Today's Nuze: March 29, 2007

Thursday - March 29, 2007

OK .. SO I WASN'T COMPLETELY ALONE

The Neal Boortz Show is broadcasting from The Heritage Foundation radio studios today.

Now if you had asked me yesterday afternoon, I would have told you that there would be no crowd at all at the Washington DC Barnes & Noble last night. I would have lost. Not big time, but I would have lost. Oh, the power of Internet streaming! When I got to the bookstore I just started wandering around the first floor looking at books. Suddenly a (drop-dead gorgeous) young lady comes up, introduces herself, and say "Come on, Mr. Boortz, we have a crowd waiting for you." OK ... crowd is a relative term. It wasn't exactly Dayton or Virginia Beach .. but the folks were there and I enjoyed every minute. Again ... the absolute best thing about a book tour is not selling books and making money. It's meeting these people who listen to my rantings and rumblings every day on the radio. So thanks, again, for showing up.

BIG TIME IN STORE TONIGHT

Tonight I'll be one of the presenters at the Media Research Center's annual Dishonor Awards. It's the 20th Anniversary Gala for the MRC and you can actually watch the entire thing right here on live Internet video streaming! I've participated in this event before, and I promise you'll enjoy it. Here's you link! See you at 8:00 Eastern! Among the other presenters of awards to people who have shown the most outrageous liberal bias in the media will be Sean Hannity, Mary Matlin and Ann Coulter. I'm in pretty good company.

BOOK SIGNINGS

We're entering the home stretch of the book tour:

3/28 Barnes & Noble, Washington, DC
3/30 Borders, Metairie, LA
4/2 Books-A-Million, Lawrenceville, GA
4/3 Barnes & Noble, Marietta, GA
4/4 Books-A-Million, Fayetteville, NC
4/5 Ft. Bragg North Post PX, NC

Details and entire book tour schedule.

Buy online: amazon.com | barnesandnoble.com | booksamillion.com
Book Tour Gallery - view photos and find out how to submit yours

Official airline of the Boortz Book Tour

FOX AND FRIENDS THIS MORNING

OK, so you're wondering why I don't have copious notes? I was picked up at 5:40 this morning in DC to do a quick hit on Fox & Friends. The gang was talking about all of those nifty tax increases the Democrats have planned for the evil, wretched rich. I chimed in with one more ... the plan that was bouncing around the Clinton White House in 1994 just before the Republicans took power in congress. What plan? How about a plan to levy a one-time 15% tax on the outstanding balance of every pension and 401K plan out there? Today I fully expect some Democrat sycophant to call me a liar .. or something worse. Bring it on. I have the names of the Clinton economic advisors who hatched this plan .... let's do battle!

THE NEVER-ENDING NON-SCANDAL

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff says the 8 U.S. Attorneys were fired over politics. That is, they didn't support President Bush's policies the way they administration thought they should. This is the message that will be delivered in testimony today. Expect it to make big news, but it really isn't. This has to be the biggest non-scandal to hit Washington since, well..the last biggest non-scandal: the Valerie Plame affair. God forbid they should tackle something important like the coming crash of this stupid Social Security system we have, or doing something about the Mexican invasion. Eight U.S. Attorneys get fired for political reasons. Who cares? These are political jobs. These are positions just like the ones in the White House...political appointees that serve at the pleasure of the president. Bush could fire them all just for kicks one day. Wait....Bill Clinton already did that once. Nobody cared when George W. Bush replaced his chief of staff, did he? Nope...his choice.

And so here we go...more testimony and more calls for Alberto Gonzales resignation. His former chief of staff will testify on the Hill today over what he knew and when he knew it. The "investigation" is being led by liberal Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He says nothing will stop his hearings, not even Gonzales' resignation.

Why? Because he's hit a political goldmine. The Democrats have the Republicans on the ropes over nothing. They simply invented a scandal out of thin air and the media has gone along for the ride.

IRAN'S OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR CONTINUES

Quick...what generates more headlines....the non-violations of the Geneva Conventions that allegedly went on at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by the United States, or the actual violations of the Geneva Conventions by Iran? You guessed it...far and away it is the latter. Iran now says Britain must admit its soldiers trespassed into Iranian waters for them to get their soldiers back. This came after Iran paraded the soldiers on TV in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Just how much is Britain going to put up with here? Seems like a lot, although Tony Blair says it's time to ratchet up the pressure.

It's become obvious that Iran simply does whatever it wants. They keep pushing the envelope because nobody wants to push back. With each shove a new norm is created. The Iranian weird-beards know that we've lost the will, or the political ability to do anything about their nuclear weapons program, so they continue to develop the bomb. They know the Euro-weasels are too spineless and too addicted to their oil to do anything about 15 kidnapped British soldiers, so they parade them on TV. And they know the United Nations will never really pass serious sanctions...well, because China and Russia like that oil too. So now things are the way they are.

So now Tony Blair says it's time to "ratchet up the pressure." He says he's going to bring about international pressure on Iran. Ohhh...I'm sure Ahmadinejad is shaking in his high heels over that one. And further illustrating the difference between how we do things and how the British do things...Blair actually said he was glad the soldiers didn't put up a fight. Had these been U.S. Marines, we would've blown the Iranians to Mecca --- or would we? Isn't a shame that we can't be sure.

Late news ... Britain now says that it going to seek United Nations condemnation of the Iranian actions. Ohhhhhhhh. I'll bet the pucker factors are at an all time high now in Tehran.

On top of all this, Iran is now reneging on its promise to release the female British sailor. Iran may finally graduate from public repudiation to a stern talking to over that one.

HIDING THE PORK IN WASHINGTON

Did you know that during the 12 years Republicans were in power, there was actually a federal agency that tracked pork barrel spending? It is called Congressional Research Service....and surprisingly, it has stopped tracking earmarks since the Democrats took over. Nice bit of reform there on the part of the liberals...I guess they didn't want any meddling while they loaded up with defense appropriation with one pet project after another. Either that or there become too many to count...although how much more in West Virginian can be named after Robert Byrd?

So how much is Congressional pork costing you and me? We're not just talking a few million bucks for a bridge to nowhere in Alaska. Citizens Against Government Waste says it was $29 billion last year. According to the Congressional Research Service, which used to track such things...it was $67 billion. That'll buy a lot of fancy clocks on bus stops in North Carolina. And 2007 is already proving to be a banner year for pork barrel spending on Capitol Hill.

Since the Democrats can't cut funding for the war in Iraq, they've decided to load it up with pet spending projects. Among the $20 billion in pork in the $124 defense appropriation, you'll find items such as these. $74 million for the peanut industry, $124 for the shrimp industry...and remember that e. Coli outbreak awhile ago that affected spinach growers? There's $25 million in there for them. No word if Nancy Pelosi has slipped in any cash for tuna companies in San Francisco.

If you thought spending couldn't get any worse than it was under the Republicans, get ready.

NOW ... FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY SELF-SERVING

Yeah, I know. What a surprise.

I found this review of "Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Stephen Littau on the Internet at a site called "The Liberty Papers.". Since I liked the review, and the reviewer liked the book, I thought I would reprint it here. Hey .. .these are MY notes and I can do this if I want to.

As a regular listener of The Neal Boortz Show, I find this book every bit as hard-hitting, insensitive, informative, and entertaining as his show. The High Priest of the Painful Truth pulls no punches in his assault on ignorance whether from the Right, the Left, or Center. The Libertarian Party (the party that most closely reflects his views) is even skewered on a number of fronts.

It's difficult to know how people who do not listen to his show will respond. You will likely find this book near books with a conservative political bent but conservatives who expect to find yet another book which relentlessly attacks the Left while keeping their sacred cows protected will be sorely disappointed. While Boortz dedicates a significant portion of the book to the lunacy of the Left, the Right is criticized for pushing their religious anti-science agenda on the American public (especially in government schools), their homophobia, and their continuous chipping away at the limited government platform they claim to embrace.

Boortz has many targets in this book but none receive more of his ire than government schools. Teacher's unions exist solely to keep mediocre to incompetent teachers in a job; they will fight tooth and nail to prevent any kind of competition from private schools. But government schools are even more harmful that what we can see on the surface. Want to know why the American public has lost its love for freedom in exchange for security from an ever expanding government? According to Boortz, government schools are to blame. Government schools teach school children from a very young age that government is good and is the solution to every problem. There is even a chapter dedicated to how school children learn their first lesson in communism. Have you ever taken your child to the store and bought school supplies on a list only to have the teacher take those supplies away from your child to be donated to the class? If you don't believe this to be a big deal consider the lesson your child is learning: he or she must give up his or her private property (school supplies in this case) for "the greater good" of the whole society (the classroom in this case).

Is it any coincidence that most Americans erroneously believe that America's government is a democracy rather than a constitutional representative republic? Is it any coincidence that most Americans don't know the difference or know why this distinction is important? Boortz contends that this is not by accident but by design. The purpose of government schools is not to educate students but to indoctrinate them into obedient citizens subjects.

Eventually, these school children grow up to be voters (Did I mention that the author finds no constitutional guarantee to the right to vote? Sounds crazy but once you read his arguments and consult the U.S. Constitution, he makes a compelling case). After thirteen years of government indoctrination, many of these adults see no problem with wealth redistribution, the welfare state, the nanny state, and have no genuine appreciation for liberty. This makes it very easy for politicians to pander to the American public to meet all of these needs which far too many people believe to be birthrights. Those who believe this the most tend to vote Democrat which leads me to his chapter "The Democrats' Secret Plan for America."

Boortz mockingly calls the Democrat plan a "secret plan" because of how Democrats typically scare various constituencies about Republican secret plans to kick old people into the street, burn black churches, and starve babies. Much of the secret plan is no secret at all however. So what do the Democrats have in store for America should they retain congress and win the presidency? According to the author we can expect the entire tax burden to be shifted to the wealthy, imputed income (which would put most all home owners in a higher tax bracket), place caps on income for those who "make too much," add taxes to 401k and other investment vehicles which are not currently taxed, womb to the tomb universal government healthcare, the reinstatement of the "fairness doctrine" (which would effectively put an end to talk radio), the repeal of the Second Amendment, and several other such wet dreams of the far Left. If you don't read any other chapter in this book, read this chapter.

Certainly, this books isn't one which will leave the reader thinking "Its morning in America" but it does offer a fair amount of humor, positive solutions (such as what should be taught in government schools; provides his own citizenship test), and an inside peek of the talk radio business. Boortz opens the book by introducing himself, his interests and how he got into talk radio (under rather tragic circumstances). Even in the chapters that contain a discouraging outlook have a healthy dose of humor. But if you are overly outraged after reading the chapter about government funded art or the Democrat Party's war on the individual, skip to "Chasing Cats" or "Terrorizing the Mailroom." I won't give away what these chapters are about but I assure you that you are in for a good belly laugh (that Boortz is quite the prankster).

Somebody's Gotta Say It is a refreshingly honest, sober view of the body politic, American culture, and state of our world. Boortz presents a variety of original controversial ideas on a variety of issues. Such proposals would certainly make the political debate more productive if not more interesting (a number of these proposals can be found toward the end of the book in a chapter entitled "No Way in Hell."). I highly recommend this book for anyone who is not easily offended. Anyone who is easily offended should skip this book in favor of a selection from the Oprah Book Club.

Stephen Littau is obviously a brilliant book reviewer. Now ... get out there and buy the book. You deserve a good read.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

If there is such a thing as a redneck hippie, this must be the camper for them. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Think the Saudis are our friends? Think again. The King of Saudi Arabia called our mission in Iraq an "illegitimate foreign occupation" and complained about our cutting off financially the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories. Thanks a lot.

President Bush yukked it up at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner yesterday saying, among other things, that he's thinking of writing a memoir. He says it could be a pop-up book. Those were actually his words. And don't miss Karl Rove's little performance.

There is actually another Democrat who understands the threat posed by Islamic terrorism. This brings the total to 3: Joe Lieberman, Ed Koch and now...presidential candidate Bill Richardson. He says more needs to be done to keep nuclear material out of the hands of Al-Qaeda.

The Democrats frequently charge that there were no terrorists in Iraq until we invaded and overthrew Saddam Hussein. Victor Davis Hanson begs to differ, citing a long list of Islamic terrorists that spent time in Iraq, including of course Zarqawi and international terrorists like Abu Nidal.

Did you know that the Democratic House is about to pass the largest tax increase in U.S. history? Robert Novak says nobody is paying any attention to it, but budget resolutions about to be passed will map out huge increases on the revenue side...and you've hardly heard a word about it.

As Tony Snow battles cancer, Cal Thomas has a column today talking about his experiences with the presidential press secretary. He says nobody dislikes Tony Snow...and calls him one of the most decent human beings he has ever met. Nice tribute.

Since the Edwardses have decided to stay in the presidential campaign, it's back to politics. William F. Buckley looks at John Edwards' plans for health care. Specifically, his plan to give everybody free health care. Who would pay for it? That's always the question, isn't it?

Many people support statehood for the District of Columbia. Is this something we should be doing? George Will takes a look at the issue of whether or not the nation's capitol should become the 51st state. How about shrinking the city down to just the major federal buildings and having Maryland annex the rest? Democrats don't want that.

Ann Coulter calls the firestorm over the canning of 8 U.S. Attorneys the most ridiculous non-scandal in human history. She points out the obvious: the president can fire political appointees anytime he wants...for no reason at all.

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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