STILL IN HOLIDAY MODE

Or, in other words, nobody is working particularly hard ... especially me.  So, here's what I have to offer for today.

SEASON GREETINGS FROM THE UNION

If you live in New York City, then congratulations....you have now been seriously inconvenienced. Why is that? Over 30,000 transit workers...upset with the city's latest proposal on wages and benefits...walked off the job today. Merry Christmas, right? Gridlock won't even begin to describe how much of a mess New York will be with all of the subways and buses shut down.  Oh, and the cost to the New York City economy?  Somewhere between $400 and $700 million.

According to union boss Roger Toussaint, "transit workers are tired of being under-appreciated and disrespected." And just what does this government workers union find so "disrespectful?" Annual raises of between 3 and 4 percent. The city wants to raise the age transit workers become eligible for their pension from 55 to 62. And just how much do the striking workers earn? Between $47,000 and $55,000 a year. Not bad work if you can get it. But as always with government unions, it's never enough.

So now they're on strike. According to the governor and the mayor, it's an illegal strike. If you know anything about unions and the union mentality, the law doesn't matter; the employer doesn't matter.  All that matters is the union.  Mayor Bloomberg is threatening to dock the union workers two days pay for every day they stay out on strike.  That would be absolutely beautiful, if he could make it stick.  Fat chance.  Not only do unions like to ignore the law, but politicians like to enable them in that endeavor. You can expect a judge to order them back on the job. We'll see if that works.  If it doesn't, perhaps the city might look into firing them all...and hiring replacements. That should get their attention and would teach them not to bite the hand that feeds them.

BUSH NUMBERS UP

Bad news for the left....Bush's poll numbers continue to go up, up, up. This time it's a poll from the liberal Washington Post that shows the increase. Bush's numbers have been surging thanks to his speeches on Iraq. The New York Times editorial board is on suicide watch, as are the producers at CBS News.  Will the wiretapping revelations harm the rebound? Who knows. 

Bush's approval rating rose to 47 percent, up from 39 percent last month and only 52 percent disapprove of how he's doing his job. That's pretty much how things stood when he defeated The Poodle in a landslide last year. His approval ratings on Iraq are up 10% and approval of how he's handling the economy is up 11%. Good news for the Bush White House indeed.

Time will tell if the warrantless wiretaps will hurt his standing. But one thing is clear: the president needs to jump into the firestorm and talk about why he did what he did over and over again. Bush ignores the Democrats and their buddies in the media at his peril. Oh, and do you suppose the New York Times sat on the wiretapping story all the way until now, just so they could use it to blunt his rise in the polls?

Media bias? You be the judge.

WINNING THE KATRINA LOTTERY

As more and more time goes by, it's becoming more clear that economically speaking, Hurricane Katrina is going to turn out to have been the best thing that ever happened to many residents of New Orleans and the Gulf coast.

The latest payday in the Hurricane Katrina lottery ---  federal money for uninsured homes. Those who didn't buy flood insurance, but their homes were otherwise flooded? No problem! The federal government is coming to the rescue. As long as the latest package of aid moving through Congress wins final approval, $11.5 billion of our money will be handed out to those "in need."

And who is leading the charge for this raid on the public treasury? A Republican. Senator Thad Cochran, in fact. The plan would provide up to $150,000 per home for flood damage. Imagine that on August 28th, you're sitting in your house in Mississippi or New Orleans. It's a complete dump. Hurricane Katrina comes and floods your house, destroying it. You were too dumb or broke to buy flood insurance. But now the federal government is going to buy you a new one!

These people had the option to buy flood insurance, and they passed.  Their cars, fishing boats, cell phones, flat-screen televisions and other lifestyle purchases were more important. Now the taxpayers are going to bail them out.  

INTEMPERATE, INSENSITIVE,  OFFENSIVE AND PERHAPS SOME PLEASANT THOUGHTS

• Several weeks ago the Sunni area of Tal Afar in Iraq was a hotbed of terrorist insurgent activity.  Now when an American convoy approaches Tal Afar the residents come out of their homes to wave and to clap.  See if you find this on CBS News or in the pages of the New York Times.  The fact is that Bush plan for Iraq is working.  You Bush-haters and Saddam supporters will just have to deal with that.
   
• There was a vote in the House on Friday.  The vote was on H Res 612 "Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives to achieving victory in Iraq."  Believe it or not, 108 Democrats voted no.  Think about it, 108 Democrats are now on record as opposing victory in Iraq.  There's your "loyal" opposition.  Here's your link to see how your representative voted.
   
• I'm a member of Friends of the Library in Collier County, Florida (Naples).  The October newsletter informs me that among the new offerings available in the non-fiction section is "The Fair Tan Book" by Neal Boortz.  Fair tan?  You would think that a library would get it right.
   
• "It's offensive."  That's how Lorenzo Johnson describes plans to go forward with Mardi Gras in New Orleans next year.  Yeah .. here's a better idea.  No more parties, celebrations, fun or good times in New Orleans ever again.  The good times they shall not roll.  Let's just make it a permanent memorial to those who, for one reason or another, just sat there with disaster approaching while they waited for the government to take care of them.  New Orleans could become a monument to the amazing lack of self sufficiency these people showed .... and continue to show. 
   
• While were at it, there was a tragic plane crash in Miami yesterday, right there in the channel used by cruise ships.  I propose that we never again allow cruise ships to use that channel.  It would be so offensive to let ships full of happy people on their way to a fun vacation pass over the spot where 20 people died.  In fact, as of now no more fun for anyone!  Not until everybody can be happy!  Having fun while someone else is miserable is just plain insensitive.
   
• UPS says that you can ship a Christmas package as late as December 22nd, and it will be there on Christmas Eve.  Someone call the Postal Service and see if they can do that.  

THE PSYCHE OF THE LEFT

I found this gem in James Taranto's on-line column yesterday.  In 2003 a sociologist from Rutgers University named Ted Goertzel wrote a paper in which he offered some insight into the psyche of the left.  Interesting reading.  Here you go:

In the 1970s, Stanley Rothman and Robert Lichter administered Thematic Apperception Tests to a large sample of "new left" radicals (Roots of Radicalism, 1982). They found that activists were characterized by weakened self-esteem, injured narcissism and paranoid tendencies. They were preoccupied with power and attracted to radical ideologies that offered clear and unambiguous answers to their questions. . . .

The unwillingness to offer alternatives reveals a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem. If they offered their own policy ideas they would be vulnerable to criticism. They would run the risk that their ideas would fail, or would not seem persuasive to others. This is especially difficult for anti-capitalists after the fall of the Soviet Union. It has also been difficult in the war against terrorism because Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are such unsympathetic figures. Psychologically, it is easier to blame America for not finding a solution than it is to put one's own ideas on the line.

And here I thought that I was the one turning a personality disorder into a pretty good living.  These people make me look absolutely sane.

Location: Central Florida Community College Convention Center, Ocala, FL
Date: Sat, Jan 21, 2006 Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Description: Reception with sandwiches, salad, dessert & soft drinks at 6:00 pm catered by Panera Bread
Speaker: Neal Boortz at 7:00pm
Q&A period after speech
Tickets $45 per person. (No ticket sales at door.)
Phone: 352-622-7208.
FairTax strategy session after meeting.
Contact: RUTHL427@peoplepc.com

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Need a Christmas tree but don't have one? Use your imagination! More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

A FEW READING ASSIGNMENTS

An editorial from today's Wall Street Journal in support of the president's policy on wiretapping.  This column seems to put to rest the question of whether or not the president acted legally in ordering some warrentless wiretaps.  It would seem that the president was on solid ground and that his Democratic detractors have this one wrong.  Imagine that.  Democrats getting something wrong.

George Will has a somewhat different view on these presidential powers.  Will wonders just what legal argument convinced the president that he could order these wiretaps.

John Yoo, a Berkeley law professor and author of "The Powers of War and Peace" writes this column about the powers of a president in wartime.  Good reading.

Jack Kelly warns against letting the Congress go to far in trumping national security.

David Limbaugh nails another one.  Imagine what the mood of the American public would be if there was even a moderate attempt on the part of the media to present the news in an unbiased manner. 

Here's an interesting twist.  The Internet is being hailed as a Marxist utopia!

Here we go again with the incredible powers of government schools.  Federal judges have ruled that you children can be interrogated in their wonderful government school, and there's not much that you can do about it.

OK ... Carmen Electra says that there is a particular point at which a man ... even a stranger ... pays so much for a date that the sex is somewhat obligatory.   So, what's the price?

It's already started...the left is calling for Bush's impeachment.  The latest suitor?  Democratic Representative John Lewis. Here we go!

Looks like Bill Clinton authorized the same kind of spying that Bush is getting raked over the coals for.  Of course, not a peep from Democrats over that one.

The United States wants to build a fence along parts of the border with Mexico to keep out illegal aliens.  Naturally, the Mexican government is upset.  Too bad.

According to the Center for Mass Destruction Defense, 1.6 million New Yorkers would be killed by a nuclear truck bomb.  And make no mistake, right now there are Islamic terrorists plotting ways to sneak such a device into the United States and detonate it.

George Will wants to know why Bush didn't ask Congress for the power to spy domestically...and what are the arguments that convinced him he could do it anyway?  We can only guess at this point.

Jack Kelly takes the opposite view....there has been no terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11....and Congress is about to change that if they tie Bush's hands.

Bill Kristol and Gary Schmitt say wiretapping terrorists is a vital presidential power....and if the Democrats get their way, so will the terrorists.

The war on Christmas is alive and well...and it's not going unnoticed by Thomas Sowell, who marvels at the politically correct name change for "Christmas Vacation."

Byron York says Bush approved the wiretaps because the FISA court, where he would have to go to get approval for the taps, is a nightmare.  Even Democrats used to agree on that.

How different would the public mood be if the mainstream media were actually unbiased?  David Limbaugh has some examples where the media, if they truly were nonpartisan, could actually do their jobs.

So the inventor of the Harley Davidson dies and goes to heaven...

Here's a robber suffering from a little weapon retention failure. Gotta love it!

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
These are links to each individual story on the Nuze, p-links for the geeks out there. Plus, they work today and they'll work tomorrow. Now you can easily discuss/debate/rip apart the Nuze without worrying about the links going bad. Enjoy!

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NEAL'S FANS GET TOGETHER
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