SO .. NOW I "HATE" REPUBLICANS

There are a lot of listeners out there who really need to make some attempt at growing up.  Well, maybe not a lot of listeners .. but quite a few.

Yesterday I spent some time on the air detailing the spending habits of the Republicans since they gained control of both the legislative and executive branches of our Imperial Federal Government.  Federal government spending has gone up by 33 percent since George W. Bush took office.  For those of you who think that we were spending enough when Clinton was president ... just imagine spending one-third more!  Think about this one ... During every year that Clinton was president and the Republicans controlled the House of Representatives the final budget was less than the budget proposed by Clinton.  Congressional Republicans at least put some effort into holding back spending.  But what about the Bush years?  Every single year since George W. Bush was sworn in the Republican congress has passed a final budget that spent more than Bush requested.  More, not less.

Now don't give me that nonsense about defense and homeland security spending.  When you back out the numbers for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and homeland security spending Bush and the Republicans are still spendthrifts.  You might be interested in knowing that there have only been two presidents in the last 40 years under whom both discretionary non-defense spending and defense spending have gone up.  Those two presidents are Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.

The truth here is that the Republicans are no longer the party of less government and less government spending.  When it comes to government spending and the growth of government there seems to be no difference between Democrats and Republicans. 

Now ... to get to the point here.  As soon as I went on the air to detail the heavy spending habits of the Republicans I started getting the email messages telling me what a evil person I am because of my "hatred" of Republicans.  That's right.  I "hate" Republicans because I don't like the way they spend money.

Some of you need to grow up.  Do you realize how silly and childish you look when you stumble forth with that "hate" nonsense?  Is that the intellectual contribution you have to make to this debate?  Someone makes you a bit uncomfortable by detailing the profligate spending habits of your political party, and all you can come up with is "I'm never going to listen to you again because you hate Republicans."  What are you going to do next?  Stomp your feet and hold your breath until you turn blue?  Face it .. your political party has some pretty big zits.  The solution is not to break the mirror.

AND OF COURSE .. THERE'S "HILLARY BASHING"

And the same pretty much applies to Hillary.  The 2008 presidential election is going to be so much fun ... and there is so much to be said about Hillary Clinton.  Her defenders aren't really going to be able to defend her on the merits ... so they will surely resort to more and more charges of "Hillary bashing" and "Hillary hatred."  Remember --- those two words are generally used by people who lack the intellectual capacity to mount any other kind of defense.

ARNOLD'S DROP IN THE RATINGS

The people of California are starting to show their true colors.  Thanks largely to the efforts of Arnold Schwarzenegger they have made it through a possibly catastrophic budget crisis.  Now Governor Arnold is putting some other initiatives before the people.  Two of these initiatives in particular are creating much angst in the ranks of California Democrats.  One, Arnold wants to cap state spending.  Controlling spending is never popular with Democrats --- and is getting less and less popular with Republicans.  I think, though, that Arnold really stepped in it when he called for a public referendum on whether or not the probationary term for government school teachers should be increased from two years to five years.  In California, as elsewhere, the teachers unions are recognized as one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful union out there.  The principal purpose of teacher's unions is to make sure that teachers are never held accountable for their performance in the classroom, and that they never have to face any competition for the students that insure their jobs.  Increasing a probationary period is tantamount to introducing a long-term accountability element into teacher's job security.  That won't fly.  Watch the Governator's ratings. (Or, maybe the California voters don't hold any respect for someone who let himself go like this.)

APOLOGY OFFERED

Yesterday Senator Richard Durbin (OK, I'll stop calling him Dick, for now) went to the floor of the Senate to apologize for his statements drawing a comparison between our troops and some of the most hideous mass murderers in the world's history.  I, for one, believe his apology was heartfelt. OK, so he was all-but forced into it by growing public outrage ... but the apology was made emotionally offered.  It's up to our courageous men and women in uniform to decide whether or not it is to be accepted. 

One evening recently I was walking through the international concourse of Atlanta's Hartsfield airport.  The waiting area around the gate for a Frankfurt, Germany flight was packed with soldiers in their desert fatigues on the way back to Iraq and Afghanistan.  There were easily more than 150 of these tremendous men and women.  I guess I'm a bit of a softie .. but it was an emotional experience walking amongst these incredible people.  As I looked around I couldn't help but think about Durbin's remarks.  They didn't look like mass murderers -- Nazis, Stalinist henchmen and Pol Pot's killers -- to me.  I pray they all make it back to that very same international concourse when their tour is over.

It took guts for Durbin to apologize.   Let's let it go at that.

JENNIFER WILBANKS ON NBC

Who gives a damn.  But for the record ... I don't believe for a minute she had a bottle of pills.  Remember, she's a liar.  Good save though.

GOOD SHOT!

This appeared in today's "Vent" in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

''Van der Sloot" is Dutch for ''Kennedy."

JUST FOR FUN ...

Here's a link to the Top 100 quotes from U.S. films as selected by The American Film Institute. 

Now .. here's mine:  "When we get through here there's gonna be two things true that ain't true right now.  I'm going to know what in the Sam Hill is going on here, and I'm going to have somebody's ass in my briefcase."

The line was delivered by Wilford Brimley playing the role of a U.S. Attorney in the movie "Absence of Malice."

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

When driving down the interstate, you probably don't expect to be busted by a horse. The material for the Redneck Scrap Book is seemingly endless.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Lions protect girl from her kidnappers in Ethiopia

Here's Tony Blankley's review of "The Truth About Hillary."

Pete Du Pont on Arnold's plan to remake California's government.  Now maybe you'll understand why Democrats are driving his popularity figures down.

Durbin apologizes.  Now ... let's get on with other matters.

All this talk about how soon we get out of Iraq.  I thought our goal there was victory, not withdrawal.  Brenden Miniter is of a same mind.

Why would anyone want to restore voting rights to convicted felons?  We live by a rule of law.  These people have proven that they do not wish to live by the rule of law.  So why let them vote?  Simple ... to win elections, that's why.

Americans seem to really want a risk-free life.  Wow!  What a deal!  But there are some pretty serious risks with a risk-free life. 

Walter Williams take a look at America's future under socialized medicine ... a/k/a "universal health care."  It isn't pretty, but that's where we're going.

Oh .. you're going to love this.  John Stossel puts an end to the whining about the supposed wage gap between men and women. 

Neal Boortz is the most-loved talk show host in Petoskey, Michigan. 

Here's the latest update on the leftist media from the Media Research Center.

And a few reading assignments carefully and lovingly selected by Heather, our 2005 intern:

How random is random... really?

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