Today's Nuze: September 16, 2004 

THOUGHTS

• The Poodle is now calling Bush's presidency the "Excuse Presidency."  How about this:  Excuse me for not protecting America from Islamic terrorists, but the United Nations didn't say I could."
• Kerry calls "Unfit for Command" a "pack of lies."  OK folks .. here's your assignment.  Find one single charge in the book that has been proven to be a lie.  Can you do it?  You know the phone number, call in!  You know the email address, send me your proof!  On the other hand ... the book has forced the Kerry campaign to change their story on a number of issues. 
• Why do Democrats scoff at George Bush's idea of an "ownership society?"  That one's easy.  The more you own, the more self-reliant you are.  The more self-reliant you are the less you need government.  The less you need government, the less you need Democrats.  You can now move on to Political Science 202.
• While watching CNN's coverage of hurricane Ivan at 7:35 this morning I particularly enjoyed the shot of that guy in the pickup truck flipping ye olde bird at the CNN cameraman.  Doesn't anyone preview these video clips?

ARE THEY SERIOUS?

Just a few short notes about the CBS forged documents story.  Believe it or not, the liberal media seems to be settling on a story or an explanation.  Basically, it's this:  The documents may have been forged, but they're accurate.  I don't really need to say any more here, do I?  It's OK to used forged documents, so long as what those forged documents say is true.  So much for modern day journalistic ethics.

AND JUST WHERE DID THE DOCUMENTS COME FROM?

So where did the now-discredited Bush National Guard forgeries come from?  According to one source one of the documents has a header on it showing that it was faxed from a Kinko's in Abeline, Texas.  So what's in Abilene, Texas, besides a Kinko's?  Who would go through all the trouble to anonymously fax the documents to CBS News?

That Kinko's is 21 miles from Baird, Texas where Bill Burkett lives.  Who is Bill Burkett?  I told you about him yesterday. He is a retired Texas Air National Guard officer who is and has been hell bent on the political destruction of George W. Bush.  In short, a partisan operator.  This is the same character that made the allegation that he overheard a telephone conversation in 1997 in which then-Governor Bush's aides tried to get the head of the Texas Air National Guard to sanitize his files.  All involved have denied the allegation...in other words, it's probably a lie. On top of that, Burkett has given conflicting, unsubstantiated accounts of just what Bush documents the Guard threw away while trying to clean up the president's files.

This Burkett guy is also suspected by other news organizations of being the source for the forged documents.  Of course, CBS won't say if he is...but they also won't say that he's not.  So what could this guy's motivation be?  Hatred of George Bush?  An axe to grind?  Well, it turns out there is one.

Burkett has been in a dispute with the Texas National Guard over medical benefits.  Apparently he contracted some disease during an assignment in Panama. Since leaving the guard, he has suffered a nervous breakdown and been hospitalized for depression.  Doesn't exactly sound like a stable source to rely on when you're trying to bring down a president.

Most of the mainstream media is well aware of Mr. Burkett and his vendetta.  They also know that he is not what you would consider to be a good source.  We must assume that Rather and the CBS news officials have heard from this character before.  This would mean that they probably knew that there were some strong questions about Burkett's honesty, and thus strong questions about the genuineness of those documents.  CBS chose to ignore those questions, and the questions put on the table by their own "experts," and forged (pun intended) ahead. 

How many of you actually trust CBS news any more?

KOFI ANNAN SAYS IRAQ WAR ILLEGAL

This should come as a surprise to exactly no one.  Speaking last night to the BBC, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the war in Iraq was "illegal" and not "in conformity" with either the UN Security Council or the UN Charter. Oh really?

Apparently, Kofi doesn't read too many of his own UN Security Council resolutions.  Does he remember the ones that authorized the use of force unless Saddam Hussein complied?  I guess not.  Does he not think it is a good idea that Saddam Hussein is sitting in jail?  Did he prefer it when the dictator was in power, torturing and raping the population?  Probably...Annan has never met a dictator he didn't like.  Freedom and liberty is not something that is a high priority at the U.N.  Never has been. Or could it be that he's upset that his pockets are no longer being lined by Saddam Hussein now that the U.N.'s oil-for-food rip off has been shut down?

I've covered this in depth before, so this is the Reader's Digest version.  Read UN Resolutions 678, 687 and 1441.  Read together these resolutions do the following:

1. Demand that Saddam Hussein leave Kuwait.
2. Demand that Saddam Hussein immediately dispose of all weapons of mass destruction
3. Require that Saddam Hussein provide ample proof to the United Nations that these weapons have been destroyed and that no active weapons program for such weapons exists.
4. Allow any member nation of the United Nations to take military action against Saddam Hussein if the provisions of these resolutions are not completely complied with.

Saddam didn't comply.  The U.S. is a member nation of the United Nations.  The U.S. compelled compliance through the use of military force, as authorized by these resolutions. End of story.

What's more alarming here is Kofi the Korrupt's idea that the United Nations is in a position to decide when the United States can legally use military force in its own defense.  That, by the way, is a view shared by The Poodle.

HAVE WE REALLY LOST JOBS UNDER GEORGE BUSH?

John Kerry is responding to a slide in his poll numbers by stepping up the rhetoric against George Bush on issues economic.  Kerry is saying that Bush has created "more excuses than jobs."  Very clever.  Kerry is now calling the last four years the "Excuse presidency."

Let's play with jobs numbers a bit.  If you're new to Nealz Nuze, or if you aren't a listener to my show, you're going to learn a few things you didn't know before.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics produces two separate jobs reports.  One is called the Establishment Survey, the other is the Household Survey [pdf].  These two surveys use different methodologies in measuring the number of people working and the rate of job growth or job loss.  The Establishment Survey questions a set list of established businesses every month on their employment numbers.  The Household Survey questions thousands of American households to see if household members are working, not working, looking for jobs, retired, etc.

There is a fairly big problem with the Establishment Survey.  Since the list of businesses canvassed every month for this survey is fairly static, any new businesses out there that have started in the last year or so won't be included.   Let's say you have a mythical town with three employers.  One large manufacturing plant that employs 1000 people, and two small businesses that have a combined employment of 60.  The large manufacturing facility has been in operation for 20 years and is a part of the government's monthly Establishment Survey.  The two small businesses were only formed late last year and are not on the Establishment Survey.  So ... let's say that in August the plant dismisses 5 people, but the small businesses hire those five people and about five more.  Additionally, four other residents have started businesses from their homes.  The Establishment Survey would show a net job loss in this town of five jobs in the September report.  The Household Survey, on the other hand, would show a net job increase of nine jobs.

Remember now, politicians generally like to use government statistics to prove the need for more government or to prove that their political foes are doing a bad job.  This means, of course, that the Democrats and the Kerry campaign will eagerly point to the Establishment Survey to prove that George Bush is losing jobs, not creating them.

By now I would bet that you're just screaming for me to get to the point.  What figures do we get from the latest Household Survey?

Hold on ... let's go back to Kerry for a moment.  Kerry says that Bush is the first president in 72 years to record a net loss of jobs during his term.  Kerry puts that number at 900,000 jobs.  NOW is the time to compare the two survey totals.

On September 3rd the Bureau of Labor Statistics published it's numbers.  The Establishment Survey showed that 131.5 million people were employed in non-farm jobs during August.  The Household Survey showed a total employment figure of 138.7 million.  That's a difference of 8.2 million jobs ... 8.2 million more Americans actually working than the numbers Kerry cites.  That sort of wipes out Kerry's 900,000 job loss, don't you think?

Come on, folks.  How in the world can you ignore small businesses when you report job numbers?  Most of the jobs in this country are in small businesses, the very businesses that can take up to two years to register on the government's Establishment Survey.  Job growth numbers in the small business private sector lag for a year or more behind than job numbers in large employers.  In other words ... the numbers Kerry is relying on are meaningless in the short term. 

One more thing ... Bush inherited an economic recession that began under Bill Clinton --- then you had the dot-com bust and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  By any measure that's a tough hand to play.  I wonder how The Souffle would have performed?

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Has Dan Rather done irreparable harm to the liberal media monopoly?  The Wall Street Journal says that Rather's episode with those faked documents signals the end of the liberal media setting the political agenda.

Would Dan Rather have accepted phony documents had they been about John Kerry and come from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth?  Of course not, says Ann Coulter in her latest column.

ABC News is reporting that CBS News ignored concerns about the authenticity of the fake memos.  Gotta love it when the competition jumps in.

What's The Poodle's biggest problem?  Dick Morris says it's that nobody likes him...the old likability problem has returned to haunt The Souffle.

And now here are twenty questions for the next reporter that interviews John Kerry.  Peter Kirsanow runs them down, in detail.

Dan Rather's scoop is as shaky as his status, writes Zev Chafets.  The CBS anchor has now been caught red handed trying to help elect The Poodle.

The National Guard documents case isn't the only bogus story that CBS is working...Eric Fetterman looks at Dan's other imploding 'scoop.'

Democrats are worried that The Poodle is moving to the left....and this appeals to swing voters how?  Robert Novak explains.

For four decades, the Senate has not produced very many presidents....and even fewer still from the Northeast.  Here's more from George Will.

It's official...CBS News is dead.  Jay Bryant explains why, and says it may also be the end of the big three's nightly newscasts as well.

Rathergate rages on...and Larry Elder reminds us how it all got started, beginning with the rundown of the original 60 Minutes piece.

The mounting suicides at NYU should serve as a reminder to parents to get involved in their kid's college education.  Thomas Sowell has some tips for choosing a college.

Iraq is emerging as a big issue leading up to the election....and Tony Blankley says that despite what the media and others say, Iraq is not yet in a civil war.

Dan Rather could have come clean, apologized and cleared up this whole mess.  Brent Bozell says instead what CBS has chosen to do is stand by a disaster.

Police took five college sophomores into custody Tuesday after a 19-year-old woman told of being accosted by men wearing black clothing and garish white and black face makeup as she walked near campus.

In England, man thought old car part was an unexploded bomb.

Student copies a parking ticket he received, changes payment address to his and put them on cars all over campus. Caught because he failed to change the citation number and it led directly back to him.

Michelle Malkin reads Nealz Nuze?

The entire book THE NEW SOLDIER by John Kerry available for reading online.

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