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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.
On your payroll
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
PO. Box 3177, dimming, GA 30028; (770) 887-4342
Mayor Pro-Tem, Rupert Sexton
705 Pine Lake Drive, Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-4332
Ralph Perry
1420 Pilgrim Road, Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-7474
Quincy Holton
103 Hickory Ridge Drive, Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279
Lewis Ledbetter
205 Mountain Brook Drive, Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3019
John Pugh
10813th St., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Chairman Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1
3550 Rosewicke Drive, Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-7937; office, (770) 886-2810; cell, (770) 318-3277
cllaughinghouse@forsythco.com
Brian Tam, Post 2
4410 Dorset Lane, Suwanee, GA 30024
(404) 392-6983; office, (678) 513-5882; brtam@forsythco.com
Secretary Jim Harrell, Post 3
(678) 513-5883; fax, (770) 781-2199
jwhanell @ forsythco.com
Vice Chairman David Richard, Post 4
8540 Meadow Grove Lane, Gainesville, GA 30506
(678) 513-5884; dwrichard@forsythco.com
Linda Ledbetter, Post 5
206 Mountain Brook Drive, Cumming, GA 30040
(678) 513-5885; home, (770) 887-5709
lkledbetter@forsythco.com
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Vice Chairperson Ann Crow — District 1
320 Dahlonega St., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 490-6316; acrow@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Tom Cleveland — District 3
5225 Millsford Court, Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 844-9901; tcleveland@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Chairperson Nancy Roche — District 5
7840 Chestnut Hill Road, Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 889-0229; nroche@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Ronnie Pinson — District 4
8310 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30506
(770) 887-9808; rpinson@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Mike Dudgeon — District 2
10075 Normandy Lane, Suwanee, GA 30024
(770) 781-5222; mdudgeon@forsyth.k12.ga.us
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
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U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District
1026 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515-1011
(202) 225-4272; (770) 232-3005; Fax: (202) 225-
4696
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U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson
120 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3643 or (770) 661 -0999
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss
416 Russell Senate (Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3521 or (770) 763-9090
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 9th District
2133 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515
Gainesville: P.O. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503
(770) 535-2592; (202) 225-5211; Fax: (202) 225-8272
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. Eugene “Chip” Pearson, 51 st District
The State Senate, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
District: RO. Box 38, Dawsonville, GA 30534
(770) 886-6971 or (404) 656-9221
Sen. Jack Murphy, 27th
District
Coverdell Legislative Office Building,
Room 304
18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-7127
Rep. Tom Knox, 24th District
220-A State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-6831, or (770) 887-0400, law office
Rep. Amos Amerson, 9th District
Suite 401-G
State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334; (404) 657-8443
or (706) 864-6589
Rep. Mark Hamilton, 23rd District
Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Room 504
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-0188; local, (770) 844-6768
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Fashion statements
I’ve been a fan of Dunkin’
Donuts for years. Their
Munchkins are heaven. Their
coffee is better and cheaper
than Starbucks. And the compa¬
ny’s management has taken a
brave and lonely stand in sup¬
port of immigration enforce¬
ment — refusing to hire illegal
aliens and blowing the whistle
on applicants with bogus Social
Security numbers.
So it was with some dismay
that I learned last week that
Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman
Rachael Ray, the ubiquitous TV
hostess, posed for one of the
company’s ads in what
appeared to be a black-and
white keffiyeh.
The keffiyeh, for the clue¬
less, is the traditional scarf of
Arab men that has come to
symbolize murderous Pales¬
tinian jihad. Popularized by
Yasser Arafat and a regular
adornment of Muslim terrorists
appearing in beheading and
hostage-taking videos, the
apparel has been mainstreamed
by both ignorant (and not so
ignorant) fashion designers,
celebrities and left-wing icons.
Three years ago, pop singer
Ricky Martin donned a tradi¬
tional red-checked keffiyeh
with the phrase “Jerusalem is
ours” inscribed in Arabic.
Apologizing for his oblivi¬
ousness, Martin said: “I had no
idea that the keffiyeh scarf pre¬
sented to me contained lan¬
guage referring to Jerusalem,
and I apologize to anyone who
might think I was endorsing its
message.”
Some famous Clinton supporters defecting
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
When Hillary Clinton last
Friday said, “We all remember
Bobby Kennedy was assassi¬
nated in June (1968) in
California,” she was not say¬
ing anything she had not pub¬
licly declared earlier.
Yet, those words detonated
a politically critical mass, rais¬
ing among Democrats new
levels of anti-Clinton senti¬
ment and concern about
Barack Obama’s viability in
the general election.
After Clinton cited the
murder of Robert F. Kennedy
as reason for remaining a can¬
didate for the presidential
nomination, I contacted many
activist Democrats — both
pro-Clinton and anti-Obama.
Without exception, they felt
Clinton had crossed a line and
inflicted a grievous wound in
the party difficult to heal.
This recalls Milton’s 17th
century tragic poem, “Samson
Agonistes portraying
Samson as a battler. “Eyeless
in Gaza” was the poet’s refer¬
ence not only to physical
blindness but also failure to
comprehend reality. As
“Hillary Agonistes,” she
threatens to bring down the
temple of the world’s oldest
political party.
Clinton’s Bobby Kennedy
comments last Friday to the
editorial board of the Sioux
Falls, S.D., Argus Leader
came when asked why she
was staying in th^ race for the
Michelle
Malkin
; yi
COLUMNIST
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez,
Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, Democratic National
Committee Chairman Howard
Dean, Hollywood darlings
Colin Farrell, Sienna Miller and
Kirsten Dunst, and rapper
Kanye West have all been pho¬
tographed in endless variations
on the distinctive hate couture.
So has Meghan McCain,
daughter of the GOP presiden¬
tial candidate, who really ought
to know better given that her
dad positions himself as the
candidate best equipped to
“confront the transcendent chal¬
lenge of our time: the threat of
radical Islamic terrorism.”
The scarves are staples at
anti-Israel rallies in San
Francisco and Berkeley.
Balenciaga made them chic on
the runway. British retailer
Topshop sold them stamped
with skull prints. Urban
Outfitters turned the keffiyehs
into a youth trend a few years
ago and marketed them as
“anti-war scarves.” Which
brings us to Rachael Ray.
Ray hawked Urban Out¬
fitters scarves on her Web site
before appearing in the Dunkin’
Donuts ad.
If she (or whichever stylist
is dressing her) wasn’t aware of
the jihad scarf controversy
Robert %
Novak
I
South Dakota primary June 3.
In March, when Time mag¬
azine asked whether remain¬
ing in the race would hurt the
party, she replied: “Primary
contests used to last a lot
longer. We all remember the
great tragedy of Bobby
Kennedy being assassinated in
June in L.A.” According to her
campaign’s sources, that has
been a commonplace observa¬
tion in private by Bill Clinton.
Poor taste by the Clintons
is matched by poor history.
Kennedy’s campaign against
Hubert Humphrey 40 years
ago is not comparable to the
Clinton-Obama marathon.
When he was killed, Kennedy
had been a candidate for only
two-and-one-half months and
Humphrey for two months.
Contrary to the impression
given by Sen. Clinton,
Kennedy was not the pre¬
sumptive nominee removed by
an assassin.
Humphrey enjoyed a deci¬
sive lead in delegates that
Kennedy surely would have
been unable to erase. As for
1992, Bill Clinton clinched
the nomination in April — not
June, as his wife claims.
Her recent performance
has led loyal Democrats to
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Friday, May 30, 2008
before she posed for the
Dunkin’ campaign, she should
have been.
Urban Outfitters initially
pulled the keffiyeh merchandise
and apologized when Jewish
customers protested, but rein¬
troduced them with different
names and colors in several
global markets. This is the same
company that marketed a big¬
otry-laced “Everyone loves a
Jewish girl” T-shirt stamped
with dollar signs and shopping
bags.
Most recently, the company
halted sales of a violence-pro¬
moting T-shirt last week depict¬
ing a young Palestinian boy in
a keffiyeh carrying an AK-47
assault rifle, over the word
“Victimized.” The T-shirt also
featured the Palestinian flag, a
map of the Palestinian territo¬
ries and a small white dove.
“Please understand that we
do not buy items to provoke
controversy or to intentionally
offend.” a company spokesman
pleaded. Their actions, howev¬
er, speak louder than their
assuaging words.
Dunkin’ Donuts won’t iden¬
tify where Ray’s scarf was pur¬
chased, but issued this state¬
ment after blogger Charles
Johnson at Little Green
Footballs (littlegreenfoot
balls.com) and I, along with
many other bloggers and con¬
sumers, called attention to it:
“Thank you for expressing
your concern about the
Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement
with Rachael Ray. In the ad
that you reference, Rachael is
talk to me about Clinton in the
same terms that had been used
by Republicans for the past 16
years, branding her as untruth¬
ful, deceitful and unscrupu¬
lous.
This condemnation is not
limited to Obama partisans.
One seasoned Democratic
operative, who had voted for
Clinton in his home state’s
primary but was not part of
her campaign, said of her
comments about Kennedy, “I
think it was about as hideous
as it gets.” Another Democrat
who five months ago rejoiced
in Clinton as the first female
president called her “sleazy.”
The defection of famous
Clinton supporters is continu¬
ous. The New York reformer
Sarah Kovner, an ardent
Clintonite and close associate
of Clinton strategist Harold
Ickes, turned up at an
Obama rally. Investment
banker (and former Deputy
Treasury Secretary) Roger
Altman, a charter “FOB”
(Friend of Bill), is reported
by Democratic sources as
advocating an end to the
Clinton campaign despite
the former president’s vigor¬
ous protests.
But not all Clinton back¬
ers have given up. Her labor
backers from the American
Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, the
American Federation of
Teachers and the Machinists
fcontinue the fight. AFSC^IE
PAGE 11A
wearing a black-and-white silk
scarf with a paisley design that
was purchased at a U.S. retail
store. It was selected by the
stylist for the advertising shoot.
Absolutely no symbolism was
intended. However, given the
possibility of misperception,
we will no longer use the com¬
mercial.”
It’s refreshing to see an
American company show sen¬
sitivity to the concerns of
Americans opposed to Islamic
jihad and its apologists. Too
many of them bend over back¬
ward in the direction of anti
American political correctness.
Naturally, liberal commentators
on the Internet are now up in
arms over Dunkin’ Donuts’
decision to yank the ad and
mock anyone who expresses
concern over the keffiyeh’s
symbolism.
It’s just a scarf, the clueless
keffiyeh-wearers scoff. Would
they say the same of fashion
designers who marketed modi¬
fied Klan-style hoods in
Burberry plaid as the next big
thing?
Fashion statements may
seem insignificant, but when
they lead to the mainstreaming
of violence — unintentionally
or not they matter.
Ignorance is no longer an
excuse. In post-9/11 America,
vigilance must never go out of
style.
Michelle Malkin is author
of “ Unhinged: Exposing
Liberals Gone Wild." Her e
mail address is malkin
blog@gmail.com.
President Gerald Mclntee
elicited booing of Obama by
Puerto Ricans at a Clinton
rally Monday in Ponce.
The noxious atmosphere
contributes to counterintuitive
results, in a national Princeton
poll last week. Despite plung¬
ing Republican support thanks
to an unpopular war and presi¬
dent and a declining economy,
the survey showed a tie — 46
percent to 46 percent
between Obama and John
McCain.
Most startling was 19 per¬
cent of all Democrats saying
they would vote Republican.
“Will 60,000 old. white
women in Ohio vote for
McCain and make him presi¬
dent?” asks a prominent
Democrat.
Many Democrats, not all
Obama supporters, feel a need
to end the contest for the nom¬
ination in order to reduce that
19 percent slice of apostates.
But it won’t happen,Saturday,
when Democratic National
Committee member? meet in
Washington to determine seat¬
ing of Michigan and Florida
delegates.
The Clinton camp this
week rejected a contemplated
compromise, posing more
struggle rather than reconcilia¬
tion. It looked like Hillary
Agonistes, eyeless in Gaza.
Robert D. Novak is a
nationally syndicated colum¬
nist and television commenta
tor.