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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
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CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
PO. Box 3177, Cumming. GA 30028; (770) 8874342
Mayor Pro-Tern, 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) 886-2010
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
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.gaus
Chairman Jeffrey Stephens
PO. Box 169. Cumming, GA 30028
(770) 889-1470: jstephens @ forsyth. kl 2 ,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 Raybum House Office Building,
Washington. DC. 20515
Gainesville: P.O. Box 1015. Gainesville, GA 30503
Gainesville. (770) 535-2592
Washington: (202) 225-5211: Fax: (202) 225-8272
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1- JB
U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District
1727 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington. D.C. 20515-1011
Washington: (202) 2254272: 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
421 State Capitol. Atlanta. GA 30334
(404)656-6578: Fax:(404)651-6768
wq
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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u
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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Love personifies Hollyweird
Everything that is wrong
with Hollyweird and its
enablers can be summed up in
two words: Courtney Love.
Here is a '6os-born trust
fund baby who became a
drugged-out stripper, a criti
cally acclaimed singer who
couldn't sing, and a critically
acclaimed actress who could
n't act except when she was
playing what else? —a
drugged-out stripper.
Along the way. she became
pregnant with grunge rocker
Kurt Cobain's baby, during
which time she reportedly
shot up heroin. After Cobain
committed suicide. Love
cashed in. dropped their tod
dler off at Grandma's, stole a
married entertainment indus
try mogul away from his preg
nant wife, assaulted and
threatened'journalists, terror
ized airline employees and
passengers around the world,
overdosed on painkillers, and
every once in a while paraded
her tragic child at movie pre
mieres while tottering about
high and half-nude on the red
carpet.
Oh. and 1 haven't even
gotten to last week's breast
flashing performance on
CBS's Late Night with
David Letterman.'' the micro
phone-hurling tantrum at a
club after her striptease on
Letterman, and the concert
stage dive the day after that
sent a newspaper photogra
pher to the hospital.
Stripper-turned-celebrity
Haiti correct in overthrowing tyrant Aristide
PORT-AU-PRINCE. Haiti
U.S. Ambassador James
Foley on Monday passed the
word to Provisional Prime
Minister Gerard LaTortue that
his superiors in the Bush
administration were not happy
about language used by the
head of Haiti's new govern
ment. LaTortue refers to his
country's rebels as "freedom
fighters." That designation, the
prime minister responded, was
deserved by patriots who had
ousted as president the oppres
sive tyrant. Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
The exchange reflected the
delicate relationship between
Port-au-Prince and Washing
ton at this new stage of Haiti's
tortured history. Both the
office and person of LaTortue.
a 69-year-okl retired United
Nations development official,
are guarded by armed U.S.
State Department security per
sonnel. He needs massive
American help for this desper
ately poor country. But
LaTortue, no politician and an
outspoken technocrat, does
not welcome U.S. tutelage
about his language or his poli
cies.
The Americans are back in
Haiti a decade after threats of
massive U.S. force restored
Aristide. This time, however.
Aristide would have been
overthrown even if U.S.
Marines never arrived. The
prime minister is correct in
calling the rebels freedom
fighters.
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1
Michelle ‘ W
Malkin W
Courtney Love is a wretched
embarrassment as a musician,
movie star and mother.
"Where's Frances?!" she
screeched when she lost her
daughter backstage at the
Grammys last month. After
locating the child. Love aban
doned her and went out booz
ing with fellow exhibitionist
Pans Hilton. L’pon swallow
ing at least 20 milligrams of
OxyContin recently. Love was
nursed by Frances, now 11.
who made her strung-out (bio
logical) mother some green
tea while they waited for an
ambulance. "I made it fun."
Love explained to People
magazine. I said it was going
to be gross, and I was going to
have to make myself throw
up. but it was going to be
OK-
As muckraking authors
Andrew Breitbart and Mark
Ebner note in their scathing
and exhaustive New York
Times best-seller. Holly
wood, Interrupted." Love
ranks "among the most trou
bled and twisted alumni of the
entertainment industry annals
of fame and its discontents.”
She merits her own chapter in
their brave book, but she is
hardly alone (see Michael
Robert
Novak 'JT
I
This was my first visit here
since 1993, prior to Aristide's
restoration, and Haiti is even
more a third world backwater.
The radical president's reign
left a country without electric
ity. passable roads or public
schools, with a devastated
economy and. according to
LaTortue, a looted treasury.
Interviewed in his office, the
prime minister told me: "The
public finance is in crisis.
They (the Aristide regime)
took everything they could
from the reserve of the coun
try." His estimate: "over SI
billion" stolen in four weeks.
During Aristide's last days,
well-armed gangs supporting
him went on a rampage of
destruction and looting across
the country. It continued after
his departure and before for
eign troops arrived, with pro-
Aristide demonstrators sweep
ing downtown Port-au-Prince
to trash parked autos on
March 10.
When Caribbean neighbor
Jamaica gave asylum to
Aristide two weeks ago. an
infuriated LaTortue immedi
ately recalled Haiti's ambassa
dor to Kingston. A second
return of Aristide as a free
man is ruled out. Boniface
Alexandre, the Supreme Court
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, M«rch 26, 2004 -
Jackson, Winona Ryder.
Madonna. Anne Heche. River
Phoenix, etc., etc., etc.).
Breitbart and Ebner offer an
unflinching investigation of
celebrity miscreants and their
industry, "which condones
if not outright rewards
pathological behavior.”
The authors refuse to pro
vide what all the fixers, fawn
ers and Doctor Feelgoods in
Hollywood peddle to explain
celebrities' bad behavior:
mealy-mouthed excuses and
politically correct spin. Not
surprisingly, ingratiating
entertainment media reporters
and industry titans have made
a conscious effort to ignore
the book's diagnosis of "insan
ity chic." The sycophants'
coddling of Courtney Love
vividly proves Breitbart and
Ebner's point.
Now 39 going on 13.
Love is vulgar, wasted, vio
lent and vain the epitome
of the Hollyweird sex sym
bol. And yet. the industry
still adores and excuses her.
"She's just battling her
demons right now. I think the
fans will look past the
demons to see the talent
underneath. Max Tolkoff of
the trade magazine Radio &
Records told the press.
Underneath what? Her new
album is an odd. appealing
collision of precise hard-rock
riffs and glassy-eyed
screeds." gushed music
reviewer Kelefa Sanneh in
the New York Times. "Not
chief justice who became pro
visional president upon
Aristide's resignation under
Haiti's constitution, is a care
ful jurist who measures his
words except when it
comes to Aristide. He cannot
come back to Haiti."
Alexandre told me. Aristide
will return only if it is decided
to indict and extradite him,
Justice Minister Bernard
Grousse informed me.
LaTortue's simultaneous
reliance on and independence
from the Americans were
demonstrated last weekend
when U.S. military helicopters
transported him to Gonaives.
where the anti-Aristide rebel
lion began. He met "freedom
fighters," in coats and ties for
the occasion but disdained by
the State Department. "They
are not thugs," LaTortue told
me. "They are people who
have suffered from the dictato
rial practices of Arisjide."
LaTortue was impressed by
Guy Phillipe. the 36-year-old
former police commissioner
who led the armed rebellion
against Aristide. Phillipe's
irregulars still control half the
country but give way when
foreign forces arrive to
U.S. Marines and Canadian
troops in Port-au-Prince and
the French Foreign Legion in
Gonaives. But Phillipe is
estranged from U.S. authori
ties here. "Please tell the
American government that we
are not your enemies," he
informed me.
surprisingly, these songs
sound even better when
they're half hidden in a haze
of jail-induced hoarseness
and who knows what else."
Sounds like Ms. Sanneh may
have been in her own little
haze.
Then there's CBS. unre
pentant CBS. whose execu
tives were apparently tickled
to death by Love's pathetic
exhibitionism on Letterman's
show. The CBS.com Web site
still features a front-page link
to the video clip billed as
"Courtney Love's Desk
Dance." Like a soft-porn
spam e-mail announcement,
the CBS site luridly boasts:
"Oh. Danny boy! Watch
Courtney dance on the LATE
SHOW." After Love lifted
her raggedy top for the
charmed Letterman, he
grinned from ear to ear and
cooed: "Very sweet of you
We re going to lose our
liquor license.” Cue the audi
ence laughter.
"Take care of me!" Love
hysterically demands of her
audience. David Letterman
and the rest of the selfish
abettors in celebrity self
destruction have been all too
happy to oblige while poor
little Frances counts the days
until she officially becomes
an orphan. Who'll take care
of her? Dave?
Michelle Malkin is a
nationally syndicated colum
nist. Her e-mail address is
malkin @ Comcast, net.
The boycott by American
officials of the leader of anti-
Aristide rebels is a small part
of the American syndrome
that includes lingering sup
port for Aristide within the
U.S. political community.
LaTortue's words to me
might well be heeded in
Washington: "We are com
mitted to not only democracy
but also development. You
would not have total democ
racy here."
I found the fear among
many Haitians that John Kerry
as president (under Congress
ional Black Caucus pressure)
will return Aristide. The
Democratic candidate should
consider the experience of
Mary Louise Baker, for 33
years co-owner of a five-build
ing apparel factory in the Cite
Soleil (pro-Aristide) slum
employing 700 people and
feeding 7,(XM).
On Feb. 27, two days
before Aristide left, some 200
heavily armed pro-Aristide
gang members entered the
Baker plant to loot and destroy
equipment, leaving it an
empty shell. I asked Mrs.
Baker whether she will
rebuild. "I will have to see
what happens here, whether
you Americans send Aristide
back again," she replied. Such
widespread doubt stalls eco
nomic recovery for this tragic
land.
Robert Novak is a nation
ally syndicated columnist and
a television commentator.
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