Newspaper Page Text
♦ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007
4A
Mansion ©ailg HJmmiai
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Guest Edttdrial
Peachcare update
T ast week, Georgia Department of
| Community Health
JLjl Commissioner Rhonda
Medows announced that while
children currently enrolled
in Georgia’s Peach Care for
Kids program will continue to
receive care, PCK no longer
will accept new enrollees to
the program after March 11.
Through Peach Care for Kids,
Georgia has one of the best
health insur
ance programs
in the nation
for low-income
children and
it now ser
vices more
than 270,000
children.
Peach Care,
Georgia's
State
Children's
Health
Insurance*
Program is a
partnership
between the
state and fed
eral govern-
ment to provide a comprehensive healthcare
program for uninsured children. Peach Care
is not an entitlement program, as parents
pay for part of the insurance, while the
state and federal government picks up the
remaining amount.
This program is successful because these
uninsured children otherwise would be
forced to rely on Medicaid for their health
care.
Unfortunately, for thousands of chil
dren, the federal government has not come
through with the sl3l million for the pro
gram, and the state, which met its financial
obligation, does not have the money to fund
it through the remainder of this fiscal year,
which ends in June.
Gov. Sonny Perdue was in Washington a
couple of weeks ago, and personally urged
Congress to allot funds for the S-CHIP
shortfall that Georgia and 14 other states
are facing. We continue to wait for that all
important act of Congress so that we can
continue to provide health care for those
children currently enrolled in the program
through October of this year.
To start working on the funding problem,
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle formed a Peach Care
Task Force late last week. They met on
Friday afternoon, and hope to have some
recommendations before the Senate before
the end of February.
Solving the Peach Care crisis is our num
ber one priority right now, and all of us are
working on ways to keep this excellent pro
gram up and running. Our children depend
on it.
This weekend, the Senate was in a rare
Saturday Session for what we call “Family
Day.” That is a day when we invite our
families and the families of our constituents
up to the Capitol to see the legislature in
action.
It was a terrific day and a great learn
ing experience for those who attended. We
passed a couple of bills brought to us by
a couple of citizens who saw a need and
brought it to our attention through a new
Web site called GeorgiaSpeaks.com. I hope
you’ll visit GeorgiaSpeaks.com and let us
hear from you when you have suggestions
for legislation. So far, GeorgiaSpeaks.com
has been a great success, and I hope that
you will give us your ideas as to how we can
continue to make Georgia the best place to
live, work and raise a family.
If you didn’t get a chance to get up to
See TOLLESON, page 6A
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing I Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Unfortunately, for
thousands of children,
the federal government
has not come through
with the sl3l million
for the program, and
the state, which met Its
financial obligation, does
not have the money
to fund it through
the remainder of this
fiscal year, which ends
in June.
Ross Tolleson
Georgia State
Senetor
Counting the cost - Men, women in uniform
So you want to wear the uniform
and take up a gun, in order to
serve the greater good?
The first step is to volunteer. When
you volunteer, it is different then being
drafted, it is you who are making the
commitment, not someone making a
commitment for you.
No doubt they are going to expect a
lot from you.
I think the first hint is that the
training includes - but is not limited
- to weapons and exercise. Sure signs
that it is not just a desk job. Sure signs
that you will be working through some
deep spiritual needs in yourself and the
other people outside that you will have
to defend.
The reaction from your family hits
you.
The questions, some weak support
and the anxiety over the possibilities
of defending the street, the nation on a
daily bases, not to mention some ugly
hours and duty is 24/7. While you could
be a plumber and everyone loves the
fact that you are a plumber. Of course
Aunt Margie could use your help and
tom the neighbor next door helped you
cut that tree. But you didn’t choose,
plumbing or electrician as work, not
sure this career is as useful as some
are.
You will be going off to training and
out of the loop of other things going
Word's catchall reduces power when we need It
lam outraged.
I suppose you are, too, outrage
being what it is these days (very
popular).
Actually, outrage is not only popular
today, but it is also a word of conve
nience, a hairy little bugger for all
occasions, put to good use whether
innocents are being slaughtered or
someone is in the express checkout line
with 13 items.
The precipitating evil matters little.
We need attention, so we are going
right to the cleanup hitter, the big
shooter, the pi cede resistance of
resentment. We are outraged.
In the ongoing danse macabre known
as loss of perspective, the word “out
rage” has completely filled its over-the
top dance card.
That’s why you will find outraged
citizens protesting death and destruc
tion one day and dandelion removal
and the price of Doublemint the next.
Outrage has gone the way of the
word “terrorism” and the general pub
lic discourse: Voltage and volume have
replaced verity in the modern commu
nications paradigm. The currency is
shock and awe. The result is a louder,
outraged world.
I suppose we could point to scream
ing hosts of programming dressed up
to look like intelligent discourse; or our
immediate access to and transporta
tion of more information than any of
us could begin to understand in three
or four Einstein lifetimes; or our thor
oughly modern accent on personalities
rather than ideas.
We could point to that - but someone
would surely be outraged.
I have become particularly aware of
this outrageous world in the last few
weeks, when I came across example
OPINION
on at home, so you have to set up a
system to keep things going while you
are away.
You finish training and find yourself
having to pack anyway. First assign
ment is not in your hometown. You
get to your first assignment and every
thing is different and then you have to
do your job. You have to learn about
every bit of the ground you stand on
and then you have to worry about
how you are going to get through this
assignment. Everyone knows the first
couple of assignments you pay your
dues.
By the third assignment, the physi
cal training is routine, but you begin to
wonder how much longer you can take
the tough life. Yep got to take more
training and more schooling guaran
tees a promotion. By now your family
expects more from you and you need to
arrange a few more things to keep your
life in perspective.
About the fourth assignment the
Nancy
Hawk
Columnist
Stall Writer
George
Ayoub
Columnist
Morris News Service
after example of outrage overstating
its case.
A sampling from Monday alone: On
a blog heralding “The Return of the
King,” Tolkien fans were “outraged”
over the addition of Jar-Jaromir, a new
character.
In the business competition that is
computer chips, I found “AMD partners
outraged at 4x4 Asus exclusive.” I also
found a Web site designed for expres
sion of your rage. A bumper sticker,
“If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not
Paying Attention,” adorned the home
page. Perhaps that works for some,
but what do they have for me when
it really hits the fan? Überoutrage?
Outrage Extreme?
From the chilly frontiers of the
Republic of the Nearly Mutually
Exclusive, I came across outraged
moderates.org - apparently insulted,
offended and angry but well within
reason.
At this rate, we may see old standards
morphed into the atrocious universe:
“Less Filling outraged over obsti
nacy of Tastes Great.” “Paper, plas
tic exchange outrages.” Finally, as I
looked for further examples, I found a
couple writers outraged over misused
and overused words. Really.
Outrage has gone the linguistic route
of terrorism, the word of choice in
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
powers need to know how things are
going and are you physically fit to hang
on? If you haven’t been promoted over
these many years, the powers look at
you a bit funny, but you’ve hung in this
long no sweat.
The day dawns and it is great to just
be alive and on the job again. You don
your boots, fix up trousers and shine a
belt buckle or a tab, just to make sure
you are sharp as you have always been.
The blue shirt needs to be replaced.
You see a small frayed end by the cor
ner. Checking out the tab you notice
it is getting a bit shiny from all the
cleaning it has gone through during
the years.
Just be fore you leave for work again
as you have done so often, your spouse
stops you and you give a well-deserved
kiss for all the years they have been
there to support you.
Your hands are full but you get to the
car and place your satchel next to you
on the seat. You power up the squad
car and set everything in motion.
You look back and thank GOD for all
the years. You check the mirror as you
lay your service cap beside you on the
seat, the radio squawks as a call comes
in. You are needed.
Not just to defend your family, your
city your town but your nation as you
patrol the streets where America lives.
a post-9/11 world that cut through
everything. Calling someone a terror
ist or referring to an act of terrorism
was like taking the express elevator
to the top floor. Nothing could match
it, not old standards such as Hitler,
inhuman, vermin nor new schools of
serious diss.
And the louder you floated it, the
better, because when everyone has the
kind of access to information and ideas
we do today, cranking up the volume is
the preferred way to be heard.
No, this is not a moral issue. It’s a
perspective problem. We get caught up
in our cause, our own hurt, our own
anger. We want to go to the top, pass
ing many floors of indignation on the
way. We tap into verbal rage.
Nor does any of this mean there is
not a time for outrage.
There is, obviously.
I am simply suggesting that we save
outrage for something particularly hei
nous, that we hoard it for those special
occasions when we need it most.
If every social or psychic bump and
bruise, read or imagined, is an outrage,
we eventually will lose the power of the
word - a power we need in a world at
wair, one that stalks children and preys
on the poor.
We have choices, too. How about call
ing it monstrous or vile or sickening,
putting the emphasis pn the enormity
of the act. “I am outraged” is about
me.
But that’s minor compared to the
sheer volume (size and sound) of out
rage that is afoot today.
George Ayoub is senior writer at The
Grand Island (Neb.) Independent. His
e-mail is george.ayoub@morris.com.
Read his sports blog, “Bawls and Bats, ”
at http://bawlsandbats.blogspot.com/