April 17, 2012

1. TIME magazine had a fantastic cover story in this week's issue. It is called “The Worlds Most Exclusive Club” and is taken from a new book written by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy called THE PRESIDENTS CLUB.

            The article highlighted several fascinating insights into the relationship of the current president and the ex-presidents. Two of the highlights for me are: 1) President Clinton and the Bush family have not only overcome the bitterness of the 1992 presidential election, they have grown so close that Clinton has vacationed with George H. W. Bush, raised money with George W. Bush, escorted Barbara Bush at the funeral of Betty Ford, and received the nickname from the Bush family “Brother from Another Mother”, and 2) President Clinton would often call President Nixon late at night to consult with him about foreign-policy matters and other presidential issues. Nixon sent Clinton a letter shortly before he died in 1994. The letter assisted Clinton so much that he makes it a practice to read the letter every year.

2. I agree with many I've heard on talk radio, who wonder why in the world New York fans booed Tim Tebow the other night at a New York Yankee ballgame. As “Mike and Mike” said yesterday morning, why take your time booing somebody who is building hospitals for orphans and auctions off opportunities to spend the day with him as he ministers to children in children's hospitals–with the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised going to charity.

3. I still don't know where we are going to get all of the money to pay for what the federal government spends in a year.

4. Mark Bergin wrote last week of an incredible plan by Oklahoma State University that backfired. The board opted to purchase life insurance policies on 27 elderly boosters back in 2007. Each policy was valued at $10 million. Two years later, there was a problem. None of the boosters had died. During that time, OSU had paid out over $32 million in premiums. In 2009, OSU canceled the policies and sought litigation to recover a portion of the money they had paid in premiums. Not only did they lose in court, the judge ruled that OSU had to pay the insurance company for the cost of litigation.

5. Charles Colson is recovering after falling ill at a conference and undergoing surgery a few weeks ago. The founder of Prison Fellowship had surgery on March 31 to remove a clot of blood from the surface of his brain after he had an intracerebral hemorrhage. Colson has shown some encouraging signs. I’m praying for you, Chuck Colson.

           

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.