One of the highlights of my Tuesdays is Harper’s Weekly Review. Sent out via email every Tuesday, it summarizes the previous week’s news. They strive for brevity and wit. I often see a bit of news that I’ve managed to miss. Subscribe, you’ll thank me.
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Harper’s Weekly Review
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009Dr. Khayat retires
Saturday, January 10th, 2009For those of you that don’t live in Oxford and/or live under a rock, Dr. Robert Khayat, Chancellor of the University of Mississippi since 1995, announced his retirement, effective June 30, on Tuesday. He’s done a lot to move the University forward in the 13 years he’s been at Ole Miss. It’ll be interesting to see who replaces him.
Khayat is an interesting fellow. As an undergraduate at Ole Miss he was elected to the Student Hall of Fame and played on the football and baseball teams. He led the nation in scoring by a kicker in 1958 and 1959. As catcher, he helped the baseball team win SEC championships in 1959 and 1960. After leaving Ole Miss, he played for the Washington Redskins for four years and played in the Pro Bowl in 1961. After his stint in the NFL he returned to Ole Miss for law school. Three years after graduating he was hired as a law professor.
For more information, the Oxford Eagle has a couple of good articles.
Oxford gets a second theater, for the second time
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008According to Friday’s Oxford Eagle, the former Screen Works theater on Sisk Avenue will be reopened as “The Amp” by a new management company. Unlike Screen Works, which competed directly with the Malco, The Amp will show second-run and independent films. And yes, they’ve already applied for their liquor license. I’m assuming they will serve food like Screen Works, not just nachos and hot dogs like most theaters. They plan on opening soon, possibly as early as the end of the month. While the Mrs. and I don’t get many chances to go to the theater these days, it’ll be nice to have another option.
In other Oxford news, we’re getting a Chick-fil-A on West Jackson. Presumably it’ll be open by the time the students return in the fall. Also, the Country Club of Oxford/Grand Oaks is being foreclosed on. Be at the courthouse steps on December 30th at 11am. You might get a good deal.
Obamania!
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008Major newspapers are unable to keep up with demand for today’s issue. The New York Times printed 225,000 extra papers and still ran out. Papers are going for up to $200 on eBay.
Bidding for my Oxford Eagle starts at $100. :)
Obama wins
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Of the states that voted for Bush in 2004, Obama took Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and New Mexico. Montana, Missouri, Indiana, and North Carolina are still too close to call. Obama ran an excellent campaign, McCain didn’t. You just can’t do that when the deck is stacked against you.
I fear that Obama’s beliefs are pretty far to the left, despite the moderate image he tried to project during the campaign. History says I’m wrong. Most candidates move toward the center after they are elected. I hope I’m wrong and history is right. I’m willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt for now. Time will tell. It will be interesting to watch him assemble his cabinet and see which issues he decides to tackle first.
It’ll be interesting to see who the Republicans nominate four years from now. I suspect it’ll be someone we haven’t heard much about.
The good news for conservatives, and possibly even some moderate Democrats, is that the Democrats will not get their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That will help me sleep a little better at night.
Mississippi went 57/43 for McCain, as expected. We still have two Republican Senators. Wicker beat Musgrove 55/45. There was never much doubt Cochran would win. The representative for Northeast Mississippi will be Travis Childers, a Democrat. He beat Greg Davis, the former mayor of Southaven, 55/43, which was not unexpected.
Obama and Biden Marxists?
Sunday, October 26th, 2008I will admit to having been more than a little amused when I saw a clip of an interviewer accusing Obama and Biden of being Marxists. I got a good chuckle out of it. The clip is below. You can see the full interview here.
To be fair, Obama and Biden are not Marxists. However, some of their policies (their tax plan in particular) do reek of Socialism. That’s one of the issues I have with them.
By the way, have I ever mentioned that Joe Biden is a darn good politician? I don’t agree with him on the issues, but I wish there was a center-right clone of him.
The real McCain?
Monday, October 20th, 2008I had seen clips of McCain and Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner last week on TV, but it’s hard to appreciate just how funny McCain was without seeing the whole thing. There are two videos below, first McCain, then Obama. Notice the crowd’s reaction. They thought McCain was funnier. And remember that the crowd is probably 98% Democrat. It should have been a tough crowd for him. Even Obama and Clinton were cracking up.
Obviously he can’t treat his campaign like a big joke, but if we’d seen more of this McCain he wouldn’t be as behind in the polls. McCain is a likable guy when he isn’t being “handled.” Unfortunately, when all is said and done, McCain will regret not being himself more during the campaign.
Obama was funny too, just not as funny as McCain.
The second debate
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008I watched the debate last night, though not as closely as I’ve watched the others. I thought it was basically a draw. People that agree with McCain still agree with him and likewise for Obama. The debates are, after all, really for the “undecideds.” A few observations:
- Tom Brokaw really thinks a lot of himself.
- Obama had a smug grin on his face throughout the debate. I imagine knowing you’re in the lead (and pulling away) a month before the election can do a lot for your confidence.
- Several people have commented on how Obama pronounces Pakistan. Does he say it that way in an attempt to sound better informed? It’s not the preferred American pronunciation, and I seriously doubt that’s how the Pakistanis pronounce it either.
- A draw is really a win for Obama. He is currently winning, so he can afford to put things on cruise control to some degree. McCain needs a “game changer” of some sort, and this debate didn’t do that for him. It didn’t even get close.
The Debate
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008I realize I’m a little late with this, but I wanted to put my thoughts on the debate out here.
I thought that McCain won the debate. I know that I’m biased in his favor, but I feel like I can be impartial when I have to. Apparently I’m wrong on one or the other. Most polls show that Obama won the debate. I felt that McCain held his own in the “financial” portion of the debate and clearly won the foreign policy portion of the debate.
I was particularly thrilled when McCain mentioned cutting ethanol subsidies. I had never heard him mention his position on that particular issue before. Do some research. Ethanol subsidies are stupid on several levels. He’s also right about nuclear energy. If we want to get off foreign oil, nuclear power plants are a no-brainer. Is it a perfect solution? No, but the technology is ready today and it’s far and away better than any other options we have.
I liked all the talk about cutting government spending. Both candidates claim they want to do it. Admittedly, neither party has been responsible when it comes to spending our (not to mention my children’s and grandchildren’s) tax dollars. However, I believe McCain when he says he wants to cut spending. Obama wants to provide health care for everyone, and there’s no way you can cut spending and do that.
Speaking of health care, I don’t want the government in charge of my health care, as Obama proposes. The government (and bureaucracies in general) get wrong way more than they get right, and I don’t want them messing with my health care. Fix social security and get back with me.
I liked the hard line that both candidates took on Russia. Obama agreed with McCain for the most part, but McCain seemed to know much more about the region and the situation. At times it seemed like McCain was schooling Obama and the audience in foreign policy. I know I learned some things, and I expect Obama did too.
A big deal was made of the fact that McCain got some of the details wrong in his story about Eisenhower. Ike’s second letter said nothing about resigning. It took responsibility for the failure of D-Day. Big deal.
I did think that McCain’s suggestion of freezing spending with the exception of veteran’s affairs, defense, and entitlement was stupid. It was obviously an off-the-cuff comment, and Obama rightfully pointed out that it was stupid.
It’ll be interesting to see how Palin does in the Vice-Presidential debate Thursday night. Some of her interviews haven’t looked so great recently.
2008 Presidential Debate in Oxford
Thursday, September 25th, 2008As I mentioned the other day, Oxford is hosting the first 2008 Presidential Debate. Luke and I went to campus on Monday to take some pictures around the Ford Center, where the debate will take place. The pictures should give you a decent idea of the work that went into hosting the debate. Here they are. Read the captions for more information about each picture.
The pictures aren’t that great for two reasons. First of all, I used my Fuji point and shoot instead of my Canon SLR. I did this primarily because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle Luke and the SLR on the walk to the Ford Center. Also, I was a little concerned the security guys might flip out if I pulled out the SLR. As it turns out, that fear was completely unfounded. There were only a couple of rent-a-cops around the Ford Center, and I saw other people with SLRs. Also, Luke wasn’t real thrilled about being strapped into his stroller. Now that he can walk he likes a little more freedom.
A large tent set up for the journalists covering the debate just east of the Ford Center.
I plan on going back up there in the next few days with my SLR. Hopefully they won’t move anything around until I have a chance to take more pictures. With a tripod and a little time, one could take some really nice pictures around twilight. They have some very interesting lighting on the exterior of the building after dark.
Earlier in the week, the was some concern over whether or not the debate would actually be held. The latest news I’ve heard is that the debate will definitely take place, but possibly without McCain. Early this evening one of the Memphis stations was reporting the McCain “advance team” had done a walk through of the Ford Center. Also, it was being reported that both parties had reached an understanding on the financial bailout. However, it turns out that’s not the case, so it’ll definitely be interesting to see if McCain shows up. If he doesn’t, a one man debate will be interesting as well.
A lot of Oxfordians, myself included, will be upset if the debate doesn’t proceed as planned, with two candidates.