Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2006
pfousitm journal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Football is coming
Talk of the gridiron, here, on the
editorial page?
Well, yes, considering football
has such a gigantic following in Houston
County, we just want to remind everyone
two Fridays from now it will be start
ing.
Just a couple of notes, this is going to
be an extraordinary year.
For starters, the big Northside-Warner
Robins game will not be the last regular
season game of the year as has become
tradition. Instead, it will be played Sept.
8 - the second game of the season. The
Demons and
Eagles are
also in dif
ferent clas
sifications
this year,
with Warner
Robins
moving up
and join
ing Houston
County in
AAAAA and
Northside
remaining in
AAAA.
It will be
interesting to
see if all that
- less at stake
in regard to
it counting
toward their
region stand
ings and an
early play
date - will take some of the shine off in
regard to attendance. Nothing, of course,
could hurt the rivalry.
And, then there’s Westfield. Normally
the playoffs for the Hornets are a given
- everybody makes it.
Not this time. Only the top four go now
and they’re also in a region with some
tough schools.
Based on their past success it shouldn’t
be a problem but it has to be a worry.
There are more story lines and more to
come.
The important thing we want readers
to know is we will, as we’ve done the
past several years, be on a different print
schedule when the season starts.
Normally we put the Houston Daily
Journal together in the morning and as
you know it comes in the mail the next
day.
On Friday’s, however, we’ll be work
ing late night so that when your paper
arrives Saturday, it will have all the lat
est from the games.
Enjoy, we sure will.
Letter to the Editor
Keep Bible teaching out
A language teacher at Warner Robins High School
recently told a language class that the diversity of lan
guages in the world is due to God’s action concerning the
tower of Babel.
What’s next? Will it be taught in Earth Science that
the Grand Canyon was created by the great flood, or that
ancient man’s fossil bones are the remains of evil humans
that drowned in it?
Walter Huckeba, Perry
Glad plan failed
I am pleased that the GOP’s sly and devious attempt in
Congress to raise the minimum wage $2 in a bill that would
seriously emasculate the vital Estate Tax at the same time,
failed. This would have meant a loss of S7O billion dollars
over a decade at a time when the federal deficit is at record
highs and the Iraq War looks to last for years to come.
Only one out of 200 estates are touched by the estate tax.
The first $5 million is exempt and for a couple, the first
$ 10 million. Most of these inheritances have never been
taxed. The projected cuts in federal social and health pro
grams that would result from these radical changes to the
estate tax would affect countless, less fortunate citizens.
They would hurt our very neediest citizens plus future
generations would face huge federal debts.
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
For starters, the big
Northside-Warner
Robins game will not be
the last regular season
game of the year as
has become tradition.
Instead, it will be played
Sept. 8 - the second
game of the season.
The Demons and Eagles
are also in different
classifications this
year, with Warner
Robins moving up and
joining Houston County
in AAAAA and Northside
remaining in AAAA.
Chance to interview Muslims
Before we get started on today’s
topic, let me first say a word
about the voters of Georgia’s
4th Congressional District flushing our
Ambassador to Outer Space and her
blabber mouth down the political toi
let: Good riddance! (Oops! That’s two
words.)
Now that we have that out of the
way, let’s talk about your participation
in an upcoming column.
Like most of you, I have been
alarmed, appalled, angered and disgust
ed at the behavior of Muslim terror
ists: Kidnapping and beheading inno
cent people and videotaping the deed;
destroying the World Trade Center and
killing several thousand innocent peo
ple; blowing up cars, themselves and a
lot of innocent bystanders; threatening
to destroy the Great Satan (that’s us,
I think); rioting over a cartoon of the
prophet Muhammad,
But do they represent the majority of
their faith? Or are they to Islam what
the Ku Klux Klan is to Christianity?
We are about to find out.
In a couple of weeks, I am going to
interview a panel of Muslims from a
variety of backgrounds who to the best
of my knowledge are also American
citizens. This is at their request. I was
contacted some time back by an indi
vidual who asked that I give him and
his friends the opportunity to let my
readers that’s you know what
mainstream Muslims really think and
believe and to get past the stereotypes
that many of us have of Islam, based
on what we read and see in the media.
til I
"Relax, it's been such a dry summer, this has
to be a great time to do a little outside burning!"
Try a stomach virus - it's free
In 1981’s classic film noir, “Stripes,”
the late John Candy’s character,
Dewey “Ox” Oxberger, admits to
his fellow servicemen that he has a
weight problem. He recounts how he
considered several programs to lose
weight, but they were all too expen
sive.
“So I thought, join the Army. It’s
free!” As Ox’s chilling account attests,
weight loss can be heavy on the pock
etbook, or if you’re a man, your wallet,
or if you’re a man like me who doesn’t
carry a wallet, your sock. You would
think that if you’re eating less, it
would cost less. Not so. God, in a tricky
lure to discipline, made all the yummy
foods cheap and fattening.
Of course, as Ox points out so elo
quently in “Stripes,” joining the Army
is a weight-loss option, and it’s indeed
free. But that mode doesn’t come with
out a price - chiefly that you could be
shot in combat.
I, though, have stumbled upon anoth
er weight-loss method that is also free,
yet doesn’t involve the use of gunplay,
unless you just want it to. I can vouch
for this weight-loss scheme myself,
having used it unintentionally about
five times a year for the past seven
years. With this plan - and again, it’s
free - I have successfully lost up to 15
pounds in one week without the use of
diet pills, starving myself, or cutting
off a limb.
I call it the Stomach Virus Weight-
OPINION
It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
After more emails and negotiations
than you care to know about, we set
tled on an upcoming weekend at a
location near Atlanta. To avoid the
interview being a public relations ploy,
there are several conditions attached.
The panelists must be from a variety of
backgrounds, including some from the
Middle East. They have to be willing to
be identified by name, and everything
they say is on the record. Their agree
ing to these conditions both surprises
and pleases me. I have long held the
opinion that moderate Muslims are
afraid to speak out publicly on the
actions of Muslim terrorists. Maybe
I, too, can learn something in this
endeavor.
Here is where you come in. In addi
tion to a number of questions that I
want to present to them, I suspect that
you also have some. If you were given
the opportunity to sit face-to-face with
this group, what would you want to
ask them? What does the Koran teach?
What are their views on Christianity?
Judaism? Islamic law? The State of
Israel? The violence in the Middle East
and elsewhere? Does being a Muslim
Loss System.
The Stomach Virus Weight-Loss
System is not a long-term solution to
serious weight problems. It’s a quick
fix to lose weight in a hurry. It’s the
perfect weight-loss answer if you want
to slim down for an upcoming class
reunion or for a trip to the beach or
if you plan on posing nude on the
Internet.
Those are the Stomach Virus Weight-
Loss System’s chief attributes - it’s free
and highly-effective. The only problem
with this weight-loss plan is that it’s
not easily accessible - unless, like me,
you have children.
You can walk into my house this week
and catch a stomach virus by merely
breathing. Currently, three members
of our house are suffering from a stom
ach virus and they look magnificent.
Pounds are falling off each day, and
their skin glows with a healthy pale,
transparent, ghostly hue.
Unfortunately, the virus will vanish
in a few days, we’ll all return to our
regular weights, and it won’t come
j -
Dick
Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsoulh.net
L_ .C .'. ajl:
Led
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
in the United States raise conflicts
between their faith and their country?
Give me your questions, and I’ll do my
best to get you an answer. No venting.
No harangues. And keep the questions
short and to the point, please.
You can email your questions to the
address at the bottom of this column, or
send them to PO. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139. It goes without saying that
if the panelists are willing to have their
names used, you should be, too.
Through your questions and the
responses of the panel, maybe, just
maybe, we can find out things about
the Islamic faith that will put the
current insanity we are experiencing
in the world today into some kind of
perspective and allow us to coexist
peacefully, at least in Georgia. I sure
hope so.
One caveat: As that great philoso
pher Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ‘til
it’s over.” In other words, until I actu
ally meet with the participants, this is
not a done deal. Something could cause
the meeting to be canceled between the
time you read this and when our meet
ing is scheduled. Things could get com
plicated for any number of reasons.
In the meantime, give me your ques
tions and I will try to get you some
answers. Who knows? Handle this
assignment well, and you just might
become modest and much-beloved col
umnists.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, PO. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or Web
site: www.dickyarbrough.com.
back for two or three months.
So, for folks that need to utilize the
Stomach Virus Weight-Loss System,
you will have to find your own virus,
which isn’t really that difficult.
I suggest a few methods:
1. Have children.
If you don’t have children, or don’t
want to make any, I would suggest find
ing some children that have a stomach
virus and invite them over for a meal
or a party of some type. If you don’t
know any children to invite, advertise
in the classified section of the local
newspaper (under the “Sickly Children
Needed” heading).
2. If you can’t find any sick children
that will answer your ad, find a sick
adult.
Hospitals or doctor’s offices are usu
ally full of sick adults. Sometimes, the
stomach virus is accompanied by flu
like symptoms - coughing and sneez
ing and the like. Grab a handkerchief
and go cruising the illness hot spots
for the frail. When you find one that
is about to sneeze, offer them your
handkerchief. After they sneeze in it,
grab it back, say “Thank you,” and
you have your virus. Of course, it may
be the avian flu on your handkerchief,
but that too will prompt weight-loss, so
you’re good either way.
Or 3. You can simply hang around a
day care or pre-school for a couple of
hours.
Seems to work for my kids.