Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Battles, the politicians, the press, the digitators and magicians trust
to see the money. They just don't. There's nothing to
fill the holes. Well, then are fill in their pockets
bid holes, the politicians bouncing down the road. Everybody's wish
(00:23):
for no moment, corruption and its function, it's gone to
take divide it divention.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
On this edition of The Founders Show, Folks, could the
pursuit of a flat tax here in Louisiana be a
bait and switch an actual way of stopping an even
bigger tax cut. It's hard to believe, but it's actually
possibly the truth based on a twenty twenty one YARW.
We'll talk about that. We'll also talk about what's going
on with this Clay Higgins situation that has got Steve
(00:53):
Scalisee and his fellow Louisiana Republicans in trying to figure
out what to do and Trump right now in polling situation,
everyone saying Harris is leading? Is Harris leading. We're gonna
go through some of this for the state polls in
what was happening four and eight years ago. All that more,
plus a special view at the beginning on the state
(01:14):
of the monuments here on this edition of the Founder Show.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You mean, like the monuments men in the movie, Christopher,
we got a real army colonel coming on. And folks,
God bless out there you are now listening to the Founders.
So the voice of the Founding Fathers coming to you
deep within the bowels of those mystic and cryptic alligator
swamps of the Big Easy, that old Crescent City, New Orleans, Louisiana,
(01:39):
and high up on top of that old liberty of Cypress,
free draped and Spanish moss way out on the Eagles Branch,
is none other then your spingary Baba of the Republic,
Chaplain Hi McHenry.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Who if Christopher Tidmore, your roving reporter, resident radical moderate
and associate editor of the Louisiana Weekly At Louisiana weeekly
dot net. We've got a great show for you today.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
We've got our guest on the phone, and he is
a dynamic fellow. I've known him for many many years.
He was my ex so in Afghanistan. He's from New Orleans,
went to Jesuit and also he graduated from LSU. Was
an SAE and just a great fella. And he is
right now the Vice president of the Monumental Task Committee
(02:23):
here in New Orleans. I'm a member of that organization.
It's about preserving our history. New Orleans has a great history,
Louisiana does, and that's what this group does. They take
on any and every monument out there, it doesn't matter
what it is, and they make sure they're in good condition.
If they need fix them, they fix it up, maintain them,
they watch over them, they clean them up. They just
do a tremendous job for the history of our area.
(02:45):
And so, without further ado, I'm going to put you
on with Gary Mason, a retired colonel in the Army
and a great great fellaw Gary, welcome to the show,
and by the way, having me on, thank you quickly.
What is the condition of our monuments right now on
the Monumental Test Commission's anything going on with them right now?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well, you know, the Monumental Test Committee, as you know,
has been around since nineteen eighty nine. We're a five
or one C three nonprofit. We don't get any money
from the city of the state, so we're totally supported
by you know, deductible donations from generous donors. We have
been cleaning, maintaining, and preserving all the city monuments consistently
(03:30):
since nineteen eighty nine. Of course, monuments got into the
national media forefront and nineteen I'm sorry in twenty sixteen
with the whole removal of the Confederate monuments here in
New Orleans, and we're still fighting to try to get
those monuments back and put them somewhere where they belong
(03:50):
other than the city Junkyard, which is where they are now.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
There tragic, and this is these monuments are great works
of art. Some of the most act of protesters to
save the monuments were artists who genuinely speaking are on
the left, but nevertheless they were looking at art and
what an abomination they did. And we're moving those monuments.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh look, I don't Gary right now, I don't want
to really litigate the Confederate monument situation because you spend
a lot of time. The Monumental Task Committee doesn't get
enough credit that it spends a lot of time taking
care of World War II, First World War, all the
different monuments. And you have a fundraiser coming up, if
I'm not mistaken, that helps raise money for the work
you do.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Yes, we do, we do, we Taylor Swift, we are
raffling off Taylor Swift concert tickets. Wow, now, look, you
may not be a Taylor Swift fan.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Wait a minute, Gary, I was. I was a Swifty
at the last day. Top right is a dancing doll
and you remember that? Did you see me?
Speaker 4 (04:49):
I can either confirm to deny any knowledge of that
inst But let me just tell you Taylor Swift sells
out all of her concerts around the country. He's coming
here and you New Orleans. Her concert is the weekend
of October twenty fifth, twenty six, twenty seven. The concert
that we are raffling off two tickets to is Friday,
(05:12):
October twenty fifth. The raffle ticket is only fifty dollars.
We're only selling five hundred of them, and those tickets
are worth right now on the secondary market seven to
eight thousand dollars for those two tickets.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Oh my good.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
So, if anybody's a Swifty and wants to go to
the concert, you can't get tickets that completely sold out.
You've got to go on the internet and buy them.
They're literally going for thousands of dollars a piece. So
this raffle is a good deal. For fifty bucks. You
have a very very good chance to win. As a
matter of fact, we just started this raffle. We've only
(05:47):
sold fifteen raffle tickets so far, so anybody that enters
has a pretty good odds of winning it. And you
do need to be twenty one years of age older
and you can get them on the website at mental
task dot org. Go to Monumental Tasks dot org. If
you don't want to buy a raffle ticket, we'll take
a donation because that's how we survive. But there are
(06:10):
other nonprofits doing these to the same raffle for Taylor
Swift tickets in town. All of those are going for
one hundred dollars per raffle ticket and they're limiting it
to a thousand or more chances. Ours are going for
fifty bucks. We're limiting it to five hundred, so your
odds are much much better. Plus, we just started it
and we've only sold fifteen, so you got a pretty
(06:32):
good shot to win. And if you win the tickets
and don't want to go turn around and sell them
and make a buck, don't you know, that's up to you.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah, well that sounds great, Gary, Gary, you know, and folks,
remember now, this is the Monumental Task Committee also puts
up monuments and they're getting ready to put one up
on the North Store having to do with the Florida
Parish's Revolution which revived patriotism in America. That was in
eighteen ten and it was quite a big thing. And
(07:00):
they created their own flag called the Bonnie Blue Flag,
and that that actually became the Lone Star of Texas.
So the Monumental Task Committee is doing a great thing
for history. And Gary, I know, I promised you seven minutes.
You got about a minute and a half left and
give us some more good information about this. Well.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Some of the things we've done recently that people don't
know about is we've done a lot of work on
the Martin Luther King Monument. We've done a lot of
work on some of the historic markers that you see
around town Saint Charles Neutral Ground, you know, noting places
like you know where where the Higgins Factory was, the
Carlton Courthouse, you know the historic markers that everybody takes
(07:42):
for granted when you drive by and see them all
over the place. We've taken them down, refurbished them, cleaned
them up, and repainted them. Uh. We've done the Governor
Allen Monument and Court Allen to do Boy World War
One monument by the VA. Also Avery Alexander, a great
civil rights leader in this area.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
And we knew a priest in his church, Gary, I
knew him. There you go, Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
There you go the World War One monument in the
Bywater neighborhood. That's the oldest World War One monument in
the New all in the country. Actually, yes, And we
did a complete redo of that one last month. Took
two weekends in a row. It was completely covered in graffiti.
We got out there with the neighborhoo associated remember that
two weekends worth of work and fix it up. It
(08:27):
looks brand new.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
This is a great organization, folks. If you love history,
you love New Orleans, you love culture, you should get
involved with it. It is a remarkable organization. And Garrett
tell us one more time about the raffle and then
we're going to have to let you go.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Well, the main thing is to get a raffle ticket,
or to put the word out and spread the word
on the raffle. Which would appreciate is you could buy
the raffle ticket through the website. Monumental task dot Org
monumental task out of Org. It's only fifty dollars to
win a pair of tickets to the Taylor Swift. So
thank you guys very much for letting us get out
(09:03):
there and bring everybody up to speed.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
And Gary, thank you for the great job you're doing.
The great work you're doing. God bless you, and I
can't wait to uh find you know, be part of
this new fundraiser with Taylor Swift. What a gal, what
a goal? Thank you, God bless your garyl So you're
out here, take care, take care, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And folks. When we come back, we're gonna turn to politics.
We've been off of the last couple of weeks, uh
where we're going to talk about a little bit of
the Louisiana budget and looming coming up of a special
session November. But while we're on the subject of like
public civicness, can I can I make a fantastic observation
that I saw?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yes, of course, you know I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
We've got a couple of minutes before the break, so
some people know I'm working with the New Orleans Opera.
We had Lilah Palmer on last week from the opera
and I went to the dress rehearsal for the opera Tosca,
And this is what gave me when I'm talking about
it's not so much the opera, which is incredible. By
the way, for people listen to our Sunday broadcast, you
can still get tickets. You can go to the Mahalia
(10:04):
Jackson and buy tickets to the gate. They're thirty two dollars.
You can get right in, and plenty of tickets are
available for the matinee performance, which is two thirty on Sunday.
So if you're listening to this on your way to
church on Sunday and you you know, want to get
a little brunch afterwards, go to the Mehaea Jackson. There
you can go out and see the opera. It's incredible.
But having given that free plug, what I want to
say was something that really heartened me. So at the
(10:27):
dress rehearsal, you can't sell tickets. You can only give
away tickets to school children. We had four hundred and
fifty school kids in the Mahalia Jackson. Watching an Italian
opera now tusks fun because it's like watching Casablanca. There's
intrigue and love and betrayal, and you know, murder and
suicide and political a's it's it's fun to watch. Let's
(10:48):
not if forget figure Ochrispuh's that's a different opera, but
he just loves to say it. But no, I mean
one of the most famous aris. Ari denente Is is
one of the most You hear it throughout all kinds
of Hollywood movies and all that, because it's a moment
and there's a great scene where Floria Tosca looks at it,
at the dead body of a Scarpion says, and to
think everyone trembled over you. It's a powerful moment. But
(11:11):
here's this is the thing. Because it's an Italian you
kind of expect they got the subtitles on the top,
but you kind of expect high school kids are going
to have no attention. I watched almost five hundred kids
from middle school to high school wrapped with attention the
whole time, not only being polite but just like really
(11:32):
getting into this. Most almost none of them had ever
been to an opera. And the New Orleans Opera does
this before. It's things. It doesn't get it. It's free, it
costs nothing any any teacher, and if you're a parent
and just want to bring your kids that's allowed to this.
This is open. You know, they like to have them
older than like eight or nine. But that's about it,
and you can contact me at Sea tied Morton, New
(11:54):
Orleans Opera dot org. But it really gave me hope
about young people because they were they give a standing ovation,
They were into this. They were like, this is one
of the greatest things I've ever seen and it really
I don't think we give kids enough credit on this. Folks,
the opera Tasca of the New Orleans Operas doing is fantastic.
I encourage those who are listening, particularly in our Sunday broadcast,
(12:16):
who you maybe didn't hear the Friday brought you couldn't
go on Friday, come out on Sunday. You can get
tickets at the Mahay Jackson Theater. It's at two thirty
in the afternoon. It's worth doing. But more importantly, if
you're a parent or a teacher, contact us for the
next time we do this, which will be in the spring,
where you can bring all your classes and all your kids.
Because they got so much out of it and they
(12:38):
really enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
It, well, that's great. Folks in Kese y'all don't know it.
Opera literally has biblical foundations, which I find fascinating. When
Constantinople fell, Remember in the West, everything was Latin. When
Constantinople fell, it flushed some of the greatest Greek scholars,
actually the greatest Greek scholars in the world, with their
(13:00):
manuscripts into Western Europe and thus began what became known
as the Greek Revival movement in Europe, which basically catalyzed
the Italian Renaissance, which and of course Renaissance spread to
all of Europe. And Renaissance means a new birth, and
out of the Italian Renaissance came opera. Opera was birthed
(13:21):
in Italy, so you can see a real biblical foundation,
which is fascinating.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Opera is most assuredly the most famous as an Italian
art form, but opera wasn't birthed in Italy. Opera was
birthed in Spain by Emperor Charles the Second. The first
opera Venus and Adonis, was in the court of Charles Second,
who was both the Holy Roman Emperor, the German Emperor
as well as the Spanish King, and he was the
one when all the counquy stores are going over it. Actually,
(13:47):
the first opera that was ever performed was performed in Spain.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
That's amazing. But you know, in the history but the
music history and all that, they always say it's Italy.
And I forget the name of famous Italian opera singer
of the first big one I know composed. I can't
they of his name right now. But apparently I didn't
know about Spain. That's fascinating. That's really good, Chris, So
I'm glad to hear that. Anyway, folks, it's been discovered
that there's a unique and I said this on the
last show, but it's worth hearing again. There's a unique,
(14:12):
something unique about Western music. And I've heard my music
history teacher told me it had to do with harmony.
That you have all you have rhythm, melody and harmony
and music, but usually European music has the heaviest amount
of harmony. It's heavy harmony. And because of that, it
has affected the music of the world where all these
(14:35):
foreign countries adore Western music. And it has to do
with the fact that we have so much harmony, and
it has radically changed the music of the world, if
you will, and take note. Now, all of our great
rock and roll stars I grew up in the rock
and roll era, Elvis and all that, so many of
them purposely studied classical music because they believed it would
(14:55):
make them greater musicians. And so that's probably why these
kids the music had their rapt attention. There's something very
powerful about classical music that may not be your genre,
might be hip hop or jazz or whatever, but that
gives you a tremendous foundation for whatever genre you're going
to go into.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I point out Elixir of Love, which is, uh, the
opera we're doing in April in the beginning of April
is a West It's it actually has done in Italian,
but it's about the American West. But it was done
in the late nineteenth century. Well, it's actually the root
of several Mayance songs because she studied opera. So, I mean,
(15:36):
this is kind of one of those things that the
kids recognize the melodies because the ones that were written
for opera are the ones that are still with us today.
And to be honest with you, Hollywood and most rock
and roll stars just steal from them, which is fine.
Landry Lloyd Webber basically stole from Puccini a lot of
the stuff that we get through. And so Puccini, by
the way, is not one of the original opera stars.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
He was.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He lived in nineteen hundred, but uh yeah, his Tosca
was September nineteen hundred. But the point being eighteen eighty
nine actually was Sarah Boneheart. But the point of all this,
folks is if you're hearing this, please, if you've got
a chance, we've got a Friday night performance for those
listening in WSLA and Friday, but for those listening on Sunday,
please go and to the Mehay Jackson Theater before two
(16:21):
thirty get your ticket. You can go right in. We
got several availability and come see the opera Tosca. But
in the future, if you have a high school kid,
a middle school kid wants to see opera, contact us
see Tidmore at New Orleans Opera dot org. Let us
set it up so we can get them there for
free and experiences hard form. And on that note, folks,
we really got to take a quick, quick commercial break.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
But before we do a little test here, what movie
one of the most famous movies ever done? A series
of movies everybody knows about it what movie and it's
climactic scene had opera, then the opera fit what was
happening in the movie. Who can give me the answer?
Tick talk, tic talk, tik talk, tic talk. That's right,
(17:00):
The answer is The Godfather three and they all those
murders took place during opera. It was fascinating.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
What I would point out to you high is yes,
that's true, and it's a great scene of opera. But
where does the Imperial March from Star Wars come from? Tasca?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Well, man, I know, I'm glad you said that. That's
going to get all the Star Wars guys there, Christopher. Fantastic, fantastic.
All right, Well, it's not time for us to take
a break. Will be right back. Folks.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
We always tell you to give the gift of flowers
by going to Villaries floorist, but that's particularly true this
coming month. Not only do you have our ten arrangements
that are perfect for the autumn, not only do you
have baskets that may only have flowers, but also may
have candy in all this that can be delivered perfect
for Halloween. But this is New Orleans and All Saints
Day is a day that we remember the people that
(17:52):
have come before us and flower arrangements can be delivered
straight to the graves on November first, all Saints Day
ladies and gentlemen by Villari's Florists. Call them one eight
hundred VI l Ear or Villariesflorist dot com. Two locations
of Martin Berman and Meti Rdoff Veterans Boulevard, writing of
the Orleans Jefferson Line and Highway one ninety in Covington.
For all of your floral needs. Give the gift of
(18:14):
flowers by calling Villaries Florist at one eight hundred VI
l l Eer.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And folks at chappin hig mckenry. I'm here to tell
you about our ministry, LAMB Ministries. We're in inner city
ministry with an inter city formula and focus for inner
city folks. Please go to our website Lambanola dot com
and check us out or just call me Hi McHenry
at five zero four seven two three nine three six nine.
(18:41):
This is a very challenging ministry folks. Uh, you can
just imagine we're dealing with you. We're right in the
middle of the worst parts of the city with the
biggest problems, and these poor little kids they don't have
a chance. If somebody from outside the community didn't reach
in to help them, they're pretty much finished. They're called
short termers in their own community by their own people,
(19:02):
if you will meeting. And what that means is by
their mid twenties, everything will be dead in jailful life,
a living at the homeless mission. They all know that.
And the greatest tragedy of all is they have no
idea that there's another life. They think that's a normal life,
that they think that's the way you live your life
on this earth. It's so sad, but God has given
us the grace and the opportunity to reach these kids.
(19:24):
We've had close to five thousand come to Christ. We've
seen hundreds go on to live very productive, wholesome, healthy
lives with families and everything. It's just been we've got
third generation kids in our ministry now. So it's been
a wonderful experience and I encourage you to get involved.
We need all the help we can get. We need
we need prayer warriors, we need finance support, and we
need volunteers. So if you're interested, just contact us again.
(19:48):
Our website is www dot Lamnola dot com. L A. M. B.
N O. L a dot com and thank you so
very very much. Oh well, folks were back and you
are listening to the Founders Show, the voice of the
Founding Fathers, and I want you to know you can
(20:08):
hear us every Sunday morning from eight to nine am
on WRO that's ninety nine point five on your FM
dial radio. But the best thing to do is get
the iHeartMedia app. It's free, folks, free, you download it.
It's bigger and better than satellite. You have every kind
of thing you could ever want to listen to on
that app. It's tremendous. You can find us and I'll
(20:30):
even send you notice it's for our show every week
and then you can listen to us at your convenience
anytime of the day or night. And or you can
go to our website, the Foundershow dot com with two
us is and also here is there. And so without
further do it's time for us to get going. I
believe there's a coming Louisiana legislation session coming. But anyway,
(20:50):
while we're at it, this is Chaplin High mcchenry.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
With Christopher Tidmore and yes, hi, we are going to
face a new special session for the louisianalyticsgislature right after
the presidential elections we have. The governor hasn't exactly called
the dates, but that he's about to because we're facing
a massive fiscal cliff next year. The point four to
five percent sales tax is expiring off and that will
(21:13):
give us a basically four hundred and fifty five million
dollar deficit. Or, to give you another way, the teacher
pay raise. We just passed so much for the pay raise,
it goes away unless something can be done. Accept something
interesting happened this week. So I'm gonna pose a question
for you, Hi, and I'm gonna pose a question for
the audience. It's gonna sound like a strange question, but
(21:35):
hear me out. Could enacting a Louisiana flat tax flat
income tax actually be a way of stopping a bigger
tax cut and avoiding the fiscal cliff. Wait, that doesn't
make sense, Timmorre, what are you talking about? Well, this
is the behind the scenes logic that's going on right
now in the Landry administration. We always break stories here
on the Founder Show, and that's what we're doing today.
(21:56):
So quite a few people were surprised when the Governor's
Revenue Secretary. It's basically, as Chief Taxman Richard Nelson came
out and proposed the creation of a Louisiana flat income
tax rate of three point eight percent because we got
this fiscal crisis next year. You're thinking, why would he
do this? Now, Well, he has an idea. It's to
(22:16):
increase to create a flat tax, but also let the
sales tax roll off and make up the difference. Not
with the flat tax because he gets a little less
money out of it total, but to get rid of
all of our tax credits, our film tax credits, our
recording tax credits, our live performance tax credits, our economic
development tax credits, allow of the tax credits, and the
(22:37):
money between that and the flat tax would be able
to produce enough revenue, about a billion dollars in new revenue,
to be able to cover the deficit. But suddenly everybody's
kind of asking, well, that's a lot, that's a big
On the one hand, you're cutting the top rate from
four point two five percent to three point eight percent,
but you're raising the taxes and everybody who pay between
(22:59):
twelve five hundred dollars and fifty thousand dollars from three
point five to three point eight. You're raising the taxes
on the middle class. That's kind of interesting timing. When
you're doing all of this. You would be getting rid
of the sales tax, which is regressive, and you would
be getting rid of the one point eighty five percent
tax in the first twelve thousand, five hundred dollars. But
why now, what is it? Well, here's the real story
(23:19):
of what's going on. As Paul Harvey used to say,
here's the rest of the story. It's Landry's flat tax, folks,
is also serving as a way to avoid an act
equally large income tax cut that was instituted by the
John Bell Edwards administration and nobody knew about. Imagine if
you passed a tax cut you never expected to happen. Well,
that's what they did. A twenty twenty one state law
(23:41):
created a series of conditions, when met, that would automatically
reduce income taxes by Okay, get ready, folks, because you're
not going to understand anything I'm about to read. By
multiplying each current rate by the difference between one and
one percentage change in individual tax collections in excess of
the individual income tax collection for fiscal year twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen adjusted annually.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Love the way they make it so simple. For as Christopher,
no complexities here, none.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It's like it's almost like they didn't want you to
know what they were saying.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Well, in English, folks probably didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
In English. What they are saying was the state law
mandates and across the board income tax cut of between
two hundred and four hundred million dollars, depending upon how
that formula I mentioned is calculated. That would be on
top of the automatic sales tax reduction for an approxate
at eight hundred million dollar tax cut or deficit, depending
(24:34):
how you look at it. This unforeseen tax cut, though,
comes about because the circumstances which required it, including fully
funding the Rainy Day Fund, earning a certain percentage of
increase in tax revenue, and other specific factors, seemed almost impossible.
In twenty twenty one, in other words, the legislature passed
a tax cut that they never ever thought would happen.
(24:56):
You heard me correctly, then, Louisiana, for just one year,
just this year, hit every unlikely fiscal qualification requiring the
automatic tax.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Cut, and the Legislative's panicked.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
And well right now, Jeff Landry's panicking because what would
what that would mean is he could do nothing and
he gets a tax sit Now, most Republican governors would
be really excited by this, But when you get eight
hundred million dollars in deficit and your discretionary spending is
four billion, I mean that that's basically a fourth of
what you're spending. And so he's really scared. So Landry's
(25:34):
been scrambling to offer another alternative and therefore proposing a
tax cut that wouldn't blow the hole in the twenty
twenty five budget. His answers to simultaneously create a flat
tax and simultaneously get rid of every tax incentive program.
So you know, the Film tax credit that's made us
the Hollywood South, that's gone.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I thought that was already gone quest.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
They limited one hundred and eighty six million dollars a year,
but it's still very much there. Performance tax Credit Broadway South,
which I have a certain thing I helped write it,
the Digital Economic Tax Credit. Actually, the thing that we
are doing most in Louisiana is not film or performance.
It's we're recording music here because we have the best
recording tax credits in the country. So a lot of
(26:15):
the stars come here to record, and that's actually been
very important to our contin.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
New owents should have that because we are the, if
you will, the music city of the country, and that
so many music genres were created in New.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Orleans, and so all this together. There are also some
tax credits that go to industry, particularly the chemical and
major chemical industrial concerns, And if you get rid of
all those credits, that's about a billion dollars. So Jeff
Landry could theoretically create a flat tax, tax the middle
middle class a little bit more, tax everybody else a
little bit less, and tax business a lot more, certain
(26:50):
business business that doesn't support him, and get the money back.
So you gotta remember who didn't Supportjeff Landry in the
last governor's race. Well, the Arts and Cultural Committee didn't
like him, but the chemical industry, in the big industrial
industries didn't like him either. He's friends with the trial lawyers,
which he doesn't they don't like. They all supported Steve wagon'sback,
who got a whopping six percent of the vote. He
(27:11):
was the former head of the Louisiana Association of Business Industry.
So I guess whose tax credits. Economic development tax credits
are under the shopping block theirs. Now, if Landry succeeds
in this flat tax that Richard Nelson is pushing, By
the way, Richard Nelson is the most successful failed governor's
candidate ever because if he puts it, he ran for
governor and endorsed Jeff Landry one day before you know,
(27:35):
basically the election, turned around, became Revenue secretary and is
looking at the biggest tax reform in Louisiana history. But
if they do this, people making between twelve thousand and
five and fifty thousand would pay more. Anybody making over
fifty thousand would pay substantially less in income taxes. People
making less than twelve thousand and five or twenty five
thousand for a married couple will pay a lot less.
(27:56):
But we would actually get more money because you also
getting rid of the tax credits. But Louisiana would go
on the state rankings of income taxes to only two
states in the country having a lower state income tax
Indiana and Pennsylvania. And remember our immediate neighbors Texas, Florida,
and Tennessee have no income tax. They along with Alaska, Nevada,
(28:19):
South Dakota, Washington.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
And Wyoming.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So this idea is one of those proposals that, on
the one hand, sounds really good and look, it is
economically competitive and some poor people will do much better
on this proposal because it also gets rid of the
sales tax and sales taxes regards. On the other hand,
it could kill our cultural economy, kill our industrial economy,
but at the same time it would make Louisiana more
(28:43):
competitive long term. So he is calling a special session
to put in this tax credit. But his enemies realize something.
Let me get allowed me to get this perfectly clear.
If we do nothing, nada, nothing, we get an income
tax cut, a sales tax cut, and our tax credits
are okay, right, Well, yeah, such is the devil in
(29:04):
the details of Louisiana governance.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Folks.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
A lot of this tax cut would happen, income tax
cut would happen anyway if we simply did absolutely nothing.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Fascinating, Christopher Wow, the world of politics, where it goes
and what it does.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
And uh, Anyway, the special session, folks would come out
right after Thanksgiving. You'll probably see the governor call the
special He's got to do it anyway because of the
sales tax and the whole it would press in the budget,
and you're going to likely see this. He doesn't want
to have an election before the presidential election, so you'll
likely see this in the next couple of months.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Christopher, you are a great speaker, but it was not you.
It was politics. I have been left speechless many times
in the past by the political stuff that goes on.
The world of politics is a very, very you know,
I describe it as a septic tank, folks, So you
understand my consternation about politics. But we have to have
(30:00):
of it. And those who don't pay attention to politics
are doomed to be damned by politics. So everybody should
be aware of their political world and what they can
do to make things better. We can affect the political
world in America. We can vote, so and we're supposed to.
We're still a democracy. And let's say illegal aliens get
(30:21):
to vote, and then that's the end of the Democrat
that's the end of our republic, and there will no
longer be a democracy in America. It will be a
dictatorship because the Democrats will get control of everything. We've
got twenty median illegal aliens that they're registering to vote
right now. If that goes through then folks, it's the
end of our the constitution, it's the end of our freedoms.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
First of all, the data doesn't say that. But second, well,
how do we go from Louisiana taxes to illegal alien politics?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Politics? I was talking about how dirty the world of
politics is.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
That's all all right, you want to go to national politics.
Let's talk about something you'll like, Okay, And that is
kind of of what real clear politics average has been doing.
Now you're like, oh, that sounds inside baseball. Well, the
Trump is and look, as some of you know.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Because they they average, Yeah, they take all the polls,
they average them up. That they're very helpful.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well, one of the things that if you've been paying attention,
it seems like on the surface, Harris is doing really well.
And remember I'm no great Trump supporter. I'm not Harris
support really, I'm just a pretty Chase Oliver. But it's
been kind of interesting to look Harris's head in Michigan
fifty two to forty seven, with Wisconsin fifty forty, tied
in Pennsylvania, tied in North Carolina, tied in Georgia. You
(31:36):
get the idea. So it always should look like Harris
is doing really well, right, Well, there's an interesting thing
that the Democrats aren't doing. So one of the things
I've learned recently high is that there's major complaints in
the black community, amongst others, that the GOTV money that's
shorthand for get out the vote money is not flowing
into the communities. Now, that's partially practical when you start
(31:59):
early voting, as we are starting here in Louisiana in
a couple of weeks, and your voting is six weeks
or more. They're already voting in Pennsylvania and everywhere it's
two month voting. How is that get out of How
do you get out to vote that way? Well, it's
just basically you're voting for a couple months. But there's
a bigger factor that people are wondering about, and that
is comparing to where Harris is, where Biden was, And
(32:23):
I remember how close the election was four years ago.
Even if you don't buy that Biden won, and some
of our audience do, everybody can say it was a
close election. Okay, Harris is underperforming Joe Biden from four
years ago by four point seven points. Remember the final
tie tie is that Biden won fifty one to forty six.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But by the way, Trump always under polls, so that's
even more alarming.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
That's what gets into this. On September, look at the
two twenty sixteen election. September twenty second, twenty sixteen, basically
eight years ago exactly, Hillary Clinton led Trump by two
point six points on election day, she got beat by
Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and it says Harris's one
(33:13):
point nine lead over Trump is less than the margin
by which Hillary won at this campaign four years ago. Well,
for those that are not convinced, how about this. In
September twenty twenty, Biden led by nine points fifty to
forty one percent, meaning that Harris is underperforming Biden by
(33:33):
four points according to some polling operations, the real cleapologist average. Remember,
Biden's official final popular vote margin nationwide, not just in
the swing states, was four point five points. That meant
in the swing states it was very very tight. What
this means is, folks, that we predicted basically coming out
of the debate there wasn't gonna be much change. The
(33:57):
only possible change that we said came out was actually
Taylor Swift endorsing Harris and baking a requirement for people
who come to her concerts to have registered to vote,
which is actually happening right now. Remember Taylor Swift's let
aristor has.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Had teenagers can't vote.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
The average person who goes to a Taylor Swift concert
is nineteen to twenty two years old. They're not teenagers.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Well that's one of those false polls, Chris.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
False poles. No, I'm sorry, we know how old they
are because we got the they spend eight hundred dollars
to go to that's how much a cost to go
to tell.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Us swifts parents pay for it. And we'd heard what
Minual Testament is paying the value of their tickets, because
I guess you're front row tickets.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I have people it's that will save up for a year,
they'll come into New Orleans to go to concerts. I
know Republicans shouldn't be overly confident, but if you're a
Democrat running around and saying Harris is running away for
this thing, You've got several factors. You've got minority groups
who are angry that the money to get voters out,
which you're saying, well it's a payoff. No, I'm talking
(34:59):
about how to get the buses to get people, how
to get old people to get to the polls head
of cars. So when people want to say I need
to get to the polls, I can do it. That
money isn't there.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
What about so they don't have the money for the
bear bashies and I'll the free food and all that,
and then the twenty five dollars park that each voter
gets on the Democrat.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
So there's Look, I've seen a lot of things in
an election. I've never seen that was the joke from
the ninety six Andrew Jenkins election on the multiple votes.
So I voted for mary Landrew nine times and all
I got was this lousy T shirt that was an
actual quote. It's some anywhere, the Landry t shirt. The
point is, there's very rarely you know, this idea of
paying for votes because it's not very cost effective. What
(35:39):
does happen is that you have used to have precinct
captains that would get the people around them to get
out to vote, and they got paid. They got paid
pretty well. But the problem right now is that the
Harris Trump situation is it's a lot. It's basically intense.
And I always tell people this, believe it or not
the polls in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty. We're never wrong.
(36:01):
Here's why that every pole ever has at least a
four point margin of error, and if it's a small pole,
it's five or six points. So you could say the
polls are tied or Trump's four points behind, and guess
what he could You know he could be four points ahead.
The challenge of a pole is that a poll is
(36:22):
a snapshot in time of a very specific group, and
the margin of era determines. So we're going to see
how this plays in. But I will say we're going
to we're waiting for the vice presidential debate, which.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Is like the greatest poll going is a rally poll,
and we've seen how Trump slam dunks competition every time.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I got to tell you one of the highlights for
Harrison the debate was her talking about people leaving Trump's rallies,
and it really got under his skin a little bit.
I got to tell you it was.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
A big lie. That's why I had been to Trump rallies.
I've been to enough of them to know that's a
huge lie. But I do know that at her rally,
which had I don't know ten five or ten thousand people.
They all came to hear the famous rappers do all
their jiggling stuff and whatnot. And as soon as that
was over, the crowd started leaving. Before she Harris spoke.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
It's not really actually true, but.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Pictures of it. Of course I saw him leaving.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They did definitely come for the for the rappers, but
whether they stayed or not, because I've looked at it
as well. So anyway, folks, we've in our last couple
of minutes that we've got here on the Founder's Show,
we wanted to look at some other things. We not
only have a we not only of course have the
(37:33):
election that Luisi, the state election, the federal elections coming up.
We also have state elections and the thing that the
election that's happening that nobody's talking about. I mean, there's
some big elections. This is Baton Rouge mayor's race, which
is a very key race going in for the city
of Baton Rouge. The whole idea that the city of
Saint George and its futures wrapped up in that ken
communities inside of an existing parish create their own cities.
(37:55):
That has implications for Orleans and Jefferson for example, of
areas that would like to incorporate, whether it would be
Lakeview or Uptown or met Y for that matter. But
the election that no one's talking about that you think
what Eric Scremata, for example, is term limited out for
the Public Service Commission. We have three members of the
PSC who aren't running Helena Moreno and not Helen. We've
(38:19):
got several candidates, sorry about that, it's not holloin Ry
who are running for the Public Service Commission. And one
of the things that I get is that no one
is paying attention in the media to those races. Now,
what does the Public Service Commission do? I'm nothing important.
Accept control your electric rates, your phone rates, your communications rates,
(38:40):
your internet rates, your cable rate. Let me get explain this. Basically,
most of the stuff you pay for every month is
paid for by Public Service Commission rulings and they have
a huge impact on your day to day lives. And
what we're going to do in the next couple of
weeks is we're going to go through the candidates for
the PSC races, try to give you a little background
(39:00):
and do what the media is not doing, which is
essentially give us some background as to some of the
elections that are happening here in Louisiana as we come
to early voting in the middle of October, voting is
literally folks right around the corner. Also, I want to
finish off today's show with you know, we've been beating
(39:21):
up on Harris, so why don't we just continue. I
think Joe Manchin rejecting endorsing her as a much bigger moment.
He's not endorsed Trump, you can't stand him. But the
idea of Harris going against the filibuster. The problem is
a lot of people voted for Biden that voted for Trump,
the kind of the swing voters, because they thought Biden
(39:42):
would be a more regular political entity. Trump wanted to
get rid of the philibuster. Biden said he protected the
filibuster protects us from bad law. Now Harris said it,
she said it specifically having to do with abortion rights.
But once you get rid of it, once you get
rid of it for all it's not a multiple choice
sort of thing. You got rid of it for judges,
it would. And this is the point. The strength that
(40:04):
Harris has, she wants to be she's running her most
positive is an agent of change. But a lot of
the people that are supporting her don't like Trump's flaunting
of regular political standards. So when you flaunt a regular
political standard, which a lot of us in this think
are an constitutional underpinning of the republic that the Founders intended,
(40:25):
which is the filibuster, the idea that a supermajority must
pass laws because the purpose of a republic is to
protect the rights of the minority. When you just basically
say the tyranny of the majority is all, which is
what it is, if you don't have the filibuster, then
you are in a dangerous point. And for Harris to
do that, she's created a situation where, ultimately here in America,
(40:48):
a lot of the never trumpers she's trying to get
become very skeptical. She needed Joe Mansion on her side,
and losing him may have lost her the election. Folks
will be back with the patriotic Moment after these important messages,
a tuned more of the Founder Show right after this.
For those listening on Sunday, ladies and gentlemen, to our
(41:10):
WRNO broadcast, remember you still have time to go to
the final matinee performance of Tosca the Fantastic Puccini opera
which is happening at the Meheia Jackson Theater. Parking is
available right next to the theater, and ladies and gentlemen,
you can walk up to the box office and get
tickets available for thirty two dollars for TOSCA two thirty
this afternoon. Tickets go on sale at twelve thirty for
(41:31):
our Sunday listeners. For those that don't want to see
future operas, check it out at New Orleans Opera dot
org New Orleans Opera dot org. Because on November eighth
and November tenth, Samson Delilah, the Biblical Epic is coming
to the Miheia Jackson Theater, an opera a Saint here
opera that premiered in New Orleans on the North American
continent one hundred and thirty one years ago and is
(41:53):
coming back to the Maheia Jackson the age old tale
of controversy between in the Middle East things. Some things
never change. But it is the beauty of this opera
that will change your heart. Samson delian and build great
Biblical epics and stories.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Romance that's challenging, that that has tension, tension.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Samson Delaila November eighth, but For those who are listening
to our Sunday broadcast, there's still time to go see Tosca.
Get in your car right now or right after church
or right after lunch and drive to the Mahay Jackson Theater.
You can get there to twenty five, walk up, get
a ticket. Playing tickets are available to see the Sunday matinee,
the final performance of Tosca, the Great Puccini Opera, available
(42:34):
at the Marriay Jackson Theater one more time only for
ourt Winston Churchill fans, ladies and gentlemen. Sonya Parnell, the
author of Clementine and so many other Churchill biographies, is
coming to the Garden District Bookshop twenty seven to twenty
seven Pritannia on October sixth with her new book on
Pamela Harriman and Winston Churchill. Pamela Harrimon, of course, is
(42:55):
Winston Churchill's daughter in law and she was his private
secretary and it's a book full of revelations. Check it
out the Garden District Bookshop and find out the path
to power of Bill Clinton in this incredible new book.
More information at Gardendistrict Bookshop dot com. That's Gardendistrict bookshop dot.
Speaker 5 (43:10):
Com, Rescue, recovery, re engagement. These are not just words.
These are the action steps we at the New Orleans
Mission take to make a positive impact on the homeless
problem facing the greater New Orleans area. The New Orleans
Mission is a stepping stone out of that life of
destruction and into a life of hope and purpose. Partner
(43:35):
with us today go to www dot New Orleansmission dot
org or make a difference by texting to seven seven
nine four eight.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Got os two shoes.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Well, folks, we're back and you are listening to the founders.
So the voice to the founding fathers and this is
none other than you spend Gary Bubba a Republic Japlin
high McHenry. And of course it's now time for us
to go into our Chaplain bab Bah patriotic moment where
we just take a brief moment to remind you of
the biblical foundations of our country, our Judeo Christian jurisprudence.
(44:13):
And today we're going to talk about in other than
Johann Sebastian Bach As we spend some time on the
show talking about classical music and opera and all that
I figured this was a fitting story to tell here.
He lived from sixteen eighty three to seventeen fifty. He
was a famous German musical composer who's considered the master
of masters, and that has a lot to do with
(44:35):
the fact that most almost all classical music traces its
origins to this man right here. Because of the inspiration
of his musical compensations, he had that dynamic place in
musical history. Bach composed a cantata which expressed the forever
sea of his faith in Christ's atoning work on the
Cross entitled Jesus minefrud that means Jesus My Joy, other
(44:59):
great works displaying faith, including the Passion according to Saint
Matthew and the Passion according to Saint John, along with
many other biblical founding of you know, musical pieces. And
expressing his conviction concerning the purpose of music, Johann Sebastian
Bach asserted the aim and final in of all music
(45:19):
should be none other than the glory of God and
the refreshment of the soul. If he is not paid
to this, it is not true music but a diabolical
bawling and twanging. And folks, don't you think we hear
a lot of that today in today's world, because we've
departed from what I believe was really great music, including
(45:39):
rock and roll. The early rock and roll folks actually
founded here in New Orleans, by the way, and we've
been over that before at the do drop in. Folks,
this music impacted the entire West and of course America,
and so you can see once again the biblical foundations
of our country, our Judeo Christian jurisprudence in America. Well, folks,
(46:02):
what about you. Do you find the music of God
flowing through your heart, your soul? And on. What I'm
talking about is the gospel, because there's no greater song
than the Gospel song, the gospel message. You know, the
Bible says, the Gospel is the power of God into
salvation to whosoever believeth And the Bible tells, so what
(46:22):
is this gospel? And by the word, the word gospel
just playing simply means good news. What is this good news? Well,
the Scripture tells us in First Queenians chapter fifteen, For
I declare unto you the gospel that Christ died for
all of our sins, according to the Scripture, that he
was buried, and that he rose from the dead, according
to the scripture, and then it goes on, I'm paraphrasing
(46:44):
to say that whosoever believeth in this great Gospel message
that Jesus died for all sins, was buried, and rose
from the dead, is guaranteed ever last in life. You're
going to heaven when you die. Folks. All you have
to do is put child like faith in this great message.
It's not a matter of your good works. We all
tend to think God grades on the curve. He's going
to look at our good works and our bad works,
and we have enough good works over our bad works,
(47:05):
we get to go to heaven. It doesn't work that way, folks,
because all of our good works about says, all of
our righteousness are as filthy rights. We're just not good
enough for God. Let's face it, He's perfect, we're not.
He demands absolute perfection, and no human being will ever
get get there. That's impossible to do it, you know.
For instance, Let's say you were the greatest Olympic athlete
that ever lived. You had twenty thirty gold medals and
(47:26):
every kind of thing you can think of, field track
and everything. You're the greatest high jumper in the world,
the greatest pole vault in the world. And somebody said, okay,
let's see give it your best. We're going to do
a broad jump across the Grand Canyon. Folks, you never
do it. You'd kill yourself the first time you try it.
That's how hard it is to reach God's level of perfection.
And he knew that about the human race, and he
(47:47):
loved us so much. He came up with a fix
it problem, if you will, how to fix our problem.
He did a damage control if you will, on us.
He did it by making himself pay for our sins.
And that happened when Jesus died on the cross. And
then to make sure we got heaven, everlasting resurrection life,
(48:07):
he then rose from the dead to win that for
you and I and all of us. And what he
says is you must repent. Jesus keeps saying, repent and believe.
So what is repentance. Repentance is when you are fully
convinced you cannot save yourself, that you'll never be good
enough for God. You know, I'll be righteous enough, holy enough,
rich enough, cool enough, charming enough, whatever you think you are.
(48:27):
It's just not going to work. It'll never be good
enough for God, so just quit trying, give up on it.
And the moment you give up, you just repent it.
It's an act of your faith. It comes from your
faith where you believe you can't save yourself and you're
totally convinced of that. You're totally convinced that you're hopeless
and helpless without God and destined to a burning hell.
And the moment you come to that point, you just repented.
(48:49):
This scripture says godly sorrow work with repentance under salvation
when you reach that point, and it'll bring godly sorrow. Oh,
I'm just not good enough to make you sorry, especially
if you're a proud person, might make you sorry. You're
just not good enough. So what be sorry? Because you're
not good enough? Face reality? That's just those are the facts.
And the split second to do that, you just repented.
(49:09):
And I believe every time a person does that, shortly
there after they get the gospel straight, it comes through
clearly to them because God's right there waiting for that
very moment. He's not in the scriptur say's long suffering,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Folks. God really wants you in heaven
with him forever. And he's got his eyes on everybody.
(49:30):
I mean, he's watching you like a hawk. I don't
care who you are, where you live, where you're from,
or whatever. God's right on it, and he wants you
to going to heaven with it, to be with him forever.
He did not make hell for you. God made hell
for devils, for death, and for sin. But there's a
very sad passage to the scripture that says hell is
being enlarged because the original purpose of hell has been enlarged,
(49:54):
because you see people who reject God's love, reject the
Gospel message in one place for them to go where God
is not. It's called hell, and that's where you will go.
As your sins are thrown to Hell, you will go
in with them, and you will be there forever. And
it's so terrible to describe what hell is like. I
don't even want to think about it. You don't want
to go there. You don't want to be there, folks.
(50:16):
You want to be in heaven. Where again, the Bible says,
I have not seen or ear heard the things that
God has prepared for them who love him and who
they called according to his purpose. I can't tell you
also how good heaven is. It's beyond my ability to
understand it. All I know is it's sure going to
be great. And I guarantee I'd rather be the lowest
person in heaven than the highest person in hell. Folks,
don't do it, don't make that state mistake. Don't wait
(50:37):
till it's too late, Like the old country preacher says,
and like the Bible says, now today is the day
of salvation. Believe right now with all your heart that
Jesus died for all your sins, was buried and rose
from dead. And God guarantees you ever last in life.
He guarantees you heaven. He guarantees you to be saved
from that terrible place called Hell. Well, folks, I want.
I'm here to tell you about a woman who went
(50:57):
through hell, and I'm talking about Corey ten Boons. We
now go into our testimony time again. We just take
a brief moment to give you a wonderful story about
a wonderful person who really lived with Jesus, who really
walked the straight and arrow, who really followed her master.
And her name is Corey ten Boom. She lived during
the mid nineteenth century I mean twentieth century and the
(51:18):
end of the twentieth century, I mean all the way
to the end of the twentieth century. Her name is
Corey ten Boom. She was a Dutch goal She suffered
the horrors of the Nazi occupation. Her family was protecting
the Jews, she was saving them. They were hiding them
in their house and whatnot. And finally they got caught.
The Nazis put them in immediately into the work camps,
the concentration camps where they were putting the Jews. Her
(51:40):
whole family died, just like the poor Jews were dying.
They were brutally beaten and starved and everything else, over
worked till they just died of exhaustion, like so many
of these precious Jews were dying. Close to over six
million Jews. Well, there were also many Europeans and Christians
who backed Jews and we're trying to save him. Her
(52:01):
family was one of them, and her story is amazing.
And when she's the only one that survived of her
whole family and the whole group, and it was by
a clerical era. They were getting ready to run her
into the Ovens, and they made a mistake on the name.
So she and then Charlotte. There after the war ended
and she was saved. You know, years later she became
a great evangelist. She run around telling everybody with the
(52:22):
great things God did to save her, and the great
things Jesus, how great how Jesus kept her going against
all the howers of the Nazi tortures and oppression, that
during that time Jesus kept keeping her going, kept keeping
her awake and alive with hope, and folks, she wanted
everybody to get that message. Well, one day she was
(52:43):
in a meeting in Europe and this German came up
to her and he had a big smile on his face,
and he so wanted to thank her and tell her
how important Jesus was to him and what he had
done for him. And when she saw him, she froze
in terror because he had been the cruelest guard in
her prison camp. Her heart hardened. She was terrified. All
(53:07):
she wanted to do is kill the man. And then
she started hearing Jesus talk to him, forgive, forgive your enemies,
love your enemies, turn the other cheeks. She kept hearing
that and then she finally goes, oh my goodness, I've
got to be nice. I've got to do something. So
she cautiously reached her hand out to grab his, and
when she did, she said, her heart was filled with brightness,
(53:27):
with warmth, and with love, and she could see the
same thing happening to that man. What a beautiful testimony, folks,
of what Jesus can do in our lives. He's never
done this in your life. Let him do it today.
Believe right now that Jesus died for all your sins
with bardon rose and the dead. Well, it's not time
for us to close. As we close with a mind
Saint Martin singing a creole goodbye, and God bless all
(53:49):
out there to call you
Speaker 2 (53:55):
Qel good man,