Neal will be out for a few days having a new prosthetic nose attached. We told him to stop already with the plastic surgery, but he just wouldn't listen. Oh wait, that wasn't Neal. That was Michael Jackson. Anyway, Bryan, Belinda, Royal and Laura will take over the Nuze and provide you with some notes and reading assignments.  Neal might be sticking his own two-cents worth in every once in a while. Once the bandages come off.

GLOBAL WARMING TREATY TAKES EFFECT

Today the much-ballyhooed Kyoto global warming treaty takes effect. Thankfully, this job-killing affront to national sovereignty will not be taking effect here in the United States. Australia has said no to the pact as well. So what exactly does it do?

The treaty was signed by 140 countries, including, among others, Great Britain, Canada and Russia. Two countries that are exempt from the treaty are India and China, both considered "developing countries." More on that in a minute. The purpose of the treaty is to limit the emission of greenhouse gases, thought by certain "scientists" to be responsible for global warming.

That is the state purpose, but that's not the real goal. The purpose of the Kyoto protocol is to destroy wealth in developed nations and turn over the reigns of freedom, prosperity and capitalism to the enviro-nazis. This is about those with an anti-business and anti-American agenda taking control of our economy. It has nothing to do with cleaning up the environment at all whatsoever.

But even if you grant that point, the Kyoto agreement won't work. Why? Well, because China and India are exempt. So naturally, countries who attempt to comply with this treaty will just shift their polluting industries to those countries, meaning the net effect on global emissions will probably increase. So what about the countries where Kyoto rules? They're going to have to comply. Already, ideas are being thrown around to give some world body such as the UN power to enforce the treaty, or levy a tax for violating it. There goes national sovereignty, right out the window.

Canada signed on to this disaster. Canadians like their SUVs and it gets mighty cold up there, meaning they pollute just as much as we do. So what are they going to do when they feel the squeeze? Probably come here.

Next to the war on terrorism, the second most important accomplishment of the Bush administration is ignoring international pressure and not signing on to the Kyoto treaty.

IT'S YOUR MONEY: AMTRAK

In 1970, with demand for passenger rail travel declining (that means people paying to ride on trains, for the government-educated among us,) Congress passed and Richard Nixon signed the Rail Passenger Service Act. This legislation created the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, otherwise known as Amtrak, an allegedly "private" company that went into service on May 1, 1971. And it has been losing money ever since.

So flash-forward to today. With a federal budget shortfall expected of over $500 billion this coming fiscal year alone, along with trillions in national debt, George Bush thought it time to do a little budget cutting. Imagine that! The Bush administration wants to eliminate the Amtrak subsidy. Last year it was $1.2 billion. Think about that for a minute. That's over a billion bucks a year to run a money-losing train service. Naturally, Amtrak is crying poverty...they say they'll go into bankruptcy without the money from the federal government. Good!

As you can imagine, the members of Congress whose districts Amtrak trains run through are pitching a fit. But if the need for Amtrak is so great and the service so popular, how about the people who ride the trains pay the cost of operating it? You know...like every other business? In Amtrak's entire 34-year history, it hasn't made a penny.

The president wants to take Amtrak off the federal nipple for good, and open up the rails to competition. It probably won't happen, but that's because hardly any government program ever gets cut. Amtrak will no doubt continue to shake down taxpayers for decades. And people wonder why the federal government spends so much money?

Tomorrow: farm subsidies.

UPDATE ON LT. PANTANO

In yesterday's Nuze, we told you about the saga of Marine Lt. Pantano, who has been charged with murder. He is accused of sending two suspected Iraqi insurgents to their eternal celestial desert sand nap. So now there is an update.

A Navy officer has come forward to say that he observed the Iraqis refusing Pantano's order to stop (given in Arabic, by the way.) That should be the end of it. When you are in a war zone, and a soldier carrying an M-16 tells you to stop and you don't, expect to be riddled with bullets. That's just how it works. In an age of suicide bombers and booby traps, these soldiers take absolutely no chances.

Too bad he only killed two of them. Time to drop these charges.

THE U.S.S. APPEASER

The United States Navy is commissioning an attack submarine to be named after the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. The sub will be nuclear-powered, and will be formally commissioned this Saturday in Groton, Connecticut. President Carter is the only president to ever have qualified in submarines, and graduated from the Naval academy in 1946, and served as an officer aboard submarines. There is no question that he deserves the honor.

That said, the irony here is just too much. A nuclear-powered attack sub named after Jimmy Carter? What possible scenario would Jimmy Carter support his own submarine going into battle? For someone who favors negotiating with terrorists and buddying up to thugs like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, military action isn't high on the agenda.

Perhaps a more appropriate Jimmy Carter submarine would be one that runs on solar power and delivers humanitarian aid to communist countries. Oh, and it would be about 48 degrees in side with everyone wearing sweaters. Gotta conserve energy, you know.

A little adolescent humor shamelessly lifted from warrenellis.com. I'm not providing a live link because some of the things there would instantly drive most of you insane. Never visit from work, that's for sure.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Remember those 3 CBS News employees that were asked to resign because of the Dan Rather forged documents investigation?  Well, they haven't quit yet, and the lawyers are being brought in.  This should be fun.

Vladmir Putin has said that Russia is going to go ahead and sell missiles to one of our enemies, Syria.  What does that make Russia, and just whose side are these guys on anyway?

The Shiites in Iraq have picked their first prime minister.  First priority: rubbing out the insurgency.  Something tells me they won't be as nice about it as we've been.  Good.

Now that Iraq has tasted freedom, the other Arab tyrants in the region are quaking in their boots. Here's an excellent column from Amir Taheri.

Private Social Security accounts are a bad idea in 2005 when proposed by President Bush, according to the Democrats.  Yet, amazingly, they were a smashing idea in 1999 when President Clinton was advocating them.  The Media Research Center has the facts.

Yet another controversy has erupted under the disastrous watch of Kofi Annan's leadership at the United Nations.  This time it involves the raping of innocent girls by UN peacekeepers.  Michelle Malkin brings us up to speed.

The AARP, in it's campaign to transfer as much wealth as possible from the working class to the gimme generation, is opposed to President Bush's Social Security reform.  Rich Lowry wants to know: if the plan doesn't change benefits for people over 55, why are they opposed to it?

The mainstream media and the Democrats are whining about Draconian cuts in the budget.  Tony Blankley says the cuts don't go far enough.

Howard Dean has spawned a new faction on the left, and Jonah Goldberg has a name for it: the bike path left.  Just think....Dean is now running the entire Democratic party.

Now that the blogs have taken down both Dan Rather and Eason Jordan, Kathleen Parker pronounces the death of 'The Fourth Estate.'  Read on.

For those of you who own hairless Guinea Pigs, and I know there must be tons of you, here's a pattern to knit it a little dress.

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.

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.

Some days one brain is clearly not enough. Get your own spare brain in a spiffy 50's style tank.

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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NEALZ LINKS FOR NUZE The Atlanta Journal-Constitution World Net Daily NewsMax Wall Street Journal opinions Washington Times Washington Post Real Clear Politics Media Research Center Naples Daily News The Drudge Report The Associated Press SF Gate townhall.com

NEALZ AUDIO ARCHIVES Interview with Peter Jennings 1/26 Howard Dean Alarm System Neal talks with Ludacris Boo Got Shot CARTOON INDEX Check here for a list of cartoons that have appeared on Nealz Nuze.

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