Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2007
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Guest Editorial
Honoring Zell, protecting
hope and welcoming families
As legislators convened in Atlanta for
the fourth legislative week of the
2007 session of the
wMm m ' \J\J i M'ftMUll U 1 LIIC
Georgia House, members
seemed to be thinking only of
three things: Zell Miller, the
HOPE Scholarship, and fami
lies! Sounds to me like a week
that benefits all Georgians!
Our former Lt. Gov., Gov.
and United States Senator,
Zell Miller has dedicated his
life to making Georgia a bet
ter place.
Born in 1932, in Young Harris, Miller’s
public career began in 1959 when he served
one term as mayor of his hometown of
Young Harris. He has since built a legacy
that will endure for generations to come.
Most notably, he will be remembered for the
creation of the HOPE scholarship program
and the nation’s first pre-kindergarten pro
gram. Recognizing his great achievements,
I supported House Resolution 16 asking the
Capitol Arts
Standards
Commission
to place a stat
ue honoring
Miller on the
grounds of the
State Capitol.
Gov. Sonny
Perdue
this week
announced
that he would
re-introduce a
measure that
protects part of
Miller’s legacy
- the HOPE
Scholarship.
In past years,
funds raised
for Georgia’s
HOPE
Scholarship
and pre-k programs were used for other
See O'NEAL,page §A
Letters to the Editor
Need for healthcare
The fact that “Georgia is rated among the 10 worst
states in providing health care” is nothing less than scan
dalous. The fact that 90,000 children have been excluded
from Georgia Peach Care due to the failure of their par
ents to pay their premiums is sad. State employees and
their healthcare benefits face a S2O billion shortfall in
the future. Then we have our governor bragging about a
SSBO million surplus at the same time that there is a SSOO
million dollar bill for current state health benefits coming
due this year. I think that we need a national healthcare
system like other industrialized nations. Savings on bill
ing costs would be huge.
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
O'Neal does not deserve
attack
Thanks to Charlotte Perkins for shedding some light
on the ethics charges against Larry O’Neal. I hope every
reader took the time to read this interview. In the game
of politics, people will do anything to score points. They
are even willing to sacrifice the truth to do so. Larry is
a fine man and this distraction will do nothing but harm
our state by keeping him away from doing the job that we
have elected him to do.
What do his enemies have to gain by this complaint
other than a little revenge for the recent elections? Don’t
we have more important things to work on in this state?
Should we not have federal tax relief in Georgia because
the governor might benefit along with many others? We
were the last state to revise the law for crying out loud!
The most important revelation in the article is that the
bill was unanimously approved in the House and Senate.
Maybe we should file a complaint against them all. There
are many other concerns about the behavior of our leg
islature that the general public may never know about.
O’Neal is one that is embarrassed by some of the antics
of his cohorts and works hard tb keep them in check. He
doesn’t deserve this unfair attack. Let’s move on.
Matt Dixon, Perry
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Most notably, he will
be remembered for
the creation of the
HOPE scholarship
program and
the nation's first
pre-kindergarten
program. Recognizing
his great achievements,
l supported House
Resolution 16 asking the
Capitol Arts Standards
Commission to place a
statue honoring Miller
on the grounds of the
State Capitol.
Larry O'Neal
Georgia House
Representative
Things 'Baby Boomers' remember
I’ve known Richard Alexander since
he was a little boy. Now he is old
enough to be retired. Many years
have gone by during the interim, but it
hardly seems that long.
Naturally, with the difference
between our ages, we have had differ
ent experiences. And we have different
memories of “how things used to be.”
A few days ago I received an e-mail
from Richard with a list of things that
Baby Boomers remember, which puts a
different light on memories of the days
when my generation was young.
I doubt that Richard came up with
all the following “memories”, but it
matters not. I am going to reprint
them here, because I enjoyed reading
them and getting an insight into how
a generation much younger than I am
remembers things. The heading on the
list referred to “kids who survived the
19305, 40s, 50s, 60s and 705.”
So here goes:
■ First, we survived being born to
mothers who smoked and drank while
they were pregnant. They took aspirin,
ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a
can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
■ We were put to sleep on our tum
mies in cribs covered with brightly
colored lead-based paints.
■ We had no childproof lids on medi
cine bottles, doors or cabinets, and,
when we rode our bikes we had no
helmets.
"No, they haven't done much this session.
But our luck can't hold out forever!"
2008 presidential election like 1980
The 2008 presidential campaign
is starting to take on the con
tours of the 1980 race. Jimmy
Carter was the Democratic candidate
back then. He also happened to be the
incumbent president. Beyond that dif
ference with today and its term-limited
George Bush, there are eerie resem
blances between then and now.
Yes, the economy stunk in 1980 and
smells fairly fragrant now. But recall
that the “national malaise” of the econ
omy in 1980 was not the fundamental
reason Carter lost. Polls showed he
still had a chance. They also pointed to
the issue that did him in - the Iranian
hostage crisis.
Drop the “n” in “Iran” and replace it
with a “q” and you have what the 2008
race is all about: Iraq. That’s keep
ing Americans’ focus off of the strong
economy and off of domestic problems
like illegal immigration.
Following are some 2008 variations
on the 1980 theme.
First, the Democrats: Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York wears
the political mantle of a presidential
incumbent, even though she isn’t one.
She lived in the White House and
seems to feel it her right and privi
lege to go back, and without serious
Democratic opposition for the party’s
nomination.
Jimmy Carter really was the incum
bent. Like most incumbents, he thought
it only fitting that he stay in office, and
certainly without Democratic oppo
sition. But primary opposition from
Democratic superstar Senator Edward
Kennedy of Massachusetts stunned
Carter.
Now, Clinton appears suddenly set
off-balance by the queue of Democratic
presidential aspirants challenging her.
One of them, Illinois Senator Barack
Obama, appears to be separating him
self from several other dark horses.
I’ve already written that Clinton
likely will be the eventual nominee, but
she’s not without problems. It’s been
OPINION
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
■ As infants we rode in cars with no
booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
■ We drank water from the garden
hose, not from a bottle. We shared
soft drinks with four friends from one
bottle and not a single one of us died
from it.
■ We ate cupcakes, white bread and
real butter and drank Kool-Aid made
with sugar, but we weren’t overweight.
We were always outside playing.
■ We left home in the morning,
played all day and came home when
the street lights came on. No one was
able to reach us all day (how did we get
along without cell phones?). But we
were okay.
■ We had no Play Stations, Nintendos,
X-boxes, video games, 150 cable chan
nels, no video movies DVDs, CDs, I-
Pods, cell phones, personal computers,
Internet chat rooms....We had friends
and we went outside and found them.
■ We fell out of trees, got cut, broke
bones and teeth and there were no law
suits because of these things.
Matt
Towery
Columnist
Morris News Service
painful to watch her try to connect
with “regular people” in lowa, where
she’s been stumping in that state so
important for its presidential caucuses.
Her sometimes flustered answers to
questions about awkward subjects like
her early support for the Iraq war
reminded me of Ted Kennedy’s bouts
of inarticulateness in 1980.
He sat for a TV interview with Roger
Mudd, CBS’s iconic broadcaster. Mudd
asked an apparently softball question
to the effect of why did Kennedy want
to be president. Kennedy’s memorable
“Er...ah...
well, let me say this about that” gib
berish answer helped kill his chances
early on.
Now, the Republicans: Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney is the choice of
the GOP establishment. Just look to
Florida, where the president’s brother
Jeb just completed two terms as gov
ernor. It’s clear that Jeb’s substantial
political machine in that critical state
is now part of the Romney campaign.
That same phenomenon is happen
ing in other states. Longtime Bush
family associates are springing up as
Romney boosters.
Remember, too, however, that
“Ronald Reagan” was considered a
dirty phrase among Republican royalty
in 1980, when Reagan eventually won
the GOP nomination over early front
runners George H. W. Bush and John
Connally.
This year’s Reagan is Senator John
McCain of Arizona. His maverick style
is largely unpopular with Republican
brass - but not with voters, who gener-
mr- jfl
!S8( * W
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
■ We ate worms and mud pies made
from dirt and the worms did not live in
us forever and ruin our health.
■ We made up games with sticks and
tennis balls and, though we received
BB guns for our 10th birthday, not
many eyes were put out.
■ We rode bikes or walked to a
friend’s house and just walked in.
• Little League had tryouts and
not everyone made the team. Those
who didn’t had to learn to deal with
disappointment.
■ The idea of a parent making excus
es for us if we broke the law or got
into trouble at school was unheard of.
Parents actually took sides with the
law or our teachers.
That is how Richard or someone of
his generation remembers things. I
find it interesting to remember those
days, too, before personal responsibil
ity was flushed down the drain.
These were the days not long after
World War 11, This is the generation
that delivered newspapers for me. I
look around now and, almost every
day, see some of them who have been
major contributors to the growth of
our county ... professional men and
women, shopkeepers, Base employees,
laborers, subdivision developers.
I wonder what kind of memories
their children will be able to pass on to
their children.
ally place him first in most presidential
polls.
Nipping at his heels is former New
York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Both have big followings among
moderates and independents who lean
Republican.
Then there are the heirs to the
Reagan Revolution. McCain and his
populism is one. Another is former
U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich
of Georgia, whose name continues to
pop up as a candidate, even though he
has not announced that he’s running.
(Regarding last week’s column: Newt
didn’t give back the money he received
from a Vegas businessman. And no, it
won’t matter because it’ll be forgotten
long before it really matters.)
Here’s one last name to add to the mix.
Republican California Congressman
Duncan Hunter. He is running on a
shoestring budget, but he’s tapped into
growing skepticism among conserva
tives over so-called free trade, from
which countries like China seem to get
all the benefit.
Hunter also wants not one, but sev
eral fences along the U.S.-Mexico bor
der.
He may be too extreme even for some
GOP ultra-conservatives.
And yet, he might loosen things up
enough to force the other candidates
to produce from among themselves a
real Republican candidate with new,
real ideas.
Just like in 1980.
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 Web site at www.creators.
com.