Today's Nuze: November 03, 2003

MONDAY 11/3/03

THANKS, AGGIELAND, FOR A GREAT TIME

I sure can pick Texas A&M Football games to attend. Last year I was there when the Aggies beat No. 1 Oklahoma. This year I saw them defeat Kansas. I'm already making plans for next year's Texas Tech game, and I promise I'll be bringing Belinda and Royal with me.

There are many people to thank for the great hospitality I enjoyed over the weekend. At A&M there's Bill Byrne, the Athletic Director, his Chief of Staff Penny King, Steve Miller who handles media relations and Miles Mark who runs the Zone Club where our Friday broadcast took place. At our Bryan-College Station affiliate we have Ben Downs, who runs the whole show, and Alisa and Chris Dusterhoff who made sure everything worked and the show actually made it to the air! Thanks all! And we'll see you again next year. Pictures of the event will be coming up later this week ... as soon as somebody sends me some!

WILL THIS BE ENOUGH?

Either Saddam or bin Laden loyalists shot down an American helicopter yesterday in Iraq. Fifteen American soldiers were killed. Islamic radicals are hoping that this will be the Iraqi equivalent of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. After that explosion the U.S. promptly packed up its gear and ran like hell. That event, by the way, was 20 years ago last week. Islamic terrorists celebrate this yet today as proof of American weakness. They have other examples to cite. In 1996 it was Mogadishu. Another helicopter was shot down and young Americans died. America ran again. We even ran that time leaving our dead behind.

Islamic terrorists and Saddam's Sunni Baathist goons obviously believe that they can make America run again, and they're getting no small amount of comfort from America's leftists in general and the Democratic presidential candidates in particular. If you listen to John Kerry as soon as he finishes telling you that he served in Vietnam he will make it clear that if the decision were his to make America would once again start packing.

The only way these Islamic terrorists can succeed in bringing Saddam's reign of terror back to Iraq is for America to lose its resolve. Democrats are working mightily to bring that to pass. It's called appeasement, and it's the leftist way of life.

IF IT WASN'T SO PATHETIC IT WOULD ACTUALLY BE FUNNY

Make no mistake, Democrats and Bush-haters are absolutely dismayed at the performance of our economy. I'm surprised we didn't have Democrats jumping off the Capitol rotunda when the news hit that our economy grew at a 7.2% rate for the third quarter of 2003. Most economists agree that the fourth quarter rate will be down around the 4% level ... which is still something to brag about. Watch for Democrats to claim that anything less than 7.2% will be proof of the failure of Bush's economic policies.

It's almost sad watching the Democrats try to put the worst possible light on our economic growth. Most of them are focusing on jobs. They call it a "jobless recovery." This tactic relies on the well-documented economic stupidity of the American people. The mere application of basic logic will show that jobs always come last when an economy is recovering from a recession. The first thing that must happen is for consumers to start spending money. When they start spending money inventories are depleted, when inventories are depleted manufacturers start making more stuff. When manufacturers start making more stuff they start hiring more people. Simple, isn't it? You don't go out and hire more people until after people start buying more stuff.

Do you see now why Democrats feel it's so important to keep childhood education in the hands of government? If people actually learned any basic economics in school the Democrats wouldn't be able to rely on voter's economic stupidity to win elections.

THERE'S A MENTAL PATIENT LOOSE IN BRYAN, TEXAS

As you know, I was doing my show from Texas A&M University this past Friday. There is no small amount of disgust in the College Station community about an award to be made at the end of this week to a certain U.S. Senator. The Bush Foundation, which is headquartered at the George Bush Presidential Library on the campus of Texas A&M [http://www.georgebushfoundation.org/bush/], is giving an award to Ted Kennedy for what the Bush Foundation calls his record of humanitarian service.

During the show I made a factious on a scene many of us would like to see. Considering Ted Kennedy's repeated assertions that the war in Iraq was a plot hatched in Texas for the benefit of various Bush cronies and friends, wouldn't it be nice to see Bush 41 hand the humanitarian award to Kennedy and then haul off and punch him right in his bloated face.

Well ...evidently that remark didn't set well with at least one Bryan-College Station resident. She telephoned the Bryan police to report that I had made a terroristic threat and demanded my immediate arrest. Since I departed Easterwood Airport at 5:00 on Sunday morning under the cover of darkness, does that make me a fugitive from justice?

THANKS, COL. THOMPSON

While doing my show from Texas A&M on Friday I met F.L. Thompson. Mr. Thompson is an 82-year-old former Marine pilot, a retired Lt. Colonel. Col. Thompson had quite a story to tell. In July of 1944 this Marine was serving on the Okinawa in the Pacific. His squadron was flying F4U Corsairs on bombing and strafing missions against Japanese positions. One Marine's Corsair blew a tire on takeoff and crashed. The pilot was pinned inside the airplane upside down on the runway with fuel leaking. Col. Thompson told of getting shovels and picks and digging into the coral runway underneath the Corsair to free the trapped pilot. They finally pulled him out before the Corsair burst into flames and exploded. The pilot suffered a broken ankle and minor injuries. At the time this incident took place on Okinawa I was a three-month-old baby in Media, Pennsylvania. The pilot pulled from the wreckage of his Corsair was my father.

Some of my program time on Friday was devoted to an award that is being given to Senator Ted Kennedy at Texas A&M later this week. As I mentioned above, The Bush Foundation is giving a humanitarian award to Kennedy. Many A&M Alumni are distressed, to say the least, that Kennedy is getting this award. After I interviewed the Lt. Col. a thought occurred to me that I shared with my listening audience: "Isn't that something. I just interviewed an 82-year-old ex-marine who pulled my father out of a crashed airplane 58 years ago, and next week at this very university they'll honor a man who couldn't pull a girl out of a car in four feet of water."

LOOKING OUT FOR POLITICIANS FIRST

This bit deals with a bit of a tax problem we're having here in Atlanta. Years of neglect by former mayors more intent on helping themselves and their cronies than on actually doing their jobs has left Atlanta with budgetary crisis exacerbated by a need to spend a billion or so fixing an aging and neglected sewer system.

Last year Atlanta's new mayor, Shirley Franklin, increased city property taxes by over 45%. This year she's promising another property tax increase that will only affect those areas of town where real estate values are appreciating. On top of these abusive property tax increases she is proposing to triple current sewer fees. This would mean that one hotel in downtown Atlanta could see its sewer fees go from $27,000 a month to $77,000 a month. Bye bye hotel.

Throughout all of these tax increases the mayor and the city council have steadfastly refused to take measures that, though painful for politicians, would be great for taxpayers. Privatization. Most cities the size of Atlanta have privatized at least some city services. But not Atlanta. There was one ridiculously structured attempt to privatize water services that was designed to fail, and did. Other than that ... nothing.

If the city of Atlanta were to lease the operation of Hartsfield International Airport to a private concern it is quite probable that the revenues from that lease could enable Atlanta to lower property taxes by one-half, or more. By privatizing such things as waste collection, fleet maintenance, information systems, fire services and non-sworn law enforcement employees the city could save enough money to pay off a sewer bond issue that would solve the current sewer problems with no increase in sewer fees.

So ... why won't the city council and the mayor act? Simple. Because they have put their political lives and fortunes ahead of the taxpayers they are supposed to serve. Mayor Jackson manage to turn the minority set-aside program he initiated at Hartsfield into a nice little TGI Friday's restaurant on Concourse B. Prior to that his wife had a snack stand in the main concourse. Last I heard Mayor Franklin's former husband and at least one of her children are involved in yet another concession at Hartsfield.. The history of Hartsfield since Maynard Jackson has been a history of contracts being awarded to cronies and political supporters, something that would be rather tough to do if Hartsfield was being operated by a private company.

As for the other privatization possibilities ... one word. Unions. These politicians absolutely will NOT stand up to the government employee unions on the privatization issue. The last thing these union members want to do is to compete in the private sector for their jobs. They use their tremendous political clout, and the cowardice of politicians, to make sure it doesn't happen.

You need to come to grips with the fact that these politicians are just flat-out lying to you. They're lying because they think that they can get away with it, and they're lying because they believe the government employee unions present a greater threat to their political survival than the taxpayers fed up with doubling property taxes and tripling sewer fees. They lie to you because they know you'll believe their lies and suffer the consequences.

I've told you before that the one organization that is standing up to the Atlanta and Fulton County politicians on their tax gluttony is the Fulton County Taxpayer's Association. They are working hard to fight the impending sewer increases ... and if you think that there might be a better way you should be on their team.

Recently the Fulton County Taxpayer's Assn. issued a press release detailing the mis-statements (lies) of Atlanta politicians on the issue of privatization and sewer fees. I'm posting that release below. In redyou will see some words that I have inserted just to drive home a point or two. So, here is the FCTA release with my intemperate comments in red.

Mis-Statements By Our Elected Officials
Cloud Alternative To Sewer Increases

1. "Privatizing Hartsfield Will Not Help Us Solve Our Sewer Problem":

"Any proceeds from selling or long-term leasing Hartsfield-Jackson Airport cannot be used for any purposes other than the Airport." This was stated by Mayor Franklin on October 29th, 2003, at the Public Meeting On The Sewer Rates at North Atlanta High School.

(Shirley Franklin knows that this is a bald-faced lie. She is fully aware that there is an FAA program to permit privatization of selected airports around the country. She knows this ... but depended on this audience at the meeting not to know it. Mayor Franklin will lie to the taxpayers to protect the political class.)

According to Robert W. Poole, Jr., Director of Transportation Studies, Reason Foundation, a nationally-recognized expert in airport privatization, "The Federal Airport Privatization Program - Congressional Act 3539 - allows the use of funds from the sale or long-term lease of a municipal airport for any city services, including the remediation of Atlanta's sewers." This has been verified by the attorneys for the FCTA.

Ms. Katherine Howard, Director of McQuarie of Australia, a financially-strong firm that has long-term leased 18 world-class airports in Australia and Canada, indicated at a City Council Transportation Committee Hearing on December 12, 2002, that "McQuarie is prepared to offer $2.6 billion, paying off the present bondholders and guaranteeing that future bond-issues would not be affected."

2. "I Will Vote To Increase Sewer Fees Because I Don't Think We Have Any Choice."

Council Member Clare Muller (District 8) was quoted in the November 1st, 2003, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

(Clare Muller knows full well there are other choices. What she was really saying was "I will vote to increase sewer fees because the taxpayers won't punish me nearly as harshly as the city employee unions will if I vote for any privatization initiative.)

The City's own "Turnaround Plan", released on July 9th, 2002, devotes 14% of the 62-page plan - pages 48-55 - to Privatization of specific services and Consolidation of duplicate city/county services, a realistic alternative to the 300% increase in Sewer Fees. The FCTA has calculated the dollar savings, based on the upper-bound percentages indicated on page 53 of the report, using only seven of the twelve city services mentioned. The Chief Financial Officer of the City of Atlanta, at a recent Budget Hearing, October 8, 2003, stated that the City of Atlanta "could probably save $13 million by privatizing Garbage Collection." According to the FCTA calculations, the City of Atlanta could save $167 million annually by implementing the "Turnaround Plan." Financial experts inform me that this saving is more than sufficient to pay the interest and amortization of $3 billion in municipal bonds.

3. "Privatization & Consolidation of City Services Will Take Two Or Three Years."

(And your point is? It's going to take two or three years at a minimum to fix the sewer mess too. Is this brilliant public servant telling us that any solutions that aren't instantaneous can't be considered?)

This was stated to me by City Council President Cathy Woolard at a meeting on October 28th, 2003, at Ms. Woolard's office. As a former Mayor of a City designated "Model City" by Governing Magazine, I could vouch for the fact that most services could be privatized in six to twelve months after the appointment of a Task Force. This has been confirmed by Pam Sybert, former Charlotte City Manager, Ed Syzemore, Director of Privatization, City of Charlotte, and the two former Charlotte Mayors.

The City/County International Management Association (ICMA) has a website devoted to privatization of city services. According to the ICMA, the first step in any privatization is the appointment of a Task Force comprising business and professional leaders. Such a Task Force is the first step mentioned on page 48 of the "Turnaround Plan." The Task Force should establish reasonable Performance Standards for each service to be privatized. Once these two conditions are satisfactorily met, the ICMA informs me that "many city services could be privatized within six months." The former Executive Director of the ICMA, William H. Hansell, Jr., informed me that "Privatization of services is the fastest growth trend among cities and counties, over 64% have privatized Garbage Pick-Up, 62% Fleet Management, 56% Parks & Recreation, 48% Non-Sworn Police, 42% Wastewater Treatment, etc.

4. "The City's Sad Experience In Privatizing Water Does Not Encourage Privatization."

(Come on, Mayor Franklin. You know that the water privatization was a stacked deck from the get-go. When you privatize you let the private company run the show. You don't tell them who to hire, who not to hire, and how many to hire. You let them do the job. This wasn't the case with United Water and you know it. It was a privatization effort that was cronyized and structured to fail)

Mayor Franklin made this statement on several occasions in recent months. It does not reflect the facts: Our water privatization failed because former Mayor Campbell did not follow the principles of successful privatization. He did not appoint a Task Force of Business and Professional leaders; he did not establish the normal Performance-Based Standards expected of a private firm; and he interfered with the process by requiring United Water to continue the employment of every City employee in the Water Department. If Mayor Campbell had followed the principles of successful privatization, the savings to the City of Atlanta would be over $40 million annually.

Oh well. Mayor Franklin, the city employee unions and the City Council have Colin Campbell on their side, so everything ought to work out well for the politicians and city workers, if not the taxpayers and citizens.

I JUST DON'T THINK I'LL BE ABLE TO STOMACH IT.

Tomorrow night is the CNN "Rock the Vote" special. The Democratic candidates meet the MTV crowd. I'm sure one of these kids just can't wait to find out of Carol Mosley Braun wears a thong. I just know I have something else to do while this is on the air.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Zell Miller writing in The Wall Street Journal: "Why this lifelong Democrat will vote Republican next November."

OK ... so she's a leftist. Every once in a while she gets something right ... like this time. Cynthia Tucker blows some of the myths about why black children are doing so badly in our schools out of the water.

The Washington Times is running a three-part series on How the Democrats Lost the South. Here's part one.

People who watch Oprah have higher stress levels than those who are not fans. So ... is it stressed out people watching Oprah? Or people getting stressed out watching Oprah?

Why a free, secular Iraq is in the best interests of the United States. Not only good for us ... but imperative.

Did you know that Janice Rogers Brown, the woman George Bush has appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is better described as a libertarian than a conservative? Why does that matter? Because she's the latest target of Ted Kennedy and his Democratic lynch mob in the Senate.

More about Janice Rogers Brown. This from Armstrong Williams who says that since Democrats can't attack Judge Brown on her record, they are resorting to increasingly racist smears.

What does last week's news of an economy growing at 7.2% mean for the economy over the next year or so?

The Sheldon Award is back. The award is presented annually to the university professor who "does the most to look the other way when free speech is under assault on his campus."

You can't be serious. Now they have an Ann Coulter action hero figure? And it talks!

For those of you who want to understand economics a bit better ... read this from Bruce Bartlett. Even today politicians talk of the Great Depression. Now Democrats are comparing Bush's economic policies to those of Herbert Hoover. Time to get a little informaiton.

And in case the news hasn't sunk in yet ... our economic surge was born of tax cuts. Man, do Democrats hate hearing that.

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