Brummett blames Tea Party for debt ceiling crisis

In the article “When a state legislator’s brain shorts out…,” July 28, 2011, Arkansas News Bureau, Brummett was critical of recent statements by Representative Nate Bell of Mena. Brummett was critical of these Tea Party types not only because they sometimes mispeak but also because the Tea Party is taking the country in a direction that Brummett detests. He asserted:

For one thing, and in the immediate term, it may be that our government’s credit rating will be downgraded to the point that interest costs will rise for beleaguered Americans’ mortgages and car loans.

Let me make two points here. First, the term Tea Party is being used by Brummett for any right wing person he does not like.

David Boaz of the Cato Institute rightly noted:

One sign of the tea party movement’s success is that the term “tea party” is becoming an all-purpose smear term for any more-or-less right-wing person or activity that the writer doesn’t like. In fact, I think “Tea Party” is replacing “neocon” as an all-purpose word for “the people I hate.”

Second, Brummett claims it the Republicans who want to default, but is the Democrats who are refusing to cut the budget in a way we can lower this 1.7 trillion deficit for this year!!!!

The huge deficits are the problem. People want the debt ceiling raised, but if the huge deficits  continue then what is the use? The article below shows how our government will have their credit rating devalued UNLESS WE STOP RUNNING UP BIG DEFICTIS EVERY YEAR!!

“Dueling Debt Ceiling Proposals vs. the Rating Agencies,” by Alison Acosta Fraser, July 25, 2011 at 10:16 pm:

As the day debt ceiling of reckoning fast approaches, dueling proposals are flurrying around Washington fast and furious.  The latest two are from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Americans, and global financial markets, are watching Washington nervously for a real plan—one that will put the nation squarely on a path to solving our twin crises of spending and debt.  Without strong structural changes in spending, our debt will balloon out of control.

At stake are two issues.  The short-term is obvious – will there be an increase in the debt limit before August 3?  Despite the President and his team practically begging Wall Street to collapse, the markets and the rating agencies believe that there will be an increase and the federal government can safely avoid the chaos of prioritizing its bills in order to service the debt.  Though they warn of the consequences if this doesn’t happen, Standard & Poor’s, has stated that

…the risk of a payment default is small, though increasing…Standard and Poor’s still anticipates that lawmakers will raise the debt ceiling by the end of July to avoid those outcomes.”

The second and even more crucial issue is whether Congress will take necessary action beyond the next year to bring our debt under control over the medium and long-term.  This is where the rating agencies really voice their strong concern.    Again, Standard & Poor’s:

Congress and the Administration might also settle for a smaller increase in the debt ceiling, or they might agree to a plan that, while avoiding a near-term default, might not, in our view, materially improve our base case expectation for the future path of the net general government debt-to-GDP ratio.”

Moody’s response is similar:

The outlook assigned at that time to the government bond rating would very likely be changed to negative at the conclusion of the review unless substantial and credible agreement is achieved on a budget that includes long-term deficit reduction. To retain a stable outlook, such an agreement should include a deficit trajectory that leads to stabilization and then decline in the ratios of federal government debt to GDP and debt to revenue beginning within the next few years.

What the rating agencies are saying is that Congress and the President must pass legislation that immediately begins to rein in deficits and bring our debt down to more acceptable levels, and either keeps it there or continues to drive it down further.

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We need more lawmakers like Nate Bell who want to get our country back to the tax level we were at many years ago. Our founding fathers would be SHOCKED IF THEY CAME BACK TODAY AND SAW THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS SPENDING OVER 24% OF GDP.

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I agree with Tolbert that it was ill-advised. Jason Tolbert gave us the big picture when he noted:

You almost have to feel bad for Arkansas Democrats…almost. With the last remaining Arkansas Congressional Democrat, Mike Ross, announcing he will not run for re-election, they are facing the realization that the entire Arkansas delagation – save Sen. Mark Pryor who is not up until 2014 – could turn red in the next cycle. They are just coming off a tidal wave 2010 election which saw Republicans in the state capitol close to double in ranks. And with the unpopular President Obama leading their ticket in 2012, it is likely to get even worse for them.

It is so bad that Politico this week had the healine “Arkansas Democrats Face Extinction.” Ouch!

It is almost understandable then that they are doing everything they can to hang on to power – whether it is creative map drawing or trying to seize every opportunity to paint Republicans as crazy extremists. Granted, frequent e-mails circulating the Internet make for easy targets. But the over-the-top reaction to an ill-advised Facebook post from a Republican state representative has been both amusing and a bit annoying at the same time.

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  • John Brummett Says:
    July 28th, 2011 at 10:39 am ill-advised? understatement, you think? for the record, i care much less whether democrats or republicans win arkansas political races than whether the republican party can extricate itself from the cranks and kooks and affronts to advanced civilization represented by this kind of outrageously ignorant comment — a process a couple of republicans could begin right here right now by denouncing this guy’s outrage on specific merit and in unambiguous terms, not dismissing it defensively for purely partisan motivation
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If you look at the unbelievable comments that Democrats have made the last two years when they have crammed Obamacare down our throats then you could really come up with so crazy comments. Obama says the whole Obamacare debate will be on CSpan then he retreats with Nancy and does it in private and she says, “You will find out what is in it when we pass it.”

I still think that Tolbert has it right. It makes me think that the Democrat Party of Arkansas is acting much like Florida Alantic’s announcer did last year in the ASU game.

I give Florida Atlantic color commentator Dave Lamont credit. The guy is passionate about football, the team he covers, and most of all: THE RULES.

With Arkansas St. leading 37-16 late in the game, Lamont lost his marbles after FAU quarterback Jeff Van Camp scrambled, slid and then took a hit in the head by an Arkansas St. defender.

It should have been a flag. But, as we are reminded on a weekly basis, sometimes officials miss calls. It happens. Well, Lamont was in no mood for oversights. And his subsequent on-air rant was hilariously intense. Here it is:

Florida Alantic was losing at the time and that is why I have compared them to the Arkansas Democratic Party. Jason Tolbert hit the nail on the head in his comments. Is it any wonder that liberal Democrat Michael Cook revealed the Democrats next play in the playbook: “Remarks like the ones made by Nate Bell and Jon Hubbard, without apologies, should be highlighted by Democrats”

I don’t think this strategy of the Democrats will work since it President Obama and the liberals in Washington that have caused the largest pick up of seats by Republicans in Arkansas’ history. IT STILL COMES DOWN TO THE ISSUES.

Here is one of my favorite videos on this subject below:

What Is The Debt Ceiling?

Published on May 19, 2013

What is the debt ceiling and why does it matter? Find out:http://BankruptingAmerica.org/DebtCei…

Congress’s dance with the debt limit can be confusing and, frankly, the details can be a real snooze fest for many Americans. Sometimes a little humor clarifies the absurdities of Washington antics better than flow charts and talk of trillions.

The 31-second video and accompanying infographic “The Debt Ceiling Explained” by Bankrupting America offers the facts, leavened with a dose of levity. The conclusion is serious, however: The country’s debt threatens economic growth, and spending cuts are the answer.

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

Why don’t the Republicans  just vote no on the next increase to the debt ceiling limit. I have praised over and over and over the 66 House Republicans that voted no on that before. If they did not raise the debt ceiling then we would have a balanced budget instantly.  I agree that the Tea Party has made a difference and I have personally posted 49 posts on my blog on different Tea Party heroes of mine.

What would happen if the debt ceiling was not increased? Yes President Obama would probably cancel White House tours and he would try to stop mail service or something else to get on our nerves but that is what the Republicans need to do.

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

I have written hundreds of letters and emails to President Obama and I must say that I have been impressed that he has had the White House staff answer so many of my letters. The White House answered concerning Social Security (two times), Green Technologies, welfare, small businesses, Obamacare (twice),  federal overspending, expanding unemployment benefits to 99 weeks,  gun control, national debt, abortion, jumpstarting the economy, and various other  issues.   However, his policies have not changed, and by the way the White House after answering over 50 of my letters before November of 2012 has not answered one since.   President Obama is committed to cutting nothing from the budget that I can tell.

 I have praised over and over and over the 66 House Republicans that voted no on that before. If they did not raise the debt ceiling then we would have a balanced budget instantly.  I agree that the Tea Party has made a difference and I have personally posted 49 posts on my blog on different Tea Party heroes of mine.

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July 28, 2011 – 8:15 am Categories: Cato Institute, spending out of control | Post a comment

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Pete Ham of Bad Finger (Part 4 of series on “27 Club”)

Amy Winehouse died at age 27 and unfornately joined the “27 club” which is made of famous rockers that died at age 27. Pete Ham was a member of Bad Finger which was one of my favorite groups that I followed. “Come and get it” was my favorite song of theirs.

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Badfinger perform a lipsync to their song Without You – made most famous by Harry Nilsson, Mariah Carey, Il Divo, Shirley Bassey, Clay Aiken, Heart, and even Frank Sinatra did this onstage. Pete Ham and Tom Evans wrote it. Ham also wrote Baby Blue, Day After Day, Name Of The Game, and Lonely You. Great site on badfinger http://www.badfingerlibrary.com

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Badfinger – Come and get it 1970

Badfinger – Baby Blue (Kenny Rogers Show 1972)

If ever a band was cursed by good fortune, it was Badfinger. The first band signed to Apple Records, they scored several hit singles right out of the gate. But it's no secret that the Beatles were better musicians than label heads, and soon their protégés were adrift in a sea of bad contracts and diminishing returns. The low point came when a crooked business manager began withholding money from Ham shortly after he'd bought a house and shortly before the birth of his daughter. Combined with what he perceived to be his failure as a recording artist and the intractability of his business affairs, his inability to earn money led Ham to despair. The band's most distinctive singer and one of its primary songwriters hanged himself in his garage on April 24, 1975, three days shy of his 28th birthday. (To make a sad story sadder: Ham's bandmate Tom Evans also hanged himself, eight years later.) (Paul W. Bailey/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via AP Images)

Larger image

Paul W. Bailey/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via AP Images

If ever a band was cursed by good fortune, it was Badfinger. The first band signed to Apple Records, they scored several hit singles right out of the gate. But it’s no secret that the Beatles were better musicians than label heads, and soon their protégés were adrift in a sea of bad contracts and diminishing returns. The low point came when a crooked business manager began withholding money from Ham shortly after he’d bought a house and shortly before the birth of his daughter. Combined with what he perceived to be his failure as a recording artist and the intractability of his business affairs, his inability to earn money led Ham to despair. The band’s most distinctive singer and one of its primary songwriters hanged himself in his garage on April 24, 1975, three days shy of his 28th birthday. (To make a sad story sadder: Ham’s bandmate Tom Evans also hanged himself, eight years later.)

Badfinger Doc 1 of 6

Badfinger Doc 2 of 6

Badfinger Doc 3 of 6

Badfinger Doc 4 of 6

Badfinger Doc 5 of 6

Badfinger Doc 6 of 6

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I highly recommend Bill Muehlenberg’s website. He looks into modern culture from a Christian perspective. I wanted to share with you a great article he wrote recently concerning Amy Winehouse.

Winehouse and Westbrook: A Tale of Two Celebs

As everyone now knows, troubled singer Amy Winehouse passed away on Saturday. She was as famous for her drug and alcohol-plagued life as her musical career. The English singer-songwriter had a short but controversial run with fame as a musician.

While it is still somewhat early to state with any sort of certainty, it seems her death was due to her on-going struggles with substance abuse, and perhaps to some mental-health problems she was also dealing with. The talented singer who was also known for her foul-mouth was born into a Jewish home.

But she seems to have moved beyond her religious roots. And as many have already noted, her death at just 27 years of age puts her into a club of other famous rock stars and musicians who also died at that age, often due to similar problems. Consider this short list of some of the more well known examples of this:

-Brian Jones (Rolling Stones), died July 1969, drug related
-Jimi Hendrix, died September 1970, drug overdose
-Janis Joplin, died October 1970, drug overdose
-Jim Morrison (Doors), died July 1971, drug overdose
-Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), died April 1994, suicide

Many other lesser known musicians have also passed away at age 27. One has to ask just what is it about the rock star and celebrity culture that seems to lead to such tragic and untimely deaths, due to such reckless lifestyles. It probably comes down to a combination of factors as young people seek to deal with their newfound fame and fortune.

It seems that such hard living, hard rocking and hard partying lifestyles are not very helpful to health and longevity. But while not everyone will be familiar with Winehouse and her work, perhaps even fewer people will be aware of Danniella Westbrook and her work.

I for one was not aware of her until I saw a news report about her in today’s press. It seems that she too was another wild, drug-taking celeb who was on a path of self-destruction. By her own description, she too was headed for an early grave.

The English actress was heading down the celebrity highway to an early exit, but unlike the other famous names mentioned above, she was rescued by a divine encounter. A relationship with Christ has turned her life around. Here is how the story covers this radical transformation:

“Danniella Westbrook, who starred as Samantha Mitchell in award-winning soap drama Eastenders which is shown on UKTV, said she is dedicating the rest of her life to the evangelical The Sanctuary in Westminster, California, after being ‘saved by Jesus Christ.’ Pop star Katy Perry’s parents Keith and Mary Hudson are pastors at the church. ‘Gucci and Prada used to be my God. Now I have given my life to the Lord,’ Westbrook, whose nose was ravaged by snorting cocaine, told the Mirror in the UK.

“‘If you had told me two years ago that I was going to be Christian, I would have laughed. I used to tell people, “I’m way past saving”.’ Westbrook quit Eastenders and moved with her husband to California where the couple were introduced to former drug addict and professional skateboarder turned pastor, Jay Haizlip, by mutual friends. Haizlip is senior pastor of The Sanctuary.

“‘The first time I came to this church, I felt something so spiritual and amazing, I wanted to cry,’ 37-year-old Westbrook said. ‘After a few visits I found myself walking up to the altar to ask the Lord for forgiveness for my sins. It was an incredible experience. I have realised that there have been things I have struggled with, like guilt, that I would have never found a solution for. Because there are things that a therapist cannot give me – that I can only get from Jesus Christ.’

“Westbrook, who made repeated suicide attempts when addicted to cocaine and saw her weight plummet to 38kg (6 stone). She says she would have spent $375,000 on cocaine. ‘I feel that me working on EastEnders and becoming a Christian might be God’s way of leading people to the Lord,’ she said.”

Wow, that is quite a story, and quite a contrast to the life of Winehouse, who as far as we know, never had such a life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. Jesus Christ is in the business of changing lives, and setting people free from their destructive addictions and harmful lifestyles.

It is a pity that more troubled and needy celebs and pop stars have not realised the truths which Danniella has, and have allowed a loving Father to help redeem their messed up lives. God yearns to break into these lives and turn them around by his power and grace.

Please keep Danniella in prayer. It sounds like she is a rather new Christian, and there will be lots of pressure put on her to go back to her old destructive ways. Pray that she grows in her faith and develops her powerful testimony even further, becoming a beacon for others to find hope and new life in Christ.

July 28, 2011 – 7:29 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

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Leo Stein and sister Gertrude Stein’s salon is in the Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris”

Below is a press release from a museum in San Francisco:
 the steins were known for their saturday evening salons, where artists, writers, musicians, intellectuals, and collectors gathered to discuss contemporary art, culture, and ideas.  the stein salons have even been described as ‘the first museum of modern art’!
 midnight in paris transports you to the stein salons in paris during the 1920’s.
in one scene, gertrude stein (played by kathy bates), is seated in the salon of her residence at 27 rue des fleures in front of the picasso portrait of gertrude stein from the exhibition.
stein and picasso (played by argentinian actor, marical di fonzo bo) are discussing a (faux) portrait of picasso’s (fictional) mistress, adriana (played by marion cotillard).
kathy bates as gertrude stein | midnight in paris
gertrude stein | oil on canvas | pablo picasso | 1905-1906
metropolitan museum of art | new york, NY
photo by metmuseum.org
 gertrude stein in her salon writing | black and white photograph | man ray | 1920
beinecke library | yale university | new haven, CT
in another scene, stein and matisse (played by french actor, yves-antoine spoto) are negotiating the purchase of a painting.  for 500 francs!
woman with a hat | oil on canvas | henri matisse | 1905
sfmoma | san francisco, CA
photo by ben blackwell
tHenri MatisseHenri Matissehe midnight in paris cast of characters also includes gertrude stein’s brother, leo stein (1872-1947), her partner, alice b. toklas (1877-1967) (who answers the front door), and other avant-garde artists, writers, or musicians who could have frequented the stein salons in paris during the 1920’s.
cameo appearances include:
artist  
salvatore dali (played by adrien brody)
photographer
man ray (played by tom cordier)
writers 
 ernest hemingway (played by corey stoll)
f. scott (and zelda) fitzgerald (played by tom hiddleston and alison pill)
t.s. eliott (played by david lowe)
filmmaker
luis bunuel (played by adrien de van)
and, musician  
cole porter (played by yves heck)
the chronology isn’t always art historically accurate.  but, midnight in paris is a woody allen film, so being in the right place, doing the right thing, at the wrong time just becomes part of the fantasy.
maybe you will enjoy this unexpected combination of art and entertainment as much as we did!
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Little Rock Indie Movie Examiner

Nelson Terry is new to the world of movie reviews, but not to movies.

Midnight in Paris is a 2011 film by Woody Allen. It stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Tom Hiddleton, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Carla Bruni, and Lea Seydoux. it is currently showing at Market Street Cinema and at Rave Motion Pictures Theaters in Little Rock.

This is my first Woody Allen movie. I think this may be his 40th or 41st film, and I am just now getting to him.

The film begins with a cinematic montage of famous Parisian locales. It’s pretty obvious this film is a love letter to the city. Then we get the opening title sequence, and hear the voices of Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams). What becomes obvious after the first minute that this engaged couple is completely mismatched. That they are engaged (much less together at all) makes no sense. Inez (who is totally unlikable) has no interests in Gil’s interests, he has no interest in hers. And it turns out she may not even respect him at all, there are several scenes in which she talks to him as if he were a child. Gil wishes to ditch his successful yet unfulfilling career as a Hollywood screenwriter and become a novelist, Inez think this is silly. Her unlikable parents (Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy) are even more dismissive of Gil than Inez is. That Gil and Inez are even a couple isn’t at all believable, but maybe that’s the point.

Things get going when an inebriated Gil leaves Inez with her friends. He attempts to walk off the wine, and a 1920’s era car pulls up to him, and the people inside beckon him in. The car turns out to be Woody Allen’s version of Doc Brown’s DeLorean, and Gil finds himself in the Roaring Twenties.

“If you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” – Doc Brown

Our funny-nosed hero arrives in a party attended by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleton), his girl Zelda (Alison Pill), and a hardened Ernest Hemingway. He later meets Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody), and Picasso’s muse named Adrianna (Marion Cotillard, who shines even when the movie does not) who studied fashion under the wing of Coco Chanel. At first, I thought that Gil was merely drunk and/or delusional. The historical figures seemed not to resemble real-life people, but exaggerated versions of their biographies. It later becomes clear that yes, he did indeed travel through time. He goes back and forth from the past to the present, and does this while acknowledging and dealing with a personal crisis. While that sounds like it would lead to a satisfying conclusion, it ultimately does not.

There are multiple levels of nostalgia on display here. Internally, Gil is nostalgic for his idealized version of 1920’s-era Paris. Externally, film critics and Woody Allen fans are nostalgic for the high standard of films Allen used to make. Many of them seem to be giving this one a pass simply because it’s:

‘…better than anything he’s done in a decade!’

The consensus seems to be that it’s been a while since Allen has done a superb film. While that may certainly be true, that’s not the proper way to judge a film. We shouldn’t be judging Midnight in Paris on whether it makes up for his mediocre recent films. The question should be:

Does this film stand firm on its own?

In my opinion, no. Gil and Adrianna are the only characters with any real dimension in this film. The time-travel scenes are packed to the brim with talented actors and actresses playing legendary authors, but that’s precisely the problem. Each of them does what they can with such limited screen time, but it’s all for naught. There’s so many of them, that none of them can claim enough screen time to make an emotional impact. It’s all just fluff. Pretty, Parisian fluff. And the present-day scenes are just flat-out painful. Every present-day character apart from Gil (and maybe the street vendor, played by Lea Seydoux) is a loathsome caricature. Versatile actress Rachael McAdams’ is reduced to playing a one-note harpy. She’s had more human roles in films such as epic tearjerker The Notebook and even Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Midnight in Paris might has worked had Allen chose not to have Gil go back-and-forth from past to present-day, but to simply have one time travel sequence that took up the bulk of the movie. A lot of top-notch talent in this picture, but most of it goes to waste.

This is the fourth movie I’ve seen that stars Marion Cotillard (also Inception, Nine, and Public Enemies), and she’s played sad/tragic roles in all four (great roles, don’t get me wrong). I’d like to see at least one movie where she has a happy ending. I like Cotillard, I think she’s one of the best current actresses in Hollywood (or anywhere else).

I can’t completely dismiss the film. There are some good moments (mostly the scenes when Gil allows himself to have a good time), but those moments are fleeting. Midnight in Paris wants to say something deep, but lacks the courage to go all-in.

But then again, maybe this is just Woody Allen’s style, and maybe I’m just not a Woody Allen fan.

 

 
 

(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

 
July 28, 2011 – 6:22 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

Senator Pryor asks for Spending Cut Suggestions! Here are a few!(Part 103)

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.

I just did. I went to the Senator’s website and sent this below:

“Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” Heritage Foundation, May 10, 2011 by  Stuart Butler, Ph.D. , Alison Acosta Fraser and William Beachis one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, but I will start off with the section on federal spending reform.

Replacing Farm Subsidies with Farmer Savings Accounts. Intended to remedy low crop prices and farmer poverty, the current farm subsidy system does neither. Farm subsidies encourage overplanting, which drives prices down further, necessitating even more subsidies. Moreover, rather than focusing on low-income farmers, most farm subsidies go to commercial farmers who report an average annual income of nearly $200,000. Claims that the agriculture industry could not survive without large subsidies are contradicted by the fact that nearly all subsidies go to growers of just five crops (wheat, cotton, corn,
soybeans, and rice), while fruit, vegetable, livestock, and poultry operations thrive with almost no government aid.

The real problem—yearly income fluctuations due to crop and weather
unpredictability—can be solved inexpensively with farmer savings accounts. Under the Heritage plan, growers of all crops, not just the “big five,” can save money during boom years in tax-deductible IRA-style accounts and withdraw those funds during bust years as taxable income, thus smoothing out their yearly income fluctuations. An improved no-net-cost crop insurance system will assist when major disasters deplete most farmers’ accounts. All farmers can participate in the new system regardless of income or crop grown and at a fraction of the current cost to taxpayers.

Capping and Reforming Antipoverty Spending. Since 1990, federal
antipoverty spending, including Medicaid, has expanded 236 percent faster than inflation, from $190 billion to $639 billion (an increase of 2.2 percent of GDP). Antipoverty spending has grown as much as Social Security, Medicare, defense, and education spending combined. Overall, the federal government spends approximately $28,000 per family with children in the bottom third of the income table without encouraging independence. Many of the programs do not include enforced work requirements and continue to reward illegitimacy and other destructive behaviors that block the road to independence. Once the unemployment rate drops back to normal levels (projected in 2014), the Heritage plan returns total federal antipoverty spending to its 2007 level (adjusted for inflation) and then caps total spending growth at the inflation rate (using the medical inflation rate for the health care portion). Congress or states could shift spending among antipoverty programs to increase effectiveness
as long as total spending does not exceed the cap. This cap and flexibility will force lawmakers at all levels to reexamine the size and goals of the welfare state and tailor assistance more efficiently to help families escape poverty and dependence and achieve independence.

Other Spending Reforms. Multiple federal programs should be returned to the state or local levels. For instance, there is no compelling reason for Washington to finance local job training, justice, environmental, or community and economic development programs. Therefore, the plan eliminates these federal grant programs with the expectation that state and local governments will determine whether to address these local issues with local funds and be held accountable by local voters. Energy research and development spending that is commercial in nature is moved to the private sector. Lawmakers are also expected to pare $15 billion in costs associated with the estimated $125 billion in annual federal payment errors.

Asset Sales. The federal government currently owns and controls vast
assets, including huge swaths of commercial land, especially in the West; power generation facilities; valuable portions of the electromagnetic spectrum; underutilized buildings; and financial assets. Given the federal government’s huge debt, it makes sense to sell at least a portion of these assets, especially those that are currently generating revenue below market levels (in which case the sale value would be above the present value of the current income on the assets). Sales of assets would immediately reduce the government’s operating deficit and debt, reducing future interest costs.

The Heritage plan includes a program of asset sales totaling approximately
$260 billion over 15 years. This includes partial sales of federal properties,
real estate, mineral rights, the electromagnetic spectrum, and energy-generation facilities.

July 28, 2011 – 12:01 am Categories: spending out of control, Taxes | Post a comment

Brantley wrong again, Harry Reid’s austerity turns out to be fiction

Max Brantley on the Arkansas Times Blog today asserted:

Politico notes that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s budget plan cuts spending more than Republican John Boehner’s plan. Boehner’s two-step plan is calculated on providing a highly politicized two-step plan for raising the debt ceiling.

____________________

After a closer look at Harry Reid’s plan, it is evident that his “austerity” turns out to be fiction. I do admit that the Republican plan is not much better, but it is false to claim that the Reid plan cuts more.     “Some Austerity” by Michael D. Tanner of the Cato Institute examines Harry Reid’s plan closely: 

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

Added to cato.org on July 27, 2011

This article appeared in the National Review (Online) on July 27, 2011.

“It is clear we must enter an age of austerity,” House minority leader Nancy Pelosi mourned as she endorsed Harry Reid’s proposal for raising the debt ceiling. Austerity? Really?

The Reid plan would theoretically cut spending by $2.7 trillion over ten years. Even if that were true, it would still allow our national debt to increase by some $10 trillion over the next decade. But, of course, the $2.7 trillion figure is mostly fiction. About $1 trillion of the savings would come from the eventual end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, savings that were going to occur anyway. Senator Reid might just as well have added another $1 trillion in savings by not invading Pakistan.

Another $400 billion comes not from cuts but from assuming reduced interest payments. And, of course, there are $40 billion in unspecified “program-integrity savings,” meaning the “waste, fraud, and abuse” that is the last refuge of every phony budget cutter. The plan rejects any changes to Medicare and Social Security, despite the fact that the unfunded liabilities from those two programs could run as high as $110 trillion. But those liabilities generally fall outside the ten-year budget window, so Reid — unlike our children and grandchildren — doesn’t have to worry about them.

[U]nder both the Reid and Boehner plans, actual federal spending will continue to rise.

That leaves about $1.2 trillion in discretionary and defense spending reductions over the next ten years. Let’s put that in perspective. This year the federal government will spend $3.8 trillion. Our deficit is roughly $1.6 trillion. Our national debt exceeds $14.3 trillion, not counting unfunded entitlement liabilities. We are talking about raising the debt ceiling to $16.9 trillion. This month alone the federal government will borrow $134 billion. Reid’s cuts would average roughly $120 billion per year.

This is austerity?

Of course, the House Republican plan as announced by Speaker John Boehner is only marginally more austere.

Boehner proposes a two-stage increase in the debt ceiling, with each stage accompanied by spending cuts. The first $1 trillion debt increase would be accompanied by $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over ten years, pretty much the same as Senator Reid’s plan. The big difference is that instead of Sen. Reid’s phony Iraq and Afghanistan savings, the speaker’s plan would appoint a commission — now there’s an exciting new idea — to propose $1.8 trillion in savings from entitlement programs. To be fair, Senator Reid would also appoint a commission — because that’s what Washington does — to recommend additional deficit reductions, presumably including entitlement changes. The difference is that the Boehner commission has teeth. If Congress rejects its recommendations, the president doesn’t get a second $1.6 trillion hike in the debt ceiling.

But $1.8 trillion in entitlement savings over ten years is still too small to encompass real structural reforms of the type envisioned by Rep. Paul Ryan and others. It is much more likely to simply be more tweaking around the edges, perhaps raising the eligibility age or changing the way the cost-of-living formula is calculated. True, changes such as these will have a real impact out beyond the ten-year budget window, but they fall far short of what is necessary to deal with the shortfalls to come.

Making matters worse, both Reid and Boehner are using the time-honored Washington dodge of “baseline budgeting,” meaning that the proposed cuts are not actual reductions in spending from year to year, but cuts from projected future increases. Thus, under both the Reid and Boehner plans, actual federal spending will continue to rise.

With the clock running out, we are now down to fifth- or sixth-best options. But let’s not pretend that this is austerity.

July 27, 2011 – 10:49 am Categories: President Obama, spending out of control | Post a comment

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Beebe does not get it, Lowering federal spending is the real issue, not debt ceiling

Max Brantley wrote on the Arkansas Times Blog this morning:

Is there a better voice for moderation, compromise and legislative solutions than Gov. Mike Beebe? His legislative career contains few policy monuments, but a warehouse full of settlements of pitched legislative battles.

So he’s a good spokesman against the current impasse created in Congress by Republicans like 2nd District U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin intent on holding the U.S. hostage to debilitating budget cuts and absolute protection of the wealthy from even a small increase in the lowest tax burden in half a century. Good for Beebe.

“They are apparently so entrenched that they’re ready to allow this country to default, with all of the economic consequences that that brings with it,” Beebe told reporters. “They’re up to the licklog, and they’d better sit down and figure out how they solve this problem.” 

Beebe said both sides in the debate deserve criticism, but “it sounds to me like it’s the Republican majority in the House that has just drawn a line in the sand.”

Beebe claims it the Republicans who want to default, but is the Democrats who are refusing to cut the budget in a way we can lower this 1.7 trillion deficit for this year!!!!

The huge deficits are the problem. People want the debt ceiling raised, but if the huge deficits  continue then what is the use? The article below shows how our government will have their credit rating devalued UNLESS WE STOP RUNNING UP BIG DEFICTIS EVERY YEAR!!

“Dueling Debt Ceiling Proposals vs. the Rating Agencies,” by Alison Acosta Fraser, July 25, 2011 at 10:16 pm:

As the day debt ceiling of reckoning fast approaches, dueling proposals are flurrying around Washington fast and furious.  The latest two are from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Americans, and global financial markets, are watching Washington nervously for a real plan—one that will put the nation squarely on a path to solving our twin crises of spending and debt.  Without strong structural changes in spending, our debt will balloon out of control.

At stake are two issues.  The short-term is obvious – will there be an increase in the debt limit before August 3?  Despite the President and his team practically begging Wall Street to collapse, the markets and the rating agencies believe that there will be an increase and the federal government can safely avoid the chaos of prioritizing its bills in order to service the debt.  Though they warn of the consequences if this doesn’t happen, Standard & Poor’s, has stated that

…the risk of a payment default is small, though increasing…Standard and Poor’s still anticipates that lawmakers will raise the debt ceiling by the end of July to avoid those outcomes.”

The second and even more crucial issue is whether Congress will take necessary action beyond the next year to bring our debt under control over the medium and long-term.  This is where the rating agencies really voice their strong concern.    Again, Standard & Poor’s:

Congress and the Administration might also settle for a smaller increase in the debt ceiling, or they might agree to a plan that, while avoiding a near-term default, might not, in our view, materially improve our base case expectation for the future path of the net general government debt-to-GDP ratio.”

Moody’s response is similar:

The outlook assigned at that time to the government bond rating would very likely be changed to negative at the conclusion of the review unless substantial and credible agreement is achieved on a budget that includes long-term deficit reduction. To retain a stable outlook, such an agreement should include a deficit trajectory that leads to stabilization and then decline in the ratios of federal government debt to GDP and debt to revenue beginning within the next few years.

What the rating agencies are saying is that Congress and the President must pass legislation that immediately begins to rein in deficits and bring our debt down to more acceptable levels, and either keeps it there or continues to drive it down further.

The Boehner proposal would cut $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending.  There is no assurance that these cuts will occur, but let’s assume they do.  Let’s even be generous and assume that they are – in the words of S&P– “enacted and maintained throughout the decade.”  This would cut debt held by the public from its projected $24.9 trillion in 2021 to $23.7 trillion, and when measured against the economy from 104% to 99.4%.  Certainly, this is an improvement, but it is hardly declining from today’s levels, nor would these cuts fundamentally restructure entitlements – the real driver of our deficits in the future.

Step two in the Boehner proposal would reduce deficits by an additional $1.8 trillion over ten years.  Even assuming these cuts all happen, and even assuming they were all spending cuts – a broad assumption given the President’s rhetoric surrounding tax hikes on the wealthy – this would bring publicly held debt down to 92% of GDP. Better, but not that much.  Even throwing in interest savings from deficit reduction would bring this down to 88%.  Again, not much improvement and far worse than today’s debt ratio.

The Reid proposal doesn’t move the ball forward enough either.  At best it falls somewhat short of Boehner’s $3 trillion by $800 billion ($1.2 trillion in discretionary and some confusing savings to be had from winding down operations in Iraq and Afghanistan of $1.0 trillion.)

Neither of this week’s dueling debt ceiling proposals would pass the test from Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s for a credible, firm and actionable plan that would turn the tide of our deficits to put our debt on a manageable track. And if that holds true, then a downgrade by the rating agencies could occur smack in the very election year the President is trying to scoot through.

Because spending is set to grow so significantly over the decade, the kind of onesie-twosie approach to cutting spending and increasing the debt limit is simply not adequate.  Net interest payments are projected to more than triple over the next decade. The longer Congress waits to seriously control spending, the more it will have to cut just to offset bourgeoning interest costs.  And if interest rates suddenly rise? Well, we have an even bigger problem on our hands.

And, as babyboomers flood into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid swell in tandem, the kinds of changes necessary to rein in spending on these programs will be much more difficult.  Here again, the longer they duck the problem, the more likely a meltdown ahead.

The fact is, the only plan that could likely pass muster with Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s is House passed, Cut, Cap and Balance.  Why?  They tackle spending with firm caps that are enforceable, and before the end of the decade bring spending down to 19.9% of GDP and keep it there.  With the right spending changes it could fall, along with debt levels, from there.  Congress must act now to rein in spending and get our debt under control. It’s time for the dueling to end.

July 27, 2011 – 9:55 am Categories: President Obama, spending out of control | Post a comment

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Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

Brian’s Blues,
Brian Jones on guitar in the early stones years.
unreleased track

Brian Jones died at age 27 just like Amy Winehouse did. I remember like yesterday when I first heard the song “I can’t get no satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. I immediately thought about Solomon’s search for satisfaction in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon went to the extreme in his searching in the Book of Ecclesiastes for satisfaction, but he did not find any satisfaction in pleasure (2:1), education (2:3), work (2:4), wealth (2:8) or fame (2:9). Finally he turned his attention to serving God in the last chapter.

Another observation I want to make here. I grew up in Memphis and I always heard about the Memphis Blues. However, I thought that people were incorrect about the influence of the Blues on modern music. Then later I found out that many of my favorite groups like the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin had been heavily influenced by the Memphis Blues.

brian jones

The Rolling Stones with Brian Jones-Little Red Rooster (5/26/65 Scary Version)

How The Blues Changed The 60’s Music Scene

Uploaded by on Mar 13, 2011

The impact on the music scene in the 60’s was immeasurable as British bands soaked up the influence of American Blues artist, Muddy Waters , Howlin’ Wolf, B.B.King, and John Lee Hooker conquered our shores, and over a 1000 full time working bands in the 60’s was spawned. The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Them The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann absorbed the sound and headed to the States with their own brand of Blues.

9. Brian Jones

it’s hard to top keith for cool but i think brian jones during his tenure with the stones may have shown keith the way. i also read that he even took more drugs than keith. imagine that.

jones was charismatic and beautiful, a rebellious fashion plate and a ladies’ man with a wickedly sly grin and a mop of golden blonde hair. jones really was one of the all time great pretty boys. he was also a “bad boy”, and that combination equaled back then (and will forever forward) “the girls all want you and the fellas all want to be you”.

like all the players of that era jones was a blues fanatic and he was also a multi instrumentalist. he became derailed when the glimmer twins hit-making machine started to crank them out, changing the direction of the band. having had leadership and founding-father status with the band at one time, he now found himself more and more marginalized. of course this feeling of ostracism lead to an increase in drug taking and outlandish behaviour which eventually lead to poor brian being asked to step aside.

although he will always be a stone he was not a member of the band when he was found “mysteriously” drowned in his pool at his home on cotchford farm. after his death pete townshend wrote a poem for brian entitled “a normal day for brian, a man who died everyday”. if your vices are too much for the stones, lord have mercy!

essential listening: aftermath, their satanic majesties request, beggars banquet (rolling stones)

The Rolling Stones Satisfaction (rare)

 

  • Galatians 5:19-21

A message by Marvin A. McMickle | Senior Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio.

As you may know, Cleveland, Ohio, is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That’s because back in the 1950s, there was a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed who worked for an AM radio station in Cleveland. He began referring to the music of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley as “rock ‘n’ roll music.” Even though the inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame take place in New York City, the origin of the term rock ‘n’ roll music began in Cleveland. 

In keeping with that 50-year legacy, a poll was taken of radio listeners and disc jockeys across the country concerning the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song of all time. I was not especially interested in the outcome—I have a preference for the rhythm and blues music of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and The Temptations—but I must confess I was somewhat surprised when it was revealed that Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis or even Elvis Presley was not associated with the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song song of all time. Instead, the poll revealed that the No. 1 rock ‘n’ roll song song of all time was by the British band, The Rolling Stones, titled “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” 

It occurred to me that the popularity and longevity of that particular song can be attributed to a simple observation: That song speaks to the fundamental dilemma of so many people in our society who are in a constant quest for something that can bring them satisfaction. The song has a refrain that says, “And I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried—I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

You can almost see the history of the last 40 years of American life and culture written through the lens and lyrics of that song: “I have tried sex and orgies, and I can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried LSD and cocaine, and I can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried alcohol and amphetamines, and I still can’t get satisfaction.” “I have tried money and materialism, and all I can say is I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

Perhaps the reason the song has remained so appealing to Americans is because the song speaks to an aspiration that reaches deep into our psyche and to a frustration that burns within so many of our fellow citizens: “I tried, and I tried, and I tried, and I tried—but I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

The search for satisfaction can take at least four different faces in our world today, and most of us have gotten stuck trying to find satisfaction in one of three distinct ways. The things we keep trying in our vain attempts to find satisfaction are called happiness, pleasure and thrills. 

How strange that all three of these things are referred to in one way or another by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:19-21 as being related to the works of the flesh or the acts of the sinful nature.” Paul refers to them by such names as drunkenness, debauchery, discord and dissensions. We can refer to the same impulses of the human spirit by different names, but the motivation and the desired outcome are the same; we are trying to create satisfaction for ourselves.

Some people are obsessed with the quest for happiness. They want to find that time and place in life where there will always be a smile on their face and no tears in their eyes. They want to live in Disney World all the time, forgetting that Disney World is a great illusion, as life for the executives and employees of the Disney Corporation reveal every day.  

Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). In our hearts we know that to be true, but still we behave like the lyrics of the song by The Rolling Stones: I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried, but I can’t get no happiness, because happiness does not and cannot last. 

Sometimes, after we discover that happiness does not last, we try something else; and that next thing might be thrills. There is an obsession in this country with thrills. It is why we buy cars that can be driven faster than any highway in America would allow us to drive. It is why we jump out of airplanes and free-fall from thousands of feet in the atmosphere. It is why some people want to bungee jump, or go plunging down the steep and twisting hills of roller coasters. 

We want that adrenaline rush. We want that sensation of living dangerously. We want what some people call the rush that comes when we live close to the edge of death itself. The richest among us buy a seat on the space shuttle, not because they care one iota about science or space research; they do it because they are attempting to buy for themselves the ultimate thrill. 

For other people the thrill is linked to the allure and excitement of gambling of one kind or another. Whatever the thrill of gambling might be, we should not lose sight of the sorrow it produces. How many people have lost their rent or mortgage money as they got caught up in the thrill that the next roll of the dice or the next pull of the lever on the slot machine might bring a big payday? People go into casinos knowing the house always wins, yet are willing to risk their paycheck on a game of chance. It is not a rational decision; it is the mark of a society that has embraced the thrill as a way to approach how they live their lives. 

However, just like happiness, people soon discover that thrills cannot satisfy because they cannot be made to last. They come and go with equal suddenness. Blues singer B.B. King is world famous primarily for the lyrics of his song that says, “The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away.” 

Of course, what happens to a thrill seeker when the present thrill is gone? Like the song says, they just try something else. There are many in our society whose lives are driven by the pursuit of satisfaction, and they try one thing after another trying to attain that goal. 

For some, the quest for satisfaction leads down the path of pleasure. Let’s be clear about this—I am talking about sensual things. I am talking about the fact that pornography in the form of videos, magazine and Web sites now grosses more revenue than the money Americans spend on all professional sports combined. 

I am talking about our national fascination with sex and the fact that some people are preoccupied with the cheap, fleeting, loveless encounters that are so much a mark of our present culture. It is why commercials for such products as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are as popular and as frequent as they are; for some people it is all about pleasure.  

Never mind the fact that our country is overrun with teenage pregnancy, unwanted births, a staggering use of abortion as a means of birth control and once-solid marriages that are destabilized by extra-marital affairs. There is a high price to be paid for our fascination with the pursuit of pleasure, and our society is paying that price right now. This, too, is part of what The Rolling Stones meant when they said, “I tried—and I tried—and I tried—and I tried, and I can’t get no satisfaction.” We try the pursuit of happiness, thrills and pleasure, but something is always missing. 

Many search for satisfaction attempting to combine all three devices—happiness, thrills, pleasure when they turn to illegal drugs and other things that can help them get high. Americans are the most chemically dependent people on earth—we take more prescription drugs than any other nation, though that simply could be a sign of an advanced medical system. Good medicine does not explain why we are also the world’s largest consumers of illegal drugs or the fact that one out of every six Americans is an alcoholic. 

Here is the truth about all of our pursuits for satisfaction, be it in the form of happiness, thrills or various pleasures: At best, all those things can do is bring us a little bit of peace for a short period of time! 

There is a reason none of these things can bring us any lasting satisfaction. It is because all of these things that fuel our futile pursuit of satisfaction are things that work from the outside in. All of these things are behaviors or experiences that must be drawn from the world around us and then brought into our lives. As a result, whenever the world around us shifts or changes in even the most negligible way, we are made to realize over and over again that satisfaction—that sense of being completely content—once again has eluded us. The works of the flesh or the acts of the sinful nature are forever unsatisfying because in order for any of them to work there is something outside ourselves that must occur. 

Thankfully, that is not the case with the fruits of the spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23. Satisfaction is found in such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. These qualities work from the inside out. These are the spiritual formation issues that take root inside the followers of Jesus Christ that sustain them even when the conditions around them are being turned upside down. In this season of Advent, let me make the case that I would rather have the joy of the Lord than the satisfactions of the world any day of the week. Here are the reasons why:

 First, joy comes as a result of the faith and trust that resides within me and not in relation to the material or sensual things going on around me.  

It is important that we talk about joy vs. happiness and pleasure during the Advent and Christmas seasons, because it is so easy even for us as Christians to get caught up in the shopping and materialistic observance of Christmas. We so easily can forget that the “glad tidings of great joy” spoken to the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angels of heaven was about the birth of a Savior and not about the discounted prices at Wal-Mart or the luxury items available from a fashionable boutique. 

The joy of Christmas is about the love of God Who sent a Savior into our world to redeem us from the behaviors that constantly pull us away from God. After all, the song says, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” It does not say that Santa has come, or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has come; the joy of Christmas is centered in the fact that the Lord has come. God is with us. Immanuel. Our joy is anchored in that knowledge. I may not receive any of the material gifts that so many people point to as the center of Christmas; but when I receive the Christ of Christmas, I can find the joy that will forever elude those who are searching after satisfaction. 

Second, the joy of the Lord is available to us even though none of us is deserving of God’s love. The gifts God offers—love, joy, peace and the others—are not reserved for those who have proven themselves deserving of God’s attention. They are the freely given and freely received signs of God’s amazing grace.  

From a theological point of view, it is important to remember that God does not wait until we become the people He would like for us to be before He acts on our behalf. God loves us, and Christ died for us while we were the sinful and rebellious people we are. There is no need to get right with God before we can enjoy the fruits of the Spirit. The wonder and miracle of Christmas is that it is done on behalf of people deeply entrenched in the works of the flesh or the actions of the sinful nature. That is the knowledge that brings me an unspeakable joy. 

The third thing I want to say about joy is something I learned in a profound way from my wife last year. (I share these with her permission and her blessings.) 

Late last year, Peggy and I sat in a doctor’s office where we talked about how to treat the breast cancer with which she had just been diagnosed. It was surprising and unsettling enough that she was diagnosed with cancer just a few years after I had gone through a battle with prostate cancer. However, life was not through with us so far as surprises were concerned. Later that afternoon, while we were away from the house, Peggy’s mother fell while coming down the stairs. She had been doing so well in recent weeks, but now was bed-ridden with a fractured pelvis. 

Wanting to comfort Peggy, I remarked how ironic it seemed that, on the week when our faith directs us to the word of joy she had so much hardship and stress placed upon her. I thought maybe she would break down and cry; instead she said, “Oh, I still have my joy.”

That response reminds me of the gospel song that says, “After all I’ve been through, I still have joy.” That is what separates joy from the false gods of happiness, pleasure and thrills. When you have joy, the devil can throw everything he has against you and you just keep on pushing—not because you are that strong, but because God is bigger than anything that life can do to you. 

Every year at about this time, I remind you of the difference between the phrase all is right and all is well. The first phrase suggests everything in your life is in order and under perfect control. It suggests everything is going exactly as you desire and you do not have a worry in the world. I cannot think of many days in my life when I can say with a straight face that all is right. 

However, the phrase all is well suggests something very different. All is well suggests that things may not be going according to my plan. Things may not be right with my body. My finances and my relationships may not be right according to the standards of this world. Nevertheless, I can still sing the song that says: 

When peace like a river attendeth my way, 

when sorrows like sea billows roll;  

whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, 

it is well; it is well with my soul. 

Things have not been alright this week, but it is well with my soul. In the words of the commercial by Nationwide Insurance Company, “Sometimes life comes at you fast”—but it is well with my soul. After all I’ve been through, I still have joy and it is well with my soul.  

I have some advice for those still saying, “I can’t get no satisfaction”—they need to look somewhere else for their contentment. They should consider Isaiah 55:2, 6 which says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?…Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.” 

This is the gift of the Advent season; it is a season when we are reminded that the best things in life work from the inside out, not from the outside in. Life is not about happiness, pleasure, thrills or highs. Real satisfaction in life comes from the themes of Advent, three of which are also listed among the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy and peace. 

There is a song I learned in the devotional services of the Baptist church that says: 

“This joy I have the world didn’t give to me, 

The world didn’t give it, and the world 

can’t take it away.” 

This is what separates joy from the cheap thrills, the fleeting happiness and the temporal pleasures associated with this world; only joy can say, “The world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away.”

_______________________________________

Co-founder, spiritual leader and aesthetic conscience of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was the band's resident R&B purist, and, though it's hard to imagine now, rival to Mick Jagger for the role of band face. When the Stones first arrived, it was as a blues band. The group's origins lay in Jones', Jagger's, and Keith Richards' passion for obscure American race records. But as the novelty of five skinny white Brits singing and playing like black men wore off and Mick and Keith started writing originals, Jones resisted the urge to go pop. He also developed a heroic appetite for narcotics and hallucinogens, leading him to be fired from the group he helped create. Depending on which story you believe, Jones either drowned or was forcibly drowned in his own pool July 3, 1969. (Credit: ANP)

Larger image

Credit: ANP

Co-founder, spiritual leader and aesthetic conscience of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was the band’s resident R&B purist, and, though it’s hard to imagine now, rival to Mick Jagger for the role of band face. When the Stones first arrived, it was as a blues band. The group’s origins lay in Jones’, Jagger’s, and Keith Richards’ passion for obscure American race records. But as the novelty of five skinny white Brits singing and playing like black men wore off and Mick and Keith started writing originals, Jones resisted the urge to go pop. He also developed a heroic appetite for narcotics and hallucinogens, leading him to be fired from the group he helped create. Depending on which story you believe, Jones either drowned or was forcibly drowned in his own pool July 3, 1969.

July 27, 2011 – 8:28 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

Kurt Cobain’s spiritual search started in a Christian home but ended in Buddhism (Club 27 series part 2)jh41

The Rise And Rise Of Kurt Cobain part 1/3

Amy Winehouse joined the “Club 27 the other day with her early death. I am going through the others one by one. Today is Kurt Cobain. (I did another post on Cobain also.) Some of the other members of the 27 club were Gary Thain,Pete Ham,Ron “Pigpen” McKernan,Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison

kurt cobain

 

7. Kurt Cobain

very rarely does an artist come along and not just upset the “apple cart” but drops a nuclear bomb on the friggin thing. i used to refer to kurt back then as the career killer. he literally almost single handedly shut down an entire genre that had been at the top of charts for ten years. that west coast, sunset strip, glamrock dudefest of a scene was annihilated by a kid from seattle with a guitar and his grandfather’s sweater.

i remember the first time i heard “smells like teen spirit” on the radio and as the song finished i thought to myself “i must hear that again, now”. i hopped in my car and booted down to the record shop (remember those), picked it up, took it home and played it all night. every track rocked and that album is truly a masterpiece.

as good as i thought nevermind was, though, i was even more blown away when i heard the unplugged album. i realized this was more than a great songwriter with rockstar looks and a bad drug habit. this guy was in “tortured artist” territory and to listen to his take on some of those old blues standards is haunting especially on “in the pines” a.k.a. “where did you sleep last night”. the pain in his voice is palpable and heart wrenching and i’m not saying i knew he was going to check himself out but you could kind of hear it in his voice.

it’s a shame kurt couldn’t have cleaned up and gotten some help, not just for him and his family but also for the legions of fans gypped out of all the amazing nirvana music that will never exist. “it gets better kurt, it gets better”…damn what a waste.

essential listening: nevermind, unplugged (nirvana)

______________________________________

The world will tell you to rush after your passion to

find happiness, but after you’ve obtained it and the fairy

dust settles, you will still have emptiness of soul and

spirit. Having money in the bank, credit cards, and a hot

body won’t give you a real sense of purpose. The only way

you can obtain lasting fulfillment is through someone who

is not of this world—the Lord Jesus Christ! Only He can

help you achieve the kind of success that endures.

You may have heard of the ’90s rock group Nirvana. The

lead singer was Kurt Cobain, and if anyone appeared to have

it all, it was this former teen idol. Cobain had screaming fans

around the globe, and his albums sold millions. He’d won

awards and Grammys, and had earned more money than he

could spend. In addition to all this fame, he had an adorable

baby daughter. There wasn’t one thing the world had to offer

that Kurt Cobain hadn’t obtained. Yet in 1994, he ended his

life with a gunshot. Why? From a worldly perspective it didn’t

make sense, but from a spiritual viewpoint, it came into sharp

focus. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, Kurt Cobain

didn’t have peace and contentment. He might have felt the

temporary rush of newfound success, but once the excitement

wore off, he was still surrounded by everything he

despised, including himself. He was so discontented, in fact,

that he chose to abandon it all and take his own life.

Obviously, not every person who’s not a follower of

Christ will become suicidal, but there’s something to be

learned from Kurt Cobain’s horrific death: a person can

have everything and nothing at the same time.

Jesus said in John 10:10 (NKJV) that He came so you

could have life and have it abundantly. That doesn’t mean

you’re not going to suffer trials and times of sorrow. You

may have already been there—I know I have had my share

of tough times. But what sets you apart from people like

Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kurt Cobain is

that even in the midst of heartache, you can experience

the peace that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4:7, RSV ). Your life can have meaning and purpose, regardless of

whether or not you have everything you desire. That’s the

promise Jesus has given you!

The suicide of Kurt Cobain, on April 5, 1994, was a defining moment of music culture in the 1990s. It signaled the death not only of one fantastically important musician, but of all the generational identity that had been conferred on him by his legions of fans (and just as many of his detractors). To hear his songs, to see his image in photos and videos, to think of all that lay ahead for him and his band, Nirvana, Cobain's death seemed equally unimaginable and inevitable. His arrival felt like a minor revolution in popular culture. So did his departure. (AP Photo/Mark J.Terrill)

Larger image

AP Photo/Mark J.Terrill

The suicide of Kurt Cobain, on April 5, 1994, was a defining moment of music culture in the 1990s. It signaled the death not only of one fantastically important musician, but of all the generational identity that had been conferred on him by his legions of fans (and just as many of his detractors). To hear his songs, to see his image in photos and videos, to think of all that lay ahead for him and his band, Nirvana, Cobain’s death seemed equally unimaginable and inevitable. His arrival felt like a minor revolution in popular culture. So did his departure.

I found the artlicle below on the internet. It was thought provoking.

The Book That Made Your World: Book Review

By: JN Manokaran
Monday, 20 June 2011, 10:00 (IST)

This book by Vishal Mangalwadi is fabulous, timely, relevant and contemporary reading for Postmodern world. It rightly evaluates the present thought pattern and reminds the origin of original ideas that transformed West made it as the best civilization in the history of humanity. The author rightly says that Christian professors in India and America have very little idea about the importance of the Bible and its contribution for making the modern world. The book has seven parts: The soul of Western civilization; A Personal pilgrimage; The seeds of Western Civilization; The Millennium’s revolution; The Intellectual Revolution; What made the West the Best?: and Globalizing Modernity

Kurt Cobain a rock band singer who created Nirvana committed suicide. The hurt from divorced parents could not be healed by music, fame, money, sex, drugs…etc. He accepted the noble truth of Buddha that life is suffering hence did not have emotional, social, spiritual center that led to his suicide. Many teenagers are committing suicide because of lack of this spiritual anchor. Buddha’s rejection of self appealed to skeptics like Pyrrho of Elea (360-270 BC) who travelled to India and started teaching that nothing is truly knowable. So people stopped paying to philosophers for teaching nothing. This led the decline of education, philosophy and science in Greece. West like ancient Greece is embracing Buddha’s pessimism. If nothingness is ultimate, it cannot do anything positive. So Cobain committed suicide.

A pessimistic religion cannot appreciate music, so did not leave music tradition or instrument, as Buddhist monks goal was silence of their tongues and their thoughts. St. Augustine introduced music in western education and worldview. Since, the essence of music is mathematical numbers; saw scientific basis for music. The longest book in the bible is Psalms. Western musicians assumed that the world is cosmos and not chaos. Benedictine monks built the world’s largest pipe organ in the cathedral of Winchester, England that required seventy men and twenty-six bellows to supply wind to its four hundred pipes; which was most advance machine until the invention of mechanical clock.

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The salvation Kurt Cobain was so desperate to experience is found only in Christ

July 11, 2013 – 1:14 am

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Kurt Cobain’s spiritual search started in a Christian home but ended in Buddhism (Club 27 series part 2)jh41

July 27, 2011 – 7:04 am

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Videos of those in 27 club

November 6, 2012 – 12:50 am

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27 club (Complete list)

February 7, 2012 – 12:43 am

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Pete de Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen is a member of the “27 club” (Part 9)

August 2, 2011 – 6:53 am

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Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead is a member of “27 Club” because of alcohol (Part 8)

August 1, 2011 – 9:25 am

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Gary Thain of Uriah Heep is a member of the “27 Club” (Part 7)

July 31, 2011 – 8:18 am

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Janis Joplin joins “27 Club” three weeks after Jimi Hendrix (Part 6)

July 30, 2011 – 11:02 am

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Jimi Hendrix one of first members of the “27 club” (Part 5)

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Pete Ham of Bad Finger (Part 4 of series on “27 Club”)

July 28, 2011 – 7:29 am

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Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

July 27, 2011 – 8:28 am

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Ecclesiastes: Philosophical Atheist, Before you Commit Suicide Read Ecclesiastes (Quotes Sharon Rocha, Erik Wielenberg, the Declaration of Independence, Stephen Hawking, and Alan Sandage)

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July 27, 2011 – 7:04 am Categories: Current Events | Comments (3)

Great review on Midnight in Paris with talk about artists being disatisfied

 

What Midnight in Paris Teaches Us About Every Artist

This weekend, my wife and I went to see Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. I was surprised by how much it inspired me as a writer and artist.

Midnight in ParisMidnight in Paris, a film by Woody Allen

I dare say that it was the first Woody Allen film I thoroughly enjoyed. The score is definitively Parisian, the cinematography nostalgic, and the plot inventively clever. Onereviewer wrote:

Midnight in Paris is a loving embrace of the city, of art and of life itself.

I couldn’t agree more. But what I loved about the movie is that it was made particularly for creatives. Here’s the plot in a nutshell:

  • A mismatched couple engaged to be married goes to Paris for vacation.
  • Aspiring novelist Gil (Wilson) spends his nights falling in love with the city, while his fiancee Inez (McAdams) criticizes his dreams.
  • One night as the clock strikes 12, Wilson’s character is transported back to the 1920s (his favorite era), meeting Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and others.
  • The protagonist ultimately must reconcile his passion for the past and living in the present, while being true to his calling as a writer.

While full of comic moments, Midnight in Paris makes a poignant commentary about the life of an artist.

Lessons about Art from Midnight in Paris

As a writer, I took great solace in how the film portrayed the basic struggles of artists and the inherent lessons in those struggles.

Paris Cityscape from Midnight in ParisParis cityscape from Midnight in Paris

Artists are misunderstood

Gil is not only misunderstood by Inez; he is disdained by her.

She and others regularly scoff at his lofty dreams of traveling and writing a novel. At best, he istolerated by them.

This ultimately sends him searching.

We artists need to come to grips with the fact that to be creative is to be misunderstood, and yet temper this with the importance of not disconnecting ourselves entirely from the rest of the world.

We cannot inspire that which we are not a part of.

Artists are discontented

Gil is writing a novel about himself — it’s the story of a man who owns a nostalgia shop and cannot help but consider that to live in another time would be better, simpler.

When he finds himself in the company of those from that era, he finds that they themselves are longing for another “Golden Age.”

This struggle is what makes artists great. The longing for something more is what drives us to create magnificent works of art.

But it can also lead us to an an artist’s demise. Unchecked discontent can lead to unhealthy thrill-seeking (as with Picasso’s lust for new lovers and Hemingway’s obsession with adventure and alcohol).

Artists need community

The fact that Gil is so misunderstood and restless is what leads him to walk the streets of Paris at night. When he finds a community of world-famous writers and artists that take him in, he learns two lessons:

  1. He needs the companionship of others to be true to his voice as an artist.
  2. The community around him is not the right one.

He learns, as all artists must, the importance of embracing tension.

The main lesson?

You are not alone.

You, the brilliant artist, are not alone. That’s the lesson every writer, painter, photographer, and film-maker must learn.

You, the creative person full of oddities and eccentricities that may have been the source of shame and embarrassment at one time, are not alone.

You, who feels so out of place in this world, are not alone.

The challenge

You must find a community that will encourage you, even if it means leaving the one to which you currently belong.

You must live in the tension of being misunderstood and dissatisfied with the way things are and being called to create art that inspires and leads people to believe in something more.

It is not an easy calling, but it is a noble one.

Further Reading: ‘Midnight in Paris,’ a Historical Review [NYTimes]

As an artist, do you feel alone? How do you deal with the tension of being different from the world but called to make a difference in it?

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Goins

I help people tell better stories and make a difference in the world. I live in Tennessee with my wife and dog. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

July 27, 2011 – 6:20 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

What does the Heritage Foundation have to say about the saving the American dream project released May 10, 2011? (Part 4)

“Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” Heritage Foundation, May 10, 2011 by  Stuart Butler, Ph.D. , Alison Acosta Fraser and William Beachis one of the finest papers I have ever read. Over the next few days I will post portions of this paper, and today are some of the conclusions of this study.

Medicare. The Heritage plan changes Medicare by moving to a defined
contribution premium-support system subject to competitive bidding. The CDA
projects that the Heritage plan will save almost $1.6 trillion by 2021 compared
with the current law baseline and $9.4 trillion by 2035. Overall, federal health
care spending is 40 percent less under the Heritage plan.

Premium support and competitive bidding are not new
ideas and have been analyzed before. In December 2006, the CBO estimated that a
premium-support program with competitive bidding could reduce Medicare
expenditures by 8 percent to 11 percent, although it would not significantly
affect underlying spending growth.[10] Another study on the benefits of consumer
choice through such approaches found that Medicare spending would fall by 8
percent as a result of choice and competition.[11] The CDA assumes that, when the Heritage plan
is fully implemented, Medicare spending will fall by 5 percent annually because
of the budgeted defined contribution and competitive bidding. However,
there are reasons to believe that Medicare cost growth would fall by much more
as seniors are given a reason to be cost-conscious consumers of health care.
Therefore, the 5 percent decrease that we estimate from the competition reform
is likely a lower bound.

Wealthier seniors contribute more toward their health care under the Heritage
plan. The CDA used the Current Population Survey to estimate how many seniors
have adjusted gross income in excess of the phaseout thresholds. Under the plan
the value of the premium contribution is reduced by 1.82 percent for each $1,000
in excess of the phaseout level. The CDA estimates that just over 9 percent of
seniors have income in excess of the phaseout threshold.

Other changes in Medicare include increasing the
eligibility age and requiring higher Part B premiums for those continuing to
participate in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. The CDA scoring
of these changes closely matches CBO scoring estimates of various budget
options.[12]

Medicaid and the Working-Age Population. The Medicaid reforms in the
Heritage plan will significantly strengthen the economy by slowing down health
care costs and federal spending on health care, reducing barriers to economic
mobility, and encouraging work and savings.

The Heritage plan makes several reforms to Medicaid, reshaping the program to
focus on the disabled and elderly with very low incomes and providing
able-bodied adults and their families with assistance to buy private insurance
instead of Medicaid. This is an especially important component of the plan
because it will reduce barriers for many non-disabled adults to return to work.
Today, many lose coverage if they take a job with an employer that does not
offer insurance. By introducing stricter eligibility requirements for the
program (with the alternative assistance for certain current enrollees) and
capping spending growth, the Heritage plan will bring Medicaid spending and its
growth path under control, saving taxpayers $1.1 trillion compared with the
baseline in the first 10 years and $8.2 trillion by 2035.

The Heritage plan replaces Medicaid coverage for non-disabled adults and
children with a tax credit and voucher for purchasing health insurance in the
private market.

Social Security Modernization. The Heritage plan works to protect
seniors from poverty, but also transparently reduces checks to more affluent
seniors. Today, the benefits of more affluent seniors are taxed, and the taxes
reduce checks at much lower income levels than the phasedown threshold in the
Heritage plan. The Heritage plan also adjusts the retirement age to take into
account increased life expectancy.

With modeling assistance from the American Enterprise Institute, the CDA
estimates that the Heritage reforms will reduce federal spending by $1.7
trillion from 2012 to 2021 and $10.9 trillion cumulative by 2035. This is a
reduction of almost 4 percent in annual Social Security outlays by 2035 while
ensuring that no eligible senior falls below the poverty line.

July 27, 2011 – 12:35 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment