Good Morning Folks.  There are only a few things in this world that I am really passionate about. You already know that one of them is politics.  I realize that by ‘coming out’ with the other, I risk losing some of my readers who might happen to be fans of a certain school from Tuscaloosa, AL – but today is a big day and I’m pumped up, so what the heck.

As we get ready for the 74th meeting between good and evil with today’s Iron Bowl Game-  Here’s something different for a change.  I don’t know who wrote this, but it’s right on.  War Eagle!

I am Auburn.

I am Auburn. I am the 30-year old couple coming back to campus for the first time with both little ones in tow. One wears her first blue and orange cheerleader outfit; the other wears #34 even though he is too young to understand why.

I am the 50-year old man who hoped no one saw tears in his eyes when the eagle circled the field. I was too choked even to say ‘War Eagle’. For a moment, I felt foolish and then I didn’t care. God, I love this place.

I am the 60 year old woman meeting her freshman granddaughter who is now the 3rd generation of AU students in our family. Despite my age, I’d strap it on Saturday and hit someone if it weren’t for my gender and this blasted arthritis.

I am Auburn and I have always believed I was different. You can see it when you look up into the stands. My orange is not the same as Tennessee’s and my blue is not that of Florida. But the differences go much deeper than my colors. Read my creed. What other school has one? I genuinely believe in these things. To be a real Auburn man or woman speaks of character, not of geography. All are welcome to walk though my gates, not just the wealthy or the elite.

Georgia and Alabama may have their nations, but we have always been family. Make no mistake, we loathe defeat, but even in defeat, we would rather be an Auburn Tiger than anything else. We are family and you are the sons of Heisman, the sons of Jordan and Dye. You come from a long line of brothers who names include Burkett, Sidle, Owens, Sullivan, Beasley, Jackson and Rocker. It is a great heritage.

So, when the warm ups are over and the prayers and amen spoken, when you hear my thunder growing in the stands above you, when you stand in the tunnel and the smoke begins to form, listen for my voice when you run onto my field. Behind the frenzy of the shakers and deafening roar, I will tell you something in a whisper you may miss. I will be telling you that you are my sons and I am proud of you for the way you wear the burnt orange and navy blue. I am telling you that you are my sons and I love you.

Auburn is so much more than a city or a school or a team or a degree. It is something that, once you have experienced it, will live inside of you forever and become a part of what makes up who you are….

It is driving into town on a game day. You may have come from hundreds of miles away and as you get closer and closer to the city limits, you feel it rising inside of you. Other cars on the highway proudly display their Orange and Blue flags or magnets or car tags, and you honk and wave at them, because, for that one day, you are all on the same team.

It is the smell in the air and the ritualistic act of tailgating…catching up with old friends, making new ones, and invitations from perfect strangers to try their ribs or watch their satellite TV showing all of the day’s important match-ups…of course, all being secondary to the one that will occur in the great cathedral of Jordan-Hare later that day.

It is the Tiger Walk…where you might just see 300 pound men overcome with emotion and weeping with pride, because you have come there to cheer them on. As they walk by, you might exchange a glance with one or two of them and you can see it in their eyes…it is going to be their day.

It is the students…dressed in their best, because going to an Auburn game is like going to church for Auburn people….you show the same respect as you would if you were in God’s house. Those students remind you of the days when you were walking in their shoes and Auburn was your home…but then you realize, in many ways, it is still and always will be HOME.

It is that lump that rises in your throat when the band plays the alma mater as the eagle is soaring over your head during pre-game.

It is walking around on a “foreign” and sometimes hostile campus. You are easily identified (Auburn people always are) and the enemy jeers and shouts things at you to mask their feelings of intimidation. But just then, you happen upon a friend you have never met before. You know they are your friend by the colors they wear or the shaker in their hand. You exchange a “War Eagle” and a confident grin, because he/she knows what you know.

It is when your heart leaps with every touchdown, field goal, sack, and interception…because those are our boys. And win or lose, they will always have our un-dying support. After all, it is those boys that you are really there for, and not a coach or a logo or a trustee or a president.

It is the complete and utter exhilaration of walking away victorious over a worthy opponent…that feeling of pride and accomplishment as if it were your own feet that had crossed the goal line scoring the last points yourself…that feeling of wanting to scream War Eagle” at the top of your lungs and hug complete strangers…and then there is the ultimate high of defeating your most hated foes from across the state. No words can describe what this feels like, but you know because you have experienced it.

It is the sheer agony of defeat as the last minutes tick off the clock and you realize that all hope of a victory is gone. You feel like crying and maybe you do…then you hear the faint sounds of a cheer that grows louder and louder….”ITS GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER.”

It is knowing that year after year, no matter how things change in our hectic lives, you can always come back to “the Loveliest Village on the Plains”…the place where you came from…your home. It will probably look a little different and there will be new names on the backs of the jerseys, but deep down, no matter what, it is still the same. You still love it as much as you always have, because Auburn is as much a part of you as your arms and your legs and the orange and blue blood that runs through your veins.

And, finally, it is the feeling you have right now as you read these lines….the anticipation inside of you, because you know its almost time….Its about to start all over again…but then it really never goes away, does it?

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War EAGLE!! Beat Bama!

In the event of his arrest or God forbid- his death, Pastor James David Manning has given his will and testament in a video message released yesterday on the ATLAH Media Network.

Pastor Manning requests that as many people as possible have access to this video for safekeeping. Manning says if enough people have the same information, it could not be contradicted in a court of law.

It’s the least I can do for Pastor Manning to provide a little bandwidth so folks can download the full video. The video is about 15 minutes long and 30MB.

Click Here To Download The Video (Note: You will also need a free .flv player to play the file)  Click here for a free player, virus free.

To Watch The Video Before Downloading, Click Here To Visit The ATLAH Media Network.

Pastor James David Manning, one of President Obama’s most vocal and outspoken critics, has just released a video in which he claims that on the afternoon of November 16th, 2009, while at his ATLAH World Missionary Church, he was visited by two CIA agents.  Manning says the agents claimed that they were from Homeland Security and were accompanied by two NYPD Detectives.

Though he did not go into detail about the specifics of the alleged encounter (and probably with good reason), Manning did say that the agents asked him about certain statements that he made about President Obama in a video message distributed by ATLAH Ministries entitled “Tea Party Members: Go Viral On The Birth Certificate”.

Manning can explain this alot better than I can, so further details regarding the comments in question can be heard in the video by Pastor Manning at the end of this post.

Pastor Manning also said he expects to be arrested within the next few days and charged with “the threat against the life of a U.S. President”, and that he believes that this arrest is “imminent”.

However, Manning says he welcomes the arrest and will not attempt to resist. He believes it is possible that God will use his arrest to finally bring about the truth regarding Obama’s citizenship.

I have to admit, this is tough for me to write. Though I don’t agree with everything Pastor Manning has said in his video messages, I have always maintained the utmost respect for him for standing up and acting on his convictions.  He has been called every name in the book by certain members of the black community for taking a stand against Obama.  But through it all, he has stood strong in his convictions and never hesitates to speak out when others choose to remain silent.

Manning is a patriot.

My prayers are with you, Pastor.

Link to the posting on ATLAH Ministries’ website:  http://atlah.org/atlahworldwide/?p=1240

Michael Savage

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it unbelievable that the mainstream media has completely ignored one of the biggest news stories of 2009?

In May of this year, Michael Savage, host of the third most listened to talk show in America, was put on a list of persons banned from entering the United Kingdom- a supposedly free nation. His name was placed on the same list with murderers and terrorists by the former UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who has since resigned over several political scandals.

His crime? Speaking his political opinion.

That’s right. The British government says that if Savage were to enter their country, he could promote “inter-community tension.” Really? Savage has never advocated violence of any kind. In fact, if the things that the Brits accuse Savage of were actually true, he would have long ago been taken off the air here in America.

Now, you would think that members of the media- regardless of their politics, would be more than happy to come to the aid of one of their own. You would think that they would be smart enough to realize that while it is Savage’s opinion that is unpopular today, it could very well be their own opinion that is unpopular tomorrow. If nothing else, they have an ethical responsibility to inform the public of issues that could ultimately end up affecting us all. After all, Savage has an audience of between eight to ten million listeners each week, many of whom agree with him on most issues – shouldn’t we all be worried that we could be banned next?

Amazingly- with the exception of a few blurbs on Fox News, CNN and a handful of newspaper articles days after the story broke, the mainstream media now seems to have all but forgotten about Michael Savage. Not one reporter has stood up at a single White House press briefing and asked Robert Gibbs why Hilary Clinton has refused to carry out her duty as Secretary of State- by acting on behalf of Savage, an American citizen who is at odds with a foreign government (WND Story). I had pretty much made up my mind that REAL journalism and reporters actually willing to ask tough questions were a thing of the past.

Taxin

Enter Adam Taxin, reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin. During a Q&A session at a recent luncheon with Brian Tierney, publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, Taxin had the chance to ask a question. Sure, he could have tossed the kind of softball question that this guy is probably used to, but instead he chose to ask a question that no one else seems to be willing to ask- Why has the media largely ignored Michael Savage’s ban from Britain? Imagine that- A reporter asking a real question? Tierney obviously wasn’t expecting such a question- and gave an answer that was far from accurate, stating “I think our papers carried it pretty well…” (Full story and transcripts here or audio here). It turns out that neither the Inquirer nor The Daily News has ever mentioned the story. What a shock.

Honestly, I had never heard of Adam Taxin or The Philadelphia Bulletin before Thursday night, when he was featured during the opening monologue of Savage’s radio program. I still don’t know much about him, but I can tell you that I probably have more faith in his ability to do the job of a reporter than anyone currently working at CNN, MSNBC or Fox News. Now, granted it was a question asked to the publisher of a newspaper at a luncheon- and not in the White House press briefing room, but hey- it’s a start.

What is most surprising to me is that even his own colleagues in conservative talk radio, whom you would think should be on the front lines in this fight for free speech, have gone out of their way to ignore the story. Though I still listen to and appreciate them all for their contributions to the conservative movement- they have also lost some credibility with me. How can I take what they say seriously when they continue to ignore a story as important as this?

Bill O’Reilly, when you were accused of sexual harassment, Michael Savage stood up for you. Rush Limbaugh, when you were being smeared for your addiction to painkillers, Savage was there to defend you. Would it hurt either one of you to mention this story for more than fifteen seconds? Glenn? Sean? Anyone? Will you stand up for freedom of speech and do the right thing- or is doing the right thing not enough incentive for you? Maybe you’re only concerned about ratings? Well if that’s the case, I really wouldn’t worry. I happen to know of about eight to ten million people that would watch you a whole lot more if you would only do your job the way Adam Taxin did his.

Joe Seales