The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1220193
B-4 Wednesday, March 11, 2020 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 It's that time of the year again when I have to change time on all my clocks both at home, in my vehicles and my wristwatch for the Daylight Saving (not Sav- ings) time ritual. Year after year, I have to get aggravated by climb- ing a small ladder to change some clocks on some areas of my house, then those electric clocks on radi- os, microwave ovens, convection ovens, and vehicles have to be played with as well. It drives me bonkers trying to push the right buttons. And I'm telling you they are all different. And confusing. I bet many are in the same boat as I am. I bet you nobody is happy doing this aggra- vating ritual. Then there is this irritating thing that I have to try to make sure they all show the same exact time because if I don't, these clocks will confuse me for the next sever- al months. I learned a few tricks on how to push the right buttons on these electronic clocks just at about the right time so that they all show time in harmony. Some- times if one or two are about a few sec- onds late of each oth- er, then I just try to ig- nore it for months, till the next time change, sometime again in No- vember. Now that's just the beginning of the fun. I am al- so sure that all of us who travel in and out of two different time zones for appointments, for work, for socials, for travel, or for what- ever have to play or pay attention to CST or EST notations on time, or else you can really get messed up. • • • I have to try to see the lighter side of life. Here's something I re- member. Some years ago when Rose and I had to travel by plane to visit rel- atives in California, we booked a flight leaving from Louis- ville. We were confi- dent we wouldn't en- counter any glitches time-wise. When we arrived at the airport counter, we calmly showed our ticket and I noticed the lady who looked at our itinerary went into a trance. Then she point- ed at the big airport glass window and said, "Sir, there's your plane just taking off. You're a little too late. However, let me check when the next flight to your destination will be. It will be about 3 hours from now and I will try my best to get you and your wife into the next scheduled flight." It was quite a relief, but it was al- My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. What time is it? Minority View By Walter E. Williams Another African tragedy Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Here are a few headlines about an A frican tragedy: "A frica's Worst Locust Plague in Decades Threatens Millions" (The Wall Street Journal), "'Unprecedented' Locust Invasion Approaches Full- Blown Crisis" (Scientific Ameri- can), "Somalia Declares Locust Outbreak a 'National Emergency'" (The National) and "UN Calls for International Action on East A fri- ca Locust Outbreak" (Bloomberg Green). This ongoing tragedy is mostly man-made, according to an analysis by Paul Driessen, who is a senior policy adviser with the Committee for a Constructive To- morrow (CFACT) and the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Driessen says that billions of desert locusts have attacked the eastern A frica nations of Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. According to the U.N., the locust attack in Kenya is the worst in 70 years and the worst in 25 years for other east A frican na- tions. Locusts are destroying crops and threatening tens of millions of A fricans with lost livelihoods and starvation. These locust swarms can blanket 460 square miles at a time and consume more than 400 million pounds of vegetation daily. They reproduce fast, too, meaning locust swarms could be 500 times bigger in six months. A frica's locust plague is man- made. Economic development or- ganizations and ac- tivist nongovernmen- tal organizations have foisted "agroecolo- gy" on the poorest nations — an organ- ic-style agriculture. They promote the vir- tues of peasant farm- ing. So how do these poor farmers fight the locust plague? Dries- sen says: "Desperate A fricans are responding with 'time-tested' methods: whistling and shouting loudly, banging on metal buckets, waving blankets and sticks, crush- ing the bugs perhaps even roast- ing and eating them, under UN- approved nutrition programs. In Eritrea, they are using 'more ad- vanced' methods: hand-held and truck-mounted sprayers. In Kenya, police are firing machine guns and tear gas into the swarms! " Antonio Guterres of Portu- gal, the U.N. secretary-general, claimed global warming as a cause of the problem. He said there is a link between climate change and the unprecedented locust crisis plaguing Ethiopia and East A frica. Guterres said: "Warmer seas mean more cyclones generating the per- fect breeding ground for locusts. Today the swarms are as big as major cities and it is getting worse by the day." Guterres' sugges- tion that global warm- ing is the cause of to- day's plague is sheer nonsense. Locust in- festations have been feared and revered throughout mankind's history. Devastating locust attacks in Egypt around 1446 B.C. were mentioned in the Book of Exodus in the Bible. "The Iliad" describes locusts taking flight to escape fire. Plagues of locusts are also men- tioned in the Quran. Driessen concludes: "A primary reason this plague of locusts has overwhelmed East A frica — in- deed, perhaps THE primary rea- son — is that the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, other UN agencies and multiple environ- mentalist NGOs have been extol- ling and imposing 'agroecology' on A frica. This highly politicized Pursuit of the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Democratic establishment tries to bail out Biden Lent means surrendering to Jesus Allow me to ask, "Are you dis- cerning the Lord's Passion? " Dur- ing this season of Lent are you on a pilgrim's journey to seeking the face of God? American culture is ready to help in your quest with a variety of self-help books and personal- ities. This self-help craze to hit American culture in the mid 1960s and many gurus have emerged to claim he/she can help you open up "the real you." From television icon Oprah Winfry, noted sociol- ogist and social worker Whoopi Goldberg, and motivational speak- ers Zig Zigler, Tony Roberts, and Suze Orman. Dr. Phil takes a sim- ilar approach with "life coaches." Each has the same message-you need to know who you are. How- ever, secular self-help techniques will not work in the realm of the transcendent call to Christian dis- cipleship. To be motivated and di- rected is not in itself sinful or evil. Each of us must be motivated to get out of bed and do something with our lives. The message from our culture is not the same message of Christ. The message of the world is self- awareness, which should make each person aware that they are lustful, carnal, and crave the things of life often to the point of injury. But it fails. Know thyself? What starting point will you use to understand your drives and what makes "you- you." The ancient Greeks were aware of self-deception and rec- ognized the limitation of the sens- es and the intellect. The philosophy of the ages de- clares "man as the measure of all things." However long before hu- manity codified its wisdom, the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah wrote, "More than anything else (above all things), a person's mind is evil (the heart is deceitful; the heart is devious/crooked) and cannot be healed (it is desperately wicked; it is perverse/sick). Who can under- stand (know) it [Expanded Bible]? Our culture says, "Follow your heart." However, we already read it is deceitful. Men and women through the ages have relentless- ly through unabridged ambition stepped over all obstacles and peo- ple to be number "One! " They fol- lowed their heart, but what was the cost to others? God challenges humanity's focus upon itself and calls all to Him through Jesus Christ who said, "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of Men." To follow Christ means your impact upon humanity will transcend the tangible. Your work will not perish but be ever- lasting. Our world says, "Believe in yourself." Self-assurance is nec- essary in all aspects of business and sports. However, taken to ex- tremes it shuts out God because no person can excel to perfection and become self-sustainable. Life has boundaries, which no one has ever broken-except Jesus Christ! Jesus said, "Believe in me and you will have eternal life." Life in abundance cannot be earned or attained through self-awareness or effort. It is a gift of God. Jesus told those grieving at the death of His friend Lazarus, "I am the res- urrection and the life. Those who believe in me will have life even if they die. 26 And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? " Daily our children are prodded to "Discover yourself." Find your talents and use them. Discern what you are good at and do it! As a vocation for life, this is a good ad- monition. Often people have hid- den talents that go to waste. How- ever, not all interests and talents are worthy to pursue. Jesus asks of the disciple "Deny yourself, and follow me." This is not a popular cliché among a world focused upon itself. Jesus spoke of the cares and lusts of the world when he told those who would lis- ten, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit and you will find rest for your souls." We hear many people urge us to "Be true to yourself." This is a noble saying. Each person must Why in the world is the federal government, 20 years into the 21st century, continuing to pour tens of billions of tax dollars into little- used mass transit rail projects? In a digital age with increasing- ly popular and affordable door- to-door ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft, universal use of cars by all income groups and the revolution of smart driverless vehicles around the corner, sub- way systems and light rail are as old-fashioned as the rotary phone. The federal government and ur- ban planners in at least 25 cities are frantically spending money to lay down tracks that, in 10 or 20 years, they will have to rip right out of the ground. The scandal here is that mass transit is adding to traffic conges- tion problems across America. It is also blocking mobility as we divert billions of gas tax dollars, which are supposed to get spent on road repairs and expansions, to white elephant transit projects with mi- nuscule ridership that, in most cit- ies, is shrinking. Meanwhile, the public is increas- ingly infuriated by traffic gridlock. In 2018, the average driver lost $1,348 by sitting in traffic. Traffic congestion is now nearly a $100 billion annual tax on the economy. In cities such as Boston, Chi- cago and Los Ange- les, drivers lose the equivalent of three to four weeks a year sitting in traffic. By the way, every one of those cities has new or expanded transit systems that were designed to ease traffic con- gestion. The latest transportation data underscores the futility of transit as a solution to inner-city gridlock. Today, fewer than 1 in 20 commut- ers take transit to work. Yes, there are some densely populated cities where transit works and may even be indispensable—New York be- ing by far the leader in transit use, with Washington and San Francis- co not far behind. Almost every- where else, transit numbers are so trivial they have virtually no im- pact on traffic congestion. For ev- ery one person using transit, 18 are in cars. About as many people walk, scooter or bike to work as use transit. Yet urban planners arrogantly refuse to listen to what com- muters want, as they pour money into fash- ionable light rail sys- tems that people use the least. Transporta- tion expert Wendell Cox has noted that for the exorbitant cost of transit subsidies in many cities, "It would be less expensive for taxpay- ers to purchase every transit rider a brand-new Prius." But the subsidies keep rolling in. In Seattle, the urban transit enthu- siasts have come forward with a grandiose plan called Sound Tran- sit. It's a plan to spend $100 billion on new bus and rail projects over the next 25 years with car and gas taxes, tolls and fees. But its analy- sis shows it will lead to almost no reduction in traffic congestion in that sprawling and gridlocked city. For tens of billions of dollars less spent on new, smart road technol- Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 South Carolina Democratic vot- ers have revived Joe Biden's can- didacy. Maybe I should say that South Carolina Congressman Jim Cly- burn has. According to exit polls, 61% said Clyburn's endorsement of Biden was an "important factor" in their decision, and 27% said it was "the most important factor." Clyburn explained Biden is his friend and has been a reliable vote for government programs that blacks like. He also argued that with Biden on the ticket, reelection prospects for congressmen and congress- women running for election down ticket would be better. "We need to keep the House speakership under Nancy Pelosi," said Clyburn. Now, the whole Democratic es- tablishment is piling on to endorse Biden and push out Bernie Sand- ers. But are they being straight with us? It goes back to my column of a few weeks ago: "It doesn't matter which Democrat wins." Despite Sanders' socialist decla- rations, the realities that would re- sult under him or under Biden are barely distinguishable. The country is already well down the path to socialism. And without major reforms to take things in a different direction, it will only become more so. The saying popularized by Karl Marx, summing up the ethos of communism, was, "From each ac- cording to his ability, to each ac- cording to his needs." That is, those with political power get the final say regarding who has what. In our own country, we call these transfer payments. Govern- ment takes from one set of taxpay- ers and redistributes through gov- ernment programs to others. According to American Enter- prise Institute economist Mark Perry, in 1950, transfer payments made up of less than 20 % of the fed- eral budget. By 2012, they were 70 % . Former Senate Banking Com- mittee chairman Phil Gramm and former Bureau of Labor Statistics assistant commissioner John Ear- ly summarized the extent to which government now redistributes our economic resources (that is, how much socialism we already have) in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion column. Per Gramm and Early, "More than 80 % of all taxes" are paid by households with incomes in the top 40 % and "more than 70 % of gov- ernment transfer payments" go to households with incomes in the bottom 40 % . We're talking about programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps — all told, around 95 federal programs. The average household income in the bottom 20 % is $4,908, say Gramm and Early. That house- hold, they say, receives $45,389 in government transfers. Without reforms, American so- cialism will just expand. Unfunded liabilities — the pro- jection of shortfall in current tax- es to meet future requirements — of Social Security and Medicare are around $50 trillion, per trust- ees of the programs. That's more than twice our annual GDP. Government needs to take more taxes to keep these programs go- ing. That is, more socialism. What are the chances that Pres- ident Biden would introduce re- forms to bring more market forces into the picture? Did you say zero? So a President Sanders or Biden, in the end, wouldn't be much dif- ferent. At least Sanders is honest. However, for a sitting senior con- gressman like Jim Clyburn, vot- ing for Biden means his buddy of some 30 years would be sitting in the White House. Any question of whom he would prefer? You might ask, "Doesn't all this government make us a more moral society? " Consider that when the War on Poverty began in 1967, 70 % of those in households in the Heritage Viewpoint By Stephen Moore Mass transit is making gridlock worse