The Press-Dispatch
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OPINION promising heaven and delivering hell be- fore people catch on, and stop getting swept away by rhetoric? Why should being in a professional sport Random thoughts on the passing scene: How long do politicians have to keep on exempt anyone from prosecution for advo- cating deliberate violence? Recent revela- tions of such advocacy of violence by an NFL coach should lead to his banishment for life by the NFL, and criminal prosecution by the authorities. If you are serious about reduc- ing violence, you have to be serious about punishing those who advocate it. Have you noticed that what modest eco- nomic improvements we have seen oc- curred during the much-lamented "grid- lock" in Washington? Nor is this unusu- increase is coming $3,800 tax breathing a sigh of relief as they finally manage to file their income-tax re- turns. No need to worry about taxes again for an- other year, right? Not so fast. Higher Many Americans are By Ed Feulner that occurred in 2001 and 2003, the payroll tax cut, and the tax cut from the 2009 stimulus. That's not all. The es- taxes are coming. And they'll hit well before next April 15. How bad will it be? Fed- eral Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls it a "massive fiscal cliff." Ac- cording to The Washing- ton Post, the looming tax hike is "Taxmageddon." All told, Americans will see taxes go up $494 bil- lion, starting at the begin- ning of 2013. That's less than nine months from now. It all breaks down to one of the most sizable tax bills in history. Ev- ery household in Ameri- ca would face an average tax increase of $3,800— in a single year. How, you may be won- dering, did this come about? When did Con- gress pass a tax increase? It didn't. At least, not di- rectly. The increase is set to happen automatically. As of next Jan. 1, tax pol- icies in seven different categories will expire, and five of the 18 new tax hikes from Obamacare will begin. It's a near-perfect fiscal tate tax, known more ac- curately as the Death Tax, rises to 55 percent. The 100 percent exemption for business investment goes away. Also among the soon-to-be-missing: the patch that lawmak- ers passed to ensure that the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) doesn't snare more and more middle-in- come earners (instead of the super-rich it was orig- inally designed for). This $494 billion in- crease is unprecedent- ed in scope. To give you a better idea of how big it really is, consider that all of the tax hikes in Obam- acare—a huge tax hike in and of itself—add up to $502 billion over a 10-year period. Taxmageddon will extract almost that much from Americans next year alone. Saddling a "jobless" recovery with this monster hike is spec- tacularly bad policy. And we don't have to Wednesday, April 18, 2012 The Press-Dispatch Observations by Thomas Sowell Random thoughts al. If you check back through history, doing nothing has a far bet- ter track record than that of politicians inter- vening in the economy. With all the talk about people paying their "fair share" of income taxes, why do nearly half the peo- ple in this country pay no income taxes at all? Is that their "fair share"? Or is creating more recipients of government handouts, at no cost to themselves, simply a strategy to gain more votes? Some people are puzzled by the fact that so much that is said and done by politicians seems remote from reality. But reality is not Continued on page 3 The book of Santorum The no-spin zone—by Bill O'Reilly right and what he did wrong during his campaign. In his quest to unseat Presi- dent Obama, Romney will face some of the same challenges Santorum faced. Back in the summer of 2011, no- ney would be wise to take a good hard look at what Rick Santorum did Mitt Rom- torial begins. The national press is generally bi- body thought Santorum had a shot at the Republican nomination. National- ly, he was polling at about 3 percent. But through sheer hard work and per- sistence, he won the Iowa caucus and was catapulted into the big time. There are many lessons to be learned from Santorum's political jour- ney, beginning with having a dream and fighting like hell to make it hap- pen. The senator did that, and it makes him a noble figure to those of us who admire achievement. But Santorum also made some vivid mistakes in underestimating the sec- ular culture and the intent of the me- dia. And this is where the Romney tu- ased toward the left and has the long knives out for anyone spouting spiri- tual beliefs. Once Santorum began an- swering questions about his theology, it began to damage his political mes- sage. And when he criticized John F. Kennedy on the separation of church and state issue, the media went wild. You don't mess with JFK. ABC's George Stephanopoulos de- lives. Soon, Santorum was besieged by questions about his faith-based belief system and, again, entered into the conversation, answering questions about the morality of homosexuality and the like. In doing so, he walked in- to a swamp he couldn't get out of and was marginalized as a religious zealot. Memo to Romney: If the media ask fined the skeptical tone toward Santo- rum in January during the New Hamp- shire debate. He zeroed in on the sen- ator's moral view of contraception, and foolishly, Santorum engaged. He should have simply said: "Hey, George, I have seven kids. I don't know much about it." End of exposition. But no. Santorum rambled on about the downside of birth control, some- thing most Americans simply don't want to hear about. Although most cit- izens are believers, the USA has be- come a largely secular country, and voters do not want politicians telling them how to conduct their private you about Adam and Eve, simply say they didn't have jobs and it's Obama's fault. Keep the conversation on issues that matter to the voters. The media don't really care what you think about Cain and Abel or what you believe spir- itually. They simply want to make you look like Elmer Gantry. In the end, Santorum's spirited challenge to Romney actually better defined the governor for the voters, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your viewpoint. But going forward, Romney will face the same sand traps that bedeviled Santorum. Best to walk around them, Governor, because once you get in, you'll never get out. Children Killing Children is Amusement? storm—occurring just af- ter a major national elec- tion, no less. Among the tax breaks that are ex- piring: the Bush tax cuts wait until next Jan. 1 to start feeling these neg- ative effects. Families, businesses and investors can see these tax hikes coming. Because they can't be sure if or when Congress and President Obama will act to avert them, they'll hold off on any major economic activ- ity that would result in a sizable new tax bill. This Continued on page 3 ty, is in the eye of the be- holder. When one discuss- es the genre of movies, I personally favor the gold- en age of the silver screen when there were stars like Wayne, Grant, Bogart, and Gable. The movies were ad- ventures, dramas, and mo- rality plays. What motion picture of the last 30 years can compare to Casablan- ca, High Noon, Oklahoma, or The Maltese Falcon? That being said, I cannot Points to ponder—by Rev. Ford Bond Entertainment, as is beau- by the rave reviews in the media about the screen hit The Hunger Games. It is an adaptation of the book pub- lished by Scholastic, a com- pany known for publishing children's books, and is the first in a trilogy of works by Suzanne Collins. Allow me to quote from a each district every year." "Twenty-four children are review that is critical of the cultural tones of the books and the movie. The plot of the movie rests warm up to "modern" cin- ema with its dark humor, special effects, and slaugh- ter with no purpose. Howev- er, my interest was sparked upon The Hunger Games, which is an annual event. The underlying premise is that the United States has collapsed and a despotic government has arisen and "demands a reaping, or sac- rifice of two children, be- tween the ages 12-18, from You pay for Warren Buffet's medicare A woman's perspective—by Mona Charen around the nation hoping to enrage voters at the injustice that the wealthy pay fewer taxes than the middle class. "Now that's wrong," Obama objected, "That's not fair." It also isn't true. According to the The president is barnstorming system was a "free-market" system that failed. On the contrary, the pre-Obamacare National Taxpayers Union, in 2009, the top 1 percent of earners paid 36.7 per- cent of income taxes. The top 5 per- cent paid 58.6 percent. And the top 10 percent paid more than 70 percent. Social Securi- ty and Medicare taxes fall more evenly on all income groups (except the poor) but are lower. Further, Obama had the opportu- nity to repeal the Bush tax cuts he claims to find so odious when his party controlled both houses of Congress, but he chose to extend them instead. This is political demagoguery of a high order, attempting to achieve re- election by whipping up class envy and finding "kulaks" to scapegoat. While it isn't true that the rich are health system was already badly dis- torted by government. The open-end- ed Medicare entitlement, which pays for every medical expense incurred by the elderly, without regard to income, is an invitation to overuse. Consumers have no incentive to shop for value and thus, have no idea what the care they receive even costs. Medicaid is even worse. Those with employer pro- al Affairs that will tackle all of these issues. Like Paul Ryan, they would tran- vided insurance (about 80 per- cent of the population), likewise have no incentive to economize on health care consumption or shop for value, since someone else pays the bills. People who do not work for not paying their fair share, it is true that you are subsidizing Warren Buf- fett's Medicare. This is but one of the many injustices and inefficiencies of our current health care system that will only worsen if Obamacare is not repealed or overturned by the Su- preme Court. The one and only thing that Demo- crats and Republicans agree on regard- ing health care in the United States is that costs are too high and rising at an unsustainable rate, though Demo- crats engage in denial on the subject of Medicare's solvency. Yet with the very next breath, Democrats nearly always argue that the pre-Obamacare health ly due to the absence of the tax exclu- sion offered to employers. But two oth- er factors also drive up the cost of indi- vidual policies and leave too many peo- ple without coverage. State-imposed mandates on insurance coverage—re- quiring those expensive items such as substance abuse programs, pregnancy, childbirth, and other expenses may be part of any insurance package—drive up the cost of insurance. Whereas a pure catastrophic plan could be quite inexpensive for a young, healthy pur- chaser, many states prevent insurance carriers from offering them. Addition- ally, because government is subsidiz- ing so much of the care in the broader health marketplace, prices are higher than they would otherwise be. James C. Capretta and Robert Moffit propose a series of reforms in Nation- large employers face prohibi- tive prices for individual health insurance policies. This is part- sition Medicare to a defined contri- bution or "premium support" model. Each elderly person (excluding those above 55 at the time of passage) would receive a stipend with which to pur- chase a health insurance plan. Those who wished to pay more out of pocket for more generous plans would be free to do so. The Ryan plan envisions offer- ing subsidies on a sliding scale—more for the poor than for the wealthy. Why should we be paying for Warren Buf- fet's Medicare? Capretta and Moffit further propose changing the tax treatment of health insurance to provide a tax credit to in- dividuals rather than to employers. In one stroke, this would introduce cost- consciousness to a system that has conspicuously lacked it, as the con- sumers of care would be the ones shop- ping for coverage. The Heritage Foun- dation (yes, that supposed bastion of class privilege) has even proposed of- fering a non-refundable tax credit that would be phased out for the wealthiest. As for those with pre-existing con- ditions who cannot get coverage (a much tinier percentage of Americans than the Democrats would have you believe), high-risk pools can be subsi- dized at a fraction of the cost of Obam- acare. Republicans missed an opportuni- fed the richest foods, pam- pered, and put on display in preparation for the Hunger Games. The games are held in an arena from which there is no escape. The most sa- distic forms of torture imag- inable are used against the children in the games. The chil- dren must kill each other. If they refuse to kill each other, the Gamekeeper devises torturous ways by which they are forced to kill each oth- er off." "Some of the children must murder each oth- er to secure necessities. They face hunger, starva- tion, sleep deprivation, ac- id rains, blood rains, killing waves, mutant creatures which maul them to death, killing traps, insects that drive them madly insane if they are not outright poi- soned to death by them." "Some of the children are C-2 mainder of their lives. The families of the murdered children receive nothing." Is this not madness? What kind of mind produces a book about children killing children; what kind of peo- ple produces and films such an event; and what can be said about those who en- joy it? Movies are in- tortured by government offi- cials for months on end. The formerly innocent children are turned into killers. They must kill or be killed." "The victors are paraded entertainment. The only re- deeming quality of the mov- ie/the reviewer suggests is in the end there is a rebel- lion, and the rebels win, but still the heroine's little sister is burned alive in front of her eyes. I suppose this is some- how good triumphing over evil, but in a convoluted way, it is like The Exorcist where the demon is defeated, but the priest dies. It is hard to dispel the no- This is supposed to be through-out the districts; parents of murdered chil- dren must salute the victors, the murderers of their chil- dren. The victor's families are moved into nice houses and are wealthy for the re- MR. AND MRS. FRANK HEURING, PUBLISHERS ANDREW G. HEURING, EDITOR JOHN B. HEURING, ADVERTISING MANAGER The Press- Dispatch Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Entered at the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for trans- mission through the mails as Periodical Mail, Postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana. Published weekly. will please give old address as well as new one along with phone number. We cannot guarantee prompt change unless this is done. Postmaster: send changes to Post Office Box 68, Petersburg, Indiana 47567-0068. ty to reform health care in a free-mar- ket direction during the early years of this century. If the court spares us from Obamacare, they may get a rare second chance and thus avoid the ra- tioning, crippling expense and decline in quality for which we are otherwise headed. P.O. BOX 68, PETERSBURG, INDIANA 47567 E-mail—news@pressdispatch.net (604-340) Phone 354-8500 • FAX—354-2014 Pike and Surrounding Cos. ......$ 10.00 $15.00 $25.00 $45.00 Elsewhere in Indiana ................ 14.00 Outside Indiana ............................18.00 19.00 28.00 27.00 43.00 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 3 mos. 6 mos. 1 year 2 years 49.00 75.00 Change of Address—Subscribers changing addresses tion that among the older generation lurks curmud- geons who cannot see the beauty in the movie expres- sions of the younger gen- eration. Those who accuse those of us over 50 of being out of touch must consider Continued on page 3 terwoven with a culture's sym- bols, beliefs, morals, and val- ues. All expres- sions of art either legitimize a cul- ture or challenge it to some degree. With that in mind what can we say about "The Hun- ger Games?"