Day 69 in the University of Oregon Search for a new Atletic Director

Ron Bellamy has a column in the Eugene Register Guard newspaper about U$C's new basketball arena, the Galen Center. The Ducks will play U$C there today in men's basketball. Bellamy states:

When Oregon recruited Bryce Taylor, the Ducks told him that by now, his junior year, he'd be playing in the new basketball arena that would replace the beloved but antiquated McArthur Court.

When the Ducks redshirted forward Adam Zahn, now a senior, they consoled him with the reasoning that he'd get to play two years in a new arena, instead of only one

Of course Oregon will not be able to build a new basketball arena until a new Athletic Director is chosen who gets along with Phil Knight. The reason Bill Moos was cut lose from his contract with an almost 2 million dollar going away gift was he did not get along with Phil Knight and as a result the new basketball area was put on hold indefinitely. Bellemy in his column goes on to say:

The Ducks walked into the Galen Center for shooting practice Friday morning and were duly wowed. Coach Ernie Kent, who'd toured the building last summer, wished that Nike co-founder Phil Knight - hoped by Oregon to be the cornerstone donor for the UO's long-proposed new arena to replace the 80-year-old Mac Court - would see the place today.

Alas, Knight, who attended Oregon's loss at UCLA on Thursday, will miss today's sold-out contest between the Ducks and Trojans..... Jim Bartko, the former UO associate athletic director who was deeply involved in planning for Oregon's proposed arena and now holds a similar post at Cal, said the Galen Center "is very similar to what Oregon is going to be doing" in terms of trying to capture an intimate, collegiate atmosphere in a new arena.The Ducks have envisioned a 12,500-seat arena, in the $160 million range - well, as of last year - on the former site of Williams' Bakery, but the project is in limbo, at least until the university selects a new athletic director.

Oregon's arena would have less than half of the luxury suites of the Galen Center, but it would contain a single balcony, with the bowl sloped as steeply as code will allow to replicate the feel of Mac Court.

When it happens, that is.

While Oregon fiddles, the Trojans are burning with enthusiasm for the new arena, and what it means...... Around the league, other programs that Oregon is expected to compete with and defeat on the basketball court have invested millions upon millions in improvements to their arenas within the past decade....."If you're talking about the recruiting aspects of keeping up with everybody, we're falling behind," Kent said, inside the Galen Center on Friday. "As you can see, we're definitely falling behind. ... "

....As they play today, the Ducks and Trojans are tied for second in the Pac-10 standings. And yet, as you look around the Galen Center, you get the sense that, in the bigger picture, Oregon just fell behind.

Alas it is day 69 in the search for a new Athletic Director at Oregon. Yes, "While Oregon Fiddles"! To read all of Bellamy's column click on the title above for a link.

Happy Birthday Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 and died March 6, 1982. A Russian-born American novelist and philosopher, best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels , The Fountainhead, We the Living, Atlas Shrugged, and the novella Anthem. She was a broadly influential figure in post-WWII America, her work attracting both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciations. I notice that the folks at Google did not note her birthday on their home page. I am sure it just slipped their notice. To read more about her click on to the title above for a link to her page in Wikipedia the Internet encyclopedia. As my Objectivist friends used to say "need is not a claim" She once told William F Buckley that "he was too intelligent to believe in God." She believed in the right of the individual to his property and the fruits of his labor and was against the collectivist state.My friend, Gains Smith, who is also now gone, was a disciple of Rand. I can still see Gaines running around the University of Oregon campus in the late 1960's wearing that $ (dollar) sign lapel button that Rand liked to wear and ticking off the left wing hippies.

Day 67 in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

I have a hunch that a new candidate is emerging for Athletic Director at Oregon. I will not reveal my hunch for now as sometimes too much publicity can hurt the delicate negotiations with a candidate especially if the candidate is an AD at another college our university. If my hunch is correct this could be nothing but good for Oregon. Developing

Day 65 in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

Click on the title above for a link to the advertisement the University of Oregon placed in The Chronicle of Higher Education for applicants for the position of Athletic Director at Oregon to replace Bill Moos who was given an almost 2 million dollar going away gift. The ad does not mention that the new AD must be able to get Phil Knight to help build a new basketball arena to replace 80 year old MacArthur Court. Go Ducks!

All In Fun!

I received this in an email from a friend. Who says Conservatives don't have a sense of humor.

Day 64 in the search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon ...... Or......When are you coming home Jim Bartko?

FACT 1: A judge this morning granted a preliminary injunction stopping UC Berkeley's plans to build a training center next to Memorial Stadium, handing at least a temporary victory to a group of environmentalists who have been camping for weeks in old oak trees that would have to be cut down for the development.
In the four-page ruling, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller said the plaintiffs -- the city of Berkeley, Panoramic Hill Association and California Oak Foundation -- made a sufficient case that the project violates the Alquist-Priolo Act, a state law prohibiting new buildings on earthquake faults.


The injunction means that UC cannot begin work on the project until after the trial, if at all. The trial likely would begin in early summer.

The delay pushes back the construction schedule at least a year, due to conflicts with the football schedule, costing UC $8 million to $10 million due to rising construction costs.

FACT 2: Jim Bartko was hired by the Cal Athletic Department to raise money for the training center and the retrofit of Memorial Stadium.

FACT 3: What big donor would want to donated money to the Cal Athletic Department now with all those left wing kooks in Berkeley willing to use the courts to delay the project indefinitely? Not a healthy climate for raising funds.Jim Bartk's job of raising money will now be much harder.

FACT 4: Jim Bartko when he was working for the Oregon Athletic Department was the main contact between Oregon's main big donor Phil Knight and the Oregon Athletic Department. He had and has an excellent relationship with Phil Knight and was liked by large and small donors. He is ready to be an Athletic Director and he knows Oregon

Fact 5: Oregon will not be able to build a new basketball arena without Phil Knight's help which he would not give as long as Bill Moos was AD. That's the reason for the almost two million dollar buy out of the Moos contract by other donors.

FACT 6: It's been 64 days and Oregon has not been able to find a new Athletic Director that can be announced to the public.

THEREFORE: University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer should get on an airplane for the San Francisco Bay Area and offer Jim Bartko the job of Oregon Athletic Director and not take "NO" for an answerer! Time to come home!

Oregon Duck Football Recruiting

February 7th is Letter Of Intent Day for High School Seniors to send in their letters accepting football scholarships from U.S. Colleges and Universities. To date, the University of Oregon Ducks have received 27 non binding verbal commitments. According to Scout.com ,an Internet site, that tracks these sorts of things, Oregon has commitments from 11 **** Star athletes and 10 *** star athletes on a ***** star scale. In the past Oregon has been lucky to get 4 or 5 four Star athletes but this year they have 11. Oregon is rated at the #9 team in the nation in recruiting this year, to date, and second in the Pac-10 only to U$C. In the past Oregon was often last in the Pac-10 in recruiting. This takes away SOME of the sting of the terrible season Oregon had last year and the embarrassing loss in the Los Vegas Bowl.However I will not forget that loss for a long long time and I don't care how many stars a football player has, as given by a ranking service, he must perform on the field and we need to beat the Oregon State Beavers EVERY year. Keep in mind oral commitments are not binding and we will not know for sure who comes to Oregon until Letter of Intent Day .... Wednesday February 7th... the Wednesday after the Super Bowl. To go to the Scout.com site on the Ducks click on the title above for a link. GO DUCKS!

Home Depot

This weekend with out any football I offered to take my wife to a movie. However, to my surprise she wanted to check out a Home Depot store that just opened near our house. Until a few weeks ago the Medford area did not have a Home Depot. So my wife and I spent about an hour and a half walking up and down the isles checking out what was new in home improvement. We didn't buy anything but got a lot of good ideas. The store is only 8 minutes from our house. I timed it driveway to parking lot. It will be very handy for our next home improvement project. It seems when I work on a project it takes about 4 or 5 trips to the hardware store for all the stuff I need. Until this store opened near Phoenix I had to drive all the way across town to Lowe's It used to be called Eagle Hardware. Now I can take a back country road and a huge store with everything I want is there. It's even easier to get to then Fred Meyer, South Medford. So next time I need a light bulb or something to fix the toilet I will drive the 8 minutes to Home Depot. Isn't free enterprise great!

Day 63 in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln in describing one of his generals, George McClellan, said: "He has the slows." The same think can be said about University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer in his search for a new Athletic Director. Ron Bellamy in today's Eugene Register-Guard newspaper has a column titled: "Big wheels turn slowly on A D search". Bellamy has been talking to Allan Price the fella put in charge of Frohnmayer's search committee and the search is going too slowly . Bellamy points out that an ad has just been placed for the position. As the title to this post points out it has been 63 days since the Frohnmayer/Moos press conference anouncing the Moos was going to leave. A few quotes from the column:

Then again, the ad also doesn't say that the "successful candidate" will inherit a bit of a train wreck, the demise of the Bill Moos era in a $2 million buyout.

It doesn't say that the "successful candidate," like a character in "Lord of the Rings," will be entrusted with the Thus Far Impossible And Yet Very Important Job of building a new basketball arena by quickly earning the trust of the single donor essential to making that happen.


The decision will be Frohnmayer's, and should be. In my view, at some point, after the groundwork is done, Frohnmayer needs to get on an airplane, or walk over to the Casanova Center, and come back with his arm around his choice. End of story.


That the process doesn't seem closer to that now is disconcerting, given that Frohnmayer and Moos were discussing exit strategies since early last fall, but perhaps that's the process-laden nature of higher education vs. the get-it-done pace of private business.

But there should be a sense of urgency now, a sense that each week that goes past is a week lost toward building a new and ever-more-expensive basketball arena. Price said Frohnmayer "wants to have the person named by April 1, and my goal is to have it done before that."

Where will the search lead? If there is a three- or four-person short list for Oregon - and Price indicated that the university isn't quite that far yet - then, in my view, it should include Tom Jernstedt, the Oregon grad from Carlton who is NCAA senior vice president, and Vin Lananna, the high-powered and visionary associate athletic director and director of track and field, and it would include the best sitting athletic director available, and perhaps an "X factor," if you will, an outside-the-box choice.

At this point, it seems unlikely that the list would include Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks, the former Oregon coach who also served two years as athletic director here. Brooks, who just led Kentucky to victory in the Music City Bowl, said Friday that he is "getting very close" to signing a new deal with the Wildcats that would add three years and a rollover clause to the year he has remaining on his contract.

(To read the entire column click on the title above for a link)

Gutty Win by the Oregon Ducks

In a gutty win tonight the University of Oregon men's basketball team beat the Washington State Cougars in Pullman Washington in overtime. Oregon trailed for most of the game often by 7 to 10 points. With no time left in regular time the Ducks were down by two with two foul shots. Maarty Lunen got both to send the game into overtime. The game was played before 12,000 craze Cougar fans who made a lot of noise. Way to Go Ducks!

The Courage of John McCain by Rich Lowry

A good column by Rich Lowry on John McCain standing by his unpopular belief that more reinforcements are needed for U. S. Troops in Iraq. Much of the American public has grown tired of a war in Iraq and just wants to leave regardless of the consequences. The old "head in the sand" syndrome.The war actually touches few of them, except for those who have son's and daughter's in the military who are generally supportive of the war. It's just too hard to watch all that killing and violence on the evening news followed by the Main Stream Media's constant attack on President Bush.(sarcasim) Some quotes by Rich Lowry

"A funny thing happened to convention-defying political courage, at least in the case of Sen. John McCain. It used to be that McCain's willingness to boldly follow his principles was considered the gold standard of selfless political principle. Now, the media portray the same boldness as primarily a drag on McCain's political ambition....


Thus, there's yet another layer to what, at the moment, is the tragic irony of John McCain. He is exhibiting just the sort of go-it-alone bravery the media pine for -- at a time the media are uninterested in celebrating it, either because they consider the war lost or are obsessed with the primary-season horse race. He finally is getting the additional troops for Iraq that he has long advocated -- at a time when it might be too late and when support for the war is collapsing. He is winning over the Republican establishment that once loathed him -- at a time when the GOP brand is significantly degraded.

There is no justice in any of this. McCain began calling for more troops almost immediately after the invasion and criticized Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld back when he was still a GOP icon. President Bush has come to see the merit of McCain's view on the conduct of the war, but belatedly.

This has created the most tragic irony of all. After a long period of being distant from or hostile to President Bush, McCain is closer to him than ever, just as Bush is at his lowest ebb of public support. Bush sank McCain's presidential hopes in 2000 with his enmity; he might sink them in 2008 with his amity.

McCain's attitude has been that the political considerations don't matter. Whether he has been bucking an administration of his own party (originally) or public opinion (now), McCain has been standing like a stone wall for the proposition that the war must be won and that our effort must be commensurate with the high stakes.

The political world might yet turn in McCain's favor. He's losing support among independents and the press, but you can't win a Republican presidential nomination with just their support, as McCain learned in 2000. With Republicans, his support for the surge isn't hurting and might be helping. Perhaps the surge eventually will work, vindicating McCain. Even if it doesn't, he will be able to argue that the tactic could have worked had it been implemented back when he first called for it, and he still might be the kind of tough leader voters will want in the more dangerous international environment created by a failure in Iraq.

But none of this is guaranteed....

All that will be sorted out during the next year. In the meantime, as the windy Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel congratulates himself for his bravery in sponsoring a nonbinding resolution representing an anti-surge position supported by almost 70 percent of the public, and as poll-conscious Republicans flee from Bush, John McCain is steadfast, and the very picture of courageous political leadership."

(To read the entire column click on the title for a link)

Kukla, Fran and Ollie

If you are my age this picture brings back warm memories from childhood. Before Sesame Street, Mr Rodgers, and Captain Kangaroo there was Kukla, Fran and Ollie in black and white during the golden age of TV. What ever became of Sky King? Click on the title above for a link to the Wekipedia listing for Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

The Lynching of the President: by Ben Stein

Been Stein who does NOT support Bush on Iraq writes an interesting column on how the Main Stream Media (MSM) is figuratively lynching the President because they can not get him impeached. He writes in part:

...watching Mr. Bush's State of the Union speech. I thought it was darned good. Realistic, gracious, modest, sensible. I happen to think we should get out of Iraq yesterday, but I thought Mr Bush put forward his case well. And Congress responded graciously and generously on both sides of the aisle.

Then, whaam, as soon as the speech was over, ABC was bashing him, telling us how pathetic he was, how irrelevant he was, how weak he was, how unrealistic he was...suddenly it hit me. The media is staging a coup against Mr. Bush. They cannot impeach him because he hasn't done anything illegal. But they can endlessly tell us what a loser he is and how out of touch he is (and I mean ENDLESSLY) and how he's just a vestigial organ on the body politic right now.

The media is doing what it can to basically oust Mr. Bush while still leaving him alive and well in the White House. It's a sort of neutron bomb of media that seeks to kill him while leaving the White House standing (for their favorite unknown, Barack Obama, to occupy).The truth is that we are in a huge economic boom. We are coming off a mammoth real estate explosion that put the most Americans in history in their own homes. We have totally full employment. After decades of stagnation, real wages are rising. Gasoline prices are way, way down. The nation is wealthier than it has ever been (although this is very unevenly distributed). Opportunities for subsidized higher education are better than they have ever been.

Most important of all, who would have ever been rash enough on September 12, 2001 to say there would not be one major or even minor successful terrorist incident against the U.S. homeland in over five years? Who would have thought we would escape without more massive terror? But we have, and it is a foolhardy person who would say that's an accident. Bush may not have done it by himself, but he had something to do with it....


My point: let's be aware that Bush has presided over a lot of success in addition to substantial failure. My second point: no one elected the media to anything. If we let them lynch the man we elected as President we are throwing out the Constitution with the war in Iraq. In the studios and newsrooms, there is a lynch mob at work. Let's see it for what it is. We have a good man who has made mistakes in the Oval Office. He's the only President we have, and I trust him a lot more than I trust unelected princes of the newsroom.

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" for every issue of The American Spectator's monthly print edition.

(To read the entire column click on the title for a link.)

Talking Ourself into Defeat

Great column from the Wall Street journal by Daniel Henninger. Some Quotes:

The United States is talking itself into defeat in Iraq. Its political culture is now in a downward spiral of pessimism. In the halls of Congress, across endless newspaper columns, amid the punditocracy and on Sunday morning talk shows--all emit a Stygian gloom about America....


the Associated Press wrote from Washington before the State of the Union speech that "Democrats--and even some Republicans--scoffed at his policy." "Scoff" is a strong word, suggesting eye-rolling ridicule. (The line was so good that the AP ran it after the speech as well, under another writer's byline, this time from Baghdad.) But of course amid the giddy vapors of mass mockery, they all "support the troops."

Our slide to a national nervous breakdown because of Iraq is not going unnoticed. Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has been visiting across the U.S. this week. "I've been pretty worried about what I've heard," Mr. Downer said in an interview.....

"What concerns me about this," he said, "is that it's sort of an isolationist sentiment, subconsciously, not consciously, and that would be an enormous problem for the world. I hope the American people understand the importance of not retreating and thinking the world's problems aren't theirs."


You know the pessimism has turned manic when no one is allowed to depart the asylum. Sen. John McCain's support for Iraq and the new Bush plan is now being described in press reports as not only costing him support in the polls (the asylum's inkblot of reality) but worse, the support of campaign contributors.....

As a political strategy, unremitting opposition has worked. Approval for the president and the war is low. The GOP lost sight of its ideological lodestars and so control of Congress. But the U.S. still occupies a unique position of power in the world, and we are putting that status at risk by playing politics without a net.

On the "Charlie Rose Show" this month, former Army vice chief of staff Gen. Jack Keane, who supports the counterinsurgency plan being undertaken by Gen. David Petraeus, said in exasperation: "My God, this is the United States. We are the world's No. 1 superpower. This isn't about arrogance. This is about capability and applying ourselves to a problem that is at its essence a human problem."

At our current juncture, Gen. Keane's words probably rub many the wrong way. But there's a Cassandra-like warning implicit in them. The mood of mass resignation spreading through the body politic is toxic. It is uncharacteristic of Americans under stress. Some might call it realism, but it looks closer to the fatalism of elderly Europe, overwhelmed and exhausted by its burdens, than to the American tradition.

In 1966, Sen. George Aiken delivered a speech on Vietnam famously translated for history as "declare victory and go home.' " On current course, it looks like we may declare defeat and go home.

To read the entire column click on the title above for a link

The Gathering Storm...... You Have Been Warned!

Newt Gingrich, former US. Speaker of the House of Representatives, as quoted in the Israeli press:

The Israeli people are facing the threat of a nuclear Holocaust, former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich warned the Herzliya Conference held by the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, he said, the United States could lose a few million people or a number of cities to a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction.
Gingrich, who addressed the conference via satellite from the United States, said he thought Israel's existence was under threat again for the first time in 40 years.

"Israel is in the greatest danger it has been in since 1967. Prior to '67, many wondered if Israel would survive. After '67, Israel seemed military dominant, despite the '73 war. I would say we are (now) back to question of survival," Gingrich said.

He added that the United States could "lose two or three cities to nuclear weapons, or more than a million to biological weapons."
Gingrich added that in such a scenario, "freedom as we know it will disappear, and we will become a much grimmer, much more militarized, dictatorial society."

"Three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust," Gingrich declared, adding: "People are greatly underestimating how dangerous the world is becoming. I'll repeat it, three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust. Our enemies are quite explicit in their desire to destroy us. They say it publicly? We are sleepwalking through this process as though it's only a problem of communication," Gingrich said.

The former House speaker expressed concern that the Israeli and American political establishments were not fully equipped to take stock of the current threat level.

"Our enemies are fully as determined as Nazi Germany, and more determined that the Soviets. Our enemies will kill us the first chance they get. There is no rational ability to deny that fact. It's very clear that the problems are larger and more immediate than the political systems in Israel or the US are currently capable of dealing with," said Gingrich.

'Time to come to grips with threat'


"We don't have right language, goals, structure, or operating speed, to defeat our enemies. My hope is that being this candid and direct, I could open a dialogue that will force people to come to grips with how serious this is, how real it is, how much we are threatened. If that fails, at least we will be intellectually prepared for the correct results once we have lost one or more cities," Gingrich added.

He also said "citizens who do not wake up every morning and think about the possible catastrophic civilian casualties are deluding themselves."

"If we knew that tomorrow morning we would lose Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, what we would to stop it? If we knew we would tomorrow lose Boston, San Francisco, or Atlanta, what would what would we do? Today, those threats are probably one, two, five years away? Although you can't be certain when our enemies will break out," he warned.

(To read the entire new article click on the title above for a link)

We Shall Fight Them In The Streets of Baghdad, We Shall Never Surrender!

Text of part of President Bush's State of the Union Address to Congress on January 23, 2007:

This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in. Every one of us wishes that this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned and our own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory...

If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country — and, in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.

For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the objective. Chaos is their greatest ally in this struggle. And out of chaos in Iraq, would emerge an emboldened enemy with new safe havens, new recruits, new resources and an even greater determination to harm America. To allow this to happen would be to ignore the lessons of September 11th and invite tragedy. And ladies and gentlemen, nothing is more important at this moment in our history than for America to succeed in the Middle East ... to succeed in Iraq ... and to spare the American people from this danger.....

The war on terror we fight today is a generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others.

A profile in courage for our time. Years from today children will read the above words carved in stone on a monument celebrating George W Bush and Victory in the War on Terrorism. In the dark days of that war he kept his nerve when many were losing theirs and faced the enemy and led us into battle and Victory!

How Stands the Union ?

Every time the President of the United States gives a State of the Union address I hear in my mind the opening words to The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet:

IT'S A STORY THEY TELL IN THE BORDER COUNTRY, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire.

Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead-or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunder storm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, "Dan'l Webster-Dan'l Webster!" the ground'll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you'll hear a deep voice saying, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper sheathed, one and indivisible, or he's liable to rear right out of the ground. At least, that's what I was told when I was a youngster.

For the Wikipedia, Internet encyclopedia, listing of the short story of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" click on the title above for a link.

Lazy Sports Weekend.

This was one of those lazy weekends I used to rest up from the excitement of the Christmas Holidays and the snow storm of last week. Friday night my wife and I went to the North Medford/South Medford High Basketball game. The South Medford Panthers won the game. There was a packed house for the game and South put on quite a show beating their cross town rivals. Saturday I did some house cleaning and watched the Oregon Ducks on TV beat Cal in a fun basketball game. We had Pizza and following the game I watched two DVD movies, "My Favorite Year" with the Director, Richard Benjamin doing the voice over commentary. I then watched Richard Benjamin in "Good By Columbus" from 1969. Both good movies. Check them out over at www.imdb.com. On Sunday after reading the morning papers I watched both the NFC Championship Game ( The Bears vs The Saints in the Chicago snow) and the AFC Championship Game ( The Colts vs the Patriots in a dome) on TV and then finished off the day with the DVD movie "The Dirty Dozen." In between we talked to both of our children on the phone. I had some frozen buffalo wings( I heated them up) for dinner while I watched The Colts beat the The Patriots in a close game. My wife got them at Win co and they are put out by the folks that run the TGIF Fridays restaurant chain and they are very good. I love buffalo wings when watching football on TV. Only one real football game left this season and it is two weeks till that game, The Super Bowl on Super Sunday. I love Football!

Go Ducks: # 7 in the Nation

The University of Oregon Men's Basketball Team swept both Cal and Stanford at Mac Court in Eugene this last weekend. The Ducks are now one of the top ten teams in the nation and are tied for first in the Pac-10. Congratulations to coach Ernie Kent and the team for a fun ride this season. The adversity of last year has pulled this team together and they are fun to watch. Go Ducks

UPDATE the Oregon Ducks are now # 7 in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Duke, Still on Top

Last month, 1,147 U.S. adults were surveyed online by Harris Interactive and asked to name their favorite movie stars. The results were released Tuesday The #3 movie star of 2006: John Wayne, who died in 1979. He will always be #1 with me. His last movie was in 1976, The Shootist. Click on the title above for a link to my collection of John Wayne movies on DVD

Horatio at the Bridge

Sen. Lieberman, a sort of Horatio at the congressional bridge--spiritedly trying to hold back a bipartisan stampede out of Iraq that he believes will result in devastating consequences for that country, the region and, most importantly, U.S. national security. Senator Lieberman said he came of age politically when he heard John F Kennedy give his inaugural address in 1960. it's interesting to review that speech to see how much the Democratic party has changed but Joe Lieberman shill stands for those words when JFK said:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.....

Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again-not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"-a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.....

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility-I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

It's not Politics..... It's the fight against evil!

A Soldier Comes Home to Texas

I recieved an email with this story and pictures. Lest we forget. What follows is a message from Vicki Pierce about her nephew James' funeral (he was serving our country in Iraq):

"I'm back, it was certainly a quick trip, but I have to also say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. There is a lot to be said for growing up in a small town in Texas. The service itself was impressive with wonderful flowers and sprays, a portrait of James, his uniform and boots, his awards and ribbons. There was lots of military brass and an eloquent (though inappropriately long winded) Baptist preacher. There were easily 1000 people at the service, filling the church sanctuary as well as the fellowship hall and spilling out into the parking lot.

However, the most incredible thing was what happened following the service on the way to the cemetery. We went to our cars and drove to the cemetery escorted by at least 10 police cars with lights flashing and some other emergency vehicles, with Texas Rangers handling traffic. Everyone on the road who was not in the procession, pulled over, got out of their cars, and stood silently and respectfully, some put their hands over their hearts.

When we turned off the highway suddenly there were teenage boys along both sides of the street about every 20 feet or so, all holding large American flags on long flag poles, and again with their hands on their hearts. We thought at first it was the Boy Scouts or 4H club or something, but it continued ... for two and a half miles. Hundreds of young people, standing silently on the side of the road with flags. At one point we passed an elementary school, and all the children were outside, shoulder to shoulder holding flags . kindergartners, handicapped, teachers, staff, everyone. Some held signs of love and support. Then came teenage girls and younger boys, all holding flags! . Then adults. Then families. All standing silently on the side of the road. No one spoke, not even the very young children.

The military presence..at least two generals, a fist full of colonels, and representatives from every branch of the service, plus the color guard which attended James, and some who served with him ... was very impressive and respectful, but the love and pride from this community who had lost one of their own was the most amazing thing I've ever been privileged to witness.

"Al-Sadr has to be taken out."

I believe that the Mahdi Army continues to pose a threat," Sen. John McCain said in Arizona last fall. "I believe al-Sadr has to be taken out." John McCain is correct, if the United States wants to win in Iraq we need to take this guy out one way or the other. The Iraq government may give lip service to the United States on controlling al-Sadr but I doubt they are able to handle him because of his political influence. Al-Sadr is the head of one of the militias that is causing so much of the violence in Baghdad.Anyone who is a regular to this blog know that I am a firm supporter of President George W Bush. However, one of the mistakes he has made was not to "neutralize" this guy a long time ago. Where is 007 when you need him.

College Football is NOT Over!

I know what you are thinking! Over a week ago was the last college bowl, the Fiesta Bowl II aka "The National Championship" game between that other OSU in Ohio and Florida.The college football season is over. Well, "National Letter of Intent Day" is on February 7, 2007. Yes, the day when 17 and 18 year old high school seniors sign letters of intent to play football for colleges all over America. College football coaches have been beating the pavement meeting with these kids and their parents for the last 5 months or so. They have visited campus and this is the day they fax in their letters to the college team of their choice. Many have given verbal commitments already, but they are not binding till the faxed letter is received on Wednesday February 7th , 2007. If verbal commitments are to be believed the Oregon Ducks have received about 20 verbals from some all star athletes and this should be a great year in recruiting for the Oregon Ducks. Each college has several fan web sites devoted to the college recruiting campaign and "Letter of Intent Day" is the election day for the recruiting returns. College football fans are on "pins and needles" waiting for the decision of these high school seniors. So college football is not over. Letter of intent day is 3 days after the Super Bowl. To see how the Ducks are doing click on the heading above for a link to "eDuck" the Oregon fan web site and click on "FB Recruiting" and follow the links to more information on these kids than you will ever want to know. It has a list of all of Oregon's "Verbals" Go Ducks!