Paul McCartney after paying Heather Mills McCartney almost $50 million in devorce agreement.
Homecoming
1 year ago
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
BEST BURGERS
Best Burgers
Burger Spot
They'll make your Harris Ranch Angus beef burger as rare or well-done as you'd like at this 5-month-old eco-friendly place in Lake Highlands. Order at the counter and they'll bring the burgers, wrapped in red-and-white-checked paper, to the table. The Classic Burger is a well-proportioned, well-seasoned, juicy one-third-pound burger on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, mustard or mayo, pickles and onion. The half-pound Wild Bill Burger, with onions, jalapeños and tomatoes in the patty and cheddar melted on top, is the way to go if you want to spice things up. Don't miss the zingy fresh lemonade.
9090 Skillman St. at Audelia Road, Dallas. 214-221-9206.
Chip's Old Fashioned Burgers
This 28-year-old favorite offers an excellent rendition of a good old-fashioned burger. You can order the one-third-pound patty cooked the way you like, but they'll likely just chargrill it as they wish. No matter; even if your medium-rare turns out medium-well, it's juicy and good, served on a soft poppy-seed bun with a couple of lettuce leaves, slices of ripe tomato, pickles, onions, mayo and mustard. It's the kind of place that might put you in the mood for a chocolate malt. There are also beer and wine, sandwiches and Tex-Mex dishes.
4530 Lovers Lane at the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas. 214-691-2447. www.chips-burgers.com.
Farnatchi Gourmet Oven
My favorite thing at this charming little Middle Eastern-slash-pizza place is its unusual hamburger. The highly seasoned patty has chopped onions and peppers blended into the meat, and a slice of mozzarella buried in it that melts gooily as the burger's grilled. Served on a good kaiser roll spread with a harissa-flavored mayonnaise, it's loaded with lots of arugula and ripe sliced tomatoes. The burger comes with lentil soup, salad or roasted rosemary potatoes. Bring your own wine; it'll go well with this one.
3001 Knox St. at Central Expressway, Dallas. 214-219-7200. www.farnatchi.com.
Fred's Texas Cafe
In a funky place with a honky-tonk feel and a party-down patio with live music, you can get what may be the lustiest sandwich around: the Diablo burger. Super juicy, wickedly spicy, it features a thick, half-pound patty roughly formed from good meat smothered with grilled onions, a whole chipotle chile in adobo, melted Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and pickles. It comes with excellent hand-cut fries; Texas beers are on tap. For the fainter of palate, there's also the chipotle-free Fred burger.
915 Currie St., Fort Worth. 817-332-0083. www.fredstexascafe.com.
Maple and Motor
Jack Perkins' self-proclaimed "grease-stained tribute to low-class cool" was an instant cult hit when it opened last fall, and for good reason: Maple and Motor's burgers rock. They won't cook it to your desired temperature, but the rich patty, made from a blend of brisket and chuck, formed loosely in a ball and gently flattened on a vintage flat-top grill, has splendid flavor. It gets dressed up with traditional Texas fixings: red onions, dill pickle relish, mustard, tomato and shredded lettuce. Wash it down with a Shiner on tap or a "Jolly Rancher" iced tea. Arrive early, or prepare to wait. The place is wildly popular.
4810 Maple Ave., Dallas. 214-522-4400. www.mapleandmotor.com.
Neighborhood Services Tavern
The "cleaver and block" burger at Nick Badovinus' 4-month-old opened in March Henderson Avenue gastropub is quite simply outstanding. It's a cheffy burger, but not the overdone, froufrou kind. Instead, serious attention is paid to the meat; here it's a blend of chuck and brisket. But it's not just the patty; it's the whole package that tempts. It comes on a sesame bun dressed up with two kinds of aged cheddar, horseradish-spiked pickles and lots of caramelized onions in all the right proportions.
2405 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas. 214-827-2405.
Square Burger
On the square in McKinney, in a lovely, lofty 1929 building that was once a dry-goods store, a chef who got his chops as a sous-chef at Spago Beverly Hills is flipping some terrific burgers. Six-week-old Square Burger is a real restaurant, though the menu consists mostly of burgers, salads and sides; there's table service and a long, sleek bar that offers 30 well-chosen beers on tap (mostly North American). That burger, which is round, not square, comes on an ideal bun (a grilled Empire Bakery brioche number) with a thick pad of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and circles of red onion. But this burger is all about the beef, which Genesis Beef raises locally. It's grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free and dry-aged 14 to 20 days before Genesis custom-grinds it for chef Craig Brundege. He likes to cook the thick patties to at least medium, but the kitchen agreed to my medium-rare request; the burger was juicy and perfect – like the backyard burger that dreams are made of.
115 N. Kentucky St., McKinney. 972-542-0185.
12 Burgers
The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired at this gloomy fast-food spot in Far North Dallas, named for the 12 toppings on its signature burger, but the eats are excellent. The "classic" is a felicitous arrangement of a half-pound Angus patty, lettuce, tomato and Thousand Island dressing on a toasted sesame-seed bun; pickles and onions are optional (yes, you want them). Or go for the giant, sloppy 12 Burger with bacon, American cheese, sautéed onions, avocado, mushrooms, bell peppers, pickles, jalapeños, lettuce, tomato, Thousand Island and mustard.
6006 Belt Line Road, Dallas. 972-239-4194.
Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger
Last but certainly not least is Oak Cliff's monumentally juicy behemoth on a bun. It may be gigantic, but the ratios are correct: exactly the right amount of squishy bun, ripe tomato slice and lettuce to big, meaty, well-seasoned patty. The lively dose of mayo, mustard and pickles makes it quite the event. Call ahead to order and pick up, or prepare to wait. It's takeout only, so you'll have to take the booty elsewhere – ideally nearby – to dig in.
2615 S. Beckley Ave., Dallas. 214-943-5214.
Best in DFW: Burgers 2008:
Here's the list of Best Burgers in DFW as compiled by The Dallas Morning News critics in 2008.
•Angry Dog
•Fred's Texas Cafe
•Kelly's Eastside
•Love Shack
•Perry's
•Snuffer's
•Twisted Root Burger Co.
•Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger
Burger Spot
They'll make your Harris Ranch Angus beef burger as rare or well-done as you'd like at this 5-month-old eco-friendly place in Lake Highlands. Order at the counter and they'll bring the burgers, wrapped in red-and-white-checked paper, to the table. The Classic Burger is a well-proportioned, well-seasoned, juicy one-third-pound burger on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, mustard or mayo, pickles and onion. The half-pound Wild Bill Burger, with onions, jalapeños and tomatoes in the patty and cheddar melted on top, is the way to go if you want to spice things up. Don't miss the zingy fresh lemonade.
9090 Skillman St. at Audelia Road, Dallas. 214-221-9206.
Chip's Old Fashioned Burgers
This 28-year-old favorite offers an excellent rendition of a good old-fashioned burger. You can order the one-third-pound patty cooked the way you like, but they'll likely just chargrill it as they wish. No matter; even if your medium-rare turns out medium-well, it's juicy and good, served on a soft poppy-seed bun with a couple of lettuce leaves, slices of ripe tomato, pickles, onions, mayo and mustard. It's the kind of place that might put you in the mood for a chocolate malt. There are also beer and wine, sandwiches and Tex-Mex dishes.
4530 Lovers Lane at the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas. 214-691-2447. www.chips-burgers.com.
Farnatchi Gourmet Oven
My favorite thing at this charming little Middle Eastern-slash-pizza place is its unusual hamburger. The highly seasoned patty has chopped onions and peppers blended into the meat, and a slice of mozzarella buried in it that melts gooily as the burger's grilled. Served on a good kaiser roll spread with a harissa-flavored mayonnaise, it's loaded with lots of arugula and ripe sliced tomatoes. The burger comes with lentil soup, salad or roasted rosemary potatoes. Bring your own wine; it'll go well with this one.
3001 Knox St. at Central Expressway, Dallas. 214-219-7200. www.farnatchi.com.
Fred's Texas Cafe
In a funky place with a honky-tonk feel and a party-down patio with live music, you can get what may be the lustiest sandwich around: the Diablo burger. Super juicy, wickedly spicy, it features a thick, half-pound patty roughly formed from good meat smothered with grilled onions, a whole chipotle chile in adobo, melted Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and pickles. It comes with excellent hand-cut fries; Texas beers are on tap. For the fainter of palate, there's also the chipotle-free Fred burger.
915 Currie St., Fort Worth. 817-332-0083. www.fredstexascafe.com.
Maple and Motor
Jack Perkins' self-proclaimed "grease-stained tribute to low-class cool" was an instant cult hit when it opened last fall, and for good reason: Maple and Motor's burgers rock. They won't cook it to your desired temperature, but the rich patty, made from a blend of brisket and chuck, formed loosely in a ball and gently flattened on a vintage flat-top grill, has splendid flavor. It gets dressed up with traditional Texas fixings: red onions, dill pickle relish, mustard, tomato and shredded lettuce. Wash it down with a Shiner on tap or a "Jolly Rancher" iced tea. Arrive early, or prepare to wait. The place is wildly popular.
4810 Maple Ave., Dallas. 214-522-4400. www.mapleandmotor.com.
Neighborhood Services Tavern
The "cleaver and block" burger at Nick Badovinus' 4-month-old opened in March Henderson Avenue gastropub is quite simply outstanding. It's a cheffy burger, but not the overdone, froufrou kind. Instead, serious attention is paid to the meat; here it's a blend of chuck and brisket. But it's not just the patty; it's the whole package that tempts. It comes on a sesame bun dressed up with two kinds of aged cheddar, horseradish-spiked pickles and lots of caramelized onions in all the right proportions.
2405 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas. 214-827-2405.
Square Burger
On the square in McKinney, in a lovely, lofty 1929 building that was once a dry-goods store, a chef who got his chops as a sous-chef at Spago Beverly Hills is flipping some terrific burgers. Six-week-old Square Burger is a real restaurant, though the menu consists mostly of burgers, salads and sides; there's table service and a long, sleek bar that offers 30 well-chosen beers on tap (mostly North American). That burger, which is round, not square, comes on an ideal bun (a grilled Empire Bakery brioche number) with a thick pad of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and circles of red onion. But this burger is all about the beef, which Genesis Beef raises locally. It's grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free and dry-aged 14 to 20 days before Genesis custom-grinds it for chef Craig Brundege. He likes to cook the thick patties to at least medium, but the kitchen agreed to my medium-rare request; the burger was juicy and perfect – like the backyard burger that dreams are made of.
115 N. Kentucky St., McKinney. 972-542-0185.
12 Burgers
The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired at this gloomy fast-food spot in Far North Dallas, named for the 12 toppings on its signature burger, but the eats are excellent. The "classic" is a felicitous arrangement of a half-pound Angus patty, lettuce, tomato and Thousand Island dressing on a toasted sesame-seed bun; pickles and onions are optional (yes, you want them). Or go for the giant, sloppy 12 Burger with bacon, American cheese, sautéed onions, avocado, mushrooms, bell peppers, pickles, jalapeños, lettuce, tomato, Thousand Island and mustard.
6006 Belt Line Road, Dallas. 972-239-4194.
Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger
Last but certainly not least is Oak Cliff's monumentally juicy behemoth on a bun. It may be gigantic, but the ratios are correct: exactly the right amount of squishy bun, ripe tomato slice and lettuce to big, meaty, well-seasoned patty. The lively dose of mayo, mustard and pickles makes it quite the event. Call ahead to order and pick up, or prepare to wait. It's takeout only, so you'll have to take the booty elsewhere – ideally nearby – to dig in.
2615 S. Beckley Ave., Dallas. 214-943-5214.
Best in DFW: Burgers 2008:
Here's the list of Best Burgers in DFW as compiled by The Dallas Morning News critics in 2008.
•Angry Dog
•Fred's Texas Cafe
•Kelly's Eastside
•Love Shack
•Perry's
•Snuffer's
•Twisted Root Burger Co.
•Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger
Saturday, July 3, 2010
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE DUKE
Actor. Patriot. Philosopher. John Wayne didn't just know his way around a six-shooter. He was deadly with his words, too, tossing off bons mots like grenades. While not exactly an American Confucius, Wayne's nothing if not quotable and a discerning listener could live his life guided by The Duke's words of wisdom. Without further ado, here's the best of the proverbial John Wayne.
1. "Don't apologize; it's a sign of weakness." -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Rarely was the Duke's guiding ethos of manliness, self-reliance, and bravado distilled into a more perfect package than in his response to the apologies of a woman responsible for a massacre in this classic 1949 Western. Despite his aforementioned secret vulnerability, at the end of the day this is what Wayne was: stubborn, strong, and unapologetic. What's done is done. Second-guessing is for cowards, not cowboys.
2. "There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around but you're dead as a beaver hat." --The Alamo
If nothing else, The Alamo is about drawing a line in the sand by deciding which side you're on. On and off screen, Wayne saw things in black and white. Here, as Davy Crockett, he stands for democracy and sticking to your principles. A man who values security over morality is a traitor to his self. Tough tonic perhaps but also truly American.
3. "Sorry, don't get it done, Dude." -- Rio Bravo
Wayne was -- in the jargon of contemporary economics -- a results-oriented worker. Which is to say that he gets the job done. End of story. Nothing stands in his way, not even, in Rio Bravo, a gang of outlaws who have him outnumbered and outgunned. By hook or by crook, he'll do what needs doing, as he reminds drunk deputy Dude (Dean Martin) in this quotation. Even with the odds stacked against you, failure isn't an option. Well put.
4. "I never shot nobody I didn't have to." -- True Grit
In a perfect world, a gun would never be necessary but Wayne, like Arnold Schwarzenegger , knows that some problems require drastic measures. As Rooster Cogburn, Wayne has seen his share of bloodshed. That's part of his job. But even at his most brutal, Wayne also recognizes the fine line between a man and a murderer.
5. "All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else." -- In Harm's Way
The Duke is vulnerable and sensitive on occassion. That's what makes him a star. Which isn't to say that emotions ever overwhelm him or determine his fate. That soldiers get scared isn't surprising. That they still go into battle is what makes them brave.
6. Pat Wheeler: "A game-legged old man and a drunk. That's all you got?" John Wayne: "That's what I've got." -- Rio Bravo
This line is really Wayne's way of saying, "If you've got lemons, make lemonade." He sees people as his supreme resource, and he's not about to let some scoundrel put him down because one of his cohorts happens to be a drunkards. That snappy retort by the Duke is so notable that Dissent magazine did an entire article around on how it related to Wayne's vision of democracy. (For real!)
7. "Out here, due process is a bullet." -- The Green Berets
Doing right sometimes means ignoring nettlesome bureaucracy. This is one of Wayne's most infamous quotations, and it comes from one of his most misguided, reviled films, The Green Berets. The movie is a misguided call to stay the course in Vietnam, and the line brings to mind the troubling vigilantism that's central to the way Wayne and his characters see the world.
8. "There's some things a man just can't run away from." -- Stagecoach
The Duke's characters are always being pursued -- by troubled pasts and, ultimately, by death. That also goes for Wayne's own life. For decades, cancer pursued him. He beat it once, but, ultimately, the disease came back to defeat him. But he fought back against it until he couldn't fight anymore, just like Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. Wayne is about facing things with both eyes wide open and both guns blazing.
9. "We brought nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out." --Red River
The Duke always strips life down to its essentials. In Red River, the iconic actor plays a cattle driver making due on the frontier. A true spartan individualist, Wayne's character see his life as enriched by the certainty of death. Indeed, the above statement would sit well with such esteemed existentialists as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sometimes, the sentiment doesn't seem as harsh when said with a drawl.
10. "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." -- The Shootist
That's the Wayne philosophy in a nutshell, and it's fitting that it comes in his last movie. Why was he like this? Was it a result of childhood beat downs after being named "Marion"? Who knows and, more importantly, who cares? In his final role, he's, appropriately, a dying gunslinger, a man at the end of his tether who still hangs onto his principles. Say what you will about the Duke and his philosophy, but he stuck by it till the end.
1. "Don't apologize; it's a sign of weakness." -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Rarely was the Duke's guiding ethos of manliness, self-reliance, and bravado distilled into a more perfect package than in his response to the apologies of a woman responsible for a massacre in this classic 1949 Western. Despite his aforementioned secret vulnerability, at the end of the day this is what Wayne was: stubborn, strong, and unapologetic. What's done is done. Second-guessing is for cowards, not cowboys.
2. "There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around but you're dead as a beaver hat." --The Alamo
If nothing else, The Alamo is about drawing a line in the sand by deciding which side you're on. On and off screen, Wayne saw things in black and white. Here, as Davy Crockett, he stands for democracy and sticking to your principles. A man who values security over morality is a traitor to his self. Tough tonic perhaps but also truly American.
3. "Sorry, don't get it done, Dude." -- Rio Bravo
Wayne was -- in the jargon of contemporary economics -- a results-oriented worker. Which is to say that he gets the job done. End of story. Nothing stands in his way, not even, in Rio Bravo, a gang of outlaws who have him outnumbered and outgunned. By hook or by crook, he'll do what needs doing, as he reminds drunk deputy Dude (Dean Martin) in this quotation. Even with the odds stacked against you, failure isn't an option. Well put.
4. "I never shot nobody I didn't have to." -- True Grit
In a perfect world, a gun would never be necessary but Wayne, like Arnold Schwarzenegger , knows that some problems require drastic measures. As Rooster Cogburn, Wayne has seen his share of bloodshed. That's part of his job. But even at his most brutal, Wayne also recognizes the fine line between a man and a murderer.
5. "All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else." -- In Harm's Way
The Duke is vulnerable and sensitive on occassion. That's what makes him a star. Which isn't to say that emotions ever overwhelm him or determine his fate. That soldiers get scared isn't surprising. That they still go into battle is what makes them brave.
6. Pat Wheeler: "A game-legged old man and a drunk. That's all you got?" John Wayne: "That's what I've got." -- Rio Bravo
This line is really Wayne's way of saying, "If you've got lemons, make lemonade." He sees people as his supreme resource, and he's not about to let some scoundrel put him down because one of his cohorts happens to be a drunkards. That snappy retort by the Duke is so notable that Dissent magazine did an entire article around on how it related to Wayne's vision of democracy. (For real!)
7. "Out here, due process is a bullet." -- The Green Berets
Doing right sometimes means ignoring nettlesome bureaucracy. This is one of Wayne's most infamous quotations, and it comes from one of his most misguided, reviled films, The Green Berets. The movie is a misguided call to stay the course in Vietnam, and the line brings to mind the troubling vigilantism that's central to the way Wayne and his characters see the world.
8. "There's some things a man just can't run away from." -- Stagecoach
The Duke's characters are always being pursued -- by troubled pasts and, ultimately, by death. That also goes for Wayne's own life. For decades, cancer pursued him. He beat it once, but, ultimately, the disease came back to defeat him. But he fought back against it until he couldn't fight anymore, just like Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. Wayne is about facing things with both eyes wide open and both guns blazing.
9. "We brought nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out." --Red River
The Duke always strips life down to its essentials. In Red River, the iconic actor plays a cattle driver making due on the frontier. A true spartan individualist, Wayne's character see his life as enriched by the certainty of death. Indeed, the above statement would sit well with such esteemed existentialists as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sometimes, the sentiment doesn't seem as harsh when said with a drawl.
10. "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." -- The Shootist
That's the Wayne philosophy in a nutshell, and it's fitting that it comes in his last movie. Why was he like this? Was it a result of childhood beat downs after being named "Marion"? Who knows and, more importantly, who cares? In his final role, he's, appropriately, a dying gunslinger, a man at the end of his tether who still hangs onto his principles. Say what you will about the Duke and his philosophy, but he stuck by it till the end.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
10 Ways to Get to the Gym Regularly
10 Ways to Get to the Gym Regularly
Here, 10 ways to ensure you get to the gym, despite life's everyday obstacles.
Many of us begin exercise programs with the intentions of making fitness a habit. Unfortunately, hitting the gym after a long, hard day can quickly become our biggest obstacle.
Here 10 ways to get you in the door:
Pencil a gym trip on your calendar like you would other can't-miss events. This way, you're emphasizing the priority of fitness in your crowded life by consciously making time to exercise.
Set realistic goals to keep discouragement at bay. Is it realistic to become a marathon runner? Focus on what you want to get out of your exercise routine.
Know what you're going to do once you get to the gym. Plan ahead so that you know exactly what the trip to the gym will entail. Perhaps it's an hour of strength training or an intense spin class. Make a plan, and stick to it.
Have a backup plan. Something may happen that will keep you from going to the gym, but you can still work out at home with weights or cardio activities.
Gain support from your family. Let them know it's all about your health. Buddy up with a friend as a way to keep you motivated.
Record your favorite upbeat, motivating tunes so you can listen to them while exercising. Leave out all the sad, slow songs about lost loves. What you need are tunes to keep you going.
Start with your least favorite exercises at the beginning of your workout. You can look forward to your favorites at the end.
Remember the other reasons why you're working out, other than just toning up. You'll help reduce your risks for heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular conditions; build strong bones; lower your cholesterol; have more energy; feel proud of yourself.
Get assistance from the trained staff at your fitness center- or hire a personal trainer. They can help you use proper procedures to avoid injuries and frustration, and tailor a fitness program for you. Besides the bucks you're paying, the trainer will motivate you to get to the gym.
Reward yourself when you reach a goal. Treat yourself to that new dress you've admired in the window of a department store, or that massage you've always wanted.
c
Here, 10 ways to ensure you get to the gym, despite life's everyday obstacles.
Many of us begin exercise programs with the intentions of making fitness a habit. Unfortunately, hitting the gym after a long, hard day can quickly become our biggest obstacle.
Here 10 ways to get you in the door:
Pencil a gym trip on your calendar like you would other can't-miss events. This way, you're emphasizing the priority of fitness in your crowded life by consciously making time to exercise.
Set realistic goals to keep discouragement at bay. Is it realistic to become a marathon runner? Focus on what you want to get out of your exercise routine.
Know what you're going to do once you get to the gym. Plan ahead so that you know exactly what the trip to the gym will entail. Perhaps it's an hour of strength training or an intense spin class. Make a plan, and stick to it.
Have a backup plan. Something may happen that will keep you from going to the gym, but you can still work out at home with weights or cardio activities.
Gain support from your family. Let them know it's all about your health. Buddy up with a friend as a way to keep you motivated.
Record your favorite upbeat, motivating tunes so you can listen to them while exercising. Leave out all the sad, slow songs about lost loves. What you need are tunes to keep you going.
Start with your least favorite exercises at the beginning of your workout. You can look forward to your favorites at the end.
Remember the other reasons why you're working out, other than just toning up. You'll help reduce your risks for heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular conditions; build strong bones; lower your cholesterol; have more energy; feel proud of yourself.
Get assistance from the trained staff at your fitness center- or hire a personal trainer. They can help you use proper procedures to avoid injuries and frustration, and tailor a fitness program for you. Besides the bucks you're paying, the trainer will motivate you to get to the gym.
Reward yourself when you reach a goal. Treat yourself to that new dress you've admired in the window of a department store, or that massage you've always wanted.
c
Friday, April 23, 2010
Report says health care will cover more, cost more
Report says health care will cover more, cost more
Apr 23 04:01 AM US/Eastern
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up.
Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance—adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.
But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.
It's a worrisome assessment for Democrats.
In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors.
The report from Medicare's Office of the Actuary carried a disclaimer saying it does not represent the official position of the Obama administration. White House officials have repeatedly complained that such analyses have been too pessimistic and lowball the law's potential to achieve savings.
The report acknowledged that some of the cost-control measures in the bill—Medicare cuts, a tax on high-cost insurance and a commission to seek ongoing Medicare savings—could help reduce the rate of cost increases beyond 2020. But it held out little hope for progress in the first decade.
"During 2010-2019, however, these effects would be outweighed by the increased costs associated with the expansions of health insurance coverage," wrote Richard S. Foster, Medicare's chief actuary. "Also, the longer-term viability of the Medicare ... reductions is doubtful." Foster's office is responsible for long-range costs estimates.
Republicans said the findings validate their concerns about Obama's 10-year, nearly $1 trillion plan to remake the nation's health care system.
"A trillion dollars gets spent, and it's no surprise—health care costs are going to go up," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., a leading Republican on health care issues. Camp added that he's concerned the Medicare cuts will undermine care for seniors.
In a statement, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to highlight some positive findings for seniors. For example, the report concluded that Medicare monthly premiums would be lower than otherwise expected, due to the spending reductions.
"The Affordable Care Act will improve the health care system for all Americans, and we will continue our work to quickly and carefully implement the new law," the statement said.
Passed by a divided Congress after a year of bitter partisan debate, the law would create new health insurance markets for individuals and small businesses. Starting in 2014, most Americans would be required to carry health insurance except in cases of financial hardship. Tax credits would help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while Medicaid would pick up more low-income people. Insurers would be required to accept all applicants, regardless of their health.
The U.S. spends $2.5 trillion a year on health care, far more per person than any other developed nation, and for results that aren't clearly better when compared to more frugal countries. At the outset of the health care debate last year, Obama held out the hope that by bending the cost curve down, the U.S. could cover all its citizens for about what the nation would spend absent any changes.
The report found that the president's law missed the mark, although not by much. The overhaul will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1 percent. To put that in perspective, total health care spending during the decade is estimated to surpass $35 trillion.
Administration officials argue the increase is a bargain price for guaranteeing coverage to 95 percent of Americans. They also point out that the law will decrease the federal deficit by $143 billion over the 10-year period.
The report's most sober assessments concerned Medicare.
In addition to flagging provider cuts as potentially unsustainable, the report projected that reductions in payments to private Medicare Advantage plans would trigger an exodus from the popular alternative. Enrollment would plummet by about 50 percent. Seniors leaving the private plans would still have health insurance under traditional Medicare, but many might face higher out-of-pocket costs.
In another flashing yellow light, the report warned that a new voluntary long-term care insurance program created under the law faces "a very serious risk" of insolvency.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Apr 23 04:01 AM US/Eastern
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up.
Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance—adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.
But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.
It's a worrisome assessment for Democrats.
In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors.
The report from Medicare's Office of the Actuary carried a disclaimer saying it does not represent the official position of the Obama administration. White House officials have repeatedly complained that such analyses have been too pessimistic and lowball the law's potential to achieve savings.
The report acknowledged that some of the cost-control measures in the bill—Medicare cuts, a tax on high-cost insurance and a commission to seek ongoing Medicare savings—could help reduce the rate of cost increases beyond 2020. But it held out little hope for progress in the first decade.
"During 2010-2019, however, these effects would be outweighed by the increased costs associated with the expansions of health insurance coverage," wrote Richard S. Foster, Medicare's chief actuary. "Also, the longer-term viability of the Medicare ... reductions is doubtful." Foster's office is responsible for long-range costs estimates.
Republicans said the findings validate their concerns about Obama's 10-year, nearly $1 trillion plan to remake the nation's health care system.
"A trillion dollars gets spent, and it's no surprise—health care costs are going to go up," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., a leading Republican on health care issues. Camp added that he's concerned the Medicare cuts will undermine care for seniors.
In a statement, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to highlight some positive findings for seniors. For example, the report concluded that Medicare monthly premiums would be lower than otherwise expected, due to the spending reductions.
"The Affordable Care Act will improve the health care system for all Americans, and we will continue our work to quickly and carefully implement the new law," the statement said.
Passed by a divided Congress after a year of bitter partisan debate, the law would create new health insurance markets for individuals and small businesses. Starting in 2014, most Americans would be required to carry health insurance except in cases of financial hardship. Tax credits would help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while Medicaid would pick up more low-income people. Insurers would be required to accept all applicants, regardless of their health.
The U.S. spends $2.5 trillion a year on health care, far more per person than any other developed nation, and for results that aren't clearly better when compared to more frugal countries. At the outset of the health care debate last year, Obama held out the hope that by bending the cost curve down, the U.S. could cover all its citizens for about what the nation would spend absent any changes.
The report found that the president's law missed the mark, although not by much. The overhaul will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1 percent. To put that in perspective, total health care spending during the decade is estimated to surpass $35 trillion.
Administration officials argue the increase is a bargain price for guaranteeing coverage to 95 percent of Americans. They also point out that the law will decrease the federal deficit by $143 billion over the 10-year period.
The report's most sober assessments concerned Medicare.
In addition to flagging provider cuts as potentially unsustainable, the report projected that reductions in payments to private Medicare Advantage plans would trigger an exodus from the popular alternative. Enrollment would plummet by about 50 percent. Seniors leaving the private plans would still have health insurance under traditional Medicare, but many might face higher out-of-pocket costs.
In another flashing yellow light, the report warned that a new voluntary long-term care insurance program created under the law faces "a very serious risk" of insolvency.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
First black priesthood holder recalls historic day
First black priesthood holder recalls historic day
By Chris Peterson
Mormon Times
Published: 2010-04-23 00:16:29
Joseph Freeman's friend wondered what was wrong. He noticed that Freeman was visibly concerned -- a mystery since the man who is usually smiling had just received historic news that would positively change his and many others' lives.
Freeman -- who would become the first Mormon of black African descent to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in the LDS Church after the 1978 priesthood revelation -- was asked by his friend what his worry was. "This means I have to go home teaching now," Freeman joked.
Freeman, 58, recently spoke of his conversion and his groundbreaking experience.
Long before the LDS Church appeared on his radar, Freeman was a devoted religious person. At 10 years old, he was baptized as a member of the Holiness Church.
Furthermore, it was his dream to become a lay minister in the faith, something he accomplished after earning an evangelist's license.
When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was introduced into his life, it was his future wife, Toe Isapela Leituala, who presented it. Freeman -- who was a 19-year-old Army enlistee stationed in Hawaii -- said that Leituala, a Samoan convert of six years, made an impactful impression on him.
As she explained the Word of Wisdom to Freeman, he realized he was already living some of it. "I didn't take drugs or drink alcohol, but I did like to drink tea and have a cup of coffee once in a while," he said. "But I thought, that if she can live closer to God by not partaking of those things, I decided that I can do that, too."
Freeman said that he was impressed with everyone he met in the Mormon faith, including Leituala's father, with whom he had lengthy talks. "You hit a barrel and it's hollow," Freeman said. "But with these Mormons," he reflected, "the barrel was full -- full of love."
Freeman decided to abandon his evangelist's license, and upon fully being aware that he could not receive the priesthood, Freeman was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church on Sept. 30, 1973.
In 1974, Freeman and Leituala were married, and a year later, Freeman left the military and he and his wife eventually moved to Salt Lake City.
The First Presidency of the LDS Church announced on June 8, 1978, that President Spencer W. Kimball had received a revelation that said, in part,"every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the holy priesthood ... and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple ... without regard for race or color."
Usually, those ordained to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood must wait about a year before being ordained to the office of an elder. But church leaders felt that Freeman's faithfulness to the gospel and his spiritual aptitude warranted his being elevated to an elder immediately.
Freeman was given the Melchizedek Priesthood three days after President Kimball received the revelation.
Freeman accepted the news that he was originally given: that he would have to wait a period of three to six months before he would be able to enter the temple, receive those blessings and be sealed to his family.
But church leaders again felt differently and ultimately Freeman was able to attend the Salt Lake Temple with his family, becoming one of the first men of black African descent to receive those ordinances. President Thomas S. Monson, who at the time was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, officiated at the ceremony.
Freeman credits divine intervention in the cases of priesthood leaders reconsidering by letting him receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and being able to attend the temple earlier.
"Those leaders had one thing in their minds, but God changed their minds," Freeman said. "God can micromanage our hearts and souls."
E-mail: cpeterson@desnews.com
MormonTimes.com is produced by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
By Chris Peterson
Mormon Times
Published: 2010-04-23 00:16:29
Joseph Freeman's friend wondered what was wrong. He noticed that Freeman was visibly concerned -- a mystery since the man who is usually smiling had just received historic news that would positively change his and many others' lives.
Freeman -- who would become the first Mormon of black African descent to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in the LDS Church after the 1978 priesthood revelation -- was asked by his friend what his worry was. "This means I have to go home teaching now," Freeman joked.
Freeman, 58, recently spoke of his conversion and his groundbreaking experience.
Long before the LDS Church appeared on his radar, Freeman was a devoted religious person. At 10 years old, he was baptized as a member of the Holiness Church.
Furthermore, it was his dream to become a lay minister in the faith, something he accomplished after earning an evangelist's license.
When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was introduced into his life, it was his future wife, Toe Isapela Leituala, who presented it. Freeman -- who was a 19-year-old Army enlistee stationed in Hawaii -- said that Leituala, a Samoan convert of six years, made an impactful impression on him.
As she explained the Word of Wisdom to Freeman, he realized he was already living some of it. "I didn't take drugs or drink alcohol, but I did like to drink tea and have a cup of coffee once in a while," he said. "But I thought, that if she can live closer to God by not partaking of those things, I decided that I can do that, too."
Freeman said that he was impressed with everyone he met in the Mormon faith, including Leituala's father, with whom he had lengthy talks. "You hit a barrel and it's hollow," Freeman said. "But with these Mormons," he reflected, "the barrel was full -- full of love."
Freeman decided to abandon his evangelist's license, and upon fully being aware that he could not receive the priesthood, Freeman was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church on Sept. 30, 1973.
In 1974, Freeman and Leituala were married, and a year later, Freeman left the military and he and his wife eventually moved to Salt Lake City.
The First Presidency of the LDS Church announced on June 8, 1978, that President Spencer W. Kimball had received a revelation that said, in part,"every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the holy priesthood ... and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple ... without regard for race or color."
Usually, those ordained to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood must wait about a year before being ordained to the office of an elder. But church leaders felt that Freeman's faithfulness to the gospel and his spiritual aptitude warranted his being elevated to an elder immediately.
Freeman was given the Melchizedek Priesthood three days after President Kimball received the revelation.
Freeman accepted the news that he was originally given: that he would have to wait a period of three to six months before he would be able to enter the temple, receive those blessings and be sealed to his family.
But church leaders again felt differently and ultimately Freeman was able to attend the Salt Lake Temple with his family, becoming one of the first men of black African descent to receive those ordinances. President Thomas S. Monson, who at the time was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, officiated at the ceremony.
Freeman credits divine intervention in the cases of priesthood leaders reconsidering by letting him receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and being able to attend the temple earlier.
"Those leaders had one thing in their minds, but God changed their minds," Freeman said. "God can micromanage our hearts and souls."
E-mail: cpeterson@desnews.com
MormonTimes.com is produced by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
HOW TO FIGHT THE IRS
APRIL 12, 2010 How to Fight the IRS
Brace yourself: The chances of being audited are rising. So if it happens to you, here's what to do—and what not to do.
By TOM HERMAN
Get ready for increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service.
With Washington searching for ways to cut the budget deficit, IRS officials face intense pressure to collect more revenue. The agency plans more audits, especially of taxpayers in high brackets or those who are self-employed and deal in large amounts of cash. The IRS also has turned up the heat in such areas as offshore tax evasion, including undisclosed foreign bank accounts.
More Americans may be audited by the IRS this year, thanks to new pressure on the agency to collect from laggard taxpayers. The Wall Street Journal's former tax columnist Tom Herman explains to Kelsey Hubbard some smart -- and not-so-smart -- ways to fight back.
If you become an IRS target, what should you do?
For many people, the answer may seem simple: Surrender as quickly as possible, no matter how good a case you have.
Even if you are sure you are right and have all the records to prove it, fighting the IRS, one of the most powerful government bureaucracies on the planet, can be the ultimate nightmare. Seemingly routine struggles can drag on for years, leading to endless frustration and sleepless nights. Even those who eventually triumph may wonder if the fight was worth all the time, effort and expense.
But if you're ready for the challenge, there are many smart ways to fight back—and win. Start by keeping comprehensive, well-organized documents. Always scour the IRS's claims for mistakes. Don't get discouraged when dealing with tax officials. If you are convinced you are correct, consider pushing your case up the chain of command. Try the IRS appeals division. You may also get valuable help from the IRS's taxpayer advocate service. Or go to court.
At the same time, there are some classically dumb mistakes to avoid—everything from simply ignoring the IRS to arguing that it somehow is voluntary to pay federal income tax.
Here are some combat tips from lawyers, accountants and "enrolled agents," who are federally licensed tax experts authorized to represent taxpayers at all levels of the IRS.
Hire the wrong tax preparer: Beware of someone who asks you to sign a blank tax return. Or whose fee is based on a percentage of how much you save in taxes. Or who promises to get you a significantly higher refund than anyone else can. People like these are likely to prepare outrageous returns that will land you in deep trouble with the IRS.
The Ostrich approach: One of the biggest mistakes is to bury your head in the sand and ignore IRS notices and letters, hoping the tax collectors eventually will lose interest and go away. "When dealing with the IRS, the best thing someone can do is to maintain regular communication," says Charles P. Rettig, a tax lawyer at Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez P.C., in Beverly Hills, Calif. "Whether during an audit or in the tax-collection process, ignoring the IRS is simply a bad idea."
Act professionally throughout the process and reply to IRS correspondence on time. The IRS is very serious about deadlines. Also, "keep a record of all communications and correspondence with the IRS, including proof of delivery, and keep your records organized," says Caroline D. Ciraolo, a tax lawyer at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP in Baltimore.
Frivolity: Some people tell the IRS and judges that it somehow is voluntary to file a federal income-tax return and pay taxes. Or that their wages, tips and other income for personal services aren't taxable. Or that they are residents of a state but not of the United States. Or variations of these themes.
Don't even think of making any of those claims. Tax Court judges routinely label these as "frivolous" arguments, delaying tactics or both. More important, judges often impose stiff monetary penalties on those foolish enough to persist.
Ross MacDonald
Bribery: This is even dumber—and far more dangerous—than frivolity. In a case last year, for instance, a Houston-area resident was sentenced to prison for two years for trying to bribe an IRS agent, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The U.S. Attorney's office in the southern district of Texas said the man offered the agent $2,500 to reduce his tax liability to around $500 from $49,000. In addition, the man "repeatedly offered the agent pizza from his restaurant as part of the deal."
Automatic Surrender: Just because the IRS says you owe money doesn't mean that's correct. The agency makes mistakes—plenty of them, even in computing penalties and interest. "I have had several clients receive notices regarding unreported securities sales," says Stephen W. DeFilippis, the owner of West Suburban Income Tax Service in Wheaton, Ill., and an enrolled agent. "In these cases, the clients exchanged mutual funds one for another and didn't realize that's a taxable event." The IRS, he says, sent a notice "including the gross proceeds in income and assessing tax on the additional income."
But the IRS missed a vital point, he says: "The clients brought me these notices, and in each case the mutual-fund exchanges resulted in a loss. So instead of owing a large sum to the IRS, the clients got a refund."
This story shows how foolish it can be to pay what the IRS says you owe without "thoroughly investigating" the subject, says Mr. DeFilippis.
But if the amount in question is relatively small and the issue is confusing, some may conclude it isn't worth the time, trouble and expense of challenging the IRS and may decide to pay in order to make the problem disappear. It depends on the details of each case, including how confident you are of victory and how much time and expense you are willing to devote to the battle.
Smart Moves
GET HELP: Having a smart, well-prepared tax expert on your side can be a tremendous advantage. Not only will they know the ins and outs of the tax code, but also they can take over the often-exhausting job of dealing with the IRS —and help you decide how far to push a fight.
Take the case of Elizabeth Chapman, a 66-year-old poet and writing consultant in northern California. Nearly three years ago, the IRS notified Ms. Chapman that her 2005 federal income-tax return was to be examined. Fortunately, Ms. Chapman had chosen an experienced and highly regarded tax professional, Claudia Hill, an enrolled agent and the owner of a tax-preparation and advisory firm in Cupertino, Calif.
Ms. Hill arranged a meeting with the IRS so that she could present evidence on behalf of Ms. Chapman. Even before that meeting, Ms. Chapman received a note from the IRS saying its calculations showed she owed more than $15,900, Ms. Hill says.
Ms. Hill finally met with the IRS, laid out Ms. Chapman's case, and later sent more material by mail. The IRS eventually responded with a letter saying its new calculations showed Ms. Chapman owed only $151. But Ms. Hill felt confident the correct answer was zero. She asked the IRS agent's manager to intervene—"but to no avail," she says.
Ms. Hill didn't give up. Eventually, an IRS appeals officer concluded Ms. Chapman didn't owe a penny.
Ms. Chapman won another battle in U.S. Tax Court. After hearing about the difficulties she had encountered, the judge ordered the IRS to pay $3,475.06 in fees that Ms. Chapman had incurred. In his opinion, handed down last October, the judge concluded that the IRS had "presented no evidence showing it was reasonable to determine" that Ms. Chapman owed anything. (An IRS spokesman declined comment on Ms. Chapman's case.)
The IRS check finally arrived in March of this year, Ms. Hill says. She says Ms. Chapman "is amazed," adding: "I'm pleased."
Become a Pack rat: Generally, you should keep returns and all supporting documents for at least three years from the original due date, including extensions. Even better, save all records for at least six or seven years. The reason: If you didn't report income that should have been reported, and if it is more than 25% of the income shown on the return, the time period doesn't run out until six years after the return was filed, according to an IRS publication.
But be warned that there is no time limit on the IRS if someone hasn't filed a return, or files a return that is "false" or "fraudulent with intent to evade tax." You should save some records even longer. For example, keep indefinitely documents showing what you paid for investments that you own and haven't yet sold—such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, art objects or a home, including improvements.
It may be a nuisance, but all that paper could be vitally important if you are challenged by the IRS. The more complete and well-organized your record keeping, the better your chances of prevailing. The case of Ms. Chapman illustrates this lesson. Judge Gerber of the U.S. Tax Court wrote that Ms. Chapman had given the IRS "documentation that reflected that she was entitled to deductions in an amount that was in excess of the amount respondent questioned."
Appeal: If you feel you have a bulletproof case but are getting nowhere with an auditor, stay calm—and consider asking to speak to that person's manager. If that doesn't help either, consider taking your case to an IRS appeals office. An IRS publication says "most differences" between taxpayers and the IRS that reach the appeals level are settled. For details, see IRS Publication 556.
TRY THE ADVOCATE: You may also consider taking your case to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, or TAS, an organization within the IRS created to help taxpayers resolve problems, as well as advocate for changes in the system.
You may be eligible for help if you have tried to resolve your tax problems through normal IRS channels and haven't gotten anywhere, or if you believe an IRS procedure isn't working as it should, such as an amended return that hasn't been processed, an advocate spokesman says.
The service also may be able to help taxpayers whose problems are causing financial woes or significant cost, including the expense of hiring a pro to represent them. Among the classic types of cases accepted by the TAS are those in which a taxpayer is experiencing, or is about to experience, a financial hardship due to an IRS action, such as a lien, levy or seizure, or some IRS inaction, such as a delayed or lost refund check, a spokesman says. For details, see the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov/advocate) and IRS Publication 1546, or call 877-777-4778.
Partial Pay: If you can't pay everything you agree that you owe, consider arranging to pay through an installment plan. Try the online payment agreement option on the IRS Web site to see whether you qualify.
If you are facing a financial crisis and have no hope of repaying everything you owe, consider asking the IRS to settle for some lesser amount. Getting the IRS to agree to an "offer in compromise" usually is difficult. But the IRS recently announced "new flexibility" in considering offers from taxpayers facing "economic troubles, including the recently unemployed."
Specifically, IRS employees "will be permitted to consider a taxpayer's current income and potential for future income when negotiating an offer in compromise," the IRS said. "Normally, the standard practice is to judge an offer amount on a taxpayer's earnings in prior years." However, the IRS said it may also require the taxpayer to agree to pay more "if the taxpayer's financial situation improves significantly."
More broadly, an IRS spokesman says the agency is "continually working to reduce taxpayer burden by seeing to it that tax issues are resolved in the least costly and most expeditious manner possible."
He points out that the IRS earlier this year "began rolling out a series of streamlined and simplified notices, designed to reduce the potential for confusion."
GO TO COURT: Most people who decide to slug it out with the IRS in court do so by filing a petition with the U.S. Tax Court, which is based in Washington, D.C., but holds trials in many cities around the nation. If you pick this court, you usually don't need to pay the amount in dispute while your case is pending there, according to the court's Web site (www.ustaxcourt.gov). That site has details on how to get your day in Tax Court, what types of cases the court accepts and answers to other frequently asked questions.
"In many cities, there are low-income-taxpayer clinics that will offer free representation in tax disputes," says Ms. Ciraolo of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg. "Also check to see if there is a U.S. Tax Court pro bono program" in your area.
If the Tax Court decides you do owe some tax, or if you settle or agree to some tax liability, the law generally says interest runs on unpaid tax from the date it was originally due until paid in full, the court says. "Interest also runs on some penalties."
But the Tax Court isn't your only option. Instead, you could choose to go to federal district court or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Generally, though, those courts will hear tax cases only after you have paid the contested amount and filed a refund claim with the IRS. See IRS Publication 5.
Picking the right court can be tricky. The answer will depend on the intricacies of your dispute and other factors, such as prior decisions made by those courts on the issues in your case.
Lobby Congress: This is a very long shot. But occasionally, someone comes up with a compelling story that attracts press coverage and leads to tax-law changes. During the 1990s, Congress approved changes in the "innocent-spouse law" after lawmakers were moved by the plight of numerous divorced or separated couples who had filed joint returns and where one, usually the woman, later argued she was being saddled with taxes that rightly should be paid by the other person. The changes were designed to make it easier, in certain circumstances, for one spouse to be relieved of the liability.
Mr. Herman, a former Wall Street Journal tax columnist, is a writer in New York. He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Brace yourself: The chances of being audited are rising. So if it happens to you, here's what to do—and what not to do.
By TOM HERMAN
Get ready for increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service.
With Washington searching for ways to cut the budget deficit, IRS officials face intense pressure to collect more revenue. The agency plans more audits, especially of taxpayers in high brackets or those who are self-employed and deal in large amounts of cash. The IRS also has turned up the heat in such areas as offshore tax evasion, including undisclosed foreign bank accounts.
More Americans may be audited by the IRS this year, thanks to new pressure on the agency to collect from laggard taxpayers. The Wall Street Journal's former tax columnist Tom Herman explains to Kelsey Hubbard some smart -- and not-so-smart -- ways to fight back.
If you become an IRS target, what should you do?
For many people, the answer may seem simple: Surrender as quickly as possible, no matter how good a case you have.
Even if you are sure you are right and have all the records to prove it, fighting the IRS, one of the most powerful government bureaucracies on the planet, can be the ultimate nightmare. Seemingly routine struggles can drag on for years, leading to endless frustration and sleepless nights. Even those who eventually triumph may wonder if the fight was worth all the time, effort and expense.
But if you're ready for the challenge, there are many smart ways to fight back—and win. Start by keeping comprehensive, well-organized documents. Always scour the IRS's claims for mistakes. Don't get discouraged when dealing with tax officials. If you are convinced you are correct, consider pushing your case up the chain of command. Try the IRS appeals division. You may also get valuable help from the IRS's taxpayer advocate service. Or go to court.
At the same time, there are some classically dumb mistakes to avoid—everything from simply ignoring the IRS to arguing that it somehow is voluntary to pay federal income tax.
Here are some combat tips from lawyers, accountants and "enrolled agents," who are federally licensed tax experts authorized to represent taxpayers at all levels of the IRS.
Hire the wrong tax preparer: Beware of someone who asks you to sign a blank tax return. Or whose fee is based on a percentage of how much you save in taxes. Or who promises to get you a significantly higher refund than anyone else can. People like these are likely to prepare outrageous returns that will land you in deep trouble with the IRS.
The Ostrich approach: One of the biggest mistakes is to bury your head in the sand and ignore IRS notices and letters, hoping the tax collectors eventually will lose interest and go away. "When dealing with the IRS, the best thing someone can do is to maintain regular communication," says Charles P. Rettig, a tax lawyer at Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez P.C., in Beverly Hills, Calif. "Whether during an audit or in the tax-collection process, ignoring the IRS is simply a bad idea."
Act professionally throughout the process and reply to IRS correspondence on time. The IRS is very serious about deadlines. Also, "keep a record of all communications and correspondence with the IRS, including proof of delivery, and keep your records organized," says Caroline D. Ciraolo, a tax lawyer at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP in Baltimore.
Frivolity: Some people tell the IRS and judges that it somehow is voluntary to file a federal income-tax return and pay taxes. Or that their wages, tips and other income for personal services aren't taxable. Or that they are residents of a state but not of the United States. Or variations of these themes.
Don't even think of making any of those claims. Tax Court judges routinely label these as "frivolous" arguments, delaying tactics or both. More important, judges often impose stiff monetary penalties on those foolish enough to persist.
Ross MacDonald
Bribery: This is even dumber—and far more dangerous—than frivolity. In a case last year, for instance, a Houston-area resident was sentenced to prison for two years for trying to bribe an IRS agent, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The U.S. Attorney's office in the southern district of Texas said the man offered the agent $2,500 to reduce his tax liability to around $500 from $49,000. In addition, the man "repeatedly offered the agent pizza from his restaurant as part of the deal."
Automatic Surrender: Just because the IRS says you owe money doesn't mean that's correct. The agency makes mistakes—plenty of them, even in computing penalties and interest. "I have had several clients receive notices regarding unreported securities sales," says Stephen W. DeFilippis, the owner of West Suburban Income Tax Service in Wheaton, Ill., and an enrolled agent. "In these cases, the clients exchanged mutual funds one for another and didn't realize that's a taxable event." The IRS, he says, sent a notice "including the gross proceeds in income and assessing tax on the additional income."
But the IRS missed a vital point, he says: "The clients brought me these notices, and in each case the mutual-fund exchanges resulted in a loss. So instead of owing a large sum to the IRS, the clients got a refund."
This story shows how foolish it can be to pay what the IRS says you owe without "thoroughly investigating" the subject, says Mr. DeFilippis.
But if the amount in question is relatively small and the issue is confusing, some may conclude it isn't worth the time, trouble and expense of challenging the IRS and may decide to pay in order to make the problem disappear. It depends on the details of each case, including how confident you are of victory and how much time and expense you are willing to devote to the battle.
Smart Moves
GET HELP: Having a smart, well-prepared tax expert on your side can be a tremendous advantage. Not only will they know the ins and outs of the tax code, but also they can take over the often-exhausting job of dealing with the IRS —and help you decide how far to push a fight.
Take the case of Elizabeth Chapman, a 66-year-old poet and writing consultant in northern California. Nearly three years ago, the IRS notified Ms. Chapman that her 2005 federal income-tax return was to be examined. Fortunately, Ms. Chapman had chosen an experienced and highly regarded tax professional, Claudia Hill, an enrolled agent and the owner of a tax-preparation and advisory firm in Cupertino, Calif.
Ms. Hill arranged a meeting with the IRS so that she could present evidence on behalf of Ms. Chapman. Even before that meeting, Ms. Chapman received a note from the IRS saying its calculations showed she owed more than $15,900, Ms. Hill says.
Ms. Hill finally met with the IRS, laid out Ms. Chapman's case, and later sent more material by mail. The IRS eventually responded with a letter saying its new calculations showed Ms. Chapman owed only $151. But Ms. Hill felt confident the correct answer was zero. She asked the IRS agent's manager to intervene—"but to no avail," she says.
Ms. Hill didn't give up. Eventually, an IRS appeals officer concluded Ms. Chapman didn't owe a penny.
Ms. Chapman won another battle in U.S. Tax Court. After hearing about the difficulties she had encountered, the judge ordered the IRS to pay $3,475.06 in fees that Ms. Chapman had incurred. In his opinion, handed down last October, the judge concluded that the IRS had "presented no evidence showing it was reasonable to determine" that Ms. Chapman owed anything. (An IRS spokesman declined comment on Ms. Chapman's case.)
The IRS check finally arrived in March of this year, Ms. Hill says. She says Ms. Chapman "is amazed," adding: "I'm pleased."
Become a Pack rat: Generally, you should keep returns and all supporting documents for at least three years from the original due date, including extensions. Even better, save all records for at least six or seven years. The reason: If you didn't report income that should have been reported, and if it is more than 25% of the income shown on the return, the time period doesn't run out until six years after the return was filed, according to an IRS publication.
But be warned that there is no time limit on the IRS if someone hasn't filed a return, or files a return that is "false" or "fraudulent with intent to evade tax." You should save some records even longer. For example, keep indefinitely documents showing what you paid for investments that you own and haven't yet sold—such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, art objects or a home, including improvements.
It may be a nuisance, but all that paper could be vitally important if you are challenged by the IRS. The more complete and well-organized your record keeping, the better your chances of prevailing. The case of Ms. Chapman illustrates this lesson. Judge Gerber of the U.S. Tax Court wrote that Ms. Chapman had given the IRS "documentation that reflected that she was entitled to deductions in an amount that was in excess of the amount respondent questioned."
Appeal: If you feel you have a bulletproof case but are getting nowhere with an auditor, stay calm—and consider asking to speak to that person's manager. If that doesn't help either, consider taking your case to an IRS appeals office. An IRS publication says "most differences" between taxpayers and the IRS that reach the appeals level are settled. For details, see IRS Publication 556.
TRY THE ADVOCATE: You may also consider taking your case to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, or TAS, an organization within the IRS created to help taxpayers resolve problems, as well as advocate for changes in the system.
You may be eligible for help if you have tried to resolve your tax problems through normal IRS channels and haven't gotten anywhere, or if you believe an IRS procedure isn't working as it should, such as an amended return that hasn't been processed, an advocate spokesman says.
The service also may be able to help taxpayers whose problems are causing financial woes or significant cost, including the expense of hiring a pro to represent them. Among the classic types of cases accepted by the TAS are those in which a taxpayer is experiencing, or is about to experience, a financial hardship due to an IRS action, such as a lien, levy or seizure, or some IRS inaction, such as a delayed or lost refund check, a spokesman says. For details, see the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov/advocate) and IRS Publication 1546, or call 877-777-4778.
Partial Pay: If you can't pay everything you agree that you owe, consider arranging to pay through an installment plan. Try the online payment agreement option on the IRS Web site to see whether you qualify.
If you are facing a financial crisis and have no hope of repaying everything you owe, consider asking the IRS to settle for some lesser amount. Getting the IRS to agree to an "offer in compromise" usually is difficult. But the IRS recently announced "new flexibility" in considering offers from taxpayers facing "economic troubles, including the recently unemployed."
Specifically, IRS employees "will be permitted to consider a taxpayer's current income and potential for future income when negotiating an offer in compromise," the IRS said. "Normally, the standard practice is to judge an offer amount on a taxpayer's earnings in prior years." However, the IRS said it may also require the taxpayer to agree to pay more "if the taxpayer's financial situation improves significantly."
More broadly, an IRS spokesman says the agency is "continually working to reduce taxpayer burden by seeing to it that tax issues are resolved in the least costly and most expeditious manner possible."
He points out that the IRS earlier this year "began rolling out a series of streamlined and simplified notices, designed to reduce the potential for confusion."
GO TO COURT: Most people who decide to slug it out with the IRS in court do so by filing a petition with the U.S. Tax Court, which is based in Washington, D.C., but holds trials in many cities around the nation. If you pick this court, you usually don't need to pay the amount in dispute while your case is pending there, according to the court's Web site (www.ustaxcourt.gov). That site has details on how to get your day in Tax Court, what types of cases the court accepts and answers to other frequently asked questions.
"In many cities, there are low-income-taxpayer clinics that will offer free representation in tax disputes," says Ms. Ciraolo of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg. "Also check to see if there is a U.S. Tax Court pro bono program" in your area.
If the Tax Court decides you do owe some tax, or if you settle or agree to some tax liability, the law generally says interest runs on unpaid tax from the date it was originally due until paid in full, the court says. "Interest also runs on some penalties."
But the Tax Court isn't your only option. Instead, you could choose to go to federal district court or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Generally, though, those courts will hear tax cases only after you have paid the contested amount and filed a refund claim with the IRS. See IRS Publication 5.
Picking the right court can be tricky. The answer will depend on the intricacies of your dispute and other factors, such as prior decisions made by those courts on the issues in your case.
Lobby Congress: This is a very long shot. But occasionally, someone comes up with a compelling story that attracts press coverage and leads to tax-law changes. During the 1990s, Congress approved changes in the "innocent-spouse law" after lawmakers were moved by the plight of numerous divorced or separated couples who had filed joint returns and where one, usually the woman, later argued she was being saddled with taxes that rightly should be paid by the other person. The changes were designed to make it easier, in certain circumstances, for one spouse to be relieved of the liability.
Mr. Herman, a former Wall Street Journal tax columnist, is a writer in New York. He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Should the Beatles have worked it out?
Should the Beatles have worked it out?
40 years after the split, experts say it was time to let it be
By Tony Scalfani
msnbc.com contributor
updated 2:37 p.m. CT, Wed., April 7, 2010
Seven years and seven months. That’s how long the world officially knew the Beatles as a recording act, spanning from the date they released their first single in England to the day their breakup was announced on April 10, 1970.
Looking back after 40 years, that seems like a ridiculously short lifespan for such an important band. The time frame seems ever tinier considering the longevity of other popular bands of their era, like the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Kinks, or bands that came later, like Bon Jovi and U2.
Did the Fab Four call it quits too soon? The answer might seem to be yes, considering interest in the band never really faded. Sales were massive for both the “Anthology” series from the mid-1990s and last year’s CD remasters. Rolling Stone reported in December the surprising fact that the Beatles had the biggest selling album of the last decade with “1,” and that they were second only to Eminem as the top selling artists of the decade.
In 1983, Keith Richards told Musician magazine there “was no need” for the Beatles to have broken up and that the band “could’ve taken a couple of years off, resolved their problems and still carried on.” But as tantalizing as that “what if” scenario might seem to fans, there was little chance the band could have worked as a unit any longer, said eight authors of Beatle books (three of whom knew the band). In both the personal and artistic realms, these writers said, it was time for each band member to let things be.
By summer 1969, when the Beatles recorded their final album, “Abbey Road,” the musicians were already feeling they’d long realized any collective artistic aspirations, said Ken Mansfield, the former U.S. manager of the Beatles’ label Apple and author of “The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era.”
‘No place to go’
“There’s one subtlety that people don’t realize, and we discussed this one time at a meeting in a Hyde Park hotel: they had no place to go,” Mansfield said. “They couldn’t be more No. 1 — they couldn’t be bigger. They had the wealth, they had the success, they had all the things that would be goals for a rock band. That was one of the reasons we did Apple Records. It gave them something new to do.”
The decision to stop touring in 1966 deprived them of the normal performer-audience dynamic that keeps bands energized, said Chris O’Dell, a former Apple Records employee who penned the tome “Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days And Long Nights With The Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton And the Women They Loved.”
“As a live band on tour, they had nothing to shoot for,” she said. “They couldn’t hear themselves. It wasn’t fun for them. George (Harrison) once told me the best fun he ever had in the Beatles was in Hamburg, Germany — that was like really touring and really being out there, but that didn’t happen for them afterwards.”
Because the Beatles in their early days were united like few other bands, they were able to weather troubles that might have destroyed other acts, Mansfield said. But by 1969, that unity was coming undone. Paul McCartney disagreed with the other three members about who should manage the group, John Lennon was more interested in working with new wife Yoko Ono, and Harrison was disgruntled at not getting more songs on the albums.
Bob Spitz, author of the New York Times best seller “The Beatles: The Biography,” said these disagreements alone would have kept them from sticking around much longer, much less releasing another record up to the high standard of “Abbey Road.”
“It wasn’t likely, based on their emotions at the time, that we were going to get fabulous material as a group from them,” Spitz said. “Emotionally they weren’t in any shape to be the Beatles anymore. They didn’t like each other. When the Beatles got together they were young guys. By the time they put out ‘Abbey Road,’ their relationships had no bearing on each other as a group anymore.”
OK, but then how did the band exit on such a high note if they were in such awful shape? Well, to pinch a phrase from the Fabs, they knew it was getting very near the end. So said Peter Doggett, the author of “Abbey Road/Let It Be: The Beatles” and the forthcoming “You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle for the Soul of the Beatles.”
“I think in their hearts they all knew it was the last record, so they could all say ‘OK, I’m gonna be on my best behavior for a few weeks and then we’ll get this over,’” Doggett said. “If they had to think, ‘We’re gonna do this one, and then another one in seven months’ time,’ I don’t think they would actually have managed to work together with that close knit internal harmony.”
Tim Riley, author of “Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary,” echoed this sentiment and said that during the 1960s, the Beatles “were all still really in thrall to their collective muse and that muse carried them through ruptures and conflicts.”
Riley said the band’s breakup came about at the right time: “It’s one of the key aspects of their story that they actually found a way to stay together those last couple of years and turn out a lot of great material. But it’s really in spite of the very stark internal conflicts that kept arising again and again.”
The roots of Harrison’s discontent ran deep, said Bill Harry, who founded Liverpool’s Mersey Beat magazine and was a friend of Lennon and original member Stu Sutcliffe. Although Lennon and McCartney became the band’s main songwriters, Harrison, said Harry, was the first Beatle mentioned in Mersey Beat as having had an original song recorded, the instrumental “Cry for a Shadow” (later co-credited with Lennon).
“(Then) when it started with the big Lennon and McCartney thing, and it was hit after hit, I used to see George and (ask) ‘Why aren’t you writing the music?’” Harry said. “I think the Lennon and McCartney thing was too much for him to sort of handle.”
Harry, who has written 24 books on the Beatles, said that fact alone assured a limited shelf life of the band: “Everyone thinks it would be nice if the Beatles could have had another five years, but they couldn’t. The time was over.”
One more album?
But what if the Fab Four had come together for one more album? This question was posited by David Furst, a producer at Washington DC’s WAMU-FM for a program in which music writer Richie Unterberger took part. Unterberger, who penned the book “The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film,” said fans shouldn’t look to the early Beatles’ solo albums to imagine what a group effort might have sounded like.
“A really challenging aspect of trying to predict what would have happened is that the songwriting would have inevitably changed if all four of them had been together,” he said. “Part of what made the Beatles so special is they had this synergy where they create more than they can do on their own.”
Unterberger said it was fortunate the Beatles’ albums never ended up deteriorating in quality, like those of bands that had more longevity. “They went out with a great record, and most importantly, a record on which the sense of group unity is still really strong,” he said.
Steve Turner, author of “A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song,” agreed: “You can look at some of the songs they wrote during the Beatles that got left over and put on solo albums — but whether you put all those together and it would have made a follow up to ‘Abbey Road,’ I don’t know. They seemed to have reached their limit.
“I can’t think of anything that they did better in subsequent years individually,” Turner said. “I can’t think of a particular kind of studio development or technical development where you’d think, ‘Gosh if only they’d pursued that.’”
© 2010 msnbc.com. Reprints
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36180025/ns/entertainment-music/page/2/
40 years after the split, experts say it was time to let it be
By Tony Scalfani
msnbc.com contributor
updated 2:37 p.m. CT, Wed., April 7, 2010
Seven years and seven months. That’s how long the world officially knew the Beatles as a recording act, spanning from the date they released their first single in England to the day their breakup was announced on April 10, 1970.
Looking back after 40 years, that seems like a ridiculously short lifespan for such an important band. The time frame seems ever tinier considering the longevity of other popular bands of their era, like the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Kinks, or bands that came later, like Bon Jovi and U2.
Did the Fab Four call it quits too soon? The answer might seem to be yes, considering interest in the band never really faded. Sales were massive for both the “Anthology” series from the mid-1990s and last year’s CD remasters. Rolling Stone reported in December the surprising fact that the Beatles had the biggest selling album of the last decade with “1,” and that they were second only to Eminem as the top selling artists of the decade.
In 1983, Keith Richards told Musician magazine there “was no need” for the Beatles to have broken up and that the band “could’ve taken a couple of years off, resolved their problems and still carried on.” But as tantalizing as that “what if” scenario might seem to fans, there was little chance the band could have worked as a unit any longer, said eight authors of Beatle books (three of whom knew the band). In both the personal and artistic realms, these writers said, it was time for each band member to let things be.
By summer 1969, when the Beatles recorded their final album, “Abbey Road,” the musicians were already feeling they’d long realized any collective artistic aspirations, said Ken Mansfield, the former U.S. manager of the Beatles’ label Apple and author of “The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era.”
‘No place to go’
“There’s one subtlety that people don’t realize, and we discussed this one time at a meeting in a Hyde Park hotel: they had no place to go,” Mansfield said. “They couldn’t be more No. 1 — they couldn’t be bigger. They had the wealth, they had the success, they had all the things that would be goals for a rock band. That was one of the reasons we did Apple Records. It gave them something new to do.”
The decision to stop touring in 1966 deprived them of the normal performer-audience dynamic that keeps bands energized, said Chris O’Dell, a former Apple Records employee who penned the tome “Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days And Long Nights With The Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton And the Women They Loved.”
“As a live band on tour, they had nothing to shoot for,” she said. “They couldn’t hear themselves. It wasn’t fun for them. George (Harrison) once told me the best fun he ever had in the Beatles was in Hamburg, Germany — that was like really touring and really being out there, but that didn’t happen for them afterwards.”
Because the Beatles in their early days were united like few other bands, they were able to weather troubles that might have destroyed other acts, Mansfield said. But by 1969, that unity was coming undone. Paul McCartney disagreed with the other three members about who should manage the group, John Lennon was more interested in working with new wife Yoko Ono, and Harrison was disgruntled at not getting more songs on the albums.
Bob Spitz, author of the New York Times best seller “The Beatles: The Biography,” said these disagreements alone would have kept them from sticking around much longer, much less releasing another record up to the high standard of “Abbey Road.”
“It wasn’t likely, based on their emotions at the time, that we were going to get fabulous material as a group from them,” Spitz said. “Emotionally they weren’t in any shape to be the Beatles anymore. They didn’t like each other. When the Beatles got together they were young guys. By the time they put out ‘Abbey Road,’ their relationships had no bearing on each other as a group anymore.”
OK, but then how did the band exit on such a high note if they were in such awful shape? Well, to pinch a phrase from the Fabs, they knew it was getting very near the end. So said Peter Doggett, the author of “Abbey Road/Let It Be: The Beatles” and the forthcoming “You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle for the Soul of the Beatles.”
“I think in their hearts they all knew it was the last record, so they could all say ‘OK, I’m gonna be on my best behavior for a few weeks and then we’ll get this over,’” Doggett said. “If they had to think, ‘We’re gonna do this one, and then another one in seven months’ time,’ I don’t think they would actually have managed to work together with that close knit internal harmony.”
Tim Riley, author of “Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary,” echoed this sentiment and said that during the 1960s, the Beatles “were all still really in thrall to their collective muse and that muse carried them through ruptures and conflicts.”
Riley said the band’s breakup came about at the right time: “It’s one of the key aspects of their story that they actually found a way to stay together those last couple of years and turn out a lot of great material. But it’s really in spite of the very stark internal conflicts that kept arising again and again.”
The roots of Harrison’s discontent ran deep, said Bill Harry, who founded Liverpool’s Mersey Beat magazine and was a friend of Lennon and original member Stu Sutcliffe. Although Lennon and McCartney became the band’s main songwriters, Harrison, said Harry, was the first Beatle mentioned in Mersey Beat as having had an original song recorded, the instrumental “Cry for a Shadow” (later co-credited with Lennon).
“(Then) when it started with the big Lennon and McCartney thing, and it was hit after hit, I used to see George and (ask) ‘Why aren’t you writing the music?’” Harry said. “I think the Lennon and McCartney thing was too much for him to sort of handle.”
Harry, who has written 24 books on the Beatles, said that fact alone assured a limited shelf life of the band: “Everyone thinks it would be nice if the Beatles could have had another five years, but they couldn’t. The time was over.”
One more album?
But what if the Fab Four had come together for one more album? This question was posited by David Furst, a producer at Washington DC’s WAMU-FM for a program in which music writer Richie Unterberger took part. Unterberger, who penned the book “The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film,” said fans shouldn’t look to the early Beatles’ solo albums to imagine what a group effort might have sounded like.
“A really challenging aspect of trying to predict what would have happened is that the songwriting would have inevitably changed if all four of them had been together,” he said. “Part of what made the Beatles so special is they had this synergy where they create more than they can do on their own.”
Unterberger said it was fortunate the Beatles’ albums never ended up deteriorating in quality, like those of bands that had more longevity. “They went out with a great record, and most importantly, a record on which the sense of group unity is still really strong,” he said.
Steve Turner, author of “A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song,” agreed: “You can look at some of the songs they wrote during the Beatles that got left over and put on solo albums — but whether you put all those together and it would have made a follow up to ‘Abbey Road,’ I don’t know. They seemed to have reached their limit.
“I can’t think of anything that they did better in subsequent years individually,” Turner said. “I can’t think of a particular kind of studio development or technical development where you’d think, ‘Gosh if only they’d pursued that.’”
© 2010 msnbc.com. Reprints
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36180025/ns/entertainment-music/page/2/
Saturday, April 3, 2010
GO TO HELL
Elder J. Golden Kimball was in reality just a cowboy in a suit with a calling to serve the Lord and the people of the Church. He was himself and tried the best he knew how---and the people loved him for it.
He had a special connection with the youth of the Church---sort of. While they knew he had "imperfections" he was still a General Authority and often shared his testimony of the gospel with them. He also knew how to put them in their place when they needed it. And they respected him for it.
The story is told of a stake president in Wyoming who wrote Salt Lake for help with his youth. The young men were going around with pistols in their hip pockets and shooting them off after basketball games and dances. There was going to be a killing if somebody didn't talk them into changing their cowboy ways.
So President Heber J. Grant called J. Golden into his office and said, "This sounds like an assignment for you, Brother Kimball."
J. Golden protested, "Why me?"
President Grant said, "Well, you're the only cowboy that's a General Authority. They'll listen to you!"
So J. Golden went to Wyoming. He wrote the stake president and asked him to gather all the youth into the largest hall they had. The stake president was happy to oblige. When the time came, they were all there. The doors were even locked so the youth couldn't get out.
The troublemakers were yahooing, firing off pistols and throwing paper airplanes and showing no respect for Brother Kimball when he arrived. J. Golden took all this in and thought the direct approach best.
"Go to Hell!" he said.
The auditorium suddenly became still.
He said it again, "Go to Hell!"
You could hear a pin drop. All eyes were riveted on the angry scarecrow at the podium. Having grabbed their attention, J. Golden forged ahead. "That's where you're all going to go if you don't change your ways! I hear some of you have been walking around town with pistols in your hip pockets. Better be careful---might go off and blow your brains out!"
And he walked out of the hall. The roughnecks were left with their mouths hanging open.
Later, the stake president wrote to say the rowdies were better behaved after learning where their seat of reason was. (J. Golden Kimball Stories, p. 30-31).
When it comes to youth, sometimes it is better to be honest and straight with them. They more often than not will respect you for it----they did J. Golden Kimball.
He had a special connection with the youth of the Church---sort of. While they knew he had "imperfections" he was still a General Authority and often shared his testimony of the gospel with them. He also knew how to put them in their place when they needed it. And they respected him for it.
The story is told of a stake president in Wyoming who wrote Salt Lake for help with his youth. The young men were going around with pistols in their hip pockets and shooting them off after basketball games and dances. There was going to be a killing if somebody didn't talk them into changing their cowboy ways.
So President Heber J. Grant called J. Golden into his office and said, "This sounds like an assignment for you, Brother Kimball."
J. Golden protested, "Why me?"
President Grant said, "Well, you're the only cowboy that's a General Authority. They'll listen to you!"
So J. Golden went to Wyoming. He wrote the stake president and asked him to gather all the youth into the largest hall they had. The stake president was happy to oblige. When the time came, they were all there. The doors were even locked so the youth couldn't get out.
The troublemakers were yahooing, firing off pistols and throwing paper airplanes and showing no respect for Brother Kimball when he arrived. J. Golden took all this in and thought the direct approach best.
"Go to Hell!" he said.
The auditorium suddenly became still.
He said it again, "Go to Hell!"
You could hear a pin drop. All eyes were riveted on the angry scarecrow at the podium. Having grabbed their attention, J. Golden forged ahead. "That's where you're all going to go if you don't change your ways! I hear some of you have been walking around town with pistols in your hip pockets. Better be careful---might go off and blow your brains out!"
And he walked out of the hall. The roughnecks were left with their mouths hanging open.
Later, the stake president wrote to say the rowdies were better behaved after learning where their seat of reason was. (J. Golden Kimball Stories, p. 30-31).
When it comes to youth, sometimes it is better to be honest and straight with them. They more often than not will respect you for it----they did J. Golden Kimball.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Cities That Will Bring You Down
The Cities That Will Bring You Down
If you’re thinking of moving, these cities might not be the best for your mood.
Most depressed, saddest, or worst city in the country-labels that any city hardly covets; however, each year, numerous surveys and studies cast an unwanted spotlight on cities with the worst standards of living.
Depending on which data you rely on and the focus of the reporting agency, the cities may vary. For instance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System will reveal different information to FBI crime reports, air quality and housing reports, or data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Even the most comprehensive reports have their critics, largely due to how the raw data is used or interpreted by the media. Regardless, due to their poor ranking on factors including economic indicators, crime and health statistics, and other quality of life indicators such as suicide rates and pollution, several cities stand out
As the country slides into a recession described as the worst since the Great Depression, and thousands more people stand to lose their jobs, there's another index that plays a role: the Misery Index. Created by economist Arthur Okun, this economic indicator adds the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. The theory is that the two combined creates profound economic and social costs for a country.
So how does a city qualify as depressing? Well, first, we considered the National Institute of Mental Health's stated environmental causes of depression. They include trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship, or any stressful situation-this could include financial problems, poor health, natural disasters, unemployment, or being the victim of a crime.
For this list of most depressing cities we used data from several sources, including the CDC, the U.S. Census Bureau, state and federal crime statistics, and the Misery Index. It also weighs information from Bert Sperling, an authority on city rankings and founder of Sperling's Best Places. His research includes crime statistics, health patterns and trends, and several other factors. (The cities here appear in no particular order.)
St. Louis, MO
The mid-west city ranks poorly on several indicators. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, among large cities it ranks in the top six for poverty. It also has one of the highest crime rates and has been labeled one of the 10 most dangerous cities to live in.
New Orleans
Still recovering from the aftermath of Katrina, the Big Easy has a high violent crime and unemployment rates, and significant numbers of suicides and divorces. On Sperling's list it ranks as the third most stressful city to live in. Also, in the first comprehensive national health survey of major American cities conducted by Centrum, New Orleans was ranked America's most unhealthy city.
Detroit
The motor city follows behind St. Louis as the second most dangerous city to live. Suffering economically from the decline of the auto industry, the city has the second highest unemployment rate in the country, subsequently, high levels of poverty. It also ranks in the top five for fattest cities, with 62 per cent of the population overweight or obese.
Flint, MI
Flint's economy has been crushed by the failed auto industry. With soaring unemployment and crime rates this city is the second poorest in the country. Along with cancer and cardiac death rates higher than any other other region in the U.S., it also has one of the highest smoking rates and scores poorly on the air quality index.
Cleveland
While this city ranks relatively well in some health categories - such as low hypertension and arthritis rates - it doesn't measure up in other categories. Clevelanders have some of the worst BMI scores compared to the general population, and it is the poorest city in the country. Its crime rate is also higher than the national average.
Stockton, CA
Stockton is reeling from the housing crash and has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. It also has the highest violent crime rates in the state of California, which some criminologists link to the high level of unemployment and drug use, and large number of gangs.
Philadelphia
The City of Brotherly love's crime rate is at its highest in over 20 years. Officials cite factors such as one of the highest levels of poverty in the country and the overwhelming amount of illegal weapons. The city is also plagued by several toxic waste sites. In the American Lung Association's State of the Air report it came in at 13th spot for the worst ozone pollution in major cities.
Los Angeles
Not surprisingly L.A. pulled in top spot as the metro area with the worst year-round ozone pollution, and particle pollution, or soot. Residents also endure one the worst commute times in the country, high taxes, and Superfund sites, which are the country's most toxic waste sites. On a high note, the city's crime rate continues to decline.
New York
The good news is the Big Apple is one of the safest large cities to live in. The bad news is that it's one of the most expensive cities to live in and ranked fourth on the Misery Index. Housing costs are exorbitant, income taxes are higher than the national average, and it has one of the worst commuting times in the country.
Las Vegas
The gambling mecca has been one of the cities hardest hit by the housing crash. Home prices have fallen by 52 per cent. Tourism has dropped dramatically, with the airport suffering its biggest passenger decline since the early 80s. It ranks number four on Sperling's list of most stressful cities to live, has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, high alcohol consumption levels, and poor physical activity levels.
Copyright © 2009 QualityHealh.com. All rights reserved.
If you’re thinking of moving, these cities might not be the best for your mood.
Most depressed, saddest, or worst city in the country-labels that any city hardly covets; however, each year, numerous surveys and studies cast an unwanted spotlight on cities with the worst standards of living.
Depending on which data you rely on and the focus of the reporting agency, the cities may vary. For instance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System will reveal different information to FBI crime reports, air quality and housing reports, or data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Even the most comprehensive reports have their critics, largely due to how the raw data is used or interpreted by the media. Regardless, due to their poor ranking on factors including economic indicators, crime and health statistics, and other quality of life indicators such as suicide rates and pollution, several cities stand out
As the country slides into a recession described as the worst since the Great Depression, and thousands more people stand to lose their jobs, there's another index that plays a role: the Misery Index. Created by economist Arthur Okun, this economic indicator adds the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. The theory is that the two combined creates profound economic and social costs for a country.
So how does a city qualify as depressing? Well, first, we considered the National Institute of Mental Health's stated environmental causes of depression. They include trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship, or any stressful situation-this could include financial problems, poor health, natural disasters, unemployment, or being the victim of a crime.
For this list of most depressing cities we used data from several sources, including the CDC, the U.S. Census Bureau, state and federal crime statistics, and the Misery Index. It also weighs information from Bert Sperling, an authority on city rankings and founder of Sperling's Best Places. His research includes crime statistics, health patterns and trends, and several other factors. (The cities here appear in no particular order.)
St. Louis, MO
The mid-west city ranks poorly on several indicators. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, among large cities it ranks in the top six for poverty. It also has one of the highest crime rates and has been labeled one of the 10 most dangerous cities to live in.
New Orleans
Still recovering from the aftermath of Katrina, the Big Easy has a high violent crime and unemployment rates, and significant numbers of suicides and divorces. On Sperling's list it ranks as the third most stressful city to live in. Also, in the first comprehensive national health survey of major American cities conducted by Centrum, New Orleans was ranked America's most unhealthy city.
Detroit
The motor city follows behind St. Louis as the second most dangerous city to live. Suffering economically from the decline of the auto industry, the city has the second highest unemployment rate in the country, subsequently, high levels of poverty. It also ranks in the top five for fattest cities, with 62 per cent of the population overweight or obese.
Flint, MI
Flint's economy has been crushed by the failed auto industry. With soaring unemployment and crime rates this city is the second poorest in the country. Along with cancer and cardiac death rates higher than any other other region in the U.S., it also has one of the highest smoking rates and scores poorly on the air quality index.
Cleveland
While this city ranks relatively well in some health categories - such as low hypertension and arthritis rates - it doesn't measure up in other categories. Clevelanders have some of the worst BMI scores compared to the general population, and it is the poorest city in the country. Its crime rate is also higher than the national average.
Stockton, CA
Stockton is reeling from the housing crash and has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. It also has the highest violent crime rates in the state of California, which some criminologists link to the high level of unemployment and drug use, and large number of gangs.
Philadelphia
The City of Brotherly love's crime rate is at its highest in over 20 years. Officials cite factors such as one of the highest levels of poverty in the country and the overwhelming amount of illegal weapons. The city is also plagued by several toxic waste sites. In the American Lung Association's State of the Air report it came in at 13th spot for the worst ozone pollution in major cities.
Los Angeles
Not surprisingly L.A. pulled in top spot as the metro area with the worst year-round ozone pollution, and particle pollution, or soot. Residents also endure one the worst commute times in the country, high taxes, and Superfund sites, which are the country's most toxic waste sites. On a high note, the city's crime rate continues to decline.
New York
The good news is the Big Apple is one of the safest large cities to live in. The bad news is that it's one of the most expensive cities to live in and ranked fourth on the Misery Index. Housing costs are exorbitant, income taxes are higher than the national average, and it has one of the worst commuting times in the country.
Las Vegas
The gambling mecca has been one of the cities hardest hit by the housing crash. Home prices have fallen by 52 per cent. Tourism has dropped dramatically, with the airport suffering its biggest passenger decline since the early 80s. It ranks number four on Sperling's list of most stressful cities to live, has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, high alcohol consumption levels, and poor physical activity levels.
Copyright © 2009 QualityHealh.com. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
OBAMA JOKES
The liberals are asking us to give Obama time. We agree . . . and think 25 to life would be appropriate. Leno
America needs Obama-care like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask. Leno
Q: Have you heard about McDonald's' new Obama Value Meal?A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it. Conan O'Brien
Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?A: A fund raiser. Leno
Q: What's the difference between Obama's cabinet and a penitentiary?A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers, and threats to society. The other is for housing prisoners. Letterman
Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat in the middle of the ocean, and it started to sink, who would be saved?A: America! Fallon
Q: What's the difference between Obama and his dog, Bo?A: Bo has papers. Kimmel
Q: What was the most positive result of the "Cash for clunkers" program?A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper stickers off the road. Letterman
America needs Obama-care like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask. Leno
Q: Have you heard about McDonald's' new Obama Value Meal?A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it. Conan O'Brien
Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?A: A fund raiser. Leno
Q: What's the difference between Obama's cabinet and a penitentiary?A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers, and threats to society. The other is for housing prisoners. Letterman
Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat in the middle of the ocean, and it started to sink, who would be saved?A: America! Fallon
Q: What's the difference between Obama and his dog, Bo?A: Bo has papers. Kimmel
Q: What was the most positive result of the "Cash for clunkers" program?A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper stickers off the road. Letterman
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A Salute to Scouting: 100 Years of the BSA
A Salute to Scouting: 100 Years of the BSA
by Kedrik Hamblin
Once called A Knighthood of Youth, the international Scout Movement is the largest youth movement the world has ever known, now having a presence in one hundred and sixty nations. While it began in England in 1908, this February marks the centennial of Boy Scouts in America, where the program is strongest and where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is its oldest and largest supporting institution.
You've seen them in uniforms, toting flags in parades, camping in the mountains, and you're sure to have seen them at your local LDS meetinghouse. You might ask why Church leaders believe so firmly in a boys' organization. Scouting, you'll find, is about more than just learning to light a campfire and set up a tent. The great merit of this program is its emphasis on service and duty, and that is why the Church has been by its side for ninety-seven years. Like so many great things, this monumental program began with one man's vision -- in this case, one man in search of a little adventure.
Baden-Powell -- the Father of Scouting
At the time when Latter-day Saints were building the Salt Lake Temple, and soon after the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA) was organized in 1875, an Englishman by the name of Robert Baden-Powell joined the British Army. Longing to see combat, he often volunteered for assignments and served in numerous posts, including that of a spy in several countries. Through his experiences, he became an expert at reconnaissance and scouting techniques and authored several books. Although he advanced through many ranks, he hadn't seen the action he longed for after more than twenty years of service. His chance finally came when he transferred to Mafeking, South Africa, where the Boers, enemies of Great Britain, laid siege to the town for 217 days. Baden-Powell organized local citizens into fighting units, instructed soldiers to pretend to lay landmines and barbed wire, and even mounted a cannon from the 1700s onto an armored train to attack the heart of the Boer camp. He also made use of the boys' corps of messengers, who accomplished a number of smaller tasks throughout the town. Although not responsible for organizing this group, he was impressed by them and later wrote about them in a scouting manual.
Returning to Britain a national hero in 1903, he was surprised to learn that his military book, Aids for Scouting, had become a bestseller and was being used by youth and youth leaders. Baden-Powell began rewriting his book to better accommodate youth. He tested his ideas out in 1907 when he went camping with twenty-two boys on Brownsea Island. After publishing Scouting for Boys the next year, he began organizing Scouting groups and set up the office of the Boy Scouts of England. King Edward VII granted the Boy Scouts a royal charter in 1910 and advised Baden-Powell to retire from the army so he could focus on Scouting. Boys' organizations were not a new concept, however. In the United States, several groups, such as Daniel Carter Beard's Sons of Daniel Boone and Ernest Thompson Seton's Woodcraft Indians, already existed. Baden-Powell corresponded with Seton and gathered many ideas from him. Later, at a dinner in the United States, Baden-Powell claimed he received a lot of inspiration from both Seton and Beard. "At best," he once said, "I am only a sort of uncle of the international movement." Scouting became more popular and spread more quickly than other boys' organizations. Seventy-six countries began Scouting between 1908 (when it officially started in England) and 1920. As Scouting progressed, Baden-Powell continued to be involved; after marrying Olave St Clair Soames, he even helped his wife in building up the Girl Scout movement. He died in 1941.
Scouting Adopted in America and the Church
The history of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) begins with a legend. It is said that Chicago newspaperman William Boyce was traveling in London and had become lost in a thick fog when a boy appeared and helped Boyce find his way. Boyce attempted to give a tip, but the boy refused because he was doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Soon after, Boyce sought the Scouting for Boys handbook and, upon returning to the States, formed the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. As Baden-Powell's model of Scouting became more popular, groups across Europe and the United States sprang up and began using the title "Scouts." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noticed the movement as well and, using the structure of the YMMIA, Anthony W. Ivins, general superintendent, organized the MIA. Scouts in 1911. The Church organized patrols and developed lessons for boys similar to those in official Scouting. In 1913, the Boy Scouts of America invited the Church to be an official part of their program. Bryant S. Hinckley -- father of Gordon B. Hinckley -- and Oscar A. Kirkham traveled to New York City and, after hearing about BSA's focus on honor, service, and duty to God, returned with a favorable opinion. At a meeting with the YMMIA committee, Hinckley moved to officially adopt the BSA program. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve approved the decision. The Boy Scouts issued a charter on May 21, 1913, to the MIA Scouts, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became the first institution to be officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America program.The LDS Church expanded the Scouting program and since that time has produced more Boy Scouts than any other organization in the United States. Today, the Church is still leading the pack, with over 37,146 units and approximately 402,127 Scouts at the end of 2008. While the majority of LDS Scouts are in the United States, LDS young men also participate in Scouting in many other countries, such as Indonesia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Germany, England, and Canada.
Scouting and Young Men
Although many think the Church's use of Scouting is primarily to teach camping and outdoor skills, its main goal is to complement Aaronic Priesthood development. Priesthood, in essence, is a plan of service to others. In order to more fully serve others, young men are expected to live high moral standards, and they grow to be men with strong, virtuous foundations that continue to benefit the Church and the world. Likewise, Scouting is designed to turn young, spirited boys into disciplined, responsible men, who also have a strong moral foundation and can make the world better. The purposes are parallel. "The ideals of Scouting," George Albert Smith said, "like the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, are intended to make boys better companions, more useful citizens, and happier individuals."Through Scouting, young men also learn leadership and responsibility, further enabling them to fulfill various roles as they progress in the Aaronic Priesthood and eventually receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. "Scouting is Aaronic Priesthood," says Elder F. Melvin Hammond, an emeritus general authority of the Church. "I can't disassociate them. They're together."Through most of his life, Hammond has been involved with Scouting, but he was especially involved while serving in the Young Men organization, first as a counselor and then as general president. Having worked firsthand with young men, he knows the challenges they face. "These young men need something to help them through all the tragedy of drugs, crime, and pornography that is so often mentioned by the brethren. What we need are young men that grow up to be great men. I think Scouting does that."The success of young men in this world is important to the Church, Hammond says. Scouting creates an inner power in boys that makes them great. "That's really what we try to do in the Church -- help our boys become great, noble citizens and servants of Christ. That's what we want for them, and I think Scouting has a real impact on them."
Prophets and Scouts
The impact of the LDS Church's involvement with Scouting can not only be seen in the number of boys that participate but also in the support and service of its own leaders.Joseph F. Smith, who accepted the program into the Church, and every Church president since has fully endorsed Scouting; in fact, many Church presidents have been involved in it. George Albert Smith served as president of a local council for several decades and also served as a member of the BSA's National Executive Board. Ezra Taft Benson was one of the Church's foremost Scouters. He became an assistant Scoutmaster in 1918 and later became a member of the National Executive Board in 1949. He was continuously involved in Scouting throughout his life and heartily endorsed the program for young men. The Silver Buffalo, the BSA's highest award, has been given to nine Church presidents, including President Thomas S. Monson, for their service in Scouting. This award was created in 1926, and other recipients include thirteen U.S. presidents, Walt Disney, Neil Armstrong, and Jimmy Stewart. "The epitome of a Scouter in this Church is Thomas S. Monson," Hammond says. President Monson joined Scouting at age twelve, was a Life Scout and Explorer crew member, and has been involved in Scouting ever since. He has served in numerous positions in Scouting, including a merit badge counselor, chaplain at a Canadian Jamboree, member of the Canadian LDS Scouting Committee, and member of the General Scouting Committee of the Church. President Monson became a member of the National Executive Board for the BSA in 1969 and has had the longest tenure of any member of the board. As a BSA delegate, President Monson traveled to World Conferences in Tokyo, Nairobi, and Copenhagen and also served as a member of the International Committee. He has also aided many Scouting projects, food drives, and other programs. Along with other presidents of the Church, President Monson has received numerous Scouting awards. He is one of two Church presidents, the other being President Benson, to receive the Bronze Wolf, international Scouting's highest award, which has been awarded to only three hundred and twenty people in the last seventy-four years. "Scouting teaches boys how to live, not merely how to make a living," President Monson has said. "How pleased I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1913 became the first partner to sponsor Scouting in the United States."
Growing in America
During its one hundred years, the Boy Scouts of America has grown to be an important icon. "It may have been the most important growing, maturing experience for our three boys," says William F. Cronk III, past national president of the BSA and current chairman of the World Scout Committee. "If you go to an Eagle Scout court of honor and see . . . six or seven seventeen-year-olds stand up, listen to them speak and observe how they present themselves -- you can feel and see their self confidence, their self esteem, and the depth of their character."Cronk, who has been involved with Scouting since he was a Cub Scout, says Scouting helps define a boy's adult personality and is the beginning of comfortable experience in leadership. With Boy Scout alumni that number in the hundreds of millions, they can have a tremendous impact on the world around them. "There's no . . . other organization that has that kind of power, influence, and alumni. It's just overwhelming," Cronk says. "The Boys Scouts of America is celebrating its one hundredth year. To have organizations that have been around for over a hundred years -- somebody must be doing something right. It's pretty remarkable."Cronk, while not a member of the LDS faith, calls the Church a "brilliant partner" with the BSA and acknowledges the strong relationship between the two. "The Church has just been an unbelievable supporter of Scouting. They are magnificent caretakers and enthusiastic. They're generous with their money, their time, and their calendar. I'm very impressed."
The Future of Scouting
With shifting times and interests, the novelty and importance of Scouting has dimmed for many. One question members ask today is if the Church is going to leave Scouting. "My answer to that, although I no longer speak for anybody but myself, is no," Hammond declares. "The Church is not going to get out of Scouting -- as long as Scouting maintains the high standards of morality, judgment, and wisdom that [it does] now. . . . It has such great impact on our young men. "There are a lot of young men who are not in Scouting that are great and will be great," Hammond continues, "but [Scouting] still has the ability to create that inner power that makes them good."Scouting represents the adventure of boys growing to be great men who make their country a better place. So what has the Boy Scout program meant to America and the Church in this last century? Ezra Taft Benson answered that question perfectly when he said, "I would to God that every boy of Boy Scout age in America could have the benefits and the blessings of the great Boy Scout program. It is truly a noble program; it is a builder of character, not only in the boys, but also in the men who provide the leadership. I have often said that Scouting is essentially a spiritual program, a builder of men."
LDS Living, January/February 2010. Photo courtesy of LDS Church Archives.
by Kedrik Hamblin
Once called A Knighthood of Youth, the international Scout Movement is the largest youth movement the world has ever known, now having a presence in one hundred and sixty nations. While it began in England in 1908, this February marks the centennial of Boy Scouts in America, where the program is strongest and where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is its oldest and largest supporting institution.
You've seen them in uniforms, toting flags in parades, camping in the mountains, and you're sure to have seen them at your local LDS meetinghouse. You might ask why Church leaders believe so firmly in a boys' organization. Scouting, you'll find, is about more than just learning to light a campfire and set up a tent. The great merit of this program is its emphasis on service and duty, and that is why the Church has been by its side for ninety-seven years. Like so many great things, this monumental program began with one man's vision -- in this case, one man in search of a little adventure.
Baden-Powell -- the Father of Scouting
At the time when Latter-day Saints were building the Salt Lake Temple, and soon after the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA) was organized in 1875, an Englishman by the name of Robert Baden-Powell joined the British Army. Longing to see combat, he often volunteered for assignments and served in numerous posts, including that of a spy in several countries. Through his experiences, he became an expert at reconnaissance and scouting techniques and authored several books. Although he advanced through many ranks, he hadn't seen the action he longed for after more than twenty years of service. His chance finally came when he transferred to Mafeking, South Africa, where the Boers, enemies of Great Britain, laid siege to the town for 217 days. Baden-Powell organized local citizens into fighting units, instructed soldiers to pretend to lay landmines and barbed wire, and even mounted a cannon from the 1700s onto an armored train to attack the heart of the Boer camp. He also made use of the boys' corps of messengers, who accomplished a number of smaller tasks throughout the town. Although not responsible for organizing this group, he was impressed by them and later wrote about them in a scouting manual.
Returning to Britain a national hero in 1903, he was surprised to learn that his military book, Aids for Scouting, had become a bestseller and was being used by youth and youth leaders. Baden-Powell began rewriting his book to better accommodate youth. He tested his ideas out in 1907 when he went camping with twenty-two boys on Brownsea Island. After publishing Scouting for Boys the next year, he began organizing Scouting groups and set up the office of the Boy Scouts of England. King Edward VII granted the Boy Scouts a royal charter in 1910 and advised Baden-Powell to retire from the army so he could focus on Scouting. Boys' organizations were not a new concept, however. In the United States, several groups, such as Daniel Carter Beard's Sons of Daniel Boone and Ernest Thompson Seton's Woodcraft Indians, already existed. Baden-Powell corresponded with Seton and gathered many ideas from him. Later, at a dinner in the United States, Baden-Powell claimed he received a lot of inspiration from both Seton and Beard. "At best," he once said, "I am only a sort of uncle of the international movement." Scouting became more popular and spread more quickly than other boys' organizations. Seventy-six countries began Scouting between 1908 (when it officially started in England) and 1920. As Scouting progressed, Baden-Powell continued to be involved; after marrying Olave St Clair Soames, he even helped his wife in building up the Girl Scout movement. He died in 1941.
Scouting Adopted in America and the Church
The history of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) begins with a legend. It is said that Chicago newspaperman William Boyce was traveling in London and had become lost in a thick fog when a boy appeared and helped Boyce find his way. Boyce attempted to give a tip, but the boy refused because he was doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Soon after, Boyce sought the Scouting for Boys handbook and, upon returning to the States, formed the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. As Baden-Powell's model of Scouting became more popular, groups across Europe and the United States sprang up and began using the title "Scouts." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noticed the movement as well and, using the structure of the YMMIA, Anthony W. Ivins, general superintendent, organized the MIA. Scouts in 1911. The Church organized patrols and developed lessons for boys similar to those in official Scouting. In 1913, the Boy Scouts of America invited the Church to be an official part of their program. Bryant S. Hinckley -- father of Gordon B. Hinckley -- and Oscar A. Kirkham traveled to New York City and, after hearing about BSA's focus on honor, service, and duty to God, returned with a favorable opinion. At a meeting with the YMMIA committee, Hinckley moved to officially adopt the BSA program. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve approved the decision. The Boy Scouts issued a charter on May 21, 1913, to the MIA Scouts, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became the first institution to be officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America program.The LDS Church expanded the Scouting program and since that time has produced more Boy Scouts than any other organization in the United States. Today, the Church is still leading the pack, with over 37,146 units and approximately 402,127 Scouts at the end of 2008. While the majority of LDS Scouts are in the United States, LDS young men also participate in Scouting in many other countries, such as Indonesia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Germany, England, and Canada.
Scouting and Young Men
Although many think the Church's use of Scouting is primarily to teach camping and outdoor skills, its main goal is to complement Aaronic Priesthood development. Priesthood, in essence, is a plan of service to others. In order to more fully serve others, young men are expected to live high moral standards, and they grow to be men with strong, virtuous foundations that continue to benefit the Church and the world. Likewise, Scouting is designed to turn young, spirited boys into disciplined, responsible men, who also have a strong moral foundation and can make the world better. The purposes are parallel. "The ideals of Scouting," George Albert Smith said, "like the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, are intended to make boys better companions, more useful citizens, and happier individuals."Through Scouting, young men also learn leadership and responsibility, further enabling them to fulfill various roles as they progress in the Aaronic Priesthood and eventually receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. "Scouting is Aaronic Priesthood," says Elder F. Melvin Hammond, an emeritus general authority of the Church. "I can't disassociate them. They're together."Through most of his life, Hammond has been involved with Scouting, but he was especially involved while serving in the Young Men organization, first as a counselor and then as general president. Having worked firsthand with young men, he knows the challenges they face. "These young men need something to help them through all the tragedy of drugs, crime, and pornography that is so often mentioned by the brethren. What we need are young men that grow up to be great men. I think Scouting does that."The success of young men in this world is important to the Church, Hammond says. Scouting creates an inner power in boys that makes them great. "That's really what we try to do in the Church -- help our boys become great, noble citizens and servants of Christ. That's what we want for them, and I think Scouting has a real impact on them."
Prophets and Scouts
The impact of the LDS Church's involvement with Scouting can not only be seen in the number of boys that participate but also in the support and service of its own leaders.Joseph F. Smith, who accepted the program into the Church, and every Church president since has fully endorsed Scouting; in fact, many Church presidents have been involved in it. George Albert Smith served as president of a local council for several decades and also served as a member of the BSA's National Executive Board. Ezra Taft Benson was one of the Church's foremost Scouters. He became an assistant Scoutmaster in 1918 and later became a member of the National Executive Board in 1949. He was continuously involved in Scouting throughout his life and heartily endorsed the program for young men. The Silver Buffalo, the BSA's highest award, has been given to nine Church presidents, including President Thomas S. Monson, for their service in Scouting. This award was created in 1926, and other recipients include thirteen U.S. presidents, Walt Disney, Neil Armstrong, and Jimmy Stewart. "The epitome of a Scouter in this Church is Thomas S. Monson," Hammond says. President Monson joined Scouting at age twelve, was a Life Scout and Explorer crew member, and has been involved in Scouting ever since. He has served in numerous positions in Scouting, including a merit badge counselor, chaplain at a Canadian Jamboree, member of the Canadian LDS Scouting Committee, and member of the General Scouting Committee of the Church. President Monson became a member of the National Executive Board for the BSA in 1969 and has had the longest tenure of any member of the board. As a BSA delegate, President Monson traveled to World Conferences in Tokyo, Nairobi, and Copenhagen and also served as a member of the International Committee. He has also aided many Scouting projects, food drives, and other programs. Along with other presidents of the Church, President Monson has received numerous Scouting awards. He is one of two Church presidents, the other being President Benson, to receive the Bronze Wolf, international Scouting's highest award, which has been awarded to only three hundred and twenty people in the last seventy-four years. "Scouting teaches boys how to live, not merely how to make a living," President Monson has said. "How pleased I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1913 became the first partner to sponsor Scouting in the United States."
Growing in America
During its one hundred years, the Boy Scouts of America has grown to be an important icon. "It may have been the most important growing, maturing experience for our three boys," says William F. Cronk III, past national president of the BSA and current chairman of the World Scout Committee. "If you go to an Eagle Scout court of honor and see . . . six or seven seventeen-year-olds stand up, listen to them speak and observe how they present themselves -- you can feel and see their self confidence, their self esteem, and the depth of their character."Cronk, who has been involved with Scouting since he was a Cub Scout, says Scouting helps define a boy's adult personality and is the beginning of comfortable experience in leadership. With Boy Scout alumni that number in the hundreds of millions, they can have a tremendous impact on the world around them. "There's no . . . other organization that has that kind of power, influence, and alumni. It's just overwhelming," Cronk says. "The Boys Scouts of America is celebrating its one hundredth year. To have organizations that have been around for over a hundred years -- somebody must be doing something right. It's pretty remarkable."Cronk, while not a member of the LDS faith, calls the Church a "brilliant partner" with the BSA and acknowledges the strong relationship between the two. "The Church has just been an unbelievable supporter of Scouting. They are magnificent caretakers and enthusiastic. They're generous with their money, their time, and their calendar. I'm very impressed."
The Future of Scouting
With shifting times and interests, the novelty and importance of Scouting has dimmed for many. One question members ask today is if the Church is going to leave Scouting. "My answer to that, although I no longer speak for anybody but myself, is no," Hammond declares. "The Church is not going to get out of Scouting -- as long as Scouting maintains the high standards of morality, judgment, and wisdom that [it does] now. . . . It has such great impact on our young men. "There are a lot of young men who are not in Scouting that are great and will be great," Hammond continues, "but [Scouting] still has the ability to create that inner power that makes them good."Scouting represents the adventure of boys growing to be great men who make their country a better place. So what has the Boy Scout program meant to America and the Church in this last century? Ezra Taft Benson answered that question perfectly when he said, "I would to God that every boy of Boy Scout age in America could have the benefits and the blessings of the great Boy Scout program. It is truly a noble program; it is a builder of character, not only in the boys, but also in the men who provide the leadership. I have often said that Scouting is essentially a spiritual program, a builder of men."
LDS Living, January/February 2010. Photo courtesy of LDS Church Archives.
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