Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - The Foundation of American Equality

.

.

Thank God for Our Veterans - the Foundation of Freedom - the Spirit of America!

.

 

 

 

.

Kentucky Basketball - How Good Can it Get?

.

Rick Pitino & John Calipari

In 2012 the University of Kentucky won the men's national championship.

 

In 2013 Louisville won the men's national championship.

 

In 2013 the UK women reached their 3rd straight regional finals.

 

In 2013 the Louisville women reached the national finals finishing 2nd.

 

So here are the final preseason national polls for the upcoming season.

 

UK Men - #1

 

Louisville Men - #3

 

Louisville Women - #5

 

UK Women - #7

 

 

Are you kidding me, all four teams in the top seven in the nation?

 

With the top recruiting class in college history, the UK men look to make up their fall from grace last year when the defending national champion didn't even qualify for March Madness.

 

 

Now basketball at UK is sacred and has been since Adolph Rupp started a run of 8 national championship in 1948.  Only UCLA has more (11), and 10 of them came over a 12 year span, 1964-1975.  UCLA has won once since 1975 while UK has won 4 times since then.

 

 

Of course the irony is that both UK and Louisville programs have been built on the backs of east coast coaches.  Rick Pitino of Louisville, recognized as one of the deans of college coaching, was born in New York City.  John Calipari of UK was born in Moon Township Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

 

 

Pitino had the distinct, yet dubious honor of having built both Kentucky programs to national prominence and leading both teams to national championships, something no other coach in the history of college basketball has achieved.

 

Distinct because no one has won the NCAA crown with two different schools.  Dubious because in Kentucky you are for UK or Louisville.  The intra-state rivalry is among the most intense in our nation.

 

 

When Pitino left UK and then returned to Louisville about half the state considered him enlightened while the other half considered him a traitor of the stature of Judas.  Only a kid from the streets of New York could overcome such a swing from conquering hero to Shakespearean villain, and then fight his way back to the top of the basketball pinnacle.

 

And look at the homes they have built for their respective teams.  Massive stadiums, the modern day Roman Coliseums, welcome over 20,000 people to the games but it is more than that.

 

UK

Louisville

 

The same stadiums are filled for midnight openings of the practice season and pep rallies before games.  Season tickets are so coveted they can be a major part of divorce property settlements.

 

 

I have a lot of relatives in Kentucky and their loyalty is split between UK and Louisville.  There are nieces, nephews and in laws that attended both schools.  Kentuckians are a rather strange bunch but one thing binds them together, the sacred nature of basketball and the hunger to win.

 

 

This should be a most entertaining year in the land of thoroughbreds and Bluegrass.

 

Here is what the AP has to say about Kentucky basketball.

 

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- There is a battle brewing for women's basketball supremacy in the Bluegrass State.

The Louisville and Kentucky women's teams are ranked in the top 10 and have national championship aspirations after making deep runs in last year's NCAA tournament.

The fifth-ranked Cardinals will start the season Saturday against Loyola-Chicago after their stunning march to the national championship game with an injury-depleted roster. Louisville is healthy, welcoming back three regulars to have one of its deepest rosters in several seasons.

Kentucky, ranked No. 7, opens Friday at Marist with its sights set on reaching the Final Four coming off the Wildcats' third regional final appearance in four years. The Wildcats lost No. 2 career scorer A'dia Mathies to the WNBA but have added two high school All-Americans to the rotation.

''It's just incredible, I think, for the Commonwealth of Kentucky,'' Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said Wednesday of both schools' success. ''It's just a real point of pride and basketball brings people together, it excites people, it motivates people. I think it's a terrific place to be and I'm humbled to be here during this exciting time.''

The Kentucky men's team is ranked No. 1 and defending national champion Louisville is No. 3.

The women's teams won't have to wait long to settle bragging rights. Louisville travels to Lexington on Dec. 1, aiming to avenge last year's 48-47 loss decided by freshman Janee Thompson's 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds remaining.

Before that in-state showdown, the Wildcats and Cardinals continue honing the chemistry that has both teams excited about their championship prospects.

Louisville's cohesion has been a work in progress in recent years as hip injuries sidelined senior guard Tia Gibbs for the past two seasons while 6-foot-1 senior forward Asia Taylor sat out last year. Junior forward Shawnta' Dyer tore the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments in her left knee last December.

The Cardinals (29-9, 11-5 Big East Conference) endured some frustrating losses along the way but hit stride in the NCAA tournament, highlighted by a monumental 82-81 upset of No. 1 and defending champion Baylor in the regional semifinal. Louisville led for all but a few seconds in the final minute, winning on Monique Reid's two free throws with 2.6 seconds left.

Upsets of Tennessee and California followed before Connecticut trounced Louisville 93-60 in the championship at New Orleans.

Taylor can't wait to be part of what she hopes is a return trip down Interstate 65 to Nashville for this year's Final Four.

''I was happy for my teammates and the program,'' she said, ''but as a competitor you want to be out there and be in a big game like that. The fact that I knew I was coming back was my motivation to work hard.''

Though forward Sheronne Vails is out for the year following offseason knee surgery, Walz is eager to see if having his healthiest squad in some time can carry the Cardinals past favored UConn in the newly renamed American Athletic Conference and deeper in the NCAA tournament.

Besides senior guard and leading scorer Shoni Schimmel (14.2 points), Louisville returns junior forward Sara Hammond (10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds), wing Antonita Slaughter and junior guard Bria Smith (9.5 points).

''We'll probably have the biggest game of rock-paper-scissors that you've ever seen, and the last five will be our starters,'' Walz joked about the process of choosing a lineup. ''It's a great problem to have.''

Mitchell can say the same thing about his own well-stocked Kentucky roster.

The returns of senior forward and leading scorer DeNesha Stallworth (12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds) and Samarie Walker (8.7 points, 8.1 rebounds) provide a strong post presence for the Wildcats (30-6, 13-3 Southeastern Conference), who fell to UConn in the regional final for the second straight year.

''It took some months, and we still look back and wonder why didn't get over that hump,'' Stallworth said. ''We've gotten better in our offensive execution and are looking good. We don't want to be in that spot (of missing the Final Four) for the fifth straight year.''

Kentucky's backcourt is its deepest area with senior Kastine Evans, juniors Bria Goss and Jennifer O'Neill and sophomore Thompson able to play anywhere in the three-guard alignment. The additions of McDonald's All-Americans Linnae Harper and Makayla Epps could pay off right away for a Wildcats team determined to go a step further - and possibly meeting a familiar foe along the way.
.

Meet America's Next President - Chris Christie!

 .

Fresh off the largest win by a Republican moderate since Abraham -- Lincoln that is, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won re-election in the Democratic state with 60% of the vote.

 

Now I worked for New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean and he also did pretty well in the governor races.  In fact, he had the closest and largest election victories in history in 1981 and 1985 respectively.  Moderate Republicans were about to become near extinct after the reign of Kean.

 

 

In 1981 Kean, a moderate Republican, won the governor's race by the closest margin in New Jersey history, just 1,797 votes of 2.4 million cast.  By 1985 Kean won by the largest victory margin in history, getting 69.5% of the vote in a Democrat state and winning by 794,229 votes.

 

Kean ran the most successful "voter inclusion program" ever undertaken by a GOP candidate in the nation.  Kean's record margin included over 60% of the Black, Union and Roman Catholic votes.   Kean was a lifetime civil rights advocate and Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., endorsed the governor and campaigned for him.

 

 

 

It was the last time a Republican got over 50% in a statewide Jersey election.

 

Tom Kean was a Princeton blue-blood and genuine nice person, far too nice to be president of the USA.

 

 

But Christie, well he is another story.

 

He went to the University of Delaware and Seton Hall law school.  Not quite Princeton but quite good schools.  He was a volunteer for one of Tom Kean's governor's races.  Then he was United States Attorney for New Jersey.

 

With all the mob activity and corruption in the New Jersey/New York districts not to mention the Wall Street presence, the US Attorney's handled some of the toughest cases and characters in the nation.

 

 

Christie is a rough and tumble straight talking Jersey boy with plenty of girth, grit and gristle.  It is great to see that his diet efforts are paying off as he looked more fit and feisty at the end of the campaign than he looked in years.

 

So far this self-proclaimed conservative with the moderate to conservative leanings has demonstrated everything necessary to become our next president and it is a rare day in America when we have a New Jersey president.  Fact is only one president, Woodrow Wilson, was a Jersey boy.

 

 

Now the eastern liberal media is terrified of the thought of Christie as president so they have started a campaign to convince Midwest and Southern Americans that a smart talking, rather large, and often bombastic dude with a Jersey accent will never be accepted by the voters in the Midwest and South who carry the national elections.

 

MSNBC talking heads scoff at the thought of a Republican from New Jersey being on the primary ballot in Iowa, or South Carolina.

 

Well guess what media mouthpieces, I'm also from the Midwest, Iowa in fact, and there is nothing in our corn and pork diet or hayseed image that says we don't recognize a leader as opposed to a politician.

 

After five years of Obama inertia and Congressional constipation the voters of America, Democrats, Republicans and Independents all, are sick and tired of two party domination and paralyzed politicians.

 

Chris Christie is a rare breed of politician who actually tells you what he thinks and does what he says he's going to do.  Imagine that!  Honesty, even if a little ruff and gruff, would be refreshing.  The ability to do things no matter how big or small is, well, revolutionary in politics.

 

 

Straight talk was a Midwestern trait long before the media hijacked the term for politicians.  And an Iowan would NEVER put the special interests of a political party before what was good for the country.

 

A great, big, giant lie is stretched over this great land of ours like a sinister blanket of fog.  Politicians and financial people have hidden a deep, dark secret of the vulnerability of America to succumb to the overwhelming dark cloak of Greed powering a spiraling national debt.

 

The Madison Avenue pursuit of the young teen and adult demographic (what I call the Fountain of Youth obsession) now expects the children of the nation to pay for the sins of their fathers and mothers TODAY, not 25 years from now when they inherit the multi-trillion dollar debt.

 

 

I say kids can't possibly be that stupid.  They know the difference between a politician who works up a head of steam and one who is lost in a fog.  Christie will never allow that fog to envelop our youth and nation and that is why he will be elected by the Midwest and Southern voters, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent.

 

Move over Woodrow, another Jersey boy is headed toward the top.

 

Say hello to your next president.

.

Fox News Blows Out News Competitors, Dominate Cable

.

 

Surprise, surprise, Roger Ailes, that demon to all liberals in America, once again simply trounced all the other cable news shows through the entire prime time slot according to the latest October cable news ratings.

So dominant was Fox that Megyn Kelly's brand new show finished the October sweeps number two of all prime time cable news shows, behind The O'Reilly Factor.  Nice launch Megyn.

 

Is there any wonder which of the following news personalities had a higher rating than the other two combined?

 

Now I confess, that is not how Megyn looks on her new show.  Neither is the fact that another "Fox" is on Fox.  She was a jock and cheerleader in school.  But she also was smart, had a law degree, was a ratings magnet and asked for the job.  Here is the "on air" look.

 

 

As the following "ratings" articles show, the Fox prime time shows (7 to 11 PM) had 2.12 million average viewers, more than all their competitors (CNN, MSNBC and HLN) combined.  Whew!

Okay, no big surprise since Fox has been #1 in total daytime and prime time cable for the past 141 straight months.  That is #1 for the entire presidential career of Barack Obama and dating all the way back to 2001, the year of the World Trade Center 9/11 attacks.

Here are articles describing the latest October sweeps.

Fox Tops October Cable News Ratings With Revamped Primetime; ‘The Kelly File’ Ends First Month In No. 2 Spot Behind O’Reilly

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday October 29, 2013 @ 12:00pm PDTTags: CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, TV Ratings

A month ago Megyn Kelly didn’t have a primetime gig, but now The Kelly File is the No. 2 show on cable news after The O’Reilly Factor. Since its October 7 launch with Fox News’ primetime revamp, the new show has averaged 2.23 million total viewers and 383,000 viewers among adults 25-54 in its 9 PM slot. That’s behind its Bill O’Reilly lead-in (2.84 million and 458,000) and in front of The Five (2.14 million and 369,000). No big surprise that after 141 months at No. 1 in total day and primetime among the cable news networks, FNC won the October ratings battle. Still, it did have nine of the top 10 shows on cable news, with only MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show breaking the monolith at No. 9. FNC also came in at the No. 3 behind TBS and ESPN in cable overall in primetime for the month. News rivals MSNBC, CNN and HLN were far behind at No. 22, No. 33 and No. 45, respectively. Overall, with 2.12 million watching, FNC had more viewers during its new 7-11 PM primetime than CNN (627,000), MSNBC (991,000) and HLN (247,000) put together.

Looking at the ratings for 7 PM to 11 PM since its primetime relaunch versus Q3 2013, FNC is up 22% in total viewers (2.15 million) and 20% in the 25-54 demo (373,000). In primetime MSNBC saw a strong 59% viewership rise (to 976,000) and a 38% demo rise (237,000). After cratering earlier this year, the now-ratings-rebuilding NBCU-owned network certainly was helped this month by a series of well-received specials and docs plus the October 11 launch of the heavily promoted Up Late With Alec Baldwin. CNN saw a small bop of 7% in viewership (569,000) and 1% demo growth (171,000) when compared to Q3 2013. That’s in contrast to last October when all of the cable news networks saw viewership and demo surges with all-election-all-the-time coverage as the presidential race entered the final stretch. FNC actually was No. 1 in all of primetime cable. That once-every-four-years anomaly now has FNC, CNN and MSNBC and all down double digits from last October.

 

 

CNN’s Relaunched ‘Crossfire’ Hits Viewer & Demo Low

By DOMINIC PATTEN 13 hours ago

CNN’s Relaunched ‘Crossfire’ Hits Viewer & Demo Low

Looks like troubles come in threes for CNN lately. First the cable news company had its worst single primetime in over a year on October 30, then it had its worst week since Jeff Zucker took over and now the relaunched Crossfire has hit new lows. Resuscitated on September 9 after eight years off the air, the political debate show pulled in just 233,00 viewers overall and a mere 59,000 among adults 25-54 between 6:30 PM and 7 PM on Monday. Full-hour time-slot rivals on Fox News Channel and MSNBC did a lot better — to put it mildly. FNC’s Special Report had 2.44 million viewers with 411,000 in the key news demo, while MSNBC’s Al Sharpton-hosted PoliticsNation had 707,000 total viewers and 170,000 among the 25-54s.

Related: CNN Falls To Lowest Daily Primetime In Over A Year
Monday’s results represent a significant drop from the October 3 high the Newt Gingrich, Stephanie Cutter, S.E. Cupp and Van Jones hosted show hit with 891,000 total viewers and 326,000 in the demo. Crossfire’s previous viewership low was on October 25 when it had 251,000 total viewers. The previous demo low was on September 20 when it drew just 66,000 viewers among adults 25-54. The September 9 debut of the show earlier this year had a modest 581,000 viewers and 171,000 in the demo.