Newspaper Page Text
4A
SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2007
Muuskm Pai%3jourttal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Foy S. Evans
Vice President Editor Emeritus
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Dumb, dumber?
There is a radio station in the area that
likes to make phone calls where they
ask people a question with the obvi
ous answer in the question itself.
For instance. One day they called a bunch
of people and asked: “What’s the main
ingredient in corn flakes?”
Talk about a stumper. And yet, by the
time five phone calls had come and gone,
NOBODY had answered it correctly.
FOX now has a new show called “Are You
Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” which, if
you listen to their commercials, is one of the
most watched shows on television.
The prem
ise for it is:
People come
on and try to
answer ques
tions taken
from a first
grader on up
to a fifth grad
er’s text book
for money.
Quite fre
quently the
results are the
same as the
corn flakes
calls: Nobody
knows what
should be a
simple answer.
On the surface this all sounds like great
fun. Quite often the results, the answers,
are hilarious.
But, that’s only if we base it on its enter
tainment value alone - and of course the
producers and so forth will say that’s all
they’re after, anyway. Quite often, however,
those guys on the radio come across as just
plain arrogant - look at us in our ivory
tower ... it would be no different if they just
came right out and said: “You’re stupid.”
And therein lies the heart of this edito
rial.
Do we really want this in our living rooms
or on our radios as we drive to work?
You know if they were using their position
for the betterment of our country it would
be different. If they were trying to make
an editorial statement - as we are - that
our country needs help, trying to influence
change, it might be different.
But, no, they - Jeff Foxworthy of all people
for FOX - and the gentlemen from the radio
show, just insinuate we’re a stupid nation,
have a great laugh, and go on with it.
Our ultimate follow-up then would be,
what we would like to find out is: “Why
AREN’T you smarter than a fifth grader?”
Or, as in the latest offering Thursday on
the radio show: “Why don’t you know how
much a pound of lead weighs?”
Letter to hie Editor
Seeking other options
We are engaged in a conflict not against another coun
try, but against a culture alien to ours, but embraced by
Islam. This is not a war for treasure, but a war of one
religious culture against another.
Muslims are guided by their clerical leaders and thusly
their holy book. In Muslim countries the church is the
government. Their present ultimate goal is to eliminate
the Jewish nation and to kill Christians and Jews where
ever and when ever they can until these so called infidels
succumb to their religious persuasion and kneel before
Mohammed.
Therfe are yet many in America that will arise to their
defense, saying a few extremists are to blame. These are
the same people that believe that the Muslims will be
satisfied if we leave Iraq. These people are indeed naive
to the point of intellectual paralysis.
To quit the fight now as their Islamic friends Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and political has-been Max Cleland want
will be a win for the Muslims and will only encourage
them to further action. America is going through the
most dangerous time in its history; however, our con
gressional majority is reluctant to accept this reality.
Have we forgotten how to win a war?
It appears so. The American congress is obviously
afflicted by a weakness of resolve. For millennia wars
were won by killing the enemy; perhaps we should con
sider this option. Maybe then the Islamics will cease to
look upon us as a toothless tiger.
Walter Hucketa, Perry
You know If they were
using their position
tor the betterment ol
our country it would
be different, if they
were trying to make
an editorial statement
- as we are - that our
country needs help,
trying to influence
change, it might be
different.
Trying to leave no child behind
Georgia’s public schools, includ
ing Houston County, are on
track to implement a revision
of required curriculum that will make
it harder to graduate from high school.
In other words, high school graduates
will have better educations.
Some parts of the new curriculum
- Georgia Performance Standards -
already have been worked into Houston
County schools, with total implemen
tation scheduled in coming years. A
big step into the new curriculum will
come during the next school year when
math, science and social studies are
introduced in several grades, from kin
dergarten up.
The purpose of the new curriculum,
which is replacing the so-called Quality
Core Curriculum, is to improve edu
cation standards throughout Georgia
and its primary goal is preparation for
college.
Some critics in Atlanta have com
plained that GPS is attempting to pre
pare all students for college when not
all students are college material. This
may be a criticism that will not hold
water. We will have to wait and see.
You have to applaud the state board
of education for attempting to improve
public school education. And, of course,
Houston County officials who are
embracing it.
GPS is another in a series of cur
riculums that have been adopted by
Georgia’s school systems through the
years. Each has been touted as an
improvement over its predecessor.
I hope that critics who are familiar
with the concept of GPS are inaccurate
when they say that students who lean
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Not all undercover Journalists are equal
Here is a tale of two breeds of
undercover journalists. One has
been celebrated by the national
media and journalism organizations.
The other has been shunned. One has
champions in Congress. The other is
facing litigation.
Both engaged in sting operations
with secret cameras catching their tar
gets on videotape. Both were deceptive
about their true identities and life
circumstances. Both exposed their tar
gets’ aggressive methods and law-sub
verting recruitment tactics. But you’ve
probably only heard of the efforts of
one of these breeds. You’ll know why
in a moment.
Over the past several years, local and
national news outlets have conduct
ed stings on military recruiters. Last
week, a Tennessee station in Nashville
set up hidden cameras and reported
that it had caught Army recruiters
telling an undercover producer posing
as a recruit that taking medication
for depression would not disqualify a
recruit from serving. The Democrat
chairman of a House Armed Services
subcommittee is now urging an Army
probe of recruiting practices and the
mentally ill based on the TV station’s
report.
Last fall, ABC News and New York
affiliate WABC enlisted students to
help them in a similar gotcha game
with recruiters. They armed the kids
with hidden video cameras for visits
to 10 Army recruitment offices in New
York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The journalists accused the recruiters
of misleading the students to get them
to enlist. The ABC News sting came
on the heels of a Colorado student’s
undercover operation in Denver in
2005. David McSwane, a high school
honors student, posed as a dropout and
druggie. “I wanted to do something
OPINION
toward vocational education are being
neglected at the expense of an attempt
to make every student college ready.
The huge success of vocational edu
cation in Houston County is a remark
able story. High school graduates whose
talents and tendencies lean toward
a trade have been trained for Robins
AFB and to fill the many service indus
tries that are thriving and in great
demand here.
Persons trained in the many service
skills often can earn much more money
than college graduates, unless those
who go on to college select one of a few
high paying careers.
If you have had to call a plumber or
electrician lately you will know what
I mean. They can easily earn more
money than most college graduates
with liberal arts degrees and certainly
more than underpaid school teachers,
despite the demand on teachers for
training year in and year out.
College is a good thing for some stu
dents. It is not for others. Young peo
ple should be encouraged and steered
toward the fields their talents lead
them.
We are reminded constantly about
No Child Left Behind. If the new cur-
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
cool, go undercover and do something
unusual,” he told the Rocky Mountain
News. McSwane deliberately failed a
high school equivalency test, caught
recruiters on tape driving him to pur
chase a detox kit, and reported that
they urged him to obtain a phony
diploma. A local CBS station picked
up the story -- prompting the Army
to shut down its recruiting stations
nationwide for ethics training.
McSwane earned a “laurel” from
the prestigious Columbia Journalism
Review “for conduct most becoming”
and announced he was headed to jour
nalism school. His reporting garnered
attention from the New York Times to
Editor and Publisher - and spawned
copycats like those at ABC News.
No such laurels have been awarded
to Lila Rose, however. And none will be
forthcoming, I predict. Rose is an 18-
year-old student journalist at UCLA.
Like McSwane and his breed of under
cover reporters, she surreptitiously
infiltrated a massive organization that
enlists young people. Like McSwane
and his breed of undercover report
ers, Rose exposed deceptive practices.
Rose posed as a 15-year-old seeking
the services and advice of her target.
Like McSwane and his breed of under
cover reporters, she caught her targets
urging her to he and evade the law in
order to sign her up.
But Rose’s target was the Left’s
beloved Planned Parenthood, not the
wgafl
m mem
mgL JBS
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
riculum aims almost entirely toward
college preparation, there Will be chil
dren left behind, no doubt hbout that.
Political proclamations notwithstand
ing. ,
Some children are scholars. Some
work better with their hands. Not all
are alike and they perform best when
given an opportunity to follow their
natural talents.
I know first hand that, though not
all students are college material, not
all students are material for one of the
many important service jobfe.
I was college material. I enjoyed
going to school. I like to read. I found
the pursuit of knowledge exciting. I
would have gone to school forever if it
had been possible. I am bothered now
by the fact that I know so little and
there is so much to learn.
On the other hand, I am lost when
you hand me a screwdriver br hammer
and ask me to use my hands to work
on things. I am befuddled when trying
to put a child’s toys together or repair
the simplest mechanical ot electrical
gadget. Service manuals bewilder me.
It is wrong to lump all young people
together and expect them tb come out
the same. All of us have things we do
best and there are things we enjoy
doing more than others. We are better
at things that we like to do.
It will be interesting to follow full
implementation of GPS ahd observe
the results.
It will be years before we know. But
at least an attempt is beirig made to
bring Georgia schools out of the lower
educational tier where they have lan
guished for so long.
military. And that has made all the
difference in the nonexistent national
coverage of her undercover journal
ism. Rose edits The Advocate, a pro
life campus publication 6f the stu
dent group Live Action. She posed as
a minor impregnated by a 23-year
old boyfriend and caught a Planned
Parenthood employee advising her to
lie about her age to relieve the abor
tion provider from a legal obligation to
report statutory rape to thd police.
“If you’re 15, we have to report
it,” the staffer told Rose in a secretly
taped video. “If you’re not, if you’re
older than that, then we don’t need
to.” “OK, but if I just say I’m not
15, then it’s different?” Rdse queried.
“You could say 16,” the wbrker help
fully suggested. “Just figure out a birth
date that works. And I don’t know
anything.” Other than coverage from
a few pro-life groups and conserva
tive websites, Rose’s stunriing revela
tions have received virtually no main
stream media attention. And no calls
from lawmakers for investigations of
Planned Parenthood’s predatory tac
tics and practices - which have been
also caught on tape in other states by
undercover citizen investigators.
Instead, Rose faces threats of a law
suit by Planned Parenthood, which
sent her a cease-and-desist letter and
had the appalling nerve this week to
lecture Rose about the need “to be
more respectful of California laws,”
according to the conservative Cybercast
News Service.
Where are the muckraking champi
ons when you need them? Intrepid Lila
Rose has learned the hard \lvay: Not all
undercover journalists are equal.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild.” Her e-mail address is
malkinblog@gmail.com.