The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/915141
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, December 13, 2017 D-7 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 Except for grace of God, there go I. Something to mediate upon when condemning or passing judg- ment on another person. Two recent stories dissimilar, yet are joined by life itself can teach us about ourselves. The fallout continues over "male- gate," and one wonders when it will end. Bill O'Reilly was the first ma- jor casualty of this wave of public sexual harassment revelations, and now it has taken down the fran- chise of NBC's Today show, a sen- ator and a congressman. We have learned millions have been paid to congressional staff- ers to settle sexual harassment claims, and now this very body is considering legislation to make payment from public funds illegal. At least that is comforting to know. Is it surprising that high profile media and political personalities have been bitten by the backlash against unwanted sexual advanc- es? No need to ask the question, "What were they thinking? " The answer is obvious. This is sad because lives, ca- reers, legacies, and maybe fami- lies have been ruined because of uncontrolled desires of the flesh and victims pressured to remain quiet Another breaking item is that former teen heartthrob Da- vid Cassidy [Keith Partridge] died from organ failure a few days ago at a young age of 67. What do these two stories have in com- mon? Life has conse- quences! Cassidy shot to stardom as Keith Partridge in the 70s hit Par- tridge Family. He was the eldest of the singing family and in real life had musical talent. A fter the sitcom ended in 1974, life moved on, and Cassidy took a stab at a solo career, which was somewhat successful. Tragically, in early 2017, Cassidy announced he was dealing with de- mentia, and later he needed a liv- er transplant. Just after his death, his daughter was interviewed for a story about her father and the tag line read "David Cassidy's Daughter Ka- tie Vows to "Never Waste another Minute" with Loved Ones." This was a touching head- line, and something many of us say after a loved one dies. But the headline wasn't about her [Ka- tie], it was about her father who regretted his waste of life and family. David Cassidy lived the life that he want- ed to live with few re- sponsibilities, which included a fatherly tie with his daughter. In an interview with PEOPLE Magazine [2009], Cassidy saw this as a win-win: "Because I didn't raise her [Katie], I didn't have to parent her, I am always here and totally nonjudgmental." Katie boasted, "To be able to go to someone I'm genetically linked to, tell them anything, and know that they're not going to judge me — it's unbelievable, it's nice when your dad can be your friend." Sadly, at the time, these two did not realize this arrangement was dysfunctional and unhealthy; just a few years later, Katie admitted that they had grown apart, and Cassi- Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring Independence hypocrisy Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Consequences of life Trump's gift to America is the tax bill Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Everyone looks at a tax bill through his own individual prism. But to judge it more accurately, we need to consider how it will affect others, too. A fter all, tax reform won't apply to just one segment of the popula- tion. Directly or indirectly, all of us will feel it — some of us quite profoundly. Most Americans would receive a significant cut under the Republi- can tax plan now before Congress. An analysis from the Joint Com- mittee on Taxation shows that all income groups would see immedi- ate dividends. Many tax-cut opponents are cry- ing foul because those in the top- income brackets would see a great- er savings under the tax plan. But we have to remember that they pay much more than those in other in- come groups. In fact, as a percent- age of their income, they see the smallest benefits. Internal Revenue Service fig- ures show that the top 5 percent of earners took in 34 percent of the nation- al income in 2011, but paid 56 percent of all federal income taxes that year. Meanwhile, the bottom half of all earners took in 12 percent of the income — and paid only 3 per- cent of the taxes. With such a sharp- ly progressive tax system, this is only natural. But it does show how ludicrous it is for tax-cut foes to point to the higher savings that the wealthy would realize under the current bills as evidence of how "unfair" they allegedly are. (And as it turns out, some who make a larger salary won't see that much benefit — indeed, some will even see their tax bills go up.) Let's look at a few taxpayer sce- narios and how each would change under the House and Senate ver- sions of the tax-cut bills working their way through Con- gress: • A single teach- er with median earn- ings of $50,000 per year: Under the cur- rent tax code, "Tom" pays $5,474 each year in federal income tax- es. His tax bill would decline by $ 914, or 17 percent, (to $4,560) under the House's plan, and by $1,104, or 20 percent, (to $4,370) under the Senate's plan. Reason: A higher standard de- duction of $12,000, and a marginal tax rate that, under both the House and Senate versions, goes from 25 percent to 12 percent. • A married couple with medi- an earnings of $75,000 per year: Officials in Catalonia, Spain's richest and most highly industrial- ized region, whose capital is Barce- lona, recently held a referendum in which there was a 92 percent vote in favor of independence from Spain. The Spanish authorities opposed the referendum and claimed that inde- pendence is illegal. Catalans are not the only Europeans seeking in- dependence. Some Bavarian people are demanding independence from Germany, while others demand greater autonomy. Germany's Fed- eral Constitutional Court ruled: "In the Federal Republic of Germany ... states are not 'masters of the con- stitution.' ... Therefore, there is no room under the constitution for in- dividual states to attempt to secede. This violates the constitutional or- der." Germany has done in Bavaria what Spain and Italy, in its Veneto region, have done; it has upheld the integrity of state borders. There is an excellent article written by Jo- seph E. Fallon, a research associ- ate at the UK Defence Forum, titled "The Catalan Referendum, regional pressures, the EU, and the 'Ghosts' of Eastern Europe" (http://tinyurl. com/y8dnj6s6). Fallon writes that by doing what it's doing in Bavaria, "Berlin is violating international law on national self-determination. It de- nies to Bavaria what it granted to the 19 states that seceded from Yugo- slavia and the Soviet Union. In fact, Germany rushed to be first to rec- ognize the independence of Slovenia and Croatia." It did that, according to Beverly Crawford, an expert on Eu- rope at the University of California, Berkeley, "in open disregard of (a European Community) agreement to recognize the two states under EC conditionality requirements." The secessionist movements in Spain, Germany and Italy have en- countered resistance and threats from the central governments, and in Catalonia's case, secessionist leaders have been jailed. The cen- tral governments of Spain, Germa- ny and Italy have resisted indepen- dence despite the fact that they are signatories to the International Cov- enant on Economic, Social and Cul- tural Rights, which holds that "all peoples have the right of self-deter- mination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political sta- tus and freely pursue their econom- ic, social and cultural development." Fallon notes the hypocrisy of Spain, Germany and Italy, as well as the entire European Union. Back in 1991, the EC — the precursor to the EU — "issued its conditions for recognizing the unilateral declara- tions of independence by states se- ceding from Yugoslavia and the So- viet Union." Fallon argues that these same guidelines should be applied to the states of Catalonia, Bavaria and Veneto. Isn't it double talk for mem- bers of the EU to condemn indepen- dence movements today, given that they welcomed and supported in- dependence movements for states that were members of the commu- nist bloc? Catalonia, Bavaria and Veneto are relatively prosperous jurisdictions in their countries. They feel that what they get from the central govern- ments is not worth the taxes they pay. Each wants the central govern- ment off its back. They think they could be far more prosperous on their own. That should sound famil- iar. Some of the motivation for seces- sionist movements in Europe is sim- ilar to the motivation found in the Confederacy's independence move- ment of the early 1860s. Throughout most of our nation's history, the only sources of federal revenue were excise taxes and tar- iffs. In the 1830s, the North used its power in Congress to push through massive tariffs to fund the govern- ment. During the 1850s, tariffs amounted to 90 percent of federal revenue. The Southern states were primarily producers of agricultur- al products, which they exported to Europe. In return, they imported manufactured goods. These tariffs fell much harder upon the export- dependent South than they did up- on the more insular North. In 1859, Southern ports paid 75 percent of federal tariff revenue. However, the majority of the tariff revenue gener- ated was spent on projects that ben- efited the North. Tariffs being a contributing cause of the Civil War is hardly ever men- tioned. Using the abolition of slav- Baby's move in Connectivity Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 It's been at least a month, we've made our first mortgage payment (I'm not asking for cash or checks, but I won't stop you!), and our new house is starting to feel like home, despite all the cardboard boxes stacked up in every corner. Flannery is definitely making herself at home, too. She's got the front two rooms nice and "or- ganized" with her toys spread across the floor just the way she likes them, and she's figured out how to get the sliding doors open so that she can sneak around the house. She's picked out a favorite spot to hide all the stuff she swipes off our tables and shelves, too. But, even though she likes to make mischief and clutter—espe- cially clutter—it's surprising to see how well Flannery has learned our boundaries for her at the new house. She loves to pat the glass of our storm door, but she knows bet- ter than to push it open and sneak out onto the porch. She'll sit on the first step to the unfinished up- stairs and babble at us, but she knows better than to climb them. I was worried when we moved in that she'd go looking for trouble, but without us having to tell her twice, she's playing safely. Now if we could just get her to put her toys away... But maybe that's ask- ing for too much. Of course, she'll have a real test ahead when we start decorat- ing for Christmas. I have a sink- ing feeling that I'll be scrubbing at least one pile of tree ornament shards out of the carpet thanks to Flannery's destructive curios- ity. But since Jill's been buying all our Christmas presents online this year, maybe I can just build a nat- ural barricade of giant gift boxes around the tree. It's the perfect weapon against a toddler: as much a distraction as it is an obstruction! STUFF OF THE WEEK Read: "Artemis," a book about thieves on the moon by the guy who wrote "The Martian." Listen: "StarTalk," a podcast about science hosted by come- dians who know next to nothing about science... and Neil deGrasse Tyson! (It's how I found out about the book of the week in case you're wondering.) Watch: If you played volley- ball in high school, or you have a child who played volleyball in high school, or even if you just had a crush on someone who played vol- leyball when you both were in high school (like I did on multiple occa- sions), "Haikyu! " a show about a boy who loves playing volleyball, will probably make you cry tears of joy. I don't even know how to play, but now that I've seen it, I want to know! As always, we love to hear from you at aheuring@sgstartimes. com. Have a great week! Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Honest skepticism is not a vice Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson Watching Sen. Al Franken (D- MN) announce his intention to re- sign from the U.S. Senate was an unexpected pleasure last week. But Franken couldn't just go qui- etly into the night. He called his downfall ironic because "a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office." By that tape, he was referring to Donald Trump's vulgar conver- sation with NBC journalist Bil- ly Bush, captured on a hot mic in 2005 but not broadcast until 11 years later. It was so crude and offensive that even Trump's vice presidential running mate con- demned his comments. The most outrageous comment, the one most cited by Democrats, involved grabbing women by their private parts. Trump apologized, but said it was just "locker room talk," male banter, and that Bill Clinton had made worse comments to him on the golf course. Without exaggeration, I would estimate that I listened to the Bil- ly Bush tape at least 60 or 70 times last year, thanks mostly to MSN- BC. This week I pulled up the You- tube to listen again, to be sure of my recollection. I would encourage you to do the same. The fact is that Trump never bragged in that tape that he had grabbed women by their private parts. He didn't joke that he had done so, either. What he said was that celeb- rities can grab women by their private parts with impunity. Until very recently, that was mostly a true statement. Democrat celebrities like Har- vey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, Kev- in Spacey and Matt Lauer have groped their way through a cou- ple of generations of ambitious, vulnerable interns, actresses, cam- paign volunteers, television pro- ducers and at least one 14-year-old boy. Chickens are coming home to roost now, but in 2005, and in 2016, they were getting away with it. Franken claimed his forced res- ignation was ironic also because of Republicans' "full support" for the Senate campaign of "a man who re- peatedly preyed on young girls." He was referring to Roy Moore, 70, of Alabama. Moore was recent- ly accused of pursuing sexual rela- tionships with teenagers when he was in his early thir- ties. Senate (Republi- can) Majority Lead- er Mitch McConnell called for Moore to "step aside" after he won the Republican primary, and said he is "obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate." If that's what Al Franken considers the"full sup- port" of Republicans, I'd hate to see them oppose anybody. Franken's claim of a paradox is also based on the assumption that the accusations against Moore are true. It is an assumption. I believe that the accusations should be tak- en seriously, and that there should be no smear campaign against Moore's accusers. But he has de- nied the accusations, and he is entitled to confront the evidence against him. Ivanka Trump believes there should be a presumption of Moore's guilt. "I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts," she My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. For the past decades, we have seen the developments in mod- ern communications technology. I remember when I started my ca- reer, the best way to get hold of me was through a beeper that was clipped on my belt. When some- body was trying to get hold of me, a switchboard would be contacted and then my beeper would beep, then it would give me a readout on which number I had to call. Now get this, the next step was to find a gas station or grocery store or a place somewhere there was a public phone. Sometimes it would take minutes to an hour to finally call the person who need- ed to speak to me. What an inconvenience. Now fast forward a little bit,