Newspaper Page Text
♦ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Reliability of polls suspect
We’ve learned a long time ago not to
put too much faith in political polls.
They can mean anything the poll
sters want them to, depending on questions
asked, how the questions are asked and who
is asked.
We have just
been provided
new polls from
which we learn
that shop
pers say they
will spend less
this year than
last during
the Christmas
shopping sea
son.
Do you
believe these
polls?
We consider
them suspect.
Perhaps respondents to the polls really do
intend to spend less this year than last, but
we have our money on them opening their
pocketbooks (or using their credit cards)
and spending more.
They got off to a good start last weekend.
Sales were 6 percent ahead of last year on
what is referred to as “black Friday’' and
this should be a good harbinger of what is
to come.
Shoplifters are expensive
Shoplifters are a scourge on holiday
shopping (all year long, too) and cost
businesses millions of dollars, result
ing in things we purchase costing us more
than they would otherwise.
The losses incurred by businesses must be
passed on to shoppers.
Some businesses ignore shoplifters at this
time of year because of the inconvenience
and loss of time it takes to prosecute them.
Other businesses prosecute every shop
lifter, as a matter of principle.
And some businesses, we hear, ignore
shoplifters when the value of stolen goods is
less than $25 and prosecute when the value
of stolen goods is above $25.
Shoplifters are equal opportunity crimi
nals. They have been known to enter small
stores with one or two employees, with one
shoplifter getting the attention of clerks
while another takes what he or she can get.
Larger stores have security cameras that
can catch these criminals in the act, but
they are gone long before anyone views the
film. These stores also hire extra security
personnel to protect their merchandise as
much as possible.
There are two kinds of shoplifters. There
are amateurs who believe that they can
take what they want and get away with it.
And there are professionals who ply their
trade efficiently and at great cost to the
merchants.
Both kinds are a plague on the economy.
They also come out of the woodwork dur
ing times when stores are crowded with
shoppers and their activities are less likely
to be detected.
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Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
We consider them
suspect. Perhaps
respondents to the
polls really do Intend
to spend less this
year than last, but
we have our money
on them opening their
pocketbooks (or using
their credit cards) and
spending more.
Numbers reveal an ugly picture
Whenever I write or talk about
out-of-wedlock childbear
ing I get in some trouble.
Invariably, I hear from understandably
frustrated single mothers who feel that
I’m condemning them and their chil
dren to lives of suffering and failure.
So let me be clear up front: Single
parenthood does not sentence anyone
to a failed life.
Many single parents are success
ful in raising their children and are
deserving of high praise for their dili
gence and hard work in transforming
a difficult situation into one that is
hopeful and positive.
My wife and I have seen this first
hand in our own home a few years ago
when we took in an amazing single
mom and her son. This mom was and
is a hard worker who has organized
her life around providing her son with
what he needs to live a successful,
healthy and productive life. She’s suc
ceeding in her quest and is a real hero
in my eyes.
But this single mom would admit
in a heartbeat that she and her son
are in a less-than-ideal situation. She
knows - as does every single mom I’ve
ever talked to about the matter - that
kb 3 i,,
ip i.
With friends like Rangel, Pelosi needs no enemies
Democrat powerhouse Rep.
Charles Rangel, D-NY, has
already handed the GOP the
first of what could be a cornucopia of ill
conceived proposals from Democrats.
Rangel likes the sound of his own
voice. The soon-to-be chairman of
the powerful House Ways and Means
Committee sounded off recently about
his planned legislation to resurrect the
military draft. You don’t have to be a
pollster to know how monumentally
unpopular this would be.
Such a bill would never even receive
a committee vote, much less reach the
floor of the House for a vote. Why?
Because new House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi won’t allow such a politically
destructive concept to take wings. Yes,
that Pelosi. Liberal - San Francisco
liberal - Pelosi.
In 1998, as a close associate of then-
Speaker Newt Gingrich, I had vir
tually unlimited access to all mem
bers of Congress. In researching my
book of that year, “Powerchicks: How
Women Will Dominate America,” I had
observed Pelosi closely.
While I disagreed with much of her
politics, I nevertheless believed that
she and she alone seemed likely to lead
the Democrats if they ever took major
ity control again. So I wrote as much,
following a very personable interview
with her.
I recently went back and dusted off
the book. I’d written, “The concept of
'Madame Speaker’ or 'the distinguished
lady from California, the minority lead
er,’ is no longer far-fetched.”
I cite this passage not to nominate
myself as a psychic seer, but to caution
conservatives not to interpret Pelosi’s
ascension as only blind luck falling her
way. They perhaps should look else
where for easy targets to attack. The
growing belief that Pelosi will be the
poster-woman for Democratic failure
may be wrong.
In my conversations with her nearly
a decade ago, I learned that she is a
political pragmatist, even as she is
acutely aware that she represents a
decidedly liberal congressional district.
OPINION
her son would have started life off in
a better situation had she been mar
ried when he was born. (It’s worth
pointing out that she’s not willing to
enter into any relationship in order to
provide her son with just any father.
She’s smarter and wiser than that and
knows that could just make matters
worse, not better. Even marrying the
biological father of her son would have
been unwise.)
Pardon me if it seems that I am
going to great lengths to qualify what
I’m about to say but I think it’s very
important that single parents - and
everyone else reading this - under
stand that there is always hope. To
single parents reading this: It may be
harder, but you and your child(ren) can
succeed.
Okay, here comes the harder-to-hear
"... One ... more... time!"
She will search for common ground
- with public opinion, if not with the
GOP
And she’s tough. Her fund-raising
prowess is legendary.
She’s willing to take risks. She’s
also willing to stand up to “the boys,”
and she takes pride in that indepen
dent streak. She’s also a nice person.
Interestingly, she made no secret that
she aspired to her party’s top post in
Congress.
Already Speaker-designate Pelosi has
been questioned for backing a man for
majority leader who was subsequently
voted down by the Democrats.
But she was smart to snip in the bud
any notions by some liberal members
of her caucus to immediately plan
investigations of President Bush with
the end goal of impeaching him.
So don’t be surprised if it isn’t Pelosi
among the Democrats who makes
the strategically idiotic statement or
pushes the politically suicidal proposal
that will put the electoral chances of
Democrats in significant danger by
2008.
That dubious honor instead will like
ly fall to a ragtag collection of liberal,
loudmouthed chairpersons in line to
take power.
They’ll probably become the bane of
Speaker Pelosi’s existence.
The chairs of committees have, ex
officio, greater opportunities on which
to stick their feet into their mouths.
When those members of Congress are
with the minority party, their popping
off can be dismissed with a shrug. But
once they assume the mantle of power,
the words of these same people become
instant, loud news.
Exhibit A: Charles Rangel’s take on
Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
*! * *
Matt
Towery
Columnist
Morris News Service
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
stuff.
Government health officials issued
a report Thanksgiving week revealing
that more children are being born out
of wedlock than at any other time in
American history. Nearly four out of
10 babies born in the United States
last year were born to an unmarried
mother.
The hint of good news in the report
is that the birth rate among girls ages
10 to 17 dropped last year to the lowest
level on record. That’s some news that
should encourage us and a trend that
we all should hope will be maintained.
So where does the increase in out
of-wedlock births come from? Well,
the largest increase came from women
in their 20s.
According to an Associated Press
story on the report, experts suggested
that this trend is probably being driven
by a number of factors, including the
tendency to put off marriage until
later, increasing cohabitation rates and
the broader acceptance of out-of-wed
lock childbearing.
I’ve previously addressed the hazards
of cohabitation but what especially
concerns me in this story is that
See HICKS, page f/l
federal appropriations for the state of
Mississippi. He couldn’t resist express
ing his New York elitist disdain for
the people of that southern state by
rhetorically asking who in their right
mind would want to live there. For
Pelosi, those gratuitous remarks were
probably just an hors d’oeuvre before
the entrees of misstatements to come.
If Rangel were a lone loose cannon,
Pelosi could monitor him and sleep well
at night. But Rangel is not unique.
Over the next year, there will be
plenty of others among the old-guard
Democrats who will have voters
scratching their heads.
That will force newly elected
Democrats in more conservative dis
tricts to distance themselves from their
“senior colleagues.”
Truthfully, I didn’t like Nancy
Pelosi’s politics when I interviewed
her and don’t particularly like them
now. Even so, I enjoyed getting to
know her. Having witnessed one speak
er, Gingrich, take the reins of power
from the opposing party, I know that
Pelosi is going to be a busy woman.
Unfortunately for her, much of her
valuable time will be wasted in hav
ing to ride herd over her crazy crew of
leaders as they set about unintention
ally but effectively moving to throw
away the legislative might they have
just gained after so much time in the
political dungeon.
Just think: If Charlie Rangel has
his way, your child’s draft number
might be coming up some time in the
near future. That idea alone could
be manna from heaven for the belea
guered Republican Party.
Matt Towery served as the chairman
of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s
political organization from 1992 until
Gingrich left Congress. He is a former
Georgia state representative, the author
of several books and currently heads the
polling and political information firm
Insider Advantage. To find out more
about Matthew Towery and read fea
tures by other Creators Syndicate writ
ers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at www.creators.com