Newspaper Page Text
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♦ WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2005
I Houston TTmue V
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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
His Choice Is Important
President Bush will nominate someone to suc
ceed Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor on the United Supreme Court soon.
His choice will not please everyone. It may dis
please everyone.
In our opinion, the person he names to the
Supreme Court should be someone who will base
decisions on the United States Constitution. We
do not need any more decisions that look to for
eign countries to see how they have ruled on sim
ilar issues.
The Constitution gives the president the
responsibility and authority to name justices to
the Supreme Court. The Senate must vote on the
person nominated.
Historically, presidential choices have received
an up or down vote in the Senate. Democrats
have been threatening filibusters - something
new on judicial nominees - recently. This cir
cumvents confirmation by more than 50 percent
of the senators.
It will be interesting to see if they threaten a fil
ibuster on President Bush’s choice to succeed
Justice O’Connor. If they do, we believe
Republicans should resort to the so-called
“nuclear option” which would result in an up or
down vote.
If there are enough votes in the Senate for con
firmation, good. If not, good, also. The will of the
Senate will have been expressed. That is what
counts.
Hag Debate Is Coming
Debate is heating up over whether we need a
constitutional amendment that would ban burn
ing of the flag of the United States.
Arguments run a wide gamut.
To some, the flag is a precious symbol of our
country and should be treated only with utmost
respect.
Some true patriots take a view that the flag is
only a piece of cloth.
Less patriotic Americans want to desecrate the
flag and all that it stands for.
As the proposal of a constitutional amendment
works its way through Congress we can expect
some heated, sometimes outrageous rhetoric as
the issue is debated.
Here is something that an unidentified Vietnam
veteran said on the subject: “When you carry
what the flag stands for in your heart, it really
doesn’t matter what anyone does to the piece of
cloth.”
Others consider the flag precious and more than
a piece of cloth.
In our opinion, once the smoke clears a pro
posed constitutional amendment protecting the
flag will be sent to the legislatures of the 50 states
for ratification.
LETTBIS TO THE HIITOR
Columnist practices revisionist history
Editor:
W.J. Hagan’s column on Howard Dean’s revisionist histo
ry is his usual right-wing view of things. It was Democrat
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s term that produced our
mqjor civil rights laws such as the Voting Rights Act and
the Civil Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, etc. There is
not a single Republican, African-American congressman or
senator today. The Democratic party offers so much more to
our poor and minorities. And they know it!
The Republican party wants to end affirmative action and
end the social safety net and Social Security. Medicare and
Medicaid. Plus give 50 percent of out tax cuts to our richest
1 percent! They want to end the separation of church and
state and replace all welfare programs with charity and beg
ging bowls! Abraham Lincoln wanted to send all the slaves
back to Africa - not free them! Clarence Thomas was
appointed by a Republican president and has sold his soul
to the Republican party!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
Hometown what?
Editor:
Regarding your lead story about radio stations in
Thursday’s paper, let me get this clear in my mind.
A Macon businessman with a Hawkinsville radio station
broadcasting from a Dooly County tower wants to come to
Perry as the hometown station.
What?
Skip Holmes
Warner Robins
Living with the 700-pound gorilla
It seems only fair to warn
at the outset that this col
umn will have nothing
humorous in it, and precious
little that is witty. It’s not
from lack of trying to create
a piece that is wholly enter
taining, as I’ve attempted
for days to string words
together of that nature.
Sure, there’s plenty to write
about, but the problem is
more systemic than themat
ic. It’s not writer’s block,
which can be overcome with
patience and a good jaun
diced eye. No, this is some
thing far more sinister. You
see, there’s a 700-pound
gorilla in the back of my
mind.
The gorilla came without
invitation, in a most unex
pected and unwelcome man
ner last week. I was at work,
going through the mundane
cycles of my job, when the
phone rang. It was my wife,
and she sounded strange,
clinical, as if all the emotion
had been drained away.
“The doctor called,” she
began in the oddly studied
manner she uses when she
is upset and doesn’t know
what to do. “Thomas’ test
results are back, and he may
have cystic fibrosis.”
She continued giving the
details as I sat listening,
stunned. Our 4-year-old had
been fighting a lengthy bat
tle with what we thought
was a bad case of allergies. It
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Unleashing a pandemic, U.S. style
Allow me to pose a hypo
thetical scenario. Around
1958, a virulent strain of
influenza killed 70,000
Americans. Let’s give it the
name: “H2N2.” When the
pandemic ended the United
States government stored
samples for research pur
poses. Years pass and by
2005 no one in the popula
tion born after 1968 had
immunity. If the public were
exposed to H2N2 today, mil
lions could potentially die
due to population growth
and the fact that in 1958 peo
ple had some immunity to
H2N2 stemming from the
1918 flu pandemic that
killed 50 million people.
Also, today’s flu vaccine
does not protect against
H2N2. Then add to our
story an obscure organiza
tion called the American
College of Pathologists
(APC) whose work is con
ducted under the watchful
eye of the government’s
Centera for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). One
day in October 2004, the
APC accidentally ships sam
ples of the H2N2 virus to
5,000 labs in 18 countries.
One of those samples was
sent by mail to Lebanon, a
Middle Eastern nation dom
inated by political anarchy,
terrorist organizations and
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Joe Bishop
Columnist
joe@wnng.mgacoxmail.com
never dawned on us that it
could be something so seri
ous.
Teresa finished by saying
the preliminary test was
only a sign, a first marker; a
blood test would have to be
done, and it would take at
least a week to get the
results back. After hanging
up the phone, I sat back -
and felt the 700-pound goril
la appear in my head.
It’s hard to concentrate on
other things when you have
a 700-pound gorilla in your
head. The gorilla wants you
to stop whatever you’re
doing, or do it without any
real enthusiasm, and pay
the beast all your attention.
You walk through life like a
zombie, when a gorilla is
calling the shots.
It’s difficult to stay posi
tive when you carry around
a 700-pound gorilla. You
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William John Hagan
Columnist
William_Hagan@excite.com
occupied by Syria. The sam
ple never reaches its intend
ed destination - it gets lost
in the mail. At this point, a
virus which could be one of
the most effective terrorist
weapons in history is lost
somewhere in a nation that
is home to almost every
mqjor terrorist group in the
Middle East. The virus is in
play and anyone could end
up with the prize.
Does this sound like an
upcoming Tom Clancy
novel? Frighteningly, this
scenario isn’t a work of fic
tion, but reality. Upon learn
ing these facts, I was seri
ously concerned that the
United States had lost a
potential weapon of mass
destruction in a nation that
want to say things like “it
could be a false alarm” or
“the breakthroughs in medi
cine are astounding - they’ll
find a cure soon.”
You try to be a ray of hope
to those around you, to be
strong for your family mem
bers who need to see that
strength. The problem is,
the more you fight the goril
la, the meaner it gets. He
just sits there, deep in your
head, and points out the fal
lacies in your logic, and tells
you you’re a fraud. He
recites all the things that
can go wrong, and plays
games with worst-case sce
nario. He dares you to tell
him he’s wrong, and of
course you can’t, because
you have the same fears
yourself.
You try not to let the goril
la take over. You know you
still have to treat all the
children equally, and not
play favorites, even though
the gorilla wants to make
you feel guilty about not let
ting the 4-year-old have his
way over the objections of
his siblings. You have to con
tinue as if nothing is wrong,
as if nothing has or could
change, so that the kids
won’t put two and two
together. To alter the family
dynamic would be disas
trous to them, the ones who
don’t and shouldn’t know
about the gorilla, and ulti
mately frightening if they
was occupied by Syria, a
supporter of anti-American
terrorism. I pictured the
H2N2 virus being transport
ed to Damascus where it
could easily be turned over
to Al-Qaeda. I was relieved
to learn that the sample of
H2N2 had been found at an
airport. I took solace in the
fact that a crack team of
U.S. intelligence operatives
must have taken custody of
the virus and returned it to
the United States for
destruction. That peace of
mind quickly eroded when I
interviewed David Daigle at
the CDC. Even today, over a
year later, the United States
government has little
knowledge of the final rest
ing place of the missing
H2N2 and they have done
almost nothing to confirm
its actual destruction.
To my surprise Mr. Daigle
informed me that, before I
informed them, the CDC did
not even know the H2N2
had been found at an air
port. Furthermore, he stat
ed that “the federal govern
ment did not directly
destroy the remaining
stocks of H2N2; rather (the
Lebanese) were sent notifi
cations to destroy the
strain.” So, we asked them
nicely to destroy a virus
which could be used as a
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
find out. So you resist the
urge to grab up the child
and wrap him in your arms
and keep him there, because
it really isn’t as safe as you
think it is. All this plays out
while the gorilla laughs and
urges otherwise.
So I’ll carry this 700-
pound gorilla with me until
the end of this week, when
we know something defini
tive about Thomas’ condi
tion. Maybe the preliminary
test was wrong after all, and
all the worry and concern
will melt away. Or maybe it
will be confirmed, and we
can at least move forward on
solid ground. Either way the
gorilla will at last be evicted.
And if one good thing comes
out of all this, it is the fact
that I can now appreciate
the daily struggle of others
with 700-pound gorillas of
their own - parents with
children in harm’s way,
whatever form that harm
may take. Mothers with
sons in combat far away,
fathers with daughters in
emergency rooms just down
the hall. I pray that someday
the gorilla will leave all of
you to find what peace you
can, as well.
Joe Bishop is the news
director for WNNG 1350
AM, Houston County’s only
locally-owned radio station.
weapon against millions
worldwide? How, then, do
we know that Syria-con
trolled Lebanon actually
destroyed this potential
weapon? According to Mr.
Daigle, they “faxed verifica
tion”. Wait a minute. They
sent us a fax?
Despite the United States
government’s claim that all
mistakenly shipped samples
were destroyed, the realty is
that we don’t really have
any proof of what actually
happened to the missing
H2N2. The only evidence
our government has of its
destruction is a fax. I con
tacted the Syrian Embassy
and asked if they possessed
H2N2 samples.
Unsurprisingly, they have
failed to respond.
The facts related to the
shipment and loss of H2N2
in Lebanon demand a crimi
nal investigation of those
responsible. Unfortunately,
the bureaucrats in
Washington seem more con
cerned with propaganda
about national security then
actually investigating real
life violations by our own
government.
William John Hagan is a
freelance writer who lives in
Elko. Contact him at
William_Hagan@excite.com