Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2006
Houston J9ml£r HJmmml
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Are tax cuts on the way?
Don’t you just love election years? How
about all the things candidates plan
to do for us when they are elected or
reelected?
Regardless of
who is elected
governor this
year, things
look bright
er on the tax
front.
Gov. Sonny
Perdue plans
to eliminate
the state
income tax on senior retirees.
Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor has come right back
with a proposal to eliminate the state prop
erty tax on homeowners.
And consider this: There still are six
weeks left before the election. Perhaps
before then we will get more promises of
less state taxes.
Attendance is important
You can’t educate children unless they
attend classes. Absenteeism always
has been a problem and the state of
Georgia has put teeth into efforts to reduce
student absenteeism.
The Houston County Attendance Protocol
Committee is taking aggressive steps to
address the problem of attendance locally.
Left alone, some parents will permit their
children to skip school anytime they want
to. It is unfortunate that there must be a
law with teeth in it to make sure these tru
ants wind up in the classroom where they
can be exposed to an education, whether
they absorb anything or not.
The number of students in Houston County
schools who have missed 18 days or more
has been reduced by 48 percent since the
Attendance Protocol Committee tackled the
problem in early 2005.
Unusual efforts are being made to moti
vate students in middle and high schools to
attend classes regularly.
We commend our local committee mem
bers for the aggressive work being done to
reduce the number of truants as much as
possible.
As we said, young people must be in class
to learn and any effort that is made to get
them there is worth it.
Worth Repeating
“Let me conjure you, in the name of our common
Country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you
respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the
Military and National character of America, to express
your utmost horror and detestation of the Man who wish
es, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties
of our Country, and who wickedly at- tempts to open the
flood Gates of Civil discord, and deluge our rising Empire
in Blood. You will defeat the insidious designs of our
Enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to
secret Artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof
of unexampled patriotism and patient virtue, rising supe
rior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings;
And you will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occa
sion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious
example you have exhibited to Mankind, “had this day
been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of
perfection to which human nature is capable of attain”
George Washington , /7J2-/799
Ist President of the United States (VA)
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Regardless of who
is elected governor
this year, things look
brighter on the tax
front.
Gas is down, OPEC is up ...
Will we be duped again?
I don’t like receiving something I did
not order through the mail with
the sender expecting me to pay for
it. I throw the item and the request for
money into the trash can.
■ ■■
Gasoline prices are getting down
close to $2 a gallon and there is excite
ment throughout the land. Our brains
get numb in a hurry.
■ ■■
A spokesman for the OPEC nations
made the claim that only 18 percent
of the world’s oil reserves have been
tapped, letting us know there is no
reason to change from fossil fuels to
alternatives.
It sounds like a move to sucker
Americans into turning their backs on
types of fuels that might free us from
the grip OPEC nations have on us.
We’ll probably buy into it.
■ ■■
All those pharmaceutical company
ads pushing new and expensive pre
scription drugs advise us to “ask your
doctor” about them, as if we all can
just dial up our doctor for this infor
mation.
It isn’t that easy and, besides, doctors
prefer to do the prescribing instead
of having patients telling them what
drugs they want.
■ ■■
The FTC would do doctors and their
patients a favor if they would ban those
ads from television screens. They are
"No income tax for seniors would work out fine.
Most of us don't have any income!"
The horror of the children's sermon
I rarely, if ever, panic.
I accomplish this by avoiding sit
uations where hysterical anxiety is
a behavioral option. That’s why I sleep
10-12 hours a day. It’s hard to get into
a fussy frenzy when you’re snoozing.
But lately, I have found myself in a
frequent scenario that causes frightful
horror.
The root of this angst is the chil
dren’s sermon.
Some of you may go to churches that
do this. During the worship service,
they call all the kids down to the front
and a person sits all the children facing
the congregation and delivers a kiddie
flavored mini-sermon.
For the sake of comedy, they often
ask the children questions. My old
est son, 4, loves the children’s ser
mon. He sprints down to the front.
But he doesn’t seem to realize it’s a
group activity. He answers all the ques
tions. With a Tiger Woods-like focus,
he blocks out the congregation, all the
other children, the fact that he’s wear
ing clothes, and acts as though it’s just
he and the person delivering the kiddie
sermon, casually discussing a lesson
from the Bible.
This brings about great torment to
my precious nerves. When he’s within
arm’s reach, I can at least put my
hand over his mouth when he starts
to say “My daddy spanked me because
I said...” Four pews away, I have no
such recourse. I’m powerless and petri
fied - half my face in a grin because I
OPINION
not educational. They just pique the
interest of viewers. And make many
people believe they can diagnose them
selves with illnesses they don’t have.
■ ■■
What’s wrong with advanced practice
nurses writing prescriptions without a
doctor looking over their shoulders?
PAs do it all the time, whether a doctor
is present or not.
■ ■■
What’s wrong with you folks who
keep saying that Islam isn’t a peaceful
religion? Those people we see on televi
sion cutting heads off prisoners surely
can’t be Muslims. It probably is some
dastardly trick by infidels.
■ ■■
Why in the world are the political
opinions of actors and musicians with
a little celebrity made to sound impor
tant? Most of them are semi-literate
and certainly not experts in political
science.
At least, no more so than you and I.
Yet when one of them sounds off their
opinions are spread by the media as if
they were gospel. In my opinion, we
could wisely ignore what they say.
expect him to say something funny, the
other half quivering in distress, ashen
in unease.
Here’s an example of what a typical
children’s sermon is like when my son
is around:
Adult giving the children’s sermon:
“Do any of you know who Lazarus
is?”
My son raises his hand and stands
up.
Adult: “Yes. Do you know who
Lazarus is?”
My son: “My dog Bubby is in heav
en.”
Adult: “Well, I’m sorry to hear
that.”
My son: “Why?”
Adult: “Well, I’m sorry he’s not
alive.”
My son: “I’m not. My daddy said
there are other dogs up there too, and
they run all the time, and Bubby likes
it up there.”
Adult: “Well, we’re glad to hear that.
Do you know who Lazarus is?”
My son (without hesitation): “He’s
the blue Power Ranger that I bought
- :V
wk in
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Len
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
■ ■■
The Centers for Disease Control says
that Americans are losing the battle
with obesity. That’s hard to disagree
with. Just look around - or down at
your own tummy - and usually there
is plenty of evidence to back up that
conclusion. What are we going to do
about it? We’re going to talk about it
and some of us will make resolutions,
but the trend for decades has been
toward more and more obesity. There
is no reason to believe this trend will
not continue. We are a land of plenty
and we love to indulge in it.
■ ■■
The state came out with a new tag
- white letters on blue background
- and it was met with disdain. County
names also were left off. Immediately,
it was stated that the new tag was
offered for public comment, and we can
expect another prototype that is differ
ent before long. I hope that the new
tags, whatever they look like, will con
tinue to include the names of counties.
It is interesting to tell where vehicles
are from when traveling, especially
when out of state.
■ ■■
The mayor of New York City has
come up with another way to add to
the number of people being paid for
doing nothing by the government. He
wants to pay “poor people” for going to
a doctor or keeping children in school.
It sounds like a great socialist program
that left wingers have overlooked.
Believe it or not, New York’s mayor is
a billionaire Republican.
at the dollar store.”
Adult: “Actually, Lazarus was a beg
gar, and, hey, you can sit down now.”
My son sits down.
Adult: “And also please take your
finger out of that boy’s ear.”
He complies.
Adult: “Do any of you know what a
beggar is?” Big mistake.
My son raises his hand and stands
up.
Adult: “Yes. Do you know what a
beggar is?”
My son: “If I got a shovel and started
digging, and I digged for 10 whole min
utes, I’d be in China.”
Adult: “Okay, does anyone else know
what a beggar is?”
Another child gives an appropriate
answer.
Adult: “Yes, and there’s a story in the
book of Luke about Lazarus and a rich
man who was dressed in purple and
lived in luxury. You can sit down now.”
My son sits down again.
Adult: “Both the beggar and the rich
man eventually died, and...”
My son: “Did they go to heaven, like
my dog Bubby?”
Adult: “Well, yes, but only one of
them. Do you know which one?”
My son: “We went to the beach and I
found a crab and he started digging and
I think he was trying to go to China,
and then there was this tiger...”
Adult (loudly): “Let us pray...”
And I do - hard. I thank God it’s
over... until next Sunday.
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL