Monday, August 16, 2004
 IF
YOU'RE GOING TO SIT OUT A HURRICANE ...
... try to arrange to sit the hurricane out at Walt Disney World. Even
though I was there, less than 10 miles from the eye of Hurricane Charley, I
can't say that I feel like I was actually in a hurricane. We were staying
at the Ft. Wilderness Lodge villas. Friday afternoon they came around and
put flashlights in every room. We never needed them. The electricity
never went out. Disney has its own power system, and all lines are
underground. The Disney theme parks all closed at 1:00 pm on Friday, so
guests were swarming back into the hotels. Staffers put up craft tables to
occupy the kids, free movies were being run on the in-room televisions.
The restaurants closed for about two hours to let the hurricane pass through,
then reopened late in the evening. The winds at this area of Disney were
probably a sustained 80 miles per hour. Miles away the winds were at 105
miles per hour. At the Wilderness Lodge they were serving a midnight
buffet for guests. When we woke up on Saturday morning the staff was
already clearing downed trees and debris, and by mid afternoon the only clue you
had that a hurricane had gone through were tree stumps. My guess is that
they'll be gone by this afternoon. 
Saturday morning I got in the car to see what was happening. After
leaving the protective cocoon of Disney World the destruction became immediately
apparent. Almost every sign along US 192 was stripped naked. Trees
and power lines were down everywhere. Virtually nobody had any
electricity. People in hotels and motels outside Disney were
gathered in parking lots making meals of whatever they could find.
Business owners were trying to clean up debris in hopes that they would be in
some condition to open when the power came back on. I came back to Atlanta on Sunday. Donna drove to Naples to see what
damage had occurred to our properties there. She called me when she drove
through the Port Charlotte - Punta Gorda area. She was crying. She
couldn't believe the extent of the damage she was seeing. Donna is a
trained Red Cross disaster relief volunteer. It may be a while before she
comes back to Atlanta. I've been in hurricanes before without any serious troubles. I was
fortunate enough to weather this one nestled safe inside the ultra-prepared
confines of Disney. I saw first hand though the agony that other people
are going through. Lives have been lost. Retirement homes, jobs,
livelihoods have been lost. There could be as many as one million
Floridians still without electricity today. Let's keep them in our prayers
... especially those who lost loved ones and friends. Two more thoughts. First, get your car filled up before the
hurricane hits. Second ... I have a new attitude about evacuation
orders. If I'm ever in a place where an evacuation order is given ... I'm
in the car before the second-hand makes another sweep. Finally ... when I got back to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon I noticed a lot of
email messages from people wondering how I fared in the hurricane. Just
fine, thanks. And thanks for caring. KERRY
SHOWS HIMSELF --- TO BE A JERK Now this was probably the most transparent, idiotic, moronic and childish
moment of the campaign thus far. When John Kerry was asked about President
Bush's visit to Florida after the passage of Hurricane Charley, he had nothing
but criticism. Kerry said that Bush should have waited to visit, because Bush's
visit would divert the efforts of "first responders." There
isn't an American alive with enough sense to operate a can opener who doesn't
know that if Bush hadn't made a visit to Florida within a few days after
the hurricane Kerry would be citing Bush's absence as proof that he doesn't
really care about the people of Florida. Slowly ... day by day ... John Kerry reveals to the American people just what
a pompous, overstuffed, elitist jerk he is. Hopefully enough Americans
will see the real Kerry before they make him our president. POODLE
UPSET TAXPAYERS GETTING TAX CUTS
Campaigning in Oregon on Friday, The Poodle attacked the Bush administration
over tax cuts, claiming that the rich have benefited over the middle class under
George Bush. The Kerry campaign is revisiting the issue because the
Congressional Budget Office released numbers Friday that showed the top 1
percent of income earners got a bigger tax cut than the middle class.
That's right, and that is exactly as it should be. The reason? Well
... could it possibly be that the rich got a bigger tax cut because they pay
most of the taxes? In fact, the top 1 percent pay nearly 40 percent
of all income taxes. The top 50 percent pay almost all of the taxes
(96%.) So it stands to reason that if you cut taxes at all, people who pay
taxes are going to benefit. This doesn't help Democrats like John Kerry
get votes, so they decide to take the class warfare route. The evil rich
benefited from George Bush's tax cut! The fact of the matter is that poor
people don't really pay taxes. Once you factor in the taxpayer rip-off
scam called the earned income credit, not only do a lot of people not pay taxes,
but they actually get more back than they paid in!
Also, one thing about this "bigger tax cut" nonsense. Take a
person making $30,000 a year. If you cut his taxes 10% (dream on,) he'll save
$3,000 a year. Now take someone making $300,000 a year (an evil rich
person who stole it all from the poor) and give them the same 10% tax cut.
He's going to save $30,000 a year. Whose tax cut is bigger? If you
ask the Democrats and the anti-capitalist, Bush-hating liberal media, it's the
rich guy. Why his tax cut is ten times the size of the middle class
person!
Wrong...their tax cut is the same, 10%. None of this really matters, of course,
because people who were educated in government schools will never figure it out,
and class warfare is a big vote-getter for the left.
DERAILING
PORTER GOSS NOMINATION
Democrats wasted no time last week crawling out of the woodwork to bash
President Bush's choice to be the head of the CIA, retiring Congressman Porter
Goss. Despite his wealth of intelligence experience (former Army
intelligence officer and CIA operative,) liberals are now decrying the
president's "partisan" choice. Huh?
You see, that's how it works with the mainstream media and the Democrats in
Congress. If a Democratic president appoints a Democrat to a post, it is
never seen as a partisan choice. It's only when Republicans appoint
Republicans do we hear this nonsense about being "partisan" and
"divisive." It's a lose-lose situation for the president when it
comes to these morons...since they hate him, he can't do anything right.
Now you have Michael Moore, the despicable slug who has now decided to slander
Porter Goss with an old interview he gave (why on earth Porter Goss gave Michael
Moore an interview, we may never know.) Anyway, Goss said "It is true
I was a case officer, clandestine services officer, and yes, I do understand the
core mission of the business. But I couldn't get a job with the CIA today. I am
not qualified." Of course, it should be pointed out that Goss was
talking about his experience in the field in mentioning that he couldn't get a
job as a field operative with the CIA today, and he didn't say he wasn't
qualified to be the director. Guess what? Bobby Cox couldn't get a
spot on the field with any major league baseball team in America, but he's the
best manager out there.
Are you comfortable with Michael Moore being the main spokesman for the
Democratic Party?
Anyway, the latest word is that Goss will be confirmed. That may well
happen, but not before the left has a field day using this nomination for as
much political gain as possible.
SPECULATION
THAT KOBE CASE MAY BE DUMPED
The final nail in the coffin may come in the Kobe case sooner rather than later,
as it is being speculated that prosecutors may just drop the charge
altogether. The latest setback for the prosecution (one of many) was the
judge's refusal to grant their request to delay the trial. So now they
have no delay and they have The Accuser filing a civil lawsuit against Kobe for
big bucks. Media reports say they're looking for a way to run the white
flag up the pole.
Some are speculating that The Accuser may still testify against Kobe in the
criminal case win or lose, just to run him through the trial mill and embarrass
him further. But that ain't gonna happen....it never was her
intention. She had dollar signs in her eyes from the get-go on this one.
This case is dead in the water.
READING ASSIGNMENTS The overpaid NBA crybabies that pass for the United States' men's basketball
team got
their heads handed to them at the Olympics. Good.
Speaking of the Olympics, concern
is mounting over all the empty seats, and how that will look on TV.
The good news is it looks like they're
going to give tickets away for free. Athens, anyone?
It's the feel-good story of the year...the
Iraqi soccer team has advanced to the quarterfinals in Athens. Perhaps
the American left would like to explain to them that removing Saddam was a
mistake.
Proving the point that being gay isn't really a problem in politics, New
Jersey Governor James McGreevey's approval rating went up after he announced
his resignation.
The plot thickens in the McGreevey scandal...now
his supposed former lover says he's straight and isn't an extortionist.
We haven't heard the last of this, for sure. Meanwhile,
Democrats are pressuring McGreevey to step down as soon as possible.
Want to know why health care is so expensive? Look no further than North
Carolina, where doctors
say John Edwards is directly responsible for driving up costs with huge
malpractice awards.
John Edwards said if you have any question of what The Poodle is made of, you
should spend three minutes with the men who served with him in Vietnam.
Jack Kelly says the Democrats are now trying to prevent people from doing
just that.
Once upon a time there was the truth and nothing but the truth, but as Mark
Steyn explains, Democrats
tend to peddle their own unique truth.
George Bush has an opportunity at the Republican convention this month to put
his vision for the war on terror in focus. Suzanne
Fields explains, and also contrasts the president's position with that of
The Poodle's.
Of all the diseases scientists think that stem cell research will one day cure,
Alzheimer's is at the bottom of the list. Paul
Greenberg talks about Democrats' continual campaigning on an issue they know
very little about.
Professor
Mike Adams continues his entertaining, one-man war on the administrators at
the University of North Carolina.
The ACLU has taken another embarrassing position, and
John Leo has the full details. Seems some people don't know we're
fighting a war on terrorism.
What does the whole James McGreevey affair prove? William
F. Buckley takes a look at the facts of the case, and compares it with Bill
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