Tuesday, April 20, 2004

REPUBLICANS BEHIND FCC SCORCHED EARTH POLICY?

Now the Federal Censorship Commission has received a complaint about 60 Minutes.  It seems that Mary J. Blige uttered the "S" word under her breath.  John Thompson, an attorney who is was part of the jihad against Howard Stern has filed the new complaint about Blige's utterance.

I know that many of you are fond of pinning the responsibility for the new, draconian FCC on George Bush and those evil Republicans.  So ... this reminder.   The FCC Commissioner who is pushing the hardest on all of this so-called "indecency" is Michael J. Copps.  Copps is the former chief of staff to South Carolina's Democratic Senator Ernest Hollings, a Democrat.  Hollings has never been known for his defense of first amendment rights for broadcasters.  Copps is a Democrat, not a Republican. 

RON WHITE IN THE CROSSHAIRS?

Do you know why there aren't many notes here today? Do you want to know why I'm going into today's show fully and completely unprepared?  It's not my fault.  It's Ron White's fault.  He damned near killed me last night.  I have his "Drunk in Public" CD now, a gift from my daughter, and instead of actually working on my show I spend all my time listening to that thing over and over.  Last night I got to laughing so hard I almost passed out and fell off my high chair.  You would have thought I was choking on a pretzel.  If I could get to the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno by Saturday night I'd bribe someone for a front row seat.

Actually ... I'm concerned about Ron, Larry the Cable Guy and the rest of these comics.  I understand that the FCC is fixin' to ask the congress for authority to regulate comedy clubs.  They're upset that some of these guys might use the F-word on occasion, and Michael Copps wants it stopped .... now.  Beware the language police.  The next thing you know phone companies are going to have computers that will listen in on your telephone calls.  If the S or F-word is uttered, the call will be automatically terminated and a $10,000 FCC fine will appear on your next telephone bill.

BUSH NUMBERS UP, POLLS SHOW ADVANTAGES OVER sKERRY

The election is just over six months away.  Some say that polls don't mean much at this stage, but since politicians strategize around them, this is worth pointing out.  A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Bush is leading Kerry 50% to 44% among likely voters.  The president's approval rating is holding steady at 52%. The Bush camp points out that Clinton and Reagan had about the same numbers at this point in their first term, before they went on to be re-elected to a second term.   This isn't exactly being received as good news by the New York and D.C. press corps.   They've hammered Bush for 2 weeks over Iraq and the 9/11 Commission hearings and his numbers went up!  What do they have to do?  It's just sooooo frustrating.

Even worse for the sKerry crowd are these numbers: by 2 to 1, voters say only Bush, not Kerry, would do a good job handling terrorism.  By 40% to 26%, they say only Bush would do a good job handling the situation in Iraq.  But just hold on a minute here.  Haven't our media friends been spending weeks now telling us that Iraq is a quagmire?   Weren't people supposed to be losing confidence over Bush's handling of the Iraq situation? What about the casualties?  Hasn't mattered.  And the icing on the cake? Bush's approval rating on handling terrorism is a very big 60%. 

But back to Iraq for a second.  Apparently all the news coverage about Iraq (biased though it may be,) is actually helping Bush.  Right now, according to this poll, here is how voters ranked the most important issues: 39% say the economy (which is improving,) 28% terrorism and 22% Iraq.   Glorioski!  Where's health care?  It ain't there folks. Also, the poll mentions that the public blames the Clinton administration more for 9/11 than they do Bush. But wait, this is only one poll, right?  An ABC/Washington Post poll also just out says about the same thing, with Bush's outlook even rosier. The bottom line is that with national security, terrorism and Iraq in the news, Bush leads.

Kerry, the liberals in the media and the Democrats in Congress have run their best game and it still isn't working.  

WOODWARD, SAUDIS, BUSH SAY NO SECRET DEAL FOR LOWER OIL PRICES

Here we go now with more nonsense about the Bob Woodward book.  If you've been listening to the media frenzy over Woodward's book since Sunday, you undoubtedly came away with the idea that the Saudis made a cozy little deal with Bush to lower the price of crude oil just before the election ... just to help Bush get reelected.  

Not so.

Bob Woodward went on Larry King last night to set the record straight.  "What I say in the book is that the Saudis hoped to keep oil prices low during the period before the election, because of its impact on the economy."  Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, also on the same program, said that characterization was accurate.  He said he hoped that the oil prices would stay low because that benefits the U.S. economy as well as the international economy. He also said that every President since Carter asked him to keep the prices down.

Well ... there goes another big conspiracy theory.

Now ... let me tell you why the media and the Democrats tried to put this "there's a conspiracy between Bush and the Saudis to lower gas prices just before the election" story out there.  Look at it this way.  Democrats and their media fellow-travelers know that gas prices are going to go down before the election.  The kids are back in school, vacations are over, driving is down which means that demand is down, and prices go down.  The Democrats hoped to set the stage for this inevitable price reduction so that they could scream "See!  The conspiracy is complete!  Gas prices are down!"

sKerry, of course ever the opportunist, is running around proclaiming that the secret deal (of which there wasn't one) is outrageous and unacceptable. For his part, Woodward says "Kerry has taken this to the next level.  This always gets caught in the political crossfire, and I'm trying to stick with what my reporting showed."  What? The media...stick to the facts? Woodward should know better by now.

Oh, and by the way...if Bush were able to get secretly lower oil prices from the Saudis, wouldn't that  be a good thing? Doesn't everybody want cheaper gas? Not if it benefits this administration at the same time, say the Bush-haters.  

FALLUJAH INSURGENTS SURRENDER

With their city surrounded by U.S. Marines, the city officials in Fallujah have agreed to persuade the insurgents to turn over their weapons.  If they don't, the Coalition has threatened to storm the city.  So ... what worked here?  Power ... strength .. resolve.  Show weakness and the terrorists crawl out from under their rocks.  Show strength and they're ready to hand over their RPGs.

Fallujah has been mostly quiet the past few days. Small groups of armed, uniformed Iraqi police are back to patrolling the streets there, and residents are coming out of their homes.  Why do you suppose that is? Because we won the battle, that's why. Despite what the Euro-weenies and the media think, there are some things worth fighting for.

And have you noticed how this is being covered?  All the headlines say that the insurgents are "turning over," or "laying down" their arms.  They're handing over their weapons...wouldn't you call that a surrender? 

BANANA REPUBLIC THROWS IN THE TOWEL

More terrorist-appeasers are abandoning Iraq, although this is a small contingent that likely won't be missed.  Honduran President Ricardo Maduro (Who dat? Yeah .. me too.) has pulled their 370 troops out, which had been serving under the Spanish gazpacho-eating surrender monkeys' command.  Takes one to know one, right?  I wonder how much foreign aid makes its way from our pockets into the Honduran treasury.  I hope their next check bounces.

What's lost in all this is the countries that are getting it right.  Italy is not only staying committed to its involvement in Iraq, but is actually reveling in it. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said with Spain leaving, "we can take advantage of the fact that we are now considered the closest ally in continental Europe to the United States, which is the only world superpower."  They know who they're dealing with...and just how high the stakes are. That is a real ally. Albania has also offered to increase its presence as well.

There should be repercussions for countries that leave us in the lurch like this, and rewards for the ones that stand firm.  

READING ASSIGNMENTS

This Wall Street Journal editorial says that America is showing weakness in Iraq ... a dangerous thing ... by talking about passing the buck to the insipid United Nationsl

George Will says the war in Iraq ended, but the Iraqis didn't get the memo. An interesting read about the behind the scenes diplomacy involved.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton went on vacation in Jamaica, and along with her entourage, she occupied 40 hotel rooms. Must have needed the space for Bill's girlfriends.

Jack Kemp looks at the many reasons to be optimistic about the situation in Iraq. 

Rich Lowry says the real star of the 9/11 Commission hearings is the Patriot Act, which has widespread bipartisan support.

Cal Thomas says Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is taking a gamble by betting his country's future on promises he received from President Bush.

The media continues to trumpet the lie that gas prices are at an all-time record high.  The truth? As this article points out, adjusted for inflation, gas cost $2.99 a gallon in 1981.

North Korea says it is willing to scrap its nuclear weapons if the United States "changes its hostile attitude."  How about they just get rid of their nukes, or risk becoming South Korea's parking lot?

Mort Kondracke writes that the despite the 9/11 hearings, the accusations and the violence in Iraq, Bush is still ahead.

Sometime between 1991 and 2001, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had an exercise somewhere that trained against a plane crashing into a building. The implication is that NORAD should have been able to predict the future and stop the attacks of 9/11.  A worthless piece of information that shouldn't be a news story, but you'll hear about it everywhere.

 Joe Klein says John Kerry doesn't yet look presidential...and here's hoping he never does.

Amity Shlaes thinks that Kerry's misery index is just sad.

GOLF THE BAHAMAS WITH NEAL!
Golf, beach parties, casinos, all to benefit charity--and Boortz listeners are invited. Find out more here!

BOORTZ BLAST NEWSLETTER
Everyone is talking about the Boortz Blast newsletter. Do you want yours? Sign up here and we'll deliver it directly to your inbox every 2 weeks. If you signed up but aren't receiving it, either your company or your spam filter could be keeping it from you. Try using a personal email address and check your spam filter's junk folder for wayward newsletters.

NEAL'S FANS GET TOGETHER
If you like Neal and are looking for like minded people to hang out with online or off, check out these places:

• Talkmaster Yahoo Group
• Meet Boortz fans in your area
• alt.fan.neal.boortz newsgroup (note, you're going to have to figure out newsgroups all on your own)

Belinda Skelton, Ken Rogers, Laura Nunemaker and Brian Ganey assist in the daily preparation of Nealz Nuze!