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Primary Progress Campaign in America Shows
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Praise God for allowing
America to show its greatness
in the the Republican primary
season!
“Now we have proof that
Kulkosky is out of his mind,”
you might be thinking. “Surely
even he knows Romney’s dull,
Santorum's angry and extreme,
Ron Paul is too far out and Newt
is well, Newt.
That’s what "those in the
know" say; that's what “the
media" say; that’s the polls
say. They might even be
right. I propose to examine
the Republican race from a dif¬
ferent angle. My standard dis¬
claimer for politically oriented
columns: I do not endorse or
oppose any candidate, party or
platform.
So. Kulkosky, just why is this
Republican primary campaign
such a blessed thing?
Let’s backtrack to 2008 and
then return to the present. Back
then, even many who wanted
it didn’t think America would
actually vote for a black man for
President. The talk was about
how America wasn’t ready;
Obama was too green, his name
was strange, Hillary’s disap¬
pointed supporters wouldn’t
gel oil board, blue collar whites
wouldn’t vote for him, yada yada
yada. Wrong on ever 1 count! It
could be that comedian Chris
Rock was right, to paraphrase,
the situation got bad enough that
Obama was elected President.
jkeaiter^®riinme Publishing
Peach
Bob Tribble Mitch Tribble
President Vice President
Frances Tribble
Secretary
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ei
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• Renee Goggins ..........................Office Manager
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• Donna Trussell .....................Business Manager
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• Victor Kulkosky ..................................News Editor
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• Billy Powell............ .....................................Columnist
• Claire Houser Dodd ....................................Columnist
• Tara Mercer............ .....................Circulation Manager
• Emily Griffin......... ........................................Reporter
• Billy Powell......... ......................................Columnist
• Jeff Cook............ ......................................Columnist
• Jeff Holland......... ......................................Columnist
• Dan Gatlyn........... ......................................Columnist
• Tim Lewis........... ......................................Columnist
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The Leader-Thbune is published proudly for the citizens of
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MARCH 7, 2012
The situation actually got
worse in many ways; there are
claims that things are getting
little better. To look at more
recent developments: The
Republican Party is, so some say,
the “Old White Men’s Party”
Yet the first front-runner was
Michelle Bachmann, a woman.
And then came Herman Cain,
"Okay, you’d expect the first
black President to come from
the Democrats, but Republicans
wouldn’t go for a brother,”
some said. Guess what? They
did. Herman Cain led a few
polls and got some votes. The
Punditocracy pronounced Cain
an unserious candidate. 1 don’t
wish to argue their point either
way, but my point is, voters
took Cain seriously - conserva
tive white voters gave Herman
Cain a shot. Whatever your
opinion of Herman Cain, you
have to cheer this development,
It wasn’t that long ago that the
prospect of white conservatives
voting for any black candidate
would have seemed like a joke,
Maybe it was another case of the
situation being extreme enough
that people abandoned prejudic
es, or maybe Cain just seemed
like “our kind of guy" to some
voters, or both, but a barrier fell,
Rick Santorum is a Catholic;
this is no longer an obstacle to
anyone’s candidacy, but some
readers might remember John
F. Kennedy’s speech addressing
concerns that the Pope would
give him orders. Santorum has
expressed his distaste for some
aspects of that famous speech,
but it was JFK who laid the
groundwork that made Rick
Santorum a viable candidate.
Hurrah!
And then we come to the
current Republican front-run¬
ner, Mitt Romney. Just four
years ago. his Mormon faith was
enough of an obstacle that he
tried to address the issue in a
speech that got mixed reviews.
1 1V. 1 - ». W
Opinions expressed by writers on this page are their own and not necessarily those <4 The Lender-Tribune
In this election cycle, although
“the Mormon question"
hasn’t completely gone
Romney’s faith has diminished
as a campaign issue.
when a Texas preacher called
Mormonism a “cult" a while
back, the backlash was heavy.
In four years, a lot of Republican
voters appear to have decided
that Romney’s religion is
not a problem or not enough
an issue to rule out voting
him. Some say the passion for
getting rid of Obama is over¬
riding anti-Mormon bias; even
if that’s the case, they are still
reducing their bias, and that is a
good thing,
So here we have America
in 2012; voting for
voting for Catholics, voting
for women and blacks. Peach
County has been doing this
a long time. now. We've elected
black men and women, white
men and women.
and people of Arab descent,
America appears to be catch
mg up with us. Lament the
quality of the candidate pool
all you want, but that pool
and the process that created
it show great things happening
in America. The next logical
step would be for America
give a Muslim candidate a
shot at the White House (a real
Muslim, not an alleged
Whomever that candidate might
be, on behalf of Peach County
and America, let me declare in
advance: “As-Salaam Alaikum."
Become Familiar With These Five Key Areas
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As an investor, what are your
goals? You can probably think
of quite a few - but over the
course of your lifetime, your
objectives typically will fall into
five key categories. And once
you're familiar with these areas,
you can start thinking of what
they’ll mean to you in terms of
your financial and investment
strategies,
So, let’s take a look at each
of these areas and see what they
might entail for you:
• Preparing for retirement
- With advances in health
care and a greater awareness of
healthy living practices, many
of us can expect to live two
or three decades in an active
retirement. To pay for all those
years, you'll need to save and
r: \ ‘
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All too well I remember grin
ning madly and trying to stifle
laughter when I re-programmed
my grandmother’s VCR, reset
tive clock and so forth when I
went to visit her.
She could not figure out
how to do it. Never mind every
grandchild showed her how to
do it. It was just too much for
her. And I thought it was funny.
If you are my age you know
exactly what I’m talking about.
The snickers, sniggers and
hidden grins as generations
before us were confounded by
the simplest of technology. We
could make a VCR do anything
we wanted it to. Admittedly it
was not capable of doing a lot.
but we could work it.
Kids today have no idea what
a VCR b. If they come across
a VCR upe, they hold it up
and wonder what kind of book
doesn’t have pages or a screen
to view the text.
If the VCR was our techno
logical triumph over our elders.
the smart phone b our doom.
We have replaced our parents
and grandparents. We are the
The Public Has A To Know
t
Sunshine Week will be
observed next week across our
nation and the emphasis will be
to encourage access to govern¬
ment information urging public
and private officials to "Put
More Sunshine in Government.”
The Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press is
co-sponsoring the project
with (he American Society of
News Editors, which began the
nationwide initiative in 2005
with a grant from the Knight
Foundation.
Sunshine Week is a national
initiative to promote the impor¬
tance of open government
and freedom of information.
Participants include the news
media, civic groups, schools and
individuals who are concerned
about the public’s right to know.
The free flow of informa¬
tion is critical to a democracy
and to the public’s understand¬
ing how government works
and their right to know about
their actions. Both the press and
public should demand open gov¬
ernment from the national level
on down to the city level.
In the past, some public offi-
invest early
you’re working, take full advan¬
tage of your 40l(k) or other
employer-sponsored retirement
plan, as well as contribute to a
traditional or Roth IRA. After
understanding your desired
retirement lifestyle, your finan¬
cial advisor can help you deter¬
mine how, and how much, to
save to provide for your income
in retirement.
• Planning for the unexpected
— You can't see into the future,
so you’ll need to prepare for
anything that comes your way.
By building an emergency fund
containing six to 12 months’
worth of living expenses, you
can possibly avoid dipping into
your long-term investments to
pay for things such as a new
furnace or a major car repair,
And planning for the unexpect
ed also means having sufficient
life insurance to provide for
your family in case anything
happens to you.
• Educating your children
- College is already expen
sive — and college expenses
have been rising faster than the
overall rate of inflation. If you
want to help your children, or
grandchildren, pay for school,
__________
What Goes Around.
ones confounded. The new gen¬
eration is hiding grins and sti¬
fling laughter as we hold out a
smart phone and say “help."
“It's easy, Dad,” my daughter
says, taking the phone and with
a few taps and finger swipes,
she has logged onto the internet,
checked email and Facebook.
ordered pizza, a movie, text
messaged everyone she knows
and a few she doesn't in case
, hey need to know what she’s
^ng and looked up the defini¬
tion of VCR.
I sit in my chair and wonder
w hat happened and how it hap
pened. I have learned better than
, Q ask her lo cxp |ai n it again. I
ge , cnough eye-rolls and huffs
and mu nered comments when I
le || my teenagers to clean their
rooms | don', need more atti
iuf j je when I’m trying to learn to
^ something,
smart
Letter T a 7 fU
Thanks for Crowns
I am writing to thank (he
producers, staff and cast of the
-Crowns” play presented at the
Austin Theatre last week It was
an outstanding event. Special
thanks to Ms. Karan Kendrick
aml First Lady Mrs. Betty
Rivers for bringing this wooder
fu j musical play to the Austin
Theatre for all erf us to enjoy
cials across the nation have
promoted Sunshine Week by
issuing open government proc¬
lamations and have made policy
changes that have improved the
public’s access to government
information.
Newspapers published in
small communities shoulder
most of the responsibility to
protect the First Amendment
to our U.S. Constitution. The
public has the right to know
what their governments are
doing and unfortunately some
local governments sometimes
try to hide information that is
of vital interest to the public.
Community newspapers
must be mirrors of their com¬
munities and must reflect what
happens in their communities.
It is our job to see that local
government news is reported
to our readers in an accurate,
honest and comprehensive way.
There are issues that would
remain hidden if we didn’t go
out looking for them and report¬
ing them. It means not always
taking elected officials at their
word. It means going back for
a second look and talking with
more than one person. It means
preserving the public’s right
to know and asking the tough
questions.
We must be mirrors of
our community and we must
provide it with light whether
it upsets a public official, a
citizen or an advertiser. It is our
job, our responsibility and we
must do it with completeness
and with compassion.
you may to a
college savings vehicle, such as
the 529 plan. You can contribute
large amounts to a 529 plan,
and earnings have the opportu¬
nity to grow tax-free, provided
withdrawals are used for higher
education. (Withdrawals not
used for education are subject to
income taxes and a 10 percent
penalty.)
• Living in retirement —
Once you reach retirement, your
investment emphasis will shift
somewhat, from accumulating
resources to making them last.
By working with a financial
advisor, you can develop a with¬
drawal strategy that can help
make sure you don't outlive the
income you receive from your
401(k), IRA and other sources.
At the same time, given the pos¬
sible length of your retirement,
you can’t ignore the need to
invest for growth, so you may
need to consider some growth
oriented vehicles in your port¬
folio to help your income keep
pace with inflation.
• Transferring your wealth —
When you've worked hard your
whole life, you want to be able
to leave a legacy — one that
allows you to provide financial
phones to our VCRs is like
comparing a cave man to NASA
rocket scientist. You know
somewhere down deep if you
look hard enough you’ll Find the
same basic building materials.
But that’s all you’re going to get.
Somewhere on the evolu¬
tionary ladder, the cave man
stepped off and started painting
buffalo on cave walls while the
NASA guy kept going and even¬
tually started discovering ques¬
tionable signs of intelligence on
other planets and Hollywood.
The VCR stepped off the ladder
of evolution around 1983 while
the smart phone strapped on a
rocket pack and skipped climb¬
ing altogether because it’s too
slow.
Along the way, the smart
phone picked up “apps.” I am
not entirely sure what an “app”
is, except they sometimes cost
money and don’t have any prac-
A* Mrs. St umbo and I were
watching the play, I was so
thankful for the gift of Mr.
Marion Allen ami the work of
Judge Bryant Culpepper and
others in renovating the Austin
Theatre for special events It is
a wonderful city resource
Cultivating the arts in our city
is so very important Having
opportunities for all of us to
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE
Being a good community
newspaper means showing
a presence. It means being a
leader, being involved in the
community and staying in
touch. A strong editorial page
that takes positions for issues
that are good for the commu¬
nity and against issues that are
bad for the community is vital.
Strong newspapers help to build
strong communities.
A community is stronger
with the interchange of ideas. If
the newspaper does not provide
the leadership in that area it
will be left to street talk and
backyard gossip. Putting it out
there for everyone to read and
react to is important.
Newspapers published in
small communities should
address issues of public concern
on its editorial pages on the
state and national level as well
as the local level. We should
not leave issues solely to the
daily newspapers. Those of us
who live in small communities
are citizens of our state and
nation also therefore our opin¬
ions should be written on these
issues as well as local issues.
Finally, we must serve our
communities with a passion
for the truth placing accuracy
and unbiased reporting in news
stories high on our priority list
and always remembering that
the public has a right to know
what their governments are
doing.
resources
and to those charitable organi¬
zations you may wish to support.
So, when it’s time to think about
transferring your wealth, you’ll
want to consult with your finan¬
cial and legal advisors to create
an estate plan that’s appropriate
for your needs. And because
these plans can take significant
time to create, you won’t want to
wait too long to start.
So, there you have them: five
key financial areas on which
to focus as you travel through
life. By doing your homework,
planning ahead and getting the
help you need, you can make the
journey a pleasant and produc¬
tive one.
This article was written by
Edward Jones for use by your
local Edward Jones Financial
Advisor, Jeff Holland. For ques¬
tions, please refer to the Call
A-Pro section for my contact
information. Thank you!
Jeff Holland
Financial Advisor
Edward Jones
4535 Forsyth Road Suite 2
Macon, GA 31210
(478) 757-0210
www.edwatdjones.com
ticai use. I am told there's an
app you can download and hold
your phone up to the night sky.
The app will tell you the sky
has stars in it. When I was a
teenager we had to actually look
at the night sky to see if there
were stars overhead. Today's
new generation is apparently
incapable of looking at the night
sky and seeing stars without
a battery-powered electronic
interface.
As soon as someone comes
out with a “clean my room app”
or “wash the dishes app" for
teenagers. I will say it’s useful.
Personally, I want an app that
will let smart phones play my
collection of VCR tapes.
Follow Ben Baker
at amazon.com/author/benbak
er and twitter.com/redneckge
ntus
ettoy and be informed by the
arts helps improve the quality of
life in our community. We are
so blessed by all fo the people
and organizations that promote
the arts for the benefit of all
of us.
Than you for the Crowns - a
job well done.
Mayor John Stumho