The Moment of Truth - A Missed Opportunity?

As the current discord over debt, taxes, budget and jobs goes on, it makes me wonder what certain members of our congress think they were elected to do.  Obfuscate?  Destroy?  Play games?  Position themselves for the 2012 election?  How about they just do their job and protect the true interests of all Americans by passing a comprehensive bill to put our country on long term sound financial footing that would eliminate the confusion and angst that now exist, and position the United States to expand its economy and regain world confidence.  Right now we are being compared to Greece because of rampant political posturing and paralysis in Washington.   Yes, it will require compromise on both sides which is at the center of all landmark legislation.

From all I have been able to glean from very knowledgeable journalists including Ezra Klein, Paul Krugman, Nicholas Kristof, David Brooks and Henry Blodget (yes, that Henry Blodget), it is without question time we address these issues head on in a comprehensive manner and not "kick the can down the road" which seems to be modus operandi of some in congress.  My concern is that it may be too late.  However, before that process can begin each side needs to quit blaming the other for being the responsible party who created this mess.  In truth, both Democrats and Republicans did, so admit it and move on.  The next step is for both sides to realize that there are merits to both cutting spending and raising revenue, and for those 236 Congressmen and 41 Senators who signed that silly pledge to never do the latter to tear it up.  The Economist magazine called such a position "economically illiterate and disgracefully cynical".  And, finally, if bi-partisanship is what will make a comprehensive plan acceptable, then there is one on the table right now that should be adopted and passed as written - i.e. the proposal submitted last December by The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, often referred to as either the Bowles-Simpson Commission or the Simpson-Bowles Commission, depending no doubt on one's political affiliation, but take your pick.

In essence this report, sub-titled "The Moment of Truth", minces no words in clearly laying out the challenges of adopting its recommendations, as well as  the perils if we do nothing.  Of course there are things each side will not like which is what makes it so acceptable in my view.  But it really tackles the spending cuts and added revenue divide that has stopped all progress thus far and could well be applied to the "The Mother of All No-Brainers" conclusion David Brooks wrote about in the New York Times on July 4th, wherein he also labeled a White House proposal to cut $4 trillion in spending as "the deal of the century".  In short, this report clearly lays out its mission to address the "looming fiscal crisis" by succinctly outlining the principles and values embraced to meet its mission to balance the budget by 2015 and improve our long-run fiscal outlook by addressing the following six main categories of concern:
1.  Discretionary Spending Cuts
2.  Comprehensive Tax Reform
3.  Health Care Cost Containment
4.  Mandatory Savings
5.  Social Security Reforms to Ensure Long-Term Solvency and Reduce Poverty
6.  Process Changes
It is a remarkable document which should serve as the blueprint for President Obama's written plan the Republicans constantly call for him to submit to congress, and should be quickly adopted by both chambers.  As such, I strongly urge everyone to read about The Moment of Truth in its entirety at http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/TheMomentofTruth12_1_2010.pdf and, hopefully, avoid a missed opportunity.

ARTISTS - Visual and Musical
Laura Raborn at http://paintingsofhome.com and http://claygifts.com 
Jim Johnson at http://yessy.com/jimjohnson/gallery.html 
Russ Powell at http://powellphotos.com 
Linda Flake at http://lindaflake.com 
Tom Herrin at http://tommysart.blogspot.com 
Matt McLeod at http://matt@mattmcleod.com 
Artists Registry at http://www.arkansasarts.org/programs/registry/default.aspx
Sandy Hubler Fine Art at http://sandyhublerfineart.com
George Wittenberg at http://postcard-art-gallery.com  
Will Barnet at http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,24472,25834,26095,26328,26562,26637,26761,26790,26849,26992,27095,27126,27139,27147,27178&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=will+barnet&cp=9&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=xpfETMT1O4L6lwf66ugE&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQwAQ&biw=1350&bih=501
Barry Thomas at http://barrythomasart.com  
Sherry Williamson at http://meowbarkart.com
Julie McNair at http://juliemcnair.com  
Phoebe Lichty at http://phoebelichty.com



GALLERIES
Local Colour Gallery at http://localcolourgallery.com
Chroma Gallery at http://chromagallery.com
Cantrell Gallery at http://cantrellgallery.com
Greg Thompson Fine Art at http://gregthompsonfineart.com
Red Door Gallery at http://reddoorgalleryonline.com 
M2 Gallery at http://m2lr.com
UALR Gallery Program at http://ualr.edu/art
Gallery 26 at http://gallery26.com 
Boswell Mourot Fine Art at http://boswellmourot.com
       

Uncle Sam, We Hardly Know Ye

In celebration of our country's Independence Day, I thought I would answer a question posed by my son-in-law this week which is certainly relevant to the occasion.  In so doing, this will be light in tone and short in content.  

The question was "How did Uncle Sam originate?".  The only answer I could muster up was he was an imaginary figure conceived during World War I to help recruit enlistees.  While that was, in fact, one of Uncle Sam's purposes, it was way off the mark for a complete and truthful answer.  Thanks to Google, I learned that it actually can be traced back to a Samuel Wilson, the person responsible for inspecting all meat purchased by the government following the declaration of the War of 1812 against England, who was commonly called "Uncle Sam".  A contractor named Elbert Anderson would label his containers of such provisions "E.A.", for his initials, and "U.S." for the United States, the latter of which were not familiar to his employees.  When one suggested that "U.S." stood for Uncle Sam, Samuel Wilson's nickname, the tag stuck and by 1820 became a common reference for the United States.  However, it did not become personalized into character form until the Civil War when another character named Brother Jonathan, who had been the popular icon of the United States and was depicted in cartoons with striped pants, tails and a top hat, morphed into the first version of Uncle Sam.   Images were subsequently refined by Thomas Nast, a popular artist of that time who also was responsible for our popular image of Santa Clause, until the one resognize today was developed in 1876.  Read the complete history at http://www.sonofthesouth.net/uncle-sam/.

With that short story, please remember the wonderful freedoms we all enjoy, and very best wishes to all for a very happy and safe 4th of July!


ARTISTS - Visual and Musical
Laura Raborn at http://paintingsofhome.com and http://claygifts.com 
Jim Johnson at http://yessy.com/jimjohnson/gallery.html 
Russ Powell at http://powellphotos.com 
Linda Flake at http://lindaflake.com 
Tom Herrin at http://tommysart.blogspot.com 
Matt McLeod at http://matt@mattmcleod.com 
Artists Registry at http://www.arkansasarts.org/programs/registry/default.aspx
Sandy Hubler Fine Art at http://sandyhublerfineart.com
George Wittenberg at http://postcard-art-gallery.com  
Will Barnet at http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,24472,25834,26095,26328,26562,26637,26761,26790,26849,26992,27095,27126,27139,27147,27178&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=will+barnet&cp=9&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=xpfETMT1O4L6lwf66ugE&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQwAQ&biw=1350&bih=501
Barry Thomas at http://barrythomasart.com  
Sherry Williamson at http://meowbarkart.com
Julie McNair at http://juliemcnair.com  
Phoebe Lichty at http://phoebelichty.com



GALLERIES
Local Colour Gallery at http://localcolourgallery.com
Chroma Gallery at http://chromagallery.com
Cantrell Gallery at http://cantrellgallery.com
Greg Thompson Fine Art at http://gregthompsonfineart.com
Red Door Gallery at http://reddoorgalleryonline.com 
M2 Gallery at http://m2lr.com
UALR Gallery Program at http://ualr.edu/art
Gallery 26 at http://gallery26.com 
Boswell Mourot Fine Art at http://boswellmourot.com
       

Truly One of a Kind

One of my earliest memories is a picture of my mother apparently taken in 1947 at the Hardscrabble Country Club Open in Fort Smith having just completed hitting one of her drives.  She was an avid golfer, played in many tournaments there and around the state of Arkansas and had a whole passel of golfing friends as a result.  While this photo did a great job of capturing the finish of her powerful swing, the remarkable thing about it was the following handwritten inscription in the lower right corner.  As I recall, it read: "To Ruth:  With love to you, Tom and the kids".  "Babe".  Babe in this case was Babe Didrikson Zaharias who died from cancer on September 27, 1956, and would have been 100 years old yesterday.

I had all but forgotten about that photo until just by chance I caught a tribute to her yesterday on ESPN, which I rarely watch, but then got home later to read a wonderful article in the New York Times sports section also commemorating her centennial.  So, for those of you who are not familiar with Babe and her remarkable life and sports achievements, I am going to take the liberty to borrow some of that article written by Don Van Natta, Jr., author of the book: "Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias" because many of her sports accomplishments are unparalleled even today.  To quote W.L. Pate, Jr., president of the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation and mayor pro tem of Beaumont, Texas:  "Every time I tell her story, people have trouble believing everything she was able to do during her life...and she did so much in so little time".  Mr. Natta even labels her "perhaps America's greatest all-around athlete, male or female".


Born on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas, she grew up in her teens playing baseball as well as basketball with the boys because they provided much better competition.  She was a brash, tough talking and very confident woman who would often declare before a golf tournament "The Babe's here!  Who's going to finish second?"  But no one excelled more at sports and games than she, becoming an all-American basketball player, a two-time Olympic track and field gold medalist and winner of 32 golf tournaments including 14 in a row, a feat unmatched to this day by either male or female golfer.  She was one of the founders of the L.P.G.A., the first woman ever to play against men in a PGA Tour event and the first American to win the British Women's Amateur Championship.  And golf actually came later in her life after being outstanding in baseball, softball, tennis, billiards, swimming, diving and bowling.


But her most spectacular achievement probably occurred at the amateur track and field championships in Evanston, Illinois on July16, 1932.  She singularly comprised the entire team representing Employers Casualty Insurance Company of Dallas, Texas and competed as a "one-woman track team" (her own words) against other company teams of up to 22 members.  Over the course of that afternoon she sprinted from event to event where she finished first in five events (broad jump, shot-put, javelin, 80-meter hurdles and baseball throw) and tied for first in a sixth event (high jump).  At the end of the day she had qualified for three Olympic events and compiled 30 team points for her team, followed in second place by the Illinois Women's Athletic Club with 22 team points which, coincidentally, matched exactly the size of their team at 22 members.  "Implausible is the adjective that best befits the Babe" is how Arthur Daley described her amazing accomplishment in the NYT.    She went on to win gold medals in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles and a silver medal in the high jump in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and thus became the most famous female athlete in the world.


Following that high point she found very few places where she could compete, and then the economic depression hit which all but eliminated any sports opportunities.  After traveling around the country performing quirky gigs like riding donkeys around baseball parks in small towns across America, she finally turned to golf the toughest game for her, but one she mastered by practicing up to 10 hours a day.  By 1938 she had married George Zaharias, a professional wrestler who helped in her personal  makeover to the public and the press.  In 1946 and 1947 she dominated the game by winning those 14 tournaments in a row mentioned above, one being the Hardscrabble Open, and continued the game until April 1953 when she was first diagnosed with rectal cancer.  At that time doctors told her she would never play professional golf again.   However, fifteen months later after her surgery she won the United States Women's Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Massachusetts by a phenomenal twelve strokes.   She then became an active crusader against cancer often talking about her illness at a time when public figures remained silent on such matters.  

Two years after her amazing victory at Salem she was dead but not forgotten.  In fact, upon learning of her death, President Dwight Eisenhower opened one of his news conferences with this tribute:  "She was a woman who, in her athletic career, certainly won the admiration of every person in the United States, all sports people all over the world, and in her gallant fight against cancer, she put up one of the kind of fights that inspire us all".  In short, she was truly one of a kind.  

ARTISTS - Visual and Musical
Laura Raborn at http://paintingsofhome.com and http://claygifts.com 
Jim Johnson at http://yessy.com/jimjohnson/gallery.html 
Russ Powell at http://powellphotos.com 
Linda Flake at http://lindaflake.com 
Tom Herrin at http://tommysart.blogspot.com 
Matt McLeod at http://matt@mattmcleod.com 
Artists Registry at http://www.arkansasarts.org/programs/registry/default.aspx
Sandy Hubler Fine Art at http://sandyhublerfineart.com
George Wittenberg at http://postcard-art-gallery.com  
Will Barnet at http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,24472,25834,26095,26328,26562,26637,26761,26790,26849,26992,27095,27126,27139,27147,27178&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=will+barnet&cp=9&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=xpfETMT1O4L6lwf66ugE&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQwAQ&biw=1350&bih=501
Barry Thomas at http://barrythomasart.com  
Sherry Williamson at http://meowbarkart.com
Julie McNair at http://juliemcnair.com  
Phoebe Lichty at http://phoebelichty.com



GALLERIES
Local Colour Gallery at http://localcolourgallery.com
Chroma Gallery at http://chromagallery.com
Cantrell Gallery at http://cantrellgallery.com
Greg Thompson Fine Art at http://gregthompsonfineart.com
Red Door Gallery at http://reddoorgalleryonline.com 
M2 Gallery at http://m2lr.com
UALR Gallery Program at http://ualr.edu/art
Gallery 26 at http://gallery26.com 
Boswell Mourot Fine Art at http://boswellmourot.com
       

Long on Ambition, Short on Detail

After City Hall concluded its first round of public hearings, the citizens of Little Rock finally got their first glimpse of the proposed new sales tax initiative last week which is intended to plug an on-going financial problem with meeting the needs of this city.  While fully recognizing that something has to be done on the revenue side to address those needs, I must say that the general proposal as recently publicized may be a tough sell.  For one thing, while ambitious in its attempt to fund many worthwhile issues, it falls way short of detail in explaining exactly how this money will be spent and what oversight mechanisms will be installed to ensure public accountability.  Also, I think it is strategically flawed in its bifurcated structure which only serves to complicate the tax proposal for consideration by our citizens.

Unless I have missed something, it is to have two tax rate increases, one for 1/2% tax to raise approximately $205 million for capital needs which will expire after eight years, and another 3/4% perpetual tax to raise approximately $38 million for general operations by the fourth year assuming a 2% annual growth rate.  In regard to proceeds from both taxes the breakdown is as follows:
                                           CAPITAL NEEDS       OPERATIONS
Public Safety                         $   44,400,000       $   15,000,000
Public Works                         $   70,000,000       $     5,000,000
Economic Development        $   40,000,000                     -0-
Parks, Recreation,                $   40,300,000       $     4,000,000
     Zoo and Tourism

Miscellaneous                       $   10,000,000       $    14,000,000

                         Totals            $ 204,700,000       $    38,000,000





Aside from being much too general and vague, it appears to be the same old Christmas tree tax proposal that once again is designed to be debated and voted on during the sparsest time of the year for public input in order to maximize a positive result.  Just look at the schedule for the second round of public hearings which start tomorrow, June 13th and conclude on June 25th, a popular vacation period for many citizens.  Having led a sales tax increase initiative in 2003 to raise $100 million over five years to just address the basic infrastructure needs of this city (i.e. streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, drainage system, etc.) which eight years ago totaled over $500 million,  I get the timing.  What I don't get is the resistance to fully disclose more detail about both tax proposals which only raises doubts and creates suspicion among the voters.  At least in 2003 we identified some specific projects throughout this city that needed to be fixed. 


In addition, if some citizens of Little Rock are still complaining about the lack of accountability for the $200,000 that is gifted to the Chamber of Commerce each year for economic development, just imagine what questions will be raised regarding a proposed $40 MILLION economic development fund!  And, of course, the "least of these" apparently get left in the wake again with no discernible provision in either tax proposal that I can find to fund a homeless day resource center which has been discussed for years.  Yet we are asked to provide who knows what to house and maintain animals at the Little Rock Zoo which reflects a total disconnect in priorities in my view.   And, relative to providing additional tax revenue for "tourism", don't we already pay a special sales tax in Little Rock to the Advertising and Promotion Commission dedicated just for that purpose?  So, Mr. Mayor, City Directors and Mr. City Manager, please be more open with your citizens and not be so reticent to provide the additional detail on these proposed hefty sales tax increases at the very time you are asking us to support them. We all need many more specifics on how you intend to spend this additional revenue which would make it much easier for you to get what you want.

And, finally, getting back to a point made earlier, why not just consolidate these two separate proposals into one simple 1% permanent sales tax with a dedicated split between operations and capital needs?  Surely, an additional $50 million annually is enough to make needed repairs, purchase equipment, build buildings and operate this city for a long, long time without possibly  coming back asking for more tax in eight years.  


For more of what information does exist on these two proposals, please go to the Arkansas Times blog at http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/06/07/little-rock-sales-tax-talk.



ARTISTS - Visual and Audio
Laura Raborn at http://paintingsofhome.com and http://claygifts.com 
Jim Johnson at http://yessy.com/jimjohnson/gallery.html 
Russ Powell at http://powellphotos.com 
Linda Flake at http://lindaflake.com 
Tom Herrin at http://tommysart.blogspot.com 
Matt McLeod at http://matt@mattmcleod.com 
Artists Registry at http://www.arkansasarts.org/programs/registry/default.aspx
Sandy Hubler Fine Art at http://sandyhublerfineart.com
George Wittenberg at http://postcard-art-gallery.com  
Will Barnet at http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,24472,25834,26095,26328,26562,26637,26761,26790,26849,26992,27095,27126,27139,27147,27178&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=will+barnet&cp=9&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=xpfETMT1O4L6lwf66ugE&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQwAQ&biw=1350&bih=501
Barry Thomas at http://barrythomasart.com  
Sherry Williamson at http://meowbarkart.com
Julie McNair at http://juliemcnair.com  
Phoebe Lichty at http://phoebelichty.com



GALLERIES
Local Colour Gallery at http://localcolourgallery.com
Chroma Gallery at http://chromagallery.com
Cantrell Gallery at http://cantrellgallery.com
Greg Thompson Fine Art at http://gregthompsonfineart.com
Red Door Gallery at http://reddoorgalleryonline.com 
M2 Gallery at http://m2lr.com
UALR Gallery Program at http://ualr.edu/art
Gallery 26 at http://gallery26.com 
Boswell Mourot Fine Art at http://boswellmourot.com