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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Trade New Year resolutions for a new tradition
New Year’s comes with
many traditions. Whether
thete are certain rituals,
foods, or symbols, with
every New Year, there are
the same old things.
Why does the coming of a
new year bring about the
need for people to impose
life-changing decisions in
their life?
New Year’s resolutions as
we call them.
Once again I began men
tally drafting list of things
that I want or need to
change in my life.
In years past I have
resolved a wide array of
things.
They have been to study
Zealot: Guilty as charged
Editor:
In Walter Huckeba’s response to my letter
Wednesday, he said that I should be called a
zealot. That means a fanatically committed,
God-fearing person, so I’m guilty as
charged. All our actions take their cue from
the complexions of our heart, and as
Huckeba so correctly stated, we display
excessive enthusiastic actions at times.
Mr. Huckeba’s evolution means the belief
that all things change with the passage of
time so that all descendants differ physio
logically from their ancestors in accordance
with the characteristics of a living organism.
Or, as he would like us to believe, God
emerged from under a rock at some time
like we all did. Yes, Walter, I have trouble
with that.
Mr. Huckeba declares that I ignore the sci
entific explanation of plant life. Science is
but a pile of facts, not a golden chain of
truths, if we refuse to link them with the
existence of God. After all, what is the true
aim of scientific endeavor, if not to link it to
the discovery of a greater power?
Those who speak of the incompatibility of
Hopefully, a lesson learned
If there is any good that
can come from the horror
that struck South Asia this
weekend it is this: We are all
passengers on this planet
called Earth. We are not the
masters of all we survey. We
do not dominate this ball of
rock. We are merely passen
gers and we can be thrown
off at any time.
I realize that few of us are
learned in the concept of
plate tectonics that teaches
us that the surface of the
Earth is thin plates of rock
that are floating on hot
magma. There are many of
these plates, and sometime
they run into each other,
causing all sorts of stress
and strain on us who ride
them. If you would like to
see an example of what can
happen when two plates col
lide, take a look at a map of
the Himalaya Mountains.
They came into being mil
lions of years ago when the
India plate collided with the
Asia plate. Imagine what it
would have been like to have
been a passenger when
those two express trains
wound up on the same
track.
Sunday two of the smaller
plates collided six miles
below the surface of the
ocean a few miles off the
coast of the island of
Sumatra. The collision
resulted in an earthquake,
which registered 9.0 on the
MALKIN
From page 4A
Undersecretary Asa
Hutchinson stated publicly
that it’s “not realistic” for
his own officers to try to do
their jobs and deport law
breakers.
Morale among rank-and
file enforcement officers has
plummeted. The botched
Bernie Kerik DHS nomina
tion and the refusal of the
Bush administration to sup
port common-sense immi
gration enforcement and
secure identity measures in
the “intelligence reform”
bill (which ended up con
taining more non-intelli
gence than intelligence pro
visions) didn’t help.
Amnesty, shamnesty. The
year ended as it began, with
Teresa D. Southern
Staff Writer
tsouthern@evansnewspapers.com
more, stop procrastinating,
lose weight, improve my
relationships with people,
science and religion either try to make sci
ence say what it never said, or try to make
religion say that which it never thought.
Some people put a lot of trust in the sci
entific works that make our world a better
place to live, like flu shots. But is our live
here improving? Look about you! The sci
ences are mostly beneficence, but they pre
vent men from thinking. The most difficult
thing in life is to know yourself. Learn God
and you will know yourself. Scientists are
immersed in self-love. There are many kind
of self-love, but the kind that won’t admit
that there is a greater knowledge than
theirs is the worst.
Mr. Huckeba belittled my reference to a
drowning child, but he never revealed what
he would have done in a similar circum
stance. If he can honestly tell us that he
would refuse to ask for intervention of a
higher authority in the chance that it would
save his child’s life, then God help him and
his loved one. His child would be proud of
his expertise in scientific research on its way
to oblivion.
Russ Norris
Warner Robins
H ' ' | H
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
famous Richter scale. That
made it one of the most pow
erful earthquakes in the
century. The force of the
quake forced the island of
Sumatra 100 feet upward.
Just try to wrap your
brain around that concept.
An earthquake six miles
below the surface caused a
huge island with more than
100 million inhabitants to
rise 100 feet. I can’t put my
fingers on the facts to back
it up, but I would hazard to
guess that all of the weapons
at the disposal of the United
States military would fall
short of being able to pull off
a feat like that.
The quake spawned tidal
waves called tsunami, which
spread out in all directions
across the Indian Ocean and
the South Pacific. Where
they struck, they wiped
President Bush dangling his
abominable proposal to
grant a mass governmental
pardon to millions of illegal
alien workers and their
employers. First floated in
January, the White House
also pushed through a Social
Security “totalization” pro
gram with Mexico, which
will dispense billions of dol
lars to illegal alien workers
who used counterfeit Social
Security cards and stolen
numbers to secure illegal
jobs.
Announcement of the
Bush plan led to a spike in
illegal alien apprehensions
at the border the
first three months of 2004 -
25 percent higher compared
with last year. Those are just
the ones who got caught. T.J.
and maybe a little attitude
adjustment.
For many reasons I did not
adhere to any of them. I
decided I studied enough,
worked better under pres
sure, my weight isn’t perfect
but will do, my relationships
with people are fine, and so
is my ’tude.
This year I resolve not to
resolve. I’m not making any
New Year’s resolutions.
No change of eating
habits, no crazy diets, no
holding my ’tude back for
close friends and loved ones.
Without it who would I be?
Like many people my New
Year’s resolutions only last
ed through Jan. 2.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
clean the coastal areas of
some of the richest areas in
the world, as well as some of
the poorest.
While such an occurrence
would have been disastrous
in a developed country such
as the United States, it is
much worse in countries
such as Sri Lanka,
Indonesia, and Thailand,
where worry over the health
and welfare of their citizens
does not rank among the top
five concerns of their gov
ernments. In those coun
tries, money which might
have gone into developing a
tsunami warning network
as exists in other areas of
the Pacific Rim probably
went to collecting this years’
bribes.
The death toll from the
quake and tsunamis is rap
idly approaching 100,000
and will probably surpass
that by a large amount.
That would make it the
worst natural disaster since
a typhoon killed more than
300,000 in Bangladesh in
1970.
We are merely passengers
on this planet. With just a
shrug of its shoulders or a
breath of its wind it can kill
countless numbers of us rid
ers. Maybe this knowledge
will help us treat this planet
with a little more respect. It
isn’t like we can just hop off
and wait for the next planet
to come along.
Bonner, president of the
National Border Patrol
Council, told the
Washington Times in April:
“People were coming up to
our agents and saying,
‘Where do we sign up for
that guest-worker program,
or that amnesty?’ Word
travels like wildfire down
there.”
And around the world.
The word is we’re open.
Wide open. What a way to
ring in the new year.
Michelle Malkin is author
of “Invasion: How America
Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals, and Other
Foreign Menaces to Our
Shores” (Regnery). Malkin’s
e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.
OP-ED
We have 364 other days to
make these changes. And if
they are so needed in our
lives, can’t we do them any
old time? Why begin at the
beginning?
In the South there are
other things associated with
the new year.
Those foods, several of
which I despise. At my
house Mom dishes up col
lard greens, black-eyed peas,
rice, maybe a hog jowl or
two and chitterlings. Always
being a picky eater, she
made me something else but
insisted on me eating peas
and greens to have fortune
in the new year.
Once again, couldn’t we
Mayor thanks Perry citizens
Editor:
Please let me take this opportunity to
express appreciation to the citizens of Perry
for their generosity in helping the patients
at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville
have a meaningful Christmas. The Georgia
Municipal Association’s “Mayor’s
Motorcade” was tremendously successful
this year in providing gifts to more than
3200 needy Georgians In mental hospitals
throughout the state. Our local effort was
directed by Fire Chief Freddy Howell with
the support of the men in the Perry Fire
Department.
Georgia’s First Lady, Mary Perdue, said,
“The annual Mayor’s Motorcade is a won
derful example of communities coming
together to support those in need with com
passion and good will.”
Jim Worrall, mayor
Perry
(CcsMbmtt© tffln© Now "ifeaur
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eat these any old day of the
year and fatten our personal
funds and bring luck to our
lives.
And couldn’t there be
something a little tastier to
bring luck into our lives.
Many Dutch people eat
donuts on New Year’s Eve to
symbolize coming full circle,
completing a year’s cycle.
Well, I would make Krispy
Kreme very happy if this
were a U.S. tradition.
Imagine the “hot light”
would shine brighter than
usual on New Year’s Eve, as
everyone enjoyed a fresh hot
piece of dough dripping with
glaze. And imagine you
would get to pick the flavor
'Happy Holidays'
works fine for me
Editor:
Concerning those who have stated that
the Christ is being taken out of Christmas,
they should realize that 25 percent of us are
not Christians. Plus a recent poll reported
that a majority of us don’t want a constitu
tional amendment declaring us a “Christian
nation.”
We should try to understand that many of
us don’t want our malls and public buildings
festooned with Christian holiday greetings.
What one does at home, at church and with
friends is a large enough venue to celebrate
Xmas!
Just try to say “Happy Holidays” and
remember that we live in the International
City!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
1-475
US Highway 80 1-75
'■ 1 "■■■ Macon
s « „ / :
c % Moon Family T S
Bethel x Welcome Canter a
Church Bd. 5 i .
/■ \ Mount Pleasant X
/ Sandusky\ Church Rd. /
y* Estates ) ykr f
(+ Aldan A X' X,
l*
1-75
The St. Jude Dream Home * w ill be
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January 2 through January 23-
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2004
of your luck.
Let’s banish these New
Year’s traditions, and make
some new ones. Of course,
the first one will be the
donut addition. Though
many people enjoy those
New Year’s vegetables, let’s
just not force people to eat
them.
Let’s get rid of the old
man and the baby image,
placed on everything that
Santa and a wreath were on
a week ago. Has the old man
really aged that much in one
year?
And most importantly
let’s actually make our new
year a happy one, like the
phrase says.
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5A