Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dr. Williams:  We’re Failing to Stop Encroachment on Liberty
Coulter:  Kwanzaa:  A Holiday From the FBI
Jeffrey:  Football, Like the Free Economy, Rewards Creativity and Courage
SBA:  Many That Got 9/11 Loans Weren’t Hurt

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas.  Have a happy and safe New Year!

A good deal for Mercer--Goodbye GBC!

Mercer, Georgia Baptists reach deal on split

GOP Fights Back, Still Eunuchs; Bowl Picks

Ferrara:  Snowe Monsters
GOP to Launch ‘White Flag’ Dem Attack
Milloy:  Politically Incorrect Plastic
North:  Defeatist Dean Spouts Dim-Witted, Dangerous Ideas
Hanson:  Democratic Implosion
Iraqis Hand Over ‘The Butcher,’ High-Ranking Al Qaeda Member

New Orleans:  Southern Miss vs. Arkansas State
GMAC:  UTEP vs. Toledo
Las Vegas:  BYU vs. California
Poinsettia:  Colorado State vs. Navy
Fort Worth:  Kansas vs. Houston
Hawaii:  Nevada vs. UCF
Motor City:  Memphis vs. Akron
Champs Sports:  Clemson vs. Colorado
Insight:  Arizona State vs. Rutgers
MPC Computers:  Boise State vs. Boston College
Alamo:  Michigan vs. Nebraska
Emerald:  Georgia Tech vs. Utah
Holiday:  Oregon vs. Oklahoma
Music City:  Minnesota vs. Virginia
Sun:  Northwestern vs. UCLA
Independence:  South Carolina vs. Missouri
Peach:  Miami vs. LSU
Car Care:  South Florida vs. N.C. State
Liberty:  Tulsa vs. Fresno State
Houston:  TCU vs. Iowa State
Cotton:  Texas Tech vs. Alabama
Outback:  Iowa vs. Florida
Gator:  Louisville vs. Virginia Tech
Capital One:  Wisconsin vs. Auburn
Fiesta:  Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Sugar:  West Virginia vs. Georgia
Orange:  Penn State vs. Florida State
Rose:  USC vs. Texas          

More "Tax Cuts for the Rich"

House Passes 3 Tax Cuts, Plans a 4th
Sen. Crapo:  We Need a Simpler Tax System
Hanna:  Immigration Bill Has a Hole in It
Elder:  Hatred of Bush is the Real Pandemic
Manzi:  Is the U.S. Casualty Rate Higher Because of the AP?
Victoria’s Dirty Secret

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

FDR’s Pearl Harbor Speech:  December 8, 1941
Naval Historical Center:  Pearl Harbor
FReeper Canteen—Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Administration objects to story describing Alito as conservative
Jeffrey:  Tell Harvard:  A Deal’s a Deal
Absent Saddam defies court with empty chair
SITYS:  Al-Zawahri calls on Iraqi insurgents to unite
Man reportedly killed at Miami airport
Shots Fired on Flight That Landed at Miami Airport

Dean Predicts American Defeat

Dean:  US Won’t Win in Iraq
Kerry: American soldiers "terrorizing" women and children
Buchanan:  We Have Ourselves to Blame for Education Problems
Bartlett:  The Left Plays Games With Taxes on Rich
Lowry:  Fear and Loathing Wal-Mart
Postal Service Surplus Doesn’t Stop Rate Hike

Congress is meddling; Republicans declining

Congress to look into ‘deeply flawed’ BCS system
‘Lewd rubbing’ shuts Paris statue
Snow:  Republicanism in decline
Underwood named president of Mercer University
Mercer’s new president will face familiar themes
Aronoff:  Saddam’s Links to Al Qaeda
Saddam trial hears of horror in Room 63 (Warning: Graphic)
Court told of Saddam horrors (Warning: Graphic)
Al-Qaeda number three ‘killed by CIA spy plane’ in Pakistan
Robbins:  Bad Terrorism

My football picks this week went 5-3, bringing me to a season total of 206-70.  I will make my bowl predictions before the first bowl game starts.

President Godsey's E-Mail

 

Mercer Trustees Elect Underwood as New President MACON - The Board of Trustees of Mercer University today unanimously elected law scholar William D. Underwood as the University's 18th president. Underwood, who currently serves as interim president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, will take office on July 1, upon the retirement of Dr. R. Kirby Godsey, who has been the University's chief executive officer for an unprecedented 27 years.

"The Presidential Search Committee was very deliberate in its national search for the next president of Mercer," said David Hudson, chairman of Mercer's Board of Trustees and chairman of the Presidential Search Committee. "Kirby Godsey has left an indelible mark on this university, and we knew the next president would have to be someone who could continue to chart a strong course for the institution. We have found that leadership in Bill Underwood." Hudson continued, "Bill is a strong academician, committed to excellence in both the classroom and scholarly research. He has powerful communication skills that enable him to build bridges and break down barriers between different constituents. His understanding of what it means to be a faith-based institution allows him to appreciate the importance of the University's Baptist heritage in the context of academic and intellectual freedom. We have found the right leader for Mercer in Bill Underwood." Underwood would follow in the academic tradition of Mercer's 16th president, Dr. Rufus C. Harris, who also was a nationally noted law scholar and who had served as a law school dean before beginning his 19-year presidency at the University. Mercer President Kirby Godsey strongly supports the Board's selection of Underwood. "I believe that Bill Underwood is among the most prominent new leaders in higher education in America," he said. "The University is extraordinarily fortunate to have attracted him to Mercer." Underwood has served as interim president of Baylor since June 1, when the President Robert B. Sloan, Jr. transitioned to chancellor. Considered a "serious candidate" for Baylor's chief executive post according to The Baptist Standard, Underwood asked the Presidential Search Committee in September to remove his name from consideration so he could continue the work he planned to do as the interim president. Baylor's Board of Regents Chairman Will Davis expressed disappointment of Underwood's decision at the time of his request. During his term at the helm of Baylor, he has been credited for bringing unity back among the faculty, staff, students and alumni, which had become fractured during the previous administration over the future direction of the university. During his six-month presidency, Underwood has received a vote of affirmation as well as a standing ovation from the Faculty Senate and strong support from the alumni association. In the Nov. 29 edition of the Baylor student newspaper, The Lariat, the editorial staff thanked Underwood for the "positive work he's done during his presidency." Attributing the interim president's policy of openness and transparency for the re-building of the Baylor community, the students stated, Underwood was leaving "the university in much better shape than when he started, which is the mark of a good leader," for Baylor's new president, who takes office in January. Prior to his appointment to interim president, Underwood had been a member of the faculty of the Baylor Law School since 1990. He holds The Leon Jaworski Chair in Practice and Procedure and directed the rigorous Practice Court program, which has received high marks from the Princeton Review and Litigation News. In 2004, Baylor awarded Underwood the prestigious designation of Master Teacher for his commitment to teaching and scholarly research. Only nine of Baylor's current 800 faculty members have received the Master Teacher designation. In 1997-1998, Underwood temporarily left the classroom to serve as Baylor's General Counsel. He also represented the university in proceedings before the NCAA Committee on Infractions and was a member of and spokesperson for a committee that recently headed an investigation into allegations of misconduct arising out of the death of men's basketball player Patrick Dennehy. Underwood, the son of a Baptist preacher, earned his undergraduate degree at Oklahoma Baptist University. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he was a member of the Board of Editors of the University of Illinois Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After law school, he completed a federal judicial clerkship with the Honorable Sam D. Johnson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Court. He became a high-profile attorney practicing civil trial law with Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, a prominent litigation firm based in Dallas. Underwood has published extensively in the field of civil practice and procedure, including articles that have led to significant changes in federal and state procedural law. After joining the faculty of Baylor's College of Law, he continued to successfully represent clients in a variety of civil and criminal cases. An elected member of the American Law Institute, the American Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation, Underwood has served as Reporter to the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. He is married to the former Lesli Pearson, a third-grade teacher at an inner-city public school in Waco, who serves as president of the Waco Chapter of Parents for Public Schools and director of National Parents for Public Schools organization. They are the parents of two children, Jessica, 16, and William, 11, and members of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco.    ####

Mercer's New President: Bill Underwood

Underwood chosen as Mercer president
Likely Mercer pick ‘bold,’ ‘charismatic’
The Clinton Monument—in Argentina?
WHO puts a stop to the hiring of smokers
Stevens:  WHO’s in Charge?
Franc:  New Drug Benefit Has Socialist Downside
Ferrara:  Bring Medicaid Spending Under Control
Carpenter:  GOP Congress Earmarks $4 Million for Leftist Pro-Illegal Alien Group

Top 25
#11 UCLA at #1 USC
#2 Texas at Colorado
#12 West Virginia at South Florida
#16 Louisville at Connecticut
Louisiana Tech at #23 Fresno State

SEC
#13 Georgia at #3 LSU

ACC
#5 Virginia Tech at Florida State

Bonus Pick
Navy at Army

Philly Loves Army-Navy
Operation Gratitude

Republicans Fail Again

Edwards:  Bush Talks Tougher on Immigration, but It’s Still Amnesty
Coulter:  Murtha Proves It:  Republican Party Is Non-Functional
Spirit:  Sister Sense
NR Editors:  Battle, Joined
Connerly:  The Q-Word & American Realities
de Rugy:  Savings.  What Savings?
Sowell:  ‘Merry Christmas’ Shouldn’t Be Controversial