Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006
Houston flatly
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
, President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
You can't kill Christmas
There is no room at the inn. Or at
least that apparently is the case in
Chicago. You may have read recently
where Windy City officials banned adver
tisements for “The Nativity Story” from a
local Christmas festival for fear it might
offend non-Christians.
And that was apparently just the first bit
of snow that began rolling downhill and
gathering into a giant snowball. It has since
become the War on Christmas.
There are stories out there of nativity
scenes, Christmas carols and Santa Claus
being banned from public squares.
In Warwick,
N.Y. Santa
was reported
ly deemed too
religious for a
school fund
raiser.
I n
Wisconsin, a
high school
reportedly
informed its
student lead
ers that “any”
religious sym
bols, decorat-
ing or wording or whatever, if was associ
ated with Christmas, it was prohibited.
In one Ohio public school teachers were
reportedly told to refrain from saying
“Merry Christmas.”
And on and on it apparently has gone this
holiday season.
It sounds incredulous and yet there it is.
The obvious question is: How do you pre
tend it’s not Christmas. How do you leave
your house - we assume these people leave
their house - and not see Santa Claus. How
do you ignore signs of Jesus’ birth or a
million lights? How do you not open your
newspaper, listen to the radio or turn on
the TV and not see advertisements for holi
day shopping? (Do these Scrooges even give
gifts?)
The answer we all know is: You can’t.
No matter how much they try to ruin
peoples’ lives. No matter how hard they try
to condition us. No matter how much they
strive to make us politically correct in their
eyes, this time it will not work.
In their minds they may think they’re
winning the war one battle at a time but in
ours, they’re just misguided souls.
Christmas is about love. They’re just
another example of why that’s so important
to remember.
Letter to the Editor
Adopting deserving pets
People interested in adopting a canine friend
should beware of a scam that is currently making
the rounds on the Internet - online classified ads
for purebred puppies. Customers who have respond
ed to these ads have been bilked out of hundreds
of dollars when the promised puppy never arrives.
Consumers can avoid being scammed by never buy
ing a puppy at all - not from a breeder, not from a
pet store, and certainly not from anyone they can’t
visit personally so that they can examine the condi
tions in which the puppies were raised. Puppies pur
chased through online ads or pet stores often come
from puppy mills, which keep dogs confined to filthy
cages and deny them veterinary care and socialization.
Instead, people ready to make a lifetime commitment to
caring for a dog should adopt from animal shelters and
rescue groups. If you pay a visit to your local shelter, you
will undoubtedly find many deserving dogs there waiting
for good homes.
Alisa Mullins, People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Daily Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marked ng/Advertisi ng
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
No matter how much
they try to ruin
peoples' lives. No
matter how hard they
try to condition us.
No matter how much
they strive to make us
politically correct in
their eyes, this time it
will not work.
Battle may not have begun for Obama
Illinois Senator Barak Obama is
the latest darling of the media. He
is young, articulate and has cha
risma.
Though his political experience is
limited to six years in the Illinois leg
islature and two years in the United
States Senate the media already has
sent his popularity so high that he is
exploring the possibility of seeking
the office of President of the United
States.
Sen. Hillary Clinton has been the
odds-on runaway favorite to become
the Democratic Party’s presidential
candidate in 2008. Now the media has
elevated Obama to the point that he is
a threat to her. Naturally, she is fight
ing back. The conservative Chicago
Tribune last week called on Obama
to “go for it.” The media has a way of
latching onto someone, building him
up and then shooting him down.
Will Barak Hussein Obama suffer
the same fate? He could. After all,
national politics can be brutal and so
far he has been given the buildup, not
the scrutiny and criticism that are a
part of presidential politics.
Will the fact that his father is a
Muslim hurt him? Will it help him?
Obama’s father is black. His moth
er is white. Will the fact that he is
multi-racial help him or hinder him?
I heard him say that he expects to
receive the same kind of reception in
!&o< ia~we bauTWk
Tmtm VIETNAM!
SYWCATE, INC ■ ' M
Not undepstanding all the pandamonlum'
As a seasoned newsman, and
someone who likes to goof off on
the Internet, I like to keep up
with the news from around our state.
I have noticed - no, make that, been
bombarded - with coverage from our
state’s largest newspaper concerning
the birth of a panda bear at Zoo
Atlanta. Coverage of the event in
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has
included a slew of front-page stories,
daily reports on the panda cub’s prog
ress, a contest to name the tyke, a blog
called “Panda Watch” that breathlessly
covers every move of the baby panda,
and who knows what else. A “tradi
tional Chinese naming ceremony” will
occur this week on the anniversary of
the panda’s 100th day alive, according
to the AJC, with “singing and dancing
performances” and remarks from a top
official from the
Chinese embassy.
Recently, the newspaper announced
the top 10 contenders for the panda’s
name. The nominations included Xiao
Tao (“Little Peach”), Mei Lan (“Atlanta
Beauty”), Mei Li (“Beautiful”),
Ming Xing (“Bright Star”), Ping Bao
(“Peacefulness and Precious Treasure”),
Cheng Ya (“Pretty Atlanta Girl from
Chengdu”), Ming Yue (“Bright Moon”),
Mei Tao (“Beautiful Peach”), Chang
Jiang (“Yangtze River”), and Tai Ji,
which was also my nickname in high
OPINION
the political arena that multi-racial
Tiger Woods has received in golf.
Tiger, it can be pointed out, brought
a lot of talent to the game of golf and
what Obama will bring to politics still
is an unknown quantity.
It seems almost inconceivable that
candidates are lining up for the nomi
nations of the two major political par
ties this early. With no incumbent and
no vice-president seeking to move up
the race clearly will be wide open.
Is Barak Hussein Obama a shoot
ing star that will fade long before the
Democratic Party names its presiden
tial nominee? Will he be judged unready
for the presidency but be offered an
opportunity to be Sen. Hillary Clinton’s
vice-presidential nominee?
A lot of scenarios will be played out
in the next two years.
At the present time only politicians
and political junkies and the media are
paying attention to the sparring that is
going on. The media is the big player at
present with Barak as their hero.
EVERY NEWS ANCHOR'S DREAM
Foy
Evans
Columnist
loyevansl9@cox net
Len
Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
school.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not
an expert on the subject of pandas.l’ve
never seen one in person or shot one,
nor have I ever eaten one. I assume
they taste like chicken.
All I know about pandas is that they
look cute and clean, don’t eat red meat,
and don’t like to mate - which indi
cates they aren’t from South Georgia.
And that pandas spelled backwards is
sadnap. I’ve never had one of those
either.
That said, I don’t get it. What’s all
the hoopla about?
We’re talking about the birth of an
animal.
My neighbors’ labrador had a lit
ter of puppies recently and the only
official that came for the event (held
in a box in the carport) was the city
water-meter checker guy. Why no news
crews? Why no exhaustive media cov
erage? Why no blog?
No offense to the pandas, but a dog
§■l^
s m
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Will they turn on him? If history is
any lesson, the young Illinois senator
better be ready for some rough days
ahead.
■ ■■
I learned recently how completely
we have become dependent on electric
ity. Ours was out for almost two hours
recently.
No heat. No television. No lights. No
computer.
I grew up without any of those and
didn’t know any better. When the elec
tricity went off recently I found myself
a victim of the luxury electricity
upon which our entire society is
dependent.
It was an interesting lesson.
■ ■■
Good News: The Federal Trade
Commission is proposing a ban on
all pre-recorded sales and telemarket
ing telephone calls. We have a no-call
list already, but this would be a vast
improvement because, somehow, many
telemarketers are getting around the
ban.
Will they exempt political candidates,
the same as they are exempt from the
no-call law? The FTC has not revealed
which direction it is leaning on this
issue.
can bark when someone unwelcome
comes sniffing around your house -
like a burglar or a debt collector or a
Congressman.
A dog can jump up and lick your face
when you’re sad or when you’re trying
to shave. A dog can leave a smelly pres
ent on your Oriental rug, just like a
panda can - and you don’t have to ship
a dog from the Orient for that to occur,
just the rug.
Yes, I realize that pandas are rarer
than dogs. We don’t have to adopt stray
panda ordinances in our cities. But if
I were a dog (which I’m not - legally),
I’d be rather put off by this whole
pandamonium (please excuse that). I
mean, dogs here have been “man’s
best friend” for, I don’t know, a decade
or so, and then one freaking panda is
born, and we act like it’s the second
coming. Are we going to declare a new
holiday to celebrate the miracle birth
- Pandamas?
I find this pandamic (again, please
pardon that.
I can’t help myself) of media lather
about this panda, and pandas in gen
eral, rather absurd. We have plenty of
native dogs, cats, horses, cows, weasels,
and donkeys here that I consider more
worthy of such lavish attention.
Panda, schmanda. I don’t give a rip.
Give me a dog any day. And we’ll call
him Rex (“Rex”).
1