The series I have been doing on “Advice to Gene Simmons” that I am starting what I am calling “Tip Tuesday.” For the next few months we will be looking at the Simmons family.
On July 19th on Gene Simmons Jewels, in a meeting with his marriage counselor, Gene stated, “There is never enough money. Money is the implantation of love. It begins there and it is only money that provides the walls of your fortress.” Dr. Ann Wexler responds, “Only money? In the pursuit of all this money, in the pursuit of all this fame, aren’t there things that you have missed?”
Gene responded that he missed his daughter’s graduation, but that is life.
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My advice to Gene Simmons is very simple. Ann Wexler mentioned to him that there is a point where you have enough money and should turn your attention to other important things in his life like relationships. She implies that Gene is being selfish.
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Many times when a marriage is falling apart there is lots of selfishness that comes out in the open. It may be that a love of money is exposed or it may be a desire to satisfy carnal desires.
Here are some important points. First, we are to be married and faithful to one lady. Gene has been having occasional affairs and deep down thinks he deserves the right to do this. However, that is not the plan that God has for us.
Second, we are to love our wife as Christ loves the church and that means we love her more than anything even money.
Brandon Barnard in his message “The Battle for Purity” at Fellowship Bible Church on July 24 said there were two paths. The path of impurity and the path of purity. Last time we looked at the path of impurity and today we want to look at the path of purity.
THOSE ON THE PATHWAY TO PURITY WILL PURSUE ALL PLEASURE IN CHRIST AND TAKE GREAT DELIGHT IN THEIR SPOUSE ALONE AND DRINK WATER FROM YOUR OWN CISTERN AND REJOICE IN THE WIFE OF YOUR YOUTH.
Proverbs 5:15-20 states:
15Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well. 16Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you. 18Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated[a] always in her love. 20Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[b]
In the debate of job creation and how best to pursue it as a policy goal, one point is forgotten: Government doesn’t create jobs. Government only diverts resources from one use to another, which doesn’t create new employment.
Video produced by Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg.
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It seems that liberals will never wake up. Over and over they have tried stimulus plans but they don’t work. Take a look at this excellent article from the Cato Institute:
Lawmakers are considering extending temporary payroll tax cuts. But the policy is based on faulty Keynesian theories and misplaced confidence in the government’s ability to micromanage short-run growth.
In textbook Keynesian terms, federal deficits stimulate growth by goosing “aggregate demand,” or consumer spending. Since the recession began, we’ve had a lot of goosing — deficits were $459 billion in 2008, $1.4 trillion in 2009, $1.3 trillion in 2010, and $1.3 trillion in 2011. Despite that huge supposed stimulus, unemployment remains remarkably high and the recovery has been the slowest since World War II.
Policymakers should ignore the Keynesians and their faulty models, and instead focus on reforms to aid long-run growth…
Yet supporters of extending payroll tax cuts think that adding another $265 billion to the deficit next year will somehow spur growth. That “stimulus” would be on top of the $1 trillion in deficit spending that is already expected in 2012. Far from helping the economy, all this deficit spending is destabilizing financial markets, scaring businesses away from investing, and imposing crushing debt burdens on young people.
For three years, policymakers have tried to manipulate short-run economic growth, and they have failed. They have put too much trust in macroeconomists, who are frankly lousy at modeling the complex workings of the short-run economy. In early 2008, the Congressional Budget Office projected that economic growth would strengthen in subsequent years, and thus completely missed the deep recession that had already begun. And then there was the infamously bad projection by Obama’s macroeconomists that unemployment would peak at 8 percent and then fall steadily if the 2009 stimulus plan was passed.
Some of the same Keynesian macroeconomists who got it wrong on the recession and stimulus are now claiming that a temporary payroll tax break would boost growth. But as Stanford University economist John Taylor has argued, the supposed benefits of government stimulus have been “built in” or predetermined by the underlying assumptions of the Keynesian models.
Policymakers should ignore the Keynesians and their faulty models, and instead focus on reforms to aid long-run growth, which economists know a lot more about. Cutting the corporate tax rate, for example, is an overdue reform with bipartisan support that would enhance America’s long-run productivity and competitiveness.
If Congress is intent on cutting payroll taxes, it should do so within the context of long-run fiscal reforms. One idea is to allow workers to steer a portion of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts, as Chile and other nations have done. That reform would feel like a tax cut to workers because they would retain ownership of the funds, and it would begin solving the long-term budget crisis that looms over the economy.
Dan Mitchell discusses the effectiveness of the stimulus Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on Nov 3, 2009 11-2-09 When I think of all our hard earned money that has been wasted on stimulus programs it makes me sad. It has never worked and will not in the future too. Take a look at a few thoughts from […]
Government Spending Doesn’t Create Jobs Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on Sep 7, 2011 Share this on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/qnjkn9 Tweet it: http://tiny.cc/o9v9t In the debate of job creation and how best to pursue it as a policy goal, one point is forgotten: Government doesn’t create jobs. Government only diverts resources from one use to another, which doesn’t […]
In his recent article Ernie Dumas sticks to his guns that we should balance the budget without being forced to with a “Balanced Budget Amendment,” but I wonder how well that has worked so far? I have made this a key issue for this blog in the past as you can tell below: Dear Senator […]
(Picture from Arkansas Times Blog) When I think about all the anger and hate coming from the Occupy Wall Street crowd, I wonder if they have read this story below? Solyndra: Crooked Politics or Just Bad Economics? Posted by David Boaz Amy Harder has a good take on the Solyndra issue in National Journal Daily […]
Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? (Part 13 Thirsty Thursday, Open letter to Senator Pryor) Office of the Majority Whip | Balanced Budget Amendment Video In 1995, Congress nearly passed a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget. The Balanced Budget Amendment would have forced the federal government to live within its […]
Andrew Demillo pointed this out and also Jason Tolbert noted: PRYOR OPPOSES THE OBAMA JOBS BILL THAT HE VOTED TO ADVANCE Sen. Mark Pryor has been traveling around the state touting a six-part jobs plan that he says “includes a number of bipartisan initiatives, is aimed at creating jobs by setting the table for growth, encouraging new […]
Is a lack of money the problem for our public schools? Everything You Need to Know About Public School Spending in Less Than 2½ Minutes Posted by Adam Schaeffer Neal McCluskey gutted the President’s new “Save the Teachers” American Jobs Act sales pitch a good while back, as did Andrew Coulson here. Thankfully, it seems […]
Evie Tornquist-Karlsson (born 1957 in Rahway, New Jersey[1]), professionally known as Evie, is a Contemporary Christian music singer who was known in the late 1970s and early 1980s for songs such as “Step into the Sunshine” and “Four Feet Eleven”.[2]
Born in the United States to Norwegian immigrants, Evie began her singing career as a young teenager while visiting her parents’ homeland.[3] She released her English language debut album at the age of 16 in 1974,[4] and went on to release more than 30 albums, including several in various Scandinavian languages.[3] Evie was recognized as the Dove Award recipient of Female Vocalist of the Year for 1977 and 1978.[5] She married Swedish pastor and musician Pelle Karlsson in 1979 and retired from performing music in 1981 to pursue other avenues of ministry, such as Sky Angel.[6] Evie later became a mentor to Christian musician Rebecca St. James,[4] joining her for an event series geared toward helping girls and women apply biblical principles in the 21st century.[7]
Evie was officially inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2005,[3] and was one of the inaugural inductees to the Christian Music Hall of Fame.[8]
Do you remember Murphey Brown from the early 1990’s? Is Kourtney Kardashian the new Murphey Brown?
It’s a war between reality TV moms.
After Kourtney Kardashian revealed her pregnancy last week, Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham tweeted, “Im Shocked Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant again, Did she not learn anything from TEEN MOM? Maybe its a fake pregnancy like kims wedding. SAD.”
Kardashian, 32, and her boyfriend Scott Disick, 28, both shot back at the 20-year-old MTV cast member.
“Why would I have anything to do with teen mom? I’m 32 years old! I may look young, honey, but don’t get it twisted. :)” wrote Kardashian, co-star of Kourtney and Kim Take New York. Disick followed up by writing: “We’re not teenagers ya [bleep] moron.”
Abraham later “clarified” by tweeting, “4 all who misunderstood: regards to kourtney K.~ I hope she takes her relationship w/her boyfriend more serious 4 their children-takecare.” She later added, “caught wind of these dramatic articles, w/ loser scott disick or some boyfriend of kourtneys … Great dad! NOT.”
Kardashian and Disick already parents are to 23-month-old son, Mason
Today, Avery Brown turns 18. If your initial thought is to ask “Who’s that?”, then you’ve actually made my point. Avery was the son of TV news anchor Murphy Brown, from the once-hit sitcom of the same name, who came into the world on May 18, 1992. Avery Brown, born into politics, would now be old enough to vote.
His arrival all those years ago ended up being about nothing but votes, coming at the end of Murphy Brown‘s fourth season in which its fortysomething title character found herself with an unplanned pregnancy and opted to have the baby, alone, without its father. The fictional decision led to an all-too-real national tumult after then-Vice President Dan Quayle took the endorsement of single parenting to task for contributing to society’s moral decay.
But retrospection suggests the firestorm back then was less a consequence of what he said than it was of the fact that it was the oft-maligned Quayle who said it. Because, let’s face it, what was said doesn’t seem all that crazy today. As some observers suggested not long after the 1992 election, Dan Quayle, seems to have been, gulp, right. And maybe today more than ever. Single parenting, though much less the hot-button topic that it was back then, is a full-time commitment. It’s not one to be taken casually. Just ask the nearly 14 million householdsin America that work at it. That’s controversial?
Our society simply loves to kill the messenger when the message provides discomfort or — perhaps especially — when one comes across as a societal scold. Whether Quayle or Tipper Gore (who a few years earlier had railed against risque music lyrics), a certain segment of society — Hollywood, for instance — has no patience for prudes. Yet the simple fact is that TV can and often does get it wrong. And looking at it 18 years later, it seems Murphy Brown whiffed.
Those 38 words
Campaigning in San Francisco on May 19, 1992, the vice president spoke the day after Avery was delivered in prime time. More significant, he spoke fewer than three weeks after the start of the Rodney King police-acquittal riots in Los Angeles.
With the city to the south still smoldering, Quayle used the unrest as a jumping-off point for a speech that lamented a “poverty of values” amid societal upheaval. Toward his close, he used the still-famous 38 words that formed a sound bite heard ’round the world: “It doesn’t help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown — a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid, professional woman — mocking the importance of fathers, by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another ‘lifestyle choice.’ ”
His words sparked a nationwide election-year debate on family values. It came to a head later that summer at the Emmys in an act of self-indulgence, over the top even by TV measures, when Murphy Brown producer Diane English took to the stage and said, “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not a family.” Which, of course, Quayle never said. In fact, he referred to single-mother households as just that — as ” families.”
Quayle really just said that having children in real life shouldn’t be nearly as casual a decision as it can be shown to be on TV. That parenting is crucial to social order. That those involved in TV should be mindful of the words and images they present. And he said it, despite efforts to convey otherwise, in relation to a fictional person — a TV character. But when Murphy Brown ultimately fired back at Quayle with a fall 1992 episode that skewered his speech, the script implied that the vice president was criticizing a real figure.
But here’s the rub with the hubbub: The show just forgot about Avery. Beyond his birth season, when nine of 22 episodes focused on him, Avery seemed part of his mother’s life in any meaningful way in just 12 of the 121 remaining episodes.
Murphy Brown would have had a touch of credibility on this vexing social issue if it had actually followed through.
AWOL Avery
Full and funny, Murphy’s life involved romance and travel and career — but not always a child. In many ways, she seemed to be leading the glamorous single-parent life that Quayle said TV can unwisely offer. Presumably, Quayle would suggest that in real life, especially in today’s real life, parents don’t have the luxury of tending to kids only when it services a storyline. Children are in need of parenting all the time. Social order demands it.
Present-day defenders of the show, of course, would argue that no show can focus on parenting once kids are born. I Love Lucy didn’t. A whole roster of TV series over the years have resorted to newborns to goose ratings — and then shooed the child away. Yet none of the other shows made such a hoopla about parenting asMurphy Brown did. And none co-opted real-life events — with a compliant vice president — the way Murphy Brown did. Social conservatives too often cry wolf about Hollywood’s disconnect. But in this instance, the show’s treatment of Avery made their case.
Words and images have consequences. They last. In real life and in TV. Quayle’s speech has endured since 1992, especially the idea that parenting is a full-time job. Avery, not so much.
Raising kids, raising ideas — each raises the stakes of responsibility.
Jim McKairnes is a writer who lives in Los Angeles.
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists.[1][2] It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief inEthiopia by releasing the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” for the Christmas market that year. The single surpassed the hopes of the producers to become the Christmas number one on that release. Two subsequent re-recordings of the song to raise further money for charity also topped the charts. The original was produced by Midge Ure. The 12″ version was mixed by Trevor Horn.
The name ‘Band Aid’ was chosen as a pun on the name of a well known brand of adhesive bandage, also referring to musicians working as a band to provide aid and alluding to the fact that any help stemming from their efforts is likened to a band-aid on a very serious wound.
The group has formed on three occasions, each time from the most successful British and Irish pop music performers of the time, to record the same song at the same time of year.
The original 1984 Feed The World logo was based on a pencil sketch by Bob Geldof after watching a BBC television news report by Michael Buerk from famine-stricken Ethiopia. Geldof was so moved by the plight of starving children that he decided to try to raise money using his contacts in pop music. Geldof enlisted the help of Midge Ure, from the group Ultravox, to help produce a charity record. Ure took Geldof’s lyrics, and created the melody and backing track for the record. Geldof called many of the most popular British and Irish performers of the time (Kool & The Gang and Jody Watley were the only Americans present at the original recording), persuading them to give their time free. His one criterion for selection was how famous they were, in order to maximise sales of the record. He then kept an appointment to appear on a show on BBC Radio 1, with Richard Skinner, but instead of promoting the newBoomtown Rats material as planned, he announced the plan for Band Aid. The recording studio gave Band Aid no more than 24 free hours to record and mix the record, on 25 November 1984. The recording took place at SARM Studios in Notting Hill between 11am and 7pm, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick to be released as the pop video though some basic tracks had been recorded the day before at Midge Ure’s home studio. The first tracks to be recorded were the group / choir choruses which were filmed by the international press. The footage was rushed to newsrooms where it aired while the remainder of the recording process continued. Later, drums by Phil Collins were recorded. The introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears for Fears‘ track called “The Hurting”, released in 1983. Tony Hadley, of Spandau Ballet, was the first to record his vocal, while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable, and replaced with section comprising Paul Weller, Sting, and Glenn Gregory. Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran sang between contributions from George Michael and Sting. Paul Young has since admitted, in a documentary, that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie, who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the B-side (Bowie performed his lines at the Live Aid concert the following year). Boy George arrived last at 6pm, after Geldof woke him up by ‘phone to have him flown over from New York on Concorde to record his solo part. (At the time, Culture Club was in the middle of a US tour.)
The following morning, Geldof appeared on the Radio 1 breakfast show with Mike Read, to promote the record further and promise that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government, who refused to waive the VAT on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherand, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.
The record was released on November 29, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart, outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest- selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks, selling over three million copies and becoming easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, thus beating the seven-year record held by Mull of Kintyre. It has since been surpassed by Elton John‘s “Candle in the Wind 1997” (his tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales) but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come.
After Live Aid, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was re-released in late 1985 in a set that included a special-edition ‘picture disc’ version, modelled after the Live Aid logo with ‘Band’ in place of ‘Live’. An added bonus, “One Year On” (a statement from Geldof and Ure on the telephone) was available as a b-side. “One Year On” can also be found in transcript form in a booklet which was included in the DVD set of Live Aid, the first disc of which features the BBC news report, as well as the Band Aid video.
Evie Tornquist-Karlsson was Christian Music’s greatest sweetheart , she took the world by storm with her sweet angelic face & voice that touched everyone’s heart with her love for Jesus. She will forever be known as the girl who sang her songs for Jesus Christ. She was born 1957 in Rahway, New Jersey, professionally known as Evie, is a Contemporary Christian music singer who was known in the late 1970s and early 1980s for songs such as “Say I Do”, “My Tribute”, “Live For Jesus”, “Pass It On”, “Never The Same”, “Mirror”, “Born Again”, “Come On Ring Those Bells”, “Step Into The Sunshine” and “Four Feet Eleven”.
Born in the United States to Norwegian immigrants, Evie began her singing career as a young teenager while visiting her parents’ homeland. She released her English language debut album at the age of 16 in 1974, and went on to release more than 30 albums, including several in various Scandinavian languages. Evie was recognized as the Dove Award recipient of Female Vocalist of the Year for 1977 and 1978. She married Swedish pastor and musician Pelle Karlsson in 1979 and retired from performing music in 1981 to pursue other avenues of ministry, such as Sky Angel.
In the early 1980s Pelle and Evie Karlsson felt the Lord’s leading to join the “SKY ANGEL DOMINION NETWORK”. The Lord used them both in a might way for the Lord’s glory. While there, they recorded a few other albums. Evie and her husband has since left the SKY ANGEL NETWORK a number of years ago. Although Evie is “officially” retired from performing and doing concerts all the time on a regular basis since 1981 – she is still pursuing her music ministry with White Field Music, (owned by Pelle and Evie Karlsson) in Florida and very much involved in missions work with Back to Jerusalem. A vital, encouraging work. They also produce a wonderful outstanding 30 minute weekly series for Back To Jerusalem which can be viewed online. The weekly broadcast can be viewed her which is hosted by Pelle & Evie – http://www.backtojerusalem.com/video/latestBroadcast.html
All of the past episodes of the broadcast can be featured for downloading / viewing here – http://www.backtojerusalem.com/btjPages/broadcast.html
Evie still does some concerts in Churches and in other venues and is also still on tour. She also tours to different venues with Rebecca St. James in a Mother and Daughter outreach series of programs they put on called, the “SHE” events. The SHE event tour with Evie for dates, and locations and more info please visit the SHE event tour dates – http://www.sheevent.com/events.html
Evie currently resides with her husband Pelle in Florida. Their two children, Kris and Jenny Karlsson are now out of high school. Jenny is already now very recently married and is a school teacher. Evie and her music is still loved today more then ever, and Evie albums are still being hunted down and collected by her fans. I had the wonderful privilege of having a very special invitation to a Concert that Evie was able to take part of, in September of 2005. Earlier, that year in February Evie was officially inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2005. Some of Evie’s best selling LP’S include:
2008 – Jul med Evie (Nyutgivning på CD av LP-skivorna “Jul med Evie” från -74 “Julens
klockor ring” från -78)
— Christmas with Evie (republication of CDs of LPs “Christmas with Evie” from -74 and “Christmas bells ring” from -78)
2006 – Evie På Svenska – 15 Önskesånger
2006 – Evie In Swedish – 15 Wishful Songs
1998 Day by Day (Word UK)
1996 Songs for his family
1993*Exact date unknown- Evie’s Special Christmas Delivery Album
1989 Spirit Song (as Evie Karlsson – Cedited)
Maranatha! Singers, The – Praise 3 Album
1987 Christmas Memories
1986 When all is said and done
1985 Loving Promises – 2 LP Set
1984 Christmas a happy time
1983 Restoration
1983 Evie – Hymns
1982 Evie – PA SVENSKA VOL II
1981 – The Very Best Of Evie (WORD – Release Through Word Austerila with Endeavour)
1981 – Unfailing Love
1980 Teach us your way
1980 – Evie Favourites Vol 1
1979 Never the Same
1978 A little song for my little friends
1977 Come on ring those bells
1977 JULENS KLOCKOR, RING! (Come on ring those bells SWEDISH VERSION)
1977 – Mirror
1977 TILL MINA SMA VANNER (SWEDISH VERSION Little Song Of Joy For My Little Friends
1976 Gentle Moments
1975 FAVORITTER (1971-73) (ENGLISH/NORWEGIAN MIX)
1975 Evie Again (2 Release album covers) WORD
1975 Du skulle vara med i sången (1975 You would be part of the song)
1974 – Evie (1st American Release)
1973 – Jag kommer till dig (1973 – I come to you)
1972 – Evie på svenska (1972 – Evie in Swedish)
1971 Evie Sings Gospel
1971 Evie Synger
1970s Everything Is Beautiful
1970 A song for Everyone (First Album)
DES MOINES, IOWA– Ron Paul’s presidential campaign released a comparitvely edgy new ad Monday that will air on local and cable networks across Iowa and New Hampshire. The spot touts Paul’s call to cut a trillion dollars from federal budget in his first year in office.
Played over a rock track, a man’s voice in the 30-second spot asks, “What’s up with these sorry politicians? Lots of bark, but when it’s showtime, whimpering like little Shih Tzu’s. You want big cuts? Ron Paul’s been screaming it for years. Budget crisis? No problem. Cut a trillion bucks year one.”
It’s a far cry from the other campaigns’ ads, which have taken more careful, traditional approaches in the early states.
Paul placed second in the latest Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican Iowa caucus goers, and could be poised for a strong showing in the state’s Jan. 3 caucus vote.
AUDREY McAVOY- Associated Press – 12/5/2011 5:55:00 AM
HONOLULU- Clarence Pfundheller was standing in front of his locker on the USS Maryland when a fellow sailor told him they were being bombed by Japanese planes.
“We never did call him a liar but he could stretch the truth pretty good,” Pfundheller said. “But once you seen him, you knew he wasn’t lying.”
The 21-year-old Iowa native ran up to the deck that Sunday morning to man a five-inch anti-aircraft gun. Seventy years later, he remembers struggling to shoot low-flying Japanese planes as smoke from burning oil billowed through the air.
“This was the worst thing about it _ yeah, your eyes _ it bothered you. It bothered your throat too, because there was so much of that black smoke rolling around that a lot of times you could hardly see,” he said.
Now 91, Pfundheller will be returning to Pearl Harbor on Wednesday for the 70th anniversary ceremony honoring those lost in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack that brought the United States into World War II.
Accompanying him will be fellow survivors, other World War II veterans, and a handful of college students eager to hear their stories. The student and veteran group will be among 3,000 people attending a ceremony the Navy and the National Park Service hoist jointly each year at a site overlooking where the USS Arizona sank in the attack.
The College of the Ozarks program aims to preserve the stories of veterans _ something that’s becoming increasingly urgent for Pearl Harbor survivors as the youngest are in their late 80s.
Pfundheller said he enlisted in the Navy in 1939 because he kept hearing there was going to be a war and he wanted to know what to do when the fighting started. By the time Japanese fighter planes and torpedo bombers invaded the skies above Hawaii, he was well-trained.
Even so, the scene was utterly chaotic.
Commanders hadn’t expected Japan to strike from the air, so Pfundheller’s anti-aircraft ammunition was locked away in a gun locker. Then, when he gained access to the 3-foot-long, 75-pound shells, Pfundheller said the Japanese planes were flying too close for him to take aim.
“You could see them pumping their fists and laughing at you,” he said.
The Maryland’s crew scrambled to prevent their battleship from going down with the USS Oklahoma, which rolled over after being hit by multiple torpedoes.
“We had to cut her lines tied up to us because it was pulling us away,” he said.
Altogether, 2,390 Americans lost their lives in the attack. Twelve ships sank or were beached, and nine were damaged. The U.S. lost 164 aircraft. On the Japanese side, 64 people died, five ships sank, and 29 planes were destroyed.
After the war, Pfundfeller returned to Iowa where he worked as a district feed salesman and became an elementary school custodian. He now lives in Greenfield just 12 miles from Bridgewater, the town where he was raised.
Many veterans didn’t talk much about their experiences after World War II, and Pfundheller’s own children didn’t hear what he went through until he began sharing his stories at schools and libraries.
“People in the Midwest where I lived _ why, you just went back, got your job and went to work and nobody asked anything,” he said.
Today, efforts are under way to make sure stories like his are handed down to younger generations.
Pfundheller and four other World War II veterans are traveling to Hawaii with 10 students from the College of the Ozarks, a Christian school in Branson, Mo. After Hawaii, the group will travel to Japan to visit Okinawa, where the U.S. and Japan fought a brutal battle in the last few months of the war, and Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb.
Heather Isringhausen, a 21-year-old senior who will be one of Pfundheller’s two student escorts, said she wanted to join the trip in part because she’s never been able to get her grandfather to tell her about his experiences serving in World War II.
She wants to know what the veterans were thinking at the time, and what life was like in the 1940s.
“If most of the veterans are anything like my grandpa, they probably haven’t talked much about it,” Isringhausen said. “Once they’re gone, all we’ll have left are history books and movies and different tales that people have been told and written down.”
Guy Piper, who was brushing his teeth in his barracks on Ford Island when the attack began, said he was honored to go on the trip. He said programs like this make “us older people feel good.”
The sailor who served in World War II and the Korean War said he would share with the students his hope that younger generations won’t have war.
“When you see young men like I saw on Dec. 7 _ a bunch of blood _ it just stays with you. You can’t get rid of it. That’s what war is about. Just plain hell,” he said. “I’d like people to stop and think about staying away from wars.”
Daniel Martinez, the National Park Service’s chief historian for Pearl Harbor, said the program fits in with the theme of this year’s events: how the legacy of Pearl Harbor will be carried on by future generations. But he lamented more survivors aren’t alive to tell their stories.
“It’s a little sad because it’s coming a little late,” he said. “I wish it could have happened at the 50th anniversary when there were so many of them around.”
In a reminder of how many are passing on, the ashes of two survivors who died after living until their 90s will be interred within their sunken battleships this week.
Navy and National Park Service divers on Tuesday will lower Lee Soucy’s cremated remains into the USS Utah, which rolled over and sank next to Ford Island after being hit by a torpedo. Soucy died last year at the age of 90 in Plainview, Texas. He’ll be joining some 50 men who perished when the ship sank and eight survivors whose ashes were interred there after their deaths decades later.
On Wednesday, divers will place Vernon Olsen’s ashes in the USS Arizona, where many of the sailors and Marines who served on the ship are still entombed. The Arizona lost 1,117 crew members during the attack. Olsen was one of the 334 who survived. Olsen died in Port Charlotte, Fla. in April at the age of 91.
Dec. 7 events in Hawaii this year will feature a parade. Marching bands, military families, and dignitaries are expected to walk along Waikiki’s main drag, Kalakaua Avenue. Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions as a soldier in Italy in 1945, will be grand marshal.
Picture of Roy after he had recovered at the hospital. Picture of Roy below in the hospital recovering from his injuries followed by a picture of Roy encouraging another soldier who was in the hospital: Below is an article that was published in November of 2010 in the Saline Courier: Saline County War Hero Bryant […]
Okinawa – At the Emperor’s Doorstep” episode from “WWII: GI Diary”….. This old 1978 TV docu-drama was narrated by Lloyd Bridges and told the stories of real soldiers/sailors/pilots and their first-hand experiences in battle. Archival footage and good background music really made the stories come alive…..about 25 episodes were made. Video converted from really old […]
President Reagan and Senator Barry Goldwater present the fourth star to General Jimmy Doolittle during a White House ceremony in the Indian Treaty room, OEOB. 6/20/85. I love the movie “Pearl Harbor” with Ben Affleck and it tells the story of Jimmy Doolittle. He was born in 1896 and died in 1993. He is pictured […]
This portion below appeared in an article I did for the Saline Courier about 18 months ago: I went to the First Baptist Church in Little Rock from 1983 to 1997, and during that time I became friends with Walter Dickinson Sr. In fact, we used to attend a weekly luncheon together on Thursdays. Just […]
The Lost Evidence: The Battle Of The Bulge (1/5) This article was published in the Saline Courier about 18 months ago: When we celebrate July 4th we are focusing on the freedoms that so many soldiers have fought for over the last 234 years. That focus has been highlighted for me since my son Hunter […]
This is taken from an article that appeared in the Saline Courier about a year ago: Bravery is not just limited to one generation, but Americans have had it in every generation. It makes me think about those who are currently serving in our military. Jon Chris Roberts who is graduate of Benton High […]
I was born in Tennessee and everyone in Tennessee knows the name of Alvin York. Above is a clip about his accomplishments in War World I. Cara Gist of Shannon Hills tells me that her grandfather Herbert S. Apple of Salado, Arkansas (near Batesville) fought in World War I. He served in France and fought […]
My longtime friend Craig Carney is originally from Jacksonville, and he told me a couple of years ago about a friend of his parents from Jacksonville, Arkansas named Silas Legrow. Legrow was going to speak at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History on April 17, 2008 about his experience in the March of 1942 when […]
The Background Facts of The Black Hawk Down (1/7) Uploaded by WarDocumentary on Feb 14, 2011 The movie Black Hawk Down was based on an actual event that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia. This documentary explains the event. _______________________________ On October 3, 2003 my son played quarterback at the Arkansas Baptist High School Football game […]
Below I have the story of Joe Speaks who fought in Europe and was captured twice by the Germans. Photo by Associated Press American GI’s clamber into a landing craft as they prepare to hit the beaches along France’s Normandy coast in June 1944. The World War II operation was part of the massive Allied […]
If youre looking for an inspirational and heartwarming film, go no further than The Blind Side. Oscar nominated Sandra Bullock gives a riveting performance as real life mother and housewife Leigh Anne Tuohy. The Tuohys, a well-to-do white family, took Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, into their home and helped him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Tuohys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faced a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher worked hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, became an All-American offensive left tackle and now plays in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens.
Huckabee Interview with the Tuohy family who adopted Michael Oher – Blind Side 2
Leigh Anne Tuohy shares her story with SheKnows in a deeply personal interview that gets to the heart behind the heart-filled Sandra Bullock instant classic, The Blind Side.
Tuohy famously took in a homeless teenager in Memphis, Tennessee who would find his calling and become a football superstar. What led this wife of an entrepreneur who owned over 80 fast food restaurants to spearhead an effort to make Michael Oher a home that could not have been further from where he grew up?
How that path was paved is not completely told on screen in The Blind Side directed by John Lee Hancock (The Rookie). Tuohy sat with SheKnows at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills after a long day of interviews with the film’s cast. Stay tuned for our exclusive video interviews with stars Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw!
After sitting amongst the hugest stars in the film and music business, the playing field leveler was Leigh Anne Tuohy. Equal parts firecracker, strong Southern woman, inspiration, motherly to all (including yours truly!), pragmatic and one-hundred percent what made what The Guess Who so perfectly called the iconic American Woman.
Leigh Anne, husband Sean and their two children, Sean Jr (SJ) and Collins, did not simply adopt Michael Oher, the engulfed him in familial love that has changed lives exponentially. With The Blind Side’s arrival on November 20 in theaters everywhere, look for the inspiration to explode.
TUOHY TRIUMPH AND TRAVAILS
SheKnows: Hello Leigh Anne, it is such a pleasure to sit with you after witnessing your stirring story. I think the film is a strong statement for women. How do you think your story speaks to women?
Leigh Anne Tuohy: Southern women are strong natured anyway. It’s kind of a characteristic. Maybe, a characteristic flaw (laughs). I’m very strong willed. I think at this point in our society and in our country right now, everybody’s got to be strong willed. I think women have to wear a lot of different hats. Not only do you have to be the mother the nuturerer, but also the wife and the housekeeper and now, so many have to and want to have a career. So, you have to wear a lot of hats. I’m not a big women’s liberation person — not at all — but I do think right now, women have to contribute to all facets.
SheKnows: I wondered what you thought of hearing Sandra Bullock was going to play you?
Leigh Anne Tuohy: I was thrilled. There were names and names and names that were thrown out over a year-and-a-half. It’s all about timing. It was a rollercoaster. Finally, they said it was going to be Sandra Bullock. I thought, “yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be somebody else.” Three weeks later they called and said she signed on. I was pleasantly surprised. I fell in love with her. She did a great job.
SheKnows: For some, Virginia isn’t quite “the South,” any issues with a Washington, DC suburb of Arlington, Virginia-native tackling Tennessee?
Leigh Anne Tuohy: (Laughs) I think Virginia’s South!
SheKnows: I’m sure Sandra does too. You had kindred spirits heading in to telling this story. One theme that arose for me from The Blind Side is how you did not really change Michael’s life, he changed yours. How can you quantify in a way that your life would be different without him in it?
A FAMILY FINDS ITSELF
Leigh Anne Tuohy: If Michael had not come into our lives it would have been extremely different. With all that being said, we have a different view of life now. We view everybody different than we did. We realized that there’s a need out there that we didn’t really know about. We were living in our own little cocoon. You tend to realize that there is a lot going on out there that you’re not aware of and it brought so much to light. Even relationship aspect-wise, it all brought us closer together. We had that common bond. We went through trenches that a lot of other families don’t go through.
SheKnows: Indeed…
Leigh Anne Tuohy: We came out of this as a stronger family. I’m thankful. I also think that we are so much aware of all people now and feelings and their needs. You don’t know what the guy next to you has going on. He’s got mud on his shoes or a tattoo. We’re so quick to judge. We are so, so quick to judge. You don’t know the worth of that person or what they could contribute to society. We tend to put labels on people. There’s a lot of things that we’ve come through so much, I think, the better.
SheKnows: You’re talking people judging a book by the cover, I know they show in the film, when you first meet Michael where it’s cold and raining and he’s wearing shorts and a T-Shirt in November. What was that moment really like?
Leigh Anne Tuohy: John Lee (Hancock, director) took some liberties with that, but the scene really happened. It was the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the kids had just gotten out of school and we had been over my mom’s dicing nad getting ready to cook for Thanksgiving. We were coming back home and Michael was walking and he had on shorts and it was…it’s almost become an urban legend (laughs). It was a blizzard (laughs). It was chilly, it was like 40 degrees. I just commented that he looked like a fish out of water for an African-American kid to be where he was at that moment in our neighborhood. You just don’t see African-American kids walking around the neighborhood at 9:30 pm at night in shorts. I said, “who is that?” SJ (her son) said, that’s a new guy at our school. I thought, “what he’s doing out here?” SJ told me he plays basketball. But, school was closed. Sean (her husband) wondered if maybe he had gone to shoot some hoops. I said, “turn around the car.”
FATE BLIND-SIDED LEIGH ANN
SheKnows: You were compelled?
Leigh Anne Tuohy: It was obvious after we turned around and chatted a few minutes that he had no mission, no plan. We thought he was going to the gym because it was warm. Sean said that the gym is not open, let us take you home. He wouldn’t let us take him home, but he let us take him to a bus station about six or seven miles away. So, we drove him that night to the bus stop. Then, he went back home. Flash forward a couple weeks and that was the first time he spent the night on our coach. When I pulled over, it was a seed that was planted. I immediately knew after the conversation. I come to find out, none of that was really the truth. It snowballed. I went in on Monday after Thanksgiving and asked about Michael and who was this kid. Why doesn’t he have long pants on in November? Where does he live? Where are his parents? I didn’t get any of the answers I wanted yet. I just took it from there.
SheKnows: In the film, and also in real life, it seems that adopting Michael really happened naturally.
Leigh Anne Tuohy: It did. It really did.
SheKnows: There was a natural Michael coming into the family that felt effortless. When Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw and the kids are gathered around the table and ask Michael if he’d like to be part of the family, it felt truly as if that moment was incredibly organic.
Leigh Anne Tuohy: It was, there was never an agenda. There was never a moment. That was so authentic. It just happened. People find it so hard to believe. We have crazy lives. My husband has a very successful business and he tries to run 80-plus fast food stores, and yet he broadcast (play by play) for Memphis’ NBA team, I’m trying to get here yesterday, he could less, but he needs five suits out because they’re leaving for a week of road games. He needs his suits. That’s what was important right then. That’s how we operate. Whatever the need is at that moment, we take care of it. You throw in a daughter that is a level-nine gymnast and a state champion pole-vaulter and we drive two days a week to Arkansas because that’s where the Olympic guys are, and then you throw in Michael playing three sports and constantly needing everything to get through those sports and then you have Sean, Jr (laughs) who’s just along for the ride and always helping out. Our lives are always crazy. It was like, to Michael, if you want to jump in this frying pan, let’s go!
TIM MCGRAW AS HUSBAND
SheKnows: Lastly, your husband in the film is portrayed by Tim McGraw. Tell me your girlfriends in Memphis were not so excited for you!
Leigh Anne Tuohy: Isn’t that fun (laughs)?
SheKnows: That has to be a blast.
Leigh Anne Tuohy: He did a good job as Sean. He’s cocky and a little arrogant. He’s a smart ass and I think Tim nailed all three of those beautifully. My husband’s personal assistant is a huge Tim McGraw fan, so she was in heaven getting to hang out with him. That was a big feather throughout this whole thing is getting to hang out with Tim McGraw.
This November, you’ll get a hard-hitting football movie featuring no less than Sandra Bullock, Kathy Bates and Tim McGraw. It’s called The Blind Side, and it might be the Rudy of the new millenium.
When a high school student, operating under the perfect storm of being poor, wildly undereducated and badly out of shape, gets recruited by a major football program that grooms him into the exact opposite, his life will change forever. But will it change it for the better? Check out the trailer.
November is the perfect time of year for this kind of movie to hit because it so clearly wants to go for an Oscar run. But at the same time, it should prove accessible to anyone who watches it. Dust off your thesauruses–you’ll need synonyms for “heart-warming” because EVERYONE’S going to call it that. But do you want your heart warmed? Or does this one leave you cold? Hit the comments section and tell us what you think. Thanks for watching!
The Blind Side Cast: Sandra Bullock, Kathy Bates, Kim Dickens, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Rhoda Griffis, Ray McKinnon, Lily Collins
The Blind Side movie trailer courtesy 20th Century Fox. The Blind Side open in US theaters November 20th, 2009. The Blind Side is directed by John Lee Hancock
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
On May 11, 2011, I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:
Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner. I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.
Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:
Freeze discretionary spending in 2005. Discretionary spending leaped 39 percent between 2001 and 2004. Even after excluding defense and costs related to September 11, discretionary spending is rising 7 percent annually. Do these agencies need yet another spending increase this year? Congress and the President should do what millions of families do: set priorities and balance each high-priority spending increase with a low-priority spending cut.
In addition to several other tax increases, Senator Barack Obama wants to increase the Social Security payroll tax burden by imposing the tax on income above $250,000. This would be a sharp departure from current law, which only requires that the tax be imposed on the amount of income needed to “pay for” promised benefits. But more important, at least from an economic perspective, the Senator’s initiative would increase the top tax rate on productive behavior by as much as 12 percentage points – and this would be in addition to his proposal to kill the 2003 tax rate reductions and further boost the top rate by 4.6 percentage points. This mini-documentary explains why a big tax rate increase on highly productive people would be very damaging to America’s prosperity, especially in a competitive global economy. Simply stated, pushing top tax rates in the United States to French and German levels means at least some degree of French-style and German-style economic stagnation. Visit http://www.freedomandprosperity.org for more information.
