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4A ♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2006 Houston flailti .^Journal OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans Managing Editor Editor Emeritus Who to trust? Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was quoted as saying this past weekend that victory is no longer possible in Iraq. Granted Kissinger, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1973, is a phenomenal expert on foreign policy. His list of accomplishments in that regard are endless. Maybe he’s right. Maybe all those who have echoed the same sentiments over and over and over again are all right. Still, there is the question of whether or not he is any longer that much in the know. And, that statement especially applies to all those so-called experts around the world that continue to plaster our newspapers, TV and radio with their thoughts on the subject. In real ity, we have to ask just how much they really know? What are they basing their decision/judg ments on? Is it other media reports around the world? That’s scary. In the case of Kissinger, he no doubt knows some people in very high places. But, does he know the right people any more? And even if he does that mean he has access to classified information? The gov ernment doesn’t just go around passing out top secret information to anybody. They wouldn’t just give it to Kissinger. They sure wouldn’t give it to the media. The government bases dissemination of classified information to those who have a clearance for it and, more importantly: “The need to know.” Does Kissinger have the need to know? Do the newspapers, TV and radio? So, what are they all basing their decision/ judgments on? Their opinions is what we would surmise. The problem with our media mainstream these days is they HAVE to produce. Having to produce typically means - take CNN for example - pulling some retired general out of the woodwork and “voila” he’s now the talking head for the organization. But, he’s basing his information on what? The way things were when he was in the service? The world may have turned significantly since then. Here’s our advice. There’s really only two sources of information you can trust these days in regard to Iraq. One, is those currently in the field. Those who are getting shot at. Those who put their lives on the line every day. Those who know because they’re “right there.” And, did you know they, those with decision-making authority, get an intelligence briefing every day? So they know! Two, is the president and/or those cur rently within his cabinet (ditto we would imagine on the intelligence briefing - and there’s no telling how often he’s updated on the situation). Oh, we know. There are plenty out there who no longer trust the president in this matter. But, what’s the alternative? Kissinger? The media? Call it the lesser of two evils if you will but we would much rather put our trust in those who we at least “know” Have direct access to what’s going on rather than those who may be either speculating (Kissinger) or acting on the need to keep their job (the media). Still, there is the question of whether or not he is any longer that much in the know. And, that statement especially applies to all those so-called experts around the world that continue to plaster our newspapers, TV and radio with their thoughts on the subject. Some kids lose in name game My wife called me at work Friday, not to ask what time I was coming home or what did I want for supper, but: “Do you mind if I use the chain saw?” I was flopping around at my desk, gasping for breath for about four minutes when I finally calmed down enough to ask: “Why?” “There are some trees I want to cut down. Are you still there, Glynn? Glynn? Oh, never mind. I’ll do it some other time.” As she hung up the phone, my mind was playing the title from a 1940 s movie called I Wake Up Screaming. I’ve never seen that film, but its name is funny and scary at the same time and really applies to my life. Names are like that: funny and scary. Take mine, for instance. Most people with my name spell it Glenn or Glen, although, to be honest, my version of it is pronounced slightly differently because of the “y.” More of a “Glin,” which is the way one fellow class clown in my high school wrote it in my yearbook. It could have been worse; Glynn is a legitimate name, used by humans for centuries. Nowadays, parents roll the dice when the stork arrives. Babies come out of the hospital wearing monikers such as Lexus and Tequila and Sledgehammer and, for "Do I have a reservation? Oh, I've got lots of reservations!" 'lpOlo J Lott avenges media double standard It’s funny how political missteps can destroy some people, while leaving others standing, even smiling. Thank goodness Republican Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott - one of those once nearly destroyed - proved this week that media’s plunging, twist ing knives can be extracted. No, I’m not a “neocoii” - a term I despise - for defending Lott against 4- year-old charges of racial insensitivity. I’m just being fair. So fair that I’m even understanding of a far more virulent verstatement presented recently by some civil rights icons. I point out this contemporary gaffe to make my point about media character assassinations by way of comparison. Just days before the recent elections, Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) and former Congressman, Ambassador and Mayor Andrew Young lent their voices to a radio ad designed to promote the African-American Democratic candi date for chairman of Fulton County, Georgia’s largest. The ad partly said and partially hint ed that should the Republican candi date be elected, blacks would see their lives returned to the days of being fire hosed in the streets, among other Jim Crow-type sufferings. Lewis himself warned voters - mostly black ones targeted by ads on predomi nantly black radio stations - that their “very lives” depended on their support ing the Democratic candidate. The ad aired late in the campaign. Maybe that’s why local and national media hardly noticed its excess, even though some of the most liberal local reporters covering the campaign were shocked that few watchdogs noticed the ad. But many who heard it called the ad pure race-baiting. The text and subtext of the radio spot insinuated that a band of 1950 s thug policemen and vigilantes would find a way to beat OPINION all I know, 89-2-Mer. Instead of passing along revered fam ily names to their offspring, parents are branding them with troublesome titles that will cause them much more grief than a simple alternate spelling will do (which is trouble enough; I get plenty of business mail to Ms. Glynn Moore). Because Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, I looked up a list of the passengers who landed on the Mayflower nearly 400 years ago. There were some solid names there, people such as John, Priscilla and Miles (remember that triangle?), along with Mary, Edward, Eleanor, William, Ann, Richard and Sarah. Now, I’m not saying the Pilgrims didn’t have their fits of freakiness. There was a girl named Remember and a boy named Love (whose broth er was Wrestling). There were quali ties such as Humility, Constance and Desire. Glynn Moore Columnist Morris News Service Matt Towery Columnist Morris News Service the daylights out of listeners if the Republican were elected. Again, let’s be fair. People who actu ally know John Lewis, Andrew Young and current Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who also contributed to the ad, will attest that they’re all hon orable, experienced public servants. Lewis may continue to indulge in the notion that he is still being beaten on the infamous Edmund Pettis Bridge in Alabama during a historic civil rights march decades ago, but nevertheless, he is kind and goodhearted. Mayor Franklin works well with all ethnici ties and races in her diverse city, most notably the white business community. And Young is far too worldly to pur posely participate in racial harangue. In truth, this ad was a patchwork of comments that were edited into a distasteful final product - so we could declare it without malice and move on. Such a balanced assessment wasn’t afforded Trent Lott in 2002, however, when he tried to flatter 100-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond at his birth day party by saying America would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president when he ran in 1948. Instead, ravenous, righteous media reminded us that Thurmond had run as a segregationist. Never mind that it had been 54 years previous. It might as well have been 54 days. A pound of flesh was exacted by the liberal inquisition. Worse, many HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Resolved’s brother was Peregrine (although, to be accurate, Peregrine was born after the ship landed). There wasn’t a Glynn among them, though, so don’t judge them too harsh ly- I pity today’s kids every time they sign tbeir names, because what they write looks like a Scrabble game has thrown up. They get no breaks, either, when their names are said aloud. I’ve always thought no one should be allowed to bestow a name they couldn’t say aloud in public without cringing: “Have you met my kids? This is Clophrenius, and our girl Kaffeine. Oh, and the baby, Junior III.” When your name is out of the ordi nary, you’re forever having to explain it. I once knew a Bettie who gave up trying to correct people when they spelled it Betty. You never have to explain Bill, but you do Byll. We could end a lot of the heartache if we let people name themselves. Parents, just call your youngsters “You” until they’re old enough to pick a name they like. Sure, they might come up with Kal- E 1 or Brangelina, but it will be their own doing - and their own undoing. They won’t have anyone else to blame - my mother, for example. of Lott’s colleagues abandoned him and ran for cover. He had to resign as majority leader of the Senate. It was the most despicable railroading of a public official I’ve ever witnessed. Now I read media reports of Lott’s return to power. He has scored an upset win over Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to become minority whip of the U.S. Senate. One report this week paraphrased Lott’s 2002 Thurmond comments as having said the nation would be “bet ter off had it elected Strom Thurmond president in 1948, when he ran on a segregationist platform.” The quotation marks encase the journalist’s words, but those words might as well have been attributed directly to Lott. This characterization is like too many others. They take what was meant to be harmless praise to a very old man and turn it into a sort of verbal Klan ride. Lott never even mentioned seg regation. We will never end the media men tality that takes causal leaps to con nect Republican or conservative stum blings with abominable intentions. Nor will we ever see liberal misstatements treated in a like manner. The sweetest redemption for having been lynched by opportunistic media is renewed success. Way to go, Trent Lott. You beat them all. Matt Towery served as the chairman of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s political organization from 1992 until Gingrich left Congress. He is a for mer Georgia state representative, the author of several books and currently heads the polling and political infor mation firm Insider Advantage. To find out more about Matthew Towery and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com.