The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 128, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Page: 4 of 10
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A4 ►►
THE PORT LAVACA WAVE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2019
OPINION
Winter cold and flu prevention 101
Fraud in higher education
Walter Williams
Maximum Census count needed so
Texas can maximize federal funds
DAVE McNEELY
THE PORT® LAVACAWAVE
w w w. por tlavacawave. com
Thank you
MEMBER 2018 TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
Ca/bfiurr Crjtjnry's
zIj Consent As 'Ibe Vfaues - Since 1890
Letter to the Editor
Serving Port Lavaca and
Calhoun County since 1890
Published each Wednesday by The Port
Lavaca Wave, Inc. Entered as periodicals
at the Port Lavaca Post Office.
Sherrie Krause
State Capital Highlights
107 E. Austin,
P.O. Box 88,
Port Lavaca, Texas 77979-0088
Telephone (361) 552-9788
FAX (361) 552-3108
Ross Stapp
Editor & Publisher
As winter approaches, so
does the dreaded cold and flu
season. Believe it or not, there
are quite a few things you can
do to prevent coming down with
either of those dreaded illness-
es. Let’s look at some ways you
can boost your immune system
and ward off those viruses.
Before we look at foods
and herbs to help, let’s examine
some easy lifestyle adjustments
that are extremely effective
at prevention. Research has
shown that regular exercise
can reduce the chance of cold
or flu by 30 to 60 percent. In-
corporating that daily walk or
some interval training three
times a week is an easy way to
begin your prevention regime.
Some things to add to your dai-
ly regime are drinking plenty
of water, eating a rainbow of
food colors that are loaded with
antioxidants, and eating more
fermented foods like kimchi
and sauerkraut. Some things
to reduce daily are sugar and
processed food consumption
and the use of hand sanitizers,
which kill off both bad and ben-
eficial bacteria. Finally, spend
some time outdoors to increase
your vitamin D levels. These
simple changes really do help
boost your immune system.
Now for the amazing herbs
and spices that really do help
build a strong immune system.
You can choose the ones that
speak to you or that you enjoy
eating and begin consuming
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
them on a regular basis to keep
the colds and flu away. Our first
and very powerful herb is as-
tragalus. This root can be pur-
chased sliced and has a very
mild flavor. It is super easy to
include a few sticks of this
herb in your next soup, bone
broth or grain. You won’t even
notice it is there. This herb not
only wards off infection, it also
protects the heart and liver. At
the end of the article, there will
be a recipe for those chai lovers
that includes astragalus and
our next herb, reishi. The rei-
shi mushroom does a wonder-
ful job of supporting your im-
mune system. A tea decoction
from this mushroom is a great
tonic to drink on its own. If you
have ever tried any cordyceps
mushroom beverages, they are
also an immune booster and es-
pecially protects the upper re-
spiratory system. Four Sigmat-
ic makes some coffee blends
with these herbs that make a
tasty beverage to enjoy. A cou-
ple other herbs you might enjoy
are ashwagandha and ginseng.
Both support your immune sys-
tem and have some other added
benefits such as helping with
sleep and blood sugar regula-
tion. We will round out our dis-
cussion with tulsi or holy basil
tea. This delicious tea is easy
to find and a wonderful adapto-
gen to balance our bodies in so
many ways. Simply drinking a
cup of tea a day would benefit
your body and immune system.
Thanks to all of the Altar
Society ladies for volunteering
their time to make this event
so special. We would like to
show our sincere appreciation
to those individuals who
brought baked goods, made
donations, sold raffle tickets
and worked so hard.
Also, we want to thank
volunteers who delivered
meals to plants and helped
a chai recipe to enjoy this cold
and flu season. It incorporates
some spices and the herbs as-
tragalus and reishi. The next
article will focus on what to do
if you happen to catch a cold or
the flu this season. Hopefully,
your prevention regime will
eliminate the need for any rem-
edies.
Immune Boosting Chai -
from LearningHerbs
2 T dried ginger root
2 T dried orange peel
1 T cinnamon chips
1 tsp. peppercorns
Ya tsp. cardamom
y4 tsp. cloves
10-20 grams astragalus root
6-9 grams sliced reishi
1 V2 quarts of water
Bring all the ingredients to
a boil and simmer for one hour.
Strain and enjoy.
in other areas. Thank you
everyone for making our
fundraiser a great success.
Proceeds allow the altar
society to continue service to
the church. Last but not least,
we would like to thank The
Port Lavaca Wave and the OLG
bulleting for publishing our
event.
Sincerely,
OLG Altar Society
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$45.00 per year in county. $62.50
per year out of county.
Postmaster: Send address
changes to: Port Lavaca Wave,
107 E. Austin St., Port Lavaca,
TX 77979.
Dear Editor,
The members of Our
Lady of the Gulf Catholic
Church Altar Society of Port
Lavaca of Port Lavaca would
like to thank the community,
parishioners, friends and those
who came from out of town
for their generous support of
our recent bake sale, raffle
and turkey dinner catered by
Werner’s of Shiner, Texas.
to,
This herb is really gentle and
you almost can’t over do it.
No prevention advice
would be complete without the
star of the show - elderberry.
This little jewel not only can
prevent an upper respiratory
virus, it can help to stop it. The
reason elderberry is the star is
because of its incredibly high
content of flavonoids, which
prevent pathogens from repli-
cating. There are a couple of
ways to use elderberry. You can
either enjoy an elderberry syr-
up or honey. A tablespoon dose
for adults per day is a great pre-
vention. Babies should never
consume honey and a teaspoon
a day dose would be adequate
for children. It can also be used
once a virus has struck on a
more frequent dosage. You can
also purchase a tincture of el-
derberry.
Finally, let’s look at your
cupboard. Use those spices in
your cooking. They do boost
your immune system and much
more. They improve digestion
and this important because
eighty percent of your immune
system is in the small intestine.
Cooking with spices doesn’t
have to mean hot. Simply us-
ing lots of spices helps because
they are also antimicrobial and
can help ward off a pathogenic
infection. One in particular is
garlic. It is antimicrobial while
it increases circulation and
strengthens your digestion. In-
clude it in everything. Here is
- including California’s $187
million - to help insure that
as many of their residents are
counted as possible.
Texas is one of just five
states spending nothing. The
other four are Florida, Louisi-
ana, Nebraska and South Da-
kota. All but Louisiana have
Republican governors.
Although several bills were
introduced during this year’s
Texas legislative session to set
up and fund a state complete
count committee, all of them
failed in the Republican-domi-
nated legislature.
“Complete count commit-
tees are extremely effective,”
said Albert Fontenot, an as-
sociate director at the Census
Bureau, according to the Asso-
ciated Press. “It’s in the states’
interests in that they get a
funding flow and congressional
seats.”
With Texas government re-
peating its approach of 2010, of
playing no part in encouraging
a maximum census count, sev-
eral cities, and even non-profit
groups, are trying to take up
the slack.
“Texas has one of the larg-
est risks of an undercount,
due to a large number of hard-
to-count populations, such as
young children, immigrants,
rural residents, low-income
families and people with dis-
abilities,” Austin Community
Foundation CEO Mike Nellis
wrote in an article in the Texas
Tribune, paid for by ACE
“Research estimates more
than 6 million Texans live in
hard-to-count neighborhoods,
where self-response rates have
been historically low,” Nellis
The 2020 federal census
count is very important to Tex-
as.
It will determine how con-
gressional districts are re-ap-
portioned among the states -
Texas stands to gain three, or
four, depending upon how its
count compares to other states.
It will also determine how
an estimated $900 billion in
federal funds per year are dis-
persed to states for a number
of purposes - like health care,
transportation projects, hous-
ing vouchers, education infra-
structure - all of it based on
that headcount.
That’s $900 billion per year,
for each of the next 10 years -
$9 trillion for the decade - that
will be apportioned among the
states.
An undercount of just one
percent in Texas could cost the
state $300 million per year for
each of the next 10 years, ac-
cording to a study by George
Washington University - mon-
ey that would be dispersed
among other states.
Other states are spending
a total of about $350 million
r
levels. “Academically Adrift:
Limited Learning on College
Campuses” is a study conduct-
ed by Professors Richard Arum
and Josipa Roksa. They found
that 45% of 2,300 students at
24 colleges showed no signifi-
cant improvement in “critical
thinking, complex reasoning
and writing by the end of their
sophomore years.”
An article in News Fo-
rum for Lawyers titled “Study
Finds College Students Re-
markably Incompetent” cites
a study done by the American
Institutes for Research that
revealed that over 75% of two-
year college students and 50%
of four-year college students
were incapable of completing
everyday tasks. About 20%
of four-year college students
demonstrated only basic math-
ematical ability, while a steep-
er 30% of two-year college stu-
dents could not progress past
elementary arithmetic. NBC
News reported that Fortune
500 companies spend about $3
billion annually to train em-
ployees in “basic English.”
Here is a list of some other
actual college courses that have
been taught at U.S. colleges in
recent years: “What If Harry
Potter Is Real?” “Lady Gaga
and the Sociology of Fame,”
“Philosophy and Star Trek,”
“Learning from YouTube,”
“How To Watch Television,”
and “Oh, Look, a Chicken!”
The questions that immedi-
ately come to mind are these:
What kind of professor would
teach such courses, and what
kind of student would spend
his time taking such courses?
Most importantly, what kind of
college president and board of
trustees would permit classes
in such nonsense?
The fact that unscrupu-
lous parents paid millions for
special favors from college
administrators to enroll their
children pales in compari-
son to the poor educational
outcomes, not to mention the
gross indoctrination of young
people by leftist professors.
Walter E. Williams is a
professor of economics at
George Mason University. To
find out more about Walter E.
Williams and read features by
other Creators Syndicate writ-
ers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate webpage at
www.creators.com.
This year’s education
scandal saw parents shelling
out megabucks to gain college
admittance for their children.
Federal prosecutors have
charged more than 50 people
with participating in a scheme
to get their children into col-
leges by cheating on entrance
exams or bribing athletic
coaches. They paid William
Singer, a college-prep profes-
sional, more than $25 million
to bribe coaches and university
administrators and to change
test scores on college admit-
tance exams such as the SAT
and ACT. As disgusting as this
grossly dishonest behavior is,
it is only the tiny tip of fraud
in higher education.
According to the Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics, in
2016, only 37% of white high
school graduates tested as col-
lege-ready, but colleges admit-
ted 70% of them. Roughly 17%
of black high school graduates
tested as college-ready, but col-
leges admitted 58% of them. A
2018 Hechinger Report found,
“More than four in 10 college
students end up in develop-
mental math and English class-
es at an annual cost of approx-
imately $7 billion, and many
of them have a worse chance
of eventually graduating than
if they went straight into col-
lege-level classes.”
According to the Nation-
al Conference of State Legis-
latures, “when considering
all first-time undergraduates,
studies have found anywhere
from 28 percent to 40 percent of
students enroll in at least one
remedial course. When look-
ing at only community college
students, several studies have
found remediation rates sur-
passing 50 percent.” Only 25%
of students who took the ACT
in 2012 met the test’s readiness
benchmarks in all four sub-
jects (English, reading, math
and science).
It’s clear that high schools
confer diplomas that attest that
a student can read, write and
do math at a 12th-grade level
when, in fact, most cannot.
That means most high diplo-
mas represent fraudulent doc-
uments. But when high school
graduates enter college, what
happens? To get a hint, we can
turn to an article by Craig E.
Klafter, “Good Grieve! Ameri-
ca’s Grade Inflation Culture,”
published in the Fall 2019 edi-
tion of Academic Questions.
In 1940, only 15% of all grades
awarded were A’s. By 2018, the
average grade point average
at some of the nation’s lead-
ing colleges was A-minus. For
example, the average GPA at
Brown University (3.75), Stan-
ford (3.68), Harvard College
(3.63), Yale University (3.63),
Columbia University (3.6), Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley
(3.59).
The falling standards wit-
nessed at our primary and sec-
ondary levels are becoming in-
creasingly the case at tertiary
ence. “Representatives of every
major community sector have
joined Texas Counts because
we know jobs, housing, schools,
libraries, roads and more de-
pend on an accurate and com-
plete census count.”
The City of Austin and Tra-
vis County have joined to con-
tribute $600,000 for the effort.
Part of the nervousness
that could cause particularly
immigrants to fail to be count-
ed is from things like President
Donald Trump’s insistence
there be a question on the cen-
sus about citizenship. The Su-
preme Court blocked that, but
some populations are still wor-
ried.
The non-profit groups are
helpful, they believe, because
they have stronger, trusted re-
lationships with communities
that provide a counting chal-
lenge - like young children, mi-
norities, undocumented people
and the homeless.
“There are folks who ar-
en’t engaged with our big in-
stitutions and already living in
marginalized places, literally
and figuratively,” said Meagan
Longley, vice president of com-
munity affairs for the Austin
Community Foundation.
“That’s why we’ve tasked
our nonprofit community, who
are in the margins with them,”
Longley told the Austin Amer-
ican-Statesman’s “Giving City
Austin” column. “We think
they would be the most trusted
means to take this message for-
ward.”
The Texas Counts cam-
paign anticipates raising
more money over the next few
months to distribute as grants.
said.
The 2020 census, which
is counted beginning April 1,
must be submitted to the pres-
ident by Dec. 31.
“The 2020 Census should be
a major concern for nonprofits
and foundations throughout
the state,” Nellis said.
It is key to their funding
decisions, he said. With Tex-
as’s huge growth, “inaccurate
data could deprive population
groups and communities of vi-
tal public and private resourc-
es.”
Austin Community Foun-
dation is part of the Communi-
ties Foundation of Texas, Nellis
said. They are joining with the
Center for Public Policy Prior-
ities to create the 2020 Texas
Counts Campaign, to organize
community leaders across Tex-
as to make the census as fair
and accurate as possible.
In Central Texas, the
groups, along with the St. Da-
vid’s Foundation, have com-
mitted to raising $500,000 to
support the get-out-the-count
efforts in the area, Nellis said.
United Way for Greater
Austin will serve as a region-
al coordinator to administer a
grant program to support out-
reach efforts.
In announcing the out-
reach of Texas Counts in Aus-
tin Nov. 20, the groups said they
had already assembled $1.3
million in assistance. And the
non-profit Hogg Foundation for
Mental Health has committed
$2 million.
“So much is at stake for
Texas businesses and Texas
families,” Center for Public Pol-
icy Priorities CEO Ann Beeson
said at the groups’ press confer-
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Stapp, Ross. The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 128, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 4, 2019, newspaper, December 4, 2019; Port Lavaca, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1301798/m1/4/?q=green+energy: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Calhoun County Public Library.