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6 - Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 Opinion LaGrange Daily News ‘Best things’ live on after moment is gone As one who has made a living with words, I hate to admit it. Some of the most succinct, deeply expressive, thought-provoking writing in the world is found on bumper stickers. (Some of the worst, too, but that’s another column.) Maybe it was a coincidence that I had a popular bumper-sticker phrase on my mind when I walked outside after dark on Wednesday to check out the spectacular harvest moon. Maybe it was just luck that a rare astronomical event had the planet Jupiter twinkling like a star alongside the luminous lunar orange. Maybe it was just a pleasant illusion that, if I tilted my head just so, the jumbo moon and the shimmering planet were framed, perfectly, by the curving branches of a tall pine tree at the edge of my yard. Maybe, but as I gazed wide-eyed at the heavens, I wanted to shout it out loud: “The best things in life aren’t things.” The late political humorist Art Buchwald is credited with the “best things” phrase, now common on car bumpers and church message boards. Buchwald wrote it, but most of us knew it, instinctively, before he put it into words. There’s quibble room in his reasoning, I suppose, but not much. The full moon, Support the Tea Party Most people have an opinion regarding the Tea Party. Most Democrats and some Republicans sincerely believe that the Tea Party consists of far-out extreme conservatives. Yes, there are some Tea Party members who act irresponsibly. But that is true in every organization. In the United Methodist Church, my denomination, I am offended by liberals who care little about biblical truths. Again, there are rotten apples in every barrel. I encourage every person in Troup County to support the Tea Larry Summerour of T r o u p County is a retired pastor who enjoys political c o m m e n - tary. Party Movement. Why? Because only Tea Party candidates are true conservatives. As I have written, I dislike Republicans and D e m o c r a t s because they are both liberal par- ties. It was George W. Bush who strongly supported the Wall Street bailouts. Unfortunately, President Obama has continued the liberalism of Bush. This includes the billions we are spending every day in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ronald Reagan defined a conservative in two ways. First, a conservative is foremost a tax cutter for all Americans. Those who do not cut taxes are not bona-fide conservatives. Second, conservatives always cut spending. Only the Tea Party candidates fit this definition of conservatism. If I lived in Alaska, I would have supported Joe Miller against Lisa Murkowski in the Senate race. Murkowski, a liberal Republican, wanted the taxpayers – you and me – to keep spending billions of our dollars for unwarranted federal projects in Alaska. Miller, a Tea Party advocate, believes in the conservative principles established by Reagan. In Miller’s opinion, it is time for a revolution in Washington, D.C. The big spenders – Democrats and Republicans – are not going to slow him down. He is joined by Sharon Angle, Marco Rubio, Mike See, Rand Paul and others who are faithful to the Tea Party message. Some people call the Tea Party movement a bunch of radicals. When Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson for the presidency, he said repeatedly that extremism in the pursuit of freedom is a virtue. I believe that our only hope in America is for people to get radical when it comes to cutting our national debt. My faith is not in Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Neither is it in Mitch McConnell or John Boehner. My faith is in the young, new people who will hopefully lead us in the coming years in Congress. We desperately need fresh blood. Only the Tea Party will give us that. Again, members of the Tea Party are not perfect. However, they are our best hope for bringing fiscal sanity in Washington. The Tea Party candidates deserve our support. Andrea Lovejoy is former editor of LaGrange Daily News. one could argue, is a “thing.” But as I stared up at the night sky, it wasn’t the moon, as an object, that inspired me. It was the glory of creation, the abundant beauty and majesty of God’s world, the ease of access to it –a few steps outside my door, no charge – that moved me. I lay in bed, wide awake, thinking of other highlight experiences that confirm, for me, that the best things in life aren’t things. I was with my grandmother, born in 1900, as the first astronauts landed on the moon in 1969. Sharing that experience with someone whose childhood transportation had been a horse and wagon was amazing then and has become even more precious as a treasured, oft-revisited memory. I sat with the love of my life – and at least a hundred strangers – on a hard volcanic rock field on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2008, celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary by watching fiery lava from the Kilauea volcano flow off a sheer cliff into the ocean, steaming and seething, destroying and creating with each burst. The incredible power of nature, meshed with the quiet joy of lasting love, left me weak-kneed. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. In between, I experienced the miracle of birth, twice, and the overwhelming joy of welcoming grandchildren into the world. Those events, plus several more, make up my personal “best things” list. I’m sure you have your own. But no matter what’s on it, I suspect, what Buchwald really was saying was this: The best things in life are the experiences that mean something, that live on long after the moment is gone. I didn’t really need proof, but was not surprised to find some. In today’s world, you name it, somebody has done a study on it. A psychologist at Cornell University, in fact, specializes in “happiness research.” Now that’s a job that might lure me out of retirement. Professor Thomas Glover reports that his research on “buying vs. experiencing happiness” confirms that material things don’t bring much lasting joy. Well, duh! We all know that, but our Is Obama throwing Pelosi, Reid under the bus to save his hide? Is Obama throwing Pelosi and Reid under the bus? Yes, this column is a real exercise in cynicism. But in the world of politics and its big-boy nastiness, it’s entirely possible that’s it’s true, nevertheless. I learned during the years of Newt Gingrich’s control of Congress that it’s a lot easier for an incumbent to win the White House when there’s somebody else to blame for his and the nation’s ills. Look at the polling. President Obama and the Democrats in Washington already weren’t faring very well when the president chose to publicly defend the proposed construction of an “Islamic community center” – aka a mosque – just a few blocks from the destruction of the World Trade Centers. Once he did that, those polling numbers tumbled some more. Then Obama made it even worse for himself by “clarifying” his statements, which consisted of him basically reiterating his position. Harry Reid in particular went ballistic. With his own re-election campaign in Nevada in jeopardy, the Senate majority leader had to openly distance himself from the president. Since that day, the president has seemingly gone out of his way to say things, or to have his administration do things, that only deepen the hole he and the Democrats are in. He has taken an inflexible stand against extending the George W. Bush tax cuts. His White House has leaked memos about alternative ways to keep illegal immigrants stateside. He’s appeared at a town hall meeting and gone away utterly embarrassed. It seems that Obama has made all the right moves to benefit one person – Barack Obama. I’ll grant that my view may be unsurprising coming from someone who wrote a book called “Paranoid Nation” – someone Matt Towery heads the polling and politicalinformation firm InsiderAdvantage. utterly cynical about politicians. But this is little wonder. I was there in 1996 when President Bill Clinton and his team successfully attached at the hip the by-then unpopular Speaker Gingrich with GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole. This worked like a charm by dooming Dole’s campaign from the start. Ask yourself: If you were Obama, would you really want Reid and Pelosi standing on the stage with you in two years, when you’re running for re-election, and you’re trying to explain why “Change We Can Believe In” has morphed into “Nightmare on Elm Street”? You wouldn’t. You’d rather have a Republican speaker to blame should the economy take another dip in the wrong direction. Or a GOP Senate leader as a fall guy if foreign policy deteriorates. The latest fashionable cliche in Washington is to characterize Obama as a professorial type who is easily led astray by a cast of liberal characters who are pulling him in various new directions. I don’t buy it. This man is exceptionally bright and exceptionally ruthless. You don’t go from being a small-potatoes legislator in a tough-as-nails state like Illinois to being president within 10 years unless you are willing to do whatever it takes to survive politically. I think that’s exactly what Obama is doing now. His answer to our economic plight is to ignore public protests even from Democrats that he is wrong and wrongheaded on taxation and other related issues. Pelosi apparently is too dim-witted to realize that her continuing devotion to the liberal politics and policies of San Francisco is burying any chance that she can remain as speaker. Of course, Obama will shed few private tears if she falls from power. Pelosi has been nothing if not a pain in the rear to Obama, even as she supposedly has been his supporter. For Obama, the best case would be for the Democrats to lose Congress, just as they did in 1994 during Clinton’s first term. This would allow Obama to lay the blame for the sputtering economy at the GOP’s doorstep, as well as provide him with an excuse for not passing the boatload of additional liberal agenda items that his support base will continue to demand. It might even help the president further if the number of Republicans in the Senate goes up to the point that the magic 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster attempt would be impossibility. That would ensure one of the Democrats favorite words – gridlock. The media are focusing on the silly alleged divide in the Republican Party between the “establishment” and the tea party – this, without ever even entertaining the possibility that this may be a White House bound and determined to rid itself of a Democratic congressional leadership that is plagued by members under investigation; a House and Senate that is by the day becoming more and more despised by a public that usually doesn’t give a fig one way or the other. Don’t forget: Obama may be a professor by trade, but he can be as big of a political butcher as the anyone raised on Chicagostyle politics. If some readers find my concept overly cynical, so be it. The White House likely would just call it being practical. actions don’t always reflect it. Glover’s advice, then, could be useful in guiding decisions. Suppose you have a little money to spend and are debating whether to buy a new TV or take the family on a trip to Disney World. “Logic” suggests buying the TV, because it will “be there” in the physical sense for years to come, but that’s not the way happiness works, Glover found. “We adapt to things,” the professor said. In short fashion, the fancy, new TV becomes just the thing you watch every day. “But in the psychological sense, it’s the experience that lives on,” Glover said. So, unless you bicker your way through the Magic Kingdom, the vacation experience has a better chance of becoming a “best thing” in your life’s memory bank. Glover also found that “best things” don’t have to cost big bucks. Bicycles are just things, but a family bike ride on a beautiful fall day is a future “best” memory. A sandwich is just bread and meat, but a picnic shared with someone special lives on long after digestion is complete. I’m no Art Buchwald, but here’s my take. Forget the stuff. Go have some fun. For starters, check out what’s left of that moon. ■ State voices Deal derelict on ‘oversight’ of $2.85 million Nathan Deal claims the press is being “derelict” for digging into his troubled finances rather than the problem with unsafe salvage cars on the road – which his company used to inspect for the state. Well, maybe the press wouldn’t be spending so much of its “derelict” time on Deal’s finances if they were released and explained in a more timely and understandable way. Now that the primary is over and Deal is the Republican nominee for governor of Georgia, we learn that he’s in debt up to his ears – and is facing a $2.3 million payment next February on loans he backed for his daughter’s and son-in-law’s failed sporting goods store. Later news accounts indicated another $2.85 million he and a partner owe on the auto salvage business. Deal did not, as required, reveal that $2.85 million obligation of his company’s on reports with the state Ethics Commission when he filed to run for governor. He says now that was an “oversight.” An oversight? When was the last time you forgot a $2.85 million debt? Look, nearly everyone has money problems these days. That alone shouldn’t disqualify someone from office. But it seems like pulling teeth trying to get an accurate picture of Deal’s financial state. For weeks now, the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes has had a field day in ads asking pointed questions about Deal’s dealings. Now there’s a $2.85 million “oversight”? Deal communications director Brian Robinson notes that the $2.85 million loan is an obligation of the company Deal co-owns – and that the company is worth $5 million. He also said the company is profitable and the loan is in good standing. So noted. But it’s still an obligation – one that the candidate failed to report on ethics forms. We just pray there are no other shoes to drop. Barnes has been handed plenty of ammunition for the fall campaign already. Giving him more would be – dare we say? – derelict. – Augusta Chronicle Gulf oil spill ends, but effects linger Out of sight (the saying goes), out of mind. Unfortunately, a problem that is literally out of sight and largely out of mind has not necessarily ceased to be a problem. In some instances, it can come back even worse than before. Such could be the case with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – the issue, and the oil itself. Eclipsed in headlines, blogs and newscasts by more recent events and distractions, the environmental crisis that began in April with the tragic explosion and massive oil spill at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig has largely receded in the public consciousness. But a University of Georgia research team led by UGA marine scientist Samantha Joye is still at the gulf. They set out in August to study large oil plumes and emissions of methane and other chemicals that had been discovered when Joye and other marine scientists and oceanographers first went to the area. That was shortly after the explosion, which cost 11 lives and sent 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the gulf waters. What they found this time out wasn’t what they went looking for. Instead of the plumes, of which Joye said only “traces” remain, they discovered a vast layer of what appears to be oil sediment on the sea floor. The scientists have found dead marine creatures trapped under the layer. One possibility of how oil once floating on the surface and suspended in large plumes in the water got to the bottom is that it was deposited there by the chemical dispersants BP workers mixed with the oil in an attempt to keep it from washing up at coastal marshes and beaches. … This much we do know: Just because we no longer see huge oil slicks on the water or globs of tarry goo washing up on beaches doesn’t mean this is over. It might not even be close. – Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
LaGrange Daily News MCT Direct Squinkies, one of many cute toys hoping to be a holiday hit, are tiny people and animals stored in bubbles in toy vending machines. Cuteness tops for holiday toy sales NEW YORK (AP) – It’s getting crowded in the race to succeed Zhu Zhu Pets as the next hot holiday toy. From plush dolls that harmonize to tiny people and animals stored in bubbles in toy vending machines, collectibility and cuteness are off the charts for this year’s toys. But with so many toys vying to win “Most Adorable,” it remains to be seen if any will duplicate the runaway success of the Zhu Zhu Pets, toy hamsters that squeak, zoom around on wheels and sell for just $10. For toy sellers, making the right picks early is crucial so they have the right mixture of toys at the right prices to lure gift givers to buy. The right bet can mean the difference between being in stock or out of the year’s musthave playthings in a season that can account for the bulk of a toy retailer’s annual profit. Toys R Us, which came out with its “hot toy” list on Tuesday, is betting on a few contenders for the cute crown. Those include Blip Toys’ Squinkies, tiny figures that fit inside a toy dispensing machines and come in 16 packs for $10; Mattel Inc.’s $12.99 Sing-ama-jigs, colorful plush dolls that harmonize; and $19.99 Pillow Pets, stuffed animals that convert into pillows. The holiday season is crucial for toy makers, which can make up to half of their annual revenue during the fourth quarter. While toys are relatively recession-proof, because parents cut back on themselves before their children, they are still affected by a down economy. The NPD Group, which does market research, said toy revenue was flat because of discounts during last year’s holiday quarter, but the industry sold 4 percent more toys. For the year, revenue edged down 1 percent to $21.47 billion. BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson expects that to reverse this National, International Zoobies are brightly patterned creatures that fold into a ball, but pop open when placed on a magnetic stand. year with a 2 percent gain for the year. For the most part, toy prices will remain low, Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan said, because toys new this season were likely developed during the recession. Rather than being made more expensively and then discounted, “they’ve just been engineered and sold at lower prices without sacrificing margins,” he said. But there are some signs that the focus on low prices, ever-present over the past two years, is easing. Toys R Us plans to open 10 temporary stores for its FAO Schwarz brand. And for the first time Hasbro is offering an “Ultimate Gifts” line, including a $299 Furreal Friends Butterscotch pony and a $119.99 Scrabble premier wood edition, online only. Still, the majority of toys this year will be under $25, particularly collectibles. Cepia LLC introduced new lines of Zhu Zhu pets this year, including hamster babies and a Kung Zhu set of hamsters that battle in an arena for boys. Still, most do not believe the lines be the stellar sellers they were last year. “Supply had definitely caught up with demand on Zhu Zhu pets,” Johnson said. Hasbro is pushing Furry Frenzies, animals that skitter around, that retail for $8 each. Another cute collectible: Zoobles. The line includes brightly patterned creatures that fold up into a ball but pop open when placed on top of a magnetized stand. They sell for $5.99 for one and $9.99 for a two-pack. They’re made by Spinmaster, known for its Baukugan Battle Brawlers game that uses similar balls that pop open magnetically. While it is too early to tell if there will be a true breakout this holiday season, analysts are already taking note that Zoobles have been scarce on store shelves. “I was in a bunch of stores last week, and I couldn’t find any (Zoobles) actually in stock,” said McGowan. Squinkies have been scarce as well. Bill Nichols, president and cofounder of Squinkies maker Blip Toys in Minnetonka, Minn., said he was inspired to create Squinkies by dispensing machines found in grocery and convenience stores. Squinkies toy dispensers double as play sets for Squinkies, which each come in a plastic bubble. Nichols said it is exciting how fast the toys have caught on since their debut in August. “Everybody has been saying we captured lightning in a bubble,” he said. Singer lobbies for blind GENEVA (AP) – Stevie Wonder pressed global copyright overseers this week to help blind and visually impaired people access millions of science, history and other audiobooks, which they cannot read in electronic form. The blind singer told the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization that more than 300 million people who “live in the dark” want to “read their way into light,” and the current copyright system denies them an equal opportunity. The current legal framework means that institutes for the blind in different countries may be required to make multiple audiobook versions of the same work, said Richard Owens, WIPO’s director of copyright and electronic commerce. Owens said this leads to higher costs that are passed on to the listeners. It also limits access to blind and partially blind people in poor countries, which cannot afford to make their own versions of everything from science textbooks to best-sellers, he said. The U.N. agency has been trying for six years to revamp its global copyright framework so that it better accounts for new media, such as audiobooks. For the blind and visually impaired, the goal is to create a clearinghouse so that published material can be traded around the world and translated into new, readable formats. But the problem of access for such copyrighted material goes to the heart of a growing crisis in the world of copyright protection, as the Internet increasingly muddies laws that were created for traditional media. Whereas wide exceptions exist for books in Braille, WIPO officials say there is confusion over how these benefits can be translated into the digital age. Proponents of a new agreement say the same benefits that digital books provide most consumers – lower costs and better storage and accessibility – should be extended to those with disabilities. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pop singer Eddie Fisher, whose clear voice brought him a devoted following of teenage girls in the early 1950s before marriage scandals overshadowed his fame, has died at age 82. He died Wednesday night at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery, his daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher of Los Angeles, told the Associated Press. “Late last evening the world lost a true America icon,” Fisher’s family said in a statement released by publicist British Reece. “One of the greatest voices of the century passed away. He was an extraordinary talent and a true mensch.” The death was first reported by Hollywood website deadline.com. In the early ’50s, Fisher sold millions of records with 32 hit songs, including “Thinking of You,” “Any Time,” “Oh, My Papa,” “I’m Yours,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Lady of Spain” and “Count Your Blessings.” His fame was enhanced by his 1955 marriage to movie darling Debbie Reynolds — they were touted as “America’s favorite couple” — and the birth of two children. Their daughter Carrie Fisher became a film star herself in the first three “Star Wars” films as Princess Leia, and later as a best-selling author of “Postcards From the Edge” and other books. Carrie Fisher spent most of 2008 on the road with her autobiographical show “Wishful Drinking.” In an interview with the Associated Press, she told of singing with her father on stage in San Jose. Eddie Fisher was by then in a wheelchair and living in San Francisco. When Eddie Fisher’s best friend, producer Mike Todd, was killed in a 1958 plane crash, Fisher comforted the widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Amid sensationalist headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959. The Fisher-Taylor marriage lasted only five years. She fell in love with co-star Richard Burton during the Rome filming of “Cleopatra,” divorced Fisher and married Burton in one of the great entertainment world scandals of the 20th century. Fisher’s career never recovered from the notoriety. He married actress Connie Stevens, and they had two daughters. Another divorce followed. He married twice more. Edwin Jack Fisher was born Aug. 10, 1928, in Philadelphia, one of seven children of a Jewish grocer. At 15 he was singing on Philadelphia radio. After moving to New York, Fisher was adopted as a protege by comedian Eddie Cantor, who helped the young singer become a star in radio, television and records. Fisher’s romantic messages resonated with young girls in the pre- Elvis period. Publicistmanager Milton Blackstone helped the publicity by hiring girls to scream and swoon at Fisher’s appearances. Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 -7 Obesity is blow to wallet and to health WASHINGTON (AP) – Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women. Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese, but that’s only a portion of the real-life costs. George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline – and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man. That’s far more than the cost of being merely overweight – $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report released this week, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total. Why the difference between the sexes? Studies suggest larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don’t differ when men pack on the pounds. That was a big surprise, said study coauthor and health policy professor Christine Ferguson. Researchers had expected everybody’s wages to suffer with obesity, but “this indicates you’re not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective,” said Ferguson, who plans to study why. Then consider that obesity is linked to earlier death. While that’s not something people usually consider a pocketbook issue, the report did average in the economic value of lost life. That brought women’s annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men’s to $6,518. The report was financed Amanda Nanor, 18, has dropped from 450 pounds to 370 since having stomach bypass surgery. She will pay a lifelong price, though: She must take vitamins every day. A new study shows the price of obesity, both on health and on the wallet. by one of the manufacturers of gastric banding, a type of obesity surgery. The numbers are in line with other research and aren’t surprising, said Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and health economist at Duke University who wasn’t involved in the new report. Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades. Nearly 18 percent of adolescents now are obese, facing a future of diabetes, heart disease and other ailments. Looking at the price tag may help policymakers weigh the value of spending to prevent and fight obesity, said Schulman, pointing to factors like dietary changes over the past 30 years and physical environments that discourage physical activity. “We’re paying a very high price as a society for obesity, and why don’t we think about it as a problem of enormous magnitude to our economy?” he asks. “We’re creating obesity and we need to do a man-on-the-moon effort to solve this before those poor kids in elementary school become diabetic middle-aged people.” A major study published last year found medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for the obese than normal-weight people. The report added mostly work-related costs – things like sick days and disability claims – related to those health problems. It also included a quirky finding, a study that calculated nearly 1 billion additional gallons of gasoline are used every year because of increases in car passengers’ weight since 1960. ’50s pop singer Fisher dies Eddie Fisher was married to actress Debbie Reynolds, top, and Elizabeth Taylor. After getting out of the Army in 1953 following a two-year hitch, hit records, his own TV show and the headlined marriage to Reynolds made Fisher a top star. The couple costarred in a 1956 romantic comedy, “Bundle of Joy,” that capitalized on their own parenthood. In 1960 he played a role in “Butterfield 8,” for which Taylor won an Academy Award. But that film marked the end of his movie career. After being discarded by Taylor, Fisher became the butt of comedians’ jokes. He began relying on drugs to get through performances, and his bookings dwindled. He later said he had made and spent $20 million during his heyday, and much of it went to gambling and drugs. In 1983, Fisher attempted a full-scale comeback. But his old fans had been turned off by the scandals, and the younger generation had been turned on by rock. The tour was unsuccessful. He had added to his notoriety that year with an autobiography, “Eddie: My Life, My Loves.”
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