South Carolina House approves bill removing Confederate flag

Associated Press

http://news.yahoo.com/confederate-flags-fate-hands-south-carolina-house-083453016.html#

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House approved a bill removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds, a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

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Alabama governor orders Confederate flags taken down

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/politics/alabama-governor-confederate-flags/

Washington (CNN)Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has directed that four Confederate flags be taken down from a Confederate memorial at the state capitol.

Bentley’s order comes just two days after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley asked state lawmakers to remove the flag from her state’s capitol, and amid a seismic shift on the question of whether the flag should fly on government property, in the wake of last week’s church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Nikki Haley calls for removal of Confederate flag from capitol grounds

Bentley spokeswoman Yasamie August told CNN that the flags were taken down because Bentley did not want to distract from legislative issues. August said the move will be permanent, but no other discussions are underway about the Confederate memorial itself.

The Birmingham News reports that workers quietly removed the flags at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday and declined to answer questions. Bentley later told the paper that the flags had “the potential to become a major distraction” as state leaders work through the state budget and other issues.

South Carolina has been the nexus of attention for the revived debate over the Confederate flag. But other southern states are reviewing their flags and the use of Confederate symbols on other official state items.

Mississippi voters elected in 2001 to keep the Confederate “bars and stars” as part of their state flag, but state lawmakers are renewing a push to remove it from the flag. Bipartisan leaders in Tennessee are also reviewing their state flag and looking to remove a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader, which sits outside the state Senate chamber

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Confederate flag debate sweeps South

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/confederate-flags-southern-states-debate-legislators/

Washington (CNN)State legislators across the South are now taking up the debate over the prominence of the Confederate flag in their states after conservative leaders displayed a sudden swell of support on Monday for removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds in South Carolina.

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Nascar Chairman Wants Confederate Flag Eliminated at Races

http://www.wsj.com/articles/nascar-chairman-wants-confederate-flag-eliminated-at-races-1435438884

Calling the Confederate flag an “insensitive symbol” he personally finds offensive, Nascar Chairman Brian France said the series will be aggressive in dissociating the symbol from its events.

“We want to go as far as we can to eliminate the presence of that flag,” France said Saturday. “I personally find it an offensive symbol, so there is no daylight how we feel about it, and our sensitivity to others who feel the same way.

“Obviously, we have our roots in the South, there are events in the South, it’s part of our history like it is for the country. But it needs to be just that, part of our history. It isn’t part of our future.[/quote]

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Rebellion Against the Confederate Flag and the Cost of Flying It

1 Jul, 2015

http://www.sportsdestinations.com/destinations/south-carolina/rebellion-against-confederate-flag-and-cost-flying-9537#sthash.8bJjEBcZ.dpuf

The call for the symbolic gesture of lowering the confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol certainly has not gone unnoticed in the Palmetto State or anywhere else in the U.S. And the ripple effect is being felt all the way through the world of sports.

According to South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier, who spoke out against the flag’s presence back in 2007.

“My opinion is we don’t need the Confederate flag at our capitol,” Spurrier said, according to The Associated Press. “I don’t really know anybody that wants it there, but I guess there are a lot of South Carolinians that do want it there.”

Spurrier had made the comments in response to a fan waving a Confederate flag during a 2006 game against Tennessee. The game was spoiled, Spurrier said, by “some clown waving that dang, damn Confederate flag behind the TV set. And it was embarrassing to me and I know embarrassing to our state.”

The NCAA instituted a policy in 2001 barring South Carolina and Mississippi from hosting many postseason events — most prominently, the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments — because both states still flew the Confederate flag. In the 2015 women’s NCAA Tournament, however, the NCAA went against that policy and allowed South Carolina to host opening-round games, a move that drew protests from the NAACP.

Bleacher Report noted the flag issue shows no sign of slowing down. Within the last two weeks, the Supreme Court ruled Texas could ban use of the Confederate flag on custom license plates. Lawyers for the Native Americans who filed a trademark lawsuit against the Washington Redskins cited that ruling Tuesday as they continue to work against the NFL franchise regaining the copyright, per an Associated Press report.

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Byron Maxwell, who grew up in Charleston, was another of the athletes to speak out on how the situation affects him.

“I remember just about every car had the Confederate flag when I was young,” Maxwell told Robert Klemko of the MMQB.com. “It’s something they’re proud of. If those things are still flying, how far have we really come? They want to say, it’s not hate, it’s heritage. But hate is the most important part of that heritage.”

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From retail stores to state houses, more say Confederate flag must go

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0623/From-retail-stores-to-state-houses-more-say-Confederate-flag-must-go-video

“There’s huge competition between states like Georgia and South Carolina, which want to be hospitable to a diverse group of people and want to be attractive to businesses, which is why they’re increasingly realizing that having some kind of state endorsement of the Confederate flag is not getting them where they need to be in those two areas,” says Gibbs Knotts, a political scientist at the College of Charleston.

“There’s huge competition between states like Georgia and South Carolina, which want to be hospitable to a diverse group of people and want to be attractive to businesses, which is why they’re increasingly realizing that having some kind of state endorsement of the Confederate flag is not getting them where they need to be in those two areas,” says Gibbs Knotts, a political scientist at the College of Charleston.

Several South Carolina chambers of commerce urged the legislature to take the flag down, saying in a statement: “Now is the time to do away with the things that divide us and prevent our state from moving forward,” the Greenville, S.C., Chamber of Commerce, which helps recruit corporations to the region, wrote in a statement on Monday.

Other Southern states are also weighing whether the battle flag might be more appropriate as a museum piece. Mississippi legislators this week have begun to push for a change to the state flag, which incorporates the battle flag as part of the design, and Virginia’s governor called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from state license plates.

In South Carolina, 50 percent of residents – a historic low – want the flag to remain on the state capitol grounds, according to a poll conducted before the shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Some Southerners are tired of clinging to the symbols of the past, historians say.

“There’s a huge majority of the people I’ve met, including people who were born here [in Mississippi] and grew up here, that are tired of the whole Confederate thing, and who don’t want to have anything to do with the flag or the Confederacy,” says Ole Miss economist Jon Moen in Oxford.[/quote]

South Carolina House approves bill removing Confederate flag

Associated Press

http://news.yahoo.com/confederate-flags-fate-hands-south-carolina-house-083453016.html#

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House approved a bill removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds, a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of passionate and contentious debate, and just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston.

“South Carolina can remove the stain from our lives,” said 64-year-old Rep. Joe Neal, a black Democrat first elected in 1992. “I never thought in my lifetime I would see this.”

The House easily approved the Senate bill by a two-thirds margin (94-20), and the bill now goes to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk. She supports the measure, which calls for the banner to come down within 24 hours of her signature.

“It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state,” Haley said in a statement.

Haley herself reversed her position on the flag, saying the pain, grief and grace of the families of the victims in the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church caused her to realize that while some conservative whites saw the Confederate flag as a symbol of pride in their Southern ancestors, most of the blacks who make up a third of the state’s population see it as a dark reminder of a racist past.

The man charged in the shooting, Dylann Roof, brought that view home, telling survivors of the attack that he killed blacks because they were raping white women and taking over the country, according to witnesses. Roof also reportedly took photographs of himself holding the Confederate flag.

Earlier Wednesday, a group of Republicans had mounted opposition to immediately removing the flag, but at each turn, they were beaten back by a slightly larger, bipartisan group of legislators who believed there must be no delay.

As House members deliberated well into the night, there were tears of anger and shared memories of Civil War ancestors. Black Democrats, frustrated at being asked to show grace to Civil War soldiers as the debate wore on, warned the state was embarrassing itself.

Republican Rep. Jenny Horne reminded her colleagues she was a descendent of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and scolded fellow members of her party for stalling the debate with dozens of amendments.

She cried as she remembered the funeral of her slain colleague state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, who was gunned down as his wife and daughter locked themselves in an office.

“For the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it!” she screamed into a microphone.

She said later during a break she didn’t intend to speak but got frustrated with fellow Republicans.

Opponents of removing the flag talked about grandparents who passed down family treasures and lamented that the flag had been “hijacked” or “abducted” by racists.

Rep. Mike Pitts, who remembered playing with a Confederate ancestor’s cavalry sword while growing up, said for him the flag is a reminder of how dirt-poor Southern farmers fought Yankees not because they hated blacks or supported slavery, but because their land was being invaded.

Those soldiers should be respected just as soldiers who fought in the Middle East or Afghanistan, he said, recalling his own military service. Pitts then turned to a lawmaker he called a dear friend, recalling how his black colleague nearly died in Vietnam.

“I’m willing to move that flag at some point if it causes a twinge in the hearts of my friends,” Pitts said. “But I’ll ask for something in return.”

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said Democrats were united behind the Senate bill, which sends the flag to the state’s Confederate Relic Room — near the resting place for the rebel flag that flew over the Statehouse dome until it was taken down in 2000.

Democrats didn’t want any new flag going up because it “will be the new vestige of racism,” Rutherford said.

After a break around 8 p.m., Rutherford said Democrats were willing to let the other side make their points, but had grown tired. He said while much had been said about Confederate ancestors, “what we haven’t heard is talk about nine people slaughtered in a church.”

Democrats then finally began debating, saying they were angry with Republicans asking for grace for people who want to remember their Southern ancestors. Neal told of his ancestors, four brothers who were bought by slave owners with the last name Neal.

“The whole world is asking, is South Carolina really going to change, or will it hold to an ugly tradition of prejudice and discrimination and hide behind heritage as an excuse for it,” Neal said.

Other Democrats suggested any delay would let Ku Klux Klan members planning a rally July 18 a chance to dance around the Confederate flag.

“You don’t have to listen to me. But there are a whole lot of people outside this chamber watching,” Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said.

The debate in the South Carolina House began less than a day after the U.S. House voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the Deep South.

In Washington, the vote followed a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.

The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.

Also Wednesday, state police said they were investigating an unspecified number of threats against South Carolina lawmakers debating the flag. Police Chief Mark Keel said lawmakers on both sides of the issue had been threatened, but he did not specify which ones.

Back on topic…to me, Haynesworth sounds both like he actually changed, AND like he is making excuses for some of his actions.

.

from off the net

==

RangerRam

well, in 1951 rams won world championship starting 5 rookies on o-line
so, stranger things have happened

wv wrote:

The ignorance about hydration back then, makes me cringe.
Football is tough enough without the gordon liddy crap.

—

This article is not a “commentary.” I am just noting the irony.

—

Did Prep Football Player Hydrate Himself to Death?

August 2014
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/more-news/did-prep-football-player-hydrate-himself-to-death.html

The death of a Douglas County High School student who was hospitalized after a football practice has educators and athletic officials exploring additional safety measures for student athletes.

While the rare phenomenon of student athletes’ sudden deaths is not new, the case of 17-year-old Zyrees Oliver has started a new conversation. Until now, officials worried about youths not getting enough liquids. Family members of Oliver think he might have drunk too much water and other fluids after practice Aug. 5.

The cause of his death has not been officially determined, but the family reported he drank two gallons of water and two gallons of Gatorade before he collapsed. Oliver died early Monday after being removed from a ventilator.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has completed an autopsy, but it is waiting on additional lab results to determine the cause of death. Those results may take at least two weeks, GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang said.

A family member reached Wednesday did not want to comment on the student’s death and referred The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to an attorney from the law firm Morgan & Morgan. The attorney did not return a telephone call for comment.

While Oliver’s principal and other officials are cautious in concluding his death was caused by overhydrating, “It’s certainly something that everybody needs to be aware of,” Douglas County High principal Tim Scott said.

Mike Emery, athletic director in Gwinnett County, which had 14,699 student-athletes last school year, said the district would have discussions with coaches and other officials at their next training session Sept. 6 about the dangers of overhydrating.

“If anything good can come out of this, it’s a discussion about the overconsumption of fluids,” Emery said.

Oliver may have suffered from hypervolemic hyponatremia, which is depleted sodium levels in the blood caused by fluid overload, said Robert Huggins, director of elite athlete health and performance at the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut.

Sodium depletion affects the body’s electrolytes and can lead to dangerous health problems, including seizures and brain damage.

Overhydrating is among the top 10 causes of sudden death among athletes, Huggins said. The Stringer Institute is named after a former NFL player who died in 2001 from heat stroke. Overhydrating occurs more typically with marathon runners and triathletes when they are drinking at every rest stop, not football players.

The Georgia High School Association has set guidelines for coaches to restrict activities when the temperature is 82 degrees or hotter. The guidelines prescribe at least three rest breaks per hour, for example, and limit the equipment players can wear when temperatures reach toward the 90s.

RELATED: Protecting Athletes From Heat-Related Illnesses

GHSA executive director Gary Phillips said his group will also take a look into Oliver’s death to determine if anything in this case should lead to additional safety measures.

Oliver had medical issues in recent months, including cramping, dehydration and migraines, his family said in prior interviews. But Scott, the Douglas County High principal, said Tuesday that Oliver was “absolutely” cleared to practice and play.

Some school districts, such as Gwinnett, have trainers at every high school who assist coaches and guide students’ conditioning.

A recent survey of all 18,000 high schools nationwide found about 70 percent of high schools have access to athletic trainers, Huggins said. Thirty-seven percent of schools have a full-time trainer, and 31 percent have a part-time trainer, he said.

In Georgia, Huggins said 79 percent of the high schools that responded to the survey said they have access to a trainer. Smith said his school has a trainer, but he was unsure if the trainer attends all practices.

Phillips said his organization has had discussions with state lawmakers in recent years about having trainers in all Georgia high schools. The problem, he said, is trainers are funded by school districts and some rural districts cannot afford it.

“How do you pay for it?” he said.

Oliver had a 3.8 grade point average and dreamed of playing college football.

His family is trying to raise money to return him to his home state of New Jersey for burial. A fundraising page was started on the social media site GoFundMe. Oliver’s classmates are raising money at school.

“He was an excellent student and a great young man,” Scott said.

Athletes and hydration

Robert Huggins, director of elite athlete health and performance at the Korey Stringer Institute, offered some tips for coaches and trainers to monitor athletes during practices and games.

* Weigh athletes before and after practice to help create individual hydration plans.

* Consider sending athletes with “high sweat rates” or “salty sweaters” to a lab for sweat electrolyte tests, especially if they cramp frequently.

* Monitor the temperature during an athletic event or practice.

* Hire an athletic trainer to prevent, recognize and treat heat- and hydration-related illnesses.

Warm weather practices

Georgia has guidelines for practices and games if the temperature reaches certain levels. They include:

* At 87 degrees, the maximum practice time is two hours, and players are restricted to wearing helmets, shoulder pads and shorts. All conditioning must be done with all protective equipment removed. This year a stipulation was added allowing players to continue practicing in their football pants if the temperature hits 87 during the workout.

* At 90, the maximum practice time is one hour with no protective equipment worn during the workout. No conditioning activities are allowed.

* At 92, no outdoor activity is allowed until the temperature falls below 92.

Source: Georgia High School Association

bnw wrote:

zn wrote:

bnw wrote:

Wilson ranked 12th? Wilson is easily top 5.

We disagree on that. I think Wilson is in exactly the right circumstances for him, but, that he’s just not a top 5 qb. Around 10th-12th sounds right to me.

Of course he is in exactly the right circumstances but you mistake that as a plus for him. I don’t. He succeeds in spite of it which very few QBs can. Wilson’s O line is crap. He’s forced to scramble 900 yards a season and extends drives on his own initiative better than anyone, possibly ever. He has the arm strength. He has the accuracy. He has the mobility. He has the brains. Easily a top 5 QB and soon he will be paid as the top QB.

My opinion on this really does differ from your opinion on this. What I meant was he is in exactly the right circumstances for him. They have a strong running game with a tough RB, so that when HE runs it’s part of a tandem which divides defensive attention. The fact that they have such a strong running game means that he is routinely 31st or 32nd in the league in passing attempts. Plus playing on the same team with the 1st ranked defense means he is hardly ever under pressure to win by passing late.

Yes he can run out of trouble but then they have the luxury to do it that way because of the defense. And I have seen good qbs over the years who did that at the same level or better (Staubach, Montana, Young, Elway, etc.). So I to me he’s just not the best ever at it. Plus once Young and Elway got up to speed passing, they could also throw effectively at a level Wilson has not reached yet and IMO probably never will. BTW, then as now, qbs who scramble get sacked more, not less.

Top 5? I don’t see it. I see Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Brees, and Luck in the top 5. He’s on a lower tier than that, IMO.

To me, if you put Luck on the Seahawks, they would become an instant dynasty. Put Wilson on the Colts and he would be under more pressure to move the offense by passing, and the result would be they would struggle.

His OL is not crap. That’s myth. It’s decent. Or it was when they had both Okung and Unger.

To me he is in exactly the right circumstances to maximize his strength and minimize his weaknesses.

bnw wrote:

zn wrote:

bnw wrote:

Stanton exposed the Rams weakness but he didn’t last.

Stanton went out, though, because he got injured.

With Stanton at qb, Arz could maintain its momentum.
…

Not when they play the Rams twice a season.

There you go.

That’s the spirit.

wv wrote:

He’s a gamer. A wily, veteran, starting-caliber QB.

Probly wont last 16 games though — so, the key for the Cards is:
Will they have him for the playoffs.

w
v

I dunno. They did okay with Stanton, too.

Editorial comment:

That kind of stat fails to account for one thing.

Injuries can matter more if they are extensive within a given unit. Depending of course on the unit, and what that unit means to a particular team.

Like for example

OL

and

qb.

As some know, I have been making the argument over the years that extensive, multiple AND simultaneous OL injuries hurt an offense.

Imagine this for a different unit.

How good would the GSOT offense be if it lost, and/or had to play injured versions of, Wistrom, Farr, Agnew, and Carter. Answer: look at the 2000 Rams defense.

It’s a context thing. The raw numbers (IMO) don’t tell ya nothin.

zn wrote:

So if you don’t see me around, it isn’t because I gave up on the Rams.

Zooey wrote:

Right.

And where are you going………….?

Seattle?

Indiana.

I don’t even think they have a football team.

I mean unless you count the Colts.