The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1061312
The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, December 12, 2018 C- 13 Continued from page 12 CRISIS SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Let us know at 812-354-8500! Michigan and my native Indiana, he and his family rejected government assistance and made their own way. To make a long story short, he be- came a professional economist, was considered an expert in his special- ties, and eventually made a pile of money for himself. He was a devout free-market capitalist, and (unlike Cuomo) was grateful for the opportu- nities America gave him. But he never got traction as a presi- dential candidate, and he soon bowed out of the remaining primaries and caucuses. This left me as a delegate without a candidate, and the various campaigns came knocking. This Tex- as guy, George H.W. Bush, had a ster- ling foreign policy resume, acceptable social views, and he was successful enough in the oil business that I was confident he understood economics. I became a Bush delegate. At the district caucus, we formed an alliance with the delegates for liber- al Republican John Anderson. There were a couple of test votes, which we won narrowly over the Reagan dele- gates. I don't even remember what they were about. A fter the trend was clear, the Reagan delegates muttered some expletives and walked out, after which we were free to elect our own people as delegates to the state con- vention in Federal Way, a charmless town along Interstate 5 near SeaTac International Airport. At the state convention, our frol- ic came to an end. Reagan delegates from all over Washington greatly out- numbered us Seattle delegates, and they soon gave us a taste of our own medicine, mowing us down like squir- rels on the highway. I liked Reagan's policy positions. I just didn't think he was electable. The country had already shifted too far left, I thought, and Reagan was cer- tain to go down to defeat in the gen- eral election, like Barry Goldwater in 1964. I resigned myself to another four years of Jimmy Carter. When election day arrived in Seat- tle, it was a beautiful, warm morning with clear blue skies, unheard of in November. College students skipped class and took blankets out onto the lawns to sunbathe. I slumped in dis- couragement. Lazy, unmotivated vot- ers tend to vote Democrat, so the fabulous weather was removing the advantage of stronger Republican commitment. Or so I thought. But Reagan-Bush won in a landslide, in- cluding the entire Pacific Northwest. Bush was a loyal vice president, and Reagan returned the favor eight years later, endorsing him for president, and actively campaigning for him. I was at Reagan's final campaign speech as president, in downtown San Diego. There was a balloon release and I kept one as a souvenir for years before I fi- nally lost it. It has been a little disorienting to listen to the mainstream media and other Democrats heap praise on Bush recently. They seldom had a kind word for him while he was a candidate or an incumbent president. To this day, it's an article of faith among most Democrats that Bush's criticism of his opponent's furlough of a convicted murderer from pris- on for 10 weekend passes was racist. While on weekend pass, the murderer stabbed a man and repeatedly raped the man's girlfriend. Al Gore was the first to make it a campaign issue, during the 1988 Dem- ocratic primaries. But now Democrats find it reprehensible that Bush held Gov. Michael Dukakis accountable for that disastrous furlough, because the criminal in question is Black. When a new digital cash register's features were demonstrated for him at a grocers' convention in 1992, Bush asked nice "set-up" questions and ex- pressed polite astonishment. The New York Times pounced on it as proof that he was out of touch with ordinary peo- ple, and wasn't even familiar with gro- cery store checkout lines. I have liberal friends and family members who have expressed nostal- gia for "real" conservatives like Barry Goldwater or John McCain. Like vot- ers who cross over in the primaries to select the opponent they'd rather face in the Fall, more and more Liber- als want to tell us who is or isn't a le- gitimate conservative. It rarely turns on issues of abortion or the sanctity of marriage. Here's what I've noticed about Dem- ocrats who express preferences about Republicans. They are very fond of Re- publicans who die, and Republicans who lose. Men like Bob Dole and John McCain were fierce against fellow Re- publicans in competing for the Repub- lican nomination. But then they went limp in the general election against the Democrat. Later they accepted good citizen medals and got invited to White House dinners. They squan- dered our precious nomination. That's the kind of Republican that is loved by Democrats. There's very little fondness for George Bush Jr. although he shares most of his dad's policy positions and nice personal traits. They despise him because he won. He beat them every time he ran. Unforgivable. I have mixed feelings about George H.W. Bush's legacy. He gave us Su- preme Court Justice David Sout- er, who was a disaster for the con- servative social agenda. But he also gave us Supreme Court Justice Clar- ence Thomas, a defender of the plain language of the Constitution, and a strong voice for the unborn. Bush presided over disastrous vi- olations of our southern border. Mil- lions of illegal aliens flowed into our country under Reagan and Bush. He opened our markets to Communist China, which has never reciprocat- ed. That led to massive job losses in our manufacturing sector. He was the godfather of NAF TA. He implied a rebuke to Reaganism when he proposed a "kinder, gentler" America. He really wanted to be liked by Democrats, including the media. But it was not to be. His budgetary performance was mixed. He promised ("read my lips") that there would be "no new taxes." But when advisors—and Congres- sional Democrats—convinced him it would be irresponsible not to enact modest tax increases, he broke that promise and accepted the political consequences. Democrats immediately turned on him, mocking him for breaking his "no new taxes" pledge. Within the Re- publican party, a rebellion bubbled up under Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchan- an. It was a large price to pay. It cost him his reelection. But it also inspired confidence in the financial markets, as it made believers of economists who finally believed the government was serious about fiscal responsibility. Investment surged, and a long period of prosperity ensued. Bill Clinton has taken credit for that prosperity, but he owed it to his predecessor. The late House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Ros- tenkowski, a bare-knuckles Chica- go Democrat, acknowledged that it was the Bush deficit reduction mea- sures that set Clinton up with a robust economy. But Bush and Rostenkows- ki were complicit, along with most of the rest of their generation, in the pil- lage of the Social Security system, "borrowing" our Social Security con- tributions to balance the Treasury's books, and leaving us Social Securi- ty contributors with a bunch of IOU's instead of cash. Bush and his late wife Barbara have been described as "classy" in the mainstream media, and I would say this is true in more ways than one. They were dignified people, to be sure, but they were also class-con- scious. They were clubby and colle- gial. Bush called Rep. Rostenkowski "Danny." Unlike their fellow tycoon Don- ald Trump, they were more loyal to their class than to the people at large. Trump's loyalty is popular. That is to say, he's more loyal to the American people in general than he is to his own class. He is perhaps naive about who is really in charge in America, about who is sovereign. But maybe not. May- be he will force the Deep State to work for the people instead of ruling over them. No president in my lifetime has ever attempted that. One thing that changed when Bush took over from Ronald Reagan in 1989 is that the speechwriters were demot- ed. Under Reagan, they had prime parking spaces and offices. They had access to the president. President Bush apparently felt that was undig- nified. He didn't value political com- munication with the people as much as Reagan did. He was so secure in his own authority and legitimacy that he didn't prioritize gaining the assent of the governed. This is partly a function of his be- lief in meritocracy: just do a good job, do your best, and it'll all work out. But it didn't. He was defeated for reelec- tion by a man of inferior character and malignant intentions. President Bush should have valued public opin- ion more. He shouldn't have taken the assent of the governed for granted. For all his faults, he was a wonder- ful patriot. I'm glad he was here. I val- ue his World War II service, I appreci- ate the value he created as an oil pro- ducer, I admire him as a family man. I forgive him for his naivete about trade with China, but reserve the right to correct his errors. I wish we could clone him. A fond farewell and R.I.P. George H.W. Bush. Continued from page 12 BUSH ERA Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Angela S. Maxfield charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 4 felony, count II main- taining a common nuisance - con- trolled substances and count III pos- session of paraphernalia. Ronald McGary charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony, count II possession of marijuana and count III possession of paraphernalia. Dennis R. Gates charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony, count II maintaining a common nuisance - controlled sub- stances, count III possession of mari- juana and count IV possession of par- aphernalia. Randall Kline charged with pos- session of methamphetamine, a lev- el 6 felony. Jeffrey Kevin Clark charged with count I residential entry, a level 6 fel- ony, count II criminal trespass and count III false informing. Jacob A. Smith charged with count I neglect of a dependent, a level 6 fel- ony, and count II battery on a person less than 14 years old. Thelma A. Smith charged with ne- glect of a dependent, a level 6 felony. Eric T. Loveless charged with fail- ure to register as a sex or violent of- fender, a level 6 felony. James C. Hughes charged with un- lawful possession of a firearm by a se- rious violent felon, a level 4 felony. Matthew Wadsworth charged with count I obstruction of justice, a level 6 felony, count II criminal trespass and count III possession of paraphernalia. Trent A. Stone charged with count I operating a vehicle with an ACE of .08 or more, a level 6 felony, and count II operating a vehicle while intoxicated. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Nazmieh R. Khatib charged with possession of marijuana. Jamie M. Manning charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Jane Riker charged with possession of marijuana. Joshua J. Eager charged with pos- session of marijuana. Roy S. King charged with domes- tic battery. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court Midland Funding LLC sues Mi- chelle White on complaint. Midland Funding LLC sues Carol Gosciniak on complaint. Midland Funding LLC sues Peggy Newton on complaint. Crown Asset Management LLC sues Stanley Deweese on complaint. Brenda D. Hatfield and Rickie Hat- field sue Cary L. Van Alstine on com- plaint. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Procol Inc. sues Gregory Davis on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Autum Isaacs on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Heather Williams on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Rebecca Benefiel on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Brock Schwindt on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Andrea Sharp on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Tammy Straw on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Naomi Webb on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Michael Walker on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Amanda Sullivan on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Michelle Burkhart on complaint. Procol Inc. sues Virginia Rainey on complaint. 609 North Main Street Land Trust sues Eric M. Slunder and Vanessa S. Slunder on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Cecily Ashby charged with seatbelt violation. Shelly Church charged with seat- belt violation. Daniel Deen charged with seatbelt violation. McKenzie Dunn charged with speeding, 39 mph in a 25 zone. Daniel Flatford charged with speed- ing, 57 mph in a 40 zone. Todd Hawthorne charged with speeding, 39 mph in a 25 zone. Jacob Jarvis charged with speeding, 39 mph in a 25 zone. Ashley Jones charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Devin McNabb charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Jesse Miller charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Mykah Myers charged with speed- ing, 76 mph in a 55 zone. Shawna Patterson charged with speeding, 80 mph in a 70 zone. Steven Rayman charged with speeding, 39 mph in a 25 zone. Alexis Reeder charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Denise Samples charged with speeding, 71 mph in a 55 zone. John-Michael Stalnaker charged with speeding, 57 mph in a 40 zone. Kenneth Street charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Sharaya Williams charged with speeding, 93 mph in a 70 zone. Caleb Lankford charged with speeding, 83 mph in a 70 zone. Tracey Lankford charged withs seatbelt violation. Ciji Lough charged with failure to signal for turn or lane change. Anthony Marley charged with no valid driver's license. Joel McCallon charged with speed- ing, 64 mph in a 55 zone. Continued from page 12 WARMING Continued from page 12 RIGHT Gore), but I hope the point is clear: Take sky-is-falling claims with a large grain of salt. Particularly because they never seem to go out of style. You'd think, given the track record I've just referred to, that doomsayers would learn to temper their warn- ings, at least a little bit. But no. We see the same trend at work with the National Cli- mate Assessment. "Global greenhouse gas emissions is expected to cause substantial net dam- age to the U.S. economy throughout this century," we read in the 1,700 -page report. How substantial? As The New York Times noted: "All told, the report says, cli- mate change could slash up to a tenth of gross domes- tic product by 2100, more than double the losses of the Great Recession a de- cade ago." Sounds awful, to put it mildly. Then again, so did the first Earth Day pre- dictions. And these latest claims are just as plausible, according to climate expert Nicolas Loris. "The study … calculates these costs on the assump- tion that the world will be 15 degrees Fahrenheit warm- er," he writes. "That tem- perature projection is even higher than the worst-case scenario predicted by the United Nations Intergov- ernmental Panel on Climate Change. "In other words, it is com- pletely unrealistic." So where do these Chick- en Little claims come from? In the report, climatologists lay out four possible future trajectories for the environ- ment. Alarmists seized on the worst one. It's also the least likely. It assumes a combination of bad factors will some- how coincide — that global population will climb at the fastest-possible rate (about double the current amount), that technology will develop at the slowest-possible rate, and that world poverty will increase massively, along with energy use and emis- sions. Would it be responsible to assume the best-case sce- nario? Of course not. But as- suming the worst-case is no better. In fact, considering the policy changes that be- lievers wind up pushing as a result – such as huge carbon taxes and giant subsidies for dubious "green" projects — it's even less responsible. Not that the alarmists need an excuse like the Na- tional Climate Assessment to make bad recommenda- tions. Even before it came out, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had proposed a carbon tax of between $135 and $5,500 per ton of carbon emissions by the year 2030. "An energy tax of that magnitude would bankrupt families and businesses, and undoubtedly catapult the world into economic de- spair," Mr. Loris writes. If the doomsayers want to spread pessimism, that's their business. But the rest of us shouldn't have to pay for it. It's time for the global- warming crowd to realize, once and for all, that civili- zation isn't ending – not in 1985 and not in 2100. And those are the cold facts. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). power each of us has and we all would discover how great America is, because it is free. Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, Cen- ter for Urban Renewal and Education. Contact her at www.urbancure.org. manner or had shown Islam- ophobia bias. Archbishop Welby stressed that in the Mid- dle East there is the "dai- ly threat of murder… Hun- dreds of thousands have been forced from their homes. Many have been killed, enslaved and perse- cuted or forcibly converted." The level of violence per- petrated against Christians in Welby's estimation not been seen "since the Mon- gol invasions of the 13th Century." He writes, "In the last few years, Christians have been slaughtered by the so-called Islamic State, and in many countries, they find them- selves squeezed between the upper and lower mill- stones of pressure on them within society and of con- flicts that afflict the region." The numbers of dead and disposed are stagger- ing. "The Christian popu- lation of Iraq, for instance, is less than half what it was in 2003," and the "Syrian Christian population has halved since 2010." Left out of Welby's anal- ysis is the persecution of Christians in Pakistan, A f- ghanistan, Turkey, and the Coptic Church in Egypt, which all have suffered vi- olence. In addition, Welby cites that countries like Israel, where Christians are secure in physical terms, that ten- sions nevertheless "makes life difficult for them [Chris- tians]." His solution, if there is any at this juncture, is to support and help Chris- tians in the Middle East in every way we can. Where they wish to leave, they will be refugees in need of asy- lum. Where, courageous- ly and by the grace of God, they choose to remain, they need publicity and external, visible support." The Prince of Wales in his address remarked, "While God calls Christians to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute, it can be incredibly hard to follow Christ's example when con- fronted with such hatred and oppression." We here in America can- not fathom the level of dis- cord and hatred projected towards Christians in the Middle East. The prophet Mohammed suggested a tactic of subter- fuge when dealing with su- perior force. He said [I para- phrase], "where you are weak seek coexistence, when you become strong smash." This has become reality. Sadly, no Western nation is offering to protect or give sanctuary to the Christians of the Middle East. It is like they are suffering in silence because there is no one to speak for them. Christianity as taught by Jesus and his apostles is not a religion of the sword and conquest. Christianity is a religion of faith by persua- sion. In modern times, wars of religion have been fought in the court of public opin- ion; however, one cannot de- ny a war against Christiani- ty is in the making. Jesus said, "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another city." All of the apostles of Jesus suf- fered persecution and fled from one area to another. However, the sheer number of Christians in Syria, Iraq, and other places make the migration to safer areas ex- tremely difficult. No doubt the gates of Hell are at the doors of the Church in the Middle East, but Jesus said that they will not prevail. Pray for those who suffer persecution, and be ready to help if the opportunity arises. Think about it!