Today's Nuze: June 13, 2006

Tuesday , June 13, 2006

REALLY, REALLY BAD NEWS FOR THE LEFT

The federal prosecutor investigating the Valerie Plame case has now officially announced that, despite the desires of liberals and Democrats, Karl Rove will NOT be indicted and charged with any crime.

Be kind to a liberal today. They'll be in mourning.

BRING ON THE WONDERFUL ANTI-PRICE GOUGING LAWS!

Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed some sort of an emergency proclamation yesterday as Alberto took aim on the Florida Gulf coast. Upon the signing of this emergency declaration the news reports that anti-price gouging laws will go into effect.

What nonsense.

Anti-price gouging laws may make politicians look good to government-educated economic illiterates, but that's about all they do. The fact is the laws actually decrease the available supply of the very goods and services that people in hurricane-damaged areas need so desperately.

Let's address one area. Hotel rooms. With these anti-price gouging laws in effect a hotel operator can be severely fined and face the prospect of having one limb amputated if he dares to increase the price of his limited resource in the face of increased demand. Let's say you have a family of five evacuating a coastal area. You have mom and dad, the two rug rats, and the mother-in-law. You arrive at the Comfort Inn to find that rooms are running at their usual rate ... say about $79 a night. Well! What luck! Now you can afford to get three rooms! Mom and dad can have a room of their own for a little motel sex. The kids can have another room, and the mother-in-law can have a third room so she can smoke to her heart's content. Then .... along comes another family looking for shelter. The Comfort Inn has no more rooms. Why? Because most of the people who arrived earlier took advantage of the low prices and got multiple rooms. Now if the operator had increased the price of these hotel rooms in response to the increased demand ... say to $200 a night .. our evacuees wouldn't be so eager to rent three rooms. Perhaps one would have sufficed, and the old bag would just have to sleep on the pull-out couch and smoke her dope outside. Then there would be rooms available, although at higher prices, for the next family to come driving in.

The anti-price gouging laws hurt consumers in almost all other areas. Generators, for instance. When the electricity goes out, and stays out, people want generators. Once the local Home Depot and hardware store runs out, that's pretty much it. When the price is kept artificially low in the face of increased demand and limited supply people suffer. Just as with hotel rooms, you will get some buyers who will walk out with two or maybe three generators! Not only do they want to power the essential equipment in their kitchen, and maybe the downstairs air conditioning unit, they want another generator as a standby unit, or to power extra equipment. Now ... allow the price of generators to rise with the increased demand and the situation changes. Fewer people buy multiple units. You will also have entrepreneurs buying generators in other markets, loading them on trucks, and driving to Florida to sell them. When some people did this after Hurricane Charlie they were arrested and their goods confiscated. So --- you want to call these entrepreneurs greedy? They're profiteering? They're making money off the misery of others? Oh .. I get it. In your world a person is only allowed to make a profit selling something or providing a service that people don't really need, right? How brilliant is that?

So ... congratulations to the politicians who push these anti-price gouging laws. They're not stupid. They know what the true economic impact of their action is. It's about pandering --- pandering to the economic ignorance of the common man, even if the common man suffers as a result. Votes are everything. Leadership is nothing.

CRIME RATES ON THE WAY UP

Ok folks. It is time to lock your doors and move to...wait...not even the Midwest is safe anymore! According to figures released by the FBI, last year saw the largest annual increase in violent crime since 1991.

I know what we can blame it on: The War on Terror! That's right. Justice officials have already had to explain to lousy liberals, committed to sabotaging the war on terror at all costs, that matters of national security have no bearing on crime at the local level. Ever heard of federalism? Local crime is a local problem. You deal with it through local law enforcement, and you pay with local law enforcement through local taxes. The new 21st Century paradigm seems to be that funding for law enforcement at the local level is all a federal matter now .. and fighting Islamic terrorists is interfering.

Bad news for the city of Minneapolis. With a 35% increase in violent crimes in the past year. Could it possibly be time to elect a new chief of police? Mayor R.T. Ryback, Democrat, decided it was a better time to blame it on a lack of federal government funding. There's a surprise! Hizzoner says: "It could be a lack of officers or not enough funding for after school and truancy programs and social services for teens...There are also economic issues and 'just too many guns on the streets,'" Here's a fact for you: the city of Minneapolis now has the smallest number of white residents since the beginning of the 20th century, with non-white populations on the rise. That must be because of all those guns walking up and down the Minneapolis streets. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with a culture of predatory crime, now could it?

By the way ... I wonder just how much these 11 million invaders from Latin America have affected our violent crime rates in this country. After all ... they're ALL criminals ... so once you've broken one law, what's the big problem with breaking a few more? It's not like they have respect for our system of laws, now is it?

BORDER TROOPS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

According to U.S. and Mexican officials, the arrival of the National Guard troops on the border have already started having an effect. That didn't take long, did it? The results have been immediate: illegal border crossings are off 21% in the first 10 days of June, year over year. Imagine just how far down that number is going to go once all the troops get down there!

Isn't it amazing that while the House and the Senate debate to death the issue of what to do about illegal aliens, we're finally getting results. And all it is taking is all that it ever took: the federal government living up to its responsibility to actually secure the border. Imagine if the Feds built a 2,000 mile long wall? You know, a real wall...one that people couldn't jump over. Imagine if the number of border patrol agents was doubled. We're never going to eliminate illegal aliens entirely...but we can surely reduce it.

However, while you and I might think this good news, politicians are sure to be alarmed. Less illegal aliens means less votes, particularly for the Democratic party who wants to buy their support with government benefits. And Mexico is going to be none too happy as well. They depend on the border jumpers for billions in hard currency sent back home.

Still though...a 21% drop? We'll take it.

"I'M VERY CAREFUL" FAMOUS LAST WORDS

OK ... Here I go on a motorcycle rant today. For those of you who have been sleeping for the past 24 hours, Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is in the hospital this morning. He's in the hospital because -- dare I say it -- of his own stupidity. Many have said that stupidity should be painful. Well, for Roethlisberger it was.

In May of 2005 the Pittsburgh newspapers ran a story about Roethlisberger's habit of riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Oh ... and it was not just any motorcycle. It was a Suzuki Hayabusa, touted as the fastest street-legal motorcycle made. Isn't that special.

Roethlisberger was, to put it mildly, rather caviler about his helmet-less motorcycle riding, even after Steeler's coach Bill Cowher lectured him about the matter. Roethlisberger even -- if you can believe this -- told Cowher that the State of Pennsylvania had repealed the helmet law in 2003, so that means the state must think it's not dangerous.

Well, the accident happened pretty much the way you would guess. When took my initial training in motorcycle riding I was told that the number one area from which danger would approach would be from the 10:00 to the 12:00 position, and that the danger would present itself in the form of a car turning left right in front of you. According to news reports hat's exactly what happened to Roethlisberger. A 62-year-old woman driving a Chrysler New Yorker turned in front of him. There are some witnesses who report that the woman tried to beat a red light making the turn. He was going too fast to stop. Some witnesses, and we know how reliable they are, said that he never hit the brakes. He just went full speed into the front of the car, over the handlebars and headfirst into the windshield ... without a helmet. He then bounced off the car and flipped onto the street where, again, according to some witnesses, he struck his head a second time on the curb.

I can guarantee you that the absolute first words out of the woman's mouth was "I never saw him!" or something to that effect. She didn't see him because she wasn't looking for a car. Not seeing a car, she went ahead with her left turn. Blame the woman? Only partially. Blame Roethlisberger too. My own newbie motorcycle riding philosophy is that he should have expected that woman to make a left turn right in front of him. He should have expected it, and he should have been prepared for it. The fact that he didn't, and he wasn't, puts him partially at blame for this accident. Sorry ... but that's the way it goes in motorcycling.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from an experienced rider was that riding a motorcycle is very much like a video game with one huge difference. In most video games you're out there trying to kill other people. In the great video game of motorcycle riding everybody is trying to kill you.

Somewhere someone is going to change their behavior after Roethlisberger's accident. They're going to put a helmet on, and it's going to save their life. But the next time I get to Florida -- and will be tomorrow -- I'll once again see that the majority of motorcycle rides down there will be riding in shorts, sneakers, t-shirts and no helmet. Pure, absolute idiocy. These people will remain convinced that this could never happen to them, so they'll just continue to feel the air in their hair and ride without even the minimum amount of protection.

Stupidity can, sometimes, hurt. Just leave that helmet and road armor at home and find out!

DOCTORS WANT TAX ON COKE AND PEPSI

A group of the nation's doctors are meeting in Chicago this week at the annual conference of the American Medical Association. This is where they all get together and come up with plans and ideas...which they present to the public in the form of resolutions. Some of their proposals are things like calling for the amount of salt in processed foods to be cut in half. But this year they've decided to jump into the realm of taxation.

Delegates at the conference are pushing a plan that would demand a tax on the sweeteners put in soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi....the so-called "Fat Tax" to pay for a public health campaign against obesity. The doctors say obesity has become an epidemic, and this is their answer to the problem. This would represent yet another attempt to use the tax code to change human behavior. By the way, the doctors want to tax corn syrup...which is not only in soft drinks, but just about everything on the supermarket shelf. Better hide your wallet!

And just where is it written that government should be able to change our behavior through policies that allow or don't allow us to keep our own money? It's a little early in the morning, but a quick glance at my copy of the United States Constitution doesn't seem to mention it. These doctors are displaying the typical arrogance of government...we should be allowed to decide what you are taxed on because we think it's a bad idea. But why stop at soft drinks?

Surely there are many thinks that aren't good for us. Should government tax that too? This is why politicians hate the FairTax. It takes away their power to conduct social engineering via the tax code.

ENGLISH ONLY AT PHILADELPHIA RESTAURANT

A controversy has broken out at a restaurant in Philadelphia...over a sign. Geno's Steaks of South Philadelphia, operated by the grandson of Italian immigrants, decided it was tired of people placing their orders in languages other than English. So owner Joey Vento decided to hang a sign that said "This is America - when ordering, speak English." Uh-oh. As you can imagine, this went over in certain quarters like a cold Philly Cheese steak.

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations has weighed in...and is pursuing an investigation. OMG! Human rights violation! Evidently the sign violates some sort of city ban on discrimination. But does it? The sign doesn't say this group or that group will only be served. It doesn't say "Italian-Americans only" or "Whites only." It simply says that you have to place your order in English.

This restaurant is a private business. Private businesses always reserve the right to serve whomever they want. If this is such a big deal, then the free market will take care of it. If non-English speaking cheese steak orders are a high volume business in Philadelphia, then Joey Vento will lose out. But to fine him or shut him down is simply a violation of the First Amendment.

And besides, what restaurant can you go to where you can order in different languages? Try that at the drive-thru window sometime.

BY THE WAY ...

Like others, I'm getting sick and damned tired of having to "press 1 to proceed in English" when I call some customer service number. Why the hell should I have to press anything to proceed in English in my own country?

THE SUPREME COURT AND THE DEATH PENALTY

You already heard that yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that every single murderer on death row has at least one more appeal they can pursue. They can file an appeal claiming that their civil rights are being violated because (gasp!) that lethal injection might hurt! I could go on and on and on talking about the absurdity of this situation ... instead, let me just share an email we received from Debra in Oklahoma.

My parents were murdered in Oct. 2003 in Depew OK by a man they didn't know. He entered their home when they were gone to use their house to watch for his girlfriend to come home across the street. He went into the closet, loaded my fathers shotgun and went to the fridge to find something to eat. My parents came home, found him there and he shot my mother in the back and beat my daddy in the head with the butt of the gun, then dragged their bodies into the bathroom and piled them on top of each other so he could continue to watch for the girlfriend to come home without them being in the way. He said in his confession that he could still hear the "old man" breathing. My parents were 70 and 76 years old. He then went across the street, shot the girlfriends 17 yr. old son (he survived) and beat up her mom, he then got away and thus ensued the largest and most expensive manhunt ever in the state of Oklahoma. His name was Scott Eizember. He now sits on death row. Tonight, I am the most livid person on the face of this earth. I wonder what in the hell the Supreme court is thinking.........or if they are. Obviously not one of them has ever lost a mother or father to violent murder. Victims have no voice after someone takes their life, but the killer seems to have one forever. It is quite possible that by the time they finally get around to killing the "evil demon" (as we refer to him), that there will be some new thing introduced to hold it up. There should be an express lane to go through to get rid of these Manson type beings, dare I call them human......they are not!!! The weird thing is, I work for the District Attorney in a small county in Oklahoma. I have been through hell and back and still continue to work for a system that itself, needs so much change, because I believe that even one voice can start a link to form a chain, so that justice will be served for victims families. Please urge everyone who listens to you to remember that there all people like me and my family out there who are left behind. Just to add a note to the left behind part........I am the oldest of 3 girls, my youngest sister was murdered, shot in the head by her boyfriend in 2005, we buried her on Sat. Feb. 5 and on Mon. Feb. 7, began attending the trial for Scott Eizember. The one good thing that happened with that situation is that the boyfriend turned the gun on himself. We have to trust the supreme court to stick a needle in Scott Eizember.

Thanks for listening.

And we wonder why violent crime is increasing? Could it possibly be because these bastards aren't being punished?

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Here's the latest in our collection of redneck motorcycles. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS! YOU'LL BE TESTED LATER.

Find out if you need a vacation. Here is a very brief stress test that will let you know immediately if you need to relax.

Have you ever heard of Casa D'Ice in North Versailles, Pa? If so, maybe you're familiar with the sign out front. It changes from time-to-time. Here are some examples. Gotta love it.

Bill Clinton says the Republican Party is causing hurricanes. He says he and Al Gore were right about global warming, and that policies the GOP have pursued are increasing the numbers of hurricanes. So what he's really saying is that there were no hurricanes because all of this supposed global warming. Right. I wonder if since the Republican Party causes the hurricanes, could the Democratic Party prevent them?

Demand for oil has dropped, so that means gas prices are expected to drop along with it. Will you see as many hysterical news stories about the drop in gas prices? Nope. Good news isn't news anymore.

Ann Coulter is playing the media like a fiddle. One columnist says she should kill herself...while others are still reeling over her comments about 9/11 widows. Which is all just what she wants.

There is a new book out about the war in Iraq, and Jack Kelly says it is the best one so far. Evidently somebody wrote an honest portrayal of how things got to be the way they are.

Debra Saunders says global warming has nothing to do with science. In fact, she points out that to the left, global warming has become a religion. That would make Al Gore sort of like a preacher.

In case you've never read it, the DailyKos is a leftist blog that many Democrats read and post on. National Review's Byron York says the website is becoming famous...and that will be its ultimate undoing.

We haven't heard much about it...but Jordan helped us track down Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. And just why did they help us? Christopher Hitchens has the lowdown.

In his column today, Thomas Sowell presents his random thoughts. Always a good read...among his observations: the beauty of doing nothing means that you can do it perfectly.

Congressman Mike Pence is proposing a middle ground immigration plan, but Pat Buchanan isn't buying it. He says the solution to the illegal alien problem is to end their reasons for wanting to come here.

John Kerry is pushing a new bill in the Senate to outline a withdrawal plan from Iraq. David Limbaugh points out that The Poodle is only doing this to get attention.

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