The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/89560
OPINION been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the At- lantic. Economist Edward Lazear has cut Random thoughts on the passing scene: Not since the days of slavery have there through all of Barack Obama's claims about "creating jobs" with one plain and inescap- able fact—"there hasn't been one day dur- ing the entire Obama presidency when as many Americans were working as on the day President Bush left office." Whatev- er number of jobs were created during the Obama administration, more have been lost. How are children supposed to learn to act like adults, when so much of what they see on television shows adults acting like chil- A look back at the Cuban missile crisis gap" rings a bell, you probably remember one of the most frightening periods of the Cold War era: when the United States and Soviet Russia, 50 years ago this month, came perilously close to launching World War III. Not that it would have If the phrase "missile By Ed Feulner been a long war. Consid- ering the relatively new nuclear capabilities of both nations, the horrify- ing prospect of leveled cit- ies, mass casualties and general chaos loomed as what became known as the Cuban missile crisis took place. How that crisis unfold- ed in October 1962 was dictated largely by how World War II had ended. The U.S. had dropped atomic bombs on Hiro- shima and Nagasaki, and suddenly conventional wars fought by armies in the field seemed ob- solete. The fact that a na- tion's leaders could lay waste to an enemy simply by pushing a button forev- er altered the way leaders could broker conflicts. The result: proxy wars in global hot spots, such as Korea in the early 1950s, as the freedom- loving West sought to op- pose communist expan- sion worldwide. So when Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, be- came the seat of a com- munist government in 1959, it set off some se- rious alarm bells for the United States. The U.S. attempted to unseat the Cuban gov- ernment through covert operations such as the failed Bay of Pigs inva- sion in 1961. Then came news that shocked U.S. officials: the Soviet Union was helping the Cubans build secret bases for mis- siles capable of reaching the U.S. Every "duck and cover" exercise, every air- raid drill, seemed like the prelude to a horrifying re- ality. Thus began the tensest Wednesday, October 24, 2012 The Press-Dispatch Observations by Thomas Sowell Random thoughts dren? The know-it-all smirks and condescend- ing laughs of Vice Pres- ident Joe Biden, when Congressman Paul Ry- an was speaking during their debate, were a lit- tle much from an administration presiding over economic woes at home and disasters overseas—and being caught in lies about both. Like Barack Obama, Joe Biden has all the clever tricks of a politician and none of the wisdom of a statesman. If you truly believe in the brotherhood of man, then you must believe that blacks are just as capable of being racists as whites are. One of the most foolish, and most dan- Continued on page 3 Missed opportunities The no-spin zone—by Bill O'Reilly In the first two debates, he established himself as President Barack Obama's equal on the events of the day. The gov- ernor is well versed on the issues and has shown a mastery of both foreign and domestic policy. Here's the bad news: He has failed good news for Mitt Romney: Here's the to pin down the president on his obvi- ous policy shortcomings. As someone who makes a nice liv- ing debating on television, I watch the president and the governor go af- ter each other with a professional eye. And I can't understand why Romney doesn't close the deal. Three exam- ples: First, when Obama says his ener- stand-off in modern his- tory, with President John Kennedy and Soviet Pre- mier Nikita Khrushchev attempting to stare one another down. Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cu- ba to prevent any more of- fensive weapons from go- ing in, and demanded that the missiles there be dis- mantled and removed. The world waited—and prayed. After several tense days, Khrushchev relent- ed. His main condition: that the U.S. agree to nev- er attempt to invade Cuba again. The world's brush with nuclear annihilation had ended. Or had it? Perhaps sub- sided would be more ac- curate. Because from then on, a situation known as Mutually Assured De- struction (MAD) pre- Continued on page 3 say he has created millions of jobs. But all Romney has to do is retort: "So what? The average income for work- ing-class households in America is down almost $5,000, Mr. President. Workers are getting hosed, and your policies are at fault." Finally, number three, the Lib- they don't actually listen to what their opponent is saying. In any debate, sim- ple is best. State the facts clearly, and ask obvious questions about your op- ponent's weaknesses. Romney has a big advantage gy programs are helping the nation, all Romney has to do is keep it sim- ple and ask: "Why then have gas pric- es more than doubled on your watch, Mr. President? That doesn't sound like good policy to me." Second, the president continues to looks incompetent. If he does know and won't say, he looks corrupt. If he does answer the questions, Romney wins just by asking. The problem with many politicians when they debate is that they cram so much information into their heads in anticipation of spitting it out there that ya deal. This is crazy. There are just two vital questions, and Romney has not asked either one: Who pulled two American security teams out of Lib- ya in August despite the concerns of slain Ambassador Christopher Ste- vens? Who ordered U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and White House spokes- person Jay Carney to mislead the world about what happened? If the president doesn't know, he over Obama in the debates because Obama has to defend a record that contains some massive screw-ups. Nobody really cares about Rom- ney's record in Massachusetts, and he could easily pettifog any specific questioning of it. But with the economy sluggish af- ter almost four years, four dead Amer- icans in Libya, and Iran still chugging along on the nuclear weapons highway, the president has a good deal of Ricky Ricardo 'splainin' to do. But the gov- ernor has not put him on the spot in a precise enough way. Next Monday, Romney will have one final chance to pin the president against the rhetorical wall. The foreign policy debate opens up Libya big-time. If Romney wants to win, he'll keep it simple and demand some answers. Points to ponder—by Ford Bond over two millenniums ago that pain is real, all suffer, and suffering is the result of desiring things that one cannot have, and giving in- to sensual pleasures which cannot be satisfied. Christi- tours, and accidents wait- ing to happen. It rains on the unjust; good and decent people die before their time; bad things happen to good people. At times life's events defies logic and explanation. Why are their evil, suffer- ing, and death in the pres- ence of good? The Buddha concluded Life is full of potholes, de- Having hope beyond the present anity takes a much simpler approach—sin! The nature of mankind is to sin against God and its own best interest. Humans lust, desire, and covet. Hu- mans want possessions, money, and pleasure to an extent that it is the basis for conflict and war, which is what the apostle James con- cluded. Our nation is restless and seems to be awaiting some- thing dreadful. A faithful reader emailed me recent- ly and wrote, "I have been reading your weekly col- umns— They seem to be turning more and more de- pressing. Could the End of A woman's perspective—by Mona Charen Obama wants more money outline a second term agenda. He doesn't say what he would do about the fiscal cliff that looms in just a cou- ple of months. He hasn't ad- dressed the glaring chal- lenge of an aging popula- tion and entitlement spend- ing that is careening toward insolvency. (On the contrary, he has significantly hastened the emergency by piling on new entitlement spending.) He hasn't proposed policies to improve the economy. He promises nothing more on Iran than to maintain inef- fective sanctions. We can glean this much: President Obama has declined to size, is the best guarantor of student success. And those goals may be in conflict. When you hire more teach- ers, there's less money available to of- fer higher salaries to bet- ter teachers. So Obama's 100,000 new teachers proposal is at once an affront to federalism, a sop to the unions, and a waste of precious resources that could be better used to actually improve public education. The second part of He'd like to hire 100,000 new teachers and he wants to raise taxes on "million- aires and billionaires." That's a flimsy agenda for a great nation. Does it even make sense? Let's start with the teachers. This may be an old-fashioned idea, but shouldn't states and localities decide how many teachers they need? Isn't it just possible that Bangor, Me. might need fewer teachers and Yuma, Ariz. might need more? We've been hiring greater numbers fair share" of taxes. First: a transla- tion. When Obama refers to million- aires and billionaires, he's talking about those earning $200,000 per year for an individual or $250,000 per year for a couple. That's the actual propos- al. So if you are in that income group, congratulations, you're a millionaire or billionaire! The president doesn't really pre- of teachers for decades now, casting our ballots for candidates who prom- ise that a vote for more teachers is a vote for a better future. In the process, we dramatically reduced class sizes and boosted the power of the teach- ers' unions. As education reformer Jay Greene points out, in 1970 public schools employed one teacher for ev- ery 22.3 students. By 2012, the public schools employed one teacher for ev- ery 15.2 students. Yet student achieve- ment has remained stubbornly flat dur- ing that period. The best evidence sug- gests that teacher quality, not class the president's plan is to force "millionaires and billionaires to pay their circulates the flatly outrageous fiction that the wealthy pay less than their sec- retaries. Romney attempted to correct this at the second debate by promising "the top 5 percent will continue to pay 60 percent of income taxes." A nation in which the top 1 percent earns 23.5 percent of national income but pays 40 percent of income taxes is not suffer- ing from a lack of progressivity. In 2008, then Senator Obama told tend that raising taxes on the "rich" will make much of a dent in our trillion- dollar deficits or our $16 trillion na- tional debt. Increasing taxes on those earning above $200,000 would raise .07 trillion over the next decade. But the president's own projections fore- see $6.4 trillion in new debt over that time period. That's probably a gross underestimate, assuming as it does 4 percent growth in the economy. The Congressional Budget Estimate fore- casts $10 trillion in deficits over the same period. Obama doesn't really pretend, or not ers' money. Beyond hiring those teach- ers, what else would he spend it on? More wind, solar and biofuel energy? Other than making Al Gore a multimil- lionaire and enriching a few other big Obama donors, what has that invest- ment done for us? The Department of Energy boasts that it has spent $34.7 billion on green technologies, creating nearly 60,000 jobs. Great. Columnist Deroy Murdock did the math: that's $578,333 in taxpayer funds for each job. And those "green" firms propped up by Obama keep going bankrupt. Solyndra, Ener1, Aptera Motors, Bea- con Power—the list goes on. So it's a total loss for the taxpayers. Mean- while, the price of gasoline approach- es $4.00 a gallon. If you had loaned your adult child Charlie Gibson that he'd support rais- ing the capital gains tax despite the clear evidence that reducing the rate under Clinton had led to increased rev- enue from the rich to the Treasury. Treasury shmeasury, he just likes to raise taxes. So Obama wants more of the taxpay- Times be far away? Is life re- ally that bad, or is life what we make it? "I am happy and content in "Have I alarmed the reader beyond a reasonable anal- ysis of world events? How should I respond to the question: "Could the End of Times be far away? Is life re- ally that bad, or is life what we make it?" The question is in two parts: the first deals with eschatology (the end of human rule), and the sec- ond, what power do I have as an individual in shaping life events? Realistically, as individ- uals we are along for the my little corner of the world. I do what I can to comfort and bring others into the Kingdom—but should the bigger 'World' be my prob- lem? Am I blind in my little warm and fuzzy cocoon? I chose to turn a blind eye on the violent ways of the world and continue to live a God- ly life as best I know how in my microcosm of a world. Some- times I don't read the news- paper or listen to the news on pur- pose. I know that the outside world can intrude on us at any moment, but until it does, I don't need to deal with it on a daily basis, do I? I am think- ing about it." This email gave me pause: MR. AND MRS. FRANK HEURING, PUBLISHERS ANDREW G. HEURING, EDITOR The Press- Dispatch JOHN B. HEURING, ADVERTISING MANAGER Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Entered at the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for trans- mission through the mails as Periodical Mail, Postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana. Published weekly. will please give old address as well as new one along with phone number. We cannot guarantee prompt change unless this is done. Postmaster: send changes to Post Office Box 68, Petersburg, Indiana 47567-0068. Change of Address—Subscribers changing addresses very energetically, that raising taxes on "the rich" is a deficit reduction mea- sure. He promotes it as "fairness" and $10,000 and he returned a year later asking for another $10,000, you'd want to know how he spent the first tranche, right? You'd want some assurance you weren't sending good money after bad. It's a reasonable caution in all cir- cumstances. P.O. BOX 68, PETERSBURG, INDIANA 47567 E-mail—news@pressdispatch.net (604-340) Phone 354-8500 • FAX—354-2014 Pike and Surrounding Cos. ......$ 10.00 $15.00 $25.00 $45.00 Elsewhere in Indiana ................ 14.00 Outside Indiana ............................18.00 19.00 28.00 27.00 43.00 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 3 mos. 6 mos. 1 year 2 years 49.00 75.00 ride wherever world events take us. Is this the End of Time or another period of troubles that has plagued the world since the time of Jesus? I ceased long ago from being a prognostica- tor of the future, which is in God's hands. What I can be certain is that Jesus told his disciples there would come a time when men would be- come evil and totally love themselves. Are we there yet? To answer Holistically, no. This brings us back to the first question, "Could the End of Times be far away?" I suspect if you lived during the Black Death of the 1350s, you would have said yes, as would those liv- ing in Europe as their con- tinent plunged into war in 1939. Events did not build to the climax of the return of Christ; therefore, we must conclude that "the end is not yet." The second question, "is the question "is the world that bad" depends upon your view- point. The world I live in is not that of my par- ents, grandpar- ents, or what I came to ma- turity in. Have events changed for the good? life really that bad, or is life what we make it" is answer- able. Life has been likened to Continued on page 3 C-2