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The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
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CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
P.O. Box 3177, Cumming. GA 30028; (770) 887-4342
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) 887-4332
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.kl2.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
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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
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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
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109 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404)651-7738
Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District
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
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Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District
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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Credibility a problem for Bush
WASHINGTON The
Republican high command
ought to be ecstatic over John
Kerry's ascent toward the
Democratic presidential nomi
nation. His political profile
should reassure George W.
Bush's supporters: Massachusetts
upper class, Vietnam antiwar
protester, Mike Dukakis' lieu
tenant governor, Teddy
Kennedy's protege, 95 percent
liberal voter. Yet, ever since
Kerry won in New Hampshire,
Republican concern about
President Bush's re-election
has grown.
"I can see the pucker fac
tor," said one GOP operative,
using the old military slang
term for an attack of gut
clenching fear. What he
implies is that he and his col
leagues are confronting the
possibility of another Bush
becoming a one-term presi
dent. Predictably, Republicans
reacted to Sen. Kerry's success
by pasting the’liberal label on
him. Why, then, the pucker
factor?
First, because Kerry is an
elusive target. Dukakis's old
running mate showed in the
hours after he was declared
the New Hampshire winner
that he is no Dukakis. Second,
because Bush may be facing
the bane of incumbent presi
dents: lack of credibility. That
malady caused Harry Truman
and Lyndon Johnson not to
seek another term and helped
defeat Jimmy Carter and the
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Skepticism best medicine for children’s health
Why on earth should we
vaccinate our newborn baby
against Hepatitis B —a virus
that is contracted mostly
through intravenous drug use
and sexual contact? That is the
question my husband and I
had for the doctors and nurses
at the hospital where our son
was born two and a half
months ago.
We didn't get very good
answers. It was "convenient,"
"recommended" and "rou
tine," the medical staff
assured us. We wanted more
information. A nurse gave us
a brochure, which explained
that babies whose mothers
had the Hep B virus were at
high risk of developing acute
Hep B infections. Well, I
tested negative for Hep B.
The Centers for Disease
Control named unprotected
sex, IV drug use and being
stuck with a needle on the
job as the likeliest routes of
Hep B transmission. Well,
my husband and I both work
primarily from home, our
two children stay at home,
and neither we nor our 3-
year-old daughter nor our
baby (for heaven's sake!) live
the Kid Rock-and-Pamela
Anderson Lee lifestyle.
When we told the hospital
staff that we simply wanted
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Robert 1 "T
Novak
senior George Bush for re
election.
All four of those one-term
presidents were plagued by
primary election opposition in
their own party, a burden that
George W. Bush does not
bear. No 20th-century presi
dent unopposed for renomina
tion was denied another term.
Nevertheless, Bush is reeling
from a double blow to his
credibility.
Failure to find weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq, a
political accident waiting to
happen, became the first
punch last week when
resigned weapons inspector
David Kay testified to
Congress. The follow-up blow
was the White House revela
tion that the new Medicare
plan will cost one-third more
than the president predicted
(just as conservatives warned).
These setbacks for Bush
followed the most ineffective
State of the Union address in
recent years by a president
whose previous efforts were
able to utilize that event. He
submitted to the bureaucratic
methods that turned the
speech into a laundry list. His
staff permitted the former
Michelle JK" “ S
Malkin M
more time to think about giv
ing the Hep B shot to our son
doesn't "informed con
sent" mean we should be
truly informed? we were
badgered aggressively. Some
lectured us about the need to
"get on the proper vaccina
tion schedule." Others
warned that Maryland, like
more than 40 other states,
requires all schoolchildren to
be vaccinated for Hep B.
Teachers, however, are not
subject to the mandate, which
is driven not just by altruistic
concern for children's health.
Ohio legislator Dale Van
Vyven snuck the Hep B man
date into a 1998 hazardous
waste bill at the behest of
profit-maximizing vaccine
manufacturers' lobbyists.
The "everybody does it"
and "for the greater good"
arguments worked when we
were overcautious, over
trusting, first-time parents
who submitted our daughter
to every single vaccine with
out question. This time, we
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, February 6,2004
baseball team owner to further
clutter the speech with, an
irrelevant discourse about
players using steroids. In the
two weeks since then, the
president has not seemed
energized on the campaign
trail.
Since nobody wants to say
the emperor wears no clothes,
worried Republican operatives
talk not about raising up Bush
but bringing down Kerry.
Republican National
Chairman Ed Gillespie, given
the assignment of rolling out
Kerry's liberal record, has
come under private criticism
by his GOP colleagues. They
knock Gillespie, not for try
ing, but for failing to clearly
expose Kerry as a compulsive
liberal.
It's not easy. A few min
utes after the television net
works declared Kerry the New
Hampshire winner, the senator
said: "I've been a hunter all
my life, and I'm a gun owner,
and I've never thought of
going hunting with an AK-47.
1 believe in the Second
Amendment." When I told a
Bush activist about these pro
gun comments, he wondered
whether Kerry ever would say
that publicly. In fact, he did
make that statement publicly
over CNN.
Kerry was answering a
question by Judy Woodruff
about his 20-year liberal vot
ing record in the Senate.
"We're going to have a heck
resolved not to be rushed or
bullied. We declined to give
our son the politically correct
Hep B shot, decided to do
more research, and then took
up the issue with our pedia
trician.
Boy, were we in for a rude
awakening. Our doctor par
roted the American Academy
of Pediatrics line and mind
lessly emphasized the effica
cy of vaccines in eradicating
childhood diseases. Well, we
weren't questioning their col
lective efficacy. We ques
tioned what the individual
health benefits and health
risks to our newborn were.
Physicians have blindly plied
vaccines before that have
done more harm than good. A
childhood rotavirus vaccine,
for example, was approved
for widespread use in 1998
and withdrawn from the mar
ket less than a year later after
causing an increase in the
incidence of painful bowel
obstruction among infants.
Our doctor, however, pooh
poohed our inquiries about
potential side effects. He
seemed to have no idea what
those risks were and no inter
est in finding out. He was also
incredibly condescending: "95
percent of what you read on
the Internet" i$ unreliable, he
of a good debate in this
country," he said, adding to
his gun comments, "and
look, if balancing the budget
is called liberal in America,
let's go."
Most worrisome to
Republicans is Kerry's war
hero image while, in the
words of one prominent Bush
supporter, "our guy was
drinking beer in Alabama"
(where actually he was work
ing on a losing Senate
Republican campaign in
1972). Republicans are try
ing to negate Kerry's heroism
with his postwar peace
activism, but that approach is
not working. In an interview
with Kerry in New
Hampshire, I asked if he ever
regretted throwing away his
medals (Silver Star, Bronze
Star, Purple Heart). There
was no regret, but he has
tened to add: "I threw away
my ribbons, not my medals."
This may be a case where
the liberal is a sufficiently
agile dodger to blur his past,
and the Republicans must
rely on George W. Bush. On
Friday, White House
spokesman Scott McClellan
bridled at the thought of the
president suffering a defi
ciency in credibility. But that
in truth is the biggest prob
lem he faces today.
Robert Novak is a nation
ally syndicated columnist
and a television commenta
tor.
sermonized, as if we were too
dumb to separate scientific
fact from fraud.
In the end, we concluded
that some of the vaccines were
more worth the risks than oth
ers. At my son's two-month
checkup, the pediatrician
expected him to receive a
triple-combination shot called
"Pediarix" (consisting of Hep
B, inactivated polio, and DTaP,
which covers diphtheria,
tetanus and acellular pertussis),
as well as Hiß (for certain bac
terial infections) and Prevnar
(for meningitis and blood infec
tions). I reiterated my refusal of
Hep B, accepted DTaP and
Hiß, and asked to put off polio
and Prevnar. In response, I
received a threat: Get all the
vaccines or get out of our prac
tice.
"Informed consent"? Ha.
This was uninformed coercion.
We're leaving for another prac
tice, a little bitter but wiser. The
strong-arm tactics of the med
ical establishment mustn't
intimidate parents from chal
lenging the universal vaccine
orthodoxy. When it comes to
protecting our children's health,
skepticism is the best medicine.
Michelle Malkin is a
nationally syndicated colum
nist. Her e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.
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