The Truth about Abraham Lincoln

I really enjoyed the movie and I looked up a lot about the characters mentioned in the movie Lincoln and found all of them correctly represented in the movie. However, today on the Heritage Foundation blog there is an article by Julia Shaw that states, “Representative Joe Courtney (D–CT) recently penned an open letter to the man who wrote the movie Lincoln. The film depicts a divided Connecticut state congressional delegation, with three members voting to uphold slavery. Courtney declares that cannot stand. He clarifies that, in 1865, Connecticut’s representatives voted unanimously to abolish slavery. Lincoln writer Tony Kushner doesn’t apologize for the error. Lincoln is a work of fiction, he says, and real events were exaggerated to add to the drama.”

I totally missed that, but then the same article goes on and debunks 5 other fictions about the man Abraham Lincoln. This would have been the week Lincoln would have turned 204.

Julia Shaw

February 12, 2013 at 3:00 am

Photo credit: Paul Horsted Stock Connection Worldwide/Newscom

Representative Joe Courtney (D–CT) recently penned an open letter to the man who wrote the movie Lincoln. The film depicts a divided Connecticut state congressional delegation, with three members voting to uphold slavery. Courtney declares that cannot stand. He clarifies that, in 1865, Connecticut’s representatives voted unanimously to abolish slavery.

Lincoln writer Tony Kushner doesn’t apologize for the error. Lincoln is a work of fiction, he says, and real events were exaggerated to add to the drama. (The writer of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has yet to clarify that his portrayal of the 16th President as a vampire slayer is also fictional.)

Historical accuracy is crucial. So as we celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 204th birthday this week, let’s separate the fact from fiction about Honest Abe:

1. Lincoln was a tyrant.

Fiction.

Many who make this claim rely primarily on his decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus at the beginning of the Civil War. As The honorable Frank J. Williams explains, Lincoln defended his decision on constitutional grounds: Since the Constitution does not specify who may suspend habeas corpus “in cases of rebellion or invasion” (Article I, Section 9), he as President did so because Congress was not in session. When Congress did reconvene, Lincoln requested it retroactively approve all the emergency measures he had taken since the commencement of the war, and Congress did.

Critics of Lincoln also fail to mention the most impressive piece of evidence against the tyranny claim: free and competitive elections were held in the midst of the war in 1864. Democrats openly campaigned on a pledge to end the war and drop the slavery issue. They were trounced at the polls.

2. Lincoln didn’t really care about slavery. He was only interested in preserving the Union.

Fiction.

Lincoln believed that slavery was evil and absolutely incompatible with the central American truth of equality. He also believed that it was wrong for a political official to exceed the constitutional authority granted to him. In reality, Lincoln was able to abolish slavery while preserving the Union.

As President of the United States, Lincoln had only the powers granted to him in the Constitution, and the power to abolish slavery was not one of them. Lincoln’s unwillingness as President to abolish slavery unilaterally in the states should be contrasted with his eagerness to outlaw slavery in the territories. Since the Constitution gives the national government power to govern territories—but not to govern states’ domestic policies—Lincoln adamantly opposed allowing slavery in the territories.

3. Lincoln was the father of big government.

Fiction.

President Obama invokes Abraham Lincoln’s legacy to support the vast expansion of the federal government. Yet by any measure, Lincoln was not the father of big government, as Allen C. Geulzo’s Special Report explains.

Ballooning budgets? Nope. The budget expanded to cover the cost of the war, but then shrank again.

Numerous civil servants? Not at all. The entire State Department was staffed by 33 people in 1863, including the Secretary of State, William Seward, and the department’s four security guards.

Expansive bureaucracy? Think again. Between the 1850s and the end of the Civil War, the federal government added seven new agencies (only one of which had any sort of extensive power, and all were lightly staffed) with a total of 22 agencies (there isn’t room to list all of the agencies, commissions, boards, and departments we have now).

If you really want to blame a president for big government, begin with number 28. It’s a Wilsonian world, regrettably.

4. Lincoln’s greatest legacy was preserving the Constitution.

Fact.

Lincoln was deeply committed to the framework of limited government set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He stated that he “never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” Lincoln vindicated the Constitution against the twin heresies of secession and nullification. Lincoln affirmed the two central principles of the Union: divided sovereignty and equal citizenship based on the natural rights of individuals. His true legacy is therefore preserving the Constitution and the Union.

I am loath to close, dear readers. There are too many facts and fictions to discuss. Though passion, movies, and misguided speeches may have strained our understanding of Lincoln, it must not break our bonds of affection.

Happy birthday, Mr. Lincoln.

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Bataan Death March Survivor Silas Legrow of Cabot, Arkansas Rest in Peace

We lost a great man recently when we lost Silas Legrow. He was 90 years old. I had written about him before. Back then I wrote:

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 he and his unit were forced to participate in what became known as the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. My 11 year old son Wilson and I went to hear him speak that night and were able to get a front row seat. 

Legrow started off his talk that evening by stating, “I want to tell you that prayer and faith meant a lot to me during those 39 months. Each day on the march, we plodded along like zombies.Words can’t explain the mental and physical abuse your body takes when you go without food and water.”

Legrow said he weighed 175 pounds at the beginning of the march, and 110 when the 10-day trek was over. About 100,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to march about 60 miles with no food and little water from the Bataan Peninsula to prison camps. Over 10% of that number died during the march.

“Many died, many lived, and only a few of us are alive today to tell the story,” Legrow said. “I feel both blessed and grateful to be one of those few.”  

After the talk was over I got to visit personally with Mr Legrow (who was 85 yrs old at the time) and he thanked us for coming. I told him  that his talk seemed only a few moments long since it was so interesting. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop during his talk because of the respect the people had for Mr. Legrow. 

 

OBITUARY SUBMITTED BY:

Roller-Owens Funeral Home

5509 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, AR

Phone: 501-791-7400

Below is an excellent story on Legrow’s experience.

 

Pfc. Silas B. LeGrow


    Pfc. Silas B. LeGrow was born in August 12, 1918.  He was raised, with his brother, at 3512 Tacon Street in Tempa, Florida, where he attended school.  While he was a child, he was orphaned and raised by his aunt and uncle.  He later moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he lived with a cousin at 1116 Starr Avenue.  He would later work on a farm as a hired hand in Portage Township, Wood County, Ohio.       While a resident of Toledo, Silas attempted to join a local Ohio National Guard Unit, but since there were no openings, he could not join the company.  With the help of Lt. Col. Roland B. Lee of the Ohio National Guard, Silas was able to join the Company H Tank Company of the Ohio National Guard.

    On November 25, 1940, Silas’s National Guard company was called to Federal duty as C Company, 192nd Tank Battalion.  The company was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky were it joined three other National Guard companies from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kentucky to form the battalion.  For most of the next year, the soldiers trained and attended school. In Silas’s case he became a tank driver.

    In the late summer of 1941, the 192nd Tank Battalion took part in maneuvers in Louisiana.  It was after these maneuvers that Silas learned that the battalion was being sent overseas.  He and the other soldiers were given furloughs home to say goodbye to family and friends.

    From Camp Polk, Louisiana, Silas traveled west to San Francisco by train. Upon arrival, the battalion was taken by ferry to Angel Island.  There, the soldiers were inoculated and received physicals.

   Sailing for the Philippine Islands, the battalion arrived in Manila and was transported by train to Ft. Stotsenburg.  For over two weeks the soldier prepared their tanks for maneuvers.  

   The morning of December 8, 1941, Silas learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Around 12:45 in the afternoon, while Silas was serving lunch to C Company, the Japanese attacked Clark Field.  During the attack, Silas could do little but watch. Silas recalled, “It seemed like a false alarm. No one could believe that the Japs would ever attack the United States.” 

    For the next four months, Silas attempted to feed the soldiers of C Company in whatever manner he could.  The morning of April 9, 1942, he became a Prisoner of War when Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese.  

    Two days after the surrender, Silas and the rest of C Company made their way to Mariveles.  It was from there that they started what became known as the Bataan Death March.  “I weighed 175 pounds at the start of the two week march and was down to 110 when it ended.”  Suffering from malaria, Silas had to be helped on the march by other members of the company.  “We all had to help each other.  The men were ready to drop from exhaustion and anyone who lagged would be prodded along with bayonets and rifle butts.”

    Silas and the other POWs made there way to San Fernando.  There, they were packed into small wooden boxcars and taken to Capas.  At Capas, the dead fell out of the cars as the living climbed out.  From Capas he made his way to Camp O’Donnell.

   Silas was next held as a POW at Cabanatuan.  He remained in the camp until October 1942, when he was selected for shipment to Manchuria.

       On October 5, 1942, Silas and another 1600 POW’s were sent to the dock area of Manila,  They spent two days housed in a warehouse on the dock before being boarded onto Tottori Maru. 

    Silas and the other men were placed into the ship’s hold.  They would remain there for two days before the ship sailed.  The trip would take 31 days before the ship docked in Korea. According to Silas “All we had to eat was fish and wormy rice. We had to pick out as many worms as we could, but we couldn’t get out all of them.  Sometimes we got so hungry, we ate the rice, worms and all.”

    The ship sailed for Takao, Formosa.  The prisoners were divided into two groups. One group was placed in the holds while the other group remained on deck.  The lucky POWs remained on deck.   The conditions on the ship were indescribable, but those in the hold were worse off than those on deck.  This situation was made worse by the fact that for the first two weeks of the voyage the prisoners were not fed.  Many POWs died during the trip.

    Shortly after leaving Manila, the Totori Maru came under a torpedo attack by an American submarine.  The captain of the ship maneuvered it to avoid torpedoes.  Woody and the other POWs watched as the two torpedoes fired at the ship missed. 

    The ship continued its voyage arriving at Takao, Formosa on October 12th.  The ship remained at Takao for four days before sailing.  It returned to Takao the same day and sailed again on October 18th.   When it reached the Pescadores Islands, it dropped anchor. It remained off the islands until October 27th when it returned to Takao.  During this stay, the POWs were disembarked and washed down with fire hoses.

   The ship sailed again on October 30th.  On October 31st, the ship stopped at Makou, Pescadores Islands before continuing its trip to Pusan, Korea.  During this trip, the ship was caught in a typhoon which took five days to ride out.  It was during this storm that Woody’s friend lost the vision in one eye because he was hit the face by salt water spray.

    After 31 days on the ship, the Totori Maru docked at Pusan, Korea on November 7th.  1300 POW’s got off the ship and sent on a four day train trip north to Mukden, Manchria.   The 400 POWs who remained on the ship were sent to Japan.  There, they worked in a sawmill or a manufacturing plant.

    At Mukden, Manchuria, Silas was given a set of clothes and a overcoat.  These were the only clothes he received while he was held at Mukden.   At Mukdan, the POWs were housed in wooden barracks.  The prisoners slept on double-decker shelves with only a thin mat between them and the wooden boards. He and the other POWs had to sleep on their sides since there was no room to stretch out.

   Silas remained in Manchuria until he was liberated by Russian troops in 1945.  He returned to the United States and visited his relatives in Florida. Later, he returned to Port Clinton to be reunited with the other surviving members of C Company.

   Silas married and became the father of four sons.  Today, Silas B. LeGrow resides in Cabot, Arkansas.  He is one of the last two surviving National Guard members of C Company.

Rel

 

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Alabama (1), Florida (2), Ole Miss (5), Texas A&M (8), and Georgia (10) are in about everyone’s top ten. Auburn (11) did very well according to everyone too. South Carolina (17), Vandy (22),  and Miss St (25) hung in there pretty good. Tennessee (29) and Arkansas (31) did excellent considering the fact that their coaches had to come in there at the last second and throw something together.

 

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The Bible and Archaeology (4/5)

For many more archaeological evidences in support of the Bible, see Archaeology and the Bible . (There are some great posts on this too at the bottom of this post.)

 

Robert Dick Wilson at the Grove City Bible Conference in 1909.


IS THE HIGHER CRITICISM SCHOLARLY?Clearly attested facts showing that thedestructive “assured results of modern scholarship” are indefensible

By Robert Dick Wilson, Ph.D., D.D.

Professor of Semitic Philology in Princeton Theological Seminary[Originally Published in 1922] 


No Whit Different From Our Own Language To-day

We see that the Hebrew, just like the Aramaic, has embedded in it traces of the nations that influenced its history from 2000 B. C. to A. D. 1500, or indeed to the present time. The reader will compare this with the marks which have been left upon our American nomenclature by the different nations that have influenced its history. The native Indian appears in the names Massachusetts, Connecticut, Allegheny, Ohio, Mexico, Yucatan, and countless other terms. The Spanish appears in Florida, San Anselmo, Los Angeles, Vera Cruz, New Granada, and numerous appellations of mountains, rivers, and cities; the French, in Montreal, Detroit, Vincennes, Duquesne, Louisiana, St Louis, and New Orleans; the Dutch in Hackensack, Schenectady, Schuyler; the German, in Germantown, and Snyder County (Pennsylvania). Some of these languages have contributed, also, various words of common use such as moccasin, succotash, potato, maize, tomato, tomahawk, prairie, sauerkraut, broncho, and corral.

These languages have all left their mark, but the great directing, predominating, language and nation were the English, as shown not merely in our literature and laws, but also in such names as New Hampshire, Boston, New York, Albany, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and the names of most of our cities, counties, and statesmen. But that the English received their laws largely from the Romans and Normans is evident in any law book or courtroom; that they received their religion from the Hebrews through the Greek and Latin churches is evident from the words we use everyday such as amen, hallelujah, priest, baptism, cathedral, bishop, chant, cross, resurrection, glory, and countless others.
 

Critics Undervalue the Totality of the Evidence

Thus the vicissitudes of the life of the English people for the last fifteen hundred years can be traced in the foreign words that have been taken over into its literature during that period. So also with the Hebrew people for the last four thousand years, and in the first part of sixteen hundred years no less that since that time. And in the study of the Hebrew literature in the light of the foreign elements that are embedded in it, we find that the truthfulness of the history is incidentally but convincingly confirmed. In each stage of the literature the foreign words in the documents are found to belong to the language of the peoples that the Scriptures and the records of the nations surrounding Israel unite in declaring to have influenced and affected the Israelites at that time. The critics of the Old Testament have never given sufficient weight to the totality of this evidence.

That the presence of Babylonian terms in the first chapter of Genesis points to a time when Babylonian influence was predominant, no one will dispute; but the same influence is manifest in the second chapter and also in Daniel. This influence can easily be accounted for in all three instances on the supposition that the contents of Genesis 1 and 2 were brought by Abraham from Babylon and that the book of Daniel was written at Babylon in the sixth century B. C.  While it might be accounted for in Genesis 1 if it were composed at Babylon during or after the exile, how can it have influenced Genesis 2, if, as the critics asset, it were written somewhere between 800 and 750 B. C.? How can we account for the Babylonian influence in Daniel if as the same critics assure us, it were written in Palestine in 164 B. C.?

Why Are Persian Words Missing in Critic-Belated Bible Books?

So of the Persian words. They are found especially in Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel, all ostensibly from the Persian period of world domination. According to analogy, this Persian domination accounts for their presence in these books. But how about their absence from Jonah, Joel, Job, the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the so-called Priest-Code of the Pentateuch and other writings which the critics place in the Persian period? Why especially should the Priest-Code have no Persian, and probably no Aramaic, words, if it were written between 500 and 300 B. C., in the very age and, as some affirm, by the very author of the book of Ezra? And why should the only demonstrably Babylonian words in this part of the Pentateuch be found in the accounts of the Creation and the Flood, which may so well have come with Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees? And how could the word for “kind” (min), an Egyptian word, have come to be used by the man who is supposed to have written this latest part of the Pentateuch in Babylon in the fifth century B. C.?

These and other similar questions that ought to be asked we may leave to the critics of the Old Testament to attempt to answer. They dare not deny the facts without laying themselves open to the charge of ignorance. They dare not ignore them without submitting to the charge of willful suppression of the facts in evidence.

But someone will say: How about the Greek words in Daniel? No one claims that there are any Greek words in the Hebrew of Daniel. In the Aramaic parts of Daniel there are three words, all names of musical instruments, which are alleged, not proved, to be Greek. It is more likely than not, I think, that they are of Greek origin, though no one of them is exactly transliterated. Assuming, however, that they are Greek, and waiving the question as to weather this part of the book was originally written in Hebrew, or Babylonian, and afterwards translated into Aramaic, there is no good reason for supposing that Greek musical instruments, retaining their original names though in a somewhat perverted form, may not have been used at the court of Nebuchadnezzar.
 

How Greek Words May Have Crept Into Daniel

It is known for a certainty that from the earliest times the kings and peoples of Babylon and Nineveh delighted in music. Now the Greeks, according to all their traditions and habits, both in war and worship, had practiced music at all periods of their history and far excelled all ancient peoples in their attainments in the art of music. We all know how readily musical instruments and their native names travel from land to land. We might instance the ukelele, the guitar, the organ, and the trumpet. The Greeks themselves imported many foreign musical instruments which retained their foreign names. From at least 1000 B. C. there was an active commerce between the Greeks and the Semites. Cyprus and Cilicia were subdued by the Assyrian kings; and Sennacherib about 700 B. C. conquered a Greek fleet and carried many prisoners captive to Nineveh. Assurbanipal received the homage of Gyges, king of Lydia, the neighbor and overlord of many Greek cities in Asia Minor.

Greeks had been settled in Egypt since long before the time of Assurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar and served as mercenaries in the armies of the Egyptian kings of Nineveh and Babylon, and also in the army of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Thousands, perhaps, tens of thousands, of captive Greek soldiers would, according to the custom of those days, be settled in the cities of the Euphrates and Tigris valleys. And these valleys were filled with people who spoke Aramaic. The Greeks would mingle with them and, as in the case of the Jews at Babylon, the natives would ask of them a song; and they would sing their strange songs to the accompaniment of their native instruments. This is one way in which the instruments and their names could get into Aramaic long before the time when the Aramaic of Daniel was written. Another was through the slaves, both men and girls, who would certainly be brought from all lands to minister to the pleasures of the luxurious court of the Chaldean king.
 

Why Daniel May Have Used Persian Words

That Daniel may have used the so-called Persian words in a document dating from the latter part of the sixth century B. C. is manifest when we remember that the children of Israel from the kingdom of Samaria had been captive among the Medes for two hundred years before the time of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and that the Jews had been carried to the banks of the Chebar and other localities where Aramaic was spoken nearly two generations before Daniel died. The Medes spoke a dialect of the Persian, and, having overthrown Nineveh in 606 B. C., had ruled over large numbers of Aramæan tribes on the upper Tigris ever since that time. Such Medo-Persian terms are found in Daniel, being mostly official titles like governor and names of persons, are the ones which would most readily be adopted by the subject nations, including the Aramæans and Jews. That the words satrap and Xerxes were taken directly from the Medo-Persian and not from the Greek is shown by the fact that the Hebrew and Aramaic spelling of these names in Daniel is exactly the equivalent of that in the original language and not such as it must have been if these words had been taken over indirectly through the Greek historians.

Before leaving this subject of language, attention must be called to two matters that the critics have made of supreme importance in their attempts to settle the dates of the documents of the Old Testament. The first matter is that of the value, as evidence of date of occurrence, of Aramaic words in a Hebrew document; and the second is the value, as evidence of date, of Hebrew words that occur but once, or at most a few times, in the Old Testament and that reoccur in the Hebrew of the Talmud.
 

Hebraisms in Aramaic, Not Aramaisms in Hebrew

As to the first of these, the so-called Aramaisms, the number of these has been grossly exaggerated. Many of the words and roots formerly called Aramaisms have been found in Babylonian records as early as Abraham. As to the remainder, many of them occur in the Old Testament but once. In view of the fact that there are about 1500 words used but once in the Old Testament, it is impossible to select some of these and call them Aramaisms, simply because they are used in Aramaic also. Hundreds of words in both Aramaic and Hebrew, and also in Babylonian and Arabic, have the same meaning irrespective of the number of times or the document in which they occur. According to the laws of consonantal change existing among the Semitic languages, not more than five or six Aramaic roots can be shown to have been adopted by the Hebrew form the Aramaic. These roots are found in what the critics class as early documents as well as in the later. Besides a large proportion of the words designated as Aramaisms do not occur in any Aramaic dialect except those that were spoken by the Jews. In all such cases the probability is that instead of the words being an Aramaism in Hebrew, it is a Hebraism in Aramaic. For the Hebrew documents in all such cases antedate the Aramaic by hundreds of years; and it is evident that the earlier cannot have been derived from the later.

Again the critics find words which they call Aramaisms not merely in the books which they assert to be late, but in those that according to their own dating, are the earliest. In this case without any evidence except their own theory of how it ought to be, they charge that the original text has been changed and the Aramaic word inserted. Such procedure is contrary to all the laws of evidence, fairness, and common sense. For there is no reason why the early documents of the Hebrews should not have contained linguistic marks of Aramaic influence. According to Genesis 31, Laban spoke Aramaic. David conquered Damascus and other cities where Aramaic was spoken and the Israelites have certainly been in continuous contact with Aramæan tribes from that time to the present. Sporadic cases of the use of Aramaic words would, therefore, prove nothing as to the date of a Hebrew document.
 

A Theory That Would Make All Documents Late

In the second place, critics who are attempting to prove the late date of a certain document are wont to cite the words in that document which occur nowhere else except possibly in another work claimed as being late, and in the Hebrew of the Talmud. Such evidence is worthy of being collected in order to show the peculiarities of an author, but it does not necessarily have anything to do with proving the date. For there are three thousand words in the Old Testament that occur five times only or under, and fifteen hundred that occur but once. Besides, such words occurring elsewhere in the Talmud are found in every book of the Old Testament and in almost every chapter. If such words were proof of the lateness of a document, all documents would be late; a conclusion so absurd as to be held by nobody.
 

Hebrew Literary Forms Duplicated in Babylon and Egypt

From the language of the Old Testament we naturally turn to the literature, in order to see if the literary forms in which the documents are written are such as we would expect to find in existence when the documents lay claim to have been written. Our only evidence here must be derived from comparative literature and contemporary history. Turning, then, to the vast body of the literatures of the Babylonians and Egyptians we find that in one, or both, of them is to be found every type of literary form that is met with in the literature of the Old Testament; except perhaps the discourses of the prophets. As no serious dispute of the date, or authorship, of the works of the prophets is made on the ground of mere literary form, the general statement will stand unimpeached; for poetry, history, laws, and biographies are all amply duplicated in form and style in the many productions of the great nations that surrounded Israel.
 

The Same True of Legal Forms

With regard to the laws it may be said that, not merely in the form in which the individual laws are stated, but also in the manner in which they are collected together in a kind of code, there was a pattern for the Israelites already existing at least from the time of Hammurapi, a contemporary of Abraham. This code of Hammurapi, it is true, deals almost entirely with criminal and civil laws such as we find in parts of Deuteronomy. But the plan of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-29 may be likened to the plans of the Babylonian temples which were placed in their foundation stones, to which Nebuchadnezzar Nabunaid so often refer. Laws similar to those concerning leprosy and other diseases have also come down from the old Sumerians. It is almost certain, also, that the elaborate ceremonies of the Egyptian and Babylonian temples must have been regulated by written laws, though thus far we have discovered no complete code treating of such matters.

That Moses with his education in all the wisdom of the Egyptians at 1500 B. C. might have produced the laws of the Pentateuch under the divine guidance seems beyond dispute. Lycurgus, Mohammed, Charlemagne, Peter the Great, and Napoleon have preformed similar feats without any special divine help. It does not follow that systems of law and constitutions were not written, or inaugurated, because they were never carried out nor permanently established. Theodoric and Alfred the Great and even Charlemagne organized governments which scarcely survived their demise. The critics are in the habit of stressing the fact that so little mention of the law is made in the period before Hezekiah, or even Josiah, and assert that the law of the Priest- code was not fully established before Ezra.

_______________

Is the Bible historically accurate? Here are some of the posts I have done in the past on the subject:


1. 
The Babylonian Chronicle
of Nebuchadnezzars Siege of Jerusalem

This clay tablet is a Babylonian chronicle recording events from 605-594BC. It was first translated in 1956 and is now in the British Museum. The cuneiform text on this clay tablet tells, among other things, 3 main events: 1. The Battle of Carchemish (famous battle for world supremacy where Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Pharoah Necho of Egypt, 605 BC.), 2. The accession to the throne of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Chaldean, and 3. The capture of Jerusalem on the 16th of March, 598 BC.

2. Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription.

King Hezekiah of Judah ruled from 721 to 686 BC. Fearing a siege by the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, Hezekiah preserved Jerusalem’s water supply by cutting a tunnel through 1,750 feet of solid rock from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls (2 Kings 20; 2 Chron. 32). At the Siloam end of the tunnel, an inscription, presently in the archaeological museum at Istanbul, Turkey, celebrates this remarkable accomplishment.

3. Taylor Prism (Sennacherib Hexagonal Prism)

It contains the victories of Sennacherib himself, the Assyrian king who had besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC during the reign of king Hezekiah, it never mentions any defeats. On the prism Sennacherib boasts that he shut up “Hezekiah the Judahite” within Jerusalem his own royal city “like a caged bird.” This prism is among the three accounts discovered so far which have been left by the Assyrian king Sennacherib of his campaign against Israel and Judah.

4. Biblical Cities Attested Archaeologically.

In addition to Jericho, places such as Haran, Hazor, Dan, Megiddo, Shechem, Samaria, Shiloh, Gezer, Gibeah, Beth Shemesh, Beth Shean, Beersheba, Lachish, and many other urban sites have been excavated, quite apart from such larger and obvious locations as Jerusalem or Babylon. Such geographical markers are extremely significant in demonstrating that fact, not fantasy, is intended in the Old Testament historical narratives;

5. The Discovery of the Hittites

Most doubting scholars back then said that the Hittites were just a “mythical people that are only mentioned in the Bible.” Some skeptics pointed to the fact that the Bible pictures the Hittites as a very big nation that was worthy of being coalition partners with Egypt (II Kings 7:6), and these bible critics would assert that surely we would have found records of this great nation of Hittites.  The ironic thing is that when the Hittite nation was discovered, a vast amount of Hittite documents were found. Among those documents was the treaty between Ramesses II and the Hittite King.

6.Shishak Smiting His Captives

The Bible mentions that Shishak marched his troops into the land of Judah and plundered a host of cities including Jerusalem,  this has been confirmed by archaeologists. Shishak’s own record of his campaign is inscribed on the south wall of the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak in Egypt. In his campaign he presents 156 cities of Judea to his god Amon. 

7. Moabite Stone

The Moabite Stone also known as the Mesha Stele is an interesting story. The Bible says in 2 Kings 3:5 that Mesha the king of Moab stopped paying tribute to Israel and rebelled and fought against Israel and later he recorded this event. This record from Mesha has been discovered.

8. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri, silver, gold, bowls of gold, chalices of gold, cups of gold, vases of gold, lead, a sceptre for the king, and spear-shafts, I have received.”

View from the dome of the Capitol!9A Verification of places in Gospel of John and Book of Acts.

Sir William Ramsay, famed archaeologist, began a study of Asia Minor with little regard for the book of Acts. He later wrote:

I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.

9B Discovery of Ebla Tablets. When I think of discoveries like the Ebla Tablets that verify  names like Adam, Eve, Ishmael, David and Saul were in common usage when the Bible said they were, it makes me think of what amazing confirmation that is of the historical accuracy of the Bible.

10. Cyrus Cylinder

There is a well preserved cylinder seal in the Yale University Library from Cyrus which contains his commands to resettle the captive nations.

11. Puru “The lot of Yahali” 9th Century B.C.E.

This cube is inscribed with the name and titles of Yahali and a prayer: “In his year assigned to him by lot (puru) may the harvest of the land of Assyria prosper and thrive, in front of the gods Assur and Adad may his lot (puru) fall.”  It provides a prototype (the only one ever recovered) for the lots (purim) cast by Haman to fix a date for the destruction of the Jews of the Persian Empire, ostensibly in the fifth century B.C.E. (Esther 3:7; cf. 9:26).

12. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription

The Bible mentions Uzziah or Azariah as the king of the southern kingdom of Judah in 2 Kings 15. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription is a stone tablet (35 cm high x 34 cm wide x 6 cm deep) with letters inscribed in ancient Hebrew text with an Aramaic style of writing, which dates to around 30-70 AD. The text reveals the burial site of Uzziah of Judah, who died in 747 BC.

13. The Pilate Inscription

The Pilate Inscription is the only known occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient inscription. Visitors to the Caesarea theater today see a replica, the original is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. There have been a few bronze coins found that were struck form 29-32 AD by Pontius Pilate

14. Caiaphas Ossuary

This beautifully decorated ossuary found in the ruins of Jerusalem, contained the bones of Caiaphas, the first century AD. high priest during the time of Jesus.

14 B Pontius Pilate Part 2      

In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre near Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) and uncovered this interesting limestone block. On the face is a monumental inscription which is part of a larger dedication to Tiberius Caesar which clearly says that it was from “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.”

14c. Three greatest American Archaeologists moved to accept Bible’s accuracy through archaeology.

Despite their liberal training, it was archaeological research that bolstered their confidence in the biblical text:Albright said of himself, “I must admit that I tried to be rational and empirical in my approach [but] we all have presuppositions of a philosophical order.” The same statement could be applied as easily to Gleuck and Wright, for all three were deeply imbued with the theological perceptions which infused their work.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte sees the importance of the Balanced Budget Amendment

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

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

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

We need to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment soon. I am glad that at least some people see the importance of that.

WASHINGTON, DC —

Roanoke Congressman Bob Goodlatte hopes things will be different this time, for his balanced budget amendment bill.

The new Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee introduced the bills on Thursday, with the start of the 113th Congress.  Rep. Goodlatte (R-6th) had introduced the bills in the prior three Congresses, but they have not been adopted.

“When I introduced these bills two years ago, the national debt had topped an unprecedented $14 trillion,” wrote Rep. Goodlatte in a news release.  “Today, the national debt has soared well past a staggering $16 trillion.  This rapid increase in debt and four consecutive trillion dollar plus budget deficits are clear signs that Washington has a serious spending problem.”

Goodlatte’s bill would:

  • Require Congress to not spend more money than the country takes in
  • Require the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress
  • Require a 3/5th majority vote to increase the federal debt limit

The bill provides exceptions in times of national emergencies.

Goodlatte noted that 49 of the 50 U.S. states, including Virginia, have a balanced budget requirement.

5th District Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Chatham) signed on as a co-sponsor of Rep. Goodlatte’s bill.

“For far too long, members of both parties have chosen the politically expedient course over what is in the best interest of our nation – casting aside meaningful proposals for deficit reduction and carrying our nation further along on a careless spending binge.  As a result, we have witnessed the devastating consequences for the people of Virginia’s 5th District and those all across our country as unemployment levels have remained unacceptably high and the debt continues to grow. At a time when we are borrowing 45 cents on the dollar and rapidly adding to a more than $16 trillion debt, there is no greater duty to those we represent than to get serious about fixing this spending-driven debt crisis,” Rep. Hurt wrote in a news release.

Gun control posters from Dan Mitchell’s blog Part 2

I have put up lots of cartons and posters from Dan Mitchell’s blog before and they have got lots of hits before. Many of them have dealt with the economy, eternal unemployment benefits, socialism,  Greece,  welfare state or on gun control.

Dug this gem out of my humor file.

Related posts:

Taking on Ark Times bloggers on the issue of “gun control” (Part 3) “Did Hitler advocate gun control?”

Gun Free Zones???? Stalin and gun control On 1-31-13 ”Arkie” on the Arkansas Times Blog the following: “Remember that the biggest gun control advocate was Hitler and every other tyrant that every lived.” Except that under Hitler, Germany liberalized its gun control laws. __________ After reading the link  from Wikipedia that Arkie provided then I responded: […]

Taking on Ark Times bloggers on the issue of “gun control” (Part 2) “Did Hitler advocate gun control?”

On 1-31-13 I posted on the Arkansas Times Blog the following: I like the poster of the lady holding the rifle and next to her are these words: I am compensating for being smaller and weaker than more violent criminals. __________ Then I gave a link to this poster below: On 1-31-13 also I posted […]

Taking on Ark Times bloggers on the issue of “gun control” (Part 1) “Bill Clinton responsible some for Ft Hood gun control policy?”

Will “CARRYING HANDGUN IS PROHIBITED” poster work? Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute on gun control On 1-13-13 on the Arkansas Times Blog the person with the username “ArkDemocrat” stated, “I visited a church in another state that allows guns, and there was a sign similar to the “No Smoking” signs (i.e. smoking cigarette with […]

Great gun control posters from Dan Mitchell’s blog

Poster for November 2008 benefit for Pressly family, held at Peabody Hotel in Little Rock. ______________ Max Brantley of the Ark Times Blog often attacks those on my side of the gun control debate and that makes me argue even harder for the 2nd amendment. Several months ago Lindsey Miller and Max Brantley were talking […]

Funny gun control posters!!!

I have posted some cartoons featured on Dan Mitchell’s blog before and they are very funny. An Amusing Look at Gun-Free Zones September 26, 2012 by Dan Mitchell I’ve shared a very clever Chuck Asay cartoon about gun-free zones, so let’s now enjoy four posters on the topic. Let’s begin with a good jab at one […]

There is no safety crisis in schools as far as mass shootings go!!!

The recent killing by a mad gunman in CT is not indicating a trend. School killings have gone down and probably peaked in 1929. Nick Gillespie reported in the below video, “Across the board, schools are less dangerous than they used be. Over the past 20 years, the rate of theft per 1,000 students dropped […]

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg abandons his liberal friends on gun control.

Pretty shocking admissions from the liberal Jeffrey Goldberg on gun control. An Honest Liberal Writes about Gun Control December 16, 2012 by Dan Mitchell I wrote earlier this month about an honest liberal who acknowledged the problems created by government dependency. Well, it happened again. First, some background. Like every other decent person, I was horrified […]

Gun control does not make since unless you suspend your reasoning ability

Despite what Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times Blog (1-9-13) would have you believe gun control does not make since unless you suspend your reasoning ability. There are so many examples that show how silly gun control is. Mocking Gun Control Fanatics October 18, 2012 by Dan Mitchell Last month, I shared some very amusing images […]

Gun control arguments very logical?

It seems to me that most of the gun control arguments I have heard are not very logical. Deciphering How Statists Think about Gun Control September 9, 2012 by Dan Mitchell Even though I don’t own that many guns, I’m an unyielding supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Indeed, I use gun control as a quick and […]

Charlie Collins versus Max Brantley on Gun Control

John Stossel report “Myth: Gun Control Reduces Crime After this horrible shooting in the school the other day it seems the gun control debate has fired up again.  Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times jumped on Charlie Collins concerning his position on concealed weapons but I think that would lower gun crimes and not raise […]

“Music Monday” Moby

“The Next Three Days” Soundtrack – Be The One by Moby

Moby – Extreme Ways (The Bourne Ultimatum soundtrack)

I really enjoyed reading about Moby and his views on Christianity.

Moby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

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For other uses, see Moby (disambiguation).
Moby

Moby in 2009
Background information
Birth name Richard Melville Hall
Born (1965-09-11) September 11, 1965 (age 47)
Harlem, New York, U.S.
Origin Darien, Connecticut, United States
Genres Electronica, techno, electronic rock, alternative rock, trip hop, ambient, downtempo
Occupations DJ, singer-songwriter, musician, photographer
Instruments Turntables, keyboards, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Years active 1982–present
Labels Mute, V2, XL, Elektra, Instinct, Outer Rhythm, Virgin/EMI
Associated acts Vatican Commandos, UHF, Voodoo Child, Diamondsnake, Mylène Farmer
Website moby.com

Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965),[1] known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is well known for his sample-based electronic music, vegan lifestyle, and support of animal rights. Moby has sold over 20 million albums worldwide.[2] Allmusic considers him “one of the most important dance music figures of the early ’90s, helping bring the music to a mainstream audience both in the UK and in America”.[3]

Moby gained attention in the early 1990s with his electronic dance music work, which experimented in the techno and breakbeat hardcore genres. With his fifth studio album, the electronica and house-influenced Play, he gained international success. Originally released in mid-1999, selling 6000 copies in its first week, it re-entered the charts in early 2000 and became an unexpected hit, producing eight singles and selling over 10 million copies worldwide.[4] Moby followed the album in 2002 with 18, which was also successful, selling over 5 million copies worldwide and receiving mostly positive reviews, though some criticized it for being too similar to Play.

His next offer, 2005’s mostly upbeat Hotel was a stylistic departure, incorporating more alternative rock elements than previous albums, and received mixed reviews. It sold around 2 million copies worldwide. After 2008’s dance-influenced Last Night (2008), he returned to the downtempo electronica of Play and 18 with 2009’s mostly-ambient Wait for Me, finding higher critical acclaim and moderate sales. Moby’s latest album Destroyed., was released on May 13, 2011.

Moby has also co-written, produced, and remixed music for The Smashing Pumpkins, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Daft Punk, Brian Eno, Pet Shop Boys, Britney Spears, New Order, Public Enemy, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and others.[5]

Contents

 [hide] 

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and name

Hall was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the son of Elizabeth McBride (née Warner), a medical secretary, and James Frederick Hall, a chemistry professor.[6][7][8] He was raised by his mother in Darien, Connecticut.[9][10]

According to Hall, his middle name and the nickname “Moby” were given to him by his parents because of an ancestral relationship to Moby Dick author Herman Melville: “The basis for Richard Melville Hall—and for Moby—is that supposedly Herman Melville was my great-great-great-granduncle.”[11]

He has released music under the names “Voodoo Child”,[12] “Schaumgummi”,[13] and as a member of the bands Vatican Commandos, AWOL, Caeli Seoul, and Gin Train.[1]

[edit] Music career

Moby started playing music when he was nine years old, originally learning classical guitar and music theory, then piano and drums.[citation needed]

From 1982 to 1985, he played in a hardcore punk band called the Vatican Commandos, who released an EP called Hit Squad for God. He also played in a Joy Division-inspired post-punk group called AWOL who released an eponymous album in 1983. Circa 1988, Moby performed briefly with Ultra Vivid Scene. He can be seen playing guitar in UVS’ video for “Mercy Seat”, which appears on the band’s 1988 self-titled record.[citation needed]

After years of pursuing a record deal, he signed a recording contract with Instinct Records in 1989. During this time, Instinct Records “did not actually exist“, Moby stated in his 2005 iTunes Originals interviews. When he was signed, the company did not have a logo, name, or an office.[citation needed]

[edit] 1991–1993: “Go” and rise to fame

Moby’s first live solo performance was witnessed by future longtime manager Eric Härle, who later described the occasion to HitQuarters by saying: “The music was amazing, but the show was riddled with technical mishaps. It left me very intrigued and impressed in a strange way.”[14]

His first single for Instinct was “Mobility“, but it was the second single, “Go“, a progressive house track using the string line from “Laura Palmer’s Theme” from the TV drama Twin Peaks, which was his first breakthrough, reaching the UK top ten in October 1991 and earning him his first appearance on Top of the Pops.[14] Some of his other singles in 1992 and 1993 were “Next Is the E”, “Thousand”, and “Voodoo Child”.[1] It was when Moby started releasing records in the UK that he paired up with local-based manager Eric Härle.[citation needed]

In 1991 and 1992 he remixed The B-52s, The Prodigy, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Michael Jackson, and Ten City.

In 1992 he toured with The Prodigy, Richie Hawtin, and John Acquaviva.[citation needed]

[edit] 1993–1998: Everything Is Wrong, Animal Rights, and I Like to Score

In 1993, Moby signed with Mute Records and released an EP entitled Move. This became his second appearance on Top of the Pops. During this time he also went on tour with Orbital and Aphex Twin in North America.[citation needed]

He then released his first album on Mute Records, Everything Is Wrong, in 1995. Early copies (in the UK and Germany at least) came with a special bonus CD called Underwater. This was a 43-minute five-track instrumental ambient CD. Everything Is Wrong earned early critical praise (Spin magazine named it “Album of the Year”)[15] and some commercial success. He followed this up in early 1996 with the double album Everything Is Wrong—Mixed and Remixed. In 1995, Moby headlined the second stage at Lollapalooza, playing alongside Beck, Sonic Youth, Hole, and Pavement.[citation needed]

Disillusioned by the lack of feedback he was receiving from the music media, who struggled to comprehend the artist’s new electronic music and refused to take it very seriously, Moby decided to release a punk rock album.[14] Released in 1996 Animal Rights included a cover version of Mission of Burma‘s “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver” and was followed by a tour of Europe with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden. The single “Come on Baby” from Animal Rights was Moby’s third Top of the Pops performance. It was notable for its very aggressive look and sound. Ironically, just as Moby decided to change direction, the electronic music he had moved away from started to gain recognition and popularity through artists like The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy.[14] Also in 1996, Moby contributed the song “Republican Party” to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.

According to manager Eric Härle, the album almost ruined his career, because the new direction not only left audiences cold—with music media uninterested and his existing fan base largely alienated—but led to people being confused as to what kind of artist Moby really was.[14] Having wiped out all his early good work in establishing himself, Moby was left struggling for any kind of recognition and quickly became seen as a “has-been” in the eyes of a lot of people in the industry.[14]

In 1997, he released I Like to Score, a collection of his music that had been used in movies. Among those tracks were an updated version of “The James Bond Theme” used for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, and “New Dawn Fades” (a cover of Joy Division’s original) which had appeared without vocals in Michael Mann‘s film Heat.

Moby performs a rare DJ set at NASA Rewind March 4, 2004 in New York City

[edit] 1999–2004: Play, 18, and worldwide success

Moby’s success in the late 1990s led him to launch the Area One festival; he is seen here performing in 2001

In 1999, Moby released the album Play. The album had moderate sales after its release, but eventually went on to sell over ten million records worldwide a year later.[4] Every song on the album was licensed internationally to various films, advertisements, and TV shows, as well as independent films and non-profit groups. Moby performed three times on Top of the Pops with singles from the album. Play mixes songs from Alan Lomax‘s 1993 Atlantic recording Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey From the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta. For the song “Natural Blues”, Moby mixes “Trouble So Hard” from the Alan Lomax Sounds of the South compilation.[16]

In July 2001, Moby: PlaytheDVD was released. Produced by Moby and Jeff Rogers (Swell), the DVD was nominated for a 2002 Grammy award. The DVD included various sections: “Live on TV”, most of the music videos from the album (excluding “South Side” with Gwen Stefani), “Give An Idiot a Camcorder” (Moby was given a camcorder and the tape was later edited by Tara Bethune-Leaman), and an 88-minute “Mega Mix” of all the remixes created for the album. The “Mega Mix” was accompanied by visuals created in Toronto at Crush, led by director Kathi Prosser.[17]

In 2002 Moby released the follow-up to Play, 18, which earned gold and platinum awards in over 30 countries, and sold more than four million copies. Moby toured extensively for both Play and 18, playing well over 500 shows in the course of four years.[citation needed]

He founded the Area:One Festival in 2001, a popular touring festival that features an eclectic range of musical genres. The Area:One tour featured Outkast, New Order, Incubus, Nelly Furtado, Paul Oakenfold, and Moby himself. Area2 tour (2002) featured David Bowie, Moby, Blue Man Group, Busta Rhymes, and Carl Cox.

In the next few years, Moby co-wrote “Is It Any Wonder” with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, remixed the Beastie Boys, David Bowie, Nas and Metallica, produced and co-wrote the track “Early Mornin'” for Britney Spears‘ fourth studio album In the Zone, and collaborated with Public Enemy on “Make Love, Fuck War”, which was released prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Moby also had his song “Extreme Ways” used in the Bourne movies. Although not a hit when it was released, “Extreme Ways” has gone on to become one of Moby’s most-downloaded songs.[citation needed]

In 2003, Moby headlined the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. In 2004, he worked on the John Kerry presidential campaign, and also worked extensively with Liberal group MoveOn.org.[citation needed]

[edit] 2005–2008: Hotel, Last Night, and other work

Moby posing in Japan

In 2005, Moby released Hotel under the label Pacha. Instead of his relying on samples for vocals, all of the vocals and instruments were performed live in the studio, by Moby and vocalist Laura Dawn.

Hotel spawned two of Moby’s biggest European hits, “Lift Me Up” and “Slipping Away“, both of which were number 1 European singles.[citation needed] Hotel went on to earn gold and platinum awards in over twenty countries, with global sales of over two million copies.[citation needed]

In the UK, ITV used a specially remixed version of “Lift Me Up” as its Formula 1 coverage theme music.

In 2006, Moby also starred in the movie Pittsburgh, with Jeff Goldblum and Illeana Douglas.

In 2006, he accepted an offer to score the soundtrack for Richard Kelly‘s 2007 movie Southland Tales because he was a fan of Kelly’s previous film, Donnie Darko.

In 2007, he produced and performed on The Bongos‘ remake of “The Bulrushes”, for the Special Edition re-issue of their debut album, Drums Along the Hudson (Cooking Vinyl Records), and appeared in the promo video of the song.

In 2007, Moby also started a rock band, The Little Death, NYC, with his friends Laura Dawn, Daron Murphy, and Aaron A. Brooks.[citation needed] In 2008, Moby released Last Night, an eclectic album of electronic dance music inspired by a night out in his New York neighborhood (the Lower East Side). The singles from Last Night include “Alice“, “Disco Lies“, “I Love to Move in Here”, and “Ooh Yeah”. The album was recorded in Moby’s home studio in Manhattan, New York and features a number of guest vocalists, including Wendy Starland, MC Grandmaster Caz (one of the writers of “Rapper’s Delight“), Sylvia from the band Kudu, British MC Aynzli, and the Nigerian 419 Squad.[18]

From 2007 to 2008 he ran a series of New York club events titled “Degenerates”.[19][20]

In collaboration with The Sunday Times, Moby released an exclusive mix album titled A Night in NYC, which appeared on the newspaper’s cover. It was a compilation of Moby tracks spanning his career and included videos from his new album Last Night.

[edit] 2009–2010: Wait for Me

In a November 2008 interview with SuicideGirls, Moby spoke about the follow-up album to Last Night: “I want to make a really emotional, beautiful record. I don’t know if I will succeed, but my goal is to make something very personal, very melodic, very beautiful.”[21] On April 14, Moby confirmed that the album would be released on June 30.[22]

I recorded the album here in my studio on the lower east side (although ‘studio’ always seems like an overly grand word for a bunch of equipment set up in a small bedroom). In the past I’ve worked in large and small studios, but for this record I wanted to record everything at home by myself”, Moby said on his journal.[22] “I started working on the album about a year ago, and the creative impetus behind the record was hearing a David Lynch speech at BAFTA, in the UK. David was talking about creativity, and to paraphrase, about how creativity in and of itself, and without market pressures, is fine and good. It seems as if too often an artist’s, musician’s or writer’s creative output is judged by how well it accommodates the marketplace, and how much market share it commands and how much money it generates. In making this record I wanted to focus on making something that I loved, without really being concerned about how it might be received by the marketplace. As a result it’s a quieter and more melodic and more mournful and more personal record than some of the records I’ve made in the past.[22]

The album, titled Wait for Me, was released in June 2009.[23][24]

Moby performing at the David Lynch Weekend, Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, April 26, 08.

Moby and David Lynch discussed the recording process of the album on Lynch’s online channel, David Lynch Foundation Television Beta.[25] The first single off the album was “Shot in the Back of the Head“, and the video was directed David Lynch.[22] The single was available for free download from Moby’s website.

Ken Thomas, who had previously produced some Sigur Rós albums, mixed Wait for Me.[22] According to Moby,

mixing the record with him [Thomas] was really nice, as he’s creatively open to trying anything (like recording an old broken bakelite radio and running it through some broken old effects pedals to see what it would sound like. It’s on the record as a 45 second long track called “Stock Radio”). And as a geeky technical aside, we mixed the record using purely analog equipment in true stereo, akin to how records were mixed in the late ’60s, some of the songs sound pretty amazing in headphones, if I do say so myself…[22]

Moby toured for the album with a full band, something that occurred rarely during Moby’s Last Night promotion, except for selected festival performances.[26] Moby raised between $75,000 and $100,000 to help those affected by domestic violence[27] after all funding for the state’s domestic violence program was cut in July. To do this, he donated the profits from his upcoming shows in California (San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). Moby headlined the Australian 2009 Falls Festival,[citation needed] as well as the other Sunset Sounds festivals.[citation needed]

Moby played a minor role in Canadian black comedy film Suck, released in September 2009.

On February 22, 2010, Moby announced a UGC competition with Genero.TV asking his fans to create a videoclip, that will be serviced worldwide as the official videoclip for his upcoming single “Wait for Me”, the last single from the album. On April 19, Moby chose the winning videoclip out of 500 entries, “based on its creativity, production value, concept, and humor”.[28] The chosen videoclip, written and directed by Nimrod Shapira from Israel, portrays the story of a girl who decides to invite Moby into her life. She attempts to do so by using a book called How to Summon Moby Guide for Dummies, putting herself through 10 bizarre and comical steps (each is a tribute to a different Moby videoclip). The single was released on May 4, 2010.

In March 2010, Moby released a new single “Wait for Me”, the title track from the album. It was released on May 3, 2010.[29]

[edit] 2010–present: Destroyed.

Moby promoting the Destroyed. book and album at a performance and discussion in the Brooklyn Museum, 2011

In January 2010, Moby announced that he was to begin working on his next record. He said “the mood for this record will be more acoustic and less electronic than before”.[30]

On February 15, 2011, Moby announced the release of his new album, Destroyed. It was released on May 16, 2011.[31][32] A photography book with the same name was also released around the time of the album.[32] “Musically”, he said, “it’s very melodic and atmospheric and electronic, and if i had to sum it up i would describe it as: ‘broken down melodic electronic music for empty cities at 2 a.m’.” The album cover, which was released with the new information, was taken in LaGuardia Airport. It is a picture of a sign that reads ‘destroyed’, it’s used in the airport to notify passengers when the unclaimed baggage has been disposed of.[32] The album consists of 15 tracks, one of them previously featured on the compilation A Night in NYC, titled “Rockets”. Along with the album’s announcement came the release of the EP Be the One, which contains 3 of the tracks from Destroyed.[32] The EP was released for free for those who signed up for Moby’s mailing list.[31] “The Day” is an English cover of “Bleu Noir” by Mylène Farmer. For the next single, Moby put a poll on his website for fans to choose which single should be released next, and it came to be “Lie Down in Darkness“.[33] So far, it has proved to be the most successful single from the album, charting on various dance charts and in Belgium.[citation needed] On August 30, Moby posted another request for the third official single, this time asking fans to say which should be next, without a poll.[34] After this, he announced the following day through his Twitter that the next singles are “After” and “The Right Thing”.[35]

[edit] Collaborations

Moby playing guitar with Joy Malcolm in 2008

Moby has collaborated live with many of his heroes while on tour or at fundraisers. He has performed “Walk on the Wild Side” with Lou Reed, “Me and Bobby McGee” with Kris Kristofferson, “Heroes” and “Cactus” with David Bowie, “Helpless” with Bono and Michael Stipe, “New Dawn Fades” with New Order, “Make Love, Fuck War” with Public Enemy, “Whole Lotta Love” with Slash, and “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” with Mission of Burma.

He has performed two duets with the French singer Mylène Farmer (“Slipping Away (Crier la vie)” in 2006 and “Looking for My Name” in 2008) and produced seven songs on her eighth album, Bleu Noir, released on December 6, 2010.[36]

In 2007, he became one of the few well-known commercial artists to produce work for a video game, collaborating with DJ Oscar the Punk on all three tracks of The BioShock EP, included with limited edition copies of the Xbox 360 and PC game BioShock.

In 2012 he collaborated with Spain-based group Dubsidia, making dubstep and electro house.

[edit] Personal life

Teany, a tea store that Moby co-owned

Until around June 2009, Moby co-owned a small restaurant and tea shop called Teany, where he occasionally would wait tables. He also organized a group of artists known as the Little Idiot Collective. Moby lives a vegan lifestyle and supports animal rights.

In an interview with Psychology Today, Moby admitted that when he was 19, he tried LSD and began suffering from panic attacks. He claims that he no longer experiences them as frequently as he used to, but occasionally he will “have too much caffeine, be stressed out about work and be in a relationship that’s not going well, and it will happen again”. He is very open about this in an attempt to help fans who suffer from similar panic disorders.[37]

When asked about drugs, he responded: “I’m sort of a libertarian. People should be able to do what they want. I ultimately defer the wisdom to an adult to make their own choices. If someone wants to do drugs, I think it’s their own business and not the business of the state.”[38]Although Moby himself is a teetotaller who admitted in 2011 that “It’s one of the lowest depths of misery to be completely destroyed and hungover in an airport at 8am in the morning [sic] after a long rough night.”[39]

In my own strange way, I’m a Christian, in that I really love Christ, and I think that the wisdom of Christ is the highest, strongest wisdom I’ve ever encountered, and I think that his description of the human condition is about the best description or understanding of the human condition I’ve ever encountered… I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a Christian in the conventional sense of the word, where I go to church or believe in cultural Christianity, but I really do love Christ and recognize him in whatever capacity as I can understand it as God. One of my problems with the church and conventional Christianity is it seems like their focus doesn’t have much to do with the teachings of Christ, but rather with their own social agenda. So that’s why I tend to be sort of outspoken about how much I dislike conventional cultural Christianity.

—Animal Rights liner notes

In a 2003 BBC interview, Moby spoke about his encounter with the Gospels: “In about 1985 I read the teachings of Christ and was instantly struck by the idea that Christ was somehow divine. When I say I love Christ and love the teachings of Christ, I mean that in the most simple and naïve and subjective way. I’m not saying I’m right, and I certainly wouldn’t criticize anyone else’s beliefs.”[40] In an interview with Amazon.com, Moby said, “I can’t really know anything. Having said that, though, on a very subjective level I love Christ. I perceive Christ to be God, but I predicate that with the knowledge that I’m small and not nearly as old as the universe that I live in. I take my beliefs seriously for myself, but I would be very uncomfortable trying to tell anyone that I was right.”[41]

In a September 20, 2006 audio interview with Sojourners magazine, he says, “I read the New Testament, specifically the gospels and I was struck at their divinity, feeling that humans could not have figured this out on their own. We’re just not bright enough.”[42] He also discusses his faith on his own blog. On January 19, 2007, in his reaction to seeing Alexandra Pelosi‘s Friends of God, a film about evangelicalism in the United States, Moby writes, “The movie reminded me just how utterly disconnected the agenda of the evangelical Christian right is from the teachings of Christ.”[43] At times, he has been reluctant to use the word “Christian” to define himself, due to its ambiguity, but has self-identified as a Christian in interviews related to his faith.[44]

In March 2008, after Gary Gygax‘s death, Moby was one of several celebrities identifying themselves as former Dungeons & Dragons players.[45][46]

In March 2010, Moby made his debut as an author when Gristle: From Factory Farms to Food Safety (Thinking Twice About the Meat We Eat), a collection of essays from people in the food industry, was published.[47]

[edit] Charity

Moby has been active with left-wing politics throughout his career. He is seen here with Steve Buscemi, Arianna Huffington, and Lou Reed at a screening of the film Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers.

Moby is an advocate for a variety of causes, working with MoveOn.org and The Humane Society, among others. His MobyGratis.com website, which licenses film music for free for non-profit and independent films, funnels proceeds[21] from films which do go on to produce revenue to The Humane Society. He created MoveOn Voter Fund’s Bush in 30 Seconds contest along with singer and MoveOn Cultural Director Laura Dawn and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser. The music video for the song “Disco Lies” from Last Night has heavy anti-meat industrial themes.

He also actively engages in nonpartisan activism and serves on the Board of Directors of Amend.org, a nonprofit organization that implements injury prevention programs in Africa.[48]

Moby is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing scientific inquiry on music and the brain and to developing clinical treatments to benefit people of all ages.[49] He has also performed on various benefit concerts to help increase awareness for music therapy and raise funds for the Institute. In 2004, he was honored with the IMNF’s Music Has Power Award for his advocacy of music therapy and for his dedication and support to its recording studio program.[citation needed].

He is an advocate of network neutrality and he testified before United States House of Representatives committee debating the issue in 2006.[50][dead link][51]

In 2007 Moby started a website called MobyGratis.com, designed for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short; it allows users to apply for free licences to use Moby music in their film. However, if a film is commercially successful, all revenue from commercial licence fees granted via MobyGratis is passed on to the Humane Society.[52]

In 2008, he participated in Songs for Tibet, an album to support Tibet and the current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.

In 2009, after hearing about California cutting its funding to domestic violence programs, Moby decided to donate the fees from his tour shows in L.A. and San Francisco to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence Salement.[citation needed]

[edit] RIAA criticism

On June 20, 2009, Moby posted on his blog in response to the RIAA‘s decision to sue Minnesota suburban mother Jammie Thomas-Rasset for $2,000,000 for illegally downloading music from Kazaa. He called this “utter nonsense” and asserted that “the RIAA needs to be disbanded.”[53]

[edit] Essays

Many of Moby albums include essays that he has written himself in the inlay card. Everything Is Wrong had essays on over-consumption (“We use toxic chlorine bleach to keep our underpants white”) and U.S. religious leaders (“Why doesn’t the Christian right go out and spread mercy, compassion and selflessness?”), and End of Everything discussed being a vegan (“Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, ‘My appetite is more important than your suffering’?”). In “Animal Rights” Moby discussed the granting of basic rights in western society, and called for readers to grant such basic rights to homosexuals and animals. (“a long time ago only kings had rights. then rights were extended to property-owning white men. then all men. then women. then children. then the mentally retarded. now we’re agonizing over the extension of basic rights to homosexuals and animals.”)

He was interviewed by Lucy Walker for a chapter in Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky.

[edit] Photography

Moby has been a photographer since he was 10 years old, growing up around film and darkrooms.[54] Moby’s uncle was a photographer for the New York Times.[55]

In 2011, Moby released a book of photography entitled Destroyed. The books features the artist’s own images from his international tours.[56] An album with the same name was released in the same year.

Photography exhibitions
  • Samuel Owen Gallery, Greenwich, CT
  • Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • Photo LA, Los Angeles, CA
  • Irvine Contemporary, Washington D.C
  • CLIC Gallery, New York, NY
  • Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
  • Art Basel, Miami, FL
  • Proud Camden, London, UK
  • MADE Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • Galerie Alex Daniels, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • A&Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
  • Colette, Paris, France
  • Colombo Arte Exhibition, Milan, Italy
  • L’Inde Le Palais, Bologna, Italy
  • Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
  • Werkstette, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Ivory Press, Madrid, Spain

[edit] Discography

Main article: Moby discography
Studio albums
Videography
  • Play: The DVD (2001)
  • 18 B Sides + DVD (2003)
  • The Hotel Tour 2005 (2006)
  • Go: The Very Best of Moby (2006)
  • Go: A Film About Moby (2006)

[edit] Awards

Cartoons from Dan Mitchell’s blog that demonstrate what Obama is doing to our economy Part 2

Max Brantley is wrong about Tom Cotton’s accusation concerning the rise of welfare spending under President Obama. Actually welfare spending has been increasing for the last 12 years and Obama did nothing during his first four years to slow down the rate of increase of welfare spending.

Rachel Sheffield of the Heritage Foundation has noted:

The number of Americans on food stamps (or, as it is now called, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is higher than ever before, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Since 2007, rolls have grown by 70 percent. And participation rates are expected to increase over the next two years.

While some of the growth can be attributed to the recession, participation rates were steadily climbing prior to the recession. Since 2000, the number of Americans on food stamps has jumped by roughly 260 percent, from 17.2 million to 44.7 million in 2011.

Naturally, government spending on food stamps has also jumped, from approximately $20 billion in 2000 to a whopping $78 billion last year, a nearly 400 percent increase.

DAN MITCHELL’S BLOG HAS A GREAT CARTOON THAT SHOWS WHAT EVENTUALLY WILL HAPPEN IF THE GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO INCREASE THE WELFARE STATE!!!

I have put up lots of carton’s from Dan Mitchell’s blog before and they have got lots of hits before. Many of them have dealt with the economy, eternal unemployment benefits, socialism,  Greece,  welfare state or on gun control.

The third-most viewed post in the history of this blog, with more than 22,000 views, is this set of cartoons showing how the welfare state begins and how it ends.

A similar theme can be found in this great new cartoon from Chuck Asay.

And just in case you think Asay is being unfair, keep in mind that folks like Obama and Pelosi actually have claimed that more unemployment benefits is “stimulus.” Yes, you read correctly. Subsidizing unemployment is good for growth to these strange ideologues.

Asay’s cartoon is so good that it may dethrone my previous top choice. Though sometimes I am most impressed by this one showing why parasites shouldn’t kill their host animal.

I’d be curious to know which one all of you think is most effective.

And since Asay’s work is almost always worth sharing, you can find more of my top picks here, here, here, and here.

Sometimes it is tragic that you got to laugh about it.

Related posts:

Cartons on Obama’s budget math

Dan Mitchell Discussing Dishonest Budget Numbers with John Stossel Uploaded by danmitchellcato on Feb 11, 2012 No description available. ______________ Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute has shown before how excessive spending at the federal level has increased in recent years. A Humorous Look at Obama’s Screwy Budget Math May 31, 2012 by Dan Mitchell I’ve […]

Obama on creating jobs!!!!(Funny Carton)

Another great carton on President Obama’s efforts to create jobs!!! A Simple Lesson about Job Creation for Barack Obama December 7, 2011 by Dan Mitchell Even though leftist economists such as Paul Krugman and Larry Summers have admitted that unemployment insurance benefits are a recipe for more joblessness, the White House is arguing that Congress should […]

Get people off of government support and get them in the private market place!!!!(great carton too)

Dan Mitchell hits the nail on the head and sometimes it gets so sad that you just have to laugh at it like Conan does. In order to correct this mess we got to get people off of government support and get them in the private market place!!!! Chuck Asay’s New Cartoon Nicely Captures Mentality […]

Funny carton from Dan Mitchell’s blog on Greece

Sometimes it is so crazy that you just have to laugh a little. The European Mess, Captured by a Cartoon June 22, 2012 by Dan Mitchell The self-inflicted economic crisis in Europe has generated some good humor, as you can see from these cartoons by Michael Ramirez and Chuck Asay. But for pure laughter, I don’t […]

Cartons on Obama’s budget math

Dan Mitchell Discussing Dishonest Budget Numbers with John Stossel Uploaded by danmitchellcato on Feb 11, 2012 No description available. ______________ Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute has shown before how excessive spending at the federal level has increased in recent years. A Humorous Look at Obama’s Screwy Budget Math May 31, 2012 by Dan Mitchell I’ve […]

Obama on creating jobs!!!!(Funny Carton)

Another great carton on President Obama’s efforts to create jobs!!! A Simple Lesson about Job Creation for Barack Obama December 7, 2011 by Dan Mitchell Even though leftist economists such as Paul Krugman and Larry Summers have admitted that unemployment insurance benefits are a recipe for more joblessness, the White House is arguing that Congress should […]

2 cartons illustrate the fate of socialism from the Cato Institute

Cato Institute scholar Dan Mitchell is right about Greece and the fate of socialism: Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State July 15, 2011 by Dan Mitchell In my speeches, especially when talking about the fiscal crisis in Europe (or the future fiscal crisis in America), I often warn that […]

2 cartons illustrate the fate of socialism from the Cato Institute

Cato Institute scholar Dan Mitchell is right about Greece and the fate of socialism: Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State July 15, 2011 by Dan Mitchell In my speeches, especially when talking about the fiscal crisis in Europe (or the future fiscal crisis in America), I often warn that […]

 

 
 

Open letter to President Obama (Part 236)

 

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

Dear Mr. President,

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

Below is an excellent plan to balance the budget through spending cuts from Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute written in April of 2011. Here is the fourth and final part. I hope you will take advantage at least of some of these suggestions below.

A Plan to Cut Spending and Balance the Federal Budget

by Chris Edwards, Cato Institute

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

The projected growth in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is the main cause of America’s looming fiscal crisis. Budget experts and policymakers across the political spectrum understand the need to restructure these programs. The reforms listed in Table 1 include repealing the 2010 health care law and some initial efforts to control health care and Social Security costs.

For Social Security, the growth in initial benefits would be indexed to prices rather than wages, which would slow benefit growth over time. The proposal would save $41 billion annually by 2021 and growing amounts after that, according to the CBO.14 The plan also includes a CBO option to modestly raise the program’s normal retirement age.15

Medicaid should be converted from an open-ended matching grant program to a block grant, which would provide a fixed amount of funds to each state but allow state policymakers more program flexibility. That was the successful approach used for welfare reform in 1996. Converting Medicaid to a block grant would reduce federal costs, while encouraging innovation and cost reductions by the states. Setting the Medicaid block grant at the 2011 level of Medicaid spending would result in saving more than $200 billion annually within a decade.

The plan includes some modest Medicare changes based on CBO estimates, including increasing deductibles for services and increasing premiums for Part B to cover 35 percent of the program’s costs.16 The plan would repeal the 2010 health care law, including the higher revenues and spending. It further assumes that the Medicare improper payment rate, which is at least 10 percent, would be cut in half.

However, much larger reforms to the program are needed. Cato scholars have proposed moving to a system based on individual vouchers, personal savings, and consumer choice for elderly health care.17 The House Budget Committee has similarly proposed a plan to convert Medicare into a consumer-driven health system.18 Such reforms would create strong incentives for providers and patients to improve system quality and efficiency.

Privatization

In recent decades, governments around the world have sold off state-owned assets to private investors.19 Airports, railroads, electric utilities, post offices, and other assets have been privatized. Privatization generally leads to reduced costs, higher-quality services, and increased innovation in formerly moribund government industries.

There are many federal assets that should be privatized. Table 1 includes the privatization of Amtrak, the air traffic control system, and the Army Corps of Engineers. Such reforms would reduce federal budget deficits and help spur economic growth.

Consider the nation’s air traffic control system, which is run by the Federal Aviation Administration.20 The FAA has struggled to expand capacity and upgrade its technology, and its modernization efforts have often fallen behind schedule and gone over budget. A series of incidents in 2011 indicated that the agency has serious workforce management problems. The air traffic control system needs major improvements to meet rising travel demands, but the FAA may not be capable of meeting the challenge.

The good news is that a number of countries have restructured their air traffic control systems and provide good models for U.S. reforms. Canada privatized its air traffic control system in 1996, setting up a private, nonprofit corporation, Nav Canada. The company is self-supporting from charges on aviation users. The Canadian system has received high marks for sound finances, solid management, and investment in new technologies.21 Aside from those advantages, a privatized system in the United States would save about $6 billion a year in general fund taxpayer costs.

Conclusions

Official projections show that without reforms federal spending will soar to more than 40 percent of GDP by 2050, and even higher after that. State and local spending comes on top of that, with the result that governments would consume more than half of the entire U.S. economy.

However, it seems inconceivable that voters and taxpayers would let the government grow to anywhere near that large. Indeed, the results of the 2010 elections indicate that there is already widespread disapproval of big government. It is also unlikely that the government would be able to raise taxes much above current levels to support higher spending because of our increasingly globalized economy.22

The upshot is that we will have to make major spending cuts sooner or later, and it would be better to make them sooner before we accumulate even more debt. Policymakers can start with the menu of cuts presented here, and then they should pursue other reforms such as restructuring Medicare. Leaders of other industrial nations have pursued vigorous cost-cutting when their government debt got out of control, and there is no reason why our political leaders shouldn’t do the same.


2 Congressional Budget Office, “Preliminary Analysis of the President’s Budget for 2012,” March 2011.

3 For these estimates, see Congressional Budget Office, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011 to 2021,” January 2011, p. 22.

4 For estimates of these adjustments, see Congressional Budget Office, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011 to 2021,” January 2011, p. 22.

5 This is the president’s budget as estimated by the CBO. See Congressional Budget Office, “Preliminary Analysis of the President’s Budget for 2012,” March 2011.

6 I assume that discretionary spending cuts are phased-in over 10 years, one-tenth each year. The proposed changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security would begin right away, but the savings would increase over time.

7 I modeled interest costs using CBO baseline projections regarding interest rates. I adjusted for the fact that public debt is projected to grow faster than indicated by the compounding of annual deficits in coming years.

8 In particular, see Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2012, Analytical Perspectives (Washington: Government Printing Office, February 2011), Table 33-1.

10 Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2012, Analytical Perspectives (Washington: Government Printing Office, February 2011). See also Chris Edwards, “Federal Aid-to-State Programs Top 1,100,” Cato Institute Tax and Budget Bulletin no. 63, February 2011. Note that these state aid programs are a subset of the 2,000 total subsidy programs mentioned earlier.

13 Aside from the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Department of Defense spending will be about $560 billion in fiscal 2011, up from $290 billion in fiscal 2001.

14 Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” March 2011.

15 Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” March 2011.

16 The savings for these options are from Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” March 2011.

18 House Committee on the Budget, “The Path to Prosperity,” April 2011. See also Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), “A Roadmap for America’s Future, Version 2.0,” January 2010.

21 For example, see Glen McDougall and Alasdair S. Roberts, “Commercializing Air Traffic Control: Have the Reforms Worked?” Suffolk University Law School, February 17, 2009.

22 This theme is explored in Chris Edwards and Daniel Mitchell, Global Tax Revolution (Washington: Cato Institute, 2008).

___________

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

Sincerely,

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

State and local governments should dramatically scale back bond issuance.

 State and local governments should dramatically scale back bond issuance.

Cut State Debt; End the Muni-Bond Exemption

Posted by Chris Edwards

Big government programs and special tax-code carve-outs often lead to corrupting ties between government officials and private interests. The Washington Post today discusses the municipal bond industry:

In just about every election, local governments put measures on their ballots asking voters to allow the sale of bonds so that municipalities can finance roads, schools or other projects. Interested parties often form campaigns to help pass or crush these initiatives.

And sometimes the investment banks that donate to those campaigns get hired to sell the bonds to investors after an initiative passes, raising the possibility that they got a leg up in the selection process because of their monetary support for the ballot bond measure — not because they offered taxpayers the best deal.

…[A] review by the Bond Buyer publication … found “a nearly perfect correlation between broker-dealer contributions to California school bond efforts in 2010 and their underwriting subsequent bond sales.”

…Jay Goldstone, [the] Municipal Securities Ruling Board’s chairman, said he’s concerned about the pattern. “There seems to be a strong relationship between contributions and underwriting business.”

The article discusses solving these problems with greater disclosure and transparency. But the real solution is to eliminate the underlying government preference that creates the influence peddling in the first place.

In this case, the federal income tax exemption for state and local bond interest should be repealed. That could be matched with a reduction in general tax rates on capital income.

As I argue here, state and local governments should dramatically scale back bond issuance. Bonds are just sneaky tax increases. State and local capital investments should be financed “pay-as-you-go,” which would cut out the costly middlemen in the finance industry.

The chart below shows that state and local bond debt has soared to more than $3 trillion. That not only represents a huge deferred tax increase, but it has also created a large playing field for special-interest cronyism. (For chart info, see here).