole is tired of fighting Israel’s proxy wars. I support the right of Israel to be secure in her borders, but what’s been happening for the past dozen years goes far beyond that.
    If the Republican Jewish Coalition wants to exclude Ron Paul that’s their right. But clearly all of us should attempt to divine what the Republican Jewish Coalition supports, and as Americans we should support the opposite.
Let’s face it, the mere fact that these people have banned Ron Paul is proof that they are working against America’s interests, not for them.

The video below is dedicated to the Republican Jewish Coalition:

Mississippians want to amend constitution to make Col. Reb the Ole Miss mascot

2011-11-30T09:59:00.001-06:00

    I came across an interesting item in a Public Policy Polling poll released Nov. 18.
    In a poll that appears to represent a good cross-section of the state (54-46 percent female to male, 66-30-3 white, black, other), Ole Miss comes up as the least popular sports team. No doubt the poor showing this season didn't help. Despite this fact, people from all over the state support amending the state constitution in order to bring Col. Rebel back as the Ole Miss mascot.
    Most people are willing to defer to university administration, but the scandalous, racist banishment of Col. Rebel has just been too much for people to stomach. So, folks, find a petition to get this on the ballot, sign it, and then vote next year to get Col. Reb restored to his rightful position so we can start winning some football games again!

Q5 Is your favorite college sports team in the state
Mississippi, Mississippi State, or Southern
Mississippi?
Mississippi ..................... 21%
Mississippi State ............... 36%
Southern Mississippi ............ 27%
Not sure ........................ 17%

Q6 Would you support or oppose a Constitutional
Amendment to designate Colonel Reb as the
official mascot of the University of Mississippi?
Support ......................... 52%
Oppose .......................... 22%
Not sure ........................ 26%

Oh, and by the way, don't you hate it when pollsters refer to Ole Miss as "Mississippi." If they don't want to use Ole Miss, then say the whole thing, "University of Mississippi."

Newt: Secure the border first

2011-11-29T11:15:00.000-06:00

    Next Gingrich recently outlined his immigration plan. He's under fire for suggesting that a few long-time illegal immigrants not be immediately expelled from the country. My attitude is that everyone ought to be allowed to apply to stay. Those who are a net asset to our country should be allowed to stay. Those who are a drain should be sent back home.
    Newt's plan has one thing right. Secure the border first! Everyone talks about the need to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Okay, let's do it by hiring people to build an absolutely impenetrable fence on our southern border. It won't stop all illegal immigration, but it will help.
    Here's Newt's plan, as quoted in Politico:

First, he would build a fence along the nation’s border with Mexico that would be completed by January 1, 2014. He would suspend environmental impact studies and other regulations to speed the development of the fence. If needed, he would send federal employees from Washington to border states to assist in the construction, he said.

Second, he would make English the official language of the country.

“Third, we establish an understanding of American history as it relates to citizenship and we apply to it the children living here,” Gingrich said.

Spokesman R.C. Hammond said that piece of the proposal had nothing to do with recommendations by some tea party groups that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution does not guarentee citizenship children of illegal immigrants.

Instead, Hammond said, it was part of Gingrich’s general push to ensure that Americans are aware of the nation’s history.

Fourth, Gingrich said he would revise the current visa system. He said currently it take too long, is too complicated and too expensive to obtain a visa to do business or be a tourist in the United States.

Fifth, he would make deportation easier. As an example, he said members of the El Salvadorian gang “MS-13” should be subject to immediate deportation.

The sixth part would include changing the guest worker program, which allows foreigners to come to the United States legally to work temporarily. He said a company like a credit card company should be responsible for running the program instead of the federal government, saying it would make it a “very sophisticated, very clean program.”

The seventh would be his approach to letting people in the country for decades stay here, under select circumstances.

Any immigration policy is better than what we have now, so long as we secure the boarder first.

Unclean! Unclean!

2011-11-28T22:37:00.000-06:00

    I just got back from a one-week cruise, which I took with my extended family. It was a gift to all of us from my Dad. I hope to write a review soon.
    Alas, I contracted some type of virus about mid-way though the trip and spent a good bit of time in bed. I would make it down to dinner but then retreat back to bed. Still had a good time, though.
    I'm actually feeling a bit worse since arriving home. On top of the virus I've got landsickness. There really is such a thing, and for some it can take a while to go away. I've had to be out and about, and every time someone tries to shake my hand I just jump back and say, "I'm sick." Kind of like the lepers in the Biblical days, yelling, "Unclean, unclean."

Penn State coaches not only ones ignoring sex abuse

2011-11-17T01:07:00.000-06:00

    Everyone is sick and disgusted with the stories coming out of Penn State. People want to know how a college president, athletic director and head football coach could suspect or know about child sexual abuse and do nothing. But it’s really not limited to top officials at Penn State; apparently dozens of people knew what Jerry Sandusky was up to, but he was such a jolly good fellow that no one wanted to call his hand on it. (Sandusky, by the way, has not been convicted of anything, but by his own admission has engaged in conduct that is way beyond the pale).
    The fact is, though, that this type of things happens again and again. It happened with the Catholic Church. In defense of the Catholic Church, at one time it was believed that these priests might be “cured.” We now know that the only reliable “cure” for those who have taken advantage of children is to make sure they have no future contact with children.
    Whatever mistakes the Catholic Church has made in the past, it is to be lauded for its current efforts to prevent abuse. My children attended Catholic school for several years in Kentucky, and a few years ago every parent who was to volunteer in any fashion with the school had to complete the Catholic Church’s “Virtus” program (not sure if that’s supposed to be pronounced like it’s spelled or like “virtues.”
    I’m not going to go into great detail about the program. It’s designed to help people understand the signs of child sexual abuse. The most important thing is that adults don’t need to be spending a lot of time alone with children and that things which look suspicious are not to be ignored. There's no need to make false accusations, but if a behavior is causing concern that behavior needs to end. The Virtus program provides a set of guidelines for relations between adults and children. One of the most important rules is that an adult who refuses to obey the rules, by that very action, endangers children. Scouting has also had sexual abuse problems in the past and has in recent years adopted stringent safeguards designed to protect young people.
    Unfortunately, all the prevention programs in the world aren’t going to do any good if sexual predators are allowed to be around children while those in authority look the other way. That's what happened at Penn State and is happening all over the country.
    The Catholic Church isn’t the only church with a sexual abuse problem. It's as big or a bigger problem in Protestant churches. The Baptist Church, for example, has some of the same problems and has done exactly the same types of things that the Catholics did, namely looking the other way and covering for abusing clergy.
    Even worse, some Baptist leaders have attacked the victims of sexual abuse and their advocates. Former Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson, now president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, attacked a victim’s support group as “evil-doers.” After Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines learned that an associate pastor -- whose job included counseling victims of sex abuse -- had in fact had sex with his own teen-age son for 12 to 18 months, he kept the man on staff. Apparently he concluded that since the sexual assaults had occurred more than 15 years before it was none of the church's business. The abused son didn't feel that way, nor did many of Bellevue's members, who Gaines labeled "troublemakers."
    Gaines, by the way, is an apostle of Rick Warren, who urges pastors, once hired, to seize absolute control of their churches, while marginalizing those who oppose them. Gaines' tolerance for sex abuse and his willingness to attack those who oppose them has certainly succeeded in running off lots of opposition, but I don't see how emptying Bellevue's church pews actually serves God.
    One Bellevue member who has been upset about what has gone on in that church -- and other churches, has a blog devoted to publicizing wrongdoing. For example, Bellevue finally fired the minister accused of having sex with his son; despite massive publicity another area church, The Warren Community Church in Somerville, Tenn., named his as a Trustee and proudly sang his praises in their newsletter. It's telling that the church proclaims itself a "Purpose Driven Church," and is quite possibly named after Rick Warren. Yuck all around!
    Child sexual abuse isn't just a Catholic problem, a Baptist problem or a Penn State problem. It's going to be a problem whenever children are placed in regular solitary contact with adults. It's going to be made far worse when these adults are authority figures whose authority is not subject to question. When it comes to protecting children, no one should have so much authority that they aren't subject to question -- and everyone should be required to follow rules established to protect children.
    The Catholic Church has been rightly condemned for some of its past actions concerning sex abuse. In my opinion they are leading the way in education and prevention today. This isn't to say there aren't still problems, but at least the Catholic Church is attempting to address these problems. Other churches and organizations would do well to examine and emulate what the Catholics are doing in the way of prevention and education.
    Today a few Penn State leaders are accused of wrongdoing, but there simply are lots of people who knew what was going on and did nothing. Nobody wanted to deal with a big, awful mess. But what's happened at Penn State is no different from what's happening all over the country. Doing nothing isn't the right choice when confronted with child sexual abuse, but it's a choice being made by lots of people, not just football coaches.

Newt Gingrich moving up and Ron Paul holding his own; life is good

2011-11-11T16:56:00.000-06:00

    On Oct. 20 I listed "My GOP Presidential Picks, From Best to Worst. I listed my favorite candidate as Ron Paul, with Newt Gingrich coming in a strong second.
    Of Gingrich I said, "The Republican field is weak, and he has just been there week after week, a steady, strong, and incredibly smart and informed candidate." Now with Rick Perry's "Duh" moments and Herman Cain's Bimbo eruptions, Newt is starting to come charging up in the polls -- all on a shoestring budget.
    The latest national poll by CBS still shows Herman Cain barely in the lead, with Gingrich and Romney tied for second with 15 percent each. It's a real improvement for Gingrich. In Ohio Gingrich is in second place behind Cain and in Mississippi Gingrich is currently the favorite among Republicans, leading Cain 28-25 percent, with Perry at 14% and Romney at 12%. With Cain and Perry sinking fast, Gingrich just might sweep the South.
    Ron Paul, meanwhile, comes in at about 10 percent nationally, and generally comes in fourth place in opinion polling. You wouldn't know it from his press coverage, though -- the press pretends he doesn't exist. Ron Paul supporters are likely the most devoted out of all the candidates, and my personal opinion is that Paul could surprise everyone with his showing in Iowa. Iowa rewards commitment and effort and I think Paul just might win, although I'm not sure how that is going to lead him to victories in other states.
    With Gingrich moving up strongly in the polls and Ron Paul holding his own, I'm feeling pretty good about the way things are headed. Oh, and Rick Perry seems to have gone down in flames. Now that makes me feel even better!

I learned a little bit about my Uncle Paul today from government website

2011-11-11T14:24:00.000-06:00

    With today being Veterans Day, I decided to look up the official government burial information on my uncle, John Paul Hurdle, who was killed in the run-up to D-Day. I think he was an Army Air Corp navigator.
    The site, for those of you who might want to look up the burial site for relatives buried abroad is http://www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php.
    According to the site, Uncle Paul was killed May 25, 1944. A much older friend told me that he was aged 10 or 12 and friends with the son of the man who owned the telegraph office and that he was there when the telegram came in to my grandfather. He said they called first and talked to my grandfather and told them they had a telegram with bad news about Paul. They then delivered the telegram. My grandfather was on the porch waiting and crying, like so many parents did during that war.
    About five years after the war a friend of Paul's visited my grandparents. He was apparently traveling the country visiting the families of his fallen friends. He said my uncle helped someone get out of the plane after it began going down, and that he then jumped, but that he was shot while his parachute was still in the air.
    I was unaware until I saw the government site that my uncle, in addition to the Purple Heart, had been awarded the Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters. As I understand it, the Air Medal was awarded after a minimum of five air missions, as was each cluster. So my uncle had a minimum of 25 air missions before he was killed.
    According to the government site my uncle was a technical sergeant with the 562nd Bomber Squadron, 388th Bomber Group, Heavy. He is buried at Normandy American Cemetery
Colleville-sur-Mer, France; I hope to visit some day.

    On a more humorous note, my grandmother was a Five-Star Momma; five of her children enlisted during World War II. My father was sent home from training camp because of a bad heart, with instructions to take it easy because he likely didn't have long to live. He was given a package of medical records to take with him to assist his doctors in his future care.
    After a few months of his laying in a hammock my grandfather decided to consult a local doctor. The doctor looked over the medical records, listened to my Dad's heart, and said, "I'm afraid it's true, Jesse." Doctors didn't have much training back then, and this local doctor surely wasn't going to contradict the government!
    After a few months more of my Dad lying in a hammock my grandfather took him to see Dr. Stern at the Stern Clinic in Memphis. Dr. Stern checked out my Dad and looked over the records and said, "These aren't your son's records. I'm sure some poor soldier has had a heart attack by now, but your son is just fine." My father's days of sitting in the hammock were over.
    Dr. Stern is long retired and died in 2006, but his clinic survives with almost 20 doctors on staff. My dad, who is 88, returned to the clinic a couple of years ago as his heart is weakening with age. They asked him if he had ever visited the clinic before.
    "Yes," my Dad said.
    They then wanted to know what doctor Dad had seen.
    "Dr. Stern."
    I don't think they get that answer too often.

All women don't have a constitutional right to abortion, but rape victims do

2011-11-10T10:40:00.000-06:00

    Amid all the recent debate on Prop 26, it's worth noting that many of the supporters of this amendment did maintain that the use of contraception such as IUDs and "morning-after" birth control pills was equivalent to murder because it caused an embryo, or person, to be unable to attach to the uterine wall.
    I disagree, but I'll leave this alone for now to note that a large portion of those who are opposed to abortion believe it should be illegal in the case of rape. These people have no problem with forcing a rape victim to bear her attacker's child.
    It's barbaric. And while I've long maintained that I don't believe there is a Ninth Amendment Constitutional right to abortion on demand, I do believe there is a 13th Amendment right to abortion in cases where a woman is raped or unable to give consent.
    What's the difference? The difference is that our laws -- our reservoir or public morality -- traditionally don't recognize a right of rescue unless one's own actions have made that rescue necessary.
    For example, suppose that I am alone on a lake in my anchored ski boat, and one other person is also in the lake in a small fishing boat. Suppose that person capsizes and begins yelling for help. Am I legally obligated to assist that person? The answer is no, I have no duty to random strangers in need of help.
    Now let us supposed that I zip past a a fishing boat in my ski boat and cause it to capsize. Do I now have a duty? The answer is yes, my voluntary actions have endangered the life of another and I now have a duty to rescue that person. A failure to act is manslaughter.
    As a practical matter, most people will attempt to rescue others in need. But the common law recognizes that it may not compel people to essentially be slaves to the needs of others. A dollar a day may be enough to save the life of some starving Third World child, but the law does not compel me to mail a check each month.
    When women get pregnant, it is ordinarily the result of voluntary action. A strong argument can be made against abortion on the grounds that a woman's voluntary action has caused her unborn child to be in need of rescue, and now she has a duty to rescue that child by carrying to term.
    When women get pregnant from rape there is no voluntary action to create a duty to the unborn child. As such there is no legal duty to rescue and the woman has every right to separate herself from this unwanted person, just as we all have the right to refuse to send a dollar a day to feed starving children.
    Forcing a rape victim or a woman who has not given legal consent to intercourse to carry a child to term violates the 13th Amendment prohibition of involuntary servitude. Even if we accept that life begins at conception, when a rape victim gets an abortion it's not murder, it's self defense.
    There's nothing wrong with forcing someone to involuntarily serve another if that person's voluntary actions have made that service necessary. But to force an innocent rape victim to bear the child of another is slavery.
    I've long opposed Roe v. Wade. It was a terrible, poorly reasoned court decision that simply fabricated a constitutional right. I believe states have the right, should they exercise it, to ban abortions in cases where voluntary actions result in pregnancy. That doesn't mean I'm opposed to abortion; it means I'm in favor of state sovereignty, even when my state or other states may pass laws with which I don't agree.
    But state sovereignty doesn't extend to permitting slavery or involuntary servitude. As such women who don't consent to sexual intercourse have an absolute 13th Amendment right to abortion. They may choose not to exercise it, but it must be their choice, not that of society.

Shephard's Pie is quick, easy, good, and cheap. Need I say more?

2011-11-06T19:28:00.001-06:00

    I cooked Shephard's Pie for the kids tonight. Ash would be happy if I cooked this every night. Lucy says she doesn't want it so often; I need to be careful that it doesn't fall into the hamburger and spaghetti category.
    You may remember that I posted a while back on Menu Ideas to Please Kids and Protect Wallet. One of the menu items I mentioned was Shephard's Pie.
    I have a little Four-Way test that I use when it comes to cooking at home -- sort of a twist on the Rotary Club version.
First, Is it Good?
Second, Is it Quick?
Third, Is it Easy to Make?
Fourth, Is it Cheap?
    Shephard's Pie passes the Four Way test with flying colors.

Easy Shephard's Pie (Serves 4, Adjust accordingly)
1 lb. ground chuck, round or sirloin
1 small onion
1 small can sliced mushrooms or sliced fresh mushrooms
Some carrots (optional)
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
A few slices bacon (optional)
Some minced garlic and other seasonings
1 package powdered mashed potatoes.

Chop an onion fine. If you wish you may cook three slices of bacon and set aside, then use bacon grease to brown onions. Otherwise just use a tablespoon of oil. Add carrots. If using fresh mushrooms add them now. Saute until onions are soft. If using canned mushrooms add them now and saute a bit more.

You may remove vegetables from pan or just push to one side and add meat. Brown meat. When meat is about two-thirds done add some minced garlic if you wish and stir all together and let meat finish cooking. After meat is brown drain.

Place meat mixture in a baking dish and mix in one can of cream of mushroom soup. This will mix better if you don't let the meat cool too much.

Prepare one pouch of mashed potatoes according to package directions, but add about one-half cup additional water. After the potatoes sit for a few minutes they will be runny. Add four ounces shredded cheddar and stir; this will stiffen them right up. Spoon and spread potato mixture over the ground beef mixture as evenly as possible. Grate a little pepper over the top and add other seasonings if desired, but don't add salt. Sprinkle top with four ounces shredded cheddar and crumbled bacon if you used any.

Cook at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. Yum!

Cost analysis: The most expensive item is the beef, of course. If you shop the old meat rack or sales you ought to be able to get this for $2, otherwise figure on paying $3. The onion costs about 40 cents and the mushrooms 70 cents (don't use fresh unless they are just sitting around!). The few carrots, if used, add perhaps 50 cents. Shredded cheese was recently on sale for $3 per pound and I bought 10 pounds, so figure $1.50 for the cheese. Cream of mushroom soup always goes on sale at Thanksgiving or Christmas and I always buy about 50 cans at 50 cents each, so 50 cents on the soup. Bacon, if used, 50 cents. I bought a bunch of two-pouch boxes of mashed potatoes for a buck apiece sometime back, but since I haven't seen them on sale lately I'll figure a pouch of potatoes at 80 cents.
Meat $2.50
Onion .40
Mushrooms .70
Carrots if used .50
Cheese $1.50
Potato pouch .80
Cream of mushroom soup .50

Total cost of meal = $6.90

To save money or suit your taste you can omit some or all of the cheese.

So who took down Gadaffi's website -- and who ordered his murder?

2011-11-03T13:01:00.001-05:00

    There's no question that America's former enemy Muammar Gaddafi, who Barack Obama and his NATO allies murdered without cause, was a strange bird. He viewed himself a a philosopher king and issued proclamations on everything from the ownership of machine guns, to the need for a single state of Israeltine, to his proposed solution to the Kashmir problem.
    Some of his opinion pieces are a bit disjointed. Perhaps that is due to his own disjointed thinking or due to problems with translating the articles from Arabic; probably both. But his writings are not necessarily anti-Western and he was strongly opposed to Islamic extremism.
    Although Gaddafi's website has been taken down, the website http://africaindependence.com has preserved part of it. Those who denounce him as a "mad dog" ought to at least read some of his opinions. I can't help but wonder why his original website has been taken down as old websites tend to stay up for years. Who ordered its removal?
    For example, in November 2002 Gaddafi wrote or delivered an address on why the European Union shouldn't admit Turkey to membership, entitled Turkey, Europe and the Bin-Ladenists. In this piece he denounces Islamic extremism, capital punishment and Islamic justice, i.e. the cutting off of hands. I quote from Gaddafi's column:

The risk that Europe cannot condone nor take is to have Turkey as its Trojan horse.

The problem does not lie with the older generation of Turkish politicians who continue to hold Ataturk and his teachings sacred. The problem is with the new generation. The youth who have access to the satellite channels and the internet, are learning lessons from the scholars of the Islamic World and from Bin-Laden personally every minute of the day. That influence cannot be prevented.

What if thousands of young Turks get their world view from Bin Laden and his followers or from Mullah Omar and his group? I say “if” just to soften the blow. They will consider Europe as a land of unbelief that deserves nothing but forceful conquest. They will not stop at the gates of Vienna like the Ottomans did. They will wish to cross the Atlantic.

They will follow the example of Uqba ibn Nafie, the Arab commander, who stopped at the Atlantic coast and addressed the ocean saying:” If I knew that there are people living on your other coast, I would cross you to conquer them and force them to adhere to Islam”. Uqba did not [know] of the existence of a continent called America beyond the ocean. Those young people know very well what exists beyond the Atlantic.

Those young people oppose the abolition of capital punishment because it is mentioned in the Koran. Moreover, they maintain that a thief’s hand must be amputated as ordained by God. Adulterers must receive a hundred lashes without mercy. To them, these are the punishments established by God in his Book.

They do not, and will not accept the ban on parties with an Islamic name in Turkey while those with Christian names are not banned in the rest of Europe. [Blogger note: A good point which I've never seen made before.]

The new Islamic extremists, who will come to power in Turkey and will control its streets, will not accept joining an entity whose constitution does not mention the Islamic Sharia or the divinely-ordained punishments. Believing that contraception and family planning are sinful, they will ban them completely. [Blogger note 2: Is he talking about Turkey or Mississippi?] Thus, they could very well have the majority in the European Parliament. With polygamy, Turkey could become more populous than any European country.

The Turkish Islamists, supported by Al-Qaeda, plan to establish Islamic states in Albania and Bosnia. Europe, the land of unbelief, will thus face the pressure of a new Muslim European front that enjoys the backing of the whole Muslim World. Europe will have to adhere to Islam or pay the tribute. Islamists consider this to be their duty because they see it written in the Koran. These ideas might seem ridiculous or laughable to some. However, to Islamists it is their God-given mission.

    Whatever Gadaffi's past crimes were (for which he paid $2.7 billion in reparations), does this sound like a man who has it in for the West? A pan-Arab anti-colonialist, absolutely, but not anti-Western.
    When Gadaffi's refers to Ataturk he refers to the father of modern Turkey, who insisted on a purely secular state which was strictly neutral in regards to religion. The Turkish military has repeatedly forced the government to toe the secular line. For example, as recently as 1997 the army forced an Islamist government out of power. But in July of this year all of the top military generals resigned en masse, effectively surrendering that country to a future of state-sanctioned Islam. It won't happen overnight, but in the next 20 years we will see a Turkey that is far more like Egypt or Saudi Arabia and far less like Italy or Austria. Gadaffi warned us.
    It's interesting that we claimed to have attacked and murdered Gadaffi because he was using too much force in putting down civil unrest that in all likelihood was fomented by the CIA. Several hundred people were killed prior to NATO's attack, and I'm sure Gadaffi has killed plenty more over the years. I have no illusions that his first priority was to remain in power by any means necessary, just like the rulers of virtually any country. By American standards he was ruthless; by Saudi or Syrian standards he was a powder-puff.
    Although NATO was not authorized to seek regime change or to take offensive action, it did, attacking loyalist troops merely defending themselves. Today numerous towns are completely empty, their citizens beaten and murdered for supporting Gadaffi, and told not to return. For example, Tawarga, once a city of 10,000, is empty and ransacked in retaliation for its citizens' support of Gadaffi. Other cities face the same fate, which is odd given that the American propaganda machine would have had us believe that each and every Libyan citizen hated and despised the man. Remember, the first casualty of war is the truth. If our government says it, it is likely a lie. Many, perhaps even most, Libyans loved Gadaffi until the bombs started falling.
    I don't know why the United States attacked Libya. Perhaps we just needed a military base. Supposedly Gadaffi had been publicly advocating a devolution of power from the Saudi monarchy to tribal leaders. Can't make the Saudis mad now, can we? But I think he did so at the 2009 Arab Doha summit, detailed in this news article, Muammar Gaddafi accuses Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah of lying at Arab summit. The video of the event, which I've posted below, is actually far more entertaining.
    I just find it interesting that Gadaffi saw what was happening in Turkey 10 years ago and warned the West of the dangers that lay ahead -- and of his strong opposition to Islamic extremism. He publicly stood down the monarch of the most repressive, anti-woman regime in the world from which most anti-American terrorist funding comes, and for his effort Obama and his NATO goons murdered the man, his children and grandchildren in cold blood.
    I guess we didn't want to anger our Saudi masters.

Longtime sportswriter Caldwell says Dan Jones needs to go

2011-11-01T10:44:00.000-05:00

Longtime sports writer and former sports editor for the DeSoto Times-Tribune Ron Caldwell called for Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones' replacement in a column that appeared in the Friday, Oct. 28 edition.
The column, entitled "Back to the Future for Ole Miss," begins as follows:

I have covered Ole Miss sports for more than 35 years. I received an undergraduate and graduate degree from Ole Miss and spent hard-earned money doing it. I worked at Ole Miss in media and public relations.

I have out-lasted football coaches Johnny Vaught, Billy Kinard, Ken Cooper, Steve Sloan, Billy Brewer, Joe Lee Dunn (sort of), Tommy Tuberville, David Cutcliffe and Ed Orgeron.

I have out-lasted chancellors J.D. Williams, Porter Fortune, Gerald Turner and Robert Khayat.

Ditto for athletic directors Johnny Vaught, Warner Alford, Pete Boone (round one) and John Schaffer.

And, let’s not even mention basketball and baseball coaches.

I have also out-lasted Johnny Reb (in a real Confederate outfit), Colonel Rebel and the ill-fated Traveler the horse, as well as the Rebel flag, “Dixie,” “From Dixie with Love,” cars tailgating in the Grove, panty raids and streaking.

I have ranged from the inconvenience of almost no restaurants, motels and stores to today’s horrendously, contemptible over-commercialization.

So, what’s the point other than to demonstrate that I’m old?

After seeing it almost all at Ole Miss and experiencing almost every conceivable emotion as a Rebel, I have some ideas of what needs to happen at “paradise on earth.”

First, Dan Jones needs to go as Chancellor. . . more

    You can click on the title above to read the rest of the column. I should note that Caldwell is not alone in suggesting that Jones simply is not up to the job of Chancellor of a major university. Many, if not most, Ole Miss alumni feel that he is way over his head.
    Jones has no one but himself to blame for this mess. It was he who chose to let the Pete Boone situation fester, and to send out an outrageous letter filled with falsehoods and name-calling. It was he who has taken part in public meetings where those who dared to disagree with him were slandered. Most people simply find this behavior repugnant and want no affiliation with a chancellor who is going to behave in such an uncivil manner.
    It takes courage to speak truth to power, but Ron Caldwell has done so. Dan Jones can turn things around both for Ole Miss and for himself. But to do that he has to set his ego aside and start listening to the great mass of alumni and students that he is supposed to serve. If he just can't or won't do this, then he does need to go.

Vote NO on Initiative 26: Terrible amendment no solution to terrible Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade

2011-10-31T21:03:00.000-05:00

    Mississippians will vote on three constitutional amendments in the upcoming November election. Two of these amendments are great; the third is sheer jackassery.
    I’ll leave the two amendments I support to others. I just want to talk about Initiative 26, the “Personhood Amendment.” This amendment is going to pass with a huge margin; it is a disaster.
    There is no question that Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is one of the most poorly reasoned acts of judicial activism in the past 100 years. Prior to Roe, the nation as a whole was moving towards the notion that abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances. In a few short years abortion had gone from being illegal in every state to legal in 10.
    After Roe people who had never given abortion a second thought suddenly were against it – as well they should have been. It’s not only an issue of life, but an issue of state sovereignty, which involves millions of lives.
    I support the repeal of Roe v. Wade. It’s terrible law. The federal government has no business sticking its nose into the business of the sovereign states. I support most efforts to frustrate the implementation of Roe. Now make no mistake, were Roe to be repealed tomorrow I would support some legal abortion in Mississippi (I do believe a woman who has been raped or who is not able to give legal consent has a federal right to an abortion under the 13th Amendment, but that there is no general right to abortion on demand under the 9th Amendment as provided for in Roe). My guess is that my position would lose, particularly given past federal interference in our affairs. But I don’t mind losing, so long as we as Mississippians are allowed to make the laws under which we live.
    Now we come to the “Personhood Amendment.” In order to attack Roe, abortion opponents have been willing to do things that will throw our entire legal system out of kilter.
    The Personhood Amendment is going to declare every embryo a person from the moment of conception. Virtually no rational person considers an embryo to be a human being.
    It will almost certainly put a stop to in vitro fertilization, where several eggs are fertilized so that a few may be implanted. Yet in vitro fertilization actually promotes life, because without it many children would not be born.
    And if we are now to declare all embryos persons, does that mean that next friends will be able to bring false imprisonment suits on behalf of all the frozen embryos of Mississippi? Will we need to appoint a guardian ad litem to every fertilized egg, and have a court hearing to hear arguments of whether or not it is in the best interests of the embryo to be implanted or not?
    What are we to do about women whose life is endangered by their pregnancy. Note that I said that their life was actually endangered, not merely their “health,” the federal catch-all. Will a doctor be able to perform an abortion to save the life of the mother? What if there is an estranged husband who orders the doctor not to perform the abortion, even if the pregnancy will almost certainly kill his wife? Doctors shouldn’t have to put up with this, and it is going to affect all aspects of medical care that we receive.
    And what about inheritance? If an embryo is declared a person, then when a pregnant woman dies her fetus will inherit a portion of her estate, throwing a real monkey wrench into our current system of descent and distribution. It’s quite possible that some cad who refuses to marry a girl could nevertheless inherit through a month-old fetus. The nutcases out there may not have a problem with this, but I do. And the above scenario only scratches the surface of the wills and estates problems that this amendment will cause.
    The fact is that the Personhood Amendment will likely outlaw various forms of contraception. For example, IUDs often work by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterine wall. Once this amendment passes, any woman having sex while wearing an IUD will be guilty of attempted murder.
    A lot of people who support this amendment give a wink and a nod and say it’s only going to be used to outlaw abortion. Well I’ve got news for you. Laws are made up of words and the laws mean what the words say. It’s a sorry judge indeed who doesn’t enforce the laws as they are written, whether he agrees with them or not.
    There are a lot of poorly educated preachers going around supporting this amendment, and I’m sure they will carry the day. But friends, may I suggest when it comes to the issues of law and medicine that you might listen to lawyers and doctors. They actually know something about this, and they know this amendment is a terrible law.
    Please vote NO on Initiative 26. And should anyone supporting this amendment want to pass an initiative seeking a national constitutional amendment repealing Roe v. Wade, I’m all in.

Three Ole Miss freshmen killed in I-55 car accident

2011-10-30T17:15:00.003-05:00

    Three Ole Miss freshmen were killed in a 9 a.m. Sunday morning car accident on I-55 near the Vaiden exit.
    They have been identified as Charles Walker Kelly (left), 19; Samuel Clayton Kelly (middle, 18; Bryant Mason Wilbanks (right), 19, all of Madison. Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Sparky Reardon said all three were Kappa Alpha pledges.
    "The University is always saddened when we lose even one student, but when we lose three freshmen who were such great young men, it is particularly devastating. All of us in the Ole Miss family are heartbroken," Reardon said.
    Preliminary reports indicate no alcohol or drugs were involved and the three were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
Link:
Three Ole Miss freshmen killed in car accident

ADDENDUM: As I was cutting as pasting this news item I saw the name of one of the freshmen and thought there was a chance it might be the son of a fraternity brother of mine, just based on the name. It is. My heart and prayers go out to Sam Kelly and his family.

I've added two Mid-East Newspaper links

2011-10-28T22:44:00.000-05:00

    You will find two new newspaper links on the upper right-hand side of this page, the Jerusalem Post and Al Arabiya. The Jerusalem Post is self-explanatory. Al Arabiya was introduced some years back as a slightly less radical network than Al Jazeera.
    For what it's worth, I find the Al Arabiya new coverage pretty balanced. I think it's important to get news from time to time from sources other than the U.S. Government War Machine.
    Oh, and when I refer to a "war machine," it is not just a dig at Obama and the Democrats. It's both parties. All they can think about is war, war, war, attack, attack, attack, kill, kill, kill. Kind of makes me want to go watch "Full Metal Jacket."
    If you think I'm exagerating, consider the fact that Sen. John McCain (thank God he got beat) took the occassion of America's murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to issue what amounts to a death threat against Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin and other world leaders. He told them they better be "nervous" because they might be "next," implicitly suggesting that NATO bombers might soon be flying over Moscow. What an idiot, but an idiot who is representative of the U.S. War Machine.
    These people are now trying to beguile the American public into a war against Iran, either with U.S. troops or with Israili proxy soldiers. The fact is the Iranians on the street love the United States even if the country's leaders don't. We ought to try to win these people over. We're told that we must stop the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons, but current events prove that Iranians need nuclear weapons to protect themselves form an attack by NATO. Look what happened to Libya when they gave up their weapons!
    Quite frankly, I don't care if you support murder or oppose it; support war or oppose it; want to keep millions of our troops abroad or bring them home. But I would suggest that you should be informed from sources other than the U.S. propaganda machine. I hope these two newspaper links -- one Jewish and one Arab -- will give you an easy portal to additional information.

Mainstream media mystified about the success of Herman Cain

2011-10-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

Steve Sailor over on the iSteve blog has such a good, short post that I am just going to steal it in its entirety. His blog can be found on the left side of this page on my blog roll.

What's the secret of Herman Cain?

The NYT has a column quoting various pundits puzzling until their puzzlers are sore over the mystery of Herman Cain's rise to the top of the GOP presidential polls. How can some random corporate executive emerge from nowhere?

It's almost as mysterious as how some random state legislator / part time law school lecturer can rise to the White House in a few years. Maybe Cain and Obama have something in common? It's crazy to think that, I know, but there's something about the two of them that seems similar. But what could it be?

It's funny how the mainstream media are mystified -- mystified I say -- about these types of things!

Here's the link.

Amid athletic woes, the world sees Ole Miss as a beautiful and gracious place to be

2011-10-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

    While we've all been squabbling over athletics, Ole Miss has gotten an awful lot of good press lately. The old saying goes, "We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party." Some of the news stories are of that theme, but in a good way.
    There have been so many stories this year about tailgating in the Grove that it is almost comical. Newsweek magazine has rated Ole Miss the most beautiful campus in America, apparently grading on a combination of both campus grounds and student attractiveness.
    Just a few of the Grove Stories:

Birmingham News, 10-15-11: Greetings from the Grove
The Crimson White, 10-17-11: Grove v. Quad
New York Times Travel Section, 10-14-11: Of Parties, Prose, and Football (Faulkner and Football in Oxford, Mississippi)
The Fresno State Collegian, 9-30-2011: Tailgating the Rebel Way
Foxnews.com, 10-9-11: Football Fans Never Lose the Party at the 'Holy Grail of Tailgating'

There's some even better press about Ole Miss having nothing to do with looking pretty or having a nice cocktail party atmosphere. I'll save that for another post.

New Forward Rebels release devastating to Pete Boone, Dan Jones

2011-10-25T00:08:00.004-05:00

    The Forward Rebels organization has come out with some new information that is absolutely devastating to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone. To say this newly released info paints them in a bad light is an understatement.
    In the newest post on its website, called "The Case Against Pete Boone," Forward Rebels presents an actual letter written in 2009 by a major donor to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones, in which he carefully outlines problems with the Ole Miss athletic program. I'll get to some of the contents of the letter in a minute, or you can read it for yourself. But after the letter was written the donor got an email from John Hartwell, Senior Executive Associate Athletics Director, informing him that because of his letter he would not be allowed to travel with the team for the upcoming year, even though his large donations apparently entitled him to.
    Also included is a letter written in March 2011, from 161 major supporters expressing similar concerns. This group in particular wanted the physical education major to be immediately restored, as all coaches have requested, and for an outside consulting firm to do a thorough review of the athletics department. Jones gave them a hem-haw about the phys-ed major and told them he had already done a thorough review when he took office, and Pete hires consultants all the time. Of course, the idea is not to have consultants hired by Pete!
    When Pete Boone has acted so maliciously towards a major donor, how can Dan Jones claim that he is the victim of "malicious" attacks -- of which he has been unable to identify one? How can Dan Jones say that the demands of Forward Rebels are being made by anonymous people when he's met with them and exchanged correspondence with them?
    There are a couple of things in the lengthy letter to Dan Jones that just pop off the page. One is that Pete Boone apparently interferes with and tries to micro-manage all of the coaches. Relations between Boone and football coach Houston Nutt are so strained that John Hartwell was hired specifically to work as a go-between to smooth things out. It hasn't worked very well. Boone is by all accounts a jerk, and sending a proxy over to do his jerky meddling doesn't make things any better.
    You might remember the lawsuit filed a couple of months ago by former Ole Miss Coach David Saunders. See Former Ole Miss coach serves notice of claim. Saunders claims that he was offered a job by Nutt and that the job fell through because Boone didn't like him. He says in the suit that the reason Boone didn't like him was because he wanted to recruit students with severe learning disabilities.
    Now I pointed out in my earlier post that a "severe learning disability" is often a fancy way of saying "low IQ." And if Saunders' claim is true, I might very well side with Boone, in that I would rather try to recruit really smart players than really dull ones. But in the end I would want to recruit players who could play football, regardless, and if that means recruiting a struggling player, so be it. And the AD shouldn't be going around behind the coach's back undercutting his decisions.
    What the David Saunders story tells us, if true, is that Boone is getting heavily involved in all of Houston Nutt's decisions. This is backed up by the letter from the big donor to Chancellor Jones. This is no way to run a football team! We have a problem and it is Pete Boone.
    There is a second tib-bit of information in the letter from the big donor to the chancellor. This is really only a rumor or concern that the big donor had, but he had apparently heard that checks were being written from the athletic department to the academic department, possibly taking funds that were legally allocated or donated to athletics and improperly transferring them to academics. Obviously just a concern, but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and it's time for a complete audit of the athletic department budget to properly account for these funds. It's a matter of public record, and we deserve to know where this money is going.
    There was one more bit of bad news for Pete Boone on Monday. Former Ole Miss standout and current K.C. Chief Jerrell Powe, who struggled for two years to gain academic admission to college, posted a letter on his Facebook page which is highly critical of Boone. Said Powe: "While you would think Mr. Boone would want me to go to school, and even more to play for Ole Miss, he was, if anything, discouraging to me during my struggle. Although many are familiar with Mr. Boone's desire to keep me out, I have held it back for a while." You can read the entire letter on the Forward Rebels Facebook page, as it has been reposted.
    If you read the David Saunders Notice of Suit, it's pretty obvious that Jerrell Powe was likely one of the players that Saunders was recruiting and working with.
    There are a lot of threads to this whole affair, but they all come back to point zero: Pete Boone needs to go.

Commercial Appeal, Apple iPhone conspire to stick it to the customer

2011-10-24T11:01:00.004-05:00

    The Commercial Appeal has erected a paywall for those wishing to access its website from mobile phones; and they've gone about it in a particularly nasty way.
    Visit the CA website from your iPhone and you'll encounter a log-in screen with an option to register. If you aren't registered, you'll be prompted to give them a log-in name, password, and lots of personal information, such as your PHONE NUMBER. Then they send you an email to make sure they have a live one.
    Only when you click on the link in your email to activate your account do you learn that you will be expected to pay a substantial fee, either 99 cents a day or so much a month.
    Now I have no objection with the Commercial Appeal charging for its services. It's their product and they can do with it what they will. But I do have a problem with them deceiving me into providing all sorts of personal information and then telling me that I can only get access if I pay. "Oh, and if you don't pay, one of our pesky operators is now going to start calling you regularly on the phone in an attempt to brow-beat you into subscribing to our left-wing rag."
    Obviously I'm peeved with the CA, but I'm also peeved with our dear friends at Apple. The Commercial Appeal site remains free when I access it from my desktop. But my iPhone insists on sending code that tells the CA to please format its site as a mobile site. And so I'm expected to pay.
    In fact, the Safari browser does this with every site. I have never once seen a website that I liked better in the "mobile" format. I end up searching around for the button that allows me to view the full website. This is often time consuming, and I often press the wrong button because many mobile sites won't let me zoom in to make the button large enough to press accurately. The iPhone screen is plenty big enough to see a webpage; all you have to do is zoom in and out.
    Some web pages have no "button" giving access to the full site. For those situations I paid 99 cents and downloaded the Atomic Web Browser, which allows me to specify what code it will send out to the website I'm accessing. Usually this allows me to get the full webpage, but not in the case of the CA. With the Atomic web browser I'm still hitting the mobile phone pay wall even though I've got it set to emulate Internet Explorer 6.
    I'm probably going to be switching away from my iPhone in the near future. But what really annoys me is that iPhone refuses to give us what we want. They know many of us hate web pages formatted for mobile devices, yet they give us no choice in the matter. They know we want to read laying down, but they cause the screen to rotate so we can't. It's an anal-retentive control thing that just drives me nuts.
    I really didn't visit the CA site all that often; perhaps three times a week just after waking up. I certainly don't need to get their news on my iPhone.
    But it annoys me that my iPhone tells strangers that I am using a mobile device. That's my business. If I want the world to believe I'm sitting at a desk, that's the message my iPhone ought to send out. It's my iPhone, I want it to do what I tell it to do.
    Whether it's the Commercial Appeal or whether it's our cell phones, we want products that will serve us. Those who refuse to serve us out of a sense of pettiness will soon find that we aren't customers anymore.
    So Apple iPhone and Commercial Appeal, it's been good knowing you, but I can probably live without you.
    (Galaxy Nexus, I hear you calling!)

Eagle story tells of Wild Bill Schneller thumbing nose, starting fight at 1938 Arkansas game

2011-10-21T20:44:00.006-05:00

    Jack Lamar Mayfield tells the story of the massive fight at the 1938 Arkansas-Ole Miss game played at Crump Stadium in Memphis in the Friday, Oct. 21, Oxford Eagle.
    The story, entitled 'Wild Bill' Schneller thumbs nose at Arkansas defender is, unfortunately, behind a paywall. You can pay $5 and read the Oxford Eagle over the Internet for a month.
    I had not heard of this fight until a couple of months ago, when I read about it on a football chat board. I sent my good friend, Holly Springs attorney Bill Schneller an email asking if he was any relation. His response was simply "You must live under a rock, that was my dad." I didn't know for sure. I didn't think his dad had gone to Ole Miss until a few years later. The photo, however, does give it away for anyone who knows the younger Bill.
    At any rate, according to the Oxford Eagle column, Arkansas was losing pretty badly when Schneller intercepted a pass on the 50-yard line. He ran it back for a touchdown and when he saw no Arkansas players were near him he slowed to turn and thumb his nose at the Arkansas crowd, not once but twice, once while he was running and once as he crossed the goal line. There was no such thing as excessive taunting back in those days.
    The game ended shortly thereafter and Arkansas players sought justice. A huge fight erupted amongst the players which was eventually brought under control, but as for the fans they went at it for quite a while.
    Schneller played both offense and defense. Primarily a blocking back, he apparently carried the ball as well. An Associated Press story recapping the year said he scored five touchdowns in 19 plays in which he ran or received passes. Presumably his interception was one of these.
    It's a fun story and I'm glad I had a chance to read it. You can do a Google search on "Wild Bill Schneller" to learn more.

Ole Miss players just ordinary boys, like our brothers

2011-10-21T00:55:00.004-05:00

    The following editorial column appeared on Oct. 16, 1987 in The Daily Mississippian. I suppose I never would have written it had I not visited with football tackle Jay Schimmel, who submitted a letter to the editor a few days before and visited with me for 10-15 minutes.

Football Players Are Just Ordinary Boys

    The year was 1970. Ole Miss was playing Southern here in Oxford. I had a dog named “Archie” and was wearing an “Archie” button. Archie was on the field. It was truly the heyday of Ole Miss football.
    It was, however, a sad day for the Rebels. The Rebel football team, drunk on nine straight victories, had gone to Holly Springs the night before the game and gotten drunk at Bessie’s Lounge.
    Momma and Daddy were not pleased, because they knew, as did everyone else from Holly Springs, that the team had spent the better part of the night at Bessie’s drinking beer. Nevertheless, they dutifully cheered for the Rebels, even though they did so disgustedly.
    At some point a Southern player went down. I don’t remember how badly he was hurt but I cheered. That’s when Daddy turned to me and loudly gave me a lesson in football etiquette.
    “Son,” my daddy said, “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother. Would you like for your brother to be in a game and for someone to cheer when he was hurt?”
    Forget the fact that my brother would never be in a football game. Daddy’s message hit home, and I hung my head and said I was sorry. While I have perhaps unlearned some of the football manners my parents taught me (I “boo” the opposing team and all Democrats) I don’t think I’ve ever cheered again when an opposing player has fallen.
    These days things are looking much worse for the Rebels than they were back in 1970. We are, simply put, doing horribly, and everyone has their pet theory as to why.
    It might do us well to consider the words my Daddy told me. “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother.” They are trying, and while they deserve our honest criticism, they also deserve the same support we would give a brother.
    The Rebels, for the past several years, have been notorious for having slow starts. This year, they haven’t even started. Hopefully this weekend will be different.
    Let’s face it. Southwest Louisiana is not a great team. The Rebel team has some talent, if everyone can just manage to use it at the same time. We will probably win this weekend, and I, along with my perfect date, will be there to witness it.
    This doesn’t mean I don’t have some criticisms of the Ole Miss team and coaching staff. I do. At the same time, I also respect people who are at least trying to accomplish something.
    In deciding to play football, players give up a lot of what makes Ole Miss fun for the rest of us. They put up with a “dumb jock” image which, while sometimes true, unfairly overshadows the fact that some of the best students on this campus are athletes.
    These athletes will be on the field Saturday trying to win a game for Ole Miss and some pride for themselves. The students should be in the stands showing their support.
    If your brother was on the field, you would be at the game. And these are just ordinary boys, just like your brother.

My GOP presidential picks, from best to worst

2011-10-20T23:38:00.004-05:00

    I’m not sure anyone cares where I stand on the Republican presidential race, but on the off chance someone does I’ll share my views.
    Here’s my ranking of the candidates from favorite to least favorite, as well as my general comments.
    1. Ron Paul: Okay, he’s a bit goofy, and I don’t always agree with him, but he is one of the few people I am willing to actually change my opinion for; that is, if Dr. Paul says it, I’m willing to reconsider. Most importantly, he is the only candidate, and I do mean the only candidate, who supports peace. Obama ran supporting peace and started two new wars. All of the other candidates are admitted warmongers. Unlike most presidents, Paul actually wants to weaken the office of the presidency and return power to the Congress and to the states. I guess he’s the next best thing to John Ed Ainsworth, who ran for Mississippi’s State Land Commission on a platform of seeking to abolish the office. This man could change America, and for the better.

    2. Newt Gingrich: When most of Newt’s campaign staff quit him six months ago everyone thought he was finished. I thought he knew exactly what he was doing. The Republican field is weak, and he has just been there week after week, a steady, strong, and incredibly smart and informed candidate. Make no mistake, Newt can be full of himself, but intellectually he makes Nancy Pelosi look like a birdbrain.
    Everyone talks about Newt’s personal life. He’s on his third wife. Wife number one was his math teacher and reportedly started dating him when he was 16. In most states such teacher-student relationships would be a crime akin to rape, but apparently not in Georgia. But certainly he can’t be held responsible if such a relationship ended in divorce. By the way, his daughter says the story of him going to the hospital while his wife was sick to ask for a divorce is absolutely false; she says her mother had already asked for a divorce and Newt was merely taking her to visit her mother.
    His second wife, Marianne Gingrich, apparently abandoned Newt for six years after he was elected to Congress. They got back together, but I think she refused to move to Washington. Eventually he had an affair, which is certainly to be expected when he’s living in Washington and she’s living in Georgia. He asked for a divorce. Suddenly she was hurt to the quick. It was all fine and good for her to leave him for six years, but let him decide he wants a divorce and suddenly she is the woman scorned full of bitter and hateful things to say about him. What a horrid woman.
    Admittedly he has shown bad taste in women a couple of times, but presumably the third time will be a charm. And quite frankly, when I hear him talk about public and foreign policy, I don’t care if he’s been married a hundred times. The man is a genius.

    3. Mitt Romney: Okay, Romney was a liberal Republican when he was governor of the most liberal state in the union. He supported universal health care in a very wealthy state, where more people were already insured than the rest of the nation. But I think politicians listen to the people who elect them. It’s not always a “flip-flop” to change one’s position when running for office representing two completely different constituencies.
    I do think Romney’s Mormon religion is going to be a problem in the South. Four years ago my brother was talking to two influential Republicans who were raving over Romney after hearing him speak. They suggested they might be supporting him in the upcoming primaries. My brother asked whether they thought his being a Mormon would hurt his chances in the South.
Both of them said something along the lines of, “He’s a Mormon? Oh, Well then he won’t have my vote.”
    I don’t have a problem voting for a Mormon; I think they tend to be more moral than the rest of us and that we might learn a lot from them. Furthermore, they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected. As such they are Christians as that’s all it takes. The fact that they also believe some rather outlandish things about spaceships, Christ visiting with the Indians, golden plates, and such is of no consequence. They believe all that matters, and the persecution by small-minded people just needs to stop.
    At any rate, I like Romney. If he gets the nomination I will support him with gusto. By the time the Mississippi primary comes around he might well be my first choice.

    4. Herman Cain: Every decent person likes Herman Cain. He’s a true-blue conservative. A lot of people say his 9-9-9 tax plan is too regressive, but if it is, modify it a little to make it fairer, maybe by adding a point-nine percent annual tax on estates exceeding $9 million. Right now we have high corporate taxes and all the corporations are sending their profits to Ireland, then to another Irish Company, then to the Netherlands, then to the Bahamas, and thus paying no tax. Tax them at a low rate and the money stays here at home, putting money in the treasury and creating jobs for Americans. I do think it says something for the changes that have taken place in the South that Herman Cain is the favorite Republican in most Southern states, where mostly whites vote in Republican primaries. Of course, desperate liberals say that whites who support Cain are “racist.” You’ve got to love it!
    The only reason I don’t rate Cain higher is that he just doesn’t seem ready for prime time. He keeps saying some pretty wacky things that he has to take back, and I think he has an incredibly poor knowledge of foreign policy.

    5. Michelle Bachmann: I was impressed enough with Bachmann a few months back to “like” her on Facebook. I’m just not so impressed anymore. I do still like her, but I like her just where she is.

    6. Buddy Roemer: Not sure what he’s for, but he’s from Louisiana and against the big corporations. Every man a king!

    7. Rick Santorum: We’re going to have to burn all the gay people at the stake, which is going to use a lot of natural resources in gathering firewood. But he’s a good Catholic; if you don’t believe it, ask him.

    8. Gary Johnson: I don’t know who this man is, but I prefer him to Rick Perry.

    9. Rick Perry: The slime of the earth. Ended the investigation into a man’s execution because the commission was to report that the executed man was probably innocent. Accused Mitt Romney of hiring illegal aliens because a lawn care company he paid to mow his yard employed one. LIAR! And when Mitt tried to set the record straight he broke the rules and refused to let Mitt speak. He supports totally open borders, which is totally destroying this country. In short the only person worse than this terrible man is Barack Obama. So if he gets the nomination I will support him – reluctantly.

We can thank Dan Jones and Pete Boone for new Delta State ad

2011-10-20T20:09:00.006-05:00

ADDENDUM 10-22: A reader comments that the ad below looks like a Photoshop production rather than an actual newspaper ad. It's been posted on Facebook and no doubt sent by email, but hopefully hasn't made an appearance in print. Plenty will see it, however, as Facebook is as good as any newspaper these days.

    If you don't believe Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone are harming Ole Miss, just take a look at this ad, apparently placed by Delta State University. Delta State has been enjoying remarkable success with their Division II football program and is currently ranked first in the nation.
    Jones is known for his remarkably uncivil discourse, which is harmful to the Ole Miss family. His refusal to do the right thing and either have Boone resign or fire Boone is harming not only the athletic program but the entire school.
    The quality of a football team shouldn't matter when students decide where they will attend college, but it does. Everyone enjoys the thrill of victory. Ole Miss has been getting a remarkable amount of good press as the most beautiful campus and the best tailgating school in the nation. Unfortunately, Ole Miss was also rated as having one of the worst 10 football teams in the nation by ESPN.
    Pete Boone is harming our school by his inability to manage an athletic program and his refusal to resign. Chancellor Jones is harming our school by his refusal to do his job and fire Boone and his uncivil behavior. While these two prance and bray like jackasses, the Ole Miss family -- and our football team -- continue to lose.

(Click on the photo, perhaps twice, to enlarge)

Unsettling news from the Ole Miss law school

2011-10-20T09:11:00.003-05:00

Philip Thomas reports some unsettling news from the Ole Miss Law School in which he cites the national Above the Law blog. It seems the placement director at the law school has decided that it is not her job to help students find jobs!
His post begins:

The Director of the University of Mississippi Law Schools Career Service Director has garnered national attention--and not in a good way. The hugely popular Above the Law blog reported this week on the director sending an email to students taking the position that the career services office is not in the business of finding students jobs.

Thomas' Mississippi Litigation Review Blog is featured in my Blog Roll on the left side of this page. Here's his post: Ole Miss Law School's Career Services Director Abdicates Her Job Duty

Reminder: Balko panel discussion to include showing of Mississippi Innocence

2011-10-19T15:17:00.004-05:00

    I reported back in August that civil libertarian Radley Balko would be speaking at Ole Miss on Tuesday, Oct. 25. My original post said he was speaking at the law school, but in fact he is speaking at the Overby Center for Journalism and Politics in Farley Hall at 5:30 p.m. More information about the panel discussion can be found right here.
    Balko is going to be part of a panel discussion that will follow a screening of "Mississippi Innocence," a locally made film about two innocent men who were convicted of murder based on junk science and arguably false testimony. For example, the dentist who testified against the men has sent one woman to jail with testimony that he can tell a lesbian bite mark from a heterosexual bite mark. Steven Hayne, another witness, has testified that he can tell from a bullet hole whether a gun was held with one or two hands.
    I saw Mississippi Innocence at the Oxford Film Festival. It is a powerful film. I also heard Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks tell their story. They both had sadness over their experience, but an amazing lack of rage or anger.
    I provided a short biography of Balko in my original post back in August. I see no need to repeat it here. You can just read the original post. As I said then, I hope I convince my children to come with me; I think it's important for them to understand how our criminal justice system works -- and doesn't work.

How illegal immigration perpetuates the student debt trap

2011-10-18T14:55:00.004-05:00

    One of the complaints of many of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is that they have mounds of student debt that they can't possibly repay.
    As a society we now encourage everyone to go to college. Not only that, we send a message that the more education, the better. So after college, why not grad school?
    Not very bright? No worry there; there are plenty of colleges for the not so bright. And whatever college one wants to go to, the federal government stands ready to pay with a guaranteed loan. After all, no one should be shut out from attending an expensive private school. So lots of marginal students are attending very expensive colleges, with loans that can never be discharged in bankruptcy.
    There are a couple of reasons we are encouraging everyone to go to college. One big reason is that policy makers confuse correlation with causation. For example, in jr. high smart children have started taking algebra in seventh or eighth grade. Studies show that children who take algebra in seventh or eighth grade all go on to do well in college. Therefore, educators (in California, for example) decide that all children should take algebra in eighth grade, on the assumption it will cause them all to do well in college.
    Of course, it doesn't work that way, because correlation isn't causation. When only a few children take algebra in eighth grade it means they are taking it because they are really smart. Their later success in college has only a little to do with having taken algebra early and a lot to do with the fact that they are just plain smart. Meanwhile, forcing a bunch of average and below-average kids to take eighth-grade algebra actually harms them -- they just aren't ready for it.
    The same is true for college. Having a college degree is associated with having a higher income. But much of this is because smart people earn more, and smart people have tended to go to college. As part of trying to send everyone to college, most schools now offer "remedial" classes. Nobody bothers to tell these marginal students that their chance of earning a degree is roughly one in six -- that might discourage them. All most of them will earn is a mountain of debt.
    This is where the illegal aliens come in. One of the reasons people are so desperate to go to college is because the elites have adopted policies that have encouraged millions upon millions of illegal aliens to enter the country and work at low-skill jobs for low wages. This has depressed wages for low-skilled Americans, which has led many people to think their only option is to go to college. The problem is that many can't make it; others get their degree and still aren't all that hireable -- except that they now have to try to pay off tons of educational debt with a low wage job.
    Get rid of the illegal aliens and wage levels would have to rise dramatically. All the jobs that "Americans won't do" would have to offer wages high enough to make Americans want to do them. Marginal students would be able to take a job doing manual labor and make a decent living.
    Make no mistake, for many people college is a great choice. But it's not for everyone, and by pretending it is we perpetuate a cruel hoax on millions of Americans who end up facing a life of debt peonage while receiving few benefits from their expensive college sojourn.

Too much regulation cause of current banking, economic mess

2011-10-16T19:02:00.006-05:00

    It's accepted as an absolute article of faith among most Americans that the current banking crisis -- and it certainly is not over -- is the result of too few regulations. More regulations, the liberals tell us, we prevent this type of thing from ever happening again.
    Here's a news flash for you: It wasn't too little regulation that has caused this mess, but too much. And more regulation is just going to make the problem worse.
    Now make no mistake, I support breaking up the really big banks. These banks are a threat to our economy. They should be forced to pay substantially more in deposit insurance than smaller banks. This alone will break them up into smaller pieces in pretty short order.
    But the constant pressure on banks to make minority housing loans, regardless of the quality of these loans, is what has led to our current quagmire. The federal government and groups like ACORN were constantly bringing court actions to force banks to increase their number of bad minority loans. And of course any bank wanting to merge had to be able to show a portfolio of risky minority loans or their merger simply wouldn't be approved.
    And then came George Bush and Karl Rove, who wanted to court the Hispanic vote by easing loan requirements to make it easy for minorities, i.e. poor peope, to purchase homes. Lenders were encouraged, and sometimes ordered, to make loans to people with marginal credit, with little or no money down. To facilitate this, Fannie Mae stood ready to guarantee this pile of fecal matter.
    Now it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of these bad loans didn't go to minorities. When the government lowered or eliminated down payments, these programs applied to everyone, not just minorities. The rest is history.
    In hindsight, how in the world did anyone think it was a favor to minorities to encourage banks to make relatively high-interest loans to then that they couldn't repay? How does this help anyone?
    With this as a backdrop, it is a bit more understandable why many of the banks feel they are entitled to a "bailout." They did what the government forced them to do and then everything turned to crap.
    What's important to understand is that the only banking regulation we need is to try to force big banks to get smaller, so no bank will be too big to fail. Aside from that, banks need fewer regulations, not more.
    Unfortunately, we're still going in the other direction. In June of this year the Obama administration forced a St. Louis bank to open a branch in a slum in order to make loans to people who don't have the income to repay them.
    As long as banks are being forced to make bone-headed decisions like that, it's a sign that we have too much banking regulation, not too little.

Mammaw Moore's Chicken and Rice Casserole

2011-10-15T13:46:00.004-05:00

    Here's another handwritten recipe, this one from my grandmother, Lessye Moore. It's for Chicken and Rice Casserole and has, among other things cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, cream of celery soup, and a stick and a half of butter. Makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about it!
    Rather than retype the recipe I'll just publish the handwritten version. Just click on it, and maybe click on it a second time to enlarge it.
    I'll cook this in the next few days and will report back on how it turns out!

ADDENDUM 10-18: I cooked this last night. Talk about SALTY! I do not recommend seasoning with the Lawry's or Season All. Use a seasoning for the chicken that has NO salt. Also, for your cans of soup, consider using one can of low-sodium soup.

I used almost a full soup can of water, and strongly suggest doing so. I also only used one stick of butter to pour over the top instead of a stick and a half. Also, it does need the full 1.5 hours cooking time, maybe a bit longer for the rice to get fully done. Next time I may cook it covered for the first 45 minutes to let the rice get steamed a bit more. Placing the chicken on top does let it get nice and brown, so I wouldn't want to have it covered for the whole cooking time.

Sara Hurdle's dirty rice recipe

2011-10-14T18:57:00.003-05:00

    We're having grilled chicken and dirty rice for supper.
    I'm using my mother's recipe for dirty rice, which doesn't include sausage, as some recipes do. It's easy to make and was always a favorite of mine. With that said, I don't believe I've had it in 10 or 15 years. I pulled out mother's cookbook, there it was, and I decided to have a taste of the past.
    It's really easy to make -- the only work is chopping an onion and some celery and then sauteing them in some butter. It doesn't take long. Here's the recipe, followed by a scan of mother's handwritten copy. There's a certain electricity about the handwriting of loved ones who have passed on, don't you think?

Dirty Rice Casserole

1 large onion, chopped
Some celery, chopped fine
1 stick oleo or butter
1 cup raw rice
1 can beef consomme (to this add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid)
1 small can mushrooms -- stems and pieces

Saute onion and celery in butter and add to remaining ingredients in a casserole dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.

Dinner is in the oven even as I type, but my guess is that you could get by just fine with three-fourths of a stick of butter and a couple of extra tablespoons of water. Consult your cardiologist on this.

    Oh, and I'm labeling this "Sara Hurdle's" recipe. I'm sure she got it from somewhere else, but I remember it as hers and that's all that matters.

Oxford Middle School band coming along just fine

2011-10-14T13:19:00.003-05:00

    The Oxford Middle School band does a pretty good job, particularly since it is made up of some young kids who have just started playing.
    Shown in this video are the 7th and 8th grade members of the band at the Oxford-Greenwood Jr. High game on Oct. 11, playing Louie, Louie. Oh, and the Oxford 7th graders defeated the Greenwood 8th grade second string team 26-6, as I recall.
    Ash was in the band last year and was doing pretty well with the French horn, but decided to go for football this year.
    I shot this with my iPhone, so don't expect great quality; but it's good enough for you to see they are doing a good job!

Drudge report draws all aces

2011-10-13T18:45:00.003-05:00

I love the Drudge Report! You've gotta love this photo of three world despots, all sharing the same pose. Hit this on a slot machine and who knows what the payout would be. Hit this in real life, and just face of lot of misery!

Conservative blogger Taggart calls it quits at Clarion-Ledger

2011-10-13T09:16:00.002-05:00

    Republican political operative Andy Taggart has quit writing for the Clarion-Ledger's "Red-Blue" blog with a final, "I've-had-it" posting criticizing that liberal newspaper.
    The blog, which featured posts by Taggart and liberal Democratic insider Jere Nash, has been active for several years.
    Taggart said he was fed up with the Ledger's liberal bias, and cited a recent headline in which the paper claimed that 46 Senate Republicans somehow magically transformed themselves into a group of more than 50 and killed President Obama's job bill. Said Taggart:

Tonight's headline on the C-L wire story is, "Republicans kill Obama jobs bill."

Horse harnesses.

Once upon a time, Sid Salter provided at least some balance. Now you people have gone over the edge.

Forty six, count them, 46, Republicans voted against Barack Obama's tax hiking bill. That's a minority of the United States Senate.

That means that Democrats -- members of the President's party -- also opposed what he was trying to do to Americans and the American economy.

The left wing crowd at the Clarion-Ledger blamed a minority of Republicans for the failure of Barack Obama's bill.

I'm done with them.

Here's the link: My Last Post

Religion of Obama downgraded from denomination to mere cult

2011-10-13T08:17:00.005-05:00

    These photos were already posted on The Drudge Report, but I found them worth reposting, if for no other reason than to have them in my "scrapbook."
    The top photo is of Barack Obama campaigning in Pittsburgh in October 2008. Since he never had really done anything to qualify himself to be president, he had never taken a position that would make anyone angry. As a state senator he tended to vote "present" instead of voting for or against legislation. The result was that Americans could imagine him to be whatever they wanted him to be. Oh, and they could prove to themselves that they weren't racist by voting for a black man. The public adored the man and multitudes turned out to worship him wherever he went.
    The second photo is of Barack Obama campaigning in Pittsburgh a few days ago. He's now taken positions on things, and the doltish American public has suddenly realized that they voted for a far-left socialist when most Americans are slightly right of center. Most people want this disaster out of the White house. They still don't know who they want to replace him, but in the meantime they would rather stay home and rearrange their sock drawer than turn out to listen to another pablum-puking liberal make his case for more taxes and bigger government.
    Does it bring to mind the saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

99-percenters right to protest crony capitalist bankers

2011-10-11T19:24:00.004-05:00

    While the 99-percent movement is a bit ridiculous at times, it also makes some valid points. One point in that a few large banks are essentially destroying this country.
    Make no mistake, the government encouraged these banks to make risky loans to marginal borrowers. When they found out they could make a dollar they went at it full tilt. Much of the blame for our current problems belongs with the belief that every citizen just has to own their own home, a mantra still being chanted by some in Washington.
    But the real problem is the same one we had several years ago: Banks which are too big to fail.
    If the economy is functioning normally there will be bank failures from to time. And some bondholders might get their fingers burned just a bit. But in the end, no problem.
    But in today's economy we have a few large banks that can seek profits without regard to risk, because they know they are too big to fail. The government gives them all kinds of sweetheart deals, including unlimited money at one-half percent interest, in order to fatten their bottom line. Don't you think you could make money if you had unlimited funds at half-a-percent interest?
    So the government and the federal reserve are shoveling taxpayer money into these big banks, which now are recording record profits. And since they are profitable they are paying their top executives lots of money, which is fine when they are earning the profits on their on, but not so great when the government is essentially just handing them the treasury.
    The solution is the same today as it was four years ago. Force these big banks to get smaller.
    All we need to do is tax banks based on their size and charge bigger banks higher FDIC premiums. Leave the small banks alone, but hit the bigger ones with a progressively larger tax. These banks are run by businessmen who will soon see the benefit of breaking up their banks into smaller firms -- the kind of banks that helped build this country.
    And if a few of them fail, so what? We will have created an economy where banks are free to be successful -- or to fail. For the rest of us, life will go on.

Perhaps the biggest bid day in Ole Miss history

2011-10-07T12:50:00.003-05:00

    Last week was Rush week at Ole Miss. There was an increase in the percentage of freshmen going through Rush, although the percentage still a fraction of what it was back in the days when Rush was the week before school started.
    But Ole Miss is a bigger place each year, and I think this year's rush group was the highest in Ole Miss history. 1,082 men signed up for rush and 804 received bids. 1,215 women signed up for rush and 1,073. received bids.
    The Daily Mississippian reports that sorority quota this year was 117, with an additional quota of 10 for upper-class rushees (that's upper class as in sophomores, juniors and seniors, not rich girls). It is reportedly the second-highest quota in the history of the American Greek system. The highest was also this year at the University of Arkansas, which was higher by three.
    After the girls get their bids they walk or run down Sorority Row to join their new sisters. I decided to take my 11-year-old daughter, Lucy, to observe the proper way to squeal. When you view the video below you will hear that I have created a squeal-instruction masterpiece!
    To any high school kids out there, if Ole Miss looks like a fun place, that's because it is. But there is plenty of school work going on. The Barksdale Honors college just announced that the average ACT score of its roughly 1,000 students is almost 31.
    But Sunday wasn't about studying, it was about having fun. And there was plenty of that to go around!

Oh, and by the way, feel free to post a link to my blog, but don't steal my video, as poor as it is!

Eminent domain scholar to speak at UM law school Monday

2011-10-07T09:15:00.003-05:00

    Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University and a scholar on issues involving constitutional law, property and eminent domain, will speak at the Ole Miss Law School Monday, Oct. 10 at 12:30. The lecture is sponsored by the University of Mississippi Federalist Society. As usual there is no publicity for this as Ole Miss does not publicize campus events.
    Somin is a regular contributor to Eugene Volokh's "Volokh Conspiracy" blog, a libertarian-leaning blog which I feature on the left side of my blog page.
    Rather than write a long story, I'll take the easy way out and reprint Somin's post from the Volokh blog:

On Monday, October 10, I will be speaking at the University of Mississippi School of Law on a Mississippi eminent domain reform referendum initiative, Measure 31 (which is on the ballot this November). The talk is sponsored by the University of Mississippi Federalist Society, and will begun at 12:30 PM in Room 2094.

Mississippi is one of only a handful of states that have not enacted any eminent domain reforms at all since the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that the Constitution allows government to forcibly transfer private property to other private entities for purposes of “economic development.” Forty-three other states have enacted new laws, though many of them are likely to be ineffective.

Mississippi has a considerable history of dubious takings. Republican Governor Haley Barbour is a prominent advocate of massive condemnations that transfer property to big business interests such as auto manufacturers. In 2009, he vetoed a legislative eminent domain reform billIn this article, I explained why the kinds of economic development takings Barbour supports generally create more economic harm than benefit.

Although Measure 31 is not perfect, it would be a major improvement over current Mississippi law, which allows a wide range of economic development takings for big development projects, and also defines “blight” so broadly that virtually any area can be declared blighted and condemned. The initiative precludes economic development takings almost entirely by forbidding the transfer of condemned property to private interests for at least 10 years after the taking. It does create an exemption to this rule for property that is unfit for human habitation or poses a “direct threat” to public health or safety. But that is much more restrictive than the state’s current blight law. Broad definitions of blight that license abusive takings are a serious problem in many other states, including New York.

I will have more to say about Measure 31 at my presentation, and probably in a follow-up post that I will write after the talk for readers interested in the issue who are unable to attend.

According to the George Mason Law School website, Somin's research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy. Somin currently serves as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country's top-rated law and economics journals. His work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. He has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com, Newark Star Ledger, Orlando Sentinel, South China Morning Post, Legal Times, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, and the Voice of America, among other media. In July 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
For anyone who cares about property rights, regardless of their position on the proposed eminent domain amendment, this should be an interesting presentation.

McEwen's on the Square has upscale lunch at reasonable price

2011-10-05T08:57:00.003-05:00

    Jinny and I went out for lunch yesterday and decided on McEwen’s, on the Square in Oxford in the old Waltz location.
    I had always wanted to eat at the old Waltz, but everything was priced a few dollars too much for me. McEwen’s had their menu posted and their prices seemed quite reasonable, particularly for lunch.
    I’ve posted a copy of the lunch menu below. Jinny took a look at the “small plates” dinner menu on the way in and said, “They all look so good I want one of each.” So McEwen’s does have a good menu.
    Jinny and I both got the lunch special for the day, which was stuffed pork loin. It came with two sides. I got garlic mashed potatoes and squash casserole; Jinny got the squash casserole and fried okra.
    The food arrived and was beautiful on the plate. I wish I had snapped an iPhone photo. I thought the pork loin and potatoes were good. Jinny and I both thought the squash casserole could have used some more cheese and butter. Jinny said her fried okra was outstanding.
    Jinny really didn’t like her pork loin as she felt the stuffing had too much sage, and so she only picked at it. Sometimes there will be a dish that some customers will like and others won’t. It’s probably a good idea when trying new things not to have two people ordering the same item. That way if one person is disappointed they can swap.
    Of course, one of the problems with restaurant recipes is that if McEwen’s adds less sage to their stuffing and more cheese to their casserole some people will say they are using too little sage and too much cheese. Well, maybe; does anybody ever complain about too much cheese?
    One of the best parts of the meal was the check – it came to just over $23; that’s with Jinny getting tea and me getting water. For that $23 we had one of the most upscale lunches once can experience in Oxford. We’ll be back and I wish this restaurant well!

Note: You may need to click on this menu twice to read it! The first click will open it in a new window. The second click will magnify it.

A nearly free genetic test that just might save your life

2011-10-03T12:09:00.004-05:00

    Today I’m going to tell you about a nearly free genetic test that could save you a lot of medical grief and in rare instances might even save your life. In fact, chances are you’ve already performed this test on yourself, you just don’t know what the results mean.
    As always, my disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, although I play one at cocktail parties.
    Everybody loves a story about someone else’s grief and misery, so I’ll share mine. Several years ago I saw a weight-loss ad in the paper and decided to go see a fat doctor, who I will call “Dr. Aflac.” For any of you who might be hard of thinking, what’s the Aflac duck say? Quack, quack!
    Dr. Aflac prescribed me phentermine, generic Prozac, and pig thyroid for weight loss which makes sense. Prozac, an SSRI, does promote weight loss for some patients, although not as effectively as the banned fenfluramine. Phentermine, a mild stimulant, has long been known to cause weight loss. And thyroid supplements will increase metabolism, although the body tends to resist efforts to increase thyroid levels by reducing production.
    The drugs were effective, but after a week I started having trouble sleeping and my legs and arms would have spasms, particularly at night. After two weeks it was much worse, and I could only get to sleep by taking some Ativan, which I had in reserve for airplane rides.
    I reported my problem to Dr. Aflac and he assured me it would go away, and that Prozac never caused these types of problems. So I continued two more weeks. By this time I was totally sleepless and could not hold a fork steady enough to get it to my mouth. I had to hold a drink cup with two hands.
    I must say I had lost some weight, though. The inability to keep food on one’s fork is highly conducive to the loss of weight.
    At this point I decided to take my case to the Internet, where I soon found that Prozac is processed by a liver enzyme known as CYP2D6. Somewhere between three and seven percent of the white population suffers from a severe deficiency of this enzyme. I suspect I produce virtually none of it. At the other end of the spectrum are a few people who produce a lot of this enzyme.
    It’s possible to take a genetic test for the CYP2D6 enzyme. These tests can cost hundreds of dollars. If you don’t want to spring for a test right away, you can just ask yourself one question: What do you think and how much do you like dextromethorphan? That’s the drug in Robitussen DM. Chances are if you take a good slug you either hate it, feel nothing or find it mildly pleasurable, or absolutely love it.
    If you really love dextromethorphan you are an ultra-metabolizer and have a lot of CYP2D6. It is from this group that people who use dextromethorphan as a drug of abuse come from. So if you have heard of someone “Robi-running” and asked yourself “Why?”, the answer is because they are getting something from the drug that most people don’t.
    If DM is only slightly pleasurable to you, or not particularly pleasurable at all that’s good news. It means you’re normal, and a whole bunch of drugs are going to work for you just like they are supposed to work. Congratulation.
    If you hate dextromethorphan it is likely because you are a poor metabolizer and have little or no CYP2D6. On a personal level, it makes me feel too bad to stay up, but I can’t go to sleep either. My brain feels likes it’s laying atop a razor blade. Ouch!
    So what does all of this mean and why is it important to you? Well, if you have little or no CYP2D6 dozens of drugs – as many as 25 percent – simply aren’t going to work properly for you. In some cases there will be only a slight loss of efficacy, but others can be dangerous. When the doctor prescribed me Prozac for weight loss, my lack of CYP2D6 meant that the drug wasn’t being broken down and removed from my system. Not only wasn’t the drug not working exactly properly, but it was building up in massive amounts because by body couldn’t break it down. Codeine, as a cough syrup, is absolutely ineffective on those without CYP2D6, as the body can’t convert the codeine into the morphine which actually suppresses the cough. (Hydrocodone uses CYP2D6, but provides some effect in those who don’t have the enzyme). SSRIs don’t break down properly without CYP2D6; a few, such as Paxil, can be downright dangerous. Tamoxifen, the breast cancer hormone drug, doesn’t work well or at all without CYP2D6. Obviously knowing whether or not one has the enzyme to process this drug is pretty darn important when deciding on a cancer treatment.
    Many doctors are amazingly unaware of the important of individual liver enzyme profiles in the treatment of patients. I’ve never had one ask me how I felt about dextromethorphan, and I suspect few know of this shortcut to expensive genetic testing.
    Make no mistake, if your life depends on getting the most out of a particular medicine you ought to pay for genetic enzyme profiling. But everyone’s health could be much improved if they would ask and consider their answer to one simple question:
    How does dextromethorphan make you feel?

A football thumping likely ahead, but Alabama has already beaten us for innovation

2011-10-01T19:35:00.007-05:00

    The Ole Miss-Alabama game isn't for two weeks but Alabama has already beaten us.
    Two Alabama conservation enforcement officers have started a company called Holy Smoke LLC to fill the need of people who wish to be cremated and then have their ashes mixed with gunshot and used to shoot things. What a concept!    For $850, one pound of ash will be loaded into 250 shotgun shells. The ash is mixed in the cups that hold the shot, not the powder. The person you designate can then go out and shoot things. blowing your ashes around the countryside. Experts suggest not eating any meat from around where the shot enters, though.
    "This isn't a joke. It's a job that we take very seriously," he said. "This is a reverent business. We take the utmost care in what we do and show the greatest respect for the remains."
    Okay Mississippi businessmen, it's time to put your thinking caps on!
    Here's the link: Company will load loved ones' ashes into ammunition

University speakers compare Forward Rebels to violent segregationists; Dan Jones basks in it

2011-09-30T19:25:00.000-05:00

    I just returned from a ceremony honoring James Silver, who was a professor from the 1940s until 1965. He was a supporter of integration and was essentially chased from the Ole Miss campus. I wrote about the plans a couple of days ago.
    I didn't think my opinion of Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones could get any lower, but it has. Journalism professor Curtis Wilke described attacks on Silver by the Klan-like Rebel Undereground newspaper and Citizens Council. He praised Silver for standing up to these attacks. He then introduced Chancellor Dan Jones, and compared the Forward Rebels movement lobbying for a new athletic director to the Rebel Underground, Citizens Council, and segregation supporters, and praised Jones for standing firm.
    Jones had every opportunity to call for civility and point out that the Forward Rebels movement had nothing to do with any of these groups, but he didn't. Instead, he essentially ratified Wilke's comments by saying nothing, and going into a long spiel about about how the Ole Miss administration today stands firm against efforts to interfere with academic freedom. It was an obvious allusion to efforts by alumni to get Jones to fire athletic director Pete Boone. Earth to Dan Jones: The athletic director is not an academic post!
    William Winter, who has written a letter against Forward Rebels, then gave a fine talk as he always does. But when he described those who attempted to prevent Hodding Carter from speaking on campus he referred to them as "Forward Rebel types."
    The purpose of Forward Rebels is to push for improvements in the athletic department, including the firing of Pete Boone. I'm sure some supporters would like to have the Col. Rebel mascot back; most Ole Miss fans would. But as a practical matter that ship has sailed. That's not what the group is about.
    For university speakers to take advantage of a public forum to paint members of Forward Rebels as Klansmen, Citizens Council members and segregationists is a sign of just how desperate these people are becoming. Dan Jones knows he is losing and is adopting a scorched earth policy is a last-ditch effort to win.
     The Forward Rebels corporate structure is in a bit of disarray right now but the alumni-at-large don't care. There are almost 6,000 Facebook supporters and growing who support getting rid of Pete Boone and making other changes. If Dan Jones keeps up his despicable behavior he may need to go, too.
     It's time for Curtis Wilke, Dan Jones and William Winter to offer formal apologies for these outrageous comments. A failure to do so would be an act of incivility.

National press interpreting Jones letter as claim of physical threats

2011-09-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

In Chancellor Dan Jones' recent "civility" letter to alumni he claims to have been "threatened." As usual with proclamations appearing over Jones' name, we would do well to analyze this statement.

The Ole Miss family may not be aware, however, that as a part of this orchestrated campaign, I have received threats, promising that if I do not remove Pete Boone, "It is going to get real ugly," and threatening to expand the attacks to other athletics employees.

    Note carefully the chancellor's words. He says that he has received threats, the threat being that if he doesn't do the right thing and remove Pete Boone, "It is going to get real ugly." These people also are "threatening" to expand the attacks to other athletics employees.
     I don't believe a reasonable person engaged in a heated political debate would consider the phrase "It is going to get real ugly," to be a threat of physical violence. Yet Jones' letter, if not read carefully, leaves the impression that he or Boone have been physically threatened.
    That's certainly how the some of the national media have taken it. Take, for example, this blurb from the CBSsports.com website:

Something to chew on ... and spit out: Houston Nutt is merely on the hot seat at Mississippi. Mississippi chancellor Dan Jones released this letter Thursday saying he has been threatened and it could "get real ugly" if he doesn't fire AD Pete Boone.

See how this media outlet didn't manage to parse Jones' letter exactly right? The "threat" Jones alleges is that if he doesn't fire Boone it could "get real ugly." CBS interpreted it to mean that he had been told things could "get real ugly" AND he had been threatened. A perfectly understandable error given the way Jones' letter was written.
USAToday reports the following:

Some Mississippi fans are not happy with Pete Boone and they are showing it by making threats against the school's athletic director and other officials.

     An ESPN blog reported on the "threats" but then managed to report that the threat was that if Boone wasn't fired things would "get real ugly."
    There are, sadly, a number of other media outlets that have interpreted Jones' letter as suggesting that "threats" have been made. When used without the explanation that the "threat" is that things will get "real ugly" the assumption is that those threats are threats of physical harm.
    I had not written one word about any of the athletic department mess prior to receiving the chancellor's "civility" letter yesterday. When I read it I was outraged.
    When people argue over policy, it is not uncommon for someone to warn that things might "get real ugly." For Jones to come out bleating that he has been threatened has resulted in harm to the entire Ole Miss community. It was an act of incivility.
    A friend of mine posted the following on his Facebook wall yesterday. I realize Ole Miss is controlled by a few big donors these days, but little people matter, too:

I've languished over this decision. I've been in the UMAA Foundation since I graduated law school, and did the 110% club for several years when the economy allowed me to do it. I love Ole Miss, but I can no longer support our leaders. Boone's radio interview and Jones' letter have convinced me beyond any doubt that the status quo will continue, and they only want my money with no accountability. I can no longer do it in good faith.

From my observation of Jones, he is obsessed with "being the winner" in any confrontation. Jones could have sent out a letter stating, "I'm sorry I wasn't listening well enough. Let's see if we can get everybody at the table and work this out." (Bogus, but it might have defused things). Instead, he insulted and denigrated those who disagreed with him and made a bunch of bogus claims.
Jones has managed to convince a large portion of the national media that we're all down here threatening physical violence against each other. To the best of my knowledge it's not true, and by doing this our chancellor has done great harm to Ole Miss.

Chancellor's demand for civility was itself dishonest and uncivil

2011-09-29T18:07:00.001-05:00

Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones has decided to engage in a bit of uncivil discourse.
Jones disguises his lack of civility in a letter in which he accuses others of being "uncivil." Here is Jones' letter:

Now let's analyze Jones' most uncivil letter. I say it is uncivil because there is barely an honest statement to be found in it. Jones repeatedly says things which he knows not to be true.

Jones says there have been "anonymous, malicious and public attacks" on Pete Boone. Well, if the attacks have been public they certainly haven't been anonymous.

Alumni involved with a group called Forward Rebels has been calling for Boone's firing for some time and apparently members of this group have met with the chancellor. Since he knows who they are, they cannot be anonymous. A few financial backers have chosen not to have their names bandied about, which is understandable. But the group has almost 6,000 public supporters on Facebook. Twenty-two of my friends are currently friends of Forward Rebels, and I must say they are the cream of the crop of my friend list when it comes to education and community leadership. Those who are complaining about Pete Boone are not anonymous.

Jones says Boone has been the target of "malicious" attacks. Is he suggesting that someone has tied cans to the tail of Boone's cat? I know of no malicious attacks on Pete Boone. Certainly some have been very vocal in asking that he be fired. He holds a public position at a public university. The fact that one requests his ouster publicly does not make one "malicious."

Jones then goes on to say that to maintain accreditation the university must operate “free from undue influence from political, religious and other external bodies.” The suggestion that the university might lose its accreditation for firing an athletic director with the worst football team in its conference is beyond stupid. Either Jones has some type of mental impairment or he thinks we do. Every recipient of this letter should be insulted by this false, outlandish and uncivil claim.

Jones makes it clear that he really doesn't care what the alumni think; he's going to do what he wants to do. Oh, and those who disagree with him are uncivil and don't love Ole Miss.

The chancellor calls for civility, and yet his falsehood-filled letter is the height of incivility. "Will we remain civil, reasonable people?" he asks.

With ham-handed leadership like his, how can we?

Ole Miss to honor professor who once was shunned

2011-09-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

    My dad has told me for as long as I can remember that his favorite professor at Ole Miss was a man by the name of Jim Silver.
    I think my Dad said Silver assigned a book entitled Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy to one of his classes. He had Silver for several. It was a Utopian novel that made an impression on him. "All I know is he made us think," said my Dad.
    Silver later got himself into peck of political trouble by not only supporting the integration of Ole Miss, but by writing a book entitled, Mississippi: The Closed Society. About the time this book was published Dad and his good friend, the late Holly Springs attorney John Kennedy, were on campus one day and decided to eat lunch at the Paul B. Johnson cafeteria. When they entered they soon saw their favorite professor, sitting at a table alone.
    They quickly joined him and heard his tales of woe. There was a time when he would have been surrounded with students. He had been a popular professor. But those days were gone. He had become a pariah, and soon left Ole Miss for Notre Dame.
    Ole Miss is going to honor this once-and-again-popular professor with the dedication of Silver Pond, a new, man-made pond on campus. This dedication will be from 4 to 4:40 p.m. this Friday, September 28. I don't know where this pond is, but I dare say wherever it is that is where the dedication will be. Following this will be a program called "Opening the Closed Society" in the Overby Center, which is connected to the journalism school, next to the old Law School (or in the old law school, depending on how you view these things).
    Although my Dad's health is okay, he is weak, and getting him to do things is a trial. But I am trying my best to convince him to come down and connect with a few of his old classmates and pay tribute to his favorite prof. He's 88, and there aren't that many of of his crew left, but a few are still kicking. So here's hoping he comes, and if not, I'll likely come in his stead.
One of my goals with this blog is to publicize things to do. Okay, here's something to do!

It's a Food Frenzy at the Powerhouse Thursday night

2011-09-28T09:09:00.003-05:00

    The Eating Oxford blog is sponsoring the second annual Food Frenzy at the Powerhouse this Thursday, September 29. Admission is $10 and includes food samples from a number of area restaurants. So apparently you can go and make a meal of it.
    Seventy-five percent of funds raised through ticket sales will go to the local food pantry.
    From the Eating Oxford blog:

It’s finally here! The EatingOxford.com Two-Year Anniversary event is happening this Thursday, September 29, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at The Powerhouse. Many of you have already secured your tickets online at www.EatingOxford.com or at The Powerhouse. You can also purchase them at the door on the night of the event for only $10.00! Don’t forget that 75% of your admission price will be donated to The Pantry.

An on-site food-themed raffle will occur every 30 minutes, so bring a few extra dollars to win some fabulous prizes such as gift certificates for Ravine and Tacky Shack; gift packages from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Old Thyme Farms; and a variety of unique cookbooks!

There are a few restaurants that I’m waiting to hear final word from, but as of today, you can start gearing up to sample delicioiusness from the following local eateries (in alphabetical order):

6 ‘ N Tubbs
Colonel’s Quarters at Castle Hill
Ferdinand’s
Honey Bee Bakery
Hullabaloo
Lusa Pastry Cafe
Main Squeeze
Mink’s On the Park
Olivia’s Food Emporium
Panini
Petra Mediterranean Cuisine
Proud Larry’s
Rice & Spice
Tacky Shack
Taylor Grocery
Turkuaz Cafe

It sounds like a lot of fun. If the kids get their homework finished we'll make a night of it!