News From Oregon Club of Southern Oregon:

From H.J. Cohn our DAF Representative here in Southern Oregon:

Are you ready for some football!!! ....
***Chip Kelly is the scheduled call-in speaker for these 3 club meetings so don’t miss ‘em:

Tuesday August 31st, 11:45 am at the Rogue Valley Country Club (Medford)
Wednesday Sept. 1st, Noon at the Reames Golf & Country Club (Klamath Falls)
Friday Sept. 3rd, Noon at the Taprock Restaurant (Grants Pass)

..........

Again this year, we will have convenient laminated Oregon team rosters for sale at each Club meeting. They can be attached to your game ticket lanyard or carried in your purse or pocket. The cost is $5.00. We will also be selling at cost U of O decals for your vehicle.

Are You Ready For Some Football!

Oregon's new Spirit Tee shirt released today. Less than on week till the Oregon Ducks first game against New Mexico in Eugene next Saturday afternoon. Go Ducks

The Making of Winston Churchill by Adam Gopnik "

The New Yorker Magazine has a very good article about Winston Churchill. I don't necessary agree with all his conclusions but it is very interesting. To read it click on the title for a link. Some quotes from the entice to entice you to read it:

In American conservative circles, he is still El Cid with a cigar, hoisted up on his horse to confront the latest existential threat to Western civilization (though his admirers tend to censor out the champagne or cognac glass that this ferocious Francophile kept clamped there, too). In Britain, it’s a little different. Just as J.F.K. is adored abroad and admired at home—where by now he’s seen as half liberal martyr, half libertine satyr—Churchill in Britain is revered but quarantined, his reputation held to the five years of his wartime rule.

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

Churchill, asked once what year he would like to relive, answered, “1940, every time, every time.” It really was his finest hour.

***********

Churchill’s real legacy lies elsewhere. He is, with de Gaulle, the greatest instance in modern times of the romantic-conservative temperament in power. The curious thing is that this temperament can at moments be more practical than its liberal opposite, or than its pragmatic-conservative twin, since it rightly concedes the primacy of ideas and passions, rather than interests and practicalities, in men’s minds. Churchill was a student of history, but one whose reading allowed him to grasp when a new thing in history happened.

Again, to read more click on the title for a link to The New Yorker Magazine

QB Darron Thomas to start for the Ducks

BREAKING NEWS! Here’s the full press release just sent out by the UNIVERSITY OF OREGON DUCKS:

Sophomore Darron Thomas has been named the starting quarterback for the University of Oregon’s Sept. 4 season opener vs. New Mexico in Autzen Stadium, head coach Chip Kelly announced Friday.

The 6-3, 212-pound Houston native played in five games as a true freshman in 2008, completing 16 of 33 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. All but three completions and 58 passing yards came in a fourth-quarter comeback that fell short in a 37-32 loss to Boise State.

It will mark Thomas’ first collegiate start after he redshirted the 2009 season.

Kelly is expected to address the media following tomorrow’s workout.

Congratulations Darron...... now get her done. Go Ducks!

Nat Costa..... hang in there you will be needed before this season is over.

The Sources of American Anger

Barack Obama, the great healer, is proving to be the most divisive president since Richard Nixon by Victor Davis Hanson. Click on the title for a link to the column on National Review Online.

"The last refuge of a liberal" by Charles Krauthammer

Today in his Washington Post column Charles Krauthammer comes out swinging against the liberal elite's in this country and their mainstream media allies. He writes that now that liberals have lost the battle of public opinion they bring out the "bigotry charge" or the "race card" or the "Islamophobia" card.

He reminds us of of how Obama viewed Americans in an unguarded moment when he said:

clinging "to guns or religion or" -- this part is less remembered -- "antipathy toward people who aren't like them."

It's hard to hold a dialog with liberals when they not only question your ideas but resort to such attacks.

He ends his column with the following:

It is a measure of the corruption of liberal thought and the collapse of its self-confidence that, finding itself so widely repudiated, it resorts reflexively to the cheapest race-baiting (in a colorful variety of forms). Indeed, how can one reason with a nation of pitchfork-wielding mobs brimming with "antipathy toward people who aren't like them" -- blacks, Hispanics, gays and Muslims -- a nation that is, as Michelle Obama once put it succinctly, "just downright mean"?

The Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November. Not just because the economy is ailing. And not just because Obama over-read his mandate in governing too far left. But because a comeuppance is due the arrogant elites whose undisguised contempt for the great unwashed prevents them from conceding a modicum of serious thought to those who dare oppose them.

As a conservative "Baby Boomer," who witnessed the 1960's in collage, I have seen that contempt up close and personal! This is a MUST READ column. Click on the title for a link.

Glenn Beck ?

I must admit I am undecided about Glenn Beck of FOX NEWS. I am not sure if he is a charlatan or a sincere conservative. I do like the fact he invites interesting people on his show to discuss such topics as conservative/libertarian economist Ludwig von Mises and his book "Road to Serfdom." I can't remember the last TV show that discussed "Road to Serfdom" one of the greatest books of the 20th Century. On the other hand he comes across as a mischievous rogue ..... a kind of "Peck's Bad Boy."

Peck's Bad Boy was the fictional star of newspaper stories and books created by George W. Peck in the late 1800s. Hennery (or Henry) Peck was a mischievous lad who loved to play sneaky pranks on others, especially his father, for the sheer pleasure of creating mayhem. The stories were a huge hit in their era, and the name Peck's Bad Boy became a popular term for any incorrigible rule-breaker. George Peck collected his stories into several books, most notably Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa (1883).

Beck often has a mischievous smile that is both funny and slightly disconcerting.

However, I do love him for his enemies. He drives liberals and the mainstream media mad !

UPDATE: Maybe "Peck' Bad Boy" is a little too dated..... let me put it this way.... when listening to Glenn Beck I hear Ronald Reagan but I feel like I am seeing Eddie Haskell of Leave it to Beaver fame. I could be wrong?

Oregon in Freefall-- Revenue Drops $377.5 Million

Here is an email news letter from my friend Oregon State Representative Dennis Richardson that outlines how dire the situation is in Oregon this summer of our discontent.

Rep. Richardson's Newsletter
August 26, 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oregon in Freefall--
Revenue Drops $377.5 Million

I am State Representative Dennis Richardson and I write this newsletter for Oregonians interested in what can be done to make Oregon a better place to live and work.

Today, the Oregon’s State Economist released the Quarterly Revenue Forecast that shows a reduction of $377.5 Million in expected revenue for the remaining ten months of this biennium. (Click Here.) This news was expected. It is the fifth straight reduction in revenue estimates for 2009-11, and demonstrates that Oregon continues in economic free-fall.


In fact, this is Oregon’s ninth negative revenue forecast in the past 27 months.

........

History has a sobering way of repeating itself. In March, 2007 the legislature crafted a budget based on a woefully optimist revenue forecast. I wrote the following on March 27, 2007, “…When the euphoria over the increased funding for nearly every agency and program subsides, we fiscal conservatives are left with the nagging question, ‘How will such increases be sustained in the future?’ Even when you allow for the 1% allocated to the new Rainy Day Fund, a net spending increase of more than 18% above the current biennial budget is breath-taking. I can only sit here and shake my head. After all, the voters have spoken; the liberals are in charge; and, who am I to rain on their parade. It’s like the Roaring Twenties…Happy Days are here again.” Those days of high spending and heavy borrowing are over. The sobering days of the dark decade that followed the Roaring Twenties are now upon us.

Two changes made since the Great Depression have avoided much of the trauma experienced during the 1930’s.

1. The unemployed have income—more than two years of unemployment benefits averaging more than $300 per week have avoided the long lines at soup kitchens and have kept millions of American families in their homes; and,

2. The financial panic and runs on banks by terror-stricken depositors has been avoided-- the Federal Reserve has a strategy of announcing the insolvency of banks (103 so far this year) late on Friday afternoons, announcements made with calm assurances that larger banks always assume the insolvent banks’ accounts and assets, and the transition will be seamless for depositors.

It is no surprise that Oregon is in finacial free-fall. The May 2009 economic and revenue forecast was the basis for the 2009-11 State Budget. Although the May 2009 forecast anticipated $12.5 Billion in General Fund revenues, it was down $532.5 million from the forecast released only two months earlier in March 2009. Notwithstanding the clear indication from such a large revenue reduction—not to mention the reductions in the previous four Revenue Forecasts—in June of 2009 the Oregon Legislature ended the session by balancing the 2009-11 State Budget using the declining revenue figure as well as $1.6 Billion of federal stimulus money and other “one-time” revenues. Draining Oregon’s savings accounts and accepting huge grants of federal “stimulus” money might have made sense if there was reason to believe we were in a short-term recession. In that event, such money would be merely a bridge to the rising side of a “V” shaped recovery. Instead, we had reason to believe then and we should clearly recognize now, we are living in a multi-year “L” shaped recession/depression and the spending of $1.6 Billion of one-time money was a bridge to nowhere.

In short, the bridge funding is over and Oregon’s economy is continuing its fall into dark waters of economic depression. As President Reagan once said, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours.”

The freefall in Oregon revenues raises two questions:

1. What is causing Oregon revenues to plummet?

The June Revenue Forecast dropped $526 million from the March Forecast, only three months earlier. Today the September Revenue Forecast dropped another $377.5 million lower than the June Forecast. How is it possible for 10 consecutive Revenue Forecasts to be wrong? One reason for the string of flawed revenue forecasts is the reliance on overly optimistic assumptions. One such assumption has been that personal income tax withholdings would increase 6% this biennium, while they have increased only 2%. Oregon has had a year of 10% unemployment or higher, and fewer workers employed results in less personal income taxes being withhold; in addition, those who have private sector jobs in Oregon are making less money.

Notwithstanding the precipitous reduction in personal income tax withholdings, corporate income tax revenues have actually risen. Corporate tax revenue increases might be attributed to the tax increases contained in Measure 67--that remains to be seen. They might be attributed to a recovery in Oregon’s economy. When considered more closely, the opposite may be true. There are two primary ways for a business to increase its taxable income: increase sales or decrease expenses while retaining cash that might have been invested in depreciable or deductible items.

Consumer statistics show that inflation and consumption are both quite low. Oregonians are buying less, using less credit, paying down debt where possible, and saving more than they have saved in recent years. Thus, with retail sales flat, businesses are not generating more income from an increase in sales. The additional corporate taxes showing up in Oregon’s coffers likely results from increases in taxable revenues resulting from money saved by reductions in workforce, lowering wages and other costs, and retaining capital instead of investing it in rolling stock, business expansion and other tax deductible or depreciable expenditures. In short, businesses may be paying taxes on retained capital that would normally have been spent in tax-deductible ways if the businesses were growing and investing in the future.

The bottom line is this: 93% of Oregon’s General Fund revenues are income tax related, and notwithstanding wishful forecasting to the contrary, Oregon’s workers and businesses are not generating the income tax revenue the State Economist has estimated for the past nine quarterly forecasts.

2. How should Oregon’s leaders respond to plummeting revenues?

Basic economic principles apply to everyone—individuals, families, businesses and governments. Here is one such basic principle: When you cannot pay your bills, you must increase income, decrease expenditures or do both.

Increase Income. Our elected officials have contributed to Oregon’s economic drought by increasing taxes in a recessionary economy, and by incurring large amounts of long-term debt.

The passing of Measures 66 and 67 have dramatically chilled Oregon’s business climate by instituting the highest personal income tax in America (11%--tied with Hawaii), and installing a corporate sales tax based on the volume of business sales, regardless of the profitability or profit margin of the company. Benjamin Franklin described such actions as “penny wise and pound foolish.” Businesses and high earning individuals are attracted by incentives and repelled by constraints. Economic research has demonstrated that high tax jurisdictions drive away business (and the jobs they create), while low tax jurisdictions attract such businesses. Oregon’s high income tax and regulatory environment are contributing factors to Oregon’s higher-than-national-average unemployment rate.

In addition to tax increases, Oregon’s legislature has dramatically increased our State’s long-term debt. Government debt for the State is much like household debt for individuals—after spending the immediate influx of cash, the temporary benefit is replaced by the burdensome reality of having to pay the money back with interest.

In 2006 Oregon’s “Net Tax-Supported Debt” was roughly $6 Billion. By the end of the current 2009-11 biennium, Oregon’s debt-load will exceed $9.6 Billion in Net Tax Supported Debt—a 57% increase in long-term debt in less than four years. In only two biennia, Oregon went from a low debt state to one of the highest indebted states in America. The cost of servicing Oregon’s high debt levels is extremely expensive. Large amounts of revenue are diverted from high priority uses for decades. The total payments for all Oregon debt over the next two years is $1.3 Billion. (Click here.)

Decrease Expenditures. As I see it, the expected shortfall for the 2011-13 Oregon State Budget will exceed $4 Billion. This opinion is based on the following:

(1.) The $1.3 billion reduction in revenue since the June 2009 close of session is not just foreboding, it is indicative of a new and austere era in Oregon revenues and spending.

(2.) The likelihood of replacing the $1.6 Billion of one-time money used to create the current State Budget, is a pipedream. The State Economist estimated a 6.5% growth in income to support a forecast for $1.8 billion in new income tax revenue for the 2011-13 biennium. I’m no economist, but when I look at the declining revenue chart above, the precipitous drop in housing prices and demand, the perennial level of high unemployment, the lack of consumer confidence and spending, and the lack of available credit even though interest rates are at an all-time low, it is clear to me, our economy is not in recovery. The $1.6 billion in one-time spending used to balance our current budget is not coming back for a long time.

(3.) The dramatic increase in PERS employer payments will cost the State $400-$500 million in additional PERS payments in 2011-13 and $1 billion in 2013-15. The PERS problem is dramatic and systemic. To learn more about it see the PERS March and April newsletters at www.dennisrichardson.org.

(4.) The $2.3 Billion required to maintain the Current Service Level (CSL) of State government in 2011-13 cannot be paid. In sum, there is no way to deal with such a large financial hole without cutting costs, programs and services. Oregon’s new Governor and Legislators wlll be forced to look at all options and take hard budget-bill votes in order to balance the 2011-13 State Budget—not to mention the additional cuts that will be required to maintain a balanced budget for the remaining ten months of the current biennium.

Oregon is not the only state to suffer reductions in revenues. Oregon budget advisors and legislators would be wise to consider carefully what is being done in other states. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has gathered information on what budget balancing measures are being used in all 50 states. To see a sampling and how they might be used in Oregon, Click here. NCSL is an excellent resource to legislators in all 50 states. When we legislators utilize the research and services provided by NCSL we gather information and ideas in an effective, efficient and economical manner, without having to “reinvent the wheel.”

In closing, Oregon’s financial situation is dire. With revenues falling, with the economy floundering and with expenses skyrocketing, there is no alternative but for the State of Oregon to change its ways. Oregon has spent too much in the past and has failed to make cuts when they could have been made more discretely. Now such myopic spending practices are coming home to roost. There will be no quick economic recovery and we should adjust our living and spending habits accordingly. It will require creative and courageous new ways of running our State if we are to balance our Budget and restore a vibrant economy. Effective leadership will require the willingness to learn from other jurisdictions, eliminate non-essential programs (and they are not all essential), and restructure Oregon government with a more lean and efficient design.

It is up to us, the people, to see that our elected officials make the changes necessary to reform and restore our government of the people, by the people and for the people.

If you have ideas that could help Oregon resolve its financial problems or if you know of areas we should look at to cut waste, or redesign agencies & programs, please share them on the Richardson Newsletter Blog (Click here.)

Now is the time.

Sincerely,

Dennis Richardson
State Representative

Book: "My Father's War....A Son's Journey" by Peter Richmond*****

Last Monday during the lunch hour my wife and I walked down to the Medford branch of the Jackson County Library and on the way out I stopped at the Friends of the Library used book store. They had a sale on biography's. There among the many biographies of famous people I found this modest looking book on the 50 cent cart next to Henry Kissinger and Howard Cosell. What a bargain. I could not put the book down.

The book was written in 1996 by the son of a U.S. Marine who had fought in the South Pacific in World War II with the 1st Marine Division . The father survived the war but died when his son was seven in 1960 in an airline collision. The son became an author of several books and a sports writer and went back to the South Pacific in the 1990's in a search of the places where his father had fought. He went to present-day Guadalcanal, New Britain and Peleliu. He also searched Marine Corps records and talked with many of his fathers comrades in arms inthe Marine Corps.

The book reminded me of two other books:


In 1980 the famous author William Manchester wrote one of the best books about World War II titled "Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War". Manchester had been in the U.S. Marine Corps during the war and wrote about the war and the battles he experienced in the South Pacific as he chronicled his trip back to the South Pacific in the 1970's.

In 2000 James Bradly wrote "Flags of Our Fathers" about his father and the other men who raised the American Flag on Iwo Jima in the famous photo now immortalised at the Marine Corps Memorial across the Potomac River from Washington DC. The book was turned into a movie by film director Clint Eastwood.

Both author's, James Bradly and Peter Richmond, are "baby Boomers" who knew little about their father's experiences in World War II and the books are an attempt by them, after their fathers deaths, to discover the defining experiences of their father's lives. On the other hand, William Manchester's book is an attempt by him to purge the bad memories of the war by returning to the locations of his nightmares.

To read more about "My Father's War A Son's Journey" or to buy it click on the title for a link to Amazon.com

I highly recommend all three books as well as the movie.

From "My Father's War A Son's Journey":

Most of the books (about Guadalcanal) share one thing : the refrain that is now legend, quoting the veteran of the Canal as he report to the afterlife:

And when he gets to Heaven, to St. Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir -- I've served my time in Hell"

Summer of our Discontent

1. The odds of a double dip recession are very high!

2. Unemployment is at almost double digits with little evidence that the private sector will be hiring any time soon.

3. The sale of existing houses is at the lowest level in 15 year.

4. the sale of new houses is at the lowest level in 47 years..... yes, 47 years. In the last 3 moths it's the lowest ever of record.

5. Companies have cut back on their purchase of equipment and machinery.

6. Consumer confidence fell to a five month low.

7. The US Federal deficit compared to GMP was the highest since World War II ( 65 years)

8.The U.S. trade deficit widened a surprising 18.8 percent in June on a surge of consumer goods from China

9. The combined share of foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies was 14 percent, or about one in every seven U.S. mortgages.

I don't know about Wall Street but Main Street America is hurting.

12.8 % Unemployment in Jackson County Oregon

Jackson County, Oregon marked its 20th straight month of double-digit unemployment in July with a jobless rate of 12.8 %.

The rate is higher than June's 12.1 %.

Statewide, Oregon has a 10.6% unemployed rate the 7th highest in the nation. The United State unemployment rate is 9.5% or 3.3 % less than Jackson County Oregon.

There is no end in sight this summer of our discontent.

New Albums for Bob Dylan Fans

I just recived this press release from Columbia Records:

Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series Volume 9 – The Witmark Demos will be released on Tuesday, October 19th, in conjunction with the re-release of the artist's first eight long-playing albums in a box set titled Bob Dylan – The Original Mono Recordings. Both sets have been long sought-after by collectors and fans worldwide, with The Witmark Demos seeing their first commercial release nearly five decades after they were first recorded, and The Original Mono Recordings returning to the marketplace for the first time ever on CD as well as on fully analogue 180-gram vinyl. Both are now available for pre-sale with an exclusive t-shirt and limited edition 18x24" Bob Dylan poster at SonyMusicDigital.com/bobdylan. You can also pre-order the CD or vinyl sets at Amazon.

The Witmark Demos features 47 Bob Dylan songs recorded by the artist accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano on 2 CD or 4 LP 180-gram vinyl. All of these songs were written – and their subsequent demos recorded – before Bob Dylan turned 24 years old.

Among the many gems are 15 Bob Dylan songs that were recorded by the artist only for these sessions, and which have never been officially released to the public until now. These include the plaintive "Ballad For A Friend," the civil rights era-inspired "Long Ago, Far Away" and "The Death Of Emmett Till," and the poignant "Guess I'm Doing Fine."

The Original Mono Recordings is comprised of Bob Dylan's first eight long-playing albums, painstakingly reproduced from their first generation monaural mixes as the artist intended them to be heard. These eight albums – spanning the artist's self-titled debut in March 1962, through John Wesley Harding released on December 27, 1967 – are universally regarded as some of the most important works in the history of recorded music.

Together with The Witmark Demos, they provide the public with a wide-ranging view of Bob Dylan's work during the 1960s, and chronicle his amazing evolution from fledgling songwriter to one of the world's most inventive and singular recording artists.

This is really good news regarding the Witmark Demos. I have listened to several and they are very good.... pure acoustic Dylan from my favorite period of his music. (1962-1964)Up until October when they will be released it has been difficult to find even real bootleg copies of these demos. It will fill in a hole in my Dylan collection. I am looking forward to their release.

The "Moderate" Muslim ?

The Ground Zero Imam:

"We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non Muslims,"

Feisal Abdul Rauf said this at a 2005 lecture sponsored by the University of South Australia.

This is the guy the Obama State Department called a "moderate" and sent to the middle east at American taxpayer's expense. ($16,000)

He is also the Imam who wants to build a mosque near Ground Zero.

President Obama has found his Muslim Reverend Wright !

When will he throw him under the bus figuratively speaking ?

(Click on the title for a link to a recording of his remarks)

Happy 35th Anniversary Dear

Yes....... 35 years ago we were married at the Perozzi Fountain in Lithia Park in Ashland. Hard to believe.... hard to believe.

AP Gets its ‘Facts’ Wrong: Fact Checking Agenda Journalists

Andy McCarthy on National Review On line's "The Corner posted this today:

...yesterday that the AP has issued guidance on how to, er, cover the GZ mosque story, based on its very careful, objective fact-checking. At Big Peace, our pal Frank Gaffney argues that someone needs to fact-check the fact-checkers

Click on the title above for a great critique of the Associated Press and the radical Ground Zero Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

The Associated Press is now prohibiting its staff from using the words “Ground Zero mosque” in stories:

Click on the title for a link to the story which has a link to the AP memo. The memo reads like a liberal talking point memorandum.No wonder a new Gallup poll has found that only 25% of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspapers. Consider this AP memo next time you read an AP story in your local newspaper. The mosque would be two blocks from Ground Zero but I guarantee you the the message intended by those that want to build it is a poke in the nose to the non Islamic world. The only ones they have hoodwinked are the American liberal "intelligentsia."

In a much less serious vain it reminds me of my Oregon Ducks putting up an Oregon Duck billboard next to LAX in L.A. It might as well been on the U$C campus !

No one is denying the Moslem's have a constitution right to build it just that their intentions are anything but innocent.

Phil Knight vs Oregonian's Rachel Bachman, Part II

About two weeks ago the Portland Oregonian newspaper ran a snarky story by Rachel Bachman how the Phil Knight-funded Jaqua academic center for student athletes at the University of Oregon cost $41.7 million dollars.(See post below with link to story) Today, there is an ad supporting Knight in the Oregonian along with a "letter to the editor:"

THE AD:

Dear Penny and Phil,
On behalf of 180,000 alumni worldwide, students and faculty, we thank you for your generous support to the University of Oregon over the years. From the Knight Library, to the Knight Law School, to endowed chairs and professorships across campus, to athletics, your time and money have helped make the University of Oregon the excellent institution that it is today. Thank you for just doing it. Sincerely, University of Oregon Foundation Board of Trustees

THE LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

UO and Phil Knight
I was disappointed to see that The Oregonian put as its lead story a gift by Phil Knight to the University of Oregon that focused almost solely on the purported cost of the Jaqua Center instead of the generosity that lies behind the gift ("New UO center's price: $41.7 million," Aug. 7).

For two decades now, the University of Oregon along with the other six public higher education institutions, has received a decreasing amount of state funding as a percentage of the overall institutional budget. Today UO receives only 9 percent of its overall revenues from our lawmakers in Salem. Private funding has never been more important than it is now.

Phil and Penny Knight have led the way with gifts to countless centers of the University of Oregon, including the library, law school, business school and, yes, the athletic department. Their generosity and leadership has in turn motivated many other private individuals to step up their giving to all areas of the university. Consider the benefit of the hundreds of construction jobs, design fees and permit fees that this higher level of giving has returned to the Eugene community during these most difficult economic times.

Phil Knight continues to be an inspiration to most Oregonians. This article should have been brief and to the point -- just three words: Thank you, Phil.

ED MALETIS
Southwest Portland
Maletis is a member of the University of Oregon Foundation board of trustees.

On August 10th the BEND BULLETIN newspaper had an editorial on the subject:

Oregonians have many reasons to be angry these days, but the University of Oregon's John E. Jaqua Center for Student Athletes isn't one of them.
Nonetheless, the 37,000-square-foot academic center has been generating resentment since it opened in January. Much of the facility is open only to athletes. The structure itself is, well, ostentatious. And building the thing, as The Oregonian reported Aug. 6, consumed a staggering amount of money. Including fees, permits, design, furniture, equipment and so on, the Jaqua Center cost nearly $42 million, or roughly $1,100 per square foot.

Cue the outrage.

"Forty million dollars buys a lot of new faculty, reduced class sizes, better facilities for the rest of campus," fumed UO Senate President Nathan Tublitz, who considers it "a travesty to spend so much money for the benefit of such a small subset of students who already receive enormous perks."

We would be thumping the outrage drum right beside Tublitz and other critics but for one little detail: The project was paid for entirely by U of O alumnus and Nike co-founder Phil Knight. In an ideal world, Knight-who has donated millions to endow faculty positions, expand the law school and so on-would pour more of his fortune into the university's academic infrastructure, even if that meant spending less on sports-related projects. But it's his money, and nobody should be shocked that sports occupy a prominent place in his philanthropic legacy, just as they have in his career. The guy didn't make his billions selling slide rules. He built a sporting-goods empire.

We suppose the university could reject Knight's generosity in the pursuit of some ideal. But that would be silly. All of us might wish he'd spend his fortune a little differently, but the university is undeniably better off with the projects he funds than without them.

Rather than complaining about the generosity of a successful Oregonian, critics of the Jaqua center would be better off asking what state policymakers are doing-or not doing-to produce the next Phil Knight.

As a friend said in an email to me it wasn't the general facts in Bachman's news story that bothered him (or me) it was the snarky tone of the story and many of her stories on Phil Knight and University of Oregon athletics.

Did you know that Phil and Penny Knight gave 100 million dollars to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU)to fight cancer two year ago ?

We remembers for a long time the philanthropy of the Andrew Carnegie's and Phil Knight's of this world but in the long run their critics are forgotten.

Thanks Phil and Penny Knight for all you do for this state. Go Ducks!

"Intolerance is not just part of al-Qaeda, it is part of Islam"

Religious intolerance has always bothered me. Growing up in Utah I always wondered why I could not go into a Mormon Temple. A few years ago a Christian refused to do business with me because I am an Agnostic. Now Andrew McCarthy on National review Online has an interesting article on the intolerance of Islam. For example, as a non believer I can not even go to the city of Mecca. That would be like the Mormons telling me I couldn't even to to Salt Lake City, Utah much less the Mormon Temple. At least the Mormon's allow me in Temple Square. I have never been to Rome but I know the Vatican even has guided tours.

Click on the title for a link to Andrew McCarty, article. BTW don't take your bible when you go to Saudi Arabia .

It is about Islam. Saudi Arabia does not have any law but sharia. Non-Muslims are discriminated against in the kingdom, not because that’s how the Saudis want it. They are discriminated against because that is how the Koran says it must be.

In spite of the religious intolerance of some religions I must point out that I have good friends who are Mormons, Christians and I would be happy to have a friend who was a follower of Islam. Heck, I even have friends who are Oregon State Beavers.

Welcome Home Dear

For the last 10 days I have been a bachelor. A few months ago our generous daughter invited her mother to go to with her to Hawaii. She made all the flight arraignments and rented a nice beach front room on the island of Kauai. (See picture above taken from their lanai.) I wasn't jealous until I learned they had rented a red Mustang convertible for their stay on Kauai ! Our daughter lives in Washington DC and so my wife met her in San Francisco about 10 days ago. Before their flight to Hawaii they stayed at the historic Palace Hotel on Market street in San Francisco and did some sightseeing. Last night they got back to San Francisco and I talked with my wife on the phone. She had a good time and I will be picking her up at the Medford/Jackson County "International" Airport this afternoon. Before they left I told our daughter she "owed" her mother a trip to Hawaii! The last time my wife and I went to Hawaii my wife was pregnant with our daughter and did not feel well for part of the trip.:)No, our daughter is a very generous and thoughtful person and and I can't thank her enough for giving her mother this wonderful trip. With her career taking her to Washington D.C. we don't get to see her as much as we like and it was wonderful they could have this mother/daughter time together.

Before my wife left, in preparation for the trip, we watched John Wayne's "Donovan's Reef" filmed on Kauai. (The last move John Wayne and John Ford made together.) We also rented Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" also filmed on the island. ( A terrible movie). I couldn't convince my wife to re watch "South Pacific" filmed on Kauai. As she said "you like it much more than I."

In 2004 our daughter took me to the Republican Convention in New York City. I had never been to a National Republican Convention and she knew how much it meant to me.

We are lucky parents.

While my wife has been gone I have not suffered. A friend and I have been to several movies and had a couple of meals out. I have also used the time to make several trips to Donut Country. The temperature in our home has also been much cooler.. I like it to be about 65 degrees when I get home from work when it is 103 outside and my practical wife likes to keep it about 75 degrees. I turned it up when I left for work this morning.

Welcome home Dear.

U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Junket by Defender of Iranian Regime

U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Junket by Defender of Iranian Regime

Feisal Abdul Rauf is in the news primarily as the sponsor of the Ground Zero mosque. But leave aside the planned mosque. What about the fact that Rauf is now touring the Middle East on a trip sponsored and paid for by our State Department? Is he delivering the message we want foreigners to hear from the American people?

A Mosque and the evil we will not forget.

I do recognize the legal right of a group of Muslims to build a Mosque 2 blogs from Ground Zero in New York City.

However, those that wish to build this Mosque are evil! Rich Galen in his Mullins column writes this:

It cannot be lost on the backers of this Mosque that it is, if not cheek-by-jowl to Ground Zero, it is close enough to be seen by many Americans - even those of good will toward Muslims - as mocking the attacks of 9/11.

Manhattan is a big place. New York City is a bigger place. Put the Mosque somewhere else and quit insulting us by asking us to pretend that the proposed location is just happenstance.

Where is the outrage from the "moderate" Muslims of this insult. Our Bill of Rights gives them the right to build it but we don't have to pretend we respect them for doing it. I will be very interested in who fiances the construction of this Mosque. I am waiting for the Muslims of good will to speak out and to dissociate themselves from this outrage..

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

On Saturday President Obama said"

"I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about. And I think it's very important as difficult as some of these issues are that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about."

"I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there".... why the heck not !

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal comments:

"A clever little dodge indeed! Once again, Barack Obama votes "present."

It would be helpful for our President to express the outrage most Americans feel for this insult.

UPDATE: Democrat Pat Caddell just said on Fox News that Obama's comments on the Mosque near Ground Zero is going to "blow up the Democratic party."

To the folks who want to build the Mosque don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

I hate Tattoos

My daughter will put this post down as my "angry old man rant" but here goes anyway. I can't stand tattoos. I can remember when the only people with tattoos were sailors and those folks in the carnival freak show on the midway.Now you walk down the street and it seams like every other person has an exposed tattoo. It's worse in the summer because people expose more skin. Now I know it's a fad at least I hope it is a fad, but unlike bell bottom pants that you can give to Goodwill you can't get rid of tattoos when the fad ends.

Now I know many nice folks who have tattoos but nothing brands a person like a tattoo. I view tattoos as part of the general coarsening of American society.

Today is the 65 Anniversary of V-J Day

Picture above was taken on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay as the Japanese sign the surrender documents ending World War II in front of General Douglas MacArthur.


Michael Bylen of the World War II Museum:

Most of us will greet this Saturday, as a welcome respite from the workweek.

But Aug. 14 should also be a day for remembrance. For it is the 65th anniversary of V-J Day -- the victory over Japan that, in 1945, concluded the Second World War, a conflict that claimed more human lives than any in history.

As word spread, people crowded city squares and plazas across the 48 states to celebrate. The shared relief and joy of that day was captured in an immortal photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in New York's Times Square -- of a sailor sweeping a young nurse into an exuberant embrace and kiss.

The nurse in the picture above died a few weeks ago in California at age 91.

Here is a recollection of Harold Schindler of what it was like on V J Day in Salt Lake City, Utah after the war:

And it was a celebration.

GIs on leave and in uniform were the center of attention. Soldiers, sailors, marines and pretty girls. . .snake-danced up and down Main from South Temple to Broadway.

And in the early evening, as I watched from the second-floor windows, I could see the Salt Lake City Police Department paddy wagon, the ``Black Maria,'' used to cart drunks to jail, trying to drive across Main at 200 South, but finally slowed to a halt in front of the Owl Drug under the Walker Bank Building on the southeast corner.

The officer, doggedly trying to do his duty, had a wagon full of inebriates.

And as I watched, I could see him being surrounded by a score of partying celebrants, chanting for the officer to join them. Before he knew it, a couple of soldiers had pulled his keys from his belt and opened the door to the police wagon.

Once the passengers were repatriated, so to speak, the revelers tossed the officer's keys into a U.S. mailbox nearby, leaving the patrol wagon stranded and empty.

The whooping and hollering went on well into the next morning.

The war was over

http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/081595.html

Also click on the title for a link to Michael Bylen's article

Lest we forget

Best Buy comes to Medford, Oregon

Good news for this DVD addict. According to the Mail Tribune newspaper, Best Buy will open a store here in Medford on Friday August 20, 2010 at 9:54 a.m. It will be located at the old G.I. Joe's store at the Poplar Square shopping center.Since Circuit City closed in the winter of 2009 the Medford area has been without a consumer electronics store. No more trips to Eugene/Springield to the nearest Best Buy. I bet they will have CD's too !

(Click on the title for a link to the Mail Tribune news story)

American Warriors Come Home

In this summer of our national discontent something to bring a smile to your face and tears to your eyes.

This is a collection of videos of American soldiers and Marines surprising their loved one on their return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I dare you to watch it without Kleenex tissue.

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

And a familiar face we haven't seen for a while greets returning troops yesterday at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.








(click on the title for some more pictures )

I do miss him.

Public Housing

A friend sent me this email today:

The problem with public housing is that the residents are not the owners.

The people that live in the house did not earn the house, but were loaned the property from the true owners, the taxpayers. Because of this,many of the residents do not have the "pride of ownership". In fact, the opposite happens and the many residents resent their benefactors because the very house is a constant reminder that they themselves did not earn the right to live in the house. Many do not appreciate the value of the property and see no need to maintain or respect it in any way.

The result is the same whether you are talking about a studio apartment or a magnificent mansion full of priceless antiques. If the people who live there do not feel they earned the privilege, they will make this known through their actions.
The picture below illustrates the point…




The Resolute Desk was built from the timbers of the HMS Resolute
and was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes.
It is considered a national treasure and icon of the presidency.

Mr. Obama, with all due respect, get your feet off our desk!

Phil Knight vs. Oregonian's Rachel Bachman

Last week the Portland Oregonian newspaper ran a story by Rachel Bachman how the Phil Knight-funded academic center for student athletes at the University of Oregon cost $41.7 million dollars. Click on title above for a link.

The news story pointed out that the entire 41.7 million million dollars for the "Jaqua Academic Center" was paid for by Nike founder Phil Knight.
Some quotes from the article:

The Jaqua Center, dubbed the "jock box" by critics, has spurred controversy because of its opulence and exclusivity

********

Forty million dollars buys a lot of new faculty, reduced class sizes, better facilities for the rest of campus," UO senate president Nathan Tublitz said. "It is a travesty to spend so much money for the benefit of such a small subset of students who already receive enormous perks."

She then compares the cost of the building with several others to prove her thesis that the building was too expensive. (Click on title above for link)

Today Phil Knight struck back with a letter to the editor of the Oregonian:

The University of Oregon, for whatever reason, felt a need to benchmark the cost of the Jaqua Center. It had someone make an estimate. There was no reward or punishment for being right or wrong in the estimate. The resulting "guesstimate" was so far off, so far inflated, as to be meaningless. Or maybe it was accurate as to what it would have cost had the university been managing the process. (And, by the way, prevailing wage was paid in the entire construction process.)

At any rate, The Oregonian took this meaningless estimate and turned it into a front-page story critical of the extravagance of the building. Great journalism.

PHIL KNIGHT
Hillsboro

A friend sent me an email today with a collection of comments, made online, by others regarding the Bachman article:

It would be interesting to see the dollar numbers for the many gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Knight that they have made to both U of Oregon and Stanford academic programs. The gifts at Oregon to the law school, to the library, etc. In 2005 he gave $105 million to the Stanford Business School - the largest single gift that school at Stanford had ever received. Or, the 2008 gift of $100 million to the Oregon Health Sciences University...part of the Oregon university system. A 1996 gift of $25 million to U of O for two purposes: $15 million to create endowed chairs and professorships across campus and $10 million to finance construction of a 138,000-square foot building for the School of Law. A significant family gift toward a $27.4 million expansion and renovation of the UO’s main library, the heart of a research university. Completed in October 1994, the expansion increased library space by 50 percent, tripled student seating capacity, added 22 new group-study and seminar rooms, updated facilities for computerized instruction and research, expanded the Instructional Media Center to include state-of-the-art distance learning classrooms, and modernized heating, cooling and lighting systems for user comfort and protection of perishable and often priceless library collections.
Like many donors of gifts he may prefer to invest in bricks and mortar rather than programs where it is difficult to track how the money was spent and squandered. And, I certainly don't begrudge him spending more on bricks in Eugene, than directly benefiting academic brickheads who seem to delight in trying to insult him and his wife. ....end of comment.

Another commenter:

I challenge all of the people with the condescending attitudes towards this to answer the question why they think they should be able to tell someone how he/she should spend his/her money? Is this building extra lavish, yes. Is it deserving of another one sided, slanted Rachel Bachman UO bashing article? Not really. Knight has donated plenty to the overall university and the Sports programs (of which his extremely profitable companies are related to). For the life of me I don't understand how this is such a bad thing. Could the money have been spent differently? Yes. But you know what it is his money and he can donate it however he sees fit. Period. End of story. Instead of complaining about what Knight does (as others have said no complaints about the Knight Library or the Law school) why don't they complain about all the other companies/people who benefit from the University and do nothing to give back to the University.

And, another:

The technology used in this building in terms of energy efficiency, electronic communications systems, life span of materials, etc. is not the same as normal commercial construction. It is not a tip up concrete box.
Therefore, instead of just throwing around cost numbers with irrelevant building comparisons, how about doing a serious article about the building and the types of cutting edge systems it has in place? Since Oregonian columnists are too inexperienced for that type of article, go interview professors in the architecture school at UO, consult with energy experts, or with construction engineers, etc.Trying find and present factual information without innuendo might actually be of public value.

And, another:

Perhaps we should just say "thank you."
This building was built without a dime of tax payer dollars. I appreciate the passion that Phil and Penny have for the University. It is not unlike the passion that the Reser family or CH2M Hill has for Oregon State. I applaud the generosity and appreciate their gifts, regardless of the recieving
institution.

And, another:

I’m outraged. Why can’t Phil Knight be a normal billionaire and spend his money on a fleet of yachts with tennis courts? Or an olympic sized swimming pool for his dog? Or a rocket pack that he never even uses. I’m just disgusted that, with all the super expensive rich-guy toys out there, Phil Knight decides to spend his “play money” on improving life for college students.

Rachel is right, the next time Uncle Phil feels the need to open his checkbook, I hope he’s looking for a car worth more than my house. Or a minor league hockey team. Or breeding show ferrets. Rich guys are supposed to invest only in themselves and spend their wealth on things that us normal folks can’t even comprehend, like a rollercoaster designed for giraffes. Every time Phil Knight spends his money to help some young athletes enjoy college life, or law students have an easier time studying, or makes his football team just a little more special when the TV cameras are on… he looks a little more like you and me. Like a guy who really loves his Ducks and is doing all the things us regular folks would do if we were in his shoes. How dare he.

Even the Oregonian's Ken Goe has a commet:

While calling Bachman's story "good" he goes after the critics of Phil Knight:

A few thoughts spring to mind here:

1) You can question Knight's priorities at a time when the school is scrambling to fund academics, and UO professor Nathan Tublitz did exactly that while commenting for Bachman's story.

2) But sheez, Dr. Tublitz, it's Knight's money. Like it or not, he made it and he gets to spend it as he pleases.

3) I don't think you can fault the university for accepting a swank, new building that a benevolent donor was willing to construct on his dime (well, his $40 million) and then hand over. That would be silly.

My comment: Thanks Phil Knight for all you do for the University of Oregon both athletically and academically.

Oregon Football Tickets Arrive

Today my season tickets for University of Oregon Duck football arrived by UPS. Four weeks till the first game. Go Ducks!

2010 Schedule

DATE OPPONENT TIME (ET) Location Result

Sat, Sep 4th, 2010 NEW MEXICO 03:30 PM Autzen Stadium OSN (Comcast) TV

Sat, Sep 11th, 2010 at TENNESSEE 07:00 PM Neyland Stadium ESPN2 TV

Sat, Sep 18th, 2010 PORTLAND STATE TBA Autzen Stadium OSN (Comcast) TV

Sat, Sep 25th, 2010 at ARIZONA STATE 10:30 PM Sun Devil Stadium/Frank Kush F FSN TV

Sat, Oct 2nd, 2010 STANDFORD 11:15 PM Autzen Stadium ESPN TV

Sat, Oct 9th, 2010 at WASHINGTON STATE TBA Martin Stadium

Thu, Oct 21st, 2010 UCLA 09:00 PM Autzen Stadium ESPN TV

Sat, Oct 30th, 2010 at U$C 08:00 PM Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ABC TV

Sat, Nov 6th, 2010 WASHINGTON TBA Autzen Stadium

Sat, Nov 13th, 2010 at CALIFORNIA TBA Memorial Stadium

Fri, Nov 26th, 2010 ARIZONA 07:00 PM Autzen Stadium ESPN TV

Sat, Dec 4th, 2010 at OREGON STATE TBA Reser Stadium

Patricia Neal 1926-2010

On of my favorite actresses died yesterday at age 84. Some of my favorite movies she stared in:



1949 in Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" as Dominique Francon to Gary Cooper's Howard Roak. What libertarian cannot help love this movie for all of it's imperfections.I can see why she and Cooper had an off stage affair while making the movie. She was very beautiful and much younger than him.



1951 with John Wayne in "Operation Pacific" as a navy nurse during World War II



1961 in "Breakfast as Tiffanie's" as the older woman who "kept" George Peppard.




1965 as a navy nurse again with John Wayne in Otto Premingers' "In Harm's Way" another World War II movie.

I always though she and "The Duke" were very good together. They apparently didn't like each other but I guess that shows what good actors they were. I loved her deep voice.

(Click on the title for a link to here IMDB page)

Joe Giansante:"If we lose 8,000 alums in Medford, we’re picking up 50,000 alums in Seattle.” SEASON THREE !

HELP....new AD Rob Mullens!

Three years ago, this month, Joe Giansante,Oregon's Senior Associate Athletic Director, made the above statement regarding the new contract between the University of Oregon Athletic Department and Comcast Sportsnet Northwest.

The quote was the result of a fact that Oregon fans in Medford and many other communities in Oregon would not get Oregon Sports Network programing such as the Oregon coaches shows, replays of games, live football, basketball, and baseball games broadcast by the Oregon Sports Network (OSN) because Comcast had the exclusive rights to these programs and had not come to an agreement with Charter Communications, or the satellite TV providers DirecTV and the Dish Network. At that time, THREE YEARS ago, Joe was quoted on the front page of the Register Guard Newspaper as follows:

Giansante said the university believes that Comcast SportsNet is on the cusp of becoming the dominant regional sports network. “They have the (Portland Trail) Blazers, and now they have the Ducks, and everyone else who wants to be there are going to have to work around us,” he said.

Giansante acknowledged that the university is concerned about potential backlash from viewers who live in areas without over-the-air reception or who can’t afford cable. About 20 percent of the area TV market does not have cable or satellite, Giansante said. While the three football games to be shown on Comcast SportsNet include an over-the-air alternative, that won’t be true for all UO sports or contests.

Comcast SportsNet encountered a similar outcry when it landed the Trail Blazers broadcast rights, with games unavailable to viewers living in areas outside Comcast SportsNet’s reach.

“The tough thing is, we have fans everywhere who are equal in their passion for Oregon sports,” he said. “But when networks like these grow, these are the growing pains. If we lose 8,000 alums in Medford, we’re picking up 50,000 alums in Seattle.”

Three years of "growing pains" with no solution in sight! With football less than a month away no coaches show or replays in most of Southern Oregon for Duck fans. Also, the New Mexico and Portland State football games will be unavailable in most of Southern Oregon because those games will be broadcast on the OSN. It will be even worse during basketball season when many game are shown on OSN. The problem is Comcast has the exclusive rights to these Oregon Duck programs but in THREE YEARS has been unable to come to an agreement with Charter or the Satellite TV providers much less with local TV stations. With the exception of Ashland the only way to get TV in Southern Oregon is over the air, Charter Communications and the satellite providers. None of the four local stations or the other providers available in Southern Oregon have been able to come to terms with Comcast. Portland Trailblazer fans have the same problem. The following is from the Wikipedia article on Comcast Sportsnet Northwest:

The channel is currently unavailable on DirecTV, Dish Network and Charter Communications. DirecTV and Dish Network maintain that Comcast is negotiating in bad faith. For example, on one hand Comcast argues that the channel must be on a low tier with the most customers.[4] At the same time, Comcast argues that non-Comcast-owned sports channels should be shown only on a sports tier.[5] The NBA Trail Blazers are said to be frustrated and disappointed by the conduct of Comcast over their contract with CSN.[6]

The Consumer Protection Committee of the Oregon House of Representatives held a hearing on February 24, 2010 to help get the channel on DirecTV, Dish Network and Charter Cable.[7] No one from DirecTV, Dish Network, or the Trail Blazers attended.[8]

On June 21, 2010, The Trail Blazers asked the Federal Communications Commission to require Comcast Corp. to make Trail Blazers games available to competing multichannel programming distributors such as DirecTV and Dish Network.[9]

Will I have to re post this next August?

New Pictures of "Matt Court"

Seat selection is over at Matthew Knight Arena ("Matt Court") but the Oregon Athletic Department has released some new overhead photos of the arena still under construction. I was able to see it last Friday when I was in Eugene and it looks even more impressive than the architects rendering above. Click on the title for a link.

The smaller building under construction to your right as you look at the top picture is the new alumni center.

GO DUCKS

Joan Rivers Movie:"A Piece of Work" (2010) ****

Last night a friend and I drove over to Ashland for a late showing of the movie "A Piece of Work." It was shown at one of the little theaters in the back of the Varsity Theater and there were only 4 people at this showing of the movie. Now I am not a big fan of Joan Rivers but went based upon the recommendation of Dennis Miller on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News. Miller called it the best movie of the summer. Now Dennis Miller is a fellow comedian so maybe he has a soft spot for Joan Rivers but he was correct on this one. Rivers at age 75 is driven to continue performing much as Bob Hope was. They just can't give up the stage. The movie was a year in the life of Joan Rivers and she gave a lot of access to the documentary crew. My favorite part were vidio clips of her on the old Jack Parr show the forerunner to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.The documentary followed her from performance to performance in a schedule that would tire a much younger person. It was funny and sad all at the same time. No siting on the beach for her. A quote from Roger Ebert's review of the movie:

I think “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” is fascinating and has a lot of laughs in it. It's more than that. It's the portrait of a woman who will not accept defeat, who will not slow down, who must prove herself over and again. A brave and stubborn woman, smart as a whip, superbly skilled. You want to see what it looks like to rage, rage against the dying of the light? Joan Rivers will not go gentle into that good night.

To read the rest of Ebert's review click on the title for a link

Joke of the Day

Rumor has it that bad boy Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is sleeping on Sandra Bullock's couch.

I am sure glad the joke is on Ole Miss, they must be very hard up for a quarterback to make a pact with the..........

Dog Days of Summer

The Dog Days of Summer. Half the country is on vacation and the other half wishes they were on vacation.

He's a Rebel

and a convicted criminal.Jeremiah Masoli to Ole Miss. Now he is their problem.