Today's Nuze: June 02, 2004 

Wednesday, June 2, 2004

AIR AMERICA?  NEVER AGAIN

OK ... that makes two times now I've accepted an invitation to be a guest on Al Franken's show on Air America.  You know what they say:  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Well .... shame on me.  What an idiot for accepting that second invitation. 

As I've said from the beginning ... I want Air America to succeed.  If Air America fails the left will use that failure as yet another excuse to try to limit, control, reign in or otherwise bring down conservative talk radio by a notch or to.  So ... my thought was that if I could help Air America by appearing on the air with Franken once in a while ... no problem!  Let's do it.

Well ... just about 20 minutes ago I finished my second and my last Franken segment.  There was no "Hey, Neal.  Thanks for being on the show!"  No "How are things going?"  It was just attack attack attack from the minute I came on the air.  Franken seems to be obsessed over whether or not I did or did not invite him to host my show at some time in the past.  I do remember asking those clowns from Democratic Talk Radio to host the show once, but they demanded full control of all production aspects and the phone calls, and we said no.  All Franken could talk about was whether or not I had specifically invited him!  You know what?  Frankly, I can't really remember.  After 35 years of talk radio how in the hell can you remember who you did and who you didn't ask to guest host.  Besides .. it's really just not that important!  So ... just to get the record straight, I went ahead and invited Franken to host the show while I was on the air with him today.  His answer?  "No."  Then he segued into essentially calling me a liar and somehow changed the topic into whether or not Democrats were opposed to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Wow!  Compelling stuff!

This is supposed to be fun, folks!  We're supposed to be entertaining listeners.  I do guest shots with talk show hosts, conservative, libertarian and leftist, virtually every week.  Most of these people are professionals who know how to entertain.  Al Franken approaches his show with a nasty demeanor and mean temperament.  No wonder he's working for free!  Life's too short, Al.  See ya later. Don't call me, I'll call you. Maybe.

BEGINNING WITH AN INTEMPERATE QUESTION

Which is more amazing?  Watching the Senate's most liberal Senator lurch to the middle ... even a bit to the right ... in an attempt to get common-sense, rational Americans to vote for him in November, or watching Americans actually fall for this nonsense?

http://www.flashbunny.org

APOLOGIES TO THE TRAVELING PUBLIC

I think that it can be said that the people of Atlanta, or at least the voters of Atlanta, owe the traveling public an apology.  Yesterday's complete mess at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport made news headlines across the United States and even in the international press.  The wait to get through Hartsfield's security mess was as long as two and one-half hours.  Security lines snaked through baggage claim and outside the terminal.  My wife was booked on a flight out of Hartsfield yesterday morning.  She usually plans to arrive at the airport between 90 minutes and two hours before her flight.  Yesterday that wouldn't have been enough.  When she heard what was happening at Hartsfield she didn't even leave home. 

Ladies and Gentlemen ... there is really no realistic hope that Hartsfield is going to get better.  Let me share with you a few tidbits about the operation of what is sometimes the world's busiest airport.

First (and this just about says it all), Hartsfield is owned  by the City of Atlanta and operated by the Atlanta City Council.  There are nearly five million people living in the Atlanta metropolitan area.  Less than 500,000 of those people live within the city limits of Atlanta.  Of those 500,000 people, about 20% of them will vote in any given election.  This means that the body that runs Hartsfield is elected by about 2% of the people who live in the area.

The history of Hartsfield is a history of corruption.  Maynard Jackson was the mayor when the new terminal was built.  When he died unexpectedly last year politicians saw fit to add his name to the airport ... this in spite of the widespread corruption that existed while he oversaw the creation of the new terminal.  Members of his administration were actually prosecuted and sent to jail over that airport expansion.  After he left office Jackson, a multi-millionaire bond lawyer, used a minority set-aside regulation he put in place for Hartsfield to obtain a location for a restaurant on the "B" concourse.  His former wife also had a concession at Hartsfield. 

Wait!  There's more!

Moving on to the next Atlanta Mayor, a true walking cesspool of corruption named Bill Campbell.  The manager of the airport under Campbell was a woman named Angela Gittens.  Around 1996 Gittens was named the number one state or local government employee in the nation!  Campbell fired her.  Why?  Because she didn't raise enough funds for his reelection effort.  Some of Campbell's cronies were also prosecuted for corruption during his reign as mayor.   While Campbell was mayor he wanted to make sure that he exercised full day-to-day control over the Atlanta police department.  In one memorable incident the Atlanta police that were stationed outside his home ran a license number on a suspicious car in Campbell's driveway.  They discovered that the car was stolen, and stopped the driver as he was leaving.  Campbell's reaction?  He issued an order to the Atlanta police to stop running tag numbers of cars found in his driveway.  Campbell's police chief --- or puppet, if you will --- during this time a former chauffeur named Beverly Harvard.  Ms. Harvard is now number two in charge of Hartsfield security.  Her boss's name is Willie Williams. 

Security at Hartsfield is a joke.  I can absolutely guarantee you that I could get by security at Hartsfield.  Oh .. they would see me breaching the system all right, but they wouldn't be able to stop me.  A quick change of clothes and I would immediately blend in with the rest of the crowd.  Their only option would be to stop all flights and empty all concourses.  This would cause flight disruptions across the country, and it could all be stopped with the placement of one solitary police officer.  Do you think the officials at Hartsfield are interested in plugging this hole?  Not a chance.

Are you starting to get the big picture now?

The current mayor of Atlanta is Shirley Franklin.  She is overseeing construction of a new international terminal at Hartsfield.  Recently contracts were awarded for a duty-free shop concession at the new terminal.  There were only two bidders.  One bidder was her former husband.  The other bidder included family members of (Guess who?) Maynard Jackson.  Jackson's relatives won the bid, but that was overturned in favor of the current mayor's ex.  Mayor Franklin's two children earn their livings at Hartsfield.

One more thing.

For years there have been suggestions that Hartsfield ought to be privatized.  The idea first came from former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young.  When he proposed the idea the revenue from the operation of Hartsfield could have completely wiped out private property taxes for all Atlanta citizens.  The idea was brought up again last year.  There is an international company experienced in running large airports that offered the citizens of Atlanta over $3 billion dollars for a lease agreement.  Atlanta property taxes could be cut in half if such a deal were made.  The mayor and the city council steadfastly refuse to consider the privatization option.  After all, where would the mayor's children work? 

And I'm not even going to tell you about the time that I was shaken down just to get into a parking lot at Hartsfield. (Or maybe I will!)  I complained, but was anything ever done?  Not that I know of.

So ... here you have the world's busiest airport serving the primary purpose as a source of jobs for politicians and being run by perhaps one of the most incompetent group of elected officials in the country.  This means that things aren't going to get any better anytime soon.

Sorry 'bout that.

THE POODLE'S PLAN FOR NUKES

Finally, the real agenda of The Poodle is being exposed (by himself, no less,) and everybody needs to listen up.   Yesterday, in a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, sKerry outlined measures he believes would dramatically reduce the possibility that terrorists would attack the United States with nuclear weapons.  He called it the greatest threat facing the nation, and on this one single point, he is right. 

So, what does Kerry propose?  Here's his five-point plan.

• Secure nuclear weapons materials around the world, particularly in the former Soviet Union.
• Ban future existing nuclear material production.
• Reduce existing nuclear stockpiles worldwide.
• Increase interdiction and enforcement
• Establish a White House coordinator.

How does Kerry handle the fact that this is basically the same program the Bush administration is already pursuing?  He just says he can do it quicker, that's about it.  Another Kerry "four year" promise.

But wait.  I say that this is basically Bush's program  ... but there may be one big difference.  What's this "Ban future existing nuclear material production" thing?  Does that include the United States?  Is this a modern-day update to the old nuclear freeze idiocy from 20 years ago.  The problem is this:  just because the United States stops building nuclear weapons doesn't mean our enemies will.  If banning something made it go away, then illegal drugs and illegal weapons would be off the street.  Doesn't work.  Is the Souffle calling for some form of unilateral nuclear disarmament?   Would North Korea stop making their nuclear weapons if we did?  Of course not.  Sure....they might say they're going to, but they won't.  Clarification needed here.

sKerry also is upset that we're still developing nukes.  "As president, I will stop this administration's program to develop a whole new generation of bunker-busting nuclear bombs."  And what is his reason?  "What kind of message does it send when we're asking other countries not to develop nuclear weapons but developing new ones ourselves."  There he goes again...trying to appease other countries.  The answer is simple: rogue regimes would use nuclear weapons to blackmail their neighbors.  The United States uses nukes to defend itself.  Then again, America is always to blame.

This shows just how dangerous John Kerry is when it comes to national security.  We're in the middle of a global war on terror...the 4th World War...and he seems to be talking about nuclear disarmament, making us weaker.  This certainly appeals to much of the world .. the part of the world that wants to see a weaker America.  Does it appeal to you?

TERROR SUSPECT SOUGHT TO BLOW UP BUILDINGS

The Justice Department is saying that Jose Padilla, a/k/a Osama bin Lopez, the American citizen who has been detained by the government without being charged or tried for two years, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the U.S. and set off a nuclear "dirty bomb."  Well, I suppose that's a good enough reason to take him into custody.

Padilla, along with an Al-Qaeda accomplice, planned to find apartment buildings supplied with natural gas.  They were then going to rent two apartments, seal them off, turn on the gas, then set timers to blow the buildings up for a nice little terrorist attack.  Padilla had wanted to set off a nuclear dirty bomb, but his handlers didn't think that was feasible, so Al-Qaeda leaders wanted him to focus on his apartment building plot.  How many Jose Padillas are in this country right now as we speak?  Probably a bunch. 

Justice Department documents also detail his contacts with Al-Qaeda leaders and his training in Afghanistan.  The government classifies him as an "enemy combatant," and seems hell-bent on holding him indefinitely.  The Supreme Court is in the process of deciding whether or not the war on terror gives the government that right.  We'll see what they say.  If he's an American citizen, he should be given due process, including a trial by his peers, and if found guilty, taken out back and shot for treason.       

OK ... we're holding him.  Fine.  But no matter what he planned, he is still an American citizen and he was taken into custody on American soil.  He is afforded the full protection of our Constitution.  This means that either the Justice Department should charge him with a crime, or let him go. 

INTERSTATE SUICIDE JUMPERS

An article in this morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution discusses possible solutions to the problem of idiots who inconvenience tens of thousands of people when they seek attention by threatening to jump off interstate bridges.

The article points out that police are sometimes hesitant to act because they may be sued by the "jumper" if he gets hurt.  The article also discusses my suggestion about parking 18-wheelers side by side under the bridge in order to shorten the fall to about eight feet instead of 30 feet.  That idea is also rejected because of the possible liability of the owners of the trucks.

Nonsense.

This is all so easy to resolve.  Simply pass a law exempting law enforcement from any liability incurred as a result of trying to coax the next idiot jumper off a bridge.  Ditto for private citizens who step in to help under the guidance of law enforcement.

By the way ... do you know that the police are not going to charge the latest jerk with any crime?  Nothing.  No charges.  No day in court.  No fine.  No jail time.  All this after he screws up the day for more than 10,000 people and costs about five million in lost time and wages.

ARE THEY UP TO THE CHALLENGE?

Famed British war historian John Keegan had a few things to say about the war in Iraq yesterday.  He's none-too-pleased with the way the media is reporting the insurgency in Iraq.  He points out, accurately, that an insurgency such as this is what you would expect when a third-world dictator is overthrown.  Here's a great quote from Keegan's column in The Telegraph yesterday:

"The British and American media detail with evident satisfaction every scrap of information that implicates service people in wrongdoing... If those who show themselves so eager to denounce the American President and the British Prime Minister feel strongly enough on the issue, please will they explain their reason for wishing Saddam Hussein should still be in power."

Good challenge.  How about some of you folks out there?  You know who you are, the ones who like to yell words like "chickenhawk" and other nonsense. Why don't you send me an email or call telling my why you wish Saddam Hussein was back in power in Iraq?

READING ASSIGNMENTS

No matter how much sense Victor Davis Hanson makes in this column, bush-hating liberals will be completely unable to see his point.  Appeasing al Qaeda will lead to nothing but disaster.

Well, let's see.  We just got through passing a prescription benefit bill for wizened citizens.  What else can we do for them?  What else does the Gimme Generation want?  Well ... how about free home improvements?

How many times have you heard the media and the Democrats talk about "the working poor?"  Just who are these people?  It's all a myth, says Thomas Sowell.

You're black.  You beat your two-year-old son to death.  It's not your fault though.  And why not?  Because in the days of slavery in America masters beat slaves.   That means that the killer here was justified in beating his son.  Post traumatic slaver disorder, you know.

So, you don't understand John Kerry.  That must be because you're stupid.

This is a combination of Big Brother and environmental extremists.  California lawmakers are considering a bill requiring "biomonitoring," which would check humans for levels of pollution.  Oh, and surprise! It's sponsored  by a Democrat.  Figures.

Could anyone be this stupid?  There is an e-mail going around that promises you millions if you just send in $3,000 to help a stranded Nigerian on the Russian space station get back to earth.  How many morons are now $3,000 poorer?  They'll never admit, but probably quite a few.

Someone needs to take over this website and keep it updated.  The anti-Boortz!

Congress is whining about the $120 billion spent so far in Iraq.  They really wanted to spend that money on pork projects for their districts and vote-buying schemes.  They'll live...they still confiscate trillions a year in other money they can waste.

More media bias...   Mike Wallace of CBS News doubts President Bush's "validity" and says Iraq is not a "good war."  Sounds more like Mike Wallace is not a good journalist.

The media loves to rail against President Bush for his 'Bushisms' (strategery, misunderestimate, etc.)  John McCaslin has a few Kerryisms for your reading enjoyment.

Now that an interim government has been selected, Iraq's new government is a threat to the Arab world.  Why? Because they're the only people in the region that live in freedom, besides Israel, of course.  Linda Chavez explains.

There's a scandal brewing involving terrorists using U.N. ambulances as getaway cars...and nobody in the U.S. media seems to care. Michelle Malkin investigates.

Walter E. Williams has three cheers for Bill Cosby, and talks about his similar background.

The partisan media has been having a field day trying to tear down President Bush, and recent headlines are no exception.  David Limbaugh tells us more.

A recent poll showed that  more Americans would invite George Bush to a barbecue than The Poodle. This isn't insignificant, writes Kathleen Parker.

Crane falls on house, splits in two

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