The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1400710
B-4 Wednesday, August 11, 2021 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 Time to overturn Roe v. Wade In May, the Supreme Court put abortion on the docket for its up- coming session by agreeing to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The high court's decision to hear this case registered on the seismom- eter of every American that carefully follows the abortion issue. It means that Roe v. Wade, which has defined abortion reality in the country since 1973, is open to review and could be overturned. The Mississippi law in question, which bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, was struck down by an appeals court in 2019. The state then appealed to the Supreme Court. Last week, Mississippi's attorney general submitted its brief to the Su- preme Court. A central point of contention will be the issue of viability. Viability — the point at which the unborn child can survive outside of the womb — has been the legal criterion for draw- ing the line beyond which a woman's alleged right to destroy the child within her is no longer assumed. Given that viability is assumed to occur at 24 weeks, the 15 -week pro- vision of the Mississippi law upends this standard. The Mississippi attorney general questions the relevance of the viabil- ity standard, challenging particular- ly that there is any basis for it in the Constitution. But we must dig deep here, be- cause we're not just dealing with the question of viability of the unborn child. We are dealing with questions about the viability of our society and our country. Can we really function as a society and as a nation while turning away from the most central issue that any society faces — awe of the mystery of life? There might indeed be a point in time when an unborn child can be re- moved from its mother and physical- ly survive. But although there may be a point where that child might not need its mother to survive, it still needs others. Someone must take care of that child, meaning some- one must care about that child's life. If not, that child will die. So, the legal idea of viability that has been sustaining the Roe v. Wade world really has no meaning. In 2014, the Vatican hosted an in- ternational colloquium on "The Com- plementarity of Man and Woman." Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the U.K., gave an address about marriage. He spoke of "the idea of the love that brings new life into the world." Sacks ob- served that "life begins when male and female meet and embrace." It is hard to believe that in our na- tion today, when there is so much outrage about racism, many of those who see racism as a problem do not see indifference to the sanctity of life as a problem. But if all life is not sacred, if every human being is not a unique creation in the image of God, what is wrong with being a racist? Why would slavery be a problem if every human being is not a divine creation? It is no accident that following the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, we have seen a collapse of the Ameri- can family and now the general col- lapse of birth itself. The Wall Street Journal reported last week: "In half of all states last year, more people died than were born, up from five states in 2019. Ear- ly estimates show the total U.S. pop- ulation grew 0.35% for the year end- ed July 1, 2020, the lowest ever doc- umented, and growth is expected to remain near flat this year." A society without family and chil- dren, with increasing drug overdos- es and suicides, with reports of far too great a frequency of individuals pointlessly murdering people they don't know, is a society whose soul is in bad shape. Restoring sanctity of life in the womb is a good place to start turn- ing things around. My prayer is that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree. Star Parker is president of the Cen- ter for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker." Unfair competition "Why do I have to compete against a male body? " complains mountain bike racer Leia Schneeberger in my new video. She and others are upset because today, some transgender women, people born male but who identify as female, are winning sports com- petitions. Schneeberger regularly won bicy- cle races, until a former men's cyclist transitioned, competed as a woman, and rode away from her. "How did this happen? " asks Schneeberger. "I just want to be able to compete on a fair playing field." But no playing field is perfectly fair, says trans athlete Joanna Harp- er. Harper is also a scientist who ad- vised the Olympic committee. She points out that transgender compet- itors often take testosterone block- ers that help align their body with how they identify. As a result, "Trans women lose muscle, lose strength, lose endurance." "Within nine months of my start- ing hormone therapy," she says, "I was running 12 % slower." That's why sport organizations like the Olympics and NCA A require trans athletes to undergo hormone therapy. Trans sprinter Cece Telfer, who won an NCA A championship, says, "As a trans athlete, I am not a threat to women's sports. Because I am a woman! " But before Telfer transitioned, when she competed as a man, she wasn't the champion she is now. She ranked 390th best. I point that out to Harper. "I have to admit I am somewhat at a loss to explain it," Harper responds. "However, there are hundreds of NCA A championships awarded ev- ery year. ... The idea that trans wom- en are hugely going to outperform ciswomen does not hold up to the sta- tistics." Yes, it does, says biologist Emma Hilton who co-authored a review on trans women in sports. She found that in most every cat- egory, men are much stronger. Tes- tosterone blockers just can't close the gap. "A male could be 40 % stronger than a female on his legs," she says. "Things like shoulder width don't change when transgender women suppress testosterone. They don't get shorter. Their hearts don't get smaller. They've still got big lungs. The performance gap in weightlift- ing is over 30 % ... throwing a base- ball over 50 % ... when a male punch- es, 160 % ." I support adults who want to tran- sition. People should be allowed to be whoever they want to be. But why should they be allowed to compete in top level events like the Olym- pics? This year, there was only one trans woman competing, a weightlift- er from New Zealand. She didn't win a medal. But in the future, there will prob- ably be more. I think that's unfair. Harper disagrees. "Trans wom- en will not be outperforming cisgen- der women by such a margin in most sports that we can't have reasonable competition." She says sports already allow for certain advantages. Some players are taller; some have better coach- ing. "Richer nations win the major- ity of Olympic medals." Still, few female competitors con- sider transwomen's advantage "rea- sonable." The New Zealand weightlifter who lost her spot to the trans ath- lete didn't think it was fair, but said she and others were told to stay qui- et about it. Athletes won't speak up, says Schneeberger, because "they don't want to lose sponsorship opportuni- ties (or) be called a bigot." Currently, most states, supported by the Biden administration, allow trans student athletes to compete, even without hormone therapy. As a result, some trans athletes now dominate some high school girls' sports. In Connecticut, two transgender sprinters won 15 cham- pionships. It's "not because they were trans that they were winning; they were just faster! "says Veronica Ivy, a trans athlete who won bike sprint cham- pionships. "These fears that trans women are a threat to women's sport Take a bow, America. It's official and irrefutable: The U.S. is blow- ing out the rest of the world in tech leadership. No other country in the world comes anywhere close in tech innovation and the dominance of our made-in-America 21st-century com- panies. The NASDAQ index of once-small technology companies reached 15,000 last week. Only a few years ago, that index stood at 5,000. Yes, these companies have tripled in their market cap value — and that doesn't include the dividends that have been paid out to large and mom-and-pop shareholders in America and across the planet. We are told constantly that China is catching up and achieving remark- able digital-age leaps forward in bio- technology, artificial intelligence, green energy, robotics, 5G technol- ogies and microchips. My friend George Gilder, who has written the wonderfully thought-provoking book about the future, "Life A fter Google," is high on Chinese tech companies. We should be ever vigilant. But the value of America's 12 most valuable companies today in terms of stock valuation is well over $10 tril- lion. Those red, white and blue com- panies from Silicon Valley to the "Sili- con Slopes" of Utah to Boston to north- west Arkansas are worth roughly as much as all of the Chinese publicly traded companies combined. Firms such as Google — many of which didn't even exist 30 years ago — have made millionaires of your next-door neighbor. Ordinary peo- ple are getting rich beyond anyone's imagination 50 years ago, thanks to American innovation and inventive- ness. Risk-taking, old-fashioned can-doism is a hallmark of this un- rivaled success story that has never been matched anywhere at any time in world history. Almost all of this is a tribute to American financial markets that al- locate capital in hyperefficient ways. Capitalists doing a spectacular job of allocating capital efficiently is our secret sauce to finan- cial and technological suc- cess. I am always mystified when highly successful Wall Street investors can't explain how it is they add value and some- times concede that they are just unnecessary middlemen. Even Warren Buffett, one of the greatest of all time, ex- presses guilt about his billions, as if he and other great financiers are eco- nomic parasites. No. Steering finan- cial resources to winners like Goo- gle, not losers like Solyndra, makes everyone in America richer. Meanwhile, few politicians have any clue of how capital markets cre- ate wealth and jobs and shared pros- perity in America. If they did, they would appreciate that without capi- talists and capital, there is no enter- prise — no material progress. They would instantly understand the eco- The Senate unveiled its long-awaited $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill on Mon- day. In a textbook example of Wash- ington dysfunction, members and the public will only have a few days to re- view 2,702 pages of programs and pro- visions before it's voted on. Analysts from The Heritage Founda- tion have found a variety of flaws that should give pause to legislators in both chambers. 1. Adds Hundreds of Billions to the National Debt. With the national debt having in- creased $5.2 trillion since the start of 2020 (or $40,000 per household) and the economy at risk of serious infla- tion, America is in dire need of fiscal responsibility from the nation's lead- ers. Unfortunately, the Senate bill of- fers anything but. For starters, it bails out the High- way Trust Fund to the tune of $118 billion. The fund suffers from chron- ic deficits due to overspending. Rather than bring it into balance, senators are whipping out the national credit card, and then pretending they didn't when it comes to keeping score. 2. Fake and In- appropriate 'Pay- Fors.' The bill includes many provisions de- signed to pay for the spending spree, which are dubious, inappropriate, or both. This includes a laundry list of tired budget gimmicks, including the sale of oil from the Stra- tegic Petroleum Reserve, extending long-standing fees, and spectrum sales. Many of these gimmicks have a history of falling short of expectations. Another gimmick, known as "in- terest rate stabilization" (or "pension smoothing") would allow corporations to reduce pension contributions and in- crease their profit margins, leading to more revenue from the corporate in- come tax. This would shortchange the pension funds by roughly $ 9 billion for the sake of less than $ 3 billion in additional tax revenue. In an attempt to increase capital gains tax revenue, the bill also includes a rule that would force cryptocurrency companies to disclose person- al information on their users to the government. This surveil- lance mandate would be tech- nologically impossible for ma- ny key parts of the industry to comply with, including "min- ers" who maintain the networks, "stak- ers" who save in crypto, and even soft- ware developers, potentially driving these functions offshore altogether. While legislators anticipate a $28 billion tax windfall from crypto, it will almost certainly bring in far less. For example, an IRS probe into the Coin- base crypto exchange market led to on- ly $25 million in tax assessments. The bill also repurposes hundreds Race for the Cure By Star Parker Give Me a Break John Stossel Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Eye on the Economy By Stephen Moore US tech sector leads the world Heritage Viewpoint By David Ditch Points to Ponder By Rev. Curtis Bond Senate's $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill Individual rights no longer exist because of COVID-19 Continued on page 5 Last Sunday Dr. Anthony Fauci on ABC's "This Week Sunday" said, "The fact is, if you get infected, even if you are without symptoms, you very well may infect another person who may be vulnerable… So in es- sence, you are encroaching on their individual rights." To translate what Dr. Fauci said into simple English, the other person's rights are more important than your rights. Individ- ual rights no longer exist because of COVID-19. Americans have NO right to refuse an experimental vac- cine. Everyone must take the shot. The pentagon is set to announce all active-duty military must be vac- cinated. A former DHS official says there should be a no fly list for unvac- cinated people. New York City may- or Bill de Blasio will require proof of vaccination to enter all restau- rants, fitness centers and indoor en- tertainment venues. The mayor said, "If you're unvaccinated, unfortunate- ly, you will not be able to participate in many things." "If you want to par- ticipate in our society fully, you've got to get vaccinated." Papers, please. Not to vaccinate is no longer a question of personal choice. It is a mandate because big brother says so. What is insidious about this de- velopment is the federal or state gov- ernments do not have to pass any laws to enforce this edict. No politi- cian will take the heat back home at the polls come election. Non-elect- ed officials under the guise of "trust the science" have been handed carte blanch to force every Ameri- can to comply with their edict to "get the shot." The health and welfare of 350 -million Americans is being de- cided by unelected officials with no congressional debate, impediment, or legislation. Economic extortion and blackmail are being used to force compliance. Take the shot or you lose your job, or you cannot attend college, or do not shop or eat here. The Supreme Court has signaled employers and state agencies have the authority to demand their employees, students, or clients take the shot. You can re- fuse the jab, but you won't have a job, a college to attend, places to eat, ven- ues to attend, or eventually a place to live if cannot prove you are vac- cinated against COVID. Soon insur- ance companies, Medicare, Medic- aid, the many states' health, income, and housing programs will require policy holders or recipients to get the shot or no insurance or aid. Papers, please. Governments have misled their citizens throughout this pandemic. One year ago, it was two weeks to flatten the curve and to whip COVID. Now it's here to stay because of its variants and mutations. Americans wore masks until they were told they could quit wearing them. Citizens were told you could drop the masks and resume social gatherings if in- oculated. Now the edict is to wear masks inside and outside, regard- less. The goal posts are repeatedly being moved and not a peep from the media asking why? Citizens no longer value liberty. Americans are surrendering their liberties to "big brother" for a feeling of security. Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little tempo- rary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." We are witnessing how easy it is to get people to surrender their liberty. The apostle John said there are already many anti-Christs in the world. The anti-Christ will use Court