Page 4 January 8, 2015 Morningside rolls to fifth place finish at San Pedro By Joe Snyder Morningside High’s boys’ basketball team continued its outstanding preseason showing by routing Palmdale 74-47 on December 30 to finish fifth place in the San Pedro Pirate Shootout. The Monarchs, who improved to 10-3, dominated the Falcons throughout the entire game, leading by as many as 35 points. Morningside was led by Charles Wright with 14 points. Chio Harris added 12 points and Chris Bradford contributed 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots. In the fifth place semifinals on December 29, the Monarchs downed South Tahoe 76- 62. Patrick Jeune led Morningside with 19 points. The Monarchs lost their only game of the classic to Rancho Dominguez Prep 85-71 on December 27. Rancho Dominguez’s win avenged its earlier non-league loss to Morningside. The Monarchs led much of the game, including 61-57 with 1:35 left in the third quarter, but the Lobos went on a 17-0 run and continued to dominate the rest of the contest. Rancho Dominguez went on to defeat San Pedro in the championship semifinals on December 29 before losing to Narbonne 75-71 in the championship on December 30. In the opener on December 26, Morningside rolled over South Torrance 81-59. The Monarchs hosted CIF-Los Angeles City Section school Middle College last Tuesday and visit Hawthorne in their preseason nonleague finale Friday at 7:30 p.m. Morningside begins the Bay League at Peninsula in Rolling Hills Estates next Tuesday. Lawndale fals to Compton Lawndale High’s boys’ basketball team spent the preseason playing a very demanding non-league and tournament schedule that including facing Compton in Saturday’s Take Flight Showcase Classic at the Jordan Hangar in Playa Vista and the Torrey Pines Under Armour Classic in San Diego from December 26-30. Last Saturday, the Cardinals held the lead throughout most of the game against Compton before the Tarbabes rallied for a 54-52 win. Six-foot-ten University of Southern California-bound senior center-forward Chimiezie Metu sparked Lawndale (7-6) with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Brodricks Jones had 12 points and seven rebounds. The Cardinals split their four games in the elite National Division of the Under Armour Classic after losing the consolation final to host Torrey Pines 44-36. Lawndale began the tournament with a 54-43 loss to St. Patrick School from New Jersey on December 26, but recorded back-toback wins over Windward 65-62 and Ocean League foe Santa Monica 73-65 on December 27 and 29, in order. The Cardinals visited cross-town rival Leuzinger in a non-league game on Wednesday and close preseason play in the Serra Cavalier Classic at L.A. Southwest College against Gahr High from Cerritos Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Lawndale begins Ocean League play at home against Culver City next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Leuzinger loses in overtime Leuzinger High’s boys’ basketball team lost to La Canada High 56-51 in overtime in the New Year’s Showcase last Saturday at Calabasas High. The game was close most of the way with the Spartans leading most of the way. Leuzinger was able to outscore La Canada 13-10 in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime with a 44-44 tie. The Spartans outscored the Olympians 12-7 in the extra four-minute period. In the highly competitive Maxpreps Tournament in the Palm Springs area, Leuzinger split its four games. On December 26, the Olympians began the classic by defeating Olympia High from Washington 63-44. A day later, Leuzinger was routed by J.W. North from Riverside 69-44. On December 29 in the fifth place semifinal, the Olympians topped Murrieta Mesa 59-50. Leuzinger lost in the fifth place game to Rancho Cucamonga 71-51. The Olympians visited Centinela Valley High School District rival Hawthorne in a non-league game last Monday and hosted other rival Lawndale on Wednesday. Leuzinger begins the Pioneer League at South Torrance Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Olympians host West Torrance next Wednesday at the same time. Sentinels resume play Inglewood High’s boys’ basketball team hosted Saddleback Valley Christian from San Juan Capistrano in a non-league game last Monday and remain at home against CIF-L.A. City Section school Dorsey Friday at 7 p.m. Inglewood (7-7) begins the Bay League in what could be a league showdown at Redondo next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The Sea Hawks display an 11-4 record against an extremely challenging non-league and tournament schedule but lost their last nonleague contest to nearby power rival Torrance Bishop Montgomery 71-58 last Saturday in the Take Challenge Showcase Classic at the Jordan Hangar in Playa Vista. Among Redondo’s outstanding showings were capturing the highly prestigious Las Vegas Tarkanian Classic that was climaxed with a 66-51 win over nationally ranked Putnam City West High from Oklahoma. The Sea Hawks also recorded victories over other top teams, Chino Hills, Corona Centennial, Philadelphia Constitution, Dallas Prime Prep and Patrick School from New Jersey. Redondo had runner-up finishes in its own Pacific Shores Tournament and the recent Torrey Pines Under Armour Classic in San Diego. Inglewood is coming off winning the Clovis West Tournament on December 20. • One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion Worser and Worser New Law Bans Sale of Confederate Image Discussing the Confederate Flag is not an easy thing to do. Supporters of the right to fly the symbol of the Confederacy argue that it is a part of their history and it should not be forced into seclusion. Opponents to the flag view the Confederate colors as a symbol of a racist state that enslaved black people and which even after the Civil War made sure that former slaves remained second class citizens. The problem is that both arguments are correct and finding a balance between the two extremes is almost impossible. Why the topic of the Confederate Flag? Well, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law last year that bans the sale and display of items with the flag in all state agencies. This new law was introduced by Assemblyman Isadore Hall. The Assemblyman from Compton introduced the piece of legislation because his mother saw a Confederate replica at the gift shop in the Capitol. What makes a ban such as this complicated is that a woman like the Assemblyman’s mother has every right to be offended by this image. As an African-American, as a black woman, her experience and the emotions evoked from seeing a Confederate Flag is something that I can never understand. The fear, pain, anger, resentment or other negative feelings that a Confederate Flag stirs up in African-Americans can not and should not be overlooked: we should not ignore it nor should we question these emotions. However, there is a danger with eliminating the image of the Confederate Flag from the American consciousness. The way our nation has developed; from the American Revolution, to the Civil War, to Reconstruction in the South, the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s and everything that is to come, the Confederate Flag has been and will continue to be a part of American history. As such, we cannot and should not ignore this controversial symbol. Hiding the Confederate Flag to a big extent deprives us of the full story that is our nation’s history. That is disservice to us all. These words aren’t meant to indicate that the Confederate Flag should fly high in all 50 state capitols. Yet, we should not ban it from state agencies. We can take an example from Germany, who instead of destroying every concentration camp after World War II, preserved the horrific sites that represent one of the darkest eras in human history for future generations to learn of the evils that are created through hate. Southern States have a tougher battle as its residents are more closely tied in to the history of the flag, on both ends of the spectrum. Millions of Southerners died defending their homeland and flag during the Civil War; millions of Americans were oppressed and deprived of life and liberty under the same flag, so the mission to find a balance is far from accomplished. However, the Confederate Flag does not represent California, nor does the State represent this historic symbol. To ban the presence of the flag in state agencies can be dangerous. Keeping the Confederate Flag out of sight respects the emotions caused by the violent history that African-Americans suffered under those colors. However, hiding our past is a disservice to future generations who have to know every aspect of our nation’s past, no matter how ugly of a past we have. • The arrogance of Liberals always amazes me because whenever they see or create an issue, they believe they can create a universal policy cure-all that can override free markets. More often than not, however, their solutions create new and bigger issues in an ever growing spiral. Today, as we experience the largest gap in history between the top 10% of income earners, and the remaining 90%, two questions beg to be asked: “How did the rich get richer?” And “How did the rest of us get poorer?” “Thanks to the Obama policies, the national debt exploded from $10.6 trillion to over $18 trillion.” How did the rich get richer: Thanks to the Obama policies, the national debt exploded from $10.6 trillion to over $18 trillion. If interest rates on that debt had remained at traditional levels, the annual interest on that debt would have devastated the country’s annual budget. Therefore, the Administration and Federal Reserve conspired to hold interest rates at close to zero. Since banks were directed to lend more money, but not risk bad loans, they loaned only to publicly traded companies and high net worth individuals. By being able to borrow at nearly “free money” levels, companies became more profitable, and investors who were able to borrow at close to no cost, invested into those profitable companies. Voila! We have the explosion of the stock market, and wealthy individuals seeing gains of 25% or more annually. So the rich get richer due to government interest rate manipulation. How did the rest of us get poorer: Obamacare requires companies to pay for healthcare for families and employees who work more than 30 hours per week, so many labor intensive employers reduced work weeks to under 30 hours. The upshot is that existing employees learn less, while we see a growth in new jobs, predominately as part time or entry-level workers. Monthly statistics bear out falling median incomes even as the number of jobs grow. Obama’s second attack on the majority of us is his energy policy. Energy Secretary Chu, in Obama’s first term laid out the objective of raising gas prices from the then level of $1.86 to $10 per gallon. Although Obama did not reach his objective, he did double the price of gas by reducing oil exploration in the Gulf and on federal lands, denying the building of the Keystone pipeline, adding tens of thousands of EPA regulations, and killing the coal industry. For each of us, then, the increased cost of gas confiscated our income. Moreover, it lowered our standard of living by raising the cost of everything made with petrochemicals (plastic), raised the cost of moving food and manufactured products to market, raised the cost of home heating, and increased air travel costs by increasing jet fuel costs. Thus, we became poorer. Having created a crisis of disproportionate income distribution, the arrogant Left will undoubtedly conjure new policies to fix the problem they created. And so it goes, spiraling policies on top of each crisis it creates, and fumbling the execution of each. Worser and Worser it goes. •
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