Hope for Auburn? Toxic trustee Bobby Lowder steps aside -- Mark Bradley/AJC

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Yet another big story breaks over the Loveliest Village of the Plains, and this one has the feel of a new dawn rising. The toxic Bobby Lowder has decided not to seek another term on Auburn’s board of trustees. The first two words of an editorial in the Opelika-Auburn News were these:

“Good riddance.”

It was hard to know exactly how much power Lowder wielded over Auburn athletics because his modus operandi was to be seen but seldom heard. But I once asked another SEC athletic director who could be classified as his school’s Bobby Lowder, and the AD thought for several moments. Then he said:
“I’m not sure anywhere else has a Bobby Lowder.”

Conventional wisdom holds that Lowder, an Auburn grad who came to power as head of the Montgomery-based Colonial BancGroup (seized by the Feds in 2009), essentially fired Terry Bowden as football coach in the middle of the 1998 season and almost fired Tommy Tuberville  five years later. It was a plane owned by Lowder’s bank that made the infamous flight to Sellersburg, Ind., carrying Auburn officials to interview then-Louisville coach Bobby Petrino — for a job that was technically not open.

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Hope for Auburn? Toxic trustee Bobby Lowder steps aside -- Mark Bradley/AJC
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 18, 2011 - 12:17p

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Coast Guard closes Miss. River at Natchez

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Record flooding has caused authorities to close the Mississippi River at the port in Natchez because barge traffic could put more pressure on the levees.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said the port was closed Monday, leaving two vessels waiting to head north and one waiting to go south. The U.S. economy could face a bill running into the hundreds of millions of dollars a day if the lower Mississippi River is closed to shipping for days or weeks, port officials said. It wasn't clear when the river would reopen to traffic.

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Coast Guard closes Miss. River at Natchez - WWL.com
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 17, 2011 - 12:41p

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Schwarzenegger fathered a child with longtime member of household staff - LATimes

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger said Monday night in a statement issued to The Times in response to questions. "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.

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Schwarzenegger fathered a child with longtime member of household staff - LATimes
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 17, 2011 - 12:31p

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How The Drudge Report got popular and stayed on top - NYTimes

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
By far, most of the traffic from links comes from the sprawling hybrid of Google search and news, which provides about 30 percent of the visits to news sites, according to a report released last week by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, part of the Pew Research Center. And the second? Has to be Facebook, right? Nope. Then Twitter must be the next in line. Except it isn’t.

Give up? It’s The Drudge Report, a 14-year-old site — a relic by Web standards — conceived and operated by Matt Drudge. Using data from the Nielsen Company to examine the top 21 news sites on the Web, the report suggests that Mr. Drudge, once thought of as a hothouse flower of the Lewinsky scandal, is now more powerful in driving news than the half-billion folks on Facebook. (According to the study, Facebook accounted for 3.3 percent of the referrals to news sites, less than half as many as generated by The Drudge Report.)

“When you look at his influence, it cuts across all kind of sites, both traditional news outlets and online-only sites,” said Amy S. Mitchell, the deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and one of the authors of the study. “He was an early and powerful force in setting the news agenda and has somehow maintained that even as there has been a great deal of change in the way people get their news.”

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How the Drudge Report got popular and stayed on top - NYTimes
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 16, 2011 - 7:22p

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Mike Huckabee casts big shadow over early primary states in 2012 elections

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Huckabee’s supporters now become one of the most coveted voting blocs in the still-unsettled Republican contest.

The former governor was at the top of early polling in Iowa and South Carolina and also faring well in many national surveys. His strength can be partly chalked up to name recognition this far out from voting, but his demographic appeal leaves a sizable void in the field: there is now no well-known candidate for Christian conservatives and middle-to-lower income Republicans.

A Pew poll in March showed that Huckabee led the field among white evangelicals, taking 29 percent of the vote to Romney’s 15 percent. The same survey showed Huckabee leading 23 percent to 18 percent over the wealthy former Massachusetts governor among those Republicans making less than $75,000 per year.

Huckabee’s decision “makes that base wide open for support,” said Bob Vander Plaats, the former Iowa gubernatorial candidate who led Huckabee’s 2008 campaign in the state.

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Mike Huckabee casts big shadow over early primary states in 2012 - Politico
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 15, 2011 - 11: 52p

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Mike Huckabee won’t run for President in 2012

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee will not run for president in 2012, taking himself out of contention despite polling that suggested he would be a strong player for the nomination.

“All the factors say go,” Huckabee said during a live, final segment of his eponymous Fox News Channel show. “But my heart says no.”

Huckabee noted that while all of the “external” factors pointed toward him running, he only found an “inexplicable inner peace” when he decided not to enter the race.

The announcement came at the conclusion of a show that took on a surreal feel. Huckabee’s no-go decision was preceded by an appearance by Mario Lopez — of “Saved by the Bell” fame — as well as musician Ted Nugent. Just prior to announcing he would not run, Huckabee played bass alongside Nugent on “Cat Scratch Fever”.

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Mike Huckabee won't run for President in 2012 - Washington Post / Chris Cilliza
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 14, 2011 - 8:19p 

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When baseball defied segregation off the field - Bill White/Special to CNN

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..

(CNN) -- Everyone knows that Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball "color barrier" in 1947. But what many people today may not know is that while Jackie's courageous performance integrated major league baseball on the field, it took many more years of struggle to break the baseball color barrier off the field.

As a major league player with the New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1950s and '60s, I was part of that struggle.

It may be difficult for young people today to believe, but back then black players were often not allowed to eat in the same restaurants or stay in the same hotels or live in the same neighborhoods as their white teammates, not just in the "Jim Crow" South but in many places across the country.

For example, as the only black player on a minor league team in Iowa, I vividly remember having to eat my dinner on the team bus while my white teammates were eating in a "whites only" restaurant during a road trip in Kansas in 1954.

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When baseball defied segregation off the field - Bill White / Special to CNN
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 14, 2011 - 1:07p 

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Black Preacher: Why I Forgave George Wallace -- CNN

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) - I had always heard the stories of Alabama Gov. George Wallace asking for forgiveness from the African-American community for his racist ways.

Yet I had never quite believed it, even if I had read accounts about it. The images of him standing at the door at the University of Alabama to prevent two black students from entering had been seared into my mind.

And so it was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon the Rev. Kelvin Croom amid the destruction left by Tuscaloosa’s recent tornado. The Croom family has been a pillar of the African-American community here for the last five decades.

Croom's father, the late Rev. Sylvester Croom Sr., founded College Hill Baptist Church and served as chaplain for the University of Alabama’s football teams under the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant and two other coaches. The elder Croom has been recognized as one of the state's 40 pioneers of civil rights.

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Black Preacher: Why I Forgave George Wallace -- CNN
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 14, 2011 - 12:47p 

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Mike Huckabee’s ‘Very Important Announcement’ -- Washington Post

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is expected to announce whether or not he will run for president on his Fox News Channel show Saturday evening, a major moment in the nascent 2012 contest.

“Governor Huckabee will announce tomorrow night on his program whether or not he intends to explore a presidential bid,” said Woody Fraser, the executive producer of “Huckabee” in a statement. “He has not told anyone at Fox News Channel his decision.”
While Huckabee’s Saturday show is always taped, his announcement about 2012 will run live, according to an informed source.

For his part, Huckabee said Friday that he would make a “very important announcement”. Neither he nor Hogan Gidley, the executive director of the former governor’s political action committee, would expand on just what the announcement would be.

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Mike Huckabee's 'Very Important Decision' - Washington Post - Chris Cillizza and Dan Balz
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Related
Is Gov. Huckabee Running For President? Major Announcement On His Show Saturday - WSJ
Mike Huckabee Calls President Obama's Decision To Go After Bin Laden "Gutsy" - Birmingham News
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 13, 2011 - 4:33p

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Is Gov. Huckabee Running For President ? Major Announcement On His Show Saturday

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee looks like he’ll give the 2012 White House campaign a pass, says Mr. Huckabee’s top political operative.

Mr. Huckabee has told followers to tune in to his Saturday evening show on Fox News for what he calls a major announcement. But Ed Rollins, who directed his 2008 campaign and has been organizing his 2012 campaign-in-waiting, said he has not been consulted.

“I’ve heard nothing, which indicates to me he’s not running,” Mr. Rollins said in an interview.

Read more:
Is Gov. Huckabee Running For President? Major Announcement On His Show Saturday - WSJ
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Related:
Mike Huckabee Calls President Obama's Decision To Go After Bin Laden "Gutsy" - Birmingham News
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 13, 2011 - 4:11p

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An island unto itself at Players Championship -- Plus Mr. Meckley's Memorial Service 17th Green.

Posted by The Meck

excerpts ..
The Players Championship begins Thursday, and there will be a steady stream of traffic through the gates and toward the 17th hole, with an island green that makes it one of the most infamous holes in the world.
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The signature hole on the TPC Sawgrass measures only 137 yards on the scorecard and is surrounded by water, an idea that Alice Dye drew up on the back of a cocktail napkin.

The PGA Tour will offer live streaming on its website at the 17th, and asked several players their strategy on the hole. Lucas Glover spoke for most when he said, "Hit it where I can hit it again."

The island green is so much a part of the tournament that NBC Sports is devoting 11 cameras to the hole, which includes two periscope cams out of the water that can turn 360 degrees.

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An island unto itself at Players Championship - AJC.com
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Related:

Mr. Meckley's Memorial Service 17th Green

Celebration of Mr. Meckley's Life
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Mr. Meckley's obit

Photo Gallery for Photos of Mr. Meckley

Visit the Mr. Meckley Memorial Page

Read eulogies by Pete Davison and Bobby Clampett

David Meckley's Column on Mr. Meckley

Articles: Golf Week.com | Golf Week Magazine
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 12, 2011 - 12:36p

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Obama way ahead of Republicans for 2012 election

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
"Most people don't know much about any of these people, and plus there is always an advantage for the incumbent," she said.
The field of possible Republicans challengers to Obama has not generated much enthusiasm so far, with several waiting to announce their candidacy.

Obama, who made history in 2008 by becoming the first African-American to be elected president, leads possible Republican candidates by double digits.

He polls above 50 percent when compared to his closest rivals, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, according to the poll.

Obama leads Huckabee by 51 percent to 39 percent, and Romney by 51 percent to 38 percent.

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Obama way ahead of Republicans for 2012 election - Reuters
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 12, 2011 - 12:20p

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Pedrena, World, Prepare To Bid Ballesteros Goodbye - AJC

Posted by The Meck

excerpts ..

PEDRENA, Spain — Seve Ballesteros' funeral will be held in his hometown on Wednesday, bringing Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and other golf luminaries to the small Spanish fishing village to honor the five-time major winner.

Top-ranked Lee Westwood, Sam Torrance and Jose Maria Olazabal also are expected to attend the service remembering Ballesteros, who died Saturday from complications of a cancerous brain tumor. He was 54.
Wednesday's funeral will be held at the 400-capacity church of San Pedro de Pedrena. Ballesteros' ashes will be placed underneath a magnolia tree in the family garden.

The golfing great first will be honored by several young boys and girls in a procession wearing a replica of the navy blue outfit that Ballesteros wore for his first British Open win in 1979. Fittingly, they will each hold a 3-iron, the first club he used as a child.

"The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbor from the village," Ballesteros' brother, Baldomero, said. "He was born here and here he will remain."
Three big screens have been set up outside the ceremony, while Spanish state TV will broadcast the event live from the village of 1,500.
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Pedrena, World, Prepare To Bid Ballesteros Goodbye - AJC
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 11, 2011 - 1:25a

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Agent: Tutoring of Cam Newton could be done by Brett Favre -- USATODAY

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..
Whenever Brett Favre returns this week from assisting tornado victims in the devastated town of Hackleburg, Ala., former Carolina Panthers DT Brenston Buckner has another mission suggestion for the iconic quarterback: Help rookie quarterback Cam Newton be everything he can be for Carolina's Sept. 11 season opener against Arizona.

After all, Favre said last week that he might try his hand at coaching or some TV analyst work down the road.
With the NFL lockout preventing Newton and other rookies from working with coaches or teammates, Buckner told USA TODAY that Favre would be another mentor to help accelerate Newton's learning curve the way Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon and quarterback guru George Whitfield, Jr. already have.

Newton's agent, James "Bus" Cook, also represents Favre and said the former Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings quarterback would be open to Buckner's suggestion as logistics permit upon his return from Alabama.

"What better guy for Brett to coach than the No. 1 overall pick,'' said Buckner, a Charlotte, N.C. sports radio host for WFNZ-AM. "And what better guy for Cam Newton to learn from than a future Hall of Famer.
"Brett has seen everything and has a wealth of knowledge. If I'm Cam's agent, I get on the phone with Brett and say, 'I want you to tutor this guy,' " Buckner said.

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Agent: Tutoring of Cam Newton could be done by Brett Favre - USA TODAY
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 11, 2011 - 1:15a

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SNL features GOP debate among undeclared candidates -- Digital Journal / Video - NBC

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..

NBC's Saturday Night Live featured a Fox News debate among the 2012 GOP presidential candidates that have yet to formally declare their candidacy, with a re-introduction of Tina Fey's famous Sarah Palin impersonation.
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Publicly declaring her plans to run for president for the rest of her life, Sarah Palin, as characterized so perfectly by Tina Fey, returned to NBC's Saturday Night Live last night for a 2012 debate among GOP presidential candidates that have yet to formally declare their candidacy.
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Included in the debate were Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich. The debate was hosted by SNL's version of Fox News' Shepard Smith. "I'm Shepard Smith," Smith began. "My voice is both reassuring and deeply unsettling."

Read more / Video

SNL Features GOP debate among undeclared candidates - Digital Journal / Video - NBC

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The Meck Report / Blog - May 11, 2011 - 1:01p

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Barack Obama becomes the ‘moxie president’ -- Politico / Roger Simon

Posted by The Meck:

excerpt ..

Democrats are weak, and Republicans are strong. Democrats are the Mommy Party, and Republicans are the Daddy Party.
Republican presidents will protect us because they are muscular on national defense. Democratic presidents put our lives at risk because all they care about is peace at any price.

Or at least that’s what Republicans have told us in election after election. But even if it were ever true, it won’t be true in 2012.

Over the weekend, I kept reading the same analysis by different people: The bin Laden “bump” will not last long. Even though Barack Obama got a boost in his approval ratings by finding and killing Osama bin Laden, this will soon fade. And by November 2012, the bad state of the U.S. economy — the analysts always assume it will remain bad — will doom Obama and convey him to the rubbish bin of history.

The analysts never say, however, just who, exactly, will beat Obama. They just figure somebody will.
And they may be right. But I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on it. (Unless it’s a subprime mortgage, it’s underwater, and you’re about to strip the copper wiring out of the walls and leave it for the bank to take back, anyway.)

If you talk to Obama people these days, you find they are not exactly in a state of despair.
Instead, they are trying to tamp down over-optimism and ban exuberance.

Why are they happy? Did you catch “60 Minutes” on Sunday? Did you catch Steve Kroft’s exclusive interview with President Obama about finding bin Laden? About 13.7 million Americans did. (“America’s Funniest Home Videos” came in second during the hour, with 6.4 million viewers.)

And when people watched “60 Minutes,” did they see a Mommy Party guy? Not quite. They saw a determined, strong, resolute president who saw his duty and did it.

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Barack Obama becomes the 'moxie president' -- Politico / Roger Simon

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The Meck Report / Blog - May 10, 2011 - 5:43p

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Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion -- CNN Money

Posted by The Meck

excerpt:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Microsoft has agreed to buy Internet phone service provider Skype for $8.5 billion in cash, the companies announced Tuesday.

The deal gives Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) access to the market for real-time video and voice communications. The software maker said it plans to use Skype to support such products as the Xbox gaming system and Windows Phone.

As the largest acquisition in its history, the deal marks a significant change in strategy for Microsoft, which has not bought another company since 2006.
"Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

In 2010, Skype had 170 million connected users who logged over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations.

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Microsoft to buy Skype for $8:5 billion - CNN Money
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 10, 2011 - 11:07a

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TINA FEY BACK AS SARAH PALIN -- POLITICO

Posted by The Meck

excerpt:

“It’s just so great to be back on Fox News, a network that both pays me and shows me the questions ahead of time,” said Fey, as Palin, in a skit called “GOP 2012 Undeclared Candidates Debate," which also featured spoofs of Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. “And I just hope that tonight the lamestream media won’t twist my words by repeatin' them verbatim.”

“First, I want to acknowledge that this week we finally vanquished one of the world’s great villains, and I for one am thrilled to say good riddance to Katie Couric … I’m going to be running for president every four years for the rest of my life. It’s my Olympics and I intend to win a whole bunch of silvers.”

VIDEO/Read more
TINA FEY BACK AS SARAH PALIN - POLITICO 
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 10, 2011 - 10:47a

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Ala Tornado: 132 Miles of Devastation: EF-5 tornado deadliest in United States in last 56 years - Huntsville Times

Posted by The Meck

excerpt:

NORTH ALABAMA - The deadliest tornado to sweep across this country in the last 56 years began in Marion County, a few miles from the Mississippi line, where the highway signs now bend toward the ground along U.S. 78 west of Hamilton.

Trees blew over. Hamilton lost power. Yet for 10 miles, the massive storm largely churned above the wilderness, growing in ferocity, sucking moist afternoon air high into rotating clouds. Soon the system would spawn a tornado measuring more than a mile across.

The National Weather Service also reports evidence of satellite vortices, essentially twisters within twisters. Mesocyclone winds swirled along the outside edges, gusting toward the center.

This natural fury first encountered civilization at Hackleburg. A quiet town of 1,600 in the northeast corner of Marion County, the still-standing water tower boasts of a high school baseball championship in 2007. The chief employer had been the distribution center for Wrangler jeans.

Six days after the storm, Tommy Quinn picked through his few recognizable belongings. He held a picture his older brother had painted years ago and a clamp for his piano.
"I was thinking nothing is going to happen," said Quinn, 21, standing near what had been his childhood home. Listening to the weather report on TV, his sister-in-law chose to pack suitcases with diapers and photo albums and urge the family to the storm shelter.

On the Enhanced Fujita scale, a tornado ranks at the highest level of EF-5 when wind speeds top 200 mph. At that strength, brick homes are swept away. Concrete walls give way. Steel girders bend.

About a dozen separate tornadoes claimed more than 230 lives in Alabama on April 27. The storm that the National Weather Service now calls the Hackleburg Tornado, the one that traveled 132 miles and passed north of Huntsville, was the only one rated EF-5.

Read more:
Ala Tornado: 132 Miles Of Devastation, Deadliest In U.S. In Last 56 Years - Huntsville Times
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 10, 2011 - 10:34a

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Army Corps Battles Rising Mississippi From Memphis To New Orleans - CNN

Posted by The Meck

excerpts ..
Waging war against flooding of historic proportions that has already affected thousands of people in eight Midwestern and Southern states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a spillway Monday north of New Orleans in an effort to calm the rising Mississippi River.
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Upstream in Memphis, Tennessee, residents and authorities had prepared all they could Monday as they anxiously waited for the Mississippi to crest Tuesday morning at a near-record 14 feet above flood stage.

Gallery: Floods swamp Midwest and South

Reporter waist deep in Mississippi River

Towns wrecked by floods

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"It's sort of torturous, we've been waiting so long. It's hard keeping peoples' attention. It's warning fatigue, if you will," Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. said. "But we're ready for it."


The river is the highest it's been at Memphis since 1937, when it crested at 48.7 feet -- 14.7 feet above flood stage. That flood killed 500 people and inundated 20 million acres of land, said Col. Vernie Reichling, the Corps' Memphis District commander.

The river Monday covered the lowest parts of the city's historic Beale Street and had forced about 400 people from their homes, Wharton said. Another 1,300 remained in low-lying areas, he said.

While Corps' officials said it appeared levees protecting the area were holding up well, with only minor amounts of water seeping in from beneath or lapping over from above, local officials were taking no chances.

"It's a very powerful river. It looks like it's running very slowly, but it has a very strong current," said Bob Nations, director of preparedness in Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes Memphis. "We still don't know (exactly what) the river might do."

Read more:
Arny Corps Battles Rising Mississippi From Memphis To New Orleans - CNN

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The Meck Report / Blog - May 9, 2011 - 3:14p

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Obama: Bin Laden raid was 'a 55/45 situation' - CNN

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..

Washington (CNN) -- Sending U.S. troops on a dangerous mission to get Osama bin Laden was worth the risks, even though it was not certain the al Qaeda leader was in the Pakistani compound, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday on CBS.

"This was still a 55/45 situation," Obama told CBS. "I mean, we could not say definitively that bin Laden was there. Had he not been there, then there would have been some significant consequences."

"Obviously, we're going into the sovereign territory of another country and landing helicopters and conducting a military operation," he said. "And so, if it turns out that it's a wealthy, you know, prince from Dubai who's in this compound and, you know, we've sent special forces in, we've got problems."

It's been a whirlwind week since bin Laden's death

But the president says he did not lose sleep over "the possibility of taking bin Laden out."

"Justice was done," Obama said. "And I think that anyone who would question that the perpetrator of mass murder on American soil didn't deserve what he got needs to have their head examined."

The president's biggest worry was that "Murphy's Law applies and something happens," he said. "Can we still get our guys out?"
One of the helicopters crashed early in the raid, but Obama said there was "a backup plan."
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Obama and his closest advisers gathered in the White House Situation Room to monitor the mission in real time, he said.

"And it was the longest 40 minutes of my life, with the possible exception of when Sasha got meningitis when she was three months old, and I was waiting for the doctor to tell me that she was all right," he said. "It was a very tense situation."
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Obama: Bin Laden raid Was 'a 55/45 situation' - CNN
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 9, 2011 - 2:43p

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Serenading Huckabee -- Politico / Ben Smith

Posted by The Meck

Oh my goodness .. 
Check this video/band out.

Gov. Huckabee has his own TV Show .. Radio Show.
And now a band has a song for him -- Huck A Bee.

Serenading Huckabee -- Politico / Ben Smith
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 8, 2011 - 1:59p

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Seve Always The Fighter ... In Golf And Life -- Robert Lusetich

Posted by The Meck

excerpts ..
Of very few men could it be said that they changed the face of a sport.
In golf, none left their mark quite like Severiano Ballesteros.

The suave, dashing swashbuckler from Pedrena, a small fishing village on Spain's windswept northern coast, was "special," as his brothers warned us before he exploded onto the scene, still a teen, with a second-place finish at the 1976 British Open.
"He was the greatest show on earth," said his contemporary, Nick Faldo.

And in that, Faldo has never been more right, because although other champions may have won more often, when Seve was Seve, and at the top of his game, there was no taking your eyes off him.

"On a golf course he had everything," Lee Trevino once said, "I mean everything; touch, power, know-how, courage and charisma."
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Ballesteros routinely pulled off audacious shots others wouldn't even dream of attempting, and while the bravado that fuels such aggression was very much in his nature, some of it's explained, too, by the fact that he came from a country not steeped in golf tradition, so he wasn't bound by conventions and dogma.

He wasn't restricted to the "right" way of doing things.

He'd learned to play as a boy on the sand with a rusted 3-iron.
He had, in essence, invented his own way to play, guided by an artist's eye and an indefatigable determination to succeed.
"The aspect of his personality that shone through more than anything for me was his self-belief," said his European Ryder Cup teammate, Sam Torrance. "Seve was convinced he could do anything if he set his mind to it."

It wasn't coincidental that when Seve's self-taught game began to desert him in his mid-30s and, in desperation, he reached out to noted golf instructors for conventional teaching, that his deterioration only worsened.

The truth is that he could only do it his way or he couldn't do it at all.

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Seve Always The Fighter ... In Golf And Life -- Robert Lusetich
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 8, 2011 - 1:45p

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GOLF GREAT SEVE BALLESTEROS DIES

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Spanish golf legend Severiano Ballesteros, who underwent surgery for a brain tumor three years ago, died early Saturday at his home in northern Spain.
Ballesteros was regarded as one of golf's all-time greats. He was 54.

"Today [Saturday], at 2:10am Spanish time, Seve Ballesteros passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena," a statement on his official website said.

"The Ballesteros family is very grateful for all the support and gestures of love that have been received since Seve was diagnosed with a brain tumor on 5th October 2008 at Madrid Hospital la Paz.
"At this time the family asks for respect and privacy at such a painful time."
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A statement on the website Friday said Ballesteros had suffered a "severe deterioration" in his condition.
Ballesteros — who won five majors, including the Masters twice, during his 30-year professional career — underwent surgery for a brain tumor, followed by a course of chemotherapy, three years ago.

He had four operations to remove the tumor following a collapse at a Madrid airport in October 2008.
He underwent an initial 12-hour operation, but further surgery was necessary before he was well enough to return home and begin chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros was born in Pedrena on April 9, 1957. He turned pro at age 16 in 1974 and finished second at the British Open at age 19 in 1976.

He would go on to win the British Open three times in his career (1979, '84, '88) and don the green jacket twice (1980 and '83) at Augusta National.

The former world No. 1 holds the record for European Tour victories with 50.

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GOLF GREAT SEVE BALLESTEROS DIES
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 7, 2011 - 1:55a

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Obama Meets With Navy SEAL Team 6, The Unit Who Raided Bin Laden - CNN

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While at Fort Campbell, the president, along with Vice President Joe Biden, privately met with members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that conducted the raid.
Obama and Biden thanked the commandos and were briefed on the operation by the unit members who conducted it, according to a White House official.

Obama awarded Presidential Unit Citations to the units involved in the mission, the official said. The citation is the highest such honor that can be given to a military unit.
"They practiced tirelessly for this mission, and when I gave the order they were ready," the president told the troops. "They're America's quiet professionals."

It was a "job well done," he said.
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Obama Meets With Navy SEAL Team 6, The Unit Who Raided Bin Laden - CNN 
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 6, 2011 - 6:55p

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Family: Ballesteros' Health Failing -- Fox Sports

Posted by The Meck

excerpt ..

Golf great Seve Ballesteros has suffered ''severe deterioration'' in his recovery from a cancerous brain tumor and is being cared for at home.
The 54-year-old Spanish star was resting at his home in the northern Spanish town of Pedrena, where he has mostly been since undergoing four operations in late 2008, his family said Friday.

''The family will inform accordingly about any change in his health condition and takes this opportunity of thanking everyone for the support that both Seve and his own family have been receiving during all this time,'' a statement on the golfer's website said.
It said his ''neurological condition has suffered a severe deterioration.''

Ballesteros won three British Opens and two Masters with a game marked by spectacular improvisational play. One of the best-known personalities in Spain and the golfing world, he also won 50 times on the European Tour and is widely credited with transforming European golf.

Spanish golfers Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez were visibly upset after finishing their second rounds at the Spanish Open in Terrassa and declined to speak to reporters.

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Family: Ballesteros' Health Failing -- Fox Sports
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The Meck Report / Blog - May 6, 2011 - 6:39p

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