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LEARNING MORE ABOUT ARNOLD

Arnold Schwarzenegger is starting to step out and express some actual opinions of late.  The more he does this the more you realize he's not exactly a toe-the-line Republican conservative.  In radio interviews yesterday we learned that:

• Arnold doesn't believe that the government should be powerful enough to hold a gun to a woman's head and force her to have a baby she doesn't want to have.
• He is against school choice.  He thinks we need to work within the "present system," as he calls it.  The present system is a union dominated, government operated abortion.  But, then, he's for abortion ... so thus far he's being consistent.
• He supports the so-called "assault weapons ban" and the Brady Bill.  Bear in mind that there is no evidence that the assault weapons ban has actually saved any lives.  Ditto for the Brady Bill.  This position is the result of adopting a politically correct political position without making any attempt to discover the facts.
• Arnold wants to close what he calls the "gun show loophole."  Trouble is, there IS no gun show loophole.  People who sell guns at gun shows are subject to the exact same rules, laws and regulations that any other person selling a gun, whether it be through the classified ads or in a gun store, are subject to.
• Arnold likes the drug war.  Again, this is a position based on emotion and not one based on any careful study of the facts.
• Arnold wants prayer in government schools.  Remember ... those who support prayer in government schools are concerned about your child, not theirs. 

Sort of a mixed bag, isn't it?  You know these Republican die-hards though.  That first position I mentioned above will be enough to send many Republicans screaming into the electoral wilderness.  If there is anything some Republicans just can't stand it's the idea of the government not having control over a woman's reproductive life.

WAS IT ALL A SETUP FOR A POLITICAL CAREER?

Alabama will be electing a U.S. Senator next year.  In 2006 they'll be electing a Governor.  Would any of you care to offer a guest as to just who is being talked up as a candidate for either post?  Why, it's none other than Mr. Ten Commandments himself, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy "Moses" Moore! 

Moore has been suspended from the bench and has been hit with about six charges of ethics violations.  Do you think he really cares?  They've charged him with an ethics violation in Alabama because he refused a federal order to remove that Ten Commandments monument from a government building?  Well, throw him in the briar patch!  That has to be about as damaging to his political hopes and aspirations as campaigning for free drugs in an old folks home.

My guess?  We're about to find out that this whole Ten Commandments bit was about building a political base for a better elective office.

WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THIS SIMPLE LITTLE REQUEST?

Look, in spite of what you may think, I have absolutely no problem with any person harboring strong religious beliefs.  Believe in what you will, and life your own life in accordance with those beliefs.  Who knows, we may even believe in the same things?  Is it too much to ask, though, for you to try to separate your religious practices from the operation of government?  One of the protestors outside of the Alabama Judicial Building referred to the Ten Commandments as "laws."  "These are good laws." he said.  This man was a preacher.  I believe that politicians should keep their politicking out of the churches, and I believe that preachers should keep their preaching out of the halls of government.  Now ... is that really so bad? 

TODAY'S WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE HOLLYWOOD LEFT

From the safety of Madrid, Spain we have another Hollywood amateur Secretary of State speaking out on U.S. foreign policy. This time its Harrison Ford,  Harrison is just so very upset at the direction American foreign policy is taking, and he feels that we need to do something to help alleviate the conditions which have created and disenfranchised and angry faction in the United States.  The implication here is that the United States is somehow responsible for the anger in the Middle East.  Well ... I'm sure Saddam and his henchmen are just a wee bit unhappy with the U.S. right now, but what about the people who have been liberated from his despotic rule?  Is Ford saying that we've hurt more than we've helped over there?  Just what is his idea of harmony in the Middle East, torture and mass graves in Iraq and dead Israelis?  I wonder if Harrison Ford would put some actions behind his words and call for a return of Iraq and the Iraqi people to Saddam, and a return to power in Afghanistan to the Taliban?  Come to think of it, maybe Calista Flockhart would look good in a burka.

Wait.  We're not through with Indiana Ford just yet.  He also says that he's upset that so many people in the United States carry guns.  He says that it "obviously" contributes to the crime rate.  Ford also says he's "sure that gun laws should be strengthened in the United States."

Well, there you go.  Another Hollywood expert-on-all-that-matters spouting off without a good grip on the facts.  Just in case you happen to come face-to-face with the incredibly knowledgeable Mr. Ford, let me remind you of a few choice little bits of information about crime rates and folks packing heat.

There are three basic gun law scenarios in the fifty states.  You have (a) no issue; (b) may issue and (c) must issue states.

(a) In "no issue states" the ordinary citizen just cannot get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.  No way, now how.  Unless, that is, you're some sort of a hotshot celebrity or a politician or comparable member of high society that always gets special favors from the law.

(b)  In "may issue"  the law allows private citizens to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon, but regardless of the outcome of a criminal background and other checks, the final decision as to whether or not to issue the permit is left entirely up to some local official, usually a county sheriff.

(c) in "shall issue" states once you meet the requirements set forth for a concealed weapons permit the local authorities must issue the permit to you.

Now ... Ford is so concerned about people with guns.  He thinks that these people carrying those concealed weapons "obviously" contribute to the crime rate.  Sorry, Harrison Ford, but you missed this one badly.  The actual statistics show that violent crime rates are the highest in the "no issue" states and the lowest in the "must issue states."  Furthermore, when a state liberalizes its gun laws the records show that the crime rates don't go up, they go down.  Criminals do not want their victims to be armed.  The more likely it is that their victim is armed the more likely it is that they're going to chose some other means to acquire wealth.  In fact, they may actually go out there an get jobs!

So ... a question.  When some Hollywood celebrity starts popping off on matters like this, why doesn't some reporter say "Well, Mr. Harrison, could you please cite the statistics upon which you're basing your idiotic and uninformed position on guns.?"  Wouldn't you just love to hear the answer to that one!

BUSH'S NEW EPA REGULATIONS

You will hear much over the next few days about some new rules that are being adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA says that these new rules will make it easier for power plants to increase their efficiency without increasing pollution, the environmental activists say it just ain't so.

OK, here's what's going on.  The EPA will allow power generators to spend money to increase the efficiency of a generating plant without having to add new pollution controls.  The owner of a power plant will be allowed to spend up to 20% of the cost of replacing a generating unit without spending extra money to cut back pollution levels.

Let me give you a way to look at these new rules that you won't get from the mainstream media, and you certainly won't get from the anti-capitalist environmental radicals.

Well use an example of a power plant that generates 1000 megawatts of power.  To make the math easier to understand we'll just say that this plant generates 1000 megawatts of power by burning 1000 pounds of coal.  I have no real idea how much coal it takes to create a megawatt of power ... we'll just use this one pound per megawatt to make a point here.

Let's say that the operators of our fictional plant have the opportunity to increase the efficiency of the generator.  By making a few equipment changes they can generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity.  To produce that 1,500 megawatts the plant would have to burn 1,100 pounds of coal.  The environmentalists correctly point out that this plant is going to be putting more pollution into the air; that extra pollution from that extra 100 pounds of coal.  If you punch at your calculator for a few moments you will see that this plant will only  be burning a bit less than three-fourths of a pound of coal for each megawatt of electricity.  The end result is an increase in electricity production, which we undoubtedly need, coupled with a decrease in the rate of pollution per megawatt hour.

Under the old Clinton-era EPA rules the electric generating plant would not be allowed to increase its efficiency without spending millions to add more pollution controls. More often than not this simply meant that the plant would not be modernized and we would go without the extra generating power.

Also ... bear this in mind.  At the present time there are limits on the amount of pollution that any particular electricity generating plant can put into the air.  Most plants are not operating at that limit.  Under the new EPA rules those current limits will not be increased.  This means that even though a plant will be allowed to increase it's generating capacity through modernization without adding any additional pollution controls, it still will not be permitted to exceed its current pollution limits.

These facts probably make you wonder just why the environmental radicals are raising so much hell over these new rules.  It's easy to understand if you just remember what their true goal is.  Many of these people are far more concerned with showing down the American capitalist machine than they are the quality of the air we breathe. 

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

I see that former used-car salesman and anti-choice whacko Randall Terry showed up in Montgomery, Alabama yesterday to get his puss in front of the cameras covering the Ten Commandments controversy.  This man has been successfully sued for his illegal activities against doctors, failed miserably in a run for Congress in New York and doesn't seem to get along all that well with the other members of his church.  Now it looks like Terry has found a new cause ... a new way to get his face in front of the cameras.  We'll keep a lookout.  This guy can be a rip.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has visited Iraq.  Here he writes a common-sense opinion piece on just what needs to be done, not to "rebuild Iraq," but to "build a new Iraq."  Friedman cites a statement from the president of Harvard:  "In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."  It's a great quote ... see how it applies.

We may actually be close to seeing a debut of that much-anticipated liberal talk radio network!  Late word is that left-wing talk radio will hit the airwaves in January, just in time to start the whining for the 2004 presidential race!  My prediction?  It's going to be a massive failure. 

Intentionally killing civilians from America, Europe, or Asia (or almost anywhere else) makes you a terrorist-but intentionally killing innocent Jews in Israel merely makes you a "militant."  At least in the eyes of the "mainstream" media.

You've heard of the "What would Jesus Do?" movement, right?  Then there's the "What would Jesus Drive?" nonsense.  Now in Alabama we have the "How would Jesus tax us?" movement.  Alabama Republican Governor is pushing for a huge tax increase, and the people aren't buying it.  Good for them.  To show you how absurd Governor Bob Riley's tax proposals are, he claims that Alabama school children will lead the nation in reading within six years if his plans, though there are no new taxes targeted at education. Maybe it's because these kids will be learning how to read travel brochures so they can get the hell out of Alabama as soon as possible.

Did Saddam Hussein send some phony defectors to the west to feed western intelligence some bogus information on Iraq's weapons programs?  U.S. and allied intelligence agencies are actively investigating the possibility.  One thing seem certain; there were some rather sever intelligence failures vis--vis Saddam and his weapons program.  We just need to remember that our intelligence capabilities were destroyed by Democrats such as former Senator Frank Church and a president named Carter

It looks like Arnold has had a somewhat wild past.  There is a fear that some conservative Republicans may be a bit upset by this.  If they are, I think it's probably more due to jealousy than anything else.

Did you know that if Wall-Mart were a nation, instead of the world's largest retailer, it would rank between Belgium and Sweden as the world's 19th largest economy? Well, Harold Myerson isn't impressed.  Myerson says that "No other American company has done as much to destroy what's left of the U.S. clothing and textile industry or been so loyal a friend to the dankest sweatshops of the developing world."  Myerson's solution?  Unions!  Remember ... just because I'm posting this reading assignment doesn't mean I agree with it.  You just need to hear all sides.

Ann Coulter says that the termites are swarming out into the light of day and the liberals are blaming the exterminator.  She also makes another excellent point, that being that liberals were willing to give Stalin 36 years to make his revolution work, but they're unwilling to give the U.S. more than month to make things work in Iraq.

NEALZ LINKS FOR NUZE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
World Net Daily
NewsMax
Wall Street Journal opinions
Washington Times
Washington Post
Real Clear Politics
Media Research Center
The Drudge Report
The Associated Press
SF Gate