Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2006
plouston Hjmmral
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Voting is now
underway
Advance voting for the July 18 primary
elections began yesterday.
It will continue through Friday of
this week. Advanced voting will not be
available the day before the elections —next
Monday.
This convenience to Voters in Georgia
proved popular in the laslt election and the
number of voters taking advantage of it this
time probably
will increase.
Many vot
ers still do not
know why we
have primary
elections or
why they can
not vote for
their favorite
candidates,
regardless of
the party affiliation.
Primaries are the way the political parties
select the candidates they want to represent
them in General eYElectidns.
If voters in primaries Were able to vote
both Democratic and Republican at the
same time it would distort the results.
Voters who vote ahead of time or at the
polls must declare whether they wish to
vote as a Democrat or Republican. This
does not mean that the voter must vote the
same way in the General Election.
Democrats oppose Democrats and
Republicans oppose Republicans in the pri
maries. Voters select the single candidate
for each political office to represent their
party for each contested office.
Then in the General Election, Democrats
and Republicans face off against each other
to see who will be elected to the contested
office.
Other parties can put up candidates in the
General Election, too, if they qualify.
Winners of some Republican and
Democratic offices in the primaries may not
have opposition in the General Election, in
which case winning the primary gives them
a free ride to victory in November.
Even some voters who understand how the
system works still complain that “I am not
permitted to vote for the candidates I like.”
If this occurs, it is because they want to vote
in both the Democratic add Republican pri
maries, which cannot be done.
The present system has worked for gen
erations. It has served out local and federal
governments well.
Our suggestion: Get out and vote if you
are eligible. The turnout never is good, usu
ally around 30 percent in primaries. But it
reflects the number of people who really
have an interest in who represents them in
elected offices.
HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS
We encourage readers to submit letters
to the editor. Letters should not exceed 350
words and must include the writer’s name,
address and telephone number. All letters
printed in The Home Journal will appear with
the writer’s name and hometown - we do not
publish anonymous letters. The newspaper
reserves the right to edit dr reject letters for
reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and
brevity. Letter writers are asked to submit no
more than one letter per person per week. We
cannot guarantee that a letter will be printed on
a specific date.
The Home Journal prefers that letters be
typed. Letters to the editor are published in the
order they are received as space permits. A
Journal employee will call to verify the author
of each letter.
There are three ways to submit a letter to
the editor: E-mail it to hhj@dvansnewspapers.
com, mail it to The Houston Home Journal at
P.O. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off
at 1210 Washington St. in Perry - between 8
a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
If voters in primaries
were aUle to vote
both DeOiocratic and
Republican at the same
time it would distort the
resußs.
County living confusing for some
Want to be confused?
Move to some
parts of Houston
County. Some folks who live
in southeastern Houston
County, beyond Haynesville,
have Hawkinsville mail
ing addresses. Some folks
who live in North Houston
County have Byron address
es.
Some of the subdivisions
that have been annexed into
Warner Robins have Perry
telephone numbers.
And then there are folks
who live in Peach County,
get their mail from the Perry
post office and have Fort
Valley telephone numbers.
Not many years ago
Centerville and some sub
divisions in - Warner Robins
east of Houston Lake Road
had Byron addresses, but as
the area grew it changed.
I’m confused when some
one says they live in Bonaire
or Kathleen.
Used to be you knew exact
ly where they lived. Today
Houston Lake Country Club
is in Kathleen and numer
ous subdivisions half way to
Highway 41 are in Bonaire.
When someone tells me
where they live and use the
name of the town or commu
nity I ask them where they
really live, because it often
isn’t what it sounds like.
* * *
I’m always fascinated when
someone leaves an impor
tant job or elective office “to
spend more time with my
grandchildren.” Most grand
parents are eager to take
care of their grandchildren,
but within a few hours they
are happy to return them
to their parents. You don’t
Jtr^
CPV —. . __ x.
Eyeing the newspaper of wreckage
When is a “secret” not
a secret?
When The New
York Times decides, in the
interest of saving its old gray
hide, that it is not.
On June 22, the paper
trumpeted its expose of “a
secret Bush administra
tion program” to track ter
ror finances. The banking
program, reporters Eric
Lichtblau and James Risen
made unmistakably clear,
was a “closely held secret.”
The front-page story
referred to the secret nature
of the program no less than
eight times. A Times-pro
duced Web video featur
ing Lichtblau promoted a
brief interview in which he
“reveal(ed) a secret Bush
administration program to
access financial records.”
But by July 2, smarting
from the public backlash
against its blabbermouth
coverage, the Times crew
was backpedaling faster
than circus monkeys on bar
rels hurtling over Niagara
Falls. Suddenly, the “secret”
was no secret at all.
Everybody who’s anybody
has known about the secret
program all along, silly.
New York Times ombuds
man Byron Calame’s belated
defense of the Times’ expose
of the monitoring of the
SWIFT banking program
contained this revealing pas
sage:
“There was a significant
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
need to retire to do that.
Which makes me believe
this excuse is a cover-up for
another reason.
* * *
School starts in less than
a month, after a relative
ly short summer vacation.
This makes it possible to
have several brief and not
so-brief breaks during the
school year. Several teachers
have told me that it takes a
day or two after each break
to get the children back into
the routine of learning. If
this is so, why not have a
long summer vacation and
fewer breaks during the
school year? Just wonder
ing.
* * *
Complaints about politi
cal signs cluttering the side
of roads and streets can be
quieted if candidates remove
their signs after the elec
tion.
On the other hand, all
those little signs stuck in the
ground by individuals and
businesses all over Warner
Robins and Centerville will
be there forever, apparently,
despite the fact there are
ordihances against them.
Nobody seems to want to
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
question as to how secret the
(monitoring of the SWIFT
banking program) was after
five years. ‘Hundreds, if not
thousands, of people know
about this,’ (Executive
Editor Bill) Keller claimed
he was told by an official
who talked to him on condi
tion of anonymity.”
“Hundreds, if not thou
sands, of people” have known
about the program before
the Times blabbed about it.
Well, there’s a scoop. So, why
wasn’t this reported in the
original story and reflected
in the original, front-page
headline?
There was no printed fol
low-up from lapdog Calame
about Keller’s assertion,
which goes a good bit further
than the claim by Times’
apologists Richard Clarke
and Roger Cressey.
That mind-reading duo
wrote in a Times op-ed that
terrorists already assumed
their financial transac
tions were being monitored.
enforce these ordinances.
* * *
Renewal of the civil rights
act of 1965 is on the front
burner again in the United
States Senate. It will be
renewed, as is, for another
25 years though it is unfair
to citizens of Georgia and
other states who should not
be handcuffed by its restric
tions. The important thing
to most politicians is to suck
up to minorities for their
votes.
They fear minorities will
punish them at the polls if
they don’t and they know
whites have a long history
of rolling over and meekly
doing nothing.
* * *
Some politicians are call
ing on Gov. Sonny Perdue
to remove the state tax on
gasoline as a way to combat
the soaring prices. It is not
a good idea. The state needs
the tax revenue from gaso
line to maintain highways.
It would be foolish to let our
state highways deteriorate
in order to give motorists a
few cents per gallon relief.
Let the market place dictate
the price of gasoline, despite
the discomfort and pain it
“Better look sharp...
here comes the boss!"
JB I 9H
Calame curiously neglected
to note that Keller’s claim
contradicted both the tone
and .facts presented in the
Times’ initial coverage by
reporters Lichtblau and
Risen.
Which is just as well, since
Lichtblau himself is now
contradicting his own story,
too. On CNN’s “Reliable
Sources,” facing withering
criticism from talk radio
host Hugh Hewitt, Lichtblau
blustered:
“When you have senior
Treasury Department offi
cials going before Congress,
publicly talking about how
they are tracing and cut
ting off money to terrorists,
weeks and weeks before our
story ran. USA Today, the
biggest circulation in the
country, the lead story on
their front page four days
before our story ran was the
terrorists know their money
is being traced, and they
are moving it into - outside
of the banking system into
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
inflicts.
* * *
Some manufacturers, who
believed the American pub
lic wanted more economi
cal automobiles, are giving
up on manufacturing eco
nomical hybrid automobiles.
They have learned that
Ameritans want big cars
with less gas mileage and
are willing to pay more at
the gas pump for it. Besides,
many people woke up to the
fact they would have to drive
a hybrid car many years to
save enough to offset the
higher cost of a hybrid.
* * *
The intersection of
Houston Lake Road and
Highway 96 missed the boat
as Houston county’s “next
major shopping area”. Now
knowledgeable people are
predicting that the area
around the intersection of
Lake Joy Road and Highway
96 will see major commercial
development, which already
is underway, turn into the
next major shopping area.
* * *
Several years ago it seemed
that Houston County was on
the cutting edge of technol
ogy and the entire county
would have wireless inter
net service. It never came
to pass.
The advanced Wi-Fi tech
nology that Intel offered to
Houston County as a pilot
program now is being used
to make entire cities, even
as large as San Francisco,
wireless. Sooner or later all
cities, large and small, will
have wireless Internet ser
vice available to everyone.
unconventional means. "It
is by no means a secret."
(emphasis added).
Hmm. What was that
headline over Lichtblau’s
story again?
Oh, yeah: “Bank Data
Sifted in Secret by U.S. to
block terror.” Meanwhile,
finance regulators and top
government officials in
Belgium (who apparently
aren’t among the “hun
dreds, if not thousands”
who knew about the pro
gram) have ordered a probe
into SWIFT, which is regu
lated by the Belgian central
bank and answers to Belgian
law. Bush-undermining
Eurowheedlers are launch
ing a debate in parliament
over the program next week,
and a private human rights
lobbying group has filed for
mal complaints against the
SWIFT banking consortium
in 32 countries.
Lesson No. 1: Never trust
the Times’ headlines.
Lesson No. 2: Never trust
what’s printed under the
Times’ headlines.
Lesson No. 3: Never
trust what comes out of the
mouths of the Times’ editors
and reporters.
Avoid the newspaper of
wreckage, and help keep
American safe.
Michelle Malkin is author
of the new book “Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild. ” Her e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.