The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/839845
C-12 Opinion Wednesday, June 21, 2017 The Press-Dispatch as well, but it took Ms. Stras- sel's column to do it.) It isn't just disagreements over policy that fuels the be- hind-the-scenes activities of bureaucrats such as Franc- esca Grifo. They surely have their eyes on the budget cuts that the president has pro- posed to climate programs. Climate Wire called his budget "a slap in the face." To Scientific American, it's a "slaughter." Think Progress deems it "a punitive assault on science, the environment, and indeed the planet." But as environmental ex- perts Katie Tubb and Nicolas Loris point out in a piece for the Daily Signal, all this hy- perventilating lacks context. For one thing, some cuts to the federal government's sizable climate budget are clearly in order: At least 18 agencies administer climate- change activities, to the tune of $77 billion between fiscal years 2008 and 2013. There's a lot of wasteful spending in there, such as $700,000 to a global-warm- ing musical, and an EPA grant for "green" nail salon concepts in California. More- over, Ms. Tubb and Mr. Loris note, most of the money goes to "green" tech rather than to science, wildlife or inter- national aid. "Even after the president's proposed cuts," they write, "there is plenty of money left in the federal budget to study and model the climate." If President Trump wants to make any headway at the EPA and other federal agen- cies, he needs to do more than appoint good people to run them. He needs to make sure that the people behind the curtain aren't working to undermine him. Ed Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Continued from page 11 EPA Continued from page 11 FATHER er funded by public dona- tions; friend of tax-collec- tors, wine bibbers and sin- ners; healed on the Sabbath; touched unclean women and lepers; taught openly to love our enemies; told the Jewish authorities that they were of their father the devil; in- stituted a ritual of eating a body and drinking blood. But we are not done with our Christian billboard; maybe we need 2 or even 3. The life of Jesus has been handed down in a Bible, and its truths cannot be dis- missed. "Allowed followers to eat without first washing; Was accused of operating with the power of Beelzebub; close friend turned him in for arrest; claimed to be the Son of God; arrested for se- dition; found guilty of blas- phemy; executed as a crim- inal; followers claimed he rose from the dead, ascend- ed into the Heavens, and will return and judge the world. There you have it. The truth about Jesus. How can any Christian knowledge- able of the life of Jesus dis- miss any of these points of truth? The apostle Paul, on trial for his life in Felix's court, had a response for the king when Felix called him (Paul) mad, "For the king knows of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner." Our lives are not hidden as sometimes we think. Some of our lives become public fodder, the subject of billboards. To some, Truth is still a defense. Think about it! Continued from page 11 TRUTH Continued from page 11 GENEROSITY is a recurring pattern in the Baby Boomers' generation- al pillage. Even within a labor bar- gaining unit, the newer union workers are often dis- advantaged by newly negoti- ated agreements, while old- er workers' advantages are preserved by "grandfather- ing." With the unions' consent, Detroit now contributes 40 percent less to new hires' pensions than to previous retirees' pensions. "In total dollars," a Stanford Universi- ty study observed of the De- troit settlement, "new work- ers contribute 10 times more … than do those grandfa- thered into defined-benefit pensions." Defined-benefit pensions are usually a good deal for current employees, but in underfunded programs, they tend to exploit newer workers by pushing future costs onto them. Future workers, in other words, will have more taken out of their paychecks to help pay for the benefits of those already re- tired, while their own future benefits will be more modest - unless they are able to ex- ploit still newer employees. Anybody who respects first responders and school- teachers as much as I do will be reluctant to denounce their retirement pensions. It's hard to begrudge public servants the generous pay- outs they've been promised, because a deal is a deal. Yet unsustainable gener- osity is not a virtue. It's an imposition on future gen- erations. We need to exer- cise adult supervision today if we care about our chil- dren's and grandchildren's freedom to build hospitals, schools and roads, and to hire future teachers and first responders, instead of pay- ing off Baby Boomers' cyni- cal, ill-advised splurges. Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit court Brian L. Flowers charged with count I operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a level 6 felony, count II driving while suspended, and count III operating a vehicle while intoxicated-prior. Carl E. Brawdy charged count I in- timidation, a level 6 felony, and count II domestic battery resulting in mod- erate bodily injury. Markes G.Straw II charged with two counts of nonsupport of a dependent child, a level D felony. Anthony M. Maxfield charged with count I unlawful possession of syringe, a level 6 felony, and count II possession of paraphernalia. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court David E. Padgett charged with count I resisting law enforcement and count II public intoxication. Tony K. Garrett charged with count I public intoxication. Audrey S. Hale charged with count I driving while suspended. Roger J. Fleetwood charged with count I dealing in marijuana and count II possession of marijuana. Brendan A. Ronk charged with ille- gal consumption of an alcoholic bev- erage. Maria F. Orta-Gonzalez charged with I operating a motor vehicle with- out ever receiving a license. Kenneth E. Wright charged with op- erating a vehicle with an ace of .15 or more. CIVIL DOCKET Pike Circuit Court Bank of America sues Terri Lynn Wil- liams on complaint. US Bank sues Jack L. Phillips and Lynn A. Hill on complaint. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC sues Tracie Curtis (as possible heir to es- tate), Harold D. Curtis (deceased) and unknown occupants on complaint. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jen- nifer Purkiser on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Me- lissa S. Horrall on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Erin L. Landis on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jus- tin D. Martin on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Dakota Bayer charged with speeding, 51 mph in a 35 zone. Adam Boyd charged with seatbelt vi- olation. David Burdette charged with improp- er passing. Cassandra Cole charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Jonna Davis charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 50 zone. Jermia Greer charged with seatbelt violation. Aaron Hagen charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Alisha Knight charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. German Martinez charged with speeding, 55 mph in a 35 zone. Kaleb Mason charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Larry Mattes charged with speeding, 47 mph in a 35 zone. Jacob Morton charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Wayne Nelson charged with an un- safe start. Jennifer Poteet charged with seatbelt violation. Cody Russell charged with speeding. 65 mph in a 55 zone. Cory Simmons charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Jason Smith charged with seatbelt vi- olation. Kassie Traylor charged with speed- ing, 60 mph in a 45 zone. Hunter Willis charged with seatbelt violation. Ryan Lechner charged with littering. Kimberly Cummins charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. Dean Frederick charged with seat- belt violation. Logan Guy charged with speeding, 85 mph in a 70 zone. Jeremy McCandless charged with no valid driver's license. Barry Holman charged with operat- ing an off-road vehicle on a public high- way, street or right-of-way or where oth- erwise prohibited. Draining the Dodd-Frank Swamp Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker The House just passed the Financial CHOICE Act, which enacts major re- forms to the Dodd-Frank Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2010. The 2,300 -page Dodd-Frank Act was passed to fix what supposedly was bro- ken in our financial system that led to the massive financial collapse in 2007. The potential economic impact of the sweeping reforms of the Finan- cial CHOICE Act are as far reaching as anything going on in Washington today. But you probably haven't heard about it. The press is filled with news about Russia, James Comey, Jeff Sessions. Yet hardly anything about this. Why? One hint could be an editorial that appeared in The Wall Street Jour- nal last December under the head- line, "Guess Who's Defending Dodd- Frank? " The answer is the nation's biggest banks. The full title of the Dodd-Frank law is The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The website of the Obama White House explained the law as "Holding Wall Street Accountable." It attributed the crisis to the major financial institutions in New York. You would think those same institu- tions, the nation's largest banks, would be unhappy about all the new regula- tions that they now have to live with. But, as the Wall Street Journal points out, these same banks are defending Dodd-Frank and opposing the Repub- lican reforms. This is really about the "swamp" that this new Republican administra- tion is supposedly now in Washington to drain. The "swamp" is about Washington business "special in- terests" working with Washington political "special interests" to make law that makes them both happy. The Obama adminis- tration was all about ex- panding government to run our lives. As the Obama admin- istration was settling in, the president's new chief of staff, now-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, observed, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste ... it's an opportu- nity to do things you think you could not do before." The financial crisis provided an opportunity for Democrats to bring sweeping new government controls to the banking industry. As American Enterprise Institute scholar Peter Wallison points out, the Dodd-Frank Act was not produced af- ter a serious investigation about what really caused the crisis. It simply was an opportunity for Democrats to take advantage of the crisis for major expan- sion of government. Given this reality, Wall Street gladly worked with Democrats to build a new regulatory structure that would pro- vide them a nice, new feathered bed. Wallison shows that the crisis was caused by government, not Wall Street. It was the result of growing pressure on government mortgage giants Fan- nie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase increasingly large quotas of mortgages for low-income borrowers. The result was deterioration of lending standards in order to meet the quotas. By 2008, per Wallison, half the mortgages in the country were subprime, with 76 per- cent purchased by Fannie and Freddie. Both imploded and both were bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of $180 billion. Meanwhile, the misguid- ed new regulations on banks suit the big banks just fine. They can deal with them, but the smaller banks can't. So the regula- tions push the competition to the big banks out the door. Five of the nation's largest banks now control more than 40 percent of the nation's banking as- sets. Unfortunately, the small communi- ty banks, whose market share is now shrinking because of the Dodd-Frank regulations, have always been a major source of loans to small business. The arteries carrying capital to the grass roots of America have been clogged. According to Wallison, and other econ- omists, this is a major reason why our economy is growing so slowly. The House has done its work to fix this problem with the Financial CHOICE Act. Now its up to the Senate, including the 11 Democrat senators up for re- election in states carried by Donald Trump in 2016, to step up and do the nation's business and pass these crit- ical reforms. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her at www. urbancure.org. Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock Camping with kids "You have these lofty fantasies, and you see them as tangibles when they're really just delusional." My husband, ladies and gentlemen. He has said some version of this statement many times over the 14 years we have been together, includ- ing yesterday, when the above quote was stated after I suggested we spend the summer traipsing around Italy and Morocco, making money (and wine) by encouraging our high-ener- gy children to stomp on grapes. Oth- er apparently delusional ideas include my lofty fantasy of living in a Westfalia and driving around Patagonia for the rest of our lives, as well as my fantasy of refurbishing an old pirate ship and bringing back the good ol' sport of pil- laging. He has little interest in my Ant- arctica expedition or in being the first family to walk the entire Appalachian Trail with a 4-year-old, a 19 -month-old and an 18 -pound rabbit. He, the ever- rational one, considers the kids' ed- ucation and our lack of being able to provide them with one if we were to remove them from school to become professional tree-huggers. He thinks about how the kids' social skills and social graces would be impa cted if we were to be adopted by a tribe of man- drills, which is on my bucket list. He thinks it would be weird if our kids picked bugs out of their friends' hair; I think it would be an excellent assur- ance they would never come home with lice. I get told "no" a lot. And I don't like it. But, to be fair, I am given more yeses than noes. He was one of the few who didn't think I was delusional when I said I wanted to become a tele- vision writer. And though he proba- bly thought I was delusion- al when I said I wanted to leave the life we had built and move into the wild, he strapped on his Walden Pond boots and got pack- ing. And a number of these intangibles he, being the quintessential yin to my yang, doesn't just take on reluctantly; rather, he takes them on proactively. For example, he booked us a camping trip on an island five hours away for this past weekend. If you are like me, you will see noth- ing lofty about taking your young chil- dren camping. If you're like my hus- band, you'll disagree, but he booked it anyway. It was our first time camp- ing with both kids. While I set up the tent, one child tried to touch the fire, and the other sat in a patch of poison ivy. There were streets to run into, trails to explore, coolers to unpack, marshmallows to throw onto the dirt, fire ants to eat and DEET bug spray to drink. That first night, as the sun quickly set and the mosquitoes buffeted on our exposed bodies and my kids made up a million and one ways to kill themselves, I had the sinking feeling this might wind up being yet another one of those lofty fantasies that wind up ranking in the delusional category. Spoiler alert: It was. Though I am a seasoned camper, I had never before been to this pocket of the United States. The weather re- mained so hot and humid, even into the late hours of the night, that you could not tolerate staying in the tent. The mosqui- toes and ticks were so in- satiable - - neither fire nor citronella nor DEET nor long sleeves could sty- mie their bite - - that you could not tolerate stay- ing outside the tent. The kids couldn't sleep. The fire pit didn't have a grill, so we couldn't eat. We were hot, sticky, cranky and itchy. My husband apologized. He was sorry the weekend wasn't as I had fan- tasized. And it wasn't. And this isn't the part where I say it was even bet- ter because somewhere in our state of mutual sweating and malaria our family bonded. Sometimes you have to learn your lesson, and that's just not real life. But this is: Looking for something to do before darkness absorbed the second eve- ning, I suggested we chase the setting sun. The twists and turns through the campground led us to a family-sized porch swing with a perfect, unob- structed view of the sun setting over the water. We sat there, the four of us, swinging our feet, slapping our legs and itching our arms. Looking over the water, I said, "I read there aren't mosquitoes in Nairobi. Why don't we move there? " Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/katiedid- humor. came to the United States af- ter his ordination and served the church for half a centu- ry. He gave a story of his ed- ucation and priestly forma- tion in Ireland, and the story of the journeys of his class- mates from the seminary. I suspect he is now in his early 80s, still going strong, of clear mind and good phys- ical status. So he shared his thoughts about his vocation. It goes this way, and I'm sure priests and pastors of differ- ent churches would find this rather uplifting. " A priest (pastor) ought to be……a man who strug- gled with God, a sinner whom God has pardoned, a servant to the weak and fee- ble. One who does not bow down to the powerful; but one who does humble him- self before the poor. A disci- ple of his Lord, and a shep- herd of his flock. One who is turned toward God's heav- en, yet firmly stands on the ground. One who is creat- ed for joy, but is acquaint- ed with suffering. A peace- maker, who has zest for life. Steadfast and faithful to the Gospel of Jesus." • • • And then this past Sun- day, June 18, on Father's Day, our church had a visit- ing priest surprisingly from Ireland ( I could tell by his accent) who is a missionary to Malawi, a country in A f- rica. He celebrated our Mass and in his homily told about his vocation and his educa- tion in Ireland, and his ex- perience with what is going on in Malawi. He tells of an impover- ished nation under a dicta- tor who controlled the army, and had made life miserable for many. He told of the dev- astations of drought, then flooding from heavy rain, and an earthquake in that area, and how the churches have made a difference in relieving human suffering, and the change in politics due to the faith of the people. So now the dictator has been voted out and things seem to be better. He men- tioned that were it not for the help received from the Unit- ed States in the form of dona- tions via the church, things still would be so terrible. He mentioned about feeding up to about 16,000 citizens for three months as they tried to recover from the disas- ters. He mentioned about pastors and bishops being imprisoned by the previous dictator as the church made the world aware of the con- ditions in that government. So therefore again, we know that faith triumphs al- ways against oppression and the forces of darkness. But it takes a lot of work, lots of un- wavering goodness of peo- ple of faith. I wish everyone a blessed week. SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Let us know at 812-354-8500!