Monthly Archives: May 2011

Massive upheaval in personal life puts Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to movies on hold

May 22, 2011 – 1:42 am

 


Arnold The Washington Post reported on May 20th: 

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has put his return to making movies on hold after details of his affair wih former household staffer Mildred Baena emerged. As Reliable Source reported:

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Thursday he’s putting his showbiz career on hold, amid massive upheaval of his personal life and public image. The ex-guv had planned to return to movies, lining up a couple “Terminator” sequels and another drama, “Cry Macho,” in recent weeks.

But that was before the scandal broke of the child he fathered by his housekeeper; wife Maria Shriver, meanwhile, has reportedly hired a prominent divorce attorney. A statement from his officesaid he’s now “focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or timelines.”

 

Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife, who separated from the actor earlier this month, has retained a prominent attorney, sparking rumors of an impending divorce. As AP explained:

 

When Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated earlier this month, neither was talking divorce. That may have changed, however, after he revealed Monday that he fathered a now 13-year-old son with the family housekeeper and never told his wife until this year.

People magazine reported this week that Shriver has retained prominent Los Angeles divorce attorney Laura Wasser. If the Kennedy heiress and former network TV anchor goes ahead with a divorce, several prominent attorneys say, she is likely to cash in big.

“It seems to me that he has gratuitously embarrassed her. This should greatly enhance settlement negotiations,” said Atlanta attorney John Mayoue, who has represented Chris Rock in a paternity suit, baseball star David Justice in his split with actress Halle Berry, and other celebrities.

Although California is a no-fault divorce state, meaning her husband’s actions technically can’t be used against him in court, the reality, attorneys say, is that it will be.

“Every judge would know about what happened, and I think would hold it against him,” said attorney Robert Nachshin, who has represented the ex-wives of a who’s who of entertainers that includes Will Smith, Rod Stewart and John Ritter. “Judges are human beings, and Maria will definitely be the sympathetic spouse.”

 

Shriver declined to discuss the affair when she attended the taping of Oprah Winfrey’s farewell show on Tuesday. As AP reported:

 

Maria Shriver didn’t address revelations that her husband fathered a child with another woman when she appeared at Oprah Winfrey’s farewell show on Tuesday.

Shriver, the TV journalist and Kennedy heiress, walked onstage wearing a sparkly blue dress with Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King. Earlier in the day it was revealed her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade ago.

In a statement Shriver called it a “painful and heartbreaking time.” Last week, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced they had separated.

But on Tuesday evening Shriver focused on Winfrey. “You have given me love, support, wisdom and most of all the truth,” Shriver said to applause as Winfrey responded, “the truth.”

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Southern Baptist leader says that Harold Camping should apologize

May 22, 2011 – 1:29 am
harold camping
(Photo: Reuters/Reuters TV)
Harold Camping, 89, the California evangelical broadcaster who predicts that Judgment Day will come on May 21, 2011, is seen in this still image from video during an interview at Family Stations Inc. offices in Oakland, California May 16, 2011. The U.S. evangelical Christian broadcaster predicting that Judgment Day will come on Saturday says he expects to stay close to a TV or radio to monitor the unfolding apocalypse. The head of the Christian radio network Family Stations Inc says that he is sure an earthquake will shake the Earth on May 21, sweeping true believers to heaven and leaving others behind to be engulfed in the world’s destruction over a few months
________________________________
 

 Michelle A. Vu, Christian Post Reporter,  wrote on May 21st: 

:

Harold Camping needs to publicly apologize for being wrong about his doomsday prediction and leading people astray, said a Southern Baptist leader.

The California radio broadcaster’s wrong prediction about the rapture and the end of the world reflected poorly on Christians, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence.

Stetzer issued a series of tweets about Camping’s eschatological prediction on Saturday, among which one noted that there was no earthquake in New Zealand after 6 p.m.

“Harold Camping, pls update http://www.family.radio.com w/your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers,” Stetzer tweeted.

An hour later he tweeted again, “6pm here in Turkey. I’m standing at the Temple of Athena waiting for the Rapture. Nothing happened. ;-)”

For months, followers of the 89-year-old Camping, who previously wrongly predicted the rapture would occur in September 1994, have been warning that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. Supporters would hold placards on busy streets in major cities that read: “Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”

Family Radio, a non-profit Christian radio network headed by Camping, was the name seen on the placards, bus ads, billboards and in media coverage on the May 21 prediction.

But surprisingly, many within the California-based radio network do not believe that the first phase of the end of the world begins Saturday.

“I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist identified as Esther at the group’s headquarters in Oakland, Calif., told CNNMoney.

Esther said some of her co-workers who believe in Camping’s prediction had bought expensive cars or taken their families on vacation ahead of May 21.

In New York, follower Robert Fitzpatrick, 60, spent his entire $140,000 life savings on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads at bus stops warning about May 21. The ads read: “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”

Another Camping follower, 27-year-old Adrienne Martinez, was planning to go to medical school but decided not to after listening to Family Radio. Martinez and her husband, Joel, had lived in New York City but a year ago quit their jobs and moved to Orlando. They spent their time reading the Bible and distributing tracts, according to NPR. They have a two-year-old daughter and a second child due next month.

“We budgeted everything so that, on May 21, we won’t have anything left,” Adrienne said to NPR.

While some of Camping’s listeners are all-in when it comes to his rapture prediction, Family Radio’s Esther estimates that 80 percent of her co-workers don’t believe their own boss about May 21, according to CNNMoney.

The receptionist is still scheduling appointments for her co-workers after Saturday.

Family Radio has about 350 paid staff working to run 66 radio stations across the nation. The network’s financial documents, according to CNNMoney, shows that it received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. But Camping, according to documents, has not been paid a penny from the contributions. He has worked as a volunteer at Family Radio.

I love the Book of Daniel and have spent a lot of time studying it. I hate to see it misinterpreted!

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Here are the other posts I had on this same subject:

Harold Camping “flabbergasted” he was wrong

  Yahoo News reported this morning: It’s hard to feel bad for someone whose doomsday predictions caused so much anxiety, but 89-year-old Harold Camping’s recent admission that he’s “flabbergasted” the world didn’t end last weekend sounds somewhat pitiful. “It has been a really tough weekend,” Camping said Sunday, after emerging from his Alameda, California home […]

Southern Baptist leader says that Harold Camping should apologize

(Photo: Reuters/Reuters TV) Harold Camping, 89, the California evangelical broadcaster who predicts that Judgment Day will come on May 21, 2011, is seen in this still image from video during an interview at Family Stations Inc. offices in Oakland, California May 16, 2011. The U.S. evangelical Christian broadcaster predicting that Judgment Day will come on […]

Harold Camping’s silly billboards and calculations here

  I am a Christian and I do believe Jesus is coming back. In fact, at noon today in Little Rock, the skies got dark and it looked like it was midnight. I am sure the Harold Camping followers were expecting something like this. However, it is 2:53pm now and the skies are much brighter. […]

Both Harold Camping and Edgar Whisenant ignored Matthew 24:36

  I love the Book of Daniel and have spent a lot of time studying it. I noticed a gentleman  making a lot of copies of his notes on the Book of Daniel, and I asked what he was studying. That man was Edgar Whisenant and he began to tell me that he knew the […]

I told Edgar Whisenant he was wrong, and now Harold Camping is making the same mistake

By Justin Berton | SFGate.com For about 10 years I knew a man by the name of Edgar C. Whisenant in Little Rock.  He gave me some material to read and I told him that it was wrong to predict the exact date and time of Christ second coming and he got quite mad when I asserted […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Candidate #9 Mitt Romney, Republican Presidential Hopefuls (Part 1)

May 22, 2011 – 12:41 am

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to a group of small business owners on the economy during a visit to Meetze plumbing in Irmo, S.C. Saturday May, 21, 2011

Jim Davenport wrote for the Associated Press on May 21:

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina wasn’t kind to Mitt Romney in 2008, but the ex-Massachusetts governor and presidential contender is hoping for a better fate in this Southern bellwether in 2012.

He made his first trip to the state since forming a presidential exploratory committee, plying a crowd with mustard-based barbecue and boiled peanuts, photo ops with cute kids and meeting with business owners carping about jobless benefits and illegal immigration. He left with a pair of endorsements from state legislators.

If nothing else, the mustard-based barbecue was a bold choice in a state with loyalties split mostly between mustard- and vinegar-based concoctions.

A crowd of about 40 in a hot warehouse stacked with plumbing supplies cheered when he said it was time for politicians to spend less time thinking about getting re-elected and more time on “thinking about how to get the country on the right track and put Americans back to work.”

These are relatively easy times for Romney.

He hasn’t formally entered the race though he’s regarded as the frontrunner. He’s raising cash faster than likely opponents and gets to choose when to engage them. He’s finessing the perception of his big liability: the Massachusetts health care law that Obama credits as the template for the national health care system Republicans abhor.

Saturday was a soft-opening of sorts in a state that beat Romney up in 2008. He spent loads of cash and time here, but bailed days before the first-in-the-South primary’s polls opened and he knew he couldn’t win.

In 2008, Romney positioned himself early as the one to beat, building a campaign rivaled only by Arizona Sen. John McCain’s as the state’s best financed, staffed and endorsed. Romney earned endorsements from U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Bob Jones, the now-retired chancellor of Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville.

But questions about Romney’s Mormon faith dogged him. He couldn’t persuade religious conservatives to look beyond their skepticism over that or his reversals on social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Warren Tompkins, a Columbia political consultant on Romney’s 2008 campaign, said the campaign team was “never sure how to deal with it. Hopefully, they will not repeat that mistake.”

McCain won the state, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed many of the Christian and social conservatives. Romney’s team fled to Florida, a richer delegate prize, when polling days before the South Carolina vote showed that Romney wouldn’t win or even come in second.

Romney has a single staffer working in South Carolina, David Raad, who knows religion is certain to come up again, particularly if Jon Huntsman, Utah’s former governor and a fellow Mormon, enters the race as expected.

“I’m sure that people will consider religion in this race,” Raad said, but he added: “We hope to get back to the issues that matter to a lot of Americans.”

The economy is what Romney emphasized Saturday. He met privately with about 30 business owners in nearby Chapin before the town hall and barbecue buffet at the plumbing business.

Romney said he’d spoken with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, one of his backers in 2008.

She has told candidates they have to address the fight between the National Labor Relations Board and Boeing Co. over a plant expansion in North Charleston. The federal agency’s complaint says the aircraft maker’s move was a response to union strikes and a violation of law.

Romney said the NLRB was taking away South Carolina’s ability to compete for jobs.

“How in the world can the president justify the federal government taking power from South Carolina and not allowing South Carolina to compete on a fair and level playing field,” Romney said. “It’s simply unexcusable.”

Kevin Meetze, the plumbing company owner, said his top concern was too-generous unemployment benefits. South Carolina legislators are considering cutting the maximum jobless benefits workers can get from 26 weeks to 20 weeks. Meanwhile, Meetze said extended federal benefits are a problem.

“We’ve been hiring for the past couple of years during this recession, but it’s hard to get people to come to work when they’re making a pretty decent salary off the government,” Meetze said.

When asked about moves to curtail state benefits, Romney said that was a state issue he wouldn’t address.

Romney, who’s expected to enter the race in the coming weeks, has laid more groundwork than others in a state where Republicans brag that they’ve picked the winner of the GOP nomination contest for 30 years.

In last year’s elections, his political action committees poured more than $86,000 into campaigns, including $63,000 to Gov. Nikki Haley’s campaign.

She supported Romney last time when she was in the Legislature, but is remaining neutral so far. Her endorsement would be a major prize.

Romney came away with endorsements from Rep. Nathan Ballentine, an Irmo Republican who was Haley’s state House colleague and remains a close ally, as well as from state Rep. Chip Huggins of Columbia.

Meanwhile, a fundraising group with ties to President Barack Obama launched a television ad against Romney in South Carolina in advance of his visit.

The ad by Priorities USA Action, which was founded by two former top aides in the Obama White House, criticizes Romney for supporting a House GOP budget plan that would privatize Medicare for future retirees.

Romney says he generally supports the proposal offered by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan but details of what he will offer will be different.

“The Ryan plan and my plan are on the same page. We have the same objectives. My plan is different than his — it’s not identical,” Romney said.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

What does the Heritage Foundation have to say about saving Social Security:Study released May 10, 2011 (Part 3)

May 22, 2011 – 12:17 am

The problem with social security  

David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.

“Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” Heritage Foundation, May 10, 2011 by  Stuart Butler, Ph.D. , Alison Acosta Fraser and William Beach is one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, but I will start off with the section on Social Security. I am also going to give attention to the thoughts of Milton Friedman on the subject too. Here is the second portion:

Over the next 75 years, the program has promised to pay $7.8 trillion more in benefits than it will receive in payroll taxes. The only way that future retirees can collect all of the benefits promised to them is to make their children and grandchildren pay massive amounts of additional taxes.

Without Reforms, Entitlements will consume all Tax Revenues

Heritage proposes to solve these problems and strengthen the Social Security system by tightening its benefits and returning it to its original purpose: a guarantee that older Americans won’t fall into poverty. Heritage proposes to make Social Security “real insurance” for Americans as they reach retirement.

This reform means that Social Security’s promises in the future will change in several ways:

  • Social Security will gradually be transformed from an “income replacement” system back to its original purpose of guaranteeing seniors freedom from fear of poverty and assuring a decent retirement income. This means that Social Security benefits will evolve over time into a flat payment to those who work more than 35 years—a flat payment that is sufficient to keep them out of poverty throughout their retirement.
  • Because the new Social Security is a real insurance system, designed to protect seniors from poverty, retirees with high incomes from sources other than Social Security will receive a smaller check, and very affluent seniors will receive no check. This transparent way of income-adjusting benefit checks will replace the method used today, whereby the checks of even modest-income seniors are taxed and thus reduced.
  • To help make up the difference between the new Social Security benefit and what workers may desire for a more comfortable retirement, our plan will create greater incentives for workers of all income levels to save more for retirement. These savings will supplement their Social Security and create a more secure retirement.
  • Americans live much longer than they used to. While this is good news, it means that they are spending a much higher proportion of their lives in retirement. Regrettably, these longer retirements play a major role in Social Security’s financial problems. For this reason, the Social Security retirement ages will be raised gradually and then indexed to life expectancy. This will create a more reasonable balance between the number of years a person works and the number of years one receives Social Security benefits.
  • To encourage people to stay in the workforce longer, those who work beyond full retirement age will receive a higher level of after-tax income during the period when they are not claiming benefits.

This new Social Security system is reasonable, predictable, and affordable. It focuses resources on those who need the most help while providing complete protection against poverty for all seniors who qualify for full benefits.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Social Security | Comments (0)

Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 53)

May 22, 2011 – 12:10 am

Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:

Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

On May 11, 2011,  I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:

Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner.  I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.

Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:

Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself.

Senator Rand Paul on Feb 7, 2011 wrote the article “A Modest $500 Billion Proposal: My spending cuts would keep 85% of government funding and not touch Social Security,” Wall Street Journal and he observed:

Here are some of his specific suggestions:

 International Assistance Programs
Agency/Program Funding Level Savings % Decrease
International Aid $0 $24.343 B 100%
The people of the United States are some of the most generous individuals anywhere in the world. When a tsunami hit Indonesia and an earthquake hit Haiti in recent years, Americans opened their wallets and hearts to help provide assistance to those in need. Taxpayer dollars spent on official development assistance (ODA) have been wasted through a failed assistance giving model. 
The ODA model gives funding in a top-down format without feedback or accountability of how the funds are used. In some developing countries, aid is horded by top officials without reaching those most in need. Instead of giving
countries a hand up, we continue to give them handouts, leaving them welfare dependent. Private-sector trade and investment are the best combination of development countries need to improve their financial standing.

__________________________

The problem with social security  

David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.

_________________________________

The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse

Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Kate Middleton and Prince William: Marriage made in Heaven? (Part 32)

May 22, 2011 – 12:07 am

Royal Wedding: William and Kate’s First Kiss, Too Short for Buckingham Palace Balcony

Prince William and Kate moved in together about a year ago. In this clip above the commentator suggested that maybe Prince Charles and Princess Diana would not have divorced if they had lived together before marriage. Actually Diana was a virgin, and it was Charles’ uncle (Louis Mountbatten) that gave him the advice that he should seek to marry a virgin.

I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. I hope they truly are committed to each other, and if they are then the result will be a marriage that lasts their whole lifetime. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.

• Tom Elliff: Couples come to us sometimes and blush, “We want to get married.” “Well, are you sleeping around?” “Yes, that’s why we need to hurry up and get married.” I say, “Then that’s the last thing you need to do right now. The person that God has for you is going to make you more holy not less holy, more in love with Jesus not less in love with Jesus, a more effective worker, a better student, better with his parents and her parents not less. The very fact that you’re frustrated and violating every commandment of God means you ought not to get married. You ought to back up, grow up, deepen your relationship with God before you ever consider being married, because if you bring out the worst in each other when you’re dating, you’re really going to bring out the worst in each other when you marry.” Dennis Rainey: I couldn’t agree more. If there is compromise in courtship, where is the trust going to be there after the covenant is established? That covenant is not some magical binding relational agreement. It’s an accountability before God that you better be experiencing both before and after it’s established.

TOM: Sex before marriage is a revelation of your real value system. It says in spite of all that I say about how much I love you and how much I love God and how much I’m going to serve Him, the bottom line, the thing that motivates me more than anything else is this — I get what I want. Even if you have to be guilty before God, even if I have to defile the temple of God when the Scripture says “Whosoever defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” I am willing for you to do that so I can have a few minutes of pleasure — a terrible revelation of a terrible value system. DENNIS: And one that you don’t want to begin a marriage with that being the basis. You want to begin a marriage with trust. Tom: It just says I can’t be trusted. Dennis: Yes, and you want to trust when that covenant is established. (Tom Elliff and Dennis Rainey, from the Family Life Today radio broadcast: Pre-Marriage Pre-Requisites -Broadcast Date: 05/22/07 )

Weekend to Remember-Family Life…Fireproof your marriage

 

Tim Hawkins 70’s music in 6 minutes

Revelation (Biblical Numbers 1 of 4)-Dr Adrian Rogers

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers | Comments (0)

Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 52)

May 22, 2011 – 12:05 am

Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:

Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Yesterday I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:

Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner.  I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.

Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:

Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself.

Senator Rand Paul on Feb 7, 2011 wrote the article “A Modest $500 Billion Proposal: My spending cuts would keep 85% of government funding and not touch Social Security,” Wall Street Journal and he observed:

Here are some of his specific suggestions:

General Services Administration

Agency/Program Funding Level Savings % Decrease
GSA $343 M $1.936 B 85%
The Government Services Administration is yet another example of a government agency formed with the purpose of
serving other government agencies. Part of expecting the government to run in a streamlined fashion is expecting agencies to be capable of managing their own real estate, travel necessities, and supply purchases. Having an agency dedicated to providing the infrastructure for big government only facilitates the further growth of government.

The problem with social security  

David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 52)

Will Maria Shriver’s marriage survive Arnold Schwarzenegger’s admission of infidelity? I hope so (Part 11)

May 22, 2011 – 12:02 am
Media hunts mother of Arnies love child

File photo of Schwarzenegger

File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)…

Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?

Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:

“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”

“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”

Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.

I really got a lot out this story by Mary May Larmoyeux of Family life about Brian and Julie. Here it is below: 

Earlier this year, I wrote an article for The Family Room called “She Hated Her Husband.” It was about Brian and Julie Moreau’s disintegrating relationship and the key role that a Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway played in saving their marriage. A skeptical reader posted this comment below the article: “If this story is really true maybe you should tell the part of how long and hard the road to recovery from the brink of divorce was.”

I can understand why the reader wondered if Brian and Julie’s story was fiction. It does seem like a fairytale. How likely is it for a woman who tells her husband over and over, “I hate you,” to later say that he is God’s gift to her?

“Impossible,” you say? Yes—apart from God.

Brian and Julie are indeed real people. When they attended a Weekend to Remember marriage getaway, they both made decisions to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives and the Savior for their sins. Having Christ at the center of their marriage is what changed their home so dramatically. He turned an impossible, hopeless marriage into something brand new. In fact, their relationship is now a beacon of light for other couples whose marriages are hurting.

Rebuilding

“She Hated Her Husband” did not devote much space to the actual rebuilding of the Moreaus’ relationship after the marriage getaway, but many of our stories do. Tom and Maureen Santacroce, for example, were headed for divorce after 34 years of marriage. They attended a Weekend to Remember as a late effort to reconcile. Although they enjoyed it, they had a heated argument right after the conference that left them in despair. 

To make a long story short (you may want to read what the divorce court judge told them), the Santacroces recalled the words of a FamilyLife representative at the getaway: “You are going to need someone to help you piece this thing back together.”

Tom and Maureen took that advice and got the counseling they needed. Today they are encouraging other couples as FamilyLife volunteers.

Or take Tom and Anna Flippin. Anna just wouldn’t give up on her husband, even when he was unfaithful.

After two and a half years of counseling, Tom agreed to go to a Weekend to Remember.  At the end of the marriage getaway, Tom told Anna that he had enjoyed it, “except for the God stuff.” It took years for Tom to come to Christ, but the Flippins ended up making their marriage work.

The impossible

The changes made in these marriages were not caused by FamilyLife. They were the result of husbands and wives realizing they could not make their marriage work on their own. The Moreaus, Santacroces, and Flippins turned their lives and their marriages over to God, accepted His help, and decided to follow His blueprints for their homes.

Brian and Julie’s marriage changed quickly because they individually vowed to make Jesus Christ the center of their relationship. It took months for the Santacroces, and years for the Flippins, to have truly healthy marriages. But each of these couples had one thing in common: They did not give up.

I never grow tired of writing about changed lives. Each new story reminds me that absolutely “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37)! 

Click here for a list of remarkable stories about how God has changed lives and saved marriages and families.

This article originally appeared in the October 11, 2010 issue of Marriage Memo, a weekly e-newsletter.  To subscribe free to Marriage Memo and other FamilyLife e-newsletters, click here.  For the Marriage Memo archives, click here.

Weekend To Remember Conference Testimony

Here’s a couple who went to a FamilyLife Conference and how it made a difference in their marriage.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

What does the Heritage Foundation have to say about saving Social Security:Study released May 10, 2011 (Part 2)

May 21, 2011 – 7:34 am

 Social Security in the future

Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the CATO institute, explains that the rate of return on social security will be much lower for todays youth.

“Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” Heritage Foundation, May 10, 2011 by  Stuart Butler, Ph.D. , Alison Acosta Fraser and William Beach is one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, but I will start off with the section on Social Security. I am also going to give attention to the thoughts of Milton Friedman on the subject too. Here is the second portion:

What Is Social Security?

Social Security, today’s largest single federal program, provides (1) retirement income to workers and their spouses, (2) survivors benefits to the family members of deceased workers, and (3) disability benefits for workers who have been injured and are unable to work and to the families of those workers. The program is funded by a 12.4 percent payroll tax that is paid equally by both the worker (6.2 percent) and his or her employer (6.2 percent). Employers correctly see their contribution as a part of the employee’s total compensation.

In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, Social Security spent a total of $685.8 billion providing these benefits. That was also the last year that Social Security collected more in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. Starting in 2010, the program started to run cash-flow deficits that the Congressional Budget Office says are unlikely ever to end. The annual Social Security deficit will increase every year until about 2030, when it will reach about $350 billion annually in 2010 dollars (without including any inflation), and stay at approximately that level permanently.

Social Security does have a $2.5 trillion trust fund from the surpluses that it collected between 1983 and 2009—but that money isn’t there. Rather than build up real assets in a real trust fund, Congress actually spent that money on everything from roads to corporate welfare. That trust fund is filled with special-issue Treasury bonds that the U.S. Treasury is required to finance when they are needed to fund Social Security’s deficits. As they are bonds not backed by any real assets, the government will have to either borrow or raise taxes to pay for them.

In essence, then, these bonds are really a demand on future tax collections—a lien. In 2010, the Treasury started to redeem these bonds, or tax liens, by tapping into other tax sources in order to cover Social Security’s deficits. Around 2037, even those special-issue bonds will run out. From that time on, under the provisions of current law, every retiree—no matter how wealthy or how poor—will have his or her Social Security benefits cut by about 22 percent.

The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse

Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Social Security | Comments (0)

Kate Middleton and Prince William: Marriage made in Heaven? (Part 31) (Pictures of 55 yrs ago first atomic bomb)

May 21, 2011 – 12:06 am

Is living together before marriage the best way to go? I am not trying to beat up on the royal couple, but I want to help other young couples get off the best possible start. Erin Roach in her article, “Cohabiting Normative but Harmful,” Baptist Press, March 13, 2010 wrote:

Couples who were engaged at the time they began cohabiting, the study said, had roughly the same odds of survival in marriage as couples who did not cohabit before marrying. The key, observers said, is the nature of commitment at the time of cohabitation.

“When an engagement has taken place, the ring is bought, caterers are being interviewed, dresses being considered, the clarity of the relationship becomes clearer for all involved. Expectations are clearer,” Stanton said.

In a bulletin circulated March 4, Stanton noted the conflicting ways the study had been interpreted in media reports. A USA Today headline said, “Report: Cohabiting Has Little Effect on Marriage Success,” while The New York Times said “Study Finds Cohabiting Doesn’t Make Unions Last.”

The Times, Stanton said, “did a better job in its reporting.” While it’s true that data indicated engaged cohabiting couples and married couples who did not cohabit were on mostly equal ground, the study did not find that cohabiting generally helped marriages and in fact found that it harmed those that lacked commitment.

The CDC study found that cohabiting women were more likely to have unemployed partners, college educated women were much less likely to be cohabiting than those with only a high school diploma, and young people who grew up with two parents at home were less likely to cohabit prior to marriage.

In comparing the longevity of marriage versus cohabiting, researchers found that about two-thirds of first marriages lasted 10 years or more, while only about one-fourth of men’s and one-third of women’s first cohabitations were estimated to last three years without either disrupting or transitioning to marriage.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., in commentary on the subject March 2, said many young adults tend to believe they are wise to try living together before committing to marriage, but actually they are undermining the institution they hope to protect.

“They do not know that what they are actually doing is undoing marriage. They miss the central logic of marriage as an institution of permanence,” Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said. “They miss the essential wisdom of marriage — that the commitment must come before the intimacy, that the vows must come before the shared living, that the wisdom of marriage is its permanence before its experience.

“Cohabitation weakens marriage — even a cohabiting couple’s eventual marriage — because a temporary and transitory commitment always weakens a permanent commitment. Having lived together with the open possibility of parting, that possibility always remains, and never leaves,” Mohler wrote at albertmohler.com.

Christians should be reminded, he said, that marriage is a gift from the Creator and cannot be substituted adequately with cohabitation.

“In a world of transitory experiences, events, and commitments, marriage is intransigent. It simply is what it is — a permanent commitment made by a man and a woman who commit themselves to live faithfully unto one another until the parting of death,” Mohler said.

“That is what makes marriage what it is. The logic of marriage is easy to understand and difficult to subvert, which is one reason the institution has survived over so many millennia. Marriage lasts because of its fundamental status. It is literally what a healthy and functioning society cannot survive without.”

Weekend to Remember-Family Life…Fireproof your marriage

Tim Hawkins- Old Rock Star Songs

Introduction to the Book Of Revelation- Dr Adrian Rogers

 

 
J. Robert Oppenheimer, 'Father of the Atom Bomb'
Trinity Fireball
'Now I Am Become Death'
What Remains
Optimism
Boom!
'Able'
Haunting Cloud
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Haunting Cloud

On August 9, 1945, the mushroom cloud of the first atomic bomb rose over Nagasaki, Japan.
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers | Comments (0)