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♦ FRIDAY, JULY 15, 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
Good News -
It Only For a While
Fairly or not, presidents get the credit when the
economic news is good and take the blame when
it’s bad, and President Bush gets credit for some
good economic news this week.
The White House budget office, in an exercise
called a mid-session review, estimated that this
year’s budget deficit will drop to $333 billion, far
less than the $427 billion it forecast in February.
That jibes with Congress’ figures that actually
show it a little better, $325 billion.
The good news was largely because of unexpect
edly high tax receipts and a slight decline in feder
al outlays. The White House attributed that to the
president’s “tax cuts and pro-growth policies.”
And, if the economy performs to White House pro
jections, the deficit will drop to $162 billion in
2009.
“These numbers indicate that we’re going to cut
the deficit in half faster than the year 2009 - so
long as Congress holds the line on spending,” the
president said.
Ah, spending. There’s the catch.
In his first term, Bush struck an implicit bargain
with Congress. As long as the president got his pro
grams, the lawmakers could spend what they want
ed and they did. Federal spending went up by one
third.
Alarmed by the accumulating deficits, Bush sent
Congress an austerity budget this year with actual
cuts in non-security related spending and holding
the overall increase in federal spending to less than
the rate of inflation. Congress largely agreed to go
along in its budget resolution.
But unlike Bush, who will never face another
election, the members of Congress do and political
realities are intruding on the budgetary good
intentions. Thus, Congress has been adding money
to education, labor, health and veterans’ programs.
That’s the short-term. “Where we have a serious
structural problem is in the longer period - to look
out 15, 20 years,” said White House budget direc
tor Josh Bolton. “That’s where we face an enor
mous challenge from huge unfunded liabilities in
our entitlement programs. And nothing we do on
the taxing or spending side can really alter the tra
jectory of that.”
In other words, if Congress needs a crisis to gal
vanize it into reforming Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid, it’s going to get one. And a $94 bil
lion reduction in the projected deficit will look like
a terribly inconsequential achievement.
- Scripps Howard News Service
HHJ columnist
out of bounds
Editor:
Your local columnist, W.J.
Hagan, in responding by a letter to
the editor to a recent letter of
mine, has overstepped the bounds
of professional journalism, and in
fact fallen into the gutter of yellow
journalism. Mainly by impugning
the character of the individual
(me) instead of answering with the
Handicapping the 2006 governor's race
During my long tenure in
the Georgia legislature, I got
one letter from my mother.
This was in an era when
most communications to leg
islators were carried by the
U.S. Post Office. I still have
mother’s letter. It’s dated
Jan. 25, 1989. In it, she
implored me to be against
the proposed Georgia
Lottery and do all I could to
help defeat it. I had to tell
Gov. Miller I couldn’t be
with him on his issue - the
lottery - and I told him why.
By being as close to his
mother as I understood Zell
to be, I hoped he didn’t get
angry and understood. In
any event, he had to accept
my no vote.
I come from a mother and
father who believed that
gambling was not only
unwise, but was also sinful.
Examples: We couldn’t play
marbles for keeps or “pull
Coke bottles” to see who
paid (you have to be an older
southerner to understand
“pulling Coke bottles”). I
used to try to tell Daddy that
playing the horses was no
facts! By calling my views “racist”
he has lost any claim of objectivity.
His implication that I am a racist
and that I should apologize to
Associate Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas are ridiculous
allegations based on his obvious
Taliban-like views. His personal
anger is so obvious that anger
management classes may be neces
sary! He needs to get a life! And
stay inside his column on his plan
tation.
Clarence Thomas is a
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Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgbc.com
different than playing the
stock market, but he would
have none of my argument.
Actually, it wasn’t an argu
ment. It takes two to argue
and I didn’t argue with
Daddy. It was a “brief discus
sion.”
All of this is written to tell
you I don’t know much
about gambling - what little
I have ever done was actual
ly contributing - and thus
you may think it strange I
am writing about handicap
ping the 2006 governor’s
Al Qaeda's information war
Terrorism as practiced by
Al Qaeda - and, for that
matter Saddamist killers in
Iraq - is 21st century infor
mation warfare. Terrorists
don’t simply target London
and Baghdad, they target
the news media.
Al Qaeda understands
that our media craves the
spectacular. But don’t place
all the blame on headline
writers and TV producers.
Like sex, violence sells, and
Al Qaeda has suckered audi
ences by providing hideous
violence.
At the moment, the truly
biggest story on the planet is
democratic political change
in the Middle East, begin
ning with Iraq. It’s huge his
tory, and a looming political
disaster for tyrants and ter
rorists. When Western audi
ences decide that this is the
real news of our era - and it
is that - Al Qaeda will be
dealt a death blow.
German strategic theorist
Carl von Clausewitz called
war “politics by other
means.” Physical intimida
tion and physical threat are
implicit in that analysis. Al
Qaeda’s terror campaigns
certainly rely on intimida
tion and threat, but Al
Qaeda is an extremely limit
ed organization. Its military
limitations are obvious. As
U.S. Central Command’s
Gen. John Abizaid recently
noted, Al Qaeda has yet to
win a military engagement
with U.S. forces at or above
the platoon level. (A platoon
has approximately 30
troops.)
This also holds true for
Taliban guerrillas in
Afghanistan and what mili
tary analysts call the “for
mer regime elements” (FRE
- i.e., pro-Saddam forces) in
Iraq.
Al Qaeda doesn’t have
much in the way of educa
tion policies, beyond
bankrolling Islamist
schools. Al Qaeda says it will
redistribute the wealth of
corrupt Middle Eastern
petro-sheiks. Though that is
an economic promise, it isn’t
a long-term economic plan.
Al Qaeda, however, under
stands the power of per
ceived grievance and the
appeal of Utopia. In the late
19905, Osama bin Laden
said Al Qaeda’s strategic
goal was restoring the
Islamic caliphate. Bin Laden
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Libertarian and an African-
American who is against all gov
ernment programs that benefit the
poor and minorities, such as affir
mative action and civil rights laws,
Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security. Mr. Thomas was the ben
eficiary of these programs but now
claims that they actually hurt
African-Americans and minorities!
Whether it be college admissions
or jobs, he is against affirmative
action programs that help make up
for past wrongs. He has lost his
race. But here goes.
First, let me say that I
believe Georgia Democrats
are now confronted with the
same dilemma as are our dis
tant national cousins. It’s a
Hobson’s choice. To win the
Democratic nomination, you
have to be too liberal to win
the general election, and to
win the general election, you
have to be too conservative
to win the nomination.
Cathy Cox has this problem
in “spades.” Now isn’t that a
good gambling word!
Let’s start with Cathy Cox.
Likeable, capable, smart.
She will be an excellent can
didate. But in order to beat
Mark Taylor in the primary,
she has to move to the left
and take Taylor’s core
Democratic vote away from
him. The danger for her -
the tightrope she has to walk
- is to keep from getting
branded as a “liberal
woman,” resulting in gener
al election defeat even if she
wins the primary. I would
say she’s 4-to-l to win the
primary and 4-to-l to win
the general election. On the
A. m' HL
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
expressed a special hatred
for Turkey’s Kemal Ataturk,
who ended the caliphate in
1924.
History, going wrong for
Islamist supremacists at
least since the 16th century,
really failed when the
caliphate dissolved. Though
Al Qaeda’s timeline to
Utopia remains hazy, once
the caliphate returns, the
decadent modern world will
fade, as Western power col
lapses - and presumably
Eastern power, as well.
(Islamists are active in
China’s Sinkiang province.)
At some point, bin Laden
interpreted Islamic law will
bring strict bliss to the
entire world. If this sounds
vaguely like a Marxist
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other hand, what if she
receives Atlanta Mayor
Shirley Franklin’s support
and doesn’t have to move too
far to the left? Believe me,
Mayor Franklin’s support
would be a tremendous boost
for Cox in the primary.
Next, Mark Taylor. Smart.
Great speaker. Many
Democratic contacts. Toiled
in the Democratic vineyards
for years. He should be the
odds-on favorite to win the
primary. I would put him at
2-to-l in the primary. But
can he get the undecideds in
the general election? The
voters - soccer moms and
mad Democrats now new
rural Republicans - who
need to vote for him in the
general election if he is to
have a chance. Odds: 6-to-l
in the general election.
Now, Gov. Perdue. Lots of
money - as much as Gov.
Barnes had last time out. A
state, Georgia, that is
increasingly Republican.
Folks with power for the
first time that like being in
power and don’t want to give
it up and won’t give it up
“Workers Paradise,” that’s
no accident - the commu
nists also justified the mur
der of millions pursuing
their atheist Utopia.
The appeal to perceived
grievance and promise of an
Islamist utopia, however,
made Al Qaeda a regional
information power in a
Middle East where political
options were denied by
tyrants. The 9-11 attacks
made Al Qaeda a global
information power - they
were an international adver
tising campaign. Four years
later, Al Qaeda remains a
strategic information power,
but little else. In ever other
measure of power and suc
cess, Al Qaeda is very weak.
Maj. Gen. Doug Lute,
operations officer for CENT
COM, argues that IEDs
(improvised explosive
devices, bombs like those
used in London) are “perfect
asymmetric warfare
weapons” for 21st century
terrorists. (“Asymmetric
warfare” pits mismatched
enemies - the weak side
tries to avoid its own
destruction, while targeting
the strong side’s political or
military vulnerabilities.)
“IEDs are relatively effec
tive,” Lute says - meaning
when they go off, they usual
ly kill and wound. “IEDs are
heart and any empathy for our less
fortunate.
Mr. Thomas and the
Libertarians would abolish the
social safety net and give begging
bowls to the less fortunate who
would be forced to depend solely
on charities. Libertarians also
believe in the legalization of drugs
and prostitution, abolition of pub
lic schools and the property tax,
and abortions - on - derpand as
well as gay marriages. Most folks
believe that these would be regres
without a fight. Improving
job performance. In my view,
lots going for him. I would
say the odds on Gov. Perdue
being Gov. Perdue for four
more years are about 2-to-l.
Is all of this possible? Can
Perdue’s odds be 2-to-l in
the general election and
Cox’s be 4-to-l? What I am
trying to say is that I believe
Cox has the more difficult
chore in the primary, that
Taylor has the greater chal
lenge in the general election,
and that Perdue will defeat
either (though with greater
difficulty should Cox win the
primary) in the general elec
tion.
Still, I’m nervous and I’m
nagged by what happened
just three years ago. You
know: Barnes and Perdue
and “King Rat” and the flag
and election night,
November 2002. And I think
about Joe Frank Harris
beating Bo Ginn and Sam
Nunn slamming the field,
including former Gov.
Ernest Vandiver. What
would the odds have been on
JFH? 10-to-l. And Nunn?
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
cheap to make. They are
available (i.e., explosives
and triggers, as well as skills
required to assemble
them).” But, moreover:
“IEDs are anonymous. This
makes them the enemy’s
most effective weapon
because they are really an
IO (information operations)
weapon. They intimidate,
sow fear, but do so without
certain identification.”
Anonymity means “the
terrorists can be a very
small group” of people or
politically weak organiza
tion, Lute adds.
What makes the small and
anonymous appear powerful
and strong? In the 21st cen
tury, intense media coverage
magnifies the terrorists’
capabilities. This suggests
that winning the global war
against Islamist terror ulti
mately means accomplish
ing two things: denying the
terrorists’ weapons of mass
destruction and curbing
what is currently Al Qaeda’s
greatest strategic capability:
media magnification and
occasional media enhance
ment of its bombing cam
paigns and political the
atrics.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, visit the
Creators Syndicate web page
at www.creators.com.
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INC
sive actions and would promote
anarchy and disunity. The head of
the Republican party in Macon has
called local Libertarians “anar
chists” numerous times. If the
Republican party offered anything
to African-Americans then surely
they would elect a member of
Congress who was an African-
American. After all, Hispanics
often elect Hispanics to Congress!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
20-to-l. And then I think
about the recent Kentucky
Derby. Bellamy Road was
Ginn and Vandiver and
Barnes. But Giacomo won.
Odds: 50-to-l! Maybe
Mother and Daddy were
right. Gambling is unwise -
and sinful.
In 1932, my grandfather
Charles P Gray bet on the
presidential race. His candi
date was Hoover, who was
trounced by Roosevelt. My
grandfather’s “pay” for los
ing? To roll a peanut down
the main street of Perry with
his nose! And he did it!
Perhaps I should bet on
the 2006 governor’s race
with a “nose roll” should I
lose. As big as my nose is (big
enough to put it in 2006 gov
ernor’s race), I should be
good at it. And I don’t
believe mother would think
such a bet was sinful -
though perhaps unwise.
This was my article in the
May-June 2005 edition of
James Magazine. It is
reprinted here with permis
sion of the managing editor
of James Magazine.