Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 14, 2015

15

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 14, 2015 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

TOM Purcell


Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

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LaQuetta Shamblee

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Richard Garcia

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John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

Pat Birdsall (retired)

VETERANS DAY BY 
THE NUMBERS

“I had no idea that many men and 
women have served our country in our 
armed forces.” 

“Ah, yes, you refer to Veterans Day 
facts and figures shared by the U.S. 
Census Bureau. Did you know there 
are 19.3 million U.S. veterans living 
today? Roughly half are 65 and older. 
Nearly 2 million are under the age of 
35.” “That’s interesting stuff. Those 
older than 65 served in World War II, 
Korea and Vietnam and the 2 million 
under 35 served mostly in Iraq and 
Afghanistan after 911?” 

“You are correct. According to statistics 
released by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, World War II vets are dying 
at a rate of approximately 492 a day. 
This means there are approximately 
only 855,070 veterans remaining of the 
16 million who served our nation in 
World War II.” 

“The greatest generation!” 

“My father served in the Korean War. 
He is 82. Of the 5.7 million who served 
during that war, 2 million veterans are 
still with us.” 

“What about the Vietnam War?” 

“Of the 8.7 million veterans who served 
in that horrific war, 7 million are still 
alive. To round out the numbers, 5.5 
million veterans served during the 
Gulf War era, which spans 1990 to the 
present. Roughly 4.4 million veterans 
served during peacetime. Other 
veterans had it awfully tough.” 

“How so?” 

“Nearly 63,000 living veterans served 
during the Vietnam War and both 
periods of the Gulf War. They served 
from August 1990 through August 
2001 and then from September 2001 
and beyond.” 

“God bless them for their service.” 

“Some of our living veterans served 
through three wartime periods! Nearly 
37,000 served during World War II, the 
Korean War and the Vietnam War.” 

“Wow.” 

“The makeup of the armed services is 
changing as our demographics change. 
Though nearly 80 percent are ‘non-
Hispanic white,’ nearly 12 percent 
are black, 6 percent are Hispanic, 1.5 
percent are Asian and nearly 2.5 percent 
are Native Americans, Alaskans and 
Hawaiians.” 

“What about women who serve?” 

“Those numbers are growing, too. There 
are currently 1.6 
million female 
veterans in our 
country.” 

“We are lucky 
to still have 
these men and 
women with us 
and the purpose 
of Veterans Day is to honor all of those 
who have served. But what about the 
people who gave the ultimate sacrifice 
for our country?” 

“Did you know that nearly 1 million 
Americans have died for their country? 
Approximately 4,500 died during the 
American revolution.” 

“I did not know that. What about our 
bloody Civil War?” 

“Bloody is the right word. Nearly 
370,000 Union soldiers and 135,000 
Confederate soldiers died during that 
war. We lost nearly 120,000 veterans 
in World War I and nearly 405,000 in 
World War II. The Korean War claimed 
34,000 and the Vietnam War 48,000.” 

“Those are sobering numbers.” 

“If there is any silver lining as far as war 
goes, it is that our modern war-fighting 
techniques and medical technologies 
are resulting in fewer battlefield deaths. 
Of the 1.5 million who have served in 
Afghanistan and Iraq, we have suffered 
approximately 6,500 losses. However, 
nearly 50,000 were wounded and many 
of them are still suffering from their 
disabilities.” 

“We need to do more to help our 
suffering veterans.” 

“That is exactly what Veterans Day is 
about. It is a special day when we honor 
all of those who have served. It is also a 
great day to give back.” 

“Give back?” 

“We can volunteer at a local veterans’ 
organization or provide financial 
support. CharityWatch.org has a list of 
legitimate organizations that provide 
help and resources to disabled veterans. 
I’m going to donate $50 now.” 

“Now that’s the kind of Veterans Day 
number I prefer!” 

 ——-

Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures 
of a 1970’s Childhood” and “Comical 
Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a 
World Gone Nutty!” is a Pittsburgh 
Tribune-Review humor columnist 

IN MY NEW DIET ALL I LOST WAS INTEREST

I lost quite a few things 
in life, but weight has 
not been one of them.

I see these commercials on TV where 
people lost tons of weight and invite me 
to join their program. Investigating some 
of the programs I discovered all you really 
lose is money every month. If there is one 
thing I do not want to lose it is money.

 I never took losing weight very serious. I 
figure one man's pound is another man's 
jiggle and we sure do not have enough jiggle 
in this world. 

 I have bigger problems than losing weight, 
which I would readily acknowledge is a 
big problem, but I have been focused on 
a bunch of other matters. If I kick the can 
down the road far enough, I never have to 
deal with it. Right?

 What if when we get to heaven, I like to 
think of this often, everybody is fat? One of 
my favorite verses in the Bible is, "...all the 
fat is the Lord's" (Leviticus 3:16). I realize 
this may be a little bit out of context, but 
some of us have to get our consolation 
wherever we can find it.

 Then it happened. You know how 
something happens that you did not plan to 
happen, but it just happens?

 It was after a wonderful supper and I had 
overindulged as usual, and happen to say 
out loud, "I sure am stuffed."

 I did not make this remark to start a 
conversation or to mean anything other 
than I was stuffed at that time. However, 
the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage saw 
it just a little bit differently.

 I think this is why men are so reluctant to 
talk to their wives because everything they 
say can be taken out of context and usually 
is. I was just referring to the fact that at that 
moment I was feeling stuffed. Actually, I 
meant it as a compliment to her fine cuisine. 
After all, a compliment is a compliment and 
should be received as such.

 "I think," she said, staring at me with one 
of her stares, "that you really are stuffed. 
Furthermore, I think we ought to do 
something about it."

 I hate it when my wife says "furthermore" 
because I do not know exactly what she's 
talking about. All I know is what is coming 
next is going to get me into trouble. Trouble 
is not my middle name but it certainly is 
my identification number. Then, this is how 
women think, when she said, "we ought to 
do something about it" the emphasis was on 
the "we." Whenever a wife says "we," she is 
really referring to her husband.

 That started quite a conversation about 
dieting. I say conversation, but actually, it 
was a very animated monologue of which I 
was the only audience at the time.

 Don't you love it when people know how 
to fix your problem? A recent study shows 
that wives outlive husbands. And of course, 
the reason is simply that many husbands 
cannot change the monologue into a 
dialogue. "Mono," means one and "dia" 
means two. But I digress.

 My good wife went on talking about a 
wonderful diet she has had in mind for 
a long time. In thinking about that, I 
concluded she thought I was overweight for 
a long time. The one good thing is that she 
has not mentioned it before. But now she is 
mentioning it.

 All of the pent-up observations and 
suggestions about my weight were now 
coming out in one dynamic monologue. I 
just could not keep up. It is hard to keep up 
when you only have two ears.

 I could tell she had been thinking about 
this for a very long time because she had 
great detail as to what my new diet should 
be, even calculating how much weight I 
would be losing if I kept on this new diet.

 So far, it was not too bad. I would go on this 
new diet, lose tons of weight, be healthier, 
and live longer and the both of us would be 
happy. What can go wrong with a plan like 
that? I love it when a plan comes together.

 Then she began outlining the details of 
this new diet. I was going to eat nothing but 
fruit and vegetables until I had achieved my 
weight loss goal.

 I had a few questions.

 "Would you consider an Apple fritter to be 
a fruit?"

 "Is a carrot cake a vegetable?"

 These two questions alone brought such 
a stare from the other person in the room 
that I melted in complete defeat. Already 
I was losing. It seems, and I'm learning 
something new here, one person's definition 
of a fruit and vegetable is not another 
person's definition.

 She began outlining all of the rules and 
regulations of this new diet and she did it 
with such glee, in fact, I have never seen her 
smile more, and it was going to be hard not 
to do it.

 After her plan was firmly set on the table 
the only thing that I lost was interest in the 
whole new diet plan.

 The Bible has some good things to say about 
fruit. "Even so every good tree bringeth 
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth 
forth evil fruit" (Matthew 7:17).

 It is not so much the fruit on the table as it 
is the fruit in my life that delights God.

 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the 
Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, 
Ocala, FL 34483. 

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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 

MICHAEL Reagan Making Sense

HOWARD Hays As I See It


A GOOD REPUBLICAN SLUGFEST

A funny thing happened at the 
Republican primary debate in 
Milwaukee Tuesday night.

A debate broke out.

Episode 3 of the GOP's presidential 
debates was the best yet — if 
you're more interested in what the 
candidates think about the issues 
than what they think about each 
other.

Unlike the fiasco put on by CNBC last 
month, the moderators on the Fox 
Business Network didn't try to get the 
candidates to fight among themselves 
or ask stupid liberal gotcha questions.

In fact, FNB's classy and competent 
journalists — Maria Bartiromo, Neil 
Cavuto and the Wall Street Journal's 
Gerard Baker — were the night's 
biggest winners.

But what about the candidates? Who 
won or lost?

I did my duty to God and party and 
watched the so-called "undercard" 
debate, where Bobby Jindal, Rick 
Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Chris 
Christie slugged it out. 

Santorum stuck up for the family 
and the workingman as usual while 
Huckabee tried to sell his unsellable 
Fair Tax idea, which has no chance of 
becoming a reality — ever.

Rising New Jersey heavyweight Chris 
Christie clearly won the undercard 
debate on points, despite the pesky 
attacks of his fellow governor Jindal.

Christie fought off Jindal with one 
hand while throwing a dozen hard 
jabs at someone who wasn't even 
in the ring — Hillary Clinton. He 
proved he deserves to be with the 
first tier at the next debate in Reno on 
Dec. 15.

In the main event Tuesday there were 
no clear winners or losers.

John Kasich got in a good zinger about 
Donald Trump's fantasy promise that 
he'd round up and deport 11 million 
illegal immigrants, but overall he 
was too angry-looking and yelled too 
much.

Jeb Bush, once again, acted more like 
an awkward wallflower at a seniors 
dance than a future president. He 
needed a memorable moment but 
didn't get it.

Bush did get a chance or two to show 
he's smart on foreign policy and 
realistic on immigration.

But in this silly primary season he 
and Kasich are out of place. This time 
it's not just about having brains or 
experience. It's about having style and 
personality -- and being an outsider.

Speaking of which, Trump, except for 
his cheap verbal 
snaps at Kasich 
and Fiorina, 
behaved 
himself.

He did OK 
when he 
answered 
questions but 
seemed like he was there more in 
body than spirit.

He again promised to rebuild our 
military and kick everyone's butt in 
the Mideast.

But his "Make America Great Again" 
bumper-sticker boasts are looking 
more dubious all the time. Maybe The 
Donald should ask Bush if he could 
sublease some of his position papers.

Dr. Carson didn't hurt or help 
himself at the debate, either. But he 
also needs to start sharing some of 
his substantial policy ideas — if he 
has them.

Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina did great 
each time they had the stage.

Fiorina killed with her tough foreign 
policy stand and her rant on crony 
capitalism.

Cruz warned that if the Republicans 
join Democrats "as the party of 
amnesty, we lose" in 2016.

He had the best quip of the night 
when he said that the politics of 
immigration would be much different 
"if a bunch of people with journalism 
degrees were coming over and driving 
down the wages in the press."

Rand Paul showed up to debate this 
time.

He made his libertarian points well 
and landed a sharp sucker punch on 
Marco Rubio's chin by asking how his 
plan to spend $1 trillion on families 
and $1 trillion on rebuilding the 
military could qualify as a fiscally 
conservative position.

Anyone forced to single out a winner 
would probably pick the crowd 
favorite, Kid Rubio. He was smooth, 
quick on his feet and hit hard with 
both hands on foreign policy.

He, Cruz and Christie are the best 
debaters among the establishment 
candidates.

If they are going to get a chance 
to knock out Trump and Carson, 
however, the GOP bosses have to 
dump the undercard now and get the 
top five or six contenders on the same 
stage in Reno.

Michael Reagan is the son of 
President Ronald Reagan, a political 
consultant, and the author of "The 
New Reagan Revolution" 


“Now, people ask me all 
the time how we got four 
surplus budgets in a row. 
What new ideas did we 
bring to Washington? I 
always give a one-word 
answer: Arithmetic.”

- Bill Clinton, speaking 
at the 2012 Democratic 
National Convention

 Republicans have remained scientifically-
challenged. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), 
Chairman of the House Science Committee, 
used his office to issue subpoenas to scientists 
addressing climate change. He’s pushed for 
cutting NASA’s earth observation budget 
by 40%. Committee member Rep. James 
Sensenbrenner (R-WI) claims “solar flares 
are more responsible for climatic cycles than 
anything human beings can do.” Another 
member, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), 
dismisses the whole thing; “global warming is 
a total fraud . . . employed by liberals to create 
global government.” 

 Until defeated in his bid for a U.S. Senate 
seat last year, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) 
served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Investigations and Oversight of the Science 
Committee. He’s perhaps best known for his 
characterization of evolution and the Big Bang 
theory as “lies straight from the pit of hell.”

 Republicans haven’t fared much better 
with history, either. At the local level, those 
on the Texas Board of Education made news 
last month when their influence on textbook 
publishers was called out by an angry 
mom (who also happened to be a doctoral 
candidate at the University of Houston). Her 
son had sent a snapchat of a caption from a 
geography textbook referring to millions of 
“workers” coming from Africa to the South; 
part of “Patterns of Immigration”. There’d 
been pressure not to refer to these workers 
and immigrants as what they were – slaves. 
(McGraw-Hill later agreed to revisions.)

 History lessons pushed by Republican-
dominated boards have sought to minimize 
topics like Jim Crow laws, the KKK, McCarthy-
era witch-hunts (except for justifications of 
them) and, going back to medieval times, the 
Crusades. 

 Recent history proves more problematic. 
At last week’s Republican debate, when Carly 
Fiorina was asked about job growth having 
been greater during Democratic presidencies 
than under Republicans, she responded by 
recalling a chat she’d had with a 40-year-old 
mother.

 Dr. Ben Carson told us that “People need 
to be educated on the minimum wage. Every 
time we raise the minimum wage, the number 
of jobless people increases.” Carson could have 
looked to history as recent as the first half of 
this year, when job growth in the 13 states that 
raised their minimum wage at the beginning 
of the year was greater than in the 37 states that 
didn’t – while cities with the highest minimum 
wages also had the highest growth in small 
businesses.

 A history we should all be familiar with 
is the Republicans’ record on economic 
predictions, particularly when it comes to 
jobs. From the 2009 stimulus package through 
the Affordable Care Act to regulations on the 
environment and Wall Street under the Obama 
Administration, Republicans consistently 
warned of them being “job-killing” and 
ruinous for the economy. Instead, we’ve seen 
the creation of 13.5 million new jobs, with 68 
straight months of job growth being the longest 
such streak in our history.

 That history shows in May of 2012, candidate 
Mitt Romney predicting that after rolling-back 
or eliminating these programs, he could get 
us to 6% unemployment by 2017. They weren’t 
rolled-back or eliminated, and unemployment 
is already down to 5%.

 But as Bill Clinton suggested, perhaps 
their biggest problem is with arithmetic – or 
even understanding big numbers; those with 
commas in them. Arguing at the debate for 
more vocational training, Sen. Marco Rubio 
(R-FL) stated that “welders make more money 
than philosophers”. The latest figures from 
PayScale.com show a welder’s median starting 
salary as $33,728, rising to $44,487 after ten 
years. For philosophy majors, it’s $42,200, 
rising to $85,000. Some philosophy majors 
have done quite well; such as Carl Icahn, 
George Soros – and Carly Fiorina.

 The arithmetic is especially relevant in 
analyzing the candidates’ tax plans. According 
to Citizens for Tax Justice, Rubio’s plan, where 
34% of the benefits would go to the top 1% 
of earners (who’d each receive an average 
$223,783 tax cut), would cost $11.8 trillion in 
revenue over ten years. That’s more than three 
times worse than the Bush tax cuts, which 
cost us $3.4 trillion over the decade. Rubio 
also proposes a balanced budget amendment 
to the U.S. Constitution – but constitutional 
amendments don’t change the arithmetic.

 Jeb Bush’s plan is figured to cost $7.1 trillion 
over the decade, but with 46% of the benefits 
going to the top 1%. That 1% would see their 
incomes rise 10.2%; the middle 20% would see 
a 3.2% rise in income, while the poorest 20% 
would average a 2% raise.

Trump’s plan comes out worst, adding $12 
trillion to our national debt. The richest 1% 
would average a $227,225 tax cut, the middle 
20% a $2,571 cut while the poorest 20% might 
take home an extra twenty bucks a month 
(but, as Trump suggests, they should just work 
harder).

 Getting back to history, there were 
Republican predictions of economic disaster 
back in 1993 when President Clinton raised the 
top tax rates, and of prosperity to come when 
Bush cut them. History is clear on how those 
predictions turned out. 

 Carly Fiorina stated at the debate that 
“Obamacare isn’t helping anyone”. According 
to this month’s figures from the Centers for 
Disease Control, the percentage of uninsured 
Americans has dropped 9% since 2013. 44.8 
million uninsured Americans back then minus 
28.5 million uninsured today equals 16.3 
million Americans no longer worrying about 
denial because of a pre-existing condition, 
some cap on benefits or financial ruin if 
a family member gets sick - thanks to the 
Affordable Care Act. 

 Just do the math – or even some simple 
arithmetic.

Mountain Views News

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