I believe it's about time to give University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt a long term extension. He celebrated his 100th victory as Bulldog coach after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville -- this following a 6-7 season last year, after which some fair-weather fans grumbled he could no longer coach the team up to win the big game. The 2011 season opening loss was so disheartening I was tempted to jump on the "dump Richt" bandwagon. The team looked listless and outclassed by Boise State. Which turns out to be a pretty damn good team. But after all, isn't college football all about "what have you done for me lately?" Though the Dawgs also lost the following week against South Carolina, they looked much more competitive. Arguably, they should have won the game. Too many mistakes by young players, turnovers, and the evil genius of Steve Spurrier led to our downfall. Those mistakes now appear to have been corrected (three interceptions against Mississippi State not counting because we won the game). Those two losses were followed with four consecutive "must" wins, the most recent being our domination of Tennessee in dreaded (and deafening) Neyland stadium. Therefore, by my logic athletic director Greg McGarity should offer coach Richt a long term extension, during the bye week before the Florida game. Coach Richt (and defense coordinator Todd Grantham) deserve a renewed long term commitment from the university after all he's done for the school. Plus, it might even help with recruiting! After all, every 17 and 18 year … [Read more...]
Occupation protests versus the TEA party
Mainstream television media paints an interesting picture of the "protestors" staging rallies all around the country -- from Wall Street to Washington DC, and now Atlanta... However, the "unsanitized view" of the Atlanta protestors is much more disturbing. What's up with this echo chanting of the masses, an inculcation of group think? While I respect John Lewis for his participation in the Civil Rights movement, I'm not the biggest fan of his work as a Congressman from Georgia. Nonetheless, I'm shocked that a crowd of his admirers and supporters would refuse to let him speak at their protest. It seems that he wasn't on their agenda. Seriously -- these people had an agenda? As we learned from "Occupy DC", the protestors involved are basically clueless. Their only common goal seems to be the transformation of America into a Communist society by targeting the only real source of wealth generation, the private sector. It's rather telling that one man standing next to Lewis at the occupation in Atlanta wore a t-shirt proudly declaring himself a "union thug". These misguided angry people bemoan the salaries of "corporate fat cats" but ignore the real cause of economic turmoil in America -- entitlement programs, bloated government salaries and excessive government pensions. You only have to read the Sunday paper in Savannah to learn the local school superintendent's annual salary paid from taxpayer coffers is $192,147 and "numerous administrative positions make over $100,000 a year." (Savannah Morning News 10/9/11 pg 14A, letter to editor … [Read more...]
American education and the myth of social justice
"Man on the street" reporter Adam Kokesh provides some fascinating insight into the current state of higher education in the United States by interviewing protestors at the "Occupy DC" rally in Washington last weekend. I should warn the viewer in advance that the video seen by following this link is both hysterically funny and seriously depressing. Saturday Night Live has never been this funny....but when one realizes these young "skulls full of mush" will someday try to lead a future generation in America, depression sets in. If these protestors represent our best and brightest, America is doomed. A young George Washington University student/protestor named Doug decried the loss of American civil liberties -- while simultaneously professing to support installation of a more totalitarian government that would enforce his "beneficial" ideas to improve society by force. Do people ever think before opening their mouth anymore? Immediately after agreeing the use of force is wrong, with his next breath Doug equivocated his position to Mr. Kokesh. He tried to sound intelligent, possibly stretching the limits of his vocabulary as he asked, How do you induce voluntary cooperation on them (the wealthy, powerful "ruling" class") in order to maximize social justice? You don't, as Mr. Kokesh correctly responded. Voluntary cooperation and social justice are concepts that do not go together. Social justice doesn't exist anywhere. It is a myth, perpetuated by advocates of socialism. Doug seemed unable to comprehend that it's wrong to force redistribution of … [Read more...]
Is Roseanne Barr a brilliant comedienne?
I've never been a fan of Roseanne Barr. Her voice is grating and quite frankly, she never struck me as funny. Just annoying. I never watched her television show. I did see her try to sing (or pretend to try to sing) our national anthem before a baseball game, but her rendition was truly awful, very offensive and literally painful to the ears. I happen to love the country that gave her the opportunity to earn ridiculous wealth with marginal talent and didn't find her butchering of the anthem the least bit amusing. However, I'm beginning to suspect that Roseanne has been a comic genius whom I've simply failed to appreciate. After she pulled off a deadpan delivery of this skit disguised as a live interview in which she suggests we send bankers of a certain income bracket to re-education camps or the guillotine. I was about ready to ROFLOL, as they say here on the internet. Something stopped me, though. Specifically, it was the suspicion she had really been dead serious. Now if it was a joke, it was a good one. She really had me going there for a minute -- actually, she's still got me going. Though Roseanne's rant wasn't as funny as Sunny's take on eating the rich, Sunny had been able to edit out her outtakes. Without even a hint of breaking a smile, Roseanne calmly called for the confiscation of wealth and decapitation (if necessary) of bankers with accrued wealth in excess of $100 million dollars who refused to fork it over. It's kind of scary to believe she might have been serious. But Shirley, she's couldn't have been, could … [Read more...]
Capital punishment versus life without parole
For a couple of reasons, I haven’t been writing much recently for online publication. First and foremost, I had no internet service at my mother’s house down in Savannah. But even after I got connected, I still didn't write much for online consumption. The truth is that I haven’t wanted to say anything about the execution of Troy Davis, the topic du jour. Frankly, I thought I might sound a little bloodthirsty or racist if I condoned his execution. Besides, several friends have written excellent articles that explored the relevant facts surrounding the Davis death penalty/MacPhail murder case. Therefore, I didn't believe it was necessary for me to voice yet another opinion. But opponents of capital punishment have refused to let go of the issue. They have also consistently neglected to mention some of the relevant facts beyond some eyewitnesses recanting their testimony. Those opposed to the death penalty have concentrated their argument on the possibility Davis might have been innocent as an excuse to insist his sentence should have been commuted to life without parole. His advocates must not appreciate statistical analysis. Troy Davis admitted being at the scene of two separate shootings the night Officer MacPhail was killed. He even acknowledged being in the parking lot when MacPhail died. The odds against an innocent person being found at two crime scenes on the same evening are simply astronomical. The odds against finding blood from the victims on the clothing of a bystander aren't very good, either. Nor do innocent people normally … [Read more...]
