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ForsythOpinion
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, PO. Box
3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770)
887-4342
Ralph Perry, 1420 Pilgrim Road,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-
7474
Rupert Sexton, 211 Hickory Oak
Hollow, Cumming, GA 30040;
(770) 844-7929
Mayor Pro-Tem 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, 108 13th St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-
3342
COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS
Chairman R.J. (Pete) Amos,
Post 1, 110 E. Main St., Cumming,
GA 30040; (678) 513-5881; rja
mos@forsythco.com
Secretary Brian Tam, Post 2,
4410 Dorset Lane, Suwanee, GA
30024; (404) 392-6983; office,
(678) 513-5882; brtam @forsyth
co.com
Todd Levent, Post 3,
110 E. Main St., Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5883; tlev
ent@forsythco.com
Cindy Mills, Post 4, 110 E.
Main St., Cumming, GA 30040;
(678) 513-5884; cjmills@forsyth
co.com
Vice Chairman Jim Boss, Post
5, 110 E. Main St., Cumming,
GA 30040; (678) 513-5885;
jiboff@forsythco.com
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Ann Crow, District 1, 320
Dahlonega St.,Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 490-6316; acrow @
forsyth.-kl2.ga.us
Kristin Morrissey, District 2,
3310 Cany Creek Lane,
Cumming, GA 30041; (404)
550-3083; kmorrissey @-for
syth.kl2.ga.us
Chairman Tom Cleveland,
District 3, 5225 Millsford Court,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770)
844-9901; tcleveland @forsyth.-
kl2.ga.us
Vice Chairwoman Darla
Sexton Light, District 4, 50080
Hopewell Road, Cumming, GA
30028; (770)-887-0678; dlight@
forsyth.-kl2.ga.us
Nancy Roche, District 5, 7840
Chestnut Hill Road, Cumming,
GA 30041; (770) 889-0229;
nroche @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
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. Tom Graves, 9th
District; 2133 Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington,
D.C., 20515; (202) 225-5211;
fax: (202) 225-8272
U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, 7th
District; 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington,
D.C., 20515; (770) 232-3005
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. Steve Gooch, 51st
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 321-B, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-9221
Sen. Jack Murphy, 27th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 325-A, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-7127
Rep. Mike Dudgeon, 24th
District; Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 608-C, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0298
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, Suite 218, State Capitol,
Atlanta, GA 30334; (404) 656-
5132; local, (770) 844-6768
“Like our political leaders, "This year
I'm standing firm I'm only ordering
on my resolutions!” two boxes of
Ll each kind."
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Jim Powell for the Forsyth County News
Blind sheik, mute president
Egypt’s terror-coddling
President Mohamed Morsi has
repeated his arrogant demand
that America free convicted
1993 World Trade Center mas
termind Omar Abdel-Rahman.
I'd like to report that -
President Obama repeated his
unequivocal rejection of the
Muslim Brotherhood leader’s
entreaties. But as of this writ
ing, no such public statement
or restatement exists.
That’s right. Obama has
kept mum about Morsi’s
vociferous lobbying on behalf
of Abdel-Rahman, the “blind
sheik,” who is serving a life
sentence at a maximum-secu
rity prison in North Carolina
for seditious jihad conspiracy.
The commander in chief’s
silence speaks volumes.
Morsi started publicly
haranguing the U.S. to have
mercy on the ol’ blind sheik
back in September. Rep. Peter
King, R-N.Y., confirmed to
the New York Post at the time
that the Egyptian government
had “‘asked for his release” and
that the request was being con
sidered by the Obama admin
istration.
Underlings denied any talks
were under way, but pressure
on the White House had been
building since at least last
June, when the State
Department granted a visa to a
member of the radical
Egyptian terrorist group
Gamaa Islamiyya (the very
group the blind sheik is
alleged to lead). The Gamaa
Islamiyya representative
joined an entire delegation of
Egyptian lawmakers who met
with top State Department and
White House officials. They
reportedly discussed the possi
ble release of the blind sheik
with at least one Obama
Keep sights on gun control
The following editorial
appeared in the Philadelphia
Inquirer on Jan. 8:
The raw grief in Newtown,
Conn., over its elementary
school massacre is not one
month old, yet there’s talk
from top Washington
Republican circles that the
nation’s pressing fiscal prob
lems may crowd out compre
hensive anti-gun-violence
measures for now.
Well, Congress should be
able to walk, chew gum, and
find the elusive safety latch
on America’s frightening
arsenal of guns.
In the wake of the slaying
of 20 first-graders and six
adults at Sandy Hook
Elementary School -— and
the haunting recounting of
the July Colorado theater
shooting during court testi
mony this week —the need
for broad-based steps to stem
gun violence should remain
high atop the national agen
da.
MICHELLE MALKIN
Columnist
national security official.
In late August, Gamaa -
Islamiyya went on to schedule
and organize a protest at the
Cairo embassy to further
ratchet up public pressure to
free the blind sheik. Not coin
cidentally, a terror mob
attacked the Cairo embassy on
Sept. 11, 2012. While Obama
minions were busy blaming an
obscure You Tube video, the
Department of Homeland
Security had warned two days
before the Cairo attack that
jihadists were inciting the
“sons of Egypt” to attack the
embassy over Abdel-Rahman.
“Let your slogan be: No to the
American Embassy in Egypt
until our detained sheik is
released,” the incitement thun
dered.
Morsi has amended his plea
to include an array of
“humane” benefits and visita
tion privileges for the murder
ous Islamic cleric “(b)ecause
he is a man, an old man, and
he deserves full care.”
Lest you need reminding,
the wily blind sheik has used
his visitation privileges to
wreak more terror from behind
bars. His radical left-wing
lawyer Lynne Stewart was
convicted in 2005 of helping
her client smuggle coded mes
sages of Islamic violence from
the imprisoned sheik to out
side followers in violation of
an explicit pledge to abide by
her client’s court-ordered iso
lation.
Indeed, President Obama
vows that measures being put
together by Vice President
Biden and a working group
that includes Philadelphia
Police Commissioner Charles
Ramsey and other law
enforcement experts “is not
something that I will be put
ting off.”
That vow acknowledges the
danger that the nation too easi
ly could forget the horror of a
mass shooting in which 6- and
7-year-olds were, in effect,
sacrificed to the National Rifle
Association’s insistence that
high-powered guns are essen
tial to preserving Second
Amendment rights.
In addition to second-guess
ing the likely timing of antivi
olence reforms — as Senate
Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., did on a
Sunday talk show — some
gun-rights advocates are ques
tioning the scope of the federal
response to Newtown.
But while a freshman
Democratic North Dakota
This is a of opinion - ours, yours and
others. Smcotwnm and cartoons are the "~
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
Covington and Burling.
This is the administration
that tried to shove Cirque du
Jihad éivilian trials in NYC
down America’s throat over
objections from 9/11 families
and national security experts.
This is the administration
that has rolled out the red car
pet for scores of visitors
belonging to groups serving as
fronts for the Muslim :
Brotherhood, Hamas and other
militant Islamic outfits.
This is the administration
that lied and blamed pretextual
Internet movies for its own
dereliction of duty at our con
sulate in Benghazi, Libya.
This is the administration
that suffers from chronic and
deadly apologitis when it
comes to dealing with the
demands of the Religion of
Perpetual Outrage.
This is the administration
that continues to deny plans to
shut down Guantanamo Bay
and transfer inmates to the
U.S., while it quietly moved
forward to purchase the
Thomson Correctional Center
in western Illinois “to provide
humane and secure confine
ment of individuals held under
authority of any Act of
Congress,” i.e., Gitmo detain
ees.
Denial is a river that runs
through 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., but the Obama adminis
tration’s tone-deaf acts of
jihad-appeasement speak for
themselves. Concern is more
than warranted. It's de rigueur:
Michelle Malkin is the author of
“Culture of Corruption: Obama
and his Team of Tax Cheats,
Crooks and Cronies” (Regnery
2010). Her e-mail address is mal
kinblog@gmail.com.
This “old man” is a virulent
anti-American propagandist
who condemned Americans as
“descendants of apes and pigs
who have been feeding from
the dining tables of the
Zionists, Communists and
colonialists,” called on
Muslims to “destroy” the
West, “burn their companies,
eliminate their interests, sink
their ships, shoot down their
planes, kill them on the sea, air
or land,” and issued bloody
fatwas against U.S. “infidels”
that inspired the 1993 WTC
bombing, the 1997 massacre
of Western tourists in Luxor,
Egypt, and the 9/11 attacks.
As GOP watchdogs call for
Obama to keep the blind sheik
locked up, we will no doubt
hear more slick protestations
that the White House has “no
plans” to release the terror
preacher. But I'm with
Andrew McCarthy, the former
assistant U.S. attorney who
prosecuted Abdel-Rahman,
who wamed last fall, “There’s
no way to believe anything
they say.”
This is the administration,
after all, that endorsed the
release of convicted Lockerbie
bomber Abdelbaset al-Megra
hi, whose terrorist act resulted
in the murder of 189
Americans. The Obama White
House feigned “surprise” over
the release, but documents
obtained by The Sunday
Times of London in 2010
revealed that the administra
tion “secretly advised Scottish
ministers that it would be ‘far
preferable’ to free the
Lockerbie bomber than jail
him in Libya.”
This is the administration
whose attorney general was a
senior law partner for Gitmo
detainee cheerleaders
weapons.
In considering measures
such as universal background
checks for firearms buyers, a
national database to track
weapons sales, harsh penalties
for carrying guns near schools
and arming minors, and stron
ger mental-health safeguards,
Biden'’s task force appears to
be well on track.
Also hopeful are reports that
the White House may get cre
ative, by working with
Walmart and other gun retail
ers to rally support for reforms
that, in turn, could aid sales to
law-abiding gun owners.
Along with a welcome
groundswell among teachers’
union ranks for the sweeping
reform that’s needed, it just
may be possible to maintain
momentum — and soon honor
those slain first graders’ mem
ory by making America safer
from guns.
congresswoman over the
weekend warned against
“‘extreme” measures, the
emerging White House strate
gy looks to be comprehensive,
not radical.
There’s little doubt that
Congress will be asked to rein
state a ban on assault weap
ons, as well as take steps to
diminish a killer’s firepower
with curbs on large-capacity
ammunition clips. The sale or
manufacture of dozens of
semiautomatic rifle models
and military-style handguns
also should be outlawed, as
they would be under a propos
al expected from Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif.
To stop there, though, would
be far short of what's needed
to address other key factors in
mass killings that have
occurred with horrifying fre
quency. So it’s encouraging to
hear that the Biden group’s
proposals could be much
broader, particularly in their -
notential to prevent the men
tally ill from gaining access to