The Press-Dispatch

July 11, 2018

The Press-Dispatch

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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, July 11, 2018 C-11 OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Canada has passed legislation to legalize the unrestricted use of marijuana. That nation joins a handful of Christianized Western European countries that allow its recreational use without penalty. In contrast, few non-Christian countries have relaxed their laws on the use of illicit drugs [such as opium, meth, heroin, L SD, and marijuana]. Just in the last few weeks, China announced it pub- lically executed Cai Liqun and Huang Zhenye for selling drugs. This may seem drastic, but the cu- rious should read of the opium cri- ses and the two Opium Wars be- tween China and Britain between 1838 and 1860. It is an eye opener. The use of hallucinogenics is as old as man- kind; however, most cultures re- stricted their use to religious ritu- als by Shammas and Oracles. The common drug used to elicit eupho- ria by the common "folk" was alco- hol in drinks. What do they know that we in the West do not? China realized three centuries ago a drug induced euphoric pop- ulation creates crises. China and its neighbors firsthand saw the devastation opium addiction had upon the population. By the First Opium War, it is estimated that 27 percent of the Chinese male popu- lation was addicted to opium. The Chinese gov- ernment realized a crisis was approach- ing and Commission- er Lin Zexu wrote, "If the traffic in opi- um were not stopped, a few decades from now we shall not only be without soldiers to resist the enemy, but also in want of silver to provide an army." Opiates, narcotics, and mari- juana have medicinal purposes and provide great relief to those suffering pain. However, it is well known that the use of substances to relieve pain verses recreational use produces serious health issues and a lethargic populous. Libertarians would argue it is my body and life. But does the cor- porate group have a vested inter- est in the health of its members? Drug use among western na- tions is on the rise, and at least since the 1960s, the intellectual and the beautiful people have en- couraged the use of marijuana and other mind altering drugs to expe- rience truth, reality, and god. To suggest one can find "god" or enhance truth through an altered state of mind runs into the wall of reality and the scriptures. The psychedelic gu- ru Timothy O'Leary told the youth, "Turn on, Tune in, and Drop out." He and others championed the belief that salvation for his generation was cen- tered upon everyone getting stoned. L SD could unleash a spiritual revolution where we could evolve our minds and sens- es beyond our understanding. The Age of Aquarius would descend, and peace and harmony would be- come the norm. The movements to legalize drugs through a wealth of liter- ature claiming mushrooms, opi- um, marijuana, peyote, and hash- ish has been used to communicate with god for millennia. The new shamans claim hu- manity needs to evolve and to up- date its idea of god. One blogger wrote, "Pot has taught me that truth is a spiritual dimension. It's turning on headlights and seeing the road. It's realizing I'm sleep- Lucid Moments By Bart Stinson Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Anthem protesters can't have it both ways Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Life as a junkie LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Signed copies of letters must be submitted by noon on Monday. Now that Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez has rocketed into the na- tional spotlight as result of her stunning primary victory over in- cumbent Democrat Joe Crowley in New York's 14th Congressio- nal District, what's the message for national politics? How did this young woman, who has never held or run for political office, beat a 10 -term incumbent by 15 points, whose funds were, by some estimates, 15 times great- er than hers? Even more so when she is a de- clared socialist, wants government health care for all, tuition-free col- leges, is an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ agenda, and an ag- gressive critic of Israel. According to Ocasio-Cortez, "There are a lot of districts in this country that are like New York 14, that have changed a lot in the last 20 years, but their representation has not." But this district is very unique and not at all representative of most congressional districts around the country. According to the Census Bu- reau, it breaks down demograph- ically as 22 percent white, 50 per- cent Hispanic, 9 percent black and 16 percent Asian. In addition, 45.8 percent in this district are foreign-born and 67.8 percent report that they speak a language other than English at home. To connect the dots, Ocasio- Cortez is telling us and wants us to believe that a district that is so- called majority minority, with al- most half of the population for- eign-born and the majority of Niagara Falls, Canada My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. I just came from Niagara Falls, Canada the past week. I visited my mother who is 102 years old, yes, it's not a typo error, 102 years young. She lives in an assisted liv- ing- long term care facility which is so nice, clean and homey. What is amazing with my mom is she is very alert, has very good memory, she reads without eye- glasses, she takes care of most of her needs, walks with her walker, but is hard of hearing. She is called Sunshine by everyone because she is ever pleasant and well mannered and is loved by the staff. My two sisters who live very close by to the facility visit her practically daily. Unfortunately because I'm quite far from Niag- ara Falls, I do not have the luxu- ry of frequent visits. Fortunately because of our modern technolo- gy like Skype and Facetime, I'm able to speak to her and see her as though she was just in my liv- ing room. I have been asked by many as to what her secret is. I believe I have responded to this question in the past when she celebrated her 100th birthday and I produced an article in her honor. I'm going to repeat my thoughts on her lon- gevity. First and foremost, God has blessed her with excellent health. So as I recall her journey through the lifetime I have known her, I must say she has always been soft spoken, kind, never seems to have any grudge against anybody. Have never heard her utter any bad words, or speak ill of somebody. Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Demagoguery of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Minority View by Walter E. Williams College destruction of black students Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Amy Wax, a University of Penn- sylvania law professor, has come under attack and scathing crit- icism because she dared criti- cize the school's racial prefer- ences program. In an interview with Brown University economist Glenn Loury, discussing affirma- tive action, Wax mentioned how ra- cial preferences hinder the ability of blacks to succeed academically by admitting them into schools at which they are in over their heads academically. At Penn's seventh- ranked law school, Wax said, she doesn't think that she has ever seen a black law student graduate in the top quarter of his class, and "rarely" is a black student in the top half. That got her into deep trouble. Penn students and faculty mem- bers charged her with racism. Penn Law School Dean Ted Ruger stripped Wax of her duty of teach- ing her mandatory first-year class on civil procedures. I'm guessing that Penn's law faculty members know Wax's statement is true but think it was something best left unsaid in today's ra- cially charged climate. Ruger might have re- futed Wax's claim. He surely has access to student records. He might have listed the number of black law students who were valedictorians and graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. He rightfully chose not to — so as to not provide evidence for Wax's claim. One study suggests that Wax is absolutely right about academ- ic mismatch. In the early 1990s, the Law School Admission Coun- cil collected 27,000 law student records, representing nearly 90 percent of accredited law schools. The study found that after the first year, 51 percent of black law stu- dents ranked in the bottom tenth of their class, compared with 5 percent of white stu- dents. Two-thirds of black students were in the bottom fifth of their class. Only 10 percent of blacks were in the top half of their class. Twenty-two per- cent of black students in the L SAC database hadn't passed the bar exam after five at- tempts, compared with 3 percent of white test takers. The University of Pennsylva- nia controversy highlights some- thing very important to black peo- ple and the nation. The K-12 edu- cation that most blacks receive is grossly fraudulent. Most predomi- nately black schools are costly yet At the six-month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, America is thriving Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner We're used to hearing politi- cians oversell their accomplish- ments. But President Trump is ab- solutely right to brag about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. "At last, our country finally has a tax system that is pro-job, pro- worker, pro-family, and pro-Amer- ican," he said at an event marking the six-month anniversary of the TCJA. It seemed particularly apt to hear the president tout the legis- lation so close to the Fourth of Ju- ly holiday. Independence Day is all about celebrating the freedom of the individual citizen to chart his own course, as unencumbered by government as possible. In that sense, the TCJA is a very worthy piece of legislation to toast so close to July 4. The whole point of the law, let's remember, is lightening the bur- den of government. As President Trump noted, the TCJA is all about "new jobs, bigger paychecks, and keeping more of your hard-earned money where it belongs: in your pocket or wherev- er else you want to spend it." At the time the law passed, of course, hopes were high. And the benefits didn't take long to material- ize. Almost immedi- ately, numerous em- ployers — including Boeing, AT&T, Fe- dEx, CVS, and others — began offering bonuses to their employ- ees. Or they announced that they were creating new jobs. Or both. Fast-forward to June, and the economic news was glowing. Even The New York Times — no fan of Mr. Trump, to put it mildly — ran an article headlined, "We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are." Unem- ployment? Down. Wages? Up. "The typical family of four earn- ing $75,000 will see an income tax cut of more than $2,000, and in some cases much more, slashing their tax bill in half," Mr. Trump said at the six- month event. "We cut taxes for businesses of all sizes to make this the best place on earth to start a business, to invest. We have bil- lions and billions of ad- ditional revenue com- ing in." What else is coming in? Jobs. The overall unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in more than 40 years, and it's now historically low for blacks and Hispanics. It's improving for women as well: ""Unemployment for women, if you listened to my speech two weeks ago, you would have heard me say it's the lowest in 21 years," Mr. Trump said. "Now I'm saying Former Obama green jobs czar Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones raised his voice on television last month defending the right of Colin Kae- pernick and other National Foot- ball League players to protest dur- ing the national anthem. The Trump White House an- nounced that the Superbowl cham- pion Philadelphia Eagles were no longer invited to the White House, because of the controversy over players kneeling instead standing for the national anthem. "I'm a ninth-generation Ameri- can," Jones told the CNN anchor and a second guest. He said his fa- ther was a veteran, and that other family members served. "People in my family, people who look like me, have put blood in the ground, have put martyrs in the dirt," the Tennessee-born A fri- can-American said, "to have it be liberty and justice for all. It is be- yond insulting for people to lecture us about patriotism. There is a lev- el of patronizing from this White House, and from others, that some- how A frican Americans are un- grateful, that we somehow don't know what this country is about. We have fought in every war. We have sacrificed more for that Con- stitution than most people." And indeed they have. Jones ap- parently springs from a richly pa- triotic pedigree. I would like to know more about his ancestors, because it sounds like they have an inspirational story to tell. But can you inherit patriotism? Can they breed patriots like roses or racehorses? Of course not. Van Jones may or may not be patriotic, but he's not a genetically inevita- ble patriot, and he's certainly not immune to criticism for unpatriot- ic talk or actions. Patriotism, as Ronald Reagan said of freedom, is "never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." Sometimes freedom is at odds with patriotism. Thus we are free to burn the flag, but we necessarily forfeit our patriotism in the burn- ing. And sometimes it's the other way around. Our patriotism may move us to enlist in our country's military service, which requires that we suspend our ordinary free- dom. Colin Kaepernick was certainly entitled to protest during the na- tional anthem. It was disrespect- ful, but this is America. In this country, we have the freedom of our own opinions, we have the freedom to guess wrong, and we have the freedom to express those opinions, no matter how dumb and misinformed. We even have the freedom to offend others. But we don't have a right to be liked. We have no immunity against repudi- ation. And, with certain statutory exceptions, nobody is obligated to do business with us if we make them sick to their stomachs. Colin Kaepernick and his com- rades are free to disrespect the an- them if they wish. But they can't simultaneously disrespect the an- them and be patriotic. They've got to pick one or the other. And they did. I hope "Van" Jones doesn't find that patronizing. It's just defini- tional. If you walk like a duck and you quack like a duck, you're a duck, not a falcon. No matter what your pedigree says.

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