MONDAY 10/27/03

SO MANY PEOPLE TO THANK

I can't begin to tell you what a great time Belinda and I had at the Mayport Naval Base and at Jacksonville Beach over the past few days for Jacksonville's Sea 'n Sky Spectacular.  From flying that HS-60 submarine killing helicopter, to broadcasting from the deck of the Guided Missile Destroyer the USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) to watching the tremendous show on Jacksonville Beach on Saturday.  There is no way I can single out all of the people who made this such a special weekend.  The list begins with Captain Matt Shellhorn,  the Commanding Officer of Naval Station Mayport and Commander David A. Dahl, Air Boss, the man who runs Mayport's air operations.  There's Commander Steve Blaisdale and the men and women off the HSL-48 Vipers.  Commander Blaisdale was in the right seat of that Seahawk helicopter while I was trying my hands at straight and level flight, climbs and descents, turns and .... hovering. Cmdr Richard Brown and his fantastic crew of the USS The Sullivans were the perfect hosts for our Friday broadcast and later took Belinda and myself on a full tour of that tremendous ship.  Then there's Mike Dorwart and the staff of 690-WOKV for a technically perfect remote broadcast from the deck of a Navy ship and a wonderful meeting with WOKV listeners on Friday afternoon. 

I know that we've left a lot of names off the list here.  It just took so many people to make our broadcast and the other events so special.  We've posted a few pictures here to show some of the good times.  Thanks, everyone.  What a great time.  Pictures will be posted are in the photo gallerylater this morning now!

THE MATTER OF RACHEL BOIM

If you listened to the show on Friday you already know this story.  Rachel Boim likes to write.  She comes from a reading and writing family.  Both of her parents are educators and her older sister has read some of her own poetry at the National Holocaust Museum. 

I'll try to make this quick since we've already done a show on this.  Rachel wrote a short story in her personal journal about a girl who goes to sleep in class, and while sleeping dreams that she shot a teacher.  The journal ends up getting seized by a teacher in class when Rachel passes it to another student.  The teacher reads the journal, sees the story about the dreaming girl, reports it to school authorities, and Rachel ends up getting removed from class the very next day by a police officer.   After a hearing the Fulton County School system decides that Rachel needs to be expelled from school for the rest of the year because of "inappropriate writings."

One of the things that really distressed me last Friday was the number of people who thought that the school's action was appropriate.  These people seemed to be falling over themselves to make excuses for the expulsion.  This girl is a writer.  She writes some dark and brooding things, and some bright and airy things.  She's an honor student who has never presented any type of a disciplinary problem to the school.  So, she writes something that school officials don't like, and she gets kicked out of school.

Don't lose sight of the fact that this is an action taken by government.  The same government operated schools who one day teach our children of the value of freedom of expression in a free society sends police officers after 14-year-old girls who dare to express themselves freely in their writings.

Hardly a day goes by that we don't read some story from some corner of this country where basic freedoms and liberties we thought were constitutionally protected are breached, beaten, violated, tramped on and destroyed by some government official or entity.  If we don't act now to defend the Rachel Boims of this country, who is going to act when we find our freedoms at risk?

By the way ... an update.  We started talking about this issue at 9:00 on Friday morning.  By 9:10 I'm told the phones at the Fulton County School administrative offices were ringing off the hook.  By 12:30 pm the Fulton County Schools had decided that Rachel could return to school today while they reconsider their actions. 

If you check the reading assignments below you'll find a column that Rachel wrote for today's Atlanta newspaper.

THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

At this point 14 people have been killed and 650 homes have been destroyed by wildfires in California over the weekend.  It seems to be California's burden to bear year after year.  I went through a few of these when I lived in Southern California.  It really gets your attention when you wake up to go to school in the morning and the sun doesn't come out.  You walk outside and ashes are falling like black snowflakes.

These wildfires and these lost homes reminded me of one government outrage I related to listeners quite a few years ago.  Is it possible that some of these homes could have been saved if it were not for the Rat Nazis?

Rat Nazis?  What in the hell are Rat Nazis?  The Rat Nazis are the great and exalted protectors of the kangaroo rat ... that cute little critter which inhabits the very areas that were burning over the past weekend.  I can't say that this is happening today, but several years ago the Rat Nazis wouldn't let you clear an area of underbrush around your home in order to protect it from fires.  The underbrush, you see, was a kangaroo rat habitat.  I remember one story where a homeowner proceeded to clear a firebreak around his home anyway.  Good thing he did, too, because the fire came along within days and destroyed all homes on his street --- except his.  After the smoke cleared the government cited this poor SOB for clearing out a rat habitat.

Government ... gotta love it.

AND WHAT ARE THE VICTIMS OF THE FIRE GOING TO MISS?

When the television cameras do find some of the people who have lost their homes in these wildfires near San Diego, none of them were crying about jewelry, furniture, cars or big-screen televisions.  They were crying over pictures, photo albums and high school and college annuals.  None of these people expected to be chased out of their homes by a wildfire.  If they had they would have taken steps to duplicate those pictures and put them in a safe place.  I have all the pictures I want to save on multiple compact disks in multiple locations.  I can buy more furniture ... but those pictures couldn't be replaced.  With today's computer technology it is so easy to do ... maybe some folks will see the anguish in California and take action.

SADDAM'S HENCHMEN HARD AT WORK

This morning the target of Saddam's suicide bombers was the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad.  The explosives were packed in a truck bearing the symbol of the Islamic version of the Red Cross ... the Red Crescent.  The Red Cross had previously told the American forces that they didn't want American troops protecting their headquarters.  They got what they wanted. 

I heard a CNN reporter this morning hammering home the point that we just don't know who is behind these attacks.  The hell we don't.  The people behind these attacks are Islamic terrorists!  They're cut from the same cloth as those who attacked New York City and Washington DC.  They're the brethren of the Islamic terrorists who blew up that nightclub in Bali.   Saddam loyalists, Hamas, Palestinians, Al Qaeda ... whatever.  They're all but teams in the Muslim Terrorist League.

A few weeks ago Saddam's goons attacked various United Nations in Baghdad.  The great and wonderful United Nations responded by turning tail and running.  Obviously the terrorists think that the Red Cross will do the same thing.  How soon before the American people grant the wish of every dedicated Islamic terrorist and start sounding the call for surrender and retreat? 

IT'S THOSE RIGHT WING MANIACS AT FOX NEWS CHANNEL AGAIN

Yup ... it seems that almost every time you tune into the Fox News Channel you see some right wing propaganda.  I notice that Fox News introduces its coverage of the war in Iraq with a video clip of a young Iraqi boy giving American soldiers a thumbs-up and another clip of Saddam's statue falling in that park.  Doesn't Fox realize that those people all hate us and they all want us to leave so that Saddam can return and make their lives whole again?

ARRESTING POTENTIAL DEMOCRATIC VOTERS IS TERRORISM

Well at least one Democrat is out there fighting terrorism.  That would be House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.  She says that all of these raids on Wal-Mart stores looking for illegal immigrants is terrorism.  Pelosi said "It instills a great deal of fear in people who are only trying to earn a living and put food on the table for their family." 

Hey, Nancy.  Sending police into urban neighborhoods to arrest drug dealers also instills fear in people who are only trying to earn a living and put food on the table.  You see, Nancy, the deal here is that they're doing this illegally.  Illegally ... that means they're doing it in violation of the law.  You have heard of the law, haven't you Nancy?  It's those rules that we're all supposed to live by.  It's the laws that keep us from terrorizing each other, Nancy.  Oh, I know you don't like rules, do you Nancy?  After all, those pesky little rules keep all of these illegal immigrants from voting, don't they?  And if they could vote they would vote for Democrats, wouldn't they?  Is that why you're pushing so many bills to give legal status to illegal immigrants?  If you get those bills through how many weeks will it take for you to introduce legislation allowing them to vote also?  Oh, but wait a minute.  We don't need that legislation.  All you have to do is make sure that any move to require voters to identify themselves or to prove their citizenship when they register is  buried under an avalanche of PC rhetoric.  And if these illegal immigrants do happen to swing any particular election one way or the other, like they did in 1996 when Bob Dornan was defeated in your home state, you can just deflect any investigation into voter fraud with cries of racism.

Damn, Nancy.  You sure are one easy woman to figure out.

PREGNANT AT 16 ... A TUB OF LARD 6 YEARS LATER

Now don't get me wrong my friends.  I love Jacksonville, Florida.  My wife is from Jacksonville where she graduated from Terry Parker High School.  We have relatives living in Jacksonville ... but, as with anywhere, there are really some sights to see when you spend some time studying a crowd.

As you know I was in Jacksonville Beach for the Sea 'n Sky Spectacular this weekend.  This is a truly great event that alternates year-to-year from Jacksonville Beach and the Mayport Naval Station to the Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

So ... this bit is about people watching.

First ... the tattoos.  Tattoos are quite the fad right now.  The guy's tats don't really bother me all that much, but it does get a bit absurd when you start tattooing Chinese symbols and names on your neck.  Just last night I caught a local TV newscast showing some blubbering fool in a courtroom after he had been convicted of a hate crime.  He and some friends had just decided it would be so cool to attack some blacks they found in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.  There it was .... just above that collar on the first suit this jerk had ever worn in his life, that nifty little neck tattoo.  As soon as you walk out of a tattoo parlor with some idiotic tat on your neck you can pretty much give up on the idea of ever having a good job that could end up bringing you the big bucks.  You're branded, pal.  Deal with it.  It ought to look real cool in prison.

The girls with the tats are the most absurd.  Tats on the boobs, tats on the back ... just everywhere.  What sort of brilliant mindset says "Hey, there's this cool fad going on right now.  Let's be like everyone else and go out tonight to permanently disfigure our bodies!"  I'll say it again.  I have never seen a woman who's appearance was enhanced with a tattoo.

Then we have the smokers.  My God, how stupid they look ... walking around with their cigarettes.  Why not just carry around a sign proclaiming "I'm an idiot" or "I have no self-control."  The worst by far were the mothers carrying their babies and small children in one arm while puffing on their cigarettes with the other hand.  Slobs. 

Then there's the new definition of a hot teenage stud.  Evidently to be a really cool you have to take your shirt off, slouch, and wear your pants about three inches below your underwear.  I'm just so jealous.  I wish we could have dressed like that when I was a teenager.  This trying to stand up straight can really be a pain in the butt sometimes.

Finally ... the young girls trying to look like sluts.   Yeah .. ugly word, sluts.  But you gotta say what you think.  I watched one pathetic little girl with her parents.  She was probably about 13 or 14 and was walking around with her parents.  She was on her way to big, possibly huge.  Her legs and a good part of her rear end were bulging out of the bottom of a pair of cut off jeans like a huge tube of bologna.  The top of her cut-offs were pulled down, the button was undone and the zipper was down.  The pants were hanging open to show her underwear.  Her mother needs to change detergents.  Whatever she's using isn't getting the job done.  This girl will be pregnant within a year and a monstrous tub of goo by the time she's 20.

Now ... to be sure, there were some stunning people walking up and down that boardwalk .. but what fun is it to talk about them? 

ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Yup, it was another one of those Democratic presidential debates last night.  Another evening of heroic Democrats telling America and the world that if they manage to get into the White House America will switch from a policy of confronting and destroying terrorists to a policy of appeasement and encouragement.  With the possible exception of Joe Lieberman, this is a crowd that believes the time has come for the United States to cease being a sovereign nation and meekly accept its place as just another member "state" under the control of the United Nations.

There are many issues before the American people in next year's election.  There is no issue, however, that is more important than our security and the defeat of Islamic terrorism.  For the first time in over 200 years America has been attacked on our own soil.  As soon as that first airplane hit the World Trade Towers there were three courses of action open to our president.  Fight them here, fight them there or don't fight them at all.  George Bush chose to take the fight against Islamic terrorism overseas.  Those Democrats you saw on that platform last night don't want to fight them at all.

WESLEY CLARK'S EXCUSE

And there was Wesley Clark last night ... talking about how he has always been against the war in Iraq.  The same man who praised George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and others on several occasions less than a year ago is trying to tell voters now that he never supported the war at any time in any way.  Maybe that's what Clark's former boss and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton, the man who fired Wesley Clark,  meant when he made this remark before a group of college students in California:   "I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote."

So, there you have it.  Wesley Clark's former boss said that he fired Clark because of "integrity and character issues."  And what did Wesley Clark have to say about General Shelton's comments last night?  Just this:  "We used to call remarks like that McCarthyism."

McCarthyism?  Saying that you fired a man because of integrity and character issues is McCarthyism?   

GET READY TO BE DEPRESSED

One week from tomorrow night, on November 4th, CNN will have its "Rock the Vote" special.  The MTV crowd will get a chance to question the Democratic candidates for president.  Don't watch this show unless you have a prescription for anti-depression medication.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Last Friday we talked about Rachel Boim, the 14 year-old Roswell High School freshman who was expelled for the remainder of the year because of a fictional story she wrote in her journal.  Her expulsion was withdrawn for reconsideration by 12:30 pm that day.  Here is a column that Rachel wrote for the Sunday edition of  Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Well .. there goes our homeowner's insurance premiums again. Over 500 homes have been destroyed in California wildfires.

Can you believe this?  The Republicans are actually going to fight back!  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is tired of Democrats blocking Bush judicial nominees ... and he's going to grow a set of gonads!  Who would have ever believed we would have lived to see this!  My guess?  The response will be weak and ineffective.  After all, these are Republicans we're talking about.

A vegan public school?  What's that all about?  Does one and one not equal two if you don't eat red meat?

We may see a tax revolt in Ohio soon.  I want a front row seat.  Maybe I can watch this thing unfold from Dayton!

If you would like to carve a Hitlary pumpkin for this Halloween .. The Talkmaster is there for you.  Here's your pattern!