The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/847960
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, July 12, 2017 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 Most Americans would like to return to Thomas Jefferson's ide- al of "peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entan- gling alliances with none." Exasperated grass-roots Demo- crats and Republicans alike com- plain about our government send- ing foreign aid abroad when we have our own American home- less, hungry or fill-in-the-blank to worry about. I don't entirely agree with them, but I don't think it's fair to dis- miss them as isolationists, either. It's coming out of their taxes, af- ter all, and it doesn't seem to win our country much gratitude or co- operation. You would think that after all the foreign aid checks we've writ- ten, we would have solved the for- eigners' problems by now, or that we would have won their enduring friendship. But as Henry Kissing- er said, "America has no perma- nent friends or enemies, only inter- ests." Aid recipients routinely vote against us in the United Nations, and find other ways to defy us. Even if American interests are the pur- est altruism, there is a strong case against long-term foreign aid to underdevel- oped countries, stated most recently by A fri- can economist Dambi- sa Moyo in her book, "Dead Aid." She distinguishes between short-term, humanitari- an or emergency aid, on the one hand, and long-term "structural" aid, on the other. She is in favor of the former, but opposed to the latter. Unlike short-term infusions like the Marshall Plan or post-war Japanese reconstruction, long- term aid undermines the implicit understanding between a govern- ment and its people. That understanding is that the people pay for their own govern- ment and are therefore entitled to hold it accountable. Without that accountability, without "skin in the game," govern- ments veer irresist- ibly toward corrup- tion and dysfunction. Just look at sub-Saha- ran A frica. In the 1970s, Moyo writes, less than 10 percent of its popula- tion lived in "dire pov- erty." Today, several billion dollars in for- eign aid later, more than 70 per- cent live on less than two dollars a day. "What kind of A frican society are we building," Moyo asked in a Huffington Post essay, "when virtually all public goods—ed- ucation, healthcare, infrastruc- ture and even security—are paid for by Western taxpayers? Under the all-encompassing aid system, too many places in A frica contin- ue to flounder under inept, cor- Country music is the music of America! It has its origins among the working peoples of Appalachia and the South where life was hard, and a goodtime was singing, danc- ing, and drinking. Think not? Listen to the coun- try songs of the past from the pio- neers, such as Hank Williams, Red Foley, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and the Carter Family. Four of the most recorded Chris- tian songs of the 20th century are "I Saw the Light" by Hank Wil- liams [1948]; "Peace in the Valley" and "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" by Red Foley [1951]; and "On the Wings of a Dove" written by Bob Ferguson [1958], but made popu- lar by Ferlin Huskey [1960]. The genre of country music speaks of the hardness of life, and an oft told joke speaks volumes of its content: "What happens when you play a country song back- wards? You get your wife back, you get your job back, you get your house back, you get your truck back, you get out of jail, you get your dog back, and you stop drinking." One of the early pioneers of country music was Red Foley. He grew up on a small farm in Blue Lick, Kentucky, and was given a guitar by his parents to settle a bill at their small general store; he was nine years old, and his love for mu- sic took off. By the 1940s, he had become a regular on WSM's Grand Ole Opry and emceed ma- ny performances. He became known unof- ficially as Mr. Coun- try Music because of his many hits and ap- pearances with the big names of that genre. In 1953, Billboard magazine listed Foley among the first 8 singers to their Honor Roll of Country and Western artists. Nevertheless, all was not well in the Foley home, and in 1951, Judy Martin Foley took her own life. She left a note, but the con- tents were never revealed. She was concerned that her long-time mar- riage to Foley was breaking up, and many friends speculated this is the reason. Foley's life often mimicked the songs that he sang, and as he grew older, the songs that he sang about Jesus began to have an effect on him. Foley loved touring and singing, though his health was beginning to wane. Several Opry performers were touring [along with Foley] and had booked two performanc- es at Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the benefit of the local sheriff's posse for September 19, 1968. Between shows, Foley went to Billy Walker's room [at the local Sheraton Ho- tel] and opened up to Walker about his life and how empty he felt. At that moment, Walk- er shared his faith in Christ. According to Walk- er, this is how the con- versation went. Foley said, "Do you think God could ever forgive a sinner like me? " He began to tell me all the rotten things he had do- ne in his life, and I looked him in the face and said, "Red, if God can forgive me, He can forgive you." I prayed with Red. He went out, and the last song he sang was "Peace in the Valley." He came over to the side of the stage and said, 'Billy, I've never sung that song and feel the way I do tonight [Foley had sung "Peace in the Valley" at Hank William, Sr.'s funeral]. Foley died in his sleep Septem- ber 20, 1968, at Fort Wayne, Indi- ana; he had accepted Christ. As a tribute Hank Williams, Jr. wrote "I Was with Red Foley (The Night He Passed Away)." One verse of the song said Foley's last Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12 Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Colleges: Islands of intolerance Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond A good end America's foreign relationships Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson Unity of America requires assimilation Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Despite our many differences, Americans have always come to- gether every Independence Day to celebrate our national birthday. Which is truly fitting. From the na- tion's beginnings, our leaders have warned that strength can be found only in unity. George Washington said that "the bosom of America" was open to all, but only if they were willing to be "assimilated to our customs, measures, and laws: in a word, soon become our people." Alexan- der Hamilton said the nation's fu- ture would depend on its citizens' love of country, lack of foreign bi- as, "the energy of a common na- tional sentiment, [and] a uniformi- ty of principles and habits." Indeed, the one sure way to bring down America, according to Theodore Roosevelt, "would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities," each insisting on its own identity. And Woodrow Wilson said flatly, "You cannot become thorough Amer- icans if you think of yourselves in groups. America does not con- sist of groups. A man who thinks of himself as belong- ing to a particular na- tional group has not yet become an Amer- ican." And, in fact, Amer- ica's classic immi- grants did see them- selves as individu- als, ready to forsake their old allegiances and take on a new na- tional identity. As John Quincy Ad- ams told a visitor, "They must cast off the European skin, never to re- sume it. They must look forward to their posterity rather than back- ward to their ancestors." America has always sought to help immigrants incorporate their unique values and culture into the melting pot that is America. Be- coming American has nothing to do with birth, ancestry or ethnic identity; it is a state of mind, heart and beliefs. In the past, new citizens of this great country were welcomed with a solemn ceremony befitting the commitment they were making. They had been through a rigorous testing pro- cess, demonstrating their command of English in a probing interview with an ex- aminer of the Immi- gration and Natural- ization Service (INS); they had proved their moral character and answered questions covering the history, culture, and political heritage of their adopted country. Then, in a formal courtroom, a black-robed federal judge would lead them through the oath of citi- zenship, telling them what it meant to be citizens and how to live up to their new responsibilities. "To- day you are Americans," he would tell them, and he might well add, "You may call yourself 'an Amer- ican of Guatemalan descent,' but Is there no limit to the level of disgusting behavior on college campuses that parents, taxpayers, donors and legislators will accept? Colleges have become islands of intolerance, and as with fish, the rot begins at the head. Let's ex- amine some recent episodes rep- resentative of a general trend and ask ourselves why we should tol- erate it plus pay for it. Students at Evergreen State College harassed biology profes- sor Bret Weinstein because he re- fused to leave campus, challeng- ing the school's decision to ask white people to leave campus for a day of diversity programming. The profanity-laced threats against the faculty and president can be seen on a YouTube video titled "Stu- dent takeover of Evergreen State College" (http://tinyurl.com/ya- h2eo3p). What about administrators per- mitting students to conduct racial- ly segregated graduation ceremo- nies, which many colleges have done, including Ivy League ones such as Columbia and Harvard universities? Permitting racially segregated graduation ceremo- nies makes a mockery of the idols of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion, which so many college administrators worship. Or is trib- alism part and parcel of diversity? Trinity College sociology pro- fessor Johnny Eric Williams re- cently called white people "inhu- man assholes." In the wake of the Alexandria, Virginia, shooting at a congressional baseball prac- tice, Williams tweeted, "It is past time for the racially oppressed to do what people who believe them- selves to be 'white' will not do, put (an) end to the vectors of their de- structive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system. #LetThemF- - -ingDie" June Chu, dean of Pierson Col- lege at Yale University, recently re- signed after having been placed on leave because of offensive Yelp re- views she had posted. One of her reviews described customers at a local restaurant as "white trash" and "low class folk"; another re- view praised a movie theater for its lack of "sketchy crowds." In anoth- er review of a movie theater, she complained about the "barely ed- ucated morons trying to manage snack orders for the obese." Harvey Mansfield, a distin- guished Harvard University pro- fessor who has taught at the school for 55 years, is not hopeful about the future of American universi- ties. In a College Fix interview, Mansfield said, "No, I'm not very optimistic about the future of high- er education, at least in the form it is now with universities under the control of politically correct facul- ties and administrators" (http://ti- nyurl.com/y7qadxlz). Once Amer- ica's pride, universities, he says, are no longer a marketplace of ideas or bastions of free speech. Universities have become "bub- bles of decadent liberalism" that teach students to look for offense when first examining an idea. Who is to blame for the decline of American universities? Mans- field argues that it is a combina- tion of administrators, students and faculties. He puts most of the blame on faculty members, some of whom are cowed by deans and presidents who don't want their professors to make trouble. I agree with Mansfield's assess- ment in part. Many university fac- ulty members are hostile to free speech and open questioning of ideas. A large portion of today's faculty and administrators were once the hippies of the 1960s, and many have contempt for the U.S. Constitution and the values of personal liberty. The primary blame for the incivility and down- right stupidity we see on universi- ty campuses lies with the universi- ties' trustees. Every board of trust- ees has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of a university, shaping its broad policies. Unfor- tunately, most trustees are wealthy businessmen who are busy and aren't interested in spending time on university matters. They be- come trustees for the prestige it brings, and as such, they are lit- tle more than yes men for the uni- versity president and provost. If The ancient game, Part II Let's jump right in here. First of all, I somehow forgot to mention last week that some cards are worth more than other cards! Like I said, bridge is a game of trick taking. Let's walk through the first trick of the game. The player who won the bidding (we'll go over that next) plays first dur- ing the first trick, and the suit of the card that player puts down is the suit each other player has to follow when laying down their cards. Now, as you probably know, a regular deck of cards has 13 cards of each suit and four different suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. These suits are denot- ed by the symbol on the card and the color in which the card text is printed. The individual cards are numbered from two to 10, and the remaining four cards from each suit are "face" cards: the Jack, Queen, King and Ace. In bridge, the Ace is the high- est card of each suit. If you play the Ace, you probably won that trick. King comes next, then Queen, then Jack, then the num- bered cards in descending order. So, if our first player leads with the Ace of Hearts, two things are true: first, that player is probably going to win that trick, and second, each other player must lay down a card with a heart on it if they have one. Now, the exception to the "high- est card wins" rule is the trump cards. During bidding (we'll cov- er this next), players bid on how well they'll perform during the hand, but also bid on what suit they want to be trumps. It's also possi- ble for a bid of "No Trump" to be made, which is exactly what you think it is. So, going back to our opening trick, the first player (let's call her North) plays the Ace of Hearts. The second player, East, puts down the Two of Hearts because he knows he's not about to win this one. The third player, South, is the dummy—as you may recall, the winning bidder's partner is al- most always the dummy—and so while South goes potty and checks his email, North plays the Four of Hearts for him. South's hand is laid out face-up on the table so North can easily play out of it during the hand. Now it's down to West, our final This past July 4, I had a chance to spend the evening in Odon with Rose and my daughter Joann and her husband Clint and their three beautiful girls. It was my first time to witness their Independence Day celebration. What I saw really im- pressed me. There were a lot—I meant a lot of people—who were there to just enjoy a wonderful evening of food, drinks, music, fellowship, and of course the highlight of the evening, the awesome fireworks. What fas- cinated me was the free food and drinks they offered to all. Now to feed over a thousand people at no cost to those who attended is amaz- ing. I truly enjoyed their bratwurst and hot dog and chips and elephant ear and drinks. You see, when it's free, the flavor indeed gets en- hanced for some reason. Although there were lots of peo- ple, it was very orderly and peace- ful. There were kids and adults of all ages, all soaking in the cel- ebration of the freedom we enjoy. I think having come from another part of the world, I am more sensi- tive to the cultural flavor I see and Fireworks, food and fun