Clemson Versus Gamecocks

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Fed Chairman Urges Secrecy

Since 2008, the Federal Reserve has obligated 1/2 Trillion Dollars of taxpayer funds in making currency swaps with foreign central banks and central governments. These transactions are made in complete secrecy and without any oversight by our elected representatives. The Fed itself is made up of unelected bankers.

Last week, the House Financial Services Committee enacted an amendment that would require the Federal Reserve submit to a full audit for the first time in 96 years. (See Audit the Fed Bill: True Bipartisanship (Nov. 23, 2009).) A complete audit is critical to insure our liberty and force the Fed to comply with the stringents of our Constitutional Republic. Its mischievous secret actions threaten American security.

In the wake of the House Financial Services Committee vote, the Chairman, Ben Bernanke, a South Carolinian, makes an argument in favor of continued secrecy. He wrote a Washington Post, Op-Ed. Here are some relevant excerpts from Chairman Benanke's Op Ed. Ben Bernanke, The right reform for the Fed, Washington Post (Nov. 29, 2009).

I am concerned, however, that a number of the legislative proposals being circulated would significantly reduce the capacity of the Federal Reserve to perform its core functions. . . . a House committee recently voted to repeal a 1978 provision that was intended to protect monetary policy from short-term political influence. These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States. The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution's ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation.

. . . .

Congress, through the Government Accountability Office, can and does audit all parts of our operations except for the monetary policy deliberations and actions covered by the 1978 exemption. The general repeal of that exemption would serve only to increase the perceived influence of Congress on monetary policy decisions, which would undermine the confidence the public and the markets have in the Fed to act in the long-term economic interest of the nation. . . .

The writer is chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

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Gamecocks Win!

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Psalms 119: Delight in God's Word

Abundant Spiritual Riches

This week our Bridgepointe Bible study group is studying Psalms 119.

Jesus Christ summed up the theme of Psalms 119 when he stated, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (from the Beatitudes).

Psalms 119 is a poem the theme of which is delight in God's word. “Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart.” Psalms 119:2. Psalm 119 explains how our hearts can be truly satisfied by thirsting for the righteousness found in God's law.

When the scriptures talk about “heart,” they refer the deepest principles of ethics and philosophy in a man. The Biblical term heart conveys the idea of the inner and truest part of a human being. It represents the sum total of a person’s will, mind, wisdom, understanding and perceptive nature.

Psalms 119:10 is a curious verse:

I have sought You with all my heart;
don't let me wander from Your commands.

Verse ten is curious to me because one would figure that if a person has committed to seeking God with all his heart, then he would not wander from God's commands. Doesn't total commitment to God mean total compliance with his word?

The Bible teaches that there are at least two reasons why people need God's help to keep from wandering. First, without God's help human beings are incapable of complying with God's law. Human hearts are at root totally depraved and evil. “The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick—who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9. Humans are only able to comply with God's word when given new hearts by God. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekial 36:26.

Our new heart of flesh is provided through an individual decision to change the direction of our life. We switch from serving self to serving God. We trust of our “hearts” to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who died for our forgiveness, and we give him control. See Matthew 16:25 (“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.”); John 3:3 (“Jesus replied, " I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."); God Promises a New Heart.

The second reason we need God's help to follow his commands is that we are incapable of understanding the truth of God's word without assistance from the Holy Spirit. “ But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 1 Corinthians 2:14-15. Therefore, it is only through God's help we are capable of discerning his word and following it.
Psalms 119:13 communicates the goal of a Bible teacher, to convey God's word to other people with total accuracy and zero distortion.

With my lips I proclaim
all the judgments from Your mouth.

Bible teachers must take great care to be accurate in our proclamation of God's word. Failure to teach God's word accurately is risky. “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment . . . ." James 3:1.

Psalms 119:14, 16 show believers how to have the right attitude toward learning and living out God's word. Following God's commands is not a drudgery, or difficult chore, to be avoided. Instead, God's commands bring us the greatest riches and only authentic delight in life.

I rejoice in the way [revealed by] Your decrees
as much as in all riches.

. . . .

I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.

It is weird to consider that following Bible precepts brings authentic happiness. That viewpoint contradicts our natural tendencies arising from the selfish, unrepentent human heart. However, Psalms 119 teaches that complying with God's law brings us real joy. A lifestyle of devotion to God's word is the only source of procuring rich spiritual blessings that make life on earth worth living. Perhaps this is why Jesus said, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."” Matthew 11:30.

Technorati Tags: psalms, 119, lifeway, explore, the, bible, obey, gods, word, delight, blessings

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South Carolina Versus Clemson

This Post is a Reminder About Clemson's 2007 Taunts

The Clemson game always brings out the worst in some folks. After Clemson beat the Gamecocks on their last visit to Columbia, 23-21, one of their fans paid for the billboard shown below which was displayed in Columbia. The billboard included an alleged quote from one of the Gamecock student athletes.

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End the Fed News

The House Financial Services Committee voted affirmatively to include the language from the Audit the Fed bill (HR1207) as an amendment to HR 3996, Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009 (FSIA).

As it stands now, if HR 3996 passes without changes to the amendment, the GAO would finally have authority to conduct a full audit of the Fed for the first time in its 96-year history.

Here is part of Representative Ron Paul's statement following the vote:

To calm fears that we might be trying to substitute congressional action for Fed mischief in tinkering with monetary policy, we agreed to a 180 day lag time before details of the Fed’s market actions are released and included language to state explicitly that nothing in the amendment should be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress or the GAO.

Unfortunately, the amendment is attached to a FSIA bill (HR 3996) that gives sweeping new powers to the Federal Reserve.

The FSIA establishes a The Financial Services Oversight Council. The Council is composed of nine voting members including the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Council has power to force a bank (and any other financial instution) to cough up financial information about itself. Its power is substantial, and includes, for example, the ability to limit executive compensation.

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Emily: Navy Boot Camp News

On Monday, November 23, 2009, Emily left the nest with her recruiter to the Navy Recruiting Office off Pelham Road. From there, she and six other recruits were taken by bus to a Columbia hotel, where they spent their last night as civilians.

On November 24, 2009, she was up at 0500 to undergo medical screening tests at a hospital facility. She finished the testing, and went to the airport at circa 1400. She then caught a flight to Chicago at approximately 1800, and landed around 2000, EST.

Emily called us from the airport. She and nine other South Carolina navy recruits decided to eat at the airport before they called the Boot Camp and notified them of their arrival in Chicago. After eating, the recruits notified the navy of their arrival from South Carolina. A bus then transported them to the Great Lakes Naval Recruiting Training facility.

Emily called home about around 2400 that night. You could hear yelling in the background. She told us she was allowed one two minute call and that there were other recruits waiting for the telephone. She did not know her address. We told her we loved her and she then hung up, presumably to undergo more Navy training . . . oooh rah!

Here is a clip from a Navy web site about her first week. She is half way through week one of Boot Camp now.

Week One - Processing Week. Once you arrive you’ll be given Navy-issued clothing, be taught the right way to fold and store your new belongings, and make your bunk (bed). You’ll receive complete dental and medical exams, if you need a haircut, that’ll happen too.

As the week progresses, you’ll knock the days down conditioning, swimming, marching, drilling, and most importantly attending Navy classes. Everything you do from week to week is designed to prep you for what lies ahead. You will push your physical limits and achieve higher performance levels than you ever thought possible. In the Navy, you’ll be judged for who you are and how you prove it.

Honor. Courage. Commitment. Three words that before Boot Camp probably held little meaning. Here, they’ll become words you’ll live by. These Navy Core Values will become the ideals you and your fellow shipmates live by. What you make of this experience makes you.

The best address I have now is as follows:

SR Emily R. Turnage
SHIP XXX DIV XXX
GREAT LAKES IL 60088

I do not know if that address will work, but it is the best I can do until Emily writes us a letter.

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The Reason Oversight of Federal Reserve is Necessary

Here is Representative Alan Grayson (D. FL) discussing the 2008 currency swaps by the Fed of over 1/2 a Trillion Dollars with zero oversight by Congress or anyone else.

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From Washington to Obama: Thanksgiving Messages

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Read on to see President Obama's Thanksgiving email . . . .

Barack Obama's Thanksgiving E-mail

Edwin --

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Americans across the country will sit down together, count our blessings, and give thanks for our families and our loved ones.

American families reflect the diversity of this great nation. No two are exactly alike, but there is a common thread they each share.

Our families are bound together through times of joy and times of grief. They shape us, support us, instill the values that guide us as individuals, and make possible all that we achieve.

So tomorrow, I'll be giving thanks for my family -- for all the wisdom, support, and love they have brought into my life.

But tomorrow is also a day to remember those who cannot sit down to break bread with those they love.

The soldier overseas holding down a lonely post and missing his kids. The sailor who left her home to serve a higher calling. The folks who must spend tomorrow apart from their families to work a second job, so they can keep food on the table or send a child to school.

We are grateful beyond words for the service and hard work of so many Americans who make our country great through their sacrifice. And this year, we know that far too many face a daily struggle that puts the comfort and security we all deserve painfully out of reach.

So when we gather tomorrow, let us also use the occasion to renew our commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future that every American family can enjoy.

It seems like a lifetime ago that a crowd met on a frigid February morning in Springfield, Illinois to set out on an improbable course to change our nation.

In the years since, Michelle and I have been blessed with the support and friendship of the millions of Americans who have come together to form this ongoing movement for change.

You have been there through victories and setbacks. You have given of yourselves beyond measure. You have enabled all that we have accomplished -- and you have had the courage to dream yet bigger dreams for what we can still achieve.

So in this season of thanks giving, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to you, and my anticipation of the brighter future we are creating together.

With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,

President Barack Obama

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Rooster Crow on Saturday at High Noon

The Spurs Up Blog posted news yesterday that the Rooster Crow will be back for the upcoming Clemson game. The SEC bans institutionally controlled sounds in SEC games; however, there is no rule against it in non-conference games.

Here is the Spurs Up Blog post:

Since Saturday’s game vs Clemson is a non-conference affair and not subject to certain conference regulations, expect to hear a heavy dose of the famous Rooster Crow this weekend. The sound is definitely one of the things that makes Carolina unique and I’m looking forward to crowing along with it at the game!

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Clemson Offense: A Tight End Attack

Most people automatically think of running back C. J. Spiller and wide receiver Jacoby Ford when asked about Clemson's offensive playmakers. Clemson likes to use those speed burners on the perimeter of the field, stretching opponents defenses. Defenses have made adjustments to that threat, but the adjustments create holes in the middle.

Holes in the middle? Clemson Offensive Coordinator (OC) Billy Napier is salivating at that prosect. He loves to throw passes to the tight ends. As a freshman starting quarterback for Furman in the 2000 season, Napier completed 44 passes to tight ends.

Now at Clemson as the OC, it's deja vu all over again for Napier. Defenses are doubling up their coverage to control Spiller and Ford. That just opens up the middle for the Clemson tight ends. Those tight ends now have caught 46 passes on the 2009 season. The next pass reception by a Clemson tight end will break a 39-year old record for tight end production.



Against the Miami, a 40 to 37 overtime win, Clemson completed nine passes to its tight ends.

Clemson tight end Michael Palmer (6-5, 260) (pictured above), a senior and three year starter, is a major part of the Clemson offense. He can block extremely well and has very reliable soft hands. In the Miami game, Palmer caught five passes for 74 yards. Unfortunately, he suffered a concussion and was knocked out of the game following a wicked helmet to helmet hit after his last pass reception. Palmer has caught 30 passes in 2009, and is Clemson's second leading receiver, just ahead of Spiller (29). However, he is by no means the only tight end Clemson targets.

Clemson loves redshirt freshman Dwayne Allen (6-4, 255). Allen has nine receptions and three touchdowns on the season, and a load of talent. Allen turned down Georgia to attend to Clemson. Two years ago after playing football in high school in North Carolina, Allen was a four star recruit and was ranked as the third best tight end prospect in the nation.

Clemson likes to sneak Allen the ball when its offense is down near the goal line in the two tight end set. Allen has three touchdowns and blazing speed for a tight end.

Watch this homemade video showing Clemson run a sneaky play for Allen. Notice how the Florida State weak side linebacker gets sucked into the middle on the fake to the running back. He is then blocked out of the play by the tackle as quarterback Kyle Parker completes the short pass to Allen. This video shows a very well-executed tight end screen play.

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The Transparency Incident of 1902

A Poetic and Incongruent Symbol is Born

"McKissick! Make every shot count!."

Those were the words shouted to future USC President, J. Rion McKissick, who was clutching a pistol, as he and twenty-nine other Carolina students crouched behind a hastily-erected barricade on the Horseshoe in 1902.

On the other side of the barricade, an angry mob of 400 Clemson Cadets, armed with bayonets and swords, threatened bodily harm to the Carolina men and destruction of the South Carolina College. What had enraged the Clemson Cadets to such a degree? Merely the poetic and incongruent symbol of a fighting Gamecock. This was the Transparency Incident of 1902 and it is part of the history of the greatest rivalry in College football, South Carolina versus Clemson.

To understand the context of this armed confrontation between the Carolina and Clemson one must understand the roots and origins of this college football rivalry. The Gamecocks had been playing football from 1895, but to be frank and honest, the early South Carolina football teams were poor. Of course, the school itself was small, not even a University at that time. South Carolina College, which had been stripped of its University status by former Governor Pitchfork Ben Tillman and his political allies in the State Legislature, had only 79 students in 1890. By 1902, it was slightly better; there were just 200 students going to South Carolina College.

Clemson on the other hand, was a much more powerful institution. By and large a creation of Tillmanism, a populist political movement that germinated in South Carolina's turbulent reconstruction era politics. Clemson was a great beneficiary of Governor Pitchfork Ben Tillman's efforts. She was flush with revenue derived from taxes on tobacco, and Tillman, a notorious racist who condoned lynching while governor and later on the Senate floor, ordered African-American prisoners to labor on and improve the campus. Then a military school, Clemson had over 400 student-cadets in 1902.

The two schools began playing football against one another in 1896. Carolina won the first game, 12-6, but Clemson quickly overtook Carolina on the football field, winning the next five meetings. In fact, in those days, Clemson was one of the most powerful football teams in the southeast. In 1900, Clemson's football team was coached by the legendary John Heisman, whose first "Tiger" team went undefeated. The 1900 Tigers also whipped South Carolina by the embarrassing score of 51-0. The defeat was so complete, that the two schools were unable to work out an agreement to play each other on Big Thursday in 1901. (Of course, the Clemson fans claimed that it was because South Carolina College was afraid Clemson would administer another whipping.)

As most serious fans of both schools know, back in those days the Carolina Clemson game was always played on Thursday during the State Fair in Columbia. As part of this event, every year the entire student body from Clemson--its entire Corp of Cadets-- would come to Columbia for the game on Thursday. Afterwards, Clemson's Cadets would remain in Columbia and march in the Elks Club Parade on Friday afternoon.

During the 1897-1900 parades, the Clemson Cadets wore garnet and black colors around their shoes. In this way, Clemson literally dragged the Carolina colors through the dust. Clemson also carried a big bass drum, which a Cadet beat upon as they marched. Inscribed on this drum was a picture of a roaring Tiger with the letters, "S.C.C" (South Carolina College), inside its mouth. This was, obviously, symbolic of Clemson eating up their old rival on the football field.

As a modern-day Gamecock fan, I can easily sympathize with the feelings these indignities must have inflicted on the students and supporters of the liberal arts oriented, South Carolina College. But endure it our people did, in hopes that someday the incredible might reoccur against all odds, a victory over Clemson in football.

Now folks, 1902 was a very special year for the Gamecocks. The school's nickname, "Gamecocks," did not become commonly accepted in South Carolina until 1903 when The State newspaper began referring to the team by that name. However, I'm confident that after you read about the Transparency Incident of 1902, you will agree that the 2002 South Carolina football team truly was the first Gamecock team.

Bob Williams, a Virginian, coached the 1902 football team. Williams still has the best winning percentage of any coach who has ever coached football at South Carolina (overall 14-3). South Carolina College began the 2002 season 3-0. The team would finish the year 6-1. The 1902 football team had a stifling defense. It surrendered just 16 points all season, and it shut out five opponents.

Prior to the Clemson game, the fourth game of the season, Williams hired Christy Benet as his assistant coach. Benet, a former guard on earlier football teams at South Carolina College, was reportedly an inspiring speaker.

Meanwhile, the 1902 Clemson team was clearly a dominant force on the field. The 1902 Clemson team also brought a 3-0 record to the Big Thursday game. Included amongst the Clemson wins was a 60-0 thrashing of North Carolina State, as well as wins over the then very powerful football teams, Georgia Tech and Furman.

Clemson had John Heisman as their coach. The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the best college football player in the NCAA in his honor. Heisman was a noted trick play artist. According to contemporaneous newspaper reports, Clemson was so confident of a victory over South Carolina College on Big Thursday, October 30, 1902, that the Cadets were offering bets with odds of four and five to one. What those over-optimistic Clemson Cadets didn't know was that their Tigers were about to meet the first Gamecock team.

The game itself was described in both The State and The Greenwood Index papers as one of the "prettiest games of football ever played." The Gamecocks jumped to a quick 12-0 lead. The Gamecocks gained the advantage by simple old-fashioned football. They played great defense. Clemson did not get a first down in the first half. Meanwhile, the Carolina offense ground out first down after first down running the ball up through the middle of the line. Thus, the Carolina football team twice marched methodically down the field, running the ball through the middle of Clemson's line. Junior Fullback, Guy Gunter, scored the two touchdowns on short runs. (Touchdowns were only worth 5 points in 1902.) Converting on both extra points, Carolina led 12-0 at halftime.

But this was Clemson. It had a weight advantage, a great football team, and a great coach. In the second half of the game, the Tigers stormed back. First, Clemson scored on a 60 yard trick play run by a halfback named Sitton, an end around play. Then, the Tigers took possession of the ball at the beginning of the fourth quarter and began a determined drive. The drive stalled, however, on the South Carolina 20-yard line, and the Gamecocks took over midway through the fourth quarter. The Carolina offense then proceeded to run out the clock by grinding out first downs through the middle of the Clemson defensive line. Thus, the game ended in a 12-6 Carolina victory.

This was a monumental upset! After such a long victory drought, what joy and happiness this brought to the students and fans of South Carolina College. One football player was quoted in the 1903 Garnet and Black as stating, "Well, Old Pards, how about we just lay down and die right here." Oh, were the South Carolina students were in happy and celebratory.

That is when the transparency arrived, and things got a bit ugly. That Thursday evening, Carolina's students obtained a drawing by F. Horton Colcock, a Professor at South Carolina. The drawing depicted a bedraggled tiger beneath the crowing gamecock. (See a replica of the transparency at the top of this article. This picture was referred to as a "transparency" by the 1902 newspapers.

It was a poetic and incongruous symbol, a proud Gamecock crowing over a powerful feline, the tiger. Perhaps in an era when football teams were typically named after ferocious beasts, it was the unique quality of a Gamecock, crowing over its beaten, apparently stronger foe. The symbolism of Professor Colcock's drawing was beautiful and the liberal arts students at South Carolina fully appreciated its meaning. Thus, on Thursday evening, South Carolina's students began carrying the transparency around Columbia as they celebrated the football victory.

It is not clear what it was about Professor Colcock's image that triggered such a hostile reaction from the Clemson Cadets, but it had a detrimental affect on their minds. Enraged by the Gamecock symbol, the cadets attacked the Carolina students all over Columbia on Thursday night. The State paper reported that in two separate attacks, the cadets destroyed the offensive transparency, and wounded half a dozen Carolina students with sabres, swords and bayonets. The Greenwood Index also reported on the Thursday night incident. "Several students were slightly cut with knives and left the scene with blackened eyes and swollen faces and some scalp wounds made by canes and stones."

As reported in The State newspaper, the Clemson Commandant, Lt. Sirmyer, an Army Officer from West Point, approached the South Carolina Assistant Coach Benet Friday morning after the assaults. Sirmyer warned Benet that the Carolina students would be wise not to carry Professor Colcock's "offensive transparency" in the Parade on Elks Club Friday night. Ominously, Lt. Sirmyer told Benet if the Carolina students did not heed his warning and if they had the temerity to carry that transparency in the parade, he "would not be responsible" for any violence that might ensue. The State reported that after this meeting, "It was openly and repeated stated by the Clemson Cadets that they would break up South Carolina College that night if the transparency was used."

Finding Benet unbowed by his threat, Lt. Sirmyer resorted to political pressure. He went to General Jones, Columbia's Chief of Police, and asked for the Chief to order Benet not to display the Gamecock transparency. Thus, shortly before the parade, Benet met with Lt. Sirmyer and the Chief. Both urged Benet to talk the Carolina students out of displaying their transparency during the parade. The Chief said he saw nothing offensive about the transparency, but he wished to avoid trouble. Benet considered the request, but decided it would be wrong to acquiesce. He told the Carolina students that they must carry the transparency or they would, in effect, reward the whining, political maneuverings, threats, and violence against them by the Clemson representative, Lt. Sirmyer.

Therefore, Carolina students did proudly carry their transparency in the Big Thursday parade. They had earned the right by the football victory. As the Clemson cadets marched by students waving the Gamecock image at them, Lt. Sirmyer urged restraint. At the Capitol where the parade ended, however, Sirmyer told the cadets to "behave like soldiers." Then he added, "while on duty." The amendment to his order was met with cheers by the 400 cadets. Lt. Sirmyer dismissed the Clemson cadets, and retired from the scene. The 400 Clemson boys proceeded straight up Sumter Street toward the Horseshoe, and were, according to Benet's statement published in the paper, "very angry and excited."

Before the approaching Clemson mob arrived at the campus, word reached the Carolina students and they built barricades. The students, including future President McKissick, armed themselves with pistols and repeating rifles. When the 400 Clemson cadets arrived waving their swords, sabers and bayonets, they faced approximately 50 Carolina students behind the barricades. The State paper correctly pointed out that the Carolina students were entitled to protect themselves, and their residences on the South Carolina College campus from the Clemson mob. The State said that most were armed "with pistols and several with repeating rifles."

Fortunately, Benet learned of the approaching Clemson Cadets and he intervened to avert loss of life. Meanwhile, Lt. Sirmyer, the Clemson Commandant and leader who stated he would not be responsible for the bloodshed that resulted from the display of the transparency, was absent.

Recognizing the gravity of the circumstance--one that could easily have led to multiple fatalities--Benet stepped David-like between the two sides and offered to resolve the dispute by fighting any one of the Clemson men that they might choose. When this proposal was not accepted, Benet argued that the two parties should form a committee to arbitrate their differences. By this time, authorities and police began to arrive, and Benet's suggestion was adopted. The Committee decided that the Carolina students would burn the transparency--an image easily reproduced--and Clemson agreed to cheer Carolina, a further humiliation for the Clemson Cadets. This accomplished, the two sides disbursed. Very fortunately, no death or further mahem resulted.

But here the transparency incident did not end. Upon learning news of the incident was reported in The State newspaper, the President of Clemson, P. H. Mell, wrote a letter, justifying the lawless behavior of the cadets. He also argued that Lt. Sirmyer had properly performed his duties, and he implicated Benet and the Carolina students who lacked the "good sense" not to display the transparency.

Clemson's President Mell stated in his letter that the image on the transparency was "too much for them to bear," meaning the Clemson cadets. He argued the violent actions of the Cadets were justified because the City of Columbia had refused to prohibit the Carolina students from displaying the offensive Gamecock symbol in the parade. Therefore, President Mell wrote, the city, "assumed responsibility for the transparency, its intended insult and the results occurring therefrom."

The failure to acknowledge responsibility and recognize that the Clemson cadets had acted lawlessly and breached the peace of the City, provoked a strong and direct response by the Editor of The State, A. E. Gonzales. Gonzales specifically blamed Lt. Sirmyer for the incident. He stated that President Mell should immediately dismiss Lt. Sirmyer as the Commandant of Clemson's Corp of Cadets. "One judges a tree by its fruit," wrote Gonzales. "The fruits of Lt. Sirmyer's actions have been lawlessness and provocation of domestic war."

Please Clemson fans, this November, as the loudspeakers in Williams Brice ring over and over with the beautiful sounds of a Gamecock crowing, do not be bitter or angry. Rejoice with us as we Carolinians celebrate in our victory. Let us celebrate our victory, and please don't get mad at us about our Gamecocks.

Go Gamecocks!

Technorati Tags: 1902, clemson, south, carolina, rivalry, gamecock, symbol, origin, riot, armed, standoff, at, horseshoe,

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Audit the Fed Bill: True Bipartisanship

An article in the Huffington Post reports on a dramatic victory for Ron Paul's Audit the Fed Bill, HR-1207. The link is at Arthur Delaney, Audit The Fed Effort Wins Support From An Unusual Coalition, huffingtonpost.com (Nov. 22, 2009).

The Bill came before the House Finance Committee for a vote on Friday. The Subcommittee Chairman, Mel Watt, a toady for Bank of America, had attempted an amendment designed to totally gut the bill and protect the secret dealings of the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve is a quasi government entity that has total control over the American monetary system. The Federal Reserve is not accountable to Congress. Its monetary policy decisions, including payments and contracts with foreign central banks and governments, are totally secret. Not even Congress knows what the Gnomes from Zurich at the Fed are doing.

In a surprising development on Friday, the Committee Chairman, Barney Frank, who had all along professed support for Paul's Bill, pulled a switcheroo and urged his Democrat colleagues to support Watt's amendment. Like Watt, Frank, toting the water for the secret bankers, offered another watered down alternative.

However, ultra left wing Representative Alan Grayson rebelled against his party and led a coalition of 13 Democrat senators to vote for Paul's pure Bill. Between Paul and Grayson, HR-1207 has reached the floor in unadulterated form and will be eligible for a vote as soon as Nancy Pelosi deems it appropriate.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, our own Senator Jim DeMint has sponsored The Federal Reserve Sunshine Amendment, Senate 604 bill DeMint co-sponsors with Socialist Bernie Sanders.

Talk about strange bedfellows. In the House you have an alliance of Ron Paul and Alan Grayson. In the Senate, Jim DeMint and Bernie Sanders.

This audit the Fed legislation is an uprising against corporatism from purists on both sides of the aisle. It deserves rabid support of all Americans.

Here is Grayson, famous most recently for his over-the-top attacks on Republicans opposing Obama Care.



Technorati Tags: federal, reserve, bedfellows, audit, the, fed, hr, 1207, s, 608, demint, sanders, paul, grayson, frank, watt

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Origins of the Clemson Carolina Rivalry

Benjamen Ryan "Pitchfork" Tillman: The Political Father of Clemson

In 1896, South Carolina won the first football game against Clemson 12-6.

The origins of the football rivalry began before that first football game was ever played. Unlike other rivalries, the hostility between these two schools was spawned in the bitterness and hard-times of South Carolina reconstruction era politics, and in the black heart of Clemson's founding political father, Pitchfork Ben Tillman.

Today Tillman Hall is the tallest building on Clemson's campus. It is prominently located in the center of the campus. It honors the chief political benefactor of the school, the colorful leader Pitchfork Ben Tillman. Tillman governed South Carolina from 1890 until 1894. It was Tillman's political efforts before and during those four years of his governorship that persuaded the Legislature to convert Thomas Clemson's gift of 814 Pickens County acres into the land-grant agricultural college now known as Clemson.

The University of South Carolina already existed at that time, and it could more naturally have been expanded to support agricultural education. In fact, before Tillman's election, the Legislature had expanded South Carolina College into a University and had created an agricultural college as part of the university curriculum.

Tillman strongly opposed expansion of South Carolina, and he actively campaigned against the idea and in favor of a separate agricultural school. To score political points, Tillman was harshly critical of South Carolina. Thus, the eventual creation of Tillman's baby, Clemson, came at a steep cost to South Carolina. No other college football rivalry has such a history. The story of Pitchfork Ben Tillman and the origins of Clemson is one reason why the Clemson Carolina is the greatest rivalry in college football.

Pitchfork Ben Tillman was a master of class warfare. In his rise to political power, he skillfully exploited the rift between the growing population of poor white farmers and the wealthy Democrat leadership. On the stump, he railed against the ruling Democrat class, including General Wade Hampton and his "Bourbon Democrat" allies in the Legislature, as antebellum planters and the wealthy merchants. He argued that the merchants and financiers grew wealthy by loaning money to small farmers in exchange for crop liens, and earned as much as 25% to 100% interest on the loans. As cotton prices fell in the 1870s and 1880s, the social climate in South Carolina was ripe for a revolutionary leader who could exploit the broadening chasm between rich and poor.

"The people have been hoodwinked by demagogues and lawyers in the pay of finance," said Tillman at an 1885 address in Bennettsville, South Carolina. Beneath oak trees across the State, Tillman condemned the "damnable lien laws," and the graft seeking politicians and lawyers, to roaring crowds. In a Charleston speech Tillman accused leaders there of being, "fat lawyers who were agents of fat railroads, who are breaking the hearts of the country people." Tillman's flaming speeches swept he and his followers into power in a wave of populist sentiment.

As mentioned above, one of Tillman's highest political priorities, the first program he advocated in an 1886 Farmer's Convention, was the promotion of agricultural education and a separate agricultural college for agricultural students.

Tillman was no fan of South Carolina College. He regarded the school as a place for children of antebellum and mercantile elitists, part of a wealthy class he despised. He called graduates, "drones and vagabonds."

Tillman was unsatisfied with the state of agriculture school at South Carolina College. He called it, "pitiful, contemptible." In a letter to the Charleston News & Courier, then the State's leading newspaper, Tillman described the South Carolina college (he called it an "agricultural annex") as, "a sop to Cerberus, a bribe to maintain the support of the farmers in the Legislature." (In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades.)

Unfortunately for Tillman, the 1887 Bourbon Democrats, many of whom were friends of South Carolina College, opted to expand it. The 1887 Legislature appropriated $100,000 for South Carolina College and renamed the school as "the University of South Carolina." As part of this grant, the Legislature created a new College of "Mechanical Arts and Agriculture."

As this idea was being debated by the 1887 Leglislature, Tillman wrote furious letters to the News & Courier in opposition. "They had better compromise on the matter, ere the storm which is brewing, shakes the foundations of their beloved college and perhaps topples it to the ground."

Later when the Legislature passed the expansion of South Carolina College over Tillman's objection, he complained about the University of South Carolina people "crow[ing] lustily over the great victory they have won." Tillman warned them that the poor farmers cannot afford tax increases to fund the expansion of the University. He predicted that the folks would show the "lordly planters [their dissatisfaction] with the weak and contemptible agricultural tail which had been attached to a literary kite."

Tillman focused his angry rhetoric against the University of South Carolina. In an 1887 debate with Professor R. Means Davis of the South Carolina College, Tillman argued that the school failed to develop statesmen needed to "rebuild our shattered commonwealth." He asserted that all the University of South Carolina produced were "mere theorists and cranks" or "book farmers."

Tillman contended that it was impossible to maintain an agricultural school at South Carolina College because "the very atmosphere of the place was tainted with contempt for farming."

Tillman believed the greatest obstacle to the success of an agricultural college at South Carolina was not cultural or physical but psychological. He feared that agricultural students would develop an attitude of inferiority if they were required to attend the University of South Carolina with other students. Thus, Tillman advocated an agricultural college placed a distance away from Columbia where students should be required "each day to hoe, to ditch, to fork manure, to make butter, to feed stock, to graft, to bud, to prune."

Meanwhile, Tillman's class-conscience rhetoric drew great crowds, and as a politician, he became more and more popular. Still, in 1888, Tillman's popularity was insufficient for his attempt to wrest control of the party from the Bourbon Democrats.

However, while Tillman's followers were unable secure Tillman's nomination as the Democrat nominee for Governor, they did gain a majority in the State House and lacked only two of a majority in the State Senate. Tillman's allies then made acceptance of Thomas Clemson's 1888 gift, which was contingent in the Will upon legislative "founding [of] an agricultural college," the leading issue of the day.

There was significant legislative opposition among the remaining Bourbon Democrats to the proposed plan for creation of a separate land grant school for agricultural education. First, Tillman's harsh rhetoric alienated many friends of the University of South Carolina, other church colleges, and even The Citadel. Tillman called The Citadel, "a military dude factory."

Second, Thomas Clemson's will required lifetime appointments of seven of the thirteen trustees, one of whom was Tillman. These seven trustees could never be replaced nor out-voted by the Legislature's six other appointees. Thus, the Legislature would not have authority over the educational undertaking.

Finally, there was a great deal of sentiment for not disinheriting the only living descendant of John C. Calhoun, Floride Isabella Lee. Philadelphia-born Thomas Clemson's will dispossessed Lee of Calhoun's family property.

Nevertheless, with the support of Tillman's allies, the bill to create Clemson passed the House by a substantial majority, and eked out a win in the Senate by one vote. In November 1889, Governor Richardson, the last Bourbon Democrat to ever govern in South Carolina, signed the bill establishing Clemson Agricultural College.

Simultaneously, the University of South Carolina was deprived of all federal funds provided for industrial and agricultural education. Those funds were fully diverted to Clemson.

In 1890, Tillman won the Democrat nomination and was elected Governor. In his acceptance speech, Tillman the election was a mandate for him to remedy for the "absolute retrogression" in education. Tillman's opening remarks revealed that his election as South Carolina Governor was an unmitigated disaster for the University of South Carolina.

"The people have decided," said Tillman, "that there is no use for a grand University in Columbia." Tillman argued that the university status should be stripped and that the school would be renamed South Carolina College. It would be a school for liberal education only. The agricultural and mechanical education appliances should be transferred to Clemson.

Following the Governor's advice, the Legislature altered radically the organization of the University of South Carolina. The agricultural and mechanical departments established in 1887 were abolished, and a new Board of Trustees composed of the governor and his allies were elected and authorized to reorganize the school as "South Carolina College." The teaching staff was reduced from 25 to 13.

Tillman, using the Governor's bully pulpit and alleged mandate of his election, struck the historic South Carolina College severe blows. He stated that the school was "a center of foppery and snobbery." He frequently criticized the school standards and procedures.

Tillman's frequent criticism of South Carolina, turned the students and Columbia society against Tillman. During a March 1890 campaign speech, students hissed at Governor Tillman when he appeared. Students also snubbed him at the 1891 commencement ceremony.

Tillman admitted the South Carolina students' conduct, "has soured me." He described the student's reaction as "evidence of the narrow prejudice and bitter partisan feeling."

Without funding or political support, South Carolina College fell into bad condition, causing Tillman to write, "there is dilapidation everywhere about the institution and a woeful lack of modern books in the library." By 1892, the number of students fell from 91 to 72, and the school began to lose its ability to attract students. Tillman's followers then began a movement to abolish the school. Tillman's State Superintendent of Education stated the college did not justify the annual appropriation of $41,500.

Ironically, the self-educated Tillman, who was a well-read individual, recognized the need for the study literature and art. Tillman, thus, did not join with those advocating abolishing the school. Ironically, Tillman's temperance on abolishing South Carolina College might have saved the school.

Meanwhile, Governor Tillman took a very active role in the creation of Clemson Agricultural College. He enthusiastically endorsed the suggestion that a school originally planned for 250 students be expanded to 600. He bragged that Clemson Agricultural College would become "one of the grandest schools of applied science in the Union." Tillman arranged for Clemson to get federal aid for agricultural and industrial education, and to receive revenues derived from a tax on fertilizer. He ordered African American prisoners be supplied for labor.

On July 6, 1893, Governor Tillman was the featured speaker for the opening of Clemson Agricultural College. Tillman boasted in the speech that Clemson would prove more valuable to South Carolina society than the university in Columbia he had helped disassemble. He told the 424 students assembled, "We do not propose to make any one-sided, one-horse men of you, but you must work."

Tillman left the governor's office four years later, in November 1894. He listed the establishment of Clemson Agricultural College as one of the greatest accomplishments of his four-year governorship.

Two years later, in 1896, the University of South Carolina would defeat Clemson on the football field in the first ever meeting between the schools by a score of 12-6.

Tillman went on to represent South Carolina in the United States Senate. He served in the Senate until his death in Washington in 1918. Ever controversial, Tillman's service as a Senator was marred by excessive foul language, race baiting, and a 1902 fist fight on the floor of the Senate with a fellow South Carolina Senator.



Technorati Tags: pitchfork, tillman, clemson, rivalry, gamecocks, carolina

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November 22: End the Fed Protest

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Health Care Senate Vote Saturday: Cloture

This message from the Redstate Blog is timely. The quote mentions Lincoln. But two other Senators are on the fence, Democrats Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.)

On Saturday, when constituents cannot contact their Senators’ offices because they’ll be closed, the United States Senate will vote on a cloture motion to debate the health care legislation.

This is important — a vote in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed (a parliamentary issue) is, in effect, a vote for the health care legislation. Why? Because Harry Reid has enough votes to pass the health care legislation by a simple majority, but he does not have the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate, any Senator voting for cloture is voting for the health care plan.

Roll Call reports that according to the Congressional Research Service, “[a] study of Senate voting patterns shows the chamber has approved more than 97 percent of all bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate — a finding that could undercut Democratic efforts to paint a key health care vote on Saturday as procedural.”

In fact, “since 1999 the Senate has approved 97.6 percent of all bills when lawmakers first voted to begin debate.”

Some Senators, like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, want the health care legislation to pass, but know politically she would lose if she voted for it. So unless pressure is brought to bear on her and others, she may vote “yes” on cloture for the motion to proceed and then try to hide behind a no vote later.

We cannot let that happen. Call your two Senators all day today and demand they vote no on the motion to proceed. The phone number to call is 202-224-3121.

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Navy Boot Camp: Processing Days

Before beginning formal training, recruits undergo further medical, dental, administrative screenings, a round of inoculations, and an initial issue of uniforms.

In addition, all Recruits submit to drug screening urinalysis by a Navy Drug Lab. The Navy has a Zero Tolerance policy regarding drug use, including any prescription drugs for which a Recruit does not have a valid prescription. There are no exceptions to this rule, so be sure that even before you arrive onboard, you are adhering to the Navy's Code of Conduct regarding drug use.

The first week of training consists of processing days (P-days). This period lasts for approximately five days, but may last longer depending on weekends, holidays and the schedule of arriving Recruits.

During P-days, recruits are drilled on the basics of watch standing, given information to memorize, and learn how to organize navy gear and life. P-Days conclude with a commissioning ceremony. The recruit's division receives its guidon. A guidon is the divisional flag displaying division number, and it is an important symbol for the division. The commissioning ceremony marks the official start of basic training.

Hold on! Things move quickly from that point on.

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Navy Boot Camp Principles

Here is some of the information I gleaned from reading the Navy's informative web sites that talk about Navy Boot Camp. Emily ships out in less than a week now.

Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, the Navy's only boot camp, is an eight-week indoctrination into Navy life. It is called “sailorization.”

Sailorization is a program designed to integrate Sailors into Navy life, shape their expectations for future duty assignments, and give them the tools needed for career and personal success.

What does it mean to be a Sailor?

Are they heroes? Do sailors go to sea to defend America? Do they abide by strict self-discipline and live by the Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment?

Yes! A Sailor is all those things and more.

The RTC crede is this motto: “I will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those among us who do.”

By choosing to join the United States Navy, a sailor pledges herself to a new way of life. At Recruit Training Command the Navy will train, mentor and anchor a new sailor's life into the war-fighting culture of being a Sailor.

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Southern Avenger: Media Double Standard

The Southern Avenger examines the politically correct double standard of judging the actions of individuals differently depending on the group to which the bad actor belongs.

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Joe Biden's Email To Me

I receive Organizing For America's emails. Organizing for America is the Administration's political communication with supporters. It seeks to encourage supporters to rally for political objectives of the Obama Administration. Here is one sent to me by Vice President Joe Biden about health care reform.

I noticed the absence of any factual information about the actual plan. Biden's email uses an ad hominem attack against lobbyists that oppose the content of the reform legislation.

The email seeks to generate telephone calls to legislators. Reading between the lines, it looks like the Administration hopes that perhaps the OFA folks telephone calls might offset those of the majority of the American people oppose the reform in its current embodiment.

Edwin --

We've got a fight on our hands. Powerful insurance companies are pulling out all the stops to defeat the President's plan for health reform. They're spending seven million bucks a week on lobbyists, blanketing the country with deceptive TV ads, and just funded two high-profile "reports" to distort what reform would mean for you.

I know their game. I was in the Senate the last time health reform came around, and I saw the special interests savage our efforts. Frankly, under the old rules of Washington they were nearly impossible to beat. But now, thanks to you, the rules are changing. All the lies, scare tactics and lobbyist shake-downs in the world are no match for the incredible work of Organizing for America supporters like you. That's exactly what frightens them so much -- and it's what Barack and I are counting on.

After decades of false starts, we're now just a short time from finally passing real reform. Every member of Congress will soon have to cast their vote. As real change draws near, you can bet the insurance companies will hold nothing back. That means OFA will need the extra resources to beat back whatever attack they can dream up next. Here's the bottom line: it's not time to let up -- it's time to double down.

Please donate $5 or more to power OFA's fight for change as we head into the final round.

When I talk about you changing the rules in Washington, here's what I mean: This week, crucial negotiations on Capitol Hill are shaping a comprehensive reform proposal. At the same time, the insurance companies' phony reports are grabbing headlines and their lobbyists are twisting arms. But your work is keeping them from setting us back.

On Tuesday, OFA supporters around the country organized more than 1,000 local outreach events and generated an astounding 330,000 calls to Congress from constituents telling their representatives that "it's time to deliver." From my years in Congress and my conversations with Senate colleagues this week, I can tell you with confidence that your message broke through and you helped keep us on track.

If this fight were only about guaranteeing the choice of secure, quality, affordable care for every American, it would be worth everything we could throw at it. But as Barack reminded us this week, this fight for change is now about something even bigger: a test of whether or not "we as a nation are capable of tackling our toughest challenges, if we can serve the national interest despite the unrelenting efforts of the special interests; if we can still do big things in America."

I believe we can. And Barack believes we can. But what really matters is whether you believe we can. If you do, now is the moment to make it happen. Please contribute today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/FinalRound

Thank you,

Vice President Joe Biden

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A Serious Man: My Review

The Coen Brothers Dark Comedy

The movie, A Serious Man, is set in the late 1960s in suburban Minnesota. The main character, a physics professor named Larry Gopnick, struggles with a withering array of troubles.

The movie was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (Coen Brothers). The Coen Brothers are known for producing a fairly long list of screwball movie comedies. The most well-known to me is the 1996 film Fargo. If you saw that film, you have an idea of the feel for A Serious Man, although except for the setting, the two movies are not at all similar.

The theme of the movie is captured by the first two lines in the lyrics of the Jefferson Airplane song, Somebody to Love.

When the truth is found to be lies
and all the joy within you dies
don't you want somebody to love

A Serious Man is a comedy, but it is a black comedy because it raises difficult questions about God's justice. It is loosly based on the Bible story of Job.

The main character, Gopnick, is beset with troubles like Job. Similar to Job, he struggles to figure out why he is having so many problems. He keeps saying, "but I didn't do anything," suggesting he is innocent and should not deserve to be punished. The characters in the movie are confronted with tragedies . . . perhaps linked to immoral acts.

The question of why God allows the innocent to suffer injury is difficult to understand. We would like to know why innocent people to suffer harm. However, the reality of life is that there is injustice. The theme of Job is that perceived injustice of life cannot be understood from a human perspective. That’s the message God delivers to Job in the Bible. That's also the philosophical question A Serious Man addresses.

The Coen Brothers movie presents the question of why? again and again in the movie. The surprising ending does not provide any answers and suggests ambiguity.

A Serious Man is off-putting because of the strong language and frequent use of recreational drugs. More troubling, however, is that the movie suggests that finding the truth is hopeless. Just as Grace Slick sings in the Jefferson Airplane song. However, as posted elsewhere here, the song is wrong.

However, A Serious Man is funny, and more importantly, a thought provoking movie. On balance, the film is worth seeing because it makes you consider the philosophical question of why injustice exists. Just don't expect the Coen Brothers movie to provide any answers.

Technorati Tags: coen, brothers, a, serious, man, philosophy, ethics, justice, god, job

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Psalm 112: The Pursuit of Happiness

Finding A Purpose in Life

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America (July 4, 1776) states as follows:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

What does it mean, “the pursuit of Happiness?”

This week our Bridgepointe Bible study group is reading Psalms 112. In the first verse of that wisdom Psalm, the question of how to find true happiness is answered.

Hallelujah!
Happy is the man who fears the LORD,
taking great delight in His commandments

Psalms 112:1.

The Bible teaches that a person achieves true happiness by loving, trusting, and honoring God. The “Happiness” some God followers seek is not a transitory or empty happiness achieved by acquisition of mere wealth, power, relationships, or material things. Rather, true happiness is only found through a trusting relationship between a person and God.

Not all believers in God and Jesus as Savior are on board with the concept described in Psalm 112:1. That is why some believers seem so unhappy and sour.

The “fear” of the Lord does not mean only that we live like terrified persons struggling mightily to be righteous because we fears a lightning bolt of punishment. Clearly, we know God will judge us justly in the end. We do need a healthy respect for his quality of justice and the consequences of unjust behavior toward others. However, a relationship based only on fear is far from the relationship God calls us to achieve in life.

Our relationship with God is based on love. God loves us and wants us in a relationship with him as his loving children and friends. See John 15:14-15 ("I have called you friends").

In turn, we love God for all he has done for us. Remember how he has saved us from death? John 3:16 ("For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life").

God has also provided us with the intangible and most important gifts of life: joy, faith, and love. See Galatians 5:22-23. All the good things in life are gifts from God alone. James 1:17. Thus, we live with a great love for our Savior and all he did so that we could experience a relationship with God. Our relationship with God is a loving relationship.

The term “fear” also implies that we trust our Lord to save us no matter what happens to us here on the earth. Being a follower of God does not mean we will never face trials and persecutions. See Revelation 2:9-10. The persecution trials might be coming. Luke 21:17 ("You will be hated by everyone because of My name"). However, we can endure those persecutions by trusting that God will make it all right in the end. Indeed, even if we are persecuted to death, that should not deter us from trusting in God because of his great promise:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:10-12.

Jesus Christ, who is God, stated, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15. The little verse in Psalm 112:1 has a big promise for believers. A person who happily lives as Jesus taught us to live--loving God, loving others, and delighting in God's commandments--pursues true happiness.

Interestingly, however, as we who delight in God's commands become happy, others who are not God followers get mad.

The wicked man will see [it] and be angry;
he will gnash his teeth in despair.
The desire of the wicked will come to nothing.

Psalms 112:10.

It is difficult to understand why people would get angry about a man who is truly happy and not hurting anyone. However, such intolerance of the happy is a fact of life:

If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love [you as] its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

John 15:18-19.

Perhaps, the genesis of the anger toward the happy is that a life served following purposes other than seeking God is an empty, and ultimately, unhappy life. In the end, a life pursuing anything other than a relationship with God serves no real purpose. As the Psalmist wrote, “The desire of the wicked will come to nothing.” Psalms 112:10. Perhaps those who stubbornly pursue the wrong goals in life, even while they secretly know deep in their hearts what they need to do tofind happiness, harbor resentment. It is a shame that they refuse to see the answer to finding true happiness which is so close at hand.

Technorati Tags: Live, Righteously, Explore, the, Bible, Lifeway, Psalm, 112, Pursuit, of, Happiness, Purpose, in, Life

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Medical Malpractice Bill

Here is a press release about a Bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss (R GA).

Graham, Chambliss Address Medical Malpractice with ‘Loser Pays’ Reform

WASHINGTON – United States Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) today introduced ‘Loser Pays’ legislation to decrease the number of frivolous lawsuits that increase the cost of medical care.

“Reform of medical malpractice is one of the key, missing ingredients from the health care reform proposals being debated in Congress,” said Senator Graham “A ‘Loser Pays’ system is one of the best devices available to prevent frivolous lawsuits from costing all of us. When both parties in a lawsuit are subject to financial penalty, people think longer and harder about bringing a questionable case forward. Most western nations already have a ‘Loser Pays’ rule, and it is time our own country adopts this concept.”

“This critical piece of healthcare reform has been missing from every Democratic proposal,” said Senator Chambliss. “While no one with a valid claim for medical malpractice should be denied his day in court, those who bring frivolous lawsuits raise the cost of healthcare for everyone. ‘Loser pays’ should go a long way toward discouraging such junk lawsuits and lowering the cost of practicing medicine.”

The Senators noted that the State of Florida applied a ‘Loser Pays’ rule exclusively to medical malpractice claims from 1980 to 1985. During that time, the percentage of malpractice suits that went to trial was cut nearly in half, and the plaintiff cases that went to trial prevailed more often as weak cases were eliminated.

Graham-Chambliss ‘Loser Pays’ creates a system of preliminary, non-binding arbitration for medical malpractice claims before they ever enter a courtroom. If one or both of the parties involved rejects the arbitrator’s decision, they can take the claim to court but are then subject to the ‘Loser Pays’ rule. Additionally, states will also have the option to create their own alternative dispute resolution system, with the freedom to tailor procedures as they see fit.

The bill is called the Fair Resolution of Medical Liability Disputes Act of 2009.

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Gamecocks Versus Gators

I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the post below; however, it was supposed to have been a Facebook e-mail from the senior Gamecock Center and Offensive Guard, Garrett Anderson (6-4 / 307):

To all Gamecock Fans and Students:

We all know that this isn't the way this season was supposed to go. We all know we are much better team that 6-4. But we have a huge opportunity this week. We have never beaten a no. 1 team before. We are being honored with the wounded warrior project and getting to wear camo jerseys. H...eck, I want revenge from 56-6. We had a great showing at ole miss. I do not think I have ever heard it that loud. But we need it louder. We are a great team, a great university. And u fans have no idea what being loud can do. We are preparing for this team and we are prepared to win. But I want this game to be like no other. I want this not only for this team and these seniors, but for all the veterans that have given more than I could imagine. If there was ever a time to leave the game with a sore throat and a lost voice, this is the game. Come ready, cause we will be. Like coach always say, let's do something that hasn't been done before. G

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Clemson Dirty Play Gains National Attention

Another Reason to Not Like Clemson

Writer Andy Staples posted Clemson DE is Second Gouger at his Sports Illustrated blog. The video below shows a really dirty play by Clemson's Andre Branch, number 40. The dirty play is seen at about the 6 to 8 second mark on the video behind the scramble for the fumble.

After gouging the eyes of the Florida State offensive lineman, Branch then jumps up and taunts him, pointing at the scoreboard. Staples writes,

I know Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doesn't teach this garbage, and Swinney needs to act swiftly to eradicate such behavior from his program. He should suspend branch for a game before Branch has the chance to completely copy Spikes and suspends himself.

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Veterans Day

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Gamecocks Face Number One Florida Saturday

After the Florida Gator 27-3 victory over Vanderbilt last Saturday, Gator quarterback Tim Tebow was asked about the SEC Championship game rematch against undefeated Alabama. He stated:

It'll be exciting. We won't be worried about them for a few weeks -- we got a big game against South Carolina -- but I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a great game. They're a great team and they're coached very well. It'll be very exciting.

Similarly, linebacker Ryan Stamper was quoted as responding to Alabama questions as follows: "I guess it feels pretty good (to play Alabama again). It really doesn't matter who we play. You still have to come out and win and execute."

The Florida South Carolina game has all the makings of a routine win for Florida. The Gators are ranked first in total defense and scoring defense, and second in total offense and scoring offense. They are ranked first in the nation and are favored to beat the Gamecocks by 15 points.

On the other hand, South Carolina is a battered team. It has not had a week off since the beginning of the season and facing SEC opponents for the past five weeks has effected the depth.

Mostly, injuries have impacted the defensive line. Freshman Aldrick Fordham (6-4, 258) and sophomore Byron McKnight (6-4, 229) are listed on the two-deep depth chart at defensive end. Moreover, one of the listed starters, Devin Taylor, who backs up injured starter Cliff Matthews, is questionable due to a chest contusion suffered against Arkansas. The Gators have blown out the Gamecocks in each of the last two seasons. Spurrier has basically conceded that the young Gamecocks don't have a chance against the Gators.

Still, the Gamecocks are a good team. The Gamecocks will be motivated too . . . by the Wounded Warrior promotion.

Besides, this is an important game for the Gamecocks. A win would likely mean the Gamecocks would finish at least tied for second in the SEC East, the highest finish since they joined the conference. It would also mean seven or more wins in 2009, an achievement which gets the Gamecocks to a good bowl game. There will be many high school football athletes in attendance. A win over Florida before a rowdy Gamecock crowd could help the Gamecocks win the upcoming recruiting battles against the likes of Georgia, Tennessee, and Clemson. The win would mean the Gamecocks have a chance to go undefeated at home for the 2009 season, which is huge. Finally, it would be a historical first victory for the Gamecock football program against a number one ranked opponent.

The comments by the Florida players quoted above suggest that just maybe the Gator players are overlooking the Gamecocks. The Gators have already clinched the SEC championship game by winning all of their SEC games. Win or lose, no team can possibly catch them in the standings. Even if the Gators lose to the Gamecocks this Saturday, pundits think they could still rebound, beat Alabama in the SEC Championship game, and then win a second national championship in a row by beating whoever makes it to the BCS Championship game.

A group of unfocused Florida players could give the Gamecocks a very slight advantage and also create the slimmest of possibilities for a miraculous upset.

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