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4A ♦ TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2006 Jiuusimt Bailg .ijmmuti OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Don Moncrief Managing Editor Bth will be battleground Democrats and Republicans are putting money and energy into a congressional race - the Bth - that has been tagged “up for grabs.” Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall, who has worked to endear himself to Middle Georgians through diligent attention to the interests of Robins Air Force Base, will face formidable opposition in the General Election in November. His opponent is Republican Mac Collins, who formerly represented the district. He did not seek reelection so he could run for United States senator, a race that he lost. Marshall was elected to fill the position that Collins gave up. Despite Marshall’s popularity, this is shap ing up as a hard-hitting, close bat tle, with the national par ties keeping their eyes on the race and lending support. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was in the area a week ago boosting Collins. We probably can expect some prominent Democrats in the area before the election. Some political analysts believe that the Republicans are in danger of losing con trol of the House this fall. Every House seat is important and the one here in the Bth congressional district is one of only four in the country in which Republicans believe they have a chance of unseating a Democrat. The Bth district is weighed in favor of a Republican. However, Marshall can expect many Republicans to support him because of his strong military ties. Outcome of the election is anyone’s guess at this time. Ungrateful, to say the least Thousands of Americans were stranded in Lebanon when Israel began bombing the country in an effort to defeat Hezbollah terrorists. Almost all of them were there of their own free will. Some were tourists. Thousands were there for high paying jobs and freedom from paying United States income taxes. Nevertheless, this country mounted an expensive and dangerous rescue mission to get them out of Lebanon. And look what happened. Many of the refugees have been critical of the speed of the rescue mission, the facilities pro vided them on a ship to which some of them were taken and other reasons. In our opinion, they are ungrateful wretches. They’re lucky American tax payers got them out of harm’s way and brought them home. WORTH REPEATING “Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15.” Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004 40th President of the United States Send your Letters to the Editor to: The Houston Home Journal P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com Julie B. Evans Vice President Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus Some political analysts believe that the Republicans are in dangep of losing control of the House this fall. Every House seat is important and the one here in the Bth congressional district is one of only four in the country in which Republicans believe they have a chance of unseating a Democrat. To teachers: Use it or lose it Public school teachers are receiv ing a SIOO gift card to purchase supplies. This gesture on the part of the state has been round ly applauded. However, there is one string attached to the cards and it has received little publicity. Last Saturday the Atlanta Journal- Constitution wrote that teachers must spend the SIOO only during the four day sales tax holiday this coming week end. If they don’t, they will lose the money. Use it or lose it. It puts quite a restriction on teach ers, who may not know before they get into the new school year what supplies they really need. However, that is the restriction. Hopefully, all teachers will be aware of it to cut into the amount of money they annually spend on supplies out of their own pockets. ■ ■■ Four men, looking for money, went to a Morehouse College student’s home in Atlanta, and waited all night for him to come home. They tortured him for six hours, then dumped him, still alive and crying out for help, in the trunk of an automobile, where he died. The excuse for torturing and killing him was because he “disrespected” one of the criminals. Sounds like what some Muslims say when they kill a female member of the family who vio lated their code. It’s all about culture, whether some religious fanatics or scum in this country. The word “disrespect” has been ele vated by them to the point of being reason enough to commit murder. ■ ■■ Andrew Young endorsed Mark Taylor for governor. Now he has endorsed Cynthia McKinney for U.S. Representative. Will Taylor be smart enough to get out of this dilemma? ■ ■■ Mayor Ray Nagin’s “chocolate city” ~ z ** o, 0* ssh / —Of course X plan to \ J keep my campaign j \ on the high ground! Israel should keep on rolling This column’s beginning will cer tainly offend those at England’s Cambridge University, who lec tured and tutored me on the way to helping me earn what has proved to be a relatively useless but much-appreci ated advanced degree in International Relations. But here goes. Roll, Israel, roll. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. Don’t let diplo matic pressures keep you from getting the job done in Lebanon. Many in the international community are saying that what started as Israel’s reaction to the kidnapping of two of its soldiers is fast becoming either World War 111 - to quote my mentor, Newt Gingrich or is simply the continu ation of a long-standing conflict. But I would argue that the Israelis have rightfully chosen this moment to treat the events of the past weeks not as a response to ongoing hostilities, but as the necessary management of an inter national crisis. Let me refer readers to a collection of essays called “Managing International Crisis.” While the 1982 publication date may seem out of touch with the realities of the new millennium, rest assured that its fundamental ideas still apply. In this collection of essays, the late Karl W. Deutsch, then Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University, wrote a chapter entitled “Crisis Decision-Making: The Information Approach.” Deutsch helped develop The World Society Foundation, an organization devoted to researching and advancing the idea that what often appear to be issues facing individual nation-states are actually issues that are global in OPINION is turning into the crime capital of this country in a hurry, despite the fact that New Orleans is only partially restored. Already there have been 77 murders this year and National Guard troops are being called on to keep the peace. Before Hurricane Katrina the “Big Easy” led the country in murders each year. Is restoring such a city worth the price it will cost? ■ ■■ Not all the so-called “refugees” from New Orleans are anxious to return. I have been told that one of these refugee families is hunkered down in Centerville in a home for which FEMA has been paying SI,BOO a month rent almost a year. Why should they ever want to go back? ■ ■■ The ultimate oxymoron: “Lasting peace in the Middle East.” ■ ■■ It also is amazing that a large number - possibility a majority - of Americans believe that the economy is in bad shape, despite the fact that unem ployment is at, or near, an all-time low, more people have jobs than ever before, the stock market is in great shape, and people are spending money on entertainment and luxury items at an unprecedented pace. The hate-Bush media has done a good job of brain washing a large part of the electorate on this subject. their implications. Professor Deutsch would likely dis agree with my use of his essay. I’m employing his work as a way to illus trate that a legitimate nation-state - in this case, Israel - should use every measure at its disposal to completely destroy a non-nation-state - Hezbollah. The truth is that it’s the traditional definition of an international crisis, as defined by scholars like Deutsch, that has consistently allowed Hezbollah and many other terrorist groups to survive, and to strike again and again. His reasoning is cited by many experts today as prima facie evidence that Israel is not justified in its aggressive actions, and that in fact no genuine “crisis” exists. I’ll use Deutsch’s own reasoning to justify my rather bold premise. First, he argued, there must exist a major turning point, so that there are strongly different outcomes possible. I would argue that Israel’s pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the ter rorists have established themselves, will have one of two results. Either Hezbollah will be completely disman tled, or Israelis will keep being mur dered for years to come. Second, the late professor suggested that a true crisis is a situation in which Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox.net JHp : . JiL Matthew Towery Columnist Morris News Service HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL ■ ■■ The U.S. House or Representatives has passed a bill that would raise the minimum wage and also give a break to taxpayers who would like to leave their estates to their families instead of paying most it to the federal govern ment in taxes. Senators who claim that they want to help poor people with a , higher minimum wage may sacrifice this raise in order to punish some wealthy people by rejecting the bill. Senators who vote against this bill will be exposed as hypocrites if they do not vote for the higher minimum wage, which they have been demanding for a long time. ■ ■■ Critics complain about the low num ber of voters who turned out for the primary elections and point to the fact the number will be much lower for the runoffs. They deplore the low turnout as “poor citizenship.” The U.S. Constitution does guarantee American citizens the right to vote, but there is no compulsion for them to do so. In my opinion, it probably is good when the turnout is low. At least, the people vot ing are interested in their government and probably have an idea what they are voting on. * * * If a major recreation park develop ment that is now in the planning stag es becomes reality it probably will be located on Lake Joy Road on property behind the present Publix Shopping Center, which faces Highway 96. ■ ■■ Won’t it be great when all the pro posed five-lane roads in North Houston County are completed? Such con venience may be too hard to take. Nothing, however, can alleviate the traffic congestion between Vinson Parkway and Houston Lake Road on Watson Blvd. a lasting decision is inescapable. As an example, he cites the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. I agree. With Cuba, there was the chance that one nation state might have launched weapons without provocation. A crisis, indeed. Third, Deutsch says the crisis must place at stake the values of at least one of the parties. This one does. Israel respects life and takes action only when provoked. Hezbollah takes inno cent lives at random and without prov ocation. Finally, according to Deutsch, the situation must not be a “chronic crisis.” But therein is the fallacy of his definition. Unless a nation-state such as Israel chooses to treat a situation such as that with Hezbollah as exigent in nature, then the situation will by its very nature become chronic. Let’s face it. The United Nations, Western Europe and the world of inter national diplomacy demand that every situation be “managed.” But does any one really believe that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is an unbiased referee, given his immediate accusations against Israel following the loss of UN personnel several days ago? He’s not. Sorry, folks. In this case, cooperation turns an emergency crisis into “a chronic one.” And a chronic cri sis is just what terrorists thrive on. With all due deference to the great scholars such as Deutsch, whose writ ings I followed, I stand by my rather pedestrian declaration - roll, Israel, roll. 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.