THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS

In downtown Chicago they have a festival they call the German Christkindlmarket.  It's a Christmas festival.  One of the private-sector sponsors of the festival is New Line Cinema.  New Line has a movie coming out soon called "The Nativity Story."  It seems that New Line is going to have some televisions in their booth at the festival and on those televisions they will be showing previews of "The Nativity Story." 

Well .. .this doesn't sit well with some Chicago city officials.  The spokesditz for the Mayor's*  Office of Special Events, Cindy Gatzilois, says that the city doesn't want to appear to endorse one religion over another.  Then we hear from Jim Law, the executive director of the special events office with this gem:  "Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would not only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts ...... "

I am way, way past giving a flying fornication about whether or not "people of different faiths" are offended by a symbol of the Christian religion.  It's not the city government promoting the movie, it's a private sector filmmaker.  If someone of a different faith is offended then they can damn well turn their heads and not watch the movie trailer being shown in the New Line booth.  Or, better yet, they can just keep their sorry asses at home and leave the festival to people who can enjoy it for what it is and not wander around looking for something that offends them. 

It's Christmas.  Get it?  Over 85% of the people in this country celebrate this holiday as a celebration of the Birth of Christ.  Of the 15% of those who don't less than one tenth of one percent care one way or the other what you celebrate and how you celebrate it.  People like Gatzilois and Law suffer from an affliction known as "governmentitis."  It's a mental disease that causes government employees who have no marketable private sector job skills to develop an over-inflated opinion of their own importance in the grand scheme of things. 

*The Mayor of Chicago, by the way, is a jerk.

THE ATLANTA DRUG RAID STORY GETS MORE INTERESTING

By now you know the story of the drug raid in  Atlanta where an elderly woman was killed by the police.  Thus far the police story is that a police informant purchased drugs at the woman's home earlier in the day.  The police obtained a no-knock search warrant and returned to the home at 7:00 that evening.  As they were breaking the door down to enter the residence, 88-year-old Kathryn Johnson, the owner of the home, opened fire with her pistol.  She hit all three police officers, one of them three times.  The police returned fire and Johnson was killed.  The issue isn't whether or not the police should have returned fire.  Of course they should have.  They didn't know who was doing the shooting.  They believed they were entering a house where drugs were being sold.  On the other hand, Kathryn Johnson did the right thing also.  Scared to death living in that high-crime neighborhood.  She had heard of a recent rape of an elderly woman nearby.  She was simply defending herself when she was killed.

Now we have an interesting twist.  The informant is now saying that the police told him to lie [bugmenot], they told him to say that he had purchased drugs from the home.   It would be easy to believe that the informant is now lying to cover his rear end.  The problem is that the police have been caught in a few prevarications themselves. The first word was the police officers made the drug buy in the home.  Now we learn it was a police informant.  Then we were told that police found narcotics in the home.  Later we're told they only found a small amount of marijuana .. not considered narcotics.

As I've been saying from the beginning, the real cause of this tragedy is our insane war on drugs in this country. Study after study has shown that he most cost-effective way to reduce drug use in the U.S. is through treatment, not through criminalization and law enforcement.  Americans just have this puritanical need to punish those who get involved in drugs.  Stupid? Sure they're stupid.  Weak?  Yeah, they're weak. Stupidity and weakness aren't crimes.  We could save billions of dollars a year in law enforcement and incarceration costs if we would wise up and stop this absurd war on drugs.  Identify the users and offer them treatment.  Crime rate goes down.  Money is saved, and we get reduced usage and dependence on drugs.

Now here's something interesting for you.  A listener pointed it out to me.  It's an interactive map of botched paramilitary police raids.  Most of them are drug raids.  The Raidmap is from the Cato Institute, a prominent Washington Libertarian think tank.

IRAQ OFFICIALLY HOPELESS NOW

At least that's what outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would like you to think.  Oh, and good riddance, by the way.  There has never been a more anti-American, anti-Israel head of the United Nations.  At any rate, Kofi has announced that civil war is imminent in Iraq.  Gee...thanks Kofi!  Nothing like stabbing the United States in the back on the way out of office.  Way to go...your masters running Al-Qaeda just put the check in the mail.  Don't spend it all in one place.

So just what is the reason for Kofi's despondency over Iraq?  When asked if Iraq is in a civil war, he says "Given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact, we are almost there."  Nice vote of confidence.  So what would Kofi do differently?

The answer is nothing.  Like the Democratic Party, Kofi Annan has no solution for Iraq.  The United Nations had no solution for Iraq for 12 years either.  They have nothing...no ideas, no suggestions for ways they might help do things better.  All he wants to do is sit on the sidelines and criticize.  No solution is being offered...nothing.  But guys like Kofi Annan have their reasons for not helping out.

You see, if the U.N. helps us win in Iraq, that will give legitimacy to the invasion and occupation.  We can't have that.  Make America look good?  Why...the United Nations could never be a part of that.

NEWS ON THE SIX IMAMS

We've been treated for days now to the story of the 6 Imams in Minneapolis.  No, this isn't the beginning of some sort of joke....the six Imams tried to get on a U.S. Airways flight last week and were marched off the plane in handcuffs after passengers became suspicious.  CAIR was outraged....they said the Imams were guilty of nothing more than flying while Muslim.  The Imams have held a press conference at the airport claiming religious persecution.  The lawsuits are flying.  But now it's coming out exactly why these peace-loving worshipers of Allah were arrested.

Turns out they were praying loudly and shouting "Allah" as passengers boarded the plane.  Gee...I can't think of a more peaceful thing to do.  Terrorists never shout Allah's name!  What were the authorities thinking?  Once on the plane, the Imams changed from their assigned seats...to a similar seating pattern of that of the 9/11 hijackers.  That is, near the exits and entrances on the plane.  Hmm...that's just a wee bit suspicious, isn't it? 

So it's no surprise that these people were arrested.  The real question here isn't were they discriminated against...but what were they really up to?  According to their behavior, we should be investigating them for terrorism, because they sure fit the profile.

BAD NEWS FOR THE POODLE

John Kerry just can't catch a break these days.  After being blown out badly in his quest to become the next president of the United States just two years ago, The Poodle has decided he might just run for the nomination in 2008.  There's only one problem with that...he's not faring too well in recent polls.  Polls gauge interest and interest determines how donors spread their money around.  No money, no campaign.  That's  just how it works.

A poll was done gauging the likeability of the top 20 American political figures.  Where did The Poodle rate?  Dead last.  Number 20.  Way behind George W. Bush.  Behind even Al Gore.  Ouch...sKerry's political career is now dead on arrival.  So what is John Kerry going to do now?

The answer is nothing.  He'll finish out his term in the Senate and then join the same route into political oblivion blazed by other Democrats who've lost presidential elections.  For an example, see Michael Dukakis.  Oh..and you may be wondering...who was #1 in the likeability poll?

1 was Rudy Giuliani. 

Followed by Barack Obama.  Perhaps this is an indication of things to come.  That would be some race!

By the way ... in case I didn't really convey my true feelings here ... Kerry is a pompous jackass. 

Where's the love?

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

When a redneck finds himself in trouble with the law, he probably would want a lawyer he feels comfortable with. I think he might find one here. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

This is most interesting...Iran says it will help Iraq with its security.  Now keep in mind this is the same Iraq that was only freed from dictatorship because of the United States...the supposed Great Satan in the eyes of Iran.  This newfound cooperation from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is most likely depressing America-hater Kofi Annan.

A new study finds that women talk three times as much as men.  Insert your own joke here.  The study also finds that the act of talking prompts a rush a brain chemicals in women that is similar to that of a heroin addict.  We report, you decide.

NBC News says Iraq is a civil war.  So let me get this straight:  it is now news what one particular news organization thinks.  Just how many things has the media been wrong on in the past? 

The American Legion is none too pleased with Charlie Rangel.  They want the New York Democrat to apologize for suggesting that soldiers only fight in Iraq because there are no other options for employment.  They might not want to hold their breath.

It's worth pointing out when a Democrat actually says something worthwhile.  Delaware Democrat Joe Biden, who favors tightening up our border with Mexico, says the biggest culprit in illegal immigration is Mexico itself.  It is, after all, a third-world country.

Those conservatives that stayed home on November 7th are going to soon regret it.  Democrats have no intention of clamping down on pork barrel spending projects....or so-called earmarks.  Why?  Because they use them to buy votes, same as the Republicans before them.  Surprised?  You shouldn't be.  Politicians will be politicians.

George Will takes a look inside his crystal ball at just how Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to be running the House.  For pointers, he goes back in time to the last few Democratic speakers and how they treated the minority.  It wasn't pretty.

Interesting column today from Thomas Sowell.  He looks at a new book that examines whether there really is much difference between a liberal and a conservative.  By the way, do you know conservatives donate more to charity than do liberals?

The poisoning of the former KGB agent in London has people thinking Russian President Vladimir Putin had something to do with it.  But Pat Buchanan says that is precisely what the people who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko want you to think.

David Limbaugh says the re-energizing of the conservative Republican base is likely to come from presidential candidates who want to be more like Ronald Reagan.  For example, he points to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Neal has been hunting high and low for the line referred to here. If you know where it is, please let him know.

Today Neal talked about the book America Alone by Mark Steyn and the Muslim population overtaking the  Europeans through birth rate.

You've heard Herman Cain fill in for Neal Boortz. Read his latest online column. Your chance to see Herman speak at a live event in Atlanta 11/16.

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