FORGOT TO PAY THIS ONE OFF YESTERDAY

Uh-oh. Broke a promise to my listeners yesterday. I promised to tell you what Friedrich Engels put in the first draft of the Communist Manifesto that Karl Marx took out of the final draft. Those of you who have made any study of this treatise already know that our country has implemented many of the things called for by Marx and Engels. We've established a heavily progressive income tax, and we've turned the education of our children over to the government --- both called for in the Communist Manifesto. Well, I'll try to do better today ... it's very telling. In fact, it would seem that liberals were working as hard as they could from the 1960s on to make Engels dream come true!

GOTTA WATCH VIDEO

OK ... here's a ten-minute video for you to watch. It's brilliant! It's amazing! Sure, I understand that you don't want to spend 10 minutes watching this video right now, so why don't you you just make an appointment for later in the day. Set aside a specific ten-minute period, and then you can come right back here and click on this link. It's called "We're the government, and you're not." Now I may very well have slammed the servers on this one today ... so just keep trying until you get to watch the video.

MEDIA BIAS? NO WAY! (YEAH, RIGHT.)

Now let's sit back a bit here and watch the media at work.

Yesterday you saw headlines in newspapers and heard many TV talking heads telling you that the Republicans had blocked debate on an anti-war resolution in the U.S. Senate. But is this the way things really happened? Just where did the media get this story? Where did the mainstream media come up with the idea that the Republicans were trying to stop the debate?

Well .. it came from a vote. A cloture vote. Republicans refused to step forward and vote for the cloture motion, so it failed. But just what is a motion for cloture? Why, it's a motion to stop debate and vote on the issue in question! The issue in question here the Democrat non-binding resolution opposing Bush's moves in Iraq.

Are you following this? There's a debate going on in the Senate. The debate is over a Democrat-inspired resolution condemning George Bush and his latest actions in Iraq. The Democrats bring a motion to the floor to stop the debate and vote on the resolution. The Republicans vote against the motion. The debate goes on ... and suddenly the left-wing media is reporting that the Republicans are trying to block debate on the Iraq war in the Senate? On what level does this make sense?

If the situation were reversed and it was the Republicans bring a cloture motion to the floor of the Senate, with the Democrats opposing the motion, you can bet your first born that the mainstream leftist press would be blaming the Republicans for trying to stifle debate in the Senate.

The truth is that the Republicans have kept the debate going ... rather than blocking it. But Harry Reid gets up there and accuses of the Republicans of trying to block debate and the media grabs Reid's slant and runs with it. But what would you expect? Reid is the Democrat leader of the Senate! Do you really expect the media to do anything other than adopt his slant?

There is more to the story. Why are the Democrats so anxious to vote on their anti-war resolution and be done with it? Because the Republicans have another resolution they want considered. It's called the Gregg resolution and it was introduced by Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. The Gregg resolution would state that the Senate would oppose any reduction in funding for troops in Iraq. Harry Reid called Gregg's resolution a "diversionary tactic" and refused to allow it to come to a vote. So the Republicans have in turned refused to allow the Democrats anti-war resolution to come to a vote. The Democrats are afraid that the Gregg resolution would get more votes than their favored Warner-Levin anti-war version .. and that would make them look bad.

Now once again, and all together ... "there is no liberal bias to in the mainstream media!"

Yeah .. sure.

ANOTHER IDIOT ELECTED OFFICIAL

... and there is certainly no shortage when idiot elected officials come to mind.

This one is Wayne Smith, a Texas state senator from the Baytown area. Senator Smith is rightly concerned that parents don't seem to be showing up for parent-teacher conferences. Now he wants to make it a criminal offense in Texas for a parent to fail to show up for a conference. In other words, if you don't go talk to your child's teacher you could be arrested, handcuffed and hauled off to jail to face charges.

Now correct me if I'm a bit off base here .. but isn't this involvement with the parent-child relationship just a bit overboard?

Why, though, don't more parents show up for these conferences? Perhaps it's the disconnect many parents feel with their child's school. They aren't really "local" schools any more. They're merely local branches of federal institutions ... much like your local Social Security office. Parents know that by and large the schools are operated and controlled by bureaucrats in Washington. Local officials are loathe to stray from the federal straight-and-narrow. So many parents might think -- and with good cause -- that whatever interaction them might have with their child's teacher isn't going to make all that much of a difference. I don't necessarily agree with that assessment, but I can readily see how some parents might think that the control of their child's education is so far removed that these conferences are little more than shallow efforts to placate parental concerns.

If you want parental involvement in the schools .. return the schools to local control. Empower the parents with the ability to chose where their child will be educated with their tax money. Put the parents back in the driver's seat ... and see how their involvement increases. Giving them a criminal record isn't going to accomplish anything.

Oh .. by the way. Senator Wayne Smith is a Republican.

DEMOCRATS PAYOFF UNIONS

That bill I have been telling you about has finally been introduced into the House. The Democrats want to pay back the goonions for their long-term support. They're trying to do that by making it easier for goonions to organize workers.

Here's the way things work now. If workers want to form a union they first circulate a petition. If a majority of the workers sign the petition an election will be held. The petition is public. The election is not. A worker who does not particularly want to unionize might very well sign the petition so as not to incur the wrath of union-oriented coworkers. Then when the secret ballot comes along he will vote no.

Unions have been running into just this situation for years. A majority of workers will go along to get along by signing the petition. Then they vote "no" on the ballot and the union election fails. Union organizers know that the way around this is to eliminate the secret ballot.

Now the Democrats are going to try to accomplish that for them. The new legislation would call for a union to be formed simply upon the signing of a petition by a majority of the workers. No secret ballot. No opportunity for a worker to express their true feelings on the matter without fear of retribution.

Coercion .. something only a true big-government Democrat could love.

NANCY PELOSI GETS HER JET

Nancy Pelosi has been granted her request to fleece taxpayers for all of her personal travel. Being second in line to the presidency has its perks...and now it comes in the form of an enormous Air Force jet that will ferry Pelosi between Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Not sure how this fits into rolling back the "culture of corruption" by Democrats.

OK .. so I know that Dennis Hastert got the same perks when he was speaker. Wasn't right then. Isn't right now.

There is one difference in Hastert and Queen Nancy. Hastert didn't ask for military transportation for all of his staff and the rest of the Illinois delegation. Pelosi has. No word on just how far the White House is going to go to accommodate her.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Any spot of water will do if you're a redneck who wants to get his duck hunt on. More in the

Redneck Scrap Book. If you just want a quickie, check out the top ten viewed redneck scrapbook entries for 2006.
 

READING ASSIGNMENTS

John Stossel calls Boston officials to task for their panic over a marketing scheme for a cartoon show.

You can find the most interesting articles in obscure corners of the Internet. This one from TCS Daily. "Why be a conservative Libertarian?"

Believing you're entitled to free health care and other government handouts is not only bad policy, Herman Cain calls it a disease. He points out that the Constitution does not guarantee these entitlements and promises only the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of it.

The media, always on the lookout for ways to spin the war in Iraq as an even bigger failure, has been thirsting for more troop deaths lately. Turns out 334 American troops have died in the last 4 months. Thank you, Associated Press.

You know those Border Patrol agents wasting away in prison for shooting a drug smuggler at the Mexican border? Turns out the proof the government used to convict them is running a bit on the flimsy side. One Homeland Security official was confronted by Congress over it.

Al Gore is accusing the Bush Administration of paying people to speak out against global warming. Of course, paying people to push a pro-global warming agenda isn't the same thing. Anyone who dares question the climate change must be insane, right?

34 states have now come out against the National ID card. The revolt can't be good news for the federal government's plans to link everybody together in a database. Finally...people are actually worried about government intrusion. Can we get the other 16 states on board?

In one of his best columns, John Stossel calls out the city of Boston for their hysteria over the Cartoon Network signs. He points out that the signs had been up for weeks...and says the city overreacted...big time.

Howard Dean is now running the show at the DNC...but Rich Lowry says the Democrats' success in the 2006 midterm elections came in spite of Dean. He says the real architect of recent victories is Rahm Emanuel, the House Democrat from Chicago.

Michelle Malkin makes note of the Left's sport of slandering the military and says their definition of a military war hero is an AWOL Army Lieutenant. Should we be surprised? Of course not.

So why are some countries poorer than others? Dr. Walter E. Williams says it has nothing to do with natural resources. In fact, he runs down a list of the most free countries...and surprisingly, the United States is not #1.

Ken Blackwell, former Ohio candidate for governor and former Ohio secretary of state, notes the importance of the Second Amendment in the civil rights struggle. He says this is something people should remember during Black History month.

If you would make good use of this pimped out john, then you clearly aren't getting enough fiber in your diet.

It's done. All the editing is over. "Somebody's Gotta Say It" will appear on your bookstore shelves on Tuesday, February 20, 2007. The autographed first editions have sold out so if you want my mark on your book, you'll need to catch me at one of my book signings. Or if you just want to get to reading, order it online here.

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