Today's Nuze: February 21, 2006 

HEAT CONTINUES OVER PORT DEAL

The pressure continues to be put on the White House to reverse its decision to allow a United Arab Emirates-based company to take over port security at six major container ports in the United States.  Republican lawmakers are lining up against the deal.   And now we've heard from two Republican governors about it, New York Gov. George Pataki and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

So what's the problem?  The UAE has not exactly been a very friendly place to the United States.  Yes, they are a sometimes ally in the War On Terror.  But two of the 9/11 hijackers were from there. A lot of money is funneled to terrorists from the UAE.  The administration continues to say the deal and the company are clean and so forth.  But that doesn't matter.

Would we turn over port security to an Iran-owned firm?  I hope not.  This would be like putting the Germans in charge of our ports back during World War II.  We are in a war.  Sorry, but you don't just hand over something this important to the control of a company based on the soil of your enemy.  It doesn't work that way.

So all of the uproar is actually a good thing.  Perhaps people will realize that security is a big problem and people need to be aware that there are Islamic terrorists out there, planning and plotting to kill us all, 24 hours a day...seven days a week. The Bush administration will weasel out of this one.

They'll hold up the deal for "review."  Then quietly convince the company from the UAE to move on.

THE DAMAGE DONE BY THE LOTTERY

There was much news over the weekend about a huge lottery winning in Nebraska.  It all seems innocuous enough .. someone walks into a convenience store in Nebraska and plunks down a few bucks and walks away with about $365 million.  If the winner(s) takes the cash option he will have about $125 million to spend after the federal government gets its take.  

Two things are pretty much certain.  First, the person or the people who won this lottery jackpot will have their lives made miserable by this newfound wealth.  They do not have the mindset -- the mental programming -- to cope with wealth.  Secondly, with all of this publicity millions of people around the country will now come to the opinion that the way for them to get the money they need to retire is to win the lottery.  A survey was conducted several months ago which showed that one in five Americans believe that they will get their needed retirement funds from a winning lottery ticket.  In about 20 years you will be able to walk up to these people to see how it all worked out for them.  They will be handing out shopping carts at your local Wal-Mart.

Now ... does this mean I don't like the lottery?  Au contraire!  I love the lottery!  For decades politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, have been working to lift the tax burden off the poor and the non-achievers.  The lottery puts that burden right back there.  The lottery truly is a tax on stupidity.  Will we tax it out of existence?  No way.  But at least it's a start.

THE LATEST EVIDENCE THAT WE'RE GOING CRAZY

They're delaying the execution of some killer in California.  His name is Michael Morales.  He killed a 17-year-old girl 23 years ago in California.  He beat her with a hammer, then he stabbed her and left her laying half-naked in a vineyard.  Morales has a team of defense lawyers trying to prevent his execution.  They want to make sure that he feels no pain as he is put to death by lethal injection.  Federal courts are going along with this crapola.   How sick is this?  This predator beats a woman with a hammer, stabs her, and leaves her to die.  Now he's complaining because his execution may hurt.  Let's just kill him, one way or the other, and get it done with.  They're going to try again at 7:30 tonight.  I have a hammer they can use.

EMINENT DOMAIN BACKLASH

The Kelo decision on the Supreme Court has brought about quite a bit of controversy and recognition of the problem of eminent domain abuse.  For those of you visiting from outer space, eminent domain abuse is where the government steals your property, pays you whatever it decides and gives it to a private developer.  This instead of using eminent domain for its intended purpose...which would be for something like building a highway.

So now the states have stepped in.  Politicians of both parties are passing laws to stop the abuse.  Texas, Alabama and Delaware have all passed bills limiting the ability of local governments to abuse eminent domain. At least 36 other states are pursuing the same course.  Revenue-hungry local politicians are being neutered in their ability to load up the pockets of private developers.

So this is some good news.  The way for a private developer to assemble his parcels of land is to buy people out, at a price they're willing to accept.  If they don't want to move, said private developer has to either sweeten the deal or buy elsewhere. That's how it's supposed to work.

Perhaps the new Supreme Court will revisit the matter and get that disastrous decision overturned.

SHIFT IN IRAQ

An interesting thing happened in Iraq yesterday and there was barely any mention of it in the mainstream press, but this could be huge.  The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, held a press conference to point something out to the Iraqis.  Iraqi is still trying to assemble a governing coalition and it hasn't gone well.

Khalilzad reminded the Iraqis that the United States had spent billions building their police and army forces...and it expected them to get their act together.  He went even further:  "American taxpayers expect their money to be spent properly. We are not going to invest the resources of the American people into forces run by people who are sectarian."  Good for him.  This is the United States telling Iraq...sorry, no all-religious government. 

So now Iraq has been put on notice.  No more blank check.  They're about to find out that whoever pays the piper gets to pick the tune.  We'll see if the Iraqis come to their senses.

A WORD TO MY FRIENDS IN NAPLES

It seems the Collier County School District is having a bit of a problem with its local unions ..... government school unions.  What would you expect from a school district where virtually every employee, except administrative personnel, are unionized? Teachers, bus drivers, janitors, lunchroom workers ... all union.  Hint:  If you want to get down to the task of educating the children of Collier County your first move should be to find a way to get rid of all of these unions.  Every one of them.  The time you're spending arguing over whether or not you should pay your employees twice for the same day of work could be better spent.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Is this the redneck version of ass pants? More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

The United Nations Human Rights Commission isn't happy with the way the U.S. is treating detainees at Guantanamo.  Read this before you decide that the UN Human Rights Commission is worthy of your attention.The president's approval rating is still at 40%, according to a new poll.  Only 37% say Bush is managing the war in Iraq right.  Then again, Bush is a lame duck...will the public take it out on Congress? We'll see.

Bryant Gumbel is getting a little of his own medicine after complaining that the Olympics were too white.  A civil rights group says it takes offense.  As the saying goes...what comes around, goes around!

Thomas Sowell has some ideas about the current state of the educational system.  He says that the current push to lower standards, in order to get test scores up, is doing nothing more than postponing reality.

On the one hand, cutting taxes is an excellent thing to do.  On the other hand, here's Bill Frist singing the praises of tax cuts.  Why? Because they bring in more revenue to the government.  Because as we all know, when it comes to spending, there's no difference between the parties.

William F. Buckley weighs in on the whole Cheney shooting incident and says the mainstream media was quite ridiculous throughout it.  But he does point out some facts that were missed.

The Australian government issued a travel advisory over the weekend warning citizens to be cautious in the United Arab Emirates.  Meanwhile, the United States is busy turning over its ports to the nation.  Cal Thomas has more.

Despite spending billions of dollars, most of it charged to future generations, the Bush administration's prescription drug program for seniors looks like a bust.  It turns out many aren't even joining.

President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox are joining forces to cut down on the violence at the border.  How about joining forces to cut off the flow of illegal aliens?

New tape recordings recently released show that Saddam Hussein had a program to enrich uranium and make nuclear weapons as late as 2000...but the media is ignoring it.  Doesn't fit in with their anti-Bush template.

So what makes the Muslim cartoons so offensive?  Diana West says it's not the images themselves.  Interesting breakdown of the whole controversy.

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