Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 2-7-19 E-edition

Opinion
In My Opinion
A4 | Thursday, February 7,, 2019
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
Debunked reports are proof of a biased media
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed is a widely
used idiom which has been attributed to numerous sources. That, it appears to me, must be the attitude of many American voters as they watch this newly elected Congress try to put
their stamp on our lives. Sadly, that attitude, generally, has catastrophic consequences. Wewindupwitha majority of a legislative body which is composed of 435 diverse human beings who don’t have a clue about anything.
If anyone has any doubt about the precipitous leap that the Democrat party is taking to the left, they only have to take a look at many of the loony “we’ll take all their money” crowd now serving in the House of Representatives. We thought that, perhaps, it would be a good idea to bring to your attention just a few of the things that lie in store if this new Congress has its way.
Democrat Alerxandria Ocasio-Cortez has already recommended that top tier tax bracket be raised to 70 percent. That’s almost double.
The newest Democrat House member from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, not to be outdone, offered her opinion that 90 percent would be a better method of redistribution of the country’s wealth.
One-upping everyone, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts recommends an additional tariff of 2 percent (on top of the other taxes) for those who might have any remaining assets.
Nancy Pelosi—the leader of
these nut jobs—who once famously suggested that we mow the grass as border protection, will not budge an inch on allowing a barrier be built to safeguard the most exposed areas on ourSouthernborder. Althoughthe people who are intimately charged with protecting the border, our Border Patrol, says it’s the only thing that will truly work, Nancy refuses to reconsider her “resistance” because of politics. She’s even willing to see government employees without paychecks in her hatred for Donald Trump.
Democrat governors in two of our most populous states, California and New York, have already proposed health care for all—even non-citizens. We have no idea where the hell that money will come from. Actually,
we do. As always the hard-working taxpayer will be expected to reach even further down into their already semi-empty pockets and come up with enough to provide first class care for people who shouldn’t even be here.
Obviously that number will steadily increase because it’s difficult to imagine anything that is more of a magnet to make your way here. Keep in mind that these are the same people who advocateforopenborders. Noborder wall for them! Who cares that we already have several thousand people on their way here to join millions of their relatives who are already here?
Guest Column
AInimal research saves people and pets from cancer
Fred Hall
I have to confess that I never understood the fanaticism behind the act of aborting children. Truth is, it has almost taken on the mantle of a religion.
New York politiciansactually
celebrated making it the law of their state that would allow the killing of a child, even up to the moment of their birth.
There are those in the State of Virginia who believe it should be legitimate even if the child were
born alive. Last time I checked, the taking of the life of a living being was murder! How far has our society fallen when there is a raucous celebration of legislation which made it a part of that state’s constitution?
Although the Special Council’s office, over a two year period marked by corruption of The Justice Department and The FBI, has been unable to find any underlying crime which should have been its preface but wasn’t even identified, many Democrats continued the drumbeat for impeachment. Sadly, it seems that we have more than our fair share right here in California with our gaggle of goofies representing us.
I’d look at it differently if everything was in a real mess but it’s not. The economy is robust, more people are working, fewer are unemployed,
wages are up and we are fighting no newwars. Americaisstrongerthanit has been in a long, long time and our Country’s respect has grown around the world. We have a President who promises something and his word is good. Showmeanotherpoliticianwho does that! And they want to impeach him? For what?
I don’t know about you, but there isn’t anything on the list which I have presented of their agenda which makes any sense at all. The pressure for
tax increases simply further expands their much desired outcome of instant socialism and a redistribution of the money we currently work so hard for.
From each, according to his ability, toeachaccordingtotheirneed. If that sounds familiar, it should because it is directly from the work of Karl Marx, which seems to be prototypical approach by many of these Democrats.
We have to learn on our own because one can expect nothing from the media.
In many cases, they are some of the greatest promoters of this garbage. The irrational hatred of many who report our “news” has made them incapable of accurately reporting current events truthfully. A country with neither principals nor borders is not a nation but a rag-tag collection of aimless tribes.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
Guest Column
WFe don't need another billionaire president
ormer Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz just privilege.
announced he may run for president as an Imagine a college classroom independent centrist candidate in 2020. filled with 30 equally talented and
I have some concerns about billionaires, however well- intentioned, running the country.
For one thing, people generally pay a lot of attention to those who have more than them, but they are less aware of those who have less. A billionaire with “just” a private jet will compare himself to an even richer billionaire with their own private island. They don’t have any idea what life is really like for a single parent raising two kids while working and attending night classes.
Social psychologists find that people usually believe they are responsible for their successes, but blame their failures on external factors like bad luck or a sluggish economy. They also extend the same benefit of the doubt to people within their own group.
When looking at people in other groups, they are less generous. Then they tend to blame people for their own failures.
As a result, the rich generally believe they worked hard for everything they had — but many think the poor are probably poor because they’re lazy. In reality, all people’s fates are due to both their own talents and efforts and their circumstances.
Think about Donald Trump. He was born to a wealthy and well-connected real estate mogul in New York.
His father gave him millions, sent him to elite schools, trained him in the business, and introduced him to the powerful people whose help he needed to succeed.
Would Donald Trump gone anywhere in business if
he were born to your parents? Very unlikely. But could you have done even better than Trump in business if you were born to his parents? It’s definitely possible.
Trump, no doubt, believes his success is solely due to his own work and “genius,” but it’s undeniable that the circumstances he was born into played a role.
The same is true for those with less extraordinary
hardworking students. Some come from well off families, live with their parents, and don’t need to work while attending school. Others come from poverty and hold full time jobs to pay their living expenses and tuition.
Jill Richardson
for children or elderly relatives in addition to attending school. They might not have reliable transportation or own a computer at home.
Who will get better grades? Who will graduate sooner? Who might not graduate at all?
Good bet the students from wealthy families will feel they’ve earned their good grades and will have no idea what the students with lower grades were facing at home. They might even think students who got poor grades did so because they were stupid, lazy, or both.
In such a class, the best way to get grades up might be to help the students have stable living situations, enough to eat, fewer money woes, and less need to work full time while attending school. Just telling the low income students to work harder can only help so much when they’re in such a tough situation — it may even demoralize them further.
We need a government that understands the lives and struggles of ordinary Americans and can craft policies to help them. Billionaires generally won’t, regardless of their intentions, because it’s human nature to be generally clueless about those with less privilege than you.
OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She lives in San Diego. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
Perhaps some are homeless, or food insecure. Maybe they have to care
n October, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo than doubled the two-year survival won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their rate for the condition. The treatment groundbreaking cancer research. kept one research subject, an Old
With the help of mice, they developed six revolutionary cancer treatments that target the immune system. Some patients who received just one round of therapy have survived for nearly two decades. Without animal models, the research breakthroughs of Allison, Honjo, and countless other scientists would never have come to pass. Indeed, animal research drives medical progress -- for humans and animals alike.
Each year, about 6 million dogs and 6 million cats are diagnosed with cancer. Nearly half of dogs and one-third of cats over the age of 10 develop the disease. They are among the many beneficiaries of the path-breaking cancer research conducted by generations of scientists.
Consider the story of Emma, a 10-year-old Portuguese water dog diagnosed earlier last year with glioblastoma -- an aggressive form of brain cancer that claimed former Sen. John McCain’s life.
Emma’s prognosis was bleak. So her owner decided to enroll her in a clinical trial at Virginia Tech. After six weeks of treatment, Emma’s tumor shrank dramatically, and her symptoms subsided. The program was so successful that the National Institute for Health has pledged more funding, with the hope of expanding the clinical trial to humans.
Or take recent research on hemangiosarcoma, a form of cancer that damages canine blood vessels. Less than half of dogs live six months following diagnosis. But in 2017, veterinary researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a trial in dogs that boosted six-month survival rates in the test group by more than 20 percentage points.
Since hemangiosarcoma is dogs is similar to angiosarcoma in humans, researchers may be able to use those findings to treat both species more effectively.
There’s new hope for dogs with bone cancer,
too. A University of Pennsylvania trial of dogs with osteosarcoma found that an experimental therapy more
Matthew R. Bailey
English Sheepdog named Dexter, cancer-free for five years.
Osteosarcoma in dogs closely mirrors a similar cancer in young children. So this research could hold promise for humans. Researchers at the University of Illinois are testing
a new treatment that could help cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma -- a mouth cancer that kills many a couple of months after they’re diagnosed. The scientists are hopeful that their work will have applications in dogs and humans, too.
Despite the contributions of animals to medical science, many activists believe it’s time to shut down research in animal models. They claim that research techniques have progressed to a point where computer models and live cell cultures are adequate substitutes for animals.
But it’s nearly impossible to simulate how a treatment would work in an entire living organism. The biochemistry of living organisms is incredibly complex, and biological systems interact in a seemingly infinite number of ways. The computing power needed to replicate those processes just doesn’t exist. And even if it was feasible, scientists must first fully comprehend exactly what it is that they’re modelling.
There are also loads of similarities in DNA and organ structure across species. So an animal model can offer a holistic view of how a human -- or another animal, for that matter -- may respond to treatment.
We need to do everything we can to fight cancer. As multiple Nobel laureates have proven, animal research is crucial to that effort.
Matthew R. Bailey is president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research.
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