The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1160621
C-8 Wednesday, August 28, 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 Time to move on My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Technology in cars Minority View by Walter E. Williams Social Security Matters by by Russell Gloor What will they learn at college? Medicare and Social Security Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 For many parents, August is a month of both pride and tears. Pride because their teenager is taking that big educational step and tears because for many it's the beginning of an empty nest. Yet, there's a going-away-to-college question that far too few parents ask or even contemplate: What will my youngster learn in college? The American Council of Trust- ees and Alumni provides some answers that turn out to be quite disturbing. ACTA evaluated ev- ery four-year public university as well as hundreds of private colleg- es and universities. That's more than 1,100 institutions that enroll nearly 8 million students, more than two-thirds of all students enrol led in four-year liberal arts schools nationwide. ACTA's find- ings were published in their report "What Will They Learn? 2018 -19." It doesn't look good. The ACTA assigned grades tell some of the story. Just 23 (2 per- cent) of the over 1,100 colleges earn an A grade; 343 colleges (31 percent) earn a B grade; 347 (31 per- cent) get a C grade; 273 (24 percent) earn a D; and 134 (12 percent) colleges earn an F. If you're thinking that your youngster will get a truly lib- eral arts education, you are sad- ly mistaken. It turns out that less than half of the schools studied re- quire courses in traditional litera- ture, foreign language, U.S. gov- ernment or history and econom- ics. At some colleges, students can fulfill their humanities require- ment with a course ti- tled "Global X: Zom- bies! " A U.S. cultur- al pluralism require- ment can be fulfilled with "The Economics of 'Star Trek.'" And an arts and Literature re- quirement can be ful- filled with either the "History of Comics" or "Game Design for Non-Majors." Colleges often do not live up to their own promises. In college mis- sion statements, as well as their course catalogs, they frequently exalt the virtues of a "well-round- ed" liberal arts education. The re- Dear Rusty: I know that when a person turns 65 he or she must enroll in Medicare. I have been informed that the charge for this would be deducted from the So- cial Security benefit, if it has been claimed. Otherwise, this will be another payment for my medi- cal care, in addition to my exist- ing coverage. Explain the relation- ship between the two programs and considerations in timing the claim for the SSA benefit—Signed: Frugal Senior Dear Frugal Senior: If you are already collecting Social Security benefits you will be automatically enrolled in Medicare about three months prior to your 65th birthday but, if not, enrollment can be do- ne by contacting Social Security directly. You must enroll in Medi- care at age 65, unless you have oth- er "creditable" healthcare cover- age (such as from an employer) or you will be subject to a late en- rollment penalty for enrolling after expira- tion of your initial en- rollment period (your "IEP"). Your "IEP" is a seven-month win- dow which starts three months before the month you turn 65 and ends three months after the month you turn 65. You should check with your employer to make sure your existing coverage is "creditable" and, if it is, you can delay enrolling in Medicare until such time as that other coverage ends and thus avoid a late enroll- ment penalty for not enrolling in Medicare Part B during your IEP. When your employer coverage ends, you'll enter a "special en- rollment period" dur- ing which you can en- roll in Medicare Part B (and Part D, which is prescription drug cov- erage) without incur- ring a late enrollment penalty. Medicare Part A (hospitalization coverage) is free if you are also eligible for Social Security benefits (you don't have to be collecting SS, only eligible). Medicare Part B provides cover- age for doctors and outpatient ser- vices and there is a premium asso- Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Israel right to shut out Tlaib and Omar Lucid Moments By Bart Stinson The value of a job This is not a memorial message for the church-but a clarion call for meeting the culture of the un- saved where they are-Not where you want them to be! In our era, Christians and churches are wrestling and griev- ing over the death of the church they knew and grew up within. Some within our ranks talk of the glory days of their church as if what it was-still is. They long for life and the church to be like it was portrayed on The Andy Griffith Show; those days are past and many are grieving and struggling to accept we are living in a post- Christian America. Elisabeth Kubler Ross many years ago suggested that grief proceeds through four stages, and eventually acceptance [the last stage] brings about a reformula- tion of life without what was lost. Those of us past the age of 40 recog- nize that gone are the Sundays when stores where closed and there were no chil- dren sports. Gone are the Sundays where Church, fam- ily, and rest was the focus. Gone are the days when the ques- tion was—which church do you attend? Gone are the days when Church programs drew at least the curious and lukewarm to church. Our culture has outpaced the ability of the church to recog- nize and respond to this change and cultural shift. More than one church has been unable to face the reality that the church climate has changed, and their once attractive church "pro- gram" no longer draws in the "folks." Churches that are stuck in this model [known as "The Attrac- tive Model"], refuse to recognize Andy is no longer sheriff of May- berry, and harbor un- realistic expectations of their pastor. The Andy Griffith crowd still wants a male pastor. In addition, along with his wife they are to run ALL church ministries [and have adorable well mannered children]. They want to go to church on Sun- Out of curiosity, I started read- ing up on the latest bells and whis- tles of new vehicles. Since I start- ed learning how to drive cars way, way back, I was always fascinated with different kinds of cars. The different makes, different shapes and designs, and the different progress made to make vehicles safer and very comfortable. For you who once upon a time belonged to the eras of the 50s, 60s, 70s and to the new millen- nia, you know how comfortable and safer vehicles are now. Re- member those distant times when headlights were just a few notch up above candlelights, then slowly and progressively, the headlights have became so bright and even some are blinding. Remember those times when you just hear a few radio sta- tions and they crack- le when you are out of range from radio towers. Now satellites give 24/7 varieties of music, news, sports, T V programs, etc, etc. and they experi- ence no interruptions or loss of reception. I remember as well when phones were not avail- able for connectivity to the sound system of the car. Now Bluetooth makes it a lot safer to talk to some- body without taking your eyes off the road and just focus on driving. You can even voice prompt the phone to make calls for you. I remember those days when I carried a beeper, then when I'm paged, I had to look for a gas station to make a phone call to the switchboard of the hospital. Then prog- ress- I was thrilled to eventually own a 12-inch cellu- lar phone that looked like a walk- ie-talkie or a talkie-walkie from W W2. It was heavy and batter- It perplexes me why anyone would question the perfectly logical move by Israel to deny Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar entry to the country. Who invites guests whose motive is to destroy their host? We certainly don't do it in the USA. No one, elected official or not, is permitted entry into the USA whose agenda is the destruction of our country. Both Tlaib and Omar are aggres- sive supporters of the BDS move- ment — boycott, divest, sanction — whose objective is economic stran- gulation of Israel. They are voices of unremitting hostility toward Israel's existence. Let's get some perspective. According to Tlaib, the BDS movement is a freedom movement. She tweeted that she is "tired of folks discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom." But Tlaib's agenda is not freedom. It's about eliminating Israel. Freedom House is a nonpartisan organization in Washington, D.C., that issues an annual report rank- ing nations around the world accord- ing to freedom — measuring politi- cal rights and civil liberties in each country. Freedom House ranks countries in three categories, "free," "partly free" and "not free." In the region that Freedom House calls Middle East and North A frica, there are 21 countries and territo- ries, and only two are ranked free, Israel and Tunisia, with Israel receiv- ing the highest total freedom score in the region. The total population of the region is 420 million, and of the 420 million, 5% are free, including Israel's tiny population of 8.9 million. So freedom is the exception rath- er than the rule in the Middle East, and Israel is the shining light. Yet Is- rael is the only country in the region that seems to bother Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Have we heard a word from them about the 95 percent — nearly 400 million — in the region who are not free? Of course not. They do not lose sleep because there is not enough freedom in the world. They lose sleep because Is- rael exists. There's more. Although the West Bank, where Tlaib's grandmother lives, and Ga- za are not sovereign countries, Free- dom House identifies them as terri- tories and includes them in its free- dom rankings. Both are ranked "not free" and have rock-bottom scores. This is not because of Israel. Pal- estinians have autonomy in their in- ternal affairs. Why doesn't Tlaib speak to the fact that where Palestinians do have control over their own affairs, they choose to live under a corrupt, un- free regime? In 2005, Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza, and Palestinians as- sumed full control. What did they do? Rather than starting to build, they announced, "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem," and started firing rockets into Israel. Meanwhile, as part of the oper- ation, Israel uprooted 8,500 Israe- li settlers who were living there. Despite protesting being evacuat- ed from their homes, these Israelis accepted the fact, and some moved eastward into the desert, which, in short order, they irrigated and made bloom — characteristic of the histo- ry of Israel. Within five years, they were ex- porting $50 million per year of or- ganic vegetables. According to the Pew Research Center, there are 49 Muslim-ma- jority countries in the world. Two, per Freedom House, are free. But what bothers Tlaib and Omar is the world's single Jewish country, Isra- el, which is free. You would think they would ad- mire and want to help others emu- late the social and economic mira- cle that Israelis have created in their young country. Instead they spread hate and blame. A former prime minister of Israel, Golda Meir, famously said, "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." Labor Day is making a come- back nowadays as economic is- sues have become more conten- tious. Class warfare is in vogue. And I have to admit that I am, by instinct, a class warrior. I resent and envy people who have what I want, and what I feel I deserve. But this is mostly irrational. Generally speaking, wealth is not fixed. You don't have to strip the other guy of his to get yours. And he probably didn't get his by de- priving you of yours. This is especially true in the new, collaborative economy, in which transparent information- sharing increases productivity, efficiency, growth, and therefore overall wealth. To get more wealth, be more helpful to other people. Solve more and larger problems. But what about people who have nothing of value to trade with their counterparts? What about people who have no ingenious solutions to offer in the market? Historical- ly, we have had to begin by trad- ing our time and work as wage em- ployees. With a job, you can accumulate savings for investment but you can also invest in yourself, in the skills and work habits that build your reputation. If you can get started and stay at it, there is a well-worn path to success in front of you. Since World War II, Americans have been assured of the opportu- nity to get a start. Except for a few episodes of recession, we've had the opportunity to "start at the bot- tom." But that opportunity has fallen into disrepute. Starting at the bot- tom is often seen as an indignity, as a dead end. It can be, of course. But it needn't be. It's up to the worker to build a record and reputation than can serve as a platform for advancement and opportunity. There will be obstacles and hos- tile personalities, but overcoming is part of the skill set, part of the opportunity. Armed with an overcoming mindset and the humility to start at the bottom, an ambitious young person is, in my opinion, almost unstoppable. I say "almost" because there are some deadly pitfalls. One is eth- ical. The resourceful overcom- er can self-sabotage by unethical shortcuts that lead to disgrace or even prosecution. It's usually the temptation of "something for noth- ing." Something-for-nothing is not al- ways a dark private secret. It can be a grand public crusade, a polit- ical movement. There is current- ly something of an orgy of some- thing-for-nothing underway in the Democratic presidential primary campaign. Whether it's student loan for- giveness, Medicare for all, free college tuition or a guaranteed minimum income, the Democrat- ic candidates carefully avoid ask- ing any toil or sacrifice of their sup- plicants. But in this, they are de- priving their supporters of some- thing very precious. In microcosm, something very similar is proposed in minimum wage legislation. The candidates tell us that the legal minimum wage is "too low." But too low for what? Too low to finance a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, and too low to independently support a family, of course. But too low to establish good work habits, too low to dem- onstrate punctuality and resource- fulness, too low to earn trust and gain self-confidence? Too low to win a trustworthy reputation and references for launch to the next level? Hardly. That would be so for the true minimum wage, as opposed to the legal minimum wage. And the true minimum wage is always zero. That's how much you make when there is no job for you, when your labor has been priced out of the market by minimum wage laws. I used to pass through Seattle a couple of times per month, and was there when social justice pan- derers enacted dramatic minimum wage increases. Almost immediately, small downtown restaurants began to