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♦ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2006 4A Mxmston 30atljj journal OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Don Moncrief Managing Editor 100 years and counting This year marks 100 years since the discovery of Alzheimer’s Disease. Although, it was discovered that long ago, scientists, according to the Alzheimer Society’s website, didn’t rec ognize it as a disease until the ‘6os and they didn’t really begin studying it until the ’7os. There have been some breakthroughs - most of what has been gained not beginning until the ’9os - according to the website; new drugs, new technology, that helped scientists understand, but the disease remains today. For us, it is perhaps a case of “out of sight, out of mind.” Unless we have some one directly affected, we don’t often think about the devas tation this disease can bring to fam ilies. If you want J _ - . to get a feel for what it’s like - for the people, for the families - we encourage you to make an appointment and take a visit to Summerhill’s Alzheimer wing. There, you will find people, who if their condition doesn’t pull at your heart strings, you have no heart. There was a time they ran, they jumped, they played. They had remarkable life stories - some of which we’ve vowed to tell one day if allowed. They accom plished great things in the workplace. They were/are wonderful mothers and fathers. They are still the same loving people. Some still smile warmly (if you really want to see their faces light up please take your children with you when you go). Some will interact as best they can. But for all that still remains, there is a big part of them gone forever. Some are little more than a shell of who they were. And that is a tragedy beyond measure. It would be a tragedy for your or our life to draw to a close that way - and need we say it could happen - and it’s nothing short of one for theirs. One hundred years has been too long. Our prayer is an awakening of the world that we might mobilize our efforts and put and end to this now. For you, for us, but especially for THEM. Letter to the Editor Bible is not offensive In response to Walter Huckeba’s “Keep Bible teaching out” letter, I am a junior at Warner Robins High School and a proud Christian young lady. While I do believe “the diversity of languages in the world is due to God’s action concerning the Tower of Bable,” I am not aware of any WRHS teacher saying so. And believe me when I say that whatever is said (to that degree) i?. this school gets around - and quick! I firmly believe that God created the Earth (and every thing in it) and that I’m not some distant relative of an ape. I do believe in teaching all points of view (i.e. safe sex and abstinence). So why not allow another point of view in school? If Atheists believe in Evolution (which IS being taught in school), why can’t the Christian view be taught also? If we really do have a separation of church and state then why does a recognized religion’s point of view get taught? And what is so offensive in the Bible that it is not acceptable to teach? For my summer assignment I read Huxley’s “Brave New World” and in those few hundred pages was more sex and drugs than the Bible could shake a stick at. The Bible teaches lessons that we all need to learn; the “Golden Rule” comes from Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 12. That is just one example, I could go on, but I think my point is proven. Jenny Fingles, Warner Robins Worth repeating “Unfortunately, as Alzheimer’s Disease progresses, the family bears the burden.” Ronald Reagan, 1911-1004 40th President of the United States (Republican, CA) Julie B. Evans Vice President Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus For us, it is perhaps a case of "out of sight, out of mind.” Unless we have someone directly affected, we don't often think about the devas tation this disease can bring to families. Is Romney wrong GOP candidate? Make no mistake about it. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is quickly becoming the GOP “establishment” candidate for president in 2008. And that may not be such a great thing. First, a little background on what I mean by the “Republican establish ment.” In the 19605, this clique was known as the Rockefeller Republicans. In 1976, they were the big money and political influence behind incumbent President Gerald Ford’s successful effort to fend off a challenge by Ronald Reagan. In 1980, this same group split. Some backed John Connelly and others George H.W. Bush. But few if any of them were on the team of the man who would emerge victorious that year and become an icon - Reagan. Even so, having this officially unof ficial group behind you - the cadre of conservative kingmakers that I like to call the “Too Cool for School Group” - can also prove a recipe for success. The most recent success of this “moneyed” and connected collection of Republicans was George W. Bush’s muscling past John McCain in 2000. Also, they had earlier backed President Bush’s father as he maintained control of the White House for the GOP by succeeding Reagan. * So the establishment candidate sometimes wins and sometimes falls flat on their face. The latest example of the latter was Texas Sen. Phil Gramm in 1996. The Republican powerbrokers backed his unsuccessful run for the presidency. Nowadays, I can certainly see why this powerful force in GOP politics is attracted to Mitt Romney. I spent time with the governor recently. I found him to be well-spoken, attractive and versed in many of the issues that pub lic opinion surveys reveal as near and dear to the hearts of voters. A prime example is his aggressive approach to health care. He advocates an innovative meth- “...Remember seeing traffic "With all the haze backed up for miles? X can hardly see the - That's not a problem any more!" car in front of me!" Cheating takes lorgtveness; liars need not apply The news for Floyd Landis was bad. His response was worse. That is not to pass judgment, only to put Landis in the column marked “The New Truth,” the one with names like Barry Bonds, Kenneth Lay, Rafael Palmiero, Pete Rose, Richard Nixon, O.J. Simpson and a host of oth ers who - in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary - contended, “We wuz robbed.” Wagging our finger and saying we didn’t have sex with that woman has become the metaphorical gold-stan dard defense for too many public per sons caught on the wrong side of good. Landis is the cyclist who won the Tour de France and promptly failed a drug test. Then another. Actually, the stinky sample was taken after he made a miraculous recovery to win Stage 17, a ride that was the stuff of legends. And apparently laboratories. One confirmed Saturday that Landis had synthetic testosterone in his system in amounts well beyond the accepted level. That was the same result as his first test. Chances are good that Landis will lose his title and gain a reservation at the Hotel for the Almost Famous. In the meantime, he has said he will fight the good fight to clear his name, to right this wrong, to stick the sample where the testosterone don’t shine. But as he was in Stage 17, he is already way behind. Impeached ratings I listened to a commentator Monday O PINION od that would provide both more freedom for and accountability from Americans. But no one issue will win a presiden tial nomination. Consider that another potential 2008 candidate, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, also makes health-care transformation a centerpiece of his public pitch. The path to the presidency is not only long, It’s twisted. And that makes it up for grabs. The Republican “in crowd” is attracted to Romney because they feel comfortable with him. Like President Bush, Romney has a long Republican pedigree - his father was Michigan Gov. George Romney. He has an impressive resume of business leadership, exemplified by his heading up the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. And he’s proved his ability to sell the GOP in the notoriously liberal Democratic state of Massachusetts. Trust me. I know these people. Mitt Romney is just their kind of guy. And they desperately want someone “like them.” Alternately, they’re terrified of, for example, John McCain because he is far too independent for their liking. Similarly, they view Gingrich much as they, or their'predecessors, viewed Reagan - as an iconoclastic “trouble maker.” With Virginia’s George Allen now fighting to keep his Senate seat, the establishment’s inner circle is afraid that his nascent presidential campaign - like that of Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist - may never get off the ground. Rudy Giuliani might once have been afternoon say Americans are more will- , ing to forgive a cheater than toler- . ate a liar. That explains why, as we , impeached a finger-wagging president, ( his approval ratings went up; why we want Pete Rose just to say what every- j body else knows so we can put him j in the Hall of Fame; why one of the ] expensive suits at Enron should have j stepped up and said, “We lied to you, , and we ruined your financial futures. | We’re sorry.” None of which undoes what hap- ] pened, but swagger and attitude are | the last thing a cheater needs in this ( neighborhood. We like contrite. | We also want to believe ... espe- ] dally a guy like Landis, a long shot, 1 a cyclist who rode in the shadow of Lance Armstrong, an athlete with a degenerative hip who rides in constant j pain. We cheer for guys like that. 1 Landis insists he won the race clean, i no real swagger and attitude, more like r simple steadfastness. < His explanations of how the dope got in his body, however, have more variety i than the sampler cone at 31 Flavors. He has alternately claimed that it j was the whiskey he drank the night < before Stage 17, cortisone shots for hip ( pain, thyroid medicine or even that his I B M Matt Towery Columnist Morris News Service George Ayoub Columnist Morris News Service HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL their choice, but they fear his indepen dent streak and also some potential skeletons in the closet. With midterm elections upon us, presidential campaign teams are start ing to be assembled. Of course, no one is admitting to be running for presi dent. Romney told me only that he is keep ing all options open and will decide after the fall elections. Sure thing, governor. And that must be why, in every state I visit, and with my every encounter with the “cool crowd,” everyone is talking about a Romney candidacy. On the plus side, Romney would offer Republicans and the nation a fresh face not associated with the cur rent White House nor with the party’s customary pool of budding leaders. And governors have a history of faring well in presidential contests. What remains to be seen is whether Romney - a Mormon - will face an unspoken wall of bias against his reli gion, as Catholic John Kennedy did in 1960. Could he overcome that? And what would the all-impor tant Deep South states think about a moderate candidate from left-wing Massachusetts? By abandoning the South, the Republican Party could, be abandoning its base. And that could spell curtains. Also consider that in the late 19905, George W. Bush had already been anointed as the successor for the Republican establishment. He was elected by the American people only after he was “elected” by the party’s elite. It’s an open question whether these insiders should have stood aside and let GOP voters make their own choice. Maybe they should this time. Matt Towery served as the chairman of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s political organization from 1992 until Gingrich left Congress. He is a former Georgia state representative, the author of several books and currently heads the polling and political information firm Insider Advantage. body produces an excess of testoster one. He has, of course, blamed the press, who Landis said had his test results before he did. How that creates elevat ed levels of testosterone is unclear, but there it is. Easier to forgive He also suggested conspiracy, that the French or some other nefarious agency had an “agenda” and his test results may have been caught in that squeeze. That’s one we could sink our teeth into, given the way the French treated Armstrong, whom they hounded and harassed for seven years, whom they poked and prodded every chance they could. All they ever found was his rear tire in the distance. I want to believe the French slipped Floyd Landis a Mickey Finn or some body paid off a chemist or an angry official switched samples because, in the world of new truths, conspiracy makes as much sense as whiskey or a wagging finger. None of it ever seems to add up. Yes, we want to believe Landis, to pat him on the back and tell him that we’re still in his corner, to clamor for a new investigation that would ferret out scandal, to prove that it was anything other than cheating. Of course, coming clean and forgive ness are easier. George Ayoub is senior writer at The Independent. His e-mail is george. ayoub@morris.com. Read his blog, “A Shoe on the Freeway,” at www.theinde pendent.com/ george.