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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.