Monthly Archives: February 2012

An open letter to President Obama (Part 9 of my response to State of Union Speech 1-24-12)

February 17, 2012 – 10:30 pm

Sen. Toomey responds to State of the Union address 2012

 

President Obama’s state of the union speech Jan 24, 2012

Barack Obama (Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

The Heritage Foundation website (www.heritage.org ) has lots of good articles and one that caught my attention was concerning your State of Union Speech on January 24, 2012 and here is a short portion of that article:

A Clean Energy Standard Would Throttle Economy – Romina Boccia

During last year’s SOTU, the President set a target for a Clean Energy Standard of 80 percent by 2035. This year, the President once again called for a CES, only this time, less ambitiously.

[…] there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation.

The issue is that a clean energy standard would throttle economic growth, and that is why Congress has rightly not put one in place. One way of converting existing shares of “dirty energy” into clean energy is by cutting energy from conventional sources. Environmental Protection Agency regulations are already well on their way to cut existing coal capacity by forcing the premature shutdown of older plants with burdensome compliance rules.  No matter how many times the President lauds the supposed benefits of clean energy investments and green jobs, the truth remains that government-forced cuts in conventional energy use throttle economic growth and green jobs are a fallacy.

Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars by lavishing subsidies on select renewable energy sources and driving up energy prices by mandating their usage, Congress should reduce artificial barriers to domestic energy production and create a level playing field so that energy providers compete on their merits.

Costly New Regulations – James Gattuso

President Obama tonight made the startling claim that he had  ”approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his.”  This claim is more than a little bit misleading.   According to the Government Accountability Office, it is true that fewer total rules were issued during this Administration than during that of George W. Bush.    But that counts many administrative actions of no real significance.   When you look at major rules – those with $100 million or more in economic impact, a very different picture emerges.    Some 189 of these costly rules have been adopted in the past three years, compared to 153 during George Bush’s first three years.   That’s a 23 percent increase in red tape.    So much for regulatory restraint.

This by the way, isn’t the first time that the Obama Administration has been caught playing with the numbers on regulation.   As reported  by FactCheck.org last year, Cass Sunstein, the president’s “regulatory czar,” presented a “distorted view” of this president’s regulatory record compared to his predecessor.  In fact, the organization’s report concluded (citing research by Heritage among others) the Obama Administration has imposed far more in costs on the country than his precedessor had at the same point in his tenure.

The President also cited efforts to reduce unnecessary regulation, claiming some 500 reforms under his belt.   That would be welcome news, if true, but the relief provided by these moves is only a small sliver of the new costs imposed.   Virtually none are even considered “major.”

No one wants to abolish all regulation.  But, as the president said again tonight, many are unnecessary and too costly.  But the president has added to, not reduced, the problem.

Obama’s Policies Must Not Sting the Economy into Lethargy – J.D. Foster

The story goes that a scorpion once needed to cross a river, but had no way across.  Along came a fox who was going to swim across and the scorpion asked if he could ride on the fox’s back.  The fox said no, because the scorpion would sting him and they’d both die.  The scorpion answered that he didn’t want to die, and so the fox was safe.  Sufficiently assured, the fox let the scorpion on her back and she began to swim across.

At first, everything went well.  But then, as they reached the midpoint of the stream, the scorpion suddenly tensed up and stung the fox on her back, just as she had feared.  As she began to black out the fox cried out, “Why did you do that?  Now we’re both going to die.”  The scorpion sighed, “I know, but a scorpion’s got to do what a scorpion’s got to do”.

In listening to President Obama talk about the need for a stronger economy and more jobs in one breathe, and the need to raise taxes on saving, on investment, on job creators, and others of higher incomes, in his next breathe, one is reminded of the scorpion.

It is a simple and inescapable truth that one does not get more saving, more investment, more new businesses, more entrepreneurship, more economic growth, by taxing these things more.  But this simple truth seems to lie outside the permissible realm of the President’s ideology. Fortunately, the economy is better protected against President Obama’s proclivity to sting the economy into sustained lethargy than was the poor fox.  The President was largely unsuccessful in 2011 in pushing his job destroying agenda through the Congress, and all indications are he will be no more successful in 2012.

______________________

Excessive regulations will hurt our businesses. Instead of bragging about the slow growth of regulations you should cut regulations to allow our companies to thrive.

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your committment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

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

2012 complete football schedule for SEC schools (Part 1)

February 17, 2012 – 1:49 pm

BOOT CAMP: The Hogs will play LSU for The Boot here next fall.

I was very happy with Arkansas’ schedule versus other SEC schools.  The obvious advantage is that Arkansas has Alabama and LSU coming to Fayetteville to play while Alabama has to go to both LSU and Arkansas.

The disadvantage that teams in the west have is simple. They may be a top 5 team in the nation (like Arkansas was last year) and still lose two games during the year.

However, it is my view that the teams in the SEC East have a chance to go through the year with only one lost. The Vols have both Alabama and Florida at home and they avoided playing Arkansas in 2012 when the new SEC Schedule was drawn up.

Below is some info from Fox Sports South Website:

Alabama:

Sept. 1: vs. Michigan (at Arlington, Texas)

Sept. 8: WESTERN KENTUCKY
Sept. 15: at Arkansas
Sept. 22: FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Sept. 29: OLE MISS
Oct. 13: at Missouri
Oct. 20: at Tennessee
Oct. 27: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Nov. 3: at LSU
Nov. 10: TEXAS A&M
Nov. 17: WESTERN CAROLINA
Nov. 24: AUBURN
(Associated Press)

From Arkansas 360:

Rutgers will host Arkansas in 2013.

Below is a complete list of football opponents and dates for 2012:

Date Opponent Location
Sept. 1 Jacksonville State Fayetteville
Sept. 8 Louisiana-Monroe Little Rock
Sept. 15 Alabama Fayetteville
Sept. 22 Rutgers Fayetteville
Sept. 29 Texas A&M TBD
Oct. 6 at Auburn Auburn, Ala.
Oct. 13 Kentucky Fayetteville
Oct. 20 Bye —
Oct. 27 Ole Miss Little Rock
Nov. 3 Tulsa Fayetteville
Nov. 10 at So. Carolina Columbia, S.C.
Nov. 17 at Miss. State Starkville, Miss.
Nov. 24 LSU Fayetteville

ArkansasSports360.com will update this post

Aug 31 in Atlanta against NC State
Sept. 8: GEORGIA STATE
Sept. 15: FLORIDA
Sept. 22: AKRON
Sept. 29: at Georgia
Oct. 13: at Mississippi State
Oct. 20: ALABAMA
Oct. 27: at South Carolina
Nov. 3: TROY
Nov. 10: MISSOURI
Nov. 17: at Vanderbilt
Nov. 24: KENTUCKY
(US Presswire)

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

Do you believe Obama when he claims his budget reduces debt $4 trillion over the next 10 years?

February 17, 2012 – 9:07 am

On Bloomberg, Sessions Discusses Astounding Gimmicks In President’s Budget

Uploaded by on Feb 13, 2012

__________________

 

Do you believe Obama when he claims his budget reduces debt $4 trillion over the next 10 years? Let’s look at some facts from the Cato Institute:

 

Obama’s Busted Budget

by Michael D. Tanner

 

Michael Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution.

Added to cato.org on February 15, 2012

This article appeared on National Review (Online) on February 15, 2012

 

In a town where bipartisan budget chicanery has been raised to an art form, President Obama’s latest budget proposal should be hailed as the da Vinci of fiscal obfuscation.

The president claims that his budget proposal reduces debt by $4 trillion over the next 10 years, combining $2.4 trillion in spending cuts with $1.6 trillion in tax hikes. Almost none of that is true.

Let’s start with the idea that the president’s budget would reduce the debt. That is true only using Washington math, under which a smaller increase is actually a decrease. In reality, the president’s budget adds $6.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years, bringing it to nearly $25.5 trillion by 2022. That would be more than 100 percent of our GDP.

The president’s budget is dishonest and irresponsible.

And those spending cuts? The president actually counts $681 billion in cuts that were agreed to last year as part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling. Shouldn’t there be some sort of statute of limitations for how long you can claim credit for cuts that you have already made? And it should probably be shorter for cuts that you fought against every step of the way. The president also counts as a cut the $741 billion we will save from not occupying Iraq over the next 10 years, and from not being in Afghanistan a decade from now. Considering that we were never going to spend that money in the first place, that seems like slightly dishonest accounting. After all, think of all the savings we can claim by not invading Syria. And, finally, $595 billion of the claimed budget cuts is actually interest savings resulting from not having to borrow for the other phony cuts.

On the other hand, the president’s budget does include plenty of new spending. For example, there is $476 billion in new spending over 10 years for transportation projects, including the president’s favorite boondoggle, “high-speed rail.” There are also the usual bailouts for profligate state governments and teachers’ unions, including $30 billion to build more schools and $30 billion to hire teachers. Another stimulus anyone?

Overall, the president would increase federal spending from $3.8 trillion in 2013 to $5.82 trillion in 2022. That might not be as big an increase there might otherwise be, but in no way can it be called a cut.

The president isn’t even honest about his tax proposals. In the speech announcing his budget plan, President Obama devoted several paragraphs to a renewed push for the so-called Buffett rule, a new 30 percent minimum tax on the rich, based on the misleading claim that Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. There is only one small problem: The president’s budget does not actually include any revenue from the Buffett rule. In fact, the budget provides no clue as to when or how such a tax might be implemented. The Buffett Rule isn’t even listed in the document’s summary of revenues and outlays. A cynic might believe that the Buffett Rule has more to do with campaign rhetoric than an actual budget plan.

Instead, what the budget does contain is a renewed call for tax increases on people and small businesses making as little as $200,000 per year. In addition, there’s the usual panoply of tax hikes on energy products, businesses, investment, and pretty much anything else the president can think of. The budget also helpfully points out that 2013 is the year in which most of the new taxes under Obamacare will take effect. Overall, the president would increase tax revenue to 20.1 percent of GDP. That’s a huge increase from the current 15.4 percent, and higher than the post–World War II average of 18.0 percent. Tax increases of that magnitude cannot help but slow economic growth and job creation.

But even if the president were to get every penny of the tax hikes he wants, his budget would never balance. The closest he would ever come would be in 2018, when the deficit would be only $575 billion. After that, deficits begin rising again, reaching $704 billion by 2022.

Fortunately for the president, he stops counting after 2022, about the time that the costs of entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security really begin to kick in, and his proposed budget does almost nothing to reform these troubled programs. One only has to look at the upward trajectory of both spending and taxes at the end of the budget window to see that president’s budget leaves us on the road to future bankruptcy.

Appearing last Sunday on Meet the Press, the president’s chief of staff — and former budget director — Jack Lew, declared that “The time for austerity is not now.” Judging by the president’s budget proposal, it’s not ever.

 

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

President Obama:“do not consider ourselves a Christian nation” (Part 5 of David Barton’s response)

February 17, 2012 – 12:18 am

America’s Founding Fathers Deist or Christian? – David Barton 5/6

David Barton provided an excellent response to President Obama’s assertion: “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.” Here it is:

Is President Obama Correct: Is America No Longer a Christian Nation?

Over the past several years, President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that America is not a Christian nation. He asserted that while a U. S. Senator, 1 repeated it as a presidential candidate, 2 and on a recent presidential trip to Turkey announced to the world that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.” 3 (He made that announcement in Turkey because he said it was “a location he said he chose to send a clear message.” 4 ) Then preceding a subsequent trip to Egypt, he declared that America was “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world” 5 (even though the federal government’s own statistics show that less than one-percent of Americans are Muslims. 6

The President’s statements were publicized across the world but received little attention in the American media. Had they been carried here, the President might have been surprised to learn that nearly two-thirds of Americans currently consider America to be a Christian nation 7 and therefore certainly might have taken exception with his remarks. But regardless of what today’s Americans might think, it is unquestionable that four previous centuries of American leaders would definitely take umbrage with the President’s statements.

Modern claims that America is not a Christian nation are rarely noticed or refuted today because of the nation’s widespread lack of knowledge about America’s history and foundation. To help provide the missing historical knowledge necessary to combat today’s post-modern revisionism, presented below will be some statements by previous presidents, legislatures, and courts (as well as by current national Jewish spokesmen) about America being a Christian nation. These declarations from all three branches of government are representative of scores of others and therefore comprise only the proverbial “tip of the iceberg.”

.

American Jewish Leaders Agree with History

Jewish leaders, although firmly committed to their own faith, understand that by defending Christianity they are defending what has provided them their own religious liberty in America. For example, Jeff Jacoby, a Jewish columnist at the Boston Globe explains:

This is a Christian country – it was founded by Christians and built on broad Christian principles. Threatening? Far from it. It is in precisely this Christian country that Jews have known the most peaceful, prosperous, and successful existence in their long history. 64

Aaron Zelman (a Jewish author and head of a civil rights organization) similarly declares:

[C]hristian America is the best home our people have found in 2,000 years. . . . [T]his remains the most tolerant, prosperous, and safest home we could be blessed with. 65

Dennis Prager, a Jewish national columnist and popular talkshow host, warns:

If America abandons its Judeo-Christian values basis and the central role of the Jewish and Christian Bibles (its Founders’ guiding text), we are all in big trouble, including, most especially, America’s non-Christians. Just ask the Jews of secular Europe.66

Prager further explained:

I believe that it is good that America is a Christian nation. . . . I have had the privilege of speaking in nearly every Jewish community in America over the last 30 years, and I have frequently argued in favor of this view. Recently, I spoke to the Jewish community of a small North Carolina city. When some in the audience mentioned their fear of rising religiosity among Christians, I asked these audience-members if they loved living in their city. All of them said they did. Is it a coincidence, I then asked, that the city you so love (for its wonderful people, its safety for your children, its fine schools, and its values that enable you to raise your children with confidence) is a highly Christian city? Too many Americans do not appreciate the connection between American greatness and American Christianity. 67

Don Feder, a Jewish columnist and long time writer for the Boston Herald, similarly acknowledges:

Clearly this nation was established by Christians. . . . As a Jew, I’m entirely comfortable with the concept of the Christian America. 68The choice isn’t Christian America or nothing, but Christian America or a neo-pagan, hedonistic, rights-without-responsibilities, anti-family, culture-of-death America. As an American Jew. . . . [I] feel very much at home here. 69

In fact, Feder calls on Jews to defend the truth that America is a Christian Nation:

Jews – as Jews – must oppose revisionist efforts to deny our nation’s Christian heritage, must stand against the drive to decouple our laws from Judeo-Christian ethics, and must counter attacks on public expressions of the religion of most Americans – Christianity. Jews are safer in a Christian America than in a secular America. 70

Michael Medved, a Jewish national talkshow host and columnist, agrees that America is indeed a Christian nation:

The framers may not have mentioned Christianity in the Constitution but they clearly intended that charter of liberty to govern a society of fervent faith, freely encouraged by government for the benefit of all. Their noble and unprecedented experiment never involved a religion-free or faithless state but did indeed presuppose America’s unequivocal identity as a Christian nation. 71

Burt Prelutsky, a Jewish columnist for the Los Angeles Times (and a freelance writer for the New York Times, Washington Times, Sports Illustrated, and other national publications) and a patriotic Jewish American, gladly embraces America as a Christian nation and even resents the secularist post-modern attack on national Christian celebrations such as Christmas:

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. . . .How is it, one well might ask, that in a Christian nation this is happening? And in case you find that designation objectionable, would you deny that India is a Hindu country, that Turkey is Muslim, that Poland is Catholic? That doesn’t mean those nations are theocracies. But when the overwhelming majority of a country’s population is of one religion, and most Americans happen to be one sort of Christian or another, only a darn fool would deny the obvious. . . . This is a Christian nation, my friends. And all of us are fortunate it is one, and that so many millions of Americans have seen fit to live up to the highest precepts of their religion. It should never be forgotten that, in the main, it was Christian soldiers who fought and died to defeat Nazi Germany and who liberated the concentration camps. Speaking as a member of a minority group – and one of the smaller ones at that – I say it behooves those of us who don’t accept Jesus Christ as our savior to show some gratitude to those who do, and to start respecting the values and traditions of the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens, just as we keep insisting that they respect ours. Merry Christmas, my friends. 72

Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the Jewish Policy Center unequivocally declares

[I] understand that I live . . . in a Christian nation, albeit one where I can follow my faith as long as it doesn’t conflict with the nation’s principles. The same option is open to all Americans and will be available only as long as this nation’s Christian roots are acknowledged and honored. 73

In fact, with foreboding he warns:

Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and without America, the west is doomed. Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah, and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in. 74God help Jews if America ever becomes a post-Christian society! Just think of Europe! 75

— — — ◊ ◊ ◊ — — —

President Obama’s declaration that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation” is a repudiation of the declarations of the national leaders before him and is an unabashed attempt at historical revisionism. Of such efforts, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wisely observed, “no amount of repetition of historical errors . . . can make the errors true.” 76

Americans must now decide whether centuries of presidents, congresses, and courts are correct or whether President Obama is, but historical fact does not change merely because the President declares it.

The best antidote to the type of revisionism embodied by President Obama’s statement is for citizens (1) to know the truth of America’s history and (2) share that truth with others.

Picture Credits:
p. 2, “John Marshall,” Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Theodor Horydczak Collection, LC-H814-T-C01-518-A; p. 4, “Thomas Jefferson,” Independence National Historical Park; p. 7, “Joseph Story,” The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Artist: George P.A. Healy); “John McLean,” The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Artist: Charles Bird King); “David Brewer,” Library of Congress.

Endnotes

64. Jeff Jacoby, “The freedom not to say ‘amen’,” Jewish World Review, February 1, 2001 (at:http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby020101.asp).(Return)

65. Aaron Zelman, “An open letter to my Christian friends,” Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (at: http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/christian-selfdefense.htm).(Return)

66. Dennis Prager, “America founded to be free, not secular,” Townhall.com, January 3, 2007 (at:http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2007/01/03/america_founded_to_be_free,_not_secular).(Return)

67. Dennis Prager, “Books, Arts & Manners: God & His Enemies – Revie,”BNet, March 22, 1999 (at:http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_5_51/ai_54022321).(Return)

68. Don Feder, A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America (Lafayette: Huntington House Publishers, 1993), pp. 59-60. (Return)

69. Don Feder, “Yes – Once and For All – American is a Christian Nation,”DonFeder.com, February 16, 2005 (at:www.donfeder.com/articles/0502chrisAmerica.pdf).(Return)

70. Don Feder, “The Jewish Case for Merry Christmas,” DonFeder.com, December 5, 2006 (at:www.donfeder.com/articles/0612jewishCase.pdf).(Return)

71. Michael Medved, “The Founders Intended a Christian, not Secular, Society,” Townhall.com, October 3, 2007 (at:http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MichaelMedved/2007/10/03/the_founders_intended_a_christian,_not_secular,_society).(Return)

72. Burt Prelutsky, “The Jewish grinch who stole Christmas,” Townhall.com, December 11, 2006 (at:http://townhall.com/columnists/BurtPrelutsky/2006/12/11/the_jewish_grinch_who_stole_christmas).(Return)

73. Daniel Lapin, America’s Real War (Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 1999), p. 116. (Return)

74. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, “A Rabbi’s Call to American Christians – Wake Up! You’re Under Attack,” End Time Prophetic Division, January 19, 2007 (at:http://www.etpv.org/2007/acwuyua.html).(Return)

75. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, “Which Jews does the ADL really represent?”WorldNetDaily, August 25, 2006 (at:http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51671).(Return)

76. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, 106-107 (1984), Rehnquist, J. (dissenting). (Return)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in David Barton, Founding Fathers | Comments (0)

“Friedman Friday” (“Free to Choose” episode 1 – Power of the Market. part 3 of 7)

February 17, 2012 – 12:12 am

 

_________________________

 

Pt3

 Nowadays there’s a considerable amount of traffic at this border. People cross a little more freely than they use to. Many people from Hong Kong trade in China and the market has helped bring the two countries closer together, but the barriers between them are still very real. On this side of the border, people are free not only in the marketplace, but in all their lives. They are free to say what they want, to write what they want, to do pretty much as they please. Not so over there.

That is why people in China who cannot get permission to leave go to desperate lengths to escape. They risk their lives in the process. Many lose their lives, but that doesn’t keep others from following. Some are attracted by the higher material standard of life in Hong Kong, but more by the natural human desire to be free.

The people who get official permission to leave China are fortunate. They are going to be able to enjoy the benefits of the economic freedom they will find in Hong Kong. More important, that will give them a much wider freedom.

Human and political freedom has never existed and cannot exist without a large measure of economic freedom. Those of us who have been so fortunate as to have been born in a free society tend to take freedom for granted __ to regard it as the natural state of mankind __ it is not. It is a rare and precious thing. Most people throughout history, most people today have lived in conditions of tyranny and misery, not of freedom and prosperity. The clearest demonstration of how much people value freedom is the way they vote with their feet when they have no other way to vote.

Of course, many of the people who pour into Hong Kong will end up in conditions that most of us in the West would find appalling. Hong Kong is very far from utopia. It has its slums, its crime, its desperately poor people. But the people are free. That’s after all, why so many of them have come here, despite having to live in leaky house boats in one of Hong Kong’s many small harbors. Here they have the freedom and the opportunity to better themselves, to improve their lot, and many succeed. There’s appalling poverty in Hong Kong, it’s true, but the conditions of the people have been getting better over time. They’re far better off now than they were when they first came across the border from China. And that poverty, appalling to us, because we’re accustomed to much higher standards of life, is not poverty as viewed by most of the people in the world. It’s the poverty to which they would aspire. A state of affairs they would like to achieve.

There is an enormous amount of poverty in the world everywhere. There is no system that’s perfect. There is no system that’s going to eliminate completely poverty in whatever sense. The question is, which system has the greatest chance? Which is the best arrangement for enabling poor people to improve their life? On that, the evidence of history speaks with a single voice. I do not know any exception to the proposition that if you compare like with like, the freer the system, the better off the ordinary poor people have been.

Ask yourself what it is that assures these garment workers in Hong Kong a good wage; not high by Western standards; but high enough to enable them to live far better than most people in the world. It is not government or trade union, these workers do well because there is competition for their labor and skills.

When a businessman faces trouble, a market threatens to disappear, or a new competitor arises, there are two things he can do. He can turn to the government for a tariff or quota or some other restriction on competition, or he can adjust and adapt. In Hong Kong the first option is closed. Hong Kong is too dependent on foreign trade so that the government has simply had to adopt a policy of complete noninterference. That’s tough on some individuals, but it is extremely healthy for the society as a whole. Only the businessmen who can adapt, who are flexible and adjustable survive and they create good employment opportunities for the rest.

The complete absence of tariffs or any other restrictions on trade is one of the main reasons why Hong Kong has been able to provide such rapidly rising standard of life for its people. Even Communist China recognizes Hong Kong’s success, it set up shop here and now excepts the universal symbol of capitalism. The Bank of China, the official bank of Communist China is the largest bank in Hong Kong. There’s no doubt that Communist China recognizes the power of the market.

In all this, the government of Hong Kong has played an important part, not only by what it has done, but as much by what it has refrained from doing. It has made sure that laws are enforced and contracts honored. It has provided the conditions in which a free market can work. Most importantly, it has not tried to direct the economic activities of the colony.

No government official is telling these people what to do. They are free to buy from whom they want, to sell to whom they want, to work for whom they want. Sometimes it looks like chaos and so it is, but underneath it’s highly organized by the impersonal forces of a free marketplace. The impersonal forces of a free marketplace at work back here in the United States, prices are the key. The prices that people are willing to pay for products determines what’s produced. The prices that have to be paid for raw materials, for the wages of labor, and so on, determine the cheapest way to produce these things.

In addition, these self same prices, the wages of labor, the interest on capital, and so on, determine how much each person has to spend on the market. It’s tempting to try to separate this final function of prices from the other two. To think that some how or other you can use prices to transmit the information about what should be produced and how it should be produced, without using those prices to determine how much each person gets. Indeed, government activity over the past few decades has been devoted to little else. But that’s a very serious mistake. If what people get is not going to be determined on what they produce, how they produce it, on how successfully they work, what incentive is there for them to act in accordance with the information that is transmitted. There is only one alternative: force __ some people telling other people what to do.

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

Overpaid Bureaucrats

February 16, 2012 – 11:00 pm

Hard to believe.

Everything You Need to Know about Whether State and Local Bureaucrats Are Over-Compensated, in One Chart

Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell

The showdown in Wisconsin has generated competing claims about whether state and local government bureaucrats are paid too much or paid too little compared to their private sector counterparts.

The data on total compensation clearly show a big advantage for state and local bureaucrats, largely because of lavish benefits (which is the problem that  Governor Walker in Wisconsin is trying to fix). But the government unions argue that any advantage they receive disappears after the data is adjusted for factors such as education.

This is a fair point, so we need to find some objective measure that neutralizes all the possible differences. Fortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and this “JOLTS” data includes a measure of how often workers voluntarily leave job, and we can examine this data for different parts of the workforce.

Every labor economist, right or left, will agree that higher “quit rates” are much more likely in sectors that are underpaid and lower levels are much more likely in sectors where compensation is generous.

Not surprisingly, this data shows state and local bureaucrats are living on Easy Street. As the chart illustrates, private sector workers are more than three times as likely to quit their jobs.

This helps explain why the unions are treating the Wisconsin debate as if it was Custer’s Last Stand. The bureaucrats know they have comfortable sinecures and they are fighting to preserve their unfair privileges.

The only bit of semi-good news for Wisconsin taxpayers is that state and local bureaucrats are not as lavishly over-compensated as federal bureaucrats.

This Center for Freedom and Prosperity video looks at all of the data and reveals a pecking order. Federal bureaucrats are at the kings and queens of compensation. State and local bureaucrats are like the nobility. And private sector taxpayers are the serfs that worker harder and earn less, but nonetheless finance the entire racket.

The video closes with a very important point that the right pay level for many bureaucrats is zero. This is because they work for programs, departments, and agencies that should not exist.

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

New film on Bill Clinton and Monica

February 16, 2012 – 3:52 pm

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | CLINTON | Interviews & Preview | PBS

Uploaded by on Jan 30, 2012

Coming to PBS beginning Monday, Feb. 20. From draft dodging to the Dayton Accords, from Monica Lewinsky to a balanced budget, the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton veered between sordid scandal and grand achievement. In CLINTON, the latest installment in the critically acclaimed and successful series of presidential biographies, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE explores the fascinating story of an American president who rose from a broken childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history and one of the most complex and conflicted characters to ever stride across the public stage. It recounts a career full of accomplishment and rife with scandal, a marriage that would make history and create controversy and a presidency that would define the crucial and transformative period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11. It follows Clinton across his two terms as he confronted some of the key forces that would shape the future, including partisan political warfare and domestic and international terrorism, and struggled, with uneven success, to define the role of American power in a post-Cold War world. Most memorably, it explores how Clinton’s conflicted character made history, even as it enraged his enemies and confounded his friends. The program features unprecedented access to scores of Clinton insiders including White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, as well as interviews with foreign leaders, members of the Republican opposition, childhood friends, staffers from Clinton’s years as governor of Arkansas, biographers and journalists.

___________________

I read this on the Arkansas Times Blog and in the LA Times. The LA Times reported:

Monica Lewinsky has attempted to keep a low-profile after her role in President Bill Clinton‘s impeachment scandal made her name the butt of many late-night jokes. But she’s likely to become a topic of discussion again when PBS airs its much anticipated two-part, four-hour documentaryon the former president, titled “Clinton.”

The documentary, which premieres on PBS as part of its “American Experience” series on Monday, will shed new light on Clinton’s Oval Office affair with his 23-year-old intern through interviews with some of Clinton’s closest advisors, some of whom are speaking publicly about the affair for the first time.

Among the former White House staffers appearing on camera are Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Clinton’s former reelection campaign manager, Dick Morris.

In the doc, Morris reveals, “When the Lewinsky scandal broke the President paged me and I returned the call. And he said, ‘Ever since I got here to the White House I’ve had to shut my body down, sexually I mean, but I screwed up with this girl. I didn’t do what they said I did, but I may have done so much that I can’t prove my innocence.’ ”

Though she plays a huge role in the story of Bill Clinton’s presidency, Lewinsky herself was not interviewed for the documentary. Producer Barak Goodman said at a Television Critics Assn. panel in January of the decision, “We felt it would tilt [the documentary] toward sensationalism.”

After the scandal, Lewinsky went through a period of alternately embracing and avoiding her celebrity. She attended the Oscars with Sir Ian McKellan, became a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, hosted a reality show called “Mr. Personality,” was a correspondent for a British news program and sold a line of handbags.

In 2005, she left the U.S. and moved to London, attending the London School of Economics and graduating with a masters in social psychology in 2006. Though she has given interviews on the subject of the Clinton affair, most notably in an HBO special titled “Monica in Black and White,” she has kept an extremely low profile in recent years.

‘Clinton’ is the latest in a series of in-depth documentaries PBS has produced over the years focusing on the careers of U.S. presidents. For those who can’t wait, PBS has made the first part of the documentary available on its website.

This was first published by LATimes.com.

Monica LewinskyMonica Lewinsky at Men’s Health and Best Life magazines book release party for ‘Blunt’ (Scott Gries, Getty Images for Rodale) 

Here also is a summary by the Arkansas Times Max Brantley:

“Clinton,” the latest presidential profile by PBS’ American Experience, airs at what turns out to be a very good time.

These meticulously researched and artfully produced biographies — the two, two-hour episodes of “Clinton” will air Feb. 20-21 on AETN — are completed at a safe remove from the subject’s time in office. Insiders are more willing to talk. History has begun to firm up assessments. “Clinton” has more currency than normal thanks to the race for the Republican presidential nomination and Newt Gingrich’s emergence as a strong contender. Gingrich is a critical player in the second half of the Clinton biography. He led the political insurgency that gave Republicans a House majority and made Gingrich, however briefly, a near royal House speaker. You know, too, how it turned out. Clinton stared down a government shutdown, made Gingrich his poodle and survived the Republican coup attempt. Gingrich resigned amid an ethics scandal, but, like the president himself, has proven himself a “Comeback Kid.” As the documentary attests, his prior time in the limelight doesn’t argue for his presidency today.

And what of Clinton? It’s all there. The empathy, the energy, the appetite, the flaws, the triumphs. If the last happened to be more often political victories than historic achievements, the country did enjoy great prosperity and notable foreign policy achievements. Clinton gets credit even though he spent barely a day without

Republicans or a persecutorial prosecutor in hot pursuit. His triangulation of issues gets careful and properly critical examination — though it comes courtesy of too much explanatory air time for Dick Morris, the reptilian political adviser for whom Clinton had such a deep need.

Award-winning documentary director Barak Goodman concludes that Clinton found no triumph in surviving trial in the Senate, only a loss of the drive with which he began his presidency amid so much hope. If that’s so — and I’m not so sure — he regained his drive soon enough.

He began running, with some success, to be the most popular political figure in the world. He has been helped by a foundation doing nothing less than attempting to solve world hunger and disease. That was worth a documentary postscript, I think.

This documentary focuses more attention on the first lady than most, but Kenneth Starr (yes, he gave an interview) went after her just as hard, maybe harder, than he went after the president himself. She’s secretary of state, you might have heard. He’s president of a Bible college.

For Arkies: Lots of good TV footage and photos of the early years in Arkansas in the first installment.

Related posts:

New details about Clinton’s thoughts during Lewinsky scandal

Bill Clinton admits to having inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky Uploaded by iconic on Nov 18, 2010 Bill Clinton admits to having inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. ______________________________ After the story I have some links to related posts. Bill Clinton Struggled to Deal With Lewinsky Affair, Film Says By Huma Khan | ABC News – Mon, Feb […]

Cato Institute gives Bill Clinton credit

Cato Institute gives Bill Clinton credit Spending Restraint, Part I: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton Uploaded by afq2007 on Feb 14, 2011 Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both reduced the relative burden of government, largely because they were able to restrain the growth of domestic spending. The mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom […]

White House interns again?

Bill Clinton said he always wanted to be like JFK. Earlier I posted about the recent claim of a White House intern who claimed to have a 18 month affair with JFK. Now I wanted to take a look back at the scandal in 1998 and I have included some info on Newt’s misdeeds and […]

Bush tax cuts work? Is Clinton’s approach better? (Part 3)

The Laffer Curve, Part III: Dynamic Scoring A video by CF&P Foundation that builds on the discussion of theory in Part I and evidence in Part II, this concluding video in the series on the Laffer Curve explains how the Joint Committee on Taxation’s revenue-estimating process is based on the absurd theory that changes in […]

Bush tax cuts work? Is Clinton’s approach better? (Part 2)

The Laffer Curve, Part II: Reviewing the Evidence This video reviews real-world evidence showing that changes in marginal tax rates can have a significant impact on taxable income, thus leading to substantial amounts of revenue feedback. In a few cases, tax-rate reductions even “pay for themselves,” though the key lesson is the more modest point […]

Bush tax cuts work? Is Clinton’s approach better? (Part 1)

The Laffer Curve, Part I: Understanding the Theory The Laffer Curve charts a relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. While the theory behind the Laffer Curve is widely accepted, the concept has become very controversial because politicians on both sides of the debate exaggerate. This video shows the middle ground between those who claim […]

Reagan and Clinton had good fiscal policies according to Cato Institute

Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Dec 16, 2010 http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/16/new-video-pork-filled-spending-bill-just-… Despite promises from President Obama last year and again last month that he opposed reckless omnibus spending bills and earmarks, the White House and members of Congress are now supporting a reckless $1.1 trillion spending bill reportedly stuffed with roughly 6,500 earmarks. ________________________ Below you see an […]

Bill Clinton is funny, there is no doubt about that

Bill Clinton is funny, there is no doubt about that I first met Bill Clinton in 1983 in a small meeting in Little Rock at the Excelsior Hotel where he later had the run in with Paula Jones in May of 1991. Clinton was late for our meeting with 30 small business owners and he was very […]

Bill Clinton condemns class-warfare and engages in it in same speech

President Bill Clinton’s Speech Oct 1, 2011 with Joshua & Anna at Little Rock Arkansas Uploaded by bdbaas1 on Oct 2, 2011 _______________________________ Recently while being critical of Lt. Governor Mark Darr, the liberal columnist John Brummett asserted, “Partisan debate is good, indeed vital. Partisan obstruction is not. And not knowing what you’re talking about […]

Let’s turn the table on Brummett’s comedy at Republicans’ expense

John Brummett enjoyed an evening of comedy at Republicans’ expense. Let me make two points here. First, Lorne Michaels who runs Saturday Night Live observed that it is Republicans that are better at laughing at the jokes directed to them than the Democrats. Many times Democrats get offended. Second, I laugh at all the jokes […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Bill Clinton | Comments (0)

Loss to Vols is bitter in contrast to sweet victory in football

February 16, 2012 – 8:57 am

Tennessee guard Trae Golden (11) shoots a layup during the first half against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Tennessee guard Trae Golden (11) shoots a layup during the first half against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

______________

I have to say that it was a sweet victory that the Hogs had over the Vols in football back in November. The history of Tennessee v. Arkansas football series had been one-sided towards the Vols, and my son Wilson and I traveled up to Fayetteville because we smelled a Hog victory coming.

This basketball game last night was a different case altogether. We got smoked from the first few minutes till the end of the game. I wish it could have been different but it wasn’t. Maybe the Hogs can get something going on the road during the last two games on the road(Auburn and Miss St). It appears that Tennessee has got something going and unless they hit a bump in the road they may be hard for the Hogs to pass up in the standings.

_____________

Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin calls a play during the first half against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin calls a play during the first half against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

__________________

Vols rout Arkansas, 77-58

Rout puts Vols in tie for 4th place in SEC

By Mike Griffith

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tennessee played like a team that wanted to make a statement Wednesday night.

Arkansas got the Vols’ message, loud and clear.

“We feel like we can beat any team,” UT freshman Jarnell Stokes said. “We feel like we should win out. There’s no way we should lose any more games.”

The Vols displayed that sort of swagger from the onset, winning their fourth straight with a 77-58 men’s basketball victory over the Razorbacks before a crowd of 16,048 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

_____________

Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson calls to his players as they take on Tennessee during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson calls to his players as they take on Tennessee during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

__________________

The triumph moves UT (14-12, 6-5 SEC) into a tie for fourth place in the SEC with Mississippi State (19-7, 6-5).

Tennessee hit nine of its first 10 shots, fueling a 19-0 run that led to a 47-30 lead at the half. Arkansas (17-9, 5-6) didn’t get closer than 10 points for the rest of the game, falling to 0-8 on the road.

UT sophomore Jordan McRae came off the bench to score 14 points, as the Vols went to a four-guard lineup at times to effectively combat the Razorbacks’ pressure defense.

_____________

Tennessee forward Jordan McRae (52) shoots over Arkansas guard Rickey Scott (3) during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Tennessee forward Jordan McRae (52) shoots over Arkansas guard Rickey Scott (3) during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

_________________

Arkansas abandoned its press, and UT finished with 14 turnovers while the Razorbacks had 18.

Tennessee played without junior center Kenny Hall, who Martin said has been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team.

“You’ve got to do the right things on and off the court — that’s the bottom line,” said Martin, adding that Hall would neither practice nor travel with the team during his suspension.

Stokes started in Hall’s place, as the Vols used their fifth different lineup since the beginning of the SEC season, improving to 5-0 in those games.

Trae Golden scored 13 points and had seven assists, Skylar McBee and Jeronne Maymon each had 12 points, Cam Tatum had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Stokes finished with 10 points.

____________

Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes (5) shoots over Arkansas forward Hunter Mickelson (21) while guard Brandon Mitchell (25) defends during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes (5) shoots over Arkansas forward Hunter Mickelson (21) while guard Brandon Mitchell (25) defends during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

__________________

“Our success starts with Trae Golden,” Vols coach Cuonzo Martin said. “He has done a really good job taking that leadership as the point guard and running the offense. He’s directing traffic, running the offense.

“Once he took that step and we became a better defensive team, I thought we had a chance to be pretty good.”

Golden left the game for a few minutes in the second half after twisting his ankle, but he returned to play and Martin said it won’t affect his status.

Arkansas, led by BJ Young’s 18 points, used a 6-1 run to close to 60-50 with 8:29 left on a Brandon Mitchell basket.

____________

Tennessee guard Cameron Tatum (23) swipes the ball from Arkansas guard BJ Young (11) during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Adam Brimer, copyright © 2012

Tennessee guard Cameron Tatum (23) swipes the ball from Arkansas guard BJ Young (11) during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)

___________

McBee, who was 4-of-7 shooting the three, answered with a 3-pointer as UT came back with a 14-3 run of its own to put the game out of reach.

The Vols hit 11 3-pointers — their most since connecting on 12 on Jan. 31, 2009, in a 61-60 win over Florida — and led by as many as 24 points in the first half when Stokes scored on a put-back to make it 47-23 at the 3:57 mark.

The Razorbacks closed the half on a 7-0 run to narrow the margin.

UT’s pivotal 19-0 run was triggered by a Tatum jumper at the 17:33 mark. Tatum closed the outburst, too, scoring on a drive at the 13:29 mark that made it 23-6.

“We’re getting a vibe for each other, a good chemistry for each other, how and where each person likes the ball,” said Tatum, who was 5-of-12 shooting. “We just have to keep playing for each other and playing collective defense.

“We’re in that groove right now.”

Tennessee returns to action at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Alabama (16-9, 5-6) in Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide has dropped two straight but is 10-3 at home this season and owns a 41-17 advantage over the Vols in Tuscaloosa.

Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men’s basketball. Follow him at http://twitter.com/MikeGriffith32

 

 

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

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 6)

February 16, 2012 – 8:09 am

Jeremy Lin – Knicks vs Kings FULL COMPLETE HIGHLIGHTS 2.15.12 HD

____________________

Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012

Uploaded by on Feb 15, 2012

Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012, 02/15/2012

10 Points, Career High 13 Assists in 27 minutes.
The Linsanity Continues…
Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012

_______________

A great interview with Jeremy Lin below:

Exclusive: Jeremy Lin says faith in God triggered ‘Lin-sanity’

 

Posted:   02/13/2012 12:55:25 PM MST
February 14, 2012 1:46 AM GMT Updated:   02/13/2012 06:46:42 PM MST

By Marcus Thompson II

When you see Jeremy Lin smiling on the court, tongue wagging, it’s not just because his New York Knicks have won five in a row. It’s not just because the Bay Area kid has become an out-of-nowhere national sensation, putting up big numbers night after night.

Lin is smiling, primarily, because he feels like he has been delivered.

“Sometimes you come up against a mountain and you end up making the mountain seem bigger than God,” said Lin, who spoke with this newspaper via phone on the condition that questions be limited to the issue of his spirituality.

Last year when he was playing for the Warriors, “I was on pins and needles. I was putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself. Now, I feel like I’m free

out there.” 

He can no longer stroll anonymously down the streets of New York, but Lin has found peace. He is bombarded with interview requests (even David Letterman got turned down), yet Lin is experiencing a sense of ease he’s never before felt.

His devout Christianity, bred at the Chinese Church in Christ in Mountain View, has been his guide since he was young. But Lin admits these last few months were a test unlike any before.

Sucker punched by the cold business of the NBA — playing for his third team in a year — Lin suffered in silence. Before he was the talk of the sports world, before he was crowned star of the Knicks, Lin was ridden with doubt and anxiety. So he doubled down on his commitment to God.

And without that, he believes, there would be no Lin-sanity.

What the country sees is a Cinderella story, Lin’s meteoric rise from the NBA Development League to unstoppable star. But for Lin, it’s a story of faith, the beautiful struggle he’s now convinced he can win. Most importantly, it’s a story of how he’ll be completely fine if he doesn’t.

“I’m not playing to prove anything to anybody,” Lin said. “That affected my game last year and my joy last year. With all the media attention, all the love from the fans (in the Bay Area), I felt I needed to prove myself. Prove that I’m not a marketing tool, I’m not a ploy to improve attendance. Prove I can play in this league. But I’ve surrendered that to God. I’m not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.”

It took some time, some rough nights, long prayers and countless Bible studies. Lin confided in his pastor, Stephen Chen.

“It was hard. I could make him no promises,” Chen said. “To trust what God is doing is definitely a lesson that Jeremy is continuing to learn and not to trust in his results.”

The first body blow came Dec. 9. Disappointed in his rookie campaign, which saw him average 2.6 points in 9.8 minutes with the Warriors, Lin said he went all out during the offseason.

But before he ran a drill under new coach Mark Jackson, he was pulled from practice. General manager Larry Riley told Lin he was being waived for business reasons — the Warriors were making a play for the center they desperately needed and were forced to clear salary space.

That didn’t take away the sting.

Two days later, Lin hopped a plane to Houston with a heavy heart after they claimed him off waivers.

The fresh start didn’t do much to help Lin’s anguish. The Rockets had so many guards on the roster, Lin said he couldn’t get reps in practice. In two preseason games with Houston, he totaled 7 minutes, 51 seconds.

“At the time, I was thinking if this doesn’t work out, I maybe needed to take a break from basketball,” Lin said. “I put in four months of training. I felt like I worked harder than anyone else. And now I was fighting for a chance to practice. I was questioning everything.”

On Christmas Eve, it happened again. Lin was waived. Same deal — the team needed to release him so they could throw big money at a big man.

Lin headed back to the Bay Area defeated, but with a renewed purpose. He gave up trying to control everything. He tried to stop worrying.

He started every morning with a devotional before heading to the gym to work out. Whenever the anxiety tried to creep in, he whispered a Bible verse to himself:

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. — Romans 8:28

Even with the glittery trappings that can accompany an NBA lifestyle, Lin’s devoutness has always been his compass, friends say.

“In high school, a few of us were known to party on Friday nights after the games. Jeremy was known for teaching the bible to kids and spending time with his family,” said his Palo Alto High teammate Brad Lehman. “None of the usual distractions were an issue for him.”

Three days after being waived by the Rockets, Lin was picked up by the Knicks, just in time for him to join the team in the Bay Area. He suited up and made his Knicks debut at Oracle Arena, playing 1 minute, 27 seconds, missing his only shot.

Certainly no immediate signs of the Lin-sanity to come.

“I was playing garbage minutes the first two to three weeks,” Lin said. “There was definitely a little bit of “what’s going on?” in my prayers.

Lin was eventually sent back to the NBA’s hinterlands — the D-League — for the fourth time in his career. But he wouldn’t stay long. The Knicks brought him back after he logged a triple-double in his first game.

Then, on Feb. 4, at halftime of a home game against New Jersey, injured Knicks star Carmelo Anthony suggested to coach Mike D’Antoni that he play Lin more in the second half.

Lin responded by finishing with 25 points and seven assists in a win.

After that first big game, Lin became a starter. After the second one, he became the talk of the nation. After the third one, he was a Hall of Famer in the making.

“I know he’s a humble guy who works hard every day whether he’s playing 40 minutes or 4 minutes, so that will never change,” said Stephen Curry, his former Warriors teammate.

Now, the Knicks are 5-0 with Lin running the show. He’s gone from having a non-guaranteed minimum contract and sleeping on his brother’s couch to having America’s biggest market now concerned the Knicks can’t pay him enough to keep him.

But even Lin admits the constant struggle he faces. Deep inside he knows it is bigger than him.

“There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now,” Lin said. “To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that’s not how I want to do things anymore. I’m thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory?

“It’s a fight. But it’s one I’m going to keep fighting.”

Related posts:

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 6)

Jeremy Lin – Knicks vs Kings FULL COMPLETE HIGHLIGHTS 2.15.12 HD ____________________ Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012 Uploaded by Smosharticles on Feb 15, 2012 Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012, 02/15/2012 10 Points, Career High 13 Assists in […]

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 5)

Uploaded by doko0218 on Feb 15, 2012 Jeremy Lin Alley Oop To Landry Fields Knicks vs Kings _______________________ Jeremy Lin – Knicks vs Kings FULL COMPLETE HIGHLIGHTS 2.15.12 HD ____________________ Jeremy Lin Post Game Interview. Sacramento Kings Vs New York Knicks. February 15th 2012 Uploaded by Smosharticles on Feb 15, 2012 Jeremy Lin Post Game […]

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 4)

Jeremy Lin 4th quarter highlights vs Raptors (GW 3pts.) || 2.14.12 || HD Uploaded by geraldd39 on Feb 14, 2012 Jeremy Lin hits the game-winner to lift Knicks over Raptors for their sixth straight win. _________________ Here is a portion of an interview with Jeremy Lin about his faith: Evangelical Portal The Faith and Fate […]

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 3)

Jeremy Lin 4th quarter highlights vs Raptors (GW 3pts.) || 2.14.12 || HD Uploaded by geraldd39 on Feb 14, 2012 Jeremy Lin hits the game-winner to lift Knicks over Raptors for their sixth straight win. _________________ Here is a portion of an interview with Jeremy Lin about his faith: Evangelical Portal The Faith and Fate […]

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith (Part 2)

Jeremy Lin 4th quarter highlights vs Raptors (GW 3pts.) || 2.14.12 || HD Uploaded by geraldd39 on Feb 14, 2012 Jeremy Lin hits the game-winner to lift Knicks over Raptors for their sixth straight win. _____________________ Here is a portion of an interview with Jeremy Lin about his faith: Evangelical Portal The Faith and Fate […]

Jeremy Lin’s Christian Faith

Jeremy Lin 4th quarter highlights vs Raptors (GW 3pts.) || 2.14.12 || HD Uploaded by geraldd39 on Feb 14, 2012 Jeremy Lin hits the game-winner to lift Knicks over Raptors for their sixth straight win. _____________________ (Here are some links to other fine articles on Jeremy’s faith.) Another article on Jeremy Lin’s faith: The God […]

 

Jeremy Lin: Thanking Jesus like Tebow

I have not hesitated to say before how much I admire Tim Tebow. Well I am becoming a fan of Jeremy Lin too. New York Knicks: Why Jeremy Lin Will Become the Tim Tebow of the NBA   Chris Trotman/Getty Images Amid the smoke and rubble of the New York Knicks’ season, a man, a […]

Jenny McCarthy’s crush on Tim Tebow is crushed by scripture

Jenny McCarthy I noticed that Rosie introduced Jenny McCarthy to Tim Tebow and Tebow was polite and exchanged numbers after Rosie demanded it. However, everyone knows that Tebow is an evangelical Christian who believes the Bible is his guide for living and there is a scripture which forbids Christians from dating non-Christians. Wikipedia reports that McCarthy has […]

Some of Tim Tebow’s favorite scriptures

Tim Tebow Interview: God’s role in Football Published on Feb 3, 2012 by ESPN Tim Tebow talks to Skip Bayless about religion, Tebowing and the role God plays on and off the field. _______________________________ This is a story I got off Buster Wilson’s blog:  The Gospel According to Tebow A selection of the biblical verses […]

Danny Woodhead has found satisfaction in his Christian faith, Brady still looking for satisfaction despite 3 Super Bowl rings (Part 3)

Tom Brady “More than this…” Uploaded by EdenWorshipCenter on Jan 22, 2008 EWC sermon illustration showing a clip from the 2005 Tom Brady 60 minutes interview. To Download this video copy the URL to www.vixy.net Below you will see several video clips. Evidently despite all the super bowl rings Brady is still looking for true satisfaction, and Danny […]

Tim Tebow’s Faith (Part 2)

  This is a RUSH transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” June 3, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS GUEST HOST: In the “Back of the Book” segment tonight, Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the Denver Broncos and a man of deep faith. That faith […]

Tim Tebow’s faith (Part 1)

Tim Tebow’s faith (Part 1) I really respect Tim Tebow and I wanted to pass along an article that defends him. Tim Tebow, Faith and Blasphemy Culture, Evangelicals, Featured, Protestant, Religion, Sports — By J.F. Arnold on August 17, 2011 at 5:05 am I won’t pretend to be an expert in the world of sports. I can tell you if a given team […]

Tim Tebow rallies the Broncos and may be a starter soon

I think the world of the character of Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow played well in a reserve role Sunday, but did he play himself into a starting quarterback job? Well, Tebow’s loyal fanbase certainly thinks so after the former Heisman Trophy winner tried to rally the Denver Broncos, even though they ended up losing to […]

Tim Tebow’s Christian faith not abandoned in locker room

I am thrilled to get the chance to share the following article with you today. I got a call from Tim Keown who is a writer for ESPN Magazine a few days ago. He had read a post from my blog on Tim Tebow and wanted to ask me some questions. One of my answers […]

Tim Tebow’s Faith (Part 3)

Tim Tebow’s Faith (Part 3) Another look at the faith of Tim Tebow. Q & A: Tim Tebow on Faith, Fame, & Football The NFL athlete reflects on his outspoken faith, whether athletes should attribute their wins to God, and moving from the Focus on the Family ad to Jockey ads. Interview by Sarah Pulliam […]

Tim Tebow being persecuted for his Christian faith?

It is clear to me that Tim Tebow is trusting in the Lord and he does not want to get discouraged by the world’s negativity. However, I do not think that he believes that if you have faith then you will become rich and everything you do will bring success as the world thinks of […]

 

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

Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? ( “Thirsty Thursday,” Open letter to Senator Pryor)

February 16, 2012 – 8:07 am

Dear Senator Pryor,

Why not pass the Balanced  Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion).

On my blog www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, I did not see any of them in the recent debt deal that Congress adopted. Now I am trying another approach. Every week from now on I will send you an email explaining different reasons why we need the Balanced Budget Amendment. It will appear on my blog on “Thirsty Thursday” because the government is always thirsty for more money to spend.

The Case for a Balanced Budget

By Bruce Bialosky

12/20/2010

 

No objective is more important for the new Congress than putting America on course toward a balanced federal budget. We used to balance our budget regularly but, except for a short period during the late 1990’s, Congress has been unable to accomplish what should be a clear-cut mission. Americans understand that deficit spending may be unavoidable in wartime or in a Katrina-like emergency, but we also believe that in the absence of these events, there is no excuse for irresponsibly increasing our national debt.

Unfortunately, our national agenda no longer seems to include a balanced budget. President Obama established a national debt commission (whose report I will address in a future column), but that was only after cranking up federal expenditures and deficits to previously unseen levels.

We all know that the big enchiladas in the Federal budget are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and national defense. That still leaves a lot of money to be saved elsewhere, yet even these opportunities are far too often belittled by elitists. For example, Jackie Calmes, a New York Times reporter, wrote that while there is general agreement on an earmark ban, “… [it] would hardly dent the projected annual deficits.” Paul Krugman, her colleague at the Times and the current economic guru of the left, routinely dismisses any savings at all, his most recent tantrum being Obama’s proposal for a two-year freeze on pay raises. He states “The actual savings, about $5 billion over two years, are chump change given the scale of the deficit.” These are two examples that occurred within days – and I could probably cite hundreds more, from both sides of the aisle.

The United States has a budget crisis that should be met by expenditure reductions, but our government has acted only with foolishness and cowardice. Let’s say your employer came to you and said “Look, the company is struggling, but I can keep you on if we reduce your annual salary from $80,000 to $70,000.” You would go home, sit down with your spouse, and figure out where you can start saving money. You could skip the Saturday night movies and join Netflix. You could learn to live without HBO. You could stop getting water delivered to the house. The bottom line is that you would adjust your expenditures because you have no choice; after all, you can’t print money or sell bonds to your neighbors. Not even to China.

What our government is doing has been going on for hundreds of years, ever since the Rothschilds made their fortune lending monies to the monarchies of Europe, and it has become an international problem of gargantuan proportions. Political leaders all over the world are making fiscal promises that they cannot keep, and this irresponsible practice has exploded in the past seventy-five years with the advent of left-wing, socialist governments. Overspending has become so pervasive that our society makes fun of it. In his recent HBO special, Dennis Miller spoke about not understanding the deficit. Miller said that he asked his son if he was upset that his generation would be saddled with the national debt. His son replied “Christ no Dad, I’m just going to saddle my kids with it.” It was good for a laugh – but Miller would never force his own kids to pay his credit card bills.

Virtually every parent I have ever met worries about what will be left for their children or grandchildren when they die. These people understand that it is immoral and sinful to leave their kids a pile of debt. Yet when it comes to the government – for which we are all responsible – people perceive it as some amorphous entity that can merrily spend more each year than it takes in without any consequences. They believe government, apparently, can pay for everything.

And unfortunately we do. Prodded by spineless and corrupt politicians who consider power far more important than responsibility, government has become the fixer of all our problems. People can live in a flood plain without insurance and then get paid by the government to rebuild in that same flood plain only to be wiped out again in the next flood. Every challenge that we have in this country is being discussed by a commission that lasts forever without ever solving the problem. Responsible Americans put their hand out when they hear of a government program because they rationalize they want their share, and if they don’t get it now someone else will. The sense of communal cost has disappeared.

The numbers are staggering. If the U.S. government had to employ the same accounting standards used by major corporations, it would report an annual deficit between $4 and $5 trillion. 41% of our current federal expenditures are paid for by borrowing money, and by 2015, America will be about $20 trillion in debt.

Our elected officials must face these facts, along with the immoral and pathetic aspects of their reckless behavior. Polls that say that taxpayers demand certain things need to be disregarded, and responsible leaders with some backbone must instead broadcast the simple truth: The jig is up and we need to reverse course. You cannot have everything you want. You can have Social Security, but you should expect less and start saving for yourself more. Medicare will help with your retirement healthcare, but you should have something saved for that as well. If you have a catastrophe, you’d better have an insurance policy because we cannot guarantee every one of your risks. And if your parents get ill in their old age, you’d better be prepared to take care of them just as they took care of you.

Saddling our kids with more and more debt is just plain wrong. The debt is bad enough now and we need to stop it from getting worse. The time is now and this Congress was elected to do just that thing.

Bruce Bialosky

Bruce Bialosky is the founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition of California and a former Presidential appointee.

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