Today's Nuze: December 12, 2007

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

AFTERTHOUGHT!

OK ... I've been taking a beating for not putting the answer to our fifth question from last week's series of "Wanna be President?" questions. So .. by popular demand ... here's the answer to the final question:

You would take one marble from the box labeled "blue and red." Assume it's red. (Analogous reasoning follows if it's blue.) Since the marble is red and it comes from an incorrectly labeled box saying "blue and red," it must be the box with red marbles only. Thus the box labeled "blue" must have either red marbles only or red and blue marbles. It can't be the box with the red marbles only, so it must be the box with blue and red marbles. Finally the box labeled "red" must contain the blue marbles.

LET'S CHECK OUT A FEW EMAILS FROM THIS MORNING

Subject:    Boortz.com blocked
Name:       Anonymous
Email:      anonymous@privacy.net

Message:

Mr. Boortz,

Just an FYI that Cardinal Health is now blocking the Boortz.com website from internal traffic reaching it. I just looked, and the Daily Kos is wide open for the users to reach.

Subject:    Another Government School Fiasco in Canton, Georgia
Name:       Eric Smithey
Email:      XXXXXXX@gmail.com

Message:

Neal,

A dear friend of mine just called me and was very angry at Cherokee County Schools in Georgia. One of her employee's 6 year old grandson and a classmate were just suspended for a week for asking a teacher why a man's privates get hair on them when they grow up. The two children were escorted by security and parents were called to pick them up. This happened at Avery Elementary School:

When the mother of one of these children protested the suspension, she was promptly made aware that the school is not required to re-admit the child.

What a disgrace and another feather in the hat for Guvment Schools.

More reading assignments:

The human calculator has broken his own record.

The word "W00t" is Merriam-Webster's 2007 Word of the Year.

This naked man was in for a surprise when he knocked on his neighbor's door.

MINUTEMEN ENDORSE HUCKABEE

Mike Huckabee picked up an endorsement from Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen Project. Well ... so much for that "soft on illegal immigration" bit.

GLOBAL WARMING AND HURRICANES

Democrats are trying the blame the Bush administration for pressuring experts to downplay the connection between hurricanes and global warming. A report released by Democrats on Monday called the "Political Interference With Climate Change Science Under the Bush Administration" marks the end of a 16-month investigation into the conspiracy theories of Democrats. The report says that "the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming."

Now former director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield has stepped forward to contradict the Democrats' findings: political pressure did not cause him to change his congressional testimony which downplayed the link between global warming and hurricanes.

The controversy started when a staff member of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska sent an email to the NOAA asking Mayfield to say that global warming was not making hurricanes stronger. Bottom line for Democrats ... Bush was behind the whole thing. I wonder how many Democrat staffers have pressured government scientists to participate in the global warming alarmism?

By the way, part of Mayfield's original testimony following hurricane Katrina states, "the increased activity since 1995 is due to natural fluctuations/cycles of hurricane activity driven by the Atlantic Ocean itself along with the atmosphere above it and not enhanced substantially by global warming."

Why are Democrats upset? They see global warming as the key to more income redistribution. They don't want to loose this argument.

WOMEN BEAR THE BRUNT

In case you were not aware, global warming is also causing inequalities between men and women with women bearing the brunt of climate change. Acting coordinator of the alliance called genderCC, Ulrike Roehr, says, "The lack of gender perspectives in the current climate process not only violates women's human rights - fundamental principles agreed on by the UN community - but it also leads to shortcomings in the efficiency and effectiveness of climate related measures and instruments."

Did you get that? Women's human rights are being violated because there isn't enough gender perspective in global warming studies.

Apparently replacing fossil fuels with biofuels will also make matters worse for women because it takes land away from food crops or forests. Anna Pinto, an activist based in Goa, says that this is a threat to human rights, particularly for the women, because they are the ones that face the extreme burdens during food shortages and water scarcity.

The alliance wants the Bali conference to recognize gender equality in the growing climate crisis, asking the UN for the installation of a gender-watch system.

So what exactly does that mean?

Recognize the vital urgency of gender equality in the growing climate crisis and demonstrate leadership through top-level support for considering gender concerns in all UNFCCC and related processes (also known as "gender mainstreaming.") and including the installation of a 'gender watch system' within UNFCCC.
Integrate gender aspects into adaptation plans and tools, focusing on specific adaptation needs, and ensuring women's participation in developing the plans;
Commit to sustainable and equitable financing schemes and ensure gender equity in all phases and aspects of funding.
Allocate 20% of all donor funds to be earmarked for activities and projects addressing women and designed and implemented by women and gender experts.
Go beyond the narrow focus on solutions devoted to market based mechanisms
Make full use of the knowledge and capacity of women
Adopt a global non-market-driven effort to preserve tropical forests, based on addressing direct and underlying causes of deforestation in each region and country.

We're starting to see that the global warming scam has something in it for almost every liberal special interest group. In a few days we'll learn that blacks are disproportionately affected by global warming.

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

Apparently Australians are letting global warming influence what they put under their Christmas trees. A survey of 1000 Australians found that more than half would take "environmental concerns" into account when buying presents for loved ones.

One out of every four people say they would choose a gift with less packaging, and 20% say they would purchase "consumable" gifts such as certificates. Not surprisingly, the survey found that women were more likely to buy environmentally-friendly gifts, compared to men.

An interesting side note, people with incomes above $150,000 were more likely than any other income group to make some of their gifts themselves. I guess the craft shops down under are rather pricy.

BURNING THE MEXICAN FLAG

Last week I told you about a man in Washington that wanted to burn a Mexican flag on the steps of the state Capitol. He was trying to get a permit to burn the flag in order to encourage the state to do more to crack down on illegal immigration.

Clearly we all know that burning the flag is a first amendment right. So now the government has found a way to prevent its citizens from exercising this right ... blame it on the environment. Ohhhhh. Burning a flag can cause global warming! And more!

The Department of General Administration had to check with the Olympia Fire Department, which then said it would have to be cleared by the Olympia Region Clean Air Agency. Wow, that's a lot of bureaucracy for one little flag. Sources are saying that the clean air agency will likely deny the permit because of air pollution concerns. The executive director says, "Burning a flag produces a lot of toxic materials, such as dioxins, which are contained in the pigments and dyes ... We would probably cite the person for burning prohibited materials. It's illegal to burn anything in the urban growth area."

EASY, BOORTZ ... EASY BIG FELLA.

Just a sampling of the email I received yesterday:

Subject: James Taranto of WSJ
Name: Ruth Buck
Email: XXXXx@bellsouth.net

Message:
"Best of the Web Today' 12/11/07 Read it. "Accountability Journalism Strikes Again" "Fair Tax Flim Flam from Radio Talker Neal Boortz a fair tax flogger." I think he's having a hissy fit about you and the Fairtax. If I can understand it, he ought to be able to. He's A COLUMNIST for the WALL STREET JOURNAL.!!!

Subject: James Toranto on the Fair Tax
Name: Chris Leiper
Email: XXXXX@comcast.net

Message:
Neal, How you keep responding to the uninformed is beyond me. I really, really, like The Best of the Web, but I felt so betrayed when Toranto attacked you and the fair tax. And what makes it so painful is that it is out of total ignorance. Please do us another favor and respond in detail to his arguments. I wrote him, but doubt I will be viewed as much more than a cult member. Keep fighting the good fight.

Ok, I have to step up and admit that this stuff is starting to get on one of my last six good nerves. What stuff? The irrational attacks on the FairTax, that's what stuff.

Right now it appears that The Wall Street Journal has made a decision at the highest editorial levels that current momentum for the FairTax must be quelled. More on that in a moment .... First I have to get something off my chest.

Look, I know full well that many of my listeners are sick to death of hearing me talk about the FairTax. I really do try to keep that conversation down to some extent on the air. Since I've been doing talk radio with some degree of success for 38 years now, some aspiring talk show hosts think that I might actually have some wisdom to share with them. Well, yes. I do have a few suggestions. Work hard .. don't expect to not work weekends ... start out in a small market ... expect to earn poverty wages ... do your homework. Oh ... and one more thing. Always remember that those people out there are your listeners, they are not your followers. You are there to entertain ... not to lead people on some grand crusade.

Well .. it certainly looks like I've violated my own golden rule. Guilty as charged. So, what's my excuse? Well, I guess that when my particular chapter in the history of talk radio is written, I would like it to say more than that I endeavored to irritate entertain for 40 or so years. It's the old legacy thing, you know. But that isn't the main reason. I feel the nation is in trouble. Our tax policy is destroying our economy. American companies are taking their jobs and escaping to lower tax regimes overseas. Our tax code has been just as much a tool for manipulating the populace as it is a method of raising revenue for the government. We have politicians out there who are suggesting increasing the taxes on people who buy homes of over 3000 square feet. Why? To raise revenue? Nope .. it's all designed to control your behavior; to force you to buy a smaller home and do your part to rein in global warming. Is that why we have a tax code? To control behavior?

Long shot? Yeah .. sure it is. So was the idea of independence from Great Britain in 1776. But thanks to the dedication of a minority of Colonists, independence happened .. and the FairTax can happen as well.

OK .. back to The Wall Street Journal.

With the success that Mike Huckabee is enjoying in the race for the Republican nomination the FairTax is receiving more coverage and attention than ever before. Those who want to destroy the Huckabee campaign move to destroy the FairTax. Day after day in news story after news story and column after column we get the same tired old attacks on the FairTax:

The rate will have to be more than 23%
It will add 30% to the cost of everything we buy
It will take away the home mortgage interest deduction
The middle class will be destroyed
It will devastate the poor

And on and on it goes. All of those attacks are easy to counter ... easy, but time consuming. That's why Congressman John Linder and I wrote a second book; "FairTax:The Truth; Answering the Critics." That book will hit the bookstores around the second week of February, 2008 .. but you can order it ahead of time at either Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com.

As I said, it would seem that the WSJ has declared war on the FairTax. There have been several articles and columns in the Journal over the past weeks about the FairTax, and all of them get the basic facts of the FairTax wrong. One of the WSJ writers even went so far as to connect the FairTax to Scientology. That accusation has been disproved, but no retraction or correction has ever appeared.

This brings us to the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto. Most of you know that I put links to Taranto's "Best of the Web Today" column in my reading assignments quite often. That column has become a favorite of many Nuze readers. Perhaps that's why I received so much anguished email this week from people telling me that Taranto needs to be straightened out on the FairTax.

Taranto's first attack this week on the FairTax occurred on Monday. In Monday's "Best of the Web" Taranto implied that Mike Huckabee thinks that under the FairTax prostitutes would collect the 23 percent tax (a use tax?) and forward it to the federal government. Now what Huckabee had actually said was that under the FairTax "You end the underground economy, Illegals, prostitutes, pimps, gamblers, drug dealers--everybody pays taxes." It doesn't take much grey matter to figure out that Huckabee was referring to the fact that these miscreants of the underground economy would pay the FairTax along with everyone else when they used their earnings to purchase goods and services.

Then Mr. Taranto was back at it again in Tuesday's column. Here ... I'll just do a little cut-and-paste exercise here so you can read for yourself what he had to say:

FAIR TAX FLIMFLAM

Yesterday we noted Mike Huckabee's weird claim that the so-called fair tax--a national consumption tax that would theoretically replace levies on income--would allow the government to collect taxes from pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. But as we pointed out, it would also mean that johns and drug addicts would get to buy sex and drugs with pretax income.

Radio talker Neal Boortz, a fair-tax flogger, answers a Wall Street Journal editorial on the subject with some more strange claims:

We really do hate to break it to the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal, but the simple fact of the matter is that the FairTax is not calculated like other sales taxes. The FairTax is included in the price, not added on top of the price. Perhaps the board would be less inclined to misstate the terms of the FairTax if they actually read the book or H.R. 25, but we're patient people, so we'll explain this one more time:

(a) Current state sales taxes: You look at the item on the shelf. The item is priced at $100.00. You take that item to the cashier. The cashier adds the state sales tax to the $100. If that sales tax is 7 percent, you pay $107, take your receipt and walk out.

(b) FairTax: You look at the item on the shelf. The item is priced at $100. You take the item to the cashier. The cashier asks you for $100. You pay your $100, take your receipt and walk out. You look at the receipt. The receipt tells you that 23 percent of the $100 you paid for that item is the FairTax and will be forwarded to the federal government. You call upon your years of education and quickly calculate that $23 is 23 percent of $100.

So according to Boortz, under the current system, when you buy a $100 item, you pay $107, including sales tax. Under the fair tax, you'd pay $100--and you wouldn't pay any taxes on your income either. It's not just a free lunch, it's a free dinner and a couple of free rounds of top-shelf booze!

Well, sorry to burst Boortz's bubble. In reality, retailers are not going to reduce their prices to absorb the new tax. That means under the fair tax, you wouldn't get a $100 item for $100. You'd get a $77 item, on which you'd pay $23, or 29.9%, in federal tax.

And you would actually pay more than $100. The fair tax doesn't do away with state sales taxes, so that in Boortz's hypothetical example, you'd pay either $5.39 or $7 additionally (depending on whether the basis is the after-tax price or the actual value of the item) on the $77 item with the $100 price tag. That means the total tax on the $77 item would be either 36.9% ($28.39) or 39% ($30).

As for escaping the income and payroll taxes, don't count on it. This would happen only if two-thirds of each house of Congress and the legislatures of 38 states agreed to repeal the 16th Amendment. It could happen, but we're not about to bet 30% of all our consumption on it.

H.L. Mencken supposedly observed that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. If the fair tax folks' estimates prove correct, however, the people may all end up going broke.

Before I deal with a few of the points Taranto made, let me tell you that about two years ago I traveled to New York City to participate in a FairTax debate. It was poor little old me up there in front of an audience at the City University of New York against some fancy professor of tax law from Yale University who once served as an assistant Treasury secretary. Sitting right there in the audience was .. James Taranto. When the debate was over Taranto and I walked several blocks to a dinner hosted by the debate sponsors, talking about the FairTax all the way. That conversation carried through dinner as well. Its quite odd how he seems to have forgotten much of what we discussed.

At any rate ... let's have fun with a few of Taranto's charges from yesterday's column. One particular facet of the FairTax that the WSJ and Taranto can't seem to grasp is the concept of embedded taxes. Nowhere in any WSJ critique of the FairTax have I seen an acknowledgement of the fact that virtually all of the taxes that we pay to the federal government, either as individuals or businesses, eventually end up embedded into the prices of goods and services at the retail level. Research shows that the percentage of the price of a consumer item represented by this embedded tax averages around 22 percent. These embedded taxes disappear with the FairTax, to be replaced by the FairTax levy. That brings us to this gem from Taranto's column:

"Well, sorry to burst Boortz's bubble. In reality, retailers are not going to reduce their prices to absorb the new tax. That means under the fair tax, you wouldn't get a $100 item for $100. You'd get a $77 item, on which you'd pay $23, or 29.9%, in federal tax."

What? Who said that the retailers were going to reduce their prices to absorb the new tax? Prices are going to go down because one of the biggest cost factors in the pricing structure is going to go away! The profit structure for these businesses that sell these goods and services is going to remain essentially the same. The embedded taxes go away to be replaced by the FairTax.

I've heard concerns expressed that some businesses or retailers will try to maintain their prices at the current levels in an attempt to earn a quick windfall profit with the disappearance of their tax burden. Well .. let them try. Their tactics will soon be evident to the customers.. and business will suffer. Imagine, if you would, an oil company deciding to keep gasoline prices up after a dramatic drop in the price of crude oil. The competitive forces of the marketplace simply aren't going to permit it. There are examples of industry-wide price reductions after the elimination of taxes, but you'll have to read The FairTax Book for those.

Another concern of Taranto's. He's spot on here ... but he just hasn't done his research:

"As for escaping the income and payroll taxes, don't count on it. This would happen only if two-thirds of each house of Congress and the legislatures of 38 states agreed to repeal the 16th Amendment. It could happen, but we're not about to bet 30% of all our consumption on it."

Exactly so, Mr. Taranto. That is why H.R. 25 will be passed with a provision which states that the FairTax will go into effect on the first day of the year following the repeal of the 16th Amendment. No FairTax supporter is foolish enough to give our government the opportunity to tax both our income and our consumption at the same time. Once the FairTax is passed, and once people start imagining life without the IRS, income tax forms, audits, and politicians using tax policy to control behavior .. and once they start dreaming of April 15th being just another Spring day .. the pressure on our politicians to repeal the 16th Amendment will be immense.

The FairTax is the first tax reform plan ever developed by the private sector. Over $20 million dollars of research was poured into this effort. Scholars and economists from places such as MIT and Harvard were deeply involved. It is the most thoroughly researched piece of tax legislation in this history of this country, and if passed it would create the greatest transfer of power from the political class to private citizens in the history of our Republic. Is our economy going through a rough spot right now? Some think so. Imagine what happens if the United States becomes the world's biggest tax haven.

OK .. I'm getting wound up here. I need to chill. Will I keep using Taranto's columns in my reading assignments? You bet ... 'cause he's good. Now we know he's not perfect.

Subject: Thank you
Name: Rhonda Fast
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.net

Message:
I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for how you have change my every day life. Until 1yr ago I was one of those people who did not believe anything in the government affected me. I was resentful of people who had more than me and was all for taxing the rich.One yr ago I switched careers which placed me on the road about six hrs a day. One day flipping through the stations I heard a man who just about made me spit out my coffee with his witty intellect. Not only do I now listen every day to you, Rush and Mr.Sean but I take the time to research anything I hear in the media and from all of you. I follow everything I can on the goverment. I have also quit smoking and I am putting away every dime I used to spend on cigarettes to save for a vaction to Washington D.C. for my family so that my children can understand how important (and fun) it is to know what is really going on in this country we call home. I really enjoy watching people (the ignorant ones) when I start to talk about the fairtax. I didn't want to bore you by calling in and worshiping you on the air but again thank you.

PUTIN AND CLINTON

Ok .. so Russia elects a new president; a president who is hand-picked and sold to the Russian people by none other than Vladimir Putin .. the current president. The new president then appoints Putin to be the new Prime Minister, thus putting Putin back in power.

Ok .. So the United States elects a new president; a president who is sold to the people of the United States by a popular former president. The new president then allows the old president to move into the White House and begin to exercise who-knows-how-much executive power.

Now ... tell me the essential difference between the new scenarios.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Hey Atlanta area listeners, win $5,000 Diamond Earrings!

Win a pair of $5,000 earrings from Solomon Brothers and many more prizes in Neal Boortz's 12 Days of Christmas contest. Register to win now!

A federal appeals court in San Francisco struck down parts of a law that makes it a crime to provide "material support or resources" to terrorist organizations.

President Bush is not backing down on Iran, asking it to explain why it had a secretive nuclear weapons program.

The National Review has officially endorsed Mitt Romney for President.

Rudy Giuliani says that he wanted to deport all 400,000 illegal immigrants from New York City ... but, sadly, practical reality set in.

Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has asked the UN Security Council to extend the one-year mandate of US-led forces in Iraq. The UN? Didn't the UN cut and run when the first mortar fell?

Looks like Obama may have some explaining to do on some issues: opposed to capital punishment, in support of a federal single-payer health plan, and in support of state laws to ban the manufacture, sale and even possession of handguns.

The global warmers from America are starting to trickle in to the UN Bali Conference, trying to convince the world that America isn't all that bad. Good luck. That conference was designed from the get-go to be anti-American in nature.

Yesterday I told you a story about a Muslim girl that was strangled by her father because she didn't want to wear the hijab ... you'll be sad to hear that the girl has died.

A recent poll shows that a majority of Americans believe that we are making progress in Iraq.

The use of waterboarding broke down an al Qaeda agent in 35 seconds.

The latest super hero that will save us all from global warming ... seaweed.

Here's a change of pace ... the governor of Alaska is asking its Senators and Representatives to bring home fewer federal earmarks for their state.

Ronald Reagan on Mount Rushmore?

NBC is actually giving money back to its advertisers after failing to reach guaranteed ratings levels.

Just remember, if it takes you more than 45 minutes to finish your McDonalds ... you will receive a $225 ticket. At least if you live in Great Britain.

New York City is considering banning horse-drawn carriage rides through Central Park because they keep getting into accidents.

A majority of Spanish children believe Santa is "too fat." They also want him to ride a motorcycle.

According to scientists, evolution seems to be accelerating with humans becoming increasingly different.

Carbon emissions DON'T cause global warming. Uh oh .. that makes me a denier, doesn't it?

Now here's a teacher we can get behind...read about the lesson she taught her classes.

Subject:Somebody's Gotta Say it
Name:Carl Campbell

Message:
Just wanted to say that your latest book is the best book I have read in a long time. I don't always agree with you, but have to really examine my position on things when our opinions differ after you lay out your reasoning. Thanks for making me stretch my brain, and keep up the good work.

By the way, I don't blame you for not wanting to run for president but this country needs someone who is not afraid to do what is best regardless of the offenses that it would cause so long is it made America better. You could be the shot in the arm that this country so desperately needs.

BOORTZ BLAST NEWSLETTER
Everyone is talking about the Boortz Blast newsletter. Do you want yours? Sign up here and we'll deliver it directly to your inbox every 2 weeks. If you signed up but aren't receiving it, either your company or your spam filter could be keeping it from you. Try using a personal email address and check your spam filter's junk folder for wayward newsletters.

COMMUNITY
If you like Neal and are looking for like minded people to hang out with online or off, check out these places:

Talkmaster Yahoo Group