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OPINION | OTHER THOUGHTS

The D.C. VirusStrikes Again

Train up a child. Proverbs 22:6. Portals of Prayer, ConcordiaPublishing House, St. Louis

F RO M T H E B I B L E

By The Associated PressToday is Thursday, March 6, the

65th day of 2014. There are 300 daysleft in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: OnMarch 6, 1836, the Alamo in San An-tonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forcesafter a 13-day siege.

On this date: In 1834, the city ofYork in Upper Canada was incorpo-rated as Toronto.

In 1853, Verdi’s opera “La Travi-ata” premiered in Venice, Italy.

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Courtruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford thatScott, a slave, was not an Americancitizen and could not sue for his free-dom in federal court.

In 1912, Oreo sandwich cookieswere first introduced by the NationalBiscuit Co.

In 1933, a national bank holidaydeclared by President Franklin D.Roosevelt aimed at calming panickeddepositors went into effect. ChicagoMayor Anton Cermak, wounded in anattempt on Roosevelt’s life the previ-ous month, died at a Miami hospital atage 59.

In 1944, U.S. heavy bombersstaged the first full-scale Americanraid on Berlin during World War II.

In 1953, Georgy Malenkov wasnamed premier of the Soviet Union aday after the death of Josef Stalin.

In 1964, heavyweight boxingchampion Cassius Clay officiallychanged his name to Muhammad Ali.

In 1967, the daughter of JosefStalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva, appearedat the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi anddeclared her intention to defect to theWest.

In 1970, a bomb being built insidea Greenwich Village townhouse by theradical Weathermen accidentally wentoff, destroying the house and killingthree group members.

In 1983, in a case that drew muchnotoriety, a woman was gang-rapedatop a pool table in a tavern in NewBedford, Mass., called Big Dan’s; fourmen were later convicted of the at-tack.

In 1994, Greek actress-turned-politician Melina Mercouri, 73, died inNew York.

Ten years ago: President GeorgeW. Bush, playing host to MexicanPresident Vicente Fox at his Texasranch, backed off on plans to requirefrequent Mexican travelers to the U.S.to be fingerprinted and photographedbefore crossing the border, a reversalwelcomed by Fox. A water taxi cap-sized in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor,killing five people.

Five years ago: The governmentreported the jobless rate reached 8.1percent in February 2009. While ac-

knowledging an “astounding” numberof job losses, President BarackObama told critics of his $787 billioneconomic recovery plan in Columbus,Ohio, that it was saving jobs and said,“I know we did the right thing.” NASA’splanet-hunting spacecraft, Kepler,rocketed into space on a voyage totrack down other Earths in a farawaypatch of the Milky Way galaxy.

One year ago: Sen. Rand Paul,R-Ky., a critic of the Obama adminis-tration’s drone policy, launched an old-style filibuster to block Senateconfirmation of John Brennan’s nomi-nation to be CIA director; Paul lastednearly 13 hours before yielding thefloor. Syria’s accelerating humanitar-ian crisis hit a grim milestone as thenumber of U.N.-registered refugeestopped 1 million, half of them children.

Today’s Birthdays: Orchestraconductor Julius Rudel is 93. FormerFBI and CIA director William Websteris 90. Former Federal Reserve Chair-man Alan Greenspan is 88. AuthorGabriel Garcia Marquez is 87. Or-chestra conductor Lorin Maazel is 84.Former Soviet cosmonaut ValentinaTereshkova is 77. Former Sen.Christopher Bond, R-Mo., is 75. Ac-tress-writer Joanna Miles is 74. ActorBen Murphy is 72. Opera singer DameKiri Te Kanawa is 70. Singer Mary Wil-son (The Supremes) is 70. Rock mu-sician Hugh Grundy (The Zombies) is69. Rock singer-musician DavidGilmour (Pink Floyd) is 68. ActressAnna Maria Horsford is 67. Actor-di-rector Rob Reiner is 67. Singer KikiDee is 67. Broadcast journalist JohnStossel is 67. Composer-lyricistStephen Schwartz (“Godspell”) is 66.Rock singer-musician Phil Alvin (TheBlasters) is 61. Sports correspondentArmen Keteyian is 61. Actor TomArnold is 55. Former child actressSuzanne Crough is 51. Actor D.L.Hughley is 50. Country songwriterSkip Ewing is 50. Actor Shuler Hens-ley is 47. Actress Connie Britton is 47.Actress Moira Kelly is 46. Actress AmyPietz is 45. Rock musician Chris Brod-erick (Megadeth) is 44. NBA playerShaquille O’Neal is 42. Country singerTrent Willmon is 41. Country musicianShan Farmer (Ricochet) is 40. RapperBeanie Sigel is 40. Rapper BubbaSparxxx is 37. Rock musician ChrisTomson (Vampire Weekend) is 30.Actor Eli Marienthal is 28. ActorJimmy Galeota is 28. Rapper/pro-ducer Tyler, the Creator is 23. ActorDillon Freasier (Film: “There Will BeBlood”) is 18. Actress SavannahStehlin is 18.

Thought for Today: “Best be your-self, imperial, plain and true!” — Eliz-abeth Barrett Browning, English poet(1806-1861).

O N T H I S DAT E

MANAGERS Gary L. Wood

Publisher

Michele SchievelbeinAdvertising Director

Tonya SchildBusiness Manager

Michael HryckoCirculation Director

Tera SchmidtClassified Manager

Kelly HertzEditor

James D. CimburekSports Editor

Beth RyeNew Media Director

Kathy LarsonComposing Manager

Bernard MetivierDistrict Manager

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YO U R L E T T E R S

BY WILLIAM KERRFor the Press & Dakotan

In August of 1932, I began the first grade in el-ementary school. That November, Franklin De-lano Roosevelt was elected president of theUnited States of America. As I progressedthrough elementary, junior high and highschools, the president and the Demo-cratic Congress elected with him devel-oped the New Deal agencies. Theyclosed the banks for 30 days until Con-gress could create reasonable regula-tions so the banks could not do manyof the things that caused them severefinancial problems bordering on bank-ruptcy and just do regular banking.Then they created a program to hirethe unemployed to repair and updateour infrastructure. In 14 months or so,they reduced unemployment from 25percent when he was elected to 11 per-cent, and it was not long after that itwas reduced to whatever was consid-ered normal at that time.

They continued by creating a Department ofLabor and a minimum wage that workers couldlive on. It was set up so that when the Office ofManagement and Budget’s annual computationof the cost of living rose the minimum wagewould rise the same percent. In the meantime,the labor unions were striking and making gainsin working conditions.

When I was in the 10th grade, the FederalHousing Authority had been formed and offeredto back mortgage loans at 10 percent down; myparents were able to raise $850 down with theirsavings, and borrowing a few hundred from rela-tives and bought a new three-bedroom home for$8,500. My mother soon went to work in a de-fense plant to make extra payments on the mort-gage. The defense plants were both building upour own military equipment and supplying sameto our allies. When the Japanese attacked PearlHarbor, my father quit his white collar job andwent to work in a former “defense” plant, whichwas now a war plant.

Sometime while all this was happening, Con-gress created the Social Security programwhereby some part of every worker’s wageswould be put into a trust fund and invested.Then, when a worker reached age 65, he or shecould retire and be paid back their own moneyplus whatever extra was available from invest-ment.

Another part of the New Deal was a progres-sive income tax, which was the major programthat financed these new agencies and brought usout of the Great Depression. I remember at thetime that a number of movie stars and sports fig-ures complained along with other selfish highearners. The top tax rate after some millionswere earned was 90 percent. Many benevolentorganizations saw their donations from thewealthy rise as a result. They would rather give100 percent to charity than 90 percent to thegovernment! (It was deductible from the amounttaxed.)

The result of all of these programs was a lev-eling of the playing field where everybody had achance to have a job that paid a decent living,under reasonable working conditions, not justthe “robber barons” and their friends.

When I graduated high school in 1944, one ofmy buddies and I went down to the draft boardoffice and volunteered to enter the Army to pro-tect our country and preserve our way of life.When I returned from the war, I went to collegeon the GI Bill and went to work earning a decentliving and enjoying the results of the New Deal.

In 1967 or so, my parents retired and, withtheir home paid for, could live comfortably onSocial Security. These were the golden years ofour country.

It wasn’t long after that Congress, in its infi-nite wisdom, began easing the restrictions onbanks and savings and loan institutions. Sincethen, we have had a number of recessions prima-rily resulting from banks and loan institutions re-turning to activity in questionable investments

and being bailed out by us taxpayers. Also, in1968, Congress quit increasing the minimumwage as the original law required. (It should now,by original law, be $12 an hour, which would alsostimulate our economy as it would all be spentimmediately on living costs, and begin requiringmore workers to handle the business.)

In the 1980s, President Reagan talked Con-gress into “trickle down economics” re-ducing taxes for the rich which theywould then invest to create jobs.(There has never been any evidencethat any jobs were ever created by thatmeans.)

That tax reduction caused a short-age of revenue to make the budget, soCongress began taking the workers’money from the Social Security TrustFund, and have been doing so eversince, including 2013, to the tune of$2.6 trillion. They say it is borrowed,but there is never been any paybackplan to this day.

And now Congress is discussing re-ducing Social Security payments and

Medicare payments to pay down our debt whenboth programs have paid their way since incep-tion and are not costing the government a dime!

Reducing those payments would by likeadding insult to injury. Not only taking ourmoney — put by for safe keeping until retirement— to balance the budget but doing so in order tocontinue the tax reductions for the rich who arenow paying only 35-38 percent at the highestlevel of income. That’s just like taking moneyfrom the poor and giving it to the rich. (Most, ifnot all, of the other rich countries have top ratesbetween 50-70 percent.)

Since the 90 percent rates got us out of theGreat Depression, we could probably get us outof this Great Recession with 70 percent for tops. Iknow we are technically out of the recession, butit is now 5 1/2 years since this recession beganand we are not near having created the jobsneeded to reemploy millions of workers who losttheir jobs when this all started and are still suf-fering. Nor have we increased revenue enough tobegin paying back the Social Security Trust Fundon what Congress took and spent immorally, aswell as meeting our annual budget and payingback some of our national debt.

Speaking of which, The Economist made thesuggestion that both countries in Europe withhigh debts and America should consider sellingoff some assets to pay down some of our debtand get some breathing room. I wonder if Con-gress has considered that option?

Another option to consider, if Congress reallycares about all of us citizens, clean up our elec-tion system by following the example of somerich countries that have a 60- or 90-day campaignperiod giving radio and television time free toeach candidate in equal amounts, then allowingeach to spend up to $10,000 on campaign give-aways like buttons, pencils, cards, etc. Citizensare limited, as are we, to how much they cangive, political action committees are not allowedand corporations cannot donate. Last I knew,this was what France’s system is like.

So, here we are today with one-third of us liv-ing in poverty, another one-third of us living innear poverty — together, giving us the highestpoverty rate among the rich nations, with ourminimum wage almost $5 an hour lower that theoriginal law called for, with millions of our work-ers still unemployed 5 1/2 years after this reces-sion began, with some candidates and otherpoliticians calling for reducing Social Securityand Medicare payments, which are fully coveredby what we have already paid in (and cost thegovernment nothing), thereby recommendingtaking more money from the poor, the workersand the middle class to give to the rich by retain-ing their tax reductions made from the originallaw.

This is no longer a country of the people, bythe people and for the people!

No, this is not the country I fought to pre-serve!

Writer’s Block

This Isn’t The CountryI Fought To Preserve

William

KERR

The Value Of RTECDr. Wayne Kindle, Superintendent, YanktonSchool District; and Dr. Jennifer Johnke, Princi-pal, Yankton High School

Yankton School District and RTEC have hada great relationship that is a true benefit to ourstudents. For many years, the students of Yank-ton High School have taken classes and beenexposed to the areas of manufacturing throughthe efforts of RTEC. As a result, numerous stu-dents leave Yankton High School ready to enterthe work force or pursue certification at a tech-nical school as a result.

Currently, our students take classes for highschool credit at RTEC which exposes them toWelding and Machining Processes. The RTEC fa-cility allows us to offer this opportunity to ourstudents which we may otherwise not be ableto facilitate. Additionally, our students haveearned high school credit from the RTEC Manu-facturing Academy, a two-week program heldduring the summer. RTEC has also hosted anAutomotives Academy which students from

Yankton High School have attended. Thesecourses and academies have better preparedour students for their future endeavors.

RTEC is also a partner in the Governor'sGrant which was recently awarded to YanktonHigh School. With the continued support ofRTEC, Yankton High School will be able to offerdual credit courses in the areas of Computer-Aided Drafting, Machining Processes, and Weld-ing.

This will further prepare our students toenter the workforce, a technical school, or afour-year institution. In addition, this partner-ship helps to fill high-need areas of the work-force for Yankton and the surrounding area.

We are grateful to RTEC and the past sup-porters of RTEC for providing this facility to ourstudents. The partnership with RTEC has beenextremely beneficial to students and we arehopeful these opportunities will be available formany years to come.

We ask you to please consider supportingthe RTEC Capital Campaign!

LINCOLN (Neb.) JOURNAL STAR (March 3): When the nation’sgovernors gathered in the U.S. capital, they tried to deliver a bi-partisan message that gridlock in Washington is impairing effortsto govern at the state level.

Too bad their efforts to drive home that point were undercutby their own displays of partisanship.

Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, chairman of the National Gover-nor’s Association, delivered the script.

“While Washington remains mostly gridlocked — preventinglong-term solutions — we are addressing challenges by reformingeducation, building infrastructure, improving health care and de-veloping energy resources. Governors do not have the luxury ofstanding still. Our hope is that our federal partners will do theirpart and take action,” said Fallin, a Republican.

Chiming in was Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky, a Democrat.“The whole country’s frustrated with this place,” he said.

Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, a Democrat who is vicechairman of the association, pointed out that “unlike what you seein Congress,” state officials “love to share and steal ideas fromeach other and see them improved.”

A month previously when delivering the governors’ State of theStates address, Hickenlooper pointed out that more than 26 per-cent of most state budgets come from the federal government.“The politics of fiscal responsibility can no longer be centeredaround crisis and deadlines,” Hickenlooper said.

By the time the governors had disbanded, however, it was ap-parent that the same divisions that are hamstringing Washingtonare also interfering with cooperation among states.

After a group of Democratic governors met with PresidentBarack Obama, they tore into Republicans. Vermont Gov. PeterShumlin, a Democrat, said Republican governors “have been dis-tracted by a more radical social agenda that gives tax cuts to thewealthy (and) asks the middle class to pay for them while they cuteducation and the opportunities that allow us to grow jobs.”

Shumlin tried to return to the script several days later in a bipar-tisan media briefing after governors met with Obama. “We gover-nors actually have to get things done. It’s not like Congress downhere,” Shumlin said.

That’s when Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana launched his now-fa-mous tirade against Obama. “The Obama economy is now the mini-mum wage economy,” Jindal said, drawing gasps that he had brokenprotocol. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, a Democrat, claimed Jindal’sremark was “the most insane statement I’ve ever heard.”

To Americans more removed from the scene, however, it seemedlike the visiting governors had succumbed to whatever virus infectsWashington. It’s unfortunate the governors couldn’t stay on point.It’s a message Washington needs to hear.

The PRESS & DAKOTAN encourages its readers to write let-ters to the editor, and it asks that a few simple guidelines be followed.

n Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters should deal witha single subject, be of general interest and state a specific point ofview. Letters are edited with brevity, clarity and newspaper style inmind.

n In the sense of fairness and professionalism, the PRESS &DAKOTAN will accept no letters attacking private individuals or busi-nesses.

n Specific individuals or entities addressed in letters may be giventhe opportunity to read the letter prior to publication and be allowed toanswer the letter in the same issue.

n Only signed letters with writer’s full name, address and daytimephone number for verification will be accepted. Please mail to: Letters,319 Walnut, Yankton, SD 57078, drop off at 319 Walnut in Yankton, faxto 665-1721 or email to views@yankton.net.

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