WHO TO BLAME?  MICKEY D'S OR THEE?

I saw on Cavuto yesterday that there are some activists out there in Los Angeles who are blaming McDonald's for the obesity epidemic in South Central LA's black community.  Now I don't think that there is any real doubt that someone who makes McDonald's the center of their nutritional life is going to end up suffering some adverse health consequences ... becoming a complete lard ass being among them.   America has an obesity epidemic.  I believe one of the chief factors is our fast food culture.  But extensive research on my part has failed to uncover even one instance where the Burger King or Ronald McDonald actually held someone down and forced them to eat their food.  

The character complaining about McDonalds on yesterday's Cavuto said that there was not one McDonald's in Beverly Hills.  Could that possibly be due to the fact that there isn't a demand for that type of food in Beverly Hills?  Why are there so many Mickey Ds in South Central?  Because that's where the demand is!  

The trend in our society is to always find someone else to blame for our personal problems.  Nobody force-feeds anyone.  If we're fat, it's our fault, nobody else's.  If we're poor -- our fault.  If we can't get a decent job because of our extensive criminal record -- our fault.  The trouble is that no do-gooder activist ever generated a following by telling people to accept responsibility for their own shortcomings and problems.  You gain no following by telling people that their problems are of their own making.

In today's society we have a whole class of "leaders" and "activists" who have created wonderful positions of power and prestige for themselves simply by convincing  large numbers of people that there problems are not of their own doing.  After all, it is so much easier to blame someone else than it is to look in the mirror.

MAKING SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

One of the things that naturally takes place in a presidential administration is turnover. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was let go.  Or he resigned.  Whatever...either way, he's out.  The media is turning this into an absolute circus.  If you watched the coverage, you might get the impression Scott McClellan was the first press secretary to quit or be fired in the history of the republic.

But this is all standard operating procedure. Bill Clinton had three press secretaries over 8 years.  George W. Bush will now be on his third.  Big deal.  But the press tells us all this turmoil is unique!  First the White House chief of staff steps down, and now this.  But it's all happened before.  Every last bit of it.

They've also latched onto the news that some responsibilities are being taken off Karl Rove's plate.  Again, a non-story.  There's a new White House chief of staff and he wants to bring in his own team.  Again, big deal.  Bill Clinton ran through 4 chiefs of staff during his presidency.  So what does it all mean?  Business as usual, that's what ... though the media will work hard to portray it as a crisis in the Executive Branch.

Endless news stories are being written about the personnel changes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...and all it means is..well, nothing.  No matter whether the poll numbers are up or down...people move on.  Changes are made.

Scott McClellan will now probably write a book and hit the lecture circuit, making many times his White House salary.  Without the long hours and without having to deal with the Washington press corps.  Doesn't sound like such a bad deal.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH

If you'll click on this link you will see the mug shot of a 76-year-old man who went door to door in Broward County, Florida posing as a doctor.  The phony doctor told the women who answered the door that he was doctor and he was performing free breast exams.  If you'll read the police report found on this SmokingGun.com website you'll see that at least two women allowed this man to come into their homes where they exposed their breasts and allowed him to perform his free "exam."  In at least two cases the exam included some gynecological elements. The women, as I understand the facts, weren't elderly either.  Two of them were in their 30s.  OK ... so this guy is going to end up in the slammer.  Fine.  But what can you say about a woman who is ignorant enough to open her blouse to some clown who is going door to door pretending to be a doctor?

Now ... something else.  I want you to look at the picture again.  Change the hairstyle just a little bit ... and who do you have?  What senior Senator from Massachusetts do we see?  If there's anyone out there good with Photoshop .. give this one a try and send me your results. [Your submissions so far] 

KILL THEM ALL!

We learn today that the "very rich" in our country are getting very richer.  Now .. how do you get classified as "very rich?"  You have to have $5 million in investable assets .. and that can't include the family home.  There are about 930,000 such people in this country as of the end of 2005.  That's up by 26%.  As for plain old ordinary millionaires, there are now 8.3 million of them walking around, and that's up 11% over the past year.  Now .. how about affluent households?  Those would be households with over $500,000 in net worth.  The numbers there are up about 7% over last year to 14 million households.  Now ... just how did these people increase their net worth?  They invested.  The stock market has been performing wonderfully .. and they invested.  They didn't buy bling.  They took their money and put it to work for them.  In other words .. the rich kept getting richer because they kept doing the things that made them rich.  Evil bastards, don't you think?

FINALLY....CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGALS

The debate over illegal immigration usually talks about two problems.  First, what to do about the porous border down south?  Do we build a wall?  That would be a start.  Second, what do we do with the estimated 12 million illegal aliens already in this country?  The consensus seems to be that either we do nothing at all, or we give them a free guest worker card.  This is supposed to, in the words of the president, "bring them out of the shadows."  Whatever.

But what no one seems to be talking about is how a guest worker program, without any attempt to strengthen the border, will just cause millions more to head North.  There have been several recent stories detailing how Mexicans are already gathering at the border just waiting for their chance to get across ... all in anticipation of some sort of amnesty. 

Well, finally today we have a little good news.  It's probably symbolic, since it's just one company getting busted...but still, this is what we need to see more of.

Yesterday, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested hundreds of employees and 7 executives of a company called IFCO Systems.  This company, which makes crates and pallets, has offices in several states.  Law enforcement managed to raid offices in 9 of them.  Lots of people went to jail.  The crime:  harboring and hiring illegal aliens.  Said the chief of ICE: "ICE has no tolerance for corporate officers who harbor illegal aliens for their work force. Today's nationwide enforcement actions show how we will use all our investigative tools to bring these individuals to justice, no matter how large or small their company."  Positively outstanding.

They need to keep at it.  Start raiding these companies that are hiring these fugitive aliens.  Evidently today the Homeland Security secretary is going to announce that there will be more crackdowns.  It's about time. 

Illegal immigration is, after all, illegal.

By the way .. you do know that being in Mexico illegally is a felony, don't you?

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

I bet the sound quality on this car stereo is top notch. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Now the United Nations is starting to see things Hillary Clinton's way.  They say women in Iraq were better off under Saddam Hussein.  I guess things were better with the rape rooms after all.

This fall, Katie Couric will take over as the anchor and editor of the CBS Evening News.  Does she have what it takes to do the job?  Larry Elder takes a look.

We've heard over and over again for months about how the Bush administration's intelligence on WMD in Iraq was bad.  But did you know who was really responsible for the sad state of the CIA?  A different president altogether.

Senator Joe Lieberman, the sole Democrat in Congress that cares about national security, says he would support military action against Iran.  With such wild views, his party will probably kick him out of office.

Howard Dean now says border security is his party's top campaign issue when it comes to immigration.  Who in the Democratic party is going to do anything about illegal aliens?  Hillary Clinton?  Teddy Kennedy?  Hardly.  Of course, even though they'd do nothing at all, they say they would do it better than George Bush.

With Republicans facing an uphill battle in Congress this fall, George Will takes a look at one particular race in Colorado.  Does the GOP have a chance at winning in that state?  Read on to find out more from the trenches of campaign '06.

Believe it or not, some people advocate a total open border policy with Mexico, saying we should just let everybody in who wants to come here.  Thomas Sowell tells us what's wrong with that policy.

The trial of convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is underway and his defense team is already claiming that Moussaoui had a rough childhood.  Michelle Malkin says he even has some sympathizers.

Under pressure from the public, House Republicans are attempting to reign in spending.  But as Robert Novak reports, that's proving to be more difficult than usual...with some members of Congress unwilling to give up their power.

Ann Coulter weighs in on the Duke University rape case.  She correctly points out that the students wouldn't be in trouble had they not hired a stripper in the first place.  Also, she says it probably wasn't a good idea for the stripper to take her clothes off in front of a bunch of drunk students.

Winner of the 3rd largest lottery jackpot in Florida history shot three times after being caught by police trying to break into a carnear the scene of a rash of car breakins with a gun pointed at police.

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