Newspaper Page Text
4A
SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2005
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Will It Come Up Again?
Centerville’s city fathers voted not to call for a
referendum on sale of alcoholic beverages on
Sundays.
It was a close vote.
Advocates of a referendum seeking voters’ per
mission for two businesses to sell alcohol on
Sunday had a good argument. So did the council
members who opposed it.
Mayor Ronnie Brand broke a 2-2 tie rejecting a
call for a referendum on the issue.
After the smoke settled Councilman Cameron
Andrews, who voted against calling for the refer
endum, said that he still believes the issue will
wind up before the voters before long.
Advocates of the sale of beverages by two
restaurants in Centerville - O’Charley’s and
Danielle’s New Orleans Bistro - contended that
it would keep people at home when dining out
and would bring new revenue into the city.
Andrews said that claims it would bring down
taxes and create revenue are “poor excuses” to
permit the restaurants to sell alcohol on Sundays.
Wherever this subject comes up it is a hot issue.
It will be interesting to see if it remains a dead
issue in Centerville.
Free Teen Driving Program
Teenage drivers would do well to attend a free
two-hour program aimed at helping them become
better and safer drivers.
The program, which will be held at 9 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 28, by the Warner Robins Police
Department, does not address technical skills,
but is aimed at driving attitude, knowledge and
behavior.
The teens will learn about getting licenses, acci
dent statistics and dynamics and attitudes ...
information they normally are not exposed to.
Following the program they will be asked to
enter into an agreement to “Ride With PRIDE”
by following advice given them during the pro
gram.
Teens interested in improving as vehicle drivers
should sign up. It’s free and worthwhile. They
can sign up at the Warner Robins Police
Department.
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My sorrow? I'll take two sugars, please
“When you say goodbye to
a friend, assume that one of
you is going to die before
you ever get to see one
another again. If you want
to leave something unsaid,
fine ... but be prepared to
leave it unsaid forever.”
- Walter Slovotsky
It’s so very comfortable,
under this tree, the gentle
wind stirring the leaves
overhead, their rustle the
only sound on the vast,
empty plain.
Wait a minute.
I sit up.
This isn’t right.
I’ve had this dream
before, once.
A quiet place, all to myself
... must be a dream.
1 ■ 1
■Ft
Jon Suggs
Staff Writer
jsuggs@evansnewspapers.com
As I stand, I can make out
other sounds, whispers in
the wind, and overhead I see
the branches leaning in,
trembling, and their leaves
You've just got to love this couple
You’ve just got to love the
elderly man and his wife
who had a gunfight with two
scoundrels who tried to rob
them in their little grocery
store. When the criminals
started shooting at the cou
ple, both the man and
woman pulled out their
trusty pistols and opened
fire. When the smoke
cleared there were two less
criminals around to try to
rob another store.
• • •
Does all the talk about let
ting young people invest
part of the money they pay
in Social Security taxes
scare you?
How many young people
do you know who have any
idea how to save money, let
alone invest it?
During the past 50 years
we have created generations
of young people who expect
- and demand - instant
gratification and are willing
to buy anything they can
put on their credit cards.
(OK: There are a few excep
tions.}
If President Bush has his
way on this point, it will be
interesting to watch what
happens.
• • •
Democrats who are claim
ing that the president is out
to “destroy” Social Security
A heartless Homeland Security screw-up
Do you remember when
immigration officials sent
out flight school visa
approval notices for two of
the 9/11 hijackers - six
months after they had com
mitted their suicide attacks
on America?
President Bush pro
claimed his outrage, four
federal immigration officials
were reassigned, and
Washington vowed that
such embarrassing bureau
cratic paperwork snafus
would never happen again.
I’m sorry to report to you
that it has, in fact, happened
again.
On Jan. 15, immigration
officials sent a notice to
Eugueni Kniazev of
Brooklyn, N.Y. The letter
informs Kniazev, an immi
grant from Siberia, that he
is now “deemed to be a law
ful permanent resident of
the United States.” The
notice directs Kniazev to
obtain a new alien registra
tion receipt card (what we
commonly call a “green
begin to fall ...
I kneel, pick one up and I
am ...
... walking across the
street for pizza, at a place
where they all know my
name.
I touch another and I am
... sitting in my quiet little
apartment.
I scoop up a handful and
there are ...
... lunch conversations
with my friend the lifestyle
editor ...
... the many subtle noises
of my friend the staff writer
in the comer ...
... the unfailing generosity
of my friend the paginator.
They are cascading now,
and as I fall backward to the
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
and today’s old people will
be the victims should be
ashamed of themselves.
This scare tactic has
worked for many years and
many elections. Tell most
old folks that a politician is
going to take away even a
part of their Social Security
benefits and they become
frantic.
Truth is: Social Security
benefits for the present crop
of seniors and at least one
more generation are safe
from any changes that
might be adopted to “save”
Social Security.
Something to consider:
There is no Social Security
Trust Fund, which politi
cians keep referring to. As
fast as Social Security taxes
jH 9
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
card”) and instructs him to
appear in person at the
immigration office at 26
Federal Plaza in New York
City with his passport and
three recent photos.
But Eugueni Kniazev
won’t be appearing at
Federal Plaza. He won’t be
going anywhere. Kniazev,
47, was an employee of the
Windows on the World
restaurant located on the
107th floor of the World
Trade Center’s North
Tower. After working his
way up from dishwasher to
facilities manager and living
the American dream,
Kniazev was murdered in
the terrorist attacks on
Sept. 11, 2001.
Let me repeat that for the
clueless paper-pushers at
the Department of
Homeland Security:
Eugueni Kniazev won’t be
picking up his green card
because he has been dead
for nearly three-and-a-half
years.
What on earth is wrong
with our federal govern
ment? Can you imagine how
upsetting it must have been
for family members to
receive the letter? Why did
n’t it occur to anybody to
cross-check the official list
of Sept. 11 victims against
ground I am covered in the
dry rustlings of this place ...
... weekly all-you-can-eat
pizza buffet dinners with my
friend the accountant...
... the nicest city council I
ever covered ...
... and the other one, too ...
... the boom and bellow
down the hall signifying the
boss is in the building ...
... the quiet madness of a
midday press deadline ...
... arguing donut vs.
doughnut, okay vs. OK, and
so on and so forth with the
fellow who always smiles
when he’s right - unfortu
nately, most of the time - my
pal the managing editor.
And, last, slowly spiraling
to land on my forehead ...
... this little space on page
4A.
come in the U.S. Treasury
turns an IOU over to the
trustees and then spends
the money. So the so-called
Social Security Trust Fund
is nothing more than a vault
full of IOUs.
• • •
Something that frightens
me for future generations is
the way they keep tinkering
with Medicare.
Nothing is wrong with
Medicare in its present pure
form. I am afraid of the new
programs being offered as
an “improvement” over the
present system.
Ask any senior who has
had a serious illness or sur
gery about the present
Medicare system and you
will find enthusiastic
endorsement of it.
When they send me litera
ture about signing up for
one of those newfangled
Medicare programs I dis
patch it to the nearest trash
bin.
• • •
Are you bombarded with
letters from financial insti
tutions telling you that you
have been “approved” for
one of their credit cards?
What they mean is that you
have been “approved” to
apply so that they can do a
credit check on you.
I don’t understand why
the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services’
records? Did homeland secu
rity officials learn nothing
from the dead hijacker visa
letter fiasco?
After that debacle, top
immigration officials
pledged “to improve the effi
ciency and effectiveness of
the nation’s immigration
system.” In the fall of 2002,
President Bush signed into
law the creation of the behe
moth Department of
Homeland Security, encom
passing 22 agencies, 180,000
employees and a nearly $34
billion budget. Last month,
the president signed the
Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism Prevention Act,
creating another huge
mega-agency “to ensure
that the people in govern
ment responsible for defend
ing America have the best
possible information to
make the best possible deci
sions.”
Promises, promises.
Despite billions spent on
restructuring and new tech
nology, our homeland securi
ty system is still unable to
prevent a green card
approval notice from being
sent to a dead person. The
fact that the letter recipient
is a murdered Sept. 11 vic
tim adds unconscionable
insult to bureaucratic injury.
A Department of Homeland
Security spokesman told me
it’s up to family members to
notify the government when
an applicant dies. “It’s
unfortunate,” he said, but
there is no mechanism in
place to prevent this from
happening again.
Eugueni Kniazev’s case is
only the tip of the incompe
tence iceberg:
• The nation’s various fin
gerprint databases still have
not been integrated because
of bickering among FBI,
State Department and
I lie there for a long time,
thinking, until the shadow
spreads across my face, and
I know I have to look up,
look on.
The tree holds out to me a
simple pair: coat and hat.
It’s a battered old double
breasted black trench coat,
more worn in dreams than
reality, but in dreams I tend
to see things as they are,
rather than as they appear.
It fits loosely, like it
always has, because you
can’t get a coat for someone
as tall as I am that is also
made for someone so nar
row.
Not off the rack, anyway.
I accept my hat, a snap
brim fedora and, for a
moment, I stare into its
depths, head bowed as
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
they feel they have to be
deceptive in their advertis
ing.
• • •
The biggest rip-off I know
of today involves those
items, such as computers
and computer accessories,
where the advertised low
price is “after mail-in
rebates.”
According to recently
revealed information, about
half the customers never
receive their rebates, for one
reason or another. Some
people forget to mail the
information in, some don’t
do it right, some just wind
up getting screwed.
On at least two occasions,
when I had to send in origi
nal bar codes to receive
rebates, I received notices
that I had failed to send the
original bar codes. Since I
already had sent the origi
nals I wound up getting
nothing.
If companies selling com
puters, printers, monitors
and other computer relatec
items sincerely want to sav<
their customers money, the]
should tell manufacturers t<
forget about rebates and cu
prices. Of course, the manu
facturers would no longe
receive the windfall they di
now because of unredeemec
coupons.
homeland security officials,
which means that most visi
tors entering the country
still aren’t thoroughly
screened for terrorist or
criminal ties.
• There is still no system
in place for notifying immi
gration investigators about
stolen passports, which led
the Homeland Security
inspector general to con
clude last month that for
eigners using the fraudulent
documents have “little rea
son to fear being caught.”
• The long-delayed entry
exit tracking system for for
eign visitors in the works
for nearly a decade has
still not been implemented
fully.
• There is still no system
atic tracking of illegal alien
felons.
• And while millions of
legal applicants deal with
paperwork backlogs and
mishaps that take years if
not decades to resolve, the
White House supports
granting “temporary guest
worker” status to upward of
20 million illegal aliens - a
move that rank-and-file
homeland security officials
say will lead to rampant
fraud and even greater
bureaucratic overload.
The same overwhelmed
and inept immigration sys
tem that facilitated Eugueni
Kniazev’s murder has now
made a mockery of his mem
ory.
What more will it take
before “never again” is more
than just an empty rhetori
cal mantra to pacify the
American public?
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.
though I’m lost in prayer,
which is both exactly right
and wildly inaccurate.
I’ve always loved contra
diction that way.
I don the hat, and pull the
brim down just so.
I bow to the tree.
I walk away, from beneath
its branches, and I stand
staring off into the sunset.
I bow to the sky, too.
You never know.
I start to walk away, but I
know before I get even a few
steps that I’m forgetting
something.
Ah, yes.
I face the point of view,
doff my hat, and bow to you,
too.
Staff Writer Jon Suggs has
left The Houston Home
Journal. He wishes you well.