
 |
|
Nov. 25, 2009
JWisdom.com: No God … No You!
Know God, Know You! with Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (8 minutes)
Nov. 24, 2009
JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist
with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes)
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 28, 2007
/ 19 Teves 5768
On the bright side?
By
Greg Crosby
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
A new year and a new reason for hope. Good news doesn?t exactly flow off the
television screen or out of the radio on a regular basis. Nor does good news
scream out at you in large bold headlines from our newspapers and magazines,
so it was a very pleasant surprise when I opened my December issue of
Commentary Magazine and read the article entitled, ?Crime, Drugs, Welfare
and Other Good News." The authors of the piece, Peter Wehner and Yuval
Levin, scholars at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington are not
being sarcastic with that title, either. There really is good news to tell.
Try these stats on for size:
-
Teenage drug use has fallen by 23 percent since the 1990s, and by more than 50
percent for certain specific drugs, such as LSD and ecstasy.
-
There is less abortion. In 1990 abortions reached a high of 1.6 million, the
number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. has dropped to less than 1.3, the
lowest level since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
-
The U.S. divorce rate is at its lowest level since 1970.
-
Higher educational scores. The high-school dropout rate, now less than 10
percent, is at a 30-year low. The mean SAT score was 8 points higher in 2005 than
it was in 1993.
-
Teenagers are drinking less, anywhere from 10 to 35 percent less than in 1996
depending upon the grade in school. Binge drinking has dropped to the lowest levels
ever recorded.
-
Teens are smoking cigarettes less than ever before.
-
The number of high school students having sex has declined by more than 10 percent
since 1991. And the birth rate for teens since that time has gone down by 35
percent.
-
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, both violent crime and
property crime are at their lowest levels since 1973. In some places, even lower:
New York City, it was reported a few days ago, is expected to have much fewer than
500 homicides this year, the fewest since the early 1960s. Compare that with 1990,
when New York recorded 2,245 homicides.
-
As far as welfare is concerned, since 1994 the U.S. caseload has dropped 60
percent ? virtually every state in the union has reduced its caseload by at least a
third and as much as 90 percent in some states. Overall poverty, child poverty,
black child poverty, and child hunger have all decreased.
Unfortunately, not all the news is good. Illegitimacy is at an all-time high,
the marriage rate continues to sink, and popular culture largely remains "a
cesspool of violence and vulgarity." Furthermore, the condition and strength
of the American family has thus far, they say, not yet begun to turn upward.
However, the authors write, "the progress we have witnessed over the last 15
years is impressive, undeniable, and beyond what most people thought possible."
So, as we begin 2008 we Americans have solid reason to be optimistic about our
future society. Sure, we need to be concerned about the ongoing coarseness in
American culture and the decline of the American family, and perhaps one day, these
too, shall start to improve. Sometimes, things do change for the better, not often
enough and not quickly enough it seems, but it does happen. Sometimes people wake
up and do the right things, and sometimes good solid values and ethics win over the
bad.
One thing is for sure ? if decency, honor, and ethics make a comeback anywhere in
this world, you can bet it will be in the United States of America!
Happy New Year!
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.
Greg Crosby Archives
© 2006, Greg Crosby
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|