Elvis & Corporate Welfare

The dirt-poor city of Memphis is giving tax breaks to Graceland.

“So why, you might ask, is a city that regularly ranks among the nation’s poorest giving several hundred million dollars in tax breaks to a long-dead rock star’s house museum where the cheapest ticket costs $41?”

— “This Has to Be One of the Most Ridiculous Corporate Welfare Deals in Quite Some Time,” Henry Grabar, Slate

 

Video: “Money Honey,” written by Jesse Stone, recorded by Elvis Presley, 1956.

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Corporate Person Opens Bible Museum In DC

Today a well-known corporate person, Hobby Lobby, opened the Museum of the Bible in a former warehouse near the railroad tracks in Southwest Washington DC. Once the Washington Design Center, the original building was built as the Terminal Refrigeration and Warehouse Company in 1923.

The new tourist attraction features a ballroom modeled after Versailles (mentioned in la Nouveau Testament, maybe?), replicas of the village of Nazareth and the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey, holograms, the Drive Thru History of the Bible Theater, and a restaurant serving biblically themed meals. Oh, and some historic books and 40,000 artifacts from the Green Family collection (sorry, the artifacts the family smuggled from Iraq were confiscated and won’t be on view). To ensure historical accuracy, the museum has the same advisor as the Creation Museum, where dinosaurs romp with cavemen. In fact, while museum admission is free (a $15 donation is suggested), there’s an amusement park price structure, where you pay to see each special exhibit or attraction.

Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green and his family believe the government of the USA is based on Christian biblical principles, and the family has enough money to share that misconception with an unsuspecting public.

Unbelievers can beat the church-going crowds. Unlike Hobby Lobby stores, the Museum of the Bible is open on Sundays from 10 AM to 7 PM.

More:

“Just What Is the Museum of the Bible Trying to Do?” Candida Moss and Joel Baden, Politico

“Jefferson took a blade to his Bible: Presidents, faith and the new Bible museum,” Rachel Siegel, Washington Post

“We’re All Living in Hobby Lobby’s Bible Nation,” Sarah Jones, New Republic

“Critics call it evangelical propaganda. Can the Museum of the Bible convert them?” Noah Charney, Washington Post

“Mystery at the new Bible museum: Are its Dead Sea Scrolls fake?” Daniel Burke, CNN

“The Museum of the Bible reflects the discouraging state of Christianity,” Christine Emba, Washington Post

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here . Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, South Carolina

Flying saucers zoomed through the skies of the 1950s and 1960s. Why the lack of recent UFO sightings? Some observers say it’s due to the end of the Cold War, but South Carolina’s Jody Pendarvis blames it on the shocking lack of travel amenities for space aliens. That’s why he built a UFO Welcome Center next to his house trailer.