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Show 'We ere dedicated to the public interest, to fairness and accuracy, to innovation and growth, and to the restless pursuit of excellence.'' -- Pulitzer mission statement EDITOR: MARK EDD1NGTON TUESDAY, MARCH 24, i998 THE DAILY HERALD 4 l 1 Fight the good fight, because it's not over until the sun doesn't rise I ran into a cynic the other day. It's easy to be cynical, especially if you are aware of the sorry state of affairs in Washington, D.C. But cynicism, like pessimism and optimism, are internal feelings and attitudes, and has no effect whatsoever on the outside world. Whatever our internal feelings and attitudes are, the world is as the world is. The only people these feelings and attitudes affect are ourselves. Now, as neither cynicism nor pessimism make you feel good, why not choose optimism and faith, which make you feel better? For a nation of folks many of whom seem to be obsessed about their personal happiness, you would think more people would have figured out that whether one is happy or unhappy is largely a matter of making the decision to be one or the other. Yes, I know there are exceptions to that generalization. There are some pathological conditions of the brain that make people with that illness feel depressed whether they choose to be or not. But clinical depression is a lot more infrequent than the industry would have you believe. There is also the normal amount of drug-peddli- pain and grief that all humans, being flesh and mortal, must endure. We cannot avoid pain, grief and finally death, but we can control our attitude toward those things. An irascible Frenchman, the Constable de Montmorenci, dismissed offers of assistance when he received a mortal wound by saying, "I have not lived 80 years without learning how to stand dying for a quarter of an hour." The poet Alexander Pope, ever the wit, said on his deathbed, "I am dying, sir, of a hundred good symptoms." And then there are those immortal words of a sergeant to American sol-- By .Chris DeCardy Charley Reese diers reluctant to leave the safety of the trench: "What's the matter with you guys? Do you want to live forever?" The worse thing about cynicism and pessimism is that they are debilitating. The cynic and the pessimist have fled the field. They have quit the struggle. They have surrendered to the enemy or, as we say in the South, they've skedaddled and it. Then, level off. demand driven by development in many countries is increasing rapidly. The world isn't running out of demand outpaces supply, prices will and by a lot. inevitably go up Another report is even more disturbing for those who remember 1970s gas lines and prices. Remember OPEC? In the 1970s, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries controlled just under 40 percent of the world oil market. Twice in that decade, the cartel raised prices and plunged our economy into the worst recessions in two generations. Given our history and current extravagant habits, the question is not if the next oil price shock will come, but only when. The total cost to our economy due to inflated cartel oil prices has been staggering $4 trillion from 1972 to 1991, according to a report by analyst David Greene of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. That figure nearly equals the entire amount spent on national defense during the period, and is twice the total interest paid on the national debt over the same time. We have a choice. Wait to send trillions of dollars within our lifetimes to other nations who control oil supplies, or invest now in increasingly available new energy sources to end this painful cycle. The good news is that natural gas, cogeneration (where the heat put off in other industrial processes is captured as energy), windpower and even solar power in some places are already cheaper than oil was just a few years ago. Unfortunately, the decline in oil helped by foolish multi-billio- n prices dollar federal subsidies and tax breaks has helped keep alternatives from expanding faster. But we could change that. Eliminate the oil subsidies and invest more in oil replacements. Just a slight nudge would do the trick, and the advantages g cheaper fuel supplies and independence from foreign sources would be priceless. Congress is considering budget options right now that would be a step in the right direction. The problem with our dependence on oil is that once prices go up, it's not easy to quit using it because most people can't afford to immediately replace their car or truck, refurbish their house or move closer to work. It takes time to replace oil. Cheap oil prices are not a reason to wait. They should be an incentive to start now, before our good fortune runs dry. Leave judgment to judges This is a response to those individuals who have used religious principle and quoted scripture to pass moral judgment oij one of our local citizens; Agnes Toplol being only the most recent in her March 8 letter to the editor. Presuming that most, if not all, are of the predominant religion in Utah, I would call their attention to the address given on March 1 of this year by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve. His talk was given to the students of BYU and dealt with individuals making moral judgments against others. While all of the con tent is relevant here, two aspects are particularly pertinent. He specifically noted that for individuals to make moral judgments against others, it must be within their "stewardship" to do so. He also was clear that even when this stewardship exists, individuals called uponrequired to make such judgments must be certain that they have as many of the facts as possible. Given this sage advice by one called of God, I would suggest that unless those individuals who have shared their moral judgments have been appointed by act of law as a judge or juror or have ecclesiastical callings that require moral judgment within their stewardship, and have a lot more information about Wendy Weaver than the rest of us, silence might be the better course of action. Al Smith Pleasant Grove long-lastin- Chris DeCardy is associate director of En vironmental Media Services.. V IV YCUKNCW Be BASK- XVU msiN the PRBsri6t mvrccC-rrMmL-STupen&i- SOUHAT POYOU THINK, S0NTM TiONS ." v ' (JH..YEAH.:) 7 V y I THe f. HOUR!fU5,AAS!AKT- - to mi mwn Cut the Bible some slack Given a choice, I will stick with the minor inaccuracy of the Bible as with the flaws surrounding ., environmental extremism, and political correctness. Our concern for intelligent reading ;,, should be directed at what is being passed off as contemporary science. Jason Hand ByndeMi, d coin-pare- multi-cul-turalis- m . Duane Jeffery's recent column in the Herald seems to overemphasize biblical inaccuracy. Since the Bible describes a history involving thousands of years, with some events being recorded centuries after their occurrence, we should expect something slightly short of absolute perfection in the record. Most archaeologists believe that while the dates may be somewhat askew, the cities and events described in Old Testament literature did exist and occur. The Bible credits God as being the cause of creation. Classic evolutionists insist that chance was the only factor involved in the process. The Bible does not preclude the possibility of a system in which variation and mutation could be mechanisms of the creation process. In contrast, classic evolutionists are limited in their perspective of man. Man cannot, under their theory, be more than a combination of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen, with a little electricity thrown in the mix. Once we introduce the reality of "spirit," be it Paul's road to Damascus experience or Aunt Bertha's answer to a prayer, we have blown the classic evolutionary theory out of the water. The introduction of a force not described in classical physics makes possible such unscientific concepts as walking on water and the resurrection. Proyo St. Francis article great Thank you for the very wonderful article about the move of St. Francjg,, ,; of Assisi Parish from Provo to OrenC an article that appeared on Saturday, March 7. e There are many members of the parish who have been here for their entire lives. Some of them longer even than Wilson Thomas who' was quoted in the article you published. Wilson Thomas has been a for 55 years. While I don't know the exact . length of some of the others like Al Lupus, Sarah Hauzen, Mitch Sawaya and Mary Keliam, they, have been ., .. members of St. Francis of Assisi parish even longer. Also, the exact distance from St. Francis' present location to the new location in Orem is five miles via 500 North and State Street in Orem. The new parish facility will be officially called: "The St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Community of Provo & long-tim- -- Orem." Thanks for your time and attention and good coverage of St. Francis TZ events. Father William H. Flegge, Pastor St. Francis of Assisi Parish Mallard Fillmore ;m tyfcng Fmuii IT, up! oil anytime soon, but extraction rates will start dipping as early as 2010. As -- 5POALNtS& ors Charley Reese is a columnist for King Features Syndicate Inc. CREDIBILITY!! By Garry Trudeau mm. xumet&m & FACULTYttHCA who-hon- whore-hoppe- r, swaps M ! VSS33f. mCK fSk sffiSiSB Doonesbury fa whether the fight smelly backside is physical, political or intellectual. And as for economic outcomes, Stonewall Jackson's chaplain, R.L. Dabney, said truthfully that "only atheists define success in money terms." Besides all that, the cynics are just flat wrong. For every louse, I can show you a noble human; for every coward, a brave one; for every crook, an honest person; for every slut and a chaste person his vows. There are still people who value their honor more than their lives, much less mere comfort or money. Most of thera wear uniforms and few go into politics, but there are plenty out there, civilian, military and law enforcement. Americans should never give up the belief that wrongs can be righted, that the disloyal and the immoral can be replaced by the loyal and the moral, that difficulties can be overcome and that problems can be not slouch solved. Let's charge into the new millennium. It ain't final until the sun don't rise. COMMENTARY dollar-a-gallo- n COU&eS TAUdril UNPG?rAHP J H H Oil is now cheaper than it has been in generations, and many economists credit this for our continuing boom. Cheap oil reduces costs to run cars and trucks, heat homes and make many everyday items from plastic So let the good wrap to make-up- . times roll, right? Hold on. For the time being, the economic crisis in Asia has helped reduce global demand for oil. gas, but Everyone loves historical cycles and other recent reports indicate our luck be may running dry. We may have less oil than we think. And there may be less left to find than we hope. At the same time, the U.S. is importing more oil than ever before, and we are more at risk to cartel oil price shocks today than at any time since the 1970s. Rather than ignoring potential problems, now is the time to invest some of ouf current energy savings in developing other inexpensive fuels to be available when oil prices again rise. Conventional oil industry wisdom holds that, as current reserves are used, advances in technology will help discover more oil in once unreachable places or help squeeze more oil out of existing sources. That's how it's worked in the past, but not in the future, according to two respected oil industry veterans with a combined 40 years working for Texaco, Amoco and other oil companies. In a Scientific American report out this month, these two experts assert that world demand for the for oil will outstrip supply first time ever within 10 years. Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrere are no doomsayers. They are sharply critical of experts in the 1960s and 70s who claimed reserves were running low just as massive new fields in the North Sea and off Alaska's north slope were discovered. But that has changed. Nearly 80 percent of the oil produced today is from wells discovered before 1973, and most of them are declining in output. While there are still places left to explore, they conclude that technology is now so advanced that prediction techniques have essentially ruled out many of them as viable sources. The problem is compounded because many nations falsely inflate their known reserves for political reasons. Several years ago, for example, the former Soviet Union claimed to have four times the remaining reserves than generally assumed today. And as supplies nvs, i' high-taile- d inexpensive oil came MY TUPJI like a slimy, traitorous fifth column, they spend their worthless time trying to demoralize those who still fight. "It won't work." "It doesn't make any difference what you do." "They're too powerful." Etcetera and so forth, to quote the stage version of "Anna and the King of Siam." herWell, part of the Anglo-Celti- c itage is that no person of honor ever makes the decision to fight or submit based on the probability of victory. You fight for the right, win or lose. In the end we all die, and it is better to die on one's feet defending the right than on one's knees kissing evil's Worffl rm) By Bruce Tinsley "IJU" ' '" lliT "''L" Jm$l ' j4j nsu. X&i.iajGermrtavnf IVrTH ft MSAT lOOGKlJ coom'x - j POOP |