6B Sunday, June 7, 2009 C dallasnews.

com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
What was your biggest
disappointment in the
just-completed legislative
session?
Debra Witter
Attorney, Oak Cliff
My biggest
disappointment was
the continuing
insistence by the far
right on putting its
partisan ideological
agenda ahead of
addressing the real
issues confronting
our state.
Hidden promise, problems
To fix Oak Cliff, we must raise our expectations, says Victor Medina
D
epending on whom you ask, Oak proper credit. Most downtown workers have We never took our local elected leaders to task
Cliff is either a tree-filled oasis or the discovered what a hidden gem “The Cliff” is. for the job they did or didn’t do. Most of us can’t
Gaza Strip of Texas. The name of They ventured over to try out a restaurant they even name our City Council member, school
Oak Cliff has become so vilified as a crime- heard about and discovered the beautiful board member or state representative, much
ridden wasteland that there are many people neighborhoods and the people who live here. less made sure they were looking out for us.
in this community who won’t travel south of For those afraid of the land south of downtown, For far too long, Oak Cliff has elected stew-
Interstate 30 or cross the Trinity, even when their fears are realized in the news stories of ardship, not leadership, at City Hall. They
we put up those nice new bridges. crime, carjackings and the run-down homes whispered sweet nothings in our ears to get
Why discussions about Oak Cliff turn so and businesses. elected, yet did nothing to make things better
contentious is really be- Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that, for for us or our children.
yond me. Perhaps some many, Oak Cliff is all about class and race. I We must expect more from our elected
are looking for a place to usually don’t buy into the idea that there is officials, our schools, the businesses we support
Susan Sanders blame for our city’s prob- racism behind every corner, but as someone and one another. Most of all, we need to ask
Wansbrough lems. If so, Oak Cliff is an who has lived in Oak Cliff since I was 3 years more of ourselves. That is how you make a
Attorney, Lake easy target. old, it’s hard to deny how others see our com- better community. What is Oak Cliff? It is what
Highlands On the flip side, you munity. you make it. It is the place where my parents
Once again, the have Oak Cliff residents Residents of Oak Cliff won’t want to hear chose to raise me. It is the place I have called
Legislature failed to who feel a need to defend this, but ultimately the burden of shaping the home, and, when I had the chance to buy my
do comprehensive
Voices themselves and their reputation of Oak Cliff rests with our actions, own home, I bought one here. If you want to
water planning. Our Community community. That also not our words. It isn’t fair, but it is true. When continue to argue about how terrible or won-
laws promote means there are some you are trying to turn the tide in a 100-year-old derful Oak Cliff is, go right ahead. Just stay out
wastefulness and “Oak Cliff apologists” who close their eyes to community, it won’t be easy. It’s easy to move to of our way, there’s work to be done.
pollution, not
the problems in our community and act like a new community that was farmland five years
conservation. The
it is some sort of enchanted forest where the ago and marvel over how wonderful, shiny and Victor Medina of Oak Cliff is a
longer we postpone
dealing with our
squirrels talk like Disney characters. new everything is. Here, it’s a little tougher, but freelance travel and sports
future needs, the Between the extremes, there are those the reward is greater. writer and a Community
more expensive that who live and work in Oak Cliff who have For too long, we here in Oak Cliff have not Voices volunteer columnist.
future will become. tried hard to promote all of the great things taken personal civic responsibility seriously. As His e-mail address is vic@
about this community that never get the a result, we got the community we deserved. victormedina.com.

Eric Van Steenburg

Nonprofit executive
director, Lakewood
Kelsey Boor
Plano, home
schooled junior
Programs show magnet success
I’m disappointed that
our elected officials
Our transportation
system is the
DISD schools offer exceptional learning, says Michael Janak
didn’t give North lifeblood of

W
Texans the right to commerce in Texas. ith the Dallas ISD magnet schools doing something right. Cuts in funding to love. However, these high schools do not
determine if we Right now, we are in the news recently, some have these programs are counterintuitive. have the intense training for students who
wanted to increase dealing with some begun questioning the validity of The success of the arts magnet school is a want to pursue theater, music, the visual
taxes to pay for more very high blood these schools. Board members narrowly direct result of the hard work and arts or dance. The experience I’ve received
light rail and other pressure, and the approved cuts to the magnet and learning dedication of its faculty and staff. Due to the from the magnet program has given me a
transportation failure to address this centers on May 28. Though I don’t claim to strings attached to the $100 million grant head start on my career goals.
infrastructure needs. issue was a huge be an expert on magnet schools, as a recent provided by the federal government, this I understand that I don’t know all of the
Oh well, here’s to at disappointment.
graduate of the theater outstanding group of artists and educators facts behind the cuts to the magnet
least two more years
of traffic gridlock.
department of Booker T. now faces cuts. Some of the teachers have programs. I do know, however, any cut to
Washington High School been at the school for several years and have the faculty at Booker T. will impact the
for the Performing and inspired the countless alumni that are out in future success of the program that is
Visual Arts, I feel I can the world, bringing art to the masses. consistently recognized for its excellence. I
offer a unique perspective. Magnets like Booker T. Washington are can only hope that in making cuts, DISD
Booker T. Washington essentially vocational training schools for administrators do not destroy effective
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular received exemplary status students who have special talents and magnet schools like the arts magnet
contributors to this forum.
this year, its first year in its passions. The core curriculum, including a completely.
Voices new facility. Private donors full range of AP courses, is the same as all I love my school. I wish everyone could
Student believed in the school other high schools in the district. But no attend a school like it. I’ll attribute any of my
Dorothy Ivey of Dallas: I never expect much enough to donate millions other high school offers classes in areas such future success to my school, and I have hope
from legislative sessions. Hence, I am not disap- to provide an outstanding building and to as acting, playwriting, design and directing for its own future.
pointed when they play politics, try to legislate our ensure the future success of the program. for student interested in theater. Nowhere
personal lives, create some new taxes and spend The school produces presidential scholars in else can students achieve more than 1,000 Michael Janak is a graduate
money that has not been collected. the arts as well as many influential alumni. hours of extracurricular theater experience. of Booker T. Washington

Scott Morrison of Richardson: The Legislature’s These accomplishments are added to the list Other high schools don’t offer these kinds High School for the
of achievements of all the DISD magnet of opportunities, but they do offer some Performing and Visual Arts in
inability to require photo identification for voting is
schools, including the School for the activities that the magnets do not. Students Dallas ISD. He is also a
a big disappointment. This is the equivalent of say-
Talented and Gifted, Newsweek’s No. 1 high who want to play sports can attend almost Student Voices volunteer
ing that the integrity of our constitutional right to columnist. To respond to this column, send an
vote is not as important as banking, flying on an air- school in the nation. These schools must be any school in the district and do what they
e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.
plane or driving a car. Voting is more important than
all of these, yet we have no confidence that people
who vote are in their proper district, or even eligible
at all.
Bill Betzen of Dallas: Anyone paying attention to
the Texas Legislature should be yelling for annual
legislative sessions. The rate of change in our culture
One man’s determination
is accelerating. Texas must move faster, with more
deliberate and sound decisions, to respond to the
I was with him on his last full day, says Michael Hopkovitz of Dallas

technological and social changes we face. The in-
creasing demands for timely legislative decisions
will not slow.
Janice Schwarz of Dallas: The biggest disap-
pointment was that the Legislature did not pass a
bill expanding unemployment benefits. As a result,
Texas lost $555 million in federal stimulus money.
That money would have dramatically helped out the
state unemployment fund, which is now expected to
see a shortfall and, as a result, will require greater
contributions from businesses.
Dallas White of Grand Prairie: I’m most disap-
pointed in the gambling bill not passing. Talk about
a nanny state trying to tell people what to do with
their own money.
Mellen West of Dallas: Failure to pass solar ener-
gy legislation was a big disappointment. But the big-
gest disappointment is our elected officials. Rather
than set the voter ID issue aside and deal with other
legislation, such as solar, it became a prevail-at-all-
costs approach. Good legislation became the victim
in the process. You may substitute your bill of choice
for solar. Gridlocked again.
SIGN UP
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added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dall asnews.com.
A
t some time, for all of us, death in-
trudes into our lives. Recently, an
uncle of mine passed away, and just
about everyone he knew was surprised. That
is somewhat remarkable because my uncle
had just turned 95.
He and my aunt had no children, and, as
they aged, I was one of very
few relatives who would
take the time to help them.
The past few years were
particularly difficult, as my
aunt developed Alzheim-
er’s disease and had to go
into a nursing home.
Helping them was
Voices difficult, as they lived in
Community Canada. As many people
find out dealing with such
situations themselves, it’s hard to be of much
help long distance and even more so across
international borders. I was able to give
some moral support, as we spoke weekly and
were able to do some things online. But the
once or twice a year, our visits involved a full
slate of appointments and tasks to do things
that could only be done in person.
Seeing the deterioration of my aunt was
agonizing. Watching the situation my uncle
had to face was also difficult, as this elderly
man made his daily trek to the nursing
home to visit his wife of more than 60 years.
Even though she no longer recognized him,
he made that daily trip even during the
harsh Canadian winters. His devotion was
in many ways what kept him going, and it
was inspirational. His biggest fear was what
would happen to his wife if he were not
around to speak to the doctors and make
sure that her needs were attended to.
That’s why he decided to move into the
nursing home. I had counseled him to stay
in his assisted-living apartment, where he
had a better environment for himself, but he
figured it was better to be in the same facil-
ity as my aunt, so he could see her every day.
Our most recent visit started with him at
the nursing home, talking about his decision
to move and what was happening in our
respective lives. We had made plans to go
out the next day, where he could get some
fresh air, and then go out for dinner. When
we left that evening, he was feeling a bit
tired and was ready for a good night’s rest.
Returning the next morning, I entered
his room to find he had passed away. The
orderly told us my uncle had his breakfast
and had seemed much better than the previ-
ous evening. Returning to collect his tray,
the orderly found him peacefully lying in
bed. My uncle had died about 20 minutes
before we arrived.
My uncle taught me some lessons about
life with his optimism, devotion, selflessness
and compassion. One example sums up his
optimism. Like many elderly, he was con-
cerned about outliving his and his wife’s
financial needs. When I assured him he
would not have a problem until he was at
least 105, he said, in all seriousness, “And
what will I do then?” Now that’s optimism.
Perhaps that is why people were sur-
prised by his passing. Although he com-
plained regularly about the same aches and
pains for years, he just kept on going. He
outlived most who knew him, so few were
left to mourn him at the small memorial
service, but the surprise universally ex-
pressed says something about the man’s
determination.
I am grateful for that last day with him,
and it enriches my spirit to see the hand of a
higher power work a small miracle like that.
Michael Hopkovitz of Dallas
volunteers with several
Jewish nonprofit groups and
is a Community Voices vol-
unteer columnist. His e-mail
address is mikespolitics @att.net.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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8B Sunday, June 14, 2009 C dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
How have high gas prices and
the recession affected your
vacation plans?
Susan Sanders
Wansbrough
Attorney, Lake
Highlands
Since gas prices
climb as summer
approaches, we take
our vacations in the
“off” seasons. It’s
cheaper, the crowds
are smaller, and the
weather is cooler.
Spending summer
with a stack of good
books is delightful.
Tina Sanchez
Taxpayer advocate at
federal agency,
Pleasant Grove
Looking toward retirement
Why can’t I grow old near my friends? asks Sarah Crouch of Cedar Hill
E
very other month, I look forward to I would love to live on “curvilinear streets of the metroplex. There is a small retirement
the arrival of a glossy 200-page mag- with scenic walkways and bridges,” close to community in Cedar Hill, but we’re not quite
azine titled Where to Retire. The front nearby shopping, restaurants and cultural old enough to purchase a home there. By the
cover always features a smiling married activities. I want to be part of the “next evolu- time we’re ready to retire, the community will
couple, usually tanned and wearing expen- tion in active adult living.” be built out. Retirement apartments are avail-
sive jewelry. Distinguished gray hair is the The reality, though, is that my husband and able, but we prefer a home with a small yard
norm for husbands on the cover, but wives I are among the majority of baby-boomers and a front porch, just like the ones we see
hide their natural color reaching retirement age who can’t afford most farther north.
with chocolate brown dye of the places featured in this magazine. I should This area of Dallas has beautiful topography
or sun-kissed blond high- probably cancel my subscription. It’s sort of like with rolling hills, an abundance of trees and
Nancy L. Ruder lights. Since I refuse to dye reading my daughter’s Vogue when I should several lakes. Shopping is plentiful, and the
Preschool and art my gray hair, the only stick to Woman’s Day. communities are filled with friendly and caring
teacher, Plano thing I have in common If I had another choice, I would. But Where neighbors. Several nearby universities, colleges
Only driving can give
with her is our facial to Retire is the only magazine of its kind. So I and art schools provide educational and cultur-
a sense of place, time, wrinkles. keep reading it, even though their Web site al opportunities.
distance and the Inside the magazine, clearly states they are geared to the well-edu- Duncanville Community Theatre and Cedar
great variety of our Voices advertisements and arti- cated, well-traveled and affluent market. I have Valley College produce some of the finest the-
nation. Gas prices Community cles promise happiness, no qualms with this market. In fact, most of the ater performances you’ll find anywhere. Many
ranged from $2.49 to the fulfillment of our people I know are well-educated and well- artists in this area win awards in prestigious art
$3.09 a gallon on my dreams, self-discovery, perfection, a redefini- traveled, although less affluent. But we desire shows. An active writers’ group meets regularly,
recent 10-day trip tion of life and everything we’ve waited for. beautiful places to live, too. with well-known authors as speakers.
through Arkansas, In case you think I’m making this up, I’m My husband and I have been searching the And the best amenity? Less traffic than our
Tennessee and
not. Those are actual headlines from a recent Dallas-Fort Worth area for years to find afford- northern neighbors.
Kentucky to Ohio.
issue. No wonder a quarter of a million able retirement communities that offer many of Developers, where are you? I’d love to see
Seeing this area
added to my readers subscribe. This magazine is the the amenities listed in this magazine. We have southwest Dallas County as a featured retire-
understanding of the answer to our retirement prayers. A new life visited two of them — one near Denton and ment destination in a slick, glossy magazine.
U.S. with style — who wouldn’t want that? another in Frisco. They’re attractive, and we’d Who knows, I might even get to be on the cover
The magazine’s claims are appealing. I be happy there except for the fact they are so far — gray hair and all.
could be happy with a waterfront villa on an north. Our relatives, lifelong friends, doctors,
intracoastal waterway, or in an exclusive hairstylists and church are in southwest Dallas Sarah Crouch of Cedar Hill is
mountain community. My retirement County. We don’t want to leave them. a piano teacher, professor
dreams could be fulfilled as I “play each day As a dear friend stated, “I want to grow old and a Community Voices
in living color” and “glow with contentment” with the people I love.” Amen, sister. volunteer columnist. Her
in a master-planned neighborhood. Retirement options are limited in this part e-mail address is shcrouch
Chase Wofford @aol.com.
Journalism
instructor, Coppell
High School

Not really. I’ve always

taken inexpensive
vacations like
camping and road
With two young
children, I do not
want them to miss out
on traveling as a
School safety requires good leaders
trips. Since I’m lucky
enough to have a job,
family so we make
sacrifices in other
Assistant Principal David Dodd nationally recognized, says Liz Fleskes
I think I should areas so that we can

continue to spend my take vacations.
hard-earned dollars
on my hard-earned
vacation.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Dorothy Ivey of Dallas: Last summer, we can-
celed a driving vacation because of the high cost of
gasoline. We are talking about that same driving va-
cation this summer with a definite possibility of
making the trip. We think about whether to drive
anywhere because of the economy. We do not plea-
sure-drive anymore. We have a destination and a
purpose to our auto travels.
Thomas West of Dallas: Simple answer. No job,
no vacation.
Ruth Klein of Dallas: The recession has helped
me to re-evaluate what makes me happy in propor-
tion to money spent. I have realized that I enjoy my
time spent at home in my garden, my kitchen, or at a
table with friends. It’s just as pleasurable as the time
spent at a foreign destination, and it costs much less.
I am more refreshed after a day settled in at home
than I am after a day in airports or on the road.
Juli Roland of Dallas: We’ve never taken extrava-
gant vacations, so the current conditions don’t affect
us at all. The increase in fuel prices and airfare is
modest, actually: only about $50 per round-trip
ticket on Southwest. If you book ahead online, deals
are still reasonable. I’d say the main factor holding
us back, other than work, is finding accommoda-
tions for our five rescue dogs that are convenient,
comfortable and affordable. Seems to me there’d be
a market for a resort hotel with yards for one’s pets.
We’d enjoy traveling with our animals, instead of al-
ways having to leave them behind.
Kurt Freeman of Dallas: Actually the high gas
prices have helped my vacation plans, since I have
S
chool-year memories of zero toler-
ance policies, district fiscal irrespon-
sibility and TAKS scores all seem to
melt away in the heat of the Dallas sum-
mer. But before we completely wipe out all
memories of the past year, I’d like to make
note of a little school business that will
take place in Baltimore, Md., this summer.
The National Association of School
Resource Officers is an
organization supporting
school-based law en-
forcement officers,
school administrators
and school security/
safety professionals
working as partners to
protect students, school
Voices faculty and staff. They
Teacher provide a wide array of
services to develop the
most effective programs to maintain safe
and secure school environments. Believe it
or not, school-based policing is the fastest-
growing area of law enforcement.
Now many of us don’t like to think
about the need for a law-enforcement
presence, but the reality is that most high
schools, junior highs and urban elementa-
ry schools have officers assigned to the
campus. While the officer is there to in-
tervene when laws are broken or safety is
threatened, they aren’t the only ones with
this responsibility. The role of the princi-
Cherish the moments
I valued time with my friends when it was ending, says Jennifer Keith
pal, assistant principal, counselor and even
regular classroom teachers has been broad-
ened to include matters of security and safety.
Specialized instruction is part of yearly
in-services, covering everything from gang
signs to restraint training. And more often
than not, the teachers and principals on the
front lines of these safety battles receive little
to no recognition for the hours of extra work
and responsibility they take on.
Well, this year, that lack of recognition has
been addressed in one corner of the Rich-
ardson Independent School District. Officer
La’Evening Woodard, a member of the Rich-
ardson Police Department’s school resource
officer unit assigned to Richardson North
Junior High, nominated David Dodd, assis-
tant principal at North, for a Safe School
Leadership Award. And he won. This is a
national recognition for a police officer, a
teacher, a principal or a counselor who has
showed leadership in his or her school and
has gone above and beyond in their efforts to
keep the campus safe. Officer Woodard was
contacted by the president of NASRO and
was advised that their committee had select-
ed Dodd to receive this award.
Dodd and his wife, Babs, who was a teach-
er for RISD for 31 years before retiring, are
going to fly to the national conference in the
summer in Baltimore and be presented with
this award in front of approximately 15,000
officers. It means something when a profes-
sional outside your field recognizes your
dedication and commitment.
We hear a lot these days about “safety” and
“protection” for our students at school, but we
usually don’t single someone out unless
something goes wrong.
Schools practice hard lockdowns and soft
lockdowns, install metal detectors and triple-
door entrances, train students and faculty in
appropriate threat response. But as anyone
who understands safety can attest, it is often
the fundamental relationships that have been
set in place on a day-to-day basis that can
make or break a security plan. It’s the cop
walking the daily beat reaching out to the
neighborhood and putting a face on law
enforcement. It’s the bicycle cop stopping to
help you pump up a flat tire at the lake and
keeping a watchful eye out for changes in
environment.
In the case of Dodd, it’s the assistant
principal who greets you at the door by name
who lets you know at least one person knows
who you are and is glad you are there. And
maybe that little contact, that brief greeting,
helps you recognize that the rules and reg-
ulations he enforces are to help you and keep
you safe.
Liz Fleskes of Dallas teaches
third grade at Good Shep-
herd Episcopal and is a
Teacher Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address
is liz.fleskes@gmail.com.

interest in several oil-well properties.
Laurie Dodic Steinberg of Dallas: We are driving
to different places. Much less expensive than flying
and then renting a car. Plus, our kids need at least
one long car trip (for their memories) where the dog
is on everyone’s lap, everyone in the car gets on one
everyone else’s nerves and we play I-spy or games in-
volving license plates.
Faith Johnson of Dallas: The current economic
environment has definitely affected my vacation
planning. Vacation planning now requires the stra-
tegic thinking of a corporate CEO. Out-of-the-box
thinking is required to plan a cost-effective, afford-
able, yet fun getaway haven. Every family deserves a
getaway — even if it’s pitching a tent in the back yard
and pretending you’re on a jungle safari to an exotic
continent.
SIGN UP
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to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
I
had known for years that the night of my
high school graduation would be filled
with emotion, but I didn’t realize the
amount of emotion until it actually hit me.
There we stood, waiting for our cue to
enter the sanctuary. I heard the music start,
and suddenly I found myself walking down
the isle of my church in my
graduation robe with my
best friends. As I reached
the front row and turned to
see my classmates walk
down the aisle to join me, it
hit me: I feared leaving my
friends. Tears rushed over
me, as I tried to embrace
Voices
this huge moment. I never
Student
thought I would be the one
crying right now, that I’d be
the one who was so scared to leave.
For months, I had myself convinced that I
couldn’t wait another minute to get to college.
But not until the last week of class did I real-
ize my time was running out to laugh with
these friends, to talk with these friends. Not
until the last week of school did I realize how
proud I am to have been a part of their grade
and to have been their friends. Because of
that, I took advantage of every opportunity
that week to spend time with them, not want-
ing to miss out on anything.
I know I heard growing up that a graduate
tends to hold on to things in high school
because he or she is nervous about the future,
whether through a certain relationship or
simply emotionally. After much reflection, I
realize that I probably did hold on at the end
of high school in part because of my fear for
the future. But I refuse to say that I hold these
friends so dear only because of my “gradua-
tion fears.” I have learned a great deal from
them.
Even now as I write, I am crying as I am
filled with sense of regret for not having
realized that, when I used to count down the
days until graduation, I was really counting
down the days I had left with my best friends.
Despite the fact that I may have let some
moments slip away, I will never forget the
great memories that I shared with my friends
in high school. And that is exactly why I am
writing, because I want to encourage you,
incoming freshmen, and you, rising seniors,
not to wait until the last minute to realize how
great you have it with your friends. Because,
after that last minute, things will change.
Stop and appreciate the moments you
spend with your friends; talk to them about
things of purpose; cry with them; laugh and
then laugh some more with them. To those of
you who are in my position, about to go to
college, do the only thing you can do: Re-
member the great memories and growth you
have shared with friends, and take the value
of friendships to school with you next year.
Jennifer Keith is a senior at
The Cambridge School of
Dallas and a Student Voices
volunteer columnist. To
respond to this column, send
an e-mail to voices @dallasnews.com.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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6B Sunday, June 21, 2009 C dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
If you could change one thing
about your city’s reputation,
what would it be?
Debra Witter
Attorney, Oak Cliff
That Dallas is a ho-
mogenous, boring
amalgamation of
faceless suburbs.
Those are there, but
there are plenty of
unique and vibrant
inner-city neigh-
borhoods that get
overlooked.
Michael Janak
Senior, Booker T.
Washington High
School for the Per-
forming and Visual
Arts, Dallas ISD
I would change the
notion that down-
town Dallas is scary
and unlivable. If the
Puppy (and kitty) love
If you have it, don’t support pet mills, says Elizabeth Barnes of Dallas
S
can a list of adoptable pets and you’re and risk bringing home a “purebred” with sponsible ones.
liable to assume what I did: You can’t
get a purebred in a shelter.
falsified papers, behavioral problems and a
predisposition to illness. Know also that you’ve
The TVMA says the best solution is enforc-
ing animal cruelty laws already in place, such
Web sites like Petfinder advertise innu- just supported a system known for abusing as the Animal Welfare Act.
merable dogs and cats, but the animals profitable dogs and killing unprofitable ones. And since the Texas Senate never addressed
always seem to sport mussed fur, patchy But avoiding that mess is tricky, as mills HB 3180, animal advocates have no other
coloring and — forgive me — hangdog rarely sell directly to customers and, therefore, option for now. It may ultimately be good that
expressions. Purebreds for sale online are escape a crucial precaution of puppy-owners- resources already stretched thin don’t have to
impeccable and cuddly, to-be: always seeing the dog, breeder and accommodate a new law, but, in the mean-
Susan Sanders boasting pedigree papers facility beforehand. time, puppy mills are thriving under un-
Wansbrough and whopping price tags. Still, don’t you rescue a puppy mill dog enforced laws.
Attorney, Lake High-
I figured you get what you when you buy him? No, the ASPCA repri- That leaves it up to potential pet owners.
lands
pay for. mands: “You — the consumer — not only run Don’t buy puppies and kittens at retail stores.
Dallas has a rep- But purebreds make the risk of taking home a sick puppy, but are Adopt instead, and choose wisely. And be
utation for putting up 25 percent of shelter sentencing a breeder dog to a life of misery. As aware that some pet stores do host rescue
commerce before dogs, according to an long as there is a demand for their ‘product,’ groups, so not every available pet in a retail
people. In order to
estimate by the Humane puppy mills will continue to churn out pup- store is “for sale” or the product of a puppy mill.
change that rep-
utation, we have to
Voices Society of the U.S. pies.” It’s up to you, though, to ask good questions
change the reality Student Surprised? I was, too. Rep. Senfronia Thompson tried to stop about where the group’s dogs come from.
because the rep- Anyone who has seen them. Backed by the ASPCA, SPCA of Texas, That scraggly shelter pup is looking better
utation is well de- Lady and the Tramp knows the mental HSUS and the Texas Humane Legislature and better, isn’t he? And purebred seekers,
served. image I fostered for years. A posh cocker Network, HB 3180 would have required remember that you don’t have to buy your pet
spaniel mistakenly thrown in the pound large-scale commercial breeders to undergo online. If you can’t find the perfect cat or dog in
couldn’t be more out of place among a annual inspection and obtain a license. If a shelter, rescue groups can help with more
ragtag band of slobbery mutts, fur matted sellers failed to disclose the pet’s full medical specific breeds.
and fleas rampant. The message is clear: history, its owners would receive compensa- And even if you can’t find a champion with
You want quality, skip the shelters. tion for medical costs and the option of ex- a six-generation pedigree, you still have brag-
Turns out it’s often the other way around. changing their sick or dead puppy for a healthy ging rights. You saved a life.
I recently learned about puppy mills, one.
Keegan Watters
Junior, The Hockaday
breeding facilities where profit trumps Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? But the Amer- Elizabeth Barnes is a junior at
School in Dallas proper pet care — adequate food, water, ican Kennel Club and the Texas Veterinary Episcopal School of Dallas
shelter, socialization and exercise come Medical Association opposed it. They argued and a Student Voices volun-
Dallas recently fin- teer columnist. To respond to
second to churning out the most animals that it was too restrictive — capping breeders
ished No. 2 on a list of this column, send an e-mail to
possible. at 50 non-fixed dogs — and that it could actu-
the cities with the voices @dallasnews.com.
worst road rage. I
Buy a puppy or kitten reared in a mill ally benefit abusive breeders more than re-
wish we could lose
our angry reputation.

Through a stranger’s eyes

area is indeed this
way, it is because of
these ideas hinder
development and
drive people away.
It’s nice, if perplexing, to see our state a different way, says Tina Sanchez

Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Kristin Curreri of Preston Hollow: People seem to
believe that you need to be in the suburbs to have the
old-time neighborhood feel, but that is a terrible
misconception. We moved into Preston Hollow from
Rockwall and have found our new neighbors to be
friendly and welcoming. Our boys were out last night
playing flashlight tag with a group of neighborhood
kids, just like we did growing up. Those old time
communities are alive and well right here in Big D.
Harley Cozewith of Dallas: Having spent more
than two decades living in Houston until we moved
to Dallas in 2006, I’ve been surprised at how much
more racially divided Dallas seems. Dallas needs to
have a reputation for inclusion, acceptance and tol-
erance towards racial differences with equal support
for every segment of our community.
Sandra Steinbach of Dallas: We will always be
the city where President Kennedy was assassinated.
Would it not be wonderful if we had an annual Nov.
22 memorial in his honor grand enough to receive
national recognition? It could feature our wonderful
symphony in the Meyerson and have young people
participating in some way. It would ease our pain.
Holly Morgan of Dallas: As a fourth-generation
Dallasite, my mother probably would say she wishes
we weren’t known as the town that “killed” John F.
Kennedy. As a fifth-generation Dallasite, I’m more
concerned about our notoriety for big hair and shop-
ping, or football and craven spending. We do have an
amazing (and growing) Arts District, and in many
ways we are the birthplace of bigger things like great
woman leaders, the Women’s Museum and inven-
tions like the first integrated circuit, which became
the microchip, the first frozen margarita, the first
drive-up bank window, the first convenience store
(7-Eleven)and the first shopping center (OK, you got
me there).
Laurie Dodic Steinberg, Highland Park: I think
Highland Park gets a bad rap for being a snobby and
elitist neighborhood. I have lived in Dallas for about
24 years now with the last 11 being in HP. Some of
the nicest, friendliest, salt of the earth people are my
neighbors. Sure we might have some snobby people
here or there, but overall we have a small-town feel
that I think would be hard to fake.
Martin Greenberg of Dallas: The rest of the coun-
try seems unaware of Dallas’s multi-cultural dimen-
sion and that we have elected two Jewish females
and one African-American as mayor — and that
Democrat Presidential candidate Obama carried
Dallas County. Folks around this country still think
of the JFK assassination and connect George W.
Bush to Dallas, but Dallas is so much more.
W
e just played host to my 17-year-old
nephew from Wisconsin. He came
down for a summer visit and it was
his first time in the Lone Star State. We
decided to take him on a camping trip to the
beach near Corpus Christi, since he had
never seen the ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.
The Texas sun shone for all it was worth,
the water was clear and the
fish were biting. We could
not have asked for a better
time. My nephew was
surprised at how friendly
people were, waving at
total strangers as they
drove by, helping each
Voices other pull cars out that got
Community stuck in the powdery sand
and just talking with folks
around a campfire like you had known them
your whole life.
You see, Wisconsin is somewhat different.
I was born on an Army base in El Paso, but
grew up in Milwaukee, having been spirited
up north at the tender age of 4. Folks up there
don’t generally talk to strangers on the street.
Once they get to know you, they’ll roll out the
barrel. But they have to get to know you first.
When I came down to Dallas more than
30 years ago, I was amazed at how different
things were. The first thing I noticed, other
than how people spoke, was how people
Why are teen centers needed?
Re: “Teen centers open at Dallas branch li-
braries,” Wednesday news story.
The new teen centers from The AT&T
Foundation are a positive addition to the Dal-
las Public Library. It is a shame, however, that
this addition is necessary at all; shouldn’t the
skills being taught in the Teen Centers be the
responsibility of DISD?
College admission and homework help are
clearly the duty of the schools. Poor money
management at the district level has created
the need for facilities such as the teen centers.
Fortunately, we have a private company to
cover the shortcomings of the local public
school system.
The AT&T Foundation was wise to give the
$500,000 to the public library system and not
DISD.
Abigail Becker, 10th grade,
The Hockaday School, Dallas
drove. Well, maybe I should not go down
that road.
The food was different, too. There were
refried beans and avocados and sweet
potatoes and peaches and huge pecans that
grew in your own back yard. I immediately
fell in love with Tex-Mex cuisine and
continue my passionate affair with it to this
day.
But there’s so much more. There’s always
been a kind of spirit down here, like the Old
West. It’s young, lively and brimming with
people from all over the world. Of course, the
Old West can get somewhat wild and crazy
at times. You learn to watch your back.
Dallas is also known for its high crime rate,
and Texas routinely sends more people to
death row than any other state. (Not that
that curtails the violence.)
Maybe that’s the reason the police can get
a little crazy themselves. Don’t get me
wrong. I have nothing but respect for our
men in blue, and you could not pay me
enough money to patrol the mean streets of
Dallas. But even I could not explain to my
nephew why the police felt they needed to
haul a 10-year old child downtown and
handcuff and fingerprint her for fighting
with her older sibling. When my sister in
Milwaukee heard about that, her valid
question was, “What’s wrong with you
people down there?”
LETTERS
Darned if I know. Maybe it’s the heat.
Texas is somewhat of a paradox, a study in
contradictions. What other state can claim
to have produced two such different
presidents — LBJ and George W. Bush? And
two such different governors — Ann
Richards and Rick Perry? It seems our
politics change faster than the weather.
And speaking of the weather, before he
returned home, my nephew got the supreme
pleasure of learning what it was like to
“hunker down” during that incredible deluge
of rain we had recently.
Later on, as he looked out over the lake
that used to be our back yard, he got to swat
some of our Texas-sized mosquitoes, too. But
that did not dampen his enjoyment of his
vacation in the least, and he excitedly stated
he wanted to move to Texas the first chance
he gets.
On the way to the airport for his flight
home, we stopped at Whataburger for a
snack. When I told my sister what her baby
boy was scarfing down, her other valid
question was, “What’s a Whataburger?”
Tina Sanchez of Pleasant
Grove is a taxpayer advocate
at a federal agency and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address
is texas.tina@live.com.

SIGN UP Traffic tickets a gold mine WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor

These responses are from readers who have asked
Dallas can make a dent in the budget ning red lights and stop signs with no sign of a enforced the traffic laws, there would be no
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
shortfall by simply enforcing the traffic laws. police car. shortfall.
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact informa-
tion to communityopinions@dall asnews.com.
I see drivers speeding tailgating and run- If there were an actual police presence that Steven Gauss, Dallas

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

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Comment on the following topic on our
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In Points today, we launch our summer

Compromise lights the way
book club, featuring Bryan Burrough’s ‘The Big
White Rock groups show how to build a consensus, says Eric Van Steenburg

Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil
Fortunes.’ So we were wondering …
What’s your favorite
book about Texas?
Susan Sanders
Wansbrough
Attorney, Lake High-
lands
My favorite classic
book about Texas is
Goodbye to a River, by
John Graves. Texas’
Walden. My favorite
Texas history is Lone
Star Nation by H.W.
Brands, a masterful
storyteller.
Debra Witter
Attorney, Oak Cliff
Lonesome Dove, for
fiction. Even though
much of it takes place
on the trail, you never
forget these guys are
I
had a sinking feeling that I was going Yet, give City Council member Sheffie But here’s another secret — it takes a giant
to be left in the dark. And if the Kadane credit. He knows there are dozens of step toward fulfilling the interests and desires
opponents of lighting at White Rock parties interested in this city park, and, last of all the various constituents of this signature
Lake had their way, so would the rest of summer, after a bit of controversy erupted park. And it was done through compromise.
Dallas. over new lights at some parking lots, he In an era when most people feel compelled
But in a spirit of compromise that is, summoned as many as would respond to be to defend their point of view at all costs, often
sadly, seldom seen these days, the members part of the White Rock Lake Lighting Task to the detriment of the whole, the recently
of the White Rock Lake Lighting Task Force. I was one of them. The task force was unveiled White Rock Lake lighting master
Force came up with a lighting plan for East to work with the city’s hired landscape plan struck a balance that everyone could live
Dallas’ signature park architects and lighting consultants and be the with.
that seems to meet voice of the people. The plan calls for lighting the parking lots,
everyone’s needs. For Or should I say “voices” of the people? but turning off the lights exactly when the
now. Cyclists may view the roads around the lake as park closes at midnight. It calls for lighting at
Shirlene Lucy In case you weren’t just about the only place in Dallas to get a locations where trails and roads intersect, but
Retired portrait aware, Dallas has five serious workout on their bikes. Runners keeping the light dim enough that it won’t
photographer and
volunteer, Carrollton
parks that are know the lake for its fertile training ground become intrusive to nearby residents. And it
designated “signature and the annual White Rock Lake Marathon. establishes specific “natural zones” where
No book about Texas parks” by the Park Meanwhile, residents who live near the lake limited or no lighting is allowed.
has ever yet captured Voices Department. They are sometimes see it as their personal space, Perhaps the best thing about the master
my interest more than
Community Fair Park, the forgetting that it was built for all 1 million plan, which was adopted by the Park Board
Texas, the historical
Arboretum, Turtle citizens who live in our great city. this month, is it allows for revisions and
novel by James
Michener. It was
Creek/Katy Trail, the future Woodall There are people who want to protect the updates.
well-researched and Rodgers Park and White Rock Lake Park. natural beauty and tranquility of the space. Should the need for changes happen, and
written in a very Consider for a minute the number of While others are quick to point out it was my guess is that it will, a standard has been
entertaining way. people in North Texas who have an interest built by man to control and provide water. established for compromise. Wouldn’t it be
in White Rock Lake. There are sailors and Because of these disparate views, there nice if other politically charged issues had the
fishermen, runners and walkers, nature were some members of the Lighting Task same goal?
lovers and residents — all of whom see the Force who would have preferred to see the
lake and its park from their own lake lit up like a Target parking lot for use Eric Van Steenburg of
perspective. anytime. And there were others who wanted Lakewood is the executive
I’m a cyclist and skater who lives on the it in total darkness. director of the Friends of the
west side of the lake. Do you think for a Somehow, under the guidance, expertise Katy Trail. He is also a
Chase Wofford minute I have any clue what the interests and patience of The Lighting Practice Community Voices
Journalism instruc- and desires are of a bird watcher who lives consulting firm, the Task Force came up with volunteer columnist. His
tor, Coppell High e-mail address is eric@katytraildallas.org.
School
on the east side of the lake? Not really. a plan. Here’s a secret — it’s not perfect.
Friday Night Lights by
Buzz Bissinger has
always been one of
my favorite books.

‘Hip’ parents invade teenage havens

Texans first and
foremost. Goodbye to
a River, for nonfiction.
Simple, elegiac paean
to the history and
beauty of a slice of
North Texas.
While Bissinger does
present the unfortu-
nate issues facing a
West Texas town, it is
a true example of the
pride Texans have in
I’m not sure how I feel now that Dad’s on Facebook, says Mary Margaret Gowdey
their community.

High school football
on Friday nights is
part of what makes
our state great.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Ellen Raff of Dallas: For those of us “not from
Texas,” James Michener’s Texas was a good way to
bone up on the essential history and names. This is
the stuff native Texans get in grade school.
Dorothy Ivey of Dallas: The fiction writers never
get it right. Lone Star, A History of Texas and the
Texans, by T. R. Fehrenbach is my favorite book
about Texas. Larry McMurtry understands Texans,
but the majority of writers just do not understand
us.
Mrs. Marty Walker of Dallas: I am often disap-
pointed that Texans are usually depicted in books as
being oil-well rich or dirt poor, seemingly bigots, al-
ways using poor grammar, mispronunciations, and
caricatured as “country bumpkins!”
Richard Stampley of Waxahachie: I prefer Tex-
as history books (non-fiction) to works about Texas.
Too many of the fiction works show the Hollywood-
influenced Texan persona. For example, if you read
the true experiences of the formation and existence
of the Texas Rangers (the police force, not the base-
ball team) you would find that it definitely wasn’t
the glamorous activity it has been portrayed to be.
Hollywood has made heroes out of villains and has
presented Texans as cowboys. I’m a native Texan — I
do not own a horse; I do not ride horses; I do not like
horses.
Lynn Walters of Irving: I love Susan Wittig Al-
bert’s herbal mystery series which is set in the Texas
Hill Country. In addition to describing that land-
scape beautifully, she includes uniquely Texas cul-
tural tidbits like a description of a rattlesnake bag-
ging competition that explains Texans positively.
Shirley Jackson of Arlington: Texas by James
Michener is my all-time favorite about Texas! I re-
read it at least once a year, and even have the VHS
which I view about every month or so, even though it
doesn’t carry the impact or depth of the book. My
second choice would be Giant by Edna Ferber.
Lee Swann of Irving: Since I am not a “native”
Texan, I have no favorite book or movie about Texas.
I think the “Texas Mystique” is way overblown.
Jacqualea Cooley of Irving: Not many can argue
with the reality of the dialog and characters in the
Houston based book, Blood and Money written by
Tommy Thompson, although some of David Lind-
sey’s books set in Texas come close.
SIGN UP
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to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dall asnews.com.
A
fter a monotonous day of straining
academia, there is nothing the teen
loves more than to toss backpack and
stress aside and log on to Facebook .
Around a month ago, on an afternoon no
different from the one before, I had returned
home and logged onto Facebook, where I was
greeted by a friend request. This excited me,
seeing as adding to my 800-some-odd friends
could only raise my Internet self-esteem. I
eagerly clicked to see who it was. Then I saw
the name David Gowdey, shared by both my
brother and my father.
I first assumed it was my brother, an
eighth-grader breaking all social rules by
joining Facebook before high school. After
one look at the picture, though, I realized it
was my father.
Now this was a downright atrocity, a
parent in a teenage world. However, I decided
to keep my cool, at least until his return home
from work. When he got home, though, I
noticed something.
Having just returned from a monotonous
day of straining business, my father tossed his
briefcase and stress aside and proceeded to
get his laptop and log onto Facebook. As I sat
on the other end of the couch, we became a
sort of mirror image, a reflection of two
LETTERS
Adoption options …
Re: “Puppy (and kitty) love — If you have it,
don’t support pet mills, says Elizabeth Barnes
of Dallas,” last Sunday Student Voices column.
There are many wonderful pets in city shel-
ters that deserve homes. Veteran shelter work-
ers can accurately evaluate the temperament
of animals and make recommendations for
prospective families. Rescue groups are also a
great resource for people wanting a specific
breed. Save a life — adopt.
Karen Smith, Farmers Branch
… best from shelters
Puppy mills are not only cruel and barbar-
ic, but they often produce sickly puppies with
genetic defects and contribute to the pet over-
population problem. More than 700,000
dogs and cats were destroyed in Texas animal
control facilities last year simply because there
were no homes for them. Thousands of these
dogs were purebreds, which can often make
up 25 percent of a shelter’s population.
Even many licensed facilities are in viola-
tion of current regulations, and too often, the
USDA and state departments of agriculture
do not enforce laws, leaving breeding dogs to
suffer in horrendous conditions.
addicts.
“Dad, why did you get a Facebook?” I
asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It looked fun.” He
proceeded to show me the 80 applications he
had put on his Facebook, most of which were
games intended to further suck the time out
of your day.
Soon, “Look at Trey’s scores on word
scramble! Help me beat him!” and Hey, I
friended Keith (the family barber) today!”
became regular fixtures in our conversations.
This obsessive behavior and all-around role
reversal began to slowly wear on me.
How does the businessman manage his
workload and Facebook, you might ask? I
have no answer for you. During these
economic times, it would be a lie to say that I
have not wondered whether Facebook is good
for my dad.
Does it take the edge off the stress life
holds? Does it dig us further into a pit of
procrastination? I suppose only time will tell.
All I can say at is that what seems to be the
apex of my father’s worries is how to beat his
friends in word scramble and Geography
Wiz.
And, I suppose, if this is the case, we are
doing just fine.
The American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals understands that pets can
be our most loyal companions, but purchasing
a pet-store puppy supports an unbelievably
cruel industry. The vast majority of puppies
sold by pet stores are products of puppy mills.
And pet stores in Texas provide no informa-
This does not, however, dismiss the fact
that Facebook has made my dad into an
adolescent at home. When dinner rolls
around, and my mom calls up the stairs to my
dad and me, she is greeted, in unison, by a
harmony of “just a second, I’m almost done!”
Now, you must understand that, for the
computer user, “just a second” is no ordinary
or concrete measure of time. This phrase
serves to allow the person just enough time to
finish the game or conversation at hand. Prior
to my dad’s joining the ranks of Facebook, if I
made this excuse, I was shut down and made
to come at once. Now, though, things are
different — father and daughter on the same
team of sorts.
I have not yet decided how I feel about my
father being a Facebook member; his new
ability to relate to my hours spent on
Facebook is a helpful thing, though. Parents
everywhere are starting to puncture holes in
teenage crazes, and this one, for the time
being, seems relatively harmless.
Mary Margaret Gowdey is a
senior at Highland Park High
School.
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
tion on where a dog was born and raised, leav-
ing consumers with no indication of future
risks.
Instead, the ASPCA encourages pet lovers
to “make adoption your first option.”
Laura Maloney, senior vice president,
anti-cruelty, ASPCA , New York, N.Y.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Republican, heal thyself
What was your biggest We can help the GOP more than Rush can, says Bryan Weatherford
disappointment in the
S
ince November, pundits and politicos polio, eradicated smallpox and has added to children vs. the life of their unborn child?
just-completed legislative have spoken of the demise of the GOP.
In 1976, Dan Rather asserted that 25
the quality of our lives. We cannot fear science
because it asserts the evolution of the species
5. Reclaiming Reagan. Reagan’s real
legacy is hope — not the kind of hope peddled
session? years would pass before a Republican won and the use of aborted embryos to further by a Washington bureaucrat but the kind
the White House. Since that time, Repub- research into the treatment of such human found in the spirit of the American people —
licans have held the White House for 20 of ailments as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s. the hope that says there’s oil under this land to
the past 32 years. Not bad for a party on its Surely the very science that detects the slight- meet our energy needs, the hope that oppor-
deathbed in the aftermath of Watergate. est heartbeat of human life in the womb is tunity abounds in this great land of ours, and
The GOP will come back; however, it worthy of our respect and support to cure the the hope that says we’ve earned the right to
won’t happen because the Democrats mess most heart-wrenching diseases of mankind. dream big dreams.
up. That wouldn’t hurt, but the GOP come- 3. Celebrating diversity. When I go to Let’s embrace our neighbors in a way that
Susan Dodia Melissa Nelson
Software project 11th grade English, back begins with me. GOP meetings, I see too many people who reflects our core values as Republicans. For-
manager, Plano Rockwall High I’m not pundit or a politician. I’m a look like me. It’s not enough to say we’ve give those who may have had a misstep or two
School Republican, and I’ve been accused of not elected a black chairman or a person of this in their lives; feed those who may have missed
Texas has more chil-
dren without health My biggest dis- being one for any number of reasons. But ethnicity or that one. We must engage people a meal or two; provide a safe home for a per-
insurance than any appointment was in it’s not my credentials or those of any other of all creeds in the GOP. Our values are deep- son needing one. We will not build this party
other state, and I am the standardized Republican that will win back America. It’s seated and their appeal is universal. by closing out those we don’t like. In lifting the
very disappointed testing legislation. our attitude. It’s an attitude that says we’re 4. Making abortion untenable. If making American spirit, we elevate the character of
that the Legislature Our lawmakers gave a about governing responsibly, an attitude abortion illegal would end it, bravo. However, the Republican Party.
did not vote to ex- lot of air time to that puts forth the best for America, and an if making anything illegal ended it, then we The GOP will govern sooner than everyone
pand Children’s changing the current attitude that is rooted in the ethics of Gerald wouldn’t have prostitution and illegal drugs, thinks. The Democrats may have knocked us
Health Insurance Plan TAKS system to make Ford, the legacy of Ronald Reagan and the and everyone would drive in an orderly fash- down, but we must be careful that we don’t
to another 80,000 it more meaningful
swagger of George W. Bush. ion down Interstate 35. If we want to end knock ourselves out. Republicans have always
children. Both the and less stressful for
This attitude begins with: abortion in our lifetime, we have to make placed great faith in the individual. Now is the
House and Senate the students. I’m
afraid we’re going to
1. Securing our borders. Our quality of certain that it is the most untenable choice for time to do so again.
passed a version of
this bill, but it died end up with some- life begins with secured borders. We must an expectant mother. What choice is there
due to all the time thing quite similar to free ourselves from foreign threats — ter- when the options are to carry your baby to Bryan Weatherford lives in
spent on the silly, TAKS, just under a rorism, illegal immigration, tainted im- term and lose your job or to keep your job and Plano and has been active in
partisan voter ID different name. ports, investments that undermine our feed your family? There is no choice. What the Republican Party for over
issue. economy and others. choice would anyone make having to choose 30 years, including work as a
2. Embracing science. Science cured between the quality of life for their living precinct chair. His e-mail
address is bryan.weatherford@tx.rr.com.

Kelseigh Boor
Plano, home
Kirk Evans
Fifth grade science,
Beyond gay marriage stereotypes
schooled junior Norton Elementary,

Our transportation
Allen I’ve learned to respect feelings on this subject, says Berta B. Sisemore
system is the life- There was no funding

for SB 205. It estab-
blood of commerce in
Texas. Right now, we lished an inter-agen-
are dealing with some cy council to plan for
very high blood increased access for
pressure, and the outdoor recreation,
failure to address this increased physical
issue was a huge activity and environ-
disappointment. mental literacy.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Felicity Pearson of McKinney: No anti-illegal
immigration bills and no voter ID bill. I hope this is
resolved in a special session.
Fred Frawley of Plano: I was mainly disappoint-
ed at the apparent lack of leadership, with a few ex-
ceptions. If leaders had set clearer priorities maybe
more could have been accomplished.
Catherine Casterline of Anna: I am disappoint-
ed that Texas still is NOT a “smoke free” environ-
ment. When will lawmakers realize that second-
hand smoke kills our children and adds to
breathing-related diseases and health care costs?
Lynn Wolfe of Plano: Hmmmm, what was my
biggest disappointment? I’ll give it some thought
this weekend while I’m driving to Shreveport to
spend some money in their casinos.
Bill Carman of Garland: Water needs into the
next 50 years was too much for the Legislature to
fathom the urgency. The House and the Senate were
busy playing “legislature,” not taking their responsi-
bilities toward Texas’ citizens seriously to tackle the
task of governing. I am sure there are many more
disappointed as I am in the failed outcome of this
session and the leadership in many ways.
Tom Desmond of Plano: The failure to pass
transportation and mass transit legislation. We can
look forward to more toll roads and worsening grid-
lock, all in the name of opposing any new taxes.
Nancy Lochridge of McKinney: My biggest frus-
tration was that lawmakers did not pass voter ID so
that all of our elections are fair and legal. Only tax-
paying citizens should have any say-so in this na-
tion’s future.
Barry Rosen of Dallas: Texans continue to pay
the highest rates in the country for electricity and in-
surance, and our representatives in Austin appar-
ently think this is just fine. The free market in these
cases is the freedom of these companies to make ex-
orbitant profits.
Art Roy of Mesquite: Once again our representa-
tives and senators didn’t have the courage to stand
up to the insurance industry. Texans will have to
continue to pay the highest rates in the country be-
cause they are afraid to offend some of their biggest
campaign contributors.
SIGN UP
These responses are from readers who have asked
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dall asnews.com.
I
just got back from a trip to San Antonio,
where I saw my old college friends. We
caught up on a lot of things — our kids,
jobs, current events. The subject turned to
gay marriage.
I need to tell you that we graduated from a
Catholic university and would be considered
by most to be relatively conservative
middle-aged women. I wasn’t surprised at all
that their opinions are very
similar to mine. Call me a
coward, but I kind of
needed the validation from
my friends and family since
it’s such a touchy subject. I
respect their opinion
whether it agrees with
mine.
Voices Someone’s sexual
Community orientation is a significant
part of who they are, yet it’s
such a small part of who they are, as well.
There are people who can’t get past the gay
label and somehow imagine these people
doing “gay things” 24/7, whatever that
means. Gays, like all people, have families
and childhoods and talents and educations
and dreams and hearts very much like
straight people.
When I think of my friend Andrew, I think
about his work ethic, his brilliant skills in
theater and his corny sense of humor. When I
Ali Shriro’s legacy
Re: “Billion-dollar baby — Stadium pro-
ject leader passionately takes on big budgets,
small details,” Sunday news story.
Your profile of Jack Hill reminded me of
my father’s career. Ali Shriro was instrumen-
tal in the construction of the three tallest
buildings in Dallas.
He was construction engineer and then
construction manager on the Southland Cen-
ter for the general contractor, J.W. Bateson.
On the first Republic Bank Building, he was
project manager for the architects, Harrison,
Abromovitz and Gill. On the second Republic
National Bank Building, James Aston, later
president of the bank, was so impressed with
Dad, that he hired him to be the bank’s repre-
sentative. And on One Main Street, he was
project manager for the architect, HKS.
While he received many honors and acco-
lades throughout his life, I think his finest
tribute was that everyone in construction who
knew him would say, “Your Dad was the nicest
person and the best construction man I’ve ev-
er known.”
David Shriro, Richardson
Movie date broke the bank
It was a great day for a outing with the
grandkids. How about a movie?
think of Rod, another friend, I think of his
inner strength and kind generosity. I don’t
think “There’s my GAY friend. I have to ask
him when the next parade is taking place,”
much the same way I hope people don’t see
me and assume I’m from South Texas and
like Tejano music.
I was listening to talk radio last week. The
host (Chris Krok on KLIF) was filling in for
the regularly scheduled host. This fill-in
tended to use sarcasm and hatefulness rather
than meaningful dialogue to debate. While
announcing the upcoming topics to be
discussed on the show, he mentioned gays
and specifically made reference to the “don’t
ask, don’t tell” policy of our military. He
finished off with “Go ahead, hook up!”
As the daughter of a 30-year veteran of the
U.S. Marine Corps, I was furious. How dare
he reduce anyone’s military service to a mere
scheme to “get lucky.” Again, this man was so
narrow-minded, he just can’t get past the gay
label and every stereotype that goes with it.
You have to be pretty simple-minded to think
that getting lucky is a high priority for any
recruit, male or female, signing up to serve
our country.
We saw the same kind of
simple-mindedness in the reaction to the
beauty queen from California who expressed
her opposition to gay marriage. She was
immediately stereotyped by gay marriage
LETTERS
The boys voted on Up. We went early to
get the discount price. We bought one pop-
corn and two drinks among the five of us.
My complaint is the cost: $45. No wonder
the place was empty. What young family
supporters as a moron, all because she didn’t
give the answer they wanted to hear. I think
the gay community missed an opportunity to
show more tolerance.
Debating gay marriage can be difficult,
but one of my favorite editorial letters ever
was to The Dallas Morning News by a
gentleman who’d been married to his bride
for many years. As I read his letter, I pictured
a grandpa type, definitely a wise old man. Gay
marriage was in the news for being legalized
in yet another state and, as a result, this man
wrote of how he awaited impending doom,
someone possibly knocking on his door to tell
him that his own marriage was now over. He
anticipated a sign such as the roof caving in
but, alas, he wrote, nothing ever happened
and his marriage was steadfast. Gay marriage
is simply none of my business, just like the
marriage between every straight couple on
my block is none of my business.
Maybe if we spent more time worrying
about our own marriages, the divorce rate
among straight people might not be through
the roof.
Berta B. Sisemore of
Richardson is a CPA and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address
is bertasisemore@ yahoo.
com.
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
could afford this very often when you can buy
the movie for $20 and watch it a dozen times?
What a shame that kids will have to miss
the fun of the theater. Times are changing.
Jo Kirkbride, Irving

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

SOUNDING OFF
The following topic is featured today on
dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
How have high gas prices and
the recession affected your
vacation plans?
Nancy L. Ruder
Preschool and art
teacher, Plano
Only driving can give
a sense of place, time,
distance and the
great variety of our
nation. Gas prices
ranged from $2.49 to
3.09 a gallon on my
recent 10-day trip
through Arkansas,
Tennessee and Ken-
tucky to Ohio. Seeing
this area added to my
understanding of the
U.S.
Summer adventure for boys
Isn’t it funny how it turns out to be for parents, too? asks Kirk Evans
S
ummer is the time for our children — 80-pound catfish and turtles the size of we’d hose ourselves off and wash our faces
swimming, late nights, baseball, Volkswagens that would nibble his toes if he and hands.
cookouts, playing outside, riding wasn’t sitting just right in the tube. It was one My parents knew that those summer days
bikes, family vacations to relatives, visiting of our many ways to make sure he was safe. spent outside were healthiest days of our
the library, sleeping in, catch up on During the day, we would spend our time childhood. And we knew if we stayed outside,
reading, summer camp and relaxing. in the woods building treehouses and forts. my mom would have time to make us batches
Ah … summer. My father would let us use his tools, nails and of chocolate chip cookies and sometimes
As parents, it a logistical maze of lumber. Somehow those nails and that homemade ice cream.
meeting these activity needs. But we do it. lumber would magically show up at the It was a great trade-off for all of us. After
It is summer. It is the beginning of every summer. We never dinner, the evening sun would dip behind the
time to enjoy the children questioned where it came from, but we willow trees to create the perfect shade on the
Kelsey Boor
Plano, home
we are raising in this always knew it never ran out. Another one of pond. My father, mother and the four of us
schooled junior world. It is the time to those parent tricks. If you walk those woods would head down to the pond to float in
spend a few more today, you can see the remnants of some of those giant inner tubes. It was the perfect
High gas prices have
minutes, hours and days the greatest summer civilizations Lucas, way to end each day.
not affected my
with our children who are Texas, has ever seen. This summer, I am spending time with
family’s vacation
plans for this summer, headed off to college or to We also built a basketball goal the perfect our boys. In our small suburban back yard,
although normally work. It is a time to enjoy. height for slam-dunks. This blackland soil we planted a pizza garden on Mother’s Day
they would have. Voices It is summer. would get as hard as the wooden floor of the that we have been enjoying every day since.
Over the last six Teacher During my summer basketball gym in our 100-degree weather. We are going to build a treehouse fort in the
months my family has years at home, “Go After a few games there, it became the perfect bushes right outside the back door. We will
traveled over 8,000 outside and play, don’t come back until I place to bounce that basketball. spend time fishing. We will go swimming
miles in a van that call you” was our favorite phrase to hear We always had a johnboat, paddles and and play in the sprinkler.
gets a whopping 13 from our mom. Four brothers, hundreds of life jackets on the edge of the pond to hop This summer is for our boys. You know, I
miles to the gallon.
acres of fields and fence rows, woods along into with our fishing poles and a cup full of think it is for my wife and me, too. Isn’t it
Our memory-making
the creeks and three ponds to fish, we were worms that we dug out of the garden. At any funny how that works out?
sojourns were only
possible because gas
in a boy’s summer haven. Little did we point, we would be playing catch with a
prices were under $2. realize, so were our parents. Isn’t it funny baseball, and someone would say, “Let’s go Kirk Evans teaches
how that works out? fishing!” In no time, we were in the johnboat fifth-grade science at Norton
When summer started, my father would heading out to the honey hole on the pond Elementary in Allen ISD and
bring home large truck tire inner tubes for behind the house. is a Teacher Voices volunteer.
us to air up and float in around the pond. Soon, we would hear the dinner bell my His e-mail address is
We would tease my youngest brother about mom would ring to get us back to the house; Kirk_Evans@allenisd.org.

Tina Sanchez Katherine Palomino

Taxpayer advocate at
federal agency,
Pleasant Grove
Not really. I’ve always
First grade bilingual,
Rowlett Elementary,
Garland ISD
Neither high gas
Getting stronger
taken inexpensive
vacations like camp-
prices, nor swine flu,
nor reports of vio- A triathalon goal helps me get fit, eat healthy, says LaDawn Fletcher
ing and road trips. lence are keeping us

Since I’m lucky from traveling to
enough to have a job, Mexico. The gasoline
I think I should contin- and hotel prices are
ue to spend my hard- much cheaper than a
earned dollars on my psychiatrist.
hard-earned vaca-
tion.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Jenny Rogers of Rockwall: I’m going on three
vacations this summer that involve a lot of driving.
The gas prices haven’t affected whether I’m going,
since I already have hotel reservations for each. I just
won’t be able to spend as much money during each
vacation.
Jennifer Luderman of Mesquite: As a former
resident of Great Britain, where gas prices are about
$6 per gallon, I do not consider U.S. gas prices high.
As I live what I call a frugal but free lifestyle, the re-
cession will definitely not affect my vacation plans. A
change is as good as a rest, as they say, and regular
vacations are essential to mental health.
Nelson Prater of Garland: They haven’t. Every
year we all head to Galveston for a week of fun and
sun. And this year, Galveston needs our business
more than ever. So, we’ll pay a little more for gas (not
nearly as much as last year) to have a ball and do a bit
of good, too.
Catherine Casterline of Anna: We just booked
our Disney World vacation for our family of four in
September. We do not participate in recessions in as
much as we can fight them.
Judith Maibie of Garland: Not a whit — I’m too
poor to take a vacation or even own a car.
Carl Garner of Mesquite: Cutting corners and
purchasing a more fuel-efficient car is how we are
still going on vacation this summer. I am also teach-
ing summer school to ensure we have plenty of mon-
ey for a trip to Florida.
Marna Irby of Richardson: In these hard times,
families need to draw closer — not be separated be-
cause of the economy pinch and higher gas prices.
Being scattered across the U.S., getting together
these days becomes ever harder for families like
ours.
Bobette Hilliard of McKinney: Vacation? What
is a vacation? I don’t believe I recall the term, as it
has been so long since I have had the pleasure (or the
funds) to partake in the benefits as the term is de-
fined by Websters.
Nancy Price of Wylie: With two layoffs in our
family in the last 12 months due to the recession, va-
cation is not even in our vocabulary any more.
Joe Benik of Allen: We are taking a scaled-down
trip this year, looking to take a break without break-
ing our newly trimmed budget. And we’ll have just
as much fun as in years past, maybe even more.
These responses are from readers who have asked
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
I
’m your average American. And if ever I
didn’t want to be average, this is the
perfect example.
You see, I’m walking around with 30 or so
more pounds than I should. I read the
newspaper. I know what I am supposed to be
doing to lose the weight. Birthing three
babies in five years didn’t help, though, and as
a suburban Texan, navigating my everyday
life is much easier from my
car than walking or riding
my bicycle anywhere. Over
the last few months,
though, I made the mental
commitment to do
something about my
weight.
I don’t have high blood
Voices pressure or diabetes, but
Community excessive weight invites
that kind of trouble. I see it
in my family. As I watched an uncle pull out a
legal-pad-size pill case at a recent family
get-together, I made a vow to my husband
that I would get healthier, and I asked him to
do the same.
Rockwall has a triathlon sprint in August.
I mentioned it in passing to some friends of
mine. Now I am in training, and being held
accountable by these (so-called) friends.
Triathlon spring training also makes me feel
Angels in a white pickup
Driving home on crowded eastbound In-
terstate 20 about 7:30 p.m. recently, we had a
blowout. Luckily, my husband could slow and
safely pull over to right shoulder. We began
emptying the trunk of luggage and thrown-in
memorabilia from a wonderful weekend fam-
ily celebration in the Hill Country.
As my capable husband was retrieving the
never-used jack and the temporary tire from
the housing, an angel pulled up behind us, not
wearing white wings but driving a white pick-
up.
Karen and Butch had spent the day at a
Fort Worth hospital with an uncle suffering
from cancer and were driving to their home in
Duncanville when they spotted “two white-
haired oldies” with a problem. They managed
to turn around and offer help, which was
gratefully accepted. The temporary tire was
quickly mounted by Butch, who had skill, lots
of practice and recent experience.
I want to shout the good news about good,
caring people doing good deeds and drown
out negative headlines in print and media
about the bizarre misdeeds of a few. Karen
and Butch had problems of their own, but
they had compassion for, and responded to,
the needs of others.
Franne Jackson, Dallas
like I’m not too old to learn something new.
The triathlon requires swimming 300
meters. Marginal would be too kind of a way
to describe my swimming. I signed up for
lessons. I, who only wanted to learn enough
swimming to prevent myself from drowning,
am now using it for fitness.
But there are limits. There’s clearly a
disconnect between who I am and who I want
to be.
I want to be an organic-munching,
non-fossil-fuel-emitting walker and biker.
But I am perfectly happy being the busy
mother of three small children. Even though I
can walk the mile and a half to the grocery
store, they cannot. And if I have to push them,
where will the groceries go? I could buy all
organic groceries, but of course there’d be
little money left for anything else.
Eating healthy is expensive. Fresh fruit
costs significantly more than “fruit-flavored”
snacks. You also don’t run the risk of spoiling.
The economic downturn has renewed
attention on gardening, even in urban
settings. I hope this isn’t a fad. Growing our
own food is great for the individual
pocketbook and has positive environmental
repercussions. I’ve been on the waiting list for
the Community Supported Agriculture
program in my area for almost two years. I’m
thrilled that so many people recognize the
LETTERS
GET OTHER Voices columns from across North Texas and add your
own comments.
dallasnews.com/voices
value of these programs that I can’t get in. I
need to stop waiting, though, and start
growing.
I’ve recently made peace with my reality —
I can’t do everything to be my perfect version
of myself, but there is a lot I can do. For
example, I joined the gym. I hate going to the
gym. I loathe the treadmill and the stationary
bike. Given the opportunity, I’ll walk or bike
anywhere, but to go through the motions and
not get anywhere feels so wrong. Still, when I
finish my 40 minutes of exertion within those
four walls, I feel great. When I’m tackling the
stairs with a 35-pound kid in one arm and a
25-pounder in the other, and I’m not
breathing heavy when I get to the top, I know
it is worth it.
The gym, which originally felt to me like
the lamest compromise ever, took away every
excuse I could come up with. There is child
care. The weather doesn’t matter. Knowing
this helps me to make it a point to squeeze in
a workout wherever I can make it fit.
I love this new gift to myself, of myself. I
wish it for everyone.
LaDawn Fletcher of Heath is a
marketing manager and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address
is voiceofladawn@sbcglobal
.net.
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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8B Sunday, June 21, 2009 E dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

Change the world by being a friend

Reaching out to one person may be the best hope for a solution, says Janice Byrd of McKinney

I
left the movie theater feeling sad and de-
pressed. I had just seen the The Soloist,
based on the true story of a Los Angeles
Times reporter who befriends a homeless,
schizophrenic musician. The movie claimed in
its scrolling epilog that 90,000 chronically
homeless people live in greater L.A., and The
Soloist did more than hint that a large percent-
age of these are mentally ill or addicted to drugs.
I was overwhelmed by the hopelessness of
the situation where well-intended caregivers
could do nothing more permanent than provide
daily food and shelter to these sick people. In
the movie, the shelter director tells the reporter,
“We can’t make them take their meds.” It seems
that protecting them from crime, violence and
their own self-destructive behaviors is not
possible either.
The movie made me wonder about Dallas, a
city one-tenth the size of Los Angeles. As it
happens, I read the next morning in The Dallas
Morning News that there are 1,000 chronically
homeless people on the Dallas streets, partly
because of a “lack of mental health services.”
To be fair, The Soloist did have a hopeful
element — the relationship between the home-
less musician and his reluctant friend. As the
movie makes clear, the best thing a homeless
person can have is a friend. A one-on-one men-
tor, someone to be a personal role model and
advocate is the real solution for a homeless man
or woman whether they are on the street be-
cause of mental illness, addiction, bad luck,
poverty or a sudden loss of family, health or
income.
T.S. Eliot once said of his own liberal politi-
cal party in power at the time, “We want a
system of order so perfect that we do not have
to be good.” I have all but given up on the feder-
al and state governments solving these systemic
social problems with their one-size-fits-all laws
and throw-money-at-it methods. To quote The
Soloist, “You can’t fix L.A.” Rather, I believe that
the power of one person to make a difference in
another’s life by simply (if not easily) being
there can transform both lives.
I’m not waiting for a government solution.
As we observed during Katrina, churches and
volunteers were in New Orleans, cooking and
setting up cots while FEMA was still giving
anti-sexual harassment classes for prospective
relief workers. Of course, government has a
responsibility as a social safety net, but I think
it is better suited for prevention.
Denver Moore, whose story was told in the
best-selling book Same Kind of Different as Me,
is an example of the power of one such friend-
ship. Denver, a homeless ex-convict, was be-
friended by Ron Hall, a Fort Worth art dealer,
and five years later, Denver was honored as that
city’s “philanthropist of the year,” ironically
inside the very same building where years
earlier, he had slept on the steps. (Same Kind of
Different as Me is also being made into a movie
due out in 2010.)
Earlier this spring, my church (First Baptist
Church of McKinney) organized and encour-
aged its members to reach out to the communi-
ty. “Don’t go to church. Be the church” became
our motto, and we actually closed the church
doors, canceling our services and other usual
Sunday activities in order to spend the time
“being Jesus with skin on.” Each of us was
encouraged to find a place where we could be
involved, not just for the day, but all year.
Like the newspaper reporter who was
trained not to overlook the obvious, in-his-face
story, don’t overlook the person in your path.
Everywhere there are people in need of a friend,
a helping hand, encouragement, assurance of
God’s love and hope. As much as we might wish
for a bigger systematic solution to our social
problems, being a friend is the best chance we
have of changing our world — one person at a
time.
Janice Byrd of McKinney is
library director of the First
Baptist Church of McKinney
and a book performer. Her
e-mail address is Janice@Jan-
iceByrd .com.

Summer Eating it up
You tolerate a lot when it comes to

traditions puppy love, says Chuck Bloom

“V
oid” is a loss unfulfilled. In my home,
there had been a void since the passing
our pet dog, Blarney, last October,
Find new layers within bringing an unsettling quiet that could only be
filled by a new canine (the rescued cat of the past
yourself, says Beverly Biehl two years just wasn’t the same).
Into our lives entered Seamus Shortcake, a
year-old (we think) Dalmatian-terrier mix, adopt-

A
lthough I have the ability to get a tan, I find that
it’s too much work for such a minimal payoff. ed from his appearance at the North Texas Irish
In the past, I tried to be a sun-worshipper. In Festival at Fair Park. My dear wife was ambling to
my teens, I would slather myself in baby oil, hoping to get some shortcake on a Sunday afternoon, and
become a Bronzed Goddess who would make all the she spotted this white dog with black spots.
boys swoon. She had just accepted a new job with the city of
Sometimes, I’d have some luck — starting with a Dallas, and he was a resident of the city’s animal
lovely shade of crimson, I’d glow in the dark for a day, shelter; I guess she wanted to shop at the compa-
then gradually turn into beautiful hue akin to buttered ny store. When his papers arrived, I noticed some-
toast. thing odd about the information.
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor “Why is Seamus listed as a ‘goat’ by the city of
Then the bubbles would appear. Next thing you
know, the peeling would begin. Dallas?” I asked her.
Oddly, I enjoy the task of meticulously uncovering “That was what they had named him in the
the baby-fine skin underneath the snakelike aftereffects
of sunburn. When I was a kid, summer camp trained me
to be pro at this task. I’m constantly amazed that I had
Second childhood shelter,” she explained, to which I verbalized my
indignity that anyone would pin such a nasty
name on a dog.
It’s been a few months since that introduction,
any skin left on my shoulders one year. The “sports” type
of waterproof sunblock hadn’t been invented yet, and I
Make it carefree, says Davia Madariaga and his personality, ranging from late puppy to
really had a great time at 4-H camp’s swimming pool. early adolescent, is emerging daily. We see the

Now, I’m preparing to send my children off to their
own summer camp experiences in a few short days. I’m
not naı̈ve enough to believe that they will be any more
diligent about their sunscreen use than I was. Nor do I
believe that they will always make wise decisions about
which foods they pick from the buffet line or which of
the other campers they choose to flirt with. But I
absolutely believe that they will be different people when
they return. And that’s a good thing.
Summer is a time of great
freedom. It offers new ways to
exercise creativity when the Boredom
Monster threatened a person’s sanity,
and time to reconnect with friends
and family who have scattered
around the globe. It’s also a time for
Voices these future adults to find new ways
to create their personalities without a
Community
parent breathing down their necks.
That’s why I love summer camps.
As a child, I grew up on a pig farm near a small town.
Of the 15 people I graduated with, I’d known 12 since
kindergarten. My best friends were horses and the
occasional cat that would allow me to catch it. Yes, I had
siblings around, but summer camp was the only time
when I could meet new people and create a whole new
persona of my choice. The details would stay the same,
but the confidence level was always much bigger than I
had in my daily life. If I found that an aspect of the new
me was accepted, then I could gradually incorporate
that into my everyday existence.
If I thought a new mannerism was obnoxious, then I
had the luxury of knowing that I would probably never
see those kids again. I got to experiment with no
long-lasting repercussions. Kids today tend to move
around a lot with their families. This idea of reinventing
themselves is nothing new to them, but for me, it was a
glorious way to break out of the mold that I was put in at
age 5 and not really allowed out of until after the 20-year
reunion.
Our children have not had to deal with redistricting
or a cross-country move since they entered school. I see
some patterns repeating with them, and am so grateful
that they will have their own time to find themselves in a
safe, nurturing summer camp. And no matter what
happens with the sunscreen, they’ll know that they have
loving parents waiting at home. And a mom who’s an
expert at dealing with peeling skin.
Beverly Biehl of Frisco runs her own
interior decorating and feng shui
consulting business. Her e-mail address
is Beverly@TheIntuitiveInterior.com.
I
can’t wait to be grown up,” said
one of my students the last week
of school. “You get to do fun
things, like go to work and go to the
grocery store,” she continued. I just
rolled my eyes and made some com-
ment about how she was right, being a
grownup is a lot of “fun,” but during the
first weeks of summer, I began to
reflect on what it means to be grown
up. It seems to me that folks spend a lot
of their childhood
wishing to be adults
and a lot of their
adulthood wishing to
be a child again. Isn’t
there a happy medi-
um?
One of my favorite
Voices things to tell my stu-
dents is that I wish I
Teacher
were back in sixth
grade — it was great. No worries other
than occasional homework, no curfew
other than “dark,” and fresh cookies
baked weekly by my mom. This is in
direct conflict with what sometimes
happens at my home these days. As a
mom, I find it hard to balance the two
opposing forces of teenagerdom, the
desire to let my two children enjoy the
last years of high school unfettered and
the knowledge that they need to get a
job while still under the tutelage of
mom and dad.
Desperately, I want my children to
have a few last carefree summers to
hold on to and reflect upon as they
grow older. I’ve known for years that
I’m an adult — I have the recent battle
scars to prove it. My son talking to
military recruiters about career paths.
My first group of sixth-graders gradu-
ating from high school. My own two
children closing in on graduation. The
death of my father and the bittersweet
military funeral that followed.
All of this has led to a crossroads
where I am the champion of “let chil-
dren be children” and “learn to be
responsible.”
Is there a happy medium? A trick to
holding on while letting go?
Of course, you have to find what
works for you and your children, but
for me and mine, it’s old movies. “Bing
Crosby” old. We can’t wait for the next
old movie to come in the mail from our
online movie provider. Popcorn
popped and pillows fluffed, we sit
together watching old Westerns, Hol-
lywood-heyday musicals and classic
dramas. After we critique the movie,
we order the next.
The other tradition we’ve begun is
spontaneity. If it’s a beautiful Saturday
we set a time limit on household chores
(“speed chores,” as the kids call it) and
then walk one of the trails in our neigh-
borhood. Other times, we have mom-
my/daughter, father/son dates where
we do something just the two of us —
and we do make time for the mommy/
son father/daughter dates, as well.
Often these dates consist of a cup of
coffee and a long rambling perusal in a
bookstore. The purpose isn’t the what,
it’s the who — spending an unplanned
amount of one-on-one time, one par-
ent focused on just one child.
We’ve found our best, and often
most difficult, parenting conversations
happen during these outings. Some-
how talking about dating or problems
with friends just seems a bit easier in
the neutral zone of a coffee shop. Best
of all, I’ve discovered that when my life
as a grownup gets to be too much at
that moment, I have a sweet escape in
my two teenagers.
This summer, if at all possible, let
your children be children — and join
them! Turn off the TVs, computers and
gaming systems and encourage every-
one to discover the joy of reading out-
side underneath a tree or just simply
lying on your back watching the clouds.
We have just a few brief moments to be
a child, even if it is for a second time.
Davia Madariaga
teaches at Mary Evans
Elementary School in
Allen and is a Teacher
Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail
address is daviam@sbcglobal.net.
Dalmatian within him when he abruptly exhibits
his sudden burst of speed whenever the mood
strikes him … which can be any moment. The cat
does a great imitation of that mechanical rabbit at
the greyhound track — a few feet ahead and
running for her life.
But it’s the other half of the mix providing the
most concern. You might pronounce it “terr-EE-
er,” but in our happy abode, it is “terror.” You see,
the dog eats everything! You name it and his teeth
are around it, on it, in it and destroying it.
Canned dog food? Dry dog food? Eh, not so
much. That stuff we place in his food bowl he
tends to toss in the air and move with his nose into
a pile on the floor. Then he sits in front of you at
the dinner table … waiting … simply waiting.
But eat he does — dog toys, rawhide bones
ranging from small to the ones that would choke a
Great Dane. He makes mincemeat of them in a
matter of hours.
Pillows, seat covers, blankets, bed sheets,
stuffed animals and rag dolls. Shirts, socks, dad-
dy’s dirty underwear, mom’s sweaters, two pairs of
slippers, some Crocs and one pair of faux Birken-
stock sandals.
He has even tried to eat the plastic box on the
wall housing the cable TV connections.
After the cable installer came one morning, he
phoned to inquire about his missing lunch money
that accidentally fallen out of his pocket. I couldn’t
locate it, but someone did; a few minutes later,
Seamus was lying on the floor, chewing up the
dead presidents (I needed my own bailout).
This behavior often sends my wife into a tizzy,
complete with threats to vote Seamus off the
island permanently, or at best, exiled to a life of
Gravy Train and watching reruns of “Garfield.”
But at those exact moments, Seamus leaps
from great distance into her lap and immediately
engulfs her in wet doggie kisses (“Argh! Dog
germs!” as Lucy would scream in “Peanuts”). One
look at those sad doggie eyes and it is we who do
the eating … up.
So he stays, and we ask daily, “What has the
dog eaten today?” As if we really want to know.
Chuck Bloom, who has been
known to eat a little bit himself, is
a former Collin County columnist-
editor and a frequent contributor
to Collin County Opinions. He can
be reached at chuckbloom@hotmail.com, or
through his Web site at http://chuckbloom.blog
spot.com.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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10B Sunday, June 28, 2009 E dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
A senior moment … at 48?
In Points today, we launch our summer What’s this I hear about growing older gracefully? asks David McClure
book club, featuring Bryan Burrough’s ‘The Big

Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil
Fortunes.’ So we were wondering …
What’s your favorite
book about Texas?
Susan Sanders
Wansbrough
Attorney, Lake
Highlands
My favorite classic
book about Texas is
Goodbye to a River, by
John Graves. It is
Texas’ Walden. My
favorite Texas history
is Lone Star Nation by
H.W. Brands, a
masterful storyteller.
$
5.37. That’s what the kid behind the I could be that easily distracted! What am I in here?” At this point I was ready to ask a
counter at Taco Bueno said to me. I now? A toddler? Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and
dug into my pocket and pulled out “Dude! Can’t get too far without your car then go straight home and apply for Social
some lint and two dimes and something keys, eh?” I stared with utter disdain at the Security benefits.
that used to be a Jolly Rancher. Having keys. I began to rationalize in my mind. Emo had no clue. I walked back out to the
already handed the kid a five-spot, I started “Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and
to head back out to the truck to grab some elderly! It could happen to anyone!” tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He
change when the kid with the Emo hairdo I turned and headed back to the truck. I was holding up a drink and a bag. His moth-
said the harshest thing slipped the key into the ignition, but it er explained, “I think you left this in my truck
anyone has ever said to wouldn’t turn. What now? I checked my keys by mistake.” I took the food and drink from
me. He said, “It’s OK. I’ll and tried another. Still nothing. That’s when the little boy and sheepishly apologized.
just give you the senior I noticed the purple beads hanging from my She offered these kind words: “It’s OK.
citizen discount.” rearview mirror. I had no purple beads hang- My grandfather does stuff like this all the
I turned to see who he ing from my rearview mirror. time.”
Heath Dollar
ESL, Schrade Middle
was talking to and then Then, a few other objects came into focus. All of this is to explain how I got a ticket
School, Rowlett, heard the sound of The car seat in the back seat. Happy Meal doing 85 in a 40. Yes, I was racing some
Garland ISD change hitting the count- toys spread all over the floorboard. A partial- punk kid in a Toyota Prius. And no, I told the
North Texan Larry
Voices er in front of me. “Only ly eaten doughnut on the dashboard. officer, I’m not too old to be driving this fast.
McMurtry’s Lonesome Teacher $4.68” he said cheerfully. Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I As I walked in the front door, my wife met
Dove ranks as one of I stood there stupefied. I flew out of the alien vehicle. Moments later I me halfway down the hall. I handed her a
America’s greatest am 48, not even 50 yet — a mere child! was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket.
novels. McMurtry Senior citizen? to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in I promptly sat in my rocking chair and cov-
conveys wisdom in a I took my burrito and walked out to the my life. That is when I felt it, deep in the ered up my legs with a blanky.
slow, pensive drawl. truck wondering what was wrong with bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach The good news was I had successfully
Emo. Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, growled and churned, and I reached to grab found my way home.
my blood began to boil. Old? Me? my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found.
I’ll show him, I thought. I opened the I swung the truck around, gathered my David McClure teaches sci-
door and headed back inside. I strode to courage, and strode back into the restaurant ence and coaches at Faubion
the counter, and there he was waiting with one final time. There Emo stood, draped in Middle School in McKinney.
a smile. youth and black nail polish. All I could think He is also a Teacher Voices
Before I could say a word, he held up was, “What is the world coming to?” All I volunteer columnist. His
something and jingled it in front of me, like could say was, “Did I leave my food and drink e-mail address is dmcclure9066@yahoo.com.

Katherine Palomino Chase Wofford

First grade bilingual, Journalism

Best summer ever

Rowlett Elementary, instructor, Coppell
Garland ISD High School

My current favorite Friday Night Lights by

book about Texas is Buzz Bissinger has
Twelve Mighty Or- always been one of
phans, by Jim Dent. It
is an occasionally
my favorite books.
While Bissinger does
Finally, I have time to enjoy lazy days, says Susan Dodia of Plano

I
hysterical book, as it present the am 44 years old, and I am having the best feel like I have gotten away with something. One weekend, we will drive out to Tyler and
recounts what unfortunate issues summer of my life. This summer will be My nephew, Evan, just arrived for a six- pick our own blueberries. We do it every year,
happens to Texas facing a West Texas
the first in about 25 years when I will be week visit. In years past, when I was working and it is so much fun. It’s hot, sweaty work, but
high school football town, it is a true
self-employed and not working full-time full-time, the summers were hectic, with the blueberries are amazing. We will stop at
when rival coaches example of the pride
suddenly have to deal Texans have in their
outside of the home, and I am ready to enjoy packing lunches and backpacks and shuttling Ham Orchards in Terrell on the way back, buy
with a bunch of community. High the simple pleasures available when long Evan to and from basketball camp, riding fresh peaches and eat some of their soft-serve
skinny orphans school football on sunny days converge with ample free time. camp, academic camp, music camp, etc. My strawberry or peach ice cream. We will buy
motivated by hunger Friday nights is part I have an awesome husband and I don’t have children, so Evan’s vegetables from farmers who sell the fruits of
and the need to put of what makes our recliner in the back yard. It visits every summer give us a taste of how the their labors on the side of the road.
gas in their pickup state great. wasn’t expensive; I bought other half lives, and we developed a great Of course, there is still work to do. I have a
truck (their only it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. appreciation for what most of our co-workers business to build, and will be taking another
transportation to the I move it around to the best did all year long. class in my master’s program in July, but there
games). shady spot and work my But this summer will be different. This is still plenty of time to kick back and enjoy the
way through a stack of summer will be slow as molasses. We are season.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular magazines. If there is a nice going to sleep late, spend our afternoons in the How about you? My hope is that you, too,
contributors to this forum. Voices breeze, it is heavenly. pool, and make pizzas on the grill for dinner. will take a little time and enjoy your summer.
Community
Sometimes I even take a We will do a home version of Iron Chef, where When was the last time you took a nap out-
nap out there, with my dogs we visit the farmers market in Coppell or side? Maybe today could be the day.
Joan Ream of Heath: The Train To Estelline by sprawled out around me. McKinney on a Saturday morning, and put
Jane Roberts Wood is a favorite of mine. This is a A few years ago we added a shade structure together a meal out of what we purchase there. Susan Dodia is the president
story of a young rural-area school teacher in the with a ceiling fan to the patio in our back yard, Have you been to a farmers market lately? of The Project Coach, a pro-
Panhandle in 1911. She is paid $42 a month to teach the most pleasurable home improvement we As we do most summers, we will load up for ject management consulting
15 students in a one-room schoolhouse and faces the have ever made. On weekends, we eat break- the time-honored family car trip, this time to practice. She is also a Commu-
realities and harshness of prairie life, including the fast, lunch and dinner out there. Many Sun- southern New Mexico. But this summer, I nity Voices volunteer col-
clashes between railroaders and ranchers. days, we spend the whole day outside. Maybe won’t be frantic about what I am leaving umnist. Her e-mail address is Susan@thepro
it’s some sort of cellular memory from child- behind at work and how big of a mess it will be ject-coach.com.
Terri Smith of Mesquite: Adventures with a Tex-
as Naturalist by Roy Bedichek. I’m also enthused hood, but when I spend a day outside, I still in when I get back.
about Native Texas Plants by Wasowski and Wa-
sowski.
Bob Bartlebaugh of Richardson: My favorite
Texas books are the three Semi-Tough novels by Tex-
as sportswriter Dan Jenkins chronicling the adven-
tures of Billy Clyde Puckett “and them.” They cover
everything from Texas’ obsession football on all lev-
els to the personality and character of the state itself.
Bouncing back
Joe Benik of Allen: My favorite Texas book is the
Women find transition a tough place to be, says Laurie Lynn Lindemeier
biography of “Amarillo Slim” Preston, one of the

great early poker pros. The book is called Amarillo
Slim in a World Full of Fat People, and takes the
reader through a series of traveling stories, colorful
opinions and outrageous proposition bets that mark
the life of one of the greatest gamblers in history.
Larry Moore of Plano: I hate to admit it, but my
favorite book about Texas was North Dallas Forty. It
was crude but funny and nailed the undeserved
privilege we give to football players.
Fred Yarbrough of Frisco: Easily my favorite
book about Texas is James Michener’s epic novel
Texas. Typical of his work, it was well-researched
and written.
Ronald Paris of McKinney: My favorite book
about Texas is 13 Days To Glory by Lon Tinkle. It is
very accurate and moving story about the heroes of
the Alamo.
Doris Anne Roop-Benner of Richardson: My fa-
vorite book about Texas is True Women by Janice
Woods Windle. It depicts strong, proud, wise Texas
women that capture your imagination and your
heart.
SIGN UP
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to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
A
fter my talk with a girlfriend after a
women’s support meeting, I’m think-
ing about how demanding women are
of themselves after divorce.
As I drive home a burning desire to check
up on a friend hits me, and it’s not another
hot flash. She told me last week she was
divorcing. Though it’s 10 p.m., she answers
my call and tells me she
now has a little more on her
plate — cancer.
Shush, I say to myself,
listen, say something that
matters quickly, and be the
friend you know you must
be for her.
Then I ask myself why
Voices women habitually expect
Community themselves to be wonder
women in a crisis instead of
human. As I drive, we talk more and figure
out a plan for the next week. When I get
home, I e-mail her my best contact informa-
tion.
I think of the bigger picture. Is it possible
that American women are destroying their
health to be all things to all people? For in-
stance, I’ve read that one of the best ways to
combat menopause is to get enough sleep. It
doesn’t shock me that women find this diffi-
cult to do. What am I doing at 1:24 a.m. when
I should be sleeping? Writing. It has to be
done because tomorrow morning I get gro-
ceries, pick up my kids from their dads, go
clothes-shopping with my daughter and tutor
private lessons all afternoon.
A month or so ago, another girlfriend
convinced me after a stressful job interview to
let her buy me a pedicure. I found it difficult
to justify sitting down for that length of time
and letting myself be pampered. Later, every
time I looked at the daisies they painted on
my big toes I felt guilty for that hour of pure
extravagance.
Another friend purchased a full-body
massage for me a couple of weeks ago, and I
thought I had died and gone to heaven. Reju-
venated, I bounced back and had a great
weekend of fun activities with my kids.
I guess I’ve learned that it’s OK to take
time to recuperate emotionally, physically,
financially and even socially after a difficult
life change. Please, women, give yourself a
break and don’t be your own worse critics.
Consider a woman who is married for 15
years and is a stay-at-home mom working
only part-time jobs. Immediately upon di-
vorcing, friends and relatives ask, “What are
you going to do for a living now?” Prospective
employers ask, “What are your job skills, your
degree, your career goals?” and finally, the
killer: “What jobs have you worked in the last
five years?” Do they care that she has great
self-taught computer and communication
skills and works independently? Not really.
They just want to know if she’s been in the
“real world” of work recently.
Many newly divorced women struggle to
pay off costly lawyers’ fees while trying to
research jobs and reach deeply into their well
of marketable skills to craft a work-of-art
resume out of the part-time jobs they’ve been
doing. Then they find their skills need a
facelift to compete in the current job market
against hungry female college grads.
How can she remain an available mother
to her children, work away from home only
while kids are in school or work from home
when they get off the bus?
Hobbies go out the window. Resiliency is
her new middle name — along with the re-
claiming of her maiden name.
And it feels good, or so she tells me.
Laurie Lynn Lindemeier of
McKinney is a voice and piano
teacher and part-time ele-
mentary school front office
worker. She is also a Commu-
nity Voices volunteer columnist. Her e-mail
address is lindemeier-rickard@sbcglobal.net.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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6B Sunday, June 7, 2009 W dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
COMMENT ON the following topic
on dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
One man’s determination
I visited him on his last full day, says Michael Hopkovitz
What was your biggest
A
t some time, for all of us, death in- man made his daily trek to the nursing home uncle had died about 20 minutes before we
trudes into our lives. Recently, an to visit his wife of more than 60 years. Even arrived.
disappointment in the uncle of mine passed away, and just though she no longer recognized him, he My uncle taught me some lessons about
just-completed legislative about everyone he knew was surprised. That
is somewhat remarkable because my uncle
made that daily trip even during the harsh
Canadian winters. His devotion was in many
life with his optimism, devotion, selflessness
and compassion. One example sums up his
session? had just turned 95. ways what kept him going, and it was in- optimism. Like many elderly, he was con-
He and my aunt had no children, and, as spirational. His biggest fear was what would cerned about outliving his and his wife’s
they aged, I was one of very happen to his wife if he were not around to financial needs. When I assured him he
few relatives who would speak to the doctors and make sure that her would not have a problem until he was at
take the time to help them. needs were attended to. least 105, he said, in all seriousness, “And
The past few years were That’s why he decided to move into the what will I do then?” Now that’s optimism.
particularly difficult, as my nursing home. I had counseled him to stay in Perhaps that is why people were surprised
aunt developed Alzheim- his assisted-living apartment, where he had by his passing. Although he complained
Kelsey Boor Katherine Palomino er’s disease and had to go a better environment for himself, but he regularly about the same aches and pains for
Plano, home First grade bilingual,
schooled junior Rowlett Elementary,
into a nursing home. figured it was better to be in the same facility years, he just kept on going. He outlived
Garland ISD Helping them was as my aunt, so he could see her every day. most who knew him, so few were left to
Our transportation Voices difficult, as they lived in Our most recent visit started with him at mourn him at the small memorial service,
system is the life- I don’t expect our Community Canada. As many people the nursing home, talking about his decision but the surprise universally expressed says
blood of commerce in elected officials to
walk on water. But
find out dealing with such to move and what was happening in our something about the man’s determination.
Texas. Right now, we
are dealing with some what bothers me a lot situations themselves, it’s hard to be of much respective lives. We had made plans to go out I am grateful for that last day with him,
very high blood is that there does not help long distance and even more so across the next day, where he could get some fresh and it enriches my spirit to see the hand of a
pressure, and the seem to be anything international borders. I was able to give some air, and then go out for dinner. When we left higher power work a small miracle like that.
failure to address this they accomplished moral support, as we spoke weekly and were that evening, he was feeling a bit tired and
issue was a huge that people can even able to do some things online. But the once or was ready for a good night’s rest. Michael Hopkovitz of Dallas,
disappointment. remember besides twice a year, our visits involved a full slate of Returning the next morning, I entered his inside Denton County, volun-
the fact that 8-year- appointments and tasks to do things that room to find he had passed away. The order- teers with several Jewish
olds will now have to could only be done in person. ly told us my uncle had his breakfast and had nonprofit groups and is a
ride in a car seat. Community Voices volunteer
Seeing the deterioration of my aunt was seemed much better than the previous eve-
That’s important … columnist. His e-mail address is mikespolitics
agonizing. Watching the situation my uncle ning. Returning to collect his tray, the order-
but I expected more. @att.net.
had to face was also difficult, as this elderly ly found him peacefully lying in bed. My

Susan Sanders Kirk Evans

Beyond gay marriage stereotypes
Wansbrough Fifth grade science,
Attorney, Dallas Norton Elementary,
Allen
I’ve learned to respect feelings on this subject, says Berta B. Sisemore

Once again, the
Legislature fails to do There was no funding
for SB 205. It estab-
comprehensive water
lished an interagency
planning. Our laws
promote waste- council with mem-
fulness and pollution, bers of the public and
not conservation. The the heads of Parks
longer we postpone and Wildlife, Agricul-
dealing with our ture, Texas Education
future needs, the Agency and State
Health Services to
more expensive that
future will become. plan for increased
access for outdoor
recreation, increased
physical activity and
environmental
literacy.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Tom Wilson of Grapevine: Failure to pass voter
ID. Although the Democrats claimed hardship for
many of their constituents, some things are hard in
life. Voter integrity should come before conve-
nience.
Karen Harmon of Irving: My biggest disappoint-
ment is that out of more than 200 legislative issues
concerning our environment, only one made it
through. It just seems that showing your ID to vote
is so trifling versus saving our planet.
Debbie Gallagher of Cedar Hill: The good news
is that teachers get an $800 raise. The bad news is
that it is only funded for two years.
Doug Harper of Irving: Too much politics and
not enough leadership. The governor should ask
them to come back until the work is done, no ifs,
ands or buts. Now especially is not the time to leave
so many loose ends.
Bill La Barr of Carrollton: Transportation. Politi-
cal posturing between the two factions of the Re-
publican Party killed any progress that could have
been made.
Lynn Walters of Irving: I’m disappointed that,
despite the changing times, the Republicans still
acted as if they had large majorities and tried to bul-
ly their way through as usual. Why did they bother
with getting rid of House Speaker Tom Craddick if
they were going to act the same? Of course, maybe
we’re better off that they did little more than pass a
budget.
Richard Cook of Coppell: My biggest disap-
pointment is that the Legislature ignored the rights
of U.S. citizens. This applies to both voter ID and
immigration. As a disabled American vet who
fought for our country, I feel that this is tantamount
to treason.
Christine Thomson of Denton: It was a big dis-
appointment that gambling was shut out yet again.
Our money is going to Oklahoma and Louisiana
when it could stay in Texas. Texans are not babies
that need to be protected, and our legislators have
sold us out yet again to their lobbyists.
SIGN UP
These responses are from readers who have asked
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
I
just got back from a trip to San Antonio, think of Rod, another friend, I think of his supporters as a moron, all because she didn’t
where I saw my old college friends. We inner strength and kind generosity. I don’t give the answer they wanted to hear. I think
caught up on a lot of things — our kids, think “There’s my GAY friend. I have to ask the gay community missed an opportunity to
jobs, current events. The subject turned to gay him when the next parade is taking place,” show more tolerance.
marriage. much the same way I hope people don’t see Debating gay marriage can be difficult, but
I need to tell you that we graduated from a me and assume I’m from South Texas and like one of my favorite editorial letters ever was to
Catholic university and would be considered Tejano music. The Dallas Morning News by a gentleman
by most to be relatively conservative I was listening to talk radio last week. The who’d been married to his bride for many
middle-aged women. I wasn’t surprised at all host (Chris Krok on KLIF) was filling in for years. As I read his letter, I pictured a grandpa
that their opinions are very the regularly scheduled host. This fill-in type, definitely a wise old man. Gay marriage
similar to mine. Call me a tended to use sarcasm and hatefulness rather was in the news for being legalized in yet
coward, but I kind of than meaningful dialogue to debate. While another state and, as a result, this man wrote
needed the validation from announcing the upcoming topics to be of how he awaited impending doom,
my friends and family since discussed on the show, he mentioned gays someone possibly knocking on his door to tell
it’s such a touchy subject. I and specifically made reference to the “don’t him that his own marriage was now over. He
respect their opinion ask, don’t tell” policy of our military. He anticipated a sign such as the roof caving in
whether it agrees with finished off with “Go ahead, hook up!” but, alas, he wrote, nothing ever happened
mine. As the daughter of a 30-year veteran of the and his marriage was steadfast. Gay marriage
Voices Someone’s sexual U.S. Marine Corps, I was furious. How dare is simply none of my business, just like the
Community orientation is a significant he reduce anyone’s military service to a mere marriage between every straight couple on
part of who they are, yet it’s scheme to “get lucky.” Again, this man was so my block is none of my business.
such a small part of who they are, as well. narrow-minded, he just can’t get past the gay Maybe if we spent more time worrying
There are people who can’t get past the gay label and every stereotype that goes with it. about our own marriages, the divorce rate
label and somehow imagine these people You have to be pretty simple-minded to think among straight people might not be through
doing “gay things” 24/7, whatever that that getting lucky is a high priority for any the roof.
means. Gays, like all people, have families and recruit, male or female, signing up to serve
childhoods and talents and educations and our country. Berta B. Sisemore of
dreams and hearts very much like straight We saw the same kind of Richardson is a CPA and a
people. simple-mindedness in the reaction to the Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address
When I think of my friend Andrew, I think beauty queen from California who expressed
is bertasisemore@yahoo.
about his work ethic, his brilliant skills in her opposition to gay marriage. She was
theater and his corny sense of humor. When I immediately stereotyped by gay marriage com.
LETTERS
Honor his request
Re: “Irving ISD honors retired district
chief — High school to bear name of reluctant
former superintendent,” Monday news story.
Having grown up in the Irving school sys-
tem, I certainly have no problem with former
Irving ISD Superintendent Jack Singley be-
ing honored for his many years of service.
What I do have a problem with is changing
the way schools have been named in the dis-
trict. I was always under the impression that
high schools were named after national he-
roes (MacArthur and Nimitz), middle schools
named after state heroes (Crockett, Bowie,
Lamar, Houston, Austin, Travis, DeZavala)
and elementary schools were named after lo-
cal heroes, including former superintendents
(Barton, Brown, Haley, Townley, Hanes).
There are certainly numerous other
honors to bestow on this most deserving gen-
tleman, and naming the next elementary af-
ter him would be perfect.
Singley would be the first to admit the im-
portance of the elementary school years. If
the district really wants to honor Singley, then
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
honor his request of not naming the Academy
after him.
Phyllis Brahinsky, Irving
them on TV. How fun it would be to go see $45. No wonder the place was empty. What
the big screen with popcorn. young family could afford this very often
The boys voted on Up. We went early to when you can buy the movie for $20?
Movie date broke the bank get the discount price. We bought one pop- I know it costs to run the theaters, but
corn and two drinks between the five of us. what a shame that kids will have to miss the
It was a great day for a outing with the
When I was younger, that was the thing to fun of the theater. Times are changing.
grandkids, who are three boys, ages 7, 4 and 3.
How about a movie? They are used to viewing do on Saturday. My complaint is the cost: Jo Kirkbride, Irving

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
How have high gas prices and
the recession affected your
vacation plans?
Casey Cavalier
Freelance writer and
film critic, Argyle
My vacation plans
involve air travel. And
I’ve just learned that
the only direct flight
to my hometown in
California has been
eliminated by
American Airlines. I
attribute this to both
fuel prices and the
recession. I’ll miss
that easy and direct
way home.
Morgan Williams
Senior, Coppell High
School
If not allowing me to
do many college
visits wasn’t bad
enough last summer,
this summer I have to
save every dime of
my graduation and
work money for trips
home from college
next year. No senior
road trips for me this
summer.
Looking toward retirement
Why can’t I grow old near my friends? asks Sarah Crouch of Cedar Hill
E
very other month, I look forward to I would love to live on “curvilinear streets of the metroplex. There is a small retirement
the arrival of a glossy 200-page with scenic walkways and bridges,” close to community in Cedar Hill, but we’re not quite
magazine titled Where to Retire. The nearby shopping, restaurants and cultural old enough to purchase a home there. By the
front cover always features a smiling activities. I want to be part of the “next time we’re ready to retire, the community will
married couple, usually tanned and wearing evolution in active adult living.” be built out. Retirement apartments are
expensive jewelry. Distinguished gray hair is The reality, though, is that my husband and available, but we prefer a home with a small
the norm for husbands on the cover, but I are among the majority of baby-boomers yard and a front porch, just like the ones we see
wives hide their natural color with reaching retirement age who can’t afford most farther north.
chocolate brown dye or sun-kissed blond of the places featured in this magazine. I This area of Dallas has beautiful
Camden Stuebe highlights. Since I refuse to dye my gray should probably cancel my subscription. It’s topography with rolling hills, an abundance of
Senior, Northwest hair, the only thing I have in common with sort of like reading my daughter’s Vogue when trees and several lakes. Shopping is plentiful,
High School in Justin her is our facial wrinkles. I should stick to Woman’s Day. and the communities are filled with friendly
While high gas prices Inside the magazine, If I had another choice, I would. But Where and caring neighbors. Several nearby
and a recession are advertisements and to Retire is the only retirement magazine of its universities, colleges and art schools provide
never good for articles promise kind. So I keep reading it, even though their educational and cultural opportunities.
airlines and cruises, happiness, the fulfillment Web site clearly states they are geared to the Duncanville Community Theatre and
they can boost the of our dreams, well-educated, well-traveled and affluent Cedar Valley College produce some of the
local economy. To cut self-discovery, perfection, market. finest theater performances you’ll find
costs, Texans can a redefinition of life and I have no qualms with this market. In fact, anywhere. Many artists in this area win
enjoy a stay-cation by everything we’ve waited most of the people I know are well-educated awards in prestigious art shows. An active
visiting our local Voices for. In case you think I’m and well-traveled, although less affluent. But writers’ group meets regularly, with
attractions. Community making this up, I’m not. we desire beautiful places to live, too. well-known authors as speakers.
Those are actual headlines My husband and I have been searching the And the best amenity? Less traffic than our
from a recent issue. Dallas-Fort Worth area for years to find northern neighbors.
No wonder a quarter of a million readers affordable retirement communities that offer Developers, where are you? I’d love to see
subscribe. This magazine is the answer to many of the amenities listed in this magazine. southwest Dallas County as a featured
our retirement prayers. A new life with style We have visited two of them — one near retirement destination in a slick, glossy
— who wouldn’t want that? Denton and another in Frisco. They’re very magazine. Who knows, I might even get to be
The magazine’s claims are appealing. I attractive, and we’d be happy there except for on the cover — gray hair and all.
could be happy with a waterfront villa on an the fact they are so far north. Our relatives,
intracoastal waterway, or in an exclusive lifelong friends, doctors, hairstylists and Sarah Crouch of Cedar Hill is
Chase Wofford
Journalism mountain community. My retirement church are in southwest Dallas County. We a piano teacher, professor
instructor, Coppell dreams could be fulfilled as I “play each day don’t want to leave them. and a Community Voices
High School in living color” and “glow with As a dear friend stated, “I want to grow old volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is
With two young contentment” in a master-planned with the people I love.” Amen, sister.
shcrouch@aol.com.
children, I do not neighborhood. Retirement options are limited in this part
want them to miss out
on traveling as a
family, so we make
sacrifices in other
areas so that we can
take vacations.

Summer is for the boys

Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Mary Anne Markley of Carrollton: Vacation? Is
that where you go some place really different?
Where you can relax, leaving your cares and worries
behind? Not for us this summer. Recession and
higher gas prices are contributors. For us, and most
others, it’s always a series of trade-offs. Repair this.
Replace that. Maybe later. Or next year.
Jacqualea Cooley of Irving: It is sad to look
around and see the many people out of a job or
whose hours and pay have been greatly reduced who
will not be able to vacation this year, especially when
you read about the city manager in Irving receiving a
pay increase so huge that it could equal the salary for
two families. This pay increase, making him the
highest paid city manager in Texas, seems like a slap
in the face to the millions of people who can’t put
food on the table, much less take a vacation.
Ron McKillip of Carrollton: I’m debating as I
write this whether to travel where I’d planned next
week. I realize I need to spend money on hotels,
rental cars and food to fight the recession, but the
economic events unfolding daily are the major rea-
son I have no firm plans as yet. It’s nearly to the
point where the average Joe has to impact himself fi-
nancially to help merchants and businesses finan-
cially. No doubt everyone needs a vacation more
than ever, but it’s tough drawing the line to protect
ourselves.
Isn’t it funny how it turns out to be for parents, too? asks Kirk Evans
S
ummer is the time for our children —
swimming, late nights, baseball,
cookouts, playing outside, riding
bikes, family vacations to relatives, visiting
the library, sleeping in, catch up on
reading, summer camp and relaxing.
Ah … summer.
As parents, it a logistical maze of
meeting these activity needs. But we do it.
It is summer. It is the
time to enjoy the children
we are raising in this
world. It is the time to
spend a few more
minutes, hours and days
with our children who are
headed off to college or to
work. It is a time to enjoy.
Voices It is summer.
Teacher During my summer
years at home, “Go
outside and play, don’t come back until I
call you” was our favorite phrase to hear
from our mom. Four brothers, hundreds of
acres of fields and fence rows, woods along
the creeks and three ponds to fish, we were
in a boy’s summer haven. Little did we
realize, so were our parents. Isn’t it funny
how that works out?
When summer started, my father would
bring home large truck tire inner tubes for
us to air up and float in around the pond.
We would tease my youngest brother about
80-pound catfish and turtles the size of
Volkswagens that would nibble his toes if he
wasn’t sitting just right in the tube. It was one
of our many ways to make sure he was safe.
During the day, we would spend our time
in the woods building treehouses and forts.
My father would let us use his tools, nails and
lumber. Somehow those nails and that
lumber would magically show up at the
beginning of every summer. We never
questioned where it came from, but we
always knew it never ran out. Another one of
those parent tricks. If you walk those woods
today, you can see the remnants of some of
the greatest summer civilizations Lucas,
Texas, has ever seen.
We also built a basketball goal the perfect
height for slam-dunks. This blackland soil
would get as hard as the wooden floor of the
basketball gym in our 100-degree weather.
After a few games there, it became the perfect
place to bounce that basketball.
We always had a johnboat, paddles and
life jackets on the edge of the pond to hop
into with our fishing poles and a cup full of
worms that we dug out of the garden. At any
point, we would be playing catch with a
baseball, and someone would say, “Let’s go
fishing!” In no time, we were in the johnboat
heading out to the honey hole on the pond
behind the house.
Soon, we would hear the dinner bell my
mom would ring to get us back to the house;
we’d hose ourselves off and wash our faces
and hands.
My parents knew that those summer days
spent outside were healthiest days of our
childhood. And we knew if we stayed outside,
my mom would have time to make us batches
of chocolate chip cookies and sometimes
homemade ice cream.
It was a great trade-off for all of us. After
dinner, the evening sun would dip behind the
willow trees to create the perfect shade on the
pond. My father, mother and the four of us
would head down to the pond to float in
those giant inner tubes. It was the perfect
way to end each day.
This summer, I am spending time with
our boys. In our small suburban back yard,
we planted a pizza garden on Mother’s Day
that we have been enjoying every day since.
We are going to build a treehouse fort in the
bushes right outside the back door. We will
spend time fishing. We will go swimming
and play in the sprinkler.
This summer is for our boys. You know, I
think it is for my wife and me, too. Isn’t it
funny how that works out?
Kirk Evans teaches
fifth-grade science at Norton
Elementary in Allen ISD and
is a Teacher Voices volunteer.
His e-mail address is
Kirk_Evans@allenisd.org.

Robert B. Roper of Duncanville: Gas prices have

not affected our vacation plans. Years ago, we
learned to place SAVING first on the list followed by
charity, food, clothing and other “necessities.” There LETTERS
has always been money for vacations without regard
to the price of gasoline. Angels in a white pickup
Jo Moody of Highland Village: We ride motorcy- Driving home on crowded eastbound Interstate
cles for fun and have decided it will be cheaper to 20 about 7:30 p.m. recently, we had a blowout.
take our vacation this year on them, rather than in Luckily, my husband could slow and safely pull
the car. We cancelled last year’s vacation because of over to right shoulder.
the higher gas prices approaching $4 per gallon. As my capable husband was retrieving the nev-
Stephen Matthews of Bedford: Yes, I need a va- er-used jack and the temporary tire from the hous-
cation. Thank goodness I’ve been working at a new ing, an angel pulled up behind us, not wearing
job to the point of needing a vacation, at least for an white wings but driving a white pickup.
extended weekend. No, the gas prices have not af- Karen and Butch had spent the day at a Fort
fected my travel plans at this point. I expect the gas Worth hospital with an uncle suffering from can-
to be about where it’s at. cer and were driving to their home in Duncanville
when they spotted “two white-haired oldies” with a
Cleatius Copeland of Roanoke: Since 9.45 per- problem. They managed to turn around and offer
cent of the American workforce is busy looking for help, which was gratefully accepted. The tempo-
gainful employment, yes the gas prices and reces- rary tire was quickly mounted by Butch, who had
sion are affecting vacation plans. At least for those skill, lots of practice and recent experience.
who are not part of the bailout windfall. I want to shout the good news about good, car-
ing people doing good deeds and drown out nega-
SIGN UP tive headlines in print and media about the bizarre
These responses are from readers who have asked misdeeds of a few. Karen and Butch had problems
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be of their own, but they had compassion for, and re-
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor- WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor sponded to, the needs of others.
mation to communityopinions@dall asnews.com. Franne Jackson, Dallas

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
If you could change one thing
about your city’s reputation,
what would it be?
Satvika Ananth
Junior, Coppell High
School
Coppell has been
considered to be a
“bubble,” not only by
those outside of
Coppell, but even by
people within the city.
However, Coppell is
not actually a bubble,
as the people within it
are greatly con-
cerned with the world
at large. If those
within Coppell can
stop seeing it as a
bubble, so will those
outside.
Susan Sanders
Wansbrough
Attorney, Lake
Highlands
Dallas has a rep-
utation for putting
commerce before
people. To change
that reputation, we
have to change the
reality because the
reputation is well
deserved.
The child obesity challenge
We must eliminate this national problem, says Peggy vanWunnik
A
n elementary school held a Physical obesity among children ages 6 to 11 more than crying for a Happy Meal, candy or soft drinks,
Fitness Challenge day earlier this doubled, to 17 percent. For adolescents be- and sometimes we give in, in spite of knowing
spring. Kids were assessed for their
fitness, and were weighed and measured for
tween 12 and 19, the rate more than tripled.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus was formerly an adult
that we shouldn’t. But when we give in over
and over again, when we throw in the towel
height. Many of these kids — all of them condition; now it is being diagnosed with and rationalize and make excuses, when we fill
under the age of 12 — weighed in at 150 alarming frequency in children. An estimated our refrigerators and our pantries with junk
pounds or more. What used to be the aver- 6 percent of obese young people have at least food because it’s too much trouble to take the
age weight of a 16- or 17-year-old boy is fast one additional risk factor for heart disease, time and make the effort to feed our families
becoming standard for grade-school kids. such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. healthily, we’re sliding rapidly down the slip-
Until the time I gradu- A generation ago, these types of medical pery slope of irresponsible behavior.
Michael Janak
Senior, Booker T.
ated from high school, I concerns were barely conceivable in relation to And we’re killing our children in the pro-
Washington High could not have counted 10 children. cess.
School for the grossly overweight kids in If we agree that obesity is usually the result The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
Performing and all of my school years put of an improper balance between the calories vention Web site contains links to thousands of
Visual Arts, Dallas together. Now I can count we consume and the energy we expend (the publications that address the problem of
ISD
10 obese children in five calories we burn up), then we have to ask how it childhood obesity. The U.S. Department of
I would change the minutes of walking is that these thousands of children are burning Health and the National Institutes of Health
notion that down- through the local mall. up so many fewer calories than they are con- have instituted programs aimed at enhancing
town Dallas is scary Voices It’s pretty much the suming. There’s no doubt that, for multiple children’s activity and good nutrition efforts to
and unlivable. If the
Community norm that adults gain reasons, many kids today get less exercise than fight the problem. Dr. Matthew Miller, writing
area is indeed this
weight as they age. kids of previous generations. Fortunately, in TimesBulletin.com, says that if we don’t take
way, it is because of
Probably most of us had parents or grand- many school districts are revamping their drastic measures to curb childhood obesity,
these ideas hinder
parents who were a bit overweight. But curricula to once again require more physical kids of this generation are at risk of having a
development and
drive people away. when we were children, it was almost un- activity. But if kids have P.E. at school a couple shorter life expectancy than their parents.
heard of to have friends who were obese. of times a week, but when they are at home, Shouldn’t we all be appalled by that predic-
What has happened? they sit for hours in front of the TV or comput- tion?
The U.S. didn’t even collect data on er, that little bit of exercise may be negated. This is a problem that we have created. This
obesity until the 1980s. Back then, the Studies point to the impact of food market- is a problem we must eliminate. Our children’s
prevalence of obesity (for all ages) was less ing on children, but the bottom line is that, for lives may depend on it.
than 14 percent nationally. By 2006, there most children, the food they consume is not
were states that exceeded 30 percent obesity food they buy for themselves. It’s food provided Peggy vanWunnik of DeSoto
in their populations. These percentages are by their parents. Fast food. Junk food. Lazy is an administrative assistant
not people who are slightly overweight; food. and a Community Voices
these are people who are obese. And far too I don’t for a minute believe that parents set volunteer columnist. Her
Keegan Watters many of them are children. out deliberately to sabotage their children’s e-mail address is p_vanwun
Junior, The Hockaday In the past 20 years, the prevalence of health. Every one of us has dealt with kids nik@yahoo.com.
School in Dallas
Dallas recently fin-
ished No. 2 on the list
of the cities with the
worst road rage. I
wish we could lose
our angry reputation.
Puppy (and kitty) love
If you have it, don’t support pet mills, says Elizabeth Barnes

Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Veronica Davis of The Colony: The Colony has a
reputation for being a haven of cheaply built homes.
That may have been the case in the 1970s and ’80s,
but The Colony is a wonderful, family-driven com-
munity that thrives on the pulse of young families.
We have new neighborhoods with homes valued at
upward of $250,000, The Five Star Complex, Lake
Lewisville, Hawaiian Falls and a recreation center
with something for everyone.
Ron Branson, mayor of Carrollton: That Carroll-
ton does not have a top-class hotel. Of course, we
need to get one before we can change that. We are
working on it, however.
Mary Anne Markley, Carrollton: As far as we
know, Carrollton has a good reputation. It’s a good
place to raise a family. Schools are good. There are
plenty of activities for children. Local shopping is
plentiful. Major shopping is nearby. Entertainment
venues are close. City services are good. The one
thing we would change is bringing back the Carroll-
ton Country Fair. It was fun, and we miss it.
Jerry Walters of Irving: That we are unfair to mi-
norities by deporting illegal aliens. Our police are
merely enforcing the laws that someone else made.
Linda Lancaster of Arlington: Arlington seems
to care more about getting tourist dollars than tak-
ing care and listening to its citizens. Using millions
of tax dollars and using eminent domain to seize
land for a private economic venture doesn’t help this
reputation, either.
Michael McPhail of Irving: I would let people
know that Irving is not the run-down inner-ring
suburb some claim. Irving is really cleaning up its
downtown area and building an exciting new enter-
tainment center complex in Las Colinas.
Jennifer Lane of Lewisville: We are not the “poor
city” in Denton County. This attitude is expressed
frequently from a large number of people in the
county, not excluding our own school board. We are
a city rich in history, community involvement and
pride.
Judy Gaman of Southlake: A few times I have
heard people say that Southlake is a town of elitists.
Although our town is affluent, the people here are
unbelievably nice and down-to-earth.
Sue Warriner of Flower Mound: One thing about
Flower Mound’s reputation is that it is perceived as a
Plano wannabe, when in reality it is a unique, indivi-
dual town that offers a family-friendly environment.
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added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
S
can a list of adoptable pets and you’re
liable to assume what I did: You can’t
get a purebred in a shelter.
Web sites like Petfinder advertise innu-
merable dogs and cats, but the animals
always seem to sport mussed fur, patchy
coloring and — forgive me — hangdog
expressions. Purebreds for sale online are
impeccable and cuddly,
boasting pedigree papers
and whopping price tags.
I figured you get what you
pay for.
But purebreds make
up 25 percent of shelter
dogs, according to an
estimate by the Humane
Voices Society of the U.S.
Student Surprised? I was, too.
Anyone who has seen
Lady and the Tramp knows the mental
image I fostered for years. A posh cocker
spaniel mistakenly thrown in the pound
couldn’t be more out of place among a
ragtag band of slobbery mutts, fur matted
and fleas rampant. The message is clear:
You want quality, skip the shelters.
Turns out it’s often the other way around.
I recently learned about puppy mills,
breeding facilities where profit trumps
proper pet care — adequate food, water,
shelter, socialization and exercise come
second to churning out the most animals
possible.
Buy a puppy or kitten reared in a mill
and risk bringing home a “purebred” with sponsible ones.
falsified papers, behavioral problems and a The TVMA says the best solution is enforc-
predisposition to illness. Know also that you’ve ing animal cruelty laws already in place, such
just supported a system known for abusing as the Animal Welfare Act.
profitable dogs and killing unprofitable ones. And since the Texas Senate never addressed
But avoiding that mess is tricky, as mills HB 3180, animal advocates have no other
rarely sell directly to customers and, therefore, option for now. It may ultimately be good that
escape a crucial precaution of puppy-owners- resources already stretched thin don’t have to
to-be: always seeing the dog, breeder and accommodate a new law, but, in the mean-
facility beforehand. time, puppy mills are thriving under un-
Still, don’t you rescue a puppy mill dog enforced laws.
when you buy him? No, the ASPCA repri- That leaves it up to potential pet owners.
mands: “You — the consumer — not only run Don’t buy puppies and kittens at retail stores.
the risk of taking home a sick puppy, but are Adopt instead, and choose wisely. And be
sentencing a breeder dog to a life of misery. As aware that some pet stores do host rescue
long as there is a demand for their ‘product,’ groups, so not every available pet in a retail
puppy mills will continue to churn out pup- store is “for sale” or the product of a puppy mill.
pies.” It’s up to you, though, to ask good questions
Rep. Senfronia Thompson tried to stop about where the group’s dogs come from.
them. Backed by the ASPCA, SPCA of Texas, That scraggly shelter pup is looking better
HSUS and the Texas Humane Legislature and better, isn’t he? And purebred seekers,
Network, HB 3180 would have required remember that you don’t have to buy your pet
large-scale commercial breeders to undergo online. If you can’t find the perfect cat or dog in
annual inspection and obtain a license. If a shelter, rescue groups can help with more
sellers failed to disclose the pet’s full medical specific breeds.
history, its owners would receive compensa- And even if you can’t find a champion with
tion for medical costs and the option of ex- a six-generation pedigree, you still have brag-
changing their sick or dead puppy for a healthy ging rights. You saved a life.
one.
Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? But the Amer- Elizabeth Barnes is a junior at
ican Kennel Club and the Texas Veterinary Episcopal School of Dallas
Medical Association opposed it. They argued and a Student Voices volun-
that it was too restrictive — capping breeders teer columnist. To respond to
at 50 non-fixed dogs — and that it could actu- this column, send an e-mail to
ally benefit abusive breeders more than re- voices @dallasnews.com.
LETTERS
A service fee triple play
I recently decided to buy Texas Rangers tickets
online, fully expecting to pay a modest “service
charge” for using the Internet to buy them, rather
than tying up staff at the stadium .
The modest “convenience fee” for three tickets
turned out to be $8.25. But wait, that’s not all:
Throw a $1.75 service fee on top of that. Hang on.
There’s more. If I choose to print my tickets on my
printer with my ink, add $2.50. The same for hav-
ing a digital ticket sent to my smart phone.
The financial message from the Rangers must
be: We would rather you, the customer, stand out
in 100 degree heat to wait in long lines, tying up
our staff so that you have the privilege of being a
fan — who will probably also buy overpriced food
and drinks.
Brian McGeever, Duncanville
GET VOICES columns from across
North Texas and add your own
comments.
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor dallasnews.com/voices

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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8B Sunday, June 28, 2009 W dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
Lake Dallas-Little Elm link
In Points today, we launch our summer Bridge opens new territory to explore, says Casey Cavalier of Argyle
book club, featuring Bryan Burrough’s ‘The Big

Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil
Fortunes.’ So we were wondering …
What’s your favorite book
about Texas?
Shirlene Lucy
Retired portrait
photographer and
volunteer, Carrollton
No book about Texas
has ever yet captured
my interest more than
Texas, the historical
novel by James
Michener. It was
well-researched and
written in a very
entertaining way.
A
fter the Army Corps of Engineers lake’s creation ruined something; rather, it project that will bring several communities
constructed Lewisville Lake in the changed it. together. While this is not a monumental
early 1950s, a switch was pressed, or This August, though, what was lost 60 event, it is a cause for celebration.
perhaps a gear turned, that allowed a dam years ago will be restored. A toll bridge has The “new” neighbors will celebrate their
to be breached. This action purposefully been raised above the water and will offer the restored link with a 5k run and a family fun
combined the waters of Lake Dallas with residents of Little Elm and its environs faster walk on Aug. 1. The event will allow people
the newly built lake. It also submerged the access to Interstate 35E and all the potential from all over a chance to cross the bridge
only road connecting the benefits that go with it. (from the Lake Dallas side) for the first time.
cities of Lake Dallas and Those of us on the interstate side of the To be a part of this historic event, visit
Little Elm. bridge will have a new world open to us. We’ll www.runlltb.com.
I don’t know what be free to roam the roads of Little Elm and the I don’t know if I’ll be one of the first to
becomes of a road that towns adjacent to it, enjoying whatever it is cross the bridge, but I certainly plan on
remains underwater for that the area has to boast about. My discovering the other shore of Lewisville Lake
Susan Sanders 60 years, but the absence ignorance about Little Elm is testament to the in the coming months. Perhaps there is a café
Wansbrough of an east-west value of this bridge and its ability to reunite over there that will become a new favorite.
Attorney, Lake connection has, no doubt, neighboring towns. Maybe there is a chiropractor there with
Highlands
Voices
changed the area forever. Denton County first considered the project magic hands or a saddle shop with prices that
Community
My favorite classic Growth patterns were in 1991 when it passed a bond measure for can’t be beat. Or maybe there is a scenic drive
book about Texas is permanently altered by the creation of route studies. Today, a partnership made up that offers a short respite and peace of mind.
Goodbye to a River, by Lewisville Lake and the elimination of the of the Texas Department of Transportation, These things remain to be seen.
John Graves. Texas’ connecting route. the North Texas Tollway Authority, Denton
Walden. My favorite Lake Lewisville is now one of the most County, and the cities of Lake Dallas, Frisco Casey Cavalier of Argyle is a
Texas history is Lone popular recreation lakes in Denton County and Little Elm is counting on the 1.7-mile freelance writer and film
Star Nation by H.W. and beyond. It is 29,000-acres of reservoir bridge’s success. They’ve put $122 million critic. He is also a Community
Brands, a masterful
that also serves as a home to fish and into its creation and, in comparison to many Voices volunteer columnist.
storyteller.
wildlife. So I don’t mean to infer that the road projects, speedily constructed a bridge His e-mail address is
caseycavalier@yahoo.com.

Debra Witter
Attorney, Oak Cliff
Lonesome Dove, for
fiction. Even though
much of it takes place
Chase Wofford
Journalism
Ulterior motives, hidden agendas?
instructor, Coppell
High School Be on guard against the self-interests of others, says Art Fleming
Friday Night Lights by

on the trail, you never Buzz Bissinger has
forget these guys are always been one of
Texans first and my favorite books.
foremost. Goodbye to While Bissinger does
a River, for nonfiction. present the unfortu-
Simple, elegiac paean nate issues facing a
to the history and West Texas town, it is
beauty of a slice of a true example of the
North Texas. pride Texans have in
their community.
High school football
on Friday nights is
part of what makes
our state great.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Mike E. Howard of Irving: My favorite Texas
book is TEXAS IS...the Sesquicentennial Remem-
bered by Mark Holbrook. It has fantastic photo-
graphs along with pithy and fond remembrances of
what makes our state the greatest in the nation.
Sadly, it was a limited edition coffee table book and
did not receive nationwide distribution.
L. R. Klein, Jr. of Richland Hills: Hard to choose
between Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver by J. Frank
Dobie and The Texas Rangers by Walter Prescott
Webb. They seem basically accurate and true to his-
torical evidence.
Lorrie Slaughter of Lewisville: I’m from Odessa,
and I think Friday Night Lights depicted West Tex-
ans and their love for football to a tee. The TV adap-
tation is cast so perfectly, I feel like I’m “home” every
time I watch it.
James D. Walls of Coppell: The Big Rich is a
good start. I can’t limit myself to just one favorite. I
have three: Lone Star: A History of Texas and the
Texans by T.R. Fehrenbach; Lonesome Dove, by
Larry McMurtry; and The Roads of Texas Atlas by
Texas A&M and Cartographics Laboratory.
Lynn Walters of Irving: I love Susan Wittig Al-
bert’s herbal mystery series, which is set in the Texas
Hill Country. In addition to describing that land-
scape beautifully, she includes uniquely Texas cul-
tural tidbits like a description of a rattlesnake bag-
ging competition that explains Texans positively.
Lee Swann of Irving: Since I am not a “native”
Texan, I have no favorite book or movie about Texas.
I think the “Texas Mystique” is way overblown.
Jacqualea Cooley of Irving: Not many can ar-
gue with the reality of the dialog and characters in
the Houston-based book, Blood and Money written
by Tommy Thompson, although some of David
Lindsey’s books set in Texas come close.
Shirley Jackson of Arlington: Texas by James
Michener is my all-time favorite about Texas! I re-
read it at least once a year, and even have the VHS
which I view about every month or so, even though
it doesn’t carry the impact or depth of the book. My
second choice would be Giant by Edna Ferber.
Ellen Raff of Dallas: For those of us “not from
Texas,” James Michener’s Texas was a good way to
bone up on the essential history and names. This is
the stuff native Texans get in grade school.
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to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
E
ver wonder if you’re being taken to the at heart, but what about those doctors who Solutions? Vote for the politician whose
cleaners? Or being played? How do refer you for unnecessary procedures at history demonstrates honesty and integrity.
you determine if the deal, service, clinics where they have a major financial At least you’ll know where you stand.
price is genuine or trumped up? How do you interest? So, is everyone after your money and your
determine if you’re being sold “wetlands in Another easy one is oil-change vote? No. Most people are actually good
Florida”? establishments. Ever notice that they put a folks who would give you the shirt off their
Some people have hidden agendas, “next oil change in 3,000 miles” sticker on back, help you change a flat tire, give you a
designed to separate you from as much of your windshield? Did you every consult your quarter if you were short on a soda machine.
your cash as they can (the Madoff and owner’s manual and find that the Police, firefighters and teachers are some
Stanford scams are prime manufacturer’s recommendation is every professions that aren’t trying to take your
examples). Some have 7,500 miles? The oil changers don’t make money or buy your vote. The list is long, and
other agendas, designed to nearly as much money if you stick with the that’s a good thing.
reinforce their position, manufacturer’s recommendation. But we must be recognize that some
their strength, their Solutions? Ask about trader fees, people and organizations do not have our
prowess. It is true of both demand disclosure from your doctor and best interests at their core. They are
people and organizations, seek a second opinion, and change your oil self-serving, self-preserving. Although some
some as “apple pie” as when you determine it needs it. are benign, some are not, and we must be
Voices labor unions, political But what about political parties and diligent in our recognition of this.
parties, Rush, the local oil politicians? You need to be skeptical — not to the
Community
change shop, your favorite Politicians are in the business of getting point of being a conspiracy theorist, but
political party, your doctor, your broker. And, elected, not doing what’s right for the skeptical nonetheless. That is how you
fortunately, some people and organizations community this year, next year or 10 years protect yourself, your family and our
are true to their mission and true to their from now. If they’re not in office, it doesn’t country. You must recognize what’s in it for
ethics. So how do you tell the difference? matter what happens 10 years from now. Say them before you accept the premise that
If you’ve read Scott Burns, you know that anything, get elected, and no one will ever they’re doing it for you.
full-service brokers are in it for the hold you to your promises.
commissions and the trading fees; buying And political parties? They can never Art Fleming of Double Oak is
and selling your stocks is their business, and agree with each other. They just can’t. If they an IT systems engineer and a
they make money whether you do or not. did then their raison d’etre would evaporate. Community Voices
Churning is their livelihood. They must disagree; it’s the only way that volunteer columnist. His
Doctors appear to have your best interests they exist. e-mail address is
art.t.fleming@gmail.com.
LETTERS
Adoption options … Staggering pay hike
Re: “Puppy (and kitty) love — Re: “Gonzalez’s salary riles
If you have it, don’t support pet residents — City manager’s
mills, says Elizabeth Barnes of $440,000 package called out-of-
Dallas,” last Sunday Student touch, but mayor says he’s the
Voices column. best,” Thursday news story.
There are many wonderful When our country is in reces-
pets in city shelters that deserve sion and Irving city workers are
homes. Veteran shelter workers being laid off or kept on a part-
can accurately evaluate the tem- time basis to circumvent pay-
perament of animals and make ment of benefits, our City Council
recommendations for prospec- magnanimously bestows a re-
tive families. Rescue groups are ported 110 percent pay increase,
also a great resource for people not counting a $150,000.00
wanting a specific breed. loan, upon City Manager Tommy
Save a life — adopt. Gonzalez.
Karen Smith, Farmers Branch Is Irving the AIG of local gov-
ernment? Did they simply not
understand what they were do-
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
… best from shelters ing? Because those quoted in The
Puppy mills are not only cruel and state departments of agricul- dustry. The vast majority of Dallas Morning News interview
and barbaric, but they often pro- ture do not enforce laws, leaving puppies sold by pet stores are couldn’t seem to answer the ques-
duce sickly puppies with genetic breeding dogs to suffer in horren- products of puppy mills. tion: “How much will he be
defects and contribute to the pet dous conditions. A Texas House And pet stores in Texas pro- paid?” Is everyone simply numb
overpopulation problem. More bill that would have required vide no information on where a to large numbers these days?
than 700,000 dogs and cats were minimum standards of care, dog was born and raised, leaving This is a government entity,
destroyed in Texas animal control treatment and housing, as well as consumers with no indication of and Gonzalez was already excep-
tionally well-paid. If we have that
facilities last year simply because licensing and regulation of large- future risks.
there were no homes for them. scale commercial dog and cat Instead, the ASPCA encour- much extra cash floating around,
lower the sales tax, lower the
Thousands of these dogs were breeding operations, has failed. ages pet lovers to “make adoption
purebreds, which can often make The American Society for the your first option.” property tax, or knock a buck off
up 25 percent of a shelter’s popu- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Laura Maloney, senior vice the trash collection or sewerage
lation. understands that pets can be our president, anti-cruelty, ASPCA , fee. If someone else wants Gonza-
Even many licensed facilities most loyal companions, but pur- New York, N.Y. lez bad enough to pay that much,
are in violation of current regula- chasing a pet-store puppy sup- let him go with best wishes.
tions, and too often, the USDA ports an unbelievably cruel in- David Palmer, Irving

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, June 6, 2009 21A

If only BRIDGING DALLAS’ NORTH-SOUTH GAP

The two
I’d been
pushed
Ending on sides of
foreclosure
As I buy a home, I think
Shirlene Lucy’s biggest
regret was not getting
a college degree

B
ack in the Dark Ages, when
I was in high school, I was
a lost, naı̈ve young girl,
a positive note of people forced out, says
Richard Kyle Lester

fresh from the hinterlands of East
Texas. My dad had just lost his
job, so we moved to Dallas, where
he thought he would have better
chances of finding work. I entered
10th grade straight from a
Podunk school, and I was a
Podunk student.
To complete high school with
all the credits necessary, I was
advised to take a second year of
home economics, which wasn’t
really my thing, but hey, the
counselor was wiser than I, so I
followed her advice. Only much
later did I realize she wasn’t really
putting me on a track for college. I
think she expected me to finish
high school only to get married
and have a dozen kids.
Even though I did well in
school, teachers and counselors
never encouraged me to go to
college. My mother frequently
tells the story about the phone call
from the counselor, asking why
my parents pushed me to study so
hard. My mother said they
weren’t pushing me at all, that I
pushed myself. The counselor
said she thought I should study
less and enjoy my high school
A
s the past several months
have shown, change is
not always a good thing,
and it can often be pretty
frightening. With that in mind,
I’d like to let you in on a huge
change in my life. I, Richard
Kyle Lester, the amazingly
good-looking volunteer
columnist with fantastic abs
(trust me), am now a
homeowner.
My wife and I have traded
community living for a mort-
gage, a tax bill and a back door
that needs some WD-40. And as
excited as I am, I have to say that
the homebuying process is
without a doubt the scariest
thing I’ve ever been through.
The majority of my personal
stress came from watching a
sizeable chunk of our nation’s
homeowners being pushed out
of their houses. I have always
advocated a “buyer beware”
mentality, so before I’d gone
FILE 2008/Al Día through the process of home-
Lucy Dávila Hakemack, H. Grady Spruce High School’s new principal, helps ninth-grader David Orosco buying, it was easy for me to
find his class on the first day of school. Her heart shines through in all her interaction with children. blame them for not being pru-
dent consumers. I suppose I had
pictured that most of those
Keith Brown thinks Pleasant Grove may have found people led lavish lifestyles well
beyond their means, which in
turn led them to purchase
its Moses in new Spruce principal homes they couldn’t afford.
That changed when my wife and

years more, that I needed to be
more social.
My mother didn’t tell me
about that phone call for many
years, so I was left to discover my
own inspiration. That still didn’t
point me toward college. I always
admired my Aunt Louise, who
dressed in pretty clothes and was
the executive secretary for the
superintendent of schools in a
town in West Texas. I thought she
looked like Ann Southern, who at
the time starred in a 1950s TV
series called Private Secretary. I
wanted to be like my Aunt Louise,
so it never occurred to me to find
out what it would take to go to
college.
Later in life, I did take some
courses in a community college
near the military base where I
lived with my husband and two
children. I excelled in art history
and thought that in a different
life, I would like to be a curator for
a museum, or at least a docent.
But it was photography where I
found myself. That led to my
graduation from an excellent
photography school in Bethesda,
Md., several years later. I
ultimately became a freelance
portrait photographer, which I
very much enjoyed.
Now I take photos for my own
enjoyment. I still love to
photograph people, but my main
focus now is on flowers and other
nature. I feel fulfilled, even
though I never got my college
degree.
Contrary to what many people
do, which is to stop their
education the day they graduate, I
have continued to educate myself
in many subjects. I believe I can
hold my own in a conversation
with anyone, at least for a short
I
t seems so long ago that the families of Pleasant Grove were marks on indices that track her per- I visited our first potential
formance, her assertive and forceful home.
struggling with the news that their children were going to be
exterior cannot hide the soft heart she Because I can never turn
relocated from H. Grady Spruce High School to other has for the kids. down a good deal, my Realtor
campuses, due to having been a low-performing school for four I think the kids know it, too. and I focused on foreclosures.
They know they have a principal We found a quaint home on the
consecutive years. who is intelligent, who cannot be edge of Fort Worth. Nothing
In spring 2008, a letter to the READ previous manipulated by the antics of teens, fancy, just a three-bedroom,
editor written by a former DISD commentary about who is strong and who holds their two-bathroom starter home in a
area superintendent was published Dallas’ north-south gap. future in her hands. But more impor- moderately nice neighborhood.
dallasnews.com/opinion/
in The Dallas Morning News, casti- tant, they know she sincerely wants As my wife and I entered the
northsouth
gating the entire community as the them to make wise choices that will house, we heard our shoes
cause for the failures. Mentioning change their future for the better. squeak on the linoleum beneath
families in disarray, poverty and being successful? I’ll believe it when I Her love radiated as she beamed our feet. Having just come on
social factors, he launched into a see it.” with pride while on the football field the market, this house had not
diatribe about how we needed the Call me a believer. at the homecoming presentation. Her yet been cleaned up much. I saw
state commissioner of education to The Spruce TAKS results this year love showed while onstage at the that the previous homeowners
oversee the school. What he conve- don’t lie. Beyond simply passing, Spruce Idol competition. Her caring punched a few holes in the wall
niently failed to mention was that he students made double-digit gains, heart was evident as she spoke to the and ripped up a bit of flooring
had personally appointed principals succeeding beyond anyone’s expecta- kids about making good choices, just before being ousted. I sighed in
to Spruce who were ineffective at tions, except perhaps Hakemack’s. after a former NFL player with the frustration.
leading the school, most of whom are When she crossed the Trinity and “Power Team” spoke to the kids in the Still, as we walked through
no longer with the district. came into our neighborhood, she spring. Those are just a few instances, the house, I couldn’t help but
So I couldn’t help but be cynical brought her spirit of optimism for the but really her genuine caring shines imagine the family that had
when the current executive director of kids, their parents and the entire through each moment that she leads lived there. The price of the
the superintendent’s learning com- community. The feeling has been our children. house shattered the “lavish
munity, Leslie Williams, mentioned infectious and has brought education Hakemack, when you stand at the lifestyle” theory I had regarding
that they had a “high-powered” leader to life once again in Pleasant Grove. water’s edge of the Trinity, upon lifting foreclosures. Rather than pur-
who was going to be appointed to It’s a new day in the hood. the staff in your hand and expecting chasing beyond their means, it’s
oversee Spruce, restoring strong Hakemack absolutely refuses to the waters to part, that rumbling possible that one of the owners
leadership to the campus and staving accept anything less than success, sound you hear behind you will be the was laid off from his or her job
off closure. She was referring to Lucy telling students daily that this is their thousands of Grove-ites assembling and simply fell behind on the
Dávila Hakemack. community, this is their school, they and uniting as one. We believe in you. mortgage.
The first time I laid eyes on Hake- are capable of success and she expects Now lead us to the promised land. Then, I entered one of the
mack, I wondered: “This is who is nothing but the best from each one of smaller bedrooms. The walls
going to lead us to success? At 5-foot- them. The kids are rising to the level of Keith A. Brown of displayed a light-blue color,
nothing, a 100-pound-something, her expectations. Pleasant Grove is a interrupted by painted half
this woman is the high-powered But there is something else about machinist, musician moons: their baby’s room. At
leader that is going to come into the her that comes through, as well. She and former Com- once, I understood the holes in
big bad hood, leading the tough kids just genuinely loves and cares for the munity Voice. His the walls as the face of this
from broken families, convincing kids. Although she is an excellent and e-mail address is keithbrow4 recession became all too clear. I
them they are capable of learning and tough leader, always scoring high @aol.com. sighed again, but this time it
wasn’t from frustration.
One month, 75 pages and 28
Don’t let DISD’s challenges crowd out all of its signatures later, I’m a home-
owner, but that first house is one
achievements, urges Valirie Morgan of the more than 5,000 foreclo-
sures still on the market in
Dallas, Collin and Tarrant coun-

while. I have done a good bit of
traveling and have lived in some
wonderful places, so I can speak
knowledgeably about different
parts of the world. In other words,
I think that in spite of my lack of
formal education, I am
self-educated in many areas.
Still, I often wonder how
different my life might have been
had I been encouraged to go to
college. I never dwell on it,
because that is not productive.
But I have a message for students
who feel great relief this week
after the end of another long
school year: If you dream of
attending college, talk to your
counselor. Together, find a way.
You won’t be sorry you did.
Shirlene Lucy of
Carrollton is a
retired portrait
photographer
and Community
Voices volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is shirlenelucy
@msn.com.
T
he Dallas Independent School District has always
received negative press, close scrutiny and strong
criticism, so it is no surprise that the district
suffers from a tarnished reputation. However, public
schools are the fibers of a community; they connect
neighborhoods and influence development and
character. As a student in the school district, I strongly
believe that public schools are better than private
schools.
Don’t get me wrong; DISD certainly does have its
issues. But this is understandable for the 12th-largest
school district in the nation. Our superintendent has to
manage more than 160,000 students and 19,000 em-
ployees, while the headmaster of a private school is
responsible for only several hundred people. The district
enrolls students of all backgrounds, while private schools
have the ability to pick and choose.
I have benefited greatly from the diversity I have been
exposed to throughout my years in DISD, and the cultur-
al spectrum of classmates has given me a mature view of
the world around me. There are many resources avail-
able to DISD students that private-school kids will
probably never be able to use. I am a member of the
Biomedical Research Club at Hillcrest High School, a
group of students involved in a four-year research pro-
ject at UT-Southwestern Medical Center. We use state-
of-the-art equipment and technology at no cost to us,
which is an amazing opportunity. Even though public-
school students aren’t equipped with personal laptops,
we use SmartBoards, Texas Instruments graphing calcu- ties. I still wonder what went
lators and other types of new technology. wrong with that family and all
The district’s meal program is a huge blessing to the others who had to leave their
countless families struggling financially, and it offers homes. Even scarier is wonder-
breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Academically, the school ing whether my wife and I could
district offers more rigorous courses than many private end up like that.
schools do. I am ahead of many of my private-school The ordeal reminded me of
friends in terms of curriculum and academic accom- the things I should be thankful
plishments. For example, I took Advanced Placement for. Daily I complain about the
classes my freshman and sophomore years, and I plan to effects this recession has on my
continue this trend. AP classes typically are not available life, but I still have a secure job,
at private schools until junior year. a steady paycheck and a well-
When people look at DISD, they should see the posi- built roof over my head.
tives and the negatives. From my perspective, DISD is So to those of us who will
not shrouded in controversy — it is an urban school emerge relatively unscathed
district that offers many opportunities to its students from this economy: Be thankful
while providing them with an exemplary education. It is for what you have. Now if you’ll
accommodating to all children, offering countless pro- excuse me, I have a wonderful,
grams for a wide variety of areas of study. squeaky back door to fix.
The effort spent digging up dirt about the district is an
essential part of journalism; however, don’t overlook Richard Kyle
some of the amazing achievements of its students and Lester of Fort
staff members. Worth is a public
administration
Valirie Morgan, 15, is a Dallas resident graduate stu-
who attends Hillcrest High School. She dent at UNT and a Community
was chosen this week as a 2009-10 Voices volunteer columnist. His
Student Voices volunteer columnist for e-mail address is pennric30@hot-
The Dallas Morning News. mail.com.

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Sent by: jrush Opinion BLACK
The Dallas Morning News
Independent
press can’t
be free
Online only can’t support
indispensable journalists,
says Judith Segura
D
iscussions of the future of
newspapers are a small part of
a much broader conversation
about the continued viability of
journalism as we know it today.
Historically successful media
companies share one quality: the
ability to adapt to unrelenting change
in technology and society. The great
challenges that media companies face
today may seem unprecedented, but,
with one important distinction, they
are nothing new. From the very first
printing press, change has been con-
stant and demanding.
Today’s distinct challenge, howev-
er, is how to generate sufficient reve-
nue to support what news consumers
take for granted — ethical, indepen-
dent journalism that generates origi-
nal reporting and filters the incessant
flow of information and opinion.
The commitment to ethical report-
ing — independent of commercial or
political influence — is fairly recent.
Early newspapers were partisan and
anything but objective. By the
mid-1800s, publishers began to em-
brace both the power and the respon-
sibilities of an independent press.
Now those principles are practiced by
the free press around the globe. More-
over, they are the foundation of a
well-informed citizenry, worldwide.
Successful newspaper companies
recognize dual necessities: The busi-
ness side requires constant re-in-
vestment and development of new
sources of revenue, and the news side
requires constant protection and
support for the integrity and rele-
vance of its journalism.
Advertising traditionally provided
revenue to support an independent
press. Today, publishers of all forms of
journalism are grappling with the loss
of conventional advertising, as busi-
nesses and individuals turn to online
means of promoting their products
and services. However, media compa-
nies must continue to pay the journal-
ists whose work feeds the enormous
hunger for accurate news and in-
formation of modern society.
While it’s easy to recommend that
newspapers and magazines go online
to avoid the costs of ink and paper,
most newspapers have thousands of
subscribers who still want printed
newspapers at their front doors daily.
Additionally, the current pricing
model for online advertising does not
generate sufficient revenue to support
newsrooms. At least for now, the
traditional printed product still pro-
vides the greatest amount of revenue
to fund operations.
Here’s another simple truth that
often goes unrecognized: the news
outlets that aggregate stories from
around the world get their content
free from the companies that pay the
journalists to generate the stories. In
fact, the aggregators now attract
many of the advertising dollars that
once went to those who pay the writ-
ers, reporters, photographers and
editors.
The conundrum is not whether
news should be printed on paper or
delivered online. What continues to
elude everyone is finding the money
to pay the journalists. As basic as that
question appears, the answer is not
simple. If newspapers are the watch-
dogs of government on behalf of the
citizenry, they cannot accept a govern-
ment “bailout.” Government money
by its nature undermines the princi-
ples of a free and independent press.
To remain independent of influ-
ence from other vested interests,
newspapers cannot be non-profit
companies. The enormous endow-
ment necessary to operate a nonprofit
newspaper requires funding by do-
nors who would want a say in how
their money is spent.
Journalism will survive, but no one
has the formula yet. Everyone has a
stake in maintaining an independent
press. We need the watchdogs, we
count on them, and we want to trust
them as sources of information. But
we must also be willing to pay for their
expertise and their diligence.
Judith Garrett Segura
retired from Belo in
2004 and is the
author of “Belo:
Newspapers to New
Media.” She may be contacted at judith-
segura@sbcglobal.net.
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dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS
The Obama
paradox
His speech in Cairo built an idealistic facade
on a realist structure, says David Brooks
A
ll smart analyses of the Obama
administration begin with Chicago. That’s
where the top members of the
administration were tested and formed. The
Chicago mentality is the one they take with them
wherever they go.
That means they start with an awareness of
diversity. The nation and the world are a bunch of
jostling wards that have to be knit together.
That means they are not doctrinaire. Chicagoans
like to see themselves as prag-
matists, not ideologues.
That means they contain
both sides of The Great Ten-
sion. In Chicago, there is a
tension between the lakefront
and the neighborhoods inland.
The lakefront tends to be ide-
alistic, earnest and liberal. The
neighborhoods are clever,
cautious and Machiavellian. In
all great endeavors, the Obama
administration weaves togeth-
er both of these tendencies.
President Barack Obama’s
Cairo speech characteristically
blended idealism with cun-
ning.
At one level, the speech was an inspiring effort to
create a new dialogue in the Middle East. Obama
came to a region in which the different groups have
their own narratives and are accustomed to
shouting past one another. Obama, as is his custom,
positioned himself above the fray and tried to create
a new narrative that all sides could relate to.
In the Obama narrative, each side has been
equally victimized by history, each side has legiti-
mate grievances and each side has duties to per-
form. To construct this new Middle East narrative,
Obama strung together some hard truths, historical
distortions, eloquent appeals and strained moral
equivalencies.
He asked people in different Muslim communi-
ties to give the United States a new look and a fresh
hearing. He showed people in a region besotted
with tiresome hysterics how to talk to one another
with understanding and dignity.
That was the idealistic part of the speech, and it
was effective. But there was another layer, designed
for the people in the ministries. In this layer, Obama
implied U.S. policies that are cautious and Machia-
Exactly where is ‘The Grove’?
If you trust local media (and this time
you shouldn’t), says Rawlins Gilliand,
it’s all of southeast Dallas
I
t’s understandable how roughly 20 percent of
Dallas became known as Pleasant Grove. It’s just
no longer acceptable.
Look, I grew up with a childhood nickname, but I
don’t answer to it 60 years later. And this Pleasant
Grove urban identity crisis runs deeper than the
historic misuse of a colloquial tagline. Here’s how
and why.
After World War II, a southeastern Dallas County
township named Pleasant Grove was annexed to
Dallas — as had Preston Hollow earlier become part
of what is now North Dallas. Pleasant Grove was the
sole part of what is today properly called southeast
Dallas. So anyone referring to that part of the city
would naturally have called it Pleasant Grove.
However, when other areas in the southeast
corridor subsequently joined Dallas — Urbandale,
north of Pleasant Grove, being a prime example —
the name Pleasant Grove remained intact for the
entire area. Imagine if Dallas had annexed Plano,
and later Richardson and Garland, and that entire
part of Dallas was collectively called Plano. That
gives you an idea of how longtime residents of the
communities of Parkdale, Piedmont and Pleasant
Mound have felt.
Living for 25 years in a neighborhood north of
Pleasant Grove is not the reason I care about this
issue so deeply. It is, however, how I learned that no
one else with media access cared about getting the
names right — despite the availability of Dallas maps
clearly delineating individual neighborhood names
and boundaries. But beyond the archaic inaccuracy,
calling an enormous portion of the city by the name
of the largest of seven or eight component areas,
what’s the rub?
Not long ago, a woman mentioned that she liked
“The Grove,” but “after reading about that man [who
killed the SMU coed] … arrested in his Pleasant
Grove home” she moved to Buckner Terrace. Which
was actually where the accused man, later the
convicted murderer, actually lived. Oops.
So distinct is each southeast Dallas
neighborhood’s DNA that, while watching still
another “Pleasant Grove” crime story, I knew
immediately that house was actually in Parkdale. In
_ Monday, June 8, 2009
vellian. On nearly every substantive issue, Obama
scaled back American goals and expectations.
The United States used to talk of ending Iran’s
nuclear program. But, as Robert Satloff of the Wash-
ington Institute for Near East Policy observed, now
Obama only hopes to prevent Iran from weap-
onizing its nukes. The U.S. used to aim to de-radical-
ize Islam. Now Obama accepts radical groups so
long as they don’t kill people. The United States used
to want to turn Iraq into a model for the region. Now
Obama merely wants Iraq to be
the sort of place that America
can safely leave behind.
The big retreat to realism
concerns democracy promotion.
The Bush administration tried
to promote democracy, even at
the expense of stability. That
proved unworkable.
But many of us hoped that
Obama would put a gradual,
bottom-up democracy-building
initiative at the heart of his
approach. There was such a
section in the speech, but it was
stilted and abstract — the sort of
prose you get after an unre-
solved internal debate. The
president didn’t really champion democratic in-
stitutions. He said that governments “should reflect
the will of the people” and that citizens should “have
a say” in how they are governed.
Larry Diamond of Stanford liked the Cairo
speech but pointed out that Obama delivered it in a
country where an aging dictator is passing power to
his son, where the country is crumbling to dust
because of autocracy and stagnation. The adminis-
tration seems to accept this. Meanwhile, as The
Washington Post noted, it’s slashing aid to Egypt’s
democratic activists.
This speech builds an idealistic facade on a realist
structure. And this gets to the core Obama foreign
policy perplexity. The president wants to be an
inspiring leader who rallies the masses. He also
wants be a top-down realist who cuts deals in the
palaces.
David Brooks is a New York Times
columnist.
another case, a Dallas Morning News story
mentioned “Pleasant Grove” five times — and in the
headline. Actually it was in Pleasant Mound.
But let’s say that crime actually had been in
Pleasant Grove. Why the hammering repetitious
cadence of that name when other news reports often
don’t use neighborhood names at all? Too often,
“standardization” seems to be one-sided, habitual
and arbitrary.
I’ve seen media moguls knowingly use the
Pleasant Grove moniker incorrectly, explaining that
doing so “makes it easier” for the reader or viewer
since, for example, “no one will know where
‘Pemberton Hills’ is.”
My response? 1) How do you anticipate them
learning? 2) Call me Tom. It’s easier than Rawlins
even if it’s not my name.
And how about those myriad media and city Web
sites that list “Pleasant Grove” separately, grouped
with satellite/suburban municipalities like Rowlett
or Colleyville rather than as part of Dallas at all!
Where’s the beef?
Bottom line: When no one knows or cares where
and what Pleasant Grove is, it’s convenient to use this
generic geographic dart-toss default in clumsy news
coverage. Meanwhile, this collaterally brands the
name Pleasant Grove with an ingrained stigma taint.
The result? When there are genuine reasons for
local boosterism pride, for instance, the glorious new
Audubon Center on South Loop 12, coverage avoided
crediting southeast Dallas or, God forbid, mentioning
its proximity to Pleasant Grove — despite insistent
use of that label in other articles.
And the amazing 8,000-acre Trinity Forest? One
prominent Dallas publication placed it in “southern
Oak Cliff.” Actually it’s half a city away — running its
length through several southeast Dallas
neighborhoods. Including Pleasant Grove.
I know. Picky, picky.
Dallas writer Rawlins Gilliland may
be contacted at rawlins@
sbcglobal.net.
SEE a map of Dallas’ southeastern
neighborhoods.
dallasnews.com/opinion/northsouth
A15 _ 06-08-2009 Set: 18:37:42
Sent by: rstumpf Opinion
15A
Wrestling
with ugly
memories
Play revisits struggle for
justice that we shouldn’t
forget, says Courtland Milloy
D
uring a high-society
luncheon in Washington a
few years ago, Janet
Langhart Cohen mentioned she was
writing a book about “growing up in
apartheid America.” Langhart Cohen
is black. Another luncheon guest,
who is Jewish, was taken aback.
“Oh, Janet, you don’t want to go
discussing that,” Langhart Cohen
recalled the woman saying. “You live
in a penthouse. You’re married to the
secretary of defense. Why do you
want to talk about those days?”
To answer those questions, Lang-
hart Cohen, a former television talk
show host and newspaper columnist,
has written a provocative one-act
play in which two martyred teen-
agers, Anne Frank and Emmett Till,
meet after death in a place called
Memory.
Anne, a Jew, died in a Nazi con-
centration camp during World War
II. She was 15. Till, who was black,
was lynched by white racists during
the Jim Crow era. He was 14.
“Janet came home after the lun-
cheon and said to me, ‘It hurts so
much to be told that remembering
my history is unbecoming,’ ” said
William Cohen, her husband, who
was secretary of defense during the
Clinton administration. “Then she
said, ‘I wonder what Anne Frank
would have said to Emmett Till?’
And I said, ‘Go write it.’ ”
The play, Anne and Emmett,
turned out so well that two perfor-
mances are scheduled this week in
commemoration of Anne Frank’s
80th birthday. In the complex histo-
ry of black and Jewish relations —
long characterized by a mix of empa-
thy and mutual respect, hostility and
suspicion, and, of late, wearied indif-
ference — the play seeks to rekindle a
memory of a common struggle for
freedom and justice.
But enlisting Anne and Emmett
makes for risky business.
Anne, who died in 1945 at Ber-
gen-Belsen in Nazi Germany, is
considered by many Jews to be an
icon without peer, her memory not to
be tampered with. The famous diary
she began writing at 13 has been
translated into 67 languages and has
sold 31 million copies. To this day,
she serves as a powerful symbol of
Jewish suffering under Adolf Hitler.
“I know the diary of Anne Frank
almost by heart; it was required
reading in my all-black high school,”
said Langhart Cohen, who grew up
in a public housing complex in India-
napolis. “I spent much of my life
crying over her history, because I
owned it as mine.”
Emmett, on the other hand, is
remembered by comparatively few,
and mostly because a photograph of
his disfigured face was published in
Jet magazine not long after his body
was found. Emmett, a native of
Chicago, was tortured and killed in
1955 during a visit to Money, Miss. In
some accounts, he had whistled at a
white woman. “Emmett never wrote
anything I ever read, but we are the
same age, same race, same culture.
We both went South to visit relatives
during the summer,” Langhart Co-
hen said. “His death affected me so
deeply I wanted to give my voice to
him.”
Her play is actually written for
middle and high school students, the
would-be peers of Anne and Em-
mett. It is a history lesson about the
importance of tolerance, compassion
and justice, to be acted out on stage,
acted on in life.
In the play, Anne has been living
in Memory when Till shows up,
thinking he’s still in Money.
Anne: We’re all here together in
the darkness, yet alone at the same
time until we’re pulled into the light,
until we’re remembered.
Emmett: Remembered? By
whom?
Among those expected to attend
the play at the Holocaust Museum is
the woman from the luncheon who
unwittingly inspired it.
Surely, she’ll remember.
Washington Post
columnist Courtland
Milloy may be con-
tacted at milloyc-
@washpost.com.
BLACK
The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Tuesday, June 9, 2009 11A

JOIN
THE
Opening Cowboys Stadium: King
George was the right man for the job. I
was underwhelmed when I heard the
Economic development in West Dallas:
I’m sensing serious intererst in trying to
make West Dallas a sports and entertain-
1989: the
DEBATE choice for the first concert, but George ment destination. I think that thrust has
Highlights from our opinion blogs
is OURS. He’s Texan. He’s classy. And
he was perfect for the job. Michael Landauer, editorial
board member, at dallasmorningviews.dallasnews.com
the potential to address two youth issues —
unemployment and recreational opportunities. Jim Mitchell,
editorial board member, at gapblog.dallasnews.com
year for
democracy
The death of If Congress ran a car company, we’d do
what didn’t work, says Steve Chapman
The search for freedoms
contains lessons for Obama,
right vs. left says William McKenzie

A road full W
e dialed the clock back last
week to June 4, 1989, the day
Americans are now thinking about Chinese dissidents tried to
stand their government on its ear. About
things as right vs. wrong, says Arianna the same time as those democratic
Huffington, and not ideologically protests, a half a world away democracy
was starting to ripple across Eastern

“T
he first thing that happens in a revolutionary Europe. In a few short months, the Iron

of Edsels
era is the great figures of the old era get Curtain would crumble.
discredited.” What a tremendous year 1989 was
So said Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of the compel- for democracy.
ling new book The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the Not that the movements turned out
New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and perfectly. They didn’t in China, and
What We Can Do About It, on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN some parts of the old Eastern bloc re-
show. main problems. Still, powerful currents
And, he might have added, so do the old era’s once- were unleashed across the globe that

sacred media tropes. I’ve been writing for a while about
the media’s reluctance to give up its reliance on looking
at every issue through a right vs. left frame (and assum-
ing the truth is to be found by splitting the difference).
But the country’s shift away from right vs. left think-
ing and toward a right vs. wrong frame continues to
gain momentum — making it harder and harder to
keep pushing the discredited meme.
The latest example can be found in the fight over
gay marriage.
Not that long ago, gay marriage was a dependable
wedge issue Republicans could use to keep their base in
line. But that wedge is clearly splintering.
All you have to do is look at Dick Cheney, who,
speaking at the National Press Club last week, said, “I
think freedom means freedom for everyone.” Cheney
said he supports gay marriage as long as it’s sanctioned
at the state level — a more progressive position than
President Barack Obama’s civil-unions-not-marriage
stance.
And then we have the strange-bedfellows pairing of
Ted Olson and David Boies. The Bush vs. Gore ad-
versaries have teamed up, filing a federal lawsuit they
hope will lead to a Supreme Court ruling allowing gays
and lesbians to get married in every state.
“We wanted to send a message,” Olson explained to
Larry King, “to the American people and to the courts
that this isn’t a Republican or a Democrat issue. It’s not
a liberal or a conservative issue. The right of individuals
committed to one another to live in a stable, commit-
ted, loving relationship is something that we should all
respect and be for.”
Interestingly, a number of traditionally progressive
groups, including the ACLU, oppose the Olson-Boies
approach, fearing the Supreme Court is not ready to
rule in favor of gay marriage.
This line of thinking brought together two pundits
not usually found on the same side of an issue, George
Will and Paul Krugman. During a recent roundtable
on This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Will ar-
gued that the Olson-Boies suit was premature and that
the democratic process, which is moving toward accep-
tance of gay marriage faster than anybody had antici-
pated, should be allowed to move forward without the
courts getting involved — to which Krugman respond-
ed: “I agree with George.”
So while the timing of the lawyers’ lawsuit may be
open to debate, the value of the left-right conceit as a
way to explain the battle lines in the gay marriage fight
no longer is.
And it’s not just the gay marriage fight. A similar
change can be found in the debate over health care and
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
The seismic shifts in our society have rendered right
vs. left thinking as archaic as a flat earth map. It’s time
for those in the media using it to navigate this revolu-
tionary era to catch up with the public — and the new
realities.
Syndicated columnist Arianna Huf-
fington may be contacted at
arianna@huffingtonpost.com.
T
he Edsel was one of the biggest flops in the history of carmaking. Intro-
duced with great fanfare by Ford in 1958, it had terrible sales and was
junked after only three years. But if Congress had been running Ford,
the Edsel would still be on the market.
That became clear last week, when Dem-
ocrats as well as Republicans expressed
horror at the notion that bankrupt compa-
nies with plummeting sales would need
fewer retail sales outlets. At a Senate Com-
merce Committee hearing, Chairman Jay
Rockefeller, D-W.Va., led the way, asserting,
“I honestly don’t believe that companies
should be allowed to take taxpayer funds for
a bailout and then leave it to local dealers
and their customers to fend for themselves.”
Supporters of free
markets can be
grateful to Rockefel-
ler for showing one
more reason govern-
ment shouldn’t
rescue unsuccessful
companies. As it
happens, taxpayers
are less likely to get
their money back if
the automakers are
barred from paring
dealerships.
The Constitution
guarantees West
Virginia two sena- Introduced by Ford in 1958, the Edsel
tors, and Rockefeller sold poorly and production stopped
seems to think it also after only three years.
guarantees the state
a fixed supply of car sellers. “Chrysler is
eliminating 40 percent of its dealerships in
my state,” he fumed, “and I have heard that
GM will eliminate more than 30 percent.”
This development raises the ghastly pros-
pect that “some consumers in West Virginia
will have to travel much farther distances to
get their cars serviced under warranty.”
But unwanted events are one of the
hazards of operating in a modern economy
that is subject not only to changing consum-
er preferences but occasional downturns.
Absent the Obama administration’s rash
intervention, Chrysler might well have gone
out of business — in which case not only
these dealers but all the rest would be left in
the lurch.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is not supposed to justify reviewing and even reversing their
be pleasant for anyone. It’s supposed to
involve painful and expensive sacrifices that
are slightly less dire than the consequences
of liquidation.
It should come as no surprise that as
these corporations find fewer and fewer
buyers for their products, they need fewer
car lots. Today, Chrysler sells about half as
many vehicles in this country as Toyota, but
it has more than twice as many dealers.
Does Rockefeller get complaints from
Toyota owners about the grueling trips to get
service? Chrysler, by the way, admits that the
average customer’s drive to the dealer will
increase — from 6.67 miles to 7.09 miles.
But once senators get the chance to
micromanage business decisions, they are
reluctant to pass it up. Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison, R-Texas, proved that meddle-
some government is
not a Democratic
monopoly. She pro-
posed that Chrysler
be forced to give its
dealers 60 days to
unwind their opera-
tions instead of less
than a month, as the
company decided.
Retailers should be
accommodated, she
insists, because they
have “nothing to do
with the cost of the
The Associated Press company.”
But CEO Fritz
Henderson — whose
job, unlike hers,
actually depends on
knowledge of his company’s cost structure
— said the support GM provides to dealers
amounts to about $1,000 per vehicle, a
figure that would be lower with a downsized
network. Cost aside, the companies say an
excess of dealers means some can’t make
enough money to serve customers well,
damaging their brands.
While lamenting the fate of the un-
fortunate dealerships that will be dropped,
the senators overlooked another group that
will be deeply affected by the closures — the
remaining dealers. They can expect to cap-
ture more sales, boost their profits and even
provide new jobs in sales and service.
Now that Washington has intervened to
rescue these corporations, it can easily
business decisions. But, as the senators
proved, having the excuse is not the same as
having the competence.
Chicago Tribune columnist
Steve Chapman may be
contacted through schap
man@tribune.com.
made 1989 arguably the most important
year for democracy in the last century.
The democratic eruptions that began
in Poland and Hungary had been sim-
mering, going back to Solidarity’s emer-
gence as a counter to communism in
Poland. Those forces finally caused
Europe to erupt.
Picking up the papers every day was
an adventure in itself. What country
would capture the headlines next?
Romania? Czechoslovakia? Tiny Alba-
nia?
I was in Europe at that summer’s
end, attending a seminar involving
moderate political types from the Unit-
ed States and United Kingdom. We met
at the U.S. Embassy in London on Sept.
1, 1989 — 50 years to the day after Hitler
rolled across Poland.
We naturally looked back toward
that dark time, but we could feel Europe
quaking as it hadn’t since World War II.
The democratic risings were palpable,
although no one could know then that
the Berlin Wall would fall within weeks.
Later, some of us met with several
Polish leaders. Our delegation included
a few members of Congress, and the
Polish politicians wanted to communi-
cate their views.
On a quiet fall afternoon, we sat in a
conference room as the Polish demo-
crats spelled out their country’s needs. I
expected them to say they needed an-
other Marshall Plan, but they didn’t. In
fact, they thought that would have been
disastrous. Massive amounts of Amer-
ican aid only would prop up failing
governments and state-run industries,
they said.
While some money would help, what
they really wanted was our expertise in
creating markets. They had little knowl-
edge of running an economy when the
government didn’t call all the shots, and
they had seen enough of that kind of
waste, corruption and inefficiency.
The moment sticks in my mind
because there was such a thirst for
political and economic freedom.
There are lessons for the Obama
administration from that time.
First, this may be an age of govern-
ment, but government can only do so
much. It may be that the only rational
course is for Washington to bail out GM,
the banks and the housing industry.
Still, the administration needs to be
careful; government can become a
burden, too.
In Eastern Europe, it became an evil
force. Ours won’t become that, but it can
become a drag on the economy. The New
York Times reported last week that
rising interest rates on the growing

Rural prep school’s inspiring story of achievement
North Carolina campus ton Prep would grow naturally into
a school that encompassed grades 5
puts kids on track to through 8, which is the normal
college, says Bob Herbert KIPP model. (KIPP is short for the
Knowledge Is Power Program, an
The school flourished. The
youngsters did so well, so quickly,
that the founders felt they needed
to create an academically rigorous
high school if the hopes raised by
college.
Most of the kids, including
Shanequa, will be the first in their
families to go to college.
What was interesting was that
federal debt could limit the economy’s
rebound.
Second, don’t overreact in a time of
swirling change. Given his unflappabil-
ity, I worry less about this. Obama ap-
pears to be as cool a leader as we’ve had.
Still, it’s worth him remembering how
the Bush 41 administration calmly
handled the changes of 1989.

T
he teenager’s voice on the
other end of the phone was
more than exuberant. It was
ecstatic.
“I’m going to college!” she said,
virtually singing. “I’m going to
college!”
I met Shanequa High some
years ago when she was a sixth-
grader at a middle school that was
still in the embryonic stage (there
were only two grades) in rural
Gaston, N.C. The Gaston College
Preparatory School was part of the
KIPP network of charter schools,
and the early word was that it was
showing great promise.
Most of the students were black,
and many were from low-income
families. Most of the other schools
in the region were struggling.
The original plan was that Gas-
effort that started in Houston and
has become one of the most aca-
demically sound public school
programs in the nation.) The goal
was to lift the students out of the
academic doldrums that handi-
capped the life chances of so many
of their peers and get them onto a
solid college track.
I remember being struck by how
quiet the school was. It was a dis-
ciplined environment, and the
schoolwork was approached with
the utmost seriousness. I wrote:
“The school lasts from 7:30 a.m. to
5 p.m., which allows time for addi-
tional classroom work and ex-
tracurricular activities. After that,
there are two hours of homework.
The kids also attend classes every
other Saturday. And there are three
weeks of summer school.”
the middle school were to be fully
realized.
One of the founders, Tami Sut-
ton, and Caleb Dolan, who had
started Gaston Prep, took on the
enormous task of creating a high
school from scratch. And not just a
high school, but a first-rate, aca-
demically rigorous, full-service
high school.
Nothing about it was easy.
High-quality teachers from around
the country and abroad had to be
persuaded to set up shop in Gas-
ton. An athletic program had to be
established. Most important, the
kids had to maintain their commit-
ment.
How has it worked out? Shane-
qua is in the first graduating class
of the new high school. Of the 48
seniors, 48 will be going on to
neither Sutton nor Shanequa
played down the difficulties of their
efforts. The idea that there is any
shortcut to real success is silly, a
figment of the imaginations of
those who have never stopped
sitting on the sidelines.
But you should have heard
Shanequa describe the payoff:
“When the acceptance letters start-
ed coming in the mail, I was like:
‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ I wish I could do it
all over again just to get the letters
in the mail that said, ‘Shanequa,
congratulations, you have been
accepted at this university.’ ”
Bob Herbert is a
New York Times
columnist.
The steadiness of George H.W. Bush
and his secretary of state, James A.
Baker III, allowed democracy to unfold
in Eastern Europe without bringing the
Soviet Union back into the game. Bush
41 was criticized for not going for the
photo-op and dancing on the Berlin
Wall, but he faded the heat and decided
not to rub it in Mikhail Gorbachev’s
face.
There’s a reason we look back. Big
events, like those of 1989, often reshape
our world. And we look back to learn the
right lessons. Or at least we hope we do.
William McKenzie is a
Dallas Morning News
editorial columnist and
a moderator of Texas
Faith at www.dallas
news.com/texasfaith. His e-mail address
is wmckenzie@dallasnews.com.

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THE
DISD rankings: Not bad for a school
system that has been under such intense
scrutiny and often deserved criticism
Boycotting GM: In this economy, letting
GM fall on its face completely would be like
pointing a gun to our own collective heads
A new
DEBATE over the past year. Still, it makes me and saying, “Stop, or I’ll shoot.” Even if you
dallasnews.com/opinionblog
wonder whether Dr. Hinojosa did the
right thing by recommending cuts for the DISD magnet
schools program. Tod Robberson, editorial board member
have no compassion for GM’s many
employees, there are many other businesses that depend on
GM’s business. Betsy Simnacher, editorial staff member
jewel in
our crown
Medical
lessons from Remembering Jerry Jones’ stadium
is both jaw-dropping and
beautiful, says Mark Davis

O
n April 13 of last year, I wrote

McAllen
a victim
a column asking Jerry Jones
not to sell the naming rights
to the new stadium under
construction in Arlington. Nothing
Relying on simpler treatments against such deals — I just wanted
the new name to honor the team, not
can help cut health care costs, the highest bidder.
says Froma Harrop I know full well that it is the dis-
Before pointing fingers, take a moment for Pvt. tressed economy — and not the irre-

M
cAllen, Texas, spends more per sistible force of my words — that
person on health care than any
other metropolitan area in
William Long and his family, says Kevin Ferris staved off a corporate name for the
Cowboys’ new home. But I don’t care.
America, except for Miami. Why would All I know is how great it felt to see

this poor border town spend $15,000 a
year per Medicare enrollee? Rochester,
Minn., home to the famed Mayo Clinic,
spends about half as much.
Find the answer, and we have the
formula for national health care reform
— that is, controlling costs without
cutting quality.
Atul Gawande, a Boston surgeon
writing in The New Yorker, has landed on
an explanation. It’s the different medical
cultures, and with them, the incentives
for prescribing care. “The most expensive
piece of medical equipment, as the saying
goes, is a doctor’s pen,” Gawande notes.
Over-treatment is not necessarily
harmless. More Americans die of com-
plications of surgery than in car acci-
dents.
My conservative friends resist this
response. They believe that the market
provides the best incentive system and
that the government should keep its nose
out of health care.
Let’s first consider other possible
reasons for these numbers:
■ Malpractice suits. The Rio Grande
Valley is supposed to be one of those
“judicial hellholes,” in which doctors
order extra tests to protect themselves.
Actually, it’s home to few medical mal-
practice suits, thanks to a Texas law that
caps pain-and-suffering awards.
■ Unhealthy people. McAllen has
high poverty and obesity rates. True, but
so does El Paso County, where Medicare
spending is half that of McAllen. Their
populations are similar in size and num-
bers of non-English speakers, illegal
immigrants and the unemployed.
■ Superior care. McAllen’s facilities
do offer superb technology. But on the
Medicare rankings for quality of care, El
Paso’s hospitals outperformed McAllen’s
on 23 of the 25 criteria.
Dartmouth College’s Institute for
Health Policy and Clinical Practice com-
pared treatments ordered in McAllen
and El Paso. Patients in McAllen re-
ceived 60 percent more stress tests with
echocardiography, 200 percent more
tests to diagnose carpal-tunnel syndrome
and 550 percent more studies to diag-
nose prostate problems.
The Dartmouth researchers found
that patients in high-cost areas were less
likely to receive inexpensive preventive
care, such as flu shots. They had longer
waits in emergency rooms and were less
likely to have a primary-care physician.
“They got more of the stuff that costs
more,” Gawande writes, “but not more of
what they needed.”
The lower-cost centers had adopted
measures to discourage doctors from
piling on unnecessary treatment. Doc-
tors at Mayo work on fixed salaries.
Well-performing centers where physi-
cians are paid by the procedure had
taken other steps; for example, their
T
ake a moment to offer a prayer or good to service and always wanted to be a soldier.” His “Cowboys Stadium” leaping out at me
thoughts for Pvt. William Long and his dad was a Marine; his mom served in the Navy. His from the enormous, eye-popping HD
family. brother is in the Army. screen hanging from the roof as I
Long, 23, was murdered last Monday outside Artis says those who knew Long all have the arrived with 60,000 others Saturday
the Army-Navy Career Center in suburban Little same story. “He was a great kid, highly motivated, for the George Strait concert.
Rock, Ark. He and a fellow private, 18-year-old always willing to learn, always trying to better Later in the day, that screen would
Quinton Ezeagwula, were on a smoke break. Long himself,” Artis said. “That was one of the reasons burst alive with images of Strait’s
was shot three times and died at a local hospital. we brought him back as a recruiter.” performance, preceded by Reba
Ezeagwula was hit at least twice but survived. Artis has also spoken to Long’s family. McEntire, Blake Shelton and LeeAnn
The two soldiers were new to the Army. They “This business is not easy going,” he says. “But Womack, a last-minute replacement
had recently completed basic and infantry training they are proud of his achievements, and their for the ailing Julianne Hough.
at Fort Benning, Ga., and were on a short-term heads are held high. They give me inspiration.” (Best wishes to Ms. Hough, but I
assignment that brought them home to talk with To see what Artis means, watch the moving confess satisfaction that a far bigger
potential recruits about their experiences. interview Long’s dad, Daris, gave KATV-TV in star — and a native Texan at that —
Abdulhakim Arkansas. He was at work will forever be the answer to the
Mujahid Muham- when he got the call about stadium’s “first performer ever” trivia
mad, a Tennessee the attack. William’s question.)
man who converted mom was in the center’s It is Oklahoma fans who will claim
to Islam, faces one parking lot reading, a chunk of stadium history Sept. 5,
count of capital waiting to give their son a when the Sooners face Brigham
murder and 15 counts ride home. She heard the Young in the first football game that
of committing a shots. counts at the new stadium. A slew of
terroristic act in the Daris Long chokes up area high school teams will square off
shootings. When he when he talks about two days later in a daylong Labor Day
was arrested, police meeting Quinton’s family spectacular.
reportedly found at the hospital, especially The Cowboys will have logged two
guns and Molotov his mom. “We’re so glad exhibition games by then, gearing up
cocktails in his truck. that he’s alive,” Daris says, for Sunday night, Sept. 20, the reg-
Muhammad has fighting back tears. “And ular-season home opener against the
pleaded not guilty. we are so thankful for her New York Giants.
Police and prose- kindness.” Jimmy Johnson’s presence in
cutors have speculat- On the way home, the Jerry Jones’ surprisingly visible
ed that the “political Longs stopped at Wal- owner’s box sparked momentary
and religious” attack green’s, and when people coaching-change buzz and a flurry of
was motivated by heard it was his son who amateur paparazzi. Jerry’s Texas
Muhammad’s desire had been shot, a woman Stadium box was a pleasantly sealed-
to avenge U.S. mil- in line stepped up and off oasis from the slum that facility
itary actions against paid for Daris’ Cokes and had become. Now, one cannot blame
Muslims. Neither ibuprofen, refusing to let him for wanting to be more a part of
victim had been in The Associated Press him pay her back. “There the crowds who will properly thank
the service long are good people here,” he him for the palace he has built.
enough to take action against anyone. says, clearly moved. His most visible moment came
Bloggers and others have contrasted the limited Such a small gesture in many ways. One sliver of when George Strait ambled to the
media coverage of Long’s killing with the front- a moment, easily forgotten, in the tumult of this microphone and said, “Isn’t this roof
page headlines on the murder of abortion doctor family’s grief. Much like this brief interview itself, supposed to open?” He led the cheer-
George Tiller. They wonder why the White House it is just one small part of a week that has engulfed ing crowd in a chant of “Jerry, open
issued a statement of outrage almost immediately them in sorrow. the roof!” Then, in the most planned
on the doctor but waited days to say anything Neither the gestures nor the interview will end impromptu moment in recent histo-
about the soldier. They point to claims that harsh all the questions. Yet they are a good reminder that ry, a sliver of black night sky appeared
anti-abortion rhetoric incited violence against the questions aren’t the priority. Kindness and at the center of the roof. It took three
Tiller, yet hear nothing about protests — and even decency should come first at such times. songs for the panels to fully retract,
attacks — against recruiters and other members of I’m grateful for the good people who have kept compounding the delight of an al-
the military. that lesson in mind. ready ecstatic crowd.
The questions are understandable. Some of the Were there opening-night head-
discussion might even be worth a listen. But before Kevin Ferris, assistant editorial aches? Sure. Every facility wants
going too far down that road, focus on the Long page editor at The Philadelphia every concession stand fully stocked,
family and their loss. Inquirer, may be reached at every restroom filled with paper
Lt. Col. Tom Artis, whose command includes kf@phillynews.com. towels, every staffer as wise as a griz-
the Little Rock center, said Long “was committed zled veteran from Day One. That
never happens. But the folks who
worked feverishly to make the inau-
gural event a success should be enor-
Overseas, simply being Obama matters mously pleased.
And enormously exhausted.
Their rest will be brief. Ten days
A sympathetic figure ed U.S. foreign policy. Obama was speaking the from now, the Jonas Brothers will
Now, after Obama’s trip to language of Islam in a tone of play to a stadium filled with scream-
in charge is important, the Middle East, I think we respect. What a concept.
ing tweens. Every middle schooler
says Eugene Robinson were both right. Perhaps the best indication there will be able to count the pores
Taking a cold-eyed view of of how Obama played in Cairo on the face of their favorite brother

doctors couldn’t cherry-pick patients
with good coverage and send them to
specialty hospitals they own.
The Obama administration believes
that shrinking the expenditure gap
between the Mayos and the McAllens
will free up resources to insure everyone
and curb growing federal deficits. Its
critics argue that this is the road to ra-
tioning health care.
OK. Suppose you report heartburn
symptoms to your doctor. Would you
rather be started off with an antacid or
have an endoscope shoved down your
throat, with the risk of puncturing your
upper GI tract? More than 70 percent of
doctors in high-cost cities said they
would immediately send you to a gastro-
enterologist or order an endoscopy.
The Tums-first route would seem
more rational than rationing. The sim-
pler treatment is also less expensive, but
let’s not hold that against it.
Froma Harrop is a
columnist at the Provi-
dence Journal. Her
e-mail address is fhar-
rop@projo.com.
I
used to fear that President
Barack Obama was
overestimating the power of
his personal history as an
instrument of foreign policy.
Now I wonder if he might have
been underestimating.
In several interviews during
the long presidential campaign,
Obama mentioned the potential
impact in other countries of
seeing an American president
with an appearance and a life
story like none of his predeces-
sors. He spoke of how the Mus-
lim world especially, addressed
by a president who had a Mus-
lim father and who spent years
of his childhood in a Muslim
country, might be more inclined
to believe that the United States
is not an enemy of Islam.
But nations tend to act on the
basis of perceived national
interest, not personality. I
thought that in the final analy-
sis, if Obama became president
he would be seen as friend or foe
depending on how he conduct-
international affairs is never
wrong. But it’s also wrong to
ignore the spectacle of an audi-
ence member, at Obama’s Cairo
University speech, interrupting
an American president to shout,
“We love you!” (Beats having
shoes hurled at his head.)
Not being George W. Bush
was a big factor. But at least as
important was being Obama —
and being able to say, as the
president did in Cairo, that “I
have known Islam on three
continents before coming to the
region where it was first re-
vealed.”
Perhaps more important was
that Obama opened the speech
by putting Islam in the histor-
ical context that many Muslims
believe the West willfully ig-
nores. He spoke of how the
Islamic world kept the light of
civilization burning during
Europe’s Dark Ages — and
mentioned the Quran that
Thomas Jefferson kept in his
library.
is the reaction of his compet-
itors for the hearts and minds of
the Muslim world. The Associ-
ated Press reported Sunday that
the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-
based guerrilla group Hez-
bollah, an influential radical
Saudi cleric and the Egypt-
based Muslim Brotherhood all
warned followers not to be
taken in by Obama’s seductive
words — which suggests a fear
that Obama had been danger-
ously effective. A Web site that
often reflects the thinking of
al-Qaeda referred to the presi-
dent after the speech as a “wise
enemy.”
The fact that many Muslims
now see a sympathetic figure in
the White House creates new
possibilities. It turns out that
being Obama matters more
than I thought.
— Excerpted from column by The
Washington Post’s Eugene Rob-
inson; his e-mail address is euge-
nerobinson@washpost.com.
on that miraculous HD screen, which
will change the way we watch sport-
ing events, too.
I can’t say how the Cowboys will
do this season, but their home games
will be like no other sports experience
in the world. And here comes next
year’s NBA All-Star Game, the 2014
NCAA Final Four and after next
year’s NFL season, the Super Bowl. It
is a busy and bright future for a re-
markable new jewel in North Texas’
crown.
Your best bet for getting inside
without taking out a home equity
loan is the Sept. 7 high school football
event. But whenever you do, get
ready for your jaw to drop. And if
your mouth is already open, you
might as well go for that $14 Kobe
burger with green chilies. Pretty
tasty.
Mark Davis is heard
weekdays from 8:30
to 11 a.m. on WBAP-
AM, News/Talk 820.
His e-mail address is
mdavis@wbap.com.

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THE
Google’s book deal: If the recording
industry and music providers can more or
less agree on a “buck a song” model for
South Dallas task force: I’m not trash-
ing the idea of security cameras. But
this seems driven by a few retailers who
Palin’s still
DEBATE most online music, then why can’t provid- want the taxpayers to give them free
Highlights from our opinion blogs
ers of copyright-protected writing reach
some sort of industry standard, too? Michael Landauer,
editorial board member, at dallasmorningviews.dallasnews.com
security services while nothing actually
happens on the streets. Tod Robberson,
editorial board member, at gapblog.dallasnews.com
not ready
for 2012

Universal care
GOP darling misses too many
opportunities for the big
leagues, says Kathleen Parker

S
arah Palin, governor of Alaska and
GOP “It” girl, can warm up the
Republican base like a hot toddy in
a duck blind. But further inside the party
organization, the air is a little nippy.
Health care reform should focus What happened? In a word, bungling.
Everyone seems to have a Sarah Palin
on reducing overall costs, story of ignored calls, mishandled in-
says Philadelphia Inquirer vitations or unanswered e-mail. Disorga-
nized is how one might charitably de-

P
resident Barack Obama has demonstrated scribe the Palin operation.
that on the most heated political issues, he “Basically, it’s just rude,” says one
can be shrewdly pragmatic, often to the political operative, who is a Palin fan.
frustration of liberals and conservatives. “They’ve been running the great snub
That is certainly the case as Obama adjusts machine. That’s the reason the boys in
his game plan for moving health care legislation the Republican Party are unhappy with
through Congress this year. her.”
That explains why Obama recently backed off That unhappiness has been building
a campaign pledge not to tax the health benefits PAUL LACHINE gradually the past seven months but was
of working Americans. on full display this week as the party
As the president noted in a letter to Senate
leaders, the goal is “quality, affordable health
We need to study quality and results of faithful gathered for a fundraising dinner
at which Palin originally was invited to
care for all Americans.” That means finding a
way to cover the nation’s 46 million uninsured,
offshore surgeries, say Arnold Milstein, speak. She was later uninvited, and Newt
Gingrich took her place.
as well as reducing the staggering health care
costs.
Mark Smith and Jerome Kassirer Watching the dinner-speaker specta-
cle develop, then unravel, then redevelop

The overhaul won’t be easy, but there’s no
arguing with the president’s claim that the status
quo is unsustainable. A recent report from White
House economists showed that by 2040, the
uninsured ranks would rise to 72 million, and
health care expenditures would consume nearly
one-third of all U.S. economic output.
So it was encouraging to hear Senate finance
chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., respond to the
president with confidence that the Senate would
deliver a measure this summer.
While the need for reform is great, the presi-
dent and Congress need to be wary about pitfalls
in the sausage-making process, especially in
funding health care.
As a candidate, Obama dismissed John
McCain’s proposal to tax employer-sponsored
health benefits to help pay the estimated $1.2
trillion cost of expanding coverage over a decade.
Last week, though, Obama said he was will-
ing to consider the move — even though it would
have huge ramifications and essentially result in
a sizable middle-class tax hike.
Well, Obama was right the first time. Taxing
benefits hardly seems like the best approach,
since it could negatively affect the economy in
the Northeast while rewarding Southern and
Western companies that don’t provide adequate
benefits.
The main effort should be on reducing the
cost of health care instead.
On controlling costs, at least, the president is
hanging tough on what may be the best hope: a
little healthy competition from a new govern-
ment-run health plan that would be an afford-
able option for Americans without workplace
coverage.
Since industry players are already hedging
their bets on the cost savings they’ve pledged,
they might well respond better to the pressures
of the marketplace.
At the same time, it’s good to see Obama now
open to the sensible concept of mandating that
all Americans obtain health coverage. Widely
sharing the costs will make insurance more
affordable.
— Excerpted from an editorial by The Philadelphia
Inquirer.
O
ne consequence of the high cost of U.S.
medical care has been the rise of
medical tourism. Every year, thousands
of Americans undergo surgery in other
countries because the allure of good care at half
the price is too good to pass up.
Average total fees at well-regarded hospitals
like Apollo and Wockhardt in India are 60 to 90
percent lower than those of the average Amer-
ican hospital, according to a 2007 study by the
consulting group Mercer Health and Benefits.
Even compared with low-cost American hospi-
tals, the offshore fees are 20 to 50 percent lower.
Most medical travelers seek cosmetic proce-
dures like facelifts and liposuction, but an
increasing number have high-risk operations
like heart surgery and joint replacement in such
places as India, Singapore and Thailand.
Is this a good idea? The only way to know is
to find out how foreign hospitals and surgeons
compare with their American counterparts.
A few pioneering American insurers like
Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and
self-insured employers like the Hannaford Bros.
supermarket chain sent American doctors to
evaluate foreign hospitals. Favorably impressed,
they now offer payment for travel expenses and
cash incentives as high as $10,000 for choosing
offshore hospitals.
For very costly operations like open-heart
surgery, savings far exceed these payments. That
is not to say that offshore surgery could sub-
stantially lower health care costs. Less than 2
percent of spending by American health in-
surers goes to the kind of non-urgent proce-
dures that Americans seek overseas.
Other negatives are obvious: People having
surgery done halfway around the world are far
from their regular doctors as well as friends and
family. Consider, also, what happens if an Amer-
ican abroad falls victim to negligent care. Ar-
ranging transfer to another hospital may be
difficult — and malpractice suits typically face
longer odds and smaller payments than in the
United Sates. To mitigate these problems, some
insurers offer coordination with American
doctors, local concierge services and supple-
mentary medical malpractice insurance.
There is reason to think the quality of care at
some foreign hospitals may be comparable to
quality in the United States. More than 200
offshore hospitals have been accredited by the
Joint Commission International, an arm of the
organization that accredits American hospitals.
Many employ English-speaking surgeons who
trained at Western medical schools.
So should offshore surgery be welcomed as a
modest way to make American health care more
affordable? We can’t know until we can directly
compare the outcomes with those of American
surgery. To begin, we must adopt a uniform way
for American hospitals and surgeons to report
on the frequency of short-term surgical compli-
cations.
Medicare could do this by requiring that all
participating hospitals and surgeons count
pre-surgical risk factors and post-surgical com-
plications during hospitalization and for 30 days
afterward, when most short-term problems
become evident. The system used for many years
by Veterans Affairs hospitals to reduce surgical
complications is the best option for this, since it
is available to all American doctors. So far,
however, only a small minority of surgeons
participate in such a system.
Patients and their surgeons also need compa-
rable measurements of long-term success.
Medicare should lead by adopting Sweden’s
method of monitoring hip joint replacement
outcomes. It tracks, for example, a patient’s
ability to walk without pain six years after sur-
gery.
Finally, Medicare should invite accredited
offshore hospitals and their affiliated doctors to
participate in all of its comparative performance
reporting systems. Beyond informing Amer-
icans contemplating treatment abroad, such
comparisons would allow us to learn if our care
is the world’s best — and to accelerate our im-
provement efforts if it is not.
Arnold Milstein is a doctor specializing in health
care improvement. Mark D. Smith is an internist
and chief executive of a health care foundation.
Jerome P. Kassirer is a professor at Tufts Universi-
ty School of Medicine in Massachusetts.
(Will she or won’t she speak/attend?) felt
like watching a middle-school romance
in which a friend tells another friend that
so-and-so has a crush on you-know-who,
but don’t tell anybody. A little silly, in
other words. And embarrassing.
The “tick-tock” of what happened is a
Byzantine exercise in blame-shifting.
Briefly, someone in Palin’s “organization”
accepted the original invitation in
March, whereupon the dinner hosts
issued a press release announcing that
Palin would be the keynote speaker.
Yea!
But then, no, Palin had not accepted.
In fact, the press release was the first
she’d heard of it. The official story sud-
denly became that SarahPAC had
jumped the gun and Palin wasn’t sure she
could make the event. Enter Newt Ging-
rich. Then last week, so-and-so said she’d
like to come, but you-know-who said,
“We like someone else now.”
There’s more — and stories vary —
but a common theme emerges: Seven
months after the election, Palin still can’t
shoot straight. Unless something chang-
es dramatically and soon, “Missed Op-
portunity” should be the title of her
memoir.
By the time Palin returned to Alaska
last fall, her popularity and fundraising
ability were second only to Barack Oba-
ma’s. Instantly, she was drowning in
speaking requests. Boxes and boxes of
invitations stacked up — and went un-
processed.
Without any effort on her part,
75,000 to 80,000 fans around the coun-
try organized pro-Palin groups. Said a
frustrated Palin promoter: “All she had to
do for those 75,000 people was hold an
electronic town hall, and she couldn’t get
around to it.”
Of course, it’s not that Palin has noth-
ing else to do. But her problem is the
same as it was a year ago. She isn’t ready.
For whatever reason — skittishness,
distrust or, quite possibly, executive
weakness — Palin has been unable to
make the transition from Alaska politics
to The Big Game Hunt of the national
arena.
Plenty of experienced people have

Our fascination with ‘reality’ just isn’t normal
Obsession with the Jon & Now people are parsing episodes
as they once parsed diplomatic
Kates of the world belittles communiques from Cold War
us all, says Leonard Pitts summits, looking for clues to the
state of their union. Two lives are
like a frog in a high school science
class, Oprah came calling, world
attention landed on her like an
anvil.
And she, apparently, lost her
publicist. We tell secrets to the cam-
era, confess infidelities to the cam-
era. It watches us sleep, scheme, lie,
love, scratch our pits and pick our
noses. And it takes us into a home
tried to help. Veteran operatives created
SarahPAC to raise money for staff to at
least open mail and return phone calls. It
was a Kevin Costner field of dreams:
Create the Web site — and they came, all
right. The PAC raised $400,000 in its
first month without so much as asking.
What happened next?
Nothing.

W
e’ll discuss Susan Boyle’s
mental state in a moment,
but first let me show my
ignorance.
A few weeks back, a reader asked
what I thought of “Jon and Kate.” I
had never heard of them.
This was a gaping hole in my
body of knowledge but, thankfully,
one easily remedied by glancing
through the tabloids in the checkout
line. Turns out Jon and Kate Gosse-
lin are the stars of the putative
“reality” show Jon & Kate Plus 8 on
TLC. The premise was that viewers
would follow the Pennsylvania
couple’s adventures in parenting as
they raised their twins and sex-
tuplets. But apparently, 100 epi-
sodes later, viewer interest has been
shifted by the fact that — and I only
know what I read — Kate is a nag-
ging harpy and they’ve both maybe
been unfaithful.
falling apart for your amusement.
And me, I’ve seldom felt more
estranged from popular culture. Or
more grateful for it.
Meanwhile, Susan Boyle just
checked out of a mental institution
after several days.
As you know unless you are even
more estranged from pop culture
than I, she is the woman whose
appearance on a British talent show
created an overnight and interna-
tional sensation.
According to Visible Measures, a
firm that tracks Internet video
usage, clips of Boyle’s performances
on Britain’s Got Talent constitute
the fifth-most-popular suite of viral
videos “ever.” With scary speed, this
woman from a tiny Scottish town
who lives alone with her cat and had
never heard of YouTube, became the
biggest thing online. Pundits debat-
ed her looks, reporters dissected her
mind. There were reports of a four-
letter tirade against two reporters.
We’re told she spent the week before
her last performance crying, vom-
iting and lying awake. When she lost
the competition in an upset, she is
said to have stormed off screaming,
“I hate this show!” The next day, she
was reportedly behaving so errat-
ically she had to be hospitalized.
It is an understatement to say
that Boyle could not handle the
attention.
But then, in the 61 years since TV
pioneer Allen Funt first told his
prank victims to “Smile! You’re on
Candid Camera!” you and I have
learned to live on camera. A paterni-
ty fight is worth a trip to see “Maury,”
a gambling addiction merits a visit to
“Dr. Phil,” a willingness to invite
America into your home gets you
your pick of shows. Your toddler goes
missing and your second call is to a
where a marriage that has produced
eight children is imploding.
We watch this family’s tragedy as
if it were baseball. And I guess, in a
way, it is.
But there is something deeply …
debasing in the all-access invasion
of it all, a debasement that touches
both the watchers and the watched.
It “changes” us. So while you might
feel sorry for Susan Boyle, I don’t. To
the contrary, her inability to handle
the insta-fame, to cope with the
unending siege, suggests she is still
the one thing many of us no longer
are.
Normal.
Leonard Pitts Jr. is
a Miami Herald
columnist. His
e-mail address is
lpitts@miami
herald.com.
“We couldn’t get them to decide on
office space,” says my source. “You
couldn’t get them to be professional.”
Palin’s fiercely independent streak is
part of her charm but also may be her
undoing. It’s one thing to campaign on
an anti-inside-the-Beltway platform. But
to play in the big leagues, you need peo-
ple who know what they’re doing.
Whether Palin can rally her resources
by 2012 remains in serious doubt, even
among her fans. Said yet another Palin
admirer: “The problem is, she has had
months to get it together, and they ha-
ven’t. They could have had an excellent
national team and state team working
seamlessly.”
But they didn’t.
Syndicated columnist
Kathleen Parker may be
reached at kparker@
kparker.com.

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JOIN Good work in Austin: Having West Dallas flooding: Now the recent rain BALANCE OF OPINION
watched Congress and the Legisla- was a big deal everywhere in the city, but Nancy Kruh
THE ture up close and personal, I still that still does not answer the question of
DEBATE
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
sharp people.
come away more impressed with our
Legislature. We have some really
William McKenzie, editorial board
why West Dallas is ALWAYS under water.
Residents have put up with this nonsense
for decades. How much longer? Jim Mitchell, editorial board
Beyond
Cairo
member, at dallasmorningviews.dallasnews.com member, at gapblog.dallasnews.com

Mood swings in Iran

What actions will follow
Obama’s landmark address?

P
resident Barack Obama’s speech
in Cairo last week has been hailed
as a landmark event, but now
pundits are looking to see how the

O Change is afoot, and Ahmadinejad’s re-election

n a late April trip to Iran, I had a
hard time getting people to talk
about the country’s looming
presidential race. My questions about the
election, to be held today, were dismissed
as irrelevant in a nation of apathetic
voters who knew that real power was
vested not in the president but in Iran’s
unelected supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, and a handful of clerics.
Most of the people I spoke to seemed
resigned to the re-election of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And they felt
that the election didn’t really matter, given
Khamenei’s tightfisted control.
But when I returned to the country late
last month, the mood had shifted
dramatically.
The brief campaign season in Iran (officially
two weeks, with another several weeks of un-
official activity preceding it) creates an “election
fever.” A nation starved for entertainment be-
comes obsessed with presidential politics as
supporters of opposing candidates vie for atten-
tion in every public square and on every major
boulevard.
So who will win? Predicting the outcome of an
Iranian presidential contest has always been a
fool’s errand. Still, it’s hard to ignore the “anyone
but Ahmadinejad” mood on display in Iran’s
largest cities over the last few weeks. That senti-
ment would seem to favor the leading opposition
figure, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
Ahmadinejad came to office promising to
eliminate corruption and bring Iran’s oil wealth
to ordinary citizens. But his economic policies
ultimately have benefited few, and Iran’s econo-
my is stagnant. Unemployment remains high,
and the inflation rate is close to a staggering 30
percent a year.
Mousavi, who has been out of politics for
nearly two decades, is relying on his reputation as
may not be a sure thing, writes Hooman Majd
Iranians show support for former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi this week in Tabriz.
a skilled manager when he served as prime min-
ister during the years of the Iran-Iraq war. He has
called for a more conciliatory foreign policy than
Ahmadinejad, with the hope of getting foreign
sanctions lifted. On the economy — the No. 1
issue in the minds of voters — he has said very
little.
In any case, today’s election may not produce a
final winner. If no candidate among the field of
four gets a majority of the votes, a runoff between
the top two vote-getters (almost certainly Ah-
madinejad and Mousavi) will be held June 19.
Whatever the outcome, the elections have
sparked a huge change in attitude among Irani-
ans, who in recent weeks have rejected the idea
that elections don’t matter. Iranian voters now
talk about how life was very different during the
last presidency. This, they say, demonstrates that
although a president is subject to the whims and
dictates of the grand ayatollah, he too is influ-
enced by public opinion and can be swayed
slightly to the right or the left.
The Associated Press
A moment of hope has gripped the country.
And for many, that hope includes the possibility
that Iran will become less isolated from the West.
Last month, I stopped on a street in downtown
Tehran to watch some former Revolutionary
Guards who were putting up a campaign bill-
board for an opposition candidate. They had
nothing but vitriol for Ahmadinejad (once the
darling of the Guards). One of them asked me
where I lived. When I told him New York, he
smiled: “Inshallah (God willing), this time next
year the American Embassy will be open!”
If the Guards, protectors of the revolution and
the bete noir of successive U.S. administrations,
foresee good relations with the Great Satan, then
change is definitely in the air.
Hooman Majd is a New York-
based writer and journalist and
the author of “The Ayatollah
Begs to Differ.”
words can be turned into deeds in the
Middle East.
Cynthia Tucker already gives the
address credit for influencing the elec-
tion of an American-aligned coalition in
Lebanon on Sunday.
“Lebanon’s election is good news in a
region where there has been little of it,”
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
columnist writes. “Hezbollah has been
implicated in a number of terrorist
attacks against American, Israeli and
other Western targets, so its electoral
loss is a defeat for terrorism and its state
sponsors. If that’s the only result of
Obama’s Cairo speech, it’s a good return
on the investment.”
Both Patrick Buchanan and Mona
Charen are waiting to see Obama’s
impact on the persisting Israeli-Pales-
tinian conflict.
Buchanan foresees
“a collision” between
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
and Obama as “inevi-
table and imminent.”
The Creators Syndicate columnist
points out that Netanyahu was elected
on his pledges to block a Palestinian
state and to support “the ‘natural
growth’ of Jewish settlements in Judea
and Samaria.” But Obama is “saying
that settlements are an impediment and
an independent Palestinian state indis-
pensable to peace,” Buchanan writes.
The columnist believes Obama will
prevail “because Israel cannot defy its
last great friend, the lone superpower,
upon whom it depends for security,
weaponry and diplomatic shelter from
U.N. Security Council sanctions.”
Charen, though, thinks Obama is
naı̈ve to think the Palestinian leaders
have the capacity to be
cooperative players in
a two-state solution.
“If the Palestinians
were not wedded to
terrorism and vio-
lence; did not celebrate as heroes and
martyrs those who blow themselves up
in shopping malls and restaurants; were
not beset with corruption, steeped in

What’s the value in debating identity politics?
Attacks like those on Sotomayor
seem reserved for newcomers,
says Ellen Goodman
Title IX when they were college wres-
tlers. Many became big fans when their
daughters wanted equal time on the
lacrosse field. Identity politics? You bet.
anti-Semitism and drunk on maximal
claims, there would be no conflict,” the
Creators Syndicate columnist writes.
“Israel would have long since given up
huge portions of the West Bank.”
What really matters is not nominee’s gender Now, she laments, “Palestinian
or origin — it’s her politics, says Linda Chavez hopes for American pressure on Israel
have been ignited — with what confla-

A
And did anyone notice the silence s someone whose profession entails having opinions,
grations to come we do not yet know.”

L
et us hope that Sonia Sotomayor’s
tumble on the way to Washington
doesn’t become a metaphor for
her journey to the Supreme Court. For
the moment, at least, the broken ankle
that had her navigating the Senate halls
on crutches brought out the inner
gentlemen in her opponents.
Republican David Vitter, for one,
greeted her with a bag of ice and a pillow.
“I hope you all note that some Repub-
licans are empathetic too,” he quipped.
I’m not sure about empathy, but after the
recent sniping at the nominee as too
aggressive or not bright enough, I’ll
settle for the more benign sexism of
chivalry.
In any case, this turned the chatter
away from the reality program of the
month: “Identity Politics, the Sequel.”
I can’t help noting that in the Soto-
mayor drama, the charge of “identity
politics” is leveled at relative newcomers.
I have yet to hear a certified member of
the establishment derided as a practitio-
ner of this dark art. For that matter,
identity itself seems to be exclusively a
matter of race, gender and minority
status.
Consider what happened when Dick
Cheney declared himself in favor of
same-sex marriage. “I think, you know,
freedom means freedom for everyone,”
he said. “I think people ought to be free
to enter into any kind of union they wish,
any kind of arrangement they wish.”
Of course, it is entirely possible that
the country’s most ardent defender of
torture merely thinks that marital bond-
age should be extended to everyone. But
it’s pretty clear that Cheney came to this
view because of his, um, identity, as the
father of a lesbian, Mary, who is raising
his grandchild with her partner. To
paraphrase Sotomayor, might not the
parent of a gay child understand some-
thing more than a parent who doesn’t
share that life experience?
Remember the young men hostile to
when Laura Bush said of Sotomayor, “As
a woman, I’m proud that there might be
another woman on the court”? Yipes.
We all have multiple identities, but
the political dialogue changes. When I
was a kid in Boston, identity politics
were as natural as neighborhoods. Only,
they were called ethnic politics. By the
late 1960s, the Irish, Italians and Jews
who had been kept out of Yankee clubs
and corporations were often bewildered
to find themselves lumped together and
tagged: white men.
But today no one suggests that Chief
Justice John Roberts is playing identity
politics when, as Jeffrey Toobin wrote
recently in The New Yorker, he reflects “a
view that the court should almost always
defer to the existing power relationships
in society.”
While we are on the subject, folks
who call themselves originalists — purist
followers of the Founding Fathers —
ought to note that some of the Fathers
identified more with slave owners than
with slaves. With husbands, not wives.
Wouldn’t a wise slave “with the richness
of her experiences” have reached a better
conclusion about the peculiar institution
of slavery? Wouldn’t a wise woman have
reached a faster decision about suffrage?
The hearings begin July 13. The very
fact that Sotomayor has to prove her
impartiality to a Senate that is more than
three-fourths white and male is a bit
bizarre. But let us dedicate these hear-
ings to the memory of Ginger Rogers.
As the late Ann Richards once said,
Ginger had to do everything Fred Astaire
did, only she had to do it backward and
in high heels. Sonia Sotomayor is going
to have to do this dance forward and on
crutches.
Boston Globe col-
umnist Ellen Good-
man’s e-mail address is
ellengoodman1
@me.com.
perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by how often I’ve
been asked what I think about Sonia Sotomayor’s Thomas Friedman declares the
nomination to the Supreme Court. What is surprising, Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “beyond
however, is that many seemed less interested in my analysis diplomacy.” Instead, the New York
of the judge’s record than in whether I felt any special pride Times columnist thinks the natural
in her appointment because of our shared ethnicity. follow-up to Obama’s speech is to con-
I was clearly missing the point of their inquiry: She’s a centrate efforts on Iraq’s peace process.
Hispanic woman; I’m a Hispanic woman. We both grew up “If a decent and stable political order
in disadvantaged circumstances but managed to overcome can take hold in Iraq, it could have an
our humble beginnings. We must be simpatico, right? extremely positive impact on the future
Wrong. of the Arab world and on America’s
Apparently it comes as a surprise to some people, but not reputation …,” Friedman writes. “Any
all Hispanics (or women) think alike. Why should race, decent outcome in Iraq would bolster
ethnicity, gender or even class determine one’s point of view all the progressive forces by creating an
on political or legal issues? What’s more, when it comes to example of something that does not
Hispanics, there is often not even a single, shared culture exist in the Middle East today — an
that might create a common bond. independent, democratizing Arab-
As Los Angeles Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez Muslim state.”
recently pointed out, most of the people described as Fred Kaplan believes Obama’s
Hispanics — or Latinos, the term Rodriguez prefers — don’t speech was intended to “soften” Amer-
identify with the catch-all term but think of themselves in icans’ and Muslims’ attitudes toward
terms of their national origin (Mexican, El Salvadoran, each other, thus laying groundwork for
Puerto Rican, etc.). Not surprisingly, most immigrants “serious talks with the leaders of Iran,
regard their country of origin as important in their identity. Syria and other predominantly Muslim
But for most Hispanics who were born in the U.S., our nations in order to make headway
primary identity is as Americans. In the largest poll of its toward solving a host of urgent in-
kind in 2002, nearly 60 percent of third-generation ternational problems.”
Hispanics used the term “American” as either the only or “This change in attitude,” the Slate
first term to describe themselves, and 97 percent said they columnist writes, “may only nudge the
use American to identify themselves at least some of the countries a bit closer to one another’s
time. positions. As Obama said at the Summit
Still, the media and most politicians seem to think of the Americas, it may make them
Sotomayor’s ethnic heritage and gender are relevant to the more likely to cooperate only ‘at the
story of her Supreme Court nomination. She’s the first margins.’ But that degree of prodding
female Hispanic to be named to the highest court in the land, may be enough.
and that must mean something, the thinking goes. But “Then again, it may not be…
what? Frankly, it was only a matter of time before a Hispanic “It may be that the tensions are too
reached the court. True barriers — meaning disqualifications intractable to smooth over just now; it
based on race, ethnicity or gender — simply don’t exist may be that the extremists and rejec-
anymore. tionists hold too much sway in their
The next time someone asks me what I think about the respective lands to be overwhelmed by
Sotomayor pick, I’ll say: It’s not about a black president the force of sweet reason. It may take a
picking a Hispanic woman to replace a white man on the generation for Obama’s vision to take
court. It’s about a liberal president choosing a liberal jurist to hold.”
replace a retiring liberal justice. It’s not diversity; it’s more of
the same. Nancy Kruh is a free-
lance writer in Dallas;
— Excerpted from a column by Linda Chavez, who may be her e-mail address is
contacted at lchavez@ceousa.org. nkruh@balanceof
opinion.com.

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Required Reading
Some books assigned to teenagers
this summer are must-reads for
adults, too. Our Voices columnists
offer some suggestions.

I
n the Richardson ISD, some of the best
summer books are on the AP and pre-AP
lists, and I recommend all older
students choose from them, regardless of
whether they are taking those classes.
Brave New World. Lord of the Flies. All
Quiet on the Western Front. Many
more. These are great stories that
will always be relevant, and you don’t
have to be a scholar to enjoy them.
Adults would be well served to
reread the classics from school
reading lists. Books like these are
particularly relevant now, with
wars in progress, governments
wiretapping citizens, and societal
power struggles. They were
originally written for adult
audiences, and adulthood confers a
different perspective than we had as
teenage readers.
And kids, while you are at it, why
don’t you find out what books you’ll
be assigned during the next school
year and read them during the
summer? I guarantee you’ll get a lot
more out of them when you don’t
have to do reports. And when they are
assigned in class, you’ll enjoy them in
new ways without the pressure of
having to finish a set number of pages
each night.
Susan Sanders Wansbrough
Attorney, Lake Highlands

T
hree Cups of Tea is a compelling and true
story about the journey of one man, Greg
Mortenson, on his quest to bring
education to children with little opportunity in
the Pashtun region of Pakistan. This book is a
great reminder of the little things that can make
a difference, even when money is tight and times
are tough. MARK WEBER
Satvika Ananth
Junior, Coppell High School

A
novel about class, race, and culture,
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a
must-read. White Tiger is set in a rural
Indian village and focuses on the “hunt or be
hunted” mentality of the people who live there.
Adiga not only exposes the human desire to be
little extra brotherly love. It could be in the form
of volunteering, making donations or simply Let kids actually break (or draw or paint or sing or dance or play)
giving out an extra smile or two during the day.
Students and adults alike may find that purging
during summer, says David McClure, and drop required reading lists
the inner Scrooge is not only good for others, but

free, powerful and an individual, but the truth
behind that desire: Not everyone can be free. It
seems that everyone is always so
overwhelmingly careful to be “politically
correct” that even literature is becoming “PC.”
B
also for one’s self as well. alance. Our lives need to be
Kelseigh Boor balanced.
Plano, homeschooled junior Robert Fulghum said, “Live a
balanced life — learn some and think some
■
and draw and paint and sing and dance and
class. He used to read constantly, until he got
to eighth grade and started receiving sum-
mer reading lists. Now he has no time to
read for pleasure.
Marshal works his tail off but is lost when

It’s nice to see a book like White Tiger tackle the
difficult issues in a dark yet realistic way.
Keegan Watters
Junior, The Hockaday School in Dallas
■
F
or the past two years, I have assigned
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and
David Oliver Relin. It is an amazing true
story about Mortenson’s struggle to build
schools for children, especially girls, in Pakistan
and ultimately Afghanistan. Many of my
play and work every day some.”
The time has come to let students recre-
ate and rest during their alleged summer
break. Perhaps they will find something to
read that they actually are interested in if
they are not forced to read while their in-
I ask him what he does for fun anymore.
Fulghum might say “he needs to work
and play and paint and dance and work and
draw and think some every day some.”
This much I know: It’s awful hard to hold
a paintbrush and be creative if your hands

O
ne item on my summer reading list is
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
You may be thinking, “Christmas in
July? What’s this?” However, this timeless
classic should not be relegated to the Christmas
season. The story deals with the plight of the less
fortunate, a subject especially pertinent in this
time of economic crisis. Many people are
hurting financially right now, but there are also
plenty of folks hurting spiritually as well.
Although we may not have monetary riches like
Ebenezer Scrooge, everyone has room to give a
students have said it was the most relevant book
they’ve ever read for school. There are even
young adult and children’s versions of the story.
In general, it inspires us to never give up.
Specifically, it shows the power of education in
the developing world. Our children must
understand what is going on in the world if they
ever hope to change it for the better.
Mortenson’s story will inspire them.
Melissa Nelson
11th grade English,
Rockwall High School
structors are walking on some beach along are filled with books that must be read by
the Gulf of Mexico. summer’s end. One book, maybe assign one
There is a season for all things, and kids book — but make it Calvin and Hobbes or
need their summertime to reconnect with Bloom County or better yet, Good Ol’ Char-
their families and their friends. They need lie Brown.
to be able to go on family vacations and take
in the sights and sounds of their surround- David McClure teaches
ings, which is all but impossible with your science and coaches at
Faubion Middle School in
nose buried in 12 different books that must
McKinney. He is also a
be outlined and memorized by the time the
Teacher Voices volunteer
summer ends.
columnist. His e-mail address is mc-
My son is a great musician at Wylie High
clure9066@verizon.net.
School. He is in the top five percent of his

If you’re driving a bus, please stop using your cellphone

Common sense doesn’t es by phone. Reluctantly I have
begun sending texts instead of dial-
prevail, says John Guilford, ing the number, leaving voice mail,
so we need a law or even sending an e-mail. I defi-
nitely see the appeal: texts are quick,
tion to their jobs. Those jobs require
constant attention and at least all
five senses working full time.
Where is the “I can’t, I’m at work”
mentality? I can remember not too
This took place on a large bus full of
passengers going at least 60 mph on
the Dallas North Tollway.
There have been at least two
other occasions in the last six
It is time for us to take a stand on
this issue. It needs to be a federal law
that operators of buses, trains, or
any other large vehicle may not use
cellphones while driving. Make it a

N
ew technology causes new
forms of bad behavior in
people. Whether it is the
idea of a TV in every possible
location, cellphone use in school
zones, or incessant gabbing on
tightly packed buses or trains, it
seems that etiquette and common
sense lag far behind availability of
new products.
One phenomenon that has rap-
idly taken over most of our society
(present company, sadly, NOT ex-
cepted) is the sending of text messag-
to the point, and there seems to be
an assumed guarantee of receipt.
People never seem to say, “Sorry, I
just didn’t read your text.” They
always do. I always do.
Nowhere has this craze exhibited
itself in a more alarming fashion
than in the hands of those driving
large trucks, buses or even trains.
There have been several horrific
accidents in recent months, where
drivers of mass transit vehicles have
caused injury or death because they
were texting instead of paying atten-
many years ago when people in
offices were reprimanded for taking
personal calls. Nowadays, office
workers text, and no one gets hurt.
But people who are driving buses
or trains should not text at work.
Why is talking on the phone even an
option to them?
Recently, while riding a DART
bus, I looked up from what I was
doing to see the driver’s head bob-
bing up and down. She wasn’t nod-
ding off to sleep. No, she was writing
a text message on her cellphone.
months where I have noticed the
DART bus driver talking on a cell-
phone while driving with one hand.
Thankfully, DART has an excellent
and efficient customer service de-
partment. On numerous occasions I
was able to call in to report the driv-
er, only to see the dispatcher radio
the driver within seconds telling
them to stop using the cellphone.
DART has confirmed to me that
they have a policy of no cellphone
use for drivers, even if the phone has
a hands-free device.
felony; make it punishable by a huge
fine. Broadcast it to the world.
If it can be a felony to tamper
with a smoke detector on an air-
plane, it can be a felony to text while
driving a bus. The lives of too many
people are at stake.
John Guilford of
Oak Cliff is an engi-
neer and a Commu-
nity Voices volun-
teer columnist. His
e-mail address is jrg65@aol.com.

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Spending one precious resource to gain another Terror

Solar power’s reliance on
water requires changes,
says Robert Glennon
C
ongress’ rush to embrace
solar power is having some
unintended consequences. It
will turn over a large chunk of
federal land to private energy
companies, and it may involve
withdrawing billions of gallons of
Mojave Desert seems perfect for
solar power; it’s hot, flat and vast.
What the Mojave Desert doesn’t
have is water.
Most people think of solar
power as the flat panels on a neigh-
bor’s roof that are used to heat
water. This photovoltaic system
directly converts the sun’s waves
into electricity. But so far, it’s not
commercially feasible. The power
is costly and there’s no juice at
problem: It’s hot outside, which
makes air cooling inefficient. Ac-
cording to a 2007 Department of
Energy report, dry-cooled CSP
plants take up more space, cost
almost 10 percent more to build
and generate 5 percent less elec-
tricity. Given that solar power is
competing with low-cost natural
gas and coal-fired plants, power
companies would naturally prefer
to use wet-cooling systems.
chase land and water rights from
the private sector. Over the last
year, Arizona Public Service Co.,
brewing
the state’s largest electric utility,
has partnered with solar power
right here
companies to build two large-scale
CSP projects on private land. The
land, more than 6 square miles, Extreme rhetoric can only fuel
has been used to grow alfalfa and
cotton. These wet-cooled plants hateful, homegrown attacks,
will use less water than the farms says Eugene Robinson
are already using.

water from sensitive desert habitat.
By 2015, Congress wants the
Interior and Energy departments
to place, on federal land, renewable
energy projects that can generate at
least 10,000 megawatts of electric-
ity. The Energy Policy Act of 2005
has set off a frantic land grab as
solar and wind energy companies
rush to obtain permits for projects
in Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
As of mid-March, the Bureau of
Land Management had received
158 applications for permits for
solar power plants, covering more
than 1 million acres of land — an
area larger than Rhode Island.
Most of the proposed plants are
near the border of Arizona, Califor-
nia and Nevada. This area of the
Broken-down society needs the church and Christ, says Julie Lyons
The Rev. Fredrick L. Eddington Sr. prays with Thomas E. Green during a walk through a South Dallas neighborhood last week.
night, but utilities want cheap
power 24/7. On the plus side,
photovoltaic solar uses almost no
water.
In contrast, most large solar
power projects use a system called
concentrating solar power, or CSP,
that heats a fluid that boils water to
turn a turbine. CSP, just like any
thermal power plant, produces
waste heat as a byproduct. In most
cases, cooling towers release the
heat to the atmosphere through
evaporation, a process that uses
gobs of water. In fact, CSP uses
four times as much water as a
natural gas plant and twice as
much as a coal or nuclear plant.
It is possible to use an air-
cooled system, but CSP plants in
the Mojave Desert face an obvious
BRIDGING DALLAS’ NORTH-SOUTH GAP
To date, only a few CSP plants
have been permitted on federal
land, but that will change soon.
The Obama administration is now
evaluating the impact of solar
power development, a process that
may be completed next year. The
National Park Service, which is
concerned about the impact of
wet-cooled plants on endangered
species in southern Nevada, wants
the federal government to deny
permits for water-cooled plants.
Air-cooling would cut the water
use 80 to 90 percent.
The Park Service is right. As the
process moves forward, the admin-
istration should insist that CSP
plants embrace air-cooling.
If solar companies want to use
wet-cooling towers, they can pur-
This reallocation of water —
from farming to power generation
— offers a lesson for the country as
a whole. As the United States
confronts inevitable water shortag-
es, we need to insist that power
companies, developers and others
who need water offset the impact
of their new uses by persuading
existing water customers to use
less. That’s a lot smarter than
trying to squeeze water from the
stones of the Mojave.
Robert Glennon is
the author of
“Unquenchable:
America’s Water
Crisis and What to
Do About It.” His e-mail address is
glennon@law.arizona.edu.
LARA SOLT/Staff Photographer
W
e are blessed to live at a time
when violent acts of hatred
based on race, ethnicity or
religion have become rare, at least in this
country. As the act of terrorism
committed Wednesday at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum should
remind us, though, rare doesn’t mean
nonexistent.
James W. von Brunn, the 88-year-old
white supremacist who allegedly took a
rifle into the museum and killed security
guard Stephen Johns, is more than a
bitter, demented old man. He is a known
figure in the domestic hate industry, a
venom-spewing polemicist.
The Washington Post reported Thurs-
day that acquaintances say von Brunn
had become virtually destitute and was
complaining that “someone in Washing-
ton” had cut his Social Security benefits
as punishment for his political views. His
recent e-mail blasts were apocalyptic.
“It’s time to kill all the Jews,” said one.
It’s easy to surmise that von Brunn, a
rabid Holocaust denier, could have
chosen the Holocaust museum as a
target because he thought it would offer
the opportunity to kill Jews. His writings
show that he also hates black people with
great passion, however, so perhaps he
took some measure of sick satisfaction in
allegedly gunning down the 39-year-old
Johns, an African-American.
In April, a prescient Department of
Homeland Security memo predicted that
the election of the first African-American
president and the advent of economic
hard times could worsen the threat from
“right-wing extremist groups.” In partic-
ular, the memo warned of an increase in
anti-Semitic activity by extremists who
buy into the whole Jewish-banker-
secret-cabal paranoid fantasy — and
would blame “the Jews” for engineering
the global financial crisis, just as they
blame “the Jews” for everything.
For days, some conservative com-
mentators tried mightily to paint the
memo as an underhanded attempt by the
Obama administration to smear its
honorable critics by equating “right-
wing” with “terrorism.” It made no differ-
ence to these loudmouths that the num-
ber of hate groups around the country
has increased by more than 50 percent
since 2000, according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center. It didn’t matter that
the memo was backed up by solid in-
telligence and analysis. For these in-
fotainers, the point isn’t to illuminate a
subject with light but to blast it with
heat.
The thing is, though, that words have
consequences.
There’s profit for the pundits, and
perhaps personal advantage for some

South Dallas’ soul

politicians, in calling President Barack
Obama a “socialist” and calling Judge
Sonia Sotomayor a “racist Latina” and
claiming that Democrats want to “take
away your guns” — in creating and nur-
turing a sense of grievance among those
inclined to be aggrieved. But what about
those who might not understand that it’s

W
e’d hear a voice through a gash in the screen door. “Come in,” she’d say
weakly, and we’d reach in, pull up the hook and step inside. The first thing
to hit us was the stench: urine and rotted food. Debris was strewn about,
and a large paint bucket — a makeshift toilet — sat in the middle of the living-room
floor.
The 80-year-old woman was perched half-
dressed in the dark on a soiled couch. Several
members of my South Dallas church would check
on her twice a week, and each visit opened wider a
window into her dire circumstances. Stepping
over junk on slippery floors, venturing into back
rooms, we saw that she had no working refrigera-
tor. No telephone. No lights. No running water.
Though portraits of family members lined her
living-room walls, she subsisted on plates of food
from neighbors and hungrily devoured whatever
gifts of food we brought.
Just 50 feet away from the woman’s home, the
neighborhood drug kingpin — an articulate,
disarmingly friendly man who waves at me when I
drive by on my way to church — stood in a vacant
lot, overseeing his minions, while a crew of teen-
age girls, some balancing babies in their laps,
hovered around him.
Across the street at a small grocery, a woman in
daisy dukes walked up to the window of a car and
leaned in: prostitution or drugs or both.
This is the South Dallas I see every week as I go
door-to-door with an evangelism team from my
church of 19 years, The Body of Christ Assembly,
and let’s just say it is a far cry from my middle-
class upbringing. The lifestyles we view up close
are the result of a generation’s accretion of despair
and family breakdowns, not a sudden decision to
do dirty or give up on the straight life. Rapping on
doors and talking to people we meet has borne out
READ yesterday’s Points Q&A with
Julie Lyons and other commentary on
Dallas’ north-south gap.
dallasnews.com/opinion/northsouth
JOIN the discussion at our GapBlog.
gapblog.dallasnews.com
what my pastor, Fredrick L. Eddington Sr., has
said for many years: Spiritual conditions require
spiritual solutions.
You can pluck an individual out of this environ-
ment, he’d say, plant them in a spanking-new
home, and within a few years it would resemble
the crumbling frame rental homes that dominate
these streets. You could spend tens of thousands of
dollars on some slick social program, but without a
personal transformation from the inside out, the
benefits would linger no longer than a free lunch.
Pastor Eddington knows what he’s talking
about. He grew up in South Dallas, and he came
out of a background of drugs and mental illness.
He has dedicated his life to pulling other men and
women out of hopelessness, and I tell his story in
my new book Holy Roller: Finding Redemption
and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church.
We have seen political, social and economic
initiatives come and go over the years, but we have
observed little lasting change except what takes
place when a person is freed from addictions and
desperation through a continuing relationship
with Jesus Christ and a loving spiritual family.
If that just sounds like Christian propaganda,
maybe you should spend a little time with us as we
knock on doors. This is what I’ve discovered, in
anecdotal lessons that go far beneath the dismal
statistical data (the estimated median household
income in this part of South Dallas in 2007 was
$17,475, less than half of the average for commu-
nities across Texas, according to city-data.com):
■ Every well kept, owner-occupied home is
inhabited by a family with a strong church connec-
tion.
■ Virtually every inner-city kid with high
academic achievements whose name appears in
the pages of this newspaper cites a relationship
with Jesus Christ as one of the biggest factors in his
or her success.
■ No one gets out of drug addictions such as
crack cocaine and heroin without spiritual in-
tervention and the strong support of a church.
■ Few escape a family legacy of poverty without
the discipline and hopeful perspective afforded by
a church upbringing.
In South Dallas, you will find more church
houses per block than anywhere in the city. But
most of these congregations, safely ensconced
indoors and serving just a few families, barely
touch the communities they’re in. They could play
a big part in the revitalization of South Dallas, but
first they’d have to push outside their comfort
zones and, as Jesus Christ said, lay down their lives
for their friends. Because money alone won’t
remedy the problems right outside their doors.
Julie Lyons, former editor of The
Dallas Observer, is author of the
new book “Holy Roller.” Her
e-mail address is therealbible-
girl@gmail.com.
all just political theater?
The Homeland Security memo made
the assessment that “lone wolves and
small terrorist cells embracing violent
right-wing extremist ideology are the
most dangerous domestic terrorism
threat in the United States.” It recalled
an April 4 incident in which three Pitts-
burgh-area police officers were killed
and said “the alleged gunman’s reaction
reportedly was influenced by his racist
ideology and belief in anti-government
conspiracy theories related to gun con-
fiscations, citizen detention camps and a
Jewish-controlled ‘one world govern-
ment.’ ”
It’s clear that von Brunn was a firm
believer in this insane scenario long
before the financial meltdown or Oba-
ma’s election. Maybe it was his personal
financial situation that allegedly pushed
him over the edge. Maybe he reached a
point of no return years ago, when he
made a bizarre attempt to take members
of the Federal Reserve Board hostage.
What we don’t know is whether all the
blast-furnace rhetoric coming from the
right is giving validation and encourage-
ment to some confused, angry man or
woman with a rifle or a truck full of
fertilizer — the next “lone wolf,” prepar-
ing to howl.
E-mail Washington Post
columnist Eugene Rob-
inson at eugenerobin-
son@washpost.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Tuesday, June 16, 2009 13A

JOIN
THE
Ouster at A&M: We may not fully
understand why or how Dr. Murano was
pushed out at A&M. Some of the insular
Let’s mess with Texas: I know Mother
Nature is often unkind to our state in
terms of soil and water, but geez, too bad
The right’s
DEBATE old-guard still controls the place, with our road planners missed the meeting that
dallasnews.com/opinionblog
lots of influence coming from the Aggie
who just happens to be governor, who was once a Yell Lead-
er at the school. Michael Ladauer, editorial board member
allowed our southeastern neighbors’
interstates to resemble oasis-land.
Sharon Grigsby, editorial board member
just a blob
of evil
Obama must choose According to the left, the
crazies, neocons are the same
people, says Jonah Goldberg

W
hen an abortion provider in

M
any of us first saw Barack
Obama bounding onto the
stage at the 2004 Democratic
convention, weaving together that
wonderful narrative about how we don’t
live in red states or blue states but that we
all share the United States of America.
That riveting speech revealed Obama’s
preference to integrate people and their
conflicting views into one storyline. He
sidesteps divisive choices for the unified
field.
That’s what he largely tried to do in his re-
cent Notre Dame speech, when he went into a
potentially hostile audience and talked about
how people of differing views on abortion none-
theless can find common purpose. To some
extent, it’s what he has tried to do on foreign
policy. He started by talking about closing
Gitmo, but he’s keeping in his hip pocket some
options President George W. Bush employed
with enemy combatants.
The coming health care debate is tailor made
for Obama’s instincts as an integrated thinker.
He’s trying to talk to people who are concerned
about the lack of insurance for all, along with
those concerned about the threat of rising costs.
He knows some conservatives are nervous
about reform, so he wisely argues that Medicare
will continue to expand the federal debt until
health costs are brought under control.
Yet this debate also runs counter to his in-
tegrationist thinking. It presents him with
several binary decisions where “all of the above”
won’t be an option. It’s either A or B.
Let’s start with the most worrisome: How
does he pay for the ideas he has about expand-
ing health care?
He wants to limit philanthropic tax deduc-
tions for wealthier Americans and use those
revenues to help finance universal coverage, but
even congressional Democrats are shooting
that one down. In fact, some are moving toward
John McCain’s reform idea, open to his cam-
paign proposal to tax at least some workers’
health benefits.
There are legitimate reasons to go at least
partly down that route: Many companies de-
duct the costs of executives’ lavish health plans,
while small businesses that can’t afford work-
ers’ insurance are denied that advantage.
Health care debate will force president into
more binary decisions, says William McKenzie
There’s also significant money to be raised
from ending even part of the tax break and
using the revenues to fund a universal coverage
plan.
Earlier, Obama indicated openness to the
idea, but he didn’t mention it yesterday in
speaking to the American Medical Association.
That may be because that reform has oppo-
nents on the left and right, which I saw in living
color during one five-hour stretch last week.
One morning, a union-worker friend told
me how his group is dead-set against seeing
that tax exemption taken away. That afternoon,
I listened in on a conference call as House
Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, quick-
ly dismissed the McCain idea of cutting the tax
preference for businesses.
Yes, all payment options have downsides, so
which will Obama fight for? Will he fight for
his equally contentious idea about paying
hospitals less money?
Without a rock-solid way to finance his
BRIAN DUFFY/Duffyink.com
agenda, he will explode the debt, which he says
he doesn’t want to do. So, which is more impor-
tant: expanding universal coverage or control-
ling the growth in the federal debt?
The rap against Obama as a state senator
was that he missed too many votes. Taking a
pass, even if for legitimate reasons, allowed
him to sidestep some yes/no choices.
Reforming our health care system doesn’t
afford him that luxury. While he’s right that
partisans like to force false choices, this is one
time when he must make either/or calls. And if
he chooses wrong on the payment side, the
growing federal debt will make the current
economic crisis look like a day at the beach.
William McKenzie is a Dallas
Morning News editorial col-
umnist and a moderator of
Texas Faith at www.dallas-
news.com/texasfaith. His e-mail
address is wmckenzie@dallasnews.com.
Wichita, Kan., was
murdered, the predictable
chorus pointed fingers at Fox News’ Bill
O’Reilly. After all, O’Reilly had said that
George Tiller was a “baby killer” and
had railed against the doctor’s late-term
abortion practice for years. He must be
to blame! No one bothered to ask
whether Tiller’s accused murderer had
ever watched O’Reilly, or to ponder
whether a militant pro-life extremist
really needed a talk-show host to tell
him anything he didn’t already know on
this topic.
But, never mind. Such details don’t
matter when you’re trying to deleg-
itimize people.
Next came James von Brunn. He is
an 88-year-old loon, considered a
dangerous nut even within the danger-
ous-nut community. He took his gun
and shot up the Holocaust Museum
and murdered a guard. Reporting
suggests that von Brunn wanted to
fulfill his revenge fantasies against the
Jewish-neocon globalist cabal, which
apparently outsources much of its work
to the Bush family. He is the kind of
fanatic the zombies who talk to them-
selves at the bus station would give a
wide berth.
But, of course, we have Sarah Palin
to thank for von Brunn. So says some
genius at the Daily Kos. A competing
braniac at the Huffington Post says,
“Thank you very much, Karl Rove and
your minions.” Pretty much the entire
media establishment is comfortable
labeling von Brunn as a member of the
“far right.” Putting aside other ob-
jections to that nomenclature, if von
Brunn is a member of the far right, then
it would be helpful and journalistically
responsible if the press
would start calling
Rush Limbaugh, Newt
Gingrich, Sean Hanni-
ty, et al., moderates and
centrists. READ
That won’t happen, Eugene
because the whole Robinson’s
point of these exercises column for a
is to paint the right as different
an undifferentiated perspective
at dallasnews
blob of evil.
.com/opinion
Never mind that
von Brunn isn’t a member of the far
right. Nor is he a member of the far left,
as some on the right are claiming. He’s
not a member of anything other than

U.S. must support Iranians’ call for a revote
It will be easier to work
with a truly democratic Iran,
says Mehdi Khalaji
Ahmadinejad and waiting to see what
would happen. While Venezuela’s
Hugo Chavez and leaders of the Pales-
tinian Hamas and Egyptian Muslim
the crazy caucus.
Still, if we are going to play this game
where we take the words of politicians
and pundits, compare them to the
words of murderers and psychopaths,
Allegations of fraud, electoral manipulation and then assign blame accordingly,
will further isolate Iran, says Ken Ballen then let’s blame The New York Times,

M
Brotherhood movements were among any experts are claiming that the margin of victory Chris Matthews, left-wing blogs every-
where and the academics who penned

L
arge-scale manipulation of
Friday’s presidential election in
Iran was to be expected, but few
could have predicted that Iran’s
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, had a military coup in mind.
By declaring incumbent Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad the winner, Khamenei
conveyed a clear message to the West:
Iran is digging in on its nuclear
program, its support to Lebanese
Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, and
its defiant regional policies.
More than 80 percent of Iranian
voters turned out primarily because
Ahmadinejad’s three challengers suc-
ceeded in mobilizing Iran’s silent ma-
jority, especially in the two weeks before
the election. All three warned explicitly
about the risks of Ahmadinejad’s do-
mestic and foreign policies. Although
Ahmadinejad enjoys the support of
Iran’s powerful supreme leader, in the
final two weeks before the election all
reputable polls inside and outside of
Iran showed that Ahmadinejad’s pop-
ularity had decreased significantly —
particularly following televised cam-
paign debates — even in rural areas and
among the urban working class.
The current social solidarity and
political unity in Iran is unprecedented
since the revolution. Banners, head-
bands and signs in green, the color of
the anti-Ahmadinejad movement, were
prominent before the election and are
still on display.
The Obama administration had
been careful not to take any position
that could be seen as supporting a
particular candidate in the Iranian
election. Obama’s Iran team was surely
watching the decreasing support for
the first to congratulate Ahmadinejad,
people everywhere, certainly including
in Iran, expect the United States to
speak out.
This military coup is a turning point
in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies
that the West cannot ignore. The U.S.
reaction in particular is meaningful not
only for Iran’s democratic movement
but for all democrats in Islamic coun-
tries who suffer under autocratic gov-
ernments. In coordination with Euro-
pean and other nations, the United
States should respond to the message
being sent by Iran’s supreme leader by
condemning the election and backing
the Iranian people’s demand for a free
and fair revote under the supervision of
international observers.
Iran’s people have a living memory
of U.S. involvement in the 1950s coup
against the government of Mohammed
Mossadegh. They expect the Obama
administration not to make the same
mistake at this crucial time in U.S.-
Iranian relations by recognizing the
coup carried out under the cover of this
election.
It will be easier to bring an end to
Iran’s controversial nuclear program
and defiant foreign policy working with
a democratic Iran rather than the
military government that is in power.
Iranian society will not forget this
historic moment and is watching to see
how the free world reacts.
Mehdi Khalaji is a
senior fellow at the
Washington Institute
for Near East Policy
and may be contacted
through washingtoninstitute.org.
of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our
nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks
before the vote showed him leading by a more than 2 to 1
margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory
in Friday’s election.
Typically, pre-election polls in Iran are either conducted
or monitored by the government and are notoriously un-
trustworthy. By contrast, the poll undertaken by our non-
profit organizations from May 11 to May 20 was conducted
by telephone from a neighboring country and field work was
carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work for
ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. Our
polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Much commentary has portrayed Iranian youth and the
Internet as harbingers of change in this election. But our
poll found that only a third of Iranians even have access to
the Internet, while 18 to 24 year olds comprised the stron-
gest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all age groups. The only
demographic groups in which our survey found Ahmadine-
jad not in the lead were university students and graduates,
and the highest-income Iranians.
Iranians view their support for a more democratic sys-
tem, with normal relations with the United States, as conso-
nant with their support for Ahmadinejad. They do not want
him to continue his hard-line policies. Rather, Iranians
apparently see him as the person best positioned to bring
home a favorable deal.
Allegations of fraud and electoral manipulation will
serve to further isolate Iran and are likely to increase its
belligerence and intransigence against the outside world.
Before other countries, jump to the conclusion that the
Iranian presidential elections were fraudulent, with the
grave consequences such charges could bring, they should
consider all independent information. The fact may simply
be that Ahmadinejad’s re-election is what the Iranian peo-
ple wanted.
— Excerpted from a column by Ken Ballen, president of Terror
Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion, a nonprofit
institute that researches attitudes toward extremism, and
Patrick Doherty, deputy director of the American Strategy
Program at the New America Foundation.
The Lobby (which blames a fifth col-
umn of Israel loyalists for our troubles).
After all, for years, mainstream
liberalism and other outposts of para-
noid Bush hatred have portrayed neo-
conservatives — usually code for con-
servative Jews and other supporters of
Israel — as an alien, pernicious cabal.
“They have penetrated the culture at
nearly every level from the halls of
academia to the halls of the Pentagon,”
observed The Times. “… They’ve accu-
mulated the wherewithal financially
(and) professionally to broadcast what
they think over the airwaves to the
masses or over cocktails to those at the
highest levels of government.”
NBC’s Chris Matthews routinely
used the word “neocon” as if it was code
for “traitor.” He asked one guest wheth-
er White House neocons are “loyal to
the Kristol neoconservative movement,
or to the president?” Von Brunn may
have wondered the same thing, which is
why he reportedly had the offices of Bill
Kristol’s Weekly Standard on his hit
list.
Even with Bush out of the picture,
some see the problem emerging again.
Just last week, Jeremiah Wright, the
president’s longtime pastor, whined,
“Them Jews aren’t going to let him talk
to me.”
Maniacs like von Brunn connect
dots that aren’t there because that’s
what paranoid anti-Semites do. What’s
the left’s excuse?
Syndicated columnist
Jonah Goldberg may
be contacted at Jonahs
Column@aol.com.

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JOIN
THE
Southern Dallas tensions: Objections over the
proposed naming of a school after Adelfa Callejo
shows that serious racial tensions remain
Closing charter schools: I
wonder why anyone in Austin
would object to shutting down
U.S. needs
DEBATE independent charter schools
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
unresolved. But she fought in the trenches of
Texas politics to overturn some of the state’s most
racist and sexist laws. Tod Robberson, editorial board member,
that are failing their students.
William McKenzie, editorial board member,
at educationfrontblog.dallasnews.com
more foreign
at gapblog.dallasnews.com

students

Crossing the line

Cuba shouldn’t run close
second in recruiting minds,
says Andres Oppenheimer

T
he House of Representatives
approved a proposal last week to
dramatically increase the number
of U.S. college students studying in Latin
America and other parts of the
Letterman’s obsession with developing world.
That’s great but it would be even
Palin is now bigotry and better if it also increased the number of
hatred, says Michelle Malkin foreign students studying in the United
States.

D
avid Letterman, will you
teach your son to talk about
women and girls the way you
talk about Sarah Palin and her
daughters?
You called the married 45-year-
old mother, grandmother and Alaska
governor a “slutty flight attendant”
on your national TV talk show be-
cause she happens to be a tall, beau-
tiful and dynamic public figure who
doesn’t look, walk or talk the way you
think she should.
You joked on national television
about Palin’s teenage daughter
“getting knocked up” by professional
baseball player Alex Rodriguez or
solicited by the prostitute-addicted
former New York Attorney General
In that, Washington should keep a
close eye on Cuba.
Let’s start with the proposal to send
more U.S. students abroad, known as the
Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act.
Under the plan, included in the
Foreign Relations Authorization Act
approved by the House last Wednesday,
the U.S. government would quadruple to
1 million a year the number of U.S.
college students who study abroad over
the next 10 years.
The Associated Press But right now, very few of the estimat-
ed 623,000 foreign students from all
Needless distraction obscures Palin’s over the world, including 64,000 from
Latin America and the Caribbean, study
in U.S. colleges. Only 0.5 percent of
public relations victory, says Mark Davis foreign students in U.S. universities cite
the U.S. government as their primary

Eliot Spitzer because it’s acceptable
in your social and professional cir-
cles to sneer at the children of poli-
ticians you despise.
Letterman has a deranged obses-
sion with Palin and her family that
has crossed into rank bigotry and
hatred. Over the past year, he has
displayed his sexist, elitist stripes in
jibe after jibe aimed at Palin. Taken
cumulatively, Letterman’s mockery
is about much more than expressing
contempt for the popular GOP gov-
ernor. It’s a handy device to deride a
broad class of working-class and
middle-class women he holds in
contempt:
“You know, she reminds me, she
looks like the flight attendant who
won’t give you a second can of Pepsi.
No, you’ve had enough. We’re land-
ing. Looks like the waitress at the
coffee shop who draws a little smiley
face on your check. Have a nice day.”
“She looks like the dip sample
lady at Safeway. She looks like the
nurse who weighs you and then
makes you sit alone in your un-
derwear for 20 minutes. She looks
like the Olive Garden hostess who
says, ‘I’m sorry, your table isn’t ready
yet.’ She looks like the infomercial
lady who says she made $64,000 a
month flipping condos.”
Letterman reminds me of the
lecher at the school bus stop. Or the
aging creep lurking in the dirty
magazine section at the 7-Eleven.
Attention, CBS: Get him a therapist
now.
— Excerpted from a column by Mi-
chelle Malkin. The entire article is
available on townhall.com.
D
avid Letterman has apologized for a very
bad joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter.
Palin has accepted the apology. All’s well
that ends well?
Not so fast.
No one escapes this firestorm unscathed. The
misdeed that sparked it was Letterman’s horribly
ill-conceived joke about Palin’s visit to Yankee
Stadium last week: “There was one awkward mo-
ment. During the seventh-inning stretch, her
daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”
By any civilized measure, a horrible joke — and
another layer of the mounting evidence, from taste-
less jests to hateful insults, that the Palins are fair
game for a special level of mistreatment.
But something happened on the way to clarity.
I don’t know if the Palins drove the train or
boarded it, but charges mounted that Letterman
was absolutely, positively referring to 14-year-old
Willow, not the daughter who actually got preg-
nant, 18-year-old Bristol.
The enabling detail was that Willow, not Bristol,
attended the game with her parents. But the real
motivation was that a joke about a 14-year-old girl
is exponentially worse, creating a far larger offense
against the Palins and greater basis for condemning
Letterman.
Those clinging to Willow’s presence may not
know that comedy writing is a broad, sloppy art
that usually does not involve a LexisNexis search
before each punch line. The writers may not have
known which other Palins were there.
Since none of us were in the writers’ room, I refer
to history in responding to the manufactured cer-
tainty of Letterman’s darker intent: Never, in more
than 30 years of television, has he made an adoles-
cent girl the subject of a sex joke.
But the Palins, understandably weary of being
the butt of pop-culture derision — and many con-
servatives understandably thrilled to see someone
“fight back” — shelved any standard of fashioning a
response to fit the offense.
In these days when the sledgehammer gets more
attention than the scalpel, the storyline of a joke
about statutory rape flourished, nurtured by the
Palins and anyone seeking to embellish an already
disturbing affront.
The Palins properly declined an invitation to
appear on Letterman but added this nauseating
smirk: “It would be wise to keep Willow away from
David Letterman.”
So distorting the joke was not enough. Urged on
by fist-pumping fans, the Palins chose to toss in the
imagery of Dave as a predator seeking to handle up
on Willow himself.
Let’s be clear. I’m all about “fighting back.” In the
midst of slanderous attempts to link views like mine
to an abortion doctor murder and a Holocaust
Museum shooting, I will march tirelessly into battle
to meet every attack.
But when my “fighting back” becomes so care-
lessly overwrought that opponents can cite my
excesses and not their original words, my high
ground erodes.
This should have been a short, three-act play:
■ Letterman tells a terrible joke.
■ The Palins properly protest that joke without
artificially enhancing it, creating an undistracted
environment for the public to share its disgust.
■ Letterman apologizes, probably sooner.
Since Letterman’s is the main sin, why have I
spent far more time dwelling on the reaction? Be-
cause I don’t give a flip about Letterman.
What I care about is whether my side of the
political spectrum and our potential candidates
address things rationally.
I will continue to defend Palin against the leftist
narrative that she is very nearly brain-damaged. But
stopping short of anointing her the next Margaret
Thatcher attracts the venom of some of her more
glazed fans, for whom any criticism is blasphemy.
Excuse me for having a higher wish for her. I not
only wanted her well-earned victory over Letter-
man, I wanted her to win without creating fresh
reasons to wonder about her readiness for 2012.
Mark Davis is heard weekdays from
8:30 to 11 a.m. on WBAP-AM,
News/Talk 820. His e-mail address
is mdavis@wbap.com.
source of funds, while another 26 per-
cent say their studies are mainly paid by
their U.S. colleges, according to the U.S.
Institute of International Education.
Meantime, growing numbers of Latin
American and Caribbean college stu-
dents are going to Cuba, according to
UNESCO’s “Global Education Digest
2008.” While the United States remains
the leading destination for students from
Latin American and Caribbean coun-
tries, Cuba is already the No. 1 destina-
tion for students from five countries in
the region, and the No. 2 destination for
another 13 countries. Among them:
■ Bolivia has 4,800 college students
in Cuba, 1,030 in the United States, and
490 in Argentina.
■ Paraguay has 865 college students
in Cuba, 390 in Argentina and 330 in
the United States.
■ Uruguay has 780 college students
in Cuba, 530 in the United States and
500 in Argentina.
■ Nicaragua has nearly 850 college
students in Cuba, 425 in the United
States and 287 in Costa Rica.
Cuba is the second largest foreign
study destination for university students
from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica,
among others.
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Howard L. Berman, D-Calif.,
who sponsored the bill passed last week,
told me in a telephone interview that
chances that the proposed legislation
will be approved by the Senate are “bet-
ter than 50-50.”
When I told Berman about the num-
ber of Latin American and Caribbean
countries that have Cuba as one of the
top destinations for their university
students, he said, “We need to rectify
that.”
“It would be of an enormous benefit
for us to increase the number of foreign
students who come here,” Berman told

Ignore pressure to bail out of financial rescue
Aggressive monetary we’ll do the same thing this time.
The first example of policy in a
policies need to continue, liquidity trap comes from the 1930s.
says Paul Krugman The U.S. economy grew rapidly
from 1933 to 1937, helped along by
possibly raising banks’ reserve
requirements, which happens to be
exactly what the Fed did in 1936
and 1937 — a move that none other
than Milton Friedman condemned
ing — total borrowing is down, not
up. Indeed, if the government
weren’t running a big deficit right
now, the economy would probably
be well on its way to a full-fledged
me. “It is an investment that pays long-
term dividends, in terms of people who
become familiar with the American
people, American institutions and
American values, go back home, and 10
or fifteen years later become leaders in
government, business, the academic
world and journalism.”
My opinion: The Senate should

T
he debate over economic
policy has taken a predictable
yet ominous turn: The crisis
seems to be easing, and a chorus of
critics is already demanding that
the Federal Reserve and the Obama
administration abandon their
rescue efforts. For those who know
their history, it’s deja vu all over
again — literally.
For this is the third time in histo-
ry that a major economy has found
itself in a liquidity trap, a situation
in which interest-rate cuts, the
conventional way to perk up the
economy, have reached their limit.
When this happens, unconvention-
al measures are the only way to fight
recession.
Yet such unconventional mea-
sures make the conventionally
minded uncomfortable, and they
keep pushing for a return to nor-
malcy. In previous liquidity-trap
episodes, policymakers gave in to
these pressures far too soon, plung-
ing the economy back into crisis.
And if the critics have their way,
New Deal policies. America, howev-
er, remained well short of full em-
ployment.
Yet policymakers stopped worry-
ing about depression and started
worrying about inflation. The Fed-
eral Reserve tightened monetary
policy, while FDR tried to balance
the federal budget. Sure enough, the
economy slumped again, and full
recovery had to wait for World War
II.
The second example is Japan in
the 1990s. After slumping early in
the decade, Japan experienced a
partial recovery, with the economy
growing almost 3 percent in 1996.
Policymakers responded by shifting
their focus to the budget deficit,
raising taxes and cutting spending.
Japan slipped back into recession.
And here we go again.
On one side, the inflation worri-
ers are harassing the Fed. The latest
example: Arthur Laffer, he of the
curve, warns that the Fed’s policies
will cause devastating inflation. He
recommends, among other things,
as helping to strangle economic
recovery.
Meanwhile, there are demands
from several directions that Presi-
dent Barack Obama’s fiscal stimu-
lus plan be canceled.
OK, time for some reality checks.
First of all, while stock markets
have been celebrating the econo-
my’s “green shoots,” the fact is that
unemployment is very high and still
rising. That is, we’re not even expe-
riencing the kind of growth that led
to the big mistakes of 1937 and
1997. It’s way too soon to declare
victory.
What about the claim that the
Fed is risking inflation? It isn’t. A
rising monetary base isn’t inflation-
ary when you’re in a liquidity trap.
America’s monetary base doubled
between 1929 and 1939; prices fell
19 percent. Japan’s monetary base
rose 85 percent between 1997 and
2003; deflation continued apace.
What about all that government
borrowing? All it’s doing is off-
setting a plunge in private borrow-
depression.
Oh, and investors’ growing
confidence that we’ll manage to
avoid a full-fledged depression —
not the pressure of government
borrowing — explains the recent
rise in long-term interest rates.
These rates, by the way, are still low
by historical standards.
A few months ago the U.S. econ-
omy was in danger of falling into
depression. Aggressive monetary
policy and deficit spending have, for
the time being, averted that danger.
And suddenly critics are demand-
ing that we revert to business as
usual.
Those demands should be ig-
nored. It’s much too soon to give up
on policies that have, at most, pull-
ed us a few inches back from the
edge of the abyss.
Paul Krugman is a
New York Times
columnist.
approve the Study Abroad Act and
increase U.S. funds for foreign student
exchanges.
Granted, that’s hard to do at a time
when many U.S. students can’t pay their
own tuition fees. And, granted, it’s much
easier to fund these programs for a
dictatorship seeking international ap-
proval — like Cuba’s — than for a demo-
cratic government that needs congres-
sional approval to pay for these
programs.
And, sure, many of the foreign stu-
dents in Cuba will get a Marxist educa-
tion that won’t help them get a job when
they return home.
Still, it’s ironic that Cuba, one of the
hemisphere’s poorest countries, is com-
peting neck and neck with the United
States as one of the top destinations for
foreign students from the region.
Miami Herald Latin
America correspondent
Andres Oppenheimer
may be contacted at
aoppenheimer@
miamiherald.com.

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JOIN Paul Quinn finances: Sorrell’s always been Grading schools: National BRIDGING DALLAS’
totally upfront on the “five years to financial standards are a bit like Obama’s NORTH-SOUTH GAP
THE strength” challenge he and his team faces. push for a government-run
DEBATE
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
But a lot of progress has been made at that
campus and I’d like to see some of those
achievements make headlines as well. Sharon Grigsby, there.
health plan. I can see the case,
but I don’t know how we get
William McKenzie, editorial board member,
at educationfrontblog.dallasnews.com
It’s not too
editorial board member, at gapblog.dallasnews.com

late to save
Is gun control dead? Red Bird
Dallas’ stars need to step in to
lift up once-vibrant Southwest
Center Mall, says Gerald Britt
After three high profile killings, there is no discussion
S
outhwest Center Mall is the glaring
of the role stricter laws might play in prevention, says Carl Leubsdorf conundrum in Oak Cliff. Formerly
known as Red Bird Mall, it sits in
foreclosure, a haunting relic of more

T
hree deaths in widely separated parts of the that are already on the books.” promising days. Can it be saved, and if so,
country: Each the work of a single person, Earlier, Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS how?
each stemming from a different grievance. News’ Katie Couric that the administration would Like other malls across the country, South-
They did have one thing in common: All three work with the NRA on “common-sense approach- west Center Mall is decimated by the drift of
victims were killed by a gun (although each by a es to reduce the level of violence” on the streets. families migrating to the suburbs — those
different type). Obama, Holder said, sought policies “that are who purportedly possess larger percentages of
In Wichita, Kan., a single bullet from a hand- politically saleable and things that will be ultimate- discretionary income — and retail following
gun took the life of Dr. George Tiller, who ran a ly effective.” them. Indoor shopping venues are becoming
clinic that performed late-term abortions. The The key phrase is “politically saleable,” given obsolete, unattractive models for designers
man charged with Tiller’s murder was an anti- that enactment of the assault weapons ban during and investors. The economic downturn and
abortion activist who called his act “a victory for all the Clinton administration cost Democrats a the perception that the surrounding commu-
the unborn children.” number of congressional seats in 1994. Democrats nity is less safe than other areas add to the
In Little Rock, Ark., bullets fired from an SKS don’t want a repeat. mall’s difficulties.
assault rifle killed a 23-year-old private at an Army Besides, it’s unclear if stricter gun laws would But people haven’t stopped shopping.
recruiting booth and critically wounded a second have prevented the three recent slayings, as well as Uptown Village, in Cedar Hill, thrives. North-
private. The gunman, a Muslim convert, told The other even deadlier incidents this year. A recent Park Center has been reinvigorated and
Associated Press that U.S. military action in the Supreme Court decision makes it harder for states expanded. Town East Mall and the Galleria
Middle East justified his action. and localities to limit sales and ownership. are not exactly on their knees. Arlington’s
In Washington, bullets from an ancient .22- Still, it’s hard to argue that the easy availability open-air “mall” off I-20 is a beehive of activity.
caliber rifle killed a security guard at the Holo- of handguns and assault weapons is good for crime Shoppers from southern Dallas neighbor-
caust Memorial Museum. Authorities identified prevention or what the Founding Fathers had in hoods trek to points north, south, east and
the gunman as an 88-year-old white supremacist mind in the Second Amendment. west to buy at Neiman Marcus, Dick’s Sport-
whose car contained a notebook calling the holo- And it’s surely a sign of the times that there’s so ing Goods and Dillard’s or to take in a movie
caust “a lie” and that “Obama was created by little effort to do anything about it. at Studio Movie Grill. Is
Jews.” there any reason to believe
The three gunmen face murder charges, but Carl P. Leubsdorf recently retired that they wouldn’t contrib-
investigations are continuing, including whether as Washington Bureau chief of ute to the economy in their
weapons laws were violated. A federal ban on sales The Dallas Morning News. His own neighborhood?
of some assault weapons expired in 2004. e-mail address is carl.p.leubs- The city of Dallas con- JOIN the
We’ve heard some concern whether the na- dorf@gmail.com. tracted with the Urban Land discussion on
tion’s economic problems or the election of the Institute to answer these and our Gap blog
first African-American president might inspire other questions regarding at gapblog.
dallasnews.
increased acts of political extremism. But there the future of Southwest
com
has been virtually no discussion of whether the Center Mall, and this week
incidents indicate a need for stricter laws to limit the institute is in Dallas to make initial pro-
access to such weapons — or at least keep better posals.
records of who buys or owns them. I hope that included in its plan would be
Indeed, every sign is that opponents of gun- the recruitment of some of Dallas’ wealthiest
control laws, like the National Rifle Association, and most celebrated citizens from the profes-
essentially have won the longstanding public sional sports and entertainment communities
battle over the efficacy of legal restrictions to curb as investors in the shopping center’s restora-
potential violence by individuals with access to tion.
firearms. This is revitalization that shouldn’t be a
In the recent Virginia gubernatorial primary, nonprofit project. This is about making
Democrats nominated a candidate endorsed by money. And this effort requires massive
the NRA when he ran for attorney general in 2005 investments of capital attractive to investors
and who did not suffer for opposing legislation to from the broader sectors of the business
ban buying more than one handgun a month and community.
carrying firearms in bars. The mall, once owned by the DeBartolo
And when Republicans pushed a proposal family of San Francisco 49er fame, was at one
curbing the District of Columbia’s power to reg- time among the most successful malls south
ulate gun ownership as a “poison pill” designed to of Interstate 30.
kill a measure giving Washingtonians a voting But the mall fell on hard times in the
member of Congress, 22 Democrats joined them, 1980s after The Parks Mall in Arlington
led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of completed a trifecta of devastating competi-
Nevada. tion along with Valley View and NorthPark to
The nation’s first urban Democratic presi- the north. Middle- and upper-income shop-
dent in a generation, busy with the economy pers had long complained of inferior mer-
and health care, shows no sign of wanting to chandise in major retail chains in what had
press the matter. Asked this spring if Barack come to be known pejoratively as “blackbird”
Obama might be willing to reinstate the as- mall and took their business elsewhere. Own-
sault weapons ban, spokesman Robert Gibbs ership and management changes, increasing
said the president believes “there are other leasing costs for quality stores and the loss of
strategies that we can take to enforce the laws retail anchors and movie theaters accelerated
a steep decline. For many, the final nail in the
PAUL LACHINE coffin is seen to have been the growth of rapid
growth of retail in Cedar Hill and DeSoto.
Now Oak Cliff residents and their neigh-

Two important Zahras you should know
Treatment of Iranian
women requires shining
light, says Kathleen Parker
elections, riots, protester deaths
and government crackdowns, a
subtext of women’s rights is emerg-
ing. It is a subtext only to the extent
that women’s oppression isn’t
vocal in urging reforms that would
eliminate “morality police” and end
discrimination against women.
Americans will begin getting a
glimpse of the other Zahra soon as
unable to shake the story or imag-
es. It is brutal. McEveety and
director Cyrus Nowrasteh felt that
the stoning scene needed to be
accurately portrayed or the film
bors travel far and wide for greater varieties in
quality clothing, technology, book stores,
restaurants, sporting goods, jewelry (not big
gold and grills), gift shops, home décor and
furnishings. Add to that list health foods and
nutrition products, uniforms, family enter-
tainment venues and movies. All of these
could be features of an open-air mall, with a
common space for communal gatherings and

T
here’s a “new” old name
suddenly in circulation that
is both filled with ancient
history and ripe with a
revolutionary spirit for today’s
game-changing events.
Zahra.
Well-known to Muslims, Fati-
ma az-Zahra was one of four
daughters of the Prophet Muham-
mad. Today, Zahra is also the name
of two important, outspoken wom-
en of Iran.
One is Zahra Rahnavard, the
courageous and charismatic wife of
the allegedly defeated Iranian
presidential candidate, Mir Hos-
sein Mousavi. The other is Zahra
Khanum, the equally courageous
and charismatic woman portrayed
in a new movie, The Stoning of
Soraya M., about the death of an
Iranian woman on trumped-up
charges of adultery.
We seem to have a perfect storm
of tipping points.
Beneath the surface of news
blasts covering Iran’s tainted
often acknowledged directly — not
even by the leader of the free world.
But human rights are at the core of
what is occurring now.
A government that oppresses its
people can only sustain itself with
violence, as the world is witnessing
again as thousands take to Iran’s
streets. And, in Iran as elsewhere
in the Muslim world, violence
against women — as well as against
homosexuals and others consid-
ered inferior — isn’t only permit-
ted, but justified with religious
doctrine.
Mousavi challenged these
notions — and the government,
apparently, saw fit that he lose.
Even in the midst of so much heat,
Mousavi’s wife Zahra on Monday
urged students at a Tehran Uni-
versity protest to hold fast in their
resistance. Climb to the rooftops,
she said, and shout, “God is great!”
Zahra Rahnavard, who holds a
Ph.D. in political science and was
an adviser to former President
Mohammad Khatami, has been
The Stoning opens. Based on a true
story, the movie is adapted from
French-Iranian journalist Frei-
doune Sahebjam’s 1994 novel of
the same name.
In the film, produced by Ste-
phen McEveety, the journalist-
author is stranded in a small village
when his car breaks down. Zahra
(Shohreh Aghdashloo) dodges the
threatening stares of her fellow
villagers and persuades the report-
er to come to her house and record
her story. Evil has visited her vil-
lage, she tells him, and she wants
the world to know.
Zahra’s niece Soraya, mother of
four, had been accused of adultery
by her abusive, unfaithful husband.
The truth was he wanted a divorce
so he could marry another. When
Soraya refused, he and the village
mullah conspired to accuse her of
adultery.
Soraya was convicted and con-
demned to death by stoning.
I saw a rough cut of this film
several months ago. I’ve been
would be an insult to Soraya’s
suffering.
It will be hard for many to get
through to the end, but staying
with the movie brings a reward.
Despite the brutality, the film is
also beautiful and true.
The Stoning, which will be in
most theaters June 26, was in-
tentionally timed for release after
Iran’s elections. Dennis Rice,
charged with promoting the movie,
figured the election would help
create interest, but he didn’t antici-
pate the serendipitous intersection
of the two Zahras. “Irony?” he asks.
“I think not.”
In Arabic, Zahra means “The
Shining One.”
In English, we’d call that a
beacon.
Syndicated
columnist Kath-
leen Parker may
be reached at
kparker@k-
parker.com.
entertainment.
Youth could be inspired by a new para-
digm set by celebrities leveraging their wealth
into a major economy-salvaging, job-creating
revitalization plan in the very communities
where these youth and their families live,
work, go to school and shop.
Imagine the message to be leveraged to
youth about education, hard work and in-
vestment in their neighborhoods. Young
people would have a new reason to plaster
their rooms with the posters and parapherna-
lia of their heroes: those men and women
would be responsible for helping to reinvigo-
rate their communities.
Finally, my friend Shawn Williams, writ-
ing in D Magazine this month on this subject,
makes another suggestion with which I agree
wholeheartedly — change the name back to
Red Bird Mall!
The Rev. Gerald Britt Jr. is
vice president of public
policy at Central Dallas
Ministries. He can be con-
tacted at gbritt@centraldal-
lasministries.org. He blogs at www.change
thewind.org.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Friday, June 19, 2009 19A

JOIN Financial reforms: Creating a con-
sumer financial protection agency is a
THE good idea on paper, but boy do I see
DEBATE
the possibility of raw politics dis-
torting market dynamics. I’m betting
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
on this becoming window dressing. Jim Mitchell, editorial
board member, on dallasmorningviews.dallasnews.com
The coming census: The National Coali- BALANCE OF OPINION
tion is recommending that people who Nancy Kruh
entered this country illegally should break
Obama’s
the law again by refusing to participate in
the census. The last time I checked, in-
citement to break the law is a crime. Tod Robberson, editorial
board member, on gapblog.dallasnews.com

role in Iran
Open arms and hearts
There’s discord, of course, on
U.S. reaction to protests

Y
ou’ll find no argument among the
commentariat that last week’s
presidential election in Iran was
rigged, but as protests fill the streets

Little graces make big there, pundits fiercely quarrel over how
the Obama administration should be
reacting.
statements to refugees, For many columnists, the president’s
expression of “deep concern” on Tuesday
says Dawn McMullan is tantamount to silence.
“For decades, Washington policy-

I
wish you could meet my friend from
Zimbabwe. I wish he could tell you
the details of his battle with the
corrupt leaders in his country, how family
members were murdered, how he was
asked to join forces with said government
and, when he refused, was imprisoned
and tortured.
But he can’t. My friend is now an
asylee, starting a new life here in Dallas.
The U.S. government recommends the
details of his story, his name, his photos,
not be shared. I understand. But think
that if you knew him — and his story —
you would be moved.
Tomorrow, June 20, is World Refugee Day, a
day to remember refugees (who flee their home
countries because of persecution due to their faith,
nationality, membership of a social group or politi-
cal opinion) and asylees (who flee to a safe country
first, then seek permission to be there).
Their stories and numbers can be overwhelm-
ing:
42 million people — people just like you, me,
your son and grandmother — are displaced in-
ternationally, according to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees.
50 percent of refugees worldwide are children.
In 2008, the U.S. accepted 48,300 refugees for
resettlement and granted asylum to 23,000 (with
93,400 more asylum cases pending).
Of those, more than 151,000 come to the Unit-
ed States; 4,500 come to Texas and hundreds
settle in the Dallas area.
One of those is my friend. We’ll call him Farai.
Farai has done well since arriving at D/FW
airport in 2007. He knew no one and had about
$10 on him. He struck up a conversation with a
fellow traveler while hanging around in the bag-
gage section. The traveler, also from Zimbabwe,
took him in for the night and thus his American
dream, as refugees usually conjure along their
journeys, began.
The trouble at home started when the govern-
ment noticed he was a member of the opposition
party. When he was released from a dark, excre-
ment-filled cell, he fled, assuming America would
let him in and, eventually, his wife and two chil-
dren.
Two years, four months and eight days later, we
did. Although Farai beat the odds and received
asylee status for his entire family, their paperwork
took almost 11 months to complete.
I try to imagine leaving my kids when they were
both younger than 6 in a country where there isn’t
BRIDGING DALLAS’ NORTH-SOUTH GAP
enough food and children die daily from starvation
and diarrhea. Before I met Farai, the plight of such
refugees overwhelmed me. I didn’t know their
individual stories and, honestly, it was easier that
way. What can one person do?
What I’ve learned these past two years is that
refugees are simply looking for hospitality — a
game of Yahtzee after a home-cooked meal, a
donated kitchen table or $20 toward airfare for
their family. I think we Americans like to think of
ourselves as hospitable, yet no one was there to
meet Farai when his airplane landed.
Many of our local refugees come from Burma,
Burundi, Bhutan and Iraq. My hope is that more
will be greeted at the airport with smiles and hugs
and taken in like Farai’s wife and children were,
PAUL LACHINE
and that fewer will be hanging out with the bag-
gage, trying to find a way in.
On the way to the airport to meet his family last
week, Farai told me how he’d felt since the day we
booked his family’s flight from Zimbabwe: “I have
not wanted to sleep, I’ve had no appetite since I
knew my family was coming. I have been a
changed man.”
And I a changed — and hopefully more hospita-
ble — woman.
Dawn McMullan is a Dallas-based
freelance writer and volunteers
with local refugee services. She
can be reached at dmcmul-
lan@sbcglobal.net.
makers from both parties have prodded
Iranians to throw off their shackles,”
Ralph Peters reminds. “Last Friday,
millions of Iranians stood up. And we’re
standing down.
“That isn’t diplomacy. It’s treachery.”
The New York Post columnist accuses
the administration of being unduly
fixated on security talks with newly
re-elected President Mahmoud Ah-
madinejad. “There is no chance — zero,
null, nada — that negotiations with the
junta of mullahs will lead to the termi-
nation (or even a serious interruption) of
Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons,”
Peters writes. “Our president’s faith in
his powers of persuasion is beginning to
look pathological.”
Jeff Jacoby declares that “neutrality
is not an option. By not supporting the
Iranian protesters, Obama is aiding
their oppressors.”
“Should it really be so difficult for a
president who campaigned on the
themes of hope and change to raise his
voice on behalf of the brave Iranians
who are risking their lives to bring hope
and change to their country?” the Boston
Globe columnist writes.
In The Wall Street Journal, Bret
Stephens predicts a future U.S. presi-
dent “may have to apologize to Iranians
for Obama’s nonfeasance, just as Obama
apologized for the Eisenhower adminis-
tration’s meddling [in Iran]. But the
better Eisenhower parallel is with Hun-
gary in 1956. … Then as now the admin-
istration effectively turned its back on
the uprising when U.S. support could
have made a difference.”
In a direct rebuttal, Trudy Rubin
challenges “Stephens and others” who
“think Obama should reject the election
results and publicly
endorse opposition
leader Mir Hossein
Mousavi.
“Sorry. That would
be the kiss of death for
the opposition’s cause.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist
contends a full-throated endorsement of
the grassroots response “would give
Ahmadinejad just the excuse he is seek-
ing to crush these protests. If the Iranian
leader could claim this was another
U.S.-backed ‘color revolution’ aimed at
regime change, like those in Ukraine
and Georgia, it would make a crack-
down easier to justify.”
Georgie Anne Geyer praises Obama
for grasping the weight “of historical
events, like the U.S. conniving with the
British in 1953 to
overthrow the reform-
er Mohammed Mossa-

Paul Quinn’s recovery is a work in progress degh in order to avoid

South Dallas college won’t
rest on recent successes,
says Michael Sorrell
is already outdated.
I believe our documented results
and successes should give even the
most jaded observers reason to
pause and rethink that character-
JOIN the discussion on our
Gap blog at
gapblog.dallasnews.com
Highland Hills neighborhood. We
are contributing land so that our
community can have a job retrain-
ing center, a police storefront and,
most importantly, a quality grocery
the nationalization of
Iran’s oil (which was
eventually unsuccessful, anyway).”
“Letting events play out without our
meddling has not always been the strong
suit of American leaders,” the Universal
Press Syndicate columnist writes. “Fi-
nally we have one who understands that

T
he Paul Quinn College family
has engaged during the past
27 months in one of the most
aggressive and unconventional
campaigns in the history of higher
education. Instead of being content
to languish near the bottom of
America’s colleges, we have
endeavored to remake ourselves
into one of this country’s great
small schools.
This campaign has seen more
than its share of challenges and
naysayers. Chief among these chal-
lenges is the quest to retain our
accreditation status under the
guidelines of the Southern Associa-
tion of Colleges and Schools. Next
week, we make our final presenta-
tion on this matter to a special
sub-committee of this group.
As we prepare for this hearing, I
wanted to provide a preview of the
strength of our presentation. A
short item in The Dallas Morning
News earlier this week said a federal
analysis painted a “grim financial
picture of Paul Quinn College.” This
analysis relied on information that
ization. While we are not yet the
institution that we seek to become,
we are getting closer.
These are a few of the changes
that have occurred on Simpson
Stuart Road since 2007:
Improved finances: We have
made tremendous progress in
improving the financial condition
of the college. Through strict bud-
geting practices and extreme fiscal
accountability, for the first time in
10 years, our audit showed no
findings of noncompliance. More-
over, in the last month, we have
successfully removed well more
than a million dollars in debt from
our balance sheet. When we close
the books on the 2009 fiscal year, it
will show a six-figure surplus
achieved in the worst economy
since the Great Depression.
Increased fund-raising: In the
past two years, institutional gifts
have increased by about 90 percent.
This past fall, led by college board
trustee Rev. Frederick Haynes III
and businessman Willis Johnson,
the “Bishop 5 +1 Revival” returned
after a long absence and raised
more than $150,000 for the school.
In the last six weeks alone, we have
raised almost $200,000 in cash
from a variety of donors, mostly
from the Dallas area.
Enrollment gains: For a number
of years, Paul Quinn was plagued by
low retention rates and a declining
enrollment. To combat these prob-
lems, we raised the admissions
standards, increased student aca-
demic support services and re-
vamped our recruiting practices. As
a result of these modifications, we
have more than doubled our re-
tention rate and the number of
applications jumped from 273 in
2008 to 1,150 in 2009.
Community Engagement: One
of the areas of which we are the
most passionate is our responsibili-
ty to help redevelop the community
surrounding the college. Last week,
in partnership with the Mayor’s
Task Force on Southern Dallas, we
announced our role in the econom-
ic and social rebirth of the nearby
store. All of these items are desper-
ately needed to improve the caliber
of life along the Simpson Stuart
corridor.
None of these items touches on
the new dress code, revised aca-
demic calendar, creative part-
nerships, improved physical plant
or staff changes. (There is, after all,
a word limit on these columns!)
Most important is that we are
under no illusion that our work is
done. Next up is fundraising for
construction of new buildings and
attracting new faculty. We are
proud of our accomplishments to
date and pray that the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools
views them as enough. We hope
that you will think we’re on the
right track, too.
Michael J. Sorrell is
president of Paul
Quinn College and
may be contacted
at msorrell@
pqc.edu.
cautious watchfulness can, in its own
way, be the most active and even aggres-
sive policy possible.”
David Ignatius regards the election
results as “one more sign of how the
world has been shaken up in the age of
Barack Obama. … Ahmadinejad is
claiming a new mandate, but what the
world sees is the regime’s vulnerability.”
The Washington Post columnist asks:
“What should Obama say about this
ferment in Iran, a process that he has
subtly encouraged? I’d argue that he
should continue with the line he took in
his Cairo speech two weeks ago —
speaking directly to Muslim publics
even as he proposes dialogue with the
repressive regimes that govern Iran and
many other nations.”
“What we’re seeing in Tehran,” Igna-
tius adds, “is a reminder that millions of
Muslims hunger for change — but they
want to make it themselves.”
Nancy Kruh is a free-
lance writer in Dallas;
her e-mail address is
nkruh@balanceof
opinion.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, June 20, 2009 19A

Turn Bush Dad is

focus to worth the
terrorism hoopla
Presidential library could Don’t underestimate the
lead international study, says value of a loving father,
Laurie Dodic Steinberg says Rebecca Montgomery

I T
t’s been six months since George his weekend we pay tribute to
W. Bush had his last day in office. The Associated Press our dads. Just once a year,
For some, Jan. 20 was a day of Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock co-star in The Proposal, a comedic they get a day to rest on their
celebration, and for others, a day of Hollywood version of immigration troubles. laurels, have lunch at the restaurant
consternation. For the citizens of of their choosing and be given items
Dallas, it meant we were closer to the that will quite possibly gather dust

Immigration?
George W. Bush Presidential Library in their closets.
being built at Southern Methodist But it is their day, and they de-
University. serve it.
There has been a lot of debate, This year is actually the un-
much of it focusing on Executive official 100th anniversary of the
Order 13233. If he is reluctant to observance of Father’s Day. In 1909,
share his papers, the public is not too in a small church in Spokane,

The joke’s on us
sure what will be in the library and Wash., a young woman named
what its purpose will be. Critics Sonora Smart Dodd listened to a
worry that the library and its accom- sermon on Mother’s Day. Her own
panying conservative think tank will mother already dead, she was being
focus too much on presenting a raised along with her five siblings by
glowing review of an unpopular her father. It seemed to Sonora that
president. After all, Bush has said he fathers should be given the same
wants history to be his judge, but so
far, it seems history may be unkind to
There’s nothing funny about a bureaucracy due and be granted a day dedicated
in their honor.
him.
It is interesting to note that
that is slow to trust — or to act, says Heath Dollar Sonora and those who supported
her spent decades getting the holi-

Harris Polls first started tracking
the presidents’ approval ratings 40
years ago with our first Texas presi-
dent, Lyndon Johnson. He left
office while a very unpopular war
was being waged. And yet, even
knowing that the Vietnam War had
escalated under his terms, the pub-
lic still gave him a 53 percent ap-
proval rating. This is in comparison
to President Bush who left office
with a 28 percent approval rating.
I think Dallas can use President
Johnson as a telling example as to
how to make this work best for every-
one.
The University of Texas at Austin
has a wonderful School of Public
Affairs that is named after President
Johnson and is linked with his presi-
dential library on the campus. SMU
could take a page out of history and
try to model something along those
lines for the George W. Bush Presi-
dential Library. Instead of public
affairs though, I propose a far more
targeted discipline for SMU. The
university could become a world
leader of academia in the study of
international terrorism.
The subject of international
terrorism has emerged as a vital new
discipline. SMU could become a
center for debate and policy and a
place that scholars from all over the
world could come to teach and learn.
By changing the focus from a conser-
vative think tank to more of an in-
ternational study center on terror-
ism, it would bring a certain credence
to the library that many now feel it is
lacking.
Along with becoming an in-
ternational study center on the
causes and effects of terrorism, the
library could also become a focal
point for 9/11 papers and testimoni-
als.
SMU has been presented with the
opportunity to be at the forefront in
the study of terrorism with the back-
bone and resources of the presi-
dential library. This is a tremendous
opportunity for the former president
and the university. Think of the
T
he Proposal, a movie with Sandra Bullock,
opened this weekend and centers on a
hard-nosed businesswoman who needs a fake
marriage to stay in the country. The tired Hollywood
plot is supposed to deliver some laughs, but for my wife
and I, it’s hard to find the humor in anything that
reminds us of our nation’s immigration bureaucracy.
We recently received a letter from a Department of
Homeland Security office in Vermont essentially
doubting the “good faith” of our marriage. Our reaction
to this bureaucratic impertinence, as one might
imagine, was one of disbelief and helplessness — which
gradually transformed into anger and hostility.
My wife, Martina, is a native of the Czech Republic,
and we have now lived harmoniously together on three
different continents. Together we have eluded bandits
on a Warsaw-bound train, traveled on a cramped boat
many miles down the Mekong River, and somehow
managed to pay the bills.
Yet a bureaucrat in Vermont, half a nation from
North Texas, somehow has the right to decide whether
or not our marriage is one of convenience. Even more
frightening, this bureaucrat in Vermont has the
authority to withdraw my wife’s right to live in this
country. The logic and efficiency involved here is
baffling. Considering that Martina and I live just a few
miles away from a major immigration center in Dallas,
why would our case, let alone any Texas case, be
handled at a processing center roughly 1,800 miles
away?
My wife received a green card three years ago. We
followed the procedure to remove her green card’s
conditional status when she was fingerprinted here in
Dallas last year. As we left the office, a guard told us that
we should have the new card in a matter of weeks.
Ironically, the appointment document we received
from Homeland Security warned that Martina’s case
would be terminated if we did not arrive at the proper
office at the proper time on the scheduled date. Yet,
more than a year after arriving at the proper office at the
proper time on the scheduled date, we have not received
a green card. In fact, until recently, we had heard
nothing. No letter from a case manager. No quarterly
correspondence outlining the status of the case.
Don’t worry — we can handle the truth
Families need to discuss, access to news at any time of the day
or night, through the radio,
not ignore, these hard television or the Internet. You can
times, says Jeff Fortney even receive breaking news alerts on
your cellphone.
Nothing. The double standard is indeed astounding.
Incredibly, for more than a year after Martina
submitted her fingerprints, we never reached a human
being when we called immigration’s customer service
line. And once we did reach a human being after
learning that Martina’s case had been transferred to
Vermont, we were told that our case manager’s number
was not available to the general public. A Web site, much
like the humans we managed to contact, simply
informed us that Martina’s case was pending
(indefinitely, we presume).
We have sent tax records, bank statements, sworn
affidavits and other sensitive information to prove that
we are married in good faith. We have contacted
members of Congress seeking advice. We have spoken to
friends and acquaintances. And some people even
suggested that we have a baby to protect ourselves from
Homeland Security, but that would not be the right
choice for us.
I am an American who salutes the flag and says the
Pledge of Allegiance every morning as a school teacher,
but I have been placed in an adversarial relationship
with an institution charged to defend the borders of my
country.
While Homeland Security continues to drag its feet,
my wife cannot return to the Czech Republic to visit her
old, infirm father, a Nazi work camp survivor. Ironically,
for my wife to visit her father we must file for “Advance
Parole” with Homeland Security because her case is
pending. Is she a criminal?
Should these nebulous powers that be declare our
marriage invalid, we may have to take our knowledge,
skills and talents elsewhere. Unfortunately for us,
whether my wife and I remain in my native Texas lies in
the hands of an unknown bureaucrat in Vermont.
And luckily for Sandra Bullock, her immigration
ordeal should end in sunshine and rainbows. After all, it
is only a two-hour Hollywood comedy.
Heath Dollar teaches ESL at Schrade
Middle School in Rowlett, in Garland
ISD. He is also a Teacher Voices
volunteer columnist. His e-mail
address is heathddollar@yahoo.com.
see it as a failure.
My family has seen me fail,
embarrassed and humiliated — and
they still love me even for my flaws.
That is my definition of family. They
day officially established, and in
1966, President Lyndon Johnson
signed a presidential proclamation
declaring the third Sunday of June
as Father’s Day. And now we have
Hallmark and retail stores across
the nation reminding us how im-
portant it is to honor our dads.
I’m not a huge fan of the over-
commercialization of the myriad
holidays on this nation’s official
calendar. But fathers — and the role
they play in their children’s lives —
are extremely important. And if a
little hoopla is called for, then so be
it.
As a child, I didn’t even realize
that there were kids without fathers
at home, or fathers who weren’t
supportive or present in their chil-
dren’s lives. That is part of the in-
nocent bliss of childhood — whatev-
er your experience is, you tend to
believe that it is universal. Obvi-
ously, as I grew older, I realized
there were fatherless families.
I cannot tell you what life is like
with an absentee or detached father,
but I can tell you how thankful I am
that I was blessed with a father who
put his family first and never made
my sister or me feel anything less
than secure, loved and entirely
important.
I am lucky. Both my parents
came from strong, loving homes
that nurtured them to be strong,
loving parents themselves.
And, I got lucky again when I
found a husband who has been an
incredible father. He is raising two
sons and a daughter who I hope
grow up to be very much like him in
many ways. I hope they are just as
good at keeping their cool in stress-
ful situations like him, or seeing the
positive in everything, just like him,
and I hope they place the utmost
value on their own future families,
just like he does.
But I also know that being a good
father is more than just doughnuts
on the weekends or signing up to
coach your kid’s sports. Kids need
and crave their constant support

possibilities of the international
conferences that could be held at the
university bringing in scholars from
across the world.
President Johnson chose not to
hold an academic position at the
school named after him, but Presi-
dent Bush could follow a different
path. Think how interesting it would
be to take an introductory course or
an advanced seminar on 9/11 taught
by the former president. President
Bush could lend his insights and
firsthand accounts to one of the most
tragic events in American history.
The George W. Bush Library can
be so much more than just a place
that may or may not someday hold
the former president’s papers. With
President Bush leading the way, the
library can become a shining light,
not only for SMU and the city of
Dallas, but also for the legacy of the
man himself.
Laurie Dodic Stein-
berg of Highland
Park is a freelance
writer, volunteer
and blogger at
mommiex.typepad.com/mommie_x.
She is also a former Community Voices
volunteer columnist. Her e-mail ad-
dress is ldsteinberg@aol.com.
“H
ey, everyone, come see. I
have food for a week.”
My father and his
brothers ran to the kitchen to see
their father’s treasure — five cases of
Fig Newtons, one for each member
of the family. For seven days they ate
Fig Newtons. For the next 80 years,
my father couldn’t even look at one.
“Food for a week” had not been
heard for sometime in his house;
food was an ongoing struggle. Some
days there may be one meal or less.
Food for the week was as thrilling a
thought as any Christmas.
This was one of many stories my
parents told about the Great
Depression. One constant in all my
parents’ stories was that they talked
about things as a family. They sat
around the kitchen table and talked.
When a job would end, everyone
knew. They didn’t keep it a secret, as
everyone was affected in some
fashion.
The situations were never
hidden, nor did anyone try to
continue living a lifestyle they had in
better times. My grandmas
constantly told their children, “We
will get through this.”
The key word was “we.”
Today, we live in an
instant-information age. You have
People of all ages know the
financial world is in trouble. We
know about the global problems,
too. But I dare say most of us felt it
wouldn’t affect us. And that attitude
is what our children felt, as well. We
certainly didn’t sit around the
kitchen table and talk about it —
because we rarely sit around a
kitchen table and talk about
anything today.
When the recession hits home,
with job loss or income cuts, when
we should sit down and talk about it
as a family, we hide its effects. We tell
our kids, don’t worry, it’s all right
(when in fact, it’s far from all right).
They, in turn, continue to act as if
nothing happened.
I see this approach firsthand in
North Texas neighborhoods. We are
spending way too much time trying
to live like the Joneses, in a lifestyle
that is at the absolute maximum
possible for our income bracket. In
turn, the Joneses do the same thing.
When something catastrophic
occurs, we don’t change. And we
don’t tell the kids because we don’t
want to upset them.
When did we stop trusting the
family? Yes, losing a job can be
embarrassing, and even a little
humiliating. Some of us may even
may laugh with you, and sometimes
at you, but they will stand with you at
all times.
In a recent television
commercial, a family is seated at the
kitchen table when the father says,
“we have something we need to
discuss.” He proceeds to explain how
work is getting tough, that people
have been laid off, and that some of
the promises they have made to the
family may have to be “postponed.”
It was matter of fact, and sugar
coated nothing. A subsequent
commercial shows the father and a
son talking about the same thing —
and the son saying, “Don’t worry
Dad. We will be all right.”
It’s time we stopped hiding the
recession’s impacts, sat down at the
kitchen table and said, “We have
something we need to discuss.”
Maybe start by telling them about
how families had open conversations
like these back in the Depression.
Those families survived the worst.
Yours will, too.
Jeff Fortney Sr. of
Plano has spent
most of his career
in banking. His
e-mail address is
JFortneySr@aol.com.
and encouragement.
The modern family now also
dictates that men be more hands-on
in the domestic realm and with
child-rearing duties. My husband’s
perspective on family issues is
sometimes miles away from mine,
and I’m so glad that his experiences
cause him to see things differently
than I do.
A recent Points column on the
decline of the two-parent family
quoted an American University law
professor as saying, “It is no tragedy,
either on a national scale or in an
individual family, for children to be
raised without fathers.”
Let’s not devalue the role that
fathers play in their children’s lives,
whatever that may be. Even if it isn’t
possible for a father to always be
physically present, the assurance of
his love can go a long way. It certain-
ly is better than nothing at all.
Rebecca Mont-
gomery of Dallas
does marketing and
fundraising for arts
organizations and is
a stay-at-home mom and a Commu-
nity Voices volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is rebeccamontgom
@msn.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Monday, June 22, 2009 11A

Doctors are the ones in

the care-giving business,
says Ellen Goodman

B
arack Obama tackled the
model “that has taken the
Who knows GOP needs
to rid itself
of racism
what’s best?
pursuit of medicine from a
profession — a calling — to a
business” at a meeting of the
American Medical Association last Party is being held back
week. He reminded doctors: “You
didn’t enter this profession to by ‘jokes’ and passive hate,
become bean counters and paper says Kathleen Parker
pushers. You entered this

profession to be healers. And that’s
what our health care system should
let you be.”
Listening to him, I thought of a
friend’s recent experience. She had
an appointment to consider a
rather serious heart procedure and,
after 15 minutes, the cardiologist
R
usty DePass, the South Carolina
A government-run system will no doubt Republican activist who
infamously “joked” that an
crowd out private insurers, says George Will, escaped zoo gorilla was probably an
ancestor of Michelle Obama’s, has
and that’s not good for any patient learned the meaning of “hell to pay.”
DePass, a former chairman of the
state Elections Commission, has all but

stood up to leave. My friend was
startled. “I have more questions,”
she said. He answered, “I have
another patient” and walked away.
I am sure that he didn’t become
a cardiologist to treat patients like
travelers in a revolving door. I am
also sure that no rational system
would allot minimum time and
payment for an office visit to decide
on a procedure that will cost, on
average, $35,000. But there we
are.
Somewhere along the way, with
the help of insurers and incentives,
by paying for procedures rather
than patient care, we have created
a culture of medicine that pushes
doctors away from the “calling.”
My friend, the patient of the
15-minute consult, is also the
mother of one of the most dedicat-
ed primary care doctors I know.
The daughter e-mailed her this: “I
can only speak for my friends/
partners over the years. I think all
of us hate money being part of any
decision-making process. We love
tight, up-to-date, data-driven,
life-saving, critical thinking. We
love talking to people, touching
them (literally and figuratively)
and feeling useful/important in
our communities.”
But she also hates thinking
about medical school debts, not to
mention an income that has been
flat for the last 10 years, while the
public thinks doctors are money-
grubbing. “It’s hard to keep up an
altruistic head of steam,” she con-
tinued.
At the recent Harvard Medical
School commencement, Steve
Bergman — known to generations
of medical students as Samuel
Shem, author of The House of God,
the satirical novel about medical
training — told the new doctors:
“Has anyone ever heard, in a
crowded theater when someone
collapses, the call go out: ‘Is there
an insurance executive in the
house?’ We do the work. We have
the power. Without us, there’s no
health care. If we stick together, we
can take action and change things.”
That’s something to be written
— legibly, please — on the prescrip-
tion pad for health care reform.
— Excerpted from an article by Bos-
ton Globe columnist Ellen Goodman,
who may be contacted at ellengood-
man1@me.com.
W
hy does the president, who says that were America “starting from scratch” he
would favor a “single-payer” — government-run — system, insist that health
care reform include a government insurance plan that competes with private in-
surers? The simplest answer is that such a plan will lead to a single-payer system.
Conservatives say that a government
program will have the intended consequence of
crowding private insurers out of the market,
encouraging employers to stop providing
coverage and luring employees from private
insurance to the cheaper government option.
Assurances that the government plan would
play by the rules that private insurers play by are
implausible. Government is incapable of behav-
ing like market-disciplined private insurers.
Government does not need to make a profit and
has enormous pricing and negotiating powers.
Besides, unless the point of a government plan is
to be cheaper, it is pointless: If the public option
conforms to the
imperatives that
regulations and
competition
impose on pri-
vate insurers,
there is no rea-
son for it.
The president
characteris-
tically denies
that he is doing
what he is doing
— putting the
nation on a path
to an outcome he
considers desir-
able. Neverthe-
less, the unifying
constant of his
domestic pol-
icies — their
connecting
thread — is that
they advance the
Democrats’ dependency agenda. The party of
government aims to make Americans more
equal by making them equally dependent on
government for more and more things.
The president says competition from a gov-
ernment plan is necessary to keep private in-
surers “honest.” Presumably, being “honest”
means not colluding to set prices, and evidently
he thinks, absent competition from government,
there will not be a competitive market for insur-
ance. This ignores two facts:
There are 1,300 competing providers of
health insurance. And Roll Call’s Morton Kon-
dracke notes that the 2003 Medicare prescrip-
tion drug entitlement, relying on competition
among private insurers, enjoys 87 percent ap-
proval partly because competition has made
premiums less expensive than had been project-
ed. The program’s estimated cost from 2007 to
2016 has been reduced 43 percent.
Some advocates of a public option say health
coverage is so complex that consumers will be
befuddled by choices. But consumers of many
complicated products, from auto insurance to
computers, have navigated the competition
among providers, who have increased quality
while lowering prices.
Although 70 percent of insured Americans
rate their health care arrangements good or
excellent, radical reform of health care is sup-
posedly necessary because there are 45.7 million
uninsured. That number is, however, a “snap-
shot” of a nation in which more than 20 million
working Americans change jobs every year.
Many of them are briefly uninsured between
jobs. If all the
uninsured were
assembled for a
group photo-
graph, and six
months later the
then-uninsured
were assembled
for another photo-
graph, about half
the people in the
photos would be
different.
Almost 39
percent of the
uninsured are in
five states — Flori-
da, Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona
and California, all
of which are entry
points for im-
PAUL LACHINE
migrants. About
21 percent — 9.7
million — of the
uninsured are not citizens. Up to 14 million are
eligible for existing government programs —
Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, veterans’ benefits,
etc. — but have not enrolled. And 9.1 million
have household incomes of at least $75,000 and
could purchase insurance. Those last two co-
horts are more than half of the 45.7 million.
Insuring the perhaps 20 million persons who
are protractedly uninsured because they cannot
afford insurance is conceptually simple: Give
them money — (refundable) tax credits or debit
cards (which have replaced food stamps) loaded
with a particular value. This would produce
people who are more empowered than depen-
dent. Unfortunately, advocates of a government
option consider that a defect.
Washington Post columnist
George Will may be contacted at
georgewill@washpost.com.
performed the Stations of the Cross in
apologizing for his remark the
past several days. Originally made on
his Facebook page in what he thought
was a private exchange with a friend,
the comment was picked up by a local
political blogger, Will Folks, who post-
ed it on his Web site, FITSNews.com.
Quicker’n you can say “cheese grits,”
the comment went viral. And DePass
— who is neither a public official nor,
officially, a spokesman for the GOP —
has lost his commercial real estate job
and been roundly chastised in a series
of public condemnations.
Thus far, he has apologized twice,
including Wednesday at a news con-
ference called by the state NAACP.
Democratic members of the South
Carolina House of Representatives
twice tried to pass a resolution ex-
pressing regret to the first lady, but
were defeated by the Republican
majority. More than 400 people have
joined a Facebook group called “Rusty
DePass is an insufferable piece of
garbage.”
DePass’ remark was racist and
there’s no way to spin it otherwise, as
he first tried to. Racist jokes have
become commonplace since Barack
Obama’s election, and, sadly, they keep
popping up in Republican quarters.
Last spring Folks wrote about a
Republican state representative who
had a flier on his desk showing blacks
fleeing Obama, who was promising
jobs to all African-Americans. In
another recent incident, a staffer for
Tennessee state Sen. Diane Black
e-mailed a composite picture of all the
U.S. presidents. The Obama square
was solid black with two big eyes.
These fliers, jokes and antics are not
isolated incidents, but are part of an
ugly subterranean culture of en-
trenched racism. Living in South
Carolina the past 20 years, I’ve noticed
that people who say racist things never
think of themselves as racist. What
that means, of course, is that they’d
never act on their attitudes. They
might even find the N-word offensive.
But they’ll make racist cracks as
DePass did — or circulate fliers that
portray the Obamas in demeaning
ways. Seen the photo of the watermel-
on patch in front of the White House?
Or the book on monkeys that was
slipped into a display of Obama books
at Barnes & Noble in Coral Gables,
Fla.?
DePass is hardly alone. But he has
been thrown to the lions in a sort of
spontaneous cleansing ritual. After
decades of shame from the state’s
original sin — not to mention provid-
ing a butt for the nation’s jokes —
South Carolinians are tired of being

Gathering in the virtual mosque of Twitter embarrassed.

Is the Internet the answer
for moderate Iranians?
asks Thomas Friedman
sons why the Islamists were able to
covertly organize and mobilize, and
be prepared when the lids in their
societies were loosened a bit, was
because they had the mosque — a
And in Iran, millions of Iranians
starving for more freedom rallied to
the presidential candidate Mir
Hossein Mousavi, forcing President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to steal the
than the extreme Iraqi Islamists,
nonetheless wants to centralize
power and solidify his Dawa group
as the ruling party.
Second, even if defeated elector-
Bud Ferillo, a public relations exec-
utive who has been spearheading an
educational reform movement in
South Carolina through his Corridor of
Shame documentary, agrees that em-
barrassment is key to the passionate
reaction to the DePass debacle. He is
also hopeful that some good will come

W
atching events unfolding
in Tehran has raised
intriguing questions for
me: Is Facebook to Iran’s Moderate
Revolution what the mosque was to
Iran’s Islamic Revolution? Is
Twitter to Iranian moderates what
muezzins were to Iranian mullahs?
Here is why I ask. During the
past eight years, in Iraq, Lebanon,
the Palestinian territories, and, to a
lesser extent, Egypt, spaces were
opened for more democratic elec-
tions. Good news. Unfortunately,
the groups that had the most grass-
roots support and mobilization
capabilities — and the most ener-
gized supporters — to take ad-
vantage of this new space were the
Islamists. That is, Hezbollah in
Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the
West Bank, the various Sunni and
Shiite Islamist parties in Iraq and
the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The centrist mainstream was no-
where.
One of the most important rea-
place to gather, educate and inspire
their followers — outside the total
control of the state.
In almost every one of these
cases, the Islamists overplayed their
hands. In Lebanon, Hezbollah took
the country into a disastrous and
unpopular war. Ditto Hamas in
Gaza. The Sunni and Shiite Islam-
ists in Iraq tried to impose a reli-
gious lifestyle on their communities,
and the mullahs in Iran quashed the
reformists. In the last year, though,
the hard-liners in all these countries
have faced a backlash by the centrist
majorities, who detest these Islam-
ist groups.
Hezbollah was defeated in the
Lebanese elections. Hamas is facing
an energized Fatah in the West
Bank and is increasingly unpopular
in Gaza. Iraqi Sunnis have ousted
the jihadists thanks to the tribal
Awakening movement, while the
biggest pro-Iranian party in Iraq got
trounced in the recent provincial
runoff.
election.
What is fascinating to me is the
degree to which in Iran today — and
in Lebanon — the more secular
forces of moderation have used
technologies like Facebook, Flickr,
Twitter, blogging and text-messag-
ing as their virtual mosque, as the
place they can now gather, mobilize,
plan, inform and energize their
supporters, outside the grip of the
state.
For the first time, the moderates,
who were always stranded between
authoritarian regimes that had all
the powers of the state and Islamists
who had all the powers of the
mosque, now have their own place
to come together and project power:
the network.
But while that puts the moderate
mainstream on par with the Islam-
ists in communications terms, we
should not get carried away. First,
“moderates” is a relative term. Iraq’s
prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki,
while more secular and nationalist
ally, the Islamists and their regimes
have a trump card: guns. Guns
trump cellphones. Bang-bang beats
tweet-tweet. The Sunni Awakening
in Iraq succeeded because the mod-
erates there were armed. I doubt
Ahmadinejad will go peacefully.
Finally, there are signals — still
weak — that another trend may be
stirring in the region. The Iranian
regime appears to be splitting at the
top. This could challenge Israeli
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s
security framework. Israel needs to
be neither seduced by these signals
nor indifferent to them. It has to be
open to them and must understand
that how it relates to Palestinians
and settlements can help these
trends — at the margins. But a lot
starts at the margins.
Thomas Friedman
is a New York Times
columnist.
of it.
“What we’re missing in our state is
honest conversation between the races
that ultimately leads to forgiveness.
We keep putting off reconciliation
from one generation to the next be-
cause our shameful history of slavery
and segregation is so painful to both
sides. At the same time, I think most
South Carolinians are through with
race-based politics.”
DePass’ comment to a friend, ap-
palling as it was, clearly wasn’t in-
tended to do harm and his punish-
ment may have exceeded the crime. At
the same time, this pernicious form of
passive racism has been exposed for
the poison it is.
If Republicans ever want to see the
Oval Office again, they’ll have to purge
their tent of this foul air.
Syndicated columnist
Kathleen Parker may be
contacted at kpar-
ker@kparker.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Tuesday, June 23, 2009 11A

JOIN
THE
Perry vetoes: Word is that some legislators
are perplexed by Perry not giving them any
earlier heads-up that he had issues with their
Hot dogs: I find myself thinking,
“Hey, maybe I’ll take the dog to
the garden center and then stop
Less D.C.,
DEBATE bills. My reading of the laundry list of vetoes by Walgreens …” and I stop. No
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
is that anything that remotely resembled
“nanny-ism” (or at least nanny-ism not to Perry’s liking) got
chopped. Sharon Grigsby, editorial board member
way. Not for two seconds in this
heat. That’s the price you pay for living in Dallas.
Michael Landauer, editorial board member
more joie
de vivre
The protests in Iran are much more than There’s so much more to
life than work and politics,
a spontaneous uprising, say Darab Ganji and Robert Jordan says William McKenzie

T
his is the high season for those of
us fascinated by politics. Health
care. Energy reform. Iranian
demonstrators. What more could you
want?
For sheer drama, not much.
But politics, it’s hard for people like
me to admit, only sets the table for the
unfolding of our lives. It isn’t the end of
the game. It’s simply the means that
determine the conditions in which
people live.
Politics’ limits hit me recently during
a serendipitous moment. After coming
home from a day at the office, where I
interpret politics for a living, I caught a
glimpse out our kitchen window of my
wife and young children galloping like
play horses across the front yard.
Our son was dressed in his favorite
buckskin vest. Our daughter raced
along like one of my sister-in-law’s real
horses. Behind them, my normally
serious, intense wife played the role of
stagecoach driver.
Ghalam News Fortunately, I was carrying no
Supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi know that he is not a viable long-term leader of the reform movement. But, as a dishes. They would have fallen out of
former prime minister, he serves as a useful figure to further divide the mullah leadership in Iran. my hands, I was laughing so hard. And
that’s how much the sheer joy of living

Straining to be free
overcame me.
There, amid a normal evening, one
of the many we spend in our dinner/
dishes/put-the-kids-to-bed routine, life
itself rose up. Put aside the health care
debate. Leave alone whether we need
the Waxman-Markey energy

D
espite attempts to shield the increasing brutality Going forward, the genuine continued export of international legislation. Forget worries about the
leadership of Iran will emerge from terrorism, potentially abetted with deficit. Surprise encounters allow us to
through an international media blackout, the world is
the figurative brothers and sisters of nuclear weapons. experience life, not just think about it.
witnessing the Iranian people heroically and Neda, the heroic young lady who It is vital for the international C.S. Lewis once described how he
courageously defying the authority and ruthlessness of Supreme appears to have been brutally community and all freedom-loving became overwhelmed by the joy he
murdered by the regime’s thugs people to support the home-grown discovered in his 50s, after marrying an
Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic system. Iranians Saturday. movement in Iran through means American divorcee. It was not what a
are expanding their nonviolent demonstrations and expressing Meanwhile, at the opportune that do not undermine its Christian writer with a comfortable
legitimate demands for freedom and human rights, despite time, the freedom movement will independence. bachelor’s life in the hallowed halls of
bring increasingly massive numbers The ruling mullahs must British intellectualism might have
violent and indiscriminate suppression attempts by the mullah of Iranians into the streets in a understand that they will ultimately imagined. But it came his way and he
regime’s Basij militia and thugs. sustained fashion to overwhelm the be held accountable for their brutal embraced it.
security forces. Some of these forces attempts to forcibly destroy the At the recent funeral of a stalwart in
The decision of Khamenei to more than a spontaneous uprising. may well refuse to suppress the nonviolent civil disobedience and my church, it struck me how much of
personally address the protests at Since the contested June 12 demonstrators. The scale of the the aspirations of the Iranian people our lives are spent looking ahead.
Friday’s prayer event and to election, the mullah leadership is protests also will expand to include to be governed by a free and just What’s the next school? Best job? Next
violently attempt to quell the latest ever more divided and the strikes in the bazaar, petroleum and system. rung on the ladder?
demonstrations speaks volumes foundation of the system is severely mass transit sectors, and further To some extent, these are
about the seriousness of the threat fractured. The continuation of the challenge the theocratic system. inescapable, legitimate questions. But
of the civil disobedience. current state of affairs has An obvious next objective could they aren’t ultimate questions, any more
The overwhelming majority of broadened the internal rift within be the open call for regime change than 99 percent of the political debates
Iranians do not support the mullah its various political elites. to create a free and secular some of us love so much are the
regime, and they realize the The Iranian people are aware government and perhaps a United supreme elements of life. (Decisions
government has retained power that Mir Hossein Mousavi has been Nations-monitored referendum on Darab Ganji is a political economist
about war and peace generally
through the use of sheer brute force. part of the Islamic Republic power the Islamic Republic system. and guest lecturer at SMU’s John
excepted, of course.)
Iranians have long been aware that structure and thus is not a viable Today Iran is at a historical Tower Center for Political Studies; he We can try to make our careers,
their elections are a sham to serve a long-term leader of the reform juncture, the outcome of which will is a board member of the Dallas politics or other pursuits the utmost,
two-fold purpose of legitimatizing movement. However, they also have significant long-term effects Committee on Foreign Relations who slaving ourselves to success or trying to
the Islamic Republic system and realize that Mousavi is a useful on the Persian Gulf and beyond. lived in Iran for 14 years prior to the outfox opponents. You see plenty of the
showcasing a make-believe figure to temporarily rally around Success for this freedom movement 1979 revolution. Robert Jordan was latter in Washington, where
democracy for the outside world. because the leadership initially was would certainly become a powerful U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia MoveOn.org-types or Limbaugh
As the world is witnessing, there hesitant to try to crush the massive stabilizing force. (2001-03), is Diplomat in Residence wannabes take to the barricades to
is a tech-savvy, vibrant Iranian protests perceived to be organized The unpleasant alternative and an adjunct professor at SMU’s squash opponents, instead of
freedom movement challenging the by one of their own handpicked would likely be more lost decades of John Tower Center for Political appreciating their humanity. For some,
mullahs that predates the recent presidential candidates and former totalitarian rule, human rights Studies and is a senior partner at it’s a city where the state, and who
presidential election. This is much prime minister. abuses, regional threats and the Baker Botts LLP. controls it, is the ruling force.
But that isn’t the essence of life, not
by a long shot. And when it comes time
for our time’s end, what do we want to

This is why we want empathy in courts

Supreme Court’s age bias
case is perfect example,
says Steve Kardell
history and development of
analogous employment laws.
A quick survey of lawyers
representing companies — which
probably are ecstatic over the
Regardless of whether
predictions of swift congressional
action are accurate, what should
the average person think of this?
What does it mean regarding the
was highly suspect and raised
strong suspicions of age
discrimination.
Critics of the concept of
empathetic judges run the gamut.
see over our shoulders? Our keyboards?
Our political victories? Our belts with
many notches?
It hit me that I didn’t even know
what this pillar of my church did for a
living. What an odd thought in a world
where our work increasingly defines us.
I knew only that he was a decent man
who spoke to a newcomer like me, asked

O
n one level, Thursday’s
Supreme Court decision in
Gross vs. FBL Financial
Services looks like the type of case
only lawyers would be interested in.
The legal issue presented,
burden-of-proof shifting in bias
cases, is so arcane that the lawyers
arguing the case back in March got
confused. The core question was
whether age cases should be given
the same preference as other job
bias claims, such as race and sex.
Clarence Thomas, that
noteworthy protector of employee
rights, wrote the opinion that
essentially said “no.” He was joined
by the other four conservative
justices. The four remaining justices
vigorously dissented.
There were immediate howls of
protest. Democrats in Congress
engaged in some quizzical
head-slapping.
They were in good company,
since John Paul Stevens, writing on
behalf of the dissenting justices, did
his own. His take was that the
rationale made no sense, given the
decision — predicted Congress
would move pretty quickly to
overturn it, just as it did with the
Lilly Ledbetter decision.
The decision is noteworthy, and
not just because the court went out
of its way to slap down age claims.
It’s unique because it went further
than the facts presented or what the
lawyers for the company were
seeking. It was like you sue to keep
your neighbor from putting up an
encroaching fence and the court
awards you the deed to his house.
This is the stuff of lawyer dreams.
Various groups, including the
AARP and the federal government,
had hoped for a positive ruling,
arguing that a burden-of-proof
issue like this should be a
no-brainer. A trade group of
lawyers that represents employees
actually urged the court to take the
case, hoping they would clarify the
law.
The court clarified it all right,
and then some. As your mother
would say, be careful what you wish
for.
debate about empathetic judges?
There is no question that the
majority here (including Chief
Justice John Roberts) are brilliant
judges and, before that, brilliant
lawyers. That may be beside the
point.
A story from the early days of the
Kennedy administration comes to
mind. Somebody was describing
the “best and brightest” minds that
John F. Kennedy had surrounded
himself with.
One observer — coincidentally,
our own Texas homeboy Sam
Rayburn — raised a good point:
“Yeah, but I would feel better if just
one of them had run for office as
dogcatcher.”
As applied to this situation, you
have to wonder if any of the five
justices that got carried away with
this arcane burden-of-proof issue
ever had a family member treated
like Jack Gross?
His situation, unfortunately,
presents itself daily in employment
decisions, in that the employer’s
given reason for the adverse action
Some make intellectual arguments
that have real merit. Some are
practical, pointing out that
empathetic judges are usually bad
for “bidness.” Some are on the
fringe. One local reader responded
to Mark Davis’ recent column on
Supreme Court nominee Sonia
Sotomayor with the theme of “there
go our freedoms.” As if a
empathetic judge on the court was
a dangerous first step toward a
totalitarian state.
The Gross case supports the
argument that it might not be a bad
idea to have a justice or two who
can empathize with what it feels
like to be an employee in today’s
business environment.
Steve Kardell is a
Dallas lawyer
whose book,
“Nobody’s Safe: A
Field Guide to the
Corporate Minefield,” is scheduled
for publication by Texas Lawyer
Books in the fall. His e-mail address is
steve@cdklawyers.com.
regularly about our twins and served
the church in many ways.
We’re lucky if we can look back and
have more than our careers or the heat
of the arena to define us. We’re
fortunate if we have moments of
surprise to treasure, a family standing
beside us or friends from all walks of life
lifting us.
This sounds a wee bit escapist, so let
me reassure you that I understand that
politics and work matter. It’s worth
debating what makes for a good school
or a quality health system. And finding
an occupation is a blessing, especially
when you enjoy it.
But those aren’t ends in themselves.
They’re not what provide ultimate
meaning, as a serendipitous moment
can remind us, even during the high
season.
William McKenzie is a
Dallas Morning News
editorial columnist and
a moderator of Texas
Faith at dallasnews.com
/texasfaith. His e-mail address is
wmckenzie@dallasnews.com.

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The Dallas Morning News
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THE
DEBATE
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs
Hispanic chamber?
Leaders’ silence is compounding the problem,
says Edward Retta; members need answers
A I
ll is not well at the Greater Dallas Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce. A minority of voices
would have us believe otherwise, that things
are under control and that a new course is being
planned. But the actions — and especially inactions —
after last month’s coup-like suspension of the CEO
search have illuminated many problems.
The obvious ones are lack
of funds, low morale due to
staff cuts, diminishing public
trust, potential loss of
confidence by corporate
partners and unanswered
questions from chamber
members and stakeholders in
the community at large.
First, a disgruntled
candidate musters his friends
and sends letters threatening
lawsuits to individual board
members and their
companies. Then a group of
people shuts down the CEO
search. Several board
members resign in turmoil.
What is most
objectionable now is the way
decisions are being made and
the lack of communication to
members and staff since the
coup.
Chamber employees have
told me they do not know
what is going on and have to
learn about it in the
newspaper. One board
member told our
International Committee,
“Sometimes it’s better not to
say anything.”
In this silence, a new board
member was appointed — a
known activist, strongly
connected to the disgruntled
candidate. A new chair was
also appointed. At the most
recent board meeting,
Why Obama is hesitant to see Ahmadinejad go
President wants
to win him over
on his own terms,
says Mark Davis
N
ov. 4 will mark the
30th anniversary of
one of the darkest
days in American history.
A horde of Iranian
militants poured down
Taleghani Street in Tehran,
crashing through the gates of
the U.S. Embassy, taking 52
Americans hostage.
Bound and blindfolded,
our countrymen were paraded
in front of TV cameras and
threatened for 444 days. It
took more than five months
for the emasculated Jimmy
Carter presidency to hatch a
rescue attempt. It failed. Nine
months later, knowing the
newly elected Ronald Reagan
would not allow this outrage
to continue, the mob released
the hostages.
During his term, Reagan
had many opportunities to
speak out on behalf of the
millions oppressed by
terroristic theocracies and the
even larger populations living
under the boot of
communism.
At no point did he think:
“Wait, I’d better not criticize
Moammar Gadhafi. I’d better
rein in my support of Lech
Walesa in Poland. I’d better
dallasnews.com
Perry’s special session call: He should limit the call to germane issues
because special sessions can get sidetracked on tangents. For example,
if Perry were to include voter ID in the call for the session, then, holy
smokes, the place could burn down. William McKenzie, editorial board
What’s the real story behind the
another new board member
was appointed, a known
protégé of the activist
appointed weeks ago.
All of this was done with
no communication with the
chamber’s membership.
These decisions have been
made according to the bylaws,
but they violate the spirit of
those laws. No one seems
concerned by the appearance
of malfeasance. To an outside
observer, it appears as if
activist cronies have taken
over the chamber and stacked
the board.
This is about a lack of
propriety and transparency.
Professional leaders know
how to lead, inspire and do
things the right way. I have
written to our board and
spoken with the new
chairman, repeatedly
outlining each of these issues
— all to little answer and no
avail.
Local blogs have
compared the events at the
chamber to worst-case
scenarios in Latin America.
The underhanded tactics
have not stopped; a local
businessman recently voiced
his opinions in a blog post and
said his company was
threatened by LULAC.
Our chamber is an
important institution, but the
It’s been nearly 30 years since Americans were taken hostage in Iran. An emasculated
Jimmy Carter had trouble standing up to the theocracy. Today, Barack Obama follows suit
and says only that he is “concerned” by the situation there.
not speak out in support of
the freedom-starved people of
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
and other Soviet republics
smelling liberty after years of
oppression.”
The words of the American
president made clear that the
U.S. sought liberty and
self-determination for all who
wanted it. If that meant
standing up to terrorist thugs
B0624SA015PQ
B0624SA015PB
VIEWPOINTS
member, on dallasmorningviews.dallasnews.com
management of its affairs
over the last few weeks
indicates a lack of wisdom or
resolve to do things the right
way. While we do have
excellent Hispanic leaders,
many channel their energies
and gifts to more mature
endeavors.
Given the denial exhibited
recently, one can hardly
blame them. Many members
have voiced their concerns,
but many others are afraid to
speak up.
What needs to happen
now: We need a chamber-
wide, all-member meeting.
The board needs to explain:
What happened May 6? Was
the CEO search tainted? Why
are we out of money? Why
has the board not
communicated with the
members in a transparent
way? What can we do now to
rescue the public reputation
that a minority of
self-appointed activists have
severely damaged?
We all want a chamber we
can be proud of. That will take
goodwill and accountability.
The leaders must reach out to
the members and restore
trust. We are waiting.
Edward
Retta is
managing
partner of
Cross
Culture Communications, a
consulting, training and
language services provider. He
is co-chair of the International
Business Committee at the
Greater Dallas Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce. His
e-mail address is
EdwardRetta@gmail.com.
and communist dictators, so
be it.
People said at the time:
What good does this do?
America cannot chip away at
totalitarianism with mere
words!
How wrong they were. An
American president’s words
helped bring down the Berlin
Wall and ultimately the Soviet
Union.
Editorial blew problem out of proportion and
did Dallas a disservice, says Marcos Ronquillo
t was most disappointing to read the Dallas Morn-
ing News editorial about the Greater Dallas Hispan-
ic Chamber of Commerce. After the inflammatory
headline “Bullies cause ideological rift in Hispanic
Chamber,” the editorial used a one-sided format.
In addition, the May 15
editorial highlighted excerpts
of statements and incomplete
quotes. Based on a
less-than-complete record, the
editorial incorrectly labeled
quoted members of the
chamber as “activists.”
The editorial continued
with the following flawed
premise: “Rumors and
unsubstantiated allegations are
circulating amid a power
struggle within the Greater
Dallas Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, but one fact
remains indisputable: The
name of this body is the
chamber of commerce, not
chamber of social activism.”
What is disputable is the
editorial board’s stance on an
extremely fact-intensive issue
that unfairly portrayed the
complexity of the issue and its
resolution, which was being
addressed by our group. The
rhetoric did not inform,
enlighten or persuade. Instead,
the newspaper denied readers
helpful insights and reliable
commentary.
As a former chairman of our
chamber and president of the
Mexican American Bar
Association, I am well aware of
the process by which an
editorial board vets the issues of
the day and then provides its
readership with enlightened
commentary and opinion. In
this case, the editorial reads
more like a scandalous tabloid
FILE 1979/The Associated Press
And without firing a shot, a
fact lost on the historical
illiterates among the Obama
administration and its amen
corner in the predictably soft
Democratic Party.
Always glad to scold others
who did not come down hard
enough on regimes they didn’t
like, this paralyzed high-horse
brigade insists America is
walking the proper line by
A15 _ 06-24-2009 Set: 18:36:58
Sent by: nstockdale Opinion
_ Wednesday, June 24, 2009
DISD and Teach for America: How will this help our
neediest schools? DISD’s worst, most chronically
underperforming schools also happen to be the schools
with the most inexperienced teachers. Tod Robberson,
editorial board member, on gapblog.dallasnews.com
at the supermarket checkout
counter rather than a reasoned
editorial supported by facts and
not “rumors and
unsubstantiated allegations”
allegedly circulating at our
chamber. This was a misguided
effort to report and analyze the
news all in one article, and it
failed in its attempt.
The editorial continues:
“The dispute has left the
stability of one of America’s
pre-eminent Hispanic business
organizations seriously in
doubt.” Certainly, the editorial
board forgot its journalistic
standards when it drew such
damaging conclusions about
the leadership at our chamber
and its current state of affairs. It
is most unfortunate that the
editorial provided color
commentary and opined on a
fluid set of circumstances
common to any corporate
board or nonprofit organization
in our community.
If we are to believe the
editorial board’s account of this
particular board meeting, a
small group of “social activists”
disrupted the meeting for no
legitimate reason other than to
try to impose their “social
agenda.” The “social activists”
identified are Hector Flores,
past president of the national
LULAC group, and Adelfa
Callejo, a nationally respected
attorney and civic leader.
Among the activists whom the
editorial omitted is Michael
denying today’s Iranian
protesters the support they
desperately need.
Terrorism has been harder
to bring down than
communism. But for decades,
through administrations of
both parties, America has said
it longs for a time when the
Iranian people, younger and
better educated than most in
the Middle East, would rise
up to break the chains that
have shackled them since
authoritarian mullahs took
over in 1979.
Now that they have, what
do they get from America? A
president who says he is
“concerned” but unwilling to
interfere in Iranian affairs.
That’s hard to hear from an
administration that has no
problem wagging its finger at
Israel for trying to defend
itself against surrounding
millions who seek its violent
eradication. Chief among
those tormentors is
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who
was surely thumped mightily
in the June 12 Iranian
election, only to be propped
up by theocratic dictator
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
An Ahmadinejad ouster
did not fit Khamenei’s
narrative, and now countless
Iranians are dead or bloodied
at his hands.
But there is another leader
hesitant to see Ahmadinejad
go: Barack Obama. A Mir
15A
Gonzales, owner of the Dallas
Bilingual Yellow Pages, past
chamber president and
someone actively involved in
Dallas’ business community for
many years.
Collectively, these three
“social activists” have
accomplished more in their
careers and civic involvement to
improve the quality of life for
Dallas’ Hispanic community
than most of us — a fact that
seems to have been critically
overlooked in the editorial.
I agree that “a strong
Hispanic chamber attracts
business investment and
invigorates our entire
economy.” However, the
editorial only undermined the
hard-earned credibility of our
chamber. It reduced iconic
leaders in our community who
have faithfully served our
chamber and the larger
community to mere caricatures.
The Dallas Morning News’
editorial did not serve our
community and was a
disservice to our chamber, its
corporate partners,
governmental allies and the
60,000-plus emerging
businesses represented on a
daily basis by our chamber. Our
chamber and community
deserve better.
Marcos G.
Ronquillo is a
former
chairman of
the Greater
Dallas Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce and former president
of the Dallas Mexican American
Bar Association. He serves as the
co-chair of the chamber’s Audit
Committee and may be contacted
through www.gdhcc.com.
Hossein Mousavi victory
obliterates Obama’s dream of
charming the pants off a
proven lunatic, affirming that
the sheer force of his
personality can do more than
his predecessor’s nasty war.
George W. Bush haunts
and motivates Obama in
another way, too. Obama
knows full well that Iran sees
neighboring Iraq poised to
enjoy freedom and
democracy, made possible by
the war he tried tirelessly to
derail.
A successful revolution in
Iran would further cement the
correctness of Bush’s vision, a
nightmare to a narcissistic
neophyte like Obama, sworn
to prove not only that
everything he does is
supremely correct but that
anyone who differs must be
disgraced.
The protesters grow weary
of Khamenei’s bullets and
beatings. They will soon give
up. They thought America
would help them in their bold
attempt to stand up for
democracy.
How foolish they were.
Mark Davis is
heard
weekdays
from 8:30 to 11
a.m. on
WBAP-AM, News/Talk 820. His
e-mail address is mdavis@
wbap.com.
BLACK
The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Thursday, June 25, 2009 15A

JOIN César Chávez Street plans: This idea, which I can’t believe is César Chávez Street plans: I have no significant
serious, fails on two fundamental points. One, it displaces a historic objections to this, in part because the name “Young”
THE name in Dallas history from its street sign. Two, it recognizes the would be preserved, at least for a few blocks.
DEBATE wrong Latino hero. Mike Hashimoto, editorial board member, at Keven Ann Willey, editorial board member, at
dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs

Tracking
footprints
all across
the globe DEAN ROHRER

Help Iran by imposing a gas tax Spain’s efforts show we’re tilting at
in U.S., says Thomas Friedman green windmillls, says George Will

T T
here has been a lot of worthless chatter about what President Barack
Obama should say about Iran’s incipient “Green Revolution.” Iranian
reformers don’t need our praise. They need the one thing we could
do, without firing a shot, that would truly weaken the Iranian theocrats and
force them to unshackle their people.
What’s that? End our addiction to the
oil that funds Iran’s Islamic dictatorship.
Launching a real Green Revolution in
America would be the best way to support
the “Green Revolution” in Iran.
Oil is the magic potion that enables
Iran’s turbaned shahs — “Shah Khamenei”
and “Shah Ahmadinejad” — to snub their
noses at the world and many of their own
people as well. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad behaves like someone who
was born on third base and thinks he hit a
triple. By coincidence, he’s been president
during a period of record high oil prices.
The Obama team wants to pursue talks
with Iran over its nuclear program, no
matter who wins there. Fine. But the issue
is not talk or no talk. The issue is leverage
or no leverage. I love talking to people —
especially in the Middle East — on one
condition: that we have the leverage. As
long as oil prices are high, Iran will have
too much leverage and will be able to resist
concessions on its nuclear program. With
oil at $70 a barrel, our economic sanctions
on Iran are an annoyance; at $25, they
really hurt.
“People do not change when you tell
them they should; they change when they
tell themselves they must,” observed
Michael Mandelbaum, the Johns Hopkins
University foreign policy specialist. And
nothing would tell Iran’s leaders that they
must change more than collapsing oil
prices.
Obama has already started some
excellent energy-saving initiatives. But we
need more. Imposing an immediate
“Freedom Tax” of $1 a gallon on gasoline —
with rebates to the poor and elderly —
would be a triple positive: It would
stimulate more investment in renewable
energy now; it would stimulate more
consumer demand for the energy-efficient
vehicles that the reborn General Motors
he Spanish professor is puzzled. Why, Gabriel however, is not that reports
such as Calzada’s and the
Calzada wonders, is the U.S. president recom-
Republicans’ are right in every
mending that America emulate the Spanish mod- particular. It is, however, hardly
el for creating “green jobs” in “alternative energy,” even counterintuitive that politically
driven investments are
though Spain’s unemployment rate is 18.1 percent — economically
more than double the European Union average — partly counterproductive. Indeed,
and Chrysler are supposed to make; and, it because of spending on such jobs? environmentalists with the
would reduce our oil imports in a way that courage of their convictions
would surely affect the global price and should argue that the point of
weaken every petro-dictator. Calzada, 36, an economics suggestion that his study is such investments is to
Sure, it would take time to influence the professor at Rey Juan Carlos simply flat wrong?” subordinate market rationality
regime, but, unlike words alone, it will University, has produced a Gibbs: “I haven’t read the to the higher agenda of
have an impact. I believe in “The First Law report which, if true, is study, but I think, yes.” planetary salvation.
of Petro-Politics,” which stipulates that the inconvenient for the Obama Questioner: “Well, then. Still, one can be agnostic
price of oil and the pace of freedom in administration’s green agenda. (Laughter.)” about both reports while being
petrolist states — states totally dependent Calzada says Spain’s Actually, what is weird is this dismayed by the frequency with
on oil exports to run their economies — torrential spending — no other idea: A sobering report about which such findings are
operate in an inverse correlation. As the nation has so aggressively Spain’s experience must be false ignored simply because they
price of oil goes down, the pace of freedom supported production of because otherwise the behavior question policies that are so
goes up because leaders have to educate electricity from renewable of some American importers, invested with righteousness
and unleash their people to innovate and sources — on wind farms and seeking to cash in on the U.S. that methodical economic
trade. As the price of oil goes up, the pace of other forms of alternative government’s promotion of reasoning about their costs and
freedom goes down because leaders just energy has indeed created jobs. wind power, might be benefits seems unimportant.
have to stick a pipe in the ground to stay in His report concludes that they participating in an economically When the president speaks of
power. often are temporary and have unproductive project. “new green energy economies”
If we could bring down the price of oil, received $752,000 to It is true that Calzada has creating “countless well-paying
the Islamic Republic — which has been $800,000 each in subsidies; come to conclusions that he, as a jobs,” perhaps they really are
buying off its people with subsidies and wind industry jobs cost even libertarian, finds ideologically countless, meaning incapable
jobs for years — would face keen pressures. more, $1.4 million each. And congenial. And his study was of being counted.
The ayatollahs would either have to start each new job entails the loss of supported by a like-minded U.S. For fervent believers in
taking subsidies away from Iranians, 2.2 other jobs that are either lost think tank (the Institute for governments’ abilities to
which would only make the or not created in other Energy Research, for which this control the climate and in the
turbaned-shahs more unpopular, or industries because of the columnist has given a paid urgent need for them to do so,
empower Iran’s human talent — men and political allocation — speech). Still, it is notable that, believing is seeing: They see,
women — and give them free access to the sub-optimum in terms of rather than try to refute his through their ideological
learning, science, trade and collaboration economic efficiency — of report, many Spanish critics lenses, governments’ green
with the rest of the world that would capital. have impugned his patriotism spending as always paying for
enable this once great Persian civilization Obama’s press secretary, for faulting something for which itself. This is a free-lunch faith
to thrive without oil. Robert Gibbs, was asked about Spain has been praised by comparable to that of those few
Let’s get serious: An American Green the report’s contention that the Obama and others. conservatives who believe that
Revolution to end our oil addiction — to political diversion of capital into Judge for yourself: Calzada’s tax cuts always completely pay
parallel Iran’s Green Revolution to end its green jobs has cost Spain jobs. report can be read at for themselves by stimulating
theocracy — helps us, helps them and The White House transcript http://tinyurl.com/d7z9ye. compensating revenues from
raises the odds that whoever wins the contained this exchange: (That’s a PDF.) And you can find economic growth.
contest for power there will have to be a Gibbs: “It seems weird that similar conclusions in “Yellow
reformer. What are we waiting for? we’re importing wind turbine Light on Green Jobs,” a report Washington
parts from Spain in order to by Republican Sen. Kit Bond, Post columnist
Thomas Friedman is a George Will
build — to meet renewable ranking member of the
New York Times may be
energy demand here if that were Subcommittee on Green Jobs
columnist. contacted at
even remotely the case.” and the New Economy.
georgewill@washpost.com.
Questioner: “Is that a What matters most,

Deep Ellum needs to capitalize on its blues heritage

Area has the history to be
a cultural destination,
says Shawn Williams
forgotten.
To be fair, there are reminders of
the jazz-blues era on Elm and Main.
While dining at Café Brazil, I see
employees sport T-shirts displaying
(now in the hands of a local nonprofit)
proposed creating a mixed-use
retail-commercial development that
would market particularly toward
African-American conventioneers,
there as well. Why tread off Memphis’
history when Dallas has its own?
The Dallas City Plan Commission
recently recommended the issuance
of a specific-use permit for a live
Dallas structures other than churches
designed by a black architect. The
building that housed the city’s first
black dentist and surgeon would
make a great business incubator for a

T
o borrow a phrase from
legendary musician Robert
Johnson, Deep Ellum has the
crossroad blues. The path toward the
future may mean taking a look back.
With the possible exception of the
city’s preaching tradition, the blues
scene in the early part of the last
century represents the biggest mark
left on this city by African-Americans.
But the community is letting that rich
history die by allowing the place
where it all went down to lose its soul.
It’s part of a trend nationwide
where the African-American
community neglects history that is
not intimately tied to the civil rights
movement. This is even more
pronounced in our city, where not
only is the history ignored, it’s all but
greats like Johnson and “Professor
Longhair” Henry Roeland Byrd who
jammed during Deep Ellum’s heyday.
And there are murals of Texas-born
blues icon “Blind” Lemon Jefferson
on the sides of buildings.
But Deep Ellum should be the
same type of cultural destination as
the 18th and Vine area of Kansas City,
which houses the American Jazz
Museum and Negro League Baseball
Museum. First, that means residents
would have to acknowledge — and in
many cases, learn — the district’s rich
history before embracing it and
rallying for its revival.
Consider this: In 2003, the South
Dallas/Fair Park Entertainment
District Study was presented to the
Dallas City Council. The document
tourists and local residents. This
concept was modeled after Beale
Street, a thriving three-block section
of downtown Memphis, which
consists of a number of nightclubs
and restaurants. Beale Street was
home to a thriving blues scene at the
turn of the 20th century before
becoming a collection of closed shops
and rundown buildings in the 1960’s.
Sound familiar? The
infrastructure for this model already
exists — in Deep Ellum.
No one would argue the fact that
South Dallas could use the boost an
entertainment district would provide,
but the future of Deep Ellum is also
uncertain. The city would do well to
investigate implementing some of the
elements of the Beale Street plan
music bar and lounge to open in the
old Blue Cat Blues in Deep Ellum. A
soul food restaurant also moved into
the neighborhood in recent weeks.
While every business in the area
doesn’t have to be blues-themed, a
nod to the heritage would go a long
way toward reviving the
entertainment district that seems to
always teeter between “struggling”
and “on the verge.”
Any plans to revisit the history of
Deep Ellum should include the
redevelopment of The Grand Temple
of the Black Knights of Pythias
Building. The Pythian Temple sits on
the edge of Deep Ellum and was the
first commercial building in town
built by and for Dallas’ black
residents. It’s also one of the few
new generation of professionals and
entrepreneurs.
Projects in South Dallas and Deep
Ellum could book-end one another, as
there’s enough music, food and
entertainment to go around.
Advocates could build on the South
Dallas Cultural Center’s April musical
revue Return to the Pythian: The
Early Days of Dallas.
Second Avenue and a little blues
music could bind two historic parts of
our city.
Shawn Williams is a
community
advocate and writer
who publishes the
Dallas South blog.
E-mail shawn@dallassouthblog.com.

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A15 _ 06-25-2009 Set: 20:03:58
Sent by: nstockdale Opinion BLACK
The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Friday, June 26, 2009 23A

JOIN Perry’s special session call: He’s smart to keep it focused and not get off into Perry’s special session call: He calls for more tolls,
the voter ID issue again. But he could have included a redo on allowing local but no new “taxes.” That may be good political
THE communities to decide whether to tax themselves to raise funds for roads and double-speak, but it’s bad planning. Michael
DEBATE rails. How’s he going to explain his lack of interest in solving North Texans’ Landauer, editorial board member,
mobility problems with something other than tolls? William McKenzie, on dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com
dallasnews.com/opinionblogs
editorial board member, on dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com

A test that Focus on Sanford’s

BALANCE OF OPINION
Nancy Kruh

could save Health care

your life head, not his heart skepticism
Governor appears unmoored
HIV Testing Day recognizes Two camps find different reasons
both a health and civil rights from reality, says Kathleen Parker to doubt passage of a plan
issue, says Mike McKay

A A
wise man once said that love is the triumph of imagination over s health care legislation moves toward

T
oday is an important day in the
history of both the HIV/AIDS crisis
and the struggle for equal rights for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
individuals. And while they may seem like
different issues to many people, they
actually are closely intertwined.
Resource Center Dallas joins each June
with the National Association of People
with AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and other national and
local groups nationwide for National HIV
Testing Day. The message sent: “Take the
Test, Take Control.”
The National Association of People
with AIDS developed this idea in response
to the growing number of HIV infections
in communities of color and other heavily
affected communities. Today, the CDC
estimates that 250,000 Americans are
living with HIV but unaware of their sta-
tus.
With our partner organizations, Re-
source Center advocates HIV testing as a
critical first step in taking control and
responsibility over one’s health. Our Nel-
son-Tebedo Health Resource Center will
offer 12 hours of free HIV and syphilis
testing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today.
Last year, we tested 255 people on
testing day, and we are geared up for an-
other busy day this year. By 2012, it’s esti-
mated that more than 25,200 people will
be living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas County,
up from more than 14,700 in 2007. Last
year in Dallas County, 961 people learned
that they were HIV-positive, up from 953
in 2007. Of those cases, half were African-
American, up from 46 percent in 2007.
The disease remains the leading cause of
death for African-American women ages
25-34.
So how is this idea of “take the test, take
control” related to the civil rights move-
ment for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-
gender individuals?
Forty years ago this month, the Stone-
wall Riots gave birth to the gay pride move-
ment, and a host of emboldened men and
women came out to advance these rights.
Organizations also sprang up nationwide,
many like the Resource Center in the early
1980s, to fight discrimination locally. Soon
after, we and other organizations were
faced with the HIV/AIDS crisis, which
profoundly affected the gay community.
HIV/AIDS accelerated the coming out
of gay people across this city, as men, wom-
en, friends and families pulled together
both for support of their dying loved ones
and for advocacy to the various govern-
ment officials who were trying to ignore
the disaster. Local leaders within this
movement demonstrated love, compassion
and courage in creating HIV/AIDS servic-
es, such as collecting food in cardboard
boxes on the corner of Throckmorton and
Cedar Springs, the forerunner to our food
pantry today.
Congress’ front burner, two schools of
intelligence.
doubt have developed among the
No one who managed to get through the torture of South Carolina Gov. punditry. One is fixated on a program’s
Mark Sanford’s news conference admitting to an affair would disagree. potential cost and how to pay for it; the other
is concerned about whether major reform
Yes, I know, shocking. Another Republican several days. will even pass at all.
affair. Next thing you know, we’ll learn that a And, there’s no nice way to put this: He lied The Congressional Budget Office last
Democrat hasn’t paid his taxes. There does — by omission, if not commission. He lied by week estimated the 10-year cost of the Senate
seem to be a pattern of failure in those matters not telling his staff where he was going or how Finance Committee’s bill at $1.6 trillion — an
about which people purport to care the most. to reach him. He deceived his staff by allowing amount that leaves both Ross Douthat and
If we were feeling charitable, we might say them to believe and then report to the media David Brooks breathless.
something about man’s fallen nature and his that the governor was hiking in the The number is “scary enough to send the
attempt to repair himself through public works. Appalachians. And most important to his Finance Committee scrambling to craft a
Thus, Republicans touting family values can’t political future, he failed to make arrangements cheaper version of its bill, and scary enough
seem to stay zipped. Democrats raising taxes for his state’s uninterrupted governance. to give liberals flashbacks to the collapse of
can’t seem to spare the change come April. To his credit, Sanford acknowledged all of Clintoncare,” Douthat writes
We might conclude that public espousals these failings, but he seemed less interested in in The New York Times.
carry certain risks of discussing his “Obama-era Democrats
self-incrimination. shirking of executive aren’t really going to be able
Before charity duty than in making to finance universal health
exhausts its welcome, rending statements care without substantial
let’s do give Sanford about the condition of middle-class tax increases or substantial
this much: He has a his heart. Not only did spending cuts.
flair for the dramatic we learn Sanford’s “They’re looking for both, and maybe they
in what otherwise philosophy of moral can pull it off. … But it’s just as likely that the
would have been absolutes, but we Democrats will be forced into a choice like
merely banal. were led through the the one the CBO presented them with last
Nothing like meaning and purpose week — a fiscally reckless health care bill that
Getty Images
vanishing for a few of God’s laws. The falls far short of universal coverage, or no
days amid lies, Gov. Mark Sanford rambled endlessly governor even health care bill at all.”
mystery and frenzied before getting to the point: He had lied. lectured on the Brooks contends “a successful plan has to
speculation to get that definition of sin. be revenue-neutral for the government over
“whole sparking thing” going, as Sanford ickily Meanwhile, the questions that matter the next 10 years, and it has to reduce the
described his affair. remain essentially unaddressed. Can a governor total health care burden over the long term so
The man would not stop talking. But first he lie about his whereabouts and leave the country the country doesn’t go bankrupt. The Senate
wouldn’t start. Even though most cable news while his state is untended? Were taxpayer committee plans failed both criteria.”
channels covered the spectacle live — and the funds ever used in the pursuit of his personal The New York Times columnist dismisses
room was fairly bursting with media and gratification? Exactly a year ago, Sanford went suggestions to cut costs or coverage, arguing
equipment — Sanford began with a wistful on a South Carolina trade and investment trip that neither “gets to the core of the problem.
recounting of his adventurous youth when he to Brazil and Argentina. Undoubtedly, that Under the leading approaches, health-care
loved to hike the Appalachian Trail. What? He trip’s receipts will be closely examined. providers would still have powerful incen-
spoke for five minutes about those good ol’ days If not for Sanford’s appalling judgment in tives to provide more and more services and
before moving, finally, to the point: Where did disappearing, his personal travails might never use more expensive technology.
he go, with whom, and why? have come to public light. That alone suggests “We’ve built an entire health care system
One sensed that the governor was afraid to that he is a man unmoored from reality and, (maybe an entire government) on the illusion
put a period at the end of the sentence, just possibly, unfit for public office. of something for nothing. Instead of tackling
whereupon his own sentence would begin. As Sanford ended his tearful remarks by saying that basic logic, we’ve got a reform process
long as he talked, he could entertain an illusion he was committed to getting his heart right. It that is trying to evade it.”
of control over his life. might serve him better to think about getting Joe Conason and Paul Krugman focus
People generally will forgive human frailty, his head right. their apprehensions on the Democratic
especially in matters of the flesh. After too many Congress’ wherewithal to pass significant
such public trials, schadenfreude begins to feel Syndicated columnist Kathleen legislation.
as unseemly as the original sin. Parker may be contacted at Conason (Creators Syndicate) bases his
But Sanford’s foray into iniquity has kparker@kparker.com. skepticism on what he considers Democrats’
potential repercussions beyond what he and his “abject dependence on campaign contribu-
wife ultimately resolve. He did disappear for tions from the insurance and pharmaceutical
corporations fighting against real reform.”
Krugman’s frustration is with “self-pro-
claimed [Democratic] centrists” who “are in
fact out in right field.”
Neda and Twitter’s good side “What the balking Democrats seem most
determined to do is to kill the public [health
insurance] option, either by eliminating it or
by … replacing a true public option with
Her death made me of recent days: They can Agha-Soltan, blood-streaked something meaningless,” the New York
facilitate higher purposes as and prostrate on the side-
reassess social networks, well. walk, dying on camera and
Times columnist writes.
“If I had to guess, I’d say what’s really
says Leonard Pitts When angry Iranian vot- knowing this moment has not going on is that relatively conservative Dem-
ers took to the streets to been framed and contextu- ocrats still cling to the old dream of … re-

M
Their anger, fear and determination aybe you were there
woke up an apathetic general public to when Neda died.
what was happening right here in Dallas — If you were, you
not just San Francisco or New York. Dem- saw a tragedy, of course, a
onstrations at City Hall helped call atten- 26-year-old Iranian protester
tion to the fact that our government was gunned down in the streets.
either ignoring us or treating us like sec- But I am convinced you also
ond-class citizens. saw the future — a profound
By refusing to accept the shame or change in the way you and I
stigma attached to the new and fatal dis- will henceforth comprehend
ease, our community leaders made tre- the world.
mendous strides toward achieving equal- Many of us — your humble
ity. And now, as we enter the third decade correspondent prominent
of living with HIV/AIDS, it is essential that among them — have been less
today’s leaders speak out and refuse to than impressed with the
accept anything less than equal rights for ubiquity of social-networking
people with HIV/AIDS and for our entire Web sites. Spurred by reports
community. of congresspersons who tweet
That is why National HIV Testing Day, banalities during a presi-
which is officially commemorated tomor- dential speech, of cyber-
row, is so important. It is a health and civil bullying and flash mobs, we
rights issue, since we unfortunately still have regarded them as an
face some of the same moralistic and engine of vanity and inanity, a
homophobic rhetoric we heard in the mirror reflecting the utter
1980s.That is why in the struggle for equal vapidity of much of American
and fair treatment, we and our allies must life and culture.
remain diligent in our HIV and AIDS In this judgment, we have
education and prevention programs. been exactly right. And also
exactly wrong.
Mike McKay is executive This is not to say that
social-networking media
director of Resource
have not been guilty of dumb-
Center Dallas and may be
ing down the discourse. But it
reached at execdir@
is to admit the obvious lesson
rcdallas.org.
protest a stolen presidential
election last week and were
clubbed and shot in retalia-
tion, the events could easily
have been a nonstory in the
rest of the world, given that
Iran had placed heavy re-
strictions on foreign report-
ers.
But what the theocratic
regime had not counted on
was that ordinary Iranians
armed with camcorders,
laptops and cellphones would
document the unrest or that
it would make its way to
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
and other Web places where
people connect.
The result has been an
international furor that has
caught Iran’s government in
an awkward dance of back-
pedaling (it now admits to
election irregularities but
claims they did not affect the
outcome) and bluster (warn-
ings that protesters face a
harsh crackdown). The world
did not force the regime to
that point. Its people did.
Neda did.
There is something …
electrifying in watching Neda
alized by a blow-dried net-
work news reporter but is,
rather, the grief cry of some
unknown person with a
cellphone camera who is
desperate for you to see what
is happening, desperate for
you to “know.” It is a raw,
person-to-person connection,
and one is hard-pressed to
imagine its equal in any other
medium.
Were I at the head of some
repressive regime, I would
watch with trepidation. Once
upon a time, it was easy to
impose the darkness neces-
sary for evil deeds. But in a
world where people now have
means of linking to one an-
other beyond government
strictures and structures,
darkness is much harder to
come by.
As you doubtless know if
you were there when Neda
died.
Miami Herald
columnist
Leonard Pitts
Jr. may be
contacted at
lpitts@miamiherald.com.
creating the bipartisan center that used to
run America.
“But this fantasy can’t be allowed to stand
in the way of giving America the health care
reform it needs. This time, the alleged center
must not hold.”
Ruth Marcus is among the few colum-
nists who refuse to indulge in the doubts. “My
money is on the side of a
significant legislative ac-
complishment — something
short of immediate universal
coverage but more than
cosmetic change,” the Wash-
ington Post columnist writes.
In conversations with veterans of the
failed Clinton initiative, Marcus finds three
reasons for hope: “This administration has
learned from the multiple mistakes of the
Clinton years. Congressional Democrats are
more committed to getting something passed
than they were 15 years ago. The array of
interest groups — insurers, pharmaceutical
companies, doctors, hospitals — is no less
self-interested, but some have concluded that
their self-interest may be better served by
forging change to their liking than sticking
with an unsustainable status quo.”
Nancy Kruh is a freelance
writer in Dallas; her e-mail
address is nkruh@balanceo-
fopinion.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, June 27, 2009 19A

‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ a timeless lesson on race

It changed how Susan
Sanders Wansbrough
looks at the world
The only other break from
the heat came at the Limestone
Theater, the only business in
town with air conditioning
back then. Probably as much to
considered themselves good
Christians but saw their
“colored” neighbors as
somehow less than themselves.
At just 10 years old, I didn’t
off at Deuback’s Greenville
Avenue skating rink the year
before. We weren’t going to
skate while David waited alone
on the bleachers, though he
And I noticed, watching on
my grandparents’ black-and-
white TV, when the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. led more than a
quarter of a million people in
joked about an escaped zoo
gorilla being an ancestor of
Michelle Obama.
Until a staffer for a
Tennessee state senator

I
began to grow up in the
summer of 1963.
Like we did most years,
my younger brother and I
spent several weeks of the
break from school with my
grandparents in Groesbeck,
Texas, my father’s home town.
It was there I learned to round
up cattle. And pick cotton. And
bale hay.
Groesbeck was a small,
quiet town then, as it is now.
Relief from the stifling heat
came once a day, mid-
afternoon, in the form of Cokes
so cold ice floated on top. We’d
drink them on the shady back
porch, accompanied by
churring cicadas.
give themselves a break as to
entertain us, my grandparents
were extremely
accommodating about letting
us go to the movies.
So six months after it played
in the big cities, To Kill a
Mockingbird made its way to
the Limestone, and my
grandmother, probably
thinking it was a nature film,
dropped me off at the theater.
I spent the next two hours
completely drawn in to the
story about a little girl in
small-town Alabama as she
and her older brother came
face to face with the injustices
perpetrated on decent black
people by white folks who
know if any other kid in the
theater was affected the way I
was. But I did know, as I
climbed onto the scalding
plastic seat covers in my
grandmother’s car, that what I
had just seen would forever
change the way I looked at the
world. That film explained so
many things.
It explained why the black
kids sat in the balcony at the
theater. I had never known it
wasn’t a choice.
It explained why our
housekeeper’s son, David, a
summertime playmate of my
brother and me, was not
permitted to skate when my
mother dropped the three of us
told us we could. So the three of
us sat on the front steps and
talked about other things until
my mother came back to pick
us up. We didn’t mention it
because we didn’t understand
it. Or maybe David did
understand it. I was
embarrassed. I wasn’t sure why.
From the moment I walked
out of that theater, I began to
notice what was going on
around me. I cringed when I
heard someone use the
N-word, because the movie’s
character, Bob Ewell, became
its hideous face. I noticed that
my schools and my
neighborhood and my church
were all white.
the March on Washington later
that summer. I felt proud for
them in ways I couldn’t express.
As my world changed that
summer, in some ways it put a
bit of a barrier between my
parents and me. They weren’t
overtly racist, but they
understood things to be a
certain way, a way I no longer
could accept.
Time passed, and thanks to
courageous African-American
and white activists things
improved, and like my parents
had before, I fell into the habit
of not paying attention.
Until recently.
Until Rusty DePass, a GOP
activist from South Carolina,
e-mailed around a composite
picture of U.S. presidents with
the Obama “portrait” solid
black with two big white eyes.
Now I’m noticing again.
When segregated schools,
restaurants and theaters are
within the clear memory of
living people, we can’t let
racism die as a social concern.
Susan
Sanders
Wansbrough
is an attorney
who lives in
Lake Highlands and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address is
slswansbrough@sbcglobal.net.

Abuse of technology Going beyond

academics
There’s a reason we Many high school students aren’t
college-bound; our schools need a
were voiceless before trade-school track, says Troy Camplin
Facebook, says
N
ot everyone should receive an academic
education. There, I said it.
Dymphna Keohan That is all our schools supply. Yet, not
everyone is academically inclined — and for those

W
hat’s on your mind? This, a
seemingly harmless question
has countless of us
enthralled. We keep coming back to find
out how our “friends” respond.
Most people who answer this question
regularly on Facebook give a litany of events
they have accomplished. For example, one
might answer, “ is picking up the kids, driving
them to karate, reading them a classic novel,
folding laundry, making dinner, all this, while
LOL!”
It is incredible that those who overachieve
like this would call themselves simply human.
But, of course, I know that they are doing
none of these things because, after all, they are
on Facebook.
Why, then, do we feel the need to account
who will not go to college — or who should not,
but go for a while, then drop out anyway —
Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is a waste
of time.
I say this as someone who has undergraduate
and graduate degrees in biology, chemistry,
English and the humanities. I say this as someone
who loves academics and believes a proper liberal
education will make you a better person. I say this
as someone who once taught English to
non-academic high school students and could
find no honest answer to the question, “Why does
PAUL LACHINE learning this matter to me?”
These kids told me they would never read
another book again after high school. Nor would
At summer camps, Julie Kraut has they get the ethical education it is supposed to
provide, since they refused to actually engage the
texts. Our schools do not prepare
found, Big Mother is watching non-college-bound students for either life or a
career. In other words, they don’t prepare them
for anything — except perhaps how to be bored

for our every detail regardless of how mind-
numbingly tedious or inconsequential it
seems? Why do we have this insatiable desire
to share with the world dull and banal things?
We Twitter and Bebo and Facebook. We all
have a say now, and we must be heard, regard-
less of how petty or limited it is. We graze on
one another’s “status updates” and use them
to get on that bandwagon to update friends on
our own statuses.
“I am inside cleaning the house” one friend
writes. Talk about making the rest of us feel
mercilessly inadequate by 7 a.m. As I read
this, I allow my eyes to meander around the
caked-in Nutella on my counter and the ever-
advancing crunchiness of my floor.
I don’t go for the vacuum cleaner; instead I
read on.
“Got new shoes, love, love, love them!”
I shift uncomfortably in my 2-year-old
Crocs and contemplate some retail therapy;
instead I read on.
“What kind of a Disney character are you?”
the quiz flashes at me, inviting me to answer a
myriad of questions to find out. Do I really
want to know? Someone else sends me a
margarita, and I click on it excitedly, but all I
get is a lousy picture.
So-and-so “has an IQ of 121 and thinks that
YOU are dumb. Take the quiz!”
I have a love-hate relationship with Face-
book and Twitter. Each day I scour through
both and end up a little empty. This is Internet
crack. A little like an addict craving a fix, I
click on, ingest some junk and click off.
We thrive on distant rapports. Who said
long-distance relationships never work out?
They are blooming online.
But to make these relationships work, we
must remember that not every point is a valid
one, not ever picture is cute. Believe me, we
judge you when you post your innermost
thoughts about a spouse, a teacher or what the
doctor told you this morning. And I can’t say
this enough: Please don’t post in a drunken
state. It may take more than just a Bloody
Mary to fix. One does not get famous for mis-
guided indiscretions. (Oh, wait…)
Its defenders will say that Facebook gives a
voice to those who were otherwise voiceless.
Judging by some of the updates, though,
countless of us were voiceless for a reason.
Giving our two cents is a trip. But some of us
could do just as well saving our pennies for a
real cause.
Dymphna Keohan is a Frisco
homemaker and blogger. Her
e-mail address is dotiedodo
@yahoo.com.
Y
ou’ve just returned home after dropping your child off at
sleep-away camp. What’s the first thing you do? Take a nice long
bath? Un-TiVo Hannah Montana? Blast soft rock without any
teenage eye-rolling?
Try none of the above. What you’ll
probably do, if you’re like many parents
today, is run to your laptop, log into the
camp’s Web site and watch streaming
video of your daughter unpacking. Then
you’ll send her an e-mail about the most
efficient way to fold T-shirts.
When I was a camper back in the
dial-up days of the ’90s, my father’s
computer-typed letters were as high-tech
as it got. So when I started writing Slept
Away, a novel set at a present-day
sleep-away camp, I dove back into the
world of bug juice and kickball to see
how much camp had changed. I braced
myself for campers Skyping home but
was actually pleasantly surprised. Most
camps have no-tolerance policies about
campers bringing cellphones or PDAs.
The pine-scented world of my
camping youth is not a technology dead
zone, however. Parents are the ones who
can’t seem to cut the power-adapter cord.
And why should anyone expect them
to, really? Parenting is a tech-dependent
endeavor during the school year —
texting about after-school pick-ups,
e-mailing the math tutor for progress
reports and Googling the new varsity
softball coach. Camps are just keeping up
with what modern parents expect.
Toby Ayash, the new executive
director of Pinemere, the camp I
attended for six summers, said that
within the past five years, parents have
become far more demanding when it
comes to keeping tabs on their children.
Many camps update photo galleries
daily with campers-in-action shots. They
send e-newsletters chronicling camp life.
I even found one camp that boasts
regular video podcasts from several
cameras placed around the grounds.
Since when did camp leave the
summer fun category and get re-filed
somewhere between reality show and
medium-security prison? The whole
point of sleep-away camp is for children
to learn to be independent, have the
freedom to experience new things and
enjoy nature.
While Ayash says that she’s happy to
speak with parents, even the ones who
need to chat on a daily basis, she admits
that their requests occasionally get
ridiculous.
I read one newspaper interview in
which a mother explained that her son
wasn’t in enough of the photos in the
camp’s online gallery. She e-mailed him
via the camp’s program that prints and
distributes messages from parents,
instructing him to get in front of the
camera. The next day, there were several
pictures of him featured, she reported
proudly, ignoring the fact that he took
time out of actually having fun to do a
photo shoot to show her that he was
having fun.
Thinking back on my summers at
camp, what I remember most, and what
was most important to me back then,
were things that never would have (and
never should have) made an official
camp Web site.
If my camp director had a Twitter
account, he probably wouldn’t have
tweeted about the time he sent his wife
to lecture me about the policy on
mooning other campers while they’re
asleep — even though “Your pants need
to stay pulled up any time you’re not in
the bathroom, Julie. Do I make myself
clear?” is under the 140-character
Twitter limit.
Your child won’t be up to anything
like that this summer, of course. She has
the self-control to refrain from mooning
sleeping campmates. But it’s still the
case that the friendships, crushes, gossip
and growth that are the defining
elements of your child’s summer just
aren’t going to be conveyed through any
virtual postcard.
So let the child who’s away at camp
actually be away at camp. Instead of
spending your summer refreshing the
camp’s homepage, take advantage of the
temporary empty nest and have your
own unbloggable experience.
Julie Kraut is a writer
living in Maryland and
the author of the young
adult novel “Slept
Away.” Her Web site is
www.juliekraut.com.
for long periods of time for no reason.
Some students need a practical education that
will prepare them for the real, non-academic
world. What we need are academic schools for
those going to college and trade schools for those
who won’t or who will go on to technical schools.
This issue is being discussed in my school
district, Richardson ISD, and in many others.
The concern is that the trade school route will be
offered up to Hispanic students only, and that
they and other minority students will be pushed
in that direction. This is a legitimate concern. But
it is no reason to deny a valuable education to a
majority of students.
I agree that we must raise expectations for
underprivileged students. I have witnessed what
low expectations have done to members of my
extended family, who are predominantly poor.
Still, the lack of a dedicated trade-school track
through high school hurts all students.
The non-academic students don’t see the
point of what they are learning and don’t believe
the explanations we provide (which is one of the
reasons places like Dallas ISD have only a 50
percent graduation rate). And the academic
students are bored and unchallenged by a
curriculum designed to accommodate people
either unable or unwilling to learn academic
subjects (another reason for DISD’s high dropout
rate). The result is a poor education for
everybody.
The reason we are in this mess is the prevailing
attitude that there is something shameful about
physical or service labor and that the only
worthwhile pursuits are academic. Such an
attitude, both elitist and egalitarian, creates poor
schools and unequal treatment of students. There
is nothing shameful in being a plumber,
electrician or wood worker. In fact, such pursuits,
when well done, are great arts. But too many of
those in charge of our schools treat trades as
shameful, something that shouldn’t be
encouraged. But like the rest of us, they take their
car to the mechanic when something goes wrong
— they don’t bring it to me.
The bottom line is that our schools fail to
provide the only kind of equality that matters:
equal access to the different kinds of education
necessary to meet the needs of different kinds of
students. When schools provide the same kind of
education to everyone, regardless of interest or
ability, then the only equality created is equal
boredom.
Troy Camplin is an
interdisciplinary scholar and poet
living in Richardson. His book
“Diaphysics” was published
earlier this summer. His e-mail
address is zatavu1@aol.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com
Sexual shenanigans
Real problem isn’t falling short of standards,
says Star Parker; it’s ignoring they exist
W
hen I’ve been asked who I thought could be the individual to lead the Re-
publican Party out of the wilderness, my answer has always been Mark
Sanford.
His vision for his party and his country —
traditional values and limited government —
has always been clear, consistent and, in my
view, correct. And he has always pursued that
vision, as a congressman and as a governor, with
a boldness and courage rare among politicians.
The Cato Institute publishes a biannual
report card of the nation’s governors, ranking
them according to fiscal responsibility. In the
most recent report, three governors out of 50
received an “A.” Sanford was one of the three.
So, like many others, I watched with
disappointment his confession about his
clandestine adulterous affair.
Now what?
No surprise that most predict the end of
Sanford’s political career. And, of course, we’ve
got the usual, and gleeful, accusations of
hypocrisy that another conservative Republican
has been caught with his pants down.
But if there is a crisis in America today — and
I think there is — is it that leaders fall short of
standards or is it that our answers to human
frailty increasingly tend to deny that any
standards exist?
The most strident accusations of hypocrisy
come not from those saddened that Sanford fell
short of the traditional values to which he
subscribes. They’re from those who want to
de-legitimize and marginalize those traditional
values.
John F. Kennedy gave a famous speech
during his 1960 presidential campaign to
address the question of his Catholicism. Rather
than argue that Catholic values are consistent
with American values, he argued that religion
and public policy have nothing to do with each
other.
Kennedy turned out to be one of the great
sleazes to occupy the White House (not unlike
his brother Senator Ted who, in his last hurrah,
is now trying to socialize American health care).
During the almost half-century since
Kennedy gave that speech, the moral, social and
legal fabric of our country has steadily
unraveled.
In 1960, around 5 percent of our babies were
born to unwed mothers. Today it is 40 percent.
The pillars upon which our free country
stands — sanctity of life, liberty and property —
have been eroded to the point where they are
barely recognizable:
Since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, 50
million unborn children have been destroyed.
Which Obama will lead
on health care?
We need the policy wonk who won’t
back down, says Paul Krugman,
not the Obama who gives in
W
hen it comes to domestic policy, there are two
Barack Obamas.
On one side there’s Barack the Policy
Wonk, whose command of the issues — and ability to
explain those issues in plain English — is a joy to behold.
But on the other side there’s Barack the
Post-Partisan, who searches for common ground where
none exists and whose negotiations with himself lead to
policies that are far too weak.
Both Baracks were on display in the president’s press
conference last week. First, Obama offered a
crystal-clear explanation of the case for health care
reform, especially of the case for a public option
competing with private insurers. “If private insurers say
that the marketplace provides the best quality health
care, if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal,” he
asked, “then why is it that the government, which they
say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them
out of business? That’s not logical.”
But when asked whether the public option was
non-negotiable, he waffled, declaring that there are no
“lines in the sand.” That evening, Rahm Emanuel met
with Democratic senators and told them — well, it’s not
clear what he said. Initial reports had him declaring
willingness to abandon the public option, but Sen. Kent
Conrad’s staff later denied that. Still, the impression
everyone got was of a White House all too eager to make
concessions.
The big question here is whether health care is about
to go the way of the stimulus bill.
At the beginning of this year, you may remember,
Obama made an eloquent case for a strong economic
stimulus — then delivered a proposal falling well short
of what independent analysts (and, I suspect, his own
economists) considered necessary. The goal,
presumably, was to attract bipartisan support. But
Obama was able to pick up only three Senate
Republicans by making a plan that was already too
weak even weaker.
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VIEWPOINTS
Mary Sanchez isn’t sure that politicians’
indiscretions cancel out their political values
F
orgive me if I find the travails of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford tedious.
I could have been spared his rambling, weird mea culpa of adultery and the
media’s inevitable rehashing of the Democrat-vs.-Republican scorecard of
The United States now has one of the most personal peccadilloes.
liberal abortion regimes in the world.
Seriously, do all of these cases matter?
We move step by definitive step to legalize
Granted, in the Sanford case there is a
same-sex marriage.
question of public monies — trifling amounts,
We will soon have a generation of Americans
really — being abused in the affair, as well as
of whom the majority will not have grown up in
the taint on his credibility given the
a traditional family.
uncertainty of his whereabouts.
Government now claims more than 40
But it’s time to let adultery as a barometer
percent of our national output, leaving
of a candidate’s fitness for office go the way of
Americans with personal control over barely
tokin’ on a doobie in youth. Like trying
half the product of their own labor.
marijuana, cheating is so widespread, so
And politicians, as we have seen over the last
Republican and Democratic and male and
year, can at will take over our privately owned
female, that ranting about impropriety is
companies, dictate how they’re run and what
often pointless. Besides, adherence to marital
executives earn, and commit private taxpayers
fidelity does not always correlate to political
to trillions in spending and debt.
principle.
In a world in which there is sin, in which
This is not a manifesto for open marriages.
there is right and wrong, there is also
I’m not advocating that sleeping around be
repentance and redemption.
accepted into some sort of morally just-dandy
Mark Sanford’s world is that world. Let’s
status. But leave the sermonizing for church
pray that he can fix what is wrong in himself and
and the confessions for the priests. Also,
that maybe, maybe we can still have a leader
politicians need to quit courting votes using
with the courage and vision that America needs.
the squeaky clean image of their families. Just
tell me what you will do in office and deliver it.
Star Parker is an author and
The left has tried to make something of the
president of CURE, Coalition
for Urban Renewal and fact that two rising stars of the GOP have
Education. She can be reached taken a tumble into the cesspool of marital
at parker@urbancure.org. infidelity in one month. Hah, as if Bill Clinton
was an anomaly for Democrats.
As a woman, I’ve always viewed
Bill Clinton with disdain. He
disrespected his marriage, and
his wife, repeatedly. But
Hillary is a grown
woman, capable of
JOHN OVERMYER
End of a love affair?
Handful of reporters making
colleagues look like chumps,
says Jonah Goldberg
At the time, some of us warned about what might
H
happen: If unemployment surpassed the uzzah! Thanks to a few
administration’s optimistic projections, Republicans pointed questions from the
wouldn’t accept the need for more stimulus. Instead, press corps at a White House
they’d declare the whole economic policy a failure. And news conference last week, the long
Obama captivity of the media is at an
that’s exactly how it’s playing out.
Now back to health care. It would be a crushing blow end. The Hotline, an
to progressive hopes if Obama doesn’t succeed in getting inside-the-Beltway tip sheet,
some form of universal care through Congress. But proclaimed June 23 “The Day the
reform isn’t worth having if you can only get it on terms Love Ended.”
so compromised that it’s doomed to fail. The New York Daily News’
The success of reform depends on successful cost Michael Goodwin celebrates the
control. We really, really don’t want to get into a position press corps’ ability to channel the
a few years from now where premiums are rising rapidly, mood of the country: “By peppering
many Americans are priced out of the insurance market the president with forceful questions
despite government subsidies, and the cost of health care ... and by challenging some of his
subsidies is a growing strain on the budget. slippery answers, reporters captured
And that’s why the public plan is an important part of the changing tone in the country. Like
reform: It would help keep costs down through a the end of a real honeymoon, blind
combination of low overhead and bargaining power. infatuation is giving way to a more
That’s not an abstract hypothesis, it’s a conclusion based accurate view of reality.”
on solid experience. Currently, Medicare has much lower “The press corps gets it,” Goodwin
administrative costs than private insurance companies, writes. “For Obama, the hard part
while federal health care programs other than Medicare begins now.”
(which isn’t allowed to bargain over drug prices) pay Silly me, I thought the main job of
much less for prescription drugs than non-federal the press was to challenge slippery
buyers. There’s every reason to believe that a public answers and ask tough questions, not
option could achieve similar savings. to do that only when it helps “capture
Indeed, the prospects for such savings are precisely a tone.”
what have the opponents of a public plan so terrified. But what truly confuses is how a
Behind the boilerplate about big government, rationing few tough questions make up for
and all that lies the real concern: fear that the public plan months of forehead-scraping
would succeed. obeisance to The One. Suddenly these
So Obama and Democrats in Congress have to hang half-dozen reporters are media
tough — no more gratuitous giveaways in the attempt to redeemers?
sound reasonable. And reform advocates have to keep up Indeed, shouldn’t this be a
the pressure to stay on track. Yes, the perfect is the enemy moment for reflection on how bad the
of the good; but so is the not-good-enough-to-work. press has been until now? Instead of
Health reform has to be done right. “The Honeymoon Is Over,” why isn’t
the headline, “Handful of Reporters
Paul Krugman is a New York Times Make Colleagues Look Like
columnist. Chumps”?
Earlier this month, CNN, the
Washington Post and other major
A9 _ 06-29-2009 Set: 19:17:54
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_ Monday, June 29, 2009 9A
making her own bed and then watching her
husband lie in it with others. The cruelest
impact was on Chelsea. To her, Clinton
imparted the most damaging message a father
can give a daughter: that her gender can
represent mere sexual playthings to men like
him.
But as a voter, I’m not sure his indiscretions
canceled his political values. To my
knowledge, Clinton never failed to represent
women and their interests well. He just
couldn’t be held to his marriage vows. Go
figure.
Similarly, Eliot Spitzer hovers next to cretin
level for his dalliances with a hooker, yet he
was a brilliantly effective attorney general.
Back in the day, what happened in the
bedroom was allowed to stay in the bedroom,
often with society no worse off. John F.
Kennedy may have had one hand on Marilyn
Monroe’s sequined behind and another
within reach of the red button. The Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. led the nation to civil
rights reform, but his philandering is equally
well established.
As weary as we all are of sexual
shenanigans, the fact is that these cases are
merely the tip of the iceberg. Political
reporters consistently sift through rumors and
innuendoes of who is sleeping with whom in
statehouses around the nation. Many a tryst is
verified but ultimately deemed not
newsworthy because of a lack of public
malfeasance. The story is never reported. Be
thankful. Be very thankful.
To all the politicians with a roving eye, let
me offer this advice: Go ahead, ruin your
marriage, embarrass your wife and perhaps
permanently scar your children, if you must.
But don’t involve innocent staffers who have
to cover for you. Don’t leave your elected
duties unattended or use taxpayer money to
finance romps in the sack. And by all means,
don’t drag your wife in front of the cameras
when you hold the press conference owning
up to the mess.
I guess in that respect, Sanford represents a
step forward.
Kansas City Star columnist
Mary Sanchez may be
contacted at
msanchez@kcstar.com.
news outlets covered Obama’s killing
of a fly as if it was a major news event.
(At least when the Russian press
similarly gushes over Vladimir Putin,
he’s karate-chopping cinderblocks in
half.)
As Kool Aid-allergic columnist
Robert Samuelson has noted,
sycophancy is a serious public-policy
problem because the president is
proposing a radical overhaul of pretty
much everything, and, for the most
part, the press hasn’t cared that his
explanations are iffier than
gas-station sushi, his assurances
more dubious than a North Korean
press release. Obama’s ongoing
promise that he’s “creating or saving”
jobs is as plausible as the chess team
captain’s claim that his supermodel
girlfriend can’t fly down from Canada
for the prom.
But denial still has its advantages.
It allows concubines to say they’re
merely highly compensated
conversationalists. For the press, it
allows them to act on their own
prejudices and call it “news
judgment.” Alas, were it not for the
fact that Oprah already has a
magazine called O, this same news
judgment would have resulted in
Newsweek changing its name to
better reflect its status as the official
tribute album of the Obama years.
Subscribe now and get your free plate
from the Franklin Mint.
But if the honeymoon ended
Tuesday, the vows were renewed
Wednesday when ABC News staged
an infomerical on socialized medicine
from the White House. ABC was
tough, though. It opted not to hand
out commemorative plates.
— Excerpted from a column by
Jonah Goldberg, who may be
contacted at JonahsColumn
@aol.com.
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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Tuesday, June 30, 2009 11A

JOIN Rural roads: Think of the political perspective of lawmakers who Local activism: Much as it rubs people the wrong way, does
come from the immense swaths of rural Texas. No traffic jams. Roads in-your-face, disrespectful, aggressive politics work, and
THE are smooth. Tolls are something you pay if you’re unlucky enough to should we encourage more of it in the effort to bring about
DEBATE have to visit Dallas or Houston. Why change things? Rodger Jones, real change in southern Dallas? Tod Robberson,
dallasnews.com/opinion/blogs editorial board member, on transportationblog.dallasnews.com editorial board member, on gapblog.dallasnews.com

Call in Congress
BRIDGING DALLAS’
NORTH-SOUTH GAP
The dirty
Paul Quinn war against
needs your Unilateral approach to detention failed
clean coal
for Bush and won’t serve Obama any better,
support say Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith Plants could cut emissions now,
but FutureGen is making them
Dallas needs this college, and dither, says Gregg Easterbook

S
oon after the Sept. 11 at- sonal prestige is high. He can
this college needs support tacks, the Bush administra- dress up his detention plan as a

W
hile President Barack Obama’s
from you, says Ken Luce tion faced a fateful choice narrowing of Bush’s policy. It will cap-and-trade proposal to reduce
about terrorist detainees: Should apply to fewer detainees than greenhouse gases has been the big

D
allas needs Paul Quinn
College. Therefore, Dallasites
need to help the college now.
The southern Dallas college re-
ceived news last week that it had lost
its accreditation by a vote of the Com-
mission on Colleges of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools.
Paul Quinn is appealing, as it should,
because the decision ignores the great
progress the college has made in a
short time. To pull its accreditation
now would nullify the fantastic poten-
tial the college has begun to realize
after some troubled years.
Paul Quinn is a historically Afri-
can-American college, one of only
eight in our large state. Paul Quinn is
a small — 375 students — but focused
school that is as important to Dallas’
higher-education network as South-
ern Methodist University, the Uni-
versity of Texas at Dallas, the Uni-
versity of North Texas and the
University of Dallas.
It provides a place for students to
feel at home and excel. All of our
institutions of higher education con-
tribute to life in Dallas, but Paul
Quinn provides a voice that isn’t
heard from the other campuses. It is a
voice that was first heard more than
135 years ago and deserves to be heard
for the future. The liberal arts college
provides diversity of thought and a
diversity of student population to a
city that is striving to be a more ac-
cepting, cosmopolitan metropolis.
Paul Quinn deserves to thrive.
As president of the college, Mi-
chael Sorrell is absolutely the right
person to lead the college’s turn-
around and has made great strides in
a short two years. He is a smart and
resourceful man who leads with
integrity. With tough decision-mak-
ing and financial discipline, the school
recently reported that it has gotten rid
of more than $1 million in debt. Fun-
draising has increased as well, thanks
in large part to increased community
participation. And even in these
difficult economic times, at the end of
this fiscal year, the school expects a
budget surplus of more than
$200,000. That’s an achievement
that any U.S. college president would
be proud of during this recession.
If Paul Quinn College can make
those strides during the worst eco-
nomic crisis of our lifetimes, then
think of the progress in store when the
economy returns to normal. But for
that to happen, Dallas must act now.
The students need your help.
Sorrell’s vision is to change the
school’s label from “troubled” to “out-
standing.” With community support,
it get Congress on board or go it Bush’s policy and at a facility not topic of recent environmental debate, the
alone? President George W. Bush named Guantánamo Bay. White House also has been pushing a futuristic
bypassed the Legislature and for But refusing to go to Congress federal project to build a power plant that
seven years based U.S. detention still leaves inexpert and unac- burns coal without any greenhouse gases.
policy on his own constitutional countable courts to decide the de- Sounds great, right? Except the idea is a rehash
authority, Congress’ general au- tails. Courts will not defer forever of a proposal that went bust the first time
thorization for the war against al- to the notion that the government around.
Qaeda and its affiliates, and the can lock up people indefinitely on More important, the technology already
international laws of war. the say-so of the president and exists to make huge reductions in greenhouse
Working with Congress would will continue their march toward emissions from coal, allowing power
be hard, administration officials peacetime criminal-justice stan- companies to begin cutting the carbon
reasoned; the Legislature might dards and procedures for wartime footprint of coal today. Instead,
constrain executive flexibility, and detainees. The result will be con- advanced-technology coal power sits on the
the president had powerful argu- tinuing uncertainty, further judi- shelf while regulators wait to see what happens
ments that he didn’t need addi- cial encroachments into the con- with a project that may be just an expensive
tional legislative support. duct of warfare and further boondoggle.
Today, President Barack Oba- constriction of the president’s The big project, a public-private partnership
ma faces much the same choice, power. called FutureGen, was announced in 2003.
and he appears sorely tempted to The alternative, going to Con- Dreading facing up to the problem of
follow the same road, for the same gress, will be painful politically — greenhouse gases from electricity generation,
reasons: “White House officials as Congress’ budgetary machina- the Bush administration suggested that
are increasingly worried that tions limiting the president’s dis- decisions should wait while FutureGen
reaching quick agreement with The Associated Press cretion on closing Guantánamo
developed a coal-fired power plant with no
Congress on a new detention sys- A Guantánamo detainee have highlighted. Obama would emissions. FutureGen’s administrators spent
tem may be impossible,” The yells out his cell window. have to spend political capital five years on studies, proposals and studies of
Washington Post reported Satur- George W. Bush that he prefers to save for health studies but never broke ground for a test
day, and “Congress may try to as- bypassed Congress on care and climate change. installation.
sert too much control over the detention policy for The president can still get Then, in a fit of integrity, the Department of
process.” years; Barack Obama what he needs on detention if he Energy decided the project should be put in
Obama, to put it bluntly, seems seems poised to do the works from Congress’ bipartisan Illinois, a Democratic state — Midwestern coal
poised for a nearly wholesale same. center, if he releases more sub- is high in carbon, making this a logical choice —
adoption of the Bush administra- stantial information about the de- rather than in Republican Texas, which the
tion’s unilateral approach to de- tainees whom he thinks cannot be White House preferred. The administration
tention. The attraction is simple, seductive and set free and if he speaks often — as he did at the promptly canceled financing for FutureGen.
familiar. The legal arguments for unilateralism National Archives recently — about the need for But this month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu
are strong in theory; past presidents in shorter, stable rules to govern noncriminal detentions announced he was reviving the project, hinting
traditional wars did not seek specific congressio- that America cannot forswear. that the ultimate cost may run to billions of
nal input on detention. Securing such input for Presidential insistence on detention legisla- dollars.
our current war, it turns out, is still hard. The uni- tion will force members of Congress to take a The Obama administration’s FutureGen
lateral approach, by contrast, lets the president stand and will minimize congressional carping plan calls for yet another year of study before
define the rules in ways that are convenient for down the road. The process of crafting this legis- any actual action; test runs may not begin for a
him and then dares the courts to say no. lation would spark a debate that would educate decade.
This logic, however, failed disastrously for the country about the threat we face and would Yet companies including General Electric
Bush — and it will not serve Obama any better. legitimate whatever policies emerge from the have already perfected technology to reduce
Bush’s approach avoided congressional med- process. emissions substantially, called “integrated
dling but paradoxically sloughed off counterter- gasification combined cycle” power.
rorism policy on the courts. Over time, the judi- Current coal-fired power plants burn
ciary grew impatient with ad hoc detention pulverized coal using a combustion process that
procedures that lacked clear and specific legisla- hasn’t changed in half a century. The new
tive authorization, and judges began imposing approach turns coal into a gas similar to natural
novel and increasingly demanding rules. gas, which runs through a device similar to a jet
The result has been nearly eight years of un- Benjamin Wittes is a senior fellow at the Brookings engine. Such plants can achieve near-zero
stable policy with no safe harbor for executive Institution. Jack Goldsmith teaches at Harvard Law emissions of toxic material and chemicals that
conduct and no settled rules for detainees. School. Both are members of the Hoover Institu-
form smog. And they require about a third less
In the short term, Obama may get away with a tion’s Task Force on National Security and Law and coal than regular coal-fired power plants to
unilateral executive detention scheme. His per- may be reached through www.hoover.org. produce an equal amount of energy, which
means about a third lower greenhouse gases.
Beyond that, the promising technology of
“sequestering” carbon dioxide — pumping it
Do not forget the brave Burmese back into the ground to keep it out of the
atmosphere — appears for technical reasons to
be impractical for conventional pulverized-coal
power plants. But gasification plants have
Watching the protests in Iran, en in Burma’s Shan state. She spoke unflinching- technical characteristics that should make
ly, even though her audience included represen- “sequestration” of carbon feasible
I cannot help but think of 2007 tatives of the very regime she condemned. The first commercial gasification power
marches in Burma, says Laura Bush More of us in America should make such plant is being built in Indiana. Yet, absurdly,
courage our courage. At this moment, jailed most state public-utility commissions have

that vision can become reality. The
students of Paul Quinn deserve it.
What can you do?
Send a donation to Paul Quinn;
financial support from Dallas will
help demonstrate to the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools
that Paul Quinn is indeed financially
viable. Support its students; local
businesses can offer jobs to help with
the cost of their education and living
expenses or provide mentors to help
students plan career paths. Write
letters to Sorrell stating your support
for Paul Quinn; this is tangible sup-
port that can be used in the accredita-
tion appeal.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a
child’s education should begin 100
years before he is born. Holmes was
alluding to the educational systems
that must be in place for that child as
he grows. Paul Quinn College is part
of Dallas’ educational system, and it is
imperative that it win its appeal for
accreditation.
Ken Luce is president
of Weber Shandwick
Southwest, based in
Dallas, and may be
reached at kluce@
webershandwick.com.
F
or two weeks, the world has been
transfixed by images of Iranians taking to
the streets to demand the most basic
human freedoms and rights. Watching these
courageous men and women, I am reminded of a
similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma,
when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks
peacefully marched through their nation’s
streets. They, too, sought to reclaim basic human
dignity for all Burmese citizens, but they were
beaten back by that nation’s harsh regime.
Since those brutal days in September 2007,
more than 3,000 villages have been “forcibly
displaced” — a number exceeding the mass
relocations in genocide-racked Darfur. The
military junta has forced tens of thousands of
child soldiers into its army and routinely uses
civilians as mine-sweepers and slave laborers.
Human trafficking, where women and children
are snatched and sold, is pervasive.
Yet time and again, the women of Burma have
responded to this brutality with inspiring cour-
age. I will never forget visiting the remote and
crowded refugee camps on the Burma-Thailand
border where I watched the tireless efforts of Dr.
Cynthia Maung to provide lifesaving medical aid
for hundreds of Burmese in need, many of them
ill or injured.
Last fall, it was my privilege to present a Vital
Voices award to Charm Tong, who testified be-
fore U.N. officials at the age of 17 and eloquently
described the systematic military campaign of
rape and abuse that is being waged against wom-
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 64 and in
fragile health, faces sentencing on trumped-up
charges that could force her to endure five more
years of brutal captivity.
A new report from Harvard Law School asks
the U.N. Security Council to establish a “commis-
sion of inquiry” into crimes against humanity and
war crimes in Burma. Harvard’s panel of in-
ternational law experts has carefully catalogued
what it deems as the junta’s “widespread and
systemic” human rights violations. The Security
Council has already referred the crisis in Darfur
to the International Criminal Court. It should do
the same for Burma.
With U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
planning to visit Burma this summer, it is crucial
that he press the regime to take immediate steps
to end human rights abuses, particularly in ethnic
minority areas. There have been 38 U.N. resolu-
tions condemning these abuses, yet the horrors
continue unabated.
But Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued example of
civil courage — like those brave protesters in Iran
— reminds all of us that no matter how callous the
regime, it cannot lock up what she stands for: the
fundamental desire of all people to live in free-
dom and with dignity.
Laura Bush is the former first lady
of the United States. This essay is
excerpted from a version pub-
lished in The Washington Post.
denied requests to construct these
environmentally friendly systems. Last year,
Virginia denied a major utility’s request to build
a coal-fired power plant that would have
sequestered nearly all its carbon output.
One reason Virginia gave for the denial was
the higher up-front cost of a gasification plant.
Yet, once greenhouse gases are regulated, the
economics of gasification plants may become
attractive, with low-emission plants costing less
to run.
Another reason is that utility commissions
are waiting for the outcome of the FutureGen
experiment. Rather than starting to cut
coal-caused carbon emissions right now, we are
waiting to see if a hypothetical system could
achieve perfection decades from now.
Coal use is a future certainty. Half of our
power comes from coal. In the next few
decades, green power simply cannot grow
quickly enough to eliminate the need for coal.
We have two choices: Do nothing, or start
building improved coal-fired plants that reduce
the problem.
Which seems more forward-thinking?
Gregg Easterbrook is the
author of “The Progress
Paradox” and the
forthcoming “Sonic Boom.”
He may be contacted at
gregg@greggeasterbrook.com.

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