Goodbye, Dr. Falwell, 1933 - 2007

Today,

One of my heroes and the reason i went to Liberty University, Rev. Jerry Falwell, died of an apparent heart attack in his office at Liberty this morning. He was 73 years old. Dr. Falwell founded Thomas Road Baptist Church back in the 50's and grew it to the largest activist church in America. In the 80's, he mobilized millions of Christians to register to vote and helped to sweep President Reagan into power. The Moral Majority was a very influentual political force back then. In 1971, he founded Liberty Baptist College, which became Liberty University. Liberty has become the largest Christian University in the World, with over 22,000 students. Dr. Falwell was an inspiration to me while i was there. He would come and eat lunch with us in the dining hall. He would attend all the sporting events at the college, even the girls softball games. I was priviledged to have 2 incredible men shake my hand as i received my diploma: Dr. Falwell and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Dr. Falwell had the habit of winning over those who once hated him or disagreed with him. After their infamous Supreme Court trial in the 80's, Dr. Falwell on several occassions met with Larry Flynt and they discussed their relationship. I remember seeing Dr. Falwell as a weekly guest on Geraldo's MSNBC show. They were strange bedfellows. These people may not have always seen eye to eye with him, but they always respected him because he was a man of unflinching conviction and integrity. He never wavered in his beliefs.

Now, i know he has made many controversial statements in the past, but for the most part, he was right about most all of them. Dr. Falwell was first a pastor, then an activist. For those who don't know, he started the Liberty Godparent Home, which is a home for unwed pregnant women who do not want to have an abortion and he also started a home for alcoholics. He was a fine Christian man, a wonderful father and grandfather. You will things about him in the coming days, but I hope you'll take it with a grain of salt. I hope i someday can be half the Christian the Jerry Falwell was. Today, he is where he longed to be the most, in the presence of HIS FATHER, the Lord Jesus Christ. How i would love to hear those conversations. The last great man of the 20th Century has left us.

Dr. Falwell, I will miss you. I feel like my grandfather just died. Thank you for all you have done for the cause of Christ and for the inspiration you have given millions of us. Liberty and Lynchburg will never be the same. Today, you are home.

Bonds Hits 745, within 10 of record

Tonight, in the 4th inning, Barry Bonds homered off of Tom Glavine for this NL leading 11th Homerun of the season and the 745th of his illustrious career, pulling him withing 10 of Hank Aaron. This could happen soon than most people thought.

That ass-clown, Curt Schilling, today ran his mouth about stuff that has not been proven at all, that Bonds didn't pay his taxes, took steroids and cheated on his wife. I think Schilling should worry about pitching and maybe not trying to be a press whore with his daily blog in Boston. He should be worried about how Roger Clemens is going to outshine him in a month in his return to the Yankees in Fenway. Schilling's teammate, David Ortiz today defended Barry Bonds. You can check out http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2863623 to see what Schilling and Ortiz have to see about the greatest baseball player of OUR LIFETIME.

This day in History, May 7th

1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orleans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.

1824 - World premier of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria.

1847 - In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.

1915 - WWI: a German U-20 submarine sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. This turned many pro-Germans in the US against the German Empire.

1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later remaned Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.

1960 - Cold War: U2 Crisis - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. It is rumored by some that Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK patsy, while serving as a double-agent for the CIA and the KGB, provided the Russians the location of Power's U2 spy plane.

1964 - Pacific Airlines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard. The FBI later report that the cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.

1998 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 Billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

1999 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family $25 million.

2002 - A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.

2006 - Rolling Stone magazine publishes its 1000th issue.

This day in History, May 6th

1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church.

1816 - American Bible Society is founded in New York City.

1861 - War of Northern Aggression: Arkansas secedes from the Union.

1882 - The Congress of the U.S.A. passes the Chinese Exclusion Act

1937 - Hindenburg Disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, NJ. 36 people are killed.

1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1942 - WWII: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japenese.

1994 - Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones files suit against President Bill Clinton, alleging he sexually harassed her in 1991.

2007 - Nicolas Sarkozy is elected the 23rd President of the French Republic, giving the Conservative party the victory by 6% of the vote over the Socialist Party.

This Day in History, May 5th

1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1809 - Mary Kies shatters another stereotype by becoming the first woman awarded a U.S. Patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.

1865 - In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.

1891 - The Music Hall in NY (now known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.

1893 - Panic of 1893: Crash on NY Stock Exchange starts a depression.

1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

1961 - Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 - Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes.

1992 - The 27th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, 233 years after its initial submission in 1789.

1992 - Wolfenstein 3D is released, the first-ever first-person shooter computer game.

2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes its name to World Wrestling Entertainment due to lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund.

This Day in History, May 4th

1494 - Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica.

1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

1814 - Emperor Napoleon I of France arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.

1863 - War of Northern Aggression: Battle of Chancellorsville - The battle ends in dramatic fashion after Stonewall Jackson's troops flanked the Union line, resulting in a Union retreat.

1865 - Abraham Lincoln buried in Springfield, IL, 3 weeks after his assassination.

1904 - Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal.

1932 - In Atlanta, GA, mobster Al Capone begins serving an 11 year prison sentence for tax evasion.

1945 - WWII: Surrender of North Germany Army to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.

1953 - Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

1964 - The long-running soap opera Another World (one of the soaps i grew up on), which would run until 1999, debuts on NBC.

1970 - Vietnam War - Kent State Shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opens fire on students protesting the US invasion of Cambodia. 4 students are killed and 9 are wounded.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1981 - Donald Eugene Webb is placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Webb was on the list longer than any other person, over 25 years. He was removed on March 31, 2007, never located.

1989 - Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of 3 crimes and acquitted of 9 other charges. The convictions were later overturned on appeal.

1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski 4 life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.

2002 - An EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-500 crashes in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff, killing more than 148 people.

Verse of the Day, Romans 10:15

How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!"

---Romans 10:15

Today in History, May 3rd

1494 - Christopher Columbus first sights land that will be called Jamaica.

1802 - Washington, DC is incorporated as a city.

1921 - West Virginia imposes the first state sales tax.

1937 - Gone With the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

1951 - The US Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by US President Harry S. Truman.

1956 - The judo World Championships are first held.

1973 - The Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out as the world's tallest building.

1979 - Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher becomes United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister as the Labour government is ousted in parliamentary elections. She was a great one and she is missed right now.

1987 - A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talledega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop restrictor plate racing the following season at Daytona International Speedway and Talledega.

1988 - The White House acknowledges that first lady Nancy Reagan has used astrological advice to schedule her husband's activities.

2001 - The US loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947. This isn't a bad thing, in case people were wondering.

2006 - Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea, killing 113 people on board, with no survivors.

2006 - Zacarias Moussaoui is sentenced to life in prison in Alexandria, Virginia.

House fails to override Veto, Bonds homers again...

The US House failed to override President Bush's veto of the troop pullout legislation. I think the Dems now realize that they will not be able to get any bill passed that has anything linked to early withdrawal or withdrawal timetables. Bush has one another skirmish in this battle. We will see where we go next.

It was learned today that the White House issued a veto threat Thursday against legislation that would expand federal hate crime law to include attacks motivated by the victims' gender or sexual orientation. This legislation is headed for passage today in the House and is moving through the Senate. But the legislation, which also would increase the penalties for bias-based violence, has met outspoken resistance from conservative groups and their Republican allies in Congress, who warn that it undermines freedom of speech, religious expression and equal protection under the law. The White House, in a statement, said state and local criminal laws already provide penalties for the crimes defined by the bill and "there has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement." It also questioned the constitutionality of federalizing the acts of violence barred by the bill and said that if it reaches the president's desk "his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill." The White House also noted that the bill would leave out other classes such as the elderly, members of the military or police officers. (excerpts taken from AP story).
I think the President is right on this issue. We already have laws in place to deal with this. We don't need other classifications just to politicize these crimes so other groups can benefit.

The greatest baseball player alive Homered again last night, making that career no. 743. Now he's just 12 away from tying Hank Aaron. This will definitely happen this year. Bonds also hit 4 RBI's last night, tying him for 4th all time with Stan Musial at 1,951. I think if he keeps batting over .300 like he's doing now, he'll definitely pass Lou Gehrig at 1,995 RBI's.

Lost is getting good. Last night's episode was great. I'll go into it tomorrow, as some dumb people haven't watched it yet.

This Day in History, May 2nd

1863 - War of Northern Aggression: Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after being in reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. His arm would be amputated and later buried at the battlefield. I have seen the marker marking the site of where his arm was once buried. 8 days later, Jackson dies of pneumonia, effectively killing the South's chances in the war.

1885 - Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for first time.

1918 - General Motors acquires Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1932 - Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.

1939 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive Major League games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years until Cal Ripken Jr. breaks it.

1955 - Tennessee Williams wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

1972 - Buddy Baker becomes first stock car driver to finish 500-mile race in less than 3 hours enroute to winning the Winston Select 500 at Talladega International Raceway in Talladega, Alabama.

1997 - The Labour Party's Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, ending 18 years of Conservative Party rule. At age 44, Blair is the youngest Prime Minister in the UK for 185 years.

2005 - The Pontiac Grand Am ceases production at the 100 year old Lansing Car Assembly Plant.

Bush vetoes troop withdrawal legislation

Today President Bush, in only the second time in his Presidency, vetoed the troop withdrawal bill submitted to him by the Democrat controlled Congress. He rejected legislation pushed by Democrat leaders that would require U.S. Combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. I think Bush had to veto this. Even though I didn't agree with the Iraq War, we cannot leave now. If we pull out before the Iraqi govt. can take over, then we make the situation worse. I firmly believe that as long as we have been fighting Al-Queda over there, they have not been able to attack us here. We have new information that possibly the Al Queda leader in Iraq has been killed. If we get confirmation on this, then this is another major victory.

We are winning the war on terror. That point cannot be debated. Now, we will see what happens next. Lacking the votes to override the President's veto, Democrats have already signaled they intend to approve a replacement bill stripped of the troop withdrawal timetable. Determined to challenge Bush's policy, they are turning their attention to setting goals for the Iraqi government to meet as it struggles to establish a more secure, democratic society.
The White House and congressional Republicans have also called for so-called benchmarks, but only if they don't mandate a troop withdrawal or some other major change in war policy.