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♦ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 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
my Remove Fingerprints?
Another interesting bill has surfaced in the
Georgia House of Representatives.
It proposes to remove the requirement that fin
gerprints appear on driver’s licenses.
The reason given is to protect us against identi
ty fraud.
It sounds like a cockamamie idea to us. It also
seems logical that fingerprints on driver’s licens
es are an aid to law enforcement agencies.
The scandal surrounding the revelation that
thousands of people’s identities have been stolen
from Choice Point computers has some lawmakers
rushing to fix a problem that does not exist.
We believe this is not a problem. So let’s not tin
ker with a system of having fingerprints on dri
ver’s licenses that has served us and the state
well for decades.
We already have too many laws looking for
problems to solve.
21 CP Keeping Us Informed
The desire on the part of most Houston
Countians for information on the forthcoming
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process is
almost insatiable.
While news releases are made periodically to
keep the public informed on the status of efforts
to prepare Robins Air Force Base and the local
community for the visitation of members of the
BRAC commission, any additional information is
appreciated.
The 21st Century Partnership, which has been
at the forefront in efforts to prepare for BRAC
and keeping the public informed, has gone one
important step further by creating a Web site
where the latest information is available.
The web site is: www.bracnews.org.
Information on the timeline for the BRAC
process is available.
The first deadline is May 16, when the
Department of Defense will submit a list of mili
tary installations to be considered by the BRAC
commission, which President Bush will appoint.
As each step of the process progresses the 21st
Century Partnership Web site will be updated.
This is a useful and thoughtful action on the
part of the partnership, which is leading Middle
Georgia efforts to convince the BRAC commission
that Robins Air Force Base is a viable and neces
sary component of the national defense.
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Home Journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj<s evansnewspapers.com
'Old Europe' in political defeat concerning Iraq
Chalk it up as a second VE Day
(Victory in Europe), and credit
President George W. Bush for fol
lowing Sir Winston Churchill’s
wise counsel: “In Victory:
Magnanimity.”
Bush’s low-key shellacking of
France’s crook-in-chief, Jacques
Chirac, signals the political defeat
of “Old Europe” on the issue of
Iraq. This past Monday, before a
state dinner in Belgium, a reporter
asked Bush if he would invite
Chirac to his Texas ranch. Bush
quipped, “I’m looking for a good
cowboy.”
Remember, “cowboy” is Euro
snob code for “pathological
American suffering from hyper
power and gigantisme militaire. ”
Chirac responded by praising the
excellence of U.S.-French rela
tions.
Yes indeed, my Parisian pod
nuh, we’re all cowboys now -
“High Noon” cowboys dedicated to
defending justice and freedom.
With a 10-gallon grin, Chirac’s
“western front” - a political con
coction of anti-Americanism and
cowardice - quietly folds. The Iraqi
people’s Jan 30 electoral show of
force sealed Chirac’s defeat. Even
in the benighted Bastilles of Paris
and Berlin, those ink-stained indi
cators of democracy in the line of
fire - purple fingers - point the
way to the future.
The ongoing and oh-so-public
moral collapse of the United
■p%tr n
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
Nations contributes to America’s
political victory. Chirac banked on
the U.N. as a platform for his cyni
cal brand of political power projec
tion. The Oil for Food travesty, sex
shenanigans in Geneva and
hideous sex crimes in the Congo
confirm the U.N.’s deep systemic
ills and the need for major reform.
As Martin Peretz wrote in a recent
New Republic essay, the U.N. “is
not a magnet for the good. It per
forms the magic of the wicked. It is
corrupt, it is pompous, it is shack
led to tyrants and cynics.”
Chirac’s Old Europe faced
European opponents, beginning
with Tony Blair’s Great Britain.
Poland and Italy sent significant
troop contingents in Iraq and pro
vided crucial political support. The
Aspirin, donkeys and C. Jack Ellis
Do you think we will ever
learn? Let the government
decree it or put it in print or
on television and most
Americans will believe it.
Well let me tell you, it isn’t
necessarily so! Recently,
within the past 12 months,
studies were showing that
coffee was bad for you. Now,
a Japanese study has found
that people who drink coffee
daily or nearly daily have
half the liver cancer risk of
those who never drank cof
fee. And Vioxx and Celebrex
and Bextra are back - faster
than I predicted. Sure, there
are some dangers, but isn’t
this the case with every
thing you put into your body
- including that wonderful
drug, aspirin, and even
those rich foods we love the
best? Like most things in
life, it’s a “trade-off” and a
balancing act. My advice:
Try to do as much as possi
ble in moderation.
• • •
I read where our nation’s
governors (both parties)
oppose President Bush’s
'Supernanny 1 reveals a lot about our own lives
I finally have network
"appointment TV" again.
Appointment TV is some
thing you make a point to
watch, versus just flipping
around the TV screen when
you are bored. If you make a
point to record it, that
counts too.
I haven't had "appoint
ment TV" on one of the
broadcast networks since
"Seinfeld" left the airwaves
but I'm back with the new
"Supernanny" on ABC,
Monday nights. Talk about
great TV
In general, I am automati
cally turned off by "reality"
TV shows. But, this one
transcends all my biases. I'm
not surprised it's a huge hit.
Jo Frost is a real British
nanny, who says charming
things like "she's a cheeky
little madam" and "mum"
and so on. Each week, she's
sent to a real home selected
by the show's producers,
where real kids are totally
out of control - or should I
say where real parents are
totally out of control. Why
any parent would reveal his
little monsters on national
TV is beyond me, except
that they must be really des
perate for help!
Enter Supernanny. She
lives with the family for sev
eral days and observes the
scene. That scene is always
full of kids screaming at
their parents, totally dis
obeying them, beating up
their siblings (sometimes
practically beating up their
parents), never staying in
bed, and making themselves
Poles understood the stakes. When
I attended an August 2004 plan
ning session at the Polish head
quarters in Babylon, one senior
Polish officer told me: “Poland
appreciates freedom. That’s why
we are here.”
I didn’t take that as a snide shot
at France - the colonel meant it as
a fact that had shaped his own life.
The Dutch and Danes added bat
talion-sized contingents. In a late
evening chat session in Baghdad, a
Danish officer told me, “We have
few military forces (to start with),
but we’re here.” Why? America is
addressing the central strategic
issue: the need for a democratic
political reformation in the Middle
East. Extending democracy ulti
mately protects Denmark.
The steady improvement of Iraqi
security forces is a fourth reason.
While I don’t think we’ll see a fully
capable Iraqi military for another
six or seven years, the training
trend-line is positive. Bean and
bullet counters in Paris can follow
the trend out a decade, and it
points to a self-sustaining Iraq.
With 200 billion barrels of oil and
Washington as an ally, this New
Iraq could dominate Middle
Eastern politics.
Best clean your six-gun, Jacques.
On Tuesday, all NATO members
agreed to “assist in training Iraqi
security forces, to hasten the day
when they can take full responsi-
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Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgbc.com
proposed cuts to Medicaid.
At the same time, the gover
nors want to (and, I assume
most or all have to) balance
their own state budgets. In
other words, criticize the
president for cutting
Medicaid, but ask the presi
dent to send the states
enough money so that the
states can continue its pro
grams and still balance its
budgets. If you believe that
the federal deficit is a seri
ous problem and needs to be
Betsy Hart
Columnist
Scripps Howard News Service
and their moms and dads
totally and completely mis
erable.
It's hilarious and horrify
ing all at the same time.
After several days of this,
Jo sits down with mom and
dad and videotapes of the
kids and tells the parents all
the things they are doing
wrong. She typically starts
by telling the parents how
great their kids are, which is
very sweet and of course
untrue. Often in these meet
ings, one parent or the other
will break down and talk
about how these kids have
reduced them to quivering
bowls of jelly, and how they,
the parents, are completely
miserable.
Well, Supernanny explains
to mom and dad about
things like "the naughty cor
ner" and ignoring their kids'
demands for more water
once they are put in bed,
and looking them in the eye
and telling them some
behavior or other is "unac
“brought under control,”
then to cure the deficit, cuts
will have to be made to the
large entitlement programs
like Medicaid. I assume that
the defense budget should
not and cannot be cut at the
present time. But something
has to be done, and soon.
Believe it or not, the federal
government cannot contin
ue to be more things for
more people and for longer
periods of time without seri
ous ramifications. To put it
in the vernacular of the
country man, “the chickens
have come home to roost”
and President Bush has to
and must make the hard
choices. We need to encour
age and back him as he deals
with getting our financial
house in order.
• • •
Things are getting pretty
serious in Macon when you
see its major newspaper edi
torializing by advocating the
need for a court injunction
and restraining order
against its mayor and with
the advice to have him
ceptable." (Unfortunately,
she does not allow for
spankings, but that's anoth
er column) She urges the
parents to remind them
selves that they are, or need
to be, in control of their
kids. Supernanny and mom
and dad put a plan into
effect, and Supernanny
hangs out for a while to
make sure it's carried out
properly.
Typically, there's improve
ment. The kids stay in bed
for a change and don't open
ly defy their parents so
much, for instance.
Then, it's the best part of
the show. Supernanny
leaves to let mom and dad
handle things for a while on
their own, though the cam
era crews stay behind.
Inevitably, it all falls apart.
Mom and dad go back to
being quivering bowls of
jelly. So, Supernanny
returns, and tries to help
again. In the end, we're left
wondering if the parents are
really up to the job.
This is a hit show that
people apparently talk about
around water coolers on
Tuesday mornings. "Did you
see what that kid was doing
to that mom while she was
on the phone? I can't believe
she put up with that" and so
on. I think we parents are
both somewhat relieved that
our kids aren't (hopefully)
that bad, and yet when we
inevitably see shades of our
own kids on the show, we
look for tips on how to han
dle it.
I watch the show with my
bility for the stability of the coun
try and the security of its citi
zens.”
While training assistance cer
tainly serves as a political fig leaf,
it’s an absolutely vital task, as is
economic development.
That’s where France and
Germany can still contribute. With
Churchillian grace, Bush acknowl
edged that: “Today, America and
Europe face a moment of conse
quence and opportunity. ... We can
once again set history on a hopeful
course - away from poverty and
despair, and toward development
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
“thrown in jail if he violates
the court’s order.” What a
shame that it’s come to this
in Macon - a city with such
great potential. All of this
makes you proud of our
elected officials in Houston
County, doesn’t it?
• • •
Ned and Daisy Mae are
doing great, thank you.
What, you don’t know Ned
and Daisy Mae? Well, they
are our two donkeys that I
got through my friend,
Larry Horsting, after read
ing an article in “The
Progressive Farmer” about
how donkeys would protect
your cows from predators
like wild dogs, coyotes,
foxes, etc. And I have seen
them in action as they put a
dog “on the lam” that got
too near our new little bull
calf. Ned, named by grand
son, Walker, and Daisy Mae,
named by grandson, Wade,
give us two more Democrats
in South Houston. And, the
Lord knows we need ’em
with politics being what it is
in our great county. Selah.
own kids - as do a lot par
ents, apparently - and my
little ones think it is hyster
ical. "Did you just see what
that kid did, mom?" Still, at
other times I have threat
ened to call Supernanny
into our own home.
(Ooops -that's a false
threat. Big mistake.
But the success of the
show, and the best-selling
status of Supernanny's book
by the same name, speaks
more than anything to the
fact that so many American
parents are out of control in
their own homes. They are
miserable, and so are their
kids. Too many parents have
come to cater to their chil
dren, to idolize them, to be
terrified of saying "no" to
them, to think of them as
peers - instead of children
who need a parent's protec
tion, guidance, and authori
ty in their lives.
Who even needs a reality
TV show to know that kids
have "gone wild?" Just go to
a grocery store to watch
children screaming at their
hapless parents.
I hope a show like
Supernanny draws our focus
to the dangerous phenome
na of out of control kids -
and parents. But sadly, a
show like Supernanny prob
ably isn't a flash in the pan.
Given the American culture
of impotent moms and dads,
I imagine it's got a very long
lifespan.
Betsy Hart, a frequent
commentator on CNN and
the Fox News Channel, can
be reached by e-mail at let
terstoha rt@comcast. net.
and the dignity of self-rule; away
from resentment and violence, and
toward justice and the peaceful
settlement of differences. Seizing
this moment requires idealism: We
must see in every person the right
and the capacity to live in free
dom.”
For democracies that shirked the
showdown in Iraq, Bush’s remarks
are gentle acid, but it’s medicine
Old Europe knows it has to swal
low.
To find out more about Austin
Bay, visit the Creators Syndicate
web page at www.creators.com.