DUCKS WIN "CIVIL WAR"... NO ROSES FOR THE BEAVERS!

The Oregon Ducks 65, the Oregon State Beavers 38 . The Ducks win at Oregon State's Reser Stadium in Corvallis. The win will deny the Beavers the Rose Bowl unless UCLA can beat U$C next week. Revenge for 2000... a great day to be a DUCK. GO DUCKS

Oregonian pregame predictions:

Rachel Bachman 26-21, OSewe
Paul Buker 28-24, OSewe
John Canzano 26-24, OSewe
Aaron Fentress 41-33, Ducks
Ken Goe 32-30, OSewe
Mark Hester 24-20, OSewe
John Hunt 41-31, Ducks
Jeff Smith 34-33, OSewe
Mike Tokito 24-21, OSewe
Ryan White 31-30, OSewe

Las Vegas, Beavs by 3

Canzano's column from the Oregonian last Sunday, November 16

Quote

They (Beavers) must finish this.

They must complete what they've set up.

Anything less would be a monumental failure.

GAME DAY OF "CIVIL WAR" WEEK!

A blogger posted the following this week:

The Civil War,” as a name for a mere intercollegiate rivalry, also cheapens the word “War.” It also dishonors the 500,000 American lives lost in the real American Civil War.

Worse it suggests an ignorance and lack of respect for that event by the faculty, administration, students and alumni of Oregon’s two major universities.

I strongly disagree! As someone who has spent a lifetime studying the American Civil War and who raised a son who is a published author on the Civil War, I know something about that war. Living in Oregon I have traveled to Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run (Manasses) and Fredricksburg in my study of that war. When visiting Fredricksburg I was angry when I saw a housing development on the ground where so many Union soldiers died charging the stone wall. I don't need lectures from anyone on my respect for the Americans who gave their lives so that this country might live.

The author of the blog quoted above is part of the PC crowd that will squeeze the life out of this country. Already they have robbed football teams of their American Indian mascots and now they are going after our "Civil War" rivalry. Don't be surprised if in a few years the NCAA bans the "Civil War" from our in-state game. Can banning the 'Fighting Irish" be far behind? As someone from a Norwegian family I love the Minnesota Vikings mascot.

The Duke of Wellington is often quoted as saying that "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton". There is some dispute as to that quote but there is no doubt that Eisenhower and MacArthur played football for Army prior to their leading great American Army's in World War II(MacArthur was the student manager for the Army team). The MacArthur Trophy is awarded to the winner of the BCS Football Championship.

Theodore Roosevelt understood modern society could rob a country of it's warrior spirit necessary to defend itself from less "civilised" societies and viewed football as a way to maintain and channel that warrior spirit in a "civilised" way. He said:

He can not do good work if he is not strong and does not try with his whole heart and soul to count in any contest; and his strength will be a curse to himself and to every one else if he does not have a thorough command over himself and over his own evil passions, and if he does not use his strength on the side of decency, justice and fair dealing.

In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.

So Ducks, hit the line Hard!

GO DUCKS BEAT THE BEAVERS IN THE "CIVIL WAR" GAME!

Movie: AUSTRALIA (2008) *****

This morning after doing some early "Black Friday" shopping my wife and I went to Tinseltown here in Medford to see this movie.

The movie takes place in northern Australia prior to World War II, an English aristocrat(Nicole Kidman) inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man (Hugh Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier

Take "Red River" "Out of Africa" and "Pear Harbor" and mix them together and you have Australia. It's an old fashioned epic movie in the mold of "Gone With the Wind" It blends four movie genera that I like: (1) The Western; (2) The World War II War Movie (3)The British Colonial Movie; and, (4) an old fashion love story. When the cattle drive stats I almost expect Kidman to tell Jackman "Take em to Darwin drover"(John Wayne to Montgomery Cliff in "Red River"..... "Take em to Missouri Matt")The cinematography is great and makes you want to visit Australia. I love the scene where Kidman tells an Aborigine kid about the movie "The Wizard of Oz" and the scene were the kid actually sees the movie at an outdoor theater in Darwin. The Japanese bombing of Darwin is well done and based upon my research fairly accurate.The acting, costumes and settings are all very well done. I loved the movie and will get it when it comes out on Blu Ray. This is not to say the movie is perfect. The first 15 minutes of the movie are cartoonish and made me not like it. The movie deals with Aborigine mysticism that takes a while to get used to but is part of Australian heritage. This is a movie made by people who love Australia and is shows.

Thanksgiving 1863 (During The Real Civil War)

Let's take a 24 hour break from the Oregon vs Oregon State "Civil War" to celebrate the great American tradition of Thanksgiving.

From Newt Gingrich the History Professor:

The Civil War was raging. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had left 50,000 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Riots were tearing apart American cities.

In the midst of this chaos, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in October 1863 that the last Thursday of November should henceforth be set aside as a day of thanksgiving.

Lincoln acknowledged that the nation was "in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity." But he focused instead on the nation's blessings, urging his fellow Americans to remember that "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

And Lincoln, too, proclaimed that all Americans set aside the day for a public expression of gratitude to God. He wrote, "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they [gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Oregon State: "The Beaverly Hillbillies." in Pasadena?

Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times refers to the Oregon State Beavers as "The Beaverly Hillbillies" when writing about the merits of U$C vs Oregon State against Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Click on the title for a link. The exact quote is as follows:

City of Pasadena: Are you kidding? Left with the economic-impact choice of Oregon State or USC, let's hear it for the "The Beaverly Hillbillies."

To all my Beaver friends.... and I do have Beaver friends.... it's not me but the LA Times who called you "Hillbillies".


Update:

New words for familiar song:

Come 'n listen to my story 'bout Oregon State football
A poor University , barely ever filled it’s stadium
And then one day, they beat U$C
And up through the polls they did creep
Leader of the Pac.... Pac-10 that is

/ C - G - / - - C - / - - F - / G - - C / - - - - /

Well, the first thing you know, they think... Rose Bowl
Kin folk said, let’s get out of Corvallis
Said, Californy Rose Bowl is the place you oughta be
So they loaded up the truck and they headed to Beverly
Hills, that is, swimmin' pools, movie stars and UCLA

Well, now, one thing they forgot was a game with the Ducks
They would like to forget about those Oregon Ducks.
You're all invited to remember the year 2000
Where a heapin' helpin' of Beaver hospitality ruined a Duck trip
To the Rose Bowl, that is, so set a spell, take your shoes off

Y'all going to El Paso, here!

Let's Go Ducks!

History of the" Civil War"

Doug Binder of the Oregonian has put together a history of every Oregon vs Oregon State game since they first started playing in in 1894.... yes 1894! Click on the title for a link. My favorite game was the 1994 game I watched at home on TV with my family.

1994 The most important Civil War in 30 years is also one of the best of the entire series. Oregon needs to win the Civil War to secure a Rose Bowl berth and the Beavers hope to stop them in front of a frenzied home crowd at Parker Stadium. Trailing 13-10, quarterback Danny O'Neil leads the Ducks on a 70-yard fourth quarter drive. A screen pass to Dino Philyaw goes for 19 yards and a go-ahead score. Earlier, the Beavers had a chance to put the Ducks away but quarterback Don Shanklin tripped on guard Darin Borter's foot on fourth-and-two from the Oregon 14 and went down for a three-yard loss. Oregon's Cristin McLemore left the game to have X-rays but returned to make two key catches on the game-winning drive. After a 17-13 win, the Ducks go on to a Rose Bowl date with Penn State.

A few year before 1994 I had won a bottle of "Len Casanova" wine at a Duck function. Prior to 1994 Oregon had not been to the Rose Bowl since 1958 when Oregon was coached by Len Casanova. Well, Casanova came to Medford for a Duck function and I got him to autograph the bottle. I then pledged I would not open the bottle until Oregon again went to the Rose Bowl. I fully expected I would not live to see that day and would have to "will" the wine to my son. On that day in 1994 the bottle sat on top of the TV until the end of the game. I can remember not being able to just sit and watch the game on TV. I paced all over our home and several times went out on the side deck to cool off. I can still remember the 70 yard drive in the 4th quarter and the return of the injured Cristin McLemore to catch two balls on that drive. What a warrior! After the game we opened that bottle of wine and had a drink and the entire family went to the Rose Bowl.

Go Ducks Beat the Beavers!

Medford: "Civil War Lunch"

Click on the title above for a link to the Medford Mail Tribune's news story on the "Civil War" lunch hosted by the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon. There was a good crowd on hand of Duck fans who want to beat the Beavers on Saturday. Several players and fans told stories about their "Civil War" experiences and how much they hate the Beavers. Coach Bellotti spoke to the group by speakerphone from Eugene about the upcoming game. There was even a large 8 foot tall blowup Duck to greet the fans as they came up the stairs at the Rogue Valley Country Club on their way to the the banquet room.

Men's Basketball: Oregon 92, Alabama 69

Michael Dunigan and Joevan Catron had their second double-doubles of the season to lead Oregon to a 92-69 victory over Alabama on Monday night in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

I watched the game last night on ESPN 2 from Maui and this very young team was fun to watch. Last year with a mostly Senior line up they were often painful to watch. Alabama is not that great a team and gave up at the end but the Ducks were diving for basketballs and showed a lot of enthusiasm. They are young and may not win a lot of games but if they play like last night they will be a team we can be proud of. Ernie Kent did a good recruiting job. Joevan Catron, is a real warrior.

BTW Kent is starting to look old and we were both students together at Oregon....oh no......?

A "CIVIL WAR" FAVORITE!

GO DUCKS!

Southern Oregon DAF Office Now Open & "Civil War" Lunch!

During the Moos administration of the University of Oregon Athletic Department the Southern Oregon office of the Duck Athletic Fund in Medford was closed for "financial" reasons. When Pat Kilkenny took over for Bill Moos as Athletic Director there was hope by Southern Oregon Duck fans that the office would re open. In the last few weeks that has happened and Joe Ancell is the new Regional Director of Development University of Oregon for Southern Oregon and Northern California. His office is located at 512 Crater Lake Ave, Medford, OR 97504. His office phone number is (541) 772-3540. Southern Oregon Ducks fans owe Pat Kilkenny a big thanks!

Meet Joe Ancell at the Duck Southern Oregon "Civil War" lunch on Tuesday November 25 in Medford at the Rogue Valley Country Club at NOON. You will also get a chance to hear Coach Bellotti talk and ask him questions by speakerphone! Also, ex- Duck players David Cuttrell and Brent Haberly will be talking about what the Civil War meant to them as players.

Duck Men win NCAA Cross Country Championship..... THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

Galen Rupp was the individual winner to lead the University of Oregon men’s cross country team to its second straight NCAA title Monday at Terre Haute, Ind. Oregon freshman Luke Puskedra finished fifth overall, and Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott finished ninth. This makes it two years in a row!


In the women’s race, the Ducks finished second to heavily favored Washington; Alex Koskinski finished eighth to lead Oregon.

Congratulations!

Canzano: 112 Things you need to know about the "Civil War"

The Oregonian's John Canzano has an interesting column on the history of the "Civil War" Click on the title for a link.

"Civil War" week has started!

"Civil War" week started as soon as Oregon State defeated Arizona in Tuscon, tonight, with a last second field goal. Now if Oregon State can defeat my Oregon Ducks, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, they will go to the Rose Bowl. Sorry Beavers ...... not going to happen! If the Ducks win they will most likely go to the Holiday Bowl in warm San Diego. A "Civil War" game that has extra meaning for each team ..... as if either teams needed it. What follows is a post from last year on the meaning of the "Civil War" game.

Here in Oregon this is Civil War Week. That is the Week that the University of Oregon Ducks play the Oregon State University Beavers in college football. Some one said this game "is for the right to live in the State of Oregon" or at least the right to live in the State of Oregon with your head held high. This is one of college footballs oldest rivalries. Here in Oregon, Ducks and Beavers can be found in most offices, families and neighborhoods. It's brother vs brother, neighbor vs neighbor and coworker vs coworker so it truly is a Civil War.

One of my favorite Civil War stories is from World War II. One of the Band of Brothers featured in the HBO mini series, Don Malarkey, is a University of Oregon alum. His studies were interrupted by World War II and he was in the paratroopers in England preparing for the D- Day landings. Eisenhower and Churchill came to view his unit before the beginning of the invasion and Ike asks Malarkey what he did before the war. He said he was a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and Ike asks him who won the last Oregon vs Oregon State Football game. Of course Ike played football for Army at West Point.

It is fun to walk around the tailgate parties before the game because you see Ducks and Beavers together. There is a scene in the movie Gettysburg where a confederate general tells a British Army officer who is there as an observer just before Pickett's charge that "All Virginia is here today". At each Oregon vs Oregon State Football game I like to think "all Oregon is here today."

Jon Wilner, of the San Jose Mercury news in California rates the rivalry football games in the Pac-10 and rates the "Civil War" game as the #1 rivalry game when he writes:

1. The Civil War.

These days, Oregon-Oregon State has the best combination of passion, significance and competitiveness.

The passion takes the form of hatred — much closer to the Arizona-ASU situation than a healthy dislike.

OSU looks with jealousy at its richer, more-famous, more hip neighbor and wonders what might have been if Phil Knight had gone to OSU. The Ducks hate OSU because they’ve been told to hate OSU for decades.

The games are usually high scoring, although not always close, and the home team has dominated this decade.

Most importantly, you can’t go more than two or three Civil Wars without the stakes being high — sometimes for both teams.

Five times this decade, the Ducks have won at least eight games. The Beavers are on the verge of doing it for the fourth time.

Without question, Oregon and Oregon State have been the most successful natural rivals in the conference in recent years. And that makes the Civil War the league’s best rivalry.

For now.

I learned to hate the Beavers a long time ago in the late 1960's and early 1970's when the Beavers regularly under coach Dee Andros,( The Great Pumpkin) beat the shi* out of Oregon Duck Teams and did it with such relish.


A few years ago Dee, long retired, not too long before his death, came to a joint Duck/Beaver "Civil War" lunch in Medford and gave a passionate speech about the "Civil War" game that made me want to strap on a helmet and start playing right there. When Dee Andros walked into the banquet room he was wearing a god awful bright orange blazer and a black and orange striped tie. A local young TV sports reporter, who had probably just moved to this area, walked up to him and asked him if he was an Oregon State fan ..... it brought a smile to my face.

(Dee Andros was a veteran of World War II where he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was awarded the Bronze Star and spent more than a month under heavy fire on Iwo Jima. He was present at the famed moment when Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.)

In my lifetime I can remember twice when the Duck were denied a trip to the Rose Bowl because of a loss to the Beaver..... it's time to return the favor!

Go Ducks beat the Beavers.

Turn out the Friday Night Lights!

South Medford's season ended tonight under the lights at Spiegleberg Stadium in Medford on a night where the temperature was 36 degrees at the end of the game. Congratulations Panthers for a very good season.

PAC-10 FOOTBALL THIS SATURDAY

The Ducks have a bye the weekend but there is plenty of Pac-10 football to watch on TV as I steam clean our carpets with our new Hoover steam cleaner.

12: NOON Washington at Washington State on Fox Sports Northwest

Neither team has won a Pac-10 game and neither team is going to a bowl game.

12:30 PM Stanford at California on ABC / ESPN

In the Bay Area they call this the "Big Game." Stanford must win to be bowl eligible.

4:00 PM Oregon State at Arizona 6:00 p.m. on Versus (yes that is a cable TV)channel)

Oregon State needs to win to keep their Rose Bowl hopes alive and Arizona needs to win to improve the bowl bid.

South Medford vs Southridge

The South Medford Panthers will play Southridge of the Portland metropolitan area tonight in Medford in the third round of the OSAA 6A Football Championship Playoffs.
My wife picked up our tickets on Tuesday at the South Medford activities office. The weather forecast for tonight's game is "Overcast with showers at times. Low 38F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%." Our seats are in the second row behind the South Medford bench on the 50 yard line. The seats in the stands on both sides of the field are covered but when you sit in the second row it can get wet. Last week it got very cold so I think we will take a blanket or two.

Sourthridge is a very good team and South Medford needs to be prepared to give it all tonight. I will post the results here after we get home from the game. Go Panthers!

Movies This Christmas

One of my favorite things do do during the Christmas Holidays is to take the whole family to the movies and both of our adult children will be home for Christmas.

What with the economy, movies will be a welcome diversion from grim realities this year.

Hollywood at Christmas time releases a whole batch of movies because it knows the public has extra free time and is looking for some entertainment. Here is a list of the movies I would like to see before the holidays are over.

Opening Nov 26

Australia:

Epic filmmaking pretty much vanished with the death of David Lean. Director Baz Luhrmann revives it in this saga set Down Under during World War II. Kidman plays an upper-crust Englishwoman who travels to Australia to sell the family cattle ranch and winds up infatuated with a rough-and-tumble cowboy instead. Jackman appears as her paramour. Their kissing scenes look authentic, the scenery is breathtaking and the stars aren't bad looking either. My wife really wants to see this movie. She dislikes American Westerns but for some reason loves Australian Westerns.

Four Christmases -

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a couple, each with divorced parents, who reluctantly make the rounds at four different households during the holidays. Seth Gordon (The King of Kong) directs Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek and Jon Voight as the parents, each of whom is uniquely annoying.

Opening Dec 12 (Limited release) (General release Dec 25)

Frost/Nixon:

In 1977, three years after he resigned the presidency, Richard Nixon appeared on David Frost's talk show and finally took responsibility for Watergate and his administration's other messes. This film recaptures the famous interview in which Frost nails him. Director Ron Howard opened up the two-person play to include flashbacks of Nixon's rise and fall. But there's one thing Howard wisely did not change: the cast. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen reprise their stage roles as the ex-president and his interrogator. I watched these interviews in 1977 and found them fascinating. Nixon was my boyhood hero but I leaned he had feet of clay. I did not vote for him in 1972 because he refused to talk about Watergate. Finally in 1977 he did talk.

Opening Dec 25

Marley & Me:

The action in this touching slice-of-life drama revolves around a dog who starts out as the pet of a recently married couple and stays around to watch the family grow to five. He's sort of a wonder dog capable of swallowing an entire answering machine and going back for the phone for dessert. Marley's owners are played by Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, who almost manage to seem like ordinary people. The couple grapple with job and home problems. Like John Grogan's best-selling memoir on which the film is based, it shows how a dog's presence can affect a family. My wife read the book and loved it. I just read the end and.........

Valkyrie:

A sort of bookend to "Schindler's List," this World War II drama focuses on another good German: Claus von Stauffenberg, a colonel in the German army who spearheaded an attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in 1944 by turning Hitler's own emergency plan (known as Operation Valkyrie) against him. The movie received some unwanted publicity when the German government refused to allow filming in Hitler's former military headquarters in the Bendlerblock building because of star Tom Cruise's affiliation with Scientology. German officials eventually changed their minds. By taking on such a demanding role, Cruise appears to want to show off his acting chomps. "X-Men" director Bryan Singer is at the helm. I am a sucker for World War II movies.


Opening Dec 31


Defiance:

Another World War II film. Three Jewish brothers escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others. Directed by Edward Zwick. The film is based on the true story of the Bielski partisans, covered by author Nechama Tec in the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans. Defiance stars Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell as three Jewish brothers from West Belarus who escape from the Nazis and fight back to rescue fellow Jews.


( Capsule descriptions of movies taken from Internet sources)

Oregonian: "Work can begin on UO arena"

Tonight sports reporter Rachel Bachman of the Oregonian is reporting:

After more than six years of site-searching and donor-coaxing, Legislature-pitching and revenue-projecting, University of Oregon basketball arena planners finally arrived at their gateway day: permit-securing.
A 12-day window for appeals of the project's conditional-use permit closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The permit, issued earlier this month by an independent hearings official, clears the way for workers to begin building a $200 million replacement for 82-year-old McArthur Court.

Click on the title for a link to Bachman's complete report which detail the long painful drawn out process it has taken to make the arena project a reality.

Special thanks is due University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer, Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny, Jim Bartko and of course Phil Knight. With out all of their extraordinary efforts this project would still be a pipe dream. Every Duck fans owes them a big thanks!

Medford Civil War Lunch

Next week the University of Oregon and the Oregon State fans here in Southern Oregon will have their separate Civil War lunches in preparation for the Civil War game the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's too bad we no longer have a joint lunch which became such a tradition. For many years the Beavers and the Ducks would have a joint lunch the week of the Oregon vs Oregon State game. It was a fun event where fans would wear their school colors and meet their friends, neighbors and associates in good natured rivalry. Often a local high school band would come and play each school's fight song. The head coaches would speak by speaker phone from Eugene and Corvallis about the game and answer questions from the fans. Officials from both Oregon and Oregon State would come down to Medford for the event. One year former Oregon State Coach Dee Andros and former Oregon Coach Len Casanova came and talked about what it was like to coach a Civil War Game and what it meant to them. Even though I am a Duck I was moved by Dee Andros and his zest for Oregon State. I remember he came to the lunch wearing a large bright orange blazer and a new young local TV sports reporter walked up to him and asked him if he was an Oregon State fan.

Some time while Dennis Erickson was the Beaver Coach, the practice of the joint lunches was ended.... much to the disappointment of both Ducks and Beavers in Southern Oregon. The Duck fans in Southern Oregon have this year talked to the local Beavers about re-instituting the joint lunches and the reports were the local Beavers were receptive to the idea and the Oregon Athletic Department was supportive but that the Oregon State Athletic Department was against the idea. That's too bad. In fact, one report is that a big donor and Oregon State booster in Southern Oregon called Oregon State Athletic Director Bob De Carolis about the idea, and was told by De Carolis that Oregon State was not interested in a joint lunch in Southern Oregon. I personally talked to an associate who is a "Beaver Believer" who talked with an official of the Oregon State Athletic Department about a joint lunch and his reply was "why would we want to do that!" Why, because we are family,friends, neighbors,coworkers and associates who live and work together in Southern Oregon and enjoy friendly camaraderie and good natured rivalry.

The Duck Civil War Lunch will be at the Rogue Valley Country Club on Tuesday, Nov 28, 2008 starting at 11:45 AM hosted by the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon

Go Ducks!

2008 Civil War Oregon at Oregon State, Part I: Culture & Heritage

From the Bleacher Report Blog:

The Civil War is upon us.

No, the United States isn't about to repeat the terrible carnage of 1861-1864. This is the University of Oregon-Oregon State University Civil War that separates Ducks from Beavers, Journalists from engineers, chemists from oceanographers, attorneys from accountants, and geologists from foresters. Thanksgiving is the great prelude to this annual ritual where green & yellow meets black & orange.

On Thursday, Nov. 27th, extended families from across Oregon will sit down to a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner and discuss the prospects of which Oregon team is the better.

Will it be Ducks or Beavers in the Rose Bowl? The typical Oregon family is comprised of one-half Oregon alums and the other half Oregon State grads. It is a fierce loyalty that only siblings can fully appreciate.

A few Oregon families have sons and daughters that claim those other universities: Eastern Oregon, Western Oregon, Southern Oregon and Portland State, but to participate in the intellectually challenging finer details of the Civil War, they must adopt Oregon or Oregon State as their honorary football Alma Mater. There is no such thing as neutral ground in the Civil War.

To read the rest of this article click on the title for a link.

Oregon Ducks vs Arizona Wildcats UPDATE: DUCKS WIN!

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 PM the University of Oregon Ducks will have their last home game of the season against the University of Arizona Wildcats of Tuscon.

These are two schools that do not like each other!

Last year I posted the following:

The following is from Bob Rickert's blog over at the Oregonian which he posted a year ago before Oregon played Arizona in Pac-10 football:


"We lost but at least we took out a couple of their quarterbacks." That's what Stoops said after Oregon used third string quarterback Brady Leaf to beat them anyway last year.....
His team ended Clemens' career last year and gloated about it. Then knocked out Dixon with a cheap shot to the head when it looked like he was sliding to protect himself.

Yes, Mike Stoops, the Arizona Wildcats coach is the brother of that guy at Oklahoma. Must run in the family.

Then in the game last year in Tuscon, Oregon's quarterback Dennis Dixon re injured his leg and ended his season and any chances he had for a Heisman Trophy which up to that time were very good. A fairy tale season for the Ducks came to an end on the turf in Tuscon Arizona. Many Arizona fans showed their lack of class and cheered when Dixon went down. Most Oregon fans will NEVER forget the scene of Dixon lying on the field his college career over. For many of us it was like a death in the family that such a gifted and artistic athlete would never put on an Oregon uniform again.

Bring on the Wildcats.......Lets Go Ducks!

UPDATE:

We are now back in Medford after our trip to Eugene on Saturday for the game. At half time the ducks were up 45 to 17 and as a long time Duck fan I said "No Duck lead is ever enough" and I was almost proved right. Arizona scored 28 points to come within three points late in the 4th quarter. Then Oregon scored a late touchdown to win 55 to 45. It was NOT a fun game to watch in the 2nd half but the Ducks won and are now 8 and 3 with only the Civil War game to go with Oregon State the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a nice night for a football game in Eugene for Oregon's last home game.

My old first year Torts Professor from law school ... now University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer rode on the motorcycle that led the team out on the field at the beginning of the game. He is now retiring and this will be the last home game with him as University President. I can remember when he and his young wife would come into a bar near the law school (Duffy's)favored by law students oh so many years ago. I knew by my second class that he was politically ambitious and wanted to be Governor of Oregon ....and he came very close.... but the states loss was the University's gain!

I am not a fan of the teams new black uniforms.... but just win baby!

In addition to going to Eugene for the game we met my sister who drove down from Portland to celebrate her birthday. We had a lunch together at Applebey's in Springfield and then she and my wife went shopping while I went to the game. We got together after the game at our Cottage Grove motel for cake. It was good seeing her and I am glad she is coming down to Medford for Christmas. She and my wife were able to watch the game on TV at the motel while they played cards. She is not a football fan

After I got home it was a nice day outside in Medford so I "raked" leafs with my leaf blower, cleaned out our rain gutters and fixed a leaky faucet in the kitchen.

South Medford vs David Douglas UPDATE: South Wins

Tonight David Douglas will travel from the Portland area to Medford for a football game in the second round of the 2008 Oregon 6A State Championship Playoffs.The South Medford Panthers had a first round bye and David Douglas beat Newberg in the first round to advance to this game. My wife and I have tickets and I will report the results here after we return from the game. South Medford is ranked #3 in the state. Go Panthers!

UPDATE; South Medford 42 - David Douglas 20 in a game that was not that close. South jumped to a big lead and then let up in the second half to let David Douglas score two touchdowns. It was a cold clear night in Medford with a big crowd to watch South Medford. Next Friday night South Medford will play Southridge in the the third round of the playoffs at South Medford. Go Panthers!

Happy Birthday!

I am a little late but a Happy Birthday "shout out." You know who you are. We will celebrate this weekend.

E.J. Singler Signs Duck Letter of Intent

I have previously reported here that South Medford Basketball player E. J. Singler had given a non binding "verbal" to play Basketball for the University of Oregon Ducks. He has now given a binding "letter of Intent." Here is the Press Release from the University of Oregon Athletic Department:

EUGENE, Ore. – University of Oregon men’s basketball coach Ernie Kent has announced the signing of E.J. Singler to a national letter of intent. Singler, a 6-6, 200-pound forward from South Medford High School in Medford, Ore., will begin playing for the Ducks in the fall of 2009.

“We’ve watched E.J. for the last three years now, and have really seen him blossom and come into his own as a leader,” Kent said. “He is one of the top players in the state and certainly someone who has the character and background – in terms of coaching – to be an outstanding player at this level.”

Singler, who is a senior at SMHS, averaged 20.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in his junior campaign. He was a first team all-conference and second team all-state selection a year ago. He led the Panthers to a sixth-place finish at the OSAA Class 6A state tournament, where he earned first team all-tournament recognition.

As a sophomore, Singler was a starter on the 2006-07 South Medford squad which won the OSAA Class 6A state title over Lake Oswego. He came off the bench as a freshman to help lead the Panthers to what would be the first of three consecutive state tournament appearances.

“I wanted to play in the Pac-10 and stay close to home,” Singler said about the decision to choose Oregon. “The guys on the team were all very welcoming, I really connected with them. I just felt comfortable when I came up there on my visit.”

Kent and the Oregon coaching staff also played a vital role in the decision. “I really liked the diversity of the coaching staff. They all contributed something unique and different to the team,” Singler said. “Coach Kent was honest with me about my role with the team, how I would have to work for it.”

Kent feels that Singler can make a successful jump from the prep game to the NCAA Division I level. “With our system we look at skill level. The ability to pass and shoot and dribble, and to think the game and understand basketball decision-making,” Kent said. “He is a very sound player in those areas.”

Dennis Murphy, the head basketball coach at SMHS, thinks that Singler has the attributes to transition to the next level. “E.J. has spent his whole life working toward playing at a Division I school,” Murphy said. “He recognizes where he needs to improve as a player. He is very coachable, he has a great work ethic and he loves the game.”

“Oregon has all of the tools to make me better,” Singler said. “I am going to take advantage of the coaches and facilities. The great surroundings (at Oregon) will help me to improve as a player and as a student.”

Kent stressed the importance of looking in-state on the recruiting trail, “We feel like there is a caliber of player in this state that can make us successful.” The Ducks have four in-state players on the 2008-09 roster: junior Ben Voogd from Florence, Ore., redshirt freshman John Elorriaga from Portland, Ore., and true freshmen Garrett Sim from Portland, Ore., and Drew Wiley of McKenzie River, Ore.

“The players in our program, from the state of Oregon, will all have an opportunity to be successful,” Kent said.

Singler is also an accomplished football player, earning first team All-Southwest Conference recognition at both tight end and outside linebacker for the Panthers this season. He helped lead SMHS to an 8-1 record in regular-season play and currently has his team in the OSAA Class 6A playoffs.

Singler comes from a family rich with athletic tradition. His father, Ed, played quarterback at Oregon State from 1978-82. His mother, Kris (formerly Brosterhous), played basketball at OSU from 1973-76, while his older brother Kyle is a sophomore standout for the Duke University men’s basketball team.

In addition to the immediate family, Singler has three uncles that were student-athletes at the University of Oregon. Rick Brosterhous was a basketball player from 1967-71, Greg Brosterhous played football and baseball from 1968-72 and John Brosterhous played football from 1977-81. Another uncle, B.G. Brosterhous, played basketball at the University of Texas from 1969-73, before going on to a lengthy professional career in Europe.

As I said before, it will be fun this winter watching Singler play his Senior year of basketball for the South Medford Panthers. We never miss a home game.

Ford, GM and Chrysler Bail Out!

I have a real bad feeling about bailing out Ford, GM and Chrysler. It seems like throwing money down a rat hole for cars no one want to buy! Management and the UAW should be held responsible for their mismanagement. There are plenty of other car manufactures who have plants in this county and some corporation that knows how to make quality cars will buy their plants and we will all be better off. Let them file for bankruptcy if they must.

Now this from National Reviw Online:

A bad investment!Bankruptcy for GM [Jim Manzi]


What would it mean to have GM go bankrupt? A change in ownership and a renegotiation of contracts.

The factories, computers, office space, intellectual property and so forth that are now owned by GM would not disappear; they would basically become the property of GM’s creditors. These creditors would sell the assets to the highest bidder. Assuming there is economic value to be created by continuing to operate the company as a business, private equity or strategic investors would buy the assets, shut down some plants, fire some union and exempt workers, and probably use the leverage of bankruptcy court to get a better deal from the unions. The current employees and creditors would be better off if you and I were forced by the federal government to prevent this by paying money to the corporate entity named General Motors, to then be paid to these employees and creditors. Of course, you and I would be worse off in this situation. On balance, if you believe that markets are more efficient allocators of capital than Congress is, the population of the United States would, on the whole, be worse off.

Is this fair to the people who work at GM and will now have a deal changed after the fact? Well, when people sold parts to GM on credit, or employees (individually or via union negotiations) entered into labor contracts with GM, they undertook counterparty risk. That is, they were taking, in part, a bet about whether GM would actually be able to pay them what they are owed. This is also true for pension payments, which are simply deferred compensation, as much as it is for deferred payments on credit terms for parts. To act now as if they should be protected from this risk is to treat them as children.

Is this fair, given that you and I are being forced to cough up an immense amount of money to bailout bankers in New York who are far less sympathetic characters than assembly line workers or Assistant Market Research Managers in Warren, Michigan? We are bailing out bankers, not because we want to avoid employees losing jobs at AIG or shareholders losing money at Merrill Lynch — in fact, as I have argued form the beginning, it is essential that employees and investors not be protected as part of these bailouts — but because the economy as whole is at risk of devastation if we allow systemic collapse of the banking system. We are bailing out parts of the finance industry because it is good for us, not because it is good for the finance industry. This ultimate public backstop is why it is appropriate and prudent to regulate parts of the finance industry to avoid collapses that threaten the whole economy.

Isn’t it important that we maintain an industrial base as a matter of national security? Yes, but that is not the same thing as saying that the current management of GM needs to continue to have operational control of these assets, or that current employment levels are appropriate, or that current union contracts need to be maintained. There is a potential argument to be made on these grounds for some kinds of restrictions on foreign ownership.

A bailout of GM would be a pure exercise of political power to deliver taxpayer funds to one organized group of citizens at the expense of the country as a whole. It should be avoided.

“Here Are Your Assignments” for the next four years!

JOHN J. PITNEY JR.: It's going to be a long four years, and you shouldn't spend it drowning in bile. “Here Are Your Assignments”

Click on the title for a link to an excellent article from National Review online by my favorite Government Professor on how we Republicans/Conservatives should spend the next four years.

Vietnam Memories by Joseph A Rehyansky

A wonderful true story.......

1968. I had been working as a clerk-typist in the personnel office at Fort Benning, Georgia. I was 21 years old. My levy for Vietnam was imminent. One day, there it was. I typed my own orders for The Big Muddy......

I had a 28-day leave. Katy and I got married. A sleepless, scared last night. We dozed watching an Abbott & Costello movie. Which one is it that has a bunch of letters going down a big old-fashioned office mail chute? Then we overslept. Panic. I got her to Kennedy Airport. She had about 30 minutes to make her flight back home to Daytona Beach to be with her parents. No parking spaces, unbelievable traffic. I pulled up in front of a cop. I was in uniform, and I told him we were in a bind.

“Leave it here. Give me your keys.” If I had gotten his name and badge number he’d be in my will.

My sister, Roberta, only recently told me that when I left Mom spent the entire night crying. I had never known. But then it hit me. She had seen a 21-year-old husband off to war and now a 21-year-old son.

McGuire Air Force Base to Washington State to Anchorage to Tokyo to Saigon. We had a layover in Anchorage. The most spectacularly beautiful mountain ranges I have ever seen were right outside. Will Rogers and Wiley Post were still out there somewhere, lost forever in 1935 in the wreckage of their small plane.

On the first leg of the flight, we hit wind shear. The plane dropped several thousand feet without warning. Meals and guys bouncing off the ceiling. Stewardesses -- as they were still called -- strapped in and not answering calls. I hadn’t undone my seat belt and had not been served a meal, so I was OK, just terrified. You have never seen whiter knuckles. It took me 20 years to get over my fear of flying.....

(To read the rest click on the title for a link)

"Every day since, bad and good, has been a gift."

Armistice Day! - Vetran's Day! 2008

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918 the guns fell silent along the Western Front and an armistice was signed ending World War I. "The war to end all wars." November 11th thus became a holiday known as Armistice Day. After World War II the name was changed to Veterans Day. In Medford, in a park near the National Guard Armory, there are trees planted for each boy from Jackson County who died in World War I. There are a lot of trees. My grandfather Lewis Holton and my great Uncle Herman Bellach both served under "Black Jack" Pershing in in France in World War I. Like almost all the veteran's of that war they are now gone.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

George M. Cohan wrote the song "Over There" just as the United States entered World War I and it became the anthem for the American soldiers going to France to fight the German "Hun"

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run,
On the run, on the run.
Hear them calling, you and me,
Every son of liberty.
Hurry right away,
No delay, go today,
Make your daddy glad
To have had such a lad.
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.
(chorus sung twice)

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun
Who's a son of a gun.
Hoist the flag and let her fly,
Yankee Doodle do or die.
Pack your little kit,
Show your grit, do your bit.
Yankee to the ranks,
From the towns and the tanks.
Make your mother proud of you,
And the old Red, White and Blue.
(chorus sung twice)

Chorus
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there -
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming
Ev'rywhere.
So prepare, say a pray'r,
Send the word, send the word to beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there

I can still hear Uncle Herm singing this song which was a favorite of American Soldiers in France during World War I

Mademoiselle from Armentières
Par ley voo,
Mademoiselle from Armentières
Par ley voo,
Mademoiselle from Armentières,
She hasn't been kissed for forty years,
Hinky, Dinky Par ley voo.

Lucky Day for the Ducks! UPDATED

"IT NEVER RAINS AT AUTZEN STADIUM"
Click on the title for a link to a story in The Sporting News about some fellas who are on a college football road trip to college stadiums this fall. Last Saturday they were in Eugene for the Ducks game and it's fun to see ourselves through the eyes of others. then read below about my "road trip" to Eugene for the Stanford game.The picture above was taken at the ONE time during the game it was not raining.



I am back in Medford after a wet trip to Eugene to see my Oregon Ducks almost give away a game to the Stanford Cardinal in football. The Ducks won 35-27 with a touchdown with 6 seconds to play.For most of the game there was a constant downpour of rain with one break of brilliant sunshine(see rainbow picture above). I have been going to Oregon games since the 1960's and this has to rank as one wettest games I have attended. At the beginning of the 4th quarter as the rain fell I thought: "I am getting too old for this sh**" followed by a thought "This is fun." My rain gear held up till the fourth quarter when my Nike pants started leaking and I could feel water running down my leg. On the field the Ducks lost 4 fumbles,had 20 minutes of possession of the ball to Stanford's 39.13 minutes, gave up a safety and let Standford score a touchdown on a fake field goal. As Stanford was lining up for the field goal I yelled "watch for the fake!" I guess they didn't hear me! With 2:18 to go in the game Stanford went up by a point and I thought it was all over! Oregon's QB Jeremiah Masoli then led the Ducks down the field on a 11 play, 74 yard drive that edded with running back LeGarette Blount scoring a touchdown with 6 seconds to go in the game. Suddenly the rain didn't seem so bad!

I hate to say it; but, if the Ducks play like they have in the last two games they will lose to Arizona next week and to Oregon State in the Civil War. Time for them to get better and stop making careless mistakes! Go Ducks beat the Arizona Wildcats!

After the game I checked into a motel in Cottage Grove because I hate to drive in the dark and rain on the mountain passes between Eugene and Medford. At the Motel I watched the U$C vs Cal game on TV. My wife has a "cold" so she didn't go to the game and I got to listened to my Time/Life "The Folk Years" Cd's on the way up to Eugene and pre electric Bob Dylan on the way home..... as loud as I wanted!

Football: Oregon Ducks vs Stanford Cardinal

South Medford has a bye this weekend in the first round of the Oregon State 6A high school football payoffs. This morning, my wife got our tickets for next weekends game in the second round of the playoffs for their game here in Medford.

Tomorrow, Saturday,the Oregon Ducks will host the Stanford Cardinal at Autzen Stadium. The Eugene, Oregon weather forecast is: "showers in the morning, becoming a steady rain in the afternoon. Windy. Thunder possible. High near 55F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a half an inch." However, "it never rains at Autzen stadium." Just in case I am packing a lot of rain gear. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Sports Net. Let's Go Ducks!

GOOD NEWS on Duck Basketball Arena!

A hearings officer has approved a conditional use permit that could allow the University of Oregon to begin work on its $227 million basketball arena in two weeks. If some "nut case" in Eugene, and there are a few, appeals it to the Eugene Planning Commission it could take a month later for construction to start. Stay tuned. This has taken longer than the 2008 election campaign (click on title for link to Register Guard story)

Rasmussen: 64 Percent of Republicans Want Palin in 2012

When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year -- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.

****************

FOXNEWS Greta Van Susteren obtains first post election interview with Gov. Palin... Van Susteren traveling to Alaska for extensive sit-down interview with Palin to air Monday night exclusively...

THE RACE FOR 2012 HAS STARTED!!!!!

It Didn't Take Long!

Vice-president-elect Joe Biden famously told a group of Seattle donors that the world would "test" Barack Obama within six months of his winning the presidency.

It only took 24 hours:

This morning Russia announced it would deploy short-range missiles near Poland to counter U.S. military plans to set up a missile shield in Poland.

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama

Last night John McCain in a gracious concession speech spoke more eloquently than I could in expressing my feelings when he said in part:

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.

I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Sen. Obama believes that, too.

But we both recognize that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters.

America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.

Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day. Though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain......

I urge all Americans ... I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural. It's natural, tonight, to feel some disappointment. But tomorrow, we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again.

We fought — we fought as hard as we could. And though we feel short, the failure is mine, not yours.


I am also — I am also, of course, very thankful to Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I've ever seen ... one of the best campaigners I have ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength ... ......
We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country.

I would not — I would not be an American worthy of the name should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century.

Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.....

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama — whether they supported me or Sen. Obama.

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

Americans never quit. We never surrender.

We never hide from history. We make history.

The victory speech of President-Elect Obama was also very well done and gracious and time will tell whether he will truly try to lead as a moderate and reach out to all Americans. As anyone who has read this blog for any time will know I have been a vigorous critic of Barack Obama.

Martin Luther King had a dream that one day all Americans would not be
"judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

That is how I judged Barack Obama by his character that I found wanting!

For the sake of the country I love, I hope I have been wrong about him and I intend to give him the benefit of the doubt unless events prove otherwise.

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama

"All glory is fleeting"

For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."- Gen. George C. Patton

Former Secretary of State James Baker once said, "Someone asked me what was the most important thing I had learned since being in Washington. I replied that it was the fact that temporal power is fleeting." Baker went on to observe that once driving through the White House gates he saw a man walking alone on Pennsylvania Avenue and recognized him as having been Secretary of State in a previous administration. "There he was alone - no reporters, no security, no adoring public, no trappings of power. Just one solitary man alone with his thoughts. And that mental picture continually serves to remind me of the impermanence of power and the impermanence of place."

ELECTION DAY!

A Time for Choosing!

Address on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater
Rendezvous with Destiny
October 27, 1964

This speech is a verbatim transcript of "The Speech" given as a portion of a pre-recorded, nationwide televised program sponsored by Goldwater-Miller on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for the presidency whom Ronald Reagan actively supported.

His words are remarkably relevant today!

Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks.

I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance of peace and prosperity. The line has been used "We've never had it so good."

But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 37 cents of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector's share, and yet our government continues to spend $17 million a day more than the government takes in. We haven't balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. We have raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations in the world. We have $15 billion in gold in our treasury--we don't own an ounce. Foreign dollar claims are $27.3 billion, and we have just had announced that the dollar of 1939 will now purchase 45 cents in its total value.

As for the peace that we would preserve, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should be maintained indefinitely. Do they mean peace, or do they mean we just want to be left in peace? There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us. We are at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it has been said if we lose that war, and in doing so lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. Well, I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.

Not too long ago two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are! I had someplace to escape to." In that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a "greater government activity in the affairs of the people." But they have been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves--and all of the things that I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations. For example, they have voices that say "the cold war will end through acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism." Another voice says that the profit motive has become outmoded, it must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state; or our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century. Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the president as our moral teacher and our leader, and he said he is hobbled in his task by the restrictions in power imposed on him by this antiquated document. He must be freed so that he can do for us what he knows is best. And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government." Well, I for one resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me--the free man and woman of this country--as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government"--this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

Now, we have no better example of this than the government's involvement in the farm economy over the last 30 years. Since 1955, the cost of this program has nearly doubled. One-fourth of farming in America is responsible for 85% of the farm surplus. Three-fourths of farming is out on the free market and has known a 21% increase in the per capita consumption of all its produce. You see, that one-fourth of farming is regulated and controlled by the federal government. In the last three years we have spent $43 in feed grain program for every bushel of corn we don't grow.

Senator Humphrey last week charged that Barry Goldwater as President would seek to eliminate farmers. He should do his homework a little better, because he will find out that we have had a decline of 5 million in the farm population under these government programs. He will also find that the Democratic administration has sought to get from Congress an extension of the farm program to include that three-fourths that is now free. He will find that they have also asked for the right to imprison farmers who wouldn't keep books as prescribed by the federal government. The Secretary of Agriculture asked for the right to seize farms through condemnation and resell them to other individuals. And contained in that same program was a provision that would have allowed the federal government to remove 2 million farmers from the soil.

At the same time, there has been an increase in the Department of Agriculture employees. There is now one for every 30 farms in the United States, and still they can't tell us how 66 shiploads of grain headed for Austria disappeared without a trace and Billie Sol Estes never left shore.

Every responsible farmer and farm organization has repeatedly asked the government to free the farm economy, but who are farmers to know what is best for them? The wheat farmers voted against a wheat program. The government passed it anyway. Now the price of bread goes up; the price of wheat to the farmer goes down.

Meanwhile, back in the city, under urban renewal the assault on freedom carries on. Private property rights are so diluted that public interest is almost anything that a few government planners decide it should be. In a program that takes for the needy and gives to the greedy, we see such spectacles as in Cleveland, Ohio, a million-and-a-half-dollar building completed only three years ago must be destroyed to make way for what government officials call a "more compatible use of the land." The President tells us he is now going to start building public housing units in the thousands where heretofore we have only built them in the hundreds. But FHA and the Veterans Administration tell us that they have 120,000 housing units they've taken back through mortgage foreclosures. For three decades, we have sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan. The latest is the Area Redevelopment Agency. They have just declared Rice County, Kansas, a depressed area. Rice County, Kansas, has two hundred oil wells, and the 14,000 people there have over $30 million on deposit in personal savings in their banks. When the government tells you you're depressed, lie down and be depressed.

We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So they are going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer and they've had almost 30 years of it, shouldn't we expect government to almost read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn't they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?

But the reverse is true. Each year the need grows greater, the program grows greater. We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry each night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet. But now we are told that 9.3 million families in this country are poverty-stricken on the basis of earning less than $3,000 a year. Welfare spending is 10 times greater than in the dark depths of the Depression. We are spending $45 billion on welfare. Now do a little arithmetic, and you will find that if we divided the $45 billion up equally among those 9 million poor families, we would be able to give each family $4,600 a year, and this added to their present income should eliminate poverty! Direct aid to the poor, however, is running only about $600 per family. It would seem that someplace there must be some overhead.

So now we declare "war on poverty," or "you, too, can be a Bobby Baker!" Now, do they honestly expect us to believe that if we add $1 billion to the $45 million we are spending...one more program to the 30-odd we have--and remember, this new program doesn't replace any, it just duplicates existing programs--do they believe that poverty is suddenly going to disappear by magic? Well, in all fairness I should explain that there is one part of the new program that isn't duplicated. This is the youth feature. We are now going to solve the dropout problem, juvenile delinquency, by reinstituting something like the old CCC camps, and we are going to put our young people in camps, but again we do some arithmetic, and we find that we are going to spend each year just on room and board for each young person that we help $4,700 a year! We can send them to Harvard for $2,700! Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that Harvard is the answer to juvenile delinquency.

But seriously, what are we doing to those we seek to help? Not too long ago, a judge called me here in Los Angeles. He told me of a young woman who had come before him for a divorce. She had six children, was pregnant with her seventh. Under his questioning, she revealed her husband was a laborer earning $250 a month. She wanted a divorce so that she could get an $80 raise. She is eligible for $330 a month in the Aid to Dependent Children Program. She got the idea from two women in her neighborhood who had already done that very thing.

Yet anytime you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we are denounced as being against their humanitarian goals. They say we are always "against" things, never "for" anything. Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so. We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem.

But we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments to those who depend on them for livelihood. They have called it insurance to us in a hundred million pieces of literature. But then they appeared before the Supreme Court and they testified that it was a welfare program. They only use the term "insurance" to sell it to the people. And they said Social Security dues are a tax for the general use of the government, and the government has used that tax. There is no fund, because Robert Byers, the actuarial head, appeared before a congressional committee and admitted that Social Security as of this moment is $298 billion in the hole. But he said there should be no cause for worry because as long as they have the power to tax, they could always take away from the people whatever they needed to bail them out of trouble! And they are doing just that.

A young man, 21 years of age, working at an average salary...his Social Security contribution would, in the open market, buy him an insurance policy that would guarantee $220 a month at age 65. The government promises $127. He could live it up until he is 31 and then take out a policy that would pay more than Social Security. Now, are we so lacking in business sense that we can't put this program on a sound basis so that people who do require those payments will find that they can get them when they are due...that the cupboard isn't bare? Barry Goldwater thinks we can.

At the same time, can't we introduce voluntary features that would permit a citizen who can do better on his own to be excused upon presentation of evidence that he had made provisions for the non-earning years? Should we allow a widow with children to work, and not lose the benefits supposedly paid for by her deceased husband? Shouldn't you and I be allowed to declare who our beneficiaries will be under these programs, which we cannot do? I think we are for telling our senior citizens that no one in this country should be denied medical care because of a lack of funds. But I think we are against forcing all citizens, regardless of need, into a compulsory government program, especially when we have such examples, as announced last week, when France admitted that their Medicare program was now bankrupt. They've come to the end of the road.

In addition, was Barry Goldwater so irresponsible when he suggested that our government give up its program of deliberate planned inflation so that when you do get your Social Security pension, a dollar will buy a dollar's worth, and not 45 cents' worth?

I think we are for an international organization, where the nations of the world can seek peace. But I think we are against subordinating American interests to an organization that has become so structurally unsound that today you can muster a two-thirds vote on the floor of the General Assembly among the nations that represent less than 10 percent of the world's population. I think we are against the hypocrisy of assailing our allies because here and there they cling to a colony, while we engage in a conspiracy of silence and never open our mouths about the millions of people enslaved in Soviet colonies in the satellite nation.

I think we are for aiding our allies by sharing of our material blessings with those nations which share in our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world. We set out to help 19 countries. We are helping 107. We spent $146 billion. With that money, we bought a $2 million yacht for Haile Selassie. We bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenyan government officials. We bought a thousand TV sets for a place where they have no electricity. In the last six years, 52 nations have bought $7 billion worth of our gold, and all 52 are receiving foreign aid from this country.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth. Federal employees number 2.5 million, and federal, state, and local, one out of six of the nation's work force is employed by the government. These proliferating bureaus with their thousands of regulations have cost us many of our constitutional safeguards. How many of us realize that today federal agents can invade a man's property without a warrant? They can impose a fine without a formal hearing, let alone a trial by jury, and they can seize and sell his property in auction to enforce the payment of that fine. In Chico County, Arkansas, James Wier overplanted his rice allotment. The government obtained a $17,000 judgment, and a U.S. marshal sold his 950-acre farm at auction. The government said it was necessary as a warning to others to make the system work. Last February 19 at the University of Minnesota, Norman Thomas, six-time candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket, said, "If Barry Goldwater became President, he would stop the advance of socialism in the United States." I think that's exactly what he will do.

As a former Democrat, I can tell you Norman Thomas isn't the only man who has drawn this parallel to socialism with the present administration. Back in 1936, Mr. Democrat himself, Al Smith, the great American, came before the American people and charged that the leadership of his party was taking the part of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland down the road under the banners of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. And he walked away from his party, and he never returned to the day he died, because to this day, the leadership of that party has been taking that party, that honorable party, down the road in the image of the labor socialist party of England. Now it doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment. Our Democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. They want to make you and I believe that this is a contest between two men...that we are to choose just between two personalities.

Well, what of this man that they would destroy? And in destroying, they would destroy that which he represents, the ideas that you and I hold dear. Is he the brash and shallow and trigger-happy man they say he is? Well, I have been privileged to know him "when." I knew him long before he ever dreamed of trying for high office, and I can tell you personally I have never known a man in my life I believe so incapable of doing a dishonest or dishonorable thing.

This is a man who in his own business, before he entered politics, instituted a profit-sharing plan, before unions had ever thought of it. He put in health and medical insurance for all his employees. He took 50 percent of the profits before taxes and set up a retirement program, a pension plan for all his employees. He sent checks for life to an employee who was ill and couldn't work. He provided nursing care for the children of mothers who work in the stores. When Mexico was ravaged by floods from the Rio Grande, he climbed in his airplane and flew medicine and supplies down there.

An ex-GI told me how he met him. It was the week before Christmas during the Korean War, and he was at the Los Angeles airport trying to get a ride home to Arizona for Christmas, and he said that there were a lot of servicemen there and no seats available on the planes. Then a voice came over the loudspeaker and said, "Any men in uniform wanting a ride to Arizona, go to runway such-and-such," and they went down there, and there was this fellow named Barry Goldwater sitting in his plane. Every day in the weeks before Christmas, all day long, he would load up the plane, fly to Arizona, fly them to their homes, then fly back over to get another load.

During the hectic split-second timing of a campaign, this is a man who took time out to sit beside an old friend who was dying of cancer. His campaign managers were understandably impatient, but he said, "There aren't many left who care what happens to her. I'd like her to know I care." This is a man who said to his 19-year-old son, "There is no foundation like the rock of honesty and fairness, and when you begin to build your life upon that rock, with the cement of the faith in God that you have, then you have a real start." This is not a man who could carelessly send other people's sons to war. And that is the issue of this campaign that makes all of the other problems I have discussed academic, unless we realize that we are in a war that must be won.

Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer--not an easy answer--but simple.

If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based upon what we know in our hearts is morally right. We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Let's set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace--and you can have it in the next second--surrender.

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face--that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand--the ultimatum. And what then? When Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we are retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for "peace at any price" or "better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he would rather "live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us. You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin--just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits--not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.

Thank you very much.