Monthly Archives: July 2011

Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

July 27, 2011 – 8:28 am

Brian’s Blues,
Brian Jones on guitar in the early stones years.
unreleased track

Brian Jones died at age 27 just like Amy Winehouse did. I remember like yesterday when I first heard the song “I can’t get no satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. I immediately thought about Solomon’s search for satisfaction in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon went to the extreme in his searching in the Book of Ecclesiastes for satisfaction, but he did not find any satisfaction in pleasure (2:1), education (2:3), work (2:4), wealth (2:8) or fame (2:9). Finally he turned his attention to serving God in the last chapter.

Another observation I want to make here. I grew up in Memphis and I always heard about the Memphis Blues. However, I thought that people were incorrect about the influence of the Blues on modern music. Then later I found out that many of my favorite groups like the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin had been heavily influenced by the Memphis Blues.

brian jones

The Rolling Stones with Brian Jones-Little Red Rooster (5/26/65 Scary Version)

How The Blues Changed The 60’s Music Scene

Uploaded by on Mar 13, 2011

The impact on the music scene in the 60’s was immeasurable as British bands soaked up the influence of American Blues artist, Muddy Waters , Howlin’ Wolf, B.B.King, and John Lee Hooker conquered our shores, and over a 1000 full time working bands in the 60’s was spawned. The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Them The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann absorbed the sound and headed to the States with their own brand of Blues.

9. Brian Jones

it’s hard to top keith for cool but i think brian jones during his tenure with the stones may have shown keith the way. i also read that he even took more drugs than keith. imagine that.

jones was charismatic and beautiful, a rebellious fashion plate and a ladies’ man with a wickedly sly grin and a mop of golden blonde hair. jones really was one of the all time great pretty boys. he was also a “bad boy”, and that combination equaled back then (and will forever forward) “the girls all want you and the fellas all want to be you”.

like all the players of that era jones was a blues fanatic and he was also a multi instrumentalist. he became derailed when the glimmer twins hit-making machine started to crank them out, changing the direction of the band. having had leadership and founding-father status with the band at one time, he now found himself more and more marginalized. of course this feeling of ostracism lead to an increase in drug taking and outlandish behaviour which eventually lead to poor brian being asked to step aside.

although he will always be a stone he was not a member of the band when he was found “mysteriously” drowned in his pool at his home on cotchford farm. after his death pete townshend wrote a poem for brian entitled “a normal day for brian, a man who died everyday”. if your vices are too much for the stones, lord have mercy!

essential listening: aftermath, their satanic majesties request, beggars banquet (rolling stones)

The Rolling Stones Satisfaction (rare)

 

  • Galatians 5:19-21

A message by Marvin A. McMickle | Senior Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio.

As you may know, Cleveland, Ohio, is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That’s because back in the 1950s, there was a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed who worked for an AM radio station in Cleveland. He began referring to the music of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley as “rock ‘n’ roll music.” Even though the inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame take place in New York City, the origin of the term rock ‘n’ roll music began in Cleveland. 

In keeping with that 50-year legacy, a poll was taken of radio listeners and disc jockeys across the country concerning the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song of all time. I was not especially interested in the outcome—I have a preference for the rhythm and blues music of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and The Temptations—but I must confess I was somewhat surprised when it was revealed that Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis or even Elvis Presley was not associated with the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song song of all time. Instead, the poll revealed that the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song song of all time was by the British band, The Rolling Stones, titled “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” 

It occurred to me that the popularity and longevity of that particular song can be attributed to a simple observation: That song speaks to the fundamental dilemma of so many people in our society who are in a constant quest for something that can bring them satisfaction. The song has a refrain that says, “And I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried—I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

You can almost see the history of the last 40 years of American life and culture written through the lens and lyrics of that song: “I have tried sex and orgies, and I can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried LSD and cocaine, and I can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried alcohol and amphetamines, and I still can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried money and materialism, and all I can say is I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

Perhaps the reason the song has remained so appealing to Americans is because the song speaks to an aspiration that reaches deep into our psyche and to a frustration that burns within so many of our fellow citizens: “I tried, and I tried, and I tried, and I tried—but I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

The search for satisfaction can take at least four different faces in our world today, and most of us have gotten stuck trying to find satisfaction in one of three distinct ways. The things we keep trying in our vain attempts to find satisfaction are called happiness, pleasure and thrills. 

How strange that all three of these things are referred to in one way or another by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:19-21 as being related to the works of the flesh or the acts of the sinful nature.” Paul refers to them by such names as drunkenness, debauchery, discord and dissensions. We can refer to the same impulses of the human spirit by different names, but the motivation and the desired outcome are the same; we are trying to create satisfaction for ourselves.

Some people are obsessed with the quest for happiness. They want to find that time and place in life where there will always be a smile on their face and no tears in their eyes. They want to live in Disney World all the time, forgetting that Disney World is a great illusion, as life for the executives and employees of the Disney Corporation reveal every day.  

Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). In our hearts we know that to be true, but still we behave like the lyrics of the song by The Rolling Stones: I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried, but I can’t get no happiness, because happiness does not and cannot last. 

Sometimes, after we discover that happiness does not last, we try something else; and that next thing might be thrills. There is an obsession in this country with thrills. It is why we buy cars that can be driven faster than any highway in America would allow us to drive. It is why we jump out of airplanes and free-fall from thousands of feet in the atmosphere. It is why some people want to bungee jump, or go plunging down the steep and twisting hills of roller coasters. 

We want that adrenaline rush. We want that sensation of living dangerously. We want what some people call the rush that comes when we live close to the edge of death itself. The richest among us buy a seat on the space shuttle, not because they care one iota about science or space research; they do it because they are attempting to buy for themselves the ultimate thrill. 

For other people the thrill is linked to the allure and excitement of gambling of one kind or another. Whatever the thrill of gambling might be, we should not lose sight of the sorrow it produces. How many people have lost their rent or mortgage money as they got caught up in the thrill that the next roll of the dice or the next pull of the lever on the slot machine might bring a big payday? People go into casinos knowing the house always wins, yet are willing to risk their paycheck on a game of chance. It is not a rational decision; it is the mark of a society that has embraced the thrill as a way to approach how they live their lives. 

However, just like happiness, people soon discover that thrills cannot satisfy because they cannot be made to last. They come and go with equal suddenness. Blues singer B.B. King is world famous primarily for the lyrics of his song that says, “The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away.” 

Of course, what happens to a thrill seeker when the present thrill is gone? Like the song says, they just try something else. There are many in our society whose lives are driven by the pursuit of satisfaction, and they try one thing after another trying to attain that goal. 

For some, the quest for satisfaction leads down the path of pleasure. Let’s be clear about this—I am talking about sensual things. I am talking about the fact that pornography in the form of videos, magazine and Web sites now grosses more revenue than the money Americans spend on all professional sports combined. 

I am talking about our national fascination with sex and the fact that some people are preoccupied with the cheap, fleeting, loveless encounters that are so much a mark of our present culture. It is why commercials for such products as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are as popular and as frequent as they are; for some people it is all about pleasure.  

Never mind the fact that our country is overrun with teenage pregnancy, unwanted births, a staggering use of abortion as a means of birth control and once-solid marriages that are destabilized by extra-marital affairs. There is a high price to be paid for our fascination with the pursuit of pleasure, and our society is paying that price right now. This, too, is part of what The Rolling Stones meant when they said, “I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried, and I can’t get no satisfaction.” We try the pursuit of happiness, thrills and pleasure, but something is always missing. 

Many search for satisfaction attempting to combine all three devices—happiness, thrills, pleasure when they turn to illegal drugs and other things that can help them get high. Americans are the most chemically dependent people on earth—we take more prescription drugs than any other nation, though that simply could be a sign of an advanced medical system. Good medicine does not explain why we are also the world’s largest consumers of illegal drugs or the fact that one out of every six Americans is an alcoholic. 

Here is the truth about all of our pursuits for satisfaction, be it in the form of happiness, thrills or various pleasures: At best, all those things can do is bring us a little bit of peace for a short period of time! 

There is a reason none of these things can bring us any lasting satisfaction. It is because all of these things that fuel our futile pursuit of satisfaction are things that work from the outside in. All of these things are behaviors or experiences that must be drawn from the world around us and then brought into our lives. As a result, whenever the world around us shifts or changes in even the most negligible way, we are made to realize over and over again that satisfaction—that sense of being completely content—once again has eluded us. The works of the flesh or the acts of the sinful nature are forever unsatisfying because in order for any of them to work there is something outside ourselves that must occur. 

Thankfully, that is not the case with the fruits of the spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23. Satisfaction is found in such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. These qualities work from the inside out. These are the spiritual formation issues that take root inside the followers of Jesus Christ that sustain them even when the conditions around them are being turned upside down. In this season of Advent, let me make the case that I would rather have the joy of the Lord than the satisfactions of the world any day of the week. Here are the reasons why:

 First, joy comes as a result of the faith and trust that resides within me and not in relation to the material or sensual things going on around me.  

It is important that we talk about joy vs. happiness and pleasure during the Advent and Christmas seasons, because it is so easy even for us as Christians to get caught up in the shopping and materialistic observance of Christmas. We so easily can forget that the “glad tidings of great joy” spoken to the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angels of heaven was about the birth of a Savior and not about the discounted prices at Wal-Mart or the luxury items available from a fashionable boutique. 

The joy of Christmas is about the love of God Who sent a Savior into our world to redeem us from the behaviors that constantly pull us away from God. After all, the song says, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” It does not say that Santa has come, or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has come; the joy of Christmas is centered in the fact that the Lord has come. God is with us. Immanuel. Our joy is anchored in that knowledge. I may not receive any of the material gifts that so many people point to as the center of Christmas; but when I receive the Christ of Christmas, I can find the joy that will forever elude those who are searching after satisfaction. 

Second, the joy of the Lord is available to us even though none of us is deserving of God’s love. The gifts God offers—love, joy, peace and the others—are not reserved for those who have proven themselves deserving of God’s attention. They are the freely given and freely received signs of God’s amazing grace.  

From a theological point of view, it is important to remember that God does not wait until we become the people He would like for us to be before He acts on our behalf. God loves us, and Christ died for us while we were the sinful and rebellious people we are. There is no need to get right with God before we can enjoy the fruits of the Spirit. The wonder and miracle of Christmas is that it is done on behalf of people deeply entrenched in the works of the flesh or the actions of the sinful nature. That is the knowledge that brings me an unspeakable joy. 

The third thing I want to say about joy is something I learned in a profound way from my wife last year. (I share these with her permission and her blessings.) 

Late last year, Peggy and I sat in a doctor’s office where we talked about how to treat the breast cancer with which she had just been diagnosed. It was surprising and unsettling enough that she was diagnosed with cancer just a few years after I had gone through a battle with prostate cancer. However, life was not through with us so far as surprises were concerned. Later that afternoon, while we were away from the house, Peggy’s mother fell while coming down the stairs. She had been doing so well in recent weeks, but now was bed-ridden with a fractured pelvis. 

Wanting to comfort Peggy, I remarked how ironic it seemed that, on the week when our faith directs us to the word of joy she had so much hardship and stress placed upon her. I thought maybe she would break down and cry; instead she said, “Oh, I still have my joy.”

That response reminds me of the gospel song that says, “After all I’ve been through, I still have joy.” That is what separates joy from the false gods of happiness, pleasure and thrills. When you have joy, the devil can throw everything he has against you and you just keep on pushing—not because you are that strong, but because God is bigger than anything that life can do to you. 

Every year at about this time, I remind you of the difference between the phrase all is right and all is well. The first phrase suggests everything in your life is in order and under perfect control. It suggests everything is going exactly as you desire and you do not have a worry in the world. I cannot think of many days in my life when I can say with a straight face that all is right. 

However, the phrase all is well suggests something very different. All is well suggests that things may not be going according to my plan. Things may not be right with my body. My finances and my relationships may not be right according to the standards of this world. Nevertheless, I can still sing the song that says: 

When peace like a river attendeth my way, 

when sorrows like sea billows roll;  

whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, 

it is well; it is well with my soul. 

Things have not been alright this week, but it is well with my soul. In the words of the commercial by Nationwide Insurance Company, “Sometimes life comes at you fast”—but it is well with my soul. After all I’ve been through, I still have joy and it is well with my soul.  

I have some advice for those still saying, “I can’t get no satisfaction”—they need to look somewhere else for their contentment. They should consider Isaiah 55:2, 6 which says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?…Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.” 

This is the gift of the Advent season; it is a season when we are reminded that the best things in life work from the inside out, not from the outside in. Life is not about happiness, pleasure, thrills or highs. Real satisfaction in life comes from the themes of Advent, three of which are also listed among the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy and peace. 

There is a song I learned in the devotional services of the Baptist church that says: 

“This joy I have the world didn’t give to me, 

The world didn’t give it, and the world 

can’t take it away.” 

This is what separates joy from the cheap thrills, the fleeting happiness and the temporal pleasures associated with this world; only joy can say, “The world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away.”

_______________________________________

Co-founder, spiritual leader and aesthetic conscience of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was the band's resident R&B purist, and, though it's hard to imagine now, rival to Mick Jagger for the role of band face. When the Stones first arrived, it was as a blues band. The group's origins lay in Jones', Jagger's, and Keith Richards' passion for obscure American race records. But as the novelty of five skinny white Brits singing and playing like black men wore off and Mick and Keith started writing originals, Jones resisted the urge to go pop. He also developed a heroic appetite for narcotics and hallucinogens, leading him to be fired from the group he helped create. Depending on which story you believe, Jones either drowned or was forcibly drowned in his own pool July 3, 1969. (Credit: ANP)

Larger image

Credit: ANP

Co-founder, spiritual leader and aesthetic conscience of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was the band’s resident R&B purist, and, though it’s hard to imagine now, rival to Mick Jagger for the role of band face. When the Stones first arrived, it was as a blues band. The group’s origins lay in Jones’, Jagger’s, and Keith Richards’ passion for obscure American race records. But as the novelty of five skinny white Brits singing and playing like black men wore off and Mick and Keith started writing originals, Jones resisted the urge to go pop. He also developed a heroic appetite for narcotics and hallucinogens, leading him to be fired from the group he helped create. Depending on which story you believe, Jones either drowned or was forcibly drowned in his own pool July 3, 1969.

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

Kurt Cobain’s spiritual search started in a Christian home but ended in Buddhism (Club 27 series part 2)jh41

July 27, 2011 – 7:04 am

The Rise And Rise Of Kurt Cobain part 1/3

Amy Winehouse joined the “Club 27 the other day with her early death. I am going through the others one by one. Today is Kurt Cobain. (I did another post on Cobain also.) Some of the other members of the 27 club were Gary Thain,Pete Ham,Ron “Pigpen” McKernan,Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison

kurt cobain

 

7. Kurt Cobain

very rarely does an artist come along and not just upset the “apple cart” but drops a nuclear bomb on the friggin thing. i used to refer to kurt back then as the career killer. he literally almost single handedly shut down an entire genre that had been at the top of charts for ten years. that west coast, sunset strip, glamrock dudefest of a scene was annihilated by a kid from seattle with a guitar and his grandfather’s sweater.

i remember the first time i heard “smells like teen spirit” on the radio and as the song finished i thought to myself “i must hear that again, now”. i hopped in my car and booted down to the record shop (remember those), picked it up, took it home and played it all night. every track rocked and that album is truly a masterpiece.

as good as i thought nevermind was, though, i was even more blown away when i heard the unplugged album. i realized this was more than a great songwriter with rockstar looks and a bad drug habit. this guy was in “tortured artist” territory and to listen to his take on some of those old blues standards is haunting especially on “in the pines” a.k.a. “where did you sleep last night”. the pain in his voice is palpable and heart wrenching and i’m not saying i knew he was going to check himself out but you could kind of hear it in his voice.

it’s a shame kurt couldn’t have cleaned up and gotten some help, not just for him and his family but also for the legions of fans gypped out of all the amazing nirvana music that will never exist. “it gets better kurt, it gets better”…damn what a waste.

essential listening: nevermind, unplugged (nirvana)

______________________________________

The world will tell you to rush after your passion to

find happiness, but after you’ve obtained it and the fairy

dust settles, you will still have emptiness of soul and

spirit. Having money in the bank, credit cards, and a hot

body won’t give you a real sense of purpose. The only way

you can obtain lasting fulfillment is through someone who

is not of this world—the Lord Jesus Christ! Only He can

help you achieve the kind of success that endures.

You may have heard of the ’90s rock group Nirvana. The

lead singer was Kurt Cobain, and if anyone appeared to have

it all, it was this former teen idol. Cobain had screaming fans

around the globe, and his albums sold millions. He’d won

awards and Grammys, and had earned more money than he

could spend. In addition to all this fame, he had an adorable

baby daughter. There wasn’t one thing the world had to offer

that Kurt Cobain hadn’t obtained. Yet in 1994, he ended his

life with a gunshot. Why? From a worldly perspective it didn’t

make sense, but from a spiritual viewpoint, it came into sharp

focus. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, Kurt Cobain

didn’t have peace and contentment. He might have felt the

temporary rush of newfound success, but once the excitement

wore off, he was still surrounded by everything he

despised, including himself. He was so discontented, in fact,

that he chose to abandon it all and take his own life.

Obviously, not every person who’s not a follower of

Christ will become suicidal, but there’s something to be

learned from Kurt Cobain’s horrific death: a person can

have everything and nothing at the same time.

Jesus said in John 10:10 (NKJV) that He came so you

could have life and have it abundantly. That doesn’t mean

you’re not going to suffer trials and times of sorrow. You

may have already been there—I know I have had my share

of tough times. But what sets you apart from people like

Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kurt Cobain is

that even in the midst of heartache, you can experience

the peace that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4:7, RSV ). Your life can have meaning and purpose, regardless of

whether or not you have everything you desire. That’s the

promise Jesus has given you!

The suicide of Kurt Cobain, on April 5, 1994, was a defining moment of music culture in the 1990s. It signaled the death not only of one fantastically important musician, but of all the generational identity that had been conferred on him by his legions of fans (and just as many of his detractors). To hear his songs, to see his image in photos and videos, to think of all that lay ahead for him and his band, Nirvana, Cobain's death seemed equally unimaginable and inevitable. His arrival felt like a minor revolution in popular culture. So did his departure. (AP Photo/Mark J.Terrill)

Larger image

AP Photo/Mark J.Terrill

The suicide of Kurt Cobain, on April 5, 1994, was a defining moment of music culture in the 1990s. It signaled the death not only of one fantastically important musician, but of all the generational identity that had been conferred on him by his legions of fans (and just as many of his detractors). To hear his songs, to see his image in photos and videos, to think of all that lay ahead for him and his band, Nirvana, Cobain’s death seemed equally unimaginable and inevitable. His arrival felt like a minor revolution in popular culture. So did his departure.

I found the artlicle below on the internet. It was thought provoking.

The Book That Made Your World: Book Review

By: JN Manokaran
Monday, 20 June 2011, 10:00 (IST)

This book by Vishal Mangalwadi is fabulous, timely, relevant and contemporary reading for Postmodern world. It rightly evaluates the present thought pattern and reminds the origin of original ideas that transformed West made it as the best civilization in the history of humanity. The author rightly says that Christian professors in India and America have very little idea about the importance of the Bible and its contribution for making the modern world. The book has seven parts: The soul of Western civilization; A Personal pilgrimage; The seeds of Western Civilization; The Millennium’s revolution; The Intellectual Revolution; What made the West the Best?: and Globalizing Modernity

Kurt Cobain a rock band singer who created Nirvana committed suicide. The hurt from divorced parents could not be healed by music, fame, money, sex, drugs…etc. He accepted the noble truth of Buddha that life is suffering hence did not have emotional, social, spiritual center that led to his suicide. Many teenagers are committing suicide because of lack of this spiritual anchor. Buddha’s rejection of self appealed to skeptics like Pyrrho of Elea (360-270 BC) who travelled to India and started teaching that nothing is truly knowable. So people stopped paying to philosophers for teaching nothing. This led the decline of education, philosophy and science in Greece. West like ancient Greece is embracing Buddha’s pessimism. If nothingness is ultimate, it cannot do anything positive. So Cobain committed suicide.

A pessimistic religion cannot appreciate music, so did not leave music tradition or instrument, as Buddhist monks goal was silence of their tongues and their thoughts. St. Augustine introduced music in western education and worldview. Since, the essence of music is mathematical numbers; saw scientific basis for music. The longest book in the bible is Psalms. Western musicians assumed that the world is cosmos and not chaos. Benedictine monks built the world’s largest pipe organ in the cathedral of Winchester, England that required seventy men and twenty-six bellows to supply wind to its four hundred pipes; which was most advance machine until the invention of mechanical clock.

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The salvation Kurt Cobain was so desperate to experience is found only in Christ

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Kurt Cobain’s spiritual search started in a Christian home but ended in Buddhism (Club 27 series part 2)jh41

July 27, 2011 – 7:04 am

The Rise And Rise Of Kurt Cobain part 1/3 Amy Winehouse joined the “Club 27 the other day with her early death. I am going through the others one by one. Today is Kurt Cobain.   7. Kurt Cobain very rarely does an artist come along and not just upset the “apple cart” but drops […]

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Videos of those in 27 club

November 6, 2012 – 12:50 am

I’m In A Rock ‘N’ Roll Band – The Singer (Part 1) Jim Morrison – books on tape – w subtitles Light My Fire – The Doors The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction ________________________ The Rolling Stones – The Breakthrough The Rolling Stones – Brian Jones The Rolling Stones- Paint it Black Nirvana – Smells Like […]

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27 club (Complete list)

February 7, 2012 – 12:43 am

It was so sad to lose these people so soon. The Curse of 27 This page is in response to my most frequently asked questions – is there really a Curse of 27, how many musicians actually died at that age, and who are they. When legendary Blues man, Robert Johnson, was killed at the age […]

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Pete de Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen is a member of the “27 club” (Part 9)

August 2, 2011 – 6:53 am

Amy Winehouse died last week and she joined the “27 club.” Pete de Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen is also a member of the “27 Club.” This is group of rockers that have died at age 27. A tribute to the amazing drummer of one of our biggest influences, Echo & The Bunnymen. We […]

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Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead is a member of “27 Club” because of alcohol (Part 8)

August 1, 2011 – 9:25 am

cc ‘Janis Joplin’ 2/5 from True Hollywood Story (Janis was having affair with Pigpen) Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (vocals, harmonica), Bob Weir (guitar, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass), Mickey Hart (drums), Bill Kreutzman (drums). Grateful Dead “Don’t Ease Me In” Live @ Canadian National Exhibition Hall Toronto, CA June 27th, 1970 Grateful Dead […]

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Gary Thain of Uriah Heep is a member of the “27 Club” (Part 7)

July 31, 2011 – 8:18 am

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Janis Joplin joins “27 Club” three weeks after Jimi Hendrix (Part 6)

July 30, 2011 – 11:02 am

Recently Amy Winehouse joined the “27 Club” when she died of a drug overdose. The “27 Club” is a group of rockers that died at age 27. Unfortunately Jimi Hendrix died at age 27 in 1970 and Janis Joplin did the same three weeks later. Today we are going to look at her life and […]

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Jimi Hendrix one of first members of the “27 club” (Part 5)

July 29, 2011 – 7:15 am

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Pete Ham of Bad Finger (Part 4 of series on “27 Club”)

July 28, 2011 – 7:29 am

Amy Winehouse died at age 27 and unfornately joined the “27 club” which is made of famous rockers that died at age 27. Pete Ham was a member of Bad Finger which was one of my favorite groups that I followed. “Come and get it” was my favorite song of theirs. ___________________________________ Badfinger perform a […]

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Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

July 27, 2011 – 8:28 am

Brian’s Blues, Brian Jones on guitar in the early stones years. unreleased track Brian Jones died at age 27 just like Amy Winehouse did. I remember like yesterday when I first heard the song “I can’t get no satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. I immediately thought about Solomon’s search for satisfaction in the Book of […]

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Ecclesiastes: Philosophical Atheist, Before you Commit Suicide Read Ecclesiastes (Quotes Sharon Rocha, Erik Wielenberg, the Declaration of Independence, Stephen Hawking, and Alan Sandage)

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how […]

Mindy McCready commits suicide instead of pursuing a Christian solution to depression

Sad news today from Heber Springs, Arkansas. Mindy McCready Dead Of An Apparent Suicide By Lyndsey Parker Posts By Lyndsey Parker | Our Country – 9 hours ago   Mindy McCready, 1975-2013 [photo: Frederick Breedon IV]Troubled country singer Mindy McCready, age 37, has died of an apparent suicide, the result of a single self-inflicted gunshot, the Cleburne […]

Bob Welch’s suicide and the Christian solution to the problem of suicide

Bob Welch chose suicide because he felt there was no other way like so many others today.  (Details of his suicide below later in this post.) It is sad that this is such a pressing problem. I think of songs that point this out: Adam’s Song, The Last Resort, etc. There are two usual approaches to […]

Ilya Zhitomirskiy,co-founder of social network Diaspora, committed suicide according to CNN

  CNN reported today: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Ilya Zhitomirskiy, one of four co-founders of social network Diaspora, died over the weekend in San Francisco at age 22. Zhitomirskiy committed suicide, a source close to the company told CNNMoney on Sunday. A San Francisco Police Department officer confirmed on Monday that a police report about […]

Francis Schaeffer predicted assisted suicide would come (“Schaeffer Sundays” Part 3)

In “Evangelical dynasty undone,” Arkansas Times Blog, August 20, 2011,Max Brantley wrote: Ever heard of the influential evangelical Francis Schaeffer? (Mike Huckabee once said his favorite book after the Bible was Schaeffer’s “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” and he’s been described as having a “profound” influence on Michele Bachmann.) Best reading of the morning is this New York […]

Ex-Duke basketball 1983 captain Tom Emma committed suicide because of depression

Former Duke basketball captain found dead in NYC Ex-Duke basketball team captain, Bulls draft pick Tom Emma jumps to death from roof of Midtown club BY Rocco Parascandola, John Lauinger, Edgar Sandoval and Joe Kemp DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Tuesday, June 7th 2011, 8:03 PM powerperformance.net Thomas Emma died in a fall from the New […]

Last hours of Marilyn Monroe’s life indicates she committed suicide because of unhappiness (Marilyn part 2)

 I Still Haven’t Found What Im Looking For Live From Milan Marilyn Monroe THE LAST INTERVIEW Part 1 Wikipedia notes:  Many questions remain unanswered regarding the circumstances and timeline of Monroe’s death after her body was found. 7-7:15p.m. Joe DiMaggio, after trying to get in touch with Monroe all day, speaks with Monroe about DiMaggio’s broken […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (3)

Great review on Midnight in Paris with talk about artists being disatisfied

July 27, 2011 – 6:20 am

 

What Midnight in Paris Teaches Us About Every Artist

This weekend, my wife and I went to see Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. I was surprised by how much it inspired me as a writer and artist.

Midnight in ParisMidnight in Paris, a film by Woody Allen

I dare say that it was the first Woody Allen film I thoroughly enjoyed. The score is definitively Parisian, the cinematography nostalgic, and the plot inventively clever. Onereviewer wrote:

Midnight in Paris is a loving embrace of the city, of art and of life itself.

I couldn’t agree more. But what I loved about the movie is that it was made particularly for creatives. Here’s the plot in a nutshell:

  • A mismatched couple engaged to be married goes to Paris for vacation.
  • Aspiring novelist Gil (Wilson) spends his nights falling in love with the city, while his fiancee Inez (McAdams) criticizes his dreams.
  • One night as the clock strikes 12, Wilson’s character is transported back to the 1920s (his favorite era), meeting Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and others.
  • The protagonist ultimately must reconcile his passion for the past and living in the present, while being true to his calling as a writer.

While full of comic moments, Midnight in Paris makes a poignant commentary about the life of an artist.

Lessons about Art from Midnight in Paris

As a writer, I took great solace in how the film portrayed the basic struggles of artists and the inherent lessons in those struggles.

Paris Cityscape from Midnight in ParisParis cityscape from Midnight in Paris

Artists are misunderstood

Gil is not only misunderstood by Inez; he is disdained by her.

She and others regularly scoff at his lofty dreams of traveling and writing a novel. At best, he istolerated by them.

This ultimately sends him searching.

We artists need to come to grips with the fact that to be creative is to be misunderstood, and yet temper this with the importance of not disconnecting ourselves entirely from the rest of the world.

We cannot inspire that which we are not a part of.

Artists are discontented

Gil is writing a novel about himself — it’s the story of a man who owns a nostalgia shop and cannot help but consider that to live in another time would be better, simpler.

When he finds himself in the company of those from that era, he finds that they themselves are longing for another “Golden Age.”

This struggle is what makes artists great. The longing for something more is what drives us to create magnificent works of art.

But it can also lead us to an an artist’s demise. Unchecked discontent can lead to unhealthy thrill-seeking (as with Picasso’s lust for new lovers and Hemingway’s obsession with adventure and alcohol).

Artists need community

The fact that Gil is so misunderstood and restless is what leads him to walk the streets of Paris at night. When he finds a community of world-famous writers and artists that take him in, he learns two lessons:

  1. He needs the companionship of others to be true to his voice as an artist.
  2. The community around him is not the right one.

He learns, as all artists must, the importance of embracing tension.

The main lesson?

You are not alone.

You, the brilliant artist, are not alone. That’s the lesson every writer, painter, photographer, and film-maker must learn.

You, the creative person full of oddities and eccentricities that may have been the source of shame and embarrassment at one time, are not alone.

You, who feels so out of place in this world, are not alone.

The challenge

You must find a community that will encourage you, even if it means leaving the one to which you currently belong.

You must live in the tension of being misunderstood and dissatisfied with the way things are and being called to create art that inspires and leads people to believe in something more.

It is not an easy calling, but it is a noble one.

Further Reading: ‘Midnight in Paris,’ a Historical Review [NYTimes]

As an artist, do you feel alone? How do you deal with the tension of being different from the world but called to make a difference in it?

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Goins

I help people tell better stories and make a difference in the world. I live in Tennessee with my wife and dog. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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

What does the Heritage Foundation have to say about the saving the American dream project released May 10, 2011? (Part 4)

July 27, 2011 – 12:35 am

“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 Beachis one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, and today are some of the conclusions of this study.

Medicare. The Heritage plan changes Medicare by moving to a defined
contribution premium-support system subject to competitive bidding. The CDA
projects that the Heritage plan will save almost $1.6 trillion by 2021 compared
with the current law baseline and $9.4 trillion by 2035. Overall, federal health
care spending is 40 percent less under the Heritage plan.

Premium support and competitive bidding are not new
ideas and have been analyzed before. In December 2006, the CBO estimated that a
premium-support program with competitive bidding could reduce Medicare
expenditures by 8 percent to 11 percent, although it would not significantly
affect underlying spending growth.[10] Another study on the benefits of consumer
choice through such approaches found that Medicare spending would fall by 8
percent as a result of choice and competition.[11] The CDA assumes that, when the Heritage plan
is fully implemented, Medicare spending will fall by 5 percent annually because
of the budgeted defined contribution and competitive bidding. However,
there are reasons to believe that Medicare cost growth would fall by much more
as seniors are given a reason to be cost-conscious consumers of health care.
Therefore, the 5 percent decrease that we estimate from the competition reform
is likely a lower bound.

Wealthier seniors contribute more toward their health care under the Heritage
plan. The CDA used the Current Population Survey to estimate how many seniors
have adjusted gross income in excess of the phaseout thresholds. Under the plan
the value of the premium contribution is reduced by 1.82 percent for each $1,000
in excess of the phaseout level. The CDA estimates that just over 9 percent of
seniors have income in excess of the phaseout threshold.

Other changes in Medicare include increasing the
eligibility age and requiring higher Part B premiums for those continuing to
participate in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. The CDA scoring
of these changes closely matches CBO scoring estimates of various budget
options.[12]

Medicaid and the Working-Age Population. The Medicaid reforms in the
Heritage plan will significantly strengthen the economy by slowing down health
care costs and federal spending on health care, reducing barriers to economic
mobility, and encouraging work and savings.

The Heritage plan makes several reforms to Medicaid, reshaping the program to
focus on the disabled and elderly with very low incomes and providing
able-bodied adults and their families with assistance to buy private insurance
instead of Medicaid. This is an especially important component of the plan
because it will reduce barriers for many non-disabled adults to return to work.
Today, many lose coverage if they take a job with an employer that does not
offer insurance. By introducing stricter eligibility requirements for the
program (with the alternative assistance for certain current enrollees) and
capping spending growth, the Heritage plan will bring Medicaid spending and its
growth path under control, saving taxpayers $1.1 trillion compared with the
baseline in the first 10 years and $8.2 trillion by 2035.

The Heritage plan replaces Medicaid coverage for non-disabled adults and
children with a tax credit and voucher for purchasing health insurance in the
private market.

Social Security Modernization. The Heritage plan works to protect
seniors from poverty, but also transparently reduces checks to more affluent
seniors. Today, the benefits of more affluent seniors are taxed, and the taxes
reduce checks at much lower income levels than the phasedown threshold in the
Heritage plan. The Heritage plan also adjusts the retirement age to take into
account increased life expectancy.

With modeling assistance from the American Enterprise Institute, the CDA
estimates that the Heritage reforms will reduce federal spending by $1.7
trillion from 2012 to 2021 and $10.9 trillion cumulative by 2035. This is a
reduction of almost 4 percent in annual Social Security outlays by 2035 while
ensuring that no eligible senior falls below the poverty line.

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

Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 102)

July 27, 2011 – 12:00 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.

I just did. I went to the Senator’s website and sent this below:

“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 FraserandWilliam 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 federal spending reform.

Repealing Obamacare.

If fully implemented, Obamacare will add trillions of dollars in long-term government spending to a health care system that is already unaffordable. It also increases federal controls and mandates and will impose heavy costs on states, businesses, and households. As noted earlier, the Heritage plan repeals Obamacare and replaces it with the improved, consumer-centered health care system. While this proposal for maintaining sufficient levels of defense spending assumes that future military personnel will be brought under the broader proposals for health care and retirement reform outlined in this report, it also provides for tailored transition options for current military personnel and retirees. Importantly, reforms in compensation and benefits must maintain effective recruitment and retention of, and honor reasonable commitments to, members of the armed forces.

The war on terrorism has increased defense spending to approximately 5
percent of GDP, yet it remains well below the 9 percent spent during in the
1960s and the 6 percent spent during the 1980s. While the Heritage plan
recognizes that predicting precise funding requirements for overseas contingency operations is impossible, it is reasonable to expect that the phasedown in those efforts will permit reducing defense spending to approximately 4 percent of GDP and maintaining it at that level. Ultimately, of course, defense spending will have to be whatever it takes to protect America and its interests around the globe.

Funding an Adequate Defense. The most important core function of the
federal government is ensuring America’s national security, but it needs to be accomplished as economically and efficiently as possible. The Defense Department will focus on identifying and addressing its significant levels of wasteful spending and initiating significant reforms and efficiencies in logistics and acquisition processes so that those funds can be reprioritized into the most important uses to protect America and our allies by maintaining a strong, modern, and effective military.

Making Public Health Service Spending More Efficient. Public health
service spending has grown 56 percent faster than inflation since 2000. While health research is vital, the Heritage plan eliminates waste and inefficiencies that have accumulated. For example, by consolidating redundant facilities and laboratories, the Heritage plan saves the National Institutes of Health $1 billion annually. States take over the financing and operation of health centers, health professions programs, and the substance abuse block grant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees savings over $2 billion annually by reducing travel, ending questionable public campaigns, and focusing its role on interstate coordination. Finally, converting Indian Health Service aid into a
premium-support system (where possible) and reforming the Food and Drug Administration save a combined $1 billion annually.

Thus, all Americans will have access to financial aid in attending college,
but it will not be a free ride at the taxpayers’ expense.

However, thanks to a key provision in the Heritage plan’s tax reform, higher education costs are partially defrayed through the simplified and generous tax deduction for higher education tuition. Families whose incomes are too low for them to benefit fully from this tax deduction are eligible for a Pell Grant with a value up to the tax deduction. The direct student loan program is retained with loan limits high enough to guarantee college access but with rates set to ensure that there are no budgetary costs, including the costs associated with deferred repayment until graduation as well as the costs of loan forgiveness programs.

Higher education reforms, including the new deduction for college tuition in the Heritage tax reform, ensure that students receive enough financial
assistance to attend college. Shifting from grants to student loans ensures that most college costs will be financed by the college graduates themselves, who benefit the most from their degrees, and not by other Americans.

Scaling Back K–12 Education Spending and Reforming Higher Education
Spending. Federal spending on K–12 education has grown 192 percent faster than inflation since 2000, yet this sharply increased federal spending and federal micromanagement of school districts has not improved student performance. Under the Heritage plan, total federal K–12 spending is reduced to 2000 levels (adjusted for inflation), in part by eliminating many of the numerous small education programs that Washington uses to micromanage school districts. This will allow states and school districts to manage and meet the needs of their students more effectively.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in spending out of control, Taxes | Comments (0)

Advice to Gene Simmons Part 4, Fellowship Bible Church sermon on purity jh14a

July 26, 2011 – 9:47 pm

Gene Simmons Proposes To Shannon Tweed

Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons proposed to his longtime girlfriend Shannon Tweed in Belize recently, TMZ reports. The couple has been together 28 years and share two children, 22-year-old son Nicholas and 18-year-old daughter Sophie.

Simmons popped the question on the A&E reality show ‘Gene Simmons Family Jewels,’ which has followed the life of the Simmons brood since 2006. The couple’s relationship has come under duress recently after Simmons joked about his inability to commit to marriage, tweeting “If you never get married you can never get divorced” last month. Tweed also walked out on Simmons in the season’s first episode.

On the show, Tweed was shown flabbergasted, as Mr. Simmons popped the question from bended knee.

__________________________________-

Tonight Gene notes that he has been dating Shannon for 28 years and he knows that he needs to marry her. He knows what it feels to be without her and he never wants to feel that way again.  He told her, “I want to apologize for being so selfish.”

In this episode tonight Gene asked Shannon’s mother permission to marry her daughter and she responds, “You are not the best husband material. If you hurt my daughter then you are dead meat!!!”

It is obvious that Gene has been guilty of affairs all during the last 28 years. Will he straighten up and realize what he has in his family and be faithful to his wife? 

In the sermon at Fellowship Bible Church at July 24, 2011, teaching pastor Brandon Barnard made a great point about the two choices that you have. You can walk down the pathway of purity or impurity. The pathway of impurity is both persuasive and inviting. 

Proverbs 5:3

English Standard Version (ESV)

3For the lips of a forbidden[a] woman drip honey,
   and her speech[b] is smoother than oil,

Proverbs 6:24

English Standard Version (ESV)

24to preserve you from the evil woman,[a]
   from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.[b]

Proverbs 7:10-20

English Standard Version (ESV)

  10And behold, the woman meets him,

    dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.[a]
11She is loud and wayward;
    her feet do not stay at home;
12now in the street, now in the market,
   and at every corner she lies in wait.
13She seizes him and kisses him,
   and with bold face she says to him,
14“I had to offer sacrifices,[b]
   and today I have paid my vows;
15so now I have come out to meet you,
   to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with coverings,
   colored linens from Egyptian linen;
17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
   aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
   let us delight ourselves with love.
19For my husband is not at home;
   he has gone on a long journey;
20he took a bag of money with him;
   at full moon he will come home.”

___________________________

After his marriage to Shannon will he be faithful? Is Gene Simmons going to continue to have affairs with other women that are evil? However, the Bible calls her an “evil woman.” What kind of future will have with an evil woman that is not your the wife of your youth?  Later in chapter 7 Solomon says, “All at once he follows her,    as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast[c]  23till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare;    he does not know that it will cost him his life.27Her house is the way to Sheol,    going down to the chambers of death. ”

Related posts:

Advice to Gene Simmons Part 5, Fellowship Bible Church sermon on purity

Gene Simmons Proposes To Shannon Tweed Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons proposed to his longtime girlfriend Shannon Tweed in Belize recently, TMZ reports. The couple has been together 28 years and share two children, 22-year-old son Nicholas and 18-year-old daughter Sophie. Simmons popped the question on the A&E reality show ‘Gene Simmons Family Jewels,’ which has followed the life of the Simmons brood since […]

Advice to Gene Simmons Part 3, Fellowship Bible Service July 24, 2011

Last Tuesday night I watched Gene Simmons Family Jewels and I commented how I  was struck by the good advice that his son Nick gave him. He told him that he grew up thinking that his father was the best. However, now that the marital infidility has come out, it has made Nick think long and hard […]

Does Gene Simmons need advice? (Part 2)

Last night I watched Gene Simmons Family Jewels and I was struck by the good advice that his son Nick gave him. He told him that he grew up thinking that his father was the best. However, now that the marital infidility has come out, it has made Nick think long and hard about what […]

Advice for Gene Simmons

I watched with great interest the first episode of Gene Simmons show two days ago when his wife left him because of his repeated unfaithfulness. Nerve editors are divided on the subject of Chelsea Handler, by which I mean that I find her kind of funny and Ben made a barfy face when I said […]

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

A lesson from Norway: There’s little to be learned from the acts of “the obsessed and deranged”

July 26, 2011 – 5:30 pm

 

I have brought this subject up before. Here are some other good points from the aricle, “Lessons from Norway’s Horror” by Gene Healy 

 

This article appeared in The DC Examiner on July 26, 2011. 

I’ve never been a fan of waiting periods for gun purchases, but I’m warming to the idea of a pundit’s “Brady Bill.” Some political commentators could use a (voluntary) “cooling-off” period before they start using mass murder to score partisan points.

That could have saved Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post‘s neoconservative blogger, some embarrassment over the weekend.

On Friday, before much was known about the horrific car-bombing and mass-shooting in Norway, she used the tragedy to argue against modest cuts to the Pentagon’s budget. Trimming the Defense Department’s budget — which accounts for nearly half the world’s military spending — would be “very rash … curbing our ability to defend the United States and our allies in a very dangerous world.” The slaughter in Norway was, she wrote, “a sobering reminder for those who think it’s too expensive to wage a war against jihadists.”

 

Actually, it’s a sobering reminder to think before you post. Even if Rubin had been right about who carried out the attacks, her argument was a crashing non sequitur, unless you think the United States needs new aircraft carriers to stop car bombings in Oslo.

As it turned out, the murderer was a native Norwegian, a European nationalist with “fiercely anti-Islamic and pro-Israel views,” according to the Jerusalem Post. Whoops!

Yet some of the lefties who ridiculed Rubin this weekend, like the Center for American Progress’ Matt Yglesias, had itchy Twitter fingers in the immediate aftermath of Jared Loughner’s rampage in Tucson last January. Without the slightest evidence, Yglesias and others pointed to a graphic on Sarah Palin’s website — an electoral map with cross hairs — as a possible incitement for Loughner to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

In this case, the New Republic waited three whole days before publishing a piece indicting “the anti-Islamic ideology that has been spreading like a poison throughout European political culture for at least a decade.”

At this writing, Norwegian authorities haven’t yet ruled out the possibility that Breivik had some collaborators. But whether he’s a lone nut or one of several, the dark night of fascism hardly seems likely to descend across Europe because of a “climate of hate” fostered by European voters who have concerns about immigration from Muslim countries.

I haven’t yet waded through Breivik’s entire 1,500-page online magnum opus (the length itself is a good indication of megalomania — as is the fact that sections of it are cut-and-pasted from the Unabomber’s manifesto). The American Conservative‘s Daniel McCarthy calls it “a plagiarized jumble of nationalism, positivism, Christian symbolism, Unabomber-ism, neoconism, etc. Sound and fury,” likely signifying … not much. It’s likely that the only worthwhile political lesson to be gleaned from the horror of 7/22 is that Norway ought to consider having a longer maximum prison sentence than 21 years.

In general, invoking the ideological meanderings of psychopaths is a stalking horse for narrowing permissible dissent. Former New York Times columnist Frank Rich provided a classic in the genre with his February 2010 piece “The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged,” in which he railed against the dangerous climate of anti-government rhetoric and warned that a “tax protester” who flew a plane into an Internal Revenue Service building in February may be a dark harbinger of Tea Party terrorism to come. (No such luck, Frank.)

But blaming Sarah Palin for Jared Loughner, or Al Gore for the Unabomber makes about as much sense as blaming Martin Scorsese and Jodie Foster for inciting John Hinckley. There’s little to be learned from the acts of “the obsessed and deranged.” But these incidents ought to teach us not to use tragedy to score partisan points.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Cato Institute | Comments (0)

Letter to Senator Mark Pryor concerning debt ceiling debate July 26, 2011

July 26, 2011 – 4:14 pm

Dear Senator Pryor,

The President asked us to contact those representing us in Washington and that is exactly what I am doing today. Let make a few points.

First, in the past few months I have responded to your request to provide SPECIFIC SPENDING CUT SUGGESTIONS to your office. I have done so over 100 times and I have also posted them one at a time on my blog www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com .

Second, I have also written many posts concerning your political views and many of these articles have got lots of hits on my blog. In fact, when I started in December of 2010 I was only getting a handful of hits every week, but now I have got over 60,000 hits in the first 7 months on my website and I have you to thank for a lot of those hits.

Third, Arkansas is turning conservative and I wonder if you will change with Arkansas. Just recently you went across the state saying that the Republicans wanted to push granny off the cliff. Does that sound like you are open to making changes to make sure that Medicare survives?

Fourth, you wanted me to give you specific suggestions to cut federal spending. I have an easy one for you: Eliminate the Dept of Education!! That would save over 100 billion right there!!!

Fifth, if you want to raise taxes on the job creators during this time then you will be guilty of  destroying the recovery. You have already been guilty of slowly down the recovery with the silly stimulus bill. Every prediction that President Obama made about the stimulus have proven to be incorrect!!! Everyone of them!!!

I have done my duty that my President asked me to do by contacting you. Below you will find a letter that says perfectly what I think about this current debt ceiling crisis. Recently I got to hear Ernest Istook the president of the Heritage Foundation speak in Little Rock. He did a great job.

Below is an excerpt from a letter that went out today from the Heritage Foundation:

Our nation is in the midst of a fiscal crisis, but it is one that has nothing to do with an August 2 “deadline” for a deal or President Obama and Secretary Geithner’s fear mongering over recent days and weeks. The crisis is one of over $62 trillion in unfunded obligations that are the loudest warning bell possible of the systemic problems plaguing our nation. Washington should not ignore or postpone dealing with this problem once again.

Twice already this year, the House of Representatives has voted for plans that would address our fiscal crisis and save our nation from a creditworthiness downgrade. In April, the House passed a bold budget, which would place our nation on a different, more sustainable and prosperous course. Last week, the House passed the Cut, Cap and Balance Act, which would force future Congresses to live within their means and rapidly bring down our nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio. Unfortunately, both of these responsible proposals were defeated by an ideological Senate, which has offered few ideas of its own.

Clearly, the most blame belongs to the President and the Senate – a President who comes up with no useful fiscal plan of his own and a Senate that refuses to pass meaningful legislation to save the American dream from a fiscal tsunami. We cannot, however, continue business as usual by raising the debt limit without substantively addressing our nation’s fiscal challenges. The entire purpose of the debt limit is to put an end to borrowing when it reaches a point that our nation finds unacceptable. There is no point in having a debt limit if the option of using it to address overspending and overborrowing is so intimidating that it is unilaterally taken off the table.

 

Speaker Boehner’s most recent proposal to raise the debt limit is regrettably insufficient to our times. Step one of the Speaker’s proposal would cut $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending. Assuming all of these cuts materialized, this would reduce our nation’s projected debt at the end of the decade from $24.9 trillion to $23.7 trillion. Step two would create a special committee, which has three major problems: (1) The “deficit reduction” of $1.8 trillion remains insufficient for our times; (2) “Deficit reduction” is a well-known codeword for “tax increases”; and (3) 17 blue-ribbon panels, commissions and the like since 1982 have gotten our nation into the mess we are in and there is no obvious reason as to why the 18th will get us out. Further, this proposal would outline a fast track proposal that unduly limits the rights of the congressional minority.

All in all, under a best case scenario where all of the cuts envisioned in the Boehner plan come to fruition, they would only reduce our nation’s projected debt-to-GDP ratio from 104% to 92% – a ratio far higher than its current 62 percent, which Moody’s has already said must come down to maintain our nation’s stable outlook.

Harry Reid’s proposal to raise the debt ceiling is equally unacceptable. It appears to be the latest in a line of proposals that began with the McConnell Proposal, morphed into the McConnell-Reid Proposal, further deteriorated into the Gang of Six Proposal, and has now resurfaced as the Reid Proposal. Each of these insufficiently bold ideas would lead to an increase in the debt limit in exchange for few, if any, actual cuts off existing spending levels. In normal times we might take these as one step toward a path of fiscal sanity.  But we do not have the luxury of taking that kind of small first step at this juncture.  The rating agencies are poised to downgrade us within months if we don’t pass something like the House of Representatives’ first two attempts . . .  The last thing our country needs is a clean debt limit increase with some fancy window dressing to try to fool the American people.

All in all, Heritage Action remains where we were at the start of the summer: absolutely convinced our nation is in fiscal crisis and certain that bold political leadership is necessary to save the American dream. Congress should drive down federal spending on the way to a balanced budget, while protecting America, and without raising taxes. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be what we will get from Washington, which has irresponsibly turned its back on the only real plans out there: The House Budget and the Cut, Cap and Balance Act. As such, Washington should be forced to live under the current debt limit until it’s ready to make tough choices – choices that it should make, and has time to make, this week.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer

___________________________________

Thank you for your time. I know that you are very busy.

From Everette Hatcher

Alexander, AR 72002

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Brummett is fooled by Pryor’s assurance that gang of 6 offers real cuts now (Part 2)

  John Brummett in his article, “By Pryor prediction, gang of 6 emerges,” Arkansas News Bureau, July 21, 2011 asserts: So what’s in this great new plan from the Gang of Six? Only about $4 trillion in real deficit reduction achieved by deep defense cuts, commission-delegated reductions in spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, […]

 

Brummett is fooled by Pryor’s assurance that gang of 6 offers real cuts now

John Brummett in his article, “By Pryor prediction, gang of 6 emerges,” Arkansas News Bureau, July 21, 2011 asserts: So what’s in this great new plan from the Gang of Six? Only about $4 trillion in real deficit reduction achieved by deep defense cuts, commission-delegated reductions in spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, plugging […]

 

Mark Pryor and the liberal gang of six plan

Today I read in the article, “Pryor backing bipartisan debt reduction plan,” Arkansas News Bureau, July 20,2011 the following words: Sen. Mark Pryor said today he supports a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan unveiled Tuesday by six Republican and Democrats as a “carefully crafted balanced” way to avert a looming financial crisis. The Arkansas Democrat was […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in spending out of control, Taxes | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Raising debt ceiling does not solve problem, Without strong structural changes in spending, our debt will balloon out of control

July 26, 2011 – 2:46 pm

Steve Brawner in his article, “Uncle Sam: Deadbeat dad?” Arkansas News Bureau, July 20, 2011 noted:

That’s no way to get out of debt. Debtors — the government, you, me — don’t stop increasing debt simply by declaring they will stop doing so. The hole will keep getting dug unless hard choices are made about reducing the right expenditures and raising the right taxes. Congress, the president, and, indeed, the American people have not yet made those choices. Until that happens, the government will keep borrowing.

The question is, will it do so responsibly, or as a deadbeat dad?

There is good news. At least we’re talking about the debt instead of ignoring it.

The huge deficits are the problem. People want the debt ceiling raised, but if the huge deficits  continue then what is the use? The article below shows how our government will have their credit rating devalued UNLESS WE STOP RUNNING UP BIG DEFICTIS EVERY YEAR!!

“Dueling Debt Ceiling Proposals vs. the Rating Agencies,” by Alison Acosta Fraser, July 25, 2011 at 10:16 pm:

As the day debt ceiling of reckoning fast approaches, dueling proposals are flurrying around Washington fast and furious.  The latest two are from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Americans, and global financial markets, are watching Washington nervously for a real plan—one that will put the nation squarely on a path to solving our twin crises of spending and debt.  Without strong structural changes in spending, our debt will balloon out of control.

At stake are two issues.  The short-term is obvious – will there be an increase in the debt limit before August 3?  Despite the President and his team practically begging Wall Street to collapse, the markets and the rating agencies believe that there will be an increase and the federal government can safely avoid the chaos of prioritizing its bills in order to service the debt.  Though they warn of the consequences if this doesn’t happen, Standard & Poor’s, has stated that

…the risk of a payment default is small, though increasing…Standard and Poor’s still anticipates that lawmakers will raise the debt ceiling by the end of July to avoid those outcomes.”

The second and even more crucial issue is whether Congress will take necessary action beyond the next year to bring our debt under control over the medium and long-term.  This is where the rating agencies really voice their strong concern.    Again, Standard & Poor’s:

Congress and the Administration might also settle for a smaller increase in the debt ceiling, or they might agree to a plan that, while avoiding a near-term default, might not, in our view, materially improve our base case expectation for the future path of the net general government debt-to-GDP ratio.”

Moody’s response is similar:

The outlook assigned at that time to the government bond rating would very likely be changed to negative at the conclusion of the review unless substantial and credible agreement is achieved on a budget that includes long-term deficit reduction. To retain a stable outlook, such an agreement should include a deficit trajectory that leads to stabilization and then decline in the ratios of federal government debt to GDP and debt to revenue beginning within the next few years.

What the rating agencies are saying is that Congress and the President must pass legislation that immediately begins to rein in deficits and bring our debt down to more acceptable levels, and either keeps it there or continues to drive it down further.

The Boehner proposal would cut $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending.  There is no assurance that these cuts will occur, but let’s assume they do.  Let’s even be generous and assume that they are – in the words of S&P– “enacted and maintained throughout the decade.”  This would cut debt held by the public from its projected $24.9 trillion in 2021 to $23.7 trillion, and when measured against the economy from 104% to 99.4%.  Certainly, this is an improvement, but it is hardly declining from today’s levels, nor would these cuts fundamentally restructure entitlements – the real driver of our deficits in the future.

Step two in the Boehner proposal would reduce deficits by an additional $1.8 trillion over ten years.  Even assuming these cuts all happen, and even assuming they were all spending cuts – a broad assumption given the President’s rhetoric surrounding tax hikes on the wealthy – this would bring publicly held debt down to 92% of GDP. Better, but not that much.  Even throwing in interest savings from deficit reduction would bring this down to 88%.  Again, not much improvement and far worse than today’s debt ratio.

The Reid proposal doesn’t move the ball forward enough either.  At best it falls somewhat short of Boehner’s $3 trillion by $800 billion ($1.2 trillion in discretionary and some confusing savings to be had from winding down operations in Iraq and Afghanistan of $1.0 trillion.)

Neither of this week’s dueling debt ceiling proposals would pass the test from Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s for a credible, firm and actionable plan that would turn the tide of our deficits to put our debt on a manageable track. And if that holds true, then a downgrade by the rating agencies could occur smack in the very election year the President is trying to scoot through.

Because spending is set to grow so significantly over the decade, the kind of onesie-twosie approach to cutting spending and increasing the debt limit is simply not adequate.  Net interest payments are projected to more than triple over the next decade. The longer Congress waits to seriously control spending, the more it will have to cut just to offset bourgeoning interest costs.  And if interest rates suddenly rise? Well, we have an even bigger problem on our hands.

And, as babyboomers flood into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid swell in tandem, the kinds of changes necessary to rein in spending on these programs will be much more difficult.  Here again, the longer they duck the problem, the more likely a meltdown ahead.

The fact is, the only plan that could likely pass muster with Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s is House passed, Cut, Cap and Balance.  Why?  They tackle spending with firm caps that are enforceable, and before the end of the decade bring spending down to 19.9% of GDP and keep it there.  With the right spending changes it could fall, along with debt levels, from there.  Congress must act now to rein in spending and get our debt under control. It’s time for the dueling to end.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama, spending out of control | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Arkansas Lt. Governor Mark Darr keeps his word

July 26, 2011 – 10:24 am

 

Mike Masterson wrote a great article this morning in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and I wanted to share it with you.

Darr keeps his word

By Mike Masterson

LITTLE ROCK — I respect a politician who actually keeps his promises. Way too many politicos I’ve known over the years have specialized in meaningless lip movement and deceptive, self-serving tactics.

So imagine the width of my smile to see Lt. Gov. Mark Darr live up to his campaign promise by joining in the lawsuit against the wildly unpopular Obamacare law. The public relations name for this unsustainable, politicized mess of a law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Wow, “protection” and “affordable” in one title. Such illusion ought to earn some promotional wag a bonus.

Acting in his capacity as an individual, our Republican lieutenant governor filed an amicus brief in Missouri Lt. Gov. Pete Kinder’s lawsuit that echoes the sentiments of most Arkansans.

Twenty-one states thus far have filed a similar brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit in support of Kinder in his constitutional challenge to the individual mandate provision of the Democrat’s health-care law. Separately, more than 150 elected executive and legislative officials of states within the Eighth Circuit have filed a brief asking the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to reach a decision regarding the substantive constitutional issue and not delay resolving the case on procedural grounds.

Darr did his homework and understands just how unacceptable and unsustainable this health-care law truly is. “According to the Arkansas Department of Human Services there are currently 26 percent or 771,000 Arkansans on Medicaid,” he said the other day in a press release. “Once the health care law goes into effect in 2014 over 35 percent or 1,021,000 will qualify for Medicaid. The federal government will pay for 100 percent of the Medicaid expansion in our state through 2016, and then the amount will gradually be reduced to 90 percent by 2020. That means in ten years, the cost to the state will be about $200 million a year. This is unsustainable.

“As a small business owner,” Darr (a Northwest Arkansas pizza mogul) continued, “I fully understand the ramifications this law will have to small businesses across our state. I have had the opportunity over the last year and a half to speak with small business owners and major employers concerning this issue. They have been and still remain steadfastly opposed to the healthcare reform act.”

Kinder said he welcomed what he called “very significant and welcome” support for his challenge, including some kind words for Darr, commending him “for his willingness to step forward and lead on this crucial issue. [Darr] recognizes the individual mandate is an overreach of the federal government’s power into the lives of the citizens of Arkansas. I’m proud to stand with him as he joins this fight on behalf of the people of his state.”

Darr said he hopes the Eighth Circuit will move quickly to reach a just decision. Don’t most of us.

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