Yearly Archives: 2011

Andrew Breitbart spoke to Little Rock, Arkansas group May 25, 2011 (Part 4,the media world has changed with cable, Fox News, and the web)

June 2, 2011 – 12:00 am

Andrew Breibart spoke in Little Rock on May 25, 2011

Andrew Breitbart in Arkansas

The second monthly luncheon with featured speaker Andrew Breitbart was excellent. (Check out the Tolbert Report for more coverage of this event.)

First, we got to hear from Dave Elswick of KARN   who came up with the idea of this luncheon, and then from Teresa Crossland of Americans for Prosperity.

Below is a story Breitbart told at the luncheon today. He had earlier told it on Sean Hannity’s show:

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Over the last few years, one man has been at the center of some of the biggest and most controversial stories in politics. His websites have helped usher in a new era of conservative investigative journalism.

His name, Andrew Breitbart, and tonight he joins us right here in studio to talk about his brand new book “Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World.” We’ve got Breitbart.com, got theBigGovernment.com. We got —

ANDREW BREITBART, AUTHOR, “RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION”: Big Hollywood —

HANNITY: BigHollywood.com.

BREITBART: We are going to take on education next, go after the teachers and the union organizers.

HANNITY: You want to really save the world?

BREITBART: I do. It is not just me. It is a citizen journalism revolution that’s going on right now and I’m trying to be the pied piper to show you how — in the case of James O’Keefe, he took down ACORN with $1,400 to go city to city to city. The barrier of entry is negligible to have impact in this political environment.

HANNITY: You tell the story. It’s a pretty good story how he walks into your office and he talks about we’re going to take down ACORN and you said, no, no, it is bigger than that. We are going to take down journalism.

BREITBART: Yes, we’re going to take down the mainstream media. I mean, look — explain to me why James O’Keefe or Leila Rose or some of these other heroes of the new media come to me in my basement, instead of going to Katie Couric, NBC or ABC?

Because they know what they are exposing is corruption that is left of center corruption so they come to a guy in a basement. I say, we are going to expose that the media won’t cover this story, because they’re part of what I call the Democrat media complex, the natural alliance of the Democratic Party, liberal politics in the mainstream media.

HANNITY: I used the term in 2008, the media is dead. Media died in 2008, old mainstream media. Well, it is true, right?

BREITBART: Yes.

HANNITY: Look at the NBC, CBS, ABC, they’re contemplating whether they want to keep their nightly newscast on now.

BREITBART: Well, here’s what happened, 20 years ago, Rush Limbaugh comes in the game. He acts as checks and balance. The Matt Drudge comes in 15 years ago and then blogosphere explodes. All we did was ask of the mainstream media was to correct their bias problem.

HANNITY: Add Fox to that —

BREITBART: Of course, but as a result of that, when they wouldn’t correct themselves, citizens in the form of the Tea Party, citizens in the form of Hanna and James and people with video cameras going everywhere said if you are not going to correct yourself, we’re going to create a media in the wake of you incompetency.

And that’s what happening. It’s the most exciting time in the media and unfortunately, the mainstream media so upset about it. It covers it as if we’re the villains out there.

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

Is God responsible for evil, many Arkansas Times bloggers say yes!!(Part 2)

June 1, 2011 – 4:21 pm

In my earlier post I quoted several Arkansas Times bloggers that blamed God for the evil in the world today. I wanted to make the simple point today that there must be an absolute standard to judge evil by and most atheists do not have that. Of course, Christians have the Bible.

Today we have  a growing number of atheists because of the secular humanism in the schools. The teaching of humanism in the area of moral choices has been the main reason for this. Our students are being taught that we all are a product of chance and there are no absolutes.

The Bible tells us, “{God} has also set eternity in the hearts of men…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV). The secularist calls this an illusion, but the Bible tells us that the idea that we will survive the grave was planted in everyone’s heart by God Himself. Romans 1:19-21 tells us that God has instilled a conscience in everyone that points each of them to Him and tells them what is right and wrong (also Romans 2:14 -15).

It’s no wonder, then, that a humanist would comment, “Certain moral truths — such as do not kill, do not steal, and do not lie — do have a special status of being not just ‘mere opinion’ but bulwarks of humanitarian action. I have no intention of saying, ‘I think Hitler was wrong.’ Hitler WAS wrong.” (Gloria Leitner, “A Perspective on Belief,” THE HUMANIST, May/June 1997, pp. 38-39)

Here Leitner is reasoning from her God-given conscience and not from humanist philosophy. However, I know how moral relativism works, and I expected that Mrs. Leitner would soon be challenged by her fellow humanists. It wasn’t long before she received criticism. Humanist Abigail Ann Martin responded, “Neither am I an advocate of Hitler; however, by whose criteria is he evil?” (THE HUMANIST, September/October 1997, p. 2)

Do you see where our moral relativism has taken us in the USA?

I had a chance back in 1996 to visit with a gentleman by the name of Robert Lester Mondale while he was retired in Missouri.  He was born on May 28, 1904 and he died on August 19, 2003. He was an Unitarian minister and a humanist. In fact, he was the only person to sign all three of the Humanist Manifestos of 1933, 1973 and 2003. In my conversation with him he mentioned that he had the opportunity to correspond with John Dewey who was one of Mondale’s fellow signers of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto I.

I really believe that the influence of John Dewey’s humanistic philosophy has won the battle of the textbooks in the USA today (with evolution teaching being a key component). As a result, we have people like humanist Abigail Ann Martin who wrote, “Neither am I an advocate of Hitler; however, by whose criteria is he evil?” Check out this excellent article by Greg Koukl:

Bosnia, Rape and the Problem of Evil

Gregory Koukl

Greg responds to a letter to the editor in which the writer’s pain causes him to ask the age-old question of why God allows evil to exist. divider

I was reading the L.A. Times today in the letters to the editor section and there was a letter written by a gentleman in Newport Beach that was a response to a tragic story that the Times had carried a few days ago. Maybe some of you had seen that story or have read about it in the local papers about not just the rank and file tragedy in Bosnia- Hertzegovena, not about the general tragedy of war. The article was about the problems of the refugees and also a women being victimized by soldiers.

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…we say, “Why, God? Why me? Why this pain? Why this difficulty?”

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This respondent writes, “Glancing at your April 10 paper my eyes fell upon the tragic story ‘Ordeals Put Off Bosnia Rape Victim’s Healing.’ My heart ached for Amira, the 35 year old Muslim woman, mother of two children, suffering the loss of her husband, wandering about the countryside begging to survive. Placed in a detention camp, raped repeatedly by Serb soldiers acting as animal pigs rather than humans, the woman became another tragic victim of human wickedness. Where is mankind headed? My thoughts turn to God and ask, ‘Why, God? Why did you create such monsters? God, are you for real?’ If this is God’s way of teaching or testing my faith”, he continues, ” then my beliefs and faith are being shattered with contempt instead. Having just lost my wife to cancer, maybe my feelings are more prone and fragile to be torn apart and my feelings turn more intensely to those who are suffering also.” It’s signed Victor Jashinski in Newport Beach.There’s probably hardly a person listening to this account that does not feel the same emotion with him. First of all, we feel the sense of horror as we read about the kinds of things that other people do to each other. Just a couple of days ago was the last of a five part series of “The Holocaust” that was on the Family Channel which was re-aired for the first time in fifteen years. But in any event, seeing again in vivid portrayal what man is capable of doing, our hearts and our minds are taken with this situation. Not only that, but we are also touched by evil in the world ourselves as we look at circumstances and we’re horrified. We also look at pains in our own life as this man has reflected and we say, “Why, God? Why me? Why this pain? Why this difficulty?” And this is really one of the most thorny problems and one of the most complex problems that anyone, regardless of their philosophical avocations or persuasions, has to address.

There is no way that I’m going to resolve this in ten minutes because this problem in its fullness, in its entirety resists a thorough resolution. I think there’s some good responses, but for the most part it is something that we kind of have to live with . But I would like to give some thoughts that may provide a few guidelines for you in dealing with this yourself and people like this gentleman as they face these circumstances both outside of their life and inside of their life.

My policy in dealing with a difficult, tricky problem that defies a thorough-going solution is to work from the known to the unknown. There are some things I think we can know about this issue. We can draw some conclusions that will at least clear the deck a bit and help us to focus on those things that are less clear and less resolvable, and maybe demystify the question for us, and maybe make our hearts feel a little better about the issue.

One of the things I need to say at the outset, by the way, is that’s it’s very important to distinguish between the issue of evil and suffering as a philosophic problem and the problem of evil from a pastoral perspective. Actually, both were raised in this letter. Why does God allow evil in the world such that a female Bosnian refugee might be subjected to repeated rape by Serbian soldiers? Why does the problem happen out there (which is the philosophic question) but why does evil hurt me? That’s a different kind of question because that’s an emotional response. Even people who have resolved the issue of evil philosophically still shudder under its impact when it hits them. Even though their mind may have answers their heart still asks “Why?” when they become victimized by evil in the world. So we see both kinds here.

I’m going to start out by trying to deal with the philosophic problem and then make a comment about the pastoral problem. They are distinct questions.

By the way, when someone comes to you with the pastoral issue, you can’t resolve that by giving them a philosophic answer. It just doesn’t work . That’s not their need. Their need isn’t their mind at that point or their intellect; their need is their heart, the grief they are going through. There’s a different kind of approach there. I’m actually better at the first than the second. I’m better at the intellectual part than the pastoral part. That’s why I’m a radio talk show host and not a church shepherd as many pastors are. My gifts are different. In any event, let me try to deal with the philosophic problem first and then briefly address the pastoral issue.

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So if there is no God, there can’t be any evil, only personal likes and dislikes–what I prefer morally and what I don’t prefer morally.

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One thing to note, by the way, is that this man presumes that God made man this way (“Why, God, why did you create such monsters?”). Now if you are thinking from a Biblical perspective, you know that that is not the case. The Bible does not teach that God created monsters. It teaches that He created human beings that were not monsters at all but were good. They didn’t have this propensity and proclivity for evil. He didn’t make man with that. But He did make man with the possibility of going wrong and the writer’s response here is really a response questioning the character of God. “How could You do this? What kind of God are you? Are you for real?” are other questions which are the approach that most people usually take when struggling with evil. In other words, when they see this kind of thing they don’t question the character of man, which in my point of view would be a sensible response. (You’ll understand why I say that in just a moment.) Instead they attack the existence of God. In other words, they say since there is evil in the world then God can’t exist. This is not a reasonable response. It is not a rational response. It is not a fruitful answer to the philosophic problem of evil and I’m going to tell you why that just can’t work.

What doesn’t make sense is to look at the existence of evil and question the existence of God. The reason is that atheism turns out being a self-defeating philosophic solution to this problem of evil. Think of what evil is for a minute when we make this kind of objection. Evil is a value judgment that must be measured against a morally perfect standard in order to be meaningful. In other words, something is evil in that it departs from a perfect standard of good. C.S. Lewis made the point, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call something crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.”[ 1 ] He also goes on to point out that a portrait is a good or a bad likeness depending on how it compares with the “perfect” original. So to talk about evil, which is a departure from good, actually presumes something that exists that is absolutely good. If there is no God there’s no perfect standard, no absolute right or wrong, and therefore no departure from that standard. So if there is no God, there can’t be any evil, only personal likes and dislikes–what I prefer morally and what I don’t prefer morally.

This is the big problem with moral relativism as a moral point of view when talking about the problem of evil. If morality is ultimately a matter of personal taste–that’s what most people hold nowadays–then it’s just your opinion what’s good or bad, but it might not be my opinion. Everybody has their own view of morality and if it’s just a matter of personal taste–like preferring steak over broccoli or Brussels sprouts–the objection against the existence of God based on evil actually vanishes because the objection depends on the fact that some things are intrinsically evil–that evil isn’t just a matter of my personal taste, my personal definition. But that evil has absolute existence and the problem for most people today is that there is no thing that is absolutely wrong. Premarital sex? If it’s right for you. Abortion? It’s an individual choice. Killing? It depends on the circumstances. Stealing? Not if it’s from a corporation.

The fact is that most people are drowning in a sea of moral relativism. If everything is allowed then nothing is disallowed. Then nothing is wrong. Then nothing is ultimately evil. What I’m saying is that if moral relativism is true, which it seems like most people seem to believe–even those that object against evil in the world, then the talk of objective evil as a philosophical problem is nonsense. To put it another way, if there is no God, then morals are all relative. And if moral relativism is true, then something like true moral evil can’t exist because evil becomes a relative thing.

An excellent illustration of this point comes from the movie The Quarrel . In this movie, a rabbi and a Jewish secularist meet again after the Second World War after they had been separated. They had gotten into a quarrel as young men, separated on bad terms, and then had their village and their family and everything destroyed through the Second World War, both thinking the other was dead. They meet serendipitously in Toronto, Canada in a park and renew their friendship and renew their old quarrel.

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To paraphrase the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer, the person who argues against the existence of God based on the existence of evil in the world has both feet firmly planted in mid-air.

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Rabbi Hersch says to the secularist Jew Chiam, “If a person does not have the Almighty to turn to, if there’s nothing in the universe that’s higher than human beings, then what’s morality? Well, it’s a matter of opinion. I like milk; you like meat. Hitler likes to kill people; I like to save them. Who’s to say which is better? Do you begin to see the horror of this? If there is no Master of the universe then who’s to say that Hitler did anything wrong? If there is no God then the people that murdered your wife and kids did nothing wrong.”

That is a very, very compelling point coming from the rabbi. In other words, to argue against the existence of God based on the existence of evil forces us into saying something like this: Evil exists, therefore there is no God. If there is no God then good and evil are relative and not absolute, so true evil doesn’t exist, contradicting the first point. Simply put, there cannot be a world in which it makes any sense to say that evil is real and at the same time say that God doesn’t exist. If there is no God then nothing is ultimately bad, deplorable, tragic or worthy of blame. The converse, by the way, is also true. This is the other hard part about this, it cuts both ways. Nothing is ultimately good, honorable, noble or worthy of praise. Everything is ultimately lost in a twilight zone of moral nothingness. To paraphrase the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer, the person who argues against the existence of God based on the existence of evil in the world has both feet firmly planted in mid-air.

No, the existence of the problem forces us into some kind of theistic solution. This is a good thing, which brings me to my third point. If atheism is a self-defeating philosophic solution to the problem, and some kind of theism is necessary, then it seems to me that theism is one of the only satisfying pastoral solutions to the problem.

Let’s say for example that you are suffering with some kind of pain and evil in your life and you come to the conclusion that there is no God. What is the solution to the problem of your personal pain? The only solution I can think of is that your personal pain and suffering are meaningless. They are useless. They are helpless. And, in fact, it reminds me of Os Guiness in his fine book The Dust of Death , which has just been re-released, where he makes the point in regards to eastern religion that many eastern religions hold that the world is just an illusion–Hinduism characteristically. He quotes from a poet of the Eastern tradition who had just experienced tremendous tragedy in his life. He went to his avatar to get some comfort from his religious leader after his wife and children had been killed. His religious leader simply said to him in the face of this terrible anguish, “The world is dew.” His point was that it’s all an illusion anyway. The poet went back and he wrote this poem, a simple poem, only four lines : “The world is dew. The world is dew. And yet….And yet….” In other words the religious answer his religious leader was that the evil simply didn’t exist. But he knew personally that it wasn’t dew, that it wasn’t an illusion. It was there. It was real and it was impacting his life. But what comfort was there in that–nothing whatsoever.

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If God wiped out all the evil in the world tonight at midnight, where would you and I be at 12:01?

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If there is no God then there is no answer to the pastoral question of personal suffering and evil . It ‘s not there–your suffering is meaningless. But if there is a God, and if that God is the God of the Bible, then at least we have the potential of an answer. There’s some kind of comfort there. God is ultimately good and just, and one day the accounts will be perfectly balanced. We can place ourselves in the hands of a powerful Creator who, by all other evidence, loves us, cares for us and comforts the afflicted. One Who will not break off a bent reed and Who will not put out a smoldering wick. One Who will hold us close to Himself. There is at least the possibility that this suffering and pain can make sense because God can use it for good in our lives.

We might ask ourselves the question, Why does God put up with this kind of evil in the world? The rapes, the war in Bosnia Hertzegovena, for example? My response is that God puts up with that kind of evil for the same reason he puts up with your evil and with my evil for the time being. I’m not going to try to explain what that reason is now. The point I’m making is that this justice issue cuts both ways.

If God wiped out all the evil in the world tonight at midnight, where would you and I be at 12:01? See, the fact is that God’s going to do a complete job when he finally deals with evil. C.S. Lewis makes the point when he says, “I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does….When the author walks on the stage the play is over.”[ 2 ] Evil deeds can never be isolated from the evil doer. Our prints, yours and mine, are on the smoking gun.

What’s curious to me in dealing with this issue is that no one raises the issue of whether one ought to continue to believe in the goodness of man after these kinds of tragedies. We see things like the Holocaust, the crime level, the innocent suffering at the hands of other human beings more often than not, and instead of shaking our fists at humankind who perpetrate the action we shake our fists at God. I don’t get it.

Dennis Prager says, “Whenever I meet someone who claims to find faith in God impossible, but who persists in believing in the essential goodness of humanity, I know that I have met a person for whom evidence is irrelevant.” ( Ultimate Issues , July- September, 1989) I like that. I think that hits the nail on the head.

The last thought I will offer is just another curious one from my perspective as I hear these kinds of responses. We live our lives in rebellion to God, constantly disobeying Him, constantly disregarding him, refusing to live according to His precepts and according to His rules, and then we wonder where He is when things go wrong.

Let that one sink in a little bit.

1 Lewis, Clive Staples, Mere Christianity.
2 ibid.

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

Is God responsible for evil, many Arkansas Times bloggers say yes!!(Part 1)

June 1, 2011 – 4:06 pm

Here are some of the thoughts of Arkansas Times bloggers on the subject of God and the source of evil:

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Where does it all come from, the killings, lies, starvation, pestilence?

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”
Isaiah 45:7

Posted by eLwood on June 1, 2011 at 12:33 PM | Report this comment

Ok, let me get this straight. When churches put up ads, there is no fear from atheist vandals. When Atheists want to put up ads, there’s an overwhelming fear of Religious vandals?
Posted by FatSalmon on June 1, 2011 at 12:45 PM | Report this comment
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It’s not a causal link, but it could shown the mere absence of Christianity doesn’t cause a society to descend into immoral chaos.
Posted by juju2112 on June 1, 2011 at 2:44 PM | Report this comment
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(Here I agree with “juju2112” because I personally knew people like Dr. John George who was a very moral agnostic.)
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Thank you juju2112.Most (all?) conservative denominations maintain that there can be no morality without religion. It is they that maintain there is a direct link between immoral behavior (with murder as my example) and the absence of religious belief.
Posted by Arkie on June 1, 2011 at 2:56 PM | Report this comment

From the atheist perspective, the lies and killings and starvations and pestilence come from man and nature.

Even if there were no religions, you would still have that, and more. Even here, where there is the mix of atheist and liberal christian, I have noted and observed the blood thirsty desire to kill, hang and starve others merely for being or thinking different from this herd.

Posted by Steven E on June 1, 2011 at 12:46 PM | Report this comment
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Let me take on “Steven E” first because he makes some good points.

March 15, 2011

The Problem of Evil is Everyone’s Problem

Japan-tsunami-2011-495x278 The Japan tsunami inevitably raises profound questions about God and evil.  But in this discussion, it is important to realize every worldview, not just Christianity, must explain evil.  Christians are often on the defense with regards to this objection, yet the tables can be turned on the atheist, with his naturalistic worldview in tow.  Given naturalism, what is evil and how does the atheist make sense of it?

Famous British philosopher and atheist Bertrand Russell once commented, “No one can believe in a good God if they’ve sat at the bedside of a dying child.”  Now, I agree that sitting at the bedside of a dying child is a heart-wrenching situation not to be treated simplistically or in a cavalier manner.  Providing pat answers and quoting Romans 8:28 over and over will not suffice.  But what of Russell’s response?  What can the atheist say to the dying child?  Or to the Japanese parents whose child disappeared in the flood waters?

  •  “In the grand scheme of the universe your suffering is utterly meaningless–life and all that comes with it has no transcendent meaning or value.”
  •  “Your suffering is completely pointless since there is no purpose to any of this anyway.”
  •  “Fortunately, you will soon die and return to dust.”
  • “Take heart, you will soon pop out of existence forever and your suffering will be over.”
  • “Stuff like tsunamis just happen.”
  • “Bummer.”

 
Or let’s try the actual words of Russell:

  • “Brief and powerless is Man’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure dooms falls pitiless and dark.”
  •  “Blind to good and evil…omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way.”
  • “…no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave…”
  • “…all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system…”
  • “Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins…”

Hmmm…not too comforting in the face of real tragedy & sorrow. Not only does atheism lack the intellectual resources to account for evil, it also lacks the emotional/psychological resources to bring hope and redemption to a world corrupted by both moral and natural evil.  Russell’s own words certainly clarify the absurdity of life without God.

Make no mistake, the problem of evil is not just a problem for Christianity–it is a problem for all worldviews because evil is fundamental to our human experience.  If any worldview is to be considered plausible it must provide us with the intellectual and existential resources to deal with this issue.

Posted by BrettKunkle at 09:51 AM in AA:Brett, Apologetics | Permalink

 

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

Marilyn Monroe had fame, riches, the best wine and companionship, but she never found what she was looking for (Marilyn part 4)

June 1, 2011 – 10:22 am

Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 7)

John MacArthur delivered this message in 1975:

Human Wisdom Disappoints

The book of Ecclesiastes has some interesting things to say about human wisdom. This book was written by Solomon, and it chronicles human wisdom. The Lord put it in the Bible for a very special purpose: to show us the frustrations and the inabilities of human wisdom. 

1. Solomon’s Fervent Search

Now Solomon, who was a very intelligent man, said in 1:13, “. . . I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. . . . ” He’s saying, “I decided that I would apply wisdom and figure out all the answers. ” Continuing in verse 16, he said, “I spoke to mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge [I was so educated there wasn’t anybody as educated as I was]. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly [which was the opposite of wisdom]; I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (vv. 16-18). 

2. Solomon’s Futile Solution

Then, in 2:1 he said, “I said in mine heart, Come now, I will test thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure. . . . ” In other words, “I looked for wisdom and I found it. When I summed up all my wisdom, I had nothing but a troubled spirit because the more I knew, the sadder I became. ” If you’re honest with yourself, you will find that the more you know, the less you really know. Solomon sought to cover up his troubled spirit by living it up:  “. . . I will test thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure. . . . ” But then he said, “. . . this also is vanity” (v. 1b). In verse 3, we find Solomon seeking satisfaction from wine. That didn’t do him any good either. 

Read what else he did: “I made for myself great works; I built houses; I planted vineyards; I made gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits; I made pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees; I got servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks above all that were in Jerusalem before me” (vv. 4-7). Those are the same things that the world does. The people of the world work hard for gain, possessions, and money. “I gathered also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got men and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts” (v. 8). Music is a pacifier for our world today, too. You can’t go anywhere without hearing music. People don’t want to live with their own thoughts. They’ve got to have somebody else putting other thoughts in their mind. 

Continuing in verse 9, he said, “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me [whatever he learned, he remembered]. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do that cometh after the king? [What could I do now? I’ve done everything there is to do. ] . . . Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly [It’s better to be smart than stupid. ]. . . . The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness; and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise?. . . ” (vv. 9-15a). 

Isn’t that amazing? When all that he did came to an end, the wisest man in the world said, “I was a fool. ” Human wisdom doesn’t have anything good to offer us.

Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 8)

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What is the answer to the spiritual search that we all have? I have found total satisfaction in my life through putting my faith alone in Christ.

Our views below (this material is from Campus Crusade for Christ) concerning how to go to heaven.

Just as there are physical laws that govern
the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws
that govern your relationship with God.

Law 1

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

God’s Love
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

God’s Plan
[Christ speaking] “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”
[that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10).

Why is it that most people are not experiencing that abundant life?

Because…

Law 2

Man is sinful and separated from God.
Therefore, he cannot know and experience
God’s love and plan for his life.

Man is Sinful
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his own stubborn
self-will, he chose to go his own independent way and fellowship with God was broken.
This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference,
is an evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

Man Is Separated
“The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).

Separation This diagram illustrates that God is holy and man is sinful. A great gulf separates the two. The arrows illustrate that man is continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through his own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion
-but he inevitably fails.The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf…

Law 3

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin.
Through Him you can know and experience
God’s love and plan for your life.

He Died In Our Place
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

He Rose from the Dead
“Christ died for our sins… He was buried… He was raised on the third day,
according to the Scriptures… He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

He Is the Only Way to God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to
the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6).

Bridge The Gulf This diagram illustrates that God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.It is not enough just to know these three laws…

Law 4

We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;
then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

We Must Receive Christ
“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children
of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

We Receive Christ Through Faith
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not as result of works that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth
(Read John 3:1-8.)

We Receive Christ Through Personal Invitation
[Christ speaking] “Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting
Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be.
Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross
for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience.
We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

These two circles represent two kinds of lives:

Circles

Self-Directed Life
S-Self is on the throne
wpe463.jpg (790 bytes)-Christ is outside the life
wpe464.jpg (719 bytes)-Interests are directed by self, often
resulting in discord and frustration		 Christ-Directed Life
wpe463.jpg (790 bytes)-Christ is in the life and on the throne
S-Self is yielding to Christ,
resulting in harmony with God’s plan
wpe464.jpg (719 bytes)-Interests are directed by Christ,
resulting in harmony with God’s plan

Which circle best represents your life?
Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer
(Prayer is talking with God)

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude
of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life.
Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, I invite you to pray this
prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Now that you have received Christ

On this web site:
Copyrighted 2007 by Bright Media Foundation and Campus Crusade for Christ.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Permission for use from the publisher,
Campus Crusade for Christ, 375 Highway 74 South, Suite A, Peachtree City, GA 30269

Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 9)

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

Who was Milton Friedman and what did he say about Social Security Reform? (Part 6) (Friedman v. Bill Clinton Part A)

June 1, 2011 – 10:21 am
Milton Friedman congratulated by President Ronald Reagan. © 2008 Free To Choose Media, courtesy of the Power of Choice press kit

Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.
Milton Friedman

 

Milton Friedman – The Social Security Myth  

Milton Friedman (Милтон Фридман) Photo: Steven N. S. Cheung

In this series I want to both look  closely at who Milton Friedman was and what his views were about Social Security reform. Here is the fifth portion of an autobiography from Nobelprize.org:

In 1977, when I reached the age of 65, I retired from teaching at the University of Chicago. At the invitation of Glenn Campbell, Director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, I shifted my scholarly work to Hoover where I remain a Senior Research Fellow. We moved to San Francisco, purchasing an apartment in a high-rise apartment building in which we still reside. The transition of my scholarly activities from Chicago to California was greatly eased by the willingness of Gloria Valentine, my assistant at Chicago, to accompany us west. She remains my indispensable assistant.

Hoover has provided excellent facilities for scholarly work. It enabled me to remain productive and an active member of a lively scholarly community.

Initially we continued to spend spring and summer quarters at Capitaf, our second home in Vermont. However, we soon came to appreciate the inconvenience of maintaining homes a continent apart and began to look in California for a replacement for Capitaf. In 1979, we purchased a house on the ocean in Sea Ranch, a lovely community 110 miles north of San Francisco. In 1981, we disposed of Capitaf and began to spend about half the year at Sea Ranch at intervals of a week or so, spread throughout the year, rather than in one solid block. It proved a fine locale for scholarly work. The Internet plus an assistant at Hoover more than made up for the absence of a library near at hand.

After more than two wonderful decades at Sea Ranch, we sold our house to simplify our lives. We now have one home, our apartment in San Francisco.

To return to the 1970s, not long after we arrived in California, Bob Chitester persuaded us to join him in producing a major television program presenting my economic and social philosophy. The resulting effort, spread over three years, proved the most exciting adventure of our lives. The end result was Free to Choose, ten one-hour programs, each consisting of a half-hour documentary and a half-hour discussion. The first of the ten programs appeared on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) in January 1980. Since then, the series has been shown in many foreign countries.

When we agreed to undertake the project, little did Rose and I realize what was involved in producing a major TV series. As a first step, I gave a series of fifteen lectures over a period of nine months at a wide variety of locations. The lectures and question-and-answer sessions were all videotaped to provide the producers with a basis for planning the programs.

The filming began in March 1978 and continued for the next eight months at locations in the United States and around the world, including Hong Kong, Japan, India, Greece, Germany, and the United Kingdom – in the process generating more than six miles of video and audiotape.

Three months after the end of filming, we returned to London to view the documentaries that Michael Latham, our wonderful producer, and his associates had created from that tape and to dub the voice-overs. Another six months passed before we gathered again in Chicago where we filmed the discussion sessions – one of the most stressful weeks I have ever experienced.

One distinguishing feature of the series was that there was no written script. I talked extemporaneously from notes. When we returned to Capitaf from London with the transcripts of the final documentaries, we set to work to convert them to a book to appear simultaneously with the TV program. The book, Free to Choose (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980) was the bestseller nonfiction book of 1980 and continues to sell well. It has been translated into more than fourteen foreign languages.

Investing Social Security funds in the stock market would be a fine idea, wouldn’t it? President Clinton thinks so. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Milton Friedman thinks not.

President Clinton has proposed that a quarter of the funds set aside for Social Security be invested in the stock market—a truly radical plan.

Margaret Thatcher reversed Britain’s drift to socialism by selling off government-owned enterprises. President Clinton now proposes that the U.S. government do precisely the opposite: buy private equities, thereby becoming a part owner of U.S. enterprises.

I have often speculated that an ingenious way for a socialist to achieve his objective in the United States would be to persuade Congress, in the name of fiscal responsibility, to (1) fully fund obligations under Social Security and (2) invest the accumulating reserves in the private capital market by purchasing equity interests in domestic corporations.

Congress has never adopted a policy of fully funding Social Security, but neither has it adopted a strict pay-as-you-go policy. As is Congress’s wont, it has chosen the middle of the road, where cars can hit you from both directions. It has collected more in current taxes than were needed to pay current benefits yet not enough more to equal the future liability that it was incurring. The excess revenue has been spent in the ordinary course of government business.

The trust fund was created to preserve the fiction that Social Security is insurance. The so-called trust fund is actually a massive sleight of hand.

To preserve the fiction that Social Security is insurance, however, federal government interest-bearing bonds of a corresponding amount have been deposited in a so-called trust fund. That is, one branch of the government, the Treasury, has given an interest-bearing IOU to another branch, the Social Security Administration. Each year thereafter, the Treasury gives the Social Security Administration additional IOUs to cover the interest due. The only way that the Treasury can redeem its debt to the Social Security Administration is to borrow the money from the public, run a surplus in its other activities, or have the Federal Reserve print the money—the same alternatives that would be open to it to pay Social Security benefits if there were no trust fund. But the accounting sleight of hand of a bogus trust fund is counted on to conceal this fact from a gullible public.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Bill Clinton, Milton Friedman, Social Security | Comments (0)

A New Jersey man buys over 30 pictures of Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn part 3)

June 1, 2011 – 12:41 am

Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 4)

Fox News NY reported:

OXNY.COM – A New Jersey man is getting a lot of attention for an item he picked up at a garage sale 30 years ago, but only recently rediscovered. Anton Fury, of Wayne, said he used to hit garage sales all the time in the 1980s. He had no idea when he bought an envelope full of negatives that they would be rare photos of one of the most famous women in Hollywood: Marilyn Monroe.

“I couldn’t tell what they were; I could see they were a girl in a bikini but beyond that I didn’t know, so I bought them,” Fury said. “I took them home and imagine my surprise.”

Fury, a photographer himself, has always been into vintage photography and that is why he bought the negatives at a New Jersey garage sale in 1980 or 1981. He said he believes the photos were taken in the early 1950s before Norma Jeane Baker was Marilyn Monroe.

He bought 33 pictures of Marilyn and 71 of another blonde bombshell, Jayne Mansfield.

“I didn’t know what to do with them so basically I stuck them in a file cabinet,” he said.

But recently Fury’s studio suffered flood damage, so when he was cleaning out his belongings he found the negatives. So he decided to get them appraised.

“I’m not out here trying to make a million dollars — although that would be nice,” he said. “We’re trying to find out what these are.”

He is hoping someone will recognize the location of the photo shoot or the man in the pictures. He is getting a lot of attention for his savvy garage sale shopping.

“I’ve gotten a million calls from all over the world, from media all over the world,” Fury said. “From Australia this morning, Germany, Colombia — it’s crazy.”

For now fury is keeping those negatives in a safe. Once he finds out if he has the legal right to sell them, he plans to put them up for auction.

_____________________________________________

'Bosom to All the World'
At the Mocambo
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At the Mocambo

LIFE’s Eyerman also trailed Monroe to a legendary Hollywood nightclub, the Mocambo, for an off-hours singing lesson with musician and bandleader Phil Moore. “She takes preliminary — and colorful — instruction about putting over the song she will sing (‘Embraceable You’), involving much talk of really believing the words about love and romance in order to be ‘convincing’ and ‘sexy’ at the same time,” noted LIFE’s on-the-scene correspondent Carlton McKinney.
Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 5)
At the Mike
Moore urged Monroe to get the most out of every line. “Get it in your head and sing it out. Believe it!” he told her, according to LIFE’s notes.
'Bosom to All the World'
At the Mocambo
At the Mike
Building Her Confidence
Dressing the Part
'Her Own Little Voice'
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‘Her Own Little Voice’

“Another phase of Moore’s coaching: play-back recordings, to test the actual vocal technique. Marilyn seems fairly pleased by her own little voice; Moore is a little more dubious.”
Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 6)
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

Kate Middleton and Prince William: Marriage made in Heaven? (Part 42)

June 1, 2011 – 12:18 am
photo

Michael Middleton lifts Catherine’s veil

Michael Middleton lifts Catherine’s bridal veil at the altar of Westminster Abbey, 29 April 2011

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.

We have to understand that in God’s sight, when a man and woman marry and join their bodies together sexually, something spiritual occurs—they really do become “one.” When a husband and wife make love, it is a living picture of the spiritual reality of marriage—two people melded into one. But this physical joining is only one part of the union. Marriage is the combining of a man and woman at every level—not just sexually but emotionally, spiritually, and in every other way. In God’s plan, sexual union was never meant to be separated from this total union. C. S. Lewis compares having sex outside of marriage to a person who enjoys the sensation of chewing and tasting food, but doesn’t want to swallow the food and digest it. This is a perversion of God’s intent. Food was meant to be chewed and also swallowed. In a similar way, the sex act was meant to be part of the whole-life union of marriage. When we attempt to experience sex apart from this union, we’re disrespecting and dishonoring marriage. (Joshua Harris, Sex is Not the Problem —Lust is)

For single women, it’s important to understand how God views sex so that it’s not misused. There is right worship and there is wrong worship. Wrong worship brought death to Aaron’s sons when they offered the wrong fire and incense before God. To look at this literally, you can say that sex outside of marriage brings about death to our spirits, as well as to our sense of well-being or esteem. In some cases, it brings death to our bodies through sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, and the fatal attractions that are a result of soul ties from the sexual union. (Michelle McKinney Hammond, The Power of Femininity)

• Some who want to know exactly “how far they can go” in dating ask this question in honest ignorance. But others, in asking this question, betray a desire to go as far as they can without “crossing the line.” Such a desire is legalistic and self-centered. The point is not to determine a legally defined “line,” but to promote the emotional and spiritual well-being of both partners in the relationship. (Dennis McCallum and Gary DeLashmutt, The Myth of Romance)

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

Benefits of Attending a Weekend to Remember

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

Ronald Wilson Reagan (Part 89)

June 1, 2011 – 12:15 am
“If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Arguably one of Reagan’s best television moments, he urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to stop the communist hold over East Berlin and allow the country to unify under a democracy. Two years later, it happened in the dark of night.

From Oct. 28, 1980, in Cleveland, here is part 9 of the Carter-Reagan Presidential Debate, as taped from WJKW, CBS. Amazing how things have changed…and yet stayed the same…in almost 30 years!!!

Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation wrote an excellent article on Ronald Reagan and the events that transpired during the Reagan administration,  and I wanted to share it with you. Here is the second portion:

Reagan needed every bit of this help. Internally, the nation faced a multitude of serious economic problems — double-digit inflation, high unemployment and a prime interest rate of 21.5 percent, the highest since the Civil War. Overseas problems had also proliferated — the energy crisis, the red-tinged Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the unbalanced SALT II treaty, the brutal Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, falling dominos in Africa, the American hostages in Iran. The Vietnam syndrome that permeated and obstructed U.S. foreign policy was reinforced by Carter’s maladroit actions and the malaise that he, not the American people, produced.

The new president and his top advisers were well aware that they had to act, and quickly. In presidential politics, as in the 100-yard dash, a quick start is everything.

Richard Wirthlin, the president’s pollster, had developed “a strategic outline of initial actions” to be taken during the administration’s first 180 days — from the inauguration until early August, when Congress usually recessed for a summer vacation.[i] The plan was based in large part on an address that Reagan had delivered the previous September before the International Business Council of Chicago. The candidate had proposed: strictly controlling the rate of growth of government spending, reducing personal income tax rates, revising government regulations, establishing a stable monetary policy, and following a consistent national economic policy.

Such a strategy seems obvious, but Democrats attacked it with abandon and, typically, big business mouthpieces like the National Association of Manufacturers complained because the plan didn’t cut business taxes enough. But research director Martin Anderson and the other numbers crunchers were content: they had produced a document (with projections through 1985) showing that Reagan could cut taxes, balance the budget and increase domestic growth if given the right kind of cooperation by Congress.[ii] The Wall Street Journal agreed, commenting that Reagan had “spelled out a prudent, gradual, responsible reordering of economic priorities.”[iii]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Ronald Reagan | Comments (0)

Top Ten List of greatest soccer players: E. Hatcher’s list v. W. Hatcher’s list (Part 3)

June 1, 2011 – 12:14 am

Today’s debate is about the 8th best soccer player ever!!!!!

Wilson: Lothar Herbert Matthaus- He won the 1990 W0rld Cup and he was the best player on the team. He defeated some great legends like Diego Maradona. He is the most talented German soccer player ever.

Lothar Herbert Matthäus – goles

______________________________________

Everette: I went with Kaka. Here is a clip:

kaka – the unstoppable footballplayer

_____________________________

Here is a list from Soul Magazine:

In light of the biggest sports event that takes place every four years, The World Cup, we take a look at the best players in the world, of all time. Though opinions may differ, the following 10 football players have definitely made a historical mark in this sport to be mentioned amongst the top players of the world.

1. Pele (Brazil)
Pele (Edison Arantes do Nascimento) started his professional football career at age 15 and grew out to be considered the best football player of all time. Not just by football experts but also by former players and fans. Pele played in four World Cup tournaments and is the only player in the world that has three World Cup winning medals. The talented player retired in 1977. Up til today, no other player has been able to knock the Brazilian from the number one spot.

2. Ronaldo (Brazil)
Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, also hailing from Brazil. But unlike Pele, Ronaldo has played for several European teams as well. He is one of the only two men who have won the FIFA Player of the Year award three times. In 2007, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest footballers compiled by the number 1 of this list, Pele.

3. Romario (Brazil)
Romário de Souza Faria, closing the top 3 of best football players of all time, also as a Brazilian native. He has won the World Cup in 1994 with the Brazilian national team. On May 20, 2007, Romário scored his 1000th goal. The Brazilian press claimed him as the third player in professional football history to achieve this, after Pele and Puskas. In 2008 Romario retired from football, only to come back for one more game in 2009.

4. Luis Figo (Portugal)
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, retired from football in 2009 after a 20 year lasting career. Figo is one of the few football players to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. His move from Barca to Real Madrid in 2000 went for a then world record of 37 million pound. (Roughly 48 million USD.)

5. Zinedine Zidane (France)
Zinedine Yazid Zidane, considered to be the best French player in history. He has helped the French national team win the World Cup in 1998 and led them to the World Cup Finals in 2006. He retired right after the last mentioned event. Zidane’s parents being from Algeria, the president of the national team of Algeria proposed him to be the trainer of their team.

6. Diego Maradona (Argentina)
Diego Armando Maradona, born in 1960, has set world record fees during his professional career. He played in four World Cup tournaments, including winning the 1986 World Cup with the Argentinian team. Maradona is considered one of the sport’s most controversial and newsworthy figures. He was suspended from football for 15 months in 1991 after failing a doping test for cocaine in Italy, and he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA for testing positive for ephedrine. He retired from playing football in 1997.

7. Lothar Matthäus (Germany)
Lothar Herbert Matthäus, has played in five World Cup tournaments including leading the German national team to the victory of the World Cup in 1990. A year after that he was named the first ever FIFA World Player of the Year. He is the most capped German player of all time, retiring with a total of 150 appearances and 23 goals for the German national team. Maradona said about Matthäus “he is the best rival I’ve ever had.

8. Gerd Müller (Germany)
Gerhard “Gerd” Müller is one of the most prolific goalscorers of all time. With national records of 68 goals in 62 international appearances, 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and the international record of 66 goals in 74 European Club games, he was one of the most successful goalscorers of his era. He scored the winning goal for the 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in the final of the 1974 World Cup.

9. Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
Franz Anton Beckenbauer, the third German football player in the top 10 list of best players of all time. Though he comes behind Matthäus and Müller, he is considered the greatest German footballer of all time. Beckenbauer played in three World Cup tournaments and as captain he led West-Germany to the trophy in 1974. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

10. Cafu (Brazil)
Marcos Evangelista de Moraes, better known as Cafu, closes this top 10 list as yet another Brazilian football player. Cafu is the most capped Brazilian player of all time with 143, including 21 World Cup finals appearances. He has won two World Cup tournaments, in 1994 and 2002.

This top 10 list comes from “Greatest Footballers Ever” by the Association of Football Statistics.

Other posts on soccer:

Revote would give USA chance to get 2022 World Cup from Qatar

Sam Newman on Qatar World Cup (23-05-2011)  This is Sam Newman on revelations that the successful Qatar bid for the 2022 World Cup was heavily influenced by corruption within FIFA. ____________________________ Martin Rogers reported June 1, 2011 for Yahoo Sports: The United States could still host the 2022 World Cup after soccer’s governing body continued […]

Top Ten List of greatest soccer players: E. Hatcher’s list v. W. Hatcher’s list (Part 4)

Today we debate the #7 player in the world. Everette: Zinedine Zidane is the 7th best player and he might be better, but I had to punish him for the headbutt in the world cup. Zinedine Zidane Top 10 Goals Wilson: Ronaldinho– He helped his team win the 2002 World Cup, and he has always […]

Top Ten List of greatest soccer players: E. Hatcher’s list v. W. Hatcher’s list (Part 3)

Today’s debate is about the 8th best soccer player ever!!!!! Wilson: Lothar Herbert Matthaus- He won the 1990 W0rld Cup and he was the best player on the team. He defeated some great legends like Diego Maradona. He is the most talented German soccer player ever. Lothar Herbert Matthäus – goles ______________________________________ Everette: I went […]

Top Ten List of greatest soccer players: E. Hatcher’s list v. W. Hatcher’s list (Part 2)

Today the debate is over the 9th best player of all time. Wilson: Zico- Although he never won the World Cup, he still led the Brazilian team to many great victories. He is one of the all time greats. Zico Goals – Gols do Zico Everette: I have to go with Landon Donovan because he is the […]

Top Ten List of greatest soccer players: E. Hatcher’s list v. W. Hatcher’s list (Part 1)

This is a fun series that my son Wilson and I are starting today about the greatest soccer players of all time. Today we will discuss the list below and then give our 10th best player and later we will give #9. Wilson: 10 David Beckham- There is no one who can curve the ball […]

Maybe the USA will get the 2022 World Cup since Qatar may be eliminated

Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar is pictured through the window of a limousine upon his arrival at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich May 29, 2011. The USA came in 2nd for the 2022 World Cup, and hopefully we now have a chance to re-bid for it. We have more stadiums […]

Qatar may lose 2022 world cup

Reuters reported today: FIFA hit by “bought” World Cup claim By Mike Collett – 1 hr 36 mins ago ZURICH (Reuters) – Accusations that Qatar bought the right to stage the 2022 World Cup deepened the corruption crisis at the heart of FIFA on Monday just as an apparently unscathed Sepp Blatter prepared to claim another term as president. World soccer’s […]

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

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

May 31, 2011 – 11:59 pm

 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 engagement. DiMaggio said when interviewed that Monroe sounded cheerful and upbeat. On duty with the Marines in California, DiMaggio was able to place the time of the call because he was watching the seventh inning of a Baltimore Orioles–Los Angeles Angels game being played in Baltimore. According to the game’s records the seventh inning took place between 10 and 10:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time; thus, Monroe received the call around 7 p.m. California time.
  • 7:30-7:45p.m. Peter Lawford telephones Marilyn to invite her to dinner at his house, an invitation she had declined earlier that day. According to Lawford, Monroe’s speech was slurred and was becoming increasingly indecipherable. After telling him goodbye the conversation abruptly ends. Lawford tries to call her back again but receives a busy signal. Telephone records show that this is the last recorded phone call Monroe’s main line received that night.
  • 8:00p.m. Lawford telephones Eunice Murray, spending the night in Marilyn’s guest house, on a different line asking if the maid would check in on her. After a few seconds Murray returns to the phone telling Lawford that she is fine. Unconvinced Lawford will try all night long to get in touch with Marilyn. Lawford telephones his friend and lawyer Mickey Rudin, but is advised to keep away from Monroe’s house to avoid any public embarrassment that could result from Marilyn possibly being under the influence.
  • 10 p.m. Housekeeper Eunice Murray walks past Monroe’s door and states she saw a light on under the door but decided not to disturb her.
  • 10:30 p.m. According to actress Natalie Trundy (later Mrs. Arthur P. Jacobs), Monroe’s agent Arthur P. Jacobs hurriedly leaves a concert at the Hollywood Bowl that he is attending with Trundy and with director Mervyn LeRoy and his wife, after being informed by Monroe’s lawyer Mickey Rudin that she has overdosed. Trundy’s timeline fits with undertaker Guy Hockett’s (see below) estimation that Monroe died sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
  • Midnight. Murray notices the light under the door again and knocks but gets no reply. She tells police she immediately telephoned Dr. Ralph Greenson, Monroe’s psychiatrist.
  • Dr. Greenson arrives and tries to break open the door but fails. He looks through the French windows outside and sees Monroe lying on the bed holding the telephone and apparently dead so breaks the glass to open the locked door and checks her. He calls Dr. Hyman Engelberg. There is some speculation that an ambulance might have been summoned to Monroe’s house at this point and later dismissed.
  • 1 a.m. Peter Lawford is informed by Mickey Rudin that Monroe is dead.
  • Police are called and arrive shortly after 4:30 a.m. The two doctors and Murray are questioned and indicate a time of death of around 12:30 a.m.
  • Police note the room is extremely tidy and the bed appears to have fresh linen on it. They claim Murray was washing sheets when they arrived.
  • Police note that the bedside table has several pill bottles but the room contains no means to wash pills down as there is no glass and the water is turned off. Monroe is known to gag on pills even when drinking to wash them down. Later a glass is found lying on the floor by the bed but police claim it was not there when the room was searched.
  • 5:40 a.m. The undertaker, Guy Hockett, arrives and notes that the state of rigor mortis indicates a time of death between 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. The time is later altered to match the witness statements.
  • 6 a.m. Murray changes her story and now says she went back to bed at midnight and only called Dr. Greenson when she awoke at 3 a.m. and noticed the light still on. Both doctors also change their stories and now claim Monroe died around 3:50 a.m. Police note Murray appears quite evasive and extremely vague and she would eventually change her story several times. Despite being a key witness, Murray travels to Europe and is not questioned again.
  • The pathologist Dr. Thomas Noguchi could find no trace of capsules, powder or the typical discoloration caused by Nembutal in Monroe’s stomach or intestines indicating the drugs that killed her had not been swallowed. If Monroe had swallowed the drugs there should have been residue.[citation needed] If Monroe had taken them over a period of time which might account for the lack of residue she would have died long before ingesting the amount found in her bloodstream. Monroe was found lying face down but lividity on her back[citation needed]and the posterior aspect of the arms and legs[citation needed] indicated she had died lying on her back. The body was covered in bruises[citation needed], all minor except for one on her hip. There was also evidence of cyanosis, an indication that death was very quick. Noguchi had asked the toxicologist for examinations of the blood, liver, kidneys, stomach, urine, and intestines which would have revealed exactly how the drugs got into Monroe’s system. However the toxicologist after examining the blood didn’t believe he needed to check other organs so many of the organs were destroyed without being examined. When Noguchi asked for the samples, the medical photographs and slides of those that were examined, and the examination form showing bruises on the body had disappeared making it impossible to investigate the cause of death.
  • The toxicology report shows high levels of Nembutal (38-66 capsules) and chloral hydrate (14-23 tablets) in Monroe’s blood. The level found was enough to kill more than 10 people.
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  • Monroe died from a suicide that resulted from her feelings of unhappiness. I wish she had found true meaning in life, but instead she was on a constant search for satisfaction. She never found what she was looking for.

  • Marilyn Monroe THE LAST INTERVIEW Part 2

    A rare TV documentary with audio clips from Marilyn’s last interview only weeks before her death in 1962.
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    The God-Shaped Vacuum

    “His [God’s] purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.”1

    Years ago Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) insightfully said, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

  • Other posts on Monroe:

    Last hours of Marilyn Monroe’s life indicates she committed suicide because of unhappiness

     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 […]

    Recently found Marilyn Monroe rare pictures from 1949

    From Life Magazine:  nly.   In the notes accompanying Eyerman’s pictures, LIFE Los Angeles correspondent Carlton McKinney describes the diligence of the young actress and the vets who helped her along: “The processes shot are not terribly complicated, showing as they do how Marilyn trains herself for hoped-for movie stardom by consulting specialists in singing, […]

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  • Marilyn Monroe The Final Days (Part 3)

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By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)