DANGER!  SMALL AIRPLANE!

First of all .. let me be clear on this.  There is NO EXCUSE for the pilot of that small airplane violating the Washington DC airspace yesterday.  If you aren't bright enough to be aware of the no fly zone around Washington DC and smart enough to avoid it while flying .... then you aren't smart enough to be flying airplanes in the first place.  Radio failure is no excuse.  The pilot of that Cessna yesterday knew that the DC no fly zone was smack dab in the middle of his flight path.  If his communication or navigation radios failed he should have done a 180 degree turn and looked for a place to land.  I think he should lose his license ... perhaps permanently.

Now, having said that about this pilot and his violation of the DC airspace --- let's also say that the reaction to this airplane in Washington was just a bit out of proportion to the threat presented.  How many rental trucks crossed into DC during the same period people were running from the Capitol and the White House?  How many vans drove by some federal office buildings? In fact, how many cars?  Any van traveling the streets of Washington DC could easily carry more explosives than a 1,600 pound Cessna 150.  I believe that any security expert would agree that there is more destructive potential in one rental truck or van than there is in a small airplane.  I believe that small airplanes get all of this attention for a couple of reasons.  First of all, they remain somewhat mysterious to most Americans.  Only about 600,000 or so Americans hold pilot's certificates and actively fly airplanes.  That's less than three-tenths of one percent.  This means that most Americans have little or no understanding of the workings or the capabilities of these airplanes.  The same can't be said about trucks or vans.  Most of us have driven them.  They're familiar to us, not mysterious.  Familiarity breeds complacency.  Unfamiliarity breeds fear.  Secondly, the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Islamic terrorists using commercial airliners.  Thousands died.  Somehow this fear generated by these attacks has been transferred to every small airplane in the sky. 

Now the media is going to hit us with all sorts of scare stories about general aviation.  This morning CNN had a reporter at the Smoketown, Pennsylvania airport from which the small Cessna departed.  The reporter told us in somber terms that "this airport has no control tower" and "the pilots can generally come and go as they please."  Oh, the humanity!  Pilots being able to come and go as they please!  How can that be allowed to happen?  We're all gonna die!

Today will be a typical day of general media bashing of general aviation.  Somewhere in this country in the next few days various media outlets will be recycling their old anti-general aviation stories.  We'll see pictures of small airplanes near nuclear power plants and over large cities.  To hell with the facts .. this is spectacular stuff! 

Again .. the pilot violated the rules.  Yank his license.  And if he committed a crime .. charge him.  Slam his grounded butt in jail.  That ought to send a message to other pilots that we're serious about these no-fly zones.  But let's get a bit more serious about what does and does not present a threat to our country in terms of terrorist threats.

If you didn't catch Jamie on the show yesterday on the run from the Capitol, you can listen again here: mp3 | stream

AMERICAN IDOL

There will be no discussion of who was kicked off or who remains on American Idol on the Boortz show.  Nor will we discuss who Paula Abdul has or has not been doing.  We don't care.  If this is at the top of your "gotta know" list, what in the world are you doing listening to talk radio?

NOW THIS IS THE WAY TO TREAT SMOKERS

All employees of the State of Georgia who smoke,  and this includes government school teachers, will start paying an extra $40 a month for their health insurance beginning on July 1.  This is good.  These drug addicts add big bucks to the health insurance premiums of not only themselves but for all of their coworkers.  Why not make them cover that extra tab?

Now ... let's delve deep into the mind of your typical government employee.  Here we have Laurie Reid.  Laurie is a secretary with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.  Laurie is a drug addict.  She smokes.  Her insurance premium is going to go from $74 a month to $117 a month.  Laurie had a quote for the newspaper reporter who contacted her about the new increase in premiums for smokers.  Here you go everybody ... here's Laurie's question: 

"That's a lot of money for many state employees.  Our hands are tied. We have to have health insurance. What are we to do?"

OK, Laurie.  Are you ready?  The entire nation immediately knew the answer to your "What are we to do?" question.  STOP SMOKING, YOU FOOL! 

Isn't that just like a smoker?  There she sits, screwing up her own health with these cigarettes day after day. Then along comes her employer and tells her that she is going to have to pay an extra premium on her health insurance because she smokes.  Laurie-the-smoker starts whining "What are we to do?"  How abysmally stupid do you have to be to utter that ridiculous statement?  Just quit smoking and you can stop paying the surcharge?

I've told you time and time again that smokers have been shown to score lower on intelligence tests than non-smokers.  Here's yet more evidence of the basic lack of intelligence that goes along with smoking.

OIL-FOR-FOOD PAYDAY

It's been over two years since the fall of Baghdad, but only now are we beginning to see why so many countries opposed the invasion of that terrorist state.  And their opposition had nothing to do with sovereignty or even weapons of mass destruction.  It was because they were on Saddam's payroll.

Today we learn that the Euro-Weenies were major beneficiaries of Saddam Hussein's largess.  A committee in the United States Senate is doing the work that the United Nations would not: exposing those who were being bribed.  They singled out two officials in particular.  Former French Interior Minister and ally of the current French president, Charles Pasqua and British member of parliament George Galloway.  By the way, Galloway was just re-elected to the House of Commons...he comes from a Muslim-dominated district and is quite the jihadist himself. 

So how did the bribing work?  Saddam issued his cronies "allocations" of barrels of oil.  He did this to reward people for their pro-Iraq positions. Pasqua got 11 million barrels and Galloway got 20 million.  Apparently Galloway got more because he actively campaigned for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.  He was also quite close to the butcher of Baghdad, meeting with Saddam and Tariq Aziz while they were still in power. 

The more this is unraveled, the more they're going to find that those who opposed the war in Iraq did so because they were being bought and paid for by Saddam Hussein.  The question is, just who else are they going to find with their hand in the pot? 

Don't be surprised if this one leads right back to Kofi Annan.

PBS FOR LIBERALS ONLY

The leftist bias on PBS is legendary.  For this reason, the chairman of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting set about to fix the problem.  Kenneth Tomlinson wants to monitor the airwaves and try and make the network a little more fair and balanced.  As you might expect, liberals in Congress who rely on PBS for favorable coverage don't like that very much. 

Two Democrats are calling for an investigation into Tomlinson's efforts.  They claim it may violate federal law.  How so? Representatives David Obey and John Dingell seem to think it's against the law to "censor" programming.  And with their demands, they expose the belief on the left that anytime a liberal is not allowed to present their point of view whenever they want, they're being censored.  Wrong.

PBS is sadly financed by our tax dollars.  It overwhelmingly presents one political point of view, that of leftist, liberal Democrats.  To change the programming to allow for more freedom of thought is a no-brainer, but that makes those on the left panic.  They see their stranglehold on the mainstream media start to loosen just a bit, and they're not happy about it.  That also explains their hatred for Fox News.  Any coverage not overwhelmingly tilted in their favor is biased.

The government should stop funding PBS altogether...the last thing the United States needs is state-sponsored television.  But that's the only way Democratic ideas can win in the marketplace....if you and I are paying for it.

DESTROYING BILL COSBY

Liberal Democrat Bill Cosby has been ruffling a lot of feathers on the part of the media, the left and assorted activists these days.  Awhile back, he dared to speak the truth and criticize those in the black community for their priorities, the drop-out rate, illegitimacy and illiteracy.  That went over like a lead balloon.  A few people on the left praised Cosby, but most have been vilifying him...particularly in the media.

Since his campaign started, Cosby has been subjected to outright character assassination.  Are some of the claims true?  Nobody but those involved know for sure, but you can't deny the timing.  After all, we heard nothing of Cosby's supposed indiscretions until he dared to speak out against the excuse-making victimology that infects the black community.

Bill Cosby is finding out what those on the right have known for years.  Those who dare to criticize the liberal status quo can expect to be savaged by the mainstream media and their accomplices on the left.

But Cosby is right....maybe people will listen.  Probably not.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Hey, even a redneck has the sense to go hands free when driving. Previous redneck scrap book pictures.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

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Morning Sickness: Man who has had about a dozen surgeries to make him look like a tiger has found that it really isn't paying off.

If you haven't had enough of that crazy-eyed runaway bride, thesmokinggun.com has a bunch of letters sent to police while Wilbanks was still missing.

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