The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1158320
C-8 Wednesday, August 21, 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 Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond I don't know what to think My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Stages of life Minority View by Walter E. Williams How important is today's discrimination? Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 There is discrimination of all sorts, and that includes racial dis- crimination. Thus, it's somewhat foolhardy to debate the existence of racial discrimination yester- year or today. From a policy point of view, a far more useful question to ask is: How much of the plight of many blacks can be explained by current racial discrimination? Let's examine some of today's most devastating problems of ma- ny black people with an eye toward addressing discrimination of the past and present. At the root of most of the prob- lems black people face is the breakdown of the family struc- ture. Slightly over 70 % of black children are raised in female-head- ed households. According to sta- tistics about fatherless homes, 90 % of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes; 71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father figure; 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes; 71% of high school dropouts come from father- less homes; and 70 % of juveniles in state-operated institutions have no father. Furthermore, fatherless boys and girls are twice as likely to drop out of high school and twice as likely to end up in jail. One might say, "Williams, one cannot ignore the legacy of slav- ery and the gross rac- ism and denial of civil rights in yesteryear! " Let's look at wheth- er black fatherless homes are a result of a "legacy of slavery" and racial discrimina- tion. In the late 1800s, depending on the city, 70 % to 80 % of black households were two- parent. Dr. Thomas Sowell has ar- gued, "The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rap- idly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized un- wed pregnancy and changed wel- fare from an emergency rescue to a way of life." As late as 1950, only 18 % of black households were single par- ent. From 1890 to 1940, a slightly higher percentage of black adults had married than white adults. In 1938, black illegitimacy was about 11% instead of today's 75% . In 1925, 85% of black households in New York City were two-parent. Today, the black family is a mere shadow of its past. Let's ask a couple of ques- tions about crime and education and racial discrim- ination. It turns out that each year more than 7,000 blacks are victims of homicide. That's slightly over 50 % of U.S. homicide victims. Ninety-four percent of the time, the perpetrator is an- other black person. Along with being most of the na- tion's homicide victims, blacks are most of the victims of violent per- sonal crimes such as assault and robbery. At many predominantly black schools, chaos is the order of the day. There is a high rate of assaults on students and teachers. Youngsters who are hostile to the educational process are permitted to make education impossible for those who are prepared to learn. As a result, overall black educa- tional achievement is a disaster. Here are my questions to those who blame racial discrimination for the problems of black peo- ple: Is it necessary for us to await some kind of moral rejuvenation among white people before mea- Social Security Matters by Russell Gloor Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker How is my benefit amount determined? Kamala Harris' hypocrisy on guns Pray for Him! Much press has been given over the news that Joshua Harris, a prominent Christian, has pub- licly renounced his faith, repudi- ated his teachings, and is divorc- ing his wife. Joshua Harris rose to Christian fame in the 1990s through his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and it became a big seller among Christians. He was senior pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaith- ersburg, Maryland from 2004 un- til his resignation in 2015 This is a high profile defection among the Christian ranks and cannot be off-handed dismissed without trying to understand what happened. Harris wrote in late July, "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian, [and by the way my wife and I are divorcing]." None of us knows what is on the "inside" of another person, so Christians tend to shy away at judging others-but with Har- ris making his defection public- he opens himself to inspection by others. Harris public "falling away" takes a swipe at Orthodox Chris- tianity as new out- lets report he al- so expressed regret for his past opposi- tion to homosexuali- ty and same-sex mar- riage, explaining that he was "sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality." A friend of Harris [Michael Farris] wrote an open letter as to the cause of his failure ". . . you thought your faith and your mar- riage were based on formulas. They never went deeper than that. Farris states [I abridge] "You have walked away from the culture you were raised in. His attempt at humility was a self-focused of his own pride. Your inflated view of your own influence caused you to take responsibility for failed rela- tionships resulting from a misap- plication of your book. More than one Christian colum- nist has asked, "Was it the historic biblical faith Harris left, or anoth- er faith that was passed off to him as the truth of scripture? " Many comments cen- ter upon Harris defec- tion causing many to question how someone so seemingly ground- ed, could walk away from everything they once believed. As one blogger noted "Not all of us have seven Chris- tian book titles with our names on them." Let us cut to the quick of under- standing Harris denouncement of his own book, and by extension, Christianity. His loss of faith did not happen in a vacuum. Harris and others within the church are deconstructing the norms of sexuality and gender as they offer apologies to the LG- BTQ+ community. This cannot be overlooked. By apologizing for be- liefs he once held, [Harris] paints those who hold orthodox views of marriage and sexuality as bigoted and homophobic by not embracing inclusion and repentance. Somehow, the social justice We're currently involved in helping the family of my youngest daughter to take care of their lat- est addition to their clan. Please don't feel tired of hearing the sto- ry. Of course, Rose is involved as well and I can't imagine life with- out her help. She is such a strong and good hearted grandmother. This morning as I was looking out from the window of our daugh- ter's place and see the forest be- hind their beautiful house, I could not help but be amazed at the beau- ty of nature. It had just rained and the ground is wet, and the trees and shrubs are all looking green and lush. The sun started to shine. This summer has not been bad at all. Yes we had hot days but the rain has regularly nourished the crops to a point they look very healthy and promising. Initially, farmers felt this would be a bad cycle for farming due to the frequent rains, but then the right mix of weather seems to have brightened up the prospects for a good harvest. Some say we have been lucky, but I am of the belief that the Good Lord always provides us with many cycles of good harvest. However, I also re- member cycles of drought that made us feel we have to depend on a Higher Power to keep us feeling we do not possess all the ability to be so independent. Lately, I am somewhat experienc- ing a mix of gratitude but also feel a sprinkle of sadness. It seems that the past weeks have been a bar- rage of unfortunate news. I have had several sad news come my way. My sister in law was told she has an illness that will al- low her with but a few months to live. I have a several friends and acquaintances who have gone to their final rest, I have friends who are battling the dread- ed word cancer, many friends whose con- stant topic of discus- sions are illnesses, doctor visits, medical tests, medications, limitations, onset of memory problems, physical disabilities etc, etc. I guess I'm in that age group in which the cycle of life and circle of friends just naturally is in that particular stage. As a for- mer professional in the delivery of health care, field-meaning retired from doctoring- I used to react to these things as just one of those things which is a part of life, and that science will be used to it's full- est virtue to treat, heal cure, and comfort. I had to feel strong but Dear Rusty: I am 60 years old. I have worked full-time since age 22. I am thinking about working part-time ages 62-65. When I start collecting my social security ben- efit sometime after age 65, will my monthly amount be based on only the last few years of my working? Can you explain how my month- ly amount will be determined? Signed: Planning My Future. Dear Planning: I admire that you're thinking ahead to your re- tirement years and I'm happy to clarify this for you. Your Social Security benefit, when you claim it, will be based upon the high- est earning 35 years of your life- time working career (not only the last few years). To determine your benefit, Social Security will take your entire record of lifetime earnings, adjust each year for in- flation, and select the 35 years in which you had the highest earn- ings. A fter totaling those years, they'll divide by 420 (the num- ber of months in 35 years) to de- termine your "average indexed monthly earnings" (AIME). They then break your AIME into sev- eral parts (using what's known as "bend points") and then take a percentage of each part and add it up to arrive at what's called your "primary insurance amount" or "PIA." The "bend point" values change each year, but for 2019 they are $ 926 and $5583. To com- pute your benefit, the formula will take 90 percent of the first $ 926 of your AIME; 32 percent of your AIME between $ 926 and $5583; and 15 percent of any amount of your AIME over $5583. The prod- uct of those three computations are added together to arrive at your PIA. Your PIA is the amount you will get at your full retirement age, or your "FR A," which for you (born in 1959) is 66 years and 10 months. If you claim any earlier than your FR A, your ben- efit will be reduced–about 29 per- cent less if claimed at 62. If you wait beyond your FR A, the benefit will be more - eight percent more for each year you delay, up to age 70 when maximum is reached. At age 70, your benefit will be about 25 percent more than it would be at your FR A. But a note of cau- tion: any benefit estimates you have now from Social Security as- sume you'll keep earning at your current level until you reach your FR A, so if you work part-time, starting at age 62, your benefit amounts will be less than those shown in the current estimates. Finally, the above applies to your own individual SS retire- ment benefit from your own life- time work record. If you are mar- ried, and your PIA is less than 50 percent of your husband's PIA, then you might also be eligible for a spousal boost from your husband. Or if you are the higher earner, your husband might be el- igible for a spousal boost from you when you claim your Social Secu- rity benefit. To submit a question, vis- it our websit www.amac.us or email jpgrimaldi@verizon.net. This article is intended for infor- mation purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guid- ance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foun- dation's staff, trained and accred- ited by the National Social Securi- ty Association (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administra- tion or any other governmental en- tity. Kamala Harris weighs in on guns on her campaign website with the headline "Taking execu- tive action if Republicans continue to cower to the NR A." Sure, the National Rifle Asso- ciation, with a reported 5 million members nationwide, is an influ- ential policy group. But is it really running the Re- publican Party on gun policy? How about if I propose a coun- ter-headline? "Taking action against a culture of death if Democrats continue to cower to Planned Parenthood"? My guess is if I ask which orga- nization has more political sway, the NR A or Planned Parenthood, many would say the NR A — proba- bly because of our left-wing media. But pull up OpenSecrets, the website of the Center for Respon- sive Politics, which tracks money in U.S. politics. What you will find is that in 2018, the NR A made political con- tributions of $ 873,071. Planned Parenthood made political contri- butions totaling $7,183,139, more than eight times greater than those of the NR A, 99.5 percent of which went to Democratic candi- dates or to organizations support- ing them. The Center for Responsive Pol- itics ranks Planned Parenthood No. 54 out of 19,225 making po- litical contributions, and the NR A No. 543. Is it relevant to bring Planned Parenthood into this discussion about guns? Yes. As I have been arguing all along, we cannot get to an appropriate ap- proach for dealing with guns with- out considering the culture that produces deranged, detached, vi- olent loners. Sen. Harris reports on her cam- paign site, "In 2017, nearly 40,000 people were killed by guns in America." But also in 2017, 332,757 chil- dren were destroyed in the womb at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. Want to tell me that this third of a million babies who were de- stroyed, whose heartbeats could have been discernable at six weeks, and who could have felt pain at 20 weeks, were not alive? For sure the perpetrators of death, most recently in Texas and Ohio, did not see those they mur- dered as living, breathing human beings created in the image of God. Yet Harris declares: "We are liv- ing through an all-out assault be- ing waged on women's health and reproductive rights. ... States have mandated that women submit to in- vasive ultrasounds ... and placed onerous and medically unneces- sary restrictions on health clin- ics. ... Their sole purpose is limit- ing access to abortion." No. Their sole purpose is pro- tecting innocent unborn life. Regarding guns, Harris says, "Fine, if you want to go hunting, but we need reasonable gun safety laws." And she says that, as pres- ident, she would deal with this through executive order if Con- gress would not pass legislation within 100 days. But the Second Amendment, as Sen. Harris should know, is not pri- marily about going hunting. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 40 percent of Americans live in a gun-owning household, and the major reason for gun ownership, per 67 percent of respondents, is protection. Only 38 percent say it is hunting. One of the plaintiffs in the land- mark 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, in which the Supreme Court confirmed the right of indi- viduals to own and bear arms, in- dependent of service in a militia, was a black woman. Shelly Park- er, from the District of Columbia, wanted to have a gun for protec- tion in her crime-ridden neighbor- hood where she was threatened by local drug dealers. DC prohibited her from having a gun. Our Declaration of Indepen- dence declares our God-given