The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, May 15, 2019 C- 9 guardians, and one other thing they comment upon is the inclusion of scripture readings as part of the cur- riculum. They lament the fact that the inclusion of faith practices were grad- ually phased out and then outlawed. Corporal punishments for more se- rious offenses were sometimes part of the measures implemented then with- out legal repercussions to the school officials. So I often hear the comment, "Once faith practices were taken off school curricula, fear of authority gradually disappeared and violence increased." Have you ever heard of this ques- tion, "Where was God when these vi- olent events happened? " And God answered, "Well, you guys did not want me in your schools, you took Me out.So now bear the fruits of your desires." • • • I am not an expert in the field of reporting and research in the field of school violence and lately church vio- lence. I do know from the field of com- mon sense that when a generation of impressionable children are fed with violence in movies, videos, games and songs, the indoctrination sets in and then it becomes an inspiration to car- ry them out with little to no remorse. Remember the old cowboy mov- ies showing a lot of shootings? Then came James Bond, then many Hol- lywood movie producers created vi- olent movies, then later on more bi- zarre hideous shows followed in the name of entertainment. Remember those video games that showed more graphic scenes of killing and scenes blasting people away? By the time a toddler becomes a young adult, they would have probably seen close to thousands of killings that have numbed their conscience. Now the vulnerable kids have become in- spired or wired to carry them out be- cause they saw so much of it and have felt it's no big deal. Add to the mix the breakdown of authority and structure in fractured homes, plus drugs, plus lack of sound spiritual values, plus bullying, and you've got a cocktail of volatile mix. Yes, some segments of society blame the easy access to obtaining guns as a big factor. That's probably true to a good extent but the above arguments and observations I ex- pressed likely plays a heavier role in the horror story. On Saturday May 18 from 9 -11 a.m. our Priest and myself will be attend- ing a program on Safety and Securi- ty for Places of Worship. I would not even have thought it has come to this. There is no fee for attending the conference. It's open to the public. This program is sponsored by the Southwest Indiana Chamber of Com- merce. If interested, please check their website for more details on this mat- ter. I hope to learn many things and raise questions about this subject. In my next column I might even share with readers of this newspaper what I will learn if it is so appropriate to do. • • • Wisdom of the week: "You will know the kind of tree by the fruit it bears," Humor of the week: I once saw several posters that said the follow- ing: "Area under surveillance, smile- you are on camera." We have guard dogs with insom- nia. " "Protected by ADT — Always De- terring Thieves." Have a great week! . improving for a while be- fore he became president. But, Mr. Irwin writes, "A f- ter more than two years of the Trump administration, warnings that trade wars and erratic management style would throw the econ- omy off course have proved wrong so far, and tax cuts and deregulation are most likely part of the reason for the strong growth rates in 2018 and the beginning of 2019." But even as we savor the benefits of a strong economy (and enjoy how wrong the naysayers have once again proved themselves to be), this is no time to stand pat. Lawmakers need to keep tax rates and tariffs low. They can start by doing two things above all else. One, make the 2017 tax cut permanent. The cut has been doing some good work, but key provisions are set to expire after 2025. The econ- omy will do even better once employers and businesses know the cut won't be go- ing away. Second, tame out-of-con- trol spending. Politicians once took their responsibil- ity to be sensible stewards of the national purse seriously, but profligacy has since be- come a way of life on both sides of the aisle. The tre- mendous amount of debt we're accumulating will sad- dle future generations with higher taxes and less oppor- tunity. And if we don't attack this problem when our economy is so strong, when will we? So let's act — and shore up the tremendous gains we've seen so far. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org). Court Report TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike County Circuit Court Dylan Ray Jones charged with dis- orderly conduct. Leona J. Liggett charged with pos- session of marijuana. Carl E. Liggett charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II substance or its metabolite in person's body. Jason Michael Roach charged with count I driving while suspended and count II disorderly conduct. Timothy W. Elverd charged with driving while suspended. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court New World Collections, Inc. sues Marva Minnis-Bradfield on com- plaint. Dylan Ray Jones sues Bailey Rach- elle Jones for dissolution of marriage. Lisa D. Buchta-Thorne sues Wil- liam Thorne for dissolution of mar- riage. Rachelle Woolsey sues Anthony Woolsey for dissolution of marriage. Janice P. Mullins sues Joe Mullins for dissolution of marriage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike County Circuit Court Autumn Apartments sues Stepha- nie Hendericks on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Gregory S. Pelston charged with seatbelt violation. Jacob T. Morton charged with seat- belt violation. Mark A. Popp charged with seat- belt violation. Joseph F. Hager charged with throwing a lighted cigarette, cigar or match from a moving motor vehicle. Stephanie M. Pratto charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Cameron M. Kavanaugh charged with seatbelt violation. Cody M. Campbell charged with speeding, exceeding 30 mph. Natasha L. Beckort charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Blake E. Fleming charged with speeding, exceeding 30 mph. Caleb J. Koval charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Ann M. Vest charged with seatbelt violation. Winston A. Hartley charged with speeding. Terry L. Hurst charged with seat- belt violation. Jerry L. Powell, Jr. charged with seatbelt violation. Brian M. Browning charged with speeding. Ricardo L. Bartley charged with speeding. Logan R. Montgomery charged with seatbelt violation. Noah J. Williams charged with ad- dress or name change violation. Continued from page 8 ECONOMY Continued from page 8 EQUALITY dom Restoration Act that can pro- tect people, such as Christian baker Jack Phillips, from being forced to do commerce that violates their Chris- tian convictions. There will be no more legal protec- tions for Christians in commerce or in any other circumstance to enable them to avoid complicity with behav- ior that for them is sin. A bizarre list of behaviors will be- come legally protected and enshrined in a new America that will be the total antithesis of the ideals of liberty envi- sioned by its founders. I will have to start to worry that my little granddaughter will encounter a man in the restroom who has a right to be there because he thinks he is a woman. Under the guise of civil rights, our public schools will be forced to teach this sexual nihilism as truth, and teaching the traditional values that have held the American family togeth- er will become an actionable offense. We're talking about civil tyranny, not civil rights. Civil rights law was designed to pro- tect human dignity by preventing indi- viduals from being reduced to pre-ex- isting realities not connected to their personal choices, such as race. Now with this law, the sexual behavior they choose, and the sex they decide they are, will receive the same protections. There is a spiritual as well as a le- gal price that we're already starting to pay for this insanity. The Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention reports the U.S. birthrate is the lowest it has been in 30 years. The general fertility rate, the number of births per 1,000 women ag- es 15 to 44, dropped 3 percent from 2016 to 2017, to a record low. The CDC also reports a 33 percent increase in the rate of suicide from 1999 to 2017. The culture of meaninglessness, driving perverse legislation such as the Equality Act of 2019, will destroy us. We must vigilantly fight to prevent it from passing into law, as we recall the words of historian Arnold Toynbee: "An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide." Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her at www. urbancure.org. gressional subpoena, and asserted wide-ranging Ex- ecutive Privilege. Nadler, eager to declare Barr's legal resistance a Constitutional crisis today, was a bitter-end defender of Holder when he was cover- ing up the deadly Fast and Furious gun running oper- ation that provided 2,000 guns to criminals, and got a Border Patrol agent killed. Holder's staff wrote the Committee that the Obama administration was unaware of Fast and Furious. He lat- er admitted that was false. When Congress voted a contempt citation against Holder in 2012 after months of defiance and legerde- main, Nadler joined a Dem- ocrat walkout from the House chamber to protest "the shameful, politically- motivated GOP vote." You have to give Nadler credit for cutting to the chase, though. House Re- publicans let Holder drag out negotiations Saddam Hussein-like for 18 months. Nadler's committee Demo- crats voted Barr in contempt less than a month after issu- ing their subpoena. Hyper-partisan Demo- crats have cheapened the currency of Constitutional crisis. House Speaker Nan- cy Pelosi has chimed in with her own claim that we're in Constitutional crisis again. It has become a shibboleth to rally the base, rather than a descriptive phrase. I wish they had kept their powder dry. There might actually be a Constitution- al crisis some day, and this phrase will be useless to alert the citizenry because badly behaved Democrats have worn it out. Continued from page 8 CRISIS Continued from page 8 VIOLENCE known and read by all men." Nothing is as important as having a public testimony of Jesus Christ. Though living by faith is a life encompass- ing commitment, how you are perceived by those out- side the faith is part of your witness. Christianity has taken a beating the last several de- cades because of the chang- ing landscape of Western Culture. The demands of secu- lar culture and the erosion of Christian morality has not only driven a wedge be- tween the church and soci- ety, but has also caused di- vision amongst the faithful. Though the admonition from the Gospel is love and to earnestly seek for the "unity of the faith," Christen- dom does not speak [and it has not for several hundred years], as a monolithic faith. Christians label them- selves conservative, liber- al, orthodox, catholic, and progressive, which speaks more towards political and social issues, than the faith in Jesus Christ. Several clichés are apro- pos that defines us as we in- teract among ourselves and the world at large: "We have met the enemy, and it's us; or "We have met the enemy, and they are half right." Christianity is not an en- emy of the social order, gov- ernment, or human worth. The faith is to stand against sin [which is becoming hard to identify], and to preach a salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. What I take away from Fred is his observations that to him there should be no differentiation between one's professed faith and his/her actions. I cannot ascertain the heart and motives of other Christians; however, I take the admonition of the Apos- tle James to heart: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man ob- serving his natural face in a mirror; for he observes him- self, goes away, and imme- diately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." Think about it, and pray for those who have rule over you! in Ireland was also grown in the U.S. with no crop failure. The source of Ire- land's crop failure has been traced to a fertilizer used on both sides of the At- lantic. The difference was that fertiliz- er contained a fungus that thrived in the mild and moist climate of Ireland but did not in the hot, dry climate of Idaho and other potato growing areas of the U.S. That one small difference caused massive human tragedy. A study of National Merit Schol- arship finalists found that firstborn children were finalists far more of- ten than their younger siblings. In the U.S. and other countries such as Britain and Germany, the firstborn's IQs were higher than their siblings. Among medical students, a high pro- portion are firstborn. Sowell asks that if equality of outcomes don't ex- ist among people with the same par- ents, raised in the same household, why would one expect equality of out- comes elsewhere? Morally neutral factors such as crop failures, birth order, geographic set- ting, and demographic or cultural dif- ferences are among the reasons why economic and social outcomes fail to fit the preconceived notions of "ex- perts." The bottom line about Sowell's new book, "Discrimination and Dispari- ties," is that it contains a wealth of da- ta and analysis that turns much of the thinking of politicians, academicians, legal experts and judges into pure, un- adulterated mush. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. 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