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FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 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
Spirit 01 Cooperation
This seems an appropriate time to take note of the
spirit of cooperation that seems to permeate relations
between officials of the four governmental agencies in
Houston County - the county commissioners, city of
Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville.
We cannot recall a period when there was as much
good will between these officials as today.
We cannot recall a period when they appeared as sin
cerely interested in working together to resolve prob
lems facing all of them.
Perhaps it has dawned on all of them that cooperation
is the shortest road to resolution of problems that have
plagued them for years and keep the public off their
backs.
The unanticipated rapid growth of Houston County
during the past few years has created a sense of urgency
that never existed before.
It was easy in the past to give lip service to cooperation
and sometimes for differences to flare up and pop into
the open.
Now there seems to be a feeling that “we’re all in this
together.” The public does not draw distinctions between
road and other problems in any of the cities or the coun
ty. After all, most people have no idea where city limits
end and the unincorporated areas begin.
Also, you must give credit to the people filling these
offices for willingness to seriously discuss differences
and problems in a civil manner and attempt to do what
is best for the taxpayers.
We Agree With Perdue
Gov. Sonny Perdue says the government should stop
paying for erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra.
We agree. When did we begin paying taxes for this pur
pose?
Georgia has paid more than $250,000 during the past
12 months to give these drugs to Medicaid patients. Five
of the recipients are registered sex offenders!
When this information came to light, the state
Department of Community Health said the drugs no
longer would be provided to sex offenders. However, so
far nothing has been done about discontinuing these
drugs for other Medicaid recipients.
There seems to be nothing the state can do about it. So
Gov. Perdue is calling on members of Congress to change
the rules and remove these sex enhancement drugs from
the list the state must provide recipients.
Members of the Georgia delegation should jump on
this immediately in response to Gov. Perdue’s request.
As a matter of fact, every member of Congress should act
on this. That’s not the reason we are paying taxes to the
state or the federal government.
GAMTLET
Slavery alive and well in modern
The March 2001 voyage of
the coastal ferry Etireno
briefly raised international
eyebrows and consciousness.
The Etireno’s West
African cruise through the
Gulf of Guinea was a voyage
of the damned, for the
Etireno carried slaves.
Human slaves.
I wrote a column about
the Etireno in April 2001.
The stoiy puts sad flesh and
bones on the U.S. State
Department’s 2005
“Trafficking in Persons”
(TIP) report, which was
released last week.
“On March 30 (2001) the
Etireno left Benin’s port of
Cotonou, followed by
reports that her cargo con
sisted of 200 children des
tined for ‘domestic service’
in more prosperous West
African nations. Human
rights organizations pushed
Benin’s government for
more information.”
With international atten
tion focused on the ship,
Gabon - the Etireno ‘s origi-
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nal destination - refused to
let the Etireno dock. “On
April 17, the Etireno limped
back into Cotonou. Upon
examining the ship, local
authorities said it was
“uncertain” if slaves had
been aboard. Realists won
dered if an even greater evil
had occurred, with the
human evidence drowned at
sea.
Slavery in the 21st centu
ry is as real as it is morally
Really, is honesty the quality you most admire?
The story goes that when
Gene Talmadge was running
for election (or re-election) as
governor of Georgia, he prom
ised one of his strong South
Georgia supporters that he
“would have a job for him
when he was elected.”
Talmadge was elected, and
the supporter made the oblig
atory trip to Atlanta to get his
just reward. After waiting in
Talmadge’s outer office most
all day, he was finally escorted
in, only to be told by the gov
ernor that he had no job for
him. Upon his return home,
the supporter, when ques
tioned by his friends as to his
new job, replied: “Well, I did
meet with the governor, and
he told me he didn’t have a
job for me. But there’s one
thing about ol’ Gene, he
always tells you the truth.”
One of this newspaper’s
competitors runs a daily col
umn where 10 questions are
asked of someone in Middle
Georgia. Sometimes there is a
photo, and sometimes not.
Seldom do I know the person
being “questioned.” Still, I
like to read the questions and
the answers.
The 10 questions vary, but
there are always consistent
and similar questions in each
interview. The one question
that is always asked, and the
one that interests me the
most, is this one: “What char
acteristic do you admire most
in a person?” Actually, it is
the answer to this question
that I find to be so interest
ing. Invariably, the answer is
Medical marijuana ruling hurts more
Earlier this week the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in a
case concerning two medical
marijuana users in
California. The court decid
ed that state laws legalizing
medical marijuana did not
protect these women from
federal arrest and prosecu
tion. They ruled that the
federal law superseded the
state law and was justified
in doing so by the oft-abused
Interstate Commerce
Clause.
Our nation’s federal sys
tem creates two spheres of
government: national and
state. The 10th amendment
to the Constitution grants
the state all powers not
specifically given to the fed
eral government. The
Constitution does not men
tion the power to ban the
sale or use of any substance.
This means that the federal
government cannot make a
law regarding it. The gov
ernment finds support for
the marijuana ban in the
part of the Constitution that
allows Congress to regulate
commerce between the
states. As the marijuana
used in this case was grown,
bought, and used entirely
within the state of
California with no intention
of transferring it to any
other state, the use of this as
a justification is ridiculous.
I cannot adequately
repugnant. Though “human
trafficking” may strike some
as a bureaucratic euphe
mism, U.S. Secretary of
State Condi Rice didn’t
equivocate in her condemna
tion: “Trafficking in human
beings is nothing less than a
modern form of slavery.”
Woman and children are
modern slavery’s most com
mon victims.
“Sex slavery” occasionally
draws tabloid headlines.
Contemporary sex slavery is
more large-scale than the
buying and selling of prosti
tutes. It includes the “forced
hiring” of child sex workers
and often involves shipping
prostitutes and children
across international bor
ders. “The Balkan Corridor”
is one of the more notorious
routes for this hideous
trade. Women from Eastern
Europe and Central Asia are
smuggled to Western
Europe through the former
Yugoslavian states and
Albania.
U.S. Ambassador John
Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgbc.com
something like “Honesty” or
“Honesty and integrity.”
Really? Is it honesty and
integrity that the person
being questioned most
admires?
Let me say that I feel there
is somewhat of a difference in
“honesty” and “integrity.”
Among other definitions,
Webster defines honesty as
“adherence to the facts,” and
“integrity” as a “firm adher
ence to a code of esp. moral or
artistic values.” I believe that
what most folks admire is
“integrity” and that if a per
son has integrity, they will do
the right thing most of the
time, resulting in being
viewed by their fellow man as
“honest.” And that the person
with integrity will always be
“honest” about things that
really matter.
Now all of this may be
“splitting hairs,” but I don’t
believe that most people
admire others who always
Tim Hoskins
Student Writer
hhj@evansnewspapers.com
express the fear that rises
within me as I hear this
decision marks the end of
this current court’s “feder
alism revival.” Never mind
the fact that it’s ending, it is
outrageous that rulings in
support of federalism could
even be described as a
“revival.” Federalism is one
of the great innovations of
our founding, and a funda
mental part of American
government. Federalism is
at the core of the
Constitution and it is the
law of the land. As the
watchdogs of constitutional
ity, the Supreme Court
should follow this in every
decision.
Republicans are quick to
define themselves as the
party that defends a strict
interpretation of the
Miller, State’s senior advisor
for the TIP report, provided
this gruesome vignette:
“Svetlana was a young
woman living in Belarus,
looking for a job. She came
upon some Turkish men
who promised her a well
paying job in Istanbul, and
once Svetlana crossed the
border, the men seized her
money, her papers, her pass
port. ... They forced her into
prostitution. ... They farmed
her out to two businessmen,
just like a commodity.
Desperate, Svetlana jumped
out of a window and fell six
stories to a sidewalk.
According to Turkish court
documents, the so-called
customers went down, found
her on the sidewalk and
instead of calling the police,
called the traffickers, who
killed her.”
“Forced laborers” are
another class of modern
slaves. The Etireno’s lost
children were certainly in
that category. The children
are “rented out” to West
adhere to the facts. In fact,
they don’t even like them. Let
me give examples. “What do
you think of my new dress?”
Answer: “It’s too short and
too tight and very unbecom
ing.” Another question:
“Don’t I have a cute daugh
ter?” Answer: “Cute, you’ve
got to be kidding. She has a
big nose, is fat, and is quite
ugly.” And another: “What do
you think about my running
for the city council?” Answer:
“You wouldn’t have a chance.
The incumbent will kill you.
Do you think folks have for
gotten what a mess you made
the last time you were in
office?”
This is the way my Daddy -
who was the most “honest”
man I ever knew - would have
answered these same ques
tions. “What do you think of
my new dress?” Answer:
“Well, it’s a pretty color, and I
bet it’s cool.” Question:
“Don’t I have a cute daugh
ter?” Answer: “She certainly
has pretty eyes - like her
mother’s - I know y’all are
proud of her.” Question:
“What do you think about my
running for the city council?”
Answer: “You’ve served
before, but you know incum
bents are hard to beat. Still,
you’ve got lots of friends and
family.”
Was Daddy being honest? I
guess about as honest as a
person could be - still, he was
not “strictly adhering to the
facts.” • But he did have
absolute integrity. He always
tried to do the right thing,
Constitution, and they con
stantly decry activist judges.
Where are those
Republicans now? Even gen
erally conservative Justice
Antonin Scalia abandoned
his standard strict interpre
tation views by voting with
the majority on this opinion.
Scalia and fellow Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the
same side? The strange bed
fellows created by this case
reveal the inconsistency of
those ruling upon it.
To tell the truth, the rule
of law is regarded so little
that both parties will pick
and chose only those laws
that suit them. Politicians
have adopted a “by any
means necessary” attitude
toward their agendas.
This problem is indicative
of the underlying flaws in
our current political climate.
People today, both
Republicans and Democrats
are unable to resist the
temptation to use law as a
means of ordering everyone
else’s lives as they order
their own. To put it in
Georgia terms, too many
people say: “If I don’t do it,
y’all ain’t oughta do it.” We
have lost the ability to
remain selfless and objective
in the face of the lure of
asserting our own will upon
others.
Since we live in a free,
democratic society, this is a
temptation that we must
African plantations.
In war zones, abducted
children often become “child
soldiers.” Uganda’s socio
pathic rebel movement, The
Lord’s Resistance Army, has
employed this evil recruit
ment tool for the last 15
years, but it has been a
vicious feature of many Sub-
Saharan Africa wars. Sudan,
Burundi and the Congo
(DRC) come to mind.
The State Department
report fingers 14 nations as
“poor performers” in
thwarting human traffick
ing. State’s tough document
names names, including
these U.S. Middle Eastern
allies: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Qatar and the United Arab
Emirates.
The others are an inter
esting mix of poverty and
tyranny: Bolivia, Cambodia,
Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica,
Myanmar, North Korea,
Sudan, Togo and Venezuela.
State estimates at least
800,000 people per year are
bought and sold.
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
and I believe most people who
knew him would say: “Mr.
Cohen was an honest man.”
When what they really meant
(or mean) was that he had
great integrity. Let me put it
another way. I doubt we have
ever had an honest (totally
honest) president. Harry
Truman (who was initially
elected to office by the politi
cal bosses in Missouri - many
would say corrupt political
bosses) probably came as
close as any. But we have had
many presidents with great
integrity
Another question frequent
ly asked in the 10 questions
is: “What do you like most
about living in Middle
Georgia?” The answer most
often is: “I like the people.”
Well, there are lots of nice
people living here - and in
New York, and in Dothan,
Ala., and in London, and in
Cedar Key, Fla. You get the
point.
Let me question myself,
since it is unlikely I will get to
participate in the other
paper’s poll.
1. What do you like most
about living in Middle
Georgia? I like the fact that
we have a strong and vibrant
economy, but still retain the
best of suburban-rural living.
Good quality of life.
2. What characteristics do you
admire most in a person?
Loyalty. Unfortunately, it is in
increasingly short supply.
3. What books are you now
reading? “Franklin and
Winston” by Jon Meacham,
than helps
resist. We must make laws
based on sound reason and
the best interests of the
nation, with careful protec
tion of God-given human
rights. We must act for the
good of the nation, not for
our own personal prefer
ence.
Part of the good of the
nation may be for marijuana
to remain completely illegal,
but the good of the nation
also includes maintaining
the federal system and
interpreting the
Constitution as it was writ
ten. Whatever good may be
accomplished through con
trolling marijuana will be
counterbalanced by the
harm that comes from
undermining our nation’s
founding laws. Medieval
philosopher of law Thomas
Aquinas said that even a
good law was harmful if it
undermined the integrity of
all the laws, which is exactly
what’s happening here. We
are protecting the integrity
of the Controlled
Substances Act at the
expense of the U.S.
Constitution.
The issue here is not
whether marijuana ought to
be legalized. The issue is not
whether marijuana has
legitimate medicinal uses.
The issue here is whether
we as a people will follow
our own laws at all times, or
trample on them when it is
convenient.
world
Does the United States
have a problem? Yes. The
TIP report documents sev
eral cases of Mexican
women and girls smuggled
into the United States and
forced into prostitution.
“Forced labor slavery” may
not be as prevalent in the
United States, but it occurs.
What is to be done? The
Department of Justice has
successfully prosecuted a
number of sex slavery cases.
The State Department has
implemented a multi
pronged “anti-trafficking”
initiative that includes non
governmental organizations
and piggybacks on
Homeland Security and
intelligence agency counter
smuggling efforts.
But as for effective inter
national economic and polit
ical sanctions? If they work,
they work slowly.
Meanwhile, the evil trade
continues.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, visit the
Creators Syndicate web page
at www.creators.com.