The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1097179
C-8 Wednesday, March 27, 2019 The Press-Dispatch 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 Sharing with the community My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. I feel humbled by the many pos- itive comments I receive from peo- ple I meet in many places. I come across friends in the grocery store, restaurants, social gatherings, etc who stop me and tell me how much they enjoy the articles I write in our local paper. Sometimes I get letters from out-of-state people who are for- mer residents of our community. It is indeed gratifying to know that they enjoy what I share. It is a gift I gladly share. It seems to me like the ideas flow into my brain without much effort. It also helps me expand my horizon, my imagination, and my knowledge. It sometimes makes me chuckle when I come across humorous articles from different sources and share them with ev- eryone. I feel like a stand-up co- median, although I don't inject bad words or unsavory words. Anymore when you watch stand-up comedies, it is impossi- ble to find humor without bad lan- guage. I try to stay with the rating of "Highly recommended for Gen- eral Audience". As I review some old materials I've written, I feel like asking myself-" Hmmm, did I really write that? " It's a satisfying question and answer. For as long as I can, I will contin- ue to indulge in this hobby, I will continue to research materials that are informative, uplifting and in- "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually mind- ed is life and peace." Romans 8:6 A recent survey among Chris- tians by Barna Research Group found just four percent have a Bib- lical worldview; and among those who claimed to be "born-again," it was just nine percent. A worldview is a framework of beliefs that helps the individ- ual make sense of the world and life. Little though is given by most people on what their worldview is, much less "Does my worldview correlate with the scriptures? " Barna Research had an answer to that question; "Although most people have a Bible and know its contents, our research suggests that most Americans have little idea how to integrate core Bibli- cal principles to form a united and meaningful response to the chal- lenges and opportunities of life." The world around us demon- strates this oxymoron of "I be- lieve," yet we live as though we are atheists. Many Christians to- day are as the Phar- isees of Jesus' day; they have no impulse to kill and murder, yet pray, "God kill my ad- versaries." Several states are actively trying to rein in the cult of death that is called "reproductive rights," while others have considered pushing the op- portunity to inflict death upon the unborn to include post-delivery. A Biblical worldview calls that evil. Sorry, if that offends. What should cause alarm to Christians and all citizens of America is to link the current dis- suasion of abortion with an arti- cle published seven years ago in The New England Journal of Med- icine (NEJM) "Redefining Physi- cians' Role in Assisted Dying." Assisted dying is a euphemism for euthanasia of the old and sick. Euthanizing or "put- ting-down" is what we do to animals. None- theless, this practice is being appropriated by groups within med- icine and government as act of compassion. However, people are not animals and until of late, most of us do not have a genetic and social attachment to them [pets]. At the core of the medical pro- fession for years has been the is- sue "how to treat the terminally ill." This issue has become acute because medical understanding and technology has pushed the envelope of sustainable life be- yond what was possible even de- cades ago. The terminally ill can live for many years because of medical Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Resist evil — embrace life Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Minority View by Walter E. Williams College cheating scandal Continued on page 8 Continued on page 9 Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50 people in- volved in cheating and bribery in order to get their children admit- ted to some of the nation's most prestigious colleges and univer- sities such as Georgetown, Yale, Stanford, University of Texas, University of Southern Califor- nia and UCL A. They often paid more than $100,000 to rig SAT or ACT exams. In some instanc- es, they bribed college officials and secured their children's ad- missions to elite schools through various fraud schemes. As corrupt and depraved as these recent reve- lations are, they are only the tip of the iceberg of generalized college corruption and gross dishonesty. According to the Bureau of La- bor Statistics, 70 percent of white high school graduates in 2016 en- rolled in college, and 58 percent of black high school graduates enrolled in college. However, that year only 37 percent of white high school graduates tested as college- ready but colleges admitted 70 per- cent of them. Roughly 17 percent of black high school graduates tested as college-ready but col- leges admitted 58 percent of them. About 40 percent of college freshmen must take at least one re- medial course. To deal with ill-pre- pared students, profes- sors dumb down their courses so that stu- dents can get passing grades. Colleges also set up majors with lit- tle or no academic con- tent so as to accommo- date students with lim- ited academic abilities. Such majors often in- clude the term "stud- ies": ethnic studies, cultural stud- ies, gender studies or American studies. The major selected by the most ill-prepared students, sadly enough, is education. When stu- dents' SAT scores are ranked by intended major, education majors place 26th on a list of 38. One gross example of adminis- trative dishonesty surfaced at the University of North Carolina. A learning specialist hired to help UNC athletes found that 60 per- cent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read be- low a third-grade level. These ath- letes both graduated from high school and were admitted to UNC. More than likely, UNC is not alone in these practices because sports are the money-mak- ing center of many colleges. It's nearly impossi- ble to listen to college presidents, provosts and other adminis- trators talk for more than 15 minutes or so before the words di- versity and inclusion drop from their lips. But there's a simple way to de- termine just how committed they are to their rhetoric. Ask your av- erage college president, provost or administrator whether he both- ers promoting political diversity among faculty. I'll guarantee that if he is honest — or even answers the question — he will say he doesn't believe in that kind of di- versity and inclusion. According to a recent study, professors who are registered Democrats outnumber their Republican counterparts by a 12-1 ratio. In some departments, such as history, Democratic regis- tered professors outnumber their Republican counterparts by a 33- 1 ratio. "Small ball" is often a sound strategy when it comes to base- ball. Taking a slow, methodical ap- proach that emphasizes incremen- tal gains is a good way to get run- ners on base and then score runs. But that doesn't mean it works in all fields at all times. Take for- eign policy. Sometimes cautious, small-ball tactics are the way to go. Other times, it pays to try a bolder, less conventional approach. That's certainly what animates President Trump when it comes to his foreign policy thinking. For him, America's foreign policy is based on protecting and advanc- ing the interests of the American people. This is what I define as an "America first" foreign policy. Yes, first — but not only. As Trump has stressed, an "Ameri- ca First" foreign policy does not mean an "America Only" foreign policy. Contrary to what the presi- dent's detractors would have you believe, he listens, thinks and then makes up his own mind. He con- siders alternative views. But when he makes a decision, he expects his whole team to get on board and to implement that decision. Trump the busi- nessman, then the candidate, and now the president, has written that when facing a challenge, you think big and go into negotiations (or even discus- sions) as a disrupter. By coming up with new ideas that are far out- side the boundaries of what's con- sidered possible, you effectively change not only the debate, but the whole range of options with- in that debate. That makes a lot of people un- comfortable. But by doing so, Trump is expanding the debate so that the final decision goes be- yond the conventional boundaries of discussion. This is a new approach for ma- ny in the think tank community and in the government. And most people view anything new with alarm. But that doesn't mean it's a mistake to try it. Such an approach means, yes, that Trump is a tough ne- gotiator. As he has said, "Without fric- tion, there can be no lift." The president is not alone in his view. Preston Moon, founder and chairman of the Glob- al Peace Foundation, called for an "out of the box" approach to Kore- an unification during a speech at the recent Global Peace Conven- tion 2019. The Trump administration, Moon noted, "made Korea the top international priority of the U.S. for the first time since the Korean War. It imposed biting sanctions and galvanized global support to sup- port those sanctions." That's a big Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Trump, the creative disrupter Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Liberal fascists ambush Chelsea Clinton Lucid Moments By Bart Stinson Mueller Report is complete, no collusion I recently joined the board of the Leadership Institute, which sponsors Campus Reform, an im- portant website for college news. Campus Reform is a "watchdog to the nation's higher education sys- tem," exposing bias and abuse on college campuses. American universities have too often dangerously devolved into institutions of political indoctri- nation rather than institutions of higher learning. According to one recent study of the 60 highest-rat- ed liberal arts colleges in the na- tion, more than 10 professors are registered Democrats for every registered Republican. Campus Reform monitors uni- versities in hopes of keeping speech free and maintaining ves- tiges of the pursuit of truth. Politicization of universities is indicative of a nation that has lost a sense that there is truth and that it is incumbent upon man to seek it, grasp it, live by it and use it to improve our world. Students now show up at uni- versities already armed with what they have accepted uncritically as true — gleaned from the internet, Hollywood and other fertile cor- ners of popular culture. Univer- sities simply serve as platforms for them to advance their political agendas and get official stamps of approval for their careers. A recent example is the pathetic display of two New York Universi- ty students who cornered Chelsea Clinton at a vigil noting the trage- dy of the murder of 50 Muslims in New Zealand. They stuck accusing fingers in Clinton's face, claiming that her condemnation of the anti-Semi- The Mueller Report is complete, and Donald Trump has been ab- solved of collusion with the Rus- sians. Mueller stopped short of say- ing that his investigation exoner- ated the president. However, if I were suspected of something, if my antagonists publicly predicted I would "die in jail," and if I were investigated for 675 days, and they raided my personal lawyer and read everything on his hard disk, and leaned on my closest associ- ates to incriminate me, and then had to admit the evidence didn't support a legal accusation, much less a conviction, I would feel ex- onerated. If I were one of the people who falsely accused a man on a daily basis, I would feel great shame and contrition now. But this is not in the Democrats' repertoire. They merely shift their innuendo to Mueller, accusing him of a be- trayal. MSNBC Democrat Chris Mat- thews was scandalized that Muel- ler never interrogated the pres- ident. But nobody accused of a crime in America, since the rati- fication of the Bill of Rights, has been obligated to give testimony against himself. A fter some initial bluster, the president wisely decid- ed not to match wits with head- hunting prosecutors. Perhaps he respected his attor- neys' advice. Or maybe he saw for himself the landscape littered with the bleached skeletons of de- fendants who were a little too cav- alier about the Fifth Amendment. The fact that you are innocent doesn't mean you have nothing to fear from testifying under oath, or interrogation by prosecutors. His first National Security Ad- viser, Michael Flynn, was convict- ed of lying to the FBI. The inter- view was so casual that Flynn had no legal counsel present, and the FBI agents didn't give the usual warning about penalties for lying. He was not under oath. But from the moment he lied about an ar- cane United Nations matter, the prosecutors owned him. The sentencing judge, who ap- parently wasn't paying very close attention, berated him in court for representing a foreign coun- try's interests while serving in the White House. But Flynn's contract with that country ended the pre- vious year, before Trump appoint- ed him National Security Adviser. The judge stunned onlookers when he used the term "treason," an embarrassing misstatement for a federal judge who ought to be fa- miliar with the elements of the on- ly crime that is defined in the U.S. Constitution. It can only be sur- mised that the judge believed Fly- nn guilty of much greater crimes than the prosecutors accused him of. This is the risk you run when you agree to casual interviews with the FBI. The granddaddy of all perjury traps may have been in the Lew- is "Scooter" Libby trial. Libby was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. He was accused of expos- ing a clandestine CIA agent's cov- er. A journalist testified that Libby had told her a State Department civilian overseas was in fact a CIA agent. She later wrote in her mem- oir that it was a misunderstand- ing, and that she may have helped convict an innocent man. A senior State Department official later ad- mitted it was he who blew the CIA agent's cover. But Libby was convicted of mak- ing false statements to investiga- tors, perjury in the grand jury, and obstruction of justice in an attempt to impede the investigation. It ru- ined his life. All he needed to do was to refuse to talk to people who wanted him to rot in jail. The downside of the Fifth Amendment is that criminals can use it to frustrate investigations and avoid conviction. Govern- ment officials in the IRS and EPA have used it to prevent legislative oversight. But it's a price that the