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8A SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007 Underdog Democrats intend to be major players A couple of weeks ago I visited with Georgia House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) to get his views on the upcoming legislative session. Last week, I stopped by to see what House Minority Leader Duß o s e Porter Dick Yarbrough Columnist yarb24oo@bellsouth.net (D-Dublin) had to say about things. Porter is co-owner and editor of the Dublin Courier- Herald, one of the papers in the state that publishes this column. He didn’t seem to mind my grilling him, and I didn’t mind doing it. Porter is one of the genu- Bad medicine: Hillarycare for the housing market If you thought Hillary Clinton’s government takeover plan for health care was bad, wait ‘til you see what she has in store for the hous ing sector. As always with the Clintons, the mar ket is the problem and Big Nanny is am _ 'SiB am'* m. mi m i Michelle Malkin Columnist malkin@comcast.net the solution. Unfortunately for taxpayers, Hillary has bipartisan company in the Bush administration on this issue. Their election season prescription? Rewarding bad behavior. Punishing respon sible behavior. There’s a painful credit crunch under way. The cul prit is the subprime mort gage - a species of risky home loans to buyers with dubious credit and income. Cash-rich lenders doled out the subprimes hoping rising home prices would compen sate for any failed bets. But when housing prices started plummeting and interest rates began rising, many borrowers started defaulting. Insolvency looms for count less lenders. Editor’s Note: The following let ters were written in response to Larry Walker’s column Dec. 1 regarding UGA running back Herschel Walker. I read and enjoyed your article. I have always admired his ability and class. But it was your mention of reading about him in an old magazine article that caught my eye. Recently, I managed to “unstick" a balky drawer in an old dress er in a spare bedroom, and in it I found a Macon News sports section dated Jan. 28, 1972. Though the reason for keeping this section is long forgotten, it is still fun to read. There was a lengthy article on pitcher Vida Blue, regarding his upcoming salary, and I quote: “Vida Blue and Charlie Finley have both come up with numbers. Naturally, their numbers are different. Blue’s num ber is $75,000. Finley's is $50,000, or better than three times the $13,500 he BBfIPHIC DESI6HER HEEDED! Looking for someone who would fit into a deadline-oriented work environment in the Production department designing advertising newspaper layout, and special sections. Experience with QuarkXPress, InDesign, and Photoshop is preferred - but will train the right person. Must have dependable transportation, a pleasant attitude, and be self-motivated. Work hours are Mon-Fri B:3oam-s:3opm, but longer hours may be required due to deadlines. We offer a competitive benefits package. Please fax resume to 478-825-4130 -OR- Email to aevans@evansnewspapers.com Walk-ins may fill out application and leave their resume for consideration. NO PHONE CALLS OR WALK-IN INTERVIEWS. THE LEADER TRIBUNE 109 Anderson Ave. Fort Valley. GA 31030 57114 inely nice people I have met in politics. He no doubt has some people who disagree with his political positions, but I can’t imagine that he has many enemies. That is quite a contrast for state Democrat loyalists who had to endure the disastrous slash-and-burn political reign of former State Democratic Party chair Bobby Kahn. During the Wrath of Kahn, Democrats lost control of the Legislature and the gover nor’s office for the first time in the state’s history. (Like all loyal Southerners, I don’t know what happened during Reconstruction, and I don’t care.) Today, the GOP enjoys a 22-member advantage in the 180-member Georgia House of Representatives. Porter says, “We allowed the Republicans to define who we were, and we forgot that a lot Instead of letting lenders and subprime jnortgage-hold ers suffer the consequences of their actions, politicians and grievance-mongers are riding to the supposed res cue. In a supreme irony, the very same champions of the needy in the Democrat Party who complain constantly about the lack of “affordable housing” are now fighting tooth and nail to keep hous ing prices high. To “cure” the housing cri sis, Hillary wants a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners who default on subprimes. In addition, she wants a five-year freeze on the monthly rate for sub prime adjustable mortgages. While she demonizes lenders as predatory out of one side of her mouth, the other side of her mouth is floating legis lation to protect lenders from lawsuits and let them con vert certain mortgages into “stable, affordable loans.” On top of all that federal meddling, she proposes a $5 billion - yes, that’s “billion” with a “b” - fund to “help communities suffering from high rates of foreclosures.” Jesse Jackson is also stir ring the pot. With subprime victim sob stories flooding the news and anecdotes of minority homeowners in paid his MVP and Cy Young Award win ner last year." In another article, regarding Hank Aaron: “If reports from an Atlanta newspaper are true, Atlanta Braves Superstar Hank Aaron will become the highest paid player in baseball history with the sign ing of a three-year $600,000 contract.” Can you imagine the reaction today’s players would have if they were offered these terms? It boggles the mind. If Vida Blue made $13,500, I don’t even want to think what chickenfeed the rest of us “ordinary” folks must have been earning! - Sally Greene, Warner Robins I'm a big fan of Herschel Walker. He is the best college football player I ever saw in person and I really believe he was the greatest college football player ever. We saw him against Tennessee in 1981 of new people had moved into Georgia that didn’t know of our accomplishments.” He’s being kind. Today’s Democratic legisla tors, by and large, are either urban and minority, or white and rural. Not a whole lot of representation in the fast growing suburbs. Porter says that these divergent demo graphics aren’t as big an issue as they are made out to be: “The main thing is that we agree on the core issues.” The “core issues” sounded somewhat like the list Keen had given me: water man agement, health care and transportation, but with two notable differences. “I want to see education higher on the list in the next session,” Porter said, “and I want the Republicans to restore the funding cuts they made to public education trouble, there’s no way the shakedown king could stay away. But the subprime mess isn’t a result of ruth less racial discrimination. If anything, it’s the result of too little discrimination by lenders too willing and eager to sign on people who had no business taking on mort gages. (And you know Jesse Jackson would be scream ing either way. The lenders are damned if they lend and damned if they don’t.) Let«s boil this down to fun damentals: Why should the rest of us have to shoulder the burden because some buyers made poor choices, overextended themselves and bought more house than they could afford? Why should other business owners bear the costs of lenders’ failed bets? And why are falling home prices such a catas trophe to be “fixed” in the first place? Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub put it well: “It is great news when the price of energy, food, trans portation, health care and consumer electronics drops. But for some reason it is bad news when the price of shel ter drops. . . . Shouldn’t we be seeing stories filled with anecdotes about formerly priced-out middle-income OPINION and other critically impor tant programs, like mental health.” Porter says more than $1.3 billion has been cut from the state’s educa tion formula over the past four years, and with Georgia sitting on a $1.4 billion sur plus, now is the time to put the money back. Otherwise, he says, local school districts have no choice but to ask for more taxes to cover the ongo ing shortfall. Not surprisingly, Porter doesn’t think much of House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to eliminate property taxes while expanding taxes on sales, uses and services. “Remember,” he says, “the tax code says you can’t deduct sales taxes if you itemize your taxes, and more than 40 percent of Georgians do. If you eliminate prop erty tax deductions, we will families finally getting their chance at the American Dream?” There’s another side of the housing crunch equation that’s not making it onto the newspaper front pages and presidential campaign web sites. “For every house sold because the buyer couldn’t make the payments,” Weintraub notes, “there is a buyer on the other end of that transaction who got a good deal. And for every fore closure, there are probably 10 buyers of nearby homes who benefited from the gen eral easing of house-price pressure.” Bingo. Fiscal conservatives ought to be balking at Hillarycare for housing. But President Bush’s treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, is singing a similar tune. He proposed a new safely net to stem the tide of home foreclosures through a bailout plan for homeowners with bad cred it scores. They’d be eligible for relief from paying hun dreds of dollars in additional monthly payments when their mortgage rates reset. Those who have been respon sible enough to maintain good credit, however, will be out of luck. In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has proposed during the season opener. Georgia won 44-0. He was very much a,man among boys that day. I remember watching Coach Bryant’s show one Sunday during the 1981 sea son. Bama lost to Georgia Tech that year and tied Southern Mississippi. Georgia lost to Clemson that season. There was no SEC Championship game in that day so both Georgia and Bama were unde feated in the SEC and co-conference champs. There had been some talk of Bama playing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Coach Bryant laughed and said on his TV show, “If it is all the same to everyone, I would just as soon wait until that Walker fella leaves Georgia”. Bama lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl 14-12 and Georgia was defeated by Pittsburgh 24-20 in the Sugar Bowl. Clemson won the National Championship game by defeating Nebraska 22-15. - Ricky Clemmons Ilf |1 * *. H»f lrVl I H SATURDAY, December 15 th , 20071 Bam-10am \ $5.00 Lane , SOUTHERN ORCHARDS www.lanepacking.com be sending an additional one billion dollars straight to the federal government.” Porter also doesn’t like the state redistributing collected taxes to the local governments. Porter does agree with his counterpart Keen that water management is going to be a major issue in the upcoming session, and that it won’t be as much a Democrat, vs. Republican issue as a tussle with the Atlanta suburbs. He gives high marks to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin for her efforts to fix the city’s longtime water problems. Interestingly, he sees a developing alliance of North Georgia counties, rural South Georgia and the City of Atlanta opposing the out of-control (my term, not his) suburban Atlanta counties and their compliant, devel oper-dominated county com that government-sponsored mortgage enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be allowed to raise their loan limits and have their debt explicitly guaranteed by the public dole. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are colluding Middle Georgia \ Largest Selection Of Lighting Fixtures ■■SOUTHERN ■Flighting HOME LKJHTINQ CENTER Est. 1987 Fans, Framed Prints Lamps & Framed Mirrors Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30 __ , _ , mm sat 10 -2 Pm 2508 Moody Road JOINT REPLACEMENT CAMP Thursday, December 13 th , 6:30p.m. Planning A Total Knee, Hip or Shoulder Replacement? Your doctor encourages you to attend the Joint Camp prior to surgery. You will learn about the procedure, what to expect after surgery, rehabilitation, assistive devices, post surgical precautions and other helpful information. —— I No Charge For This Service! Visit us on the web www.mgo.md Please Call To Reserve Your Space /ZrgSfak MIDDLE GEORGIA i fii RTHOPAEDIC | /J! Surgery & Sports Medicine m *•' x? ~- Disclaimer: Santa has to leave promptly at 10:00 to visit other children at another location. (478) 825-3362 i Hwy 96«3 miles East of Fort Valley 1-75 Exit 142-5 miles west \ HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL missions. “Where are these counties going to get their water for new development?” he asks. “They may think they will be able to ‘borrow’ it from less-developed coun ties, and that isn’t going to happen.” Suffice it to say, Porter and the Democrats plan to be a major influence in what hap pens in the upcoming session. Remember that Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Republican legislators finished the last session in a major squabble. Porter intends to keep his disparate crowd united and able to affect key legislation. This is one nice guy who doesn’t intend to finish last. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, 80. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or website: www.dick yarbrough.com. to protect the reckless and keep home prices high on the backs of prudent taxpayers. Who’ll bail us out from this perversion? Michelle Malkin is author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild. Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com. 929-0624 ||jji 3051 Watson Blvd. Warner Robins MM Parents can shop while their kids s Visit with SANTA!., 56685