Today's Nuze: July 10, 2006

Monday, July 10, 2006

AS I WAS SAYING ....

A few years ago there was much to be said about the declining service among airlines. As a matter of fact, I have great sympathy for the airlines and the financial troubles they face these days. The money they pay for the amount of kerosene it takes to fly one fanny one mile has gone up exponentially, while the price being paid by the person who's fanny is being moved has not. Airlines dare not increase their ticket costs enough to cover this increased expense for fear of being destroyed by predatory competitors who will run at a loss long enough to knock their competition senseless. Now .. .I know that the argument here is to let these people slug it out in the marketplace until the weak die and the strong survive. That's the right free-market approach, but just the same have a great deal of empathy for those out there struggling to cope with the increased costs.

I bring this up because at the same time airlines were cutting passenger services (no more corn dogs in first class) I wrote a set of demands on behalf of airline passengers that could make our trips more comfortable without costing the airlines any more money. Two examples were (1) please don't ask us to put our seat backs and trey tables in an upright and locked position while we're still at 25,000 feet and 120 miles away from landing; and (2) NO KIDS IN FIRST CLASS!

So ... here I am on a flight last Saturday that lasted nine hours. There were 15 seats in the first class section. Donna and I had had two of them. To our right, occupying the two middle and two starboard seats, were a couple with their two toddler daughters. Yes .. they were cute. Adorable. All that stuff. Cute, adorable, and with piercing loud voices which they used the entire first five hours of the flight. The captain would come on the PA system and start an announcement with "ladies and gentlemen ..." and one of these girls would shriek "ladies and gentlemen" until something else caught her attention. "Mommy" this and "Daddy" that for five freaking hours in those high-pitched kid voices that you just can't get away from. Not once, in spite of the looks and stares from others in first class, did either parent suggest to their child that they were too loud and might be bothering someone. I'm trying to watch the movie with my headphones on ... and all of the dialogue is accented with these two girls talking in screaming voices to their parents.

Finally .... after five hours .... I turned around to these two girls and gave them a good "shhhhhhhhhh!" That was all it took! Neither of the parents so much as looked up, but the two girls were quiet until that plane landed! Why did I have to the the heavy .. a nice guy like me! Why couldn't the parents have handled the chore!

I know it isn't the little girl's fault. It's the parents. Here we have another set of parents who are just completely oblivious to the problems their loud and unruly kids are causing. This flight reminded me so much of that upscale Mackinac Island restaurant last September with the toddler that would periodically scream at the top of his lungs. The only response that would get from his mother would be a smile and "Are you through making noise yet?" Screw that "are you through making noise yet" crap, it's time for a "be quiet or I'm going to take you out behind this restaurant and wear your little ass out!"

So ... airlines, I beg you. These tickets cost me over five grand. I'm betting that mommy, daddy and the two megaphones were flying on frequent flyer miles. Can you wonderful, beleaguered airline people just consider the following options?

Empower your flight attendants to tell passengers that their children are bothering other passengers.
If the parents refuse to do anything allow your flight attendants to make a PA announcement something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, the flight crew has asked the parents of the misbehaving children in Seats 5C and 5E to bring their children under control, and they refuse to do so. We're sorry for any inconvenience their poor parenting may cause you."
If you do continue to allow kids in first class, require that a bond be posted in the amount of $500 for each child. If the child misbehaves on the flight the bond will be forfeited and the proceeds split among other first class passenger
(This is my favorite) Ban all kids under the age of 16 from first class altogether.

I'm so tired of today's permissive parenting ---- all these mindless breeders who somehow have become conditioned to believe that the rest of the world thinks that their children are every bit as smart and charming as they do. They're wrong, you know.

NOW ... I'M HEADING TO THE FIRST TEE

So we'll just turn the rest of Nealz Nuze over to Christina, Bryan and the lovely and winsome Web Wench!

WORLD WAR IV--THE WAR ON TERROR

New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin has written a piece, picked up by the Drudge Report, wherein he concludes that we are indeed engaged in a World War....the War On Terror. He incorrectly calls it World War III...that was the Cold War. No, the War On Terror...the war against Islamic terrorism, mainly...is World War IV.

So when did it all start? That's an interesting question. Actually, it all began on Jimmy Carter's watch...as did our two decades of inaction. That was when 66 Americans were taken hostage in Iran on November 4, 1979. And up until 2001, we had been doing nothing about it ever since. For years, we looked the other way...turned the other cheek. They blew up our Marine barracks in Lebanon...we did nothing. Pan Am over Lockerbie? We did nothing. The Achille Lauro? Nothing. The first World Trade Center bombing? Nothing. I could go on...but the point is, for years we treated terrorism as a nuisance. A law enforcement problem. Something to be swept under the rug.

Until 9/11. Only then did our price of inaction become so high that we finally bucked up and launched the War On Terror. But not if you ask the media and most liberals. They'll tell you we deserve the attacks from Islamic terrorists. We should feel their pain...find out why they're angry. There must be a root cause of their displeasure with us.

The Bush Administration got that part of it right. We are engaged in a global war on terror. It's time to start calling it what it is....a world war.

TREASURY OVERFLOWING WITH REVENUES

There was news over the weekend that the federal deficit (that is, the difference between what the government spends and what it collects, for those of you in government schools) is going to be smaller this year. In fact, $100 billion less than previously forecast. And the reason? Why it's increased tax revenues, of course. In fact, tax revenues are coming in twice as fast as predicted.

So where is all this money coming from? Higher than usual tax receipts from corporations...and an increase in revenues from individual taxes on stock and bonuses. The federal government is swimming in cash. You may be wondering what prompted such an increase. Surely the federal government must have raised taxes. Nope.

Actually, it was the other way around. These increased revenues can be directly attributed to the Bush tax cuts of 2003, particularly the cut in taxes on stock dividends. It's simple: give people more of their own money back and they'll put it to work, creating additional revenues. Over the years, in case after case, cutting taxes has increased tax dollars flowing into the treasury. This is blasphemy to the left....they want to collect more of your money to pay for all of their vote-buying schemes.

Now..if simply cutting these taxes causes all of this economic activity, imagine what eliminating the income tax altogether would do? That would be the beauty of the Fair Tax. Remove all income taxes. Unleash the economy. When that happens, the federal government will have so much money it won't know what to do with it. And that would truly be a first.

HOSPITAL SENDS BILL TO MEXICO

It costs quite a bit of money to pay for all of this free health care to illegal aliens every year. Or as the media are calling them, "indigents." Anyway, Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas has gotten tired of footing the bill. They've decided to submit a bill to the government of Mexico for payment. As you might expect, this went over like a lead balloon.

A Mexican diplomat called it an act of discrimination. Well excuse you, sir...but what is it about paying for services rendered that you find so discriminating? Does this mean that any American without health insurance can cruise down to Mexico City and get it for free? Somehow I doubt that. It's always been that way....we're supposed to let an unlimited number of Mexicans stream across the border...but not the other way around. There's two sets of rules, you know.

All of this proves just one thing: Mexico is a third world country. It's economy thrives and survives off of others. If it weren't for the billions that illegal aliens wire back to Mexico every year, that country would be in a world of hurt. You would think they could at least pay their hospital bills...but I suppose that's asking too much.

And one more thing...ever notice that no journalist asks Mexican officials why so many people want to leave their country? You would think they would be a little embarrassed. I guess not.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Redneck welcome sign maybe? Seems like the two qualifiers in front of "redneck" are completely redundant.. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Remember when Louisiana Congressman and Democrat William Jefferson's office was raided by the FBI? The White House caved in and sealed the documents...which has made them inaccessible. So now prosecutors don't have access to them either, which is making it hard to build their case. Makes you wonder what's in those documents.

Here's another wacko college professor, this time it's an Islamic studies lecturer in Madison, Wisconsin. Evidently he plans to teach that the U.S. Government had something to do with 9/11. This is what those who spend their hard-earned money to send their kids to the University of Wisconsin are getting in return.

The FBI is evidently pushing a new kind of surveillance program...one that would allow them to more easily wiretap networking equipment and Internet traffic. It makes for outrageous headlines, but as long as they have a warrant signed by a judge, fine.

Ann Coulter has been accused of plagiarism. According to some online blogs who did some research, she borrowed heavily from other sources. Her publisher has laughed off the allegations, but the syndicator of her column has yet to put out a statement.

The idea of slave reparations is making a comeback, just like it does every couple years. According to Erin Texeira at the Associated Press, the notion has gone mainstream. I tell you what...if you can produce a single person that was wronged by slavery prior to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, we'll give them some reparations. Good luck.

Here's a liberal's nightmare come true: Tom DeLay may not be retiring after all. It turns out a judge has ruled his name will stay on the ballot. And DeLay may very well decide that if his name is on the ballot, he'll just un-retire.

Republicans should realize that they still stand a very good chance of losing control of both houses of Congress. At least that's what South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham thinks. Robert Novak reports.

It was 50 years ago this summer, that under the watchful eye of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the construction of our nation's interstate highway system began. George Will takes a look back and points out what the system did for the South.

Complimenting his column last week in which he recommended semi-automatic handguns, Professor Mike Adams gives guidance today on revolvers. Always informative when it comes to gun shopping and other politically incorrect topics.

Down in Mexico, a center-right government has won power, but the leftist loser isn't going down without a fight. Michael Barone says this is an encouraging sign that the left is not controlling all of Latin America.

Wonder what your kids are up to? Put all those high-tech goodies to use and spy on them!

Video of the day: GW sings U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday. Old EBN fans might remember his daddy's rendition of We Will Rock You.

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