Monthly Archives: November 2012

“Woody Wednesday” Review: Allen’s ‘Rome’ delivers lackluster love

November 21, 2012 – 6:42 am

Penelope Cruz at “To Rome with Love” premiere

Published on Jun 15, 2012 by

The Los Angeles Film Festival kicked off with Woody Allen’s latest film starring Penelope Cruz. KCAL 9’s Suzanne Marques reports from downtown L.A. at the premiere of “To Rome With Love.”

_______________

Review of “To Rome with Love.”

Review: Allen’s ‘Rome’ delivers lackluster love
6/19/2012

 

Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” began with better titles. Yet despite the exquisite locations of the filmmaker’s first story of love, Italian style, this bland ensemble romance deserves the generic name rather than the clever working titles it started with.

Allen initially called it “Bop Decameron,” then changed it to “Nero Fiddled” before he and his distributor decided to slip in the name of the Eternal City.

Hey, it helped to have the City of Light mentioned in the title of last year’s Allen hit “Midnight in Paris.” So putting Rome in the name makes good marketing sense to hint that his latest continues the trend of light romance in a beautiful Old World capital.

Unfortunately, “To Rome with Love” lives up or rather, lives down to the superficial postcard sentiment of its title.

Weaving four stories of Italians and American visitors, the writer-director creates a lot of clever moments with his ensemble comedy that features Allen’s first on-screen appearance since 2006’s “Scoop.” In between the good times, the story and characters just drift about awkwardly, stuck on a walking tour of Rome that continually bumps up against dead ends, or worse, circles back so we wind up seeing the same things a few times too many.

It’s hard to even pick out a highlight among the four stories. Parts of each story work quite well, while other portions just weigh the scenarios down.

The film almost comes down to how well the actors inhabit their roles. Allen’s known for giving his cast plenty of leeway. That’s often resulted in Academy Award performances, and just as often has left Allen’s stars nervously milling around.

There are no Oscar prospects on screen in “To Rome with Love,” but Alec Baldwin conveys a sense of wistful nostalgia as an architect seemingly strolling into his own memories of Italy in his youth.

Baldwin’s a wry, omniscient commentator wafting in and out of a love triangle involving Jack (Jesse Eisenberg), Sally (Greta Gerwig) and her seductive pal Monica (Ellen Page). Gerwig’s sadly cast as a flavorless third wheel, but Eisenberg and Page are so tentative and cold in their supposedly impetuous fling that they seem like neutered pups alongside old hound Baldwin.

Roberto Benigni manages a few laughs as a dreary but contented family man hurled into notoriety after Rome’s press and paparazzi inexplicably choose him as a person of interest, shadowing him like an A-lister and hanging on his every word about what he had for breakfast. It’s a lightweight commentary on fleeting fame, and the gimmick quickly wears thin.

The weakest of the stories centers on naive newlyweds Antonio and Milly (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi), who come to Rome for a fresh start but end up separated and tossed into romantic misadventures with others. Antonio winds up with a bombshell hooker (Penelope Cruz, an Oscar winner for Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Milly with an Italian movie star (Antonio Albanese).

Antonio and Milly’s meanderings are pointless and uninvolving. Cruz, however, knows how to play voluptuous in her sleep, so she makes her little corner of the scenario fun and sexy.

Allen co-stars as retired music producer Jerry, who comes to Rome with his wife, Phyllis (Allen veteran Judy Davis) to meet the Italian fiance of their daughter, Hayley (“Midnight in Paris” co-star Alison Pill).

After Jerry hears the sublime opera vocals of Hayley’s future father-in-law, Giancarlo (Italian tenor Fabio Armiliato) from the shower, he’s determined to make the humble undertaker into a star. Giancarlo insists he sings only for personal pleasure, and when he auditions at Jerry’s insistence, he discovers that his talent fails him outside the shower.

You can guess the rest. The scenes of Giancarlo performing on stage could have become as repetitious as the media’s pursuit of Benigni, but Allen shows enough restraint and gives the sequences enough diversity that they remain consistently funny.

The time away from the screen hasn’t helped Allen’s acting chops. He’s curiously listless as Jerry, and Davis, who was razor-sharp in Allen’s “Husbands and Wives,” rarely rises above dreary hen-pecking as his wife.

The ineffable magic that made “Midnight in Paris” click eludes Allen here. When in Paris, Allen’s gimmicks coalesced into a sly, engaging romantic fantasy.

When in Rome, though, it’s not Nero who’s fiddling, but Allen, bopping and dithering around the city like a tourist so desperate to cram in all the sights that he comes away only with a few crisp highlights and a lot of out-of-focus snapshots.

“To Rome with Love,” a Sony Pictures Classics release, is rated R for some sexual references. Running time: 112 minutes. Two stars out of four.

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“Woody Wednesday” Allen new movie

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Review of “To Rome with Love”

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Sam Tanenhaus on Woody Allen’s Black Magic

To Rome with Love Trailer Official 2012 [HD] – Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg To Rome with Love hits theaters on June 22nd, 2012. Cast: Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Judy Davis, Alison Pill, Roberto Benigni, Isabella Ferrari, Sergio Rubini, Antonio Albanese, Fabio Armiliata, Alessandra Mastronardi, Ornella Muti, Flavio […]

Review: Allen’s ‘Rome’ delivers lackluster love

Penelope Cruz at “To Rome with Love” premiere Published on Jun 15, 2012 by CBSNewsOnline The Los Angeles Film Festival kicked off with Woody Allen’s latest film starring Penelope Cruz. KCAL 9′s Suzanne Marques reports from downtown L.A. at the premiere of “To Rome With Love.” _______________ Review of “To Rome with Love.” Review: Allen’s […]

Woody Allen: “I’m Immune to Whether My Films Do Well or Not”

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Review: Penelope Cruz, Robert Benigni Make Woody Allen’s “Rome” Movie

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June 14, 2012 Wall Street Journal interview of Woody Allen and he is still talking about the meaninglessness of existence

TO ROME WITH LOVE – conferenza stampa con Allen, Benigni e Cruz http://WWW.RBCASTING.COM Published on Apr 18, 2012 by RBcasting http://www.rbcasting.com Conferenza stampa del film “To Rome With Love”, scritto e diretto da Woody Allen. Tra gli interpreti, lo stesso Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page e Greta […]

Woody Allen’s worldview as seen in his movies

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“Woody Wednesdays” Woody Allen on God and Death

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

More about the historical characters mentioned in the movie “Lincoln” by Steven Spielberg (Part 4) “Wells A. Hutchins”

November 21, 2012 – 6:23 am

 

 

I have written a lot about Abraham Lincoln in the past as you can tell from the “related posts” noted below. Most of my posts were concerning the movie “The Conspirator” which is one of my favorite movies.  I enjoyed reading about all the historical people involved with Lincoln. Boston Corbett is the man who shot Booth. Louis Weichmann was originally a suspect but he later became one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution.  John Wilkes Booth was the first man to kill an American President. Louis Powell attempted to kill Secretary of State Seward.  Mary Surratt was in the center of the conspiracy we are told, but is that true? (I believe the evidence shows that it was true that she was guilty of that.)

Wells A. Hutchins

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Wells Andrews Hutchins
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio‘s 11th district
In office
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1865
Preceded by Valentine B. Horton
Succeeded by Hezekiah S. Bundy
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the Scioto County district
In office
January 5, 1852 – January 1, 1854
Preceded by Oscar F. Moore
Succeeded by Samuel J. Huston
Personal details
Born (1818-10-08)October 8, 1818
Hartford, Ohio
Died January 25, 1895(1895-01-25) (aged 76)
Portsmouth, Ohio
Resting place Greenlawn Cemetery, Portsmouth
Political party Whig
Democratic
Spouse(s) Cornelia Robinson

Wells Andrews Hutchins (October 8, 1818 – January 25, 1895) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio during the American Civil War.

Contents

 [hide] 

[edit] Biography

Born in Hartford, Ohio, Hutchins was a first cousin to future congressman John Hutchins. He attended the public schools and then taught school. He later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He commenced practice in Warren, Ohio.

In 1842, Hutchins moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, where served as member of the State house of representatives in 1852 and 1853. He was a Whig while in Portsmouth.[1] He was the city solicitor from 1857-61. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress. During the early part of the Civil War, he was the United States provost marshal for the state of Ohio in 1862.

Hutchins was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865). A War Democrat,[2] he supported Abraham Lincoln‘s agenda at critical moments. Hutchins called the proclamation Lincoln issued on September 15, 1863 under the authority of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863 “necessary” in order to defeat the rebellion.[3] He was one of only 16 Democrats in the House of Representatives who joined with the Republicans and voted to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on January 31, 1865. That amendment abolished slavery in the United States.[4] By doing so, he became one of a group who had “”defied their party discipline, and had deliberately and with unfaltering faith marched to their political death”,[5] according to abolitionist Congressman James Mitchell Ashley.

He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1864 for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress and again in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress.

Hutchins resumed the practice of law in Portsmouth and died there January 25, 1895. He was interred in Greenlawn Cemetery. He died of kidney disease.[1]

On February 23, 1843, Hutchins married Cornelia Robinson of Portsmouth.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Evans 1900 :314-316
  2. ^ Evans 1900 : 298
  3. ^ Trefousse, Hans Louis (2005). “First among equals”: Abraham Lincoln’s reputation during his administration. Fordham University Press. pp. 53. ISBN 978-0-8232-2468-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZtOcMRKpzaQC&pg=PA53&dq=%22Wells+A.+Hutchins%22+Lincoln&hl=en&ei=GbSbTr3oJMjSiALB2cWnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&sqi=2&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22Wells%20A.%20Hutchins%22%20Lincoln&f=false.
  4. ^ Williams, Frank J.; Holzer, Harold; Simon, John Y. (2007). Judging Lincoln. SIU Press. pp. 138. ISBN 978-0-8093-2759-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=hp29xMn1WccC&pg=PA138&dq=%22Wells+A.+Hutchins%22+Lincoln&hl=en&ei=GbSbTr3oJMjSiALB2cWnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Wells%20A.%20Hutchins%22%20Lincoln&f=false.
  5. ^ Ashley, James M. (April, 1891). “The Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution”. Magazine of Western History XIII (6): 663–679. http://books.google.com/books?id=IekQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA679&dq=%22defied+their+party+discipline,+and+had+deliberately+and+with+unfaltering+faith+marched+to+their+political+death%22&hl=en&ei=1b-bTv2XN8jSiALB2cWnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22defied%20their%20party%20discipline%2C%20and%20had%20deliberately%20and%20with%20unfaltering%20faith%20marched%20to%20their%20political%20death%22&f=false.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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

Christopher Hitchens’ debate with Douglas Wilson (Part 13)

November 21, 2012 – 6:19 am

Christopher Hitchens wouldn’t get rid of theism completely

Uploaded by on Sep 23, 2011

Scene from ‘Collision’ – Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson
http://www.collisionmovie.com/

________________________________

PART 6

6/01/2007 03:01 PM

Christopher Hitchens

To: Douglas Wilson

Re: Is Christianity Good for the World?

Quo warranto

is a very ancient question, meaning “by what right?” You ask me for my “warrant”

for a code of right conduct and persist in mistaking my answer for an evasion. I in turn ask you

by what right you assume that a celestial autocracy is a guarantee of morals, let alone by what

right you choose your own (Christian) version of it as the only correct one. All deities have been

hailed by their subjects as the fount of good behavior, just as they have been used as the excuse

for inexcusable behavior.

My answer is the same as it was all along: Our morality evolved. Just as we have. Natural selection

and trial-and-error have given us the vague yet grand conception of human rights and some but

not yet all of the means of making these rights coherent and consistent. There is simply no need

for the introduction of the extraneous or the supernatural. LaPlace was only one of those who

concluded that religion is essentially irrelevant to important questions: an option if you choose it,

but only one among many. (I have to say that your account of him makes him sound dangerously

like the repulsive Calvin, but even the great Isaac Newton and the even greater Alfred Russell

Wallace were prey to all kinds of superstitious delusions as they made their marvelous

humanistic discoveries.)

There seems to be no easy way to discuss this other than in personal or individual terms. You and

I have no idea what it is like to be a sociopath—someone who does not care about other people

except inasmuch as they serve his turn—or a psychopath—someone who derives actual delight

from inflicting misery on others. But we know that such people exist, and that they must be

guarded against. I regard their existence as part of our haphazard evolution and our kinship with

a nature that often favors the predator. You do not. Indeed, you apparently adopt the immoral

and suicidal doctrine that advocates forgiveness for those who would destroy us. Please take care

not to forgive my enemies, or the enemies of society. If I have to call such people “evil” (and I

find I have no alternative), I do not deduce peaceful coexistence from that observation and do

not want you being tender to them when it is my or my family’s life that is at stake.

Turning from this to the surprising amount of virtue that can be found in humans, I again

choose not to confect a mystery where none exists. Leaving ordinary sins to one side—I do not

steal other people’s property, for example, and hope for a reciprocal restraint on their part, and

do not pardon such offenses when they occur—I could mention something that is particular to

our discussion. Every now and then, in argument, I find myself glib enough to make a cheap

point or a point that might evoke instant applause from an audience. But I am always aware of

doing so, or if you like of the temptation to do so, and I strive (not always with success) to resist

the tactic, and rather dislike myself when I give in to it. Why do I do this? Socrates called this

restraint the

daemon: an inner voice that helps us toward self-criticism. Many later thinkers have

defined it in discrepant ways, but a definition is something short of an understanding.

I am content to regard it as indefinable, which is where we part company. My own inclination is

to regard it as a human faculty without which we could not have—I shan’t say “evolved” yet

again—made the smallest progress as

homo sapiens. You believe that I owe this inner prompting

to the divine, and you further assert that a heavenly intervention made in the last two thousand

years of human history (a microsecond of evolutionary time) is the seal on the deal. You will

have to excuse me when I say that I think such a belief is, as well as incredible, immoral. It makes

right action dependent on a highly improbable wager on the supernatural. To state the case in

another way, it suggests that without celestial sanction, you yourself would be unrestrained in

your appetites and careless of other people. Awful though many of your opinions are to me, I

decline to believe that you would, if you lost your faith, become base and self-centered. It is,

rather, religion that has made many morally normal people assent to appalling cruelties,

including the mutilation of children’s genitalia, the institution of slavery, the revulsion from

female sexuality, and many other crimes from which an average infidel would, without any

heavenly prompting, turn away. Ask yourself this question. Can you name one moral action, or

moral utterance, performed or spoken by a believer that could not have been performed or

spoken by an atheist? My email is available to any reader who is willing to accept this challenge.

I like your joke about the reduction of mirth to a spasm (there was a solemn critic of P.G.

Wodehouse who defined the smile in terms of “naso-labial” contractions), but I think you let

yourself down a bit with your Hallmark conclusion. I dare say that I could add to the list of joys

and even include one or two subjects which Christianity and other religions have made difficult

to discuss in public. However, I shall select my own recent investigation of my DNA, which can

now be sequenced and analyzed. I was perfectly happy with the “revelation” of my own kinship

with other species and quite overwhelmed by the skill and precision of those who allowed me to

do it. A lot of wit and beauty and intelligence had to go into the confirmation of my status as an

evolved animal, just as a great deal of dullness and stupidity is required for the continuing denial

of it.

I think we shall do better if we do not resist evidence that may at first sight appear unwelcome or

unsettling, just as we shall do better if we refuse conclusions for which there is no evidence at all.

CH

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Evidence can be found in Archaeology that supports the historical accuracy of the Bible and here are some links posted here at www.thedailyhatch.org

November 21, 2012 – 1:38 am

The Bible and Archaeology (1/5)

The Bible maintains several characteristics that prove it is from God. One of those is the fact that the Bible is accurate in every one of its details. The field of archaeology brings to light this amazing accuracy.

_________________________-

Many people have questioned the accuracy of the Bible, but I have posted many videos and articles with evidence pointing out that the Bible has many pieces of evidence from archaeology supporting the view that the Bible is historically accurate. Take a look at the video above and below.

The Bible and Archaeology (2/5)

There are some unbelievable stories in the Bible that have evidence backing them up too. Take at the evidence given by John MacArthur concerning the city of Tyre.  At the end of this post I have several links to other posts concerning Biblical Archaeology.

Photo of John MacArthur

Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4

Uploaded by on Dec 5, 2010

A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo

________________

John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled by historical events.

LESSON

I. BIBLICAL PROPHECY CONCERNING TYRE (Ezekiel 26:1–28:19)

A. The Forecast

1. The specifics

a) That King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would destroy the mainland city of Tyre (26:7-8).

b) That many nations would rise up against Tyre. These nations would come like waves of the sea, one after another (26:3- 4).

c) That Tyre will be made like a flat rock (26:4, 14).

d) That fisherman will dry their nets there (26:5, 14).

e) That the rubble of the city would be cast into the sea (26:12).

f) That Tyre would never be rebuilt (26:14).

2. The setting

Tyre was a great city. It was one of the largest and most powerful cities of Phoenicia, which is modern day Lebanon.

It was well fortified. A great wall protected the city from land attacks while their world-renowned fleet protected them from attack by sea.

Tyre was a flourishing city during the time when Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land. King Hiram, who began his reign during the rule of David, offered David cedars from Tyre to build his palace. He also loaned David his artisans to craft parts of the great palace (1 Chron. 14:1). Hiram also helped Solomon build the Temple by floating cedars down the shoreline to be picked up and hauled to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 2:16). So Tyre was a great city, and both David and Solomon looked to it for aid.

B. The Fulfillment

1. The prophetic call

a) To Nebuchadnezzar

Not long after the prophecy given by Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar did exactly what had been predicted–he laid siege against the city in 585 B.C. For thirteen years Nebuchadnezzar cut off the flow of supplies into the city. In 537 B.C. he finally succeeded in breaking the gates down, but found the city almost empty.

During the thirteen-year siege, the people of Tyre moved all their possessions by ship to an island one-half mile offshore. So Nebuchadnezzar gained no plunder (Ezek. 29:17- 20). Although he destroyed the mainland city (Ezek. 26:8), the new city offshore continued to flourish for 250 years. The prophecy of Ezekiel 26:12–“they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water”–remained unfulfilled.

b) To Alexander the Great

At age twenty-two, Alexander the Great came east conquering the known world with an army of between thirty and forty thousand men. Having defeated the Persians under Darius III, Alexander was on the march toward Egypt.

(1) The dilemma

Alexander arrived in the Phoenician territory and demanded that the cities open their gates to him. The citizens of Tyre refused, feeling they were secure on their island with their superior fleet.

(2) The decision

Realizing he did not have a fleet that could match Tyre’s, Alexander decided to build a causeway to the island using the ruins from the mainland city. It was about two hundred feet wide. The prophet said that the city would be thrown into the water, and that’s exactly what happened.

(3) The details

Arrian, a Greek historian, wrote about the overthrow of Tyre and how it was accomplished (The Campaigns of Alexander [New York: Penquin, 1958], pp. 132-43). The fortification of Tyre resembled Alcatraz. The city sat offshore like a rock with walls that came down to the edge of the water. Alexander set out to build the only means to approach the city–a land peninsula. Soldiers started pitching rubble into the water, leveling it off as they went so they could march on it. The water got deeper as they approached the island, and to make their task even more difficult, the people of Tyre bombarded them with missiles.

Werner Keller in The Bible as History tells us that to safeguard the operation, Alexander built mobile shields called “tortoises” (New York: Bantam, 1956], p. 361). Knowing that when they reached the city they would have to scale the walls, Alexander built “Hele-poleis,” which were mobile siege towers 160 foot high. The idea was to roll these structures across the causeway and push them up against the walls. A drawbridge on the front of the towers enabled the soldiers to march across the top of the walls and into the city.

Alexander’s men were under constant attack from people within the city and from the Tyrian navy. Realizing that he needed ships to defend his flanks, Alexander returned to the cities he had conquered and demanded their assistance. That fulfilled the prophecy that God “will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up” (Ezek. 26:3).

(4) The destruction

Alexander’s plan succeeded. Eight thousand people were slain and thirty thousand were sold into slavery. It took Alexander seven months to conquer Tyre. The causeway he built can be seen to this day.

2. The prophetic result

How did Ezekiel know all those things would happen? The only explanation is he expressed the mind of God. Historian Philip Myers said, “Alexander the Great reduced it [Tyre] to ruins (332 B.C.). She recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. The larger part of the site … is now as bare as the top of a rock–a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry” (General History for Colleges and High Schools [Boston: Ginn and Co., 1889], p. 55). That fulfills the prophecies of Ezekiel 26:4-5, 14. The island city was repopulated, later to be destroyed by the Moslems in A.D. 1281. However, God said the mainland city would never be rebuilt–and it never has. Jerusalem has been rebuilt many times but Tyre will never be rebuilt because a prophet in Babylon said twenty-five centuries ago, “Thou shalt be built no more” (Ezek. 26:14).

Prophecy–Alexander The Great Siege of Tyre 6of6.flv

Uploaded by on Dec 5, 2010

This video by secular sources fulfills in amazing detail the prophecies made about Tyre by the Bible centuries in advance. Go here to see the Bible’s prophecies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K24uwdc-ato

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By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Biblical Archaeology | Comments (0)

Milton Friedman taught us that human history shows that our greatest successes have come in those countries with free markets

November 21, 2012 – 1:06 am

Milton Friedman’s books and films have taught us much about self-interest and that the countries that had freedom thrived!!!

Posted Jul 31, 2012 1:34 pm by Brett Malin, Under: Friedman Day 2012

One of Milton Freidman’s greatest skills was his ability to effortlessly disarm liberals when they trot out their standard, shopworn canards.

President Obama’s $1 trillion stimulus package went mainly to the hiring of government employees, so their continued spending would stimulate the economy. Many times Milton Friedman had lectured that this is a fallacy; there is no free lunch, every dollar the government spends is taxed, borrowed or taken by devaluation from the productive sector. More money is spent, but the overall production of goods and services is still the same; so how is the economy stimulated?

For those who believe capitalism a corrupt system, run by greed, Milton Friedman had a simple explanation. Greed, better identified as self-interest, is present everywhere; nowhere does there exists such perfect angels that do not act in their own self interest. What’s more, human history shows that our greatest successes have come in those countries with free markets and private property rights; it is in those countries that deny economic freedom that you find the same grinding poverty that plagued mankind for millennia.

Why shouldn’t the government use inheritance taxes to appropriate a man’s wealth when he passes? After all, he is dead and has no need for material goods. What’s more, would men not still work hard to improve their lot in life, even knowing the consequences once they are gone? Milton Freeman’s insight was convincing. The only human motivation as powerful as self interest is the desire to improve the circumstance of one’s children and family. The impulse to give your children a better life than yours is universal in the human spirit. Absent that, Friedman asks, what remains but to consume your life’s savings before you die? No assets accumulated or long-term investments made, just wasteful consumption. The destructive effect of this policy on the long term economic health of a society is obvious, with no long term growth, just the dispersal of all gains made with each generation.

If only today’s conservative politicians could demolish the left’s stale arguments so easily and completely.

Brett Malin is a noted political blogger with ConservativesClub.com.  His company, MR Data Corporation provides statistical analysis for Fortune 500 companies. (conservativesclub.com)

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

I have done everything in my power to get Republicans in Congress to vote against debt ceiling increase

November 20, 2012 – 3:05 pm

It is obvious to me that if President Obama gets his hands on more money then he will continue to spend away our children’s future. He has already taken the national debt from 11 trillion to 16 trillion in just 4 years. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over and over I have written Speaker Boehner and the Congressmen (Griffin, Womack, Crawford) in Arkansas concerning this. I am hoping they will stand up against this reckless spending that our federal government has done and will continue to do if given the chance.

I have written and emailed Senator Pryor over, and over again with spending cut suggestions but he has ignored all of these good ideas in favor of keeping the printing presses going as we plunge our future generations further in debt. I am convinced if he does not change his liberal voting record that he will no longer be our senator in 2014.

I have written hundreds of letters and emails to President Obama and I must say that I have been impressed that he has had the White House staff answer so many of my letters. However, his policies have not changed. He is committed to cutting nothing from the budget that I can tell.

Here is another fine article below from Dan Mitchell that shows what will happen to the increased revenue if the Republicans are dumb enough to give it to President Obama. He will surely waste it on increased government spending. Milton Friedman rightly noted that we are truly blessed that the federal government is so inefficient so at least they will not be able to hurt us as much as they could if it ran efficiently. Here is the exact quote:

The only reason there’s any chance of keeping government limited is because government is so inefficient and does so poorly.

President Obama and other statists in Washington want a big class-warfare tax hike. They claim the additional revenue is necessary to reduce red ink.

But their ideological crusade is based on some blatant distortions.

In other words, the Obama tax hike will make government bigger, even if some naively support the tax hike because they want smaller deficits.

That being said, I’m not overly optimistic that Obama’s divisive proposal can be stopped, largely because I don’t think Republicans will take my advice on how to win this fight.

But at least the American people have an appropriately jaundiced view about what will happen if Obama does prevail.

Here are the results of a recent poll showing that a strong majority understand that more revenue will lead to an expansion in the burden of government spending.

Though I suppose these numbers don’t necessarily show that people are against higher taxes. Perhaps some of the 57 percent want higher taxes because they want more government.

After all, that’s the most logical interpretation of the election results in California, where voters approved a referendum to rape and pillage upper-income taxpayers.

But I suspect – and definitely hope – that most of the 57 percent understand that making America more like Europe is not a desirable outcome.

By the way, I shared some polling data last week showing that CPAs think that changes in tax rates lead to substantial Laffer Curve effects.

They were also asked their opinion on whether higher taxes will be used for deficit reduction.

As you can see, they were even more skeptical than the general public, with more than 60 percent definitely thinking that more revenue in Washington will lead to more spending.

To be sure, there’s no particular reason to think that CPAs have any special insight on this issue. On the Laffer Curve question, by contrast, they presumably do have insider knowledge of how taxpayers respond when tax policy changes.

But I’m digressing. The point of this post is to explain that higher taxes will lead to bigger government.

And if you don’t believe me, then why did the New York Times unintentionally admit that the only budget deal that actually resulted in a budget surplus was the one that cut taxes instead of raising them?

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

Open letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (Part 13)

November 20, 2012 – 11:59 am

John Boehner, Speaker of the House

H-232, The Capital, Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker,

I know that you will have to meet with newly re-elected President Obama soon and he will probably be anxious for you to raise taxes and  federal spending, but he will want you to leave runaway entitlement programs alone. When that happens then you have one thing you can hold over his head and that is the debt ceiling.

You must stand up to him and tell him that you can not raise it. In December of 2012 or January of 2013 at the latest we will be shutting down the government if we don’t increase the debt limit according to the LA Times. You got to listen to the Tea Party heroes like Rep. Todd Rokita,  Ben Quayle (R-AZ), Jeff Landry (R, LA-03),  Raúl R. Labrador , Tim Huelskamp,  Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI),  , Brooks, Mo (AL – 5), Buerkle, Ann Marie (NY – 25),Chabot, Steven (OH – 1),Duncan, Jeff (SC – 3), Fleischmann, Chuck (TN – 3) ,Gowdy, Trey (SC – 4) ,Griffith, H. Morgan (VA – 9) , Harris, Andy (MD – 1) ,Huizenga, Bill (MI – 2) , Mulvaney, Mick (SC – 5) , Pompeo, Mike (KS – 4) , Ribble, Reid (WI – 8), Rigell, E. Scott (VA – 2) , Ross, Dennis (FL – 12) ,Schweikert, David (AZ – 5), Scott, Austin (GA – 8) , Scott, Tim (SC – 1) , Southerland, Steve (FL – 2) , Stutzman, Marlin (IN – 3) , Walberg, Timothy (MI – 7) , Walsh, Joe (IL – 8),and Woodall, Rob (GA – 7) .

One of those Tea Party heroes was Congressman Austin Scott of Georgia. Last year I posted this below concerning his conservative views and his willingness to vote against the debt ceiling increase:

Scott Austin of Georgia:

“First, thank you to the hundreds of constituents who have called, e-mailed and posted comments on my Facebook and Twitter pages.  This was a difficult vote, but because of the comments and calls, I cast it with the confidence that it was the right vote for the eighth district of Georgia.  My constituents know, as well as I do, that we should do all that we can to keep from defaulting on our obligations.  However, a leader in the White House would have never allowed the discussion of a default to begin with and would have prioritized spending before this crisis came to a head.

“While this bill included some of the main principles of my preferred “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill it did not include enough of them.  As families across Georgia have realized – you can only spend as much as you take in.  “Cut, Cap and Balance” as well as the “Boehner Plan” required the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment before allowing the President to raise the debt limit a second time.  Unfortunately, this requirement was left out of the compromise. Additionally, this bill includes cuts, insisted upon by the President, which would disproportionately fall in the area of defense, to the exclusion of other areas that are the true drivers of our national debt. The uncertainty surrounding these defense cuts could have a devastating impact on thousands of jobs in Middle Georgia –  a risk I’m not willing to take at a time when our unemployment rate continues to hover near double digits.

“Middle Georgians sent me here to fight for the personal freedoms, individual liberties and economic opportunities for our generation and the next.  I will never cease in that effort.  Unfortunately, this bill falls short of those goals and that is why I voted against it.”

Sincerely,

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

___________

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Tea Party Conservative Senator Mike Lee interview

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Some Tea Party heroes (Part 6)

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Some Tea Party heroes (Part 5)

Rep. Quayle on Fox News with Neil Cavuto __________________ We have to get people realize that the most important issue is the debt!!! Recently I read a comment by Congressman Ben Quayle (R-AZ) made  after voting against the amended Budget Control Act on August 1, 2011. He said it was important to compel “Congressional Democrats and […]

Some Tea Party heroes (Part 4)

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Some Tea Party heroes (Part 3)

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Some Tea Party heroes (Part 2)

Congressmen Tim Huelskamp on the debt ceiling I just don’t understand why people think we can go on and act like everything is okay when we have a trillion dollar deficit. Sometimes you run across some very wise words like I did the other day. Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp made the following comment on the […]

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

Does government deserve all the credit for new business ideas?

November 20, 2012 – 11:58 am

Is the government the one that is coming up with great ideas for new businesses? Where does the credit go for all the new ideas that create new businesses?

Dylan DelliSanti

August 6, 2012 at 2:00 pm

President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” comment has drawn much attention. The reactions from both the President’s defenders and his critics illustrate a profound misunderstanding about how the market actually allows us to cooperate.

As Milton Friedman, echoing Foundation for Economic Freedom founder Leonard Reed, pointed out: “not a single person in the world can make [a] pencil.” This may sound strange at first, but the reality is that it takes many people, each with different skills, coordinating with each other from around the world to produce a single pencil. The graphite may have come from Italy, the wood from Oregon, and the rubber in the eraser from Malaysia.

Yet no government direction was needed to bring these people together.

It is the entrepreneur who brings these people and resources together, guided by a market system in which prices determine the most efficient use of resources. Government planners can never match the ability of the market process to facilitate an environment for cooperation and coordination—no matter how intelligent the bureaucrats or how benign the governing elite.

This is not simply theory; the Index of Economic Freedom proves that countries with higher levels of economic freedom are also the most prosperous.

Today, the world economy is much more complex than when Milton Friedman lectured about the production of pencils. Paper and pencil have been usurped by the computer, iPad, and smartphone. Yet as this video from the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics demonstrates, the market process is more important than ever.

A recent study found that for every $299 iPod sold in the U.S., our reported trade deficit with China increases by about $150; however, the value added via the assembly lines in China is only $10, and much of the value added of that so-called deficit is captured in the U.S. by designers, financiers, and owners of intellectual property. A variety of different producers and service providers from many countries contribute to the complex process that puts an iPod on the shelf in an American store. And all that effort is coordinated by Apple, not the U.S. government.

The government has a role in society, but it is only through the market process that individuals can cooperate effectively on a grand scale.

Dylan DelliSanti is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.

__________

On July 3, 1981, I was in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the middle of a 20 country student tour. Our group of 48 American students had the opportunity to speak to a Communist government official for over an hour. We asked him several questions. My questions were quite direct and I will share some of them at a later time.
 
However, I did want to share one question that I asked. I told the official about an entrepreneur from Memphis named Fred Smith. Back in the early 1970′s we heard about how Smith had this crazy idea about delivering overnight packages from LA to San Francisco via Memphis. Sounded like it would not work, but Smith was able to invest all his money and eventually it paid off. His idea was successful.
 
I asked the simple question: Could something like this happen here in Communist Czechoslovakia? He responded, “No. That is because no private citizen is allowed to own that much capital. The government must do things like that.”
 
There was no chance for entrepreneurs to exist in communist countries. I was simply pointing out that economic freedom allows an environment for entrepreneurs. Why would someone put the time and energy in putting together a grand plan like Fed Ex when the benefit and reward would just go to a communist government?
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Milton Friedman, President Obama, Ronald Reagan, spending out of control | Comments (0)

Open letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (Part 12)

November 20, 2012 – 11:38 am

John Boehner, Speaker of the House

H-232, The Capital, Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker,

I know that you will have to meet with newly re-elected President Obama soon and he will probably be anxious for you to raise taxes and  federal spending, but he will want you to leave runaway entitlement programs alone.

If we want the economy to grow then we should look closely at a flat tax.

In previous posts, I put together tutorials on the Laffer Curve, tax competition, and the economics of government spending.

Today, we’re going to look at the issue of tax reform. The focus will be the flat tax, but this analysis applies equally to national sales tax systems such as the Fair Tax.

There are three equally important features of tax reform.

  1. A low tax rate – This is the best-known feature of tax reform. A low tax rate is designed to minimize the penalty of work, entrepreneurship, and productive behavior.
  2. No double taxation of saving and investment – All major tax reform plans, such as the flat tax and national sales tax, get rid of the tax bias against income that is saved and invested. The capital gains tax, double tax on dividends, and death tax are all abolished. Shifting to a system that taxes economic activity only one time will boost capital formation, thus facilitating an increase in productivity and wages.
  3. No distorting loopholes – With the exception of a family-based allowance designed to protect lower-income people, the main tax reform plans get rid of all deductions, exemptions, shelters, preference, exclusions, and credits. By creating a neutral tax system, this ensures that decisions are made on the basis of economic fundamentals, not tax distortions.

All three features are equally important, sort of akin to the legs of a stool. Using the flat tax as a model, this video provides additional details.

One thing I don’t mention in the video is that a flat tax is “territorial,” meaning that only income earned in the United States is taxed. This common-sense rule is the good-fences-make-good-neighbors approach. If income is earned by an American in, say, Canada, then the Canadian government gets to decide how it’s taxed. And if income is earned by a Canadian in America, then the U.S. government gets a slice.

It’s also worth emphasizing that the flat tax protects low-income Americans from the IRS. All flat tax plans include a fairly generous “zero-bracket amount,” which means that a family of four can earn (depending on the specific proposal) about $25,000-$35,000 before the flat tax takes effect.

Proponents of tax reform explain that there are many reasons to junk the internal revenue code and adopt something like a flat tax.

  • Improve growth – The low marginal tax rate, the absence of double taxation, and the elimination of distortions combine to create a system that minimizes the penalties on productive behavior.
  • Boost competitiveness – In a competitive global economy, it is easy for jobs and investment to cross national borders. The right kind of tax reform can make America a magnet for money from all over the world.
  • Reduce corruption – Tax preferences and penalties are bad for growth, but they are also one of the main sources of political corruption in Washington. Tax reform takes away the dumpster, which means fewer rats and cockroaches.
  • Promote simplicity – Good policy has a very nice side effect in that the tax system becomes incredibly simple. Instead of the hundreds of forms required by the current system, both households and businesses would need only a single postcard-sized form.
  • Increase privacy – By getting rid of double taxation and taxing saving, investment, and profit at the business level, there no longer is any need for people to tell the government what assets they own and how much they’re worth.
  • Protect civil liberties – A simple and fair tax system eliminates almost all sources of conflict between taxpayers and the IRS.

All of these benefits also accrue if the internal revenue code is abolished and replaced with some form of national sales tax. That’s because the flat tax and sales tax are basically different sides of the same coin. Under a flat tax, income is taxed one time at one low rate when it is earned. Under a sales tax, income is taxed one time at one low rate when it is spent.

Neither system has double taxation. Neither system has corrupt loopholes. And neither system requires the nightmarish internal revenue service that exists to enforce the current system.

This video has additional details – including the one caveat that a national sales tax shouldn’t be enacted unless the 16th Amendment is repealed so there’s no threat that politicians could impose both an income tax and sales tax.

Last but not least, let’s deal with the silly accusation that the flat tax is a risky and untested idea. This video is a bit dated (some new nations are in the flat tax club and a few have dropped out), but is shows that there are more than two dozen jurisdictions with this simple and fair tax system.

P.S. Fundamental tax reform is also the best way to improve the healthcare system. Under current law, compensation in the form of fringe benefits such as health insurance is tax free. Not only is it deductible to employers and non-taxable to employees, it also isn’t hit by the payroll tax. This creates a huge incentive for gold-plated health insurance policies that cover routine costs and have very low deductibles. This is a principal cause (along with failed entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid) of the third-party payer crisis. Shifting to a flat tax means that all forms of employee compensation are taxed at the same low rate, a reform that presumably over time will encourage both employers and employees to migrate away from the inefficient over-use of insurance that characterizes the current system. For all intents and purposes, the health insurance market presumably would begin to resemble the vastly more efficient and consumer-friendly auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance markets.

P.P.S. If you want short and sweet descriptions of the major tax reform plans, here are four highly condensed descriptions of the flat tax, national sales tax, value-added tax, and current system.

_____

Sincerely,

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

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

Obamacare going to happen?

November 20, 2012 – 10:18 am

What is going to happen with Obamacare?

  • November 18, 2012, 5:53 p.m. ET

Capretta and Levin: Why ObamaCare Is Still No Sure Thing

The majority of state governors are Republicans, and they have the power to disarm the health-care law.

By JAMES C. CAPRETTA
AND YUVAL LEVIN

Champions of ObamaCare want Americans to believe that the president’s re-election ended the battle over the law. It did no such thing. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act won’t be fully repealed while Barack Obama is in office, but the administration is heavily dependent on the states for its implementation.

Republicans will hold 30 governorships starting in January, and at last week’s meeting of the Republican Governors Association they made it clear that they remain highly critical of the health law. Some Republican governors—including incoming RGA Chairman Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Ohio’s John Kasich, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and Maine’s Paul LePage—have already said they won’t do the federal government’s bidding. Several Democratic governors, including Missouri’s Jay Nixon and West Virginia’s Earl Ray Tomblin, have also expressed serious concerns.

Talk of the law’s inevitability is intended to pressure these governors into implementing it on the administration’s behalf. But states still have two key choices to make that together will put them in the driver’s seat: whether to create state health-insurance exchanges, and whether to expand Medicaid. They should say “no” to both.

At its core, ObamaCare is a massive entitlement expansion. Between vastly increased Medicaid eligibility and new premium subsidies, it is expected to bring 30 million more people onto the federal government’s entitlement rolls. The law anticipates that the states will take on the burden of implementing the expansions, but states can opt out of both.

Running the exchanges would be an administrative nightmare for states, requiring a complicated set of rules, mandates, databases and interfaces to establish eligibility, funnel subsidies, and facilitate purchases. All of this would have to take place under broad and often incoherent statutory requirements and federal regulations that have yet to be written.

Associated PressThey are on opposite sides of ObamaCare, but President Obama and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal met in September in LaPlace, La., for a briefing regarding Hurricane Isaac.

The exchanges would create unsustainable pressures on each state’s insurance market, treating similarly situated people differently by providing far greater subsidies for those in the exchanges than those in employer plans—yielding perverse incentives that distort consumer and employer decisions and increase costs.

States would endure all this simply to become functionaries of the federal government. The idea that creating state exchanges would give states control over their insurance markets is a fantasy. The states would be enforcing a federal law and federal regulations, with very little room for independent judgment.

Governors know this. A group of them has already indicated that they will not build the exchanges, and several more seemed ready to opt out as the administration’s deadline for state decisions approached on Nov. 16. Predictably, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tried to head them off by extending the deadline to Dec. 14. She will try to use the extra month to twist governors’ arms. They should resist.

By declining to build exchanges, the states would pass the burden and costs of the exchanges to the administration that sought this law. And it is far from clear that the administration could operate the exchanges on its own.

Congress didn’t allocate money for administering federal exchanges, and the law as written seems to prohibit federally run exchanges from providing subsidies to individuals. The administration insists that it can provide those subsidies anyway. But if the courts read the plain words of the statute, then federal exchanges couldn’t really function.

Thus states that refuse to create their own exchanges would effectively be repealing a large part of the law—sparing their citizens from the job-killing employer mandate and from assaults on their religious liberty. In some cases people would even be spared from the individual mandate to buy coverage, since in the absence of exchange subsidies more families would qualify for exemptions from the mandate.

The Medicaid expansion, meanwhile, would throw millions of additional Americans into a system that is already bankrupting state governments and increasing costs in the private-insurance market. Medicaid’s payments for services are so low that many existing beneficiaries have trouble finding physicians and other health-care providers who will accept them as patients. Enrolling more people without reform will push the system to the point of collapse.

In refusing the Medicaid expansion, governors should notify Washington that doing so means freeing themselves of ObamaCare’s “Maintenance of Effort” requirements. These would prohibit states participating in the Medicaid expansion from reforming their Medicaid systems to reduce costs.

Instead of following the Obama administration’s plan, states should seek real reform. For example, they should demand that Washington transform the federal portion of Medicaid for non-disabled and non-elderly beneficiaries into a uniform block grant, with state discretion over eligibility and benefits. The goal should be to turn Medicaid into a premium-assistance program rather than government-run insurance. Medicaid could then be used to help people enroll in mainstream insurance plans. This is the way to help the low-income uninsured get the same kind of coverage as other Americans.

President Obama won re-election and Democrats maintained control of the Senate this month, but the states hold the future of ObamaCare in their hands. Knowing the harm the law would do to their citizens, to the economy and to American health care, governors should refuse to become its enablers.

Mr. Capretta is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Levin is a fellow at the EPPC and editor of National Affairs.

A version of this article appeared November 18, 2012, on page A19 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Why ObamaCare Is Still No Sure Thing.

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