SHORT ATTENTION SPAN PROGRAM NOTES SECTION

The Grammy Awards for last Sunday night got the lowest ratings in nine years.  There were 25% fewer Americans watching the show than there were one year ago.  No surprise to me.  With what we are passing off as music these days, I'm surprised the ratings were as high as they were. 

SO now we learn that Jane Fonda used to suffer from bulimia.  For 35 years this woman has been gagging herself to induce vomiting.  There's some justice there.  Jane Fonda has been making a lot of us throw up for decades.

Bookings at hotels in New York are up.  Way up for February.  The reason is that absurd work of so-called "art" by some character named Christo.  $23 million dollars to hang a bunch of orange sheets from boards in Central Park.  Now people are actually going there to see this crap.  I'll venture a guess that no less than 95% of the people who would travel to New York City to see this display vote Democratic.

Various groups are now asking police to stop using stun guns.  A few people have died after being shocked by these devices.  This reminds me of a situation that occurred in Alaska several years ago.  Rural Alaska residents started using something called Bear Guard to fend off threatening bears.  Bear Guard was a pepper spray.  The Fish and Wildlife folks banned Bear Guard because they said it had not been proven safe ... something like stun guns.  So the residents of Alaska went back to the old way of discouraging bears.  They shot them.

In the county of my residence .. Fulton County, Georgia ... the government spent more money on the "arts" last year than on building, repairing and maintaining roads.  Taxpayers need roads.  Taxpayers don't need to have their money stolen from them to support "artists" who cannot survive in the free market.

Is there a more pathetic gathering of people in this country right now than that crowd outside the courthouse where Michael Jackson is on trial?  You've seen them ... the ones standing around telling us that they just know that Michael is innocent.  Well .. that's probably not a fair question considering the fact that there are fifty state legislatures and one U.S. Congress.

Astronomers are telling us that a giant asteroid, over 300 yards wide, will narrowly miss the earth on April 13, 2029.  That's 24 years from now.  April 13, 2029, by the way, is a Friday the 13th.  Democrats are already protesting the possibility of a preemptive strike on the asteroid.

California lawmakers are upset by hybrid automobiles.  They don't use enough gas, which means they don't pay enough in gasoline taxes.  So ... they're considering a "tax by the mile" system.  You charge drivers for how many miles they use the roads.  On the one hand it seems fair.  On the other hand, it's just proof that there is no limit to the desire that politicians have to get their hands in your pockets.

Today's sickest story .. the engagement of Mary Kay LeTourneau and Vili Fualaau (right).  Hands down.  If ever two people deserved each other .....

Back to the Grammys.  Did you know that $150,000 of your money .. taxpayer's money ... shows up in the 2005 federal budget for the Grammy Foundation?  Can anyone get their copy of the Constitution and tell me what article and section says that the federal government can use force to take $150,000 away from the people who earned it and give it to a foundation made up of millionaire recording artists and producers?  When are people finally going to start getting mad about nonsense like this?

Did you know that some experts are claiming today that all those flu shots we fussed over and spent millions of dollars on probably didn't save one single life?  You want to save lives?  Get teenagers out from behind steering wheels and adults off their cell phones while they drive.

MURDER OR SELF-DEFENSE?

Two murder charges have been filed by the United States Marine Corps against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, who served in combat in Iraq.  If convicted, he could face the death penalty.  So what did he do to face such accusation and punishment?  He killed two Iraqi insurgents.  Dropped 'em dead in cold blood at point-blank range.  Isn't that the object?  So .. what happened?

The controversy surrounds the circumstances.  On April 15, 2004, Lt. Pantano's men raided an insurgent's house that was used for bomb-making.  When the two men started to flee, the Marines shot out their tires and took them captive.  After setting up a perimeter, Lt. Pantano took the cuffs off the Islamic terrorists and told them to search the vehicle.  After all, better they take their dirt nap than he if the thing was booby-trapped.  So far so good.

Then, for no apparent reason, the Iraqi insurgents stopped searching, turned and started walking toward Lt. Pantano...speaking in Arabic.  He yelled for them to stop.  They didn't.  They just kept coming.  Fearing for his life and realizing the men weren't listening to them, he shot them.  Were they on a suicide mission?  Were they either going to kill the Marine, or force them to kill them?  Were they looking forward to their 72 virgins?  Come on, folks. You have three choices here.  Hand-to-hand combat; or turn and run.  Popping a cap in their insurgent rumps seemed like the best choice

Now .. in addition to the murder charges, the Marines are charging him with destruction of property for slashing the tires of the SUV so it couldn't be used.  He's also being charged with desecration, for posting a sign on the SUV to the other insurgents that said "No better friend, no worse enemy."

So now Lt. Pantano is being scapegoated for doing his duty.  The purpose of the United States Marines in a war zone is to kill the bad guys.  Mopping up insurgents is just what they were sent there to do.

Hopefully a jury will see it that way.

CASH FOR THE TROOPS

President Bush has asked for an $82 billion appropriation to fund ongoing efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The bill was sent up to the Hill late yesterday.  The bill reportedly includes $6 billion to speed up training Iraqi military units so our boys can get the hell out of there and come home.  All sounds like a good idea, right?

You just had to know that there would be opposition to this funding request.  The opposition will come from Democrats and assorted RINO's (Republicans In Name Only) such as Senators Hagel, Specter, Snowe, etc.  You will hear the left whine about how they don't want to give the administration a blank check.  And that is where the hypocrisy begins.  Let's go back, for instance, to Nancy Pelosi's rebuttal to George Bush's State of the Union address.  The aging hippy complained that Iraqi troops weren't being trained fast enough.  Now they will be.  Democrats have complained for months that the troops don't have everything they need.  Keep an eye on those very same people in the next few days to see just how they vote on this spending bill.

Supporting the troops takes money.  Let's see how Congress rates on this one.

EASON JORDAN'S SLIMY TRAIL

Today, Michael Badnarik was on the show with Neal discussing his book, Good To Be King

You have no doubt heard about CNN's canning/resignation (call it what you will) of news head Eason Jordan.  Jordan is the one who made some not-so-nice remarks about American troops while in Switzerland a few weeks ago.  However, you may not know about the rest of Mr. Jordan's anti-American activities, some of which border on the treasonous.

His op-ed piece in 2003 where he talked about ignoring Saddam Hussein's atrocities in order to maintain press access is just the beginning. Here's a small list of some of Jordan's other escapades:

• August 16, 1997 - Eason Jordan gave a gift to Kim Jong-Il, murderous thug and communist dictator extraordinaire of North Korea.  No word on what the gift actually was.
  
• March 10, 1999 - Eason Jordan gave a speech at Harvard University, where he gave thanks to Fidel Castro for inspiring the creation of CNN International.
  
• October 10, 2002 - Eason Jordan, speaking in Slovenia, accuses the Israeli Army of deliberately shooting at journalists (sound familiar?)
  
• November 19, 2004 - Eason Jordan, at a media conference in Portugal, accuses the U.S. Military of killing journalists, and even of arresting and torturing them.

His January remarks were nothing new.  Eason Jordan's contempt for the United States and its military were well-documented.

YOUR HIND ENDS

Okay, I think we've heard just about enough about (from) your hind ends. We've got loads and loads of stories and will continue to go through them and post our favorites here. But please, no more.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Wow!  I'll admit to being surprised, but when it comes to internet searches, Boortz is number three among radio programs!  Howard Stern is first, Tom Joyner is second .. then Boortz!  OK, I feel better about Joyner getting that Marconi now.

Now that some Democrats are convinced 'values voters' are the reason they're losing elections, David Limbaugh says they're starting to pay attention to them.  Of course, that hasn't stopped Democrats from being Democrats.

A Tennessee judge has ordered some Hispanic mothers in child abuse and neglect cases to either learn English, or risk losing their children.  As you might expect, this is quite controversial.  Too bad. It's about time.

Ward Churchill, the America-hating space cadet from the University of Colorado, has been dumped from another speaking engagement, this time at the University of Oregon.

President Bush is urging that the Patriot Act be renewed, and the opposition is lining up.  Here's a question: how many people opposed to the Patriot Act have actually read it?

Iran says the reports that military drones flew over their country are no big deal.  They say they even gave the U.S permission to do so.  Very interesting.

The editor of Slate magazine says he would've fired Eason Jordan outright. Looks like Mr. Jordan has the habit of spewing anti-American nonsense.

One of the left's most popular ways to attack the right is through their association with religious conservatives.  John Hinderaker calls it a liberal myth.

The mainstream media is starting to get more than a little worried about all the accusations of bias.  Nicholas Lemann talks about what has them all riled up.

With President Bush's new budget finally getting full scrutiny, the media is trotting out their well-worn playbook from the Reagan years.  You know the one...Draconian cuts...throwing people in the street, etc.  The Media Research Center has more.

So what exactly is "academic freedom?"  For the answer, we turn to an utmost authority on the subject: Thomas Sowell.  He talks about the issue, and how it relates to Ward Churchill.

The NHL may cancel the entire hockey season.  Anybody care?  Anybody.....?

For you lazy slobs who haven't signed up for the Boortz Blast newsletter yet, here are the pictures from Royal's Roast that Neal was talking about yesterday. Of course, newsletter subscribers saw them last week.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
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