Summer Project.... "The Room"

This past weekend we worked on "The Room." Our Son is leaving for Grad School in a few days and will probable not return in the future to live in our home for any extended period of time. He is going to Grad School in the Midwest and will probably spend summers going to summer school and then on to a teaching job. I want to emphasize he will always be welcome at home. As a result, he, my wife and I spent the weekend cleaning out his room. I remember after I left my parents home for good they later moved and a lot of my stuff from childhood was lost or thrown away. So we decided not to let that happen with our son. The tree of us therefore cleaned out his room and set up four stacks of items, the goodwill stack, the trash stack, the Grad School stack and the "keep" stack.I inherited a lot of Oregon Duck clothing in the process.I also go my "Bush Country" tee shirt back. Our son is a "pack rat," as I am, so this was a major project. There were stacks of newspapers where he had written letters to the editor or columns from his college newspaper. There were letters and college applications, toys from childhood, cub scout stuff and all the things we collect growing up. It was a trip down memory lane. It was hard work but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Sunday night we took him to Callahan's Lodge for dinner. Saturday night we watched the DVD of "Warm Springs" about FDR and his fight with polio before he became President. Sunday night we watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's". We also watched with my wife "Memory's of a Geisha" (very slow).
It has cooled off here in Southern Oregon and there is a chill in the air and it is still July!

Is Oregon's New Basketball Arena Dead?

From today's Oregonian Newspaper

Plans to build a basketball arena at the University of Oregon began taking shape in 2002, the year the Ducks were one win from the Final Four of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Since then, progress on a facility has slowed, and one important donor suggests the project might have to be scaled back -

The University of Oregon's plans to break ground on a $160 million basketball arena in January and open the state-of-the-art venue by 2009 appear to be in jeopardy, if not dead. Officials had expected to complete designs for the 405,000-square-foot arena complex this month and present them to boosters in the hope of raising enough money to complete the project, what would be the most expensive undertaken by an Oregon university.

Instead, the most significant development in July was the departure of associate athletic director Jim Bartko, who was the project manager and has taken a position in the University of California athletic department.

One of Bartko's primary duties was to act as a liaison to Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who would be counted on to make a sizable donation to the project, as he did to the $90 million renovation of Autzen Stadium, which was completed in 2002.

That year, the university announced plans to build a basketball arena to replace McArthur Court, the second-oldest Division I arena in the country. Since then, the project has been fraught with multiple delays.

The school's original timeline called for construction to begin in summer 2004 and be completed by fall 2006. But the only statements from the university about the arena in recent months have been a short news release in May stating the project still is in motion and several "no comment" responses to further inquiries.

UO President Dave Frohnmayer has appointed himself spokesman for the project but has declined interview requests. UO athletic director Bill Moos also won't speak about the project.


The closest person to the proposed 12,500-seat arena project who has discussed it with The Oregonian is booster Pat Kilkenny, the owner of Arrowhead General Insurance Agency in San Diego who last fall donated $1.5 million for the development of the conceptual design plans. Those plans can be viewed online under current projects at www.tvaarchitects.com.

Officials said at the time of the donation that they hoped to have the final plans set by late July to present to potential donors. They hoped to raise enough money to break ground by January 2007.

Kilkenny confirmed July 18 that the plans have not been completed and that the ambitious timetable for the project probably would be altered.

'09 is off the table, would be my best guess," Kilkenny said.

About $40 million of the arena project is expected to come from state-issued bonds.

Kilkenny said Bartko's departure hurts most because of the work Bartko had put into the project.

"It does put them in a tough spot," Kilkenny said.

Through a Nike spokesperson, Knight said he had not contributed to the project.

Still, Kilkenny said the project, which would replace 79-year-old McArthur Court, is anything but dead.

"I still absolutely believe this will get built," he said.......

(to read the rest of the article and related articles in today's Oregonian click on the title above for a link.)

I have been told from sources with good contacts that the Basketball Arena will not be built as long as Bill Moos is Athletic Director because of the well publicized fact he and Phil Knight do not get along. I hope that is not true , we need to make the baseball arena a reality!

Football Magazine

If you have been reading this blog for any time you know I am a big fan of University of Oregon Pac 10 Football and look at lots of football magazines this time of year. Today I picked up at Fred Meyer one of the best I have ever seen called "Phil Steele's Pac 10 Football 2006 Preview" It has a ton of information and a full page "depth chart" for each team two and three deep. The back side of the depth chart page has lots of team information and stats making it perfect for cutting out and putting it in a plastic protector and taking it to the game.Each team has six pages of small print information and charts. There are not a lot of glossy photographs to take up space. A perfect magazine for the "big Fan!"

Walter Cronkite created Fox News

Click on the title above for a link to the American Spectator story by Jeffry Lord. THANKS UNCLE WALTER!

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland Oregon is a city about 22 miles South of our home in Medford Oregon on I-5. My wife and I were married in Ashland and we love to go there for plays, movies, shopping, restaurant's, Lithia Park ( where we were married) and their 4th of July parade. Ashland is Oregon's "Carmel" without the beach and is the home to the Ashland Shakespearian Festival and Southern Oregon University. Many "rich" Californians have retired there to escape, well, California. They sell their home in California and use half the equity to buy a new one in Ashland and then live off their other half of the equity and dabble in the arts. It's an "artsy craftsy" sort of place. A few years ago my van was spit on over there because it had a "support the troops" bumper sticker. The following "letter to the editor" in today's Medford Mail Tribune hits the nail on the head.

The back ground is that some one has a Hummer2 in Ashland with a large American flag on it and in another case an Ashland bank flies a large American Flag out front and both have upset many in Ashland. The letter is as follows:

The hypocrisy of the left, particularly here in Ashland, the hotbed of diversity and tolerance, is breathtaking.

God forbid that a business identify itself by flying a clean, untattered and officially scaled U.S. flag for fear of upsetting Ashland's sensibilities. Have you seen the flag flown by the city in the Plaza? It's tired and faded, much like the left's political arguments. And how is it OK for businesses to fly Mexican or Tibetan prayer flags or display Che Guevara banners in front of their establishments, but not an American flag?

Ashland's streets are filled with politically correct and very expensive Volvo XC90s, BMW X5s, VW Touaregs and Porsche Cayennes whose EPA mileage ratings are less than 20 percent better than those of the Hummer2 scorned, mocked and vandalized by Ashland elitists. And don't you just love the crowd of old, smoky, leaky Volvos in Ashland; the ones with the "Kill Your TV" and "Free Tibet" bumper stickers belching noxious tailpipe fumes? Isn't that an inconvenient truth? Bill Bartlett, Ashland

Headline I would like to see!

ANREA YATES FOUND NOT GUILTY, EX CHILDREN COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT!

South Medford High Football

This week I got in the mail an order form for my South Medford High School Season Football ticket. My kids have long ago graduated from high school but I still love the "Friday Night Light". South only has four home game this year. The OSAA (Oregon Schools Athletic Association) changed the school classifications this year and South will have to travel more to play larger schools in the Eugene area. No more games with Eagle Point, Crater (Central Point) Klamath Falls or Ashland. The new schedule is as follows:


SOUTH MEDFORD PANTHERS
Fri 9/8 @ Summit Storm 7pm
Fri 9/15 Tualatin Timberwolves 7pm
Fri 9/22 @ Sunset Apollos 7pm
Fri 9/29 Wilson Trojans 7pm
Fri 10/6 @ Sheldon Irish 7pm *
Fri 10/13 South Eugene Axemen 7pm *
Fri 10/20 @ Grants Pass Cavemen 7pm *
Fri 10/27 Roseburg Indians 7pm *
Fri 11/3 @ North Medford Black Tornado 7pm * (Beat North!)
(* League games)

Go South!

Happy Birthday Blog or is it Happy Anniversary?

Tomorrow will be the 1 year anniversary of this blog. When I started this electronic "Soap Box" a year ago I did it on a lark and now I love it. I have always been very opinionated and now I have an outlet so I don't need to bore my friends and family. Ok Ok I still do that but less.

Left Wing "Good Morning America!"

Every morning I am amazed at the left wing slant of "Good Morning America" on ABC. This is particularly true of the first half hour of the show. I only watch it as my wife likes it, and gets up before me, and turns our bedroom TV on to the show, following the local early morning news. If I got up first, would turn the TV to FOX NEWS. In any case, this morning in the first segment they were talking about the war between Hezbollah and Israel and used the term "Cease Fire" at least 20 times in 5 minutes. It is a liberal knee jerk response everytine we are killing the enemy, in this case Hezbollah. I am sure if they were around two days after Pearl Harbor they would be calling for a "Cease Fire" between the US and Japan. However what would you expect when the show has Mario Cuomo's kid, Chris as a fill in co host and George Stephanopoulos as a political commentator. Give me a break!

Rough Riders

Dvd Talk has a great review of the TV mini series Rough Riders directed by John Milius now on DVD. Click on the title above for a link. Great movie about TR.

"American Graffiti"

During the summer I always like to watch "Summer Movies." Last week I watched "Summer of 42" and yesterday I watched "American Graffiti" a movie which takes place near the end of summer during a night before two new high school grads are to fly back east to college for the first time. It takes place in 1962. I was in high school on the west coast of the United States in 1962 and this movie is one of the best movies ever made to recreate a time and place. A time before the Kennedy assassination, the build up in Vietnam, student unrest and the excesses of the later 1960's. It was a time before the storm when it wasn't the 1950's but not yet the 1960's. Rock music was still innocent and pure. A time before lost innocence. It is almost a sociological study of the time and of the car culture of American teenagers living on the west coast of the United States. I see myself, my friends and my classmates in the characters in this movie. The end of the movie is haunting when you learn what happened to each of the teenage boys. I first saw this movie in 1973 when it first came out. At that time it was only 11 years removed from 1962 but it seemed a lot longer after I had been through college the army and then Law school. It is now 44 years since 1962... how time flies. The John Milner character was named after movie Director John Milius who was a friend of the screen writers at the time. I still have the sound track from the movie , now on CD, and still love to play it. Harrison Ford has a small part near the end of the movie when Cindy Williams is in his hot rod on the way to the drag race. This scene was cut from the theatrical release of the movie to shorten the running time but put back in for the DVD release. In it Harrison Ford starts singing "Some Enchanted Evening" from "South Pacific" to make fun of Williams who will not sit next to him because she is in love with the Ron Howard character. Any way, this led me to watch "South Pacific" next.... see post below. For a link to the Internet Movie Data Base page for "American" Graffiti" click on the title above.

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"South Pacific"

This last weekend I escaped from hot Medford Oregon to the South Pacific when I rewatched my DVD of the Movie "South Pacific" on my new high definition widescreen TV. The movie has never looked better. The movie is a love story about a French Planter (Rossano Brazsi) who falls in love with a US. Navy Nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) during WWII. The movie is one of my favorite Musicals. The movie takes place during WWII but it has a 1950's flavor to it. It was a Broadway Musical during much of the 1950's and was brought to the screen in 1958. When I first saw the movie as a kid I went for the WWII story and hated the music. Today the music is the best part of the movie and play. Who can forget such songs as "There is noting like a Dame," "Bloody Mary," "Some Enchanted Evening," I'm Gonna Wash that Man Righ Ota My Hair," "Younger Than Springtime" and "Happy Talk." My favorite is Mitzi Gaynor on the beach singing "A wonderful Guy" For me It doesn't get any better than that...
"I'm as normal as blueberry pie.
No more a smart little girl with no heart,
I have found me a wonderful guy!

I am in a conventional dither,
With a conventional star in my eye.
And you will note there's a lump in my throat
When I speak of that wonderful guy!

I'm as trite and as gay as a daisy in May,
A clich'e comin' true!
I'm bromidic and bright
As a moon-happy night
Pourin' light on the dew!

I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
High as a flag on the Fourth of July!
If you'll excuse an expression I use,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love with a wonderful guy!"

A real Show Stopper and a great way to beat the heat.

Click on the title above for a link to the Internet Movie Data Base page for "South Pacific"

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"Wold Trade Center" by Oliver Stone "a Masterpiece"

If Brent Bozell likes it it must be Good.

By L. Brent Bozell III
Jul 21, 2006

"You kept me alive!"

I wasn't skeptical when I was invited to a private screening of Oliver Stone's upcoming "World Trade Center" movie. I was downright cynical. As a conservative I've long considered so much of his work the bane of my existence. From "Platoon" to "Salvador" to "Born on the Fourth of July" to "JFK," and let's not forget last year's ghastly "Alexander," Stone has delivered one left-wing screed after another, specifically intended, I'm convinced, to bring my blood to the boiling point. When I learned a few months ago that he was working on a project about 9/11, I fully expected another tiresome, loathsome Bush-lied-thousands-died production designed to titillate the Michael Moore left-wing fringe.


'World Trade Center' A Masterpiece

It is why, when the movie was ready for screening and my friend told me I was going to like it, I thought he was mad. But as a personal favor, I went. And by the time I digested that triumphant line, "You kept me alive!" I was ready to put everything I'd previously felt aside.

Let me be unequivocal. Stone has delivered a masterpiece.

You kept me alive.

I wanted to preview this movie free from any outside influences, so I made it a point not to read anything about it in advance. I didn't know what viewers surely will know, namely that this film deals with the successful rescue of two trapped policemen in the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center buildings. The emotional roller coaster was that much more pronounced for me, since I didn't know how the ordeal would end, but it makes no difference, really. When Officer John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) emerges from the rubble, is rushed to the hospital and, in the pandemonium, briefly is reunited with his wife, Donna (Maria Bello), greeting her with those words, you will weep, too.

It would be enough simply to plumb the story of the extraordinary rescue of these poor men, buried up to their necks for almost a day in broken concrete, twisted metal, dust and crushed glass -- the shattered, smoldering remains of what once were two proud skyscrapers, and now had become a shocking testimony to the reality that a worldwide terrorist enterprise successfully had attacked America. Add some awesome special effects -- ever wondered what it must sound, look and even feel like having a 110-story building come crashing down on you? -- and you'd have a box-office hit.

But Stone chose to dig deeper. Most of the movie focuses on the two policemen, McLoughlin and Will Jimeno (played by Michael Pena, and here let's also recognize the heart-wrenching performance of Maggie Gyllenhaal as his wife, Allison), pinned under the devastation, with only their dusty faces partially visible, talking to each other, using their voices and their words as the only instruments available in their darkened tomb to keep each other alive, as their crushed bodies slowly seek surrender from the physical agony of countless injuries.

What keeps them alive are the very footers of civilized society that our cynical, enlightened popular culture is seemingly so desperate to discard: fraternal love, devotion to family, allegiance to country and faith in God. Each element is powerfully developed, not just in the officers' dialogue, but also in the cutaways to the battered co-workers and the two anguished families anxiously praying for a miracle, in the quiet resolve of the former Marine who dons his uniform and enters Ground Zero, ultimately to make the discovery, and most poignantly in Jimeno's visions as he teeters on the brink of death. A Catholic, Jimeno sees not an ambiguous Hollywood representation of a higher power, but the sacred heart of Jesus. It is -- this being a true story, it was -- these values that kept these two heroic policemen tethered to life.

You kept me alive.

After 9/11, we pledged as a nation that this atrocity was something we would never forget. We declared that loudly on our bumper stickers, on our license plates, on our billboards and in our corporate advertisements -- a national "post-it" note on our collective conscience, as it were. Yet only five years later the fires of purpose, stoked by a nation's sorrow, rage and commitment to justice, are waning. For a brief moment after that fateful day, there was a sense of national unity unseen since the glory days of the Greatest Generation a half-century before. Now where are we?

"World Trade Center" pleads with us to remember that moment and to keep it alive. It is not appropriate for the very young, of course. It is appropriate, indeed necessary, for everyone else, just as it is appropriate, and necessary, for Stone's critics now to salute him, and thank him for the gift he's given his country.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center.

Long Hot Summer!

As the temperature hovered over 100 in Southern Oregon ( and was not cooling off at night) I had a nice weekend. Friday night my wife and I met some friends up at Callahan's Lodge for dinner. Callahan's is up in the Siskyou mountains on the I-5 pass going over the Mountains into California near Mount Ashland. They had live music consisting of a guitar player who sang folk music. We had a good meal with pleasant conversation. On Saturday I got up early ,for me, and did my yard work before it got too hot. My electric lawn mower died and I had to order a new one from Sears. In the afternoon I drove to Fred Myer and got a college football magazine and some scrap book supplies. I spent the rest of the day putting together a photo scrap book of our sons college graduation from Willamette University and our trip to the University of North Dakota checking out their graduate school in History. Sunday I took it easy and watch several DVD movies. I watched American Graffiti and South Pacific. More on them later. Our daughter called from Washington DC and we had a nice talk. She called from a park in DC and you could hear kids playing in the background. Of course no Sunday is complete with out the Sunday papers... The Oregonian and the Medford Mail Tribune. Our son had to work.... he is working at Bi-Mart this summer as a cashier as he has for the last three Summers. When he got home he BBQed some of the Trout he caught last weekend. In less than a month he will take off for Grad school. All the stores already have their "Back to School" merchandise out and there are all kinds of ads in the newspaper on "dorm room" merchandise. They never had that when I was in college.

72 Virgins ?

It was recently announced that Abu Musab al Zarqawi was killed in Iraq by American forces.

George Washington met him at the Pearly Gates. He slapped him across the face and yelled, "How dare you fight against the nation I helped conceive.

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, "You wanted to end our liberties but you failed!"

James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, "This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!"

Thomas Jefferson was next, beat Zarqawi with a long cane and snarled, "It was evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of Independence."

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the terrorist leader.

As Zarqawi lay bleeding and in pain, an Angel appeared. Zarqawi wept and said, "This is not what you promised me."


The Angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in Heaven. What did you think I said?"

June Allyson Dies at age 88

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- June Allyson, the sunny on-screen "perfect wife" of James Stewart, Van Johnson and other movie leading men, has died, her daughter, Pamela Allyson Powell, said Monday. She was 88.

During World War II, American GIs pinned up photos of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable, but June Allyson was the girl they wanted to come home to. Petite and blonde with fresh-faced optimism, she had the image of an ideal sweetheart and wife.

I loved her with Jimmy Stewart. Click on the title above for the CNN obituary.

Hot time In Medford Oregon

It's a hot time in Medford Oregon. Today's forecast is for 107 degrees and 104 on Friday and 109 on Sunday. How about an ice tea. Have fun out at the Jackson County Fair!

241 U.S Marines Killed by Hezbollah

On October 23, 1983 241 American Marines were killed in their barracks in Beirut Lebanon by Hezbollah. Hit them again harder Israel! Next time some European or American liberal talk about the lack of "proportionality" in Israel's attack on Hezbollah remember those 241 Marines. No "cease fire" until they are wiped off the face of the earth!

Debkafile.com

In following the war in Israel and Lebanon I often turn to Debkafie. DEBKAfile is a self-supporting Internet publication devoted to independent investigative reporting and forward analysis in the fields of international terrorism, intelligence, international conflict, Islam, military affairs, security and politics. DEBKAfile comes out seven days a week in English and Hebrew.

Some claim it has a " Israeli hawkish" point of view and some claim it has links to the Israeli secret service the Mussad. In any case you get information here that is not available from other news sources. (Click on the title above for a link)

Summer Weekend

It was a nice summer weekend in the Rogue Valley. The temperature was in the middle 90's so I did my yard work early Saturday morning and washed the car. Our son took his grandmother (wives mother) fishing and the each caught the limit of 5 rainbow trout. My wife and I went to see the movie Devil Wears Prada and loved it. I am a sucker for movies about young college grads who go to the big city and their dreams come true. Sunday night our son and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean (PartII) and I hated it. I love Pirate movies but I want my pirates to fight other pirates or the British not "Davy Jones" fish people. ( Wasn't Davy Jones a teen rock star :)) In any case it was very dark and not that much fun. And this from a guy who's favorite ride at Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean. On Sunday afternoon I though I would take a break from watching the war in the Middle East on FOX NEWS and watched my DVD of 13 Days the Kevin Cosner movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The movie brought back a lot of memories. I was in high school at the time and watched many of the public events unfold on TV and was very much of a new junkie then as I am today. However the movie just reinforced my opinion that JFK was a weakling. Although I thought Bobby Kennedy came off very well and I kinda liked him. As I was watching the movie I kept thinking, JFK will be dead in little more than a year and Bobby was killed in 1968. Now, 1968 was a year I will not ever forget. Now, back to work in 2006.

Apple Does Not Fall Far From The Tree..... Morton and Mark Halperin

If you wonder why ABC News and Good Morning America are so Anti Bush this article gives a good explination. The following information by Mark Finkelstein

Morton Halperin was once a name in the news. In 1969, then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger named Halperin to the NSA. But soon thereafter Kissinger suspected it was the dovish Halperin who leaked to the NY Times the fact that the US was secretly bombing Cambodia. The FBI began tapping his phone, and Halperin was soon gone from NSA. Perhaps Halperin's biggest claim to fame is the fact that Pres. Nixon put him on his 'Enemies List.' A red badge of courage, no pun intended, off which a person can no doubt eat for a lifetime in liberal circles.

Halperin remains active by politically, serving as a senior fellow at the 'Center for American Progress.' As detailed by the invaluable Discoverthenetworks, CAP is a George Soros-funded organization founded on the risible principle that American colleges and universities are dominated by . . . conservatives, and that it is "time for progressive students to start winning the battle of ideas."

In an op-ed column in today's LA Times entiled Bush: Worse Than Nixon, Halperin claims to find disturbing similarities between the Nixon and Bush administrations. He writes:

"It's hard not to notice the clear similarities between then and now. Both the Nixon and Bush presidencies rely heavily on the use of national security as a pretext for the usurpation of unprecedented executive power. Now, just as in Nixon's day, a president mired in an increasingly unpopular war is taking extreme steps, including warrantless surveillance, that many people believe threaten American civil liberties and violate the Constitution. Both administrations shroud their actions in secrecy and attack the media for publishing what they learn about those activities."

But bad as was the Nixon administration in Halperin's eyes, he concludes the Bush administration . . . is even worse.

"Though Nixon's specific actions might have been more obviously illegal and more "corrupt" (in the sense that they were designed to advance his own career over his rivals), President Bush's claim of nearly limitless power — including the ability to engage in a range of activities that pose a fundamental threat to the constitutional order and to our civil liberties — overshadows all comparisons."

His over-heated conclusion? That Pres. Bush poses "a challenge to our constitutional order and civil liberties that, in the end, constitutes a far greater threat than the lawlessness of Richard Nixon."

In any case, Halperin is perhaps better-known today as father of Mark Halperin, Director of the Political Unit of ABC News. As detailed by Wikipedia here:

"In October of 2004, in the midst of the presidential election, Halperin sent a memo to ABC News staff, directing them not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable." This was interpreted by many as an instruction to favor Kerry in ABC News coverage. He justified this stance by claiming that both Kerry and Bush used 'distortion' in their campaign, but that Kerry's distortion was not 'central to his efforts to win.'"

Seems that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

Top 25 Figures in Oregon Sports By John Canzano

In today's Sunday Oregonian John Canzano lists the " Oregon's 25 Most influential Figures in Oregon Sports". Portland Mayor Tom Potter heads the list but Phil Knight comes in at number 2. I have listed his entrys that may be of interest to Oregon Duck fans. The comments in (parentheses) and the bold lettering are mine and not Canzano's.
Here is Canzano's list:


1. Tom Potter (NR): Portland mayor, 64, has big-time clout when it comes to the Major League Baseball in Portland and goes down as the go-to guy for all parties in the Trail Blazers ownership saga. Potter's influence extends to PGE Park and other popular venues. (Not of interest to this downstate Oregon Duck fan but I included him because he is #1)

2. Philip H. Knight (1): Nike founder, 68, has a net worth of $6.9 billion, buying him huge influence. Donated more than half of the $90 million needed to expand Autzen Stadium. Knight is now the pivotal player in Ducks basketball-arena project.(He was Number 1 last year)

4. Mike Bellotti (7): University of Oregon football coach, 55, has a contract that guarantees him a percentage of Ducks season-ticket sales revenue. Holiday Bowl appearance locks up his status as the state's most influential coach. (Mike is moving up after being number 7 last year)

6. Tom Jernstedt (3): Native Oregonian and NCAA executive vice president holds two degrees from UO. He negotiated the NCAA's $6 billion television contract, runs the men's basketball tournament, and is a board member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

8. Bob De Carolis (5): Oregon State athletic director, 53, spearheaded the $80 million "Raising Reser" stadium-expansion project and successfully fought off Notre Dame for baseball coach Pat Casey's services. ( He beat out Moos who is # 12 below)

11. Mike Riley (8): Oregon State football coach, 53, saw consecutive bowl-game streak snapped with 5-6 record in 2005.( At least Bellotti is number 4 above)

12. Bill Moos (11): The 55-year-old UO athletic director has icy relationship with top booster Knight. His legacy now rests with shaky basketball-arena project.

13. Jay John (16): OSU basketball coach, 48, needs to break the school's 16-year NCAA Tournament drought to increase clout. ( Beats out Kent who is number 23 below)

14. Vin Lananna (NR): UO director of track and field has Knight's backing and is rumored to be the frontrunner to someday replace Moos as athletic director.

16. Joey Harrington (14): Former Ducks' quarterback, now with the Miami Dolphins, is so popular in Oregon that he should run for governor (What is his political party?)

21. Peter Jacobsen (18): Since 1988, Peter Jacobsen Productions has produced more than 250 events ranging from charity events to major national championships.

22. Kevin Love (NR): Lake Oswego High basketball player took on Nike over summer league and now finds himself at the center of fierce UCLA-North Carolina recruiting battle. (One that got away... Where is Singler? I want a Love vs Singler rematch at Mac Court next year)

23. Ernie Kent (17): UO men's basketball coach survived dismal season, but didn't get his annual contract rollover from Moos. Kent-watch begins in October.

(To see the entire list click on the title above for a link)


I know, this is just one man's list and "he doesn't like the Ducks" but it was fun to read anyway.

Mess With Israel at your Peril..... Or the Second Front on the War Against Terrorism

By Uri Dromi International Herald Tribune

Published: July 14, 2006

"JERUSALEM The recent outburst of violence in the Middle East might look like just another one of those cyclical rounds in which Arabs and Israelis grab at each other's throats. Yet at stake is something much more serious: the ability and the willingness of Arabs to accept the existence of Israel in their midst.

Twice in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in 1948 and in 1967, the Arabs tried to destroy Israel. In 1948 there was a premeditated plan resulting in a concerted attack by five armies, charging the newly-born Jewish state from all directions. The Arabs of Haifa, for example, were advised by their "brothers" in Syria to leave temporarily to Beirut, because, they boasted, "in two weeks we will throw the Jews into the sea."

The rest is history. When the war was over, the Jews had the land, and the Arabs of Haifa, their children and their grandchildren became refugees in Lebanon. The anniversary of 1948, which in Israel is celebrated as Independence Day, is mourned by Palestinians as Naqba (Arabic for catastrophe).

The Six Day War was not planned, but was rather an escalation. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt intoxicated himself and the Arab masses into believing that this time Israel could be knocked out. When the guns went silent, the Arabs once again had reasons to regret their aggression, with the West Bank and Gaza in the hands of Israel.

Since then, we have had the Yom Kippur War, the Attrition War, the Lebanon War, two intifadas and endless terror. Israel has not only survived, but has become stronger. It is a vibrant and prospering democracy, with robust economic growth over the last five years, the highest number of books published per capita in the world, and second place in the world in the publication of articles in scientific journals.

The Arabs, in the meantime, with all their aggression, have only brought on their peoples misery and poverty. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan tower above this self-destructiveness as leaders who really served the best interests of their people by making peace with Israel.

So now Hamas and Hezbollah are again feeling Israel's muscles, to see if we have mellowed. It has long been the idea of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that Israel has become weak, like a cobweb that can be easily torn apart, or better, destroyed from within. These people, who mistake democratic life for weakness, just can't grasp the fact that a democracy, if attacked, will always have the upper hand because free and proud people who fight in self defense will not be defeated.

The Arabs' cries of joys over the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers will soon turn into cries of pain, when Israel brings home the message that no, it hasn't mellowed. And when the dust settles, Arabs will once again realize that their aggression against Israel only strengthens the Jewish state and weakens the Arab cause.

Hamas, with its reckless conduct, will move the world community to declare the Palestinian Authority a failed state. Hezbollah, with its arrogance, will stir the rage of the Lebanese people, who will be fed up with its disastrous acts. The Lebanese have already demonstrated their capability vis-à-vis the Syrians, when they had enough of them in Lebanon.

Finally, if I were President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, I would wipe the smile off my face and start worrying. Soon enough, this troublemaking Alawite dictator of Sunni Syria, who has hosted every terrorist organization in the region, will learn the hard way the basic lesson of the Arab-Israeli conflict: If you mess with Israel, Israel wins and you lose.

Uri Dromi is the director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM The recent outburst of violence in the Middle East might look like just another one of those cyclical rounds in which Arabs and Israelis grab at each other's throats. Yet at stake is something much more serious: the ability and the willingness of Arabs to accept the existence of Israel in their midst.

Twice in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in 1948 and in 1967, the Arabs tried to destroy Israel. In 1948 there was a premeditated plan resulting in a concerted attack by five armies, charging the newly-born Jewish state from all directions. The Arabs of Haifa, for example, were advised by their "brothers" in Syria to leave temporarily to Beirut, because, they boasted, "in two weeks we will throw the Jews into the sea."

The rest is history. When the war was over, the Jews had the land, and the Arabs of Haifa, their children and their grandchildren became refugees in Lebanon. The anniversary of 1948, which in Israel is celebrated as Independence Day, is mourned by Palestinians as Naqba (Arabic for catastrophe).

The Six Day War was not planned, but was rather an escalation. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt intoxicated himself and the Arab masses into believing that this time Israel could be knocked out. When the guns went silent, the Arabs once again had reasons to regret their aggression, with the West Bank and Gaza in the hands of Israel.

Since then, we have had the Yom Kippur War, the Attrition War, the Lebanon War, two intifadas and endless terror. Israel has not only survived, but has become stronger. It is a vibrant and prospering democracy, with robust economic growth over the last five years, the highest number of books published per capita in the world, and second place in the world in the publication of articles in scientific journals.

The Arabs, in the meantime, with all their aggression, have only brought on their peoples misery and poverty. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan tower above this self-destructiveness as leaders who really served the best interests of their people by making peace with Israel.

So now Hamas and Hezbollah are again feeling Israel's muscles, to see if we have mellowed. It has long been the idea of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that Israel has become weak, like a cobweb that can be easily torn apart, or better, destroyed from within. These people, who mistake democratic life for weakness, just can't grasp the fact that a democracy, if attacked, will always have the upper hand because free and proud people who fight in self defense will not be defeated.

The Arabs' cries of joys over the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers will soon turn into cries of pain, when Israel brings home the message that no, it hasn't mellowed. And when the dust settles, Arabs will once again realize that their aggression against Israel only strengthens the Jewish state and weakens the Arab cause.

Hamas, with its reckless conduct, will move the world community to declare the Palestinian Authority a failed state. Hezbollah, with its arrogance, will stir the rage of the Lebanese people, who will be fed up with its disastrous acts. The Lebanese have already demonstrated their capability vis-à-vis the Syrians, when they had enough of them in Lebanon.

Finally, if I were President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, I would wipe the smile off my face and start worrying. Soon enough, this troublemaking Alawite dictator of Sunni Syria, who has hosted every terrorist organization in the region, will learn the hard way the basic lesson of the Arab-Israeli conflict: If you mess with Israel, Israel wins and you lose."

Uri Dromi is the director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.

Many years ago when I was young I saw the movie Exodus (1960)directed by Otto Preminger and based upon the Leon Uris Novel. After seeing the movie I read the novel. Since that time I have been a supporter of the people of Israel one of the few true democracies in the Middle East. Israel has bent over backwards to get along with it's Arab neighbors but it hasn't done them much good. There is a reason George Bush called Iran a part of the axis of Evil! Syria should be added to the list.The United States should do all it can to help Israel defeat these evil islamic fascist.THIS IS THE SECOND FRONT ON THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

This week is our Son's birthday. His mother and I took the day off from work to take him on a jet boat trip on the Rogue River from Grants Pass Oregon down the river about 30 miles. We went through "Hells Gate" where John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn filmed "Rooster Gogburn and the Lady" .On the way back the boat stopped at the "OK Corral" for lunch. It was a beautiful day and it was very nice out on the Rogue with the wind in our hair. We did miss our daughter who has made this trip with us before. That night we took him to his favorite restaurant , Bella Union, in Jacksonville. Now that he has graduated from college and is going to grad school in the Midwest who knows how many birthdays we will spend with him in the future. I sure remember that day 20++ years ago. Happy Birthday "Kid"!

To Israel!

Hit them again, harder! Hit Syria... Hit Iran!

Have They No Shame!

House Democrats are using campaign ads that feature the flag draped coffins of American solders killed in Iraq.

Nike's Phil Knight, Oregon's AD Bill Moos, Jim Bartko and Oregon's proposed new Basketball Arena

Ron Bellamy: Oregon's stock fragile with loss of Bartko
By Ron Bellamy
Columnist, The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Tuesday morning, several huge cardboard boxes occupied the floor of Jim Bartko's office in the Casanova Center, in various stages of packing, and Bartko wondered where he could store almost two decades of Oregon memorabilia.

Monday evening, in the Bay Area, Bartko met with some Cal donors, at the home of football coach Jeff Tedford, in his new role as a senior associate athletic director for the Golden Bears. Today, someone will repaint his old office.

By a week from Friday, after going-away parties at Oregon and at Nike, Bartko will officially be done at Oregon after 17 years as a key fundraiser, dealing with major accounts from the late Harold Taylor to, for more than a decade now, Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

If you're an Oregon fan, you have every reason to be worried that Oregon is losing such a vital personal link to its most important donor, at a time when the proposed new basketball arena, a $160 million project that has been Bartko's almost-exclusive focus for more than a year, is still that, a proposal.


Take it from Knight himself.
"I would just say this doesn't help it, doesn't help my involvement with the basketball arena," Knight said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

"He's become more than just somebody to work with," Knight said. "He's become a very close friend. We're going to miss him a lot."

Knight said he'll still work with the UO and its athletic department, and that he is "continuing to talk to Oregon about all kinds of projects, including that one."

However, Knight, who had been targeted as a contributor for a significant portion of the $130 million in private funding for the arena project, said "at the end of the day, you basically want to have your charitable contributions go where they'll be used well, and there are a couple of clouds on that.
"I don't want to be any more specific than that." Oregon athletic director Bill Moos said Tuesday that he continues to be "optimistic that the arena project will go forward," and that he is "certainly hopeful that Phil and Penny Knight will be involved with it." But Moos admitted that his hope of having the arena open for the 2009-10 season "may be unattainable as a goal."


It's fair to say that Bartko can't get enough credit for his role as a liaison to Knight during the latter's 17-month estrangement from his alma mater over the Worker Rights Consortium issue. He kept that relationship alive, and when Knight resumed contributions to Oregon, he was the major donor to the expansion of Autzen Stadium.

More recently, Bartko has been vital during a period of strained relations between Knight and Moos, stemming in part from Moos' display of interest in the Washington job and, last year, his handling of the resignation of track and field coach Martin Smith, which deeply angered Knight, upset that he and Nike were perceived to have forced Smith's ouster.

It's fair to say, too, that to some degree Bartko has been caught in the middle of the tension between Knight and his boss, though Bartko wouldn't acknowledge that as a factor in taking the Cal job, and Moos said he offered Bartko a pay raise - and sole responsibility for fundraising for the new arena and for the Olympic Trials - to remain at Oregon.

"I don't think anything could have kept me here, really," Bartko said. "I'm not leaving because of the tension that has been there, I'm leaving because it's a good opportunity." ....

On the face of it, the Cal job would enhance Bartko's credentials as a candidate for an AD job someday; it's not a job he's sure he wants, however, and whether that opportunity would have come around at Oregon after Moos retires, especially with the presence now of former Oberlin AD Vin Lananna on the staff as director of track and field, is uncertain....

At Oregon, Bartko played roles in the expansion of Autzen, the construction of the Moshofsky Center, the redesign of football uniforms and the innovative marketing of Oregon athletics through billboards, including that banner of Joey Harrington in New York City.

He'll be missed, in ways that can't be quantified. And, alas for Oregon, perhaps in ways that can.

(To read the rest of Bellamy's column click on the title above for a link)

Oregon will Miss Jim Bartko! He did a lot for the Ducks and was a very nice person. I got to know him when he was stationed by the Ducks in Medford in the Duck Athletic Fund office back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Under the Moos administration the Ducks have now closed their Medford office. Now we volunteers are running thinks down here and will be here long after Athletic Director Bill Moos has retired or moved on. Go Ducks!

Big Screen TV

This last weekend I broke down and bought a large screen TV ... a Sony KDFE42A10 42" LCD Rear Projection Television. It is high definition with great sound. It is a wide screen TV so I can play my DVD collection on it. The picture is fantastic on DVD and cable TV looks good even if it is not High Definition. It replaced my old 1983 big screen TV that was one of those front projection sets where a mirror folded out from the front of the cabinet and reflected the picture back on a movie screen in a hutch cabinet on top.. It was very 1980's but it still worked. I couldn't bear to have the beautiful oak hutch cabinet removed so I folded the front mirror into the set and removed the metallic fiberglas screen on top from the hutch and mounted the new TV in it's place. It looks built in and makes a nice TV stand with an enclosed hutch. Last night I watched She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with John Wayne and the colors have never been more vivid. We watched Last of the Mohicans on Sunday. I bought it Friday night from Circuit City.com . I arranged on Saturday for delivery with a guy in a call center in India and it was delivered from the local store on Sunday. Isn't technology great! (click on the title above for a link to Amazon's web page on the TV)

"Peace in Our time"!

North Korean mad man Kim Jong-II and Clinton Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

The American Soldier

Zell Miller former Senator from Georgia:

"Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier.
And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag."

Secretary of State Colin Powell said:

"The world remembers well that several times in the course of this century, the United States was at the height of the world, the height of power. After World War I, or World War II, or even at the end of the Cold War, we could have imposed our will on the world but we didn't. All we ever asked for was the opportunity to raise up our former enemies, and to get back to the business of peace and democracy. The only other thing we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead."

Happy 4th Of July!

This year part of the Wickre family will celebrate The 4th of July in Washington DC and the rest in Ashland Oregon. Tonight we will drive to Ashland and stake out our place on the parade route near the Varsity Theater. They have bathrooms open to the public during the parade and popcorn. On the 4th we will get up early and park above Lithia Park and work our way to the parade route for the 10:15 am parade start. We will take newspapers and breakfast in back packs for the two hours before the parade starts. We will then after the parade head for the band shell in Lithia Park for a picnic. The program at the band shell will start with a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence followed by the Ashland City Band's patriotic concert. We will then head home to watch the DVD of the musical 1776 and then a BBQ at home followed by a trip to Medford's baseball field for fireworks.

The rest of the Wickre family will celebrate the 4th and fireworks near the United States Capital.

What a great and glorious day. Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday USA!

The Spirit of 76

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Declaration of Independence

Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776


The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levey war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Joys of Home Ownership

Last year on the 4th of July weekend our washer and dryer died and we had to get a new set from Sears. This year our hot water heater sprung a very small leak and we made our annual pilgrimage to Sears to get a replacement. Of course, what I really want to buy at Sears is a new big screen TV. Maybe next year. When I was young it never occurred to me that things like garbage disposals and water heaters wear out.

Musical 1776

Tonight my wife and our son went to a local theater production of the musical 1776 at the Camelot Theatre in Talent Oregon. My son and I each own the musical movie 1776 on DVD and watch it every July 4th. Before DVD I would rent the VHS copy of the movie and we would watch it when the kids were younger. It is one of my favorite musicals and the production tonight was wonderful. I was worried that the John Adams actor would be a pale imitation to William Daniels who played Adams in the movie. The local actor did a very good job as did the actress who played Abigail Adams. The singing, set and staging were all very professional. This is a story I never get tired of. I only wish someone would make a dramatic movie of the drafting, debating and signing of the Declaration of Independent. What a way to start the July 4th weekend.