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6A SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 From Gator jibes to diatribes - readers respond If you know any shrimp personally, you might tell them to get out of town. As soon as I finish writing this, I am off to the exquisite little Georgia Sea Grill on St. Simons Island to stuff my face with copious amounts of the corn-fried variety. Before I go, I need to clean out my overflowing mailbox. It has been a busy few weeks, thanks to Bible thumpers, dog lovers, Michael Vick apologists, Florida Gators, political prognosticators and liberal weenies. I have discovered that Florida Gators have a good sense of humor. My lament on the State Department of Revenue’s creation of a state license plate for University of Florida supporters brought a lot of good-natured and well-aimed jibes. Gators are totally unre pentant. (Why shouldn’t they be? If my Bulldogs were ‘Never forget’ in post-911 America CC T s only.” Those are the I verbal crutches America A must discard in a post -9/11 world. If only the State Department hadn’t been so sloppy in issu ing visas to the 9/11 hijackers. If only police and state troopers had been able to check the immi gration status of the hijackers who were pulled over for speed ing before the InHk o. -f Michelle Malkin Columnist malkin@comcast.net attacks. If only universities had been more diligent in monitor ing the hijackers’ whereabouts. If only the feds had listened to alert agents’ recommendations to pro file young Arab students in our flight schools. If only someone, anyone, had said something when they saw the suspicious behavior of the jihadists on dry runs. ROBBINS From page 6A hand, Tommy jerked his hand up and said “Ha! Ha!” in the astonished coach’s face. • A couple of years later, Tommy graduated to the stands, where he was always the first in the stadium and sat on the front row. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Len, how do you think the Panthers will do tonight?,” he would ask as I would walk by him. “Well, I don’t know Tommy,” I would reply. “What do you think?” “Hey, hey, hey, hey, I think we’re going to win.” The subject was always the same with Tommy. I would see him sweeping in front of Lutz, Brown, Peagler & Manley insurance office every Monday morning - his day job. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, Len, you going to the game Friday?” “Yep, how bout you, Tommy?” “Yeah,” he would say, then pause. “Do you think the Panthers will win?” “Well, I don’t know, Tommy. What do you think?” “Hey, hey, hey, hey, I think we’re going to win.” Tommy won’t be going to any more Panther games. He died last week at the age of 61. I’ve been around high school sports most of my life. Nearly every high school has their own Tommy or Radio - some unique person who finds a home, and accep tance, in the family of high school sports. Most of our current players probably didn’t know Tommy well. He had been ill as of late and hadn’t been able to make it out to the football field like he used to. But, sometime this season, when the chips are down, we absolutely have to use Coach Barber’s “win this one for Tommy” speech. Tommy would love it. Dick Yarbrough Columnist yarb24oo@bellsouth.net national champi ons in two major sports, I would be a lit tle sassy myself.) Even State Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham got in on the fun and wrote a semi-funny rejoinder to my column. I didn’t realize revenue commissioners had a sense of humor. State Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) informed me that as a rule they are only funny after all the taxes have been col lected. Less funny was the reac tion to the Michael Vick dog fighting saga. The mail was overwhelmingly in agree ment that what Vick did was reprehensible, but some folks still don’t get it. One reader opined that if PETA We have borne the bloody costs of coulda-woulda-shoulda. Nearly 3,000 dead. The World Trade Center in ruins. The Pentagon on fire. The fields at Shanksville, Pa., scarred. Six years later, we can no longer afford hindsight heavy breathing. Memory must guide action. And action must be taken without apology. Zogby released a poll for the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks showing that “77 percent of those living in the East and 46 percent of those living in the West - 61 percent overall - said they think about the attacks at least weekly. Eighty-one percent - 90 percent in the East and 75 percent in the West - said the attacks were the most significant historical events of their lives.” That’s good news. But remem brance without resistance to jihad and its enablers is a recipe for another 9/11. Not every American wears a military uniform. Every American, however, has a role to Warner Robins w ™ Search for Homes at REMAX.com % 921 Hwy 96 2711 A Watson Blvd. (478) 218-8080 (478) 953-8080 Each office independently owned & operated. www.warnerrobinshomes.com LEE'S RENTAL CENTER Where Pros Go For Tools And Equipment Since 1966 • Construction Equipment • Homeowners Equipment • Party Equipment 2001 Houston Lake Road Perry, GA 31069 478-988-1229 www.leesrental.com Children's M £!€!&§££ JL. Sept. 16th @ First Christian Church Disciples of Christ 100 N. Houston Rd. Warner Robins All children and families welcome as we kick off our new Sunday School Studies on old & new testament bible stories Please join us at 9:30 for doughnuts, juice ft activities and the Humane Society hadn’t gotten involved, “It wouldn’t have been as bad as it is now.” Another want ed to know if ‘“your folks’ had killed a horse,” would I write about it? He also called me a lot of bad names and let me know his dia tribe was being sent via his Blackberry. Yes, I would write about a dead horse because my daughter, the animal lover, would beat me about the head and shoulders if I didn’t. I informed him that my reply was being sent to him via a Smuckers grape jelly jar. Never heard back from Mr. Blackberry. Several readers volun teered to help Sheila the Family Wonderdog “edu cate” former Georgia Tech basketball legend and part-time nuclear scientist Stephon Marbury on the evils of dogfighting. I will let her* know of the kind offers when she awakes from her play in protecting our homeland - not just from Muslim terrorists, but from their financiers, their public relations machine, their sharia-pimping activists, the anti war goons, the civil liberties abso lutists, and the academic apolo gists for our enemies. Earlier this year, jihadist enablers attempted to intimidate citizen whistleblowers who said something about the suspicious behavior of six imams on a US Airways flight in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The legal battle to protect ordinary Americans from such lawsuits gave rise to the John Doe movement. Pro bono lawyers and GOP members of Congress stepped up to provide protection. And Americans across the coun try expressed solidarity with the airline passengers targeted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its ilk. The Left greeted the John Doe movement with mockery and deri sion, preferring instead to suck OPINION '1 didn't realize revenue commissioner! had a sense of humor... as a rule they are only tunny after all the taxes have been collected.” 22-hour nap. I suspect Sheila now has Whoopi Goldberg in her sights as well, since Ms. Blabbbermouth opined on TV recently that dog fighting is a Southern sport. Goldberg should know. She is an expert on all things Southern, being from New York City, which is south of Canada. Whoopi needs to understand that Sheila the FWD can and will bite both males and females where the sun doesn’t shine. She is an equal-opportunity enforcer. I was surprised how many Baptists agreed with me that women are fully qualified to serve in the pulpit. The few Bible thumpers who think When it comes to your business accounts, you want to make sure you are getting the most for your money. Let Robins Federal mind your business. We offer a complete suite of business services with representatives dedicated to making sure you get the most for your money. NCUA |jj| 53320 women ought to remain barefoot and pregnant rant ed and raved and told me I wasn’t going to heaven. I hate to tell them, but that decision is in the able hands of Dr. Gil Watson, the World’s Greatest Preacher. God has put him in charge of my sorry soul, thus ensuring him lifetime employment. Many of my liberal weenie friends disagreed with my comments on 9/11. Absolutely nothing to worry about, one assured me. The overall threat of terrorism is a right-wing plot that has been “massively exaggerated for political gain,” including tax cuts for the rich. We can all sleep better its collective thumb, wield the grievance card and play the blame game. But it’s the John Does of the country, not the race-hustling litigators and speech-stiflers, who will help prevent the next terror ist attack. They are John Does like Brian Morgenstem, the young Circuit City employee who con tacted authorities after viewing a jihadist training video by the Fort Dix Six Plotters. “It was a difficult decision at first,” Morgenstern told Fox News. “I went home, and I talked with my family about it. And we all came to the general conclusion that it was the right thing to do.” No regrets. No apologies. And no “ifonlys.” Not everyone is willing to do the right thing. When the FBI recently asked for the public’s help in identifying two men acting sus piciously on Pacific Northwest fer ries, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper refused to run the pho tos - and instead held a reader I , - \ * Let Us Mind Your BUSINESS. Call, Click or Come In for details. Robins Federal EDIT UNION (478) 923.3773, ext. 2240 (800) 241.2405 t.ua»» xml VISA* Caul <>c iubjcct to ciedit appctmd. HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL now. Liberal weenies are very smart. Finally, a number of read ers, including some well known political types, think Tommy the Barber is right on in his assessment of the presidential chances for Georgians Newt Gingrich and Sam Nunn, which he puts at somewhere around zero. Incidentally, Tommy also thinks that President Peanut is a zero, even though Tommy cut his hair once. Tommy the Barber is a Great American. Now, if you will excuse me, I really must run if I am to make it to my shrimp orgy before the little boogers find out I am coming. If you need me, don’t hesitate to write. I will have my Smuckers jar with me. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or Web site: www.dickyarbrough.com. haiku contest mocking the terror ism concerns. When two young Muslim men were arrested and indicted on weapons and terrorism charges after being stopped near a naval base in Goose Creek, S.C., Muslim civil rights groups imme diately cried racism and suggested that law enforcement officials were bigoted and paranoid. There are 9/10 people and there are 9/12 people. 9/10 people live in a world of make-believe, where sensitivity trumps security and sec ond-guessing is their only accept able homeland security policy. 9/12 people are the John Does in your neighborhood, on your plane, train or bus, moving ahead with their lives but always on alert. We live in post-9/11 reality where “Never forget” is not just a once-a year slogan. It’s a 24/7 frame of mind. Michelle Malkin is author of “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild. ” Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com. Value Business Checking • No Minimum Balance • No Monthly Service Fee • Free Online Bill Pay • Free VISA® Check Card Business Loans • Competitive Rates • Local Decision Making • Quick Turnaround 52868