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♦ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2006 4A Houston flatly OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans Managing Editor Editor Emeritus Fuel for thought Here’s a true story as noted by one of our writers. Two gas stations. • One recently built. The other just opened a few days ago, and right across the street from the other one. The first, the one already built, in the short time since it was opened, was noted always charging just above average for gas as compared to the rest around town. Further, about three weeks ago when gas started coming down and one or two - or more - stations were noted lowering their prices to less than $2 a gallon (a short-lived condition for the most part), it was noted there wasn’t much differ ence in the price at this one station. Prices never got lower than $2.09. And that isn’t to say it lacked for customers because, based on its loca tion, it didn’t. It had sort of cornered the market in that area to a cer tain extent. Anyway, just this week, the new station opened across the street. And the price on its marquee: $1.99. And the price advertised on the other afore mentioned station the same day: $1.99. That’s right. The same. Suddenly, after all these months they were able to match what could have been the lowest mark in town. Coincidence? The same distributor? Maybe in the case of the first. If so in the case of the second, a connection is not advertised on either station’s website. And both are major corporations by the way. , First off, we want to apologize to those stations and owners out there who attempt to run an honest and reputable business. We know you’re out there. We’ve met plenty of you and it’s been our experience there are more of you than there are of them. We’re just sorry these - or this “one” may be more appropriate - may have tarnished your good name. But second, this really kind of makes us mad. We don’t know if there really was any kind of price gouging going on but the evi dence certainly points in that direction. We suppose if there’s any good to come out of it, it’s knowing that if not for free enterprise in this country - and the spirit of competition - there’s no telling what we might be subjected to. Letter to the Editor Overholt needs education After reading the Saturday Letter to the Houston Daily Journal by failed, Republican county commission candi date, Wayne Overholt, I can see many reasons why he lost. His pathetic attempt to be bipartisan failed. He accuses the Democrats of being for higher taxes and big government while totally ignoring Bush’s blatant, huge deficits, the new Medicare Prescription drug benefit part D, and huge foreign trade deficits. Plus creating No Child Left Behind. He ignores the economic successes of the Clinton administration that actually reduced our national defi cit and created millions of new jobs. No, he harkens back to the Carter years to predict the results of the new Democratic Congress. He likes tax cuts for our richest one percent, Trillions in our national debt, and cutting spending on education and Pell grants. Wayne wants us to stay in Iraq forever despite recent election results and Rummy’s firing! Six out of 10 Americans voted Democrat and want us out of Iraq. Overholt has a lot of learning to accomplish before he runs again for public office. His distorted views of world history and our nation’s glorious past tell us that he needs to use our fine, county libraries more often! Then his views and ramblings might make more sense! Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins Further, in the past tew weeks when gas started coming down and one or two - or more - stations were noted lowering their prices to less than $2 a gallon (a short-lived condition (or the most part), it was noted there wasn't much difference in the price at this one station. Prices never got lower than $2.09. Things for which I am thankful It was supposed to be about books this week. Actually, about people and their favorite book(s). And, that will come. But, it’s Thanksgiving weekend, and I have lots for which to be thankful, and I am thankful. So, for this week, its “things for which I am thankful”. I am thankful to live in a country where there can be a shift in power without rebellion and riots and death in the streets. I am thankful that there are still many good people willing to participate in the increasingly rough game called “politics”. I am thankful for the love I had from four great grandparents: Papa and Grandma; Grandbuddy and Granny. No child ever had better. I am thankful for the memories of those I loved and those who made me laugh and those who enriched my life like Jerry and Seabie, Mr. Glea and Uncle Charlie, Mr. Knighton, Mr. Hilt and ‘Fessor, Aunt Lillian and Uncle Jim, and Uncle Thomas and Uncle Norman. I am thankful to live with the most positive “we can do it woman” in America - Janice Walker. I am thankful for quiet hours in the early morning with a hot cup of coffee, a good book and time to think and plan and hope. I am thankful for those great story tellers like Bobby Rowan, Marion Pope, Ed Beckham, James Moore, Connell Stafford and Chuck Sims. Not so much for what they say as how they tell it, and how the stories Pve heard so many times still “tickle me to death”. I am thankful for a warm, dry house and an inside bathroom, a hot shower, and a good firm bed. I am thankful for a good night’s sleep "Yeah, right... next you’ll be telling me they're talking about dropping the state income tax!" American press should count blessings In between breathless condemna tions of the Bush administration for stifling its free speech, endless court filings demanding classified and sensitive information from the military and intelligence agencies, and self-pity ing media industry confabs bemoaning their hemorrhaging circulations (with the exception of the New York Post), my colleagues in the American niedia don’t have much time to give thanks. Allow me: Give thanks we don’t live in Bangladesh, where you can be put on trial for writing columns supporting Israel and condemning Muslim vio lence. Just ask Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of Blitz, the larg est tabloid English-language weekly in Bangladesh. He is currently facing a sedition trial for speaking out about the threats radical Islam poses in Bangladesh. He has been imprisoned, harassed, beaten and condemned. In court last week, his persecutors read these charges against him: “By praising the Jews and Christians, by attempt ing to travel to Israel and by predicting the so-called rise of Islamist militancy in the country and expressing such through writings inside the country and abroad, you have tried to damage the image and relations of Bangladesh with the outside world.” For express ing these dissident opinions, he faces the possibility of execution. Give thanks we don’t live in Egypt, where bloggers have been detained by the government for criticizing Islam and exposing the apathy of Cairo police to sexual harassment of women. Just ask Abdel Karim Suliman Amer, 22, who was arrested earlier this month for “spreading information disruptive of public order,” “incitement to hate Muslims” and “defaming the President of the Republic.” Ask Rami Siyam, who blogs under the name of Ayyoub, and has been outspoken in his criticism of Egyptian brutality. He was detained this week along with three friends after leaving the house of a fellow blogger. His host, 24-year-old reformist Muslim Muhammad al-Sharqawi, had been detained by the Egyptian govern ment this spring as he left a peaceful OPINION Larry Walker Colufrmist IwalkerOwhgb-lawcom followed by a hard day’s work and a sweet dog with a wagging tail to greet me at the end of the day. I am thankful for much time togeth er and some time apart. Both are important. I am thankful for the beauty of the point and the covey rise and for their seeing and saying, “nice shot, very nice”. I am thankful for those that are always there with you, those that “have your back,” those that you can count on - no matter how rough it gets. Billy Bledsoe and “Do Tricks” and Chuck Byrd immediately come to mind. I am thankful for a good mother and father who always - always - set a good example and never did anything to embarrass their family. I am thankful to live in a physically clean community where churches are influential and good folks run things. I am thankful for Nellwin Moore and her efforts to make Perry the best Christmas decorated town in Georgia. I am thankful for memories of Herman Talmadge and Richard Russell and Herschel Walker and Lee Martin and Dwayne Powell and Pierce Staples and Celestine Sibley. I am thankful for Florence Harrison and Herb St. John and E. H. Cheek and Jeanne Bledsoe. Good teachers. Great people. I am thankful for good, honest law demonstration in Cairo where he had displayed a sign reading, “I want my rights.” Sharqawi was beaten in prison over several weeks. Give thanks we don’t live in Sudan, where editors can lose their heads for not kowtowing to the government line. Ask the family of Mohammed Taha, editor in chief of the Sudanese private daily Al-Wifaq, who was found decapitated on a Khartoum street in September. He had been kidnapped by masked jihadi gunmen. What did Taha do that cost him his life? He insulted Islam, and dared to question Muslim history, the roots of Mohammed and other Muslims. Before his murder, his paper was shuttered for three months and he was hauled into court for “blas phemy.” Give thanks we don’t live in China, the world’s leading jailer of journalists and Internet critics. Consider Yang Xiaoqing, jailed for five months because he reported corruption among local offi cials in the central Hunan province. Or Yang Tianshui, sentenced to 12 years in jail this spring for posting essays on the Internet supporting a movement by exiles to hold free elections. Or Li Yuanlong, a Guizhou reporter for the Bijie Daily jailed for two years on sub version charges because he dared to criticize the ruling Communist Party on foreign websites. Or any of the other 32 journalists and 50-plus blog gers behind bars. Give thanks we don’t live in Lebanon, where outspoken writers pay with their lives. Journalist and Christian Orthodox activist Samir Kassir, who was critical of Syrian involvement in Lebanon, was assassinated in a Beirut car bombing in 2005. His colleague, An-Nahar newspaper manager Gibran Tueni, was killed in a car bombing last L v * WM Michelle Malkin Columnist malkin@comcast.net HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL partners and the best law staff in America. I am thankful for an ice-cold water melon on a hot July day, a hot bowl of chili on a cold winter day, and a big slice of egg custard pie with whipped cream on top on any day. I am thankful for old quarterbacks like Ray Goff and Larry Rakestraw and Clark Fain and Mike Long and Buster McConnell and Arthur Clarke and Foster Rhodes. Some were better than others, but the older they get, the better all of them were. I am thankful for the plumber who comes when the ‘you know what’ is stopped up and the electrician who ‘fixes’ the heater in the cold night and the folks who pick up the garbage every week. I am thankful for good, new friends like Jim Minter and Gene Sutherland and Randy Moore and great, old friends like Billy Bledsoe and Jerry Horton and Bobby Jones and Riley Hunt. I am thankful for seven wonderful grandchildren and four great children and four exceptional in-laws. I am thankful for those who say, “I really enjoy your articles” and those who don’t, and don’t say anything. I am thankful for the come-back of The New Perry Hotel - for many years, Perry’s best-known landmark. I am thankful for old, true friends who call or write or email with the message, “Larry, we miss you in the legislature”. I am thankful for the love of reading and cracking open a great new book - of how it smells and how it feels and how it reads. I am thankful for having so much for which I am thankful, and I am thank ful for that great American holiday, Thanksgiving. December. Lebanese TV anchorwoman and Christian journalist May Chidiak survived a separate car bombing last fall, but lost an arm, leg and use of one eye. Give thanks we don’t live in Russia, where investigative journalists rou tinely wind up dead. Last month, unre lenting reporter and Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya was found shot dead in her apartment. In the days before her death, Politkovskaya had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya, according to her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. She joins a death toll that includes Paul Klebnikov, the U.S.- born editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, who had been investigating the Russian business underworld and was gunned down outside his Moscow office in 2004; Valery Ivanov, editor of the newspaper Tolyatinskoye Oborzreniye, also shot dead after investigating orga nized crime and drug trafficking in 2002; and Larisa Yudina, editor of the opposition newspaper Sovetskaya Kalmykia in southern Russia, who was stabbed to death by former govern ment aides. Give thanks we don’t live in Denmark, where the cartoonists who dared to caricature Mohammed and challenge creeping sharia are still in hiding, in fear for their lives. Give thanks we don’t live in Italy, where a spineless judge bowed to jihadists and put famed war journalist Oriana Fallaci on trial for her sharp tongued critiques of Islam. She suc cumbed to cancer before they could exact a vengeful penalty against the lioness. But they made the price of “insulting” Islam known far and wide to the cowering Western media. Give thanks we live in America, land of the free, home of the brave, where the media’s elite journalists can leak top-secret information with impunity, win Pulitzer Prizes, cash in on lucra tive book deals, routinely insult their readership and viewership, broadcast enemy propaganda, turn a blind eye to the victims of jihad, and cast them selves as oppressed victims on six-fig ure salaries. God bless the U.S.A.