The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1079256
The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, Februar y 6, 2019 C- 9 wage isn't helping), and monetary freedom (govern- ment subsidies and corpo- rate welfare are both much too high). Then there's trade free- dom, which has also taken a hit. The result could prove rather costly. "New protec- tionist policies that have raised tariffs and disrupt- ed established manufactur- ing supply chains are just be- ginning to affect consumer prices and investment deci- sions," the "Index" editors warn. This year marks the 25th edition of the "Index of Eco- nomic Freedom." The idea for producing such an an- nual guide grew out of con- cern in Washington in the late 1980s about the effec- tiveness of foreign aid. Of- ficials knew that a commit- ment to the free-market sys- tem was essential in creat- ing fertile soil for the seeds of development planted by the U.S. Agency for Inter- national Development (US - AID) and other aid agen- cies. There was basic agree- ment about the fundamen- tals of capitalism, but no systematic way to measure whether and to what extent those fundamentals exist- ed in Mogadishu, Manila or Minsk. That was the void we sought to fill. Today, copies of the "In- dex" are in libraries around the globe. Presidents and prime ministers worldwide refer to the "Index" as an im- portant guide for economic policy. Its rankings are re- ported annually in countless broadcast and print media. We're proud of that suc- cess. And we'll be prouder still if the 2020 edition finds the United States back in the top 10 — where it belongs. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court David D. Schutz charged with count I battery against a public safety offi- cial, a level 6 felony, count II resisting law enforcement and count III disor- derly conduct. Landon Polin Hubster charged with count I operating a vehicle while in- toxicated, a level 6 felony, and count II operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Joey J. Vest charged with count I maintaining a common nuisance - controlled substances, a level 6 felony, count II possession of marijuana and count III possession of paraphernalia. Clifford C. Donaldson charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, count II posses- sion of a controlled substance, count III possession of marijuana, count IV possession of paraphernalia, count V operating a vehicle while intoxicated and count VI operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Tonya M. Snipes charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, count II pos- session of marijuana, count III pos- session of a controlled substance and count IV possession of paraphernalia. Todd Michael McCain charged with count I possession of metham- phetamine, a level 6 felony, count II possession of a controlled substance, count III possession of marijuana and count IV possession of paraphernalia. Karl J. Gentry charged with count I fraud, a level 6 felony and count II theft. Tyler J. Snyder petitions for intra- state probation transfer. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Robert L. Forsyth charged with count I visiting a common nuisance - controlled substances and count II possession of marijuana. Colton M. DeJarnett charged with visiting a common nuisance - con- trolled substances. Bryce D. Onyett charged with oper- ating a vehicle while intoxicated. Tanya Jena Butts charged with count I operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more, and count II op- erating a vehicle while intoxicated - endangering a person. Melissa L. Vest charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Daniel Benjamin Davila charged with possession of marijuana. Jordan G. Davis charged with ha- rassment. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court State Farm Mutual Automobile In- surance sues Dillon K. Bedell on com- plaint. Fifth Third Bank, an Ohio Banking sues Patty Sherman, Sandy Melton and Ellie Green on complaint. Darby L. Hape petitions for Special- ized Driving Privileges. Midland Funding LLC sues Court- ney Stanley on complaint. Pekin Insurance Company sues Frontier Communications on com- plaint. Kelsey Kristine Lemasters sues Co- ry Lafe Lemasters for dissolution of marriage. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Kelly Blair charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Quade Blount charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Christina Evans charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Jacob Francis charged with no val- id driver's license. Russell Goodman charged with driving too fast for conditions. James Krietemeyer charged with seatbelt violation. Daniel Reid charged with stopping, standing or parking where prohibited. William Reynolds charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Heather Siddons charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Rhonda Vaal charged with speed- ing, 67 mph in a 55 zone. Heather Cox charged with seatbelt violation. Kyle Hartley charged with seatbelt violation. River Helsley charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 55 zone. Dustin Hunt charged with seatbelt violation. Aaron Kent charged with speeding, 68 mph in a 55 zone. Crystal Pennell charged with speed- ing, 54 mph in a 35 zone. Wayne Wyrick charged with no val- id driver's license. Continued from page 8 INDEX Continued from page 8 LESSONS ple are vaccinated, the injec- tion will kill a virus or bac- teria. When an abortion is completed, something has been killed. The demand for more rights to end a pregnancy has reached its logical con- clusion of death to the child at any time. New York State has just enacted a later term abortion bill that is morally egregious. Not to be outdone by the Empire State, legislation is winding through Virginia's legislature [introduced by Kathy Tran] that would al- low for the end of life of a fe- tus during labor, and theo- retically after it is viable out- side of the birth canal. When Governor Ralph Northam, a pediatrician, was asked if he supported Tran's bill, he replied in an interview, "If a mother is in labor, I can tell you ex- actly what would happen. The infant would be deliv- ered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The in- fant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would en- sue between the physicians and the mother." Let that sink in. As the bill is written, the child could be killed after birth depending upon the wishes of the moth- er with consultation with her doctor. We are talking about gov- ernment sanctioned infanti- cide. This is morally reprehen- sible. The killing of infants is the logical conclusion of Roe v Wade. Western cul- ture has reached the point of child sacrifice to the god of death. Reporter Lauren DeBel- lis Appell summarizes what many feel about this turn of events: "If you don't under- stand why people are out- raged over a baby's life be- ing taken while a woman is mid-labor – if that is some- thing beyond your compre- hension – then you're mor- ally bankrupt. I am sure that some will find this discussion offen- sive, but the war on the un- born is morally revolting, and the same arguments are being fabricated against the elderly. It is without question that the culture of Christiani- ty, who worship the God of Light and Life, has been dis- carded for the god of dark- ness and death. The end is not yet, and God has not had his say. The admonition from II Chronicles is appropriate here: "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." We need healing of the mind and the soul! Think about it! Not to be outdone, en- tertainers have hopped on the demonizing-white-men bandwagon. Joy Behar, talk- ing on ABC's "The View" about senators supporting Kavanaugh, said: "These white men — old, by the way — are not protecting women. They're protect- ing a man who is probably guilty." Actress Gabourey Sidibe, also on "The View," said: "Older white men are a problem, y'all, for everyone. We're all at risk." Moira Do- negan wrote an article for The Guardian titled "Half of white women continue to vote Republican. What's wrong with them? " Renee Graham wrote a column in The Boston Globe that coun- seled, "Memo to black men: Stop voting Republican." Comedian Chelsea Handler tweeted, "Just a friendly re- minder for the weekend: No white after Labor Day, and no old, white racist men af- ter the midterms. Get out and vote." That is just a partial list of statements that would be viewed and condemned as racist simply by replacing "white men" with "black men," "Mexican men" or "Asian men." You can bet the rent money that universi- ty presidents and media ex- ecutives would sanction any of their employees for mak- ing similar broad, sweeping statements about nonwhite men. Suppose a white an- chorman said, "Black peo- ple are the greatest mur- der threat in this country." I guarantee you that he'd be shown the door. There are only two ways to explain the silence by peo- ple who should know better. Either they agree with the sentiments expressed or they are out-and-out cow- ards. Decent American peo- ple ought to soundly reject and condemn this brazen at- tack on white men. I think that the attack is on mascu- linity itself and that white men are a convenient scape- goat — for now. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Continued from page 8 FIRE Continued from page 8 WHITE Trump tried to move negotiation forward after the shutdown by of- fering to extend DACA protections — protection against deportation of those who arrived illegally as children — and also for immigrants with tem- porary protected status. What was response from Demo- crats? No response. Counteroffer? None. Why? Because the Democratic ob- jective is inflicting damage, not ad- vancing solutions for the American people. Democrats sat back, actually en- joying the shutdown, while headlines like this from NBC ran: "The behav- ior of this administration while deny- ing 800,000 people paychecks was as imperious as Marie Antoinette's apoc- ryphal offer of cake." Of course, no federal worker is be- ing denied a paycheck. All pay will be made up. But it's also important to keep in mind that federal worker com- pensation is on average higher than the private sector. According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal employees earn on average 17 percent higher in salary and benefits than pri- vate sector counterparts. And accord- ing to Bureau of Labor Statistics da- ta, private sector employees are three times more likely to be fired and five times more likely to quit. All in all, federal workers have a pretty cushy situation. One of the risks is a periodic shutdown disrup- tion. But again, they receive back pay and overall receive good compensa- tion to cover these rare inconvenienc- es. Now, rather than "caving," Trump is making a new effort — advancing in another direction — to get the na- tion's business done. He's signed an order to re-open the government for three weeks to open the door for ne- gotiation. In his remarks, the president not- ed, "in the last two years ICE officers arrested a total of 226,000 criminal aliens inside the United States." In each of the last three months, he said, there were "60,000 apprehensions at our southern border." As of 2016, there were 10.7 mil- lion illegal immigrants in our nation, 7.8 million of which are in our work- force. Of the 10.7 million, two-thirds have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years. A just released Wall Street Jour- nal/NBC poll shows Trump's approv- al at 43 percent and disapproval at 54 percent — exactly where he was last month. Pelosi's approval stands at 28 percent and disapproval at 47 percent, up from 41 percent last month. President Donald Trump deserves credit for courageous leadership re- garding the need for a wall on our southern border to serve our securi- ty interests. If he had a good faith negotiating partner in congressional Democrats, we might be able to get somewhere. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her at www. urbancure.org. Continued from page 8 LEADING Continued from page 8 WASHINGTON young relatives in Harlem — and to other young blacks elsewhere — were not near- ly as good as the opportuni- ties open to me back in 1948. Many of the seemingly compassionate policies pro- moted by the progressives in later years — whether in economics or in educa- tion — have had outcomes the opposite of what was ex- pected. One of the tragedies of our times is that so ma- ny people judge by rhetoric, rather than by results. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institu- tion. will know if they are good because they lift up our nation to wellness and greatness, and they produce a reason- able amount of peace and prosperity. As the saying goes, truth always wins in the end, and lying self destructs. It is a divine design which was gift- ed to us, or whatever you may want to call it. You will know a tree by it's fruits. These past weeks have been so gut wrenching for me seeing differ- ent demonstrations: Women's March, March for Life, support for and pro- tests against our President's execu- tive orders, and the list goes on and on. So, I just try to watch the news from various media outlets, and make conclusions for myself. When I want to see what actually is happening in Washington DC, I watch C Span since there are no editorials and opinions being shown. • • • A follow up on the letter writing I have undertaken for my grandkids. The feed back I have heard from their parents is that the grandkids were just thrilled to receive them and read them. One of the fruits of this effort is that the older kids who are able to read well, read even better as they learned new and more difficult words. The younger ones who could not read more complex words were thrilled to sit by their siblings and listen to the positive comments about their achievements and the good aspects of their personalities. The virtues to be practiced, the encouragement to do well in their education. I think I will continue to patiently write to them . The next topic will be a story telling of grandpa and grand- ma's lives while we were growing up. This is one way of giving them an idea of their legacy. One of the moth- ers commented she will collect them and make an album for posterity. That's real cool. • • • On the lighter side of things: There was an exchange of ideas between a professor who is an unbeliever and a faith filled student. The professor asked the student if he really believes in heaven or hell. The student said he really is not sure. He wanted to believe there is heaven and plans to go there some- day. But he said in case the professor does not believe in either, he does not have to bother looking for him since he won't be able to find him anywhere anyway, when the time comes. Have a great week.