Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 21, 2011 Page: 3 of 18
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Co-Publishers
Mary Henkel Judson
& Murray Judson
Editor
Mary Henkel Judson
Port Aransas South Jetty
Member
Texas Press Association
South Texas Press Association
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
National Newspaper Association
Thursday, July 21, 2011 3 A
EELY
Perry should
thank atheists
The Texas
Ethics Com-
mission, and
possibly the
Federal Elec-
tion Commis-
sion, should
keep an eye
on the campaign finance filings of Rick
Perry.
They should be checking whether the
Texas governor and probable candidate for
the Republican presidential nomination re-
ports the lawsuit filed by a group of atheists
and agnostics to smite his national prayer
day as an in-kind campaign contribution.
You can be forgiven if you think were
being facetious, because we are. But if you’re
casting your bread on the presidential waters
before conservative Christians, can you
think of anything more helpful than atheists
trying to shut down your national prayer
session? Manna from Heaven.
The governor probably laughed all the
way to his latest tracking poll briefing. Perry
should at least send the group a thank-you
note.
The atheists object to what’s called “The
Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in
Crisis.” It is set for Aug. 6 at Reliant Stadium
in Houston.
The Freedom From Religion Founda-
tion contends in its suit, filed in a Houston
federal court, that lending the governor’s
office to a Christian prayer event amounts to
government endorsement of religion. They
argue that violates the First Amendment of
the federal constitution.
The Austin American-Statesman edito-
rialized recently, and correctly, that while
questions can be raised about the governor’s
overt faith exercise, sponsored in part by
a group that condemns gays and others it
considers unworthy, there’s no violation of
federal law here.
Possibly a better way to look at it is, it is
what it is. Gov. Perry is choosing to tie up
with the religious right very tightly. It may
work. It may not.
While several recent presidents have been
quite comfortable talking about religion,
some candidates who have been more
outspoken, like former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee in 2008, and Pat Robertson of the
Christian Coalition in 1988, didn’t get close
to occupying the oval office.
As a sitting governor, Perry is pushing the
religious envelope a bit more while ponder-
ing a presidential campaign.
Among questions he’ll be asked if he
runs, and possibly before, is how he puts
his Christianity in practice in leading the
second most populous state.
According to “Texas on the Brink,” an
annual report from the Legislative Study
Group about its ranking nationally among
the states, Texas ranks poorly in some of the
things many people consider important, and
high in areas that demonstrate neglect.
A few examples:
• Teacher salaries - 31st
• Spending per student - 38th
• Scholastic Aptitude Tests - 45th
• High school graduation rate - 43rd
• Percent of uninsured children - 1st
• Children living in poverty - 4th
• Percent without health insurance - 1st
• Percent of low-income population cov-
ered by Medicaid - 49th
• Per capita spending on mental health
- 50th
• Births to females 15-19 - 3rd
• Workers compensation coverage - 50th.
You get the idea. And those figures are
from before the cuts in the two-year budget
beginning Sept. 1 have their impact.
In the Bible (Matthew 25:40), Jesus says,
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers and sisters of
mine, you did for me.”
The question may be asked of the gover-
nor who forced more than $4 billion in cuts
to public schools and $1 billion from higher
education: What would Jesus have done?
And So On----
Federal campaign finance regulations are
far more stringent than the virtually unlim-
ited laws in raising money for Texas offices
like governor.
Rick Perry has been running around the
country a bunch testing the waters.
Question being asked by the Texas Tri-
bune: How long can Perry test the presiden-
tial waters while using money raised outside
the federal campaign reporting system
before he runs into trouble from the Federal
Election Commission?
*******
Perry and the Prophets----For an inter-
esting read on the governor’s dealings with
some evangelical leaders who think they are
“prophets,” and God’s Gift to Politics, check
out Forrest Wilder’s story in the current is-
sue of the Texas Observer.
The story can also be found on-line at
https://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/
rick-perrys-army-of-god?
Some people outside of Texas, as they
ponder their presidential choices, may ques-
tion whether they’re ready for another Texas
governor who sees himself as doing Gods
will.
Contact McNeely at
davemcneelyl ll@gmail.com or (512) 458-
2963. •
Find out about
Breaking News
in Port Aransas
when it happens!
Sign up for free
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www.portasouthjetty.com
What would Mr. Whipple do?
The greatest crisis of national, perhaps even
international, proportions since Mr. Whipple
squeezed the Charmin may be in the works.
Our investigative reporting team (a team
of none) has been unable to track down the
origin or cause of the crisis, but the proof is
indisputable.
It has been reported to us by a credible
source* that the cores of toilet paper rolls are
now larger, yet the roll as a whole is no larger,
resulting in a significantly smaller yield of TP
squares.
Consequently, the source’s household of
two adults is consuming a roll a day, easily
doubling, if not tripling its previous con-
sumption.
TP manufacturers evidently have a variety
of tricks up their sleeves. Another consumer,
again a credible source, has reported “puffy”
TP squares that make a TP roll appear to be
the standard circumference, but it in fact,
contains a significantly reduced number of
TP squares. This household also is reporting
increased TP consumption.
This chicanery puts the toilet paper manu-
facturer in the enviable position of doubling
or tripling its profits at the expense of the
consumer.
The consumer’s only option is to reduce
its intake of liquids and increase its intake of
dairy products because I don’t think Sears
still prints a catalogue (readers under age 40,
consult your parents).
It would be far more straightforward for
TP manufacturers to make toilet paper the
way they always have and raise their prices.
We’re paying for it one way or the other. It’s
NKEL
SON
not like we can
do without it.
Can you
imagine Mr.
Whipple if he
tried to squeeze
the Charmin
today? He
wouldn’t have much to squeeze. That com-
mercial, an icon of American advertising,
could not be made.
Or, maybe it could be made:
Take 1: A wide shot of the Family Center
IGA.
Take 2: Fade to the TP aisle.
Take 3: Wide shot of Mr. Whipple going
from one TP brand to the next, squeezing
each and looking around to see if he’s been
seen after each squeeze.
Take 4: Zoom to Mr. Whipple squeezing
the TP that gave the most resistance (and is
therefore the TP with the most squares).
Take 5: Close up of Mr. Whipple hugging
the top brand, and saying, “Top TP - make it
your main squeeze.”
Mr.Whipple, a closet TP squeezer, may
have had the right idea all along. So, go ahead,
squeeze the Charmin (and the Scott and the
Cottonelle and the Kleenex).
*Port Aransas resident Marvin Murray
who took the trouble to stop at this news-
paper office and report this crisis. I didn’t
guarantee him anonymity.
Mary Henkel Judson is editor and co-
publisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at
south) etty@centurv tel. nek (361) 749-5131 or
P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373.
Letters to the Editor
Yes to beach vending!
From coyote and seagull problems to
crime and trash concerns, I’ve heard it all.
Though some of the concerns are valid,
in its initial thought (and some profound-
ly naive), there are incredible opportuni-
ties for our beach and community we
should consider.
1) Cleaner beaches through an “adopt
a beach” program, where each vendor is
required to pick up trash in a larger sec-
tion of the beach in which it sits.
2) Additional revenue for our city to
actually improve and pay for additional
beach cleaning services.
3) Improving our local and guest ser-
vices on the beach by offering eats, sweets
and treats for them to enjoy without hav-
ing to leave the beach for the “non-local”
overpriced gas station.
And, well, there are so many more
good reasons to allow a vendor like me
to sell a great product that all of us can
enjoy during a hot summer day at the
beach.
The truth is that no one is trying to
“sell our beach” or commercialize it with
trashy taco trailers. Allowing a select
group of beach vendors that meet a
specific standard which represents the
interests of Port Aransas is smart busi-
ness for all of us; a business that can add
substantial benefits in numerous areas to
our community.
Please don’t allow a propagated fear
lodged by antiquated agendas at the
midnight hour to hold our city back from
healthy growth and opportunity. Support
strategic beach vending and let s actually
trust those we voted for to make healthy
decisions that actually benefit our city.
David Bendett
Port Aransas
Recipe-clippers, unite!
Thank you so much for Mary Judson’s
charming essay, which was printed in the July
14 issue of the South Jetty.
For all of us inveterate recipe-clippers, it was
a source of great comfort. We are not alone.
Carol Kilgore
Port Aransas
Providing comfort
On behalf of our family, I want to thank
you, and Susan Armanovs for the very nice
article that she wrote about our daughter-in-
law Christy Wilson (South Jetty, July 7). The
article was really well-written and thought-
fully presented.
Kenzie’s sudden and unexpected passing
sent shock-waves through our hearts, and we
will never fully recover.
We have observed a great improvement in
Christy’s recovery, in large part, due to the
healing effects that she receives in creating the
“Kenzie Bracelets.” Not only are the bracelets
beautiful, but they also provide comfort and
hope to all of us.
I would like to clarify one point; Kenzie
passed-away only a short 14 weeks after she
was born. We were just getting to know her.
She did spend the New Year’s holidays in
Port Aransas with us; it was a time that we
will never forget.
Thanks again for providing such a great
publication to all of us.
Mike Firestone
Port Aransas
Ad
at work
Let the
^0^ PORT ARANSAS
South Jetty^
Put an ad to work for you.
Call Lisa Shelton
13611749-5131 or (3611537-5777
(c) 2011 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES.
Fixing present,
ensuring future
PLYM-
OUTH
NOTCH, Vt. -
If your disgust
over America’s
crushing
debt and the
irresponsible
leaders who re-
fuse to reduce
unnecessary spending has reached the fed-
up point, there is an easy solution beyond
whatever compromise might be reached
in the current standoff between President
Obama and congressional Republicans.
Vote Republican in 2012.
But don’t vote for just any Republican,
rather vote for conservatives who believe
the foundational principles of America still
work and can rescue us from default, plac-
ing the country back on a track that leads to
prosperity and greater liberty.
Last week, I was one in a series of speak-
ers (Justice Stephen Breyer speaks next
week) at the new Calvin Coolidge Museum
and Education Center. My subject was
“What the Past Can Teach the,Present,
Ensuring the Future.”
There are no new ideas, only old ideas
that either worked or failed. There is “noth-
ing new under the sun,” as Ecclesiastes
reminds us.
Some excerpts from my address:
• Not knowing how to solve a prob-
lem is forgivable. You would expect our
representatives to press on until they find a
solution. Knowing how to solve a problem,
but refusing to solve it because you would
rather have the issue run on than to offer a
solution that benefits the country, is more
obscene to my mind than receiving a tweet
from Anthony Weiner.
• Quoting Coolidge: “There is no salva-
tion in a narrow and bigoted partisanship.
But if there is to be responsible party gov-
ernment, the party label must be something
more than a mere device for securing
office. Unless those who are elected under
the same party designation are willing to
assume sufficient responsibility and exhibit
sufficient loyalty and coherence, so that
they can cooperate with each other in the
support of the broad general principles, of
the party platform, the election is merely a
mockery, no decision is made at the polls,
and there is no representation of the popu-
lar will.”
The election last November was an
expression of the popular will. It was a repu-
diation of the direction in which President
Obama and congressional Democrats are
taking the country. Instead of moderating
their far-left views, Democrats have doubled
down and are behaving as if liberalism is
on the rise rather than on the decline. The
attitude of these elected dictators seems to
be “the public be damned.”
President Obama talks about “shared sac-
rifice,” but why should people who are not
responsible for the deficit pay more to ir-
responsible politicians who can’t live within
the means we provide them? Let them
“sacrifice” by cutting spending. Taxpayers
have sacrificed enough.
Abraham Lincoln had a little something
to say on how expanding government suf-
focates individual freedom: “The legitimate
object of government is to do for a commu-
nity of people whatever they need to have
done, but cannot do at all in their separate
and individual capacities. In all that the
people can individually do as well for them-
selves, government ought not to interfere.”
There may never have been a better case
made for the federal government’s limited
role and the limitless role and responsibility
of the individual citizen.
These separate yet complimentary func-
tions of state and citizen should be at the
center of the 2012 campaign. It will be a
difficult debate because of the number of
people liberals have managed to addict
to government, but it is a debate we must
have. Its proper resolution will determine
whether America can continue to prosper
and protect and defend liberty without
which the America we have known will be
a subject for future historians, as they study
the reasons for our decline.
We don’t live in the past, but we can learn
from it. Will we? Coolidge did. The presi-
dential and congressional candidates should
make a pilgrimage to this tiny hamlet to see
what their education left out, or they have
forgotten.
The principles by which Calvin Coolidge
lived and governed are as relevant for our
time as they were for his.
Contact Cal Thomas at Tribune Me-
dia Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite
114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207, or e-mail him at
tmseditors@tribune.com.
Letters to the Editor
Deadline
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may be reached • names of persons writing
letters will not be withheld from publication •
unsigned letters will not be published *only
one letter per person per 30 days period •
letters endorsing or opposing political can-
didates are political advertising and should
be taken to the advertising department •
all letters are subject to editing • letters of
complaint about private businesses will be
forwarded to the business and will not be
published • “thank you" letters are classified
advertising and should go to the classified
ad department
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P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 21, 2011, newspaper, July 21, 2011; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth505898/m1/3/?q=green+energy: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.