by an infant Navy. Let me ask you something. 1798 to 1805, now that seems mighty far away and long ago. Yes, it was. But these wars were proving grounds for the great fleets to come. They schooled commanders and their crews for future struggles and convinced the country that ocean commerce had to be protected by a Navy. Let's go back to the year 1783. Well, another question. What was going on then? The British left New York at the end of the revolution. The Treaty of Paris was signed. Eight years of struggle were over. American independence was won. In New York, Washington said farewell to his battle-tested officers. In Annapolis, he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief. He'd been first in war. And now he was first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Yes, he retired as a private citizen to farm his fields at Mount Vernon. Well, who are these folks here? A veteran's family. Home came the fighter, the soldier, and the sailor. Was that the size of our Navy? Not even one ship was left. And appeared a hollow one. There was the weak central government. It had no power to tax. It relied on requests to the states. And with no common enemy to fight, the 13 states raised tax barriers, almost waged open war against each other. England refused to consider her former colonies as a truly independent nation. Foreign trade suffered. England, France, and Spain closed West Indian ports to United States ships. Unemployment followed. Debt. Veterans lost their homes and farms. Many sought new opportunities in the West. In 1786, in Massachusetts, revolt flared in Shea's rebellion. Here's to me, something had to be done. As a republic, we were mighty young and weak. We didn't want to be back in England to take us back. No, the tide turned. In Philadelphia, in 1787, the Constitution was written. But tell me, why did the states wrestle about the Constitution? Well, you see, each was afraid it would sacrifice too much to a central government. But adoption of the Bill of Rights guaranteed personal liberty to every individual. In 1789, Washington became first president. And Hamilton, first secretary of the Treasury, established government credit. America was ready to take its place in the family of nations. Vermont, the 14th state, joined the new union in 1791. Kentucky in 1792. Tennessee in 1796. Yes, but why in thunderation did these 16 states go to fight a war with France? At Yorktown, she was our ally, our comrade-in-arms. It never was declared war, but there was shooting. In the year 1789, the French Revolution burst into flames. At first, all Americans sympathized. They thought the French, too, wished to be independent of a king. Early 16 was beheaded.  Too much blood. Too much terror. England under relies in Europe went to war against France. Washington, hoping for peace, proclaimed our neutrality. I'll calculate the French didn't like that. They wanted help from us. Figured we were still allies. The French sent over an agent named Jeanet. He violated American neutrality. He outfitted privateers, recruited semen, even tried to turn the American people against Washington. In 1797, our president, John Adams, wished to affect some sort of a reconciliation. He sent emissaries to France. But they weren't well-received. Representatives of the French government, known only as Messieurs X, Y, C, demanded bribes before they would even discuss a treaty. We were badly treated on land and on sea. The violence of the French Revolution spread. French privateers swarmed through the West Indies and along our Atlantic coast. By June of 1797, over 300 American merchant vessels had been taken by the French. In 1798, Congress voted reprisals, which were later extended to include the capture of armed French vessels anywhere. That meant war. An undeclared war fought entirely on the seas. That calls for a navy somehow. Yes, six new frigates had already been authorized by Congress, four of 44 guns and two of 36 guns. A separate department of the navy was created in 1798. An energetic merchant and shipowner with vision was appointed the first secretary of the navy, Benjamin Stoddart. He worked hard to build a fleet and laid a firm foundation for the development of the navy. By the end of 1799, 33 vessels were built or purchased, outfitted, and manned. Under the new secretary of the navy, the number of captains increased from three to 28, including Preble, Bainbridge, Rogers, Thruxton. To build and maintain ships required shipyards, storehouses, materials, workmen near large cities. All kinds of seago and men-of-war. What are these little critters? Well, generally, the small vessels of less than 20 guns were bricks or schooners, according to their rigs. Well, now take these three masted fellas. How do you call them? Up to 24 guns, a three master was called a sloop of war. 24 to 50 or more guns on two decks were frigates. The frigates were the largest ships in the American navy at that time. Warships reached their greatest power and efficiency, operating in squadrons and fleets. Then they could penetrate blockades and drive lighter vessels from the seas. For the first time, American squadrons were assigned definite stations, convoying American merchant vessels and fighting the French wherever they went. The senior officer of the new United States Navy, Commodore John Berry of Revolutionary War fame, commanded the frigates United States and Constitution and eight smaller men-of-war. Commodore Thruxton, in the constellation and four lesser warcraft, cruised between St. Christopher and Puerto Rico. A third squadron was stationed in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti under Commodore Tingy in the Ganges. And north of Cuba was Commodore Decatur Sr. in the Delaware and two revenue cutters, four runners of the United States Coast Guard. They held these stations when they were not home for repairs. They searched for privateers and escorted convoys of American merchant ships. The outstanding engagement of the war was off the island of Nevis, February 9, 1799. In a heavy sea, the French frigate in Sargent had lost her main topist. Captain Barot was escaping to the cover of St. Eustatius. The constellation, Commodore Thruxton, overtook and forged ahead of her antagonist, raking her several times. In our engagement, the insurgents struck her colors. The French fired too high, but the Americans were able to hit between wind and water. Superiority in Gunnery was to stand Americans in good stead. Yes, it's mighty handy for a Navy to know how to shoot. Southwest of Guadalupe, February 1st, 1800, the constellation again proved herself. For five hours, she exchanged broadsides with the heavier gun, the Vanchance. Had a well-organized and a well-trained ship, he was near victory when the constellation lost her main mostly and the Vanchance escaped over the horizon. Well, how did the war come out? Besides these frigate battles, our armed merchant vessels had hundreds of engagements with French privateers. But late in 1799, the government of France changed. The directory fell. Napoleon Bonaparte was made first consul. Facing trouble in Europe, he wished to reach a settlement with America. A treaty was ratified in 181. And that closed a war that wasn't a war, an undeclared one. Well, did we learn anything? Yes, the ships and men were battle-hardened for the struggle that followed with the Barbary Corsair. The Barbary states stretched along the northern coast of Africa. Arabs, Moors, Turks. The Hamidans, most of them. The Barbary states had practiced piracy for centuries. They sought plunder and captives to be held for ransom. They were experts at boarding and hand-to-hand fighting. Why didn't the nations get together and stop them? Because the rulers of Europe distrusted each other, they would not make a combined effort against the Corsairs. The Barbary rulers were quick to take advantage of a young, weak nation like the United States. In accordance with time-honored practice, tribute was expected as a price for peace. In 186, Thomas Jefferson realized diplomacy was helpless unless a navy was created and used. Protection money, a price for peace. A treaty with Algiers in 1796 cost the United States nearly $1 million, including the gift of a new frigate. Peace with Tunis cost over $100,000, and Tripoli about $56,000. But the posture of Tripoli thought unprotected American trade too tempting. He repudiated the treaty and demanded $250,000 immediately and a yearly payment of $20,000. Didn't the United States say no to that? Indeed, we did. And war was declared by Tripoli May 10, 1801. About June 1, 1801, Commodore Richard Dale Squadron left Hampton Roads, the President, the Philadelphia, Essex, and Enterprise. Dale cruised along the Barbary Coast with a show of force. But four ships were not enough for an effective blockade of Tripoli. This force was enlarged by Commodore Richard Morris, the Constellation, Chesapeake, Adams, New York, and John Adams. But still not enough for the blockade. Their duties included convoying and showing the flag off Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco. And they replenished at Gibraltar. Soon to be given command of the Mediterranean squadron was a man who left a lasting imprint on the Navy, Commodore Edward Preble, who arrived on station in the Constitution. Little known to his officers, at first, he was a strict disciplinarian. Born in the state of Maine, he'd fought in the Revolution. Preble was a great leader. He was firm. He had fighting spirit. He had character. A commander passes on these qualities. His officers were well-schooled. They were given high standards and were in themselves great commanders with the Preble fighting spirit. Two serious obstacles were ahead. Trouble with Morocco across from Gibraltar. The Sultan of Morocco saw that the American ships at Preble's orders were cleared for action. So he up and changed his mind. He renewed the Treaty of 1786 with no further demands on the United States. Bad luck here with the Philadelphia. She had been sent ahead to blockade Tripoli. Chasing an enemy craft close in shore, she hit an uncharted reef. Ran aground, eh? What did the skipper do to get her off? Well, Captain Bainbridge laid all sails aback, tried to lighten ship. He cut away her formus, cast off her anchors, jettisoned many of her guns, but kept some to fight them. After four hours, Bainbridge had to surrender. The enemy floated to Philadelphia and brought her in triumphantly. La Pasha of Tripoli was pleased. He held the Philadelphia's officers and crew for an enormous ransom. But Commodore Preble was not pleased. A powerful American ship was now turned against him. He had only the frigate constitution of equal metal to meet her. He decided to destroy the Philadelphia. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur Jr., commander of the Enterprise, volunteered to head an expedition to enter an enemy harbor and capture and burn a large warship. This called for volunteer. Abored the Enterprise, every officer, man, and boy, stepped forward. He selected five officers and 62 men. A Sicilian pilot, Salvatore Catalano, knew the harbor. They set out in a captured Polleton catch with Mediterranean rig, renamed the Intrepid. Bowsley, they sailed into the enemy harbor. A plan of attack had been carefully worked out and rehearsed. They would capture the Philadelphia by a united rush. They would then split into details to set her afire. 100 yards away, they were hateful. Catalano, the pilot, answered. He claimed that a storm had stripped them of anchors and requested permission to tie up alongside. The breeze gave out, be calmed, 20 yards away from the heavy guns of the frigate, almost alongside. Decatur was promoted to captain and presented with a sword by a grateful congregate. Yep, he raided it. Will you float in object? That's a bomb vessel for siege work. Commodore Prevo borrowed two of them from the king of the two Sicilies. He was going to close in and bombard Tripoli. Prevo sailed into the harbor of Tripoli with a squadron of schooners and brigs, the Enterprise, Nautilus, Argus, Siren, Scourge, Vixen. In addition to six gun boats mounting one gun each, two bomb vessels, and the flagship Constitution. With him were over 1,000 officers and men. They were attacking a walled city, defended by an army of 25,000 by forts and batteries mounting 115 guns, and a tripolitan naval force of a brig, two schooners, two large galleys, and 19 gun boats. The first attack began on August 3, 1840. Prevo took his entire fleet within point-blank range of the shore batteries. Prevo commanded the first gun boat division, Captain Steven Decatur II. Enemy ships and shore batteries opened up at great shot distance, advanced toward the enemy's eastern division of nine gun boats. The enemy cloaked. Captain Summers, even with his sweeps out, couldn't catch windward to join Decatur. In gun boat number one, he bore down on five of the enemy's western division, engaged within pistol shot, and drove them among the rocks. Captain Decatur, in number four gun boat, carried one enemy gun boat and then took a second. Was saved by Ruben James. Lieutenant Tripp in gun boat number six, boarded an enemy, was cut off. He cleared the deck and hauled down the enemy color. The brother of Steven Decatur, Lieutenant James Decatur, was the only officer killed. Prevo broke off the action, but returned four days later. The bomb vessels threw shells into the town. From their prison ashore, Bainbridge, or her captain of the Philadelphia, and his officers, watched the battle. Their men had been forced to carry ammunition for the enemy. The Pasha of Tripoli gave no sign of yielding his city or asking for peace. Another idea.  The same intrepid that had burned the Philadelphia. In her hold, 100 barrels of powder, 150 shells. Low burning fuses led to the powder magazine. The intrepid, Captain Summers, was manned by a volunteer crew of 13, 13. And the Argus, Nautilus, and Vixen stood by to take off the crew of the fire ship. Would the intrepid repeat her great deed? Would her luck hold? The enemy was arrested. Subsequently, Prevo was ordered home, and the Pasha was now faced by Commodore Barron. The new Commodore brought off William Eaton, Navy agent for the Barbary States, who had a plan. The brother of the Pasha of Tripoli was Hammett Caramanley. He had claimed the throne of Tripoli, had been defeated, and driven into Egypt. It was Eaton's idea to put Hammett back on the throne of Tripoli. A native army of 400 men was gathered in Egypt. Frequent disorders and desertions among them reduced this number. From the fleet came seven United States Marines. They were under Lieutenant O'Bannon. And this army started out with 107 camels. Egypt, nearly 600 miles across the Libyan Desert, to Derna. It was an extraordinary march, one of the most difficult in military history. With the Marine Corps, it was the start of a great tradition, a march from Egypt to the shores of Tripoli. Supplies were received from the Argus and Hornet. Reaching Derna, the attack was coordinated with the guns of the Argus, Hornet, and Nautilus, guns on which the hope of victory rested. There was peace in the Mediterranean and at home for a while. Well, did the war teach us anything? Yes, commerce needs naval protection. The United States, refusing to tolerate piracy, had humbled the proud rulers of Barbary and gained prestige in the eyes of the world. The young navy had beaten the pirates at their favorite hand-to-hand tactics, adding to the growth of a fighting tradition. The war produced great leaders, travel, decatur, trip, and summaries. Bainbridge, who will emerge from captivity to win victories. Other names that will be heard again, Paul, Roger, Porter, McDonough, Perry, Lawrence. America made it known at home and abroad that to keep a peace and to keep honor, there must be ships that can fight and men who can lean.


And coach from a from a rhythm standpoint he talks a little bit earlier just one practice after the break. Did the game flow the way that you that you thought that it might after the break. Yeah I mean it was sloppy and in stretches you know you could tell we were not as sharp as we'd like to You know that that I'm not faulting the players for that you know they needed their break you know they this was an easy game to lose you know he played a very good team that one for in a row that is healthy as they've been and you know we weathered a couple storms out there first quarter wasn't great they had a 90 run to start the second half and after that we played great basketball overall so proud of the guys but some rust and you know their concentration levels and their effort were were excellent to get the game in hand. Expounding on that we know it's a luxury to have closers like Kyrie Irvin and James Hardin what were some other things that you noticed in that fourth quarter during those during the crucial minutes of the game that you were proud of. Yeah I mean I mean obviously Kyrie was was sensational James managed the game as he does but everyone made big shots you know there was moments in both halves where Landry made big threes when we were struggling. Jeff Green made a big three Tyler made a big three Nick Clark since fourth quarter minutes were better I thought so there was that but it was also I just thought you know getting stops when we needed it you know didn't turn the ball over in the second half like we did in the first and got stops when we needed it so and that's the way it's got to be you got to take care of the basketball and we got to find a way to go on defensive runs.


The other one that I use a lot is called the A-scan technique.  And it's actually the same concept. I'm just looking at things in a different technology. And the A-scan is not widely used. Most people don't really learn A-scan. When they say A-scan, they think of biometry. When they measure the eye for axial length measurements for lens implants, they use an A-scan probe for that. But that is not the same thing that I use. This is called a diagnostic A-scan probe. This is a separate probe. It's not part of the B-scan. And it's very useful for many diagnostic approaches. But you can't use a biometry A-scan probe for what I'm doing. I can use this to measure the length of the eye. So this is more versatile. I can use this for more things. But most machines don't come with this. You have to buy it separately. And a lot of people don't know how to use it. But I found it very helpful to quantitate things. You can measure nerves with it, muscles, different things on the eye. And I'll demonstrate that. So we go on the machine.  So again, I'm in the same positions. I'm just putting the probe here in fairly. I'm aiming towards the posterior fundus. I'm going through the vitreous here. This is the superior fundus here. And I just scan it this way, going back and forth. And this has no mark on it. You might notice, like the B-scan probe, because there's not really a transducer inside going back and forth. It's just a sound beam coming out of this probe. So it doesn't really matter how you hold it. The orientation would not be affected by that. So as I aim towards the superior fundus, I look for any irregularities. I'm going through the vitreous. Here's the retina. Here's the orbit. I look for anything unusual there. And by experience, I know what I'm looking for. But beginners have a hard time with this concept. Now, a major advantage to the B-scan probe is examining the orbit. We can actually quantitate muscles, nerves. So if I, again, aim towards superiorly, if I aim towards the superior rectus muscle, I can actually capture the muscle right here. So this little dip in the pattern. So again, I'm going through the vitreous here. Here's the orbital area. And this is a muscle because muscles are more homogeneous than surrounding orbital tissue. The orbit's quite high-reflective because there's a lot of tissue inside to reflect sound. The vitreous doesn't have much. It's usually homogeneous. You get a flat vitreous, a flat line. And the A-scan shows the orbit has a lot of reflection. You have muscles, septa, fat. So reflectivity is quite high. But muscles tend to be more homogeneous than surrounding orbital tissue. So you get a little dip in the pattern. So it kind of dips down here. You see a little spike there, a little spike there. That's the muscle. I'm kind of doing a cross-section to the muscle. The muscle was here. The sound beam is going from one side of the muscle to the other. You can see the spike on both sides. I'll show the medial rectus muscle here. This is a bit more evident here. You can see these little... There's a spike right here and a spike there. So I'm going to measure across there. I use electronic calipers. I can get very exact measurements of the muscle thickness. This is quite helpful for any concern about muscle thickening diseases such as grave disease or myositis, infiltrative processes such as lymphoma, metastatic tumors. I can actually quantitate muscles. Whereas MRIs and CT scans, as good as they are, it's usually a qualitative judgment. People look at them and say, well, I think the muscle's enlarged. I don't think it is that I can be fine. If the muscle is quite large, that's very helpful. But if it's kind of borderline, it's really kind of a guess. But this can actually put a number on it. We have tables of muscle thickness. We can actually compare that to what I'm getting here and see if the muscle is thick and compared to the normal pattern for that individual. So that's the muscle. We do the same thing. I go around and measure all the rectus muscles. So that would be the medial rectus, inferior rectus muscle. It can be a little harder to get because of the brows in the way. If you angle the probe, kind of go back and forth with little movements with my hand, kind of angle the probe until I get some good spikes. Again, right here, this would be a muscle pattern. So through the vitreous here, back to the orbit. So there's a spike there, a spike there. So I measure from that point to that point. And that is the inferior rectus muscle. The lateral rectus, I put the probe nasally, aim towards the lateral rectus. Watch for that same spike pattern. So right there to there, I would measure that and quantitate that. And that's the four rectus muscles. I can then do the superior oblique by aim towards the trochlea. I watch for little spikes there. And again, the muscle here is further away from the globe. The rectus muscles attach at the globe and go back towards the apex. The superior oblique kind of curves around through the trochlea and attaches to the globe. So I'm kind of pointing right there where the trochlea attachment would be. And I can measure from there to there and quantitate that. Finally, the optic nerve. I can demonstrate that and quantitate it. So I usually go temporally, but sometimes the way the nerve kinks, it's hard to capture it. So I will try both nasally and temporally. But in this patient, it shows pretty well. So right here is my spike of the nerve. So from there to there, the nerve is close to the globe where it comes out of the back of the eye. So I can actually measure the nerve thickness from that point to that point. And again, to quantitate it, I just take my electronic caliper, put it on there, and that tells me the nerve thickness, which is normal. So that's just the way to quantitate things, which is very helpful, following patients with grave disease, muscle thickening diseases, optic nerve problems, increased pressure and intracranial pressure with pseudotermal cerebri, papillodema, optic nerve tumors. So all of these can be looked at with quantitation. And that is going through the eye. We also use techniques where we kind of bypass the eye, called periocular. So to look at the lacrimal gland, we can see it up here. I'm bypassing the globe. There's no globe pattern in there. And I can actually look at the lacrimal gland. This is a normal kind of lacrimal gland pattern. It kind of trails off towards the end. If it's thickened, if it's reflectivity changes, I can analyze with the A-scan. So that's just kind of a summary of the basic A and B-scan techniques. The B-scan does have an A-scan on it called a vector A-scan, which some people use. I don't find it very useful. It really is derived from an envelope from the B-scan. So it really... I don't find a lot of value to it. But here's an example. So here's the B-scan here. This would be the... This would be the B-scan here with the globe. And then there's an A-scan superimposed at the bottom. But that's not the same as the A-scan that I use. That's derived from the B-scan envelope. And it really isn't that helpful in diagnosing reflectivity changes, especially in tumors. We see a lot of melanomas, other eye tumors. So in those cases, I don't really use that. It's just sort of there. There's like a Staphyloma. If I want to measure an axial length, I can then use the vector to sort of find the Staphyloma and then measure for an axial length. But again, that's not really very often. So A-scan techniques...


We're in chapter 11 here in the Gospel of Luke and so what we'll do is we'll begin reading together here in Luke chapter 11 at verse 27. I'll read verses 27 and 28 and then move on into verse 29 and we'll conclude with verse 36 tonight. So let's begin reading here in Luke chapter 11 at verse 27. We'll read verses 27 and 28 and get into our study. Luke writes, It happened as he spoke these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you. But he said, more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Now as Jesus is speaking here and we've been recently going through the things that he has to say and all and as he's speaking with such power and such authority, there's a woman in the crowd who's listening to him speak and she in a moment of exuberant praise raises up her voice and cries out a blessing. And it would seem obvious that this woman is thinking of how great Jesus Christ is and what an honor it would be to be his mother. Now on one level, her recognition of how blessed Mary was is obviously understandable. I mean when you look in the Gospel of Luke in chapter one and you remind yourself how that when Mary went to go see her cousin Elizabeth and you remember the greeting that her cousin Elizabeth gave her, it can give you some insight into how you can understand why this woman would say, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you. Because in Luke chapter one, verse 42, the Bible tells us that Elizabeth spoke out with a loud voice and this is what her cousin Elizabeth said to her, said to Mary, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And so what this woman is saying here in this crowd when she says blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you is something that had earlier been stated by Mary's own cousin to a similar degree all the way back in the first chapter of Luke. And remember with me in chapter one, verse 48, Mary's response, because Mary at that point said, God my Savior has regarded the lowly state of his maid servant for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. And so this woman on one level in crying out blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you is basically simply going along with what had been done before and something that Mary had said herself. Mary had recognized that she had been given the greatest blessing imaginable. So it's understandable, it's understandable that the woman in the crowd would say this.  And why would Jesus correct her? Because notice he says in verse 28, more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Now why would he bring a word of correction? Because that's what it is. Jesus brings a word of correction because though what she says is true, there's a wrong emphasis. He corrects her because she has placed the emphasis on the wrong person. What she is doing is emphasizing Mary's blessedness, but she is de-emphasizing Jesus' ministry. And the second thing is that she is failing to consider the fact that Jesus came to bless not just his mother, but Jesus Christ came to bless all people. And there's a theological thing I want to point out to you that is very important that I think wraps this up. Because on top of this, and you might want to note this, on top of this, Jesus was not about to receive praise through his mother. He was not about to receive praise through his mother in doing so. If you were to receive praise through his mother, that would depreciate him, and it would direct praise to the wrong person. And the Bible tells us in Isaiah 42 verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my praise I will give to no one else, neither my glory to graven images. I do not allow anybody to receive praise that is rightfully mine. And so if he were to receive praise through the mother, then that would be taking praise from him. And so that would emphasize her blessedness, but it would de-emphasize his ministry. So he's not going to allow any confusion to come when it comes to praise and honor, because he's the one who receives all of it. He's the one who's to receive it all. Now, as I say that, sometimes people will say, well, this is the problem I have with you, or with Protestants, because you don't give honor to Mary. You don't give her the kind of honor that she deserves. I find it interesting, and I want you to see this with me. I find it interesting how that Jesus related to his mom turned with me for a moment to John's Gospel chapter 2. I want to develop this with you. See, the question is, well, do you honor Mary? And the answer is yes. We regard her. We especially regard her counsel. We regard her counsel in John's Gospel chapter 2, the first gospel to your right, chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. Notice something with me. John chapter 2, beginning with verse 1, the Bible says there, on the third day, there was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now, both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding, and when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. And I want you to see that for a moment. And so in the midst of all the celebration of a wedding, and Jesus's presence there demonstrating his blessing on that particular institution, as well as personally on that wedding, as Jesus is there in Canaan of Galilee, his mother approaches him and says, there's a need here. And I want you to see how Jesus responds. He simply says, what has your concern got to do with me? Now, when he says, woman, that isn't a disrespectful thing. I mean, sometimes you might read that and you might say, it sounds to me as if the Lord Jesus Christ is disrespecting his mother. Woman is actually a term of honor. It's not something that is used lightly at all. And Jesus himself was using it in an honorable and respectful way as he spoke to Mom. But he said, woman, what is your concern have to do with me? I want you to see something because I have had people say, don't you honor Mary? And I say especially, yes, I do. Of course I do. She is the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was blessed amongst all women. Obviously, a scripture points to her as being a woman who has been blessed tremendously to be the mother of Jesus Christ. And of course I do honor the reality of that. But I like to take her advice. And so the advice that she gives is something that we the church ought to listen to because notice what it says in verse 5 when it says, his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now that's the whole key, isn't it? She doesn't say, whatever I say to you, do it. She says, whatever he says to you, do it. Now, what is it that Jesus says that we ought to honor? And now you can get a whole theology of salvation through that. What is it that Jesus said, a man must be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Over and over again you can take the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and follow the advice of Mary, his mother, and you're going to be walking straight with the Lord because she didn't take honor from him and she didn't draw it to herself. She pointed it to him and she said, whatever he says to you, that is what you are to do. And so as a Christian, as an individual who wants to be biblical, of course, I see her as blessed and all. But turning back to Luke chapter 11, I take Jesus's words with greater emphasis and his word is more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. In other words, my family is much larger than you think. Loving obedience to my word will bring you into my family. You need to have a relationship with me. It's not something that is just, you're not going to become a member of my family by being related to me. You can become a member of my family by being the word of God.  But he answered them, saying, who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him and he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. He becomes, she becomes a member of my family. And so when he says more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it, you're hearing him as he commands and as he calls us to have a relationship with him. We're following his mother's advice when she says whatever he says to you do it and we receive him as our Lord and our Savior and we become people who not only hear God's word, but we, as he says, we keep it also. So the one who is going to be blessed is not simply the person who's listening, it's the person who listens and acts on the things that God has to say. In James in chapter one verses 22 through 25 James said it this way, he said, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. And so we get up in the morning, we start getting ourselves ready to go to work or wherever it is that we're going, we spend a considerable amount of time looking into that mirror, looking at ourselves and then we go about the house doing a few things before we leave and then inevitably we walk back to that same mirror and look at it one more time, we just can't get enough of us as we do so and we look one more time at that mirror and then we climb in our car and then sometimes as we're driving wherever it is and we've already spent a good amount of time smiling at us. We've already done that more than once in the house. Now we're in the car and as we're in the car we pull that rear view mirror down and just smile that winning smile one more time and that's what we do. Then when we get to where we're going and if we happen to walk by a reflective glass or a mirror what is it that we do again? Hey, we do that, we look at ourselves one more time. We forget what manner of person we are and so what Jesus would be teaching us and what James is simply saying is this, don't be a forgetful hearer. Be a doer.  So if I look into a mirror at myself the word can also be a mirror. So I look at the mirror of the word so that it reveals to me my imperfections and flaws and I can actually change. Some of us know what it's like to have one of those mirrors with the various settings, you know the lights and everything that you can get. You can have a mirror that has night light and you can have full day light and everything in between and I've discovered that I'm beautiful at three o'clock in the morning in the dark. But in the full light of day there's a little bit of a difference you know when you have the full light of day you can see those imperfections and all of that and that's just the way it is you know and some lights are of such nature that they can reveal imperfections that you've tried to hide. I can still remember when I was a young hippie back in the 60s and all we had what we're called black lights and some of you know that that comes and goes it still comes and goes you know and we used to take murine and we would spray it all over ourselves make artwork on us, murine it dries and you get underneath the black light and you've got all your artwork and people would go oh wow cool cool you know and and and so we would put peace signs on us and you know and spray or something. Now you could not see that under normal lighting but you go under a black light and it all shows up and so we'd freak each other out that way but I also discovered something there's something called clearasil some of you know what that is under a black light clearasil shows up and I had a friend of mine named Mike and and uh and you could connect the dots with him now you you didn't you didn't see the clearasil under normal lighting but one day there he was under the black light and I looked at him it looked like he had chickenpox and what he had done is he had been putting clearasil all over his ugly little face you know the light has a tendency of revealing imperfections if we want to walk in a way that reflects Christ then we're to be doers of the word not forgetful hearers and so Jesus is emphasizing that here in Luke chapter 11 at verse 28 yes it is true my mother is blessed from the very beginning as the Lord God gave to her this communication that she would be the mother of messiah she is blessed and yes all people from henceforth will call her blessed but do not emphasize my mother to the point where other people are negated yes mama is blessed of course she heard and obeyed but if you hear and obey you are blessed too and you are part of my family through faith now verse 29 while the crowds were thickly gathered together he began to say this is an evil generation it seeks a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet for as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites so also the son of man will be to this generation the queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here and so as Jesus is now speaking concerning eternal things inevitably some desire to argue now Matthew tells us in his gospel in chapter 12 verse 38 that the ones who bring up this argument are our scribes and Pharisees and they are actually asking Jesus for a sign it could be that these scribes and these Pharisees made up a special investigating committee but the demand that they're making here in this passage reveals their hardened hearts they're not interested in the truth they're not trying to engage Jesus in a discussion to help them to come to a knowledge of God they simply want a quarrel now during this time the scribes were the legal experts they were experts on the religious law of Moses in order to be a scribe you needed to be some 30 years of age and you needed to have spent many years intensely studying the scriptures especially the law of Moses and the scribes had memorized the traditions that had been set forth by the elders over the centuries that's why when you read on the scribes in the gospels you will see that they will quote the authorities they don't offer their own understanding but will quote somebody else so when Jesus began his ministry as it's recorded in Matthew chapter 7 verse 29 it would amaze them because he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes the scribes would quote a former rabbi so what's the scribes who are saying to him show us a sign obviously unbelievers demand signs and Christians don't but what they're doing here is they're demanding proof of his claim to be in their Messiah now this is very common amongst the Jews during that day because Paul makes reference in 1st Corinthians 1 22 when he says Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks look for wisdom now in asking for a sign I find it interesting because signs are part of the validation of the ministry of Jesus Christ you might find this interesting but in the fifth chapter of the gospel of John John actually cites four testimonies of Jesus's ministry credentials Jesus tells them in John chapter 5 the things that point to him so for example in John chapter 5 verse 33 he says you have sent to John he has testified to the truth so John the Baptist was one who validated my ministry in John 5 37 he says the father who sent me has himself testified concerning me in John 5 39 he says you diligently studied the scriptures you think that in them you possess eternal life and the scriptures testify about me so you have the testimony of John the testimony of the father the testimony of scripture but he also includes in John 5 36 miraculous signs because he says I have testimony way dear than that of John the work that the father has given me to finish and which I am doing testifies that the father has sent me and so signs were part of the way God validates the ministry of Jesus Christ so his father validates the scripture validates John the Baptist validates and signs will validate now the problem is is they're making a request for a sign but with insincerity they are not seeking him but are looking to dishonor him and that's why Jesus speaks in the way that he does notice how he speaks concerning them in verse 29 when he speaks of them as being an evil generation the reason he says you're an evil generation is because you have no sincerity what you're trying to do is tempt me that word evil just reflects the fact that they are constantly tempting God and Matthew 4 7 says you shall not tempt the Lord your God so he calls them evil he calls them evil because if they were faithfully following the word of God they would have accepted him because his the word of God pointed directly to him in John chapter 5 verses 46 and 47 if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me but since you do not believe what he wrote how are you going to believe what I say and so if they would have been honestly following Moses these scribes who were the experts of the law they would have seen Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament and become his followers but seeing that they refused to hear what Moses had to say they were refusing to receive their own Messiah it's God's word always that draws you to a relationship with him and when the word of God is rightly divided and proclaimed God uses this word to bring people through the power of the Holy Spirit to a place of conviction so they can have a relationship with him but Jesus is saying you don't want to have anything to do with me so he goes on in verse 30 and he says as Jonah became assigned in the Ninevites so also the son of man will be to this generation now Jonah he uses Jonah what is it that's going to be the sign that he's referring to well what it will be will be his resurrection Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites because he's an individual who had been swallowed by a great fish should have been dead was spit up on the shore and ultimately came and preached a message of repentance and was assigned he had the appearance of being dead and coming back to life now remember Jonah Jonah was commissioned to preach in the great Assyrian city of Nineveh the bible in Jonah chapter one verses two and three says that God said go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish he went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port after paying the fare he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord you know the story of Jonah and during his escape he thought he was escaping from God a storm arose and and Jonah after the people began to question why is this storm happening well Jonah reveals well I'm a prophet of the most high God and he and it's my fault in in order to quell the storm you might as well just throw me overboard in a way he's once again saying look at if I'm throwing overboard then I die and I don't have to go to to Nineveh and I'll be free from that but what is it that the Lord does well all the time that Jonah had been running climbing into that boat going down to the bottom and just kind of like floating you almost hear you know him as he's going the sound of the of the ship as it's there on on the on the sea and all in the wind blowing them well there's you know someplace else there's a giant fish that's very very slowly but surely just you know making his way very slowly intersecting with the ship just very slowly you know boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom you know that kind of thing they throw him over and there's the fish perfect timing in the way of the Lord the Bible tells us in Jonah 117 the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights now think about that for just a moment if you have claustrophobia that would have been phobia that would have been a killer but he had plenty of time to think the Bible says in Jonah chapter 2 verse 1 from inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God and in Jonah 2 7 and 10 7 through 10 and this is what he says when my life was ebbing away I remembered you Lord and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs but I with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will make good salvation comes from the Lord and the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land what an interesting way to put it fish opens his mouth and as he came out you know he's got seaweed wrapped around him the digestive juices undoubtedly have made him look like a little prune he probably smells pretty bad I'd assume that he did because he's been laying in there with all of these fish that have been being digested must have been a wonderful sight to see and as he climbs out of that that fish he walks to to Nineveh walks in and when they see this guy coming you know yet 40 days and the Lord's going to destroy you what do we have to do you know we'll get saved right now a tremendous ministry but I wouldn't necessarily want it the resurrection though is what Jesus is referring to and his resurrection is going to be the greatest sign of who he is even as Jonah was in the body of that in the in the belly of that great fish for three days even so Jesus himself would be in the belly of the earth for three days it's a picture of his resurrection and so that's the point he's making so in Romans chapter 1 verse 4 Paul would say Jesus through the spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the son of God by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord and so that's what he's speaking about as Jonah became assigned to the Ninevites so also the son of man will be to this generation verse 31 the queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here and so now he speaks concerning the queen of the south rising up with the judgment rising up in the judgment with the men of this of this generation the queen of the south is a reference to the queen of sheba and she had traveled many miles to hear the wisdom of one named Solomon in first kings in chapter 10 verses 6 through 9 the bible tells us that she said to Solomon it was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom however I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes and indeed the half was not told me your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom and then she went on to say blessed be the lord your god who delighted in you said in you on the throne of Israel because the lord has loved Israel forever therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness now he says she's going to rise up in the judgment as a witness to the greatness of god and Solomon's wisdom the point Jesus is making though is my message is greater I not only am exercising wisdom but salvation from sin is the result of my message and so Jesus came proclaiming a message that could save people if people would only hear what he had to say if people would embrace this message they could be saved now we're in the Christmas season now and and the debate's already beginning and some of you watch news and all and I do on a daily basis I'll watch the news and I look for the culture wars to see what's going on and and whether or not the words Merry Christmas will be banned once again this year or whether people actually will remember the holiday and what it stands for and so I'm watching the news yesterday and and there's a woman who's saying don't make a big deal out of this and she's presenting herself as as a representative of Christian faith and all and she's saying you ought not to be making a big deal about this you know the real message is that we need to really just learn to get along is that the message of the gospel is that the message you know you know as much as lies within you live at peace with all men yes that is something that Paul teaches us to do the scripture teaches us that we're not to be belligerent we're not to be hostile and all of that yes we ought to do everything within us to be able to get along with with people undoubtedly is that the message of Christmas no I mean from the beginning unto you this day is born a savior is what the scripture says I mean when you're when you're looking at Jesus Christ you're not looking at the birth of an ordinary child what you're looking at is a miracle birth with a purpose and that purpose is that Jesus Christ might come and save people from their sins that's what he is he's a messiah he is the anointed one of God who's been sent by God in order that he might bring a message to draw people to himself in order that they might be saved that's why he said if I be lifted up I will draw all men into myself he was pointing to the cross because he was making it very clear that when I am crucified people will be drawn by the message of the cross and why I died and that's Christianity and so anything that denies the reality of who Jesus Christ is as savior of the world anybody who says that Christmas is something that can be celebrated without Christ in it and his whole purpose is sadly mistaken and yet we hear that constantly Jesus Christ spoke a message that is very powerful and very divisive it's a very divisive message I mean if you embrace it fully then you really believe that without him you can't go to heaven if you really believe his message you're going to believe that you have to tell people about Christ so that they might be saved if you really believe his message then you're going to be somebody who comes from Spain goes to school and goes back to tell these people that they need Jesus Christ that's how that works that's what causes us to do the work that we do we actually believe that message yes Solomon has incredible incredible wisdom he gave hundreds into the thousands of proverbs he wrote many songs and you can see that in scripture he wrote books three different books that are attributed to him this is a man with incredible wisdom yes he was so rich and so prosperous that gold was like dust during his day yes he had a throne that was made with pure ivory and it was overlaid with gold and it was incredible he ate on golden plates and drank from golden goblets and yeah he had incredible wisdom and people from all around would come to hear the wisdom of Solomon it was proverbial to this day and the queen of Sheba who came said I haven't heard the half of it you are incredible all that you have and God has blessed the nation of Israel by giving this nation such a mighty and wise king absolutely but Jesus is saying Solomon is nothing compared to who I am that's what he's saying think about that for a minute Solomon is nothing compared to who I am he brought you wisdom yes in his message but when you see the salvation inference is there that's because he's pointing you to the one who brings salvation he's pointing you to me that's what he's saying when he says in verse 31 the queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here so the men of Nineveh who repented at the message of destruction will ultimately through their salvation be the judges of these people in Jonah three five and six it says the Ninevites believed God they declared a fast and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth and when the news reached the king in Nineveh he rose from his throne took off his royal robes covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust they accepted the message of repentance they in their salvation through that belief will be a judge to you as you rejected he goes on in verse 33 and says no one when he has lit a lamp puts it in a secret place or under a basket but on a lamp stand that those who come in may see the light God's people are to reveal God's light to those who are living in darkness we are the light of Christ and we give off the light when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ now not all people like us for that but that's what happens some people like the darkness and they don't like their evil deeds being revealed we know that those of us who used to party and all we know that there were many times when I was a kid and I'd be in a room and the lights were all off and and we'd be in that room and all and and doing things we ought not to be doing and if somebody walks in and turns the light on what's the first thing that we would say well people like me would say turn the light off why because with the light you can see what I'm doing I prefer the darkness because I can hide my deeds in the dark but when when the lights on then I'm going to be restricted from doing the evil I want to do and that's just a fact guys and and when you and I when we begin to actually take the word of God seriously like Jesus said not only hearing the word of God and keeping it when we actually are serious about being Christians when we actually care and and we live in such a way that our lives are different and they see that we're serious well yeah some people will say thank you for bringing the truth to me and others will say I don't like hearing a word you're saying and Jesus in John 812 said I'm the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life so this light is intended to bring light in dark places and what do you do with it well you put it on a lamp stand so that the house may be illuminated that's what the body of Christ is to do well in verse 34 he says the lamp of the body is the eye therefore when your eye is good your whole body is also is full of light but when your eye is bad your body is full of darkness therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness if if then your whole body is full of light having no dark part well the whole body would be full of light as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light so when he speaks of the lamp of the body being the eye this speaks of singleness of vision singleness of vision produces singleness of priorities that's what he's saying here if your eye is good meaning single or devoted you're going to have God's light leading you but if your eye is evil or bad that means unhealthy or or unfocused you will walk in spiritual blindness and so what we need is spiritual illumination we need the light of the spirit within us the light of the word of God which lightens our pathway in order that we might live lives that are pleasing to God so what is my priority that's what he's speaking about when he speaks concerning your your eye whether it's good or bad what is my priority what are the things that I focus on do I focus on the right things well that's the challenges in it the challenge is to keep my eyes on the prize keep my eyes on Jesus Christ keep my eyes on the right kind of thing like Job said making a covenant with my eyes so that I might not look on like he says so that I might not look at a maiden in other words keeping my eyes on the right things so that I'm not corrupted with wrong desires keep your eyes on the prize guys you know I realize that the world we're living in is is more and more difficult I realize that I I know that but I also have discovered something I've discovered that the darker it gets the brighter the light is you know my watch here that my watch has a feature on it if I push a little button here it has one of those illuminated dials you know and a little light will go on and I have actually used this light when I've been in in very dark places as a flashlight I can use it as a flashlight because the light it doesn't take an awful lot of light to dispel darkness it just takes a little bit especially if it's really dark so I have used this in very dark places before just to help me to get from place to place I have a phone my phone you you turn the phone on and it has a light that goes on immediately illuminates so I can you know make my call and all I use that at my house because when I'm climbing up the stairways I'll be honest with you I have I'm night blind and so I can actually trip and it's not hard for me to do so I actually use my phone so that it's like a little flashlight and at night if I have to get up I have my phone next to me I actually can use that as a flashlight and I walk through the house with that until I get to one of the switches and all of that just this morning I wanted to wake Marie up and it was dark so I turned my phone on and I put the light right in her face you know I said awaken to the light thou that sleepest you know so the light of Christ will shine upon thee she didn't appreciate that but I thought it was spiritual we just need to have spiritual light we were walking in the darkness long enough and when you accept Christ then he enlightens your darkness if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness John says we lie and do not live by the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin walk in the light as he is in the light and so when you have spiritual priorities you walk in the light of life the word of God is a lamp and a light to your path and your feet you get into the into God's word you walk in his spirit you obey him God illuminates you people will see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven or they may get upset because you are bringing a conviction to their life because you reveal what they're all about but the fact is God is moving through all of this some people will receive Christ because of that light that is shining in you that is going to be explained through the through the declaration of the gospel so then people say what is it that makes you the way you are you can say well you know what anything if you see anything good in me at all it's the work of the spirit God has done something in my life he's forgiven me of my sins and and I appreciate that you can even see a little evidence of that but that's what it's all about well you mean I thought Christians were weird and different and all in and you're not a weird person well you know I am weird you just don't know me very well but there are certain things about me that maybe God is fine-tuned and you can see that is his presence and that's how you do it you just share yeah this is what the Lord is all about he's changed my life he's given me a new direction and and I'm just trying to follow after him and and I read his bible and his bible teaches me his ways and I want to live in a way that pleases him it's just that simple that's how I do it I've had so many opportunities in simple conversations just to share those very basic things it's the Lord he does work so all I want to do is make sure that I walk in the light and so that's what Jesus is speaking about those without the Lord walk in darkness the gospel is veiled and they're blind but when you receive Christ that veil is removed you see him clearly you begin to live for him and your life reflects the reality of that and that's what Jesus is saying are you walking in darkness or are you walking in light if you're walking in light then you indeed belong to him


Sunflower seeds during baseball game can get a little bit old. So what would your snack be if you're really running you sad in the bullpen all day? What would be your go-to snack? If I got to pick snacks right here for the bullpen for every game Look at this thing You can't be too messy, right? I'm a big honey bunches of other guy So I mean I could have like some of that down there long game have a couple like a bowl of cereal something That'd be one of my healthier Snacks look at this section Peanut butter M&Ms for sure caramel M&Ms for sure just go ahead and load those all up I'll take all of them. Yeah, I wonder how I would feel after playing with or playing with or just a bunch of candy in my system Because that seems like where we're going. I guess I'm some pretzels here My kids are actually all about this skinny pop stuff right here. I love it They don't have any of the flavor pretzels I want but Harpo gummy bears for sure I didn't say the name. I don't even know I said it. They're golden bears right here I'll take those that's three This stuff I feel like I like If I eat all candy the whole game, I'm not gonna I can't be a peak for farming I'd probably eliminate the The honey bun to the vote and go with some breakfast bars because that's way more Convenient out there. Oh They have are you kidding me? I do not know they have these so I probably go with one of these cinnamon toast brunch like a charm bar All the first of energy I need right And just the sugar intake That's awesome Purchase of having kids like you can buy that for myself like I could buy that right now and no one knows anything I just I got my kid so I need one more. I know I'm looking for the beef jerky Right here Jack links teriyaki jerky. It'll be the final go-to Action bags Either way, I love jerky no matter what well no matter what play That was you coming on a grocery Spree with me if I didn't have a wife didn't have kids and this is what that's what I would put in my body and I Do have those things and I don't think the Yankees would approve my future snow choices in there So we didn't buy any of it and I'll stick to eating my healthy snacks in the bullpen for the 2019 season


President of the United States hello there please seated good morning and welcome it's a pleasure to have you here today and a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak through you to the America that lies beyond the Potomac I mean good to get to your questions but first let me just speak for a moment about three topics of vital importance first the Venice son of it if I may I'd like to highlight the accomplishments of this just completed summit by harkening back for a moment to the first summit I attended that was in Ottawa 1981 and I'm sure you'll recall when I left for that summit our own economy and that of virtually all the world stood in great danger we had inflation running at 10 percent in the industrialized countries not to mention high interest rates excessive tax burdens and too much government regulation and interference perhaps worse there was virtually no agreement among world leaders on how to deal with this crisis we've come a long way since then the American economy leading the way we started an international movement toward lower taxes and less government interference toward more economic growth and greater individual opportunity last week in Venice I saw overwhelming evidence that this consensus for less government and more individual opportunity continues to grow throughout the world regarding the sometimes difficult issue of world trade we made substantial progress in Venice in terms of both the commitment to remove barriers to trade to work toward removing agricultural subsidies and of an equally strong commitment to coordinate economic policies to remove some of the imbalances that have troubled the trading system in recent years this represents further progress on the trade policy that I announced more than a year and a half ago policy that's beginning to turn our trade deficit around this profound movement in recent years toward more limited government freer trade has not only kept the global economy moving along at a steady pace it's made it possible for the democratic nations to stand together and keep our defense is strong while we promote the growth of democratic institutions and the world's spread of freedom and peace this brings me to the second point I'd like to discuss the vitally important matter of arms control or more exactly and more importantly arms reduction as I said last night with the support of our allies the United States will also formally propose to the Soviet Union a global elimination of all us and Soviet land-based shorter range INF missiles along with the deep reductions in and we hope the ultimate elimination of longer-range INF missiles I am now directing our INF negotiator to present this new proposal to the Soviet Union as an integral element of the INF treaty which the United States has already put forward in Geneva finally I'd like to address a matter that involves domestic politics but that has worldwide implications the federal budget as you know I discussed the budget in my address on Monday night last night including the way in which an unreliable and inconsistent budget process here in the United States can damage the economy of the entire globe so for now let me just reduce to three simple sentences what the whole budget issue comes down to some in Congress want to bust the budget I won't let them the American people won't either thank you and now I'd be happy to answer your questions in New Jersey Republican representative Willis Grattison says the budget reform is an attempt to correct a problem which is basically caused by policy disagreements not process weakness also House Budget Chairman William Gray says your appeal for budget reform is a slope stream to avoid dealing with the policies created two questions first it's not the problem of balancing the budget is disagreement over policy you favoring no tax increases and more defense spending while many in Congress opposed that favor tax increases and also how would you respond to critics that say the budget deficit is caused by a lack of leadership well the need for budget reform is very evident to anyone who's ever been a governor as I was for eight years and looking at that and knowing about the rat the other states and the manner in which their budgets are presented I don't think there's a state that would put up with his Mickey Mouse and affairs we have at the federal level now for example in state of California the governor presents the budget why is this done and why is the president required to submit a budget if no one's going to pay any attention to it well the chief executive officer is the head of all the heads of the departments who must run the programs that have been adopted by the legislature in the Congress they pass a program that they with some and they say they want to achieve the following goals and so forth now we sit around for long hours here day after day and over a period of months every year in the cabinet room with the people who are going to have to run the programs passed by the Congress to say that a deficit is the responsibility of the president president can't spend a nickel the programs are passed the money is appropriated by Congress but now the people that have to run the programs come in with the figures that they say they can achieve the goal of the program passed by Congress for the following amount that's put together and finally set up to the Congress and the Congress who don't have a thing to do with running the program who aren't the managers of those programs who don't know what the administrative problems are or anything the Congress says why we're not going to pay any attention to this this is dead on arrival and they then sit down and without any knowledge or experience in running the programs they set down the figures that they say should make up the budget and when it comes back down the president in this case has only one choice he can veto the entire budget and the government grinds to a halt and the checks stop going out no one's paid and so forth or he can as he has to accept it let me contrast that if I can take a minute to tell you what happened when you were governor of California same thing happened the governor presenting the budget and it had to be a balanced budget within the figures that were projected for the revenues of the coming year by a combination of private individuals and public and never in 25 years had that group ever missed by more than 1% on their estimate of what the revenues in the following year would be now the governor sends the budget up the legislature must approve it by a two-thirds majority they can take out things that the president that the governor has put in they can add in things of their own two-thirds majority passes it on and as of a certain date and they never can miss the date it comes back to the governor the governor cannot put back in anything they have taken out but the governor can line item vetoes of those things they have put in and then if they feel strongly enough about it by a two-thirds vote they can override his veto in 8 years I vetoed line item vetoed 943 such items and never once did the legislature that had passed those budgets by a two-thirds majority ever put a two-thirds majority together to override my veto why because they could beat they could vote for things that were buried pork items buried in the whole budget when they were revealed and stood out there all by themselves and they had to vote for them they couldn't get two-thirds that would do it this is what I'd say is why there's there just is no process here we need first of all the constitutional amendment that just like most of the states have that the federal government cannot deficit spend and we need the line item veto that 43 governors in this country have that's what's wrong with the system senator Baker is told us you are about to take this issue on the road but the budget deficit and the budget how can you take it on the road without not having to blunt the political skeptics who say the president has to take an issue somewhere that will get the spotlight off the Iran counter hearings here in Washington he has to take a significant issue to get the spotlight out of here I think that spotlight has been growing so dim in recent days that when you get a mile and a half away from them from the Potomac River there are an awful lot of people that have gone back to their favorite television shows and I don't blame them I've never heard so much hearsay in all my life that wouldn't be permitted in the courtroom for a minute and a half and it's taken as gospel by those who want to go farther with this but I I shouldn't get lost in that no the budget has been one of the most important things in my mind in the moment I came here I inherited a situation in California when I became governor pretty similar to what I inherited here with regard to the economy only there the deficit had been hidden by bookkeeping tricks because the Constitution of the state of California said there couldn't be a deficit but you come in as a new governor in the middle of the year and you're you've got six months before the end of the year and because of the Constitution I had six months in which I had to do something about that tremendous deficit that was hanging over the budget the Constitution said come the end of the deficit here it's got to be balanced well from the experience that we had there the things that we did I came here with some ideas that I thought would be beneficial we have been deficit spending for more than a half a century and for 46 out of 50 years the Democrats have had a majority in both houses of the Congress and when some of us out on the mashed potato circuit complained about the deficit year after year after year we were told that it didn't matter we owed the money to ourselves and deficit spending was necessary to maintain prosperity well I'd be kind of being and I told you so if I told you that I made speeches 30 years ago in which I said they could not go on without one day the deficit going out of control well in the 15 years from 1965 to 1980 the budget of the United States multiplied to five times what it had been and the deficit multiplied to 38 times what it had been and it is out of control and it's structurally built in I'm talking too much on some of these yes this lady in there Katie man from Milwaukee Mr. President of Channel 6 Milwaukee many people Milwaukee are concerned because there are folks in Congress including Republicans who believe that excise taxes on products like cigarettes and beer and wine and other goods would be an effective way of fighting the deficit are you willing to fight excise taxes in particular I'm interested in beer because beer as you know is produced in Milwaukee yes I'm opposed to taxing on this for this problem or the solution of this problem because if you look back in history every major tax decrease has resulted in more revenues for the government at the lower rates because of the stimulate of the economy I believe the 54 months of recovery that we have had now from the mess we inherited is based more on the changes we made in the in the tax policies when John F. Kennedy's tax program that he recommended which was not too dissimilar to ours when it was passed the same thing happened more revenues at lower rates it happened back in Coolidge's administration and they cut the taxes several times in that period I can show you again we're tax increases have resulted in lower revenues for the government because of the harmful effect they have on the economy by reducing the incentive and so forth so what I have said about taxes is that no now to when less we do the job of cutting the spending that has to be cut and getting government back to the point in which we can say now there is no way that you can cut beyond this point these are the legitimate functions government must perform then if you find that the revenues do not equal a percentage of gross national product that the spending does then would be time to look at a tax so that you are even we're taxing it about the same level that has always been been normal in this country 19 percent of gross national product is spent on our tax revenues but we're spending 24 percent of the gross national product and that's what's wrong now to take Congress off the hook and give them more taxes they'll just do more spending you've got to force them and get back down to where we say this is it now government is economical as we can make it and then if it isn't the taxes aren't enough then you look at getting more revenue Democratic presidential hopefuls like Governor Dukakis in Massachusetts are going around the country campaigning on the issue of integrity implying that your administration doesn't have enough of them how do you defend yourself sir against these implications when many see patterns of deception in your administration against implications that the integrity of your administration is not what it should be well I don't think there's anyone that's ever been in his job ever that is not going to bed every night knowing that with the thousands of people are out there there can be somebody that's breaking the rules someplace and you you try to get at that and do something about it but I challenge that there's been no violation of integrity in our administration and I have tried to keep every promise that I made and have kept a lot of them and I don't see how they can go around denying what has actually happened since we've been here interest rates were over 20% the prime rate when we came double digit inflation was 13 or 14% we know what the what the tax structure was unemployment was high today we have a higher percentage of the employment pool potential employment pool employed than ever in our history we the interest rates we know are down inflation has come down to less than 4% after all of the years of of having this rate of inflation in fact it's come down to lower than that until just recently because of fuel prices I say that what they're doing is pure demagoguery members of your administration have left under some sort of cloud or scandal that's what they're campaigning against yeah yes I remember when Ray Donovan left and I remember his sizable plea the other day now how does he get back his reputation a number of people in our administration there have been things that have been uncovered by someone let's say that in the past before they ever came here but isn't it the very fact that we are uncovering if there's something going wrong and something being done about it we're not covering it up we're hiding John slack from Boston I don't really care to ask you if you stop feeding your wife but I would like to ask you an economic question we didn't hear much from the economic summit in Venice about whether the leaders of the free world are really concerned about the deep threat to democracy that's posed by the heavy debt burden that the LDCs are under is there any sense of urgency about this third world debt especially here in Latin America and doing something about it Allah a new marshal plan there was very much said about it and this and it will now proceed with the other people in our administrations and the people concerned with that finance ministers and so forth are going to go forward looking at the things we can do for example just one thing to throw out here that that was discussed and that should be looked at the inability of some of these developing countries to pay back the debt to private banks well some of those banks have already transferred the debt into equity now a number of those countries those emerging countries started out following statism they organized at the top and the government ran things and this meant that there were nationally owned businesses and industries and so forth well if a bank takes over and accepts equity in one of those nationalized industries or businesses this is much the same as just as outside capital coming in and no country has ever become great that didn't import capital and people then you suddenly have got a privatization and you've got enlightened leadership you're running it and this can begin to help them because a great many of those countries are beginning to realize the faults of statism and are trying to move more toward the private sector this is I just like tell you this is one of the ideas that came into the discussion it was discussed and we are proceeding now through our ministers you see the economic summit isn't a thing in three days this is why for seven years I've said last night seven years I've always heard the same story nothing happened to the summit a lot happens at the summit but it isn't as if you were going to say the summit with Gorbachev and a treaty on arms to be signed or not signed you go here and deal with all of these problems and then make decisions that will be followed up such as the one in agriculture and agricultural subsidies and we pass on now to the Uruguay meetings that are going to be held this problem that must be resolved and we can we can agree on what we want accomplished but there are a lot of technicalities involved that you now turn it over to the working staff for them to come up with how we can without pulling the rug instantly out from under farmers who have become used to this how we can get farming back to the marketplace and for the determination of prices and production she told me that I've taken the last question here how come there's so many hands left and I always would you permit one way back up over there I haven't gone very far into the back I've been down thank you sir Mark Freiberg WBTV Charlotte when you take your proposal for budget reform on the road if you come near Charlotte you'll see people have seen all these wonderful economic developments in five years and the deficit spending hasn't seemed to hurt them at the same time they're being told their local taxes are going up because federal spending is going down how are you going to persuade them well for one thing part of our whole reducing of the size and the power of the government under what we've called federalism actually was a case of returning tax retax resources to local and state government at the same time that we gave them back responsibilities that we don't think belong to the federal government now the federal government's whole history dating back to the New Deal and I was a new dealer then and out of the great depression the whole history was one of the federal government usurping functions that belong to the local level but they did it on the basis of first they usurped the money the federal government used to only take what about a third out of the tax dollar total tax dollar or less and then suddenly the federal government became the major taker of tax dollars leaving very little of the states and local governments and they in turn then had to turn to the federal government for help because they no longer had any sources they could go to for further taxing we've tried to reduce that and give things back to the state level and in turn to the local level that belong there and at the same time give back to them by the lowering of our taxes at the federal level the ability to if they need a local tax for some local function there to do that to raise that tax some figures that came up the other day and we used at the at the summit and that I used in the speech last night the one that I could remind you here our system of government differs so from the others that 1983 the deficit was 6.3 percent of gross national product it's now only 3.9 percent of gross national product but that's the federal government and you compare those percentages to European countries and they seem to see us as much heavier in debt than they are but they count differently than we do they count the total cost of government all government and all taxes and figure out their percentage well if we do that in the United States our deficit is only two and a half percent of gross national product because the states and the local communities are in a lot better shape generally than the federal government is well no they tell me I can't take anymore you'd like to write me a letter with the question I'll guarantee you an answer