The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/856300
C-12 Opinion Wednesday, August 2, 2017 The Press-Dispatch the ability to do much more than maintain the status quo. Indeed, government intervention often makes matters worse. The pessimist in Ameri- can society believes the rea- son some people are poor is that others are rich. He re- fuses to see any cause-and- effect relationship between behavior and result. This is the same as saying, "The reason some people are sick is that others are well." Because they blame oth- ers for their problems, pes- simists seek solutions out- side themselves for those problems. If you have no be- lief in yourself or your abil- ities, you'll have no faith in your capacity to solve your problems. A pessimist is al- ways demanding help, re- gardless of whether that help is effective. Although the notion that government can solve, for example, the problem of poverty has been dis- proved in the United States and throughout Europe, this concept persists in the minds of many people. It seems that the one thing pessimists are optimistic about is that the failures of government will somehow correct themselves if they are allowed to continue in- definitely. If we want to improve peo- ple's attitudes — and, more importantly, their prospects — we need to increase their freedom, particular- ly through tax and regula- tory reform. Individuals in the private sector will al- ways be the key to econom- ic success. Optimism is the fuel that feeds our dreams. It pro- vides us with the hope nec- essary to innovate, invent and aspire, and the willing- ness to take the risks essen- tial for achievement. Robbed of optimism, peo- ple will languish and wallow in self-pity. Their lives, and the lives of their children, will stagnate. While not everyone can reach the highest levels of success, everyone can as- pire and achieve things that will improve their lot in life and aid their children so they can do better still — provided that government stays out of the way. Ed Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Continued from page 11 FAITH Continued from page 11 MUSIC tic lines we hear again and again: 1) Jesus cared about the poor a lot more than he did about sin. 2) You have no right to tell people who's a real Christian. 3) Out of love and kindness, you should respect my view of Christianity. 4) Christ was a rebel. 5) Christ said nothing about homosexu- ality, so we must endorse it as good. 6) I speak "pro- phetically" to the world. 7) We should "engage the cul- ture." 8) Jesus listened to women, so Christians to- day should listen to wom- en and respect their pro- choice position. Each of the previous statements deserves a book length response. But all have something in com- mon, which is creating Je- sus in one's own image. The story of creation teaches, "So God creat- ed man in His own image; narcissists turns the cre- ator into the created; man becomes the measure of all things. The Apos- tle Paul cautioned the Ro- mans of this very breach: "And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to cor- ruptible man." The antidote comes also from the Book of Romans: "But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for [nor even think about gratify- ing] the flesh in regard to its improper desires." By the way, the term nar- cissist comes from the sto- ry of Narcissus, a son of the Greek god Cephissus. He [Narcissus] was renowned for his beauty and stuck on himself. Lured to a pool of water, he saw his reflec- tion and fell in love with it. He was unable to leave the beauty of his reflection and stared at it until he died. Narcissus was staring at an image of what he thought beauty was. Him- self! Think about it! Continued from page 11 CHRISTIAN Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit court David L. Nall charged with domes- tic battery, a level 6 felony. Leonard D. Hill charged with failure to register as a sex or violent offender, a level 6 felony. Karen A. Stanton charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, a lev- el 6 felony. Nellie S. Charles charged with ne- glect of a dependent, a level 6 felony. Mickey E. Rowe charged with count I child molesting, a Class A felony, and count II criminal deviate conduct. Michael Gilbert Wilson petitions for intrastate probation transfer. Donald R. Marcum petitions for in- trastate probation transfer. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Ernesto Lopez-Morales charged with operating a motor vehicle with- out ever receiving a license. Gunner Marcus Wellman charged with leaving the scene of an accident. Davonte L. Blair charged with driv- ing while suspended. Andrea L. Franklin charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Blake A. Miller charged with count I driving while suspended, count II pos- session of marijuana and count III pos- session of paraphernalia. Jeremy W. McCandless charged with public intoxication. Ashleigh L. Batchelor charged with driving while suspended. CIVIL DOCKET Pike Circuit Court JPMC Specialty Mortgage LLC sues Stancil Edwards on complaint. Fifth Third Bank sues Martin L. Brasher, Ellen M. Brasher and occu- pants on complaint. Old National Bank sues Lisa G. Alex- ander and Ronald W. Beadles on com- plaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Vickie Carris charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Barbara Cunningham charged with seatbelt violation. Robert Cunningham charged with seatbelt violation. Robert Darling III charged with speeding, 94 mph in a 70 zone. Michael Dunlop charged with speeding, 83 mph in a 70 zone. Nathan Hamilton charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. Julian Jimenez-Corredor charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Brandon McNeal charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Esteban Navarrete charged with count I failure to provide vehicle reg- istration and count II speeding, 98 mph in a 70 zone. Adonnis Nunn charged with count I speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone and count II driving while suspended. Rita Roland charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. Allison Brooks charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. James Cutler charged with operat- ing with expires plates. Johnell Evans charged with child re- straint system violation. Hannah Hudson charged with oper- ating with expired plates. Kathryn McCaffrey charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Ronald McClure charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Hendrik Mulder charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Michael Osborne charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Rajesh Patel charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Shailesh Patel charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Harpreet Singh charged with speed- ing, 54 mph in a 30 zone. Starlet Tyson charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Karma Hurst charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. David Fiscus charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Natisha Slunder charged with speed- ing, 73 mph in a 55 zone. Bobby Lewis charged with failure to register. transgender policy. Scientific American chimed in online, citing the Rand study and noting that its calculations were cor- roborated by a 2015 study published in the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine. I looked it up. Its author, Dr. Aaron Bel- kin, estimated that military sex-change medical servic- es would cost taxpayers $5.6 million per year. He wrote that the cost is "too low to warrant consideration in the current policy debate." But his prose seemed a lit- tle breezy, and his methodol- ogy lacked the air-tight rig- or that you ordinarily expect in the New England Journal. It turns out that he is not a medical doctor. His Ph.D is in political science, and he is a gay activist. On his own website, he identifies himself as a "scholar, author, activist and dancer." One year, he was grand marshal of San Fran- cisco's LGBT Pride Parade. He is in the business of per- suading, rather than factual investigation. In fact, he has written a how-to guide for leftist influ- encers, How We Won: Pro- gressive Lessons from the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." According to a Huffing- ton Post review, the lessons of Belkin's campaign "could help progressives persuade the public about the merits of other big, liberal ideas, in- cluding the benefits of high- er taxes and the dangers of an excessively strong mili- tary." I'd say they're off to a great start. Continued from page 11 THE COST Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Is more freedom is racism? Randi Weingarten, president of the nation's second-largest teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, used a speech last week to brand the education choice movement as racist. She also got personal, trying to pin the racist label onto Secretary of Edu- cation Betsy DeVos because DeVos is a passionate supporter of parents be- ing able to choose where to send their child to school. I've been through this too many times. No matter the subject, liberals invariably try to kill an idea they don't like, or destroy a person they don't like, with the label "racist." Sorry, but it won't work this time. Too much is at stake, and the truth is too clear. Every time we go through a new round of National Assessment of Edu- cational Progress testing, the Nation's Report Card, we see the same results: Dismal performances by black chil- dren, yawning gaps in performance be- tween black children and white chil- dren, and overall test scores that show practically no improvement over the years. In 2015, 35 percent of black fourth- graders and 52 percent of black eighth- graders were "below basic" in math and 48 percent of black fourth-graders and 42 percent of black eighth-graders were "below basic" in reading. Seventeen percent of black fourth- graders were "at proficient" in math compared with 41 percent of white fourth-graders. Sixteen percent of black fourth-graders were "at profi- cient" in reading compared with 34 percent of white fourth-graders. Eric Hanushek of Stan- ford University took a look at the last 50 years of black test scores compared with white test scores. His con- clusion: virtually no im- provement. "(T)he modest improve- ments in achievement gaps since 1965 can on- ly be called a national em- barrassment," writes Ha- nushek. "Put differently, if we contin- ue to close gaps at the same rate in the future, it will be roughly two and half centuries before the black-white math gap closes and over one and half centu- ries until the reading gap closes." It took almost two centuries from our nation's founding until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Most black parents are not interested in waiting another two centuries until the math and reading scores of their children catch up to those of white chil- dren. But Weingarten seems to have plen- ty of time on her hands. She thinks things are just great. She's upset that DeVos called our public schools a "dead end." "Our public schools are not a dead end," says Weingarten. "They're plac- es of endless opportunity." Yes, for union bureaucrats with fat salaries and pensions. But certainly not for low-in- come children looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. One reason teachers unions hate school vouchers is that public school funding can be redirect- ed for the vouchers that children can use at any school. That's a good thing. Stanford's Hanushek re- ports that since 1965, ex- penditures per student in our public schools have quadrupled with virtually no change in test scores. There's a reason why a million kids are on waiting lists for ac- ceptance into charter schools; why 64 percent of black parents, in an Edu- cation Next poll, supported tax-cred- its to fund scholarships to send low- income children to private schools; and why today almost 450,000 chil- dren are in some type of school choice program, up from effectively zero 20 years ago. Why is everyone trying to get out of what Randi Weingarten thinks is so wonderful? And why does she think it is racist to give black parents the freedom to choose where to send their child to school? Since when is it racist to give people more freedom? Whatever Randi Weingarten's agen- da happens to be, improving the lot of black children is certainly not high on it. Regarding racism, maybe she should do her own soul-searching. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Remember Gary Lewis and the Playboys with their famous " This Diamond Ring? " I did not know Gary was the son of comedian Jer- ry Lewis. For some reason the song "Johnny Angel" by Shelley Fabares appeals to my lik- ing a lot. Many moons ago I was so fascinated by these musical talents I tried to find a band I could join and play bass guitar. Unfortunately medical school and joining a band and do time consum- ing practice just would not mix. I really had to use my time very wisely. The best I could do was join a folk sing- ing group of four for vocals. I could not master reading notes no matter how hard I tried. Well, I really felt bet- ter when I remember Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could not read music either. Fortunately, our group called Foltrollers ( singing Oh Shenandoah, The first Time, Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley etc.) had a chance to appear on nation- al T V in a show called Nine- teeners. What an experience do- ing taping in a studio till ear- ly morning hours. Remem- ber this was from the other world I originally came from. Until this time my love for music has not faded. Being that I could play by ear some tunes on the piano and or- gan and some bass guitar, I really mostly play the ra- dio and turntable. LOL. To reminisce the music of yes- teryears, I do a lot of watch- ing You tube. What a great source of videos. Well, enough of that, let's go to some lighthearted topics. TEN THINGS I KNOW ABOUT YOU 1) You are reading this. 2) You are human. 3) You can't say the let- ter ''P'' without separating your lips. 4) You just attempted to do it. 6) You are laughing at yourself. 7) You have a smile on your face and you skipped No. 5. 8) You just checked to see if there is a No. 5. 9) You laugh at this be- cause you are a fun loving person and everyone does it too. 10) You are probably go- ing to share this to see who else falls for it. You have re- ceived this note because I didn't want to be alone in the older category. Have a great Day. 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