Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Have a good Thanksgiving!

SITYS:  Lopez:  Death of a Funeral
Spruiell:  Hey PETA, Eat This!
Jeffrey:  More Children (and Tax Dollars) Left Behind
Weinstein:  Why Is No One Blaming Bill Clinton for Understating Terror Threat?
Oil Companies Hope to Ward Off Windfall Tax
Spero:  Once Upon a Time When America Had Christmas
Carpenter:  Southerners Warmer to Charitable Giving Than New Englanders
Johnson:  Withdrawal Is Not an Option

Top 25
#2 Texas at Texas A&M
#6 Notre Dame at Stanford
Pittsburgh at #12 West Virginia
#16 Fresno State at Nevada
Syracuse at #17 Louisville
#24 Wisconsin at Hawaii

SEC
Tennessee at Kentucky
Mississippi at Mississippi State
Arkansas at #3 LSU

ACC
Maryland at N.C. State
North Carolina at #5 Virginia Tech
Virginia at #10 Miami

ACC-SEC
#13 Georgia at #20 Georgia Tech
#23 Florida State at #19 Florida

Monday, November 21, 2005

Links on a week off

No show this week, but I will update from time to time with some links.  Have a good Thanksgiving.

Congress Helps Self to $3,100 Pay Raise
Lawmakers Reject Immediate Iraq Withdrawal
Zarqawi’s ‘days are numbered’ says US as hunt goes on
Robbins:  Judgment Day?
McCain, Graham Warn GOP May Be in Trouble
Rosenberg:  Likud You?
Bluey:  First Senator to Support Miers Says Conservative Taught Him Lesson
Sellers:  If It Isn’t in the Constitution, Cut It
Berthoud:  Don’t Revive Jimmy Carter’s Energy Policy
Tabor:  Conservatives Need to Fix GOP’s Integrity

For those of you who could not make the Town Hall meeting with President Kirby Godsey this morning, he did an excellent job showing the confidence and strength of this University.  He assured us that Mercer, and all students, will be just fine.  Don’t worry!

Also, my football picks went 13-5 this week, bringing me to a season total of 189-65 (74%).  This week’s picks will come before the first game on Thursday night.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Senators' Shameless Self-Promotion

Senators fail to get buildings named after selves
Lowry:  Grand Old Ground Game
FLASHBACK:  Duquesne Student Sanctioned for Comments on Homosexuality
Villines:  Good decision to sever ties with Mercer
North:  How to lose a war—the sequel


Top 25
#16 Fresno State at #1 USC
#5 Penn State at Michigan State
Syracuse at #6 Notre Dame
#9 Ohio State at #17 Michigan
Oregon State at #10 Oregon
Oklahoma at #21 Texas Tech
UAB at #24 UTEP

SEC
Vanderbilt at Tennessee
Mississippi State at Arkansas
#4 LSU at Mississippi
#8 Alabama at #11 Auburn
Kentucky at #14 Georgia

ACC
Middle Tennessee State at N.C. State
Duke at North Carolina
Georgia Tech at #3 Miami
#7 Virginia Tech at Virginia
#23 Boston College at Maryland

ACC-SEC
Clemson at #19 South Carolina

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The University Reacts

The following news release is from President Godsey and  is being distributed to all Mercer University students.
Further information will be forthcoming.

Mercer President Disappointed by GBC Proposal

MACON – The Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC) voted today to propose to the delegates of the annual meeting of the Convention to break ties with Mercer University, the state’s largest and oldest Baptist institution of higher education. According to the bylaws of the GBC, this action must be voted on by the delegates at two consecutive annual meetings of the Convention. The first vote will occur on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the Convention’s annual meeting being held in Columbus, Ga.

“I am very disappointed by this action,” said Mercer University President R. Kirby Godsey. “Mercer represents the very best of Baptist higher education. The University is educating students to become better citizens, to discern more clearly the difference between truth and error, and to sharpen their capacity to make discriminating moral choices. This was what the founding fathers envisioned when they established Mercer, and this is what the University is today.”

President Godsey continued: “The partnership between the Baptists of Georgia and Mercer University has existed for almost 175 years. The proposal, which must be voted on in November 2006, to disengage the work of the Convention represents, if approved, a strategic loss for both the Convention and the University.

“All of the monies given to Mercer by the Georgia Baptist Convention have been used exclusively to underwrite scholarships for Georgia Baptist students. Some of the best and brightest young people among Georgia Baptists have been able to attend Mercer University because Baptist people and Baptist churches have given to support their college education through the Georgia Baptist Convention.

“While disappointing for the University, I believe that this unilateral action by the Convention would be a tragic mistake because this action is entirely contrary to the founding purpose of the Convention and severely diminishes the noble work of Georgia Baptists in higher education. Mercer is the only Baptist university is the nation that offers degrees in liberal arts, law, business, engineering, education, medicine, pharmacy, nursing and theology.”

Mercer University’s leadership had worked to avoid severing its relationship with the GBC. Several Baptist universities across the nation have severed ties with their state Baptist conventions, including Wake Forest University, Furman University, University of Richmond, Stetson University and, most recently, Belmont University.
 
More than 80 percent of Mercer’s students are from Georgia, and more than 53 percent are Baptists. All of the $3.5 million that the University receives from the GBC’s Cooperative Programs provide scholarships to Baptist students. The University adds another $8.1 million in scholarships to Georgia Baptist students.

The University was founded on January 14, 1833, by Jesse Mercer, Adiel Sherwood and Billington Sanders, the same group of prominent Baptists leaders who were at the forefront of the establishment of the Georgia Baptist Convention.  Through the vision of these Baptist leaders, Mercer began in the Georgia wilderness of Greene County as a manual labor school for young men. 

Today, Mercer has a national reputation of scholastic excellence, with rigorous academic programs, innovative teaching and time-honored values that embrace reason, responsibility, compassion and character. With 7,300 students, the University is attracting some of the most academically talented young men and women in the nation. The 2005 freshman class had an average SAT over 1200 and an average academic grade point average of 3.63.
 
Overview of the University
 
Location
           Macon campus
           Atlanta campus
           Regional Academic Centers in Henry County, Douglas County, Eastman and Macon
 
Colleges and Schools
           College of Liberal Arts
           Walter F. George School of Law
           Southern School of Pharmacy
           School of Medicine
           Stetson School of Business and Economics
           School of Engineering
           Tift College of Education
           McAfee School of Theology
           Georgia Baptist College of Nursing
           College of Continuing and Professional Studies
 
Teaching Hospitals
           Medical Center of Central Georgia – Macon
           Memorial Health University Medical CenterSavannah
 
Educational Partnerships
           Center for Health and Learning - Piedmont Healthcare – Atlanta
           Robins Air Logistics CenterWarner Robins
 
Other University Units
           Mercer University Press – Macon
           Mercer Engineering Research CenterWarner Robins
           The Grand Opera House – Macon
           The Executive Forum – Atlanta, Macon
 
                                                            ### 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Georgia Baptist Convention at its annual meeting this week voted to disengage from Mercer University. The delegates will have to approve the motion again at the 2006 meeting for the vote to become a formal action.

 

There was no vote to escrow Mercer’s funds; therefore, the University’s current operating budget remains unchanged. We anticipate working with the current Baptist leadership to develop a plan that will allow the funding to the University to be reduced over a period of years.

 

Due to the media coverage of the vote at the Convention’s annual meeting, we are beginning to receive specific questions. Below are answers to these questions.

 

Will Mercer students receive a larger-than-usual tuition increase next year?

No. The Administration will also protect the scholarships of current students.

Will staff positions be cut and will salaries for staff be decreased?

We will do everything we can to protect our employees. We will carefully review vacant positions.

Will academic programs be affected?

 

No. We will try to identify areas where savings can occur.

Mercer no longer a Baptist University?

Mercer students:  Go check on how losing GBC money may affect your scholarship.  I hope none of you are detrimentally affected.

Baptist Convention mulls severing Mercer ties
Georgia Baptist Convention panel votes to sever ties with Mercer
Georgia Baptist Convention votes to sever Mercer ties
Gay organization at Mercer disbands
McCarthy:  Say “No” to the McCain Amendment
Lowry:  American Grandstand
Senate Republicans Pushing for a Plan on Ending the War in Iraq
Senate Republicans Block Iraq Timetable

Monday, November 14, 2005

Links

No show today, but I’ll still give you some links.

O’Beirne:  Sisterhood vs. Sauerbrey
Leo:  Poor babies:  The top victims of 2005
Robbins:  Zarqawi’s Big Mistake
Gessing:  Is Reconciliation the GOP’s Waterloo?
Johnson:  How Dan Rather Helped Create Conservative Radio

My football picks were abysmal this week, my second worst of the season at 16-9.  This puts me at 176-60 (75%) for the season.

Friday, November 11, 2005

THANK YOU to all of our Veterans!

From everybody at the Jeff Scott Show, thank you to our veterans who have honorably and bravely served the United States of America.  You are all heroes.

China jails three for illegally printing Bibles
What’s up with the Mercer Triangle Symposium?

Top 25
#1 USC at California
Kansas at #2 Texas
Navy at #7 Notre Dame
#25 Northwestern at #10 Ohio State
#11 Oregon at Washington State
#13 Texas Tech at Oklahoma State
Arizona State at #14 UCLA
#16 West Virginia at Cincinnati
UNLV at #18 TCU
Iowa at #19 Wisconsin
Boise State at #20 Fresno State
Indiana at #21 Michigan
#22 Colorado at Iowa State
Rutgers at #23 Louisville

SEC
Arkansas at Mississippi
Kentucky at Vanderbilt
Memphis at Tennessee
#12 Florida at South Carolina
#15 Auburn at #9 Georgia
#5 LSU at #4 Alabama

ACC
Maryland at North Carolina
N.C. State at Boston College
#3 Miami at Wake Forest
#17 Florida State at Clemson
#24 Georgia Tech at Virginia

Yes, it hurts me to pick against Georgia Tech.  But Virginia is a good team, and Georgia Tech has not won in Charlottesville in 15 years.  I am hopeful but skeptical for the Yellow Jackets this weekend.    

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

We're Winning the War On Terror!

GOP Leaders to Launch New ‘Leak’ Probe:  Info to Wash Post ‘Damaged National Security’
Derbyshire:  The Iron House
Pipes:  French Riots Could Be European Turning Point
Spencer:  It’s Jihad, Not Joblessness Causing Rioting
Bartlett:  Senate Republicans Take Cues From Dems
Solenni:  Calif. Holds Tanning Salons to Higher Standards Than Abortionists
Top-end hotel fills gap in Kabul
Australian Terror Plot Foiled
Zimbabwe President Tells U.S. Diplomat to ‘Go to Hell’

Sorry folks, but I will not be able to be on the air tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 9).  I will post some links here, but I have an important meeting that will prevent me from being on the air.

Also remember that course registration will prevent me from being on the air Monday (November 14).

Wednesday night’s game:  #16 West Virginia at Cincinnati
Thursday night’s game:  Boise State at #20 Fresno State
Friday night’s game:  Rutgers at #23 Louisville

Friday, November 04, 2005

Is Satan drinking ice water? Because Carter gets it...

GOP mulls ending birthright citizenship
Carter condemns abortion culture
Macon Tele-laugh:  It’s time to decide if torture is the U.S. way


Top 25
Stanford at #1 USC
#2 Texas at Baylor
#7 UCLA at Arizona
#14 Wisconsin at #10 Penn State
Illinois at #12 Ohio State
#23 California at #15 Oregon
Texas A&M at #16 Texas Tech
Connecticut at #18 West Virginia
Colorado State at #20 TCU
San Jose State at #21 Fresno State
Pittsburgh at #24 Louisville
Missouri at #25 Colorado

SEC
South Carolina at Arkansas
#4 Alabama at Mississippi State
Appalachian State at #6 LSU
Tennessee at #8 Notre Dame
Vanderbilt at #13 Florida
#17 Auburn at Kentucky

ACC
Duke at Clemson
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech
Temple at Virginia
#5 Miami at #3 Virginia Tech
N.C. State at #9 Florida State
#19 Boston College at North Carolina