Today's Nuze: October 12, 2006

By Neal Boortz

Thursday, October 12, 2006

THE NEW YORK CITY PLANE CRASH

A single-engine general aviation airplane crashed into a high rise apartment building in New York City yesterday afternoon. Most of you know the story by now. New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was at the controls. An as-yet unidentified flight instructor was with him.

New Yorkers understandably reacted with horror. First thoughts were that it might be another terrorist attack. Who can blame them? After the fear of terrorism subsided people started figuring out just how this happened. There were reports of a distress call on the radio. There's even speculation that the airplane ran out of gas. I'm not buying the out of gas idea. The fire in the high rise was awfully intense. Perhaps too intense for there not to have been any fuel on the plane. My initial guess was that Lidle was making a left turn over the East River to keep out of LaGuardia airspace, miscalculated, and hit the building. The Cirrus Lidle was flying is a low-wing airplane. That would give him excellent visibility in the direction of the turn. It would be difficult not to notice a high rise on a clear day.

Anyway ... there's one thing I don't have to guess about. Anti-general aviation and anti-airport groups will make the most out of this. You can expect many calls over the next few days for a ban on general aviation flights near New York City and other metropolitan areas. These people who dislike small airplanes never miss a chance to scream that the sky is falling.

Ditto for the anti-airport crowd. The anti-airport group that I'm most familiar with is the group fighting to close DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Atlanta. PDK is my home base. I will guarantee you that people from this anti-PDK group were calling their favorite reporters last evening trying to get on the news shows with their tales of horror about how dangerous it is for everyone living around PDK. They will surely tell their favorite reporter that although this particular incident may not have been terrorism, some real terrorist could use PDK to launch a terrorist attack on Atlanta any day now! The Atlanta anti-airport crowd in Atlanta knows they have a friend in a local television reporter named Dale Cardwell. My guess is that his phone was ringing off the hook last night.

Allow me to tell you something about the anti-general aviation crowd out there. I've been flying airplanes and hot air balloons for about 30 years now. I have 2,500 hours of time as pilot-in-command. Not all that much, but a bit more than Cory Lidle. During that time I served on a county airport authority for about six years. I've also spent a lot of time ... to much time by some accounts ... talking about flying and general aviation on the air.

I believe that our system of general aviation is one of the most brilliant examples of the freedoms we enjoy in this country. There are very few countries in this world where a licensed pilot can head to the airport, get in his airplane, and not really decide where he wants to go until he gets in the air. Rules? Of course there are rules. There are restricted airspaces where you cannot go unless you're cleared into those spaces by air traffic control. There are minimum altitudes over congested areas. There are rules that dictate your altitude depending on your compass heading, even if you're not talking to controllers. We aren't just a bunch of hot-doggers who get up there and buzz houses and fly around with our eyes closed. The rules of the road are many, and we're expected to know them all. The FAA is always ready to ground us if we go astray.

I remember in the 1980's my wife and I were privileged to host some Soviet athletes who were touring this country. One of our guests was a figure skater. Sorry, can't remember her name. Another guest was an Olympic wrestler named Soslan Andiev. Soslan I remember. I remember him standing in our driveway with the garage remote control in his hand. He would sip on his Budweiser while making the garage door open and close and open and close and open and close. Even an elite Soviet athlete (Soslan was a two-time Gold Medal winner) couldn't have something as magnificent as a remote garage door opener in the Soviet Union. Soslan also liked driving around Atlanta's perimeter highway screaming "Budweiser" with a strong Russian accent on the CB. Great guy.

There was one other guest in our home. She was billed as a "translator." Her real role was to keep an eye on her prize subjects, Soslan and the figure skater. We later learned that she worked for the Soviet KGB.

So .. why bring this up in a discussion of general aviation? Here's why. One afternoon I asked Soslan if he would like to go for a plane ride. He thought I meant a commercial airliner. "No," I told him, "we'll go in a private small airplane. Just you and me."

You should have seen the look on the "translator's" face. There was no way in hell she was going to let this man get in a small airplane with me. "Permits!" she said. "You must have permits!"

"No." I told her. "No permits. I just need a pilot's license. No big deal."

"This cannot be permitted! You must have permits. You just can't fly anywhere you want without permits!"

The concept of freedom was so foreign to this woman that she simply could not fathom the idea that a mere citizen could get into an airplane and just take off .. all without a specific permit for that flight, and all without telling anyone where you are going to go.

Now I'm writing a portion of these notes on Wednesday evening as I listen to Bill O'Reilly getting all puffed up in the background. (Hey, you can't argue with success.) I just know, however, that by the time I get on the air tomorrow there will be no shortage of hysterics and anti-general aviation types calling for severe new restrictions on general aviation. These people would like nothing more than to make bring into reality what this KGB translator imagined 30 years ago. They, like her, just can't believe that in this country someone can get into an airplane and just take off -- without telling anyone where they're going.

Freedom means nothing to these people; security means everything. Permits! We must have permits!

Never mind that on every single day of the week hundreds of trucks drive into Manhattan Island ... without telling anyone what they're carrying, and without telling any government agency where they're going. These trucks are easily acquired. Airplanes are not. These trucks can be driven by pretty much anyone. Airplanes cannot. These trucks can carry thousands of pounds of high explosives. A small airplane cannot.

So, since logic and reason will tell you that a simple panel truck presents a greater threat than does a small airplane ... why the screams for tighter controls on what private pilots can do? Why attack a freedom cherished by so many?

Back to those years I spent on the airport authority --- back to the hundreds of discussions I've had with pilots and non-pilots alike on the subject of general aviation. What I saw driving so many of these anti-airport and anti-general aviation folks is just simple, age-old, run-of-the-mill wealth envy. So many of these people view private pilots are just rich people playing with their expensive toys. They think they can fly over people's houses and zip in and out of city high rises just because they're rich. They're privileged.

Now never mind the fact that the average private piston-powered single-engine airplane in this country is worth less than a new bass rig ... the people who own and fly these things are just spoiled rich people. "And if I can't have an airplane and fly wherever I want than I don't want them to be able to do it either."

I know it sounds absurd. Just trust me. I've heard it time and time again. I've asked people to attend anti-airport meetings at my home base (PDK) and either record or report back to me on what they've heard. As sure as day follows night, at every one of those meetings at least one person will get up and make some sort of a comment about "those rich people" or "those millionaires" and their airplanes.

Things are the same in my second home of Naples, Florida. Naples now has a city councilman named Bill Willkomm. Willkomm has been an active member of the anti-airport crowd in Naples for some time. I remember several years ago, before he was on the city council, Willkomm was proposing that the airport be closed and all of the pilots move their airplanes to the Immokalee Airport about 30 miles away .. and that's as the crow flies. Call it a 45 mile drive. Willkomm remarked that this wouldn't present any significant hardship on the pilots and passengers who now use the Naples airport. He said they could just get a few extra sips of their champagne as they drive to their plane in Immokalee. Is that the reasoned comment of a dedicated public servant? Hardly. It's a comment born out of wealth envy ... or a desire to pander to wealth envy.

Even the email that came in after yesterday's accident evidenced this wealth-envy. Here's one from Joe:

"With all the planes going down every day (hourly) half of them millionaires who can pay off their pilot license just to avoid long lines at airports I like to see his assets ceased to pay for the damage they cause with all the clean up and lost lives."

See what I mean? "Half of them millionaires who can pay off their pilot license just to avoid long lines at airports." Joe is obviously upset that someone whom he assumes to have more money than he can use that money to avoid some of the inconveniences associated with travel. How DARE they do this? Who do these millionaires think they are? Oh .. and it seems that Joe hasn't heard of insurance. But then he's not all that bright anyway, is he?

To be sure. If you confront them these people aren't going to tell you that they want to see the freedom of general aviation curbed because they're just jealous that these people can fly airplane and "I can't." They're going to be talking about terrorism and noise. For some of them, those concerns will be real. But behind many of them ... jealousy. Wealth envy.

So ... listen up today. They'll be out there, demanding new restrictions on general aviation. Now, however, perhaps you'll have a better understanding of their motivations.

YOU'RE A GLOBAL WARMING SKEPTIC? THEN YOU'RE A CRIMINAL!

I'm a global warming skeptic. I believe that there has been some warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the last 20 years or so, but I do not believe that this warming has been primarily caused by man. In fact, I don't believe man has been much of a factor at all.

That makes me a criminal. That means I should be put on trial for "crimes against humanity."

This is the idea of David Roberts, a staff writer for Grist magazine. You may not have heard of Grist, but Al Gore has. Bill Moyers the hard-left so-called "newsman" from PBS has. They've granted interviews to Grist to push their global warming agendas. David Roberts is now calling for trials for war-crimes trials for people who express doubts that global warming is caused by man. He calls these people "bastards" and refers to the global warming "denial industry." Roberts is suggesting trials for these skeptics that mirror the Nuremberg trials for those responsible for the Holocaust.

Al Gore seems to be part of the Roberts crowd. He calls people like me "global warming deniers," a not so vague reference to "Holocaust deniers." An odd phrase for Gore to use considering the fact that his buddy Roberts is calling for Nuremburg-style trials.

So ... this is the status of free speech in 21st Century America for anyone who disagrees with the thoughts put forth by the anti-capitalist environmental crowd.

Do I need a lawyer yet?

YESTERDAY'S PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE

President Bush had another press conference yesterday. In case you haven't been listening, I've been having a bit of fun with these press conferences lately. Royal records the questions from the reporters at the press conference, and then plays them for me on the air. I then respond as I wish the president would. Yesterday we did this bit after Bush's press conference, but it aired during the Information Overload Hour. So .. tune in today? We'll repeat it so that the rest of you can see just how strange I truly am.

HARRY REID'S SHADY LAND DEAL

Here we are, less than 3 weeks until the mid-term election, and we finally have a Democratic scandal. You didn't think it was possible, did you? To read the press over the past several months, you would think Republicans were evil and Democrats could do no wrong. Every one of them wearing halos. But now the Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has a problem. A big one, actually.

It seems Reid pocketed over $1 million from a land deal.....on a property that he did not own. What a deal! Wish I could do that.

Is Harry harried? Apparently so. He hung up on an AP reporter when he called to ask about it. That's not nice...you know, you really should watch that temper, Senator Reid.

So .. yesterday Harry holds a press conference yesterday, proclaiming: "Everything I did was transparent. I paid all the taxes. Everything is fully disclosed to the ethics committee and everyone else. As I said, if there is some technical change that the ethics committee wants, I'll be happy to do that." Right. If everything was above board, then why the angry reaction to the AP's inquiry?

So what's the deal? A bit complicated. But remember, I'm an attorney , I'll be able to 'splain the deal to you on the air today.

But here's the real question. Imagine if it had been Bill Frist...or George W. Bush...or Dennis Hastert instead of Harry Reid. Would the mainstream media be giving him somewhat of a pass on this like they probably will Harry Reid? Sure, the AP is covering this...and they deserve credit for going after a Democrat. But Reid's indiscretions aren't the top story right, which would surely be the case if it were a Republican.

Too bad Harry Reid's not running for re-election this year. That would really make things interesting.

THE FIRST TREASON CASE IN 50 YEARS

A 28-year old Muslim, a convert, actually, who was born in California and converted to Islam at age 17, has been charged with treason by the justice department. Adam Gadahn is believed to be in Pakistan. He has appeared in several Al-Qaeda videos over the past couple of years, including ones where he proclaims that "the streets of America shall run red with blood." That's not very nice.

It's about time somebody got charged with treason for joining the enemy. After 9/11 when Johnny Taliban was caught fighting American troops in Afghanistan, he got off with a light slap on the wrist....20 years in prison. There was a time when we used to line people up and shoot them for treason. We don't seem to be the case anymore.

So if this character is ever captured, expect the same thing to happen as did in the Walker-Lindh case. His parents will go on TV...cry...talk about what a nice boy he is...and how they can't understand how it all went wrong. They might even go on Oprah. And then he'll turn himself in....and he'll eventually be sentenced.

Only this time, we should send a message. A firing squad would be a good start.

DEFICIT GETTING SMALLER

More good economic news continues to pour in...and that should mean good things for the Republican party. The deficit is down 22.3% from last year....to $247.7 billion. President Bush says this is proof that his pro-growth policies work...and he's right. Now if the GOP could just figure out a way to get the good word out, they'd be set.

The economy has been booming for the past couple years. Every indicator..unemployment, the housing market, the stock market....you name it....says we are in the golden age of economic prosperity. Yet you wouldn't know it watching the media. They have been doing their best to downplay the lower deficit news, lower gas prices and then we hear that a mild winter may be on the way (no doubt caused by global warming.) This means even lower energy bills this winter....which is even more good news.

If the Republican Party can get this right and make people understand how good things really are, they'll have a shot November 7th. If people choose to believe the Bush-bashing, doom-and-gloom media...then their could be trouble. Of course, as long as the press desires a Speaker Nancy Pelosi...it might not matter how good the economy is doing.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Maybe you're closer than you think to owning your own houseboat. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

President Bush is predicting that despite the Mark Foley scandal, Republicans will hold onto Congress. His reasoning? The economy and national security. He could be right, but then only if every single poll that's being taken right now is wrong.

Congressman Christopher Shays has decided to shoot back at the Democrats, who are calling for Speaker Dennis Hastert's resignation. He pointed out that at least Hastert didn't kill anyone....a shot at Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick incident, in which he left a young woman to die. Outstanding.

Sandy 'Pants' Berger is back in the news. A number of Republican congressmen are calling for an investigation into how Berger mishandled classified documents from the National Archives. They want to know if there are any Clinton administration terrorism records missing. If they are missing, they could be in Sandy's pants!

Susan Estrich has written a book with a cover making fun of Ann Coulter. Estrich, a Democratic operative who is known to be right from time to time, appears on the cover looking exactly like Coulter on her Godless book.

Now a new poll says both parties mishandled the Mark Foley scandal. 6 in 10 people surveyed in an ABC/Washington Post poll said Democrats are pursuing the case for political advantage. That's almost two-thirds. There might just be hope for the Republicans after all.

President Bush is pledging to actually build the now 698-mile long border fence. Seems there was more than a bit of outrage when it was disclosed that the fence might not ever actually be built, despite its passage into law. Now just triple its length and we'll be in business.

So what's going to happen November 7th? Ed Koch, the former Democratic mayor of New York and a liberal, says he believes voters are going to hold their noses and re-elect the Republican House and Senate. Interesting prediction and a good read.

Victor Davis Hanson looks at 3 recent books about the war in Iraq...and concludes they're more than a bit suspect. It seems some of the sources in the book are anonymous. That means no one can verify them and ask questions...how convenient.

Professor Mike Adams shares a letter he wrote welcoming his new class at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. In it, he takes on the leftist faculty at his school...and attempts to deprogram the students entering into his class. Entertaining as always.

Ann Coulter says that Democrats have resorted to outright lies over North Korea. They seem to forget the 1994 peace deal the Clinton administration negotiated with Kim Jong-Il...and how it led to the mess we're dealing with today.

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