Friday, September 30, 2011

Friday Night Lights





#4 South Medford Panthers 28, #3 Roseburg Indians 20 at Roseburg. The Indians jumped to an early 14 to 0 lead in the 1st quarter before the Panthers came charging back to score 28 straight points. The Medford Mail Tribune picked the Indians to win the game but South Medford came through. A great win !

Enjoy "The Pick" this Bye Weekend

This is a story I never tire of telling
On October 22, 1994, Oregon football changed. The 1994 season didn't start out that way. Oregon lost to Hawaii, Utah and Washington State. There were only 25,000 fans at Autzen for Utah. At that game I looked around the parking lot and wondered "where is everybody?." The Ducks had beaten U$C in LA but we thought it was a fluke. Then came the Washington game in Eugene on October 22, 1994. I didn't want to drive three hours from Medford to Eugene to watch another Washington "blow out" of the Ducks. I had been there too many times before. In those days with two teenage children at home my kids took turns going to the games with me as we had two season tickets. It was my daughter's turn and so we drove to Eugene. I always like to park on the campus side of the Willamette River and take the footbridge over to Autzen. On a nice day it's a wonderful walk over the river and through the woods to Autzen. I parked on Franklin Blvd. and walked by the New Oregon Motel. It was full of Husky fans. We had also stopped by the book-store on campus and it was full of Husky fans. We got to the game and took our seats in SECTION 13 and the game started. Washington was ranked the # 9 team in the nation. Oregon kept it close. Oregon was leading by four points when Washington scored to go ahead 20 - 17 with 7:44 minutes to play. The game seemed to unfold as it had so often. "nice try"..." a moral victory" ... "close but no cigar". NOT THIS TIME. Danny O'Neil Oregon's QB led the Ducks on a 98 yard drive to regain the lead. It will forever be known as "The Drive." The Ducks now led 24-17 with 2:40 to go in the game. Washington then started their own drive and advanced to the Duck 8 yard line with 1:09 to play. With each yard the Huskies made, every Duck fan knew that Washington would score and win the game as they had so many times before. " So close, but no cigar." Then there was a play that will live forever in every Duck heart. Washington had plenty of time to give the ball to heralded tail back Napolean Kaufman. Instead, QB Damon Huard threw the ball in the flat toward Dave Janoski. Kenny Wheaton the Oregon CB timed the throw perfectly and stepped in front of the Washington receiver and intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back for another Duck touchdown to win the game 31-20. I was standing watching the play with my daughter. We both began to jump up and down!!! We then hugged as we both jumped up and down!!!. It was redemption! My daughter and I will always have that moment in time. On my dying day I will remember it. The play became known as "THE PICK". It is shown on the big screen at every Oregon home game just as the team comes on the field. Jerry Allen, the radio broadcaster's call of the play, has become a favorite of Duck fans... "KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE....KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE" I have a framed print of the play hanging in my office. After the game the many Husky fans looked crushed. The three hour trip back to Medford was like floating on air. Oregon went on to win the Pac 10 Championship that year and the entire family went to the Rose Bowl. It was the Ducks first time since 1958.
It was the beginning of the Golden Age of Duck Football !

Today it was announced Kenny Wheaton will be inducted into the Oregon Duck Hall of Fame. What took them so long.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

President Obama: American's "gotten a little soft"




Jimmy Carter, when the American economy went South, blamed it on the American people and said we were in a malaise to cover for his own incompetence.He was shifiting the blame.

Now, another President is attempting to cover for his own incompetence by blaming it on the American people and the new malaise is "a little soft."

President Barack Obama:

"This is a great great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades,”


Jonah Goldberg has the best comment on Obama's attempt to shift the blame from himself to the American people:

Seriously, in 2008 we elected a community organizer, state senator, college instructor first term senator over a guy who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison. And now he’s lecturing us about how America’s gone “soft”? Really?


No, American just needs a real leader !

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ford Ad Obama Doesn't Want You to See !



Under White House pressure Ford Motor Company pulled this ad.

From the Weekly Standard:

Ford has pulled a TV ad that took shots at companies that benefited from federal government's auto bailout "in response to White House questions," reports Daniel Howes at the Detroit News

Friday, September 23, 2011

And the Winner is ?


Romney, in my book, won the Republican debate last night in Florida on FOX NEWS.He looked like the adult and was smoother and better on his feet. If even tougher economic times are ahead (see post below) Romney is the guy I want in the Oval Office. Romney even was to Perry's right on illegal immigration. I DO want a maned fence the entire border with Mexico. If I attend the University of Texas ( not likely)I would have to pay out of state tuition but a resident of Mexico illegally in Texas gets in state tuition! Perry had a planed attack on Romney about flip- flops and just blew it. I still like the guy and would be happy to support him but I just believe Romney is the better candidate. I see the polls tightening further.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

"Panic ?"



Stocks collapsed roughly 700 points over two days .... this is the backdrop to tonight's Republican Debate...... as the world's economy is on the edge !

Rich Lowry at National Review Online posted this quote from
From Walter Russell Mead on "The Corner":

This is not just about how big the deficit should be; it is about whether the international financial system will survive the next six months in the form we now know it. It is about whether the foundations of the postwar order are cracking in Europe. It is about whether a global financial crash will further destabilize the Middle East and, if so, what we and the Europeans are going to do about it. It is about whether the incipient signs of a bubble burst in China signal the start of an extended economic and perhaps even political crisis there. It is about whether the American middle class is about to be knocked off its feet once again and indeed whether the middle class as we’ve known it will survive. It is about whether sovereign governments can still underwrite economic performance and financial stability in the leading economies of the world.



Click on the title for a link.


"signs of a bubble burst in China" ??????

Monday, September 19, 2011

Give more money to Obama WHO Made the Solyndra Loan


Half a billion down the drain. Not Now.... Not Ever ! Before we give more money to any administration make them prove they know how to administer it.

Obama is like a kid who blows his allowance and begs his parents for more. If he is given more he will not learn financial responsibility. We owe it to him to not give him any more no matter how many times he says pass the bill.

Fun Weekend with my Ducks


On Saturday I went to my first Duck game of the season at the University of Oregon in Eugene. I left Medford at about 8:30 am and headed up I-5 to Eugene. I had several CD, I made up of music that I liked when I was a college student, to get me in the mood. I-5 was full of Oregon fans in their "Ducked Out" cars and SUVs. Other than a rest area stop I didn't stop till I got to Eugene about 11:15 am as I drove in on Franklin Blvd. I saw the new Matt Court and the new Ford Alumni Center as I worked my way to a paved shaded parking spot in an office park behind the New Oregon Motel for $10.00. The rush of fans to the game had already begun. I called my wife to let her know I arrived safely and had a sandwich I made at home. I then joined the parade of fans going to the game. I walked across the Willamette River on the footbridge pictured above and walked through the woods to Autzen Stadium. My ankle which offen has pain as I walk was pain free and I had a hight energy level. School has not started but there were a lot of students who had arrived early to get ready for the school year. They get younger every year ! I went through stadium security and bought a game program and worked my way to my seat. On the way down to my seat I stopped and talked to my friend , Bob and his wife, also from Medford. I then made it to my seat next to the "big guy" from Portland who has the seat next to me. We each have paid the $35.00 to have the Athletic Department lock a portable padded seat with a back on our bench seats to add some comfort.

I missed last weeks home game with Nevada/Reno because it was almost 100 degrees on our side of the field and I do not do well in that kind of heat. So I had stayed home and watched the game on my big screen in high definition. While it was much more comfortable and I got to see more of the game, I had missed the pageantry of actually being at the game. I have had tickets at this location for 20 years and most of the same people have been around us for that 20 years. I never see these people except on game day 6 or 7 times in the fall. It's sorta like "Same Time Next Year." Everyone is getting older ! The wild and crazy group to my left who were in their 30's are now in their 50's and not so crazy. The "hip" couple several rows down now have their grown daughter with her young child. Hair that was once jet black is now starting to grow gray. The Ducks were playing Missouri State and the Ducks ran up a big score so there was not much tension in the game. I just sat back and enjoyed the warm overcast day and being back at one of my favorite places on earth. I do love it ! After the game I worked my way back to the car and drove over to the campus and walked around for about 40 minutes. The campus brought back a flood of memories every where I walked. It was 44 years ago that I first became an undergraduate at Oregon but the memorise and emotions are as clear as events from yesterday. Again, as I walked my ankle was pain free. After my walk down "Memory Lane" I got back to my car and drove back to Medford stopping for gas and snacks. I got home just after dark at about 8 pm. A good day

In the last few years when I have gotten home I often tell my wife "I am getting too old for this." Not this week, it seemed like I had a new energy that has deserted me the last few years. In any case Go Ducks !

Friday, September 16, 2011

Friday Night Lights


North Medford 0 South Medford 56 FINAL

Half a Billion Dollar Photo Op


But then again it wasn't his money it was ours !

Will Obama do a Lyndon Johnson


TV address on March 31, 1968

"I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."


You heard it here first!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Good News Today


The lady in my parking lot at work has removed her Obama bumper sticker that has been bugging me for the last three long years. I kept wanting to ask her "are you embarrassed yet?"

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Put me down for Romney


I have been on the fence for some time. One day I would lean to Perry and another I would lean to Romney. Well, today I am coming down off the fence for Romney in the hope he will pick a conservative of the future like Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio as his running mate. I like Perry and could happily support him but I am not sure America is willing to vote for a Texan so soon after George W. Bush. My main goal is to defeat Barack Obama and I believe Romney gives us the best chance. Romney is not as conservative as I am, but we need someone who after he wins can unite this very angry and divided country and Romney gives us the best chance. A lot of people are very angry about the direction of the country; but, anger doesn't last forever and Perry will just continue the division. Perry is very charming and if I thought he was a dedicated thinking conservative I would make another charge for the conservative cause. However, I believe his conservatism is the fact he is from Texas and is part of the "good old boy" school of politics. In Texas, if you are part of that network you are a conservative. In Chicago, if you are part of the "good old boy" network you are a liberal like Obama.I do not view Perry's conservatism to be deeply thought out like a Reagan, Jack Kemp or Dick Chaney. We need a uniter and someone who is competent. That's Romney. He may not be glamours or exciting but we have had exciting and how is that working for you ?

P.S, Anyone who will bring back the Winston Churchill's bust to the Oval Office gets extra points in my book, as Romney promised last night in the Florida Debate.

I also reserve the right to change my mind as I watch the rest of the debates this fall. Perry could prove my view of him wrong, and I would love for that to happen, because I do like the guy. A charming rogue who likes people. Just not a deep conservative.

Monday, September 12, 2011

It is a Ponzie Scheme


Governor Perry is right Social Security is a legal Ponzie scheme. Both liberals and conservatives have described it as such. Stanley Kurtz has done a little research and the first person to call it a Ponzie Scheme was liberal Newsweek economics columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson in 1967.... yes 1967:

Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson as perhaps the earliest use of the Social Security/Ponzi-scheme comparison in public argument. Samuelson was actually drawing on the Ponzi analogy to defend Social Security. His claim was that the perpetual succession of human generations establishes the conditions for a sustainable Ponzi scheme. Regardless of whether Samuelson was the first commentator to use the Ponzi analogy, he has clearly been the most influential. Policy briefs and books churned out by conservative think tanks such as Heritage and Cato have cited Samuelson’s Ponzi column for years.


Others who have called it a Ponzi Scheme:

Ben Whattenberg

the 1987 publication of Ben Wattenberg’s book The Birth Dearth. Wattenberg, who once worked for Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey, was by the late 1980s a centrist Democrat, hawkish on defense and otherwise alternately allied with the right or left, depending on the issue. Although many rejected Wattenberg’s claim in The Birth Dearth that a crisis of population decline loomed, time has vindicated his warning.

In a U.S. News & World Report cover story excerpting The Birth Dearth, Wattenberg sums up his argument by saying: “In short, Social Security is a Ponzi game, a pyramid scheme, a chain letter.”


Jame C. Miller

In December of 1988, Ronald Reagan’s budget director, James C. Miller III, made news when he called Social Security a Ponzi scheme before an audience at the National Press Club


Robert J. Shapiro

Shapiro was also a senior economic adviser to the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry, and advised the presidential campaign and transition of Barack Obama as well...


The first section-heading in Shapiro’s piece reads “National Ponzi Scheme.” There Shapiro recalls Samuelson’s 1967 Ponzi comparison and suggests that, given today’s demographics, Social Security is“fiscally unsustainable” without major restructuring.


Jonathan Alter

Lamm is praised as a “truthteller” by Alter for being willing to say, among other things, that Social Security is a “well-meaning Ponzi scheme.” Today, of course, the very liberal Alter is a sympathetic biographer of Obama and one of the president’s most supportive media cheerleaders.
Michael Kinsley

Kinsley published a piece at Slate titled, “Social Security: From Ponzi Scheme to Shell Game.”


Max Frankel (former editor of New York Times and columnust)

“For more than 30 years, Presidents and Congresses have pretended that the Social Security Ponzi scheming between the generations will never explode in their lifetimes.” Argued Frankel, “ . . . the majority of voters have been misled.”
To read the entire Kurtz column click on the title for a link.

Mike Pereira, This "O" is For You


New Pac-12 coordinator of officiating Mike Pereira says the Ducks signature 'O' shape the players occasionally make with their hands after a touchdown, "borderlines on unsportsmanlike conduct.

There is no one who is more against 'showboating" than this traditionalist of the "Old School" Yet, you can squeeze all of the fun out of college football and make it as boring as baseball. The "O" is inclusive and not drawing attention to oneself.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering 9/11


I remember that the animal that caused the attacks on 9/11 ended up with a bullet to his head fired by an American Navy Seal and that must have been the last thing he remembered.

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Brian Williams on the Death Penalty


Brian, you need to get out of Manhattan more . Not everyone thinks the Death Penalty is wrong and in fact most Americans support it. In last nights Republican Debate Williams ask Texas Governor Rick Perry about executions in Texas as follows:

Williams: Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you . . .

(LOUD APPLAUSE)

Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?

Perry said "no sir"

Then Williams said:

"What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here, the mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?"

The big question is why the Republicans allowed NBC and their wayward child MSNBC, which broadcast the debate, to have anything to do with a Republican debate. These folks hate Republicans and will do anything to defeat them and defend Barack Obama. The exchange on the death penalty only highlights that point. Did you see the MSNBC panel after the debate? All left wingers.

Best line of the Debate was from New Gingrich's attack on the liberal moderators of the debate:


NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I’m frankly not interested in your effort to get Republicans fighting each other.... (applause) You have — you would like to puff this up into some giant thing. The fact is, every person up here understands Obamacare is a disaster. It is a disaster procedurally, it was rammed through after they lost Teddy Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts, it was written badly, it was never reconciled. It can’t be implemented, it is killing this economy. And if this president had any concern for working Americans, he’d walk in Thursday night and ask us to repeal it because it’s a monstrosity. Every person up here agrees with that. (applause) Let me just say, since I still have a little time left, let me just say, I, for one, and I hope all of my friends up here, are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other to protect Barack Obama, who deserves to be defeated. And all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama. (applause)

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

White House Take on GOP: "Enemies!"" Barbarians!" "Sons of Bitches!"


by Keith Koffler

You all knew already that all the stuff out of the White House about working with Republicans and respecting others’ views was garbage, didn’t you?.....


this White House is serious only about ramming its agenda through Congress and getting Obama reelected, not restoring comity to Washington and the nation via hope and change.


To read the rest click on the title for a link.

I take it seriously when someone calls me an S O B, particularly when it's a surrogate for my President !

Monday, September 05, 2011

Hoffa: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out"

Click on title for a link to video of Jimmy Hoffa making his threat of violence. Do the Teamsters ever change ?

Happy Labor Day


Fox News reports the following:

Cranking up the anti-Tea Party rhetoric, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa called on workers to

"take these sons of bitches out"

as he warmed up a crowd Monday in Detroit ahead of President Obama's Labor Day speech.


His father would be proud of him wherever he is ! President Obama when he spoke repudiated this threat of violence to other Americans exercising their rights...... oh wait that didn't happen.

(click on title for a link to the Fox News story)



Sunday, September 04, 2011

Who's Duck Enough !


I don't want to hear any more whining..... time to get ready for Nevada Reno. Are you Duck enough ?

Obama's Speech on Jobs


"Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed"

Maureen Dowd, yes I am quoting Maureen Dowd !

Friday, September 02, 2011

"Are you Duck Enough" ?


Yes Sir ! Let the season begin. Go Ducks!

Oregon vs LSU, Saturday night on ABC TV live from Cowboy Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. ESPN Game Day will be there too.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.