Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 7-12-18

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, July 12, 2018
In My Opinion
"We, the people of the T United States..."
he recent Fourth of July retirement of celebrations throughout the Justice Kennedy nation were in remembrance and the President’s
of the publication of this country’s Declaration of Independence from England on July 4, 1776. That began a great deal of “heavy lifting” by our Forefathers which resulted in the ratification of our Constitution which created our current form of republican government on June 1, 1789. That historic signing began 229 years of freedom in the most solid form of governance on earth!
“We, the people of the United States, in order to create a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for The United States of America.”
This preceding concisely penned paragraph, in all its simplicity, is the preamble for that which is the basis of the supreme law of the land—The United States Constitution. It was never intended, as is the contention of many liberals and left-wing politicians, to be a malleable or fluid document. It is the very basis for the interpretation of every law in this land. There are hard and fast methods of altering this document and they do not include a handful of judges on the Supreme Court!
It was the vision of those Forefathers that there be a House
and Senate to make the laws; an Administrative branch to enforce those laws; and a Judicial branch to interpret those laws as to whether they pass Constitutional muster. This judicial branch was supposed to be completely apolitical. Decisions they made in interpreting the law were to be solely based upon the facts of the case and an unbiased interpretation of the intent of the original law makers.
It’s really just that simple and yet in recent years, we find that there are many bureaucrats and government officials who seem confused by the entire process. Even to the most casual observer it has become obvious that appointments to the Supreme Court have become a political football. There are all sorts of “litmus tests” and virtual enemas of anyone appointed as a potential candidate seeking approval of the Congress.
These issues have all become pertinent because of the recent
Guest Column
WTatching the news just hurts
he news hurts. I can’t handle IfIkeepupmy watching it because it hurts. usual habit of 24/7 I can’t deal with seeing news consumption,
Fred Hall
imminent appointment of
a new Justice
to The Supreme Court. Before even knowing who the candidate might be, we
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
are being inundated with leftists crying of “returning to the middle ages” because of their concerns over abortion rights. Frankly, I don’t understand the fact that this has become the “holy grail” of women’s civil rights but I’m pretty sure that the discovery of a “privacy” right in the Constitution was a political invention to satisfy a political whim.
It’s way above my pay grade to determine the validity of Roe v. Wade but in view of the outpouring of love and support for babies, it’s difficult
to believe that the “law of the land” would sanction ending the viability
or even the life of a child. This entire industry has grown to the point where there now exists a giant nationwide operation, Planned Parenthood, receiving taxpayer funding, to terminate pregnancies.
Again, that just seems wrong when that is one of the preeminent criteria used by the left in the staffing of our court system.
Strict adherence to Constitutional law, the intellectual strength to correctly interpret the law and a strong trail of legal writing should be the basis for any such selection—be
it Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative. Socialist leanings and political agendas must be absolute non-starters. I feel comfortable in saying that I’m sure that would be the wishes of our Founding Fathers.
There are no reserved seats for either men or women. For once, let’s just select the most qualified individual to occupy that seat! Why don’t we return to the concept of picking the best person for every
job that impacts our daily lives and the greatness of America? That’s surely not where we’ve been headed politically for quite some time but it would go a long way toward insuring the future of this great country.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Sentinel.
Letters to the editor
A warning from the remains of Pompeii
Did God execute Judgment on Pompeii for the
same reason as Sodom and Gomorrah? Pompeii was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD. It happened without warning. The people were caught by surprise. In a Roman world caught up with sexual immorality, Pompeii was the beacon, shining its light
to lead the way. The city was filled with promiscuity; homosexual acts with minors, orgies and every other imaginable debauchery.
During a trip to Pompeii Italy, I could not believe
what I saw, images on walls of some buildings of sexual debauchery. Some buildings had on top of the room door entrances, a male body part painting, to indicate a house of pleasure. There were many houses like this. The vast majority of terrible sinful erotic paintings and artwork were moved to The Naples Museum.
Pompeii was the manufacturer of pornographic pleasure unlike any time in Western history...until now! Sexual immorality defiles us, and puts a wedge between God and us.
Will we heed the warning in the bible: Luke 21:36: “Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Grafeful for Veterans reworks booth
The Vietnam Veterans of America would like to let the public know that we had our first Fund Raiser, which
is the Annual Fireworks Booth at United Market. We noticed sales a bit slower than last year. However, it still
good enough to get us by for one more year of operation for Chapter #643. The members were very happy with the 8750 BTU generator, which kept us with electricity at night.
Most delightful was we had a fresh air water-vapor cooler loaned to us by John Salinas from Salinas towing. The temperature reached over 100 degrees plus and the little water cooler we had was not efficient to provide
air in the open booth. John showed up and said he could help us out. His cooler made the difference and kept us cool while we sold our merchandise. Best yet was the generator that ran from morning to closing at night. It never failed and just kept humming. Thanks for the two large donors that gave $500 each to replace the Generator and other items that were stolen from
the VVA Storage Bin at the memorial hall. We raised enough money from you the public, to make us whole again. Don’t ever say that Dinubans are not good people. Dinubans and others ROCK in the eyes of us Veterans.
We hear that the wrestling team is in need of money for a training camp. Please reach out to the wrestling coach and sponsor a young person to the camp. The coaches and the wrestling team have taken over of putting up and taking down the coffin flags at Smith Mountain Cemetery on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. We, the public that have a love one buried at Smith Mountain can come over on these two days to see over 500 flags flying in the wind. However, the 10-foot flag on a 16-foot wooden pole are heavy to put in hole and then remove and roll flag up for storage. With the help of the Wrestling team this has become possible. Now they need funds. Please Call the Dinuba High School to see how you can help them attend this training camp. (It’s the Dinuban thing to do.)
Both letters by Manuel Madrid Formerly of Dinuba
Facebook posts about it. I can’t even hear jokes about it from Stephen Colbert.
It’s not funny. It just hurts.
Sometimes I think it would hurt less if I were less aware. If I understood less about how the government worked, I might not be so upset about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy resigning and Trump appointing his replacement.
I wouldn’t know that Kennedy is the swing vote on the court, and that the court will shift to the right once he is gone. I wouldn’t have to worry about what that would mean for the country if I didn’t understand it.
I wouldn’t be burdened with the knowledge of past Supreme Court cases that harmed our nation, like Citizens United, which opened up the doors
for unlimited money in politics, or the recent Janus decision that struck a blow to public labor unions. It would bother me less if I didn’t fear that even worse decisions could be on their way from a more conservative court.
It would be nicer not to know about immigrant children in cages, or the climate crisis, or how hard life still is in Puerto Rico long after the hurricane that took out the island’s electricity.
It’s tempting to tune out. But ignoring disturbing news doesn’t make the news go away. If I didn’t know about toddlers facing immigration court alone, that wouldn’t make it untrue.
The same is true for all of us. We all have the choice: Do we want to know, or don’t we? And then a second choice: Are we going to do something about it?
But most of us have another concern: How do we maintain our mental
health while also doing the right thing? Taking in all of the news is debilitating.
Jill Richardson
I won’t be able to get out of bed.
The most obvious ways to take
action can feel too
insignificant to
make a difference. I can call my representatives (and
call, and call, and call). I can attend protests. I can donate money to worthy causes. When there are elections, I can vote. I can volunteer for candidates I like. I can share information on social media.
None of this feels like enough.
I don’t have the answers. I know I’m not the only one struggling. But I think I’ve figured one thing out: It’s OK to turn the news off sometimes. It’s OK to log out of Facebook, too.
Taking action is important, and we all need to know what’s going on and what needs to be done. But we don’t need to marinate in the news all day long. Not when it hurts this badly.
If you’re watching the news, ask yourself if you’re making yourself more or less able to act by watching it. If you find yourself simply getting more and more upset and less able to function, turn it off.
If you need to, pick one issue and focus on it. If it helps, find a candidate for office that wants to do something about it, or an organization that works on it, and get involved.
Figure out where your interests and skills can have the greatest effect, and put your effort there. Then allow yourself to let some other things go, because you can’t do more than your own part — especially if you can’t get out bed.
Jill Richardson is a columnist for OtherWords.org.
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