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4A ♦ TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2006 Mmiatan journal OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Managing Editor Some relief for teachers Georgians will enjoy another tax free holiday within a couple of weeks and cash registers should ring merrily as a result. The period, during which exempts qual ified items from all state and local sales taxes, runs from Aug. 3 to midnight Aug. 6. School supplies costing less than S2O will be tax exempt. Clothing and foot wear will be exempt from sales taxes up to SIOO per item. Personal comput ers and accessories, including printers and other peripherals, are exempt up to $1,500. It’s a great time to make some com puter pur chases that have been put off. This tax free holiday is scheduled just in time for parents to purchase back-to school sup plies and clothing. It has been pointed out that this will be a good time for teachers to use their SIOO gift cards from the state to purchase school supplies. In our opinion, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s action that gives teachers SIOO each to purchase school supplies is a good one. As a matter of fact, we believe that it is a terrible thing that teachers in the past have had to dig into their own pocket books to purchase supplies for their stu dents to use in the classrooms. The SIOO gift cards probably will fall short of the amount of money that most teachers will spend during the school year. But it is a start. You would imagine that supplies would be part of the cost of educating our chil dren and should come from taxpayers. Apparently they don’t come under the umbrella of things the school board can support. It is ironic that while we bemoan the low salaries that are paid to educators we ask them to use their own money for such purposes. Of course, most schools have money raising projects throughout the school year, ranging from magazine subscrip tions, sales of candy and refunds from restaurants where parents identify themselves as being associated with a particular school. We are yet to find parents who are thrilled about these money-making proj ects. Some parents send their children around the neighborhood or to relatives to purchase items that are on sale. Other parents just buy the items themselves. Schools do need supplies. If they are not provided as part of the cost of oper ating a school, money must come from somewhere to supply them. At least, we should not continue to call on teachers to foot the bill. The SIOO card provides some relief. WORTH REPEATING “No one seems to care for anything but about money today. Nothing is held of account except the bank accounts. Quality, education, civic distinction, public vir tue seem each year to be valued less and less.” - Winston Churchill, 1874-1965 British Prime Minister Speech, Glasgow, Scotland, 1904 Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus In oup opinion, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s action that gives teachers SIOO each to purchase school supplies is a good one. As a matter ol fact, we believe that It is a terrible thing that teachers in the past have had to dig into their own pocketbooks to purchase supplies for their students to use in the classrooms. Group organizing for White House ran Some of the men who helped steer Jimmy Carter’s campaign and upset victory for President in 1976 have their eyes set on another political upset in 2008. They are going to use the Internet, they hope, to orga nize a third political party to challenge the Republicans and Democrats. Their organization is called Unityoß. Brains behind the pro posed third party are former Carter loyalists and strate gists Hamilton Jordan and Gerald Rafshoon, with Doug Bailey, a former Republican operative, joining hands to create a political party that will defy the extremists in both major political parties. They actually believe that they can put together a party that can win the 2008 Presidential election. They have pointed out that Ross Perot received about 20 percent of the vote in 1992. Though he did not win the election his presence on the ballot siphoned off enough Republican votes to give the election to Bill Clinton. Peggy Noonan, renowned as the brilliant speech writer for President Ronald Reagan, has been quoted as saying “we’re at a new I VICTIMS OF KATRIMA. AMD RITAf 02006 CREATORS SYNDICATE. INC. * ( Republican leadeps need a reality check Ronald Reagan Republican voters are speaking, and the GOP needs to start listen ing. On July 18, former Christian Coalition execu tive director Ralph Reed was blown away by his more moderate opponent in the Georgia Republican primary race for lieutenant governor. Reed had hung his hat on a theme of “faith and family values.” Earlier this year, former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore banked on his reputation as the self proclaimed “keeper of the Ten Commandments” to get elected governor. He was pummeled in the GOP pri mary. In Florida, the man I call the South’s most charismat ic “movie-star metrosexual,” Attorney General Charlie Crist, will likely defeat long time GOP officeholder Tom Gallagher in their primary race to replace Jeb Bush as governor. (“Metrosexual” isn’t a slur, or even a ref erence to sexuality. It’s a trendy new fashion term.) The able and likable Gallagher reportedly plans to intensify his own Ralph Reed-style campaign theme in an effort to overtake Crist, whom he trails in the polls. That will signal the begin ning of the end of Gallagher’s ultimate chances as well. The list goes on. All of this reflects a shift in sentiment among conser vative voters. Remember the “Reagan Democrats”? They threw Jimmy Carter out of the White House. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe he was a sincere Christian, or that he didn’t OPINION Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox.net beginning, something big is about to happen.” Organizers of Unityoß point out that both parties pander to extremists. They say that 64 percent of the people have shown some interest in another political party because they are sick of what they have been get ting. I’m interested in fol lowing this movement. Defeated Presidential can didate Howard Dean used the Internet in 2004 with great success, both in raising money and putting together an organization. Joe Twitty, the brains behind Dean’s Internet success, is said to be signing on with Unityoß. The triumvirate behind Unity 08 believes that the road to the White House can be through the Internet with an agenda aimed at middle Matthew Towery Columnist Morris News Service have high moral character, as he often implied (when he wasn’t openly proclaim ing it). It was because they saw him as unwilling to face reality. Carter had responded to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by expressing shock and disappointment. But that’s pretty much all he did. His response to an ener . gy crisis was to ask everyone to don sweaters and turn down their thermostats. As interest rates rose and the economy sank, Carter offered little in the way of concrete policy to counter vail these trends. In response to his collec tive nonresponse, practical minded Democrats aban doned Carter and helped propel Republican Reagan into the office. Switch to the present. With less than four months until the general election, the GOP-led Congress has been “holding hearings” on illegal immigration; “look ing at” tax reform. As far as actual votes on actual bills - or constitutional amend ments - they have reserved that for measures to pro tect the American flag and ban gay marriage, which is already illegal most every where. As well-intended as all this SBXjff InH of the road Americans. Is it possible that we are entering a new era of nation al politics? Can these for mer Democratic operatives, with help from a Republican operative, put together a grassroots organization as successful as the one that put Jimmy Carter in the White House? ■ ■■ The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would give pres idents line item veto power over federal spending. The bill is before the Senate, where is it getting a chilly reception. Some senators are claiming that by giving the President veto power over the nation’s spending it would erode the power of congress. I ; B may be, most of it appears to most of the public as so much fiddling while Rome burns. Every national poll shows that Americans by wide mar gins hold the Republican controlled Congress in very low esteem. Even in the conservative Deep South, more poll respondents pre fer that Democrats control the Congress than they do Republicans. Conservatives, don’t shoot the messenger - me! - because of these numbers. Instead, take to your phones and computers, and into the streets if necessary. Demand that Republican leaders find the resolve to act tangibly about tangi ble issues that people care about. Real conservatives don’t want amnesty for illegal aliens. And they don’t want to wait for this crucial leg islation while congressional incumbents stall past the elections. Most conservatives want a drastic change in the federal tax system - not promises to study the issue until death do us part. Bluntly, the Republican Party appears divorced from the real world and deter mined to try to win the game with trick plays. HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL What they really mean is the President would be able to veto all those pork barrel items that are slipped into bills in the dark of night without any debate or public knowledge. A line item veto for the President is something sorely needed. It could save taxpayers billions of dollars every year. Members of the House of Representatives, where money bills originate, were willing to give the President this power. It is a shame that greedy, self-serving senators probably will stand in the way of this reform. ■ ■■ A friend took note of my column last week, in which I pointed out the disparity between gasoline prices here and in Albany. He reported to me that when he was in Macon last weekend gaso line was 10 cents a gallon more than in Warner Robins at stations with the same name. They receive gasoline sold in Warner Robins from the same pipeline at the same terminal in Bibb County as gasoline sold in Macon. Because of the price of a barrel of oil? You tell me. I respect President Bush’s personal convic tion on embryonic stem-cell research. And I know that we proba bly get one-sided media cov erage of the merits of this research from its advocates. But politically, it seems nuts to me that Congress would reverse course and suddenly support additional research, knowing full well that President Bush would bring the lot of them nega tive headlines by vetoing their bill. It was the first veto of his six years in office, and he exercised it against a posi tion that 60-plus percent of Americans support! Talk about bad press. Take it from me - I’ve seen election years when flags, faith and “they are too liberal” can win races for Republicans. And these issues will always sell books and draw radio callers. But I’ve also seen years when too much apple pie gave the public a stomach ache. I know the Democrats have poor policy alterna tives, when they have them at all. But much of the public doesn’t necessarily know that - or even care. We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty in electoral poli tics. The Republicans are try ing to hold on to Congress. If they want a lesson in how to blow it, they need only look at recent primary election results in key spots across the nation. To find out more about Matthew Towery and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and car toonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www. creators.com.