Category Archives: Current Events

Obama’s stimulus failed according to his own figures

January 17, 2013 – 9:37 am

The president wants to raise taxes on the job creators and he thinks he can get more jobs that way. Dan Mitchell brings up some great points about lowering government spending will help us not become Europe.

I almost feel sorry for the ideologues and partisan hacks who feel obliged to defends Obama’s miserable economic performance.

Keynesian spending policies and class-warfare tax policies have produced dismal economic performance, with unemployment stuck above 8 percent – even though the White House promised the joblessness rate by this point would be about 5.5 percent if we squandered $800 billion-plus on the so-called stimulus.

Yet Keith Boykin gamely tries to put perfume on this hog in our debate on CNBC.

Notice that I began this post by saying I “almost feel sorry” for the spin-meisters who defend Obamanomics. But “almost” is the key word in that sentence. I reserve my genuine sympathy for the millions of people who can’t find jobs because of the President’s destructive policies.

Let me add a few comments.

Boykin tries to disavow the Romer-Bernstein report and pretend that the President didn’t highlight and promote its claims when pushing for the faux stimulus. That’s a remarkable bit of revisionist history and I think I was effective at tying that rotting fish around his neck.

Keith also highlights the relatively good performance of the Clinton years. As I’ve done before, I announce that we’d be much better off with the Clinton tax rates – but only if we also get rid of all the reckless spending and regulation of the Bush and Obama years. I thinks that’s an effective point to make, but I confess I don’t have any feedback one way or the other to indicate that it’s a persuasive argument.

The most revealing point of the interview is when the host incredulously remarked to Keith that “you think we should have bigger government.”

But if anybody thinks that it’s a good idea to increase the burden of government spending, then they need to explain why America will be better off if we make our country more like Greece and France.

Last week, I shared some numbers from the left-wing OECD which showed that living standards are much higher in the United States than they are in Europe’s welfare states. That is what this fight is all about.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Letting the Federal Reserve continue to print money is not the way to go

January 17, 2013 – 9:32 am

Letting the Federal Reserve continue to print money is not the way to go.

Ron Paul has made “End the Fed” a popular slogan, but some people worry that this is a radical untested idea. In part, this is because it is human nature to fear the unknown.

But there are plenty of examples of policy reforms that used to be considered radical but are now commonplace.

This list could go on, but the pattern is always the same. People assume something has to be done by government because “that’s the way it’s always been.” Then reform begins to happen and the myth is busted.

But is money somehow different? Not according to some experts.

Here’s some of what John Stossel wrote in a recent column.

Why must our government make currency competition illegal? …Competition is generally good. Why not competition in currencies? Most people I interviewed scoffed at the idea. They said private currency should be illegal. But impressive thinkers disagree. In 1975, a year after he won the Nobel Prize in economics, F.A. Hayek published “Choice in Currency,”which has inspired a generation of “free banking” economists. Hayek taught us that competition not only respects individual liberty, it produces essential knowledge we cannot obtain any other way. Any central bank is limited in its access to such knowledge, and subject to political pressure, no matter how independent it’s supposed to be. “This monopoly of government, like the postal monopoly, has its origin not in any benefit it secures for the people but solely in the desire to enhance the coercive powers of government,” Hayek wrote. “I doubt whether it has ever done any good except to the rulers and their favorites. All history contradicts the belief that governments have given us a safer money than we would have had without their claiming an exclusive right to issue it.” Former Federal Reserve economist David Barker discussed this idea recently with me. “There are a lot of ways that private money might be better,” Barker said. “It might have embedded chips that would make it easier to count.” The chips would also prevent counterfeiting. There used to be private currencies. A businessman who sold iron and tin made coins that advertised his business. The Georgia Railroad Co. also produced its own currency. This became illegal in 1864 — Abraham Lincoln was a fan of central banking.

Stossel’s historical references are particularly important. As I explain in this video, many nations – including the United States – used to have competing currencies.

Uploaded by on Mar 21, 2011

The Federal Reserve has existed for almost 100 years and it has created depressions, recessions, inflation, and bubbles. This CF&P Foundation video explains the origin of central banking and mentions possible alternatives that will be discussed in subsequent mini-documentaries.

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And if you want a thorough analysis of the Fed’s performance, I urge you to watch this George Selgin speech. Then ask yourself whether we would have been in better shape with private currencies.

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute | Tagged | Comments (0)

Socialism steals our freedom

January 17, 2013 – 9:30 am

Milton Friedman – Socialism is Force

Uploaded by on May 21, 2010

Milton Friedman discusses the moral values encouraged by economic systems and explains that a primary difference between capitalism and socialism is the difference between free choice and compulsory force.

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Do we want freedom or may we don’t?  It seems to me those who want more of our private money to be given over to government control are limiting our freedom greatly.

Every so often, you read something so ridiculously stupid and absurd that you assume that you’re being pranked. So you look to the date of the article to see if it says April 1. Or you look at the Internet address to see if it’s a parody of a real website.

So when I read a column suggesting that the United States should become more like Italy, I thought this must be some sort of practical joke. After all, Italy is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, kept afloat by bailouts and subsidies. Its economy is in the toilet, with pervasively high unemployment, almost no growth for a decade, and living standards that are only about two-thirds of U.S. levels.

The Italian government is also famously incompetent (naming the wrong people to high-level posts), with stifling levels of regulation, a dysfunctional fiscal system, and a corrupt legal system (and when it’s not crooked, it’s inane).

Notwithstanding all these crippling flaws, Italy has something akin to catnip for the left. It has a punitive tax burden, and that means it must be a nation worth emulating.

Here’s some of what Eduardo Porter wrote for the New York Times.

Italy may be in a funk, with a shrinking economy and a high unemployment rate, but the United States can learn a lot from it, and not just about the benefits of public health care. Italians live longer. Their poverty rate is much lower than ours. If they lose their jobs or suffer some other misfortune, they can turn to a more generous social safety net. …The reason is not difficult to figure out: rich though we are, we can’t afford the policies needed to improve our record. …But though the nation’s fiscal challenge has taken center stage in the presidential election campaign, raising more taxes from American families remains stubbornly off the table.

I’m willing to believe Italians live longer, but every other assertion in that passage is upside down. Yes, they have more subsidies for joblessness, but that’s one of the reasons they have higher unemployment (as even Paul Krugman and Larry Summers have acknowledged).

And the claim about less poverty is laughable. I’m guessing the author naively relied upon the slipshod analysis from the statists at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Those bureaucrats put together a moving-goalposts measure of income distribution and falsely categorized it as a tool for measuring poverty.

Setting aside these mistakes, the column is designed to convince people that we should give more money to Washington.

Citizens of most industrial countries have demanded more public services as they have become richer. And they have been by and large willing to pay more taxes to finance them. Since 1965, tax revenue raised by governments in the developed world have risen to 34 percent of their gross domestic product from 25 percent, on average. The big exception has been the United States. …the United States raises less tax revenue, as a share of the economy, than every other industrial country. No wonder we can’t afford to keep more children alive. In 2007, the most recent year for which figures are available, the United States government spent about 16 percent of its output on social programs — things like public health, food and housing for the poor. In Italy, that figure was 25 percent. …Every other industrial country has a national consumption tax, which can be used to raise a lot of money.

I will give the author credit. If you read the entire column, it’s clear he wants all Americans to pay higher taxes, not just the so-called rich. So at least he’s being honest, unlike a lot of statists (click here for a list of honest leftists who admit you can’t finance big government without screwing the middle class).

But honesty about goals doesn’t mean desirability of policy. If America becomes more like Italy, it will mean Italian-style stagnation and joblessness.

And it’s particularly worrisome to see that the author wants a value-added tax, which is a sure-fire way of giving politicians a big pile of money that will be used to expand the burden of government spending.

I have nothing against copying other nations, either when they get one policy right (such as Estonia’s flat tax or Australia’s system of personal retirement accounts), or when they get a bunch of policies right and routinely rank at the top for economic freedom and prosperity (such as Hong Kong and Singapore).

But I’m mystified by those who look at failure and conclude America should do likewise.

P.S. The Italians have a bad tax system, but they don’t meekly comply. Whether they’re firebombing tax offices or sailing yachts to other countries, they are a powerful example of the Laffer Curve insight that higher tax rates don’t necessarily translate into higher tax revenues.

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Milton Friedman, President Obama, spending out of control | Comments (0)

In 2011 49 percent of Americans lived in a household where at least one member of the family received a government benefit

January 17, 2013 – 9:10 am

Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell on WMAL 07-10-12

Published on Jul 10, 2012 by

INTERVIEW: DAN MITCHELL — Senior Fellow, Cato Institute — discussed the ObamaCare tax vs. penalty rhetoric, the growing number of people on disability, whether America is becoming Europe and President Obama’s tax-the-rich speech yesterday.

ObamaCare: Is It a Tax or a Penalty? Dan examines the messaging.
Obama’s Class Warfare: President Obama Monday proposed a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for American families earning less than $250,000 a year.
Spain Given Extra Year To Reach Deficit Reduction Targets. Spain is getting another year to meet its deficit-reduction targets. The country was given until 2014 to meet its goals in exchange for budget savings and an aid package for banks. Euro zone ministers were concerned that Spain, their fourth-largest economy, was on the path to a full bailout which they could not afford. Spain has been hit hard with bad debts from the housing crash and worldwide recession.
AEI’s Arthur Brooks writes in the WSJ: “America Already Is Europe: In spending, debt and progressivity of taxes, the U.S. is as much a social-welfare state as Spain.

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I wish we have a country where freedom was everywhere but instead we have many enslaved to the federal government. We need to get the government interference  out of our lives so we can truly be free again.

Alison Acosta Fraser

September 18, 2012 at 5:39 pm

Mother Jones has opened a broad debate about the role of government in our society.

In a clandestine tape recorded in May and obtained by the magazine, former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) remarked that 47 percent of taxpayers pay no federal income taxes. He notes, among other things, the increase in dependency on government in the country.

This is not a widely held secret: 47 percent of all tax filers paid no federal individual income taxes in 2009, and in 2011 that figure was 46 percent. This is all perfectly legitimate as taxpayers take advantage of various credits, deductions, exemptions, and the like. These filers are largely (but not exclusively) low-income Americans including seniors and students.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that these taxpayers are dependent on the federal government. (More on that later.) But it does raise a crucial issue for our democracy: Who should pay to fund the federal government?

Who Pays Taxes

At 47.4 percent of federal revenue, the federal income tax is by far the single largest source of revenue for the federal government. The payroll tax is next largest, raising 35.6 percent. But those revenues are reserved for Social Security and Medicare benefits. So the individual income tax funds the bulk of operations of the federal government, including such core things as national defense, homeland security, and the judicial system.

Shouldn’t all Americans have some stake, even if just a nominal one, in funding these government programs? Should nearly 50 percent of Americans really be exempt from funding the most basic constitutional functions of government—along with education, food stamps, energy, welfare, foreign aid, veterans’ benefits, housing, and so forth?

Do the non-taxpayers represent those Americans who are dependent on government? Not necessarily, but there is overlap. Many take advantage of Washington policies that remove their liability or even send them money, via the IRS, that they never paid in to begin with. But to really understand government dependence requires looking at the full panoply of government programs and direct benefits.

Who’s Dependent on the Government

The 2012 Heritage Index of Dependence on Government found that 63.7 million Americans received either Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Social Security, or support for higher education—an 8 percent increase over the previous year. These same people were very likely to receive other federal benefits, such as Medicare or food stamps. Separately, The Wall Street Journal found that in 2011, 49 percent of Americans lived in a household where at least one member of the family received a government benefit.

So we find the nation at a tipping point. Nearly half of all taxpayers pay no income tax, while nearly half of all Americans receive direct government support for income, food, housing, medical care, school lunches, etc. This makes strong incentives for those who pay no income taxes to press for more and higher benefits. But government programs are rife with poor outcomes.

As Heritage scholar Robert Rector writes, “The federal government operates more than 80 means-tested welfare programs to provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income people. President Obama has increased federal means-tested welfare spending by a third since taking office. Last year, combined federal and state spending on means-tested welfare hit $927 billion.” Yet according to the Census Bureau, 15 percent of the population still lives in poverty.

Growing these dependency programs, as the President would do, will balloon the federal checkbook. Moreover, government dependency erodes human dignity and civil society. As Curtis Dubay writes, “the goal of government policy shouldn’t be to make more people dependent. It should be to maximize the ability of all Americans to make the greatest use of their abilities so they can lead meaningful, purposeful lives.”

Can We Afford This?

We reach this tipping point just as the nation struggles to confront our twin crises of spending and debt. The total national debt just surpassed $16 trillion; total federal spending is projected to be nearly 23 percent of the economy in 2012; and, for the fourth year in a row, the federal government will run a deficit in excess of $1 trillion.

That’s just for starters. Nearly 78 million baby boomers are already starting to pour into Social Security and Medicare, while Medicaid is exploding. Within just one generation, total federal spending will reach nearly 36 percent of GDP, and debt held by the public will reach nearly 200 percent of GDP. (continues below chart)

This is unsustainable. But it is also economically and morally bankrupting. America is on the verge of becoming a nation in decline—economically stagnant and permanently debt-ridden, more dependent, and less self-governing.

Government should be smaller. Taxes should be flatter and should not penalize ordinary and low-income Americans for saving—whether for a car, a condo, or retirement. Federal dependency programs should be redesigned to not just assist low-income individuals, but also move them out of dependency. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid should be overhauled. The goal is to strengthen the safety net, not destroy it. The out-of-control growth of these programs virtually ensures their ultimate destruction, so we should act now.

These choices, while difficult, are not radical: extending the means testing in Medicare today further to fix the program’s finances while also embracing premium support to improve health care delivery and outcomes; extending means testing in Social Security further (after all, do Bill Gates or Warren Buffett really need Social Security?); gradually moving Social Security away from a benefit for everyone to a benefit that, unlike today, guarantees that seniors won’t live in poverty because their benefits are so low.

Ah, Mother Jones, these are the kinds of solutions that will help in Saving the American Dream.

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

The question that pro-abortionists will never answer!!!

January 17, 2013 – 8:13 am

Billy Graham with Dr. C. Everett Koop.

Watch the film below starting at the 19 minute mark and that will lead into a powerful question from Dr. C. Everett Koop. This film is WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? by Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop.

Medical science has developed so much in the last few decades that we now know that the unborn baby feels pain.  Nevertheless, our selfish society continues to support the availability of abortion (according to Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times Blog).

There is a question that I have asked pro-abortionist over and over and I have never got a straight answer. It comes from the first episode of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE. Dr. C. Everett Koop put forth the question:

My question to the pro-abortionist who would not directly kill a newborn baby the minute it is born is this, “Would you have killed it a minute before that or a minute before that or a minute before that or a minute before that?” You can see what I am getting at. At what minute does an unborn baby cease to be worthless and become a person entitled to the right to life and legal protection?

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I asked this question on the Arkansas Times Blog on January 16, 2013 and got these all of these non-answers:

Sound Policy tried to change the subject with his response:

“One thing pro choice people can’t answer and that is when is an unborn baby human?

Neither can anti-choice folks, Saline/Ev. You see, my religion teaches me that every one of a woman’s unfertilized eggs is human, so if you anti-choice folks have not brought into the world a newborn at least every 9 months or so, you have murdered one or more humans (unfertilized eggs neither conceived nor birthed). Do you accept my definition of when an unborn baby is human which is just as arbitrary as your definition?

__

SalineRetarded responded:

Saline: An unborn “baby” ceases to be an unborn “baby” the second it’s born. You’re welcome.

_________

ChildeRolandReturneth angerily posted:

Damn, Saline, you’re perfectly willing to see them shot down at their desks when they’re six years old.

Anyway, if you were really serious about reducing abortions by relying on the facts, you’d be for universal health care — unless you are arguing that our world-leading abortion rate is because our mothers are the most evil mothers in the world. Implementing single-payer health care would immediately save the lives of unborn children.

________________

My constant opponent, Elwood, (who I do respect for his honest liberal opinions), observed:

“Would you have killed it a minute before that or a minute before that or a minute before that or a minute before that?” You can see what I am getting at.<

Yes, that’s called logical extension. It will invariably lead to the egg and sperm.
How many lives have you destroyed in a kleenex?

____________

Hardheadedwoman lashed out:

Oh, give it a rest, Saline. Roe v Wade has been the law of the land since 1973. Your republicans have had countless opportunities to overturn the law in that time and yet they haven’t done so. Why? Well, first, it would dry up all the money they raise railing against it. But the real reason is that republicans use abortion services, too. Yes, it’s true! Sure can’t have some pregnant mistress or knocked up 15-year-old daughter damaging the reputation of some god-fearing christian republican, now can we?
And the simple truth is, a woman’s choice in this matter is none of your @#$%$#@  business.

_________________________________

As you can see all of these are non-answers. THEY ALL ARE AVOIDING THE DIRECT QUESTION. I wish people would look at this  logically. If there is doubt when an unborn baby is alive then we should err on the side of caution.

Ronald Reagan rightly noted, “What, then, is the real issue? I have often said that when we talk about abortion, we are talking about two lives — the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child. Why else do we call a pregnant woman a mother? I have also said that anyone who doesn’t feel sure whether we are talking about a second human life should clearly give life the benefit of the doubt. If you don’t know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it. I think this consideration itself should be enough for all of us to insist on protecting the unborn.”

We are truly a selfish society. Mother Teresa observed, “If we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.”

(There are several articles out saying that a majority of people in the USA support the availibility of abortion. The ironic thing about the article from Rueters by Mary Wisniewski released on 1-17-13 is that it features a picture of NARAL workers. Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a founding member of NARAL and a director of NARAL. Yet he left the pro-abortion movement and joined the pro-life movement after the advancements in medical science proved to him that the unborn babies felt pain.)

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By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Francis Schaeffer, Prolife, Ronald Reagan | Comments (0)

John McArthur and Adrian Rogers on Proverbs and Alcohol (Eddie Sutton and Ryan Dunn used as examples)

January 17, 2013 – 7:59 am

Same old story it seems. Kentucky pulls out another close victory over the Vols. This is not the only story I am talking about today.

 

Kentucky’s Alex Poythress (22) shoots between Tennessee’s Josh Richardson, left, and Yemi Makanjuola during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

Kentucky's Ryan Harrow (12) shoots in front of Tennessee's Jordan McRae during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. Kentucky defeated Tennessee 75-65. (AP Photo/James Crisp)<br /><br /><br /><br />

Photo by James Crisp

Kentucky’s Ryan Harrow (12) shoots in front of Tennessee’s Jordan McRae during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. Kentucky defeated Tennessee 75-65. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

Today I saw that the University of Tennessee basketball team fell to Kentucky in a very exciting basketball game in Lexington 75-65 on January15, 2013. Tennessee sports writer Mike Strange pointed out, “Snatching a win at Rupp Arena happens about as often as a total solar eclipse. In Tennessee’s case, it happens maybe once per coaching tenure — if you’re lucky. Don DeVoe, Jerry Green and Bruce Pearl were lucky — once. Wade Houston and Buzz Peterson weren’t.”

I remember a game that I got to see where Eddie Sutton coached one of his best games ever. I was in Lexington on February 11, 1987 and I had never been to a Kentucky basketball game so I tried to buy a ticket.

I had seen Eddie Sutton coach both in the 1970’s and 1980’s when he was the Arkansas Razorback Coach and I knew that he was going to take Kentucky to the national championship!!!

I did get a ticket that night even though I had to pay a premium price. It was well worth it because it was one of the most exciting games I had ever seen in my life. Tennessee secured a 6 to 10 point lead down the stretch. However, Rex Chapman and Ed Davenport got hot at the end of the game and were able to get the Wildcats into overtime. They both finished with at least 25 points each and Kentucky won 91-84.

Did Sutton lead Kentucky to a national championship? He should have but he didn’t. Everyone knows why too and it is because of his addiction to alcohol. The first year he started off great with a 32-4 record and a trip to the elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament. However, three years later he had a losing team and left Lexington in disgrace.

A Kentucky blog puts it this way in a post from 2006:

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — When Eddie Sutton became the basketball coach at Oklahoma State in 1990, he openly spoke of his struggle with alcoholism.Sutton underwent treatment at the Betty Ford Center in 1987 while he was coach at Kentucky. When discussing the issue three years later, he said, “I’ve dealt with it.”He’s going to deal with it again.During a late-night news conference Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena — where the Cowboys play their home games on Eddie Sutton Court — he addressed reporters by telephone and acknowledged drinking before an accident Friday that has cast a cloud over the future of his 35-year coaching career.Sutton apologized to numerous people for the accident — his university family, his current and former players, and the driver of the other vehicle involved in the wreck. He said he plans to seek treatment for his drinking relapse during his current medical leave of absence, which began Monday.

He didn’t say where he would be seeking treatment, but did say he would do so next week.

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Driving drunk is stupid. We all can agree on that. Wouldn’t it have been better if Eddie had just abstained from alcohol like many others do?

I love the Book of Proverbs and every day I read one chapter of Proverbs. Since there are 31 chapters, I start the 1st of ever month and read chapter 1 and then the next day I read chapter 2 and so on the rest of the month.

John McArthur said:

”First of all, number one issue in gaining wisdom is to fear God…is to fear God. How do you know that? Back in chapter 1 verse 7, we read this, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one is true understanding.”

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One of the issues I have learned about in Proverbs is concerning the issue of alcohol.

ryan dunn Jackass dead in crash

Bam Margera’s First Interview After Ryan Dunn’s Death

Ryan Dunn and his friends moments before they died.

Flickr user Eric Lewis posted the image below with a caption that says the photo shows what’s left of Dunn’s car.

Ryan Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking from a bar. At 2 am he left the bar and a few minutes later he was killed after running off the road in his car.There are three reasons that I do not drink and here they are.First,alcohol has brought a social plague on our country not matched by anything we have ever seen in the past.  I will never forget the day I heard this statistic in 1975:  ”Drunk drivers are responsible for 50% of highway fatalities.”My pastor Adrian Rogers shared that statistic from the pulpit. I was only 14 years old at the time, but I was looking forward to driving. It caused me to realize that I had to abstain from alcohol and try to convince my friends and family to do likewise.Second, the Bible does condemn alcoholic wine. There were three kinds of wine mentioned in the Bible (grapes, grape juice and strong drink). Wine in the cluster which is equal to our grapes. Isaiah 65:8 ” “As the new wine is found in the cluster…”  The point I am making here is very clear. The Bible does refer to nonalcoholic wine which is equal to our grape juice. Don’t take for granted everytime you read the word “wine” in the Bible that it is referring to the kind of wine we are used to today.Next we have the term “strong drink” which is equal to our wine today. Strong drink is condemned. .Proverbs 20:1 states, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. ”

  • WHAT WAS “STRONG DRINK” IN BIBLE TIMES?

Distillation was not discovered until about 1500 A.D. Strong drink and unmixed wine in Bible times was from 3% to 11% alcohol. Dr. John MacArthur says “…since anybody in biblical times who drank unmixed wine (9-11% alcohol) was definitely considered a barbarian, then we dont even need to discuss whether a Christian should drink hard liquor–that is apparent!”

Since wine has 9 to 11% alcohol and one brand 20% alcohol, you should not drink that. Brandy contains 15 to 20% alcohol, so thats out! Hard liquor has 40 to 50% alcohol (80 to 100 proof), and that is obviously excluded!

For documentation on this subject Google “alcohol” with the name of Adrian Rogers or John MacArthur. These theologians  have covered this subject fully with biblical references.

Third, Romans 14:21 states, “It is better not to eat meat (that had been offered to idols) or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” If a person rejects all the linguistic arguments, there is still Romans 14:21 concerning not causing a weaker brother to stumble..

It is consistent with the ethic of love for believers and unbelievers alike. Because I am an example to others, I will make certain no one ever walks the road of sorrow called alcoholism because they saw me take a drink and assumed, “if it is alright for Everette Hatcher, it is alright for me.” No, I will choose to set an uncompromising example of abstinence because I love them. The fact is that 1 of every 6 drinkers in the USA are problem drinkers. Maybe if my family of 6 drank, that could be me or one of my children?

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

Characters referenced in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris” (Part 38,Alcoholism and great writers and artists)

I have really enjoyed going through all the characters mentioned in Woody Allen’s latest film “Midnight in Paris.” One think that shocked me was that many of these great writers mentioned in the film were also alcoholics. Why is that? It is my view that if a sensitive person really does examine life closely without […]

Tennessee's Jarnell Stokes, right, has his shot pressured by Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein, center, and blocked by Nerlens Noel during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/James Crisp)<br /><br /><br />

Photo by James Crisp, AP2013

Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes, right, has his shot pressured by Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, center, and blocked by Nerlens Noel during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Adrian Rogers | Comments (0)

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

January 17, 2013 – 5:22 am

Thomas Sowell – Growth Of Government

Uploaded by on Sep 23, 2011

Professor Sowell comments on how the Founder’s vision of limited government transmogrified into its present state.

____________

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.

We got to prevent tax hikes and the Balanced Budget Amendment does a good job on that front.

Top 10 Reasons to Support the Lee-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment

1. It Would Require the Federal Government to Balance Its Budget Every Year.

The federal budget deficit is a record high $1.6 trillion—more than 10 percent of the nation’s entire ouput, or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We face such an enormous deficit because we spend too much, not because we tax too little. The Lee-Walsh Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) would force Washington to live within its means.  

2. It Would Prevent Tax Hikes.

The Lee-Walsh BBA would require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to raise taxes, which would help prevent the prosperity-killing tax hikes that years of trillion dollar deficits, as proposed by President Obama’s budget, would surely bring. The Lee-Walsh BBA would achieve a balanced budget by cutting spending instead of raising taxes.

3. It Would Make it More Difficult to Raise the Debt Ceiling.

The Lee-Walsh BBA would require a three-fifths majority vote in both chambers to raise the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling has been raised ten times in just the past decade. It’s clear that we need to make it more difficult to raise the debt ceiling. The Lee-Walsh BBA does this to ensure that Congress cannot raise the debt ceiling so carelessly.

4. It Would Limit Spending to 18 Percent of GDP.

Congressional spending currently consumes approximately 25 percent of GDP. Federal revenue from taxes over the past 40 years has averaged about 18 percent of GDP, making 18 percent a reasonable limit for spending if Congress is in fact interested in balancing the budget for the long haul.

5. It Would Reduce the Size and Scope of Government.

If we want economic growth to return and be a permanent part of American life, it is imperative that we dramatically reduce the size and scope of government. The Lee-Walsh BBA would put real restraints on the amount of money Washington can spend.

6. It Has a Good Chance of Passing.

The Lee-Walsh BBA has a very good chance of passing the Republican-controlled House. In the Senate, the BBA has unanimous support from all 47 Republicans. It’s likely to gain bipartisan support in both chambers.

7. The Lee-Walsh BBA Has Teeth.

Some proposed BBAs have numerous loopholes that make it easy for Congress to override the amendment. The Lee-Walsh BBA has real teeth that would require Washington to balance its budget each year.

8. Americans Overwhelmingly Support Balanced Budget Amendments.

Balanced Budget Amendments have always been popular with the American people. By 72-20 percent, most voters favor a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a Fox News poll.

9. It Would Prohibit Congress from Perpetual Deficit Spending.

Deficit spending is simply a hidden tax on future earnings. It is irresponsible for Washington to continue to borrow now and tax us more down the road. The Lee-Walsh BBA would help end our deficit spending and our debt culture.

10. It is a Good Start to Restoring Fiscal Sanity to Washington.

A Balanced Budget Amendment may not be a cure all. But it’s a step in the right direction to rein in excessive spending. Enactment of this amendment will go a long way in ensuring Washington never gets so carried away with reckless spending again.

________

Thank you again for your time and for this opportunity to share my ideas with you.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher

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

A 2010 review of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall

January 17, 2013 – 1:00 am

I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of his own secular view. I salute him for doing that. That is why I have returned to his work over and over and presented my own Christian worldview as an alternative. Take a moment and read again a good article on Woody Allen below. There are some links below to some other posts about him.

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An Analysis of Woody Allen’s Film, Annie Hall

 

0

 

Truly, Woody Allen is one of the most influential film makers of the last 40 years. Annie Hall shows us how and why.

Andrew Smith
on Mar 22, 2010
 

Allan Stewart Konigsberg, a.k.a. Woody Allen, was born in the Bronx on December 1, 1935. As one of the most creative cinema writer/director/producers of his time, Annie Hall (1977) is a mirror to Allen’s life. His work draws from interests in literature, psychology, Jewish culture, philosophy, European cinema and New York City, where he was born and has lived his entire life.

He first became hooked on movies upon seeing Snow White, and “from that day theatres became his second home,” according to WoodyAllen.com. He has played the clarinet since the age of 15, and continues playing it to this day. While appearing socially awkward and clumsy, Allen was said to be quite good at sports in his youth and popular amongst peers.

His type of creativity relies on a certain amount of interaction within culture. Parts of his humour rely on timeliness. We can see then how if his works are to stay relevant, he needs to still be connected to larger frames that operate within society. While a mathematician may lock themselves away, a comedian cannot afford such a luxury.

What makes Woody Allen a creative success, may lay in part to feeling detached from the world, feelings which he explores in Annie Hall . “In 1959, Woody began seeing a psychiatrist, feeling melancholic for no identifiable reason. Ever since he sees an analyst once a week or so, with occasional breaks, not much for treatment but to talk to an objective person unlinked to his personal life,” says WoodyAllen.com. In this film, and in a lot of his works, analysts and jokes feature as large parts of his wit. “The ambiguous reference to the poetically imaginative and the nimbly amusing which ‘wit’ had enjoyed from Elizabethan times was split during the neo-classic age into the meaning of ‘propriety’ which we have observed and a second and lighter meaning of ‘sheer wit’ or repartee in comedy” (Wimsatt, 1957. p243).

Annie Hall

Annie Hall is both a comedy and a tragedy, and contains solid examples of creativity in comedy. It is a film about the absurdity of the human condition. As such, we will explore key scenes from the film and how Woody Allen’s unique style creates comedy through ridicule, jokes, pairing of opposites.

We know that the relationship between Annie Hall and Alvy Singer is doomed from the beginning, because most of the film occurs in flashback. This style also allows great freedom in the structure. “Wit is the Lustre resulting from the quick Elucidation of one Subject, by a just and unexpected Arrangement of it with another Subject” (Wimsatt, 1957. p243). The film can leap back and forth randomly in time, creating different emotions for the viewer. We can dart from romance, to joy, to sorrow, and so on.

Woody Allen is a master of all the best known tools of comedy. In the scene following the opening monologue, begins the flashbacks to visit his childhood. He begins with a caricature of his mother and her need to control, and goes on to talk about his earlier life using farce. “My analyst says I exaggerate my childhood memories, but I swear I was brought up underneath a rollercoaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality which is uh, a little nervous I think” (Alvy, in Annie Hall).

Alvy appears to be a vehicle, as are a lot of his characters, for the issues surrounding Woody Allen’s real life. The character is a classic figure for comedy: a controlling, suspicious male who is consumed by jealousy. When paired with the light-hearted, somewhat ditzy “la dee-da” Annie Hall,

it creates a foundation for comedy. “Relational opposites… cannot be known without the other; to know what a ruled person is you must know whether the ruler is a general or an archbishop. Thus a word which names both parts of a relation may be more precise than a word which only names half of it. Another reason is that, case which out to be distinguished, but being anxious on the point you find it hard to remember which is which. To the senses they may be opposite, but they excite the same feelings” (Empson, 1966. p195). Allen uses a combination of his natural wit, filmic devices, and specific narrative structure to tell this comedy effectively.

Here is a complete list of all the posts I did on the film “Midnight in Paris”

What can we learn from Woody Allen Films?, August 1, 2011 – 6:30 am

Movie Review of “Midnight in Paris” lastest movie by Woody Allen, July 30, 2011 – 6:52 am

Leo Stein and sister Gertrude Stein’s salon is in the Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris”, July 28, 2011 – 6:22 am

Great review on Midnight in Paris with talk about artists being disatisfied, July 27, 2011 – 6:20 am

Critical review of Woody Allen’s latest movie “Midnight in Paris”, July 24, 2011 – 5:56 am

Not everyone liked “Midnight in Paris”, July 22, 2011 – 5:38 am

“Midnight in Paris” one of Woody Allen’s biggest movie hits in recent years, July 18, 2011 – 6:00 am

(Part 32, Jean-Paul Sartre)July 10, 2011 – 5:53 am

 (Part 29, Pablo Picasso) July 7, 2011 – 4:33 am

(Part 28,Van Gogh) July 6, 2011 – 4:03 am

(Part 27, Man Ray) July 5, 2011 – 4:49 am

(Part 26,James Joyce) July 4, 2011 – 5:55 am

(Part 25, T.S.Elliot) July 3, 2011 – 4:46 am

(Part 24, Djuna Barnes) July 2, 2011 – 7:28 am

(Part 23,Adriana, fictional mistress of Picasso) July 1, 2011 – 12:28 am

(Part 22, Silvia Beach and the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore) June 30, 2011 – 12:58 am

(Part 21,Versailles and the French Revolution) June 29, 2011 – 5:34 am

(Part 16, Josephine Baker) June 24, 2011 – 5:18 am

(Part 15, Luis Bunuel) June 23, 2011 – 5:37 am

“Woody Wednesday” The heart wants what it wants”jh67

I read this on http://www.crosswalk.com which is one of my favorite websites. Life Lessons from Woody Allen Stephen McGarvey I confess I am a huge film buff. But I’ve never really been a Woody Allen fan, even though most film critics consider him to be one of the most gifted and influential filmmakers of our […]

“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 6)

  “Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 6) This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: My son Hunter Hatcher’s 15th favorite song is “trouble.” Even though […]

“Woody Wednesday” Allen once wrote these words: “Do you realize what a thread were all hanging by? Can you understand how meaningless everything is? Everything. I gotta get some answers.” jh31

Woody Allen, the film writer, director, and actor, has consistently populated his scripts with characters who exchange dialogue concerning meaning and purpose. In Hannah and Her Sisters a character named Mickey says, “Do you realize what a thread were all hanging by? Can you understand how meaningless everything is? Everything. I gotta get some answers.”{7} […]

“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 5)

“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 5) This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: Hunter picked “Don’t Panic,” as his number 16 pick of Coldplay’s best […]

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

(If you want to check out other posts I have done about about Steve Jobs:Some say Steve Jobs was an atheist , Steve Jobs and Adoption , What is the eternal impact of Steve Jobs’ life? ,Steve Jobs versus President Obama: Who created more jobs? ,Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it ,8 things you might not know about Steve Jobs ,Steve […]

“Woody Wednesday” A review of some of the past Allen films jh32

I am a big Woody Allen fan. Not all his films can be recommended but he does look at some great issues and he causes the viewer to ask the right questions. My favorite is “Crimes and Misdemeanors” but the recent film “Midnight in Paris” was excellent too. Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of […]

Good without God?

(The signs are up on the buses in Little Rock now and the leader of the movement to put them up said on the radio today that he does not anticipate any physical actions against the signs by Christians. He noted that the Christians that he knows would never stoop to that level.) Debate: Christianity […]

“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 4)

Dave Hogan/ Getty Images This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: For the 17th best Coldplay song of all-time, Hunter picks “42.” He notes, “You thought you might […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Sanctity of Life message The Village Church (March for Life January 20, 2013)

January 16, 2013 – 12:41 am
Dr. C. Everett Koop and Dr. Francis Schaeffer both came together to write the book “Whatever Happened to the HumanRace?” and that book probably did more to fire up the pro-life movement than anything else. Below is a picture of Dr. Koop.
 

I was thinking about the March for Life that is coming up on Jan 20, 2013  and that is why I posted this today.

Great article I ran across on the www.thevillagechurch.net website:

Sanctity of Life

Author: Jared Musgrove Category: Culture, Theology

Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973.

Let’s move on, shall we?

But we haven’t. For 40 years the conversation remains irrepressible in our public policy discussion, elections, films, sitcoms, newspapers and coffee klatches. We can’t move on because the issue won’t go away. Our consciences, individual and corporate, can’t let it.

We’re still talking about the sanctity of life because the mere mention of it generates a moral friction on our human souls – souls fashioned after the Creator God who makes human beings distinctive among His created order.

It is this imago Dei – image of God – imbued to human beings (Gen. 1:26-27) that makes us human in the first place. This is the genesis of the biblical worldview: that God created and imprinted His image upon each person, giving dignity and value to every single human life despite its stage of development.

In this biblical understanding, to attack an unborn or any “image-bearer” is to attack the very image of the creator God (Gen. 9:6). Assaulting or enslaving another human being is nothing more or less than an attempt to eliminate the reminder that we are created by and accountable to the one true God.

James tells us we kill because we “desire and do not have” (James 4:1-4). These impulses are birthed and fueled by our Genesis 3 desire to put ourselves in the place of God where no such warrant exists. We do great evil when we use or destroy lives to suit our whims and warped worldviews.

So it stands to us – the redeemed – to pray, defend and cry out for the unborn and oppressed. These fragile image-bearers cannot speak to policies and procedures created by an increasing culture of death, a culture that ruthlessly places human desires on the throne of creation while negating the significance of human life.

Take heart that this Herod-like hatred of human babies and beings is not without precedent in the history of God’s people. Such evil has been faced before, and the Lord has shown a great light and preservation of life in the midst of such darkness.

Russell Moore writes in the March 2009 issue of Touchstone magazine:

The so-called culture of death around us now is no different from that of the past. The hostility to human babies is happening exactly the same way. The Prince of the Power of the Air excites evil passions. Satan uses Pharaoh’s lust for military stability that says, “I don’t want another king,” in exactly the same way he uses a Southern Baptist deacon’s lust for maintaining his reputation to get him to load his teenage daughter into a car and driver under the cover of night to a clinic in a nearby city so no one will ever know she was pregnant. The blood of children flows, but the problem is spiritual to the core.

Like Pharaoh and Herod, we refuse to allow another king to rule on the throne of our lives and will go to murderous lengths to maintain (perceived) control. The depraved human heart is on display for all the world to see in abortion, slavery and human trafficking. Life is given lip service only to be denied true stewardship. The care and defense of life we are to uphold as image-bearers requires a holy love, patience and sacrifice that can only come from outside ourselves in the form of a righteous King.

Our gracious God invited us into the act of creation itself when He said, “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). This is the decree of true “rights.” We are to pray toward and encourage the multiplication of life under God.

Our love of the Lord compels us to keep talking and praying for the sanctity of life to be realized fully by an unbelieving world that suppresses and destroys the image of its Creator. We are called to intercede as the prayerful and public voice for those lives in the balance, for those who are unable to speak up for themselves.

As we pray for the work of God in revealing the sanctity of life to our culture of death, I share with you one of my most resonating petitions: that by the time my 19-month-old son is an adult, abortion would be as alien to him as segregated restaurants for blacks and whites are to his daddy.

We will continue praying for the sanctity of life this week at Elder-led Prayer – 7 p.m., Wednesday (Jan. 25), at each campus.

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Prolife March in Little Rock has 20 to 1 ratio more than abortion march of previous day

PHOTO BY STATON BREIDENTHAL Marchers arrive at the state Capitol on Sunday after beginning the Arkansas March for Life in downtown Little Rock As in the past, the pr0-life March in Little Rock had at least twenty times the people in attendance that the pr0-abortion march did the previous day. In fact, last year Channel […]

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34th Annual March For Life Sunday, January 22, 2012 2:00 PM Capitol and Louisiana Downtown Little Rock Will your face appear in pictures at the next March for Life? We certainly hope that you will consider joining us each January for this important pro-life event. Hundreds of people from across the state make the annual […]

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Ron Paul’s Pro-life view

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Nellie Gray founder of March for life dies

I have been involved with the March for Life for almost 30 years here in Little Rock. My four kids and I  have walked in it on a regular basis in Little Rock and I have posted about it before on my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org . When I first marched in it Ronald Reagan was the […]

Abortionist Bernard Nathanson turned pro-life activist (part 8)

My sons Wilson (on left) and Hunter (on right) went to California and visited Yosemite National Park with our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. March 21-27. Here they are standing in front of the tallest waterfall in North America. The only surviving founding member of NARAL, Dr. Bernard Nathanson gives his testimony of NARAL’s foundation of […]

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Pro-life marchers turn to prayer

What Ever Happened to the Human Race? Jason Tolbert told a  story about pro-life marchers and their tactic of prayer: OWNER TURNS SPRINKLERS ON PRO-LIFE PRAYER VIGIL In July, I wrote about a new movement springing up in Arkansas that seeks to combat abortion not with violent protest, but with peaceful prayer demonstrations.  It is called “40 […]

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Famous Prolife quotes

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By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Prolife | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (Part 5)

January 16, 2013 – 12:35 am

Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 2

Uploaded by on Sep 23, 2007

Part 2 of 3: ‘What Does The Movie Tell Us About Ourselves?’
A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest.
By Anton Scamvougeras.

http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/
antons@mail.ubc.ca

_________________-

One of my favorite Woody Allen movies and I reviewed it earlier but I wanted you to hear from somone else:

Morality in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors

Spectatorial Gages

Amy Palacios

Amy Palacios, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 12, 2009 “Share your voice on Yahoo! websites
Director Woody Allen reminds secularists that just because God might not be watching, it doesn’t mean it’s time for a chanting of Olly Olly oxen free in the 1991 film Crimes and Misdemeanors. The film explores the validity of the Judeo-Christian God by analyzing the syllogism most often proposed by theist apologetics, such as William Lane Craig does in his essay “There Are Good Reasons to Believe that God exists.” He argues: “1) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist, 2) Objective moral values do exist, 3) Therefore, God exists” (Craig 8). Woody Allen’s film mainly concerns itself with the minor premise “Objective moral values do exist.” Through careful scrutiny of spectatorial reaction to characters’ behavior in the film, the commonsense approach often taken with morality is disrupted, creating a chasm to be permeated by ethical debate. Though the movie is a comedy, it manages to thrust together the themes of humanity, theology, and reason, prompting a questioning of morality and the existence of God within the audience.Much can be learned just through the audience’s attitudes regarding the minor character Delores, alone. Though Delores is not a major player in the film, her specter kindles in every scene involving Juah–prior to and following her death. Initially, most audience members feel quite a bit of sympathy for her: she’s devoted, she’s on the brink or past the point of insanity, and she has been mislead by Judah. Strangely, though Judah is by default villainized when we pity Delores, we begin to share his frustration with her as he tries to rationalize with her. In Nietzschean terms, we regard her as contemptible at times because because she exhibits a completely selfless slave morality; completely devoted to Judah, she becomes disgusting at moments. This relationship, even without murder, highlights the complicated status of morality within our own social structures. How can we both pity and despise her? I find it hard to believe that human emotion, essentially automatic bioelectrical impulses, can constitute violations of moral code. How can we simultaneously sympathize with Delores but condemn adultery?We seem to exhibit, as individuals and as societies, two separate moral codes that can be switched on and off depending on circumstance. Though we don’t, I hope, overwhelmingly wish to “eliminate” Delores, why do we still feel disdain for her when she threatens to blackmail Judah, ruining everything he has worked so hard for? This is because morality is not as staid as it must be under strict Western theology. Morality lies in sentiment, not within static conviction. The inconsistent feelings we experience as an audience reveal the macrocosmic reaction of our society to any moral dilemma; we consider circumstance, not concrete code. As evidence of this, we do have laws against murder, but why do we partition this act into the two separate offenses of first degree or second degree? The justice system considers premeditated murder to be drastically worse than an act out of “passion.” What exactly is an act of “passion,” or “temporary insanity”? How could an objective moral code be applied to such subjective questions? Simply put, it cannot be. This attempt at demarkation is the direct result of nuanced morality; it is the incisive synthesis of approximate morality into an idealized morality of precision .Circumstance controls the moral tango that Judah and the audience engage in throughout the film. Adultery is certainly not a character-affirming quality in Judah, but we do not abhor him for it; instead there is a period of forgiveness, and a hope that he does not commit murder. As he rationalizes aloud to multiple characters throughout the film his sexual trysts, we even come to understand. Though boredom in a long marriage is quite the cliché, there is still a socially ordained element of acceptability to affairs. With this sympathy for Judah in mind, there are hopes that he can, indeed, convince Delores to let the relationship die. This attitude of understanding certainly changes after Judah has Delores “eliminated” through his brother’s mafiaties. Why is it that the palate of society can handle an affair, at time savor the erotic forbidden nature of it, but cannot cope with the macabre tang of murder? Perhaps the answer is psychological. It is possible that there is a acquittal from so-called fornication because it is in our evolutionary nature to procreate and perpetuate the species, and maybe it is that murder is unsettling because it is ant-evolutionary. It is anti-human. It seems unacceptable that, though both offenses are carved in the same stone, one outweighs in moral liability.Following the murder, Judah temporarily creates another emotional alliance with the audience as the reality of his acts set in. One of the most potent scenes in the film follows the murder of Delores, in which he stands in the bathroom, gazing at himself in the mirror, confronting the man in the glass that is newly a murderer. For part of the film there is the belief that he will redeem himself both in the eyes of “God” and society through confession, but it is soon clear that he abandons remorse. As he says at the end of the film, “We rationalize; we deny, or we couldn’t go on living.” Again, the relationship between Judah and the audience change. He is a cold-blooded killer, a crooked élite, and hated. Because at various moments Judah’s actions are considered mere misdemeanors, and at others they are crimes, we know there is not an objective morality, but a set of evolving exceptions, circumstance, and pity. There is a flexible system subjectively created by our own societal institutions.

Craig, William L. Ed. Bruce N. Waller. You Decide! Current Debates in Introductory Philosophy. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007.

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Discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (Part 1)

Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 1 of 3: ‘What Does Judah Believe?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/ antons@mail.ubc.ca _____________ Today I am starting a discusssion of the movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” by Woody Allen. This 1989 […]

Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris” wins an academy award (link to complete listing of all historical figures mentioned in “Midnight in Paris”)

Sleepers (1973)   Allen (left) wrote, directed and starred in this oddball love story, set 200 years in the future.  It was his first on-screen collaboration with Diane Keaton (second left), who went on to become one of the director’s muses in the early days of his career.   ___________ I have written more on […]

Can we learn from Woody Allen Films? (Part 2)

Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of Woody Allen’s best films. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Allen continues the art-as-salvation theme in Hannah and Her Sisters, an ensemble drama about family and infidelity. The film tells three stories, one of which stars Allen as a hypochondriac named Mickey. Terrified of death, Mickey begins a search […]

Chris Martin of Coldplay unknowingly lives out his childhood Christian beliefs (Part 3 of notes from June 23, 2012 Dallas Coldplay Concert, Martin left Christianity because of teaching on hell then he writes bestselling song that teaches hell exists)

Viva La Vida Published on Jun 23, 2012 by TheRyanj64 Coldplay’s Viva La Vida at American Airlines Center in Dallas on June 22, 2012 __________ Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles   Comments (0)   5/11 Chris […]

“Woody Wednesdays” Woody Allen on God and Death

Good website on Woody Allen How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? If Jesus Christ came back today and saw what was being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up. If only God would give me some clear […]

Michelangelo Antonioni influenced Woody Allen and was discussed by Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer discussed modern films and how they showed the state of man. That is why I like Woody Allen’s films so much. He knows what the big issues are in life and even though he present the right answers he does grapple with the right questions. Michelangelo Antonioni heavily influenced Allen and below is […]

Review of “To Rome with Love”

Jesse Eisenberg – Press Conference “To Rome With Love” Published on Apr 21, 2012 by portugal888 Review: Allen’s ‘Rome’ delivers lackluster love Published: Tuesday, June 19 2012 11:06 a.m. MDT By David Germain View 4 photos » This film image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows, : Alec Baldwin as John, left, and Jesse Eisenberg […]

Woody Allen, ‘To Rome With Love’ Director, Talks ‘Midnight In Paris’ Success, Acting Career

How To Recover From a Break Up With Greta Gerwig Published on May 16, 2012 by younghollywood Young Hollywood is hanging out in NYC during the Tribeca film festival, where we chat with rising star Greta Gerwig about her hip slice-of-life movie, ‘Lola Versus’. Greta offers up some advice on how to get over a […]

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

  I love the movie Crimes and Misdemeanors and have written on it many times in the past. This quote below sums up Woody Allen’s worldview which I disagree with. In fact, the person who said this actually could not live with its conclusions in the movie and committed suicide.   Because Allen continues to […]

Atheists have no basis for saying that Hitler was wrong!!!!!

On April 30, 2012 (67 years after Hitler killed himself) I stated on the Arkansas Times Blog: Hitler’s last few moments of life were filled with anxiety as they should have been. He went on to face his maker and pay dearly for his many sins. When I look at the never before released pictures […]

“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

Several members of the 70′s band Kansas became committed Christians after they realized that the world had nothing but meaningless to offer. It seems through the writings of both Woody Allen and Chris Martin of Coldplay that they both are wrestling with the issue of death and what meaning does life bring. Kansas went through […]

 

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