Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006
Muustmt Gaily djuunutl
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Cleaning up their act
Did we hear someone shout
“Hallelujah”?
Or was it a chorus shouting, “It’s
about time”?
Anyway the decision by Warner Robins’
mayor and council is to begin enforcing
its ordinance against littering more strin
gently.
There are neighborhoods in Warner Robins
that look like the aftermath of a tornado.
Yards are.full of junk and trash and there
are junk automobiles that turn neighbor
hoods into unsightly messes.
In the past some citations have been given
to violators of the city’s ordinance. Each
incident has
been handled
independently
of other viola
tions. A cita
tion would be
issued. The
case would be
settled. The
file would
be closed.
Another inci
dent would be
handled as if
this was not
a recurring
problem.
The city officials have decided to make
violations cumulative. Each successive vio
lation can result in stiffer penalties. This
is the way it should be and the mayor and
council should be commended for this deci
sion.
Neighborhoods should not be dragged
down because some residents in the area do
not have pride enough to keep their front
yards free of litter and junk automobiles.
They want a neighborhood they can be
proud of. They deserve it.
And they should be protected from people
who turn it into a source of shame and dis
gust.
Warner Robins is on the right track.
Perhaps soon some of the blighted neigh
borhoods will begin to look much better.
Guest Editorial
Program offers useful tools
for local farmers
Special to the Journal
The Environmental Incentives Program is a
voluntary program developed to provide incen
tives for farmers to address natural resource
concerns on privately owned agricultural lands.
EQIP provides technical and financial (cost
share) assistance.
The EQIP program is available to farmers
actively engaged in livestock or agricultural
production. Agricultural producer and land
eligibility criteria must be met to participate in
this program.
This popular program has been used by farm
ers to control erosion, to enhance irrigation
system efficiency, to improve livestock waste
management, and much more.
This competitive program offers contracts to
the highest ranking applications until available
funds run out. Payments are based on preset
cost list. Most participants receive 50 percent of
the listed cost. However, high cost-share rates
may apply if you meet the additional eligibility
criteria. Participants are reimbursed after prac
tice installation.
All practices must be installed and maintained
according to USDA specifications. Practices
installed prior to approval are not eligible for
cost-share.
To participate in this program you must apply
at your local Natural Resources Conservation
Service office.
The Houston County Office is located in the
Houston County Government Building (old
courthouse), 801 Main Street in Perry. Only
those applications received by Dec. 1 will be
considered for 2007 funding.
For more information, contact the local NRCS
office at 478-987-2280 Ext. 3.
There are
neighborhoods in
Warner Robins that look
like the aftermath of
a tornado. Yards are
full of junk and trash
and there are junk
automobiles that turn
neighborhoods into
unsightly messes.
A look at another side of BRAC
Will they kill
babies in England?
During my recent trip to the east
ern part of North Carolina I
came upon an interesting - and
perhaps informative - BRAC story.
Oceana Naval Air Station is located
in Virginia Beach. In the last round
of BRAC closings this base was tar
geted. Oceana was supposed to close,
with the approximately 12,000 mili
tary and civilian personnel trans
ferred to Cecil Field in Jacksonville.
Cecil Field was one of Jacksonville
Naval Air Station’s satellite fields dur
ing World War 11. It was closed down
some time after the end of the war.
One of the reasons - possibly the
main one - that the BRAC commission
said that Oceana should be closed was
that homeowners in the area had been
complaining for years about the noise
being created by fighter planes doing
touch-and-go training landings.
Though many of the homes were
built around Oceana long after the
base was located in Virginia Beach,
homeowners went to court, asking for
reparations for loss in value of their
homes.
Reopening Cecil Field in Jacksonville
would require substantial expendi
tures for road improvements and other
infrastructure. Whether the city should
spend the money needed for these
improvements was put before the vot
ers. Last Tuesday the voters said “no”
to reopening the base and bringing
12,000 military and civilian personnel
to the area.
So it is back to the drawing board for
Oceana. Before the BRAC commission
said the base should be closed the Navy
had been scouting for a place to locate
a landing field for the touch-and-go
*
How Democrats 'clean house'
Remember how Nancy Pelosi
exploited the female card before
the midterm elections? “Maybe
it will take a woman to clean up the
House and a new speaker to restore
civility,” she bragged.
Women, she implied, do a better
job than men because we presumably
know how to get down on our hands
and knees and scrub the mold and mil
dew out of every corner and crevice of
our own domiciles.
But from the way she’s acting, Nancy
Pelosi doesn’t know spic from span.
She’s conducting Beltway business as
usual, just like the good old boys she
demonized throughout the campaign.
(Madame Pelosi just happens to do it
in an Armani aqua blue-gray pantsuit
that gets thumbs-up from obsequious
Washington fashion writers.)
Well, a back-scratching corruptocrat
in pastel is still a back-scratching cor
ruptocrat. Case in point: Which con
gressman is Mrs. Clean considering
as chairman of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence?
Impeached federal judge Rep. Alcee
Hastings, D-Fla., who took bribes, lied
under oath and was kicked off the
bench.
And which colleague is she back
ing for House majority leader? One of
Congress’s leading dirtbags: Rep. John
Murtha, D-Pa.
As if his extremist cut-and-run
war strategery weren’t bad enough,
Murtha’s (un)ethical record is enough
to make even liberal apologists blush.
Unfortunately, Murtha’s defeated
opponent, Diana Irey, couldn’t get folks
to pay enough attention to his Abscam
past during the campaign. But now
that he is poised to assume the speak
ership and all its attendant perks and
privileges, the Abscam scandal is front
and center.
In 1980, Murtha was an unindict
ed co-conspirator in a massive brib-
OPINION
landings.
A location that was rejected would
have put the little community that I
visited last week in the flight pattern.
Residents of this quiet, out of the
way community were very upset. Plans
were put on hold.
Now, I understand, another location
on Albemarle Sound, close by, is being
considered if Oceana is not closed.
Residents of Perquimans County are
not happy, since the new field can
bring plenty of noise but no economic
benefits.
Because of Jacksonville’s rebuff of
the proposal to use Cecil Field the fate
of Oceana is now up in the air.
Incidentally, residents who filed a
lawsuit because of the noise being
made by fighter planes won their case
and will split S2B million dollars.
■ ■■
Here’s a story that is sure to cause
an uproar. A spokesman for the Church
of England has announced that the
church is in favor of killing severely
disabled babies at birth. It already has
stirred the pot in England and you can
be sure the idea will be condemned and
praised in many places in this country.
Disabled organizations in England are
outraged and are going after the church
ferociously. The church rationalizes
that the cost of taking care of severely
disabled babies and taking care of
them for their entire lives is a financial
ery probe - in which undercover FBI
agents videotaped Murtha entertain
ing a $50,000 bribe from agents posing
as emissaries for Arab sheiks trying to
enter our country illegally. Democrat
defenders of Murtha scoff that the
story is “old news.” (Liberal math:
Abscam story from 1980 equals “old
news.” Bush National Guard story
from 1973 equals “new news.”)
But only recently have we been
reminded of Abscam transcripts that
paint an even uglier picture of Murtha
than the short snippet of publicly
available FBI video in which Murtha
turned down the bribe. As noted by
The American Spectator, an old Jack
Anderson column reported these little
noticed parts of Murtha’s conversation
with the undercover agents:
“I want to deal with you guys awhile
before I make any transactions at all,
period. . . . After we’ve done some busi
ness, well, then I might change my
mind. ..."
. . . “I’m going to tell you this. If
anybody can do it - I’m not 8.5.-ing
you fellows -1 can get it done my way. ”
he boasted. “There’s no question about
it.”...
But the reluctant Murtha wouldn’t
touch the $50,000. Here on secret vid
eotape was this all-American hero, tall
and dignified in a disheveled way,
explaining why he wasn’t quite ready
to accept the cash.
“All at once,” he said, “some dumb
[expletive deleted] would go start talk
ing eight years from now about this
v
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox net
VL A
liBSSMp
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
burden that the country should not
bear. This is a hot one, indeed.
■ ■■
What is going on? The director of the
Centers for Disease Control has said
that she is concerned that manufactur
ers of flu vaccine will not make enough
next year because so many people have
not had the shots this year. But in
another statement she says that of 110
million shots that have been manufac
tured only 77 million have been dis
tributed. Doctors and health clinics, as
well as some military installations, are
still waiting to receive their allotments.
This sounds like a real screw up.
■ ■■
Beware: A movement is afoot to
persuade the Georgia Legislature in
its next session to remove the tax that
presently is charged on gasoline and
replace it with a general sales tax. It
would raise more money and it would
spread the cost to everyone, not just
users of motor fuels, whose taxes now
are marked for expenditure bv the
highway department.
■ ■ ■
Darfur. It is a tragic situation with
Muslims killing people of other reli
gions by the hundreds of thousands.
Pressure is being placed on the United
States by European countries, as well
as black activists in this country, for
President Bush to send American
troops there. European countries criti
cized our President for going into Iraq,
but now they want him to send troops
to Darfur. Seems to me we have our
hands full in Iraq. Let the European
countries deal with this one.
whole thing and say /expletive deleted],
this happened. Then in order to get
immunity so he doesn’t go to jail, he
starts talking and fingering people. So
the [5.0.8.] falls apart. ”...
“You give us the banks where you
want the money deposited, offered one
of the bagmen.
“All right,” agreed Murtha. “How
much money we talking about?’’
“Well, you tell me. ”
“Well, let me find out what is a rea
sonable figure that will get their atten
tion, ” said Murtha, “because there are
a couple of banks that have really done
me some favors in the past, and I’d like
to put some money in."
So much for restoring cleanliness
and civility, eh, Nancy?
Abscam isn’t Murtha’s only ethics
cloud.
Defense industry lobbyist Paul
Magliocchetti, a former colleague of
Murtha’s who worked as a senior
staffer on the Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee, has reportedly funneled
some $300,000 in campaign contribu
tions to Murtha over the last three
election cycles - either through his
company, PMA, or its clients. They’ve
reaped rich rewards: In 2006 alone,
PMA clients received at least 60 ear
marks worth some $95 million. Murtha
also aided Democrat Congressman Alan
Mollohan, who remains embroiled in a
federal contracting corruption probe.
In 1992, Bill Clinton pledged to run
the most ethical administration in his
tory. We know how that went. Fourteen
years later, Nancy Pelosi has recycled
the pledge - and is now well on her way
to recycling the same old soiled legacy.
A friendly woman-to-woman tip to
Nancy Pelosi: To clean a house, you
take the garbage out, not in.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild." Her e-mail address is
writemalkinffvgmail.com