WEDNESDAY 10/22/03

SOONER OR LATER THE TRUTH COMES OUT

As the Democrats continue to hammer their "Bush lied, Bush lied" theme, bit by bit the real story is coming out.

First we have this insistence on the part of Democrats that Bush told the American people that Saddam Hussein was directly tied to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  An editorial writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer made just such an assertion, and then was challenged by a reader to back it up.  The editorial writer took the challenge, did the research, and then wrote a column in which he admitted that Bush had never, in fact, made any such statement.

Democrats are also fond of saying that Bush's claims that there was a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda was a lie.  Looks like the democrats are going to have to eat some crow on that one too.   A recent issue of an independent Baghdad newspaper contains an interview with a former Iraqi army officer who talked about the presence of Al Qaeda terrorists in training camps in Iraq. 

This report will be largely ignored by Democrats.  They don't want the truth to get in the way of their lie or their drive to return to their rightful position of power in Washington.

AT LEAST I DIDN'T GET CHARGED

This one is a bit tough to deal with.  Should Nathaniel Heatwole be jailed or rewarded?  Heatwole didn't feel that the Transportation Security Administration was doing an adequate job of screening passengers boarding commercial airlines.  To prove his point he hid caches of box cutters, bleach and modeling clay shape to look like explosives onto about six Southwest Airlines planes.  He then wrote a letter to the TSA telling them what he had done.  The materials remained hidden in the airplane bathrooms for five weeks while the TSA sat on its haunches and ignored Heatwole's letters.

Finally one of the caches was found by a maintenance worker, the Heatwole letter surfaced, and Nathaniel Heatwole was arrested and will be charged.

I pulled a similar stunt back in the early 1970's.  I think the exact date would be 1974.  The principle worry then was hijackings to Cuba.  Airlines were just beginning to screen passengers for weapons.  Delta Airlines was the first in Atlanta to set up the screening stations, making quite a big deal of it in the media.  I knew the Atlanta airport fairly well and I thought it would be easy for anyone with bad intentions to bypass this security system, and I said so on my radio show.

A representative from the airline called me on the air and castigated me for saying that there were flaws in the security.  I insisted that there were, he insisted that there were not.  I then told him that I would prove that there were flaws in their security by boarding a Delta jet the next morning with a briefcase full of metal ... and that they would never catch me.  He told me if I tried I would be arrested. 

It was on.

The next morning I took about 20 pounds of tools; hammers, pliers, knives, and whatever else I could find and loaded them into a briefcase.  I then took aluminum foil and wrapped it around a water pistol to resemble a gun.  I took the briefcase and drove to the airport.  I parked in the parking lot, walked around the side of the terminal and entered through an employees entrance.  I walked into the pilots lounge, put some money in a vending machine for a bag of peanuts, and then climbed some stairs entering the concourse well past security.  At that point all I would have had to do is check in and board the airplane.  Instead I went to a bank of pay phones and called back to the station.  I went live on the told them that I was now standing at the boarding gates with my briefcase full of metal.  Airline officials were listening and quickly arrived to escort me out of the airport and back to my car. 

It could have been worse, I guess. They could have arrested me but chose not to.  Within hours the hole I used to breach security was plugged.  The radio station I was working for at the time took the financial beating when the airline withheld its advertising for the next few years. 

Would I try a similar stunt today? No way.  Today the issue is far more grave than passengers having to spend a few hours on the tarmac at the Havana airport.  Just the same Nathaniel Heatwole has shown all of us that this TSA screening process is certainly not all its cracked up to be. 

Maybe the real lesson here is that there is really no politically correct way for officials to make sure that nobody manages to secret weapons onto an airliner.  It's time to play this game the way the world's best do ... by looking for terrorists instead of weapons.  That means profiling.  We won't do that, though, and will eventually end up sacrificing American lives to the gods of political correctness. 

THE DANGEROUS UNITED NATIONS

Israel is building a security fence.  It seems that hardly a week goes by where you don't have some Palestinian murderer enter Israeli territory with the goal of killing as many Israelis as possible.  So, Israel is building a concrete barrier between its citizens and the killers. 

Yesterday the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Israel to stop construction of that wall and to tear down what has already been built.  Israel responded by saying that construction of the wall would continue. 

It's interesting that the UN can't seem to bring itself to pass a resolution condemning the terrorist attacks against Israel, but can easily pass a resolution condemning Israel's efforts to protect itself.  Remember, liberals want the United States to subject itself to the authority of the United Nations in all international matters and in many domestic matters.  Why don't we just put these leftists in power in Washington again and see how things work out?

YOU JUST KNOW THAT THIS HAS TO BE TRUE

The following "Vent" appeared in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"My son, who is now 28, had a kindergarten teacher who had them deep into first-grade material by year's end. The first-grade teachers complained, so she was not rehired."

It would seem that the problems with education and teacher's unions began many many years ago.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING INTERESTING TO DO OVER THANKSGIVING?

I have been a promoter of The Friendship Force for 26 years and have made many trips abroad as a Friendship Force "Ambassador."  A few months ago I told you about a Friendship Force Festival of Friendship in California's Sonoma Valley.  Some of you decided to make the trip and the reviews have been tremendous.

Well .. here's another Festival of Friendship that you might be interested in.  This time the destination is Costa Rica, and the trip takes place over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Here's the link if you would like to learn more!

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Cats sleeping with dogs!  The editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer has now admitted that George Bush never said that Saddam Hussein presented an "imminent threat" to the United States.  Amazing!  A liberal Democrat who has an appreciation for the truth.

You've heard, I'm sure, about this leftist Chicago businessman who has ponied up $10 million to start a liberal talk radio network.  His name is Sheldon Drobny.  Perhaps you would like to know a little more about him?  Well, he writes for a website called makethemaccountable.com. You can go there and read that Rush Limbaugh is a racist, misogynistic, homophobic demagogue and that the Bush family made their fortune from Hitler's Nazis.  This liberal talk radio network is going to be a real rush.

Network television executives are wondering where all the TV viewers are.  Viewers, especially men between 18 and 24 years old, are abandoning television.  Shall you tell them why, or should I?

Florida's governor has now overruled the Florida Courts and has ordered the feeding of Terri Schiavo to resume.

Gary Aldrich wants the book thrown at Nathaniel Heatwole, the kid who put those box cutters and bleach on those airplanes.  Tough call, isn't it?

These leftists out there who can hardly hide their glee at the news of Rush Limbaugh's drug addiction .. .hey, they aren't that fond of Rush's listeners either.

Uh oh .. .it's on now.  Mary Mostert asks: "Bush and WMD Versus Kennedy and Chappaquiddick -- Who Is The Liar?"

Do you believe that presidents can actually have that much of an influence on our economy?  Do you believe that Clinton was responsible for the boom of the 1990's which began before he took office, and that Bush was responsible for the slow-down that began before he took office?  Maybe you should read this Jonah Goldberg piece.

Yesterday I linked you to part one of Thomas Sowell's column "A Lynch Mob Gathers."  Today it's part two.  This is the about the imminent Democrat lynching of another Bush appeals court nominee.

Walter Williams says that excellent schools deliver a clear message to students.  That message is NO EXCUSES. 

A small victory in Georgia.  The governor listened and Georgia will not give personal information on Georgia drivers to a multi-state crime information database.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Washington Post

Real Clear Politics

Media Research Center

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