Rally for the Republic Speeches

Here are the speeches from Jessie Ventura and Ron Paul at the Rally for the Republic. I wanted to have them all in one place so here it goes.

First up, Jessie Ventura:

Jessie Ventura Part 1


Jessie Ventura Part 2


Jessie Ventura Part 2

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Barry Goldwater Jr. Introducing Ron Paul

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Now, Dr. Ron Paul:

Ron Paul Part 1


Ron Paul Part 2


Ron Paul Part 3


Ron Paul Part 4


Ron Paul Part 5



Ron Paul Part 6


Ron Paul Part 7


Ron Paul Part 8


Ron Paul Part 9

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Ron Paul on Glenn Beck September 3, 2008

Week 1 College Football Results 2008

Last weekend marked the beginning of the College Football season. Alabama worked out a high profile game to begin the season. The match-up was to be at a neutral site between two teams in two conferences that do not meet on a regular basis. Thus a game was scheduled at the Georgia Dome between Alabama and Clemson.

Recently the season was expanded from 11 games to 12. However, SEC teams have to play 8 conference games. The conference has 12 teams broken down into 2 divisions, Eastern and Western. Each division has 6 teams. So, each team much play the 5 teams from their division. In Alabama's case it is Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State, and Auburn. Which leaves 3 more SEC games to be filled. One is reserved for a teams 'rival' in the other division, for Alabama this game is Tennessee. The two other games are rotated through the remainder of the Eastern division teams, where they are on the schedule for two seasons where each team will have an away game and a home game against that opponent. This season Alabama plays at Georgia and hosts Kentucky.

So that is the 8 game SEC schedule for Alabama. Now that leaves 4 non-conference games that have to be scheduled. Most teams pick 'cream puffs' as they are called. These are teams that are willing to play a big school at that big school because they stand to get a sizable chunk of change. Each team has them. Alabama plays two Sun Belt Conference teams in Western Kentucky (South Alabama's rival basketball school) and Arkansas State. Tulane was picked up as a third, which is not surprising because Alabama has played them several times in the recent past. Some teams have even played teams from a lower division. Last season Michigan was upset by Appalachian State in Michigan. Appalachian State is from the next lower division, what used to be called Division II ( I think they are now called 'Football Bowl Subdivision' while the old Division I is now known as 'Bowl Championship Series').

Now we come back to the final, or in all actuality the first, non-conference spot. Occasionally you get teams schedule a strong non-conference team to help give them a better strength of schedule ranking. In Alabama's case, or more like in Saban's case, it also serves in another capacity. A key recruiting tool.

While the signing season just ended what seemed like a couple months ago, recruiting is a year-round thing. Coaches want to get the best players for their system at positions that need filling. Thus this game served to showcase Alabama's talent, hard work and their overall program on the national stage. What a huge recruiting tool.

There were a fair share of 'cream puff' games going on this past weekend. Its not unheard of for one of those 'cream puffs' to come back and bit you in the rear. Just ask Michigan last year, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and somewhat Tennessee this week. Sometimes the case may be that you just don't look too good against these 'cream puffs'. Take Georgia for instance. They were ranked #1 coming into the season and have one of the best teams in the nation. However, their performance against Georgia Southern was lack luster thus they fell to #2.

Analysis of the game had Clemson being the top team in the ACC this season coming in to play the 5th or 6th best team in the SEC. Clemson has alot of speed on its side and what are considered the best running back tandem in the NCAA.

I think this quote summed up the game pretty well: "Alabama came ready for a fist fight, Clemson came ready for the High School dance." Which was true. Alabama did a great job containing the Clemson speed except for one play (opening kickoff after halftime ran back for a touchdown). The running back tandem of 'Thunder and Lightning' were held to 0 (zero, nada, nothing) yards rushing.

Alabama won the game 34-10 on the shoulders of some veterans and freshmen alike. Jim McElwain has done a great job simplifying the offense and using the run to open up the passing game. He found a game plan that chewed up time off of the clock and gave everyone lots of confidence. Clemson only held the ball for a little over 18 minutes of the game. Its hard to keep up or come back from a big deficit if you cannot hold onto the ball.

It must be stressed: This is just one game. There are 11 more games to come in the season and each game must be taken serious. One game is not an indication of how good the team is or how good they will be down the stretch. Tough games are yet to come at Georgia, at Tennessee, at LSU and at home against Auburn. But what you can take away from this game is that the team as a whole has improved, have worked hard and want to win. With this young talent, Alabama could be quite formidable in the next couple seasons.

After the win, Alabama moved up in the AP Poll. Previously 24th they are now 13 while Clemson fell from 9th to just outside of the top 25. In the coaches poll Alabama moved up to 17 while Clemson fell to 22.

NCAA Polls

Jerry Reed (AKA The Snowman) dies at 71

Jerry Reed, a very gifted actor and musician, passed away yesterday from complications from emphysema. Jerry had several hits which included "Amos Moses", "When you're hot, you're hot", "East bound and down", "The Bird", and "She got the goldmine (I got the shaft)" in the 70s and early 80s.

Probably most notably he was in a few movies in the mid-70s with Burt Reynolds. You may remember him as 'The Snowman' driving the tractor trailer in the timeless movie "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Smokey and the Bandit 2". He played the Bandit in the little known sequel "Smokey and the Bandit 3". Instead of playing a 'good ole boy' he played a ornery heavy in "Gator" which was directed by Burt. Later in 1998 he played a hateful opposing coach in "The Waterboy" with Adam Sandler.

It was Reed and Kris Kristofferson who lead the way for Nashville musicians to make their way into films. With people like Dolly Pardon, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers following their lead.

His interest in music began at 8 in Atlanta when his mother got him a $2 guitar and taught him how to play a G chord. He later dropped out of school to tour. Then at 17 he signed his first recording contract. At first he established himself as a songwriter for artists like Elvis Presley ("U.S. Male", "Guitar Man"), Johnny Cash ("A Thing Called Love"), Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Reed and Chet Atkins won a grammy for a collaboration "Me and Jerry" in 1970, then in 1971 Jerry won a grammy for "When you're hot, you're hot", and in 1992 Atkins and Reed won another grammy for "Sneakin' Around".

Reed performed on the road into the late 90s doing about 80 shows a year. "When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."

In June of 1999 Reed had a quadruple bypass.

I enjoyed some of his music and especially his work in the first two "Smokey and the Bandit" movies (never saw the third one).

Here are two of my favorite songs by him, the first is probably the best know by anyone who has gone through a divorce. The second is a favorite from the "Smokey and the Bandit" soundtrack.


Video 1 Youtube link here.


Video 2 Youtube link here.

Hurricane Gustav blows on through

Gustav reared its head yesterday here on the gulf coast. Louisiana took the full force of its landing but Alabama was on the far eastern edges. While we didn't get the sustained winds of 100+ MPH, we did get some tropical storm force winds and higher gusts, plenty of rain, and our share of tornado warnings.

At my previous place of residence, whenever it came a normal Mobile rain, it would form a rather large puddle of water in the back yard that I affectionately dubbed "Lake Ponchakacey". So I was eager to see how my new place would fare with a tropical system. My new definition of flooding was a puddle near the back patio that might, just might get both of your shoes wet at the same time. It will not completely cover your shoes but would be enough to seep in and get them nice and wet.

Now I have a few limbs down in the yard, like most everyone else in the area, that I must clean up.

New Orleans fared pretty well this time around. The new levees held strong even though they did have plenty of over-topping at the Industrial Canal as shown on several news reports. But they did not fail and New Orleans has been spared again. But it was clearly shown that the residents of New Orleans took this storm serious and evacuated and that New Orleans is truly screwed if a strong hurricane hits them just right.

Louisiana is starting to access damage and cleaning up. But eyes are again on the tropics with Hanna threatening Florida and the rest of the east coast. Ike is heading towards a date with Cuba and possibly the Gulf of Mexico. Ike really scares me, because kicked helped to kick the nazi's rear end, so I'm sure he's probably pissed at the course America has taken in the last few years. Then behind Ike there is another tropical depression which would be named Josephine if it were to develop further.

Its like a transatlantic storm super highway out there.