Newspaper Page Text
6A
♦ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007
One favor please - say a prayer for little Abby Smith
If you have tuned in to see who
is going to get sledge-ham
mered this week, the answer
is no one. Politicians of all types
and persuasions
are getting a
pass. Hollywood
draws a bye as
well.
You will find
no barbs aimed
at cat lovers, the
blowhard City of
Atlanta or air
heads who insist
on talking on
their cell phones
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Dick Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
in the checkout line at the grocery
store. Even my liberal friends can
exhale for the moment.
Instead, I am going to ask for a
favor.
First, a little background: A cou
ple of years ago I met a beautiful
young lady named Abby Smith.
Perhaps the cutest 2-year-old I
Sinking SCHIP: vote a defining moment
On Thursday,
the House of
Representatives
will vote on a measure to
override President Bush’s
veto of a massive govern
ment-subsidized health
insurance entitlement
expansion plan. I agree with
the Democrats on one thing:
This is indeed a “defining
moment.”
The left-wing elite is in
high dudgeon over conser
vatives who have dared
to question the wisdom
of extending the State
Children ’ s Health Insurance
Program to middle-class
families, adults and even
illegal aliens to the tune of
$35 billion funding depen
dent on saddling millions
of smokers with regressive
taxes and maintaining their
nicotine addictions.
Liberal columnists E.J.
Dionne and Paul Krugman
decried Rush Limbaugh,
Mark Steyn and other
opponents as “meanies and
hypocrites” who are “slim
ing” children. Classless
comedienne and “View”
television show co-host Joy
Behar took to the airwaves
to condemn me as a “self
ish (expletive)” for chal
lenging Harry Reid’s use
of an SCHIP expansion
poster family, the Frosts of
Baltimore, last week.
Cable TV Bush-basher
Keith Olbermann paraded
the Frost parents on televi
sion and coaxed them into
displaying photos of their
children in their hospital
LETTER
From page 4A
and wants to give something
back to it. Tommy will work
to ensure a safer city for
all citizens, especially in the
neighborhoods, continued
programs for seniors and
expanded opportunities for
WALKER
From page 4A
for Grillmaster which is
being played on the radio
during Georgia’s football
games. I was glad to do it
for Brad and Randy - and
for free. Wouldn’t you do it
if they had named a sand
wich for you? Go out to a
Grillmaster’s and order a
Larry Walker Sandwich. Tell
‘em Larry sent you!
So many scientific and
technological advances.
Maybe someone will learn
how to can this wonderful
weather so that we could
have it year ‘round. But, I
guess we would get tired of
it.
And, that, too, is no bull!
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ever laid eyes on. Curls galore,
eyes as blue as the Caribbean and
a smile that would melt the polar
cap.
It was love at first sight for me,
although I’m not sure I knocked
her socks off. A little too old and
too wrinkled for her tastes.
A couple of weeks later Abby
suddenly and inexplicably began
falling down a lot. Her parents
took her to the pediatrician, think
ing that perhaps she had an inner
ear infection. That is when the
bottom fell out of their lives.
Further tests revealed she had a
brain tumor. A cancerous tumor, as
it turned out. Surgeons removed it
immediately. Thus began a myriad
of problems that no one should
have to endure, particularly an
innocent child. Abby temporarily
lost her eyesight. She was unable
to speak for a long period of time.
As these conditions began
to improve, new complications
JHg
beds after
a hor
rible car
accident
while they
castigated
conserva
tives for
“distrac
tion” tech
niques.
Never
mind that
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
the president’s veto does
not affect families like the
Frosts covered by existing
policies.
But here’s what the hys
terical tantrum-throwers
really don’t want to reckon
with: The Frost parents’ sta
tus as two property-owning,
three vehicle-driving, “inter
mittent” and “part-time”
workers raises fundamental
policy questions about which
families should benefit from
government-subsidized
health insurance in the first
place - and whether even
better-off families than the
Frosts should be added to
the public health insurance
dole.
Did you know that the vast
majority of SCHIP programs
currently in place do not
have assets tests? What if I
told you I drove a Volvo SUV
a Chevrolet Suburban, and
a Ford F 250 Pickup work
truck?
What if I told you, further,
that I owned a large home
and commercial property
worth at least $400,000 in
total - property for which I
paid a total of $215,000?
our youth.
He believes that Warner
Robins is going in the right
direction under Mayor
(Donald) Walker and he will
work to see progress con
tinue. People who know
Tommy know that he is an
honest man and would be an
excellent addition to our city
council.
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What if I told you, in addi
tion, that I was resourceful
enough to cobble together
financing (through scholar
ships and other means) for
private school education for
four children?
What if I told you that
neither I nor my spouse
was employed full time?
Would you consider my fam
ily “exactly the kind” and
“precisely the type” of fam
ily that should benefit from
SCHIP - which was intend
ed for the “working poor,”
but has become the nose of
the middle-class entitlement
camel in the nation’s health
care tent?
That’s what Harry Reid
and his socialized health care
minions are telling us. And
now they demand that we
shut up lest we be accused
of “Swiftboating” innocent
children.
Are Democrats capable
of defending their reckless,
inequitable agenda without
tot-sized human shields?
Apparently not. In advance
of the override vote, they
simply switched flak jack
ets and brought out a 2-
year-old child with a heart
defect, Bethany Wilkerson
of Florida, to lobby for the
override.
But like the Frost children,
little Bethany would have
been covered regardless of
the entitlement expansion
veto.
The Democrats may
believe their Romper Room
politics are working. And
some queasy Republicans
Residents of Post 4 can count
on Tommy U, look after them
and all the citizens of Warner
Robins. You don’t have to
know Tommy 40 years to
know he’s a man of his word
and is the kind of person our
city could use more of for
continued progress.
James L. (Paul)
Shealy, Warner Robins
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OPINION
appeared. The ups and downs of
the past two years have been a
roller coaster of emotions for her
family and for the rest of us who
have been pulling for her recovery.
Just when it looked as though
things might be getting better, bad
news has hit again. Now Abby is
facing new and inoperable tumors
on her spine.
Frankly, things don’t look good
at the moment. Experts are talk
ing about what to try next: clinical
trials, radiation, combinations of
drugs. In my opinion, it is time for
a miracle.
This is where the favor comes in.
Please pray for Abby.
It doesn’t matter what kind pf
faith you practice, whether you
are a Christian, Jew, Muslim,
Hindu, Shintoist, or whatever. Dr.
Gil Watson, the World’s Greatest
Preacher, has assured me that God
listens to all prayers, even from
sinners like me.
may be tempted to abandon
fiscal conservatism for elec
toral expediency.
But a majority of Americans
polled by USA Today/Gallup
this week - 52 percent -
agree with President Bush
that most benefits should go
to children in families earn
ing less than 200 percent
of the federal poverty level
- about $41,000 for a family
of four.
The polls showed that
“only 40 percent say benefits
should go to families earn
ing up to $62,000, as the bill
written by Democrats and
some Republicans would
allow.”
Defining moment indeed:
Who represents the truly
needy? Who represents
responsible taxpayers? Who
represents future genera
tions, who would be forced
to send their hard-earned
money to fund this hugetas
tic middle-class entitlement
explosion?
The GOP is already respon
sible for passing the obscene
Medicare prescription drug
entitlement expansion - the
largest in the program’s his
tory and the true costs of
which were suppressed until
after it became law.
If Republicans don’t have
the guts to torpedo the
Democrats’ SCHIP Trojan
Horse permanently, they
deserve to lose their seats.
Michelle Malkin is
author of Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild. Her e-mail address is
malkinblog@gmail.com.
154049
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Besides, wouldn’t it be nice if we
could forget for just a moment all
the issues that divide us? This is
no time to split hairs about what
we believe or don’t believe, or to
argue about who is right and who
is wrong. This is the time to pray
for a miracle for Abby Smith.
Last year I asked you to write
the men and women of Georgia’s
48th Brigade Combat Team in
Iraq, and the response was in the
thousands.
Now I am asking you for another
good deed. Pray for this young
lady and tell everybody you know
to pray for her as well, and tell
them to pass the word along to
everybody they know. I know from
my mail that you have shared my
opinions with friends around the
country and around the world. Do
it again. Please.
I don’t understand why bad
things happen to good people like
Abby and her parents, but if it
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Letters to the editor
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Anarchy result of Paul’s platform
Republican, U.S.presidential candidate/U.S.Rep.,R.
Texas, Ron Paul is a semi-Libertarian who wants
to abolish Medicare, the IRS, Medicaid, the INS, Social
Security and end the war in Iraq ASAP. His platform is so
impractical and radical that it’s implementation would result
in anarchy.
He has also stated that 9/11 could have been prevented
if the federal government didn’t control who could bring
firearms onto airplanes. Now that is really scary. But then
his buddy, Wayne La Pierre, is with the NRA and advo
cates being legally able to take your firearms anywhere in
the good old USA - whether to churches, nurseries, court
houses, federal buildings, military bases, hospitals, hos
pices and businesses that serve alcohol.
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
would get Muslims and Catholics
and Protestants and Jews praying
for her young life, she will have
accomplished something not even
the greatest theologians in history
have been able to do unite us all
in a common and good cause.
Maybe if we did more of this kind
of thing we could learn to hate
each other less. Admittedly that
is a stretch, but it is worth a try. I
suspect God would be delighted to
see us make an effort to get along
for a change.
Next week we will get back to
pompous politicians, those insuf
ferably rude cell phone yakkers
and other assorted irritants. But
for now, let’s concentrate on little
Abby Smith. She needs a miracle.
She needs your prayers. Pass it
on.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or
website: www.dickyarbrough.com.
Dan 987-7330
W. R. 923-5655
www.bankofperry.com
1006 Main St.
Perry, GA
54072
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