Today's Nuze: April 16, 2007

Monday - April 16, 2007

CARNAGE AT VIRGINIA TECH

Like me, I'm sure many of you are busy tracking the news stories out of Blacksburg, Virginia. A person, presumably a student, armed with two semi-automatic pistols has hilled at least 32 people. The shooter is dead. Whether by his own hand, or at the hands of law enforcement, is not yet known.

As the initial shock wears off you can bet that the anti-Second Amendment people wall be coming out of the woodwork. By the time the evening network newscasts hit we will have no shortage of spokesmen for various anti-gun groups stepping forth to issue their tired call for an end to the private ownership of handguns.

This is undoubtedly the worst school shooting, high school, college or otherwise, in the history of our country. There are some facts, however, about some of these school shootings of which you probably are not aware. Do you know, for instance, that at least three shootings in high schools were stopped by civilians with guns? Civilians, not law enforcement. In one case a civilian was traveling past a school when he saw children running from the building. One told him that there was a student inside shooting people. The civilian pulled his gun, ran in side, and confronted the student. The student put down the gun and surrendered. In another case a high school vice-principal heard that there was a student in the hallways with a gun. He sprinted a half-mile to his car. He had a gun in his car so he had to park off campus. He then sprinted back with the gun to confront the student. Lives saved.

The point here is that you are never ever going to get the guns out of the hands of those who want to use them for carnage. Never. Gun control programs will only succeed in getting the guns out of the hands of people who want them and need them for self-defense. Never, in the history of America's gun control movement, has anyone set forth a viable program to get the guns out of the hands of those who would use them to commit crimes. Similarly, the gun control movement will never give any fair coverage at all to the people who use guns to save their own lives, or the lives of others.

We'll have much more to say about this tomorrow. For now, you should know that earlier this year the Virginia General Assembly failed to act on House Bill 1572. This bill would have allowed college students and employees to carry handguns on campus --- with appropriate permits, of course. It died in subcommittee. Larry Hincker, a spokesman for Virginia Tech, the site of today's carnage, said "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

Well .. how's today for safety?

If it had been legal for students, employees or faculty members with permits to carry guns on the campus, is it at all possible that there might be some students alive today who didn't make it through the carnage? Do you think the actions of the Virginia General Assembly stopped the gunman from getting his guns and carrying them to the campus?

More on this tomorrow.

THANK YOU ORLANDO!

Royal and I had a great time at the 580 WDBO Neal Boortz golf tournament this past Saturday. Jennifer, Rich, Steve and the gang at WDBO did a wonderful job putting this event together. The people at Orlando's Metro West Golf Club were great. Thanks so much to all of you who participated. My apologies also for bailing out as soon as the golf was over ... if I had waited for the lunch and awards presentation that nifty little storm we had move through the Southeast this weekend would have had its way with me and my little bitty airplane. Two weeks again we'll be back in Florida to do it all again ... the Sky-97 FM golf tournament in Ocala!

NOW THAT THE DUST HAS SETTLED

OK ... It's been about four days since CBS pulled the plug on Don Imus. We've had a weekend to calm down and think about things. So .... are you sitting around today and wondering just what in the hell happened here? I suspect a lot of people are wondering just how this incident over a bad jock joke became a 24/7 news story that cost an iconic broadcaster his career. Sure ... what Don Imus said was mindless and cruel. He admits it. But it was nothing that heard every day of the week on hundreds of rap stations across America. The big difference here? Al Sharpton stormed into the picture and the media ran with the story ... big time.

This a story about rhetoric ... racial rhetoric. Just where in our culture has the true degeneration of rhetoric occurred? Has the rhetorical rot advanced more from the era of white racists like David Duke to Don Imus, or from the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. to Al Sharpton? Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for a little over 8 minutes during that march on Washington in August of 1963. Al Sharpton was about 9 years old then, and the combined effect of every word that Sharpton has uttered from that date can't add up to King's eight minutes.

Al Sharpton, the man who once referred to "Greek homos", "White interlopers", and "diamond merchants" (as a euphemism for Jews), was the man who sat in judgment of Imus. Imus, though edgy and often crude, is a man with a giving spirit. Someone please tell me just where Sharpton's home for children with cancer is. If you can't give me that information, perhaps you can tell me when Sharpton had his last radio fundraiser for charity. Sharpton does have a radio show, you know. Last week while Sharpton was stirring the racial brew Imus was busy raising over a million dollars for charity. Sharpton the good guy, Imus the bad.

Al Sharpton holds his National Action Conference convention this week. Virtually every single Democrat presidential candidate will show up. Every single appearance at this convention by a Democrat candidate serves to further legitimize Al Sharpton and to excuse the bigoted and hateful statements he has made in the past. During the past few days we've heard media and political figures say how bad they felt about appearing on Imus' show -- with his objectionable rhetoric now in the limelight. These same people have no problem showing up at Sharpton's conference. Al Sharpton --- a man with the blood of innocents on his hands --- beckons and the Democrats come running. Imus lays out his retirement plans.

LOOKS LIKE THE MASSES ARE KEEPING THEIR HEADS ON THIS ONE

There was a live Newsweek poll on MSNBC.com over the weekend, the question was: "Should CBS and MSNBC have fired Don Imus?" Here are your results:

Yes, 24%
No, 73%
Not sure 3.5%

FROM THE MANCHESTER (N.H.) UNION LEADER

The Imus standard: You can't say that

Radio talk show host Don Imus called Rutgers' mostly black women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and got fired. Al Sharpton falsely accused a white man of rape and incited a race riot that left several dead. Jesse Jackson called Jews "hymies." And yet they still mingle at the highest circles of Democratic Party politics.

Imus' comments were indefensible. Even if the women did have tattoos and look a bit street-tough, as Imus was trying to say, calling them whores was an insult too far. But is it a fireable offense for a "shock jock" who has built his career uttering juvenile comments, including regularly making what he calls "n----- jokes"?

What Imus said was a great deal tamer than what is routinely uttered by rappers who call women "bitches" and boast about using and abusing them. It is tamer than the misogynistic and even racist jokes numerous stand-up comics make a living uttering. How did this offensive but comparatively tame comment get a major radio host pulled from the air? Fellow syndicated radio host Neal Boortz has a theory.

Boortz thinks that the Left has finally figured out how to bring down talk radio: accuse the hosts of racism. Unable to compete with talk radio, the Left has opted to play thought police. Racial prejudice is the last free speech taboo in America. Peg a broadcaster as racist, and you can bring him down.

"Liberals see this whole Imus situation as a way to rid themselves of the problem of talk radio ... they will turn their attention to the rest of us. The tape recorders will be running. There is not one single significant right-of-center radio talk show out there that is not going to come under fire."

Boortz has a point. Calling black women "hos" is not offensive to the cultural Left. If it were, there would be boycotts of rap stars and record labels. But if it presents an opportunity to go after a non-liberal talk radio host, the Left will take it. With one notch on their belt, they'll be sure to seek others.

Meanwhile, the same people who demanded Imus' head on a pike will continue to give platforms to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as legions of rappers provide the misogynistic background music.

CREDIT TO OPRAH

Oprah Winfrey is going to have a town hall meeting on her show this afternoon. The purpose is to discuss whether mainstream culture will change as a result of the Imus episode. I am very impressed by the fact that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are NOT going to be a part of the show. I'm also impressed that Jason Whitlock, the Kansas City Star sports columnist, will be. I read his column to you last week .. and the response was overwhelming. Here's a link in case you missed it. At any rate .... what do you want to bet that both Jesse and Al begged to be a part of the show. Glad Oprah had the sense to keep these race warlords away.

HOW 'BOUT THOSE TAX CUTS?

Here's a handy chart from the Heritage Foundation showing the tax cuts at work. Imagine what would happen if we adopted the FairTax...

THE BOSTON MARATHON

OK ... so they're going on with it today. Expecting over three inches of rain during the race and temperatures in the 30s. Oh ... and there are the 20mph and up winds. Hey ... this is Boston. This is the state that sends John Kerry and Ted Kennedy to the Senate. This is the state with only Democrats serving in their House delegation. What do you expect. Common sense? You want a link? We got one!

SOLDIER HAS HIS SAY IN THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER

Many of you requested the audio from Vick, a soldier on leave from Iraq who made a very moving call into the show. And Neal just let him go! If you would like to listen again, listen for the first time, or send it to a friend, you'll find it in this week's Boortz Blast newsletter. Not a subscriber? Sign up here!

READING ASSIGNMENTS

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This week Democrats in Washington start where they left off before their recess; trying to establish a timetable for surrender in Iraq. Will they have their way, or will they abandon the timetable. Let's see if Bush can stand firm ...for once.

At the forefront of the effort to eliminate more talk show hosts will be George Soros funded organization called "Media Matters." Perhaps this organization, a tax exempt subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee, will be the one which decides what non-liberal talk show host will be the target of the next media campaign. Here's a little background for you. I consider the week to be a failure if I haven't managed to say something that gets the collective Media Matters thong in a wad.

And as long as were on the subject .. here's a Newsweek article that tells us more about Don Imus, "The Power That Was."

There was a lot of attention given to Jackie Robinson over the weekend. Sunday was the 60th anniversary of Robinson's breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. Ray McNulty says that Jackie Robinson would have ignored Don Imus.

The Wall Street Journal's John Fund writes that maybe ... just maybe ... the Imus story will have an affect on how hip hop treats black women. Hip hop is a $10 billion industry. Will things change? Believe it or not, some fools in the rap industry are trying to tell us that the rappers portrayal of black women as "bitches" and "hos" is just poetic expression. Perhaps if Don Imus had gone for some rhyme.

Michael Moore seems to think that the socialist health care system in Cuba is better than the system in the United States. Click here to read what this sick SOB did for his next "How I Hate America" movie. Moore is considerably overweight. Let's see if he rushes off to Cuba for health care when his nutritional excesses develop into some more serious health problem.

Pravda means "truth" in Russia. So, you know that whatever they print in Pravda just has to be true, right? Check this out: Pravda is reporting that some group referred to as the "U.S. War Leaders" were actually behind the firing of Don Imus because they were afraid that Imus was going to reveal the secrets behind our government's involvement with the attacks of 9/11. Alex Jones is now writing for Pravda.

The federal government spends about $176 million every year on abstinence programs. So -- how do you think it's working? Let me tell you ... it's not. This money is just being poured down a rat hole. A complete waste. A new study shows that these abstinence pledges make no difference at all. The average age for the first sexual encounter is now at 14.9 years ... whether you took the pledge or not. Money wasted. Here's an idea ... teach people how to avoid getting pregnant or a disease. At least we'll be accomplishing something other than throwing money away.

The title of this Charles Krauthammer column is "Turning the Corner in Iraq." Krauthammer writes that the reality of the situation in Iraq is becoming increasingly disconnected from the debate here at home. This is the type of stuff the left certainly does not want you to read.

Going to have knee replacement surgery? Well .. take a look at this and you'll see what you're in for. Believe me, I've studied this long and hard.

Congratulations to state regulators in Washington. They have ruled that druggists who feel that the "morning after" pill is really an abortion pill either have to keep their idiotic opinions to themselves, or find another line of work. In other words ... if a doctor prescribes the pill, they dispense it. Those that don't are subject to losing their licenses. (This particular reading assignment will lead to a few "I'm never going to listen to you again" emails.)

What? John Kerry has a book on global warming? Why yes! It appears that he does! Isn't this the same guy who teamed up with Ted Kennedy to kill a wind power project off Cape Cod? And just what is his electric bill in his Boston townhouse? I wonder if he found a way to blame global warming on the military? When The Poodle comes up with something original we'll be sure to let you know.

A group of radio talk show hosts will be gathering in Washington this coming Sunday to lobby for enforcement of our immigration laws. You can rest assured that some groups supporting the cause of illegal aliens will categorize these talk show hosts as hate mongers or some such nonsense.

Ever heard of the Doomsday Clock? These people have been predicting doom since 1947. No doom yet! I wonder if we'll be around when doomsday actually comes? That should be quite a show, don't you think?

Phil sends us a little reminder of all the taxes that have been heaped upon us the last 100 years.

Do you have a hidden racial bias? Take the test and find out!

Hugo Chavez LOVES Somebody's Gotta Say It! Who knew?

100,000 Voices for FairTax Right Now!

Here is your chance to tell Congress loud and clear that it's time! Only our combined voices can win long overdue FairTax legislation. Click here to tell Congress to "wake up and smell the coffee!"

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