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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2008
Editor: Angela Gary
Phone: 706-367-2490
E-mail: AngieEditor@aol.com
Website: www.mainstreetnews.com
Opinions
“Where the press is free and every man
able to read, all is safe.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Blame the media
I t’s easy to blame the media for all that is
wrong with the world.
Test scores are down. Let’s blame the media
for reporting the scores.
Taxes going up. It must be the media’s fault for
reporting it.
I’ve heard time and time again that “negative
press” is the problem. I don’t know how many times
I have responded, “We just report what happens. We
don’t make the news.”
The decline in the real estate market is just anoth
er example of the media being
blamed for something we have
no control over. Yes, we have
published stories on the increase
in the number of foreclosures
and the overall drop in home
sales. We would not be doing
our job if we didn’t report those
important facts. The number of
public notices we’ve published
on foreclosures has increased
dramatically. Readers can’t help
but notice that information. We
have to report on it if we are
doing our job.
I was at a recent meeting where one of the amaz
ing forecasters from the Norton Agency spoke.
Matt McCord began his comments by asking if
anyone from the media was present. When I raised
my hand, he said having someone from the media
would change his remarks.
“Just the facts then, today... no opinions,” he
said. “Glad I asked. That happened to me once and
you’ll never forget it.”
McCord then began to outline his opinion that the
real estate market is not as bad as it may appear. He
said the 40 percent decrease in real estate sales in
2007 was due, in part, to 2006 having had two huge
projects which inflated the overall figure. He said
2007 was the best year for Jackson County, other
than 2006.
McCord also commented on the foreclosure situ
ation. He said people who are being foreclosed on
had their homes up for sale anyway. He also said
foreclosed homes really didn’t change the housing
market.
I don’t follow that logic. If the people had been
able to afford their homes in the first place, they
would not have them up for sale or would not have
been foreclosed on. Perhaps it is the fault of the
greed in the financial system that created easy 100
percent mortgages and that pushed people into buy
ing homes they couldn’t afford?
Nah, it couldn’t be that. Must just be the media.
At the end of last week’s meeting, several people
questioned who is benefiting from all of the “nega
tive press,” hinting that it must just be hype by
newspapers to sell more papers.
But we are not benefiting from the housing crisis
or the overall economic slump.
We, too, feel the effects of the economy.
At the end of the day, we’re just doing our job
in reporting on the economic situation. The media
didn’t create this crisis and efforts by some to spin
bad information into good won’t help resolve it.
People may disagree with what this crisis means
for the county and the nation, but please, don’t put
on blinders and blame bad press for problems that
run much deeper.
angela
gary
Angela Gary is editor of The Banks County News.
She can be reached at AngieEditor@aol.com.
The Banks County News
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher (Editorial)
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher (Advertising)
Angela Gary Editor
Chris Bridges Sports Editor
Sharon Hogan Reporter
Anelia Chambers Receptionist
Suzanne Reed Church News
Phones (all 706 area code):
Angela Gary Phone 367-2490
Angela Gary Fax 367-9355
Homer Office Phone 677-3491
Homer Office Fax 677-3263
(SCED 547160)
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P.O. Box908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549
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Could Sam Nunn help Obama in 2008?
W here is Sam Nunn now
that Barack Obama really
needs him? Former Sen.
Nunn’s endorsement and support were
fine for the primary. Obama swept
Georgia, which might have happened
anyway. Nunn hasn’t been heard from
much since he publicly joined the
Obama parade. But his presence has
not been needed in his candidate’s
string of triumphs.
Now comes the hard part for Obama
— what to do now that Hillary Clinton
is presumed to be history in the 2008
presidential contest. Obama desper
ately needs guidance from such a
graybeard as Nunn. Of course, Clinton
is still technically hanging in there, but
the delegate math just doesn’t work,
even if the total count finally includes
Michigan and Florida. Some insid
ers say Clinton hopes to win enough
superdelegates to remain afloat.
A onetime superdelegate tells me
that poor Hill may as well forget har
nessing superdelegates.
“If superdelegates do anything, they
will get behind Obama. Reliance on
superdelegates coming to the rescue
was futile anyway. Superdelegates are
followers, not leaders,” says our ex
superdelegate who demands to remain
anonymous.
Even if Clinton makes magic and
finally gets enough total delegates to
grab the nomination from Obama, she
will lose. African-American voters will
be so alienated that they won’t vote
in November. Clinton cannot win the
presidency without massive support
from black voters.
Oddsmakers suggest Obama cannot
win the presidency at all, despite his
spectacular come-from-nowhere pri
mary victories. Nunn surely knows that
the White House is not in the cards for
Obama in 2008.
Watch what happens now that the
primaries are all but over.
Obama will
be swamped by
new leakages of
inflammatory
material from the
Rev. Jeremiah P.
Wright’s portfolio
of “Oppressive
America” essays.
What we have
heard from
Wright in the pri
mary season will
sound like nursery
rhymes compared to the rhetoric that
Republicans are ready to roll out about
Obama’s former preacher. GOP opera
tives also will plant additional reports
of Obama’s connections to shady fig
ures in Chicago.
The lead candidate and most likely
nominee will quickly find himself in
deep trouble again and sinking quickly.
What should he do?
Here’s one possible route out of the
quagmire. Obama’s closest advisers
say it’s time for a powwow with old-
hand politicians to chart a new course
for the campaign. Obama agrees and a
sit-down is convened.
Here is what Nunn or some other
adult Democrat might tell him:
“Look at the facts. You cannot win
the presidency in 2008, but you can
be elected vice president and then
president in 2012 if Clinton doesn’t
make it. Or perhaps in 2016 against a
Republican. Becoming the presidential
nominee and losing in 2008 is another
story. Historically, Democrats seldom
give their losing nominee a second
chance. As the VP nominee, you would
enjoy status and maybe even front
running status going into 2012 to chal
lenge McCain — or possibly an open
seat since McCain is old.
“Remember, voters don’t have much
enthusiasm for John McCain. Polls and
recent special elections show voters
don’t much care for Republicans any
where, except in the Deep South.
“The best Republicans can hope for
is that their turnout does not go down.
Realistic Republicans know they can
not expect their voter turnout to exceed
2004 levels. Republican turnout was
on the rise nationally in 2002 and then
again in 2004. In 2006, it went flat
across the country, rising again only in
Georgia. Slippage is in the cards this
year. Check your gas pump and gro
cery bills if you don’t believe it.
“No matter what else is said about
you, Sen. Obama, or your friends, you
continue to enjoy enthusiastic support
from African Americans, young voters
and the latte crowd.
“You may actually improve on John
Kerry’s numbers in Georgia four years
ago, not that you have any chance of
winning the Peach State.
“The most troublesome question
for you is this: Can the increase in
Democratic voters trump the flat
line/decrease in Republican votes
in the swing states? Don’t forget
those lickings you took in Ohio and
Pennsylvania. Is rural Ohio much dif
ferent from rural Georgia? Is exurban
Pittsburgh any different from Cherokee
County?”
This sit-down scenario may be a
flight of fantasy. No one could really
expect the ever-cautious Nunn to take
a public lead in advising a liberal
Democrat on political strategy, though
Nunn has worked quietly behind the
scenes with Obama on defense and
foreign policy issues. Right now, how
ever, Obama could use a big helping of
bitter-tasting political medicine, if he is
really interested in gaining the White
House one of these days.
You can reach award-winning politi
cal columnist Bill Shipp at P.O. Box
2520, Kennesaw, GA 30156, e-mail:
shipp1@bellsouth.net.
bill
shipp
Letters to the editor policy given
The Banks County News has estab
lished a policy on printing Letters to
the editor.
We must have an original copy of
all letters that are submitted to us for
publication.
Members of our staff will not type
out or hand-write letters for people
who stop by the office and ask them
to do so.
Letters to the editor must also be
signed with the address and phone
number of the person who wrote
them.
The address and phone number
will be for our verification purposes
only and will not be printed unless
the writer requests it. Mail to,
The Banks County News, P.O. Box
920, Homer, Ga. 30547.
E-mailed letters will be accepted,
but we must have a contact phone
number and address. Letters that are
libelous will not be printed.
Letters may also be edited to meet
space requirements. Anyone with
questions on the policy is
asked to contact editor Angela Gary
at AngieEditor@aol.com or by call
ing 706-367-2490.
News department contact numbers
Anyone with general story ideas,
complaints or comments about the
news department is asked to call edi
tor Angela Gary at 706-367-2490.
She can also be reached by e-mail
at AngieEditor@aol.com.
Anyone with comments, questions
or suggestions relating to the coun
ty board of commissioners, county
government, county board of educa
tion and crime and courts is asked to
contact staff reporter Chris Bridges
at 706-367-2745 or by e-mail at
chris@mainstreetnews.com.
Bridges also is sports edi
tor of the paper and covers local
high school, middle school and
recreation sports.
Anyone with comments, ques
tions or suggestions relating to
Alto, Lula, Baldwin and Gillsville,
should contact Sharon Hogan at
706-367-5233 or by e-mail at
sharon@mainstreetnews.com.
Calls for information about the
church page should go to Suzanne
Reed at 706-677-3491. Church
news may also be e-mailed to
churchnews@mainstreetnews.com.
The Banks County News website
is updated each Thursday and
can be accessed on the Internet at
www.mainstreetnews.com.
Going against
the grain for
November vote
W ith news of the 2008 presi
dential election continuing
to break on a daily basis, I
have decided on my vote for November.
It appears the “major” players are set.
The Republicans are going with John
McCain (despite the protests of right
wing yackers Rush Limbaugh, Sean
Hannity and the like) and the Democrats
are all but certain to line up with Barack
Obama (yes, Hillary is still fighting,
but it seems the battle was actually lost
some time back).
I can actually tell you positive things
about both McCain and Obama. First,
McCain is a true American hero. There
can be no debat
ing that one. As I
have said before,
I would shake
his hand and say,
“Thank you” if
given the opportu
nity. Anyone who
has gone through
what he has
deserves as much.
Without a doubt,
he would be an
improvement over
the president we’ve had for the past two
terms (who quite frankly may be judged
by historians as the worst we’ve ever
had.)
Obama would be a historic president
for obvious reasons. It would be great
for our country to take the step to elect
an African-American president. It would
say a great deal about us as a nation.
Obama has been able to capture the
hearts of millions of voters and has liter
ally pulled off one of the greatest politi
cal upsets by winning the Democratic
nomination over Hillary Clinton. (He
had no realistic chance of doing so when
this whole process began.)
However, despite what both have to
offer I feel I must go in a different direc
tion if certain things line up. Georgia’s
own Bob Barr is currently seeking the
nomination of the Libertarian Party.
There was a time when I could have
never seen myself voting for Barr.
However, that’s how much our current
president has changed the political land
scape.
Our current president, for several
years now, has launched an all-out
assault on civil liberties. His main
weapon in this war has been the dis
graceful Patriot Act. In addition, the
president has suspended Habeas Corpus,
which means you and I can be arrested
and held indefinitely without ever being
charged or granted a court hearing, all
rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
You see, when you become a dictator
as our current president has, then civil
liberties must go. That’s why people like
Barr decided enough was enough. For
years Barr was as loyal a Republican as
you would find. However, Barr believed
that Republicans should stick with lim
ited government, not an ever-expanding
one where citizens’ civil liberties are
taken away one by one.
Eventually, reaching his breaking
point, Barr said, “Enough is enough.”
He officially left the Republican Party
and joined the Libertarian Party, which
has always stood tall for civil liberties.
Barr can also continue to fight for issues
he’s always stood for like lower taxes,
rights for law abiding citizens to not
have their second amendment rights vio
lated and for the role of government to
be smaller, not larger.
The countdown continues to the
day our current dictator — I mean
president — leaves the Oval Office. For
Americans who value freedom, it won’t
be a day too soon. It’s been said the
Libertarian philosophy is a mixture of
the Republican and Democratic mindset.
With Barr seeking the party’s presiden
tial nomination, it says that it’s not just
liberals who value freedom, but conser
vatives as well.
If Barr can bring people from both
sides of the aisle together maybe a
needed third party revolution can finally
begin. It’s something our country des
perately needs. We can’t continue to
give away our civil liberties at this rate.
4 h
chris
bridges
Chris Bridges is a reporter for The
Banks County News. Contact him at
706-367-2745 or e-mail comments to
chris@mainstreetnews.com.