Over the past decade, Congresses and Presidents haveundertaken a
surge of spending that has accelerated America’s speed along the road to
economic ruin. Since 2000, non-defense discretionary outlays have expanded 50
percent faster than inflation. Antipoverty spending has risen 83 percent faster
than inflation, and other programs have grown rapidly. Despite multiple
government audits that have shown many programs to be duplicative or
ineffective, no significant federal program has been eliminated in more than a
decade. Government continues to grow, financed by taxes on Americans and an
explosion of borrowing that is imposing huge additional burdens on future
generations.
Thus, although the major entitlement programs are the primary driver of
long-term spending and debt, Congress must take tough action on discretionary
programs and smaller entitlement programs to reach a balanced budget and ensure
that federal spending is smaller, more effective, and more efficient.
Under the Heritage plan, non-defense discretionary spending—appropriated
programs such as foreign aid, K–12 education, transportation, health research,
housing, community development, and veterans health care, which account for 4.5
percent of GDP—is reduced to 2.0 percent of GDP by 2021. These reforms will
reduce the burden of government, thereby empowering families and entrepreneurs
and promoting economic prosperity.
In addition, antipoverty spending is reformed. Obamacare is repealed, as
noted earlier, and replaced with an alternative solution to uninsurance and high
costs. Agriculture and education programs are structurally reformed. The central
goal for defense is to guarantee national security as prudently and economically
as possible. With improvements in efficiency, we estimate that defense needs
will require spending approximately 4 percent of GDP for the foreseeable
future.
Rather than across-the-board spending reductions, which would not set true
priorities for government, the Heritage plan follows six guidelines in designing
reforms:
The federal government should focus on performing a limited
number of appropriate governmental duties well while empowering state and local
governments, which are closer to the people, to address local needs creatively
in such areas as transportation, justice, job training, the environment, and
economic development.
Functions that the private sector can perform more efficiently
should be transferred to the private sector.
Duplicative programs should be consolidated both to save money
and to improve government assistance.
Federal programs should more precisely target those who are
actually in need, which means reducing aid to large businesses and upper-income
individuals who do not need taxpayer assistance and enforcing program
eligibility rules better.
Outdated and ineffective programs should be eliminated.
Waste, fraud, and abuse should be cleaned up wherever found.
By following these six guidelines, the Heritage plan produces a more
effective and efficient government and promotes stronger economic growth.
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.
GUIDELINE #1: Build a constituency for limited government and lower taxes.
Interest groups are always ready to defend their special-interest subsidies. Taxpayers rarely fight wasteful spending because they do not believe they will ever see the savings. Policymakers can organize taxpayers in opposition to wasteful spending by linking specific reforms and spending reductions to specific tax cuts, such as legislation to:
Terminate corporate welfare and use the savings for capital gains and business tax cuts;
Reduce outdated and duplicative programs and use the savings to reduce income taxes across the board;
Privatize federal corporations by offering current public employees stock options at below-market prices;
Commercialize air traffic control duties and privatize airports, targeting the savings to airline security; and
Devolve programs to states while alleviating federal mandates and reducing federal taxes.
Using the military base closing commission as a model, Congress should create an independent commission that would present Congress with a list of all duplicative, wasteful, outdated, and failed programs that should be eliminated, and earmark all savings to an immediate across-the-board income tax cut.1 To prevent Members from preserving their own special-interest programs, the legislation should not be amendable. When faced with a clear decision between funding outdated government programs and reducing the tax burden, most taxpayers would encourage their representatives to let them keep more of their own money.
Discretionary spending is the portion of the annual budget that Congress actually determines.
Since 2000, discretionary outlays surged 79 percent faster than inflation, to $1,408 billion. The “stimulus” is responsible for $111 billion of 2010 discretionary spending.
Between 1990 and 2000, $80 billion annually in new domestic spending was more than fully offset by a $100 billion cut in annual defense and homeland security spending, leaving (inflation-adjusted) discretionary spending slightly lower.
Since 2000, all types of discretionary spending have grown rapidly.
Overall, since 1990, domestic discretionary spending has risen 104 percent faster than inflation and defense/security discretionary spending has risen 51 percent.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales leave Clarence House to travel to Buckingham Palace for the evening celebrations. (John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
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.
I read an article recently that was very helpful on this subject. “The Seven Myths of Cohabitation,” by Patrick & Dwaina Six is an article that I will be sharing in this series the next few days. Here is the sixth portion:
“But we’re married in our own eyes.” No, they’re not. These couples have specifically decided not to marry yet or they would get married. Jesus made a distinction (in John 4:17) between marriage and cohabitation and we should, too.The seventh myth is that “We should live together before getting married to see if we’re compatible.” People who use this argument also use another one you’ve probably heard: “You wouldn’t buy a car without test-driving it first, would you?” Do you catch how that dehumanizes the other person? If you decide not to purchase a car, the vehicle doesn’t feel rejected! The car doesn’t need psychological counseling so it can trust the next driver, does it? You don’t pack your personal luggage in the trunk of a car you’re only test-driving. And deciding not to purchase a car doesn’t bring emotional baggage into your next test-driving experience. This kind of reasoning leaves an “easy way’ out of a relationship. The truth is that every couple is “incompatible”! That’s part of God’s purpose in marriage: that we consider one another as more important than ourselves (see Philippians 2:4). We must all learn to be compatible with our mate!
Chip Ingram – Moving Beyond Conflict (pt 6)
There are a few final thoughts on conflict resolution that I wanted to share with you. Think of these steps as the “finishing touches” that will enable you to move beyond conflict in a healthy way. After all, conflict doesn’t feel good to begin with, so if there’s no clear closure it can have deep emotional impact. My prayer for you is that these six messages on conflict resolution will give you practical tools and a Biblical perspective that will have transformational results in your relationships. Remember, you can listen to the full message for free at: http://bit.ly/hVjh7x
Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France (part1/12)
I am presently going through all the historical figures that are mentioned in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am discussing Marie Antoinette. In the movie you can see Gil and Inez on their visit to tour Versailles with their snobby friend Paul.
Paul goes on to discuss Marie Antoinette and her husband. Also later in the film the detective that is charged with following Gil actually finds himself in the presence of the king and queen. They are upset at this and they tell the guards to take his head off!!!
Born: November 2, 1755
Vienna (now in Austria)
Died: October 16, 1793
Paris, France French queen
M arie Antoinette was the queen of France at the outbreak of the French Revolution (1787–99). Her extravagant lifestyle, which included lavish parties and expensive clothes and jewelry, made her unpopular with most French citizens. When the king was overthrown, Marie Antoinette was put in jail and eventually beheaded.
A royal marriage
Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna (now in Austria), the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. She was the eleventh daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I (1708–1765) and the empress Maria Theresa (1717–1780). In 1770 she married Louis XVI (1754–1793). Louis was the French dauphin, or the oldest son of the king of France. He became king fours years later in 1774, which made Marie Antoinette the queen.
The personalities of the two rulers were very different. Louis XVI was withdrawn and emotionless. Marie Antoinette was happy and careless in her actions and choice of friends. At first the new queen was well liked by the French citizens. She organized elegant dances and gave many gifts and favors to her friends. However, people began to resent her increasingly extravagant ways. She soon became unpopular in the court and the country, annoying many of the nobles, including the King’s brothers. She also bothered French aristocrats, or nobles, who were upset over a recent alliance with Austria. Austria was long viewed as France’s enemy. Among the general French population she became the symbol for the extravagance of the royal family.
The queen intervenes
Marie Antoinette did not disrupt foreign affairs as frequently as has been claimed. When she first entered France she interrupted an official German greeting with, “Speak French, Monsieur. From now on I hear no language other than French.” She sometimes tried, usually without great success, to obtain French support for her homeland.
The queen’s influence on domestic policy before 1789 has also been exaggerated. Her interference in politics was usually in order to obtain jobs and money for her friends. It is true, however, that she usually opposed the efforts of reforming ministers such as A. R. J. Turgot (1727–1781) and became involved in court scandals against them. Activities such as the “diamond necklace affair,” where the queen was accused of having an improper relationship with a wealthy church official in exchange for an expensive necklace, increased her unpopularity and led to a stream of pamphlets and articles against her. The fact that after the birth of her children Marie Antoinette’s way of life became more restrained did not alter the popular image of an immoral and extravagant woman.
The last days of the monarchy
In the summer of 1788 France was having an economic crisis. Louis XVI yielded to pressure and assembled the Estates General, which was a governmental body that represented France’s three Estates—the nobles, the church, and the French common people. Marie Antoinette agreed to the return of Jacques Necker (1732–1804) as chief minister and to granting the Third Estate, which represented the commoners, as many representatives as the other two Estates combined. However, after such events as the taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 (French citizens overran a Paris prison and took the weapons stored there), Marie Antoinette supported the conservative court faction that insisted on keeping the royal family in power.
On October 1, 1789, the queen attended a banquet at Versailles, France, during which the French Revolution was attacked and insulted. A
Marie Antoinette. Courtesy of the
Library of Congress
.
few days later (October 4–5) a Parisian crowd forced the royal court to move to Paris, where they could control it more easily. Marie Antoinette’s role in the efforts of the monarchy to work with such moderates as the Comte de Mirabeau (1749–1791) and later with the constitutional monarchist A. P. Barnave (1761–1793) is unclear. But it appears that she lacked confidence in them. On June 21, 1791, the king and queen were captured at Varennes (a border town in France) after trying to escape. Convinced that only foreign assistance could save the monarchy, the queen sought the aid of her brother, the Holy Roman emperor Leopold II (1747–1792). At this time, many French military officers left the country. Thinking that France would be easily defeated, she favored a declaration of war against Austria in April 1792. On August 10, 1792, a Paris crowd stormed the Tuileries Palace and ended the monarchy.
The queen is dead
On August 13, 1792, Marie Antoinette began a captivity that was to end only with her death. She was jailed in various Parisian prisons. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to escape, Marie Antoinette appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal. She was charged with aiding the enemy and inciting civil war within France. The tribunal found her guilty and condemned her to death. On October 16, 1793, she went to the guillotine. (The guillotine was a machine used during the French Revolution to execute people by beheading them.) Marie Antoinette aroused sympathy by her dignity and courage in prison and before the executioner.
Directed by: Woody Allen
Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates
Running Time: 1 hr 28 mins
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: May 27, 2011
PLOT: At the stroke of midnight, a struggling novelist in 2010 is strangely carried off by a car to the 1920′s, where he hangs out with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali (Brody) and the mistress of Pablo Picasso (Cotillard).
WHO’S IT FOR?: Any romantic, urban or suburban, can be swept up by the charm of Woody Allen’s presentation of Paris. This film could be especially delightful for those who enjoy their literature, or in general, their famous artists. The more that one is aware of the works of artists like Hemingway, Bunuel, or even Cole Porter, the more likely you are to take part in the movie’s magic and big laughs.
EXPECTATIONS: The reception for this film from Cannes Film Festival was strikingly positive. Did it win audiences over with humor, or heart? Perhaps a mix of both, with a few doses of death thrown in?
SCORECARD (0-10)
ACTORS:
Owen Wilson as Gil: Whether we could have predicted it or not, Wilson is quite a natural in what feels like a loosely-based Woody surrogate role (but this progressively becomes not the case). Wilson’s excitement about what’s around him translates well to the audience, and his lack of upfront neuroses is relatively refreshing. With the history of Paris standing as the mistress he sneaks away to enjoy every night, Wilson is a charming fellow tourist into the city’s great legacy.
Score: 7
Rachel McAdams as Inez: On the other side of the tourism coin is someone like Inez, a person who bought into the chic images of a Paris, but not one who cares to enjoy “the City of Lights” for its humble beauty (or even its rain). Though her character is rather simple, McAdams does well with the moments she has, and makes for an amusing ugly caricature of the type of people Allen would probably prefer to keep out of Paris.
Score: 6
Rest of Cast: Midnight in Paris is full of big name actors playing bit parts, each of them leaving a certain mark on the movie’s allure. A clean cut Michael Sheen stands as a hilarious weapon of Woody’s crusade against faux-intellectuals whose pedantic nature precedes them. Adrien Brody’s impersonation of Salvador Dali is equally kooky and delightful, and Kathy Bates is a nice surprise. Midway through the film, Allen falls in love with Cotillard’s face, and just like his contagious love for Paris, so do we.
Score: 8
TALKING: With the neuroses of its characters toned down more notably compared to previous Allen projects, the script rarely has everyone stumbling over their words. Instead, the dialogue is crisp, with Allen basking in his opportunity to name-drop a whole slew of famous artists, for the sake of making the period more enchanting, and also the gamut of a good laugh.
Score: 7
SIGHTS: With its bright-eyed enamor with all corners of the city, Midnight in Paris always lights its interiors and exteriors (of all periods) with a certain golden glow. Moments of conversation are covered with subtle long takes that also make photographic use of locations like Versailles. Midnight in Paris even begins with an entrancing montage that captures the city at all times of the day, with the beauty of Paris presented by the camera’s own exquisite framing.
Score: 8
SOUNDS: Keeping both to the period and to the general musical library of Woody Allen, the Midnight in Paris soundtrack often hums along to notable tunes by the likes of Cole Porter and Django Reinhardt. In this case, tunes by Porter have an even more direct relationship with the material, as the song is actually played by someone acting as Porter.
Score: 7
PLOT SPOILERS
BEST SCENE: There are many laughs in the film, but the biggest moment(s) might be whenever Wilson and Sheen are interacting through various “educational” moments.
ENDING: Paris is most romantic when it rains.
QUESTIONS: Where can I find the time portal in New York City, so that I can give 1970’s Woody the idea for Crimes and Misdemeanors?
REWATCHABILITY: It’s uncertain whether the magic would be as strong in a second viewing, but it’s certainly an enjoyable film with a lightness that could be visited with ease.
OVERALL
Midnight in Paris is a pleasing little gift from a filmmaker whose lighter work can be just as fulfilling as his heavier stories. Here, the neuroses of characters are relatively tranquil, and the general magic of nostalgia is at the forefront. A large chunk of Midnight’s thrill is its presentation in showing artists that we have forgotten – even if the movie likes to slow itself down a bit in order to make these references, and for Allen to toy with the existence of art’s most important characters. Packing his sweet short story with quaint poetic irony and purely beautiful imagery, Allen succeeds in showing his audience of temporary tourists that Paris is indeed a city where history’s finest artists can create some of their most inspired work.
In Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris” Gil and his friends take a tour of Versailles (pictured below). In a comical scene from that movie the detective that is following Gil finds himself at Versailles back at the time of the French Revolution and he intrudes in on the king and queen of France. Then […]
I am presently going through all the historical figures that are mentioned in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am discussing Marie Antoinette’s husband King Louis XVI of France. Pictured above you can see Gil and Inez on their visit to tour Versailles with their snobby friend Paul. Paul goes on to […]
Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France (part1/12) I am presently going through all the historical figures that are mentioned in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am discussing Marie Antoinette. In the movie you can see Gil and Inez on their visit to tour Versailles with their snobby friend Paul. Paul goes on […]
The British gardener who’s taking care of Monet’s water lilies By John Lichfield in Paris Thursday, 5 May 2011 PA/ REX FEATURES James Priest, the new head gardener at Giverny. Monet’s White Water Lilies, 1899, right British gardener is to take over one of the most venerated plots of ground in the world: the […]
J. M. W. Turner Biography View Larger Image > ( 1775 – 1851 ) I have enjoyed going through the artists referenced in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris.” Paul is the snobby expert on impressionist art that talks about Monet at the museum but he notes that Turner was actually really the author […]
I have been going through the characters in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris,” and now I am posting about Josephine Baker. By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans to look at Van Gogh, Picasso, Man […]
This one means more than the title they took in 2009 against a second-team USA. Now El Tri gets to play in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil a year before the World Cup.
Pablo Barrera scored twice for Mexico, which rallied to beat the United States 4-2 on Saturday night while most of the fans at the Rose Bowl roared approval.
Schaerlaeckens: Sharp Adu Not Enough
Freddy Adu was the best American player on the field Saturday. Unfortunately for the U.S., it wasn’t enough, writes ESPN.com’s Leander Schaerlaeckens. Story
Shelburne: Don’t Misinterpret Crowd
Most fans donned Mexico’s green at the Rose Bowl, but the stories behind the jerseys run deeper, writes ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Ramona Shelburne. Story
“They’re as dynamic as any Mexican team I’ve played against,” said Landon Donovan, who has played for the United States since 2000. “They’ve got a few guys who can change the game in a heartbeat.”
That’s almost exactly what happened over the course of seven minutes in the first half.
Barrera scored his first goal on a 17-yard shot inside the right post in the 29th minute, snapping US goalkeeper Tim Howard‘s Gold Cup shutout streak at 351 minutes.
“That’s a tough one,” United States coach Bob Bradley of the goal. “That really changed the momentum before the half.”
Then in the 36th minute, Dos Santos’ pass from the right side of the penalty area deflected off defender Eric Lichaj and toward Howard. Guardado pounced on the ball and poked it in from five yards, tying it at 2.
“They’ve got a very good mix of attacking talent,” Bradley said. “They come at you. They play quickly from the flanks. There’s a lot to deal with.”
Mexico’s Javier Hernandez, who led this year’s Gold Cup with seven goals, was the tournament’s most valuable player. Chicharito, as Hernandez’s jersey reads, scored 20 goals for Manchester United during England’s recently completed Premier League season.
“Things were difficult but the coach told us to fight every single play,” Hernandez said of head coach Jose Manuel de la Torre. “Our attitude is in our hands.”
Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesMexico’s Giovani Dos Santos, not pictured, ended the scoring with a 17-yard shot at the left post after keeping the ball away from Tim Howard.
Michael Bradley and Donovan scored to help the United States build a 2-0 lead. Donovan became the Gold Cup’s leading scorer with 13 goals.
Barrera put Mexico ahead to stay in the 50th minute, slipping a 10-yard shot underneath the right hand of diving goalkeeper Howard and inside the left post.
And the crowd, announced at 93,420, just got louder.
“Obviously, the support that Mexico has on a night like tonight makes it a home game for them,” Bradley said. “It’s something that we expected. As a team, we understand that it’s part of what we’ve got to deal with.”
The crowd greeted the introduction of each American player by shouting “Burro!” — “Donkey!”
Guardado played on a slightly sprained left ankle. He was injured during Mexico’s 2-0 semifinal victory over Honduras on Wednesday.
Dos Santos ended the scoring in the 76th minute by chipping a 17-yard shot over Lichaj’s head at the left post after keeping the ball away from a charging Howard.
The announced attendance of 93,420 was the largest for a Gold Cup game in the United States, but the crowd was decidedly in Mexico’s corner.
The Americans responded with an early burst. Bradley put the U.S. ahead in the eighth minute with a 10-yard header off Freddy Adu’s corner kick.
Donovan’s 11-yard shot inside the left post made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute. Clint Dempsey‘s pass between two defenders freed Donovan for a breakaway.
Defender Steve Cherundolo, who had played every minute of the Gold Cup for the United States, sprained his left ankle and left in the 11th minute. His disappearance seemed to take some of the focus out of the United States defense.
“We just lost concentration on a couple of plays,” Donovan said, “and they made us pay.”
Italy Four Time World Cup Winner 1934 – 1938 – 1982 – 2006 AP Photo With Europe on the brink of war, Mussolini’s Italian team, defending champions, reveled in their role as tournament heel. Their fixtures in France drew boisterous mobs of exiled Italian anti-fascists, up to 10,000 strong, who came to jeer their country’s […]
Today’s discussion is about who the fifth best all time player is. Wilson Hatcher’s pick: Zinedine Zidane Born in France in 1972, even Pelé considered Zidane to be one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game. During his 18-year career he played for Juventus, Real Madrid and represented France in three World Cups, helping […]
Wilson Hatcher’s predictions Group A 1. Mexico 2. Costa Rica 3. El Salvador Group B 1.Honduras 2. Guatemala Group C 1. USA 2. Canada 3. Panama Quarter Finals Costa Rica 2-1 Guatemala Mexico 4-1 Panama Honduras 1-1 Canada USA 3-0 El Salvador Semi Finals Costa Rica 1-1 Mexico USA 2-1 Honduras Finals USA 1-0 Costa […]
Today we are debating the #6 best soccer player of all time. Wilson: Ronaldo– He has won two World Cups and came in 2nd for another. He has scored more World Cup goals than anyone. He is the second best Brazilian on the list. Ronaldo – All 15 record World-Cup goals in [HD] In [HD]: […]
Guadalupe Vs United States 0-1 “Full Highlights”Resumen Everette Hatcher: My prediction is that the USA will win 4-3 today. Wilson Hatcher : My prediction is that the USA will win 1-1 in penalty kicks over Jamaica. Other posts about soccer: USA must defeat Guadeloupe in Gold Cup in KC tonight June 13, 2011 – 10:07 am […]
LA Galaxy reported: Gold Cup: USA at loss for answers after historic loss No explanation for lackadaisical start, says Donovan after loss Simon Borg MLSsoccer.com June 11, 2011 (Getty Images) TAMPA, Fla. – It’s a script the US national team has seen play out plenty of times over the last year or so: Slow start. […]
Yahoo Sports reported: The rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps goes back to their days in the old NASL in the 1970s, but the final 10 minutes of their first MLS match against each other on Saturday night might have been the best yet. The Sounders’ Mauro Rosales pulled the score even […]
Today we are discussing the 7th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher’s choice: I have chosen this game partly because it was a game that the USA won. Sadly Escobar was killed in a bar back in Columbia when he got home. Two of my sons were learning soccer at the time and they were 7 […]
Today we are discussing the 8th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher picks the Germany v. USA game in 2002. 2002 World Cup Quarter Finals: Germany vs United States Close call on hand-ball: In the 49th minute of Friday’s Germany-United States World Cup quarterfinal, a shot by American Gregg Berhalter bounced off German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and […]
Today is a discussion of the 9th most controversial game in World Cup History. Wilson Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Uploaded by TubeCentary on Jun 7, 2011 Goals from the GOLD CUP match. Dempsey and Altidore with the goals. Hilarious American commentary to go with it. The Associated Press reported: Five Mexican players fail test Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five players on Mexico’s soccer team, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, have […]
Today is a discussion of the 10th most controversial game in World Cup History. Everette Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Italy Four Time World Cup Winner 1934 – 1938 – 1982 – 2006 AP Photo With Europe on the brink of war, Mussolini’s Italian team, defending champions, reveled in their role as tournament heel. Their fixtures in France drew boisterous mobs of exiled Italian anti-fascists, up to 10,000 strong, who came to jeer their country’s […]
Today’s discussion is about who the fifth best all time player is. Wilson Hatcher’s pick: Zinedine Zidane Born in France in 1972, even Pelé considered Zidane to be one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game. During his 18-year career he played for Juventus, Real Madrid and represented France in three World Cups, helping […]
Wilson Hatcher’s predictions Group A 1. Mexico 2. Costa Rica 3. El Salvador Group B 1.Honduras 2. Guatemala Group C 1. USA 2. Canada 3. Panama Quarter Finals Costa Rica 2-1 Guatemala Mexico 4-1 Panama Honduras 1-1 Canada USA 3-0 El Salvador Semi Finals Costa Rica 1-1 Mexico USA 2-1 Honduras Finals USA 1-0 Costa […]
Today we are debating the #6 best soccer player of all time. Wilson: Ronaldo– He has won two World Cups and came in 2nd for another. He has scored more World Cup goals than anyone. He is the second best Brazilian on the list. Ronaldo – All 15 record World-Cup goals in [HD] In [HD]: […]
Guadalupe Vs United States 0-1 “Full Highlights”Resumen Everette Hatcher: My prediction is that the USA will win 4-3 today. Wilson Hatcher : My prediction is that the USA will win 1-1 in penalty kicks over Jamaica. Other posts about soccer: USA must defeat Guadeloupe in Gold Cup in KC tonight June 13, 2011 – 10:07 am […]
LA Galaxy reported: Gold Cup: USA at loss for answers after historic loss No explanation for lackadaisical start, says Donovan after loss Simon Borg MLSsoccer.com June 11, 2011 (Getty Images) TAMPA, Fla. – It’s a script the US national team has seen play out plenty of times over the last year or so: Slow start. […]
Yahoo Sports reported: The rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps goes back to their days in the old NASL in the 1970s, but the final 10 minutes of their first MLS match against each other on Saturday night might have been the best yet. The Sounders’ Mauro Rosales pulled the score even […]
Today we are discussing the 7th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher’s choice: I have chosen this game partly because it was a game that the USA won. Sadly Escobar was killed in a bar back in Columbia when he got home. Two of my sons were learning soccer at the time and they were 7 […]
Today we are discussing the 8th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher picks the Germany v. USA game in 2002. 2002 World Cup Quarter Finals: Germany vs United States Close call on hand-ball: In the 49th minute of Friday’s Germany-United States World Cup quarterfinal, a shot by American Gregg Berhalter bounced off German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and […]
Today is a discussion of the 9th most controversial game in World Cup History. Wilson Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Uploaded by TubeCentary on Jun 7, 2011 Goals from the GOLD CUP match. Dempsey and Altidore with the goals. Hilarious American commentary to go with it. The Associated Press reported: Five Mexican players fail test Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five players on Mexico’s soccer team, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, have […]
Today is a discussion of the 10th most controversial game in World Cup History. Everette Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
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.
Following several “expansion budgets,” President Bush has moved the debate in a more responsible direction by proposing a “belt-tightening budget” that asks most agencies to accept a near-freeze in discretionary spending. But would most families trying to cut costs simply freeze each expenditure equally? Or would they fully fund priorities like food, the mortgage payment, and insurance while completely eliminating unaffordable luxuries such as vacations and entertainment?
Most families would choose this “priority budget” over a “belt-tightening budget,” and so should government. A priority budget would ask lawmakers to fully fund a few top priorities, such as defense, homeland security, and a few domestic programs, and then terminate such unaffordable luxuries as the approximately $60 billion in corporate welfare spending; the $20 billion pork-project budget; $100 billion (at least) in waste, fraud, and abuse; and hundreds of ineffective, outdated, and unnecessary programs.
Belt-tightening budgets are certainly preferable to the expansion budgets of the past few years. However, reducing a program’s funding without correspondingly adjusting its structure, goals, and duties can lead to ineffective government. Better a few vital activities performed well than a multitude of activities performed poorly.
President Bush proposes terminating 65 programs at a savings of $4.9 billion. (See Appendix 1.) Although a step in the right direction, these low-priority terminations represent only 0.2 percent of all federal spending. By contrast, a priority budget would:
Fully fund a limited number of high-priority spending categories, such as defense and homeland security;
Terminate entire categories of lower-priority programs, such as corporate welfare;
Institute a moratorium on pork projects;
Limit non-security spending increases to programs that pass their audits; and
Substantially reform programs growing at unsustainable rates, such as Social Security and Medicare.
Time to be Bold
Congress last attempted to enact a priority budget in 1995 and 1996, when the 104th Congress terminated several programs whose irrelevance was proven by how quickly they were forgotten. But Congress then committed several strategic errors, such as overreaching and shutting down the federal government in 1995. After President Bill Clinton deftly exploited these mistakes, budget cutters overreacted to Clinton’s tactics by completely abandoning the mission of smaller government. By 1998, federal spending was growing once again as a paralyzed Congress decided that budget confrontations with the Clinton White House could never be won and should be avoided at all costs.
In 2004, national defense, homeland security, and entitlement challenges make spending reform more important than ever. It is time to step back and think about the role of government, the obligations of the private sector, and the delineation between federal and state responsibilities. For those interested in lean, effective government with low taxes, the following are 10 guidelines for getting spending under control.
PA/ REX FEATURESJames Priest, the new head gardener at Giverny. Monet’s White Water Lilies, 1899, right British gardener is to take over one of the most venerated plots of ground in the world: the garden created more than a century ago by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet.
From next month, James Priest, 53, will become head gardener at Giverny in Normandy, Monet’s home for 43 years and the inspiration for some of his most admired paintings, including his famed water lily canvases.
Mr Priest, who was trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, becomes a successor to Monet himself, who designed and shaped the five acres of flower beds and water lily ponds until his death, aged 86, in 1926
“This is an enormous honour and I’m only just beginning to realise how daunting a task it will be,” Mr Priest told The Independent yesterday. “The garden seems very simple but the more you look at it you see that it is a very rich garden, a very profound garden. On top of that, there is the enormous public and media interest in what goes on here. I have just been interviewed for the French television news. That never happened in my previous jobs.”
Mr Priest, who comes from Maghull, north of Liverpool, has worked in France for 26 years, looking after the grounds of a succession of large estates, including 17 years working for Baron Elie de Rothschild at Royaumont near Chantilly. At Giverny, he succeeds Gilbert Vahé who restored the garden in the late 1970s from an overgrown wilderness to the glory of its Monet days. Mr Vahé, who is retiring after 35 years, will retain a consultancy role.
One of the best known features of the garden, the hump-backed Japanese bridge over a lily pond, features in the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris which will open the Cannes film festival next week.
Mr Priest, who will head a team of eight gardeners , said his intention was to preserve the “unique identity and character” of Giverny. “This is not an English garden, although it has some English features. It is not exactly a French garden either,” he said. “It is an artist’s garden, which parallels in some respects the way that Monet painted. He built up his canvasses in layers of paint, to catch the light in different ways. In the same way, you realise that the flower beds here have been conceived in layers of height and colour to catch the light.”
Monet’s house and garden at Giverny, run by the Fondation Claude Monet, attract 500,000 visitors a year from all over the world. The artist moved to Giverny, 60 miles west of Paris, in 1883. He started the garden initially as a source of cut flowers which he could paint indoors on dull or rainy days. “He seems rapidly to have succumbed to the obsession, the disease, which is love of gardening,” Mr Priest said. Some of Monet’s most loved late paintings show Giverny, including large canvasses of water lilies on the pond straddled by is green footbridge in the Japanese style.
Monet once wrote: “Apart from painting and gardening, I am no good at anything.”
After his death, his house and garden fell into disrepair. The site was restored between 1977 and 1980 using the records of local plant nurseries as well as the Monet’s letters, photographs and paintings.
The dry, sunny weather this year means that Monet’s garden is several weeks ahead of its normal schedule. “If the dry weather continues, we may have to consider using some plants which need less water,” Mr Priest said. “Someone asked me if I intended to plant cactuses at Giverny, but I don’t think we are there yet.”
Claude Monet: Inventing Impressionism
I have enjoyed going through the artists referenced in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris.” Paul is the snobby expert on impressionist art that talks about Monet at the museum in Paris. Also Gil talks about Monet in the opening scene of the movie when he says he wishes he could move to Paris where Monet painted.
Recently I visited the “Impressionism Art Exhibit” at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock presented by Harriet and Warren Stephens. It had lots of paintings by Monet and my favorite is the one below:
26”
36”
Enlarge PaintingPainting Name: Autumn on the Seine at Argenteuil 1873
Painting Size: 36”inches wide by 26”inches high
By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans to look at Van Gogh, Picasso, Man Ray, T.S. Elliot and several more.
Impressionists live
From Sacha Guitry’s film Ceux de chez nous 1914-15. Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet painting, Edgar Degas walking.
Monet is recognized to be one of the founders of Impressionism, and he was the most constant and convinced of all.Since his beginnings as an artist, he was encouraged to always listen and transmit his perceptions, and all criticisms which he had to undergo never did move him away from this search.Claude Monet was born in Paris on November 14, 1840 but all his impressions as a child and teenager are related to the city of Le Havre where his family moved in 1845. There his father held a trade of colonial articles .
Self-portrait with a beret
1886
Private Collection
The HEIR to BOUDIN and JONGKIND
Whereas he was still at college, he gained a certain notoriety while drawing caricatures which he showed in a store of drawing supplies with which Eugene Boudin worked at the time. Finally Boudin convinced the young Monet, at first very reticent, to paint with him in the open air. Monet will say later: “by the only example of this artist fond of his art and of his independence, my destiny as a painter had opened”.
His family was not opposed that he became a painter, but his independent ideas, his criticism of academic painting and his refusal to follow a good Art School repeatedly caused arguments within his family. Finally, Monet started to paint in Paris at the Charles Suisse Academy where he will meet Pissarro in 1859, and Cézanne in 1861, before having to carry out his military obligations.
His military service in Algeria (1860-1861) was stopped by a typhoid which brought him back to France, where he started again to work in the summer of 1862 in Le Havre with Boudin and the Dutch landscape-painter Jongkind. He will say speaking of Jongkind : “…by there completing the teaching which I had received from Boudin, he was from this moment my true Master, and it is to him that I owe the final education of my eye”.
La Bavolle street, Honfleur
1864 Stadische Kunsthalle Mannheim ,
Germany
Released by his aunt of the rest of his military service, he resumed more serious studies at the School of Fine Art of Paris, and particularly he integrated the Workshop of one of the professors of the School, Swiss painter Charles Gleyre, where he was going to bind friendship with Bazille, Renoir and Sisley.In the years 1860, these young artists attended the Café Guerbois, a place where Edouard Manet and Emile Zola often went.
The SALON and the BIRTH OF THE IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT
The history of Impressionism cannot be dissociated of that of the Official Salon.
The social, economic and cultural evolution of XIXth century will have as a consequence that, from now on, art works would be created mainly by independent artists (rather than by painters at the service of some prince or corporation).
For these artists, finding possibilities of exhibition was an existential concern. Although art dealers and their galleries were going to take an increasing importance, in France, the most important and impossible to circumvent possibility of exhibition was the Official “Salon of Paris”.
From 1863 on, the Salon will be held on an annual basis and a jury made up of members of the Academy of Fine Arts and of preceding medal-holders of the Salon will select works to be presented. For the only year 1863, 4000 works were refused on the 5000 requests coming from some 3000 artists, which led to the creation in 1863 of the “Salon des Refusés” (Salon of the Refused ones) .For Monet and his friends, Renoir, Bazille, Sisley… years between the “Salon des Refusés” and the War of 1870 were going to be placed under the sign of an anxious research of their artistic personality and of a fast alternation of successes and failures. If they were, except for Cézanne, selected at the Salon at their first attempt (in 1865 for Monet), they will afterwards experience frequent refusals.
Regattas at Sainte-Adresse
1867
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
During all this period, these young painters consolidated the links existing between them and developed new relationships, seeking for new inspirations and pictorial means. Except for those who had a comfortable financial situation (Degas, Caillebotte, Bazille), they will face periods of bitter poverty, and especially Monet – whom Bazille helped financially – when he had to assume alone his household. They painted in the open air, in the surroundings of Paris or on the Norman Coast, where the experiment of the optical phenomena of light and color which passioned them was more intense
An important crossroads of the evolution of Monet was when he painted in 1869 withRenoir a series of paintings in a place of leisures and meeting in Bougival called “the Grenouillère”, very appreciated by the Parisian middle-class, with bathing, canoeing and a floating restaurant. The paintings which they made while working with fast and vigorous brushstrokes loaded with pure color, corresponding to the turbulent animation of the small world which pressed there, mark the emergence of a new artistic styledominated by the impression , rather than details, inaugurating what was going five years later to be called “Impressionism”.
LAST WORKS AT GIVERNY
Monet was to live from 1883 until its death in 1926, that is to say more than forty years, in his property in Giverny, of which he will gradually transform the garden in a decorative set.
Monet removes bad grasses and hedges, then digs, sows grass, plants decorative trees and creates series of various flower beds. He also produces a kitchen garden to nourish his family. In the evening, the children often weed and water.
(Opening scene of “Midnight in Paris”)What was in the beginning only a Norman orchard with only grass and apple trees becomes, with the contribution of all the family, an historical garden . It is a work of patience, which Monet continues with love. Even when the task becomes too bigt so that he cannot assume it alone, he supervises his team of gardeners (1 garden chief and six assistants).
Monet buys seeds and plants everywhere he goes, concludes exchanges with other gardeners. It is him who searches the catalogues and places the orders, that they be for seeds, pots, melon bells…
In 1893, he begins the installation of his famous “water garden” with the pond with the nymphea.
In 1899, Monet studied for the first time the subject of the nymphea (species of water lilies): The nymphea white (1899). The Japanese bridge (1899), Nymphea (1914), (1917), were the principal topics of its last works.
The Japanese bridge
over the water-lilies pond
at Giverny
1899
Princeton University Art Museum
New Jersey
Monet leaves a considerable work as much in quantity (more than 2000 indexed works), as by his impressionist research, expression of which he is the most typical representative. The father of Impressionism will write on this subject little time before his death:
Photo of the japanese bridge
over the water-lilies pond
at Giverny
“I always had horror of theories… I only had the merit to paint directly in front of nature, trying to translate its most fugitive effects, and I remain sorry to have been the cause of the name given to a groupof which the majority did not have anything impressionist“
Photo of the garden
and the house of Monet
at Giverny
Monet’s estate at Giverny is now opened for public visits. It is maintained by the “Claude Monet Foundation“
Photo of Monet‘s house
at Giverny
Monet bequeathed to the State fourteen large paintings of his nymphea, which were placed in 1927, little after his death, in two oval rooms of the Museum of the Orangery in the Tuileries Garden.
Photo of the water-lilies pond
at Giverny
How Should We Then Live? Episode 8: The Age Of Fragmentation
Published on Jul 24, 2012
Dr. Schaeffer’s sweeping epic on the rise and decline of Western thought and Culture
__________
The above clip is from the film series by Francis Schaeffer “How should we then live?” Below is an outline of the 8th episode on the Impressionists and the age of Fragmentation.
AGE OF FRAGMENTATION
I. Art As a Vehicle Of Modern Thought
A. Impressionism (Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas) and Post-Impressionism (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat): appearance and reality.
1. Problem of reality in Impressionism: no universal.
2. Post-Impression seeks the universal behind appearances.
3. Painting expresses an idea in its own terms as a work of art; to discuss the idea in a painting is not to intellectualize art.
4. Parallel search for universal in art and philosophy; Cézanne.
B. Fragmentation.
1. Extremes of ultra-naturalism or abstraction: Wassily Kandinsky.
2. Picasso leads choice for abstraction: relevance of this choice.
3. Failure of Picasso (like Sartre, and for similar reasons) to be fully consistent with his choice.
C. Retreat to absurdity.
1. Dada , and Marcel Duchamp: art as absurd. (Dada gave birth to Surrealism).
2. Art followed philosophy but came sooner to logical end.
3. Chance in his art technique as an art theory impossible to practice: Pollock.
II. Music As a Vehicle of Modern Thought
A. Non-resolution and fragmentation: German and French streams.
1. Influence of Beethoven’s last Quartets.
2. Direction and influence of Debussy.
3. Schoenberg’s non-resolution; contrast with Bach.
4. Stockhausen: electronic music and concern with the element of change.
B. Cage: a case study in confusion.
1. Deliberate chance and confusion in Cage’s music.
2. Cage’s inability to live the philosophy of his music.
C. Contrast of music-by-chance and the world around us.
1. Inconsistency of indulging in expression of chaos when we acknowledge order for practical matters like airplane design.
2. Art as anti-art when it is mere intellectual statement, divorced from reality of who people are and the fullness of what the universe is.
III. General Culture As the Vehicle of Modern Thought
A. Propagation of idea of fragmentation in literature.
1. Effect of Eliot’s Wasteland and Picasso’s Demoiselles d’ Avignon compared; the drift of general culture.
2. Eliot’s change in his form of writing when he became a Christian.
3. Philosophic popularization by novel: Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir.
B. Cinema as advanced medium of philosophy.
1. Cinema in the 1960s used to express Man’s destruction: e.g. Blow-up.
2. Cinema and the leap into fantasy:
The Hour of the Wolf, Belle de Jour, Juliet of the Spirits,
The Last Year at Marienbad.
3. Bergman’s inability to live out his philosophy (see Cage):
Silence and The Hour of the Wolf.
IV. Only on Christian Base Can Reality Be Faced Squarely
Going to the movies is a favorite American pastime. Though a trip to the movie theater might not be high on the priority list of most visitors to France, going to the cinéma is a fantastic way to get a whole new sense of modern French culture. Most movie theaters offer several American films at any given time, all of which are in English and subtitled in French. Woody Allen’s new romantic comedy “Midnight in Paris” (called “Minuit à Paris” here in France) has caught the attention of French and American spectators alike and is the perfect film for anyone who loves the City of Light. Seeing “Midnight in Paris” while actually in Paris is a special treat, as one recognizes almost all of the beautiful settings Woody Allen features throughout the film.
The French movie theater experience is fundamentally different from that of America. Most theaters are smaller, thus it’s a good idea to buy your tickets in advance or allow a little extra time at the theater to ensure that you have a seat. At just €5.90 for a student, French movie tickets are certainly less expensive than the $11 to $12 fares one often sees in the States. With those savings, one can indulge in a big tub of popcorn, which is typically much less buttery than the salty stuff Americans are accustomed to. Some French movie theaters even feature macaroons, wine and beer for their more discerning patrons!
After getting situated with tickets and refreshments, settling into the theater’s ultra-plush seats for a showing of “Midnight in Paris” was a very comfortable way to enjoy a virtual walking tour of the city. In the film, a young Hollywood screenwriter named Gil (played by Owen Wilson) accompanies the family of his fiancée Ines (played by Rachel McAdams) on a business trip to Paris before their wedding. While Ines and her parents remain totally absorbed in the material aspects of Paris and are quick to judge the French and their lifestyle, Gil revels in the rich cultural offerings of the City of Light. Each night, he explores the city on foot and is magically swept away to 1920s-era Paris, where he meets legendary figures of the past such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso.Through these imaginary encounters with decades past in Paris, Gil gains an entirely new perspective on his own modern life and his love of the city itself. Woody Allen shows his audience some of the most beautiful vistas in Paris and demonstrates his own adoration for the city throughout the film, leaving spectators charmed by the movie’s visual aspects if nothing else. He also brings to light many of the stereotypes that Americans hold of the French and vice versa, prompting his audiences to reflect on their own cultural perceptions of both countries.“Midnight in Paris” features a host of well-known American and French faces (French first lady Carla Bruni even makes a cameo!) and has been well-received by critics in both countries. A.O. Scott of The New York Times called the film “charming” as well as “modest and lighthearted” and movie critics in the French press lauded Allen for his portrayal of Paris comme une carte postale (like a postcard). Whether you’re vacationing in Paris or simply dreaming of the City of Light from home, making a trip to see “Midnight in Paris” is a magical way to experience France’s capital. Bon voyage!
In Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris” Gil and his friends take a tour of Versailles (pictured below). In a comical scene from that movie the detective that is following Gil finds himself at Versailles back at the time of the French Revolution and he intrudes in on the king and queen of France. Then […]
I am presently going through all the historical figures that are mentioned in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am discussing Marie Antoinette’s husband King Louis XVI of France. Pictured above you can see Gil and Inez on their visit to tour Versailles with their snobby friend Paul. Paul goes on to […]
Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France (part1/12) I am presently going through all the historical figures that are mentioned in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am discussing Marie Antoinette. In the movie you can see Gil and Inez on their visit to tour Versailles with their snobby friend Paul. Paul goes on […]
The British gardener who’s taking care of Monet’s water lilies By John Lichfield in Paris Thursday, 5 May 2011 PA/ REX FEATURES James Priest, the new head gardener at Giverny. Monet’s White Water Lilies, 1899, right British gardener is to take over one of the most venerated plots of ground in the world: the […]
J. M. W. Turner Biography View Larger Image > ( 1775 – 1851 ) I have enjoyed going through the artists referenced in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris.” Paul is the snobby expert on impressionist art that talks about Monet at the museum but he notes that Turner was actually really the author […]
I have been going through the characters in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris,” and now I am posting about Josephine Baker. By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans to look at Van Gogh, Picasso, Man […]
Britain’s Prince William, center left, and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, center right, pose for a photograph with, clockwise from bottom right, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Eliza Lopes, Grace van Cutsem, Lady Louise Windsor, Tom Pettifer, and William Lowther-Pinkerton in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, following their wedding at Westminster Abbey, London, on Friday, April 29, 2011 in this photo provided by Clarence House on Saturday, April 30, 2011. (Hugo Burnand, Clarence House/AP Photo)
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.
I read an article recently that was very helpful on this subject. “The Seven Myths of Cohabitation,” by Patrick & Dwaina Six is an article that I will be sharing in this series the next few days. Here is the fifth portion:
Another myth is: “Our children will be better off.” Not true! The safest place for children is in a home where their parents are married to each other. Abuse rates are highest among children with cohabitating parents. The best probability for experiencing a great relationship and providing a nurturing environment for children occurs within the commitment of marriage. Most children worry at some time in their life about their parents getting a divorce. They need the reassurance that their parents love each other and are committed to the marriage and family. The underlying lack of commitment in a cohabitating relationship lends itself, by its nature, to feeding this insecurity in children.
Chip Ingram – How to Diffuse Conflict in Your Marriage (pt 5)
Recently I’ve shared with you several brief video messages about how to resolve conflict. This is such an essential issue that so many of us would rather avoid! The truth is that unresolved conflict creates stress and often results in unhealthy and damaging sin patterns. This quick message will give you some practical ways to approach and diffuse conflict that can help break the cycle. If you or someone you know would like to learn more on this subject, I encourage you to download the full message for free: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
Benefits of Attending a Weekend to Remember
April
Bridesmaids and page boys
Philippa Middleton arrives at Westminster Abbey with the bridesmaids and page boys ahead of the wedding service between Prince William and Catherine Middleton, 29 April 2011
Michael Middleton lifts Catherine’s bridal veil at the altar of Westminster
[2011] The Royal Wedding – MARRIAGE part 1
The Archbishop: “I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” . They’re now man and wife.
[2011] The Royal Wedding – MARRIAGE part 2
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.
I read an article recently that was very helpful on this subject. “The Seven Myths of Cohabitation,” by Patrick & Dwaina Six is an article that I will be sharing in this series the next few days. Here is the fourth portion:
“But we’ll be happier. And we won’t feel tied down.” This myth sounds altruistic but is actually rather self-centered. While it’s true that marriage itself isn’t a guarantee of bliss, it’s also true that couples who live together are, on average, far less happy than married couples. In fact, an article called “The Link Between Past and Present Intimate Relationships”, printed in the Journal of Family Issues, shows that married couples have fewer disagreements than couples who live together. The marriage commitment results in both partners giving to each other in a more complete and unreserved way. Research also shows that the security of commitment in marriage offers better sexual and emotional fulfillment. So, the truth is: living together does not make a couple happier.
Chip Ingram – Two Biblical Requirements to Resolve Conflict (pt 4)
To resolve conflict effectively and Biblically there are two absolutes that both parties must agree on – do you know what they are? Without this framework, you can try all kinds of things to avoid or resolve conflict in your marriage and relationships, but you probably won’t be successful. Listen and discover the common ground that can literally transform even the most challenging points of conflict. Want to learn more? Download the full message from guest speaker Tim Lundy for free at: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
Freddy Adu was the best American player on the field Saturday. Unfortunately for the U.S., it wasn’t enough, writes ESPN.com’s Leander Schaerlaeckens. 
Most fans donned Mexico’s green at the Rose Bowl, but the stories behind the jerseys run deeper, writes ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Ramona Shelburne. 
Enlarge Painting
Monet is recognized to be one of the founders of Impressionism, and he was the most constant and convinced of all.Since his beginnings as an artist, he was encouraged to always listen and transmit his perceptions, and all criticisms which he had to undergo never did move him away from this search.Claude Monet was born in Paris on November 14, 1840 but all his impressions as a child and teenager are related to the city of Le Havre where his family moved in 1845. There his father held a trade of colonial articles .
The HEIR to BOUDIN and JONGKIND
(Opening scene of “Midnight in Paris”)What was in the beginning only a Norman orchard with only grass and apple trees becomes, with the contribution of all the family, an historical garden . It is a work of patience, which Monet continues with love. Even when the task becomes too bigt so that he cannot assume it alone, he supervises his team of gardeners (1 garden chief and six assistants).
The Daily Hatch 