Sunday, Duck Dynasty's Commander Phil Robertson Gives His Testimony

FAITH, FAMILY, DUCKS....

IF YOU'VE BEEN ON PLANET EARTH the past few months you've heard of the wildly popular cable hit Duck Dynasty. The stars are a bunch of red-neck hillbillies and their wives and children from the back country of Louisiana who've made their fortunes making a business of duck callers. To say they have long hair is putting it mildly. Anyway, who knew they are also a bunch of evangelical followers of Christ. The real thing too. So today, I want to let several of these men speak for themselves about their walk and view of their families.

Come to think of it, these men look a lot like the Old Testament patriarchs with names like Moses, Elijah and Samuel.....just sayin.

Thanks to The Gospel Coalition: 9 Things You Should Know About Duck Dynasty.

Below here's Willie Robertson speaking at Harding University last fall. Wise, wise words indeed:

Saturday in the Subway

BETTER THAN THE WHCD BY A LONG SHOT

UNDER LINCOLN CENTER, MICHAEL BUBLE TEAMS UP A CAPPELLA WITH NATURALLY 7 for a fantastic impromtu song from his latest release. So fine.

SOURCE

Tom Brokaw Talks Downhill Slide of the White House Correspondents Dinner and Press Corps

WHERE DIGNITY GOES TO DIE

THIS INTERVIEW WITH TOM BROKAW BY POLITICO IS VERY REVEALING and well worth the ten minutes needed to watch it. I couldn't agree more with what he says. The MSM press corps of all ilks is increasing salacious, petty and unserious as it caters to our---and their---insatiable need to be  entertained.  Lindsey Lohan was his breaking point. I agree:  what could be more pathetic than our obsession with this poor, unappealing, unattractive woman?

What passes for journalism today is only a shadow of what passed for it in Tom's and my day. To put it  more concisely, we are increasingly a culture of voyeurs  wanting to be spoon-fed what passes as news by a silly, inconsequential celebrity-obsessed press corps vultures.

We're a culture that majors in the minors. We don't mind throwing dignity to the wind for a photo op and a few drinks with celebrities. This is especially unfortunate at a time we have so many pressing issues as a nation to address with depth and maturity. When the chickens come home to roost because of our and the press' superficiality, will we be shocked and say we never saw it coming?

I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised if we are. Meanwhile,  Brokaw's reputation has gone up with me as a result of this interview.

ADDITION:  PHOTOS OF EXPECTED CELEBRITIES ATTENDING this self-congratulatory smooze-fest.

ADDITION 2:  Updated celebrity guest list

The New Presidential Library I Hope to Visit

PHOTO ESSAY: ALL THE REASONS WE MISS W!

Hubris: Two Rich/ Famous Tennesseans Who've Embarrassed Themselves---Reese Witherspoon and Pilot Oil's Jim Haslam

UPDATE:  PILOT PUTS SOME SALES STAFFERS ON LEAVE AND ANNOUNCES AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR

WE'VE ALL READ OR HEARD THE STORY of Reese Witherspoon's very unbecoming behavior in Atlanta several nights ago when she and her new husband Jim Toth encountered a policeman on Peachtree Street because Toth was weaving in traffic.  In the wee hours of Friday morning, Jim and Reese had clearly had too much to drink before he was pulled over and arrested for a DUI.  That was bad enough though certainly not uncommon. Yet it was Reese's unruly and disorderly conduct during Toth's arrest that added fuel to the flames and made the story an international spectacle.

When some 'famous' person starts spouting off and throwing their weight around, as in asking if the  policeman  knows who  she is and he'll be sorry for this, it's almost the kiss of death as far as I'm concerned.  It's like saying, Look Bud,  we're famous, rich etc.  We're above the law, so back off and leave us alone to do whatever we want so nobody gets hurt. We're way too big for you to tangle with.

To add insult to injury, Reese had the gall to accuse the policeman of being an impersonator. When told to sit her butt down in the car and stay there, she jumped out and declared I'm an American citizen and have a right to stand on U.S. soil whenever I please.  They were both taken for a short time to the Atlanta jail and  booked before being released to their own arrogant recognizance. But the saga is far from over.

Bad acting and cringe-worthy behavior to say the least. I would certainly not like to be her right now no matter how she spins it from here out.

To Reese's and her agent's credit,  she has graciously apologized today, claiming she's deeply embarrassed about this drunken episode,  as she should be.

It's the least she could say to begin to redeem herself.  Still the Legally Blond girl-next-door from Nashville, Tennessee has forever tarnished her squeaky clean image with hubris the size of the Hollywood Bowl.  I'm embarrassed for her and hope this is the last time something like this happens.....

*******

If Reese Witherspoon's episode over the weekend was bad and embarrassing, then the hubris of  Knoxville businessman Jim Haslam---head of Pilot Flying J Truck Stops, brother of Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, owner of  the NFL's Cleveland Browns and best friend to US Senator Bob Corker---is downright shocking and maybe even tragic.

Last week Pilot's corporate headquarters in Knoxville were suddenly descended on,  raided and impounded by a  federal SWAT team of FBI and IRS agents. Evidently Pilot has been defrauding trucking companies---especially the ones that were 'too unsophisticated' or 'lazy' to understand their rebate statements---to the tune of tens of millions of dollars since 2008 with the knowledge and approval of upper management. Because an inside informant secretly taped some of upper management's recent meetings detailing the fraud and laughing about it, they've been caught red-handed,  with their pants down.  It's altogether possible that besides many heads rolling at Pilot, some of the top brass---including Jim Haslam unless he exonerates himself---will go to federal prison after they've paid back boatloads of back-rebates to trucking companies that have lost money and  trust in business dealings with Pilot.

 Pilot's good reputation and balance sheet may be ruined. It may be the beginning of the end of the largest truck stop company in the country. Trucking company executives and drivers are outraged by Pilot's alleged fraud and greed.

Hubris, thy name is Reese Witherspoon and Jim Haslam.  None of us are without hubris, greed and pride at times, but these current examples sure take the cake and are a cautionary tale.  Stay tuned.

Sunday: The Marathoner's Fragile Glory

MARATHON RUNNER FINISHES THE RACE VICTORIOUSLY AND LOOKS BACK AT HOW QUICKLY THE WORLD CHANGED THAT DAY:

But when I walked out of the restaurant, I stepped into a world that had changed. Suddenly our achievements, our medals, and even whether we had finished the race became astonishingly trivial. The near-sacred enchantment of the Boston Marathon vanished before my eyes; our medals became mere pieces of metal around our necks, the finish line was only a band of colored paint, and we found ourselves in a new race to discover if our friends were safe amid the confusion and sadness. This race had an urgency the marathon never did. Death and evil openly entered the equation, and they changed the atmosphere completely. Instinctively, we all knew this new race, in a limited way, was about salvation. "Is so and so safe?" we asked each other anxiously as we worried and texted. In those moments, rescue and safety became the only thing relevant as we thought about our friends on the course.

Updated---Speaking To High School Students At My Alma Mater

FLY FISHING---WHERE THERE ARE NO BAILOUTS----ONLY FAILURE, FRUSTRATION UPON FRUSTRATION, WAITING, PATIENCE then often losing the big one again and again until one day, you net him for a brief  second, then let him go to fight and thrill someone else again.  Here I am fishing at the head of Orvis's private waters in Wyoming and everything worked for a fabulous round-of--fishing and applause. (In truth, it was easy water, unlike my daily much harder routine) Most of the time it doesn't happen that way!  Then it's back to patience and learning from my mistakes---which are myriad---in the school of hard knocks and mud under your toe and fingernails worthy of an auto mechanic on a daily basis, truly.  I wouldn't have it any other way! 


UPDATE: TEARED UP AS WE SANG OUR SCHOOL ANTHEM TODAY AT ST. CATHERINES. So beautiful and rich and much more poignant with all that's going on up the East Coast right now, as radical Islam strikes again. May God be with and help us all.

 

GIVING THREE LECTURES TODAY AT CAREER DAY HELD AT MY HIGH SCHOOL ALMA MATER in Richmond, Virginia. Will be talking about my second career of becoming a fly fishing guide in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
How do you speak to young women about such incredible Grace and luck that would whisk me out of a big city and plop me down in the most beautiful wilderness area in the world to work and play and live? Can I adequately tell of all the interesting, talented people I've met along the way?  Or what I've learned, often the hard way? I can only relate what happened to me after a divorce and getting my children mostly grown.  Can only assure them it was not my doing but a Higher Plan I surrendered to--- not without a struggle, I might add.  T'was never my dream when I was younger. But life happens when we least expect it. And the rest is history and gratitude, gratitude, grantitude.

Former Secret Service Agent On Gun Control

BOSTON: EMPATHIZE NOT TERRORIZED @ ZERO HEDGE

APPROPRIATE IN VIEW OF TODAY'S FRIGHTENING BOMBINGS IN BOSTON. There's no such thing as gun control...only people control. And what about bomb control?.....hopeless.

Here, here, Dan Bongino. Talk is cheap.

HT:  My Bad Influence

Sunday, Powerful Video of Hope

TWR: Speaking Hope to the World from TWR on Vimeo.

HT CHALLIES AND The Apostle Paul in Romans 8. This dark world needs hope of Jesus Christ by Grace through Faith as never before.

Gosnell Late-Term Abortion-Murder Film

@ AT THE ATLANTIC: WHY GOSNELL'S TRIAL SHOULD BE FRONT-PAGE NEWS

THE 3801 LANCASTER FILM PROJECT is an ongoing documentary series about Kermit Gosnell, of the Women's Medical Society, and the cover-up by state and local oversight agencies.

At the Gospel Coalition, 8 Reasons for the Media Blockout of Gosnell's Murder Trial.

I continue to wonder why all the outrage for the Newton kids---horrible as it was---and yet so little interest in the worst kind of ongoing slaughter.  The natural end of a woman's right to choose gone down the slippery slope of relativism.  It will be the same with gay marriage.  In a few years, there will be people wanting to group marry and marry their pets.  And then there will be fighting over tax payers paying for group benefits and pet benefits and spaying.

I shudder to think. May God help us all.

Bubba's Hover Craft

 HUMOROUS INTERLUDE: NORTH KOREA MISSILE TEST LAUNCH


GREAT IDEA BUBBA WATSON! PROBABLY NOT YET PRIMED FOR THE MASTERS.... but stay tuned one of these years.

Remembering Maggie

VIDEO: THE PM WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

LIKE SO MANY OTHER NEWS SITES POSTING THIS WONDERFUL PHOTO OF FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER, I second that emotion and think it most perfectly embodies one of the greatest political eras and bright chapters of history, liberty and strong leadership the world has ever known.

Meanwhile here in America, we have the antithesis of Thatcher in our national leadership :  a regime of big government that reaches and spies into every aspect of our everyday lives and pocketbooks, a country in exponential  moral and fiscal decline and increasing hopelessness and helplessness.

May we find our Maggie Thatcher here before it's too late.

MORE--- Andrew Klavan:  THE BEST PEOPLE ARE OFTEN HATED

Queen Will Attend Thatcher's Funeral

Sunday: Spring Finally Comes to Middle Tennessee And Thoughts on Hell

IT'S BEEN ONE OF THE LONGEST, GLOOMIEST WINTERS IN RECENT HISTORY. But finally, spring and warm weather have arrived. I often wonder if hell is like being in eternal cold and grayness increasingly separated from the warmth of our beautiful sun. However, Hell is far worse than just eternal winter.

Tom Ascol has 4 Truths on Hell that are well worth reading and contemplating: It's separation from God, a state of association (but not community since everyone is focused on themselves), punishment and an eternal state. Most of us don't take time to really let these things sink in though we should at least try especially at this wonderful time of year when God graciously brings forth new life for us in the Northern Hemisphere. When Jesus lived on earth, he spoke more about hell and separation than he did on heaven. (Susan Hunt artwork.)

Simple, Elegant History of Wall Street For 15 Years

WATCH THE ENTIRE SLIDESHOW @ BUSINESS INSIDER if you dare and see if it doesn't ring true, true, true. BI calls it hilarious. I'd say it's hilarious only if you're on the inside of big bankstas getting paid unconscionable amounts of printed money at the expense of your naive victims and the middle class working man.

 I'd call it horrendous if you're that tax payer, or kid on whose backs this folly is being foisted for generations to come.

At St. John's Episcopal Church In Washington: President Obama's Ugly Easter Sermon

KELLER: FOUR KINDS OF PEOPLE

FILLED WITH STRAW MEN AND MEAN-SPIRITED NONSENSE, the sermon dripped with right-bashing without giving one example, one quote or attribution to back up the ridiculous claims. Liberal elitism at its most condescending low loves to make things up and then react indignantly as if it were truth.

Sure glad I wasn't there because I would have walked out.