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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. AUGUST 13. 2009
Frankly
Speaking
frankgillispie671@msn.com
By Frank Gillispie
Health care plan
makes no sense
A few days ago, TV commentator Bill O’Reilly
said that he has a Master’s degree from Harvard
University, but that he still cannot understand the
Health Care bill. (H. R. 3200) Well, I am a quasi
literate, half-smart, semi-self educated Georgia red
neck and I cannot understand it either. I downloaded
the document, all 1,017 pages of it, and attempted
to read the thing. I failed. No wonder Rep Conyers
objected to being told he should read the bill. The
thing is impossible to understand as it is written.
Even the people who wrote the bill apparently
have a problem understanding it. From time to
time throughout the document, they give up trying
and just let someone else do it. For example, in
the section on definitions you will find this gem:
"(5) DEPENDENT—The term ‘dependent' has the
meaning given such term by the Commissioner and
includes a spouse."
The document is a mishmash of legalese and
bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo. For example: "(e)
PAYMENT OF GRANT.— “(1) IN GENERAL.—
The Secretary shall make a grant to each State
that meets the requirements of subsections (b) and
(d), if applicable, for a fiscal year for which funds
are appropriated under sub-842 section (m), in an
amount equal to the reimbursable percentage of the
eligible expenditures of the State for the fiscal year,
but not more than the amount allotted to the State
under subsection (c) for the fiscal year.
The following section is the one that many people
think would deny end-of-life treatment to elderly or
severely handicapped people. See if you think that is
what it says.
SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING
CONSULTATION. (3) Physician's QUALITY
REPORTING INITIATIVE- (A) IN GENERAL- For
purposes of reporting data on quality measures for
covered professional seivices furnished during 2011
and any subsequent year, to the extent that measures
are available, the Secretary shall include qual
ity measures on end-of-life care and advanced care
planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a
consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such
measures shall measure both the creation of and
adherence to orders for life-sustaining treatment. '(B)
PROPOSED SET OF MEASURES- The Secretary
shall publish in the Federal Register proposed qual
ity measures on end of life care and advanced care
planning that the Secretary determines are described
in subparagraph (A) and would be appropriate for
eligible professionals to use to submit data to the
Secretary. The Secretary shall provide for a period
of public comment on such set of measures before
finalizing such proposed measures.”
What we need is a mle that all legislation must be
written at or below the tenth grade reading level. And
that it must contain fewer than 200 pages. That way
even rednecks like myself can understand it. That is
what was promised, transparency. But then again, I
suspect that the politicians do not want us to under
stand what they are doing. If we ever figure it out, we
might vote them out of office.
Mark Twain once said: “Sometimes I wonder
whether the world is being ran by smart people
who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really
mean it.”
He has a point.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison
County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgil-
lispie671 @msn,com. His website can be accessed
at http://frankgiUispie. tripod, com/
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Email: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
BEN MUNRO, Reporter/Sports Editor
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE, Founder of The Journal.
Jere Ayers (deceased) former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
Periodical postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Madison & surrounding counties $19.75/year
State of Georgia $38.85/year
Out-of-state $44.50/year
Military personnel with APO address $42.50/year
Senior rate $2 off all above rates
College student discount rate $2 off all above
rates
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL
P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, GA 30633
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
Remembering Mr. John Terrell
My first memories of being
inside a bank are of sitting with
my parents in the office of Mr.
John Terrell, owner of Merchants
and Farmers Bank in Comer.
Those meetings weren’t tense, or
formal. In fact, they were relaxed
and friendly.
My parents weren’t exactly
poor, but they didn’t have a lot of
money either, and if they needed
money due to an illness, or for
a better, more reliable car, or for
repairs for the house, a loan from
the bank was usually needed. And
all it took to get those needed
funds was a signature and a hand
shake, from the kind and gracious
Mr. Terrell.
He would always talk to them,
and me, as if we were “some
body,” just as senior center direc
tor Joe Dudley told me this week.
That’s the way he said Mr. Terrell
always made him feel. When he
needed a loan for his first car,
that’s where he went.
That’s where a lot of us went,
and not just for the loan, but
By Margie Richards
for the chance to be treated like
“somebody.”
It might be years between when
he and I saw each other again, but
he always remembered me and
who my folks were and would
unfailingly make some comment
about me as a child. It made me
feel good.
Over the last decade or so, most
of my contact with him has been
at the senior center, where he
was always helping out, usually
through the non-profit Frances
Wood Wilson Foundation, of
which he was administrator. He
and the late Eloise McCurley, the
previous director of the center,
were great friends and Joe told
me that it is Mr. Terrell who is
responsible for the lovely portrait
of Eloise that now hangs in the
entryway of the center that bears
her name. You’d never have heard
that from Mr. Terrell. No, he was
a quiet self-effacing man, humble,
and a great humanitarian, as his
long-time friend, former State
Representative Louie Clark, told
me this week.
Mr. Clark said he and “Kid”
Terrell, as his friends called him,
were friends for over 30 years,
meeting first in Athens, and then
continuing their friendship here
in Madison County. They would
often get together for lunch at
places like Zeb’s Barbecue or the
Ila Restaurant.
“His favorite foods were chick
en and dressing and banana pud
ding,” Clark said chuckling. “He
was very modest and a true gentle-
man - the Last of the Mohicans,
if you will.”
And it would be remiss of me
or anyone else writing about Mr.
Terrell not to mention his great
love of Georgia football. Mr.
Clark said Terrell never missed a
game, home or away, as long as
he was able to go.
I asked Mr. Terrell, on more
than one occasion, to allow me the
honor of doing a profile on him.
He would always shake his head
“no,” being very kind but firm -
he just didn’t want the attention.
That’s a rare trait indeed, espe
cially in this day and age.
His passing last week at the age
of 84 was a loss indeed.
Well, I hope he won’t be too
unhappy with this column, after
all it’s written by a little girl who
looked up to a very kind, very
hue gentleman, who helped her
and her family on more than one
occasion. And I know I speak
for many here in this county, and
beyond.
Margie Richards is a report
er and office manager for The
Madison County Journal.
The battle of Shiloh through the lens of Foote
If I think of those days when
the nation was split, I can’t help
but hear “Ashokan Farewell,” the
melancholy, modern-day fiddle
tune that plays over and over
again as a camera pans in and
out on old grainy pictures from
the 1860s.
We can never really feel what
it was like when North and South
fought. But we can peer back
through a narrow lens. And the
Ken Bums documentary “The
Civil War,” which is nearly 20
years old, remains a staple of
American remembrance regard
ing that war. The 608-minute,
nine-episode series is always on
PBS. And I often find myself
wrapped up in it.
Of course, the voice of Shelby
Foote dominates the documen
tary as much as the fiddle tune.
He appears in 90 segments,
approximately one hour total.
Foote sounds like a grandfather
for the region, bringing melody
and grace to the Southern accent
as he flavors the narrative with
anecdotal ironies.
Foote, who died in 2005, was a
respected fiction writer and his
torian prior to the documentary,
but he didn’t find financial suc
cess and fame until the film. He
told Bums, “Ken, you’ve made
me a millionaire.”
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
I tmly enjoy his appearance in
the documentary, but I recognize
that his brilliance as a writer and
historian is too often overshad
owed by that film. I own two
books from his historical tril
ogy on the Civil War. And I’ve
read portions of each, though I
was ultimately overwhelmed by
the density of those volumes.
Still, if you sit down with those
books, I think you’ll agree that
his research on the war is tmly
impressive.
But I recently reread his more
accessible novel, “Shiloh.” And it
reminded me of what I like about
historical fiction. We recognize
that recorded history comes as a
third-person narrative. We can’t
use “I” for Abraham Lincoln. We
can’t step into his body. We know
the dry facts, but not the feel
ings, unless they come by way of
quotation.
However, historical fiction uses
the basic framework of names
and places, while freeing an
author from the chains of what’s
provable. Instead, the perceptions
must ring true. The author must
open the eyelids of the long gone
and make us believe that we are
seeing and feeling what they did.
Eoote’s 1952 novel, “Shiloh,” is
about the two-day battle in south
western Tennessee on April 6 and
7, 1862. It’s a seven-chapter book
that offers first-person narratives
of both Union and Confederate
soldiers. There is a clear journal
istic balance between the perspec
tives of Northern and Southern
soldiers. Men on both sides were
scared for their lives in the worst
of circumstances.
I like the way Foote describes
the inner dialogue in a soldier’s
mind. For instance, in the third
chapter, Private Luther Dade, a
rifleman from Mississippi, takes a
gunshot to the arm and is sent to
a triage area to wait for a doctor,
but there was no doctor about.
Infection sets in. He stumbles
toward the sound of gunfire, look
ing for help.
“I told myself: You better lay
down before you fall down."
Then I said: “No, you’re not bad
hurt; keep going. It was like an
argument, two voices inside my
head and neither of them mine.”
“You better lay down."
“No, you feel fine.”
“You'll fall and they’ll never
find you."
“That’s not true. You’re just a
little light-headed. You’ll be all
right.”
“No, you won't. You're hurt.
You 're hurt worse than you think.
Lay down,"
Of course, war stories will
always interest us, even if there is
something kind of perverse about
the fascination of man killing
man on a mass scale. But normal,
everyday people are swept up and
away by war. And part of human
empathy is the effort to under
stand their experience, even if
we’re ultimately bound to fail.
We know of the markers and
stones. We can visit batdegrounds
and imagine what it must have
been like in times long past. But
it takes people like Foote to let us
hear the voices behind those old
markers.
In case you didn’t notice, this
is my stab at a book report, kind
of like an assignment you might
have had for seventh grade sum
mer reading. Anyway, I challenge
you to read a historical novel and
write to us about why it’s impor
tant and why it’s worth a look.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The
Madison County Journal,
Chambliss, Isakson show their priorities
If you are trying to figure out what
your congressmen really believe in,
don’t focus on what they say — look
closely at what they do when it comes
time to vote.
A good example of that involves
Georgia’s two senators, Saxby
Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, and
their approach to spending about $2
billion of your money.
The two senators, especially
Chambliss, have worked hard this
summer to take nearly $2 billion out
of the defense budget and earmark it
for the building of more F-22 fighter
jets at Marietta’s Lockheed Martin
plant.
Should we really be spending $2
billion to build more F-22s, consider
ing their spotty track record?
The F-22 is the most expensive
fighter jet ever commissioned by the
Air Force, at a cost of about $350 mil
lion per aircraft. For all of that money,
however, the Defense Department
is getting an overpriced jet that
breaks down easily and still has not
been flown in combat over Iraq or
Afghanistan.
Here are some criticisms of the F-22
that come not from left-wing com
mentators, but from weapons experts
and Pentagon analysts:
The F-22 requires more than 30
hours of maintenance for every hour
it spends in the skies. It costs nearly
$50,000 an hour to fly one, which is
The Capitol
Report
tcrawford@
capitol
impact.net.
By Tom Crawford
much higher than the cost of the jet it
is supposed to replace.
The F-22 is a “stealth” fighter that is
supposed to be hard for radar to detect.
Its radar-absorbing metallic skin is the
main cause of maintenance problems,
including problems flying in rainy
weather.
In the period from October 2008 to
this May of this year, only 55 percent
of the F-22s deployed have been avail
able to fulfill their missions guarding
U.S. airspace.
The F-22’s radar-absorbing canopy
has been a source of problems, with
a stuck hatch imprisoning a pilot in
2006. The canopy doesn't last more
than 18 months because it loses its
strength.
Canopy visibility for the F-22 also
declines quickly and the canopy has
to be refurbished at a cost of $120,000
after an average of 331 hours of flying
time rather than the stipulated 800
hours.
Senators like John McCain, an
Arizona Republican, have derided the
F-22 as a prime example of pork bar
rel spending for unneeded weapons
systems.
On top of all these design flaws
and maintenance problems, the F-22
is a jet that the defense department
does not want. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, a Republican originally
appointed by George W. Bush, said
the $2 billion that would have been
spent for more F-22s is more urgently
needed to support American troops
fighting in Afghanistan. President
Barack Obama said he would veto
any spending bill that included the
F-22 funding.
Chambliss and Isakson pushed
ahead anyway in their attempts to
move around $2 billion in the defense
spending bill to pay for even more of
these fighter jets. They appeal' to have
been unsuccessful, although anything
is possible once Congress comes back
into session next month.
Their actions are defensible from
the standpoint of taking care of their
constituents. Lockheed Martin is an
important employer for Georgia and
you can understand why the two
senators would want to funnel more
money to it.
But Chambliss and Isakson both
voted against another $2 billion in
funding that would have had a much
bigger impact on Georgia businesses
and consumers: the additional money
for the “cash for clunkers" program
approved by the Senate last week.
You can make the argument that
this may not be a wise expenditure
because it adds to the federal defi
cit. The “cash for clunkers” program,
however, has at least been successful
in helping financially distressed auto
dealers bring buyers into their show
rooms. For some dealers, it could be
the difference between shutting down
and staying in business.
The $2 billion that Chambliss and
Isakson tried to get for Lockheed
Martin would have paid for seven
additional F-22s. The $2 billion in the
"cash for clunkers" program that they
voted against could result in the sale
of about 500,000 vehicles nationwide,
with thousands of those autos sold by
Georgia dealers.
It says a lot about the priorities of
our senators that they consider it more
important to use taxpayer money for
overpriced, unneeded aircraft than to
help out our auto dealers and car buy
ers - or our troops fighting a danger
ous way in Afghanistan.
Tom Crawford is the editor of
Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an
Internet news service at www.gare-
port.com that covers government and
politics in Georgia. He can be reached
at tcrawford@capitolimpact.net.