Sugar Creek Publishing

# 110

“Hiatus — an odd term…”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

May 3, 2012

Well, readers have been victims of hiatus. Like most of us, the best-laid plans, so they say, often go awry. I can’t count the times that I’ve put my domestic chores aside to sit down and write a column, but over the past two weeks I’ve done the opposite. To further complicate matters, I spent ten days out of state on family business. Ah, well. Life calls! The “to do” list is nearly exhausted, as am I. Apologies are moot, so I will chastise myself and I vow not to allow this to recur unless faced with a dire emergency.

Suffice it to say, prevailing thought among the movers and shakers has not reappeared in my absence, so the column title remains valid: “In Defense of Common Sense.”

Spring is, traditionally, the time that scholarship applications fly into the offices of high school counselors around the nation. Career choices loom over the latest generation of soon-to-be-graduates and parents’ stomachs churn with that old sinking feeling at the prospect of paying for college.

Often cited statistics vary a bit from state to state, but according to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, it costs less to college educate than to incarcerate a person. It probably hasn’t escaped you, but one of the highest growing enterprises in the nation is that of penal facilities.

It is incredibly sad to pass by what was once known as Bunker Hill Air Force Base near Peru. Now a combination business and prison site, it offers employment opportunities, but nothing in comparison to the zenith of the facility as home to the refueling unit of the Strategic Air Command.

Daily, more lives are taken and more injuries incurred on our streets than in a war zone. Few talk about it. I suppose that we are so immune to the constant list of crimes described on the radio and TV broadcasts that we hardly pay attention.

Drugs are at the heart of many crime sprees and fueling a habit is very expensive. The so-called “War on Drugs” is as an abysmal failure as the social bomb known as “The War on Poverty”. There are more people living in poverty today than when this governmental program launched in the 1960s.
It all boils down to the fish theory. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Bigger is touted to be better, but it is a hollow claim. Whenever there are too many cooks around a pot, the result is not palatable. Schools belong at the local level. Parents know what their children need. Whenever the federal government gets into any sector of private lives, the boon is to administrative salaries and not to results.

Many of us were flummoxed by the “No Child Left Behind” legislation that moved through Congress in the previous administration. The real bold step would have been to close down the Department of Education. When a national government “educates” you have real reason to worry.

Ask any local school board member how much he or she can really decide in terms of school direction and curricula. Very little. Mandates from the state rule and there is little “wiggle room” for those closest to the students.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to extrapolate that educational big stick to health care, either. When an Ethics Committee can decide if you or a loved one “deserves” a high level of medical care, beware!

As we move through the primary process and select slates of candidates at the local, county, state and national levels, keep in mind that the closest the governmental unit the more responsive. That is the beauty of a federal system. States have clout and can react to constituent needs far more smoothly and efficiently than national bureaucrats.

Patience is the byword. A change in administration is sorely needed, but don’t be anguished if the wheels of progress move slowly. It takes less time to incur debt than to repay it, and the current president has wracked up more debt in three and a half years than ALL previous presidents combined!

It would be one thing if all the debt was backed by solid currency, but ours is not. What we owe debt is a result of the “fed” authorizing money from a printing press and/or bonds sold to the Chinese and other foreign governments. Our leverage is nil. Wake up and smell. It’s not coffee, folks, it’s trouble and not in River City. It’s in every city or hometown across America, no matter how large or small.

The only growing sector of jobs is in government and those jobs don’t put out a product. They put out paper and regulations — just what we need, eh? Those jobs pay more than private sector jobs, too. Sobering? You bet.
It’s time we cut the corporate tax rate to encourage companies to return. Remember the Neil Diamond song “Coming to America?” Someone needs to play it for the U.S. Senate. It has gone without submitting a budget for years. It tables every piece of meaningful budget legislation that comes from The U.S. House of Representatives.

How does it make you feel when determined people draft bills that have clout and they are buried in a pile of paper on the Majority Leader’s desk? If your household went without a budget and spent twice what it took in, you’d be faced with losing everything. Not so with the government. It simply lifts the debt limit and goes on its merry way and spends with abandon.

Abandon is a good word for it. The current administration has abandoned every tenet of good stewardship and heaped a debt on generations unborn. So much for that lost ball slogan “Hope and Change”. The leadership in the White House is one syllable short. The word is not hope, but hopeless. And change? That’s for November to decide.

You can’t continue to operate on borrowed funds. Sooner or later you must pay The Piper and he doesn’t live in Hamlin. He lives in Beijing. Think about it.

#109

“Sound familiar?”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

March 26, 2012

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

This week the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court begin to hear oral arguments on the Affordable Health Act, better known as Obama Care and their decision affects each of us.

Clear opposition to the law is the firmly held assertion by the countless Americans that their federal government has no business telling anyone to enter into a contract, and an insurance policy is just that — a contract.

It seems as if the three components of that familiar phrase with which I began this column are already either in jeopardy on dead on arrival. Life? Well, it is legal to kill unborn children, so there’s one down. Moreover, if Obama Care is ruled to be in sync with the U.S. Constitution, seniors’ care will be rationed (as it is in England and Canada) — again lives put at risk at the hands of “bean counters” obsessed with creating a “Nanny State.”

Liberty? With each passing day, via Executive Order or some unelected and roundly unaccountable Czar, we lose our liberty. The situation reminds me of a beaver, or that determined “ant and the rubber tree plant” that Frank Sinatra immortalized in song. Chip by chip, nip by nip, the tree of liberty is eaten away — and with it the way of life that our forefathers so desperately wanted to guarantee to each one of us.

The pursuit of happiness? Oh, sure, it’s still there, in spades. Have you noticed the movement to allow men to marry men and women to marry women? Then, add a plethora of behavior once deemed taboo in civilized society and now accepted in the name of “political correctness,” or worse yet, “tolerance” and you have a picture of a society degrading by the day!

My grandparents and parents would have tolerated none of this. I fear that untold numbers of our ancestors are turning over in their graves when witnessing the America of today.

The law labeled “affordable” in its very title is anything but affordable. Critics claim that numbers were skewed in order to keep the initial estimate below one trillion dollars and that very expensive portions of the law were not used as a base line. A recent estimate is that, once implemented, this behemoth of a law will cost a family $20,000 a year. Sound affordable to you? Hardly.

I hold out hope that Justice Elena Kagan will recuse herself, since she was a prime mover of the law before she was appointed and confirmed. It is a clear conflict of interest. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I will hold my breath and pray (yes, critics of faith). I know I am not alone and, with the rest of you that oppose this law, I hold out hope that the court will stop this expansion of government control before it destroys the economy and the nation we love.

Current members are Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Bryer, John Roberts, Jr. Samuel Alito, Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.

If you feel helpless, you are not solitary in that thought. Here’s an option:

www.toddyoungforcongress.com has a petition for you to sign. Congressman Young will forward the signatures and urge the Supreme Court to strike down Obama Care. The page comes up immediately and it only takes a few seconds to fill it out.

Remember those nine names. They are the sole arbiters of the law in this nation and now —more than ever — they hold the American dream in their hands.

I generally end a column with this phrase: Think about it. If you have to think about THIS dangerous overreach of the federal over individuals represented by their states, you aren’t thinking at all.

# 108

“Promising Senior”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

March 15, 2012

Every once in a while, you come across a youngster who floors you with enthusiasm, verve and ability. So it was when my husband and I sat at a small ice creamery in Florida while our Newfie enjoyed a tiny dish of vanilla.

Many folks stop to see our Bear. His size attracts attention, to say the least; but, through him, we have met more people than we ever would have had we traveled alone.

The slim girl, accompanied by her mother, had purchased a newspaper and began to walk to the car when she spotted the dog. Marissa came for Bear like a moth to a flame and we began to chat with her. She had aced her national math tests as a freshman and won a laptop computer for her deft knowledge. Now, as a senior, she worked part time at the ice cream shop and pondered the hurdles of paying for college.

Admitted to South Florida at Tampa, she has a plethora of careers available to her, among them engineering. Excuse me if I climb atop my soapbox again, but I feel the urge.

Every day we American taxpayers foot the bill for illegals — education, English as a second language for Pete’s sake, and health care. More than that, our charities and churches spend millions of dollars on those folks, too. That money would better serve society if it were channeled to deserving, entrepreneurial young people.

American business is under attack daily. Instead of increasing taxes on employers, why not enable them to offer partial or full-ride scholarships to bright young high school seniors seeking a good job?

Co-op collegiate work is not new. Neither are scholarships. Yet, I wonder just how many companies actually participate in these programs. It would be interesting to see if there are more of these programs today or fewer than in past years.

Getting back to Marissa. She is valuable to each of us. Her work could produce a new product or refine an existing one to better our lives and the nation as a whole. Not all of us are able to help send someone to school, but some of us are. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that nothing is more rewarding than seeing a graduate landing that first job with no college debt.

As for me, I plan to contact several young women engineers and explore the possibility of sponsorship for Marissa. Surely, there is a company out there that would be interested in helping her.

I don’t have an answer yet. For now, I vow to immerse myself in a quest for her. She will be the first college graduate in her family, and I want to help her achieve that goal. If any of you readers have any ideas for her, let me know. I can contact her.

# 107

“American Idle”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 28, 2102

Just in case you haven’t noticed, more and more of your neighbors are out of work, but there’s more to that story. I find it intriguing how the rhetoric changes with the slide in the economy. Early on, President Obama praised private business, affirming that the private sector alone was able to create jobs and also stating that government does not create jobs. In the wake of the failed “stimulus” legislation, his wording has changed markedly. Now, government is the last best hope to create jobs and save the American people from further financial morass.

My father was a private businessman, as are my husband and my sons. They face something that the president never faces: meeting payroll. It’s easy to spend the old “OPM” — other people’s money — especially when all you have to do to get more of it is to raise taxes.

If you don’t believe that higher taxes are coming, you are deluding yourself. Polled extensively, only 6% of the American people support the present strategy of spending out of a recession. That’s a rather odd position at its core. The last time you were over budget in your household, did you immediately figure out how to go spend more money? Hardly.

We are in a terrible fix. When you see what is happening in Greece, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how a population thoroughly disgusted with its leaders can take to the streets and turn violent. Remember Los Angeles and Rodney King? That horrific incident was in response to a unit of local government — in that case the police department. Can you imagine if such anger was vented on a national scale?

I hope it doesn’t come to a flashpoint that erupts in our cities’ streets, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. There is a small reading I suggest to you. It won’t take long and it’s bound to spur thought.

A beautifully written piece, it ranks among the most important works of all time. It is the U.S. Constitution. Its precise words guarantee your freedom. Vital to you is that the government operates with “the consent of the governed”. When was the last time you felt as if the government takes that seriously? Not lately, I would guess.

Most bookstores carry small, paperback editions of The Constitution. Other organizations supporting liberty send copies out free of charge.

Do your homework. Arm yourselves with the facts. You will be shocked at the actions taken by the federal government that have no basis in The Constitution. One parting thought. All powers not specifically given over to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people.

Nowhere in the Constitution is there any language allowing the government to launch the massive social programs that have grown steadily since the 1930s. We are given the right to pursue happiness, but we are not guaranteed equal results. We can succeed. We can fail. At this point, our government has failed us.

Raise your voice. Complain. Write. Call. E-mail. FAX. Tweet. Organize your neighbors. Form reading groups among family, co-workers and friends. Study The Constitution. Defend it on your own behalf. A few in Washington try to do that, yet so many others simply ignore it and— completely disregarding the people and following party ideology — plod across the marsh of debt and approach the cliff of financial ruin. Those who tread on our rights through such legislation should be seeking career counseling. Come November, they’ll need it.

Oh, and the “X” factor? That’s the box on the ballot!

# 107

“1s and 2s”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 21, 2012

Today’s date is chock full of 1s and 2s. Applied to our Bill of Rights, we see freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. Both of these are under attack and because so few of us are familiar with the U.S. Constitution, we tune into the ball games, the races, or the movies and leave the politics to the politicians. Bad decision.

Borne out of extreme control and censorship by The Crown, the colonists drafted those rights to allow people to be able to think for themselves and to express their thoughts. It was the right to speak out against an overbearing government that brought a lump to the throats of those people who had lived under an overarching government with no protected mechanism through which to complain or to petition for redress. It was the right to take up arms that held sway over a populace that was under the thumb of the British soldiers that was so prized by the United States’ first citizens.

By the way, it assures us freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. And the people of God rose up as one… Will they? Basically, those within the government who target religion see it as competition. If religion guides us, government cannot.

As for current attitudes toward the Second Amendment, does the term “Fast and Furious” come to mind? Just who do those folks want not to have guns? Criminals will get weapons whether they are legal or not, and a license is a joke to an armed felon.

How about “gun free zones”? We see that term thrown around a lot. I pose one question for reflection. What would have happened if a teacher or a professor in either Columbine High School or Virginia Tech had been armed? Maybe you need to ask the families of the victims what they think.

Like a pig in a poke, whenever the government takes a hand, the result is not what you expect and involves a big hand — one seldom worthy of it synonym, applause.

Bigger is not better, so an individual’s rights need to be guaranteed. You know for yourself that local issues are local. If yielded to either the state or the national level, the ensuing messes would be unfathomable. Talk about a communication crisis! That would be one, for sure!

The minute you hear federal officials claim “they know what’s best for you,” run for it. Name one government entity that makes money. Hmmmmm…. No answer? That’s understandable. Let’s just look at one example. USPS is so up to its ears in pensions that it loses billions (yes with a B) of dollars each year and now we hear that a single stamp will be 50 cents!

I don’t see FedEx or UPS losing money, do you? No. That’s because they plan for the future of their employees by economizing, organizing, and simply performing better to make — now, hold your breath — a profit. Egad! The PROFIT is the word that so many in the government decry as if it were evil.

Well, if it weren’t for “evil profit,” no small business would exist and we would all be shopping, for want of another name, at the equivalent of the coalmine company store.

I heard an analyst state that if you were to rate government programs, most of them are losers and have been for years. Yet, they stay on the books and continue to suck up your tax money. I wonder if the annual Golden Fleece Awards still exist. These went to the government programs that best fleeced the public largesse. Looking back, if they hadn’t been so sad, they would have been funny as all get out.

Tightening the belt doesn’t seem to be SOP in government. Have you heard Congressional patriots who hold out for cutting spending labeled as real “obstructionists”? Those name callers are right, you know. Yeah, that’s what they are — obstructionists. They are busy trying to add logs to the levee while the critics are opening the spending floodgates! Get the picture?

If we don’t support the Senators and Congressmen (and women) who refuse to accept more spending without equal or greater cuts, we get just what we deserve — bankruptcy! Moreover, that bankruptcy will not at a personal level, either, but at a national level.

When the nation was founded, Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey for the national bird. Well, sorry Mr. Eagle, but if things keep going the way they are right now, the Founding Fathers should have let Ben have his way.

The current administration struts about and makes a lot of noise; but, if given permission, will relegate us to a real turkey — fried, as in Greece. That’s not a faux pas in spelling, either. I didn’t mean fried in “grease,” I meant fried like GREECE. Consider what’s happening now in Greece.

Over the past years, the Greek people became accustomed to working less, retiring very early, and looking to their national government for their every need. It was a shortsighted and ill-conceived plan. Alas, the government well — predictably — ran dry, and lending Greece more money is not high on the European Union’s list. Other countries simply do not want to pay the Greek’s bills or finance their enormous debt.

Socrates and Plato must be rolling over in their graves! Let’s vow that OUR Founding Fathers do not suffer the same fate. Contact your Congress people and tell them to fight for solvency. Truly, it’s the only solution. If you owe a lot of money, you don’t up the limit on your credit card and spend more, do you? Well, maybe you don’t, but the government does!

I shudder at the folks who would answer “yes” to that question. You cannot spend your way out of financial trouble. Yet, that’s precisely what this administration has touted as financially prudent for the past three years and now gasoline is closing in on $4 a gallon – nearly twice as expensive than when they took control. When gasoline was in the $3.50 range in the 1990s, the media was all over it. Where are they today? Anyone knows that as gasoline rise, so follow do prices for consumer goods and commodities.

We are in a hole, people — A BIG HOLE! Isn’t it about time we stopped digging? Gee, I had no idea THAT was the meaning of “shovel ready”! Did you? Think about it.

# 105

“Prepositions”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 14, 2012

Oh, they are integral parts of speech and necessary for written text and/or oral discourse, but they are more than that!

Perhaps more than any other speech we read as young students and remember as adults is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Written by hand as the president traveled to the site of a horrific Civil War battle, it was delivered from the heart — not with the aid of a teleprompter.

For all the benefits of technology afforded by electronic wizards, the one I wish would disappear is that blasted teleprompter.

There is nothing wrong with a speaker being prepared. Glancing down at notes isn’t a sin. President Reagan, long regarded as “The Great Communicator” had his own sort of shorthand on small cards that guided him through his speeches. One of my most treasured books is a marvelous collection of his speeches. The cover shows him at his desk, pen in hand.

He was a prolific writer and the book “Love Ronnie” chronicles his letters to wife Nancy as he traveled about as a spokesperson for General Electric.

Back to speeches. There is an even or better chance that you not only read that speech given at Gettysburg but that you memorized it. If you are like most Americans, the words “Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers…” spark not only the beginning sentence, but also bring about a recollection the entire text.

We are on a brink of a different kind today — a brink that involves far more than weapons. With this in mind, it is not hard to extrapolate another phrase from a much earlier Lincoln speech.

In his words, “A house divided cannot stand.” Uttered when the nation faced a possible rift and a war among its citizens, the phrase is not hollow today. Those five words perfectly describe what we face now. We have a division among our leaders from the White House down to the floor of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

That schism is very simple. It is an insult to the any household or small business and one choice would spell their doom. Put simply, you cannot spend more than you earn. Profit and solvency are not dirty words.

In essence, each American worker — young, old, man or woman — earns money from toil. Basically, they exchange time for money. They invest their time working and their reward is a paycheck. Government, on the other hand, does not earn. Government takes.

Those of us old enough to remember statements from other leaders who moved toward “redistribution of wealth” know that the practice never works. There is no country on the face of the earth where taking from one group and giving to another group worked. Oh, it sounds good, but it bodes ill.

It’s always amusing to me that so many so-called “celebrities” clamor to climb on the bandwagon for this view. Aha! But, consider this. They don’t do that unless they have so much money that they don’t have to worry about making the mortgage payment, answering the phone for fear it is a bill collector, lying awake at night trying to figure out how not to lay off an employee, or going without pay as an employer to keep a business in the black.

We listen to election coverage so much that we tune it out. That is sad, because the process should incite thought, not to turn off mentally. Mud isn’t new, but it usually reflects a lack of purpose. For example, with a weak argument, the strategy is to attack the opposition. Ideas and facts always top mud slinging, but mud slinging garners more press. And so it goes…

I am reminded of another Lincoln statement, one that comes at the close of the address. I dissect it to three words: of, by and for — those prepositions that led this column. Undoubtedly, you will remember portions of it: “that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Ponder these words: “nation under God”… “government of the people, by the people and for the people”… “shall not perish”.

We are in peril of losing the very freedoms our forefathers pledged their lives to secure. It is time for that new birth of freedom. Think about it.

# 104

“A Lost Art”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 8, 2012

Spending time among the younger set is instructive and thought provoking to say the least. For some time I have noticed the small percentage of grocery customers who buy ingredients to “cook from scratch”. At first, I chalked it up to the convenience of the items they purchased, but I must admit that my opinion has changed.

After speaking to several men in their 40s about home cooking, I found that very few significant others, girlfriends or wives cook at all. I was most surprised to learn that some of these women don’t even clean!

I realize that Home Economics has suffered a sudden death among most schools, but what on earth did these women eat as they grew up? The answer probably lies in the fact that so many of their mothers worked outside the home.

That said, I know of many women my age (nearing 70) that worked and put lovely meals on the table. To me, it boils down (poor pun!) to pride and the value placed on keeping a home.

From comments related to me, many of the women in the 35-45 ranges consider housework beneath them. Well, it probably is! Beneath them you might find dirty floors, stained carpets, dust, crumbs, and assorted laundry items that didn’t find their way to the washer and dryer.

I am shocked at the number of friends these men had who work all day and go home to do everything else! I worked for a long time and had three boys at home. Later, I went to college full time carrying a 21-credit load and nobody ever went without a good meal, clean clothes or a clean house. Did I get tired? You bet I did, but it was my choice to spread myself thin and I did it without a second thought. My family came first — then my education.

It all adds up to what you are willing to do and how much the closest people in your life mean to you. I’m not sure how you change this picture. I know a few of these gals personally and they have no interest in doing “menial” chores. Oh, it’s nice for a husband or boyfriend to help, but they cannot carry the load all alone.

We emphasize all sorts of opportunities for women, and legitimate as they are, we do little or nothing to instill a sense of responsibility and a real appreciation for child rearing. The future of the country depends on the children. If society at large continues to place no emphasis on the home, we are doomed.
Don’t get me wrong. Nobody has to become the newest version of Betty Crocker or equal any of the cooking show hosts, but shouldn’t they be able to put a simple meal on the table? Give me oxygen. It takes more time to download your email than to make a meatloaf and put it in the oven.

If you have young girls in your neighborhood, invite them in and give them cooking lessons. You will be doing them a big favor and giving them a good start on a stable home life later on down the line. Cooking: it’s not just for the professionals. Make it a family affair. I taught my boys to cook when they were very small and they can all put a decent meal on the table. They know how to clean, do yard work, do laundry and iron — although they probably don’t do a lot of THAT these days!

I’ve had more than one compliment on their talents. I can’t take full credit, but I tried to give them a head start. Lets hope that mothers of girls do the same. As for the 40s guys seeking a wife and homemaker, I pray that they will find that equal partner someday. Homemakers are important people and should not be considered any less. Think about it.

# 103

“Three Days”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 2, 2012

In three days, my home state takes the spotlight and Indianapolis shines like a diamond when it hosts The NFL’s Super Bowl. For all the hype about the advertising and the rivalries, this event portends a great financial boon for the city and surrounding towns.

The airport will buzz, gas station cash registers will ring, hotel and motel rooms will be packed, restaurants will serve tens of thousands of meals, and many visitors will get that first glimpse of a city that has experienced a true Renaissance over the last decades.

No longer “India-No-Place” or “Nap Town,” Indianapolis is a truly beautiful city and its downtown is a virtual jewel among other cities of like size. Town leaders aided by thousands of volunteers invested years of work into a welcome for guests that will rival anything they have ever seen before.

Blocks of one downtown street were closed for months while designers transformed it into an area of music and entertainment with overhead heat in case of inclement weather. For football fans, there is no venue so highly prized. Ticket prices reflect that. However, most of us will relax in our homes among family and friends or pack sports bars and restaurants to watch with perfect strangers.

Nothing should dampen this venue for the city and the state. So much work has gone into the preparation. Threats have been made, but they are completely unnecessary and in the worst taste possible.

Enjoy the game. I hope the network covering the game airs scenes that highlight the beauty of Indianapolis. If so, those images will not only inspire a sense of pride from residents, but evoke warm memories for Hoosiers living elsewhere. Ticket holders will, no doubt, come away awed by the venues downtown — all accessible by foot. The mix of shopping, entertainment and food is amazing! Looking for a nice place to vacation next summer? Why not try Indianapolis? It offers much more than sports arenas and nothing tops Hoosier Hospitality.

It would take an entire column just to skim over Indiana’s attractions, so take a look at websites for both the State of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis.
The lights are burning late this week as planners put those finishing touches on all the preparations for Sunday’s game. They deserve a lot of credit. If you are volunteering, thanks to you, too!

For many of those of us Hoosiers close to the Colts, cheers will be for Eli Manning and the Giants. However, no matter who comes away with the Lombardi trophy, Indianapolis comes away THE winner. What a great opportunity for the city and the state! Have fun this weekend and enjoy the festivities!

# 102

What’s ahead…

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

January 24, 2012

There is something very soothing about soft light in the morning. After a long, dark night you awaken to or greet that soft light as you begin your day. So, too, is the rebirth of ideals long buried under political rhetoric.

If you have the time, read The Federalist Papers and The Five-Thousand-Year Leap.

Nothing is quite so amazing as delving into the original wording of our Founding Fathers and developing a finer appreciation for limited government.

What we have seen over the last three years is precisely what the Colonists fought to escape: over-arching government that, in laymen’s terms, stomped all over personal rights and denied liberty to citizens.

Moving forward, we enter a critical period of time in which we will point this country in the direction of smaller government or lapse into an abyss of huge government that completely skirts the basis for our US Constitution.

When you begin to hear “what’s fair” as an excuse for taking money from those who earn it and giving it to those who do not, you enter another realm: socialism. We don’t teach the basics of governmental systems in our schools anymore. Ask any young person what a socialist is and you won’t get much of an answer. Socialists appeal to groups they deem “disenfranchised,” yet it is our own government that continues to fuel their dependency.

I once had a great professor of African American history. She lamented that the basic building blocks of black society disappeared with integration and the huge slide into one parent families came when unmarried women could get money for dependent children. Before these seminal events, nearly all black families were units of mothers, fathers and children.

Poverty was a way of life for many, but within their own neighborhoods there were black merchants and professionals who served as role models for the children. When blacks with sufficient financial resources could move to the suburbs, the stratification virtually disappeared and what was left was not pretty. Once vibrant, busy areas fell into decay and breeding grounds for drugs, gangs and trouble.

I’m not sure there is an easy answer to this ghastly situation, but it will not self-correct. We are on the third generation of children of whom a good percentage has never seen a father in the home or even one parent go to work. Money comes in a government check and the schools are decrepit. Say what you wish about education, when black schools were a fact of life, many had faculties that rivaled colleges. I give as an example, Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. That school, at its zenith, had more PhDs on its staff than any school in the state.

With the demise of the neighborhood school, in the wake of busing, parents were hard put to attend functions and the sense of belonging was gone.

Today, we see charter schools springing up in major cities, some of which are sponsored by corporations. They are successful because they fly in the face of public schools. Parents participate in lotteries just to get the chance to send their children to them. Uniforms are standard. Students face high expectations from teachers and administrators. Pride is endemic and success follows in its wake.

When we dumbed down education, we sentenced millions of children to bleak futures. Use two letters to spot huge gaps in what should be a basic education today. H is for history. History is cyclical. So, too, is human behavior. With a good understanding of history, one has the ability to spot red flags in current events and see what may be around the corner.

The other letter is E. Economics is much more than the old cliché guns and butter. Economics instills the importance of work and reward — of saving and establishing good credit — and a basic understanding of banking and finance.

We have lost our way educationally. With poor educations, voters are uninformed. You figure it out. The aging population with a good background in history and economics is dying out, and with it the common sense they live by. Move for early education — and not just in the ABCs. Move to infuse economics and history from kindergarten forward. Teach saving and the benefits of savings. It may take a generation, but without it, we are doomed. Think about it.

# 101

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

January 16, 2012

Ahoy? Maybe not…

Mention the term and you get a plethora of responses. Some are highly enthusiastic, others negative — still more appear as what my grandmother could call “milk toast”. Ah, yes, hitting the high seas in the era of technology.

We’ve come a long way since that first hollowed out boat skimmed along some lake or inland waterway with an early inhabitant at the helm. Over the centuries, ships plied the world’s oceans more for trade than leisure. Yet, that changed markedly in the late twentieth century.

Caribbean cruise ships in the 1970s were gaining popularity and it didn’t take long for investors to figure out that bigger ships meant bigger profits. Today, it is not unusual to spy a liner carrying 4,000 or more people. Oh, they are opulent and awash with entertainment, but they are also the bailiwick for crime.
West Palm Beach, Florida, January 5, 2012: A teenager said she was raped by two passengers while aboard a Port Everglades-based cruise ship, lured from a teen dance club to a private room in the wee hours of the morning. A teenage boy and a young man were arrested at Port Everglades on Tuesday (January 3rd). Both live in Brazil, but are being held in Broward.
While this is a horrific experience for the young girl and her family, it also brings to mind the disappearances of a number of young women while aboard cruise liners in recent years.
January 3, 2011: The mysterious case of cruise passenger Amy Lynn Bradley is again in the news. Amy was traveling with her brother and parents when she disappeared 12 years ago while aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Rhapsody of the Seas. The ship had left Oranjestad, Aruba, and was sailing to Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles.
On March 24, 1998, at age 23, Amy vanished. The Bradley family was highly critical of Royal Caribbean who they faulted for the delay in responding to the incident and for what they felt was insensitivity toward their plight. Like most disappearances at sea, the cruise line’s “investigation” seemed designed to protect the cruise line’s image and legal interests. The FBI investigation, as usual, went nowhere.
Amy’s disappearance in 1998 occurred 6 to 7 years before the highly publicized cases of Merrian Carver in 2004 and George Smith IV in 2005, before the formation of the International Cruise Victims organization. Before five Congressional hearings that led to the passage of the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2010, the Bradleys were fighting the cruise line largely alone.
Given the number of people who cruise every year, perhaps the crime statistics aren’t exactly earth shattering, but they are life changing for the families involved.
Younger members of our family traveled aboard ship about a year ago, and I took great pains to talk to a teenage granddaughter about never, but NEVER, walking around the ship alone and putting herself at risk without an adult present.
It is sad that such messages are even necessary. Alas, they are. Now, with the recent upending of the Costa Concordia off the Italian coast, travelers are left to worry about incompetent crew, ranking all the way to the captain.
The old saying “bigger is better” may not be the answer. With the many discounts available, it only takes a few hundred dollars to board a cruise ship. A small investment provides the enterprising criminal or voyeur a great opportunity to scout out and prey on victims.
One odd link among Amy’s and Natalee’s disappearances is one particular Caribbean island — Aruba— yes, the same paradise from which Natalee Holloway disappeared on her senior trip.

You see, Amy Bradley disappeared from Aruba in 1988, too. Iva Bradley explained that her 23-year-old daughter, Amy, befriended three men who worked on the cruise ship and they wanted to take her to a bar in Aruba. “They said they wanted to take her to a bar on Aruba that was called Carlos and Charlie’s,” said Bradley. “She made a face and said ‘I wouldn’t get off the ship with any of those guys anyway. That’s creepy.'”

Amy Bradley was last seen in her cabin at 5:15 a.m. By 6 a.m., she was nowhere to be found…. Bradley’s case remains open with the FBI. WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Ala., spoke with her case manager in Barbados but there wasn’t much she could say. But, even more disturbing, is what happened one year later. The woman confirmed reports of a sighting by a Naval officer one year after the woman disappeared.

The officer told the FBI he went to a brothel in Curac’l on Canal. He said an American girl leaned in and said: “My name is Amy Bradley. I need your help.”

Unfortunately he didn’t report the sighting for sometime and by then the brothel had burned to the ground. The FBI has released sketches of suspects in her case.

There is a $260,000 reward for information leading to Bradley’s whereabouts. Her family continues to hope that someone, somewhere, has information that could finally reunite the missing daughter with her parents.
Within day’s of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, I wondered if Joran van der Sloot had actually sold Natalee to someone aboard a large private yacht. It certainly would explain why no body was ever found. Worldwide, lithe pretty blondes are hot commodities among those who ply the sex trade. Human trafficking is not just in the movies, folks. It is real and it is ongoing. Much more prevalent in Asia and the Middle East, it is not just a movie plot.
Brochures describe cruising as a blissful environment featuring unlimited food, stunning entertainment, lush islands, warm breezes, sylvan afternoons on a lounge chair with a good book, and moonlit walks along the promenade deck. All well and good, unless something goes wrong.

As with any activity, one must be careful and take all precautions. Have lucrative endeavors pushed ship owners to consider profits before passengers? Do the larger ships don’t exacerbate this need for profit? Piloting a huge ship remains a serious responsibility. Are there enough qualified captains to staff the growing number of ships?

Aside from possible criminal negligence on the part of the captain, there are the personal risks. Unexplained disappearances haven’t stopped, and they are not solely women. Remember George Smith?

Criticize plane travel all you want for being speedy and unexciting, but I haven’t heard of women disappearing from jet liners.

Mix tropical or exotic locales, late night bars, alcohol and strangers, and anything can happen. Go ahead and book the cruise. However, you might want to choose a smaller ship. Chances are you will be safe and sound on the mega liners, but be alert for the dangers among to large numbers of passengers and crew.
Movies like “The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) focus on the edges of human existence — for example the tantalizing prospect of profit fueled by ego that may have prompted the chairman of the board of White Star Line that urged Captain Smith of the Titanic to rush to New York to break a new Transatlantic record.
Titanic devoteés are legion. They watch and read every film or scrap of literature linked to the 1912 catastrophe. Perhaps there will always be a lure to events of this type. Let’s just hope that the disasters remain where they are — in the past. As for the cruising today, “Buyer beware.” Have a good time, but take precautions. It is simple common sense.