The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/619413
The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, December 23, 2015 C- 5 Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock Recycled wrapping paper NAILED IT broadcast. Just three weeks ago a fifty year anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas was aired. Inexplicitly, one guest found that the real story of Christmas is about the little Christmas tree that needed love. Such a diverse world we live in. Each of us can find our own meaning of Christmas [a line from the movie Christmas Va- cation]. But my question is how can a person outside of the faith celebrate Christmas in its full- ness, without Christ? It is pointless to argue and I concede that the church has lost the battle for Christmas, and it is no longer a religious holiday. Nevertheless, Christians can keep Christ at the central point in celebration. I left the reader dangling as to whether Charlie Brown finds the meaning of Christ- mas. Charlie Brown's friend Linus comes to rescue after he [Charlie Brown] exclaims in frustration "Isn't there any- one who knows what Christ- mas is all about? " Linus steps forward and says, "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." He asks for lights, and takes center stage and recites the Christmas Story from Luke's Gospel: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keep- ing watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the an- gel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For un- to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." He then he says, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." And that's what Christmas is all about. Can't improve on that story. Think about it, and have a Merry Christmas. Court Report Continued from page 4 TRUTH Continued from page 4 the University of California system. Instead of failing at Berke- ley or UCL A, these minori- ty students were now grad- uating from other campuses in the University of Califor- nia system. They were grad- uating at a higher rate, with higher grades, and now more often in challenging fields like math, science and tech- nology. Do the facts not matter to those who are denounc- ing Justice Scalia? Does the actual fate of minority stu- dents not matter to the left, as much as their symbolic presence on a campus? PART II The case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, in- volving racial double stan- dards in admissions to the University of Texas at Aus- tin, has an Alice-in-Wonder- land quality that has been all too common in other Su- preme Court cases involv- ing affirmative action in aca- demia, going all the way back to 1978. Plain hard facts dissolve into rhetorical mysticism in these cases, where eva- sions of reality have been the norm. One inconvenient reality is that racial double standards by government institutions are contrary to the "equal protection of the laws" pre- scribed by the 14th Amend- ment to the constitution. Therefore racial double stan- dards must be called some- thing else – whether "holis- tic" admissions criteria or a quest for the many magical benefits of "diversity" that are endlessly asserted but never demonstrated. Such mental gymnastics are not peculiar to the Su- preme Court of the United States. I encountered the same evasive language in other countries with group preference programs, dur- ing the years when I was do- ing research for my book "A ffirmative Action Around the World." This was one of the sadder examples of the brotherhood of man. When the courts in India tried to rein in some of the more extreme group quo- ta policies in academia, that only inspired more ingenuity by university officials, who came up with more subjec- tive admissions criteria. At one medical school in India's state of Tamil Nadu, those criteria included ex- tracurricular activities, "ap- titude" and "general abili- ties" – as determined by in- terviews that last– –approx- imately three minutes per applicant. The ratings on these vague, wholly sub- jective criteria could then be used to offset some stu- dents' academic deficiencies, and thus preserve group quo- tas de facto. Another common feature of group preference policies in various countries in differ- Continued from page 4 GLOOM us one free, and never going anywhere again since it was so traumatic for everyone (ex- cept Jill). We let Diamond play out- side a bit to calm down and gave her a kitty treat. All was forgiven in good time—or at least, I think so. It's hard to tell with cats. Since then, Di- amond's received her first of (probably) many Christmas presents from my parents: a kitty mat that wicks away loose hair AND turns into a kitty tunnel for playtime, so hopefully she's completely forgotten the whole groom- ing thing. I know I'd like to. SMUGNESS Continued from page 4 able on video? Quite a strat- egy. The usual people issued de- nunciations and everyone had a good "two minutes hate," as George Orwell might have put it. But Scalia has nothing for which to apologize (though his critics do). He was refer- ring to a perfectly plausible theory about the effects of af- firmative action. He was not saying that all A frican-Amer- ican students are slower than others, merely that the wide- spread practice of accepting black students into colleges with much worse grades and scores than the majority of students has certain unfortu- nate effects. As Stuart Taylor Jr. and Richard H. Sander ex- plain in their book "Mismatch: How A ffirmative Action Hurts Students It's Intended to Help, and Why Universities Won't Admit It," there is a good deal of evidence (and more has been produced since the book's publication) that black students who "benefit" from affirmative action in admis- sion, and thus attend schools for which they are less pre- pared than their peers, are less likely to major in diffi- cult but remunerative subjects such as engineering and sci- ence, more likely to wind up in the bottom 10th of the stu- dent body, and, most impor- tant, less likely to graduate than their peers. What the "Mismatch" au- thors and others have de- scribed as the "cascade ef- fect" means that at every lev- el of college except for the very top, black students are more likely to attend colleges for which they are unprepared and thus many are set up to fail. That might be important, right, Ted Koppel? One of the most telling sta- tistics that is rarely mentioned in this debate comes from Cal- ifornia, where Proposition 209 banned racial preferences by law in 1996. Advocates of af- firmative action note that mi- nority enrollments dropped thereafter. Yes, but gradua- tion rates increased. Perhaps the mismatch the- ory is wrong. Perhaps the ben- efits of attending more pres- tigious schools than you are prepared for outweigh the disadvantages (though this leaves unaddressed the con- stitutional problem of discrim- inating by race at all). But surely this is a worthy debate for people of goodwill to have. If we had people of good- will. Mona Charen is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Pub- lic Policy Center. I'm sick. Look, I don't believe in histrionic ex- aggerations or falsely causing alarm – es- pecially around the holidays – but I really do think I have a medical problem. Let's call it recyclo-paper-itis. And today my ail- ment hit a new low. When I was growing up, my family did not believe in spending money on wrap- ping paper and gift bags, because it re- sulted in less being spent on the gifts proper. We may not always have been the best at recycling our cans and bottles, but we had our black belts in recycling wrap- ping paper and gift bags. Not to brag, but we're pretty much ninja-level. Great cau- tion was always taken by my family mem- bers when unwrapping a present to pre- serve the integrity of the paper. There is an art to this. It was not uncommon that under the Christmas tree, my brother and I would find presents wrapped in baby shower paper, "congratulations, graduate" pa- per and occasionally the "over the hill" gift bag. Even Santa Claus would get into the act, leaving presents under the tree wrapped in "happy birthday" paper. Per- haps the paper was left over from baby Jesus? But my children will not have this hodgepodge of paper under the tree. Not because I have alienated the recycling tac- tics of my upbringing. Oh, no. It's because I was out of paper. My son is now 3, and he went to so many birthday parties this year that we are out of repurposed holi- day, anniversary and even birthday paper and gift bags. So this morning, against my morals, I went out and bought a roll of wrapping paper – my first in years. But after I had wrapped 90 percent of my holiday gifts, something was wrong. My pile of presents looked ... monochro - matic. I'm used to seeing many different colors and designs under the tree. Sure, they were promoting different holidays, but it always looked festive and fun. Now my pile was nothing but cold blue dotted by snowmen. I missed it. I missed the re- cycled paper. I missed the way it looked under the tree. But I had used up all of the salvaged wrappings in toddler birth- day parties. Nothing could be done. And then there was a knock at the door. A package had been left on my doorstep – a package of See's Candies wrapped in beautiful red wrapping pa- per. Sure, it said "See's" all over it, but who's really looking? My whole life had been leading to this moment. I carefully removed the tape. The integrity of the pa- per was intact. I cut the paper and used it to wrap up a pair of sunglasses, a dino- saur and a Blu-ray Disc. It added the per- fect pop of red to my sea of blue. But I needed another fix. The color can't stop here. It mustn't! My eyes locked with the gold-scrib- bled chocolate box. It would be the per- fect packaging for the jewelry I bought my mom. A gorgeous addition of unexpect- ed color under the tree. There was only one hurdle keeping me from my recycled destiny: gooey, sticky, nutty chocolates. A reasonable person would have just dumped the chocolates in a zip-lock bag. But a reasonable person also wouldn't be repurposing candy packaging. I was man- ic and on a mission. The chocolates had to be destroyed. They had to be devoured. Very few things in life give me anxiety like a box of assorted chocolates. See's Candies is a total misnomer. Not only can I not see what is inside the morsel but also there's not even a cheat sheet. I hate not knowing what is inside. What if I took a bite of the dreaded coconut-filled? My taste buds would never forgive me. I considered reverting back to my youth, when I would stick my pinkie into the bottom of the chocolates to see what was hiding inside and then would put it back in the box if I didn't like it. Time was tick- ing before my son would be home from preschool, and I wasn't thinking clearly. There was no time to be picky. I needed the box, and I needed it now. I shoved all of the chocolates in my mouth. I don't even really like chocolate. And as I looked at the presents under my tree – the blue snowman paper, the red See's paper, the white See's box – I thought to myself, "Wow, I really have a problem. And a tummy ache." Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/katiedidhumor. CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Adam E. Lemond charged with bat- tery on a person less than 14 years old, a level 6 felony. Jackson L. Deffendall charged with count I resisting law enforcement, a lev- el 6 felony; count II residential entry; and count III operating a vehicle while intox- icated. Tyler A. Hovis charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony; count II possession of a synthet- ic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like sub- stance; count III driving while suspend- ed; count IV possession of marijuana; and count V possession of paraphernalia. Crystal L. Carreon charged with three counts of perjury, a level 6 felony; and one count of obstruction of justice. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Amber D. Barrett charged with driv- ing while suspended. Joshua L. Deck charged with count I possession of marijuana; count II pos- session of paraphernalia; and count III operating a vehicle with an ACE of .08 or more. Jimmy J. Reynolds charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Jeremy R. Drew charged with count I resisting law enforcement and count II public intoxication. David L. Gray, Jr. charged with pos- session of a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance. James A. Green charged with count I possession of a synthetic drug or syn- thetic drug look-a-like substance and count II dealing in a synthetic drug or synthetic drug look-a-like substance CIVIL DOCKET Pike Circuit Court Bank of America, N.A. sues Andrea J. Wiseman on complaint. Indiana Farm Bureau sues Shane E. Lashbrook on complaint. Old National Bank sues Melissa A. Goodpasture on complaint. Ally Financial, Inc. sues Christopher Ham on complaint. Well Fargo Bank, N.A. sues Tamara G. Dyer, David Fitzpatrick, Luke Shov- er, Nancy Fitzpatrick and Jessica Shov- er on complaint. Jeremy Nichols sues Emily L. Nichols for dissolution of marriage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court James R. Hays sues Francine Sim- mons on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Bran- di L. Booker on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Lois Wilkinson on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Chris- topher Marcum on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Eliza- beth Bingle on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Brian Brewster on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jayme Kunz on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Rose L. Schoppenhorst on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Beth- any E. Miles on complaint. Katie DeWeese sues Ryan Lechner on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Paul Bingle on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Misty Garland charged with seatbelt violation. Tyler Garland charged with speeding, 90 mph in a 55 zone. Rebecca Messmer charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Andrew Poselwait charged with seat- belt violation. Ryan Rodgers charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Jareth Weeks charged with speeding, 67 mph in a 55 zone. Kavin Gayhart charged with seatbelt violation. Trey Matheis charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Brad Miller charged with seatbelt vi - olation. Dalyn Miller charged with speeding, 73 mph in a 55 zone. James Smith charged with driving while suspended. Jacob Stieneker charged with speed- ing, 82 mph in a 55 zone. Tyler Tegmeyer charged with seatbelt violation. Haley Wittmer charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Keyen Nowakoski charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Kylan Arndt charged with speeding, 88 mph in a 45 zone. Selena Carpenter charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Jeremy Drew charged with driving while suspended. Samantha Endicott charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Meshonique Linear charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Kendall McKee charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Danna Townsend charged with speed- ing, 59 mph in a 45 zone. Matthew Donaldson charged with driving while suspended. Luke Donohoo charged with improp- er or no tail or plate light. Joshua Fox charged with speeding, 51 mph in a 35 zone. Tyler Onyett charged with speeding, 75 mph in a 55 zone. Kirby Quiggins charged with driving while suspended. ent parts of the world is the illusion that these preferenc- es can be confined to some transitional time period, af- ter which the preferences will fade away. Even in countries where a time frame was specified at the outset – as in Paki- stan, India and Malaysia, for example – the preferenc- es have persisted for genera- tions past those cutoff dates. Yet the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly indulged in the same illusion of transitional group prefer- ences. Such preferences have not only extended in time, they have spread to more activi- ties and more groups. In In- dia, it was declared that pref- erential treatment in the ac- ademic admissions process would end there, and not extend to treatment of the preferred groups once they were students in the univer- sity. Yet preferential grading of students admitted with lower qualifications became so widespread in India that these grades acquired the name "grace marks." In Ma- laysia, committees were au- thorized to adjust grades to enable the preferred Malay students to be – or to seem – more comparable to the non- preferred Chinese students. In the days of the Soviet Union, professors were pres- sured to give higher grades to Central Asian students. In New Zealand, softer cours- es in Maori studies achieved similar results. In the Unit- ed States, easy ethnic stud- ies courses serve the same purpose. When I taught at Brandeis University, many years ago, an academic ad- ministrator confided to me that one of his chores was phoning professors to see if they would "reconsider" fail- ing grades given to minority students. Often the rationale for group preferences is to help the less fortunate. But, in countries where hard evi- dence is available, it is often the more fortunate members of less fortunate groups who get the bulk of the benefits. These beneficiaries can even be more fortunate than most of the people in the country at large. India's constitution, like the American constitution, has an amendment prescrib- ing equal treatment. But in India that amendment also spells out exceptions for par- ticular groups. In the United States, the Supreme Court has taken on the role of cre- ating exceptions to the 14th Amendment. Many lofty verbal eva- sions are necessary, in or- der to keep the American people from catching on to what they are really doing when they claim to be mere- ly applying the laws and the constitution. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institu- tion, Stanford University. His website is www.tsowell.com. 812-354-3001 801 East Illinois Street Petersburg, IN 47567 ambermanorhc.com Assisted living. Emphasis on living. "I have been at Amber Manor for a few years now, and I can't say enough good things about it! I'm so pleased to have my own large bedroom, full bathroom, microwave and refrigerator. I was even able to bring in my own decorations for the walls, as well as some furniture from my home, which gave me the opportunity to make the room my own personal space." – Margaret "Jean" B., Assisted Living Resident Adam Scales (812) 354-8488 adam.scales@infarmbureau.com