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The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions ours, yours and others.
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CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
RO. Box 3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 8874342
Mayor Pro-Tem, Lewis Ledbetter
205 Mountain Brook Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3019
Ralph Perry
1420 Pilgrim Rd., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-7474
Quincy Holton
103 Hickory Ridge Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279
Rupert Sexton
705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 8874332
John Pugh
■ 10813th St, Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1
3550 Rosewicke Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-7937; office, (770) 886-2810
David “A J.” Pritchett, Post 2
4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024
(404) 392-6983; office, (770) 886-2809
John A. “Jack” Conway, Post 3
6130 Polo Club Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-9226; (770) 886-2807
Marcie Kreager, Post 4
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
office, (770) 886-2806
Eddie Taylor, Post 5
4195 Morningside Dr., Cumming, GA 30041
(770)886-2802
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Ann Crow
96 Barker Rd., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 887-9640; acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Paul Kreager
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
(770) 889-9971; pkreager@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Chairman Nancy Roche
7840 Chestnut Hill Rd., Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 889-0229; nroche@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Rebecca K. Dowell
2030 Commonwealth Place, Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 844-0830; rdowell@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Jeffrey Stephens
P.O. Box 169, Cumming, GA 30028
(770) 889-1470;jstephens@forsyth.k12.ga.us
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
U.S. Sen. Zell Miller
Russell Senate Office Building, Room C-3
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3643; Fax: (202) 228-2090
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss
1019 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202)224-3521
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District
2437 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515
Gainesville: RO. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503
Gainesville, (770) 535-2592
Washington: (202) 225-5211; Fax: (202) 225-8272
t ■
U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District
1727 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515-1011
Washington: (202) 225-4272; Fax: (202) 225-4696
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. David Shafer, 48th District
109 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404)651-7738
Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District
|lr
421 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404)656-6578; Fax:(404)651-6768
Sen. Dan Moody, 27th District
(770) 695-3127;
Office (404) 463-8055
Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District
(770) 466-1507;
Office (404)463-1368
Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District
I
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Legislative Office Building, Room 504
18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-0188, (770) 887-0400, law office
Rep. Jan Jones, 38th District
412 Legislative Office Building, Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0137
Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District
Legislative Office Building,
Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0325
(770) 781-9319, home
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Good riddance, Gwyneth
Gwyneth Paltrow, the fash
ionable blond actress who
once chopped off her hair to
look exactly like ex-boyfriend
Brad Pitt and who showed up
at the Oscars a few years ago
in a transparent Goth-meets-
Heidi costume, has some
nerve calling anybody
"weird."
Yet, there she was in the
pages of Britain’s Glamour
magazine last week, declaring
that America is "too weird."
Now, if Gwynnie had been
referring to the bizarre specta
cles of Michael Jackson gyrat
ing atop his SUV, Britney
Spears stumbling down the
wedding aisle, and Howard
Dean going ape-wild in lowa,
she might have had a point.
But that’s not who she had in
mind. Explaining why she’s
planning on raising her first
child in the United Kingdom
instead of the United States
she is four months pregnant
and living in London with her
new husband, British musi
cian Chris Martin the
actress noted: "At the moment
there's a weird, over-patriotic
atmosphere over there, like,
'We're number one and the
rest of the world doesn’t mat
ter.’"
Dean’s accumulated gaffes sunk lowa chance
DES MOINES How did
John Kerry and John Edwards
escape political oblivion to
finish one-two in lowa's cau
cuses as contenders for the
Democratic presidential nomi
nation? They improved their
candidacies, but what hap
pened here Monday night was
principally rejection of
Howard Dean's politics of
anger.
The obscure former gover
nor of Vermont only two
weeks ago was conceded
inside the party as the
inescapable nominee mobiliz
ing partisan rage. In the end,
he proved too much for a state
whose trademark is niceness.
Dean finished his campaign
ing Monday afternoon by
denouncing the news media,
and reacted to his decisive
defeat hours later with a pub
lic rant.
The conventional wisdom
had been that Dean's peculiari
ties would be neutralized by
this state's caucus system,
where organization and pas
sion would guide 120,000
lowans (out of 2.9 million)
who braved bitter cold to cau
cus Monday night. Instead, the
wisdom of lowa prevailed.
The 41 percent of caucus
goers who made up their
minds the last week (accord
ing to entrance polls) over
whelmingly rejected Dean and
turned to Sens. Kerry and
it raft
18, W-
[» *
Michelle « ” V
Malkin M
■ .
Pity poor Paltrow. Having
grown up in her privileged lit
tle bubble of "gypsy of the
world” artisans, this delicate
thespian must tremble with
unbearable fright at the
thought of her little one being
accidentally exposed to
Americans who fly the
American flag on their front
porches even when it's not
Independence Day. I can’t
imagine the horror Paltrow
must experience when the
National Anthem is played
within earshot or the disgust
she must feel when she sees
American soldiers in uniform,
flashing "number one" signs,
as they defend Paltrow’s free
dom to trash her country
while sipping tea along the
Thames.
How positively creepy,
Paltrow must have thought to
herself while sunning herself
on Valentino’s yacht off the
coast of Majorca, that there
are so many of us in America
Robert
Novak
I—•
Edwards.
Kerry's comeback was pre
dicted to me two weeks ago
by Bob Shrum, his veteran
campaign consultant. Shrum
has seldom made such fore
casts to me about his clients in
the more than 30 years I have
known him, but when he has
they have been accurate. He
was so optimistic because
Kerry finally straightened out
his chaotic campaign organi
zation and defined himself as
a war hero able to protect the
American people from tenor
ism.
Edwards rose from also
ran status when he escaped the
claustrophobia of multi-candi
date debates as the best cam
paign stump speaker in the
field. Last Friday, I saw
Edwards entrancing an over
flow morning audience at
Bettendorf on the Mississippi
River as he did North Carolina
accident case juries to become
a multi-millionaire trial
lawyer. He solved his problem
of looking too young to be
president by a belated televi
sion ad making clear he is 50
years old. Refraining from
attacks on his opponents, he
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, January 23, 2004 ■
who actually do believe this is
the greatest nation in the
world, who wake up each
morning grateful that our par
ents and grandparents left
their own native lands to pur
sue their dreams in the land of
the free and the home of the
brave.
How utterly scary that
there are so many of us unen
lightened heathens who actu
ally believe the words of the
U.S. Constitution (as opposed
to Norman Lear and the
ACLU’s talking points).
How absolutely chilling
that America is still home to
Americans who recite the
unabridged version of the
Pledge of Allegiance.
How absolutely strange
that most of us have never
faked a British accent
except, perhaps, when teach
ing our children about the
tyranny of King George 111.
"I think Bush is such an
embarrassment to America.
He doesn't take the rest of the
world at all into considera
tion," Paltrow was quoted by
the Scottish Daily Record of
Glasgow last year. "It all
seems to be for him and his
friends to keep getting richer
appealed to lowa niceness.
lowa Gov. Tom Vilsack,
who remained neutral, correct
ly analyzed what was happen
ing here. He saw Kerry and
Edwards on the rise, and fore
cast that Rep. Richard
Gephardt's massive labor
union support would not save
him from a fourth-place finish
here and the end of his candi
dacy. Yet. Vilsack also bought
into the notion that Dean's
"ground game,” with thou
sands of anti-war volunteers
inundating lowa, probably
would prevail.
Experienced politicians and
reporters here were bemused by
Deanites, wearing their trademark
orange stocking caps, roaming the
streets of Des Moines and other
lowa cities. These excited activists
were misinterpreted as the van
guard of a political revolution.
Buying into the erroneous theory
that polls were valueless in this
caucus state, the experts underesti
mated the impact of Dean's accu
mulated gaffes.
Os all Dean's bizarre com
ments, his opponents felt the
most damaging was his state
ment that mass killer Osama
bin Laden deserves a fair trial.
While the war in Iraq fueled
the Dean phenomenon, its
limitations as his overriding
campaign issue were reflected
in lowa's entrance polls.
Caucus-goers disapproved of
the war by 3 to 1, and those
PAGE 7A
at the expense of a nation, at
the expense of the environ
ment. It's like a full-scale
assault." This from an eco
hypocrite who appears in
environmental propaganda ads
with fellow actress Cameron
Diaz touting energy conserva
tion while driving a
Mercedes-Benz’SUV paid for
with her box-office windfalls
from all those gauche
Americans who plunk down
their hard-earned cash to see
her movies.
"I love America and I com
pletely stand behind
America," Gwynnie said last
spring, before she wed her
America-hating rockstar hus
band, who had declared at an
awards show that "We're all
going to die when George
Bush has his way." If this is
Paltrow’s idea of American
patriotism, let’s be glad that
she will be teaching it to her
child overseas, in the compa
ny of so many other celebrity
expatriates from Madonna to
Johnny Depp.
Good riddance, Hollyweirdos.
And God bless America.
Michelle Malkin is a
nationally syndicated colum
nist and an author. Her e-mail
address is malkin@comcast.net.
that considered it the top issue
strongly backed Dean. But
they comprised only 14 per
cent of all voters.
Dean's liabilities against
George W. Bush were demon
strated Monday, just before
and after the caucuses. He
railed at the heavy presence of
the news media, claiming it
threatened his scheduled
appearance at a Martin Luther
King Jr. Day celebration in
Des Moines and then cancel
ing the date. His post-caucus
speech to supporters in which
he ripped off his jacket, rolled
up his sleeves and launched a
prolonged rant ("We will not
give up!") had experienced
Democratic politicians shak
ing their heads.
lowa delivered a devastat
ing blow to Howard Dean and
may have saved its caucuses.
Before Monday's results, both
national and state political
leaders privately predicted that
2004 would be the last year
that this state kicked off the
Democratic presidential selec
tion process. That death sen
tence would have been con
firmed if the quirky caucus
process had sustained the
Dean phenomenon. Instead,
lowa now looks like as good a
place as any to begin presiden
tial competition.
Robert Novak is a nation
ally syndicated columnist and
a television commentator.