Newspaper Page Text
4A
Muusttm
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
• I
•Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Let's bring them down to
earth
A congressman reportedly said it would
be hard to pursue legal action against
disgraced Congressman Mark Foley
because Foley had not actually had sex with
one of the high school students/congressio
nal pages he was caught dealing inappropri
ately with.
Only in their world.
Only in their world can you get away with
sending sexually suggestive e-mails and
propositioning minors.
Only in their world can you so confuse your
colleagues by simply saying: “It depends
on what the
meaning of
the word ‘is’
is.” (Clinton’s
grand jury tes
timony in rela
tion to Monica
Lewinsky)
Only in their
world can you
do everything
imaginable
- but not one
thing specifi
cally - and use
the defense: “I did not have sexual rela
tions with that woYnan,” (Clinton-Lewinsky
again) and the end result be: “OK, good
enough for me.”
Moving back to present day - only in their
world can you use the defense: “I was sexu
ally molested as a child” and gain sympa
thy.
Only in their world. Not ours.
In ours we would have been fired instantly.
In our world we would be in jail - right now!
In our world we would be watched, tracked
and branded - and rightly so - for the rest
of our existence.
That’s our world, not theirs.
What we need is a mechanism for once
they’re in office, seeing as they refuse to do
anything about it themselves, an indepen
dent ethics commission.
It’s the only way we’ll ever get them out of
their world and into ours.
Grass not growing under
their feet
Perry residents. You might want to
attend some of the future work ses
sions of the city council. You have
more at stake than you might realize.
In case you caught a glimpse of things to
come in Thursday’s paperthe approval of
a landscaping amendment that sets stan
dards for gazebos, signs, decorative paving,
street trees, hedges, shrubs, grass and vines
- you know a bit about what we mean.
That in itself isn’t all that troublesome, it’s
the vision for the future. In the end it will
no doubt leave a more beautiful Perry but
getting there is going to involve - require
- you and you might want to have a say in
how you get there.
Letter to the Editor
Bill would help elders
Elder abuse is a crime, but that doesn’t stop some peo
ple from abusing, neglecting and exploiting older persons
and disabled adults. During fiscal year 2006, the Division
of Aging Services’ Adult Protective Services Central
Intake investigated nearly 7,000 APS referrals.
A bill currently before Congress would help Georgia
tremendously. With the addition of federal resources,
APS could hire more caseworkers, provide specialized
expert training workshops and education and strengthen
partnerships and initiatives in law enforcement, forensics
and banking institutions.
The bill would provide federal leadership and funding
for APS programs to meet the challenges of identifying
and protecting adults with disabilities and vulnerable
seniors. It would provide funding for research and train
ing, and strengthen protections for nursing home and
other long-term care residents. We support this much
needed federal legislation to fund APS programs so our
See LETTER, page 6A
In ours we would have
been lired instantly. In
our world we would be
in jail-right now! In
our world we would be
watched, tracked and
branded - and rightly
so - lor the rest of our
existence.
Conquest, wap, famine and death
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse are beings men
tioned in the sixth chapter
of Revelations, New Testament of
the Bible. The horsemen represent
Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. As
old as the Bible. As new as Fox News
or CNN.
When I was just a lad, perhaps not
even ten years old, I awoke one night
and was unable to walk. My parents
were convinced I had Polio. What it
was, we never knew, but fortunately
it wasn’t that dreaded disease, polio.
Were my parents justified in suspect
ing polio? You bet, for during those
times it was a scourge on the world.
From the Bible to the 2006 night
ly news, predictions of conquest and
death and awful calamities have been
and are being predicted. Sometimes
the warnings and prophecies have been
fulfilled. Most often, not. And, never
have dire warnings reached the levels
that we see, and hear, today.
Why so much negative prediction?
Why so much bad news? My opinion?
Because it sells. It keeps us watching
and watching and watching.
Remember the 2000 computers fail
ures scare? What was it called? Y2K?
How much money was spent to keep
planes from crashing and checks being
written and generally keeping the gov
ernment and businesses operating?
Millions and billions. How many com
puters crashed? I never heard of a one.
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Urging candidates to go positive
There are two questions most fre
quently posed to me by my loyal
readers. The first one is that it
is amazing that anyone with half the
sense of a nanny goat would take any
thing I say seriously. (Wait. That’s not
a question. Sorry.)
Let’s try the one about “Why are
political campaigns always so nega
tive.” Readers tell me they are frus
trated that candidates can’t talk about
positive issues, but only try to tear
down their opponents.
Georgians would like to see a posi
tive and uplifting political campaign
for a change. A good place to start
would be the race between incumbent
Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and his
opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark
Taylor. Both men have solid records
of accomplishment on which to run.
There is no reason for them to attack
each other. If they would avoid the
negative approach, not only would that
be welcomed by the voters, but the
candidates could save themselves some
big bucks because they could jettison
all the political consultants who make
a living dishing up political doo-doo for
their clients to sling at each other. The
consultants could then go do some
thing meaningful with their lives, like
pulling wings off of flies.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see both
candidates take the high ground for
the remainder of the gubernatorial
contest in Georgia?
Gov. Perdue could run an ad saluting
Mark Taylor for his untiring efforts to
improve' the quality of life for Georgia
farmers and all the Dairy Queen own-
OPINION
Did you? Must have been the most
successful effort at prevention in the
history of our country.
What about the Bird Flu? Did you
get a shot? Probably not. None avail
able. Still, how concerned should we
be? Less than 250 people, worldwide,
have been affected (about one-half
died), and most of the infected people
worked with sick birds.
Then there is Mad Cow Disease. Are
you at risk? Apparent less risk here
than with the birds. There have been
195 cases reported, globally, with only
two - that’s right, two - in the United
States. Divide 300 million into 2 and
see what the odds are of you contract
ing this disease. My calculator says
zero percent.
West Nile Virus. Not to worry, too
much. Only 10% of the people who con
tract the disease actually get sick. Even
those who get ill, it’s generally not
life-threatening. Severe forms of the
virus affect fewer than 1% of infected
people.
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ers in the state by religiously eating
eight meals a day, seven days a week.
Perdue could say how impressed he is
that the Big Guy cannot only inhale
a super-sized double cheeseburger in
a single bite, he could eat a horse in
full gallop. Taylor could respond by
thanking Perdue for the kind words
and praising him for being the only
governor in the nation last year to
give an elephant a physical, drastically
reducing the number of health benefit
claims filed by elephants in our state.
Gov. Perdue could emphasize in his
campaign messages that Mark Taylor
has made an outstanding lieutenant
governor and that it is a shame no one
has noticed, since the job of lieuten
ant governor is about as meaningful
as female appendages on a boar hog.
Taylor could then create an ad saying
how inspiring it has been to have an
athlete as the state’s chief executive,
and how well the governor has per
formed his duties over the past four
years, despite the fact he played too
many football games without his hel
met on.
Taylor could applaud Perdue’s finan
cial shrewdness by asking how the
governor got a retroactive SIOO,OOO
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Larry
Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
I 0 * v '
Dick
Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Then there is the Weather. Almost
always, today, reported as “severe
weather”. For examples, “We are
expecting a major thunderstorm of two
inches, this afternoon. Take extreme
caution. Stay tuned for further severe
weather reports”.
Are there serious concerns? Certainly.
North Korea. Iraq. Iran. Terrorists.
Global Warming. Etc., etc. But the point
is: Keep it in perspective. Remember
Gettysburg where there were 50,000
casualties in three days of fighting.
And, Antietam where about 25.000
died on September 17, 1862. And what
about the Great Depression? Or the
Black Plague?
Bad things happen. Man survives.
People go on. Keep it in perspective.
Don’t be duped by television advertis
ers. Don’t let severe weather warnings
of two inches of rain keep you glued to
the television.
On the other hand, if four seals are
opened and four horsemen appear -
white, red, black and pale - you best
be very concerned. You will be justified
in your concerns. Much more so than
when Bill O’Reilly rails us with his
latest prediction (thought up by his
writers) of what is likely to cause the
demise of this country and man kind
as we know it. And, by the way, stay
tuned for the latest on the Whooping
Cough sickness that is likely to sweep
our country most any day now.
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tax break after he bought some swamp
land in Florida. Perdue could say mod
estly, “It was nothing, really. All you
have to do is have some friends tiptoe
a little special-interest bill through
the General Assembly when nobody is
paying attention, which is most of the
time and be governor.” Taylor could
reply that he would like to do neat stuff
like that, too, if he is elected governor,
assuming that his daddy will continue
to give him his weekly allowance.
Gov. Perdue could issue a state
ment begging Lt. Gov. Taylor not to
involve national Democrats includ
ing Howard “Yah! Yah!” Dean, Teddy
Kennedy and President Peanut in
the campaign. Their enormous popu
larity in Georgia would most certain
ly wreck his chances for re-election.
Taylor could say he has never heard
of those people, but that he definitely
plans to call on his good friend and
primary opponent, Secretary of State
Cathy Cox, for help if he can find
out where she is hiding.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
A positive political campaign. No more
mudslinging. No more attack ads. This
might trigger a whole new trend in
politics: Voters demanding of the can
didates that if they can’t say something
nice about their opponent, say nothing
at all. Granted, candidates have always
managed to say nothing at all in their
campaigns, but at least this way they
would be positive when they did it.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or
Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com.