The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Feburar y 10, 2021 B-5 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 Race for the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder By Rev. Ford Bond A new GOP future beyond President Trump The Congressional Budget Office now projects that economic recovery in 2021 will be faster than it predicted last July. It projects that the economy will be back to its pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021. This very good news re- flects the fact that the economic turn- down was not as severe as the CBO had expected, and that the recovery was stronger than expected. Former President Donald Trump, re- cently rejected for reelection by Ameri- can voters, can take full credit for this. These are the dividends of the strong economy that the Trump administra- tion put in place through well-directed tax cuts and deregulation. Let's again recall that last Septem- ber, 55 percent of Americans told Gal- lup that they were "better off now" than they were four years ago. This is the highest percentage since Gallup first asked the question in 1984. Most astounding is that this question was asked in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, most still saw themselves better off than four years earlier. Across the board, the Trump pres- idency was transformational and in- deed went a long way to "make Ameri- ca great again." Among many important accomplish- ments, Trump departed leaving an economy much stronger than the one he inherited, likewise with our court system and the support received by the pro-life movement to end abortion. It is also essential to note how he re- markably achieved peace accords in the Middle East that no one ever dreamed possible. That there are peace accords be- tween Israel and a lineup of Arab and Muslim countries — the most recent announcement coming from Kosovo, a majority-Muslim Balkan nation, which has announced its intent to open an em- bassy in Jerusalem — is mind-boggling. We might say that just as Donald Trump defied convention in getting elected to the presidency, he defied convention in failing to get reelected. Despite tangible and meaningful achievements, Trump departed with an approval rating of 34 percent and was the first president in history to not crack a 50 percent approval rating for the duration of his presidency. I will leave it to others to speculate why President Trump failed to connect with sufficient numbers of American voters, despite a presidency of remark- able achievement. One obvious answer is a decidedly left-leaning and hostile media. Certainly, President Trump must take some credit for this failure with voters because of his personal style, which, to say the least, is not always the most endearing to those who are not already on board with him. The extraordinarily strong Republi- can showing in House elections, with Republicans picking up 13 seats, en- forces the sense that the repudiation of Donald Trump in the presidential elec- tion was not a repudiation of his poli- cies and accomplishments but rather a personal repudiation. The question is: What now for the Republican Party? How does the party pick up the pieces, regroup, refocus and advance forward once again? I would suggest more focus on what, rather than who. Republicans need to get the discus- sion back on agenda and away from per- sonalities. President Trump was taking Amer- ica in the right direction. That direc- tion, refocusing on the core principles that indeed made American great to be- gin with, is certainly the place to start: limited government, capitalism, sanc- tity of life, faithfulness to our Constitu- tion and the rule of law. As our national debt spins out of con- trol, and as our new government, which thinks it can print and borrow money to no end, clamps down on business and individual freedom, America will again start down the wrong path that President Trump worked hard to get us off of. As Republicans regroup, I think of the words often attributed to General MacArthur: "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the new weekly news talk show "Cure America with Star Parker." Continued on page 6 I was listening to a program on EWTN cable T V. I quickly get tired and upset when I listen to the secu- lar media, so I really limit the time I spend watching them. TBN and EWTN on cable or streaming seem to get me into a bet- ter frame of mind. They tend to pres- ent more inspiring and uplifting top- ics. You see, when the human mind is immersed in a toxic soup of neg- ative and controversial news, noisy and sometimes hateful conversa- tions, there comes a point it can re- ally bring anyone down. One of the topics I watched was about the power of words. It was quite an impressive discussion of how words can have a tremendous influence on our journey in life. The speaker, Dr. Scott Hahn, a respect- ed theologian and professor, started his presentation this way. Consider simple words put togeth- er and shared with you. "You're hired." Or "You're fired." " I love you." Or"I hate you.". " Go away," or "Please stay." " You're welcome" or "You're not wel- come." " I miss you." Or " I don't miss you." " I don't care." Or " I do care." And many other similar expressions. Sometimes just saying nothing can be good, or saying nothing can also be bad. The point is, in human conversations we have to be careful what we say, for they carry their own weight, whether it is go- ing to be uplifting or hurtful. Studies have shown beyond doubt that even in the womb, when expect- ant mothers speak to their babies in a positive, soothing, loving manner, the babies tend to be healthier and bigger. When children are spoken to with caring and loving words, they be- come more well-adjusted and relate better in life. They tend to be hap- py and successful in their en- deavors. When adults speak or communicate with each other in a respectful and civ- il way, better outcomes are achieved. ••• Another thing he brought up is since we are endowed with intellect and free will, we can make good or not so good choices. We are the highest form of rank in the animal kingdom. Ani- mals do not decide based on intellect and free will, they act on instincts. So that brings up the point, we hu- man beings do have a soul, and we are able to articulate our thoughts, share ideas, and, unfortunately sometimes, express ill will and hate through the power of words. Think and recall the happy times My Point of View By H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Words have power Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Give Me a Break By John Stossel Real socialism Eye on the Economy By Stephen Moore Biden wants to kill 80 percent of America's energy Prepare for Lent! COVID has blindsided the Church. When the nation was asked to shelter in place in March 2020, the Church was "promised" it would be open for Easter [April 12]. Government offi- cials knew at the highest level that that was not going to happened. We were lied too and the lies continue. A new order [cult] of priests with an organized ecclesiastical order and commandments has emerged from within government known as the COVID Church. The High Priests in the white coats have declared COVID a deity to be feared and obeyed. The High Priest proclaimed "Don't be afraid, but the virus is re- al and it is a danger to all the vulner- able. You must do whatever you are told to protect them. If you don't fol- low the rules, you are literally trying to kill grandma. Attending Church is similar to having a COVID party. Stay closed until further notice." Now we have a miracle vaccine that only took sixmonths to produce. That is a record that busts the aver- age time from 7 to 10 years down to months. Truly a miracle out of scrip- ture. However, the High Priests of COVID has decreed this is no time to have a Super Bowl party or let our guard down. Variant 2, 3 and may- be 4 might be emerging in revenge. Whether this is true is not the issue. The Church has been neutered and there is no outcry. I am still incised that I could not be with at least two parishioners before serious surgery. I emailed our governor and I AM STILL WAITING ON HIS REPLY. The men in the white coats of the COVID Church, who live as I do out- side of the hospital, were granted a special dispensation so they could administer medicine, but I was not deemed worthy enough to pray in JE- SUS name over my parishioners be- cause I had not been initiated into the Mysteries of the Church of the COVID. What concerns me is what wreck- age it has caused to the Church of Je- sus Christ. Christians in every cen- tury have wondered if "these are the last days? " Jesus warned there would come a time after Christianity had emerged triumphant, it would expe- rience tribulation and decline. This fear has invaded the local Church. Pastors won't do funerals. I have read more than one article where pastors uses untenable theo- logical gymnastics to defend his/her position. Pastors by the hundreds of thousands died during the Black Death, Chaplains have died by the tens of thousands in wars, men and women called by God have died of diseases; the commonality is their calling put them in "harm's way" and they accepted the call. The High Priests of COVID has bewitched the 21st century Church forcing it to seek sanctuary behind closed doors, zoom meetings, and livestreaming forgetting what the word Ecclesia means. I know I reside in the minority because I see no protesting in the streets and the Church as a whole remains closed with messages on their marquees saying "Join us for worship via livestream in your jam- mies." I have no choice but to find a middle approach because there is no middle ground in "should the church be open for in-person worship? " Beloved saints of God, the Church of Jesus Christ has been scammed, and the proof is in front of our eyes The aggregate death rate for COVID is around two percent; Indiana's mor- tality rate is 0.0177 which means your chances of surviving COVID is 99.98 percent. In a recent CNN piece, the aggregate survival rate is 98.269; try having a conversation about what this means, you will be shamed, called a monster, you only care about yourself; you are a threat to the COVID Church! Regardless of how and why we got here, the important thing is the Church needs to repent of our fol- ly and move on. At the most criti- cal time of this pandemic the most vulnerable were forced to die alone and the Church did not resist; it did not storm the sickrooms and of- fer the grace of God to the dying; we obeyed the COVID high Priests and remained sheltered in place and prayed we didn't die; however Anti- fa and the SJW didn't get the memo. Now as EASTER 2021 approach- es, the COVID High Priest is sug- People hate America's big dis- parities in wealth. It's a reason why, among young people, socialism is as popular as capitalism. The Democratic Socialists of America want a country based on "freedom, equality and solidarity." That sure sounds good. But does socialism bring that? My new video debunks several myths about socialism. One reason for socialism's con- tinued appeal is linguist Noam Chomsky. For generations, his work has taught students that capitalism is "a grotesque catastrophe." I assumed the fall of the Sovi- et Union would put an end to such misinformation. It did — for about a month. But since then, the lust for social- ism has come back strong. Today, Chomsky says that the Soviet Union "was about as remote from socialism as you could imagine." "Absurd! " responds economist Ben Powell, author of "Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World." When the Soviets made private businesses illegal, says Powell, "that's about as close as the world ever saw" to pure socialism. Now that the Soviet Union is gone, MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi says, "there is no true socialist country that exists." No? What about Cuba, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Venezuela? Velshi didn't re- spond when we asked him. Venezuela was once Latin Amer- ica's richest coun- try. Now it's the poorest. Many in the media claim that its fall has "nothing to do with socialism," just "poor governance." John Oliver says, "Chavez's pro- grams could have been sustainable if he pursued a sound economic pol- icy." "Yeah," laughs Powell. "Sustain- able if he had a sound economic pol- icy called capitalism." I push back. "Why does it have to be capitalism? " Why not socialism without bad management? "That's the nature of socialism! " Powell replies. "Their economic pol- icies fail to adjust to reality because economic reality evolves every day. It's millions of decentralized entre- preneurs and consumers making fine-tuning adjustments." Powell notes that in our capital- ist society, when COVID-19 hit, businesses quickly adjust- ed. Restaurants switched to takeout and delivery. They built outdoor patios with heat lamps. Supermarkets opened early so the elderly could shop with less risk. Al- cohol companies started pro- ducing hand sanitizer. Ford used its 3D printers to make face masks. The media whined about "lack of federal direction," but no cen- tral authority could direct all those individual adjustments in thousands of different places. In fact, federal di- rection would have prevented it. "In a socialist economy, you get a one-size-fits-all adjustment," adds Powell. "You miss out on this learn- ing process where entrepreneurs copy others when they see things successful and stop doing it when it's not." By contrast, "In a market economy, everybody's little adjust- ments get tested, and we get to see what works." In America, Blockbuster video was a great success. But then Net- flix offered something better — no driving to a store, no late fees. Be- When giving speeches and talking to audiences, I've often been struck by how few Americans, even those who are highly educated, have any idea where the energy they use in their home or business comes from. I've asked college students where the electric power is generated, and they shrug and then point to the electric socket in the wall. The electric cur- rents just come magically through that plug. For millennials, supporting green energy is cool and even virtuous. It's a popular and costless way to save the planet — until the power doesn't flow through the grid. Then the lap- tops, hairdryers, Netflix shows, com- puter games and iPhones run out of juice. That may happen one of these days — and in the not-too-distant future ( just ask Californians about blackouts), when the sun isn't shin- ing and the wind isn't blowing. Which brings me to President Joe Biden's take-no-prisoners approach to energy. The goals: kill fossil fu- els; stop the building of pipelines; enter internation- al treaties that out- law fossil fuel use; end drilling on fed- eral lands; strangle the oil and gas in- dustries with reg- ulatory assaults. And then throw bil- lions and perhaps trillions of tax dol- lars at wind and so- lar farms. So, let's go back to the question I ask students: How much of our en- ergy needs today are met with fossil fuels — the so-called dirty energy? The U.S. Energy Information Ad- ministration recently released a chart showing the latest official da- ta on U.S. energy production sourc- es from the Department of Energy. Some 80 percent of all our energy comes from oil, gas and coal. Less than 5 percent comes from wind and solar. Somehow, Biden is going to magically flip these percentages around in five or 10 years? Even the federal forecasters who support renewable en- ergy think that is highly un- likely. Even if Biden were able to quadruple American produc- tion of green energy over the next decade — a huge under- taking — we will be meeting about 25 percent of our pow- er needs. Where will we get the other 75 percent of our electric power and transportation fuels? Bat- tery-operated cars such as Teslas and Chevy Volts need electric pow- er to recharge the massive batteries. As we produce less oil and gas do- mestically, two bad things will hap- pen. First, gas prices are going to rise rapidly — perhaps to above $4 a gallon. Prices have already start- ed to rise at the pump to more than $2.50 a gallon in many markets. Sec-