The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/956502
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 21, 2018 C-9 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 It isn't very often that a profes- sional sports coach talks about "sin." "Sin" abounds nearly every- where yet to hear someone of na- tional stature talk about "sin" is un- usual. There is an iconic photograph of Bob Knight slumped in a chair and shoeless, sipping water inside the Assembly Hall locker room before tipoff. A sign hangs a few feet away, its words emblematic of Knight's Indiana basketball machine. "Vic- tory favors the team making the fewest mistakes." What once was considered sin has morphed into mistakes. Mis- takes can be defined as knowing to do something one way—the right way—but does the opposite. Coaches "preach" about the fun- damentals (the right way) of get- ting the elementary aspect of the game down pat. For example: the fundamen- tals of basketball shooting in- clude proper foot alignment, leg bend, hand position, arm angle, follow through, and so on. The lit- tle things make a difference. You can't win a game if you can't get the ball through the hoop and score! Sports writers of- ten point out how awkward Larry Bird moved on the court- but he knew the fun- damentals which made him an out- standing player, Legendary coach John Wooden says, "A leader's most powerful ally is his or her own example." Wooden is saying that a coach not only has is to teach players about the game, but also demonstrate how to be a good friend and teammate, how to live with integrity and confidence, how to handle loss and defeat— and how to keep players from mak- ing mistakes. A role model who has been through the grinder of life and comes out" smelling like a rose" is a rare breed. All champion athletes regard- less of the sport knows self-deni- al and practice makes perfect. All championship coaches will tell you—you can't practice enough. Larry Bird again is a good example of dedication to practice. The self-described "Hick from French Lick," said that in high school he would shoot 500 free throws every morning before his first class. Bird embodies the old saying: practice makes perfect. Former Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano breaks with the conc ept of talking about mistakes of life to his players and preached about "sin" to his team on a reg- ular basis. "We always (say) the enemy is in your own camp," says Chuck Pagano. Pagano never ceased to preach against "sin"—Self Inflicted Neg- atives. He told his team that "sin" will beat you every time! Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Self-inflicted negatives How unions play the intimidation game Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner If you're an auto worker in Wis- consin, and you want to join your local union, that's your right. And if you don't want to join, that's your right, too. At least in theory. Things work a little differently in the real world. Just ask Josh Herr, an employ- ee at Kohler, a manufacturing company best known for making plumbing equipment. His work- place falls within the jurisdiction of United Auto Workers Local 833 — and believe me, they want Mr. Herr to join. He doesn't want to, and the Wis- consin right to work law very spe- cifically says he doesn't have to. Ever since he started at Kohler, Mr. Herr's been pressured repeat- edly to become a member of Lo- cal 833. He's told the union that he doesn't see any value in it. He's explained that he doesn't want to turn over a portion of his paycheck to a group he disagrees with. That should be the end of it, es- pecially in Wisconsin, which is a right-to-work state. No one can blame the union for proselytizing, but a no is a no. You don't keep ask- ing and asking. Local 833 did, though. And accord- ing to Mr. Herr, it went a troubling step beyond that to out- right intimidation. At one point, Mr. Herr found a sign on the time clock at the plant. It listed 19 workers, former "scabs" who had fi- nally caved to the pressure and begun paying union dues. A gold star appeared next to each name — a touch all kindergarten teach- ers will appreciate. To really drive the point home, a note was attached that singled out Mr. Herr's name in large, bold let- ters. It referred to him as a "pot- tery member who refuses to join the union," and labeled him point- edly as "Not a Union Brother." Worse, Mr. Herr says, Tim Tay- loe, Local 833's president, called him at work and threatened him while he was doing his job. "He said, 'We really don't like when people don't join the union'," Mr. Herr said. "He told me there were two other people in the pottery building who didn't join the union and that noth- ing good happened to them. He said, 'I don't want anything bad happening because you're not joining'." In a nice twist of iro- ny, Mr. Herr points out, Local 833's tactics directly violate the terms of the union's collective-bargain- ing agreement. "It says there shall be no dis- crimination, coercion, intimida- tion or threats against employ- ees because of membership or non-membership in the union," he told the MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Wisconsin-based think tank. "It is literally written on the front page of the Kohler rule book." From pressure to shaming to All you holy people, pray for us What's for sale with a view? Continued on page 10 Continued on page 10 Continued on page 10 Continued on page 10 Continued on page 10 Cleaning up Washington's swamp Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson When the president nominated Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney Gen- eral, the Senate Judiciary Commit- tee convened hearings to question him before voting on his confirma- tion. When one Senator asked Ses- sions whether he intends to pros- ecute Hillary Clinton, he replied "this country does not punish its political enemies." That was clearly an aspirational statement, not a descriptive one. Republican Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay, for example, were crimi- nally prosecuted for their politics. And according to the Inspector General, the Obama administra- tion used the IRS to punish TEA Party activists. When prolife activists David Da- leiden and Sandra Merritt went un- dercover to film abortionists sell- ing babies' body parts, Democrats prosecuted Daleiden and Merritt, not the people who were selling the babies' organs. In heavily-Democratic Hous- ton, where prosecutors had to convene three grand juries before they got the indictment they want- ed against DeLay in 2005, Demo- crats indicted Daleiden in 2016 for emailing an offer to buy fetal tis- sue. He was also charged with a felony for using a false driver's license. That has to be the most routinely violat- ed and least prose- cuted felony in Texas, where frivolous beer- chugging undergrad- uates throng off-cam- pus watering holes in Austin and College Sta- tion. But Harris Coun- ty (Houston) prosecutors saw fit to charge the earnest young Da- leiden with it, to please their de- praved electoral base. In California, the Democrat- ic California Attorney General brought 15 felony charges against Daleiden and Merritt, including conspiracy to "intentionally record confidential communications" be- tween themselves and the people who are offering baby organs for sale. An Obama-appointed federal judge in San Francisco has held Daleiden in contempt of court for releasing more videos of the ba- by parts-selling after he had or- dered him not to. He blocked them from publication on YouTube. The judge said he based his order on concerns for the physical safety of the executive lead- ership of the National Abortion Federation, and "invasion of priva- cy, and injury to rep- utation, and the [or- der] is in the public interest." The judge ordered Daleiden to surrender all videos of the transactions in his possession. He had raised at least $200,000 for the Obama campaigns, and per- sonally contributed $ 30,800 to po- litical action committees support- ing Obama before the president nominated him to the same life- time job his dad held a generation earlier. So we are looking at anoth- er generation of Swamp Law in the Northern District of California. We not only punish our political enemies in America, we withhold punishment from our friends and allies. Although the Obama admin- istration was enthusiastic about new gun control, it rarely prose- cuted criminal violations of exist- ing gun laws. This is because the criminal underclass is an impor- My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. There are a couple of important economic lessons that the Ameri- can people should learn. I'm going to title one "the seen and unseen" and the other "narrow well-de- fined large benefits versus widely dispersed small costs." These les- sons are applicable to a wide range of government behavior, but let's look at just two examples. Last week, President Donald Trump enacted high tariffs on im- ports of steel and aluminum. Why in the world would the U.S. steel and aluminum industries press the president to levy heavy tar- iffs? The answer is simple. Reduc- ing the amounts of steel and alu- minum that hit our shores enables American producers to charge higher prices. Thus, U.S. steel and aluminum producers will earn higher profits, hire more workers and pay them higher wages. They are the visible beneficiaries of Trump's tariffs. But when the government cre- ates a benefit for one American, it is a virtual guarantee that it will come at the expense of another American — an unseen victim. The victims of steel and alumi - num tariffs are the companies that use steel and aluminum. Faced with higher input costs, they be- come less competitive on the world market. For example, companies such as John Deere may respond to higher steel prices by purchas- ing their parts in the international market rather than in the U.S. To become more competitive in the world market, some firms may move their production facilities to foreign countries that do not have tariffs on foreign steel and alumi- num. Studies by both the Peterson Institute for International Econom- ics and the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition show that steel-using industries — such as the U.S. auto industry, its suppli- ers and manufacturers of heavy construction equipment — were harmed by tariffs on steel enact- ed by George W. Bush. Politicians love having seen ben- eficiaries and unseen victims. The reason is quite simple. In the cas- es of the steel and aluminum in- dustries, company executives will know to whom to give political campaign contributions. Workers in those industries will know for whom to cast their votes. The peo- ple in the steel- and aluminum-us- ing industries may not know whom to blame for declining profits, lack of competitiveness and job loss. There's no better scenario for pol- iticians. It's heads politicians win and tails somebody else loses. Then there's the phenomenon of narrow well-defined large ben- efits versus widely dispersed small costs. A good example can be found in the sugar industry. Sugar producers lobby Congress to place restrictions on the importation of foreign sugar through tariffs and quotas. Those import restrictions force Americans to pay up to three times the world price for sugar. A report by the U.S. Government Ac- countability Office estimated that Americans pay an extra $2 billion a year because of sugar tariffs and quotas. Plus, taxpayers will be forced to pay more than $2 bil- lion over the next 10 years to buy and store excess sugar produced because of higher prices. Another way to look at the cost side is that tens of millions of American fam- ilies are forced to pay a little bit more, maybe $20, for the sugar we use every year. You might wonder how this con- sumer rip-off sustains itself. A fter all, the people in the sugar indus- try are only a tiny percentage of the U.S. population. Here's how it works. It pays for workers and own- ers in the sugar industry to come up with millions of dollars to lobby congressmen to impose tariffs and quotas on foreign sugar. It means higher profits and higher wages. Also, it's easy to organize the rel- atively small number of people in the sugar industry. The costs are borne by tens of millions of Amer- icans forced to pay more for the sugar they use. Even if the people knew what the politicians are do- ing, it wouldn't be worth the cost of trying to unseat a legislator whose vote cost them $20 a year. Politi- cians know that they won't bear a It's the fifth week of Lent, and we're in the home stretch to Eas- ter! How are your Lenten vows treating you? I myself am failing miserably at all of them, but let's all keep trying anyway! Lent is a great time to cut some- thing unnecessary out of our lives, or add something good, but we've all been guilty of gaming the sys- tem at least once in our lives. Yeah, you've been there, I've done that. For your reading pleasure, here's seven Lenten vows that may have been made with less- than-honorable intentions: • I vow to give up my little broth- er's favorite T V show. • I vow not to say anything mean to my in-laws... Or anything else at all. • I vow to get rid of all the choc- olate in the house... Into my belly on Mardi Gras. • I vow to not spend any money on things I don't need... So my girl- friend will have to pick up the tab. • I vow to give up vegetables. • I vow to take a spa day once a week. • I vow to give up the Netflix se- ries I finished two days ago. Some vows are easier to keep than others, but here's hoping we all come out of this Lent better than we came into it, failed vows and phony vows and warts and all. And remember, do as I say, not as I do: fancy sushi on Fridays doesn't make you any poorer in spirit, and a venti mocha java doesn't count as fasting. Have a great week! I'll leave you for now with a very Lent- en haiku: Lighting one candle with another candle— spring evening. -Buson I happened to come across this documentary of people looking for homes with fantastic views. There were several places shown in dif- ferent parts of the world; places like California, Switzerland, New Zealand, Vancouver, Prince Ed- ward Island in Canada and other locations. What fascinated me is indeed there are people who venture out of their comfort zone and look for places that can only be a dream for many. Usually, these clients were shown three different places by a realtor, then after much delibera- tion, they make the decision as to which one the client finds the most attractive and suitable for their de- sires. What intrigued me too is the price of these very beautiful plac- es are beyond the reach of many. But it seems most of the prospec- tive buyers are able to afford them without much trepidation. All they were focused on was the ability to acquire and to enjoy the spectacu- lar views from the homes they have chosen: such as beautiful beach- es, or majestic mountains, or vir- gin forests, or views of rivers and sometimes skyscrapers from a dis- tance. Some of the customers are fam- ilies, some are very successful business owners, some are ac- tors, some are just partners in life. So, besides being puzzled by these group of people, what I focused on is the very unique features of the properties and the amazing views that the homes or condominiums were situated in. It is so refresh-