REPUBLICANS LOOKING FOR A MESSAGE

Well .. seems a bit late, don't you think? The Republicans, knowing that they're in a huge heap of trouble in this year's election, are looking for a new message that will light a fire under the voters.

House minority leader John Boehner says "We have to show Americans that we can fix the problems here in Washington." Hey, John. A little late there.

If the Republicans want to make a bold move to stop the bleeding they're going to have to go beyond slogans. As you'll read below, they just participated in the passage of a huge, bloated and completely unnecessary farm bill to pay off farm state voters. The Republican base is tired of this ... brutally tired.

Well ... you probably heard this coming; but if the Republicans want to excite the electorate there is one sure-fire proposal out there. That would be the FairTax. Just start the debate - stand up to the demagogues - and tell the voters that if they return the Republicans to power the FairTax will be voted on. Watch the election turn real interesting on a dime.

SONNY SIGNED THE BILL

This is a great day for the state of Georgia and the Second Amendment. In Georgia, we've been having a serious debate on what was known as HB89. This bill would allow Georgians with carry licenses to carry concealed guns on public transportation, in restaurants and in state and local parks.

On the last possible day, Sonny Perdue signed the bill into law. You can now legally carry your concealed weapon into a Buckhead restaurant or on a MARTA bus or in Vogel State Park. Your fundamental right to protect your life has been upheld. Although Sonny says that he expects the issue to be challenged in the courts. Well ... this law has been challenged elsewhere and upheld, so opponents can knock themselves out with their lawsuits. It will give them something to do.

Besides the whining from the editorial board of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, others opposing this law are the Georgia Restaurant Association and union bus drivers. The Restaurant Association says that it will be a hassle for wait staff to ask for a customer to show their gun permit before serving them alcohol. And union bus drivers are going to demand that MARTA buses be outfitted with bulletproof shields, which will be paid for by the taxpayers. I tell you what ... If people really wanted to bring a gun on a MARTA bus for the purposes of causing harm, they would bring it on the bus anyway, despite the law. Now, because of this law, patrons of the MARTA system have the chance to actually survive and protect themselves in such a situation, rather than just sit there with their hands tied by the law.

Let's get back to the AJC editorial board for a moment. In an editorial yesterday they wrote this gem of a line: "There's zero evidence that more guns on the street prevents crime." That statement is a pure an unadulterated lie. There have been books written about the fact that when you allow private citizens to carry concealed weapons crime rates go down. One such book is "More Guns, Less Crime" by economistJohn R. Lott. Lott clearly proved that crime rates go down when people are allowed to arm themselves. An editorial review of the book had this to say:

"In retrospect, it perhaps should not have been surprising that increasing the number of civilians with guns would reduce crime rates. The possibility of armed victims reduces the expected benefits and increases the expected costs of criminal activity. And, at the margin at least, people respond to changes in costs, even for crime, as Nobel-Prize winning economist [TAG]Gary Becker showed long ago. Allusions to the preferences of criminals for unarmed victims have seeped into popular culture; Ringo, a British thug in Pulp Fiction, noted off-handedly why he avoided certain targets: "Bars, liquor stores, gas stations, you get your head blown off stickin' up one of them."

But Lott's actual quantification of this, in the largest and most comprehensive study of the effects of gun control to date, a study well-detailed in the book, provoked a number of attacks, ranging from the amateurish to the subtly misleading, desperate to discredit him. Lott takes the time to refute each argument; it's almost touching the way he footnotes each time he telephones an attacker who eventually hangs up on him without substantiating any of their claims."

So in light of al the evidence to the contrary, why in the world would an AJC editorial writer say that there is no evidence that more guns cause less crime? One of two things is happening here: Either the Atlanta Journal Constitution does no research before they write an editorial, or they believe that their readers are so ignorant that they can get away with outright lies like this.

I'm going with the latter.

FARM BILL FULL OF PORK ... SURPRISE, SURPRISE

The House is one step closer to passing this $290 billion farm bill. President Bush says he will veto it but Congress thinks it has enough votes to override the veto. Why do I bring this up? Because this farm bill is just loaded with pork and government entitlement program funding.

Take this, for example. Two-thirds of the bill (that's about $193 billion) will pay for huge increases in food stamp programs, emergency food assistance for the "needy," and nutrition aid to help people pay for groceries. Another $40 billion will be paid to subsidize US farmers and $30 billion will be paid for farmers to sit on their butts and do absolutely nothing. That's $30 billion NOT to grow crops. This is happening at a time when farm income is way up there.

And then there's the pork. State projects including tax breaks for Kentucky racehorse owners and money for salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest managed to sneak their way into the bill. Another one gives extra money to "geographically disadvantaged farmers" in Hawaii and Alaska ... it is essentially affirmative action for farmers.

Now get this. The legislation also includes a provision that would allow state and local governments to issue bonds to help conservation groups buy private lands. Why do they want to do this? It would give taxpayer money as incentives for these environmentalists to "keep pristine private lands out of the hands of developers." That's according to Montana Democrat Senator Max Baucus. As if that wasn't bad enough, Baucus also added $3.8 billion to pay farmers who lose their crops in weather-related disasters.

Republicans are largely in support of this bill ... and they want us to believe that they have changed.

AND SOME OF YOU THINK THAT I'M A JERK!

Royal and I were really enjoying this one yesterday. Danger, some foul language. It's a Bill O'Reilly meltdown when he was the host of "Inside Edition." Now I don't feel so special after O'Reilly called me a "vicious son-of-a-bitch" on his show. Anyway ... truth is always a defense. Right?

POLITICIANS AND THE 'RIGHT TO VOTE'

Since the whole voting nun debacle in Indiana, liberals have really had their boxers in a bunch over the denial of their "right to vote." Take a look at this opinion piece, for example. This is written by House Majority leader Rep. Steny Hoyer and Senator Chris Dodd. These are powerful members of the most powerful legislative body in this world ... and yet they don't have a basic understanding of our rights as US citizens. They are upset that the Supreme Court has restricted our precious "right to vote" without any good reason. They say, "Now, there's a high hurdle in front of their right to vote-the most fundamental right in a democracy ... And there isn't a shred of evidence to justify it." Avid readers of Nealz Nuze know what is wrong with this statement. First of all we are not a democracy. You would think that the majority leader of the House would know that basic fact. But no, he is too busy arguing about your "fundamental right" to vote ... which doesn't exist.

ARIZONA'S ANTI-ILLEGAL CONTRACT

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made a name for himself "America's Toughest Sheriff" in his pursuit of illegal immigrants. Now Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano (a Democrat) has ordered that the state end the anti-illegal immigration contract with Sheriff Arpaio. She is going to end it so she can pay for a larger effort to track down felons in Arizona.

Sheriff Arpaio is calling this dirty politics, saying that this is just an attempt to stifle his efforts against illegal immigrants. But the governor insists this isn't the case but that thousands of felony warrants have gone unserved because of Sheriff Arpaio's focus on illegal immigrants. They are criminals too, right?

POLAR BEARS ARE OFFICIALLY 'THREATENED'

Well the pseudo-environmentalists have done it. The Bush administration has caved. The Secretary of the Interior has officially announced that he will list the polar pear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This means that the polar bears get all kinds of new protections under the law.

But remember ... this is not about the polar bear. The polar bears are just a symbol. Just take a look at this quote from John Kostyack, the executive director of conservation and global warming at the National Wildlife Federation. He says, "This administration is finally acknowledging the gravity of global warming, apparently. And now we can start getting to work in passing comprehensive global warming legislation."

This is exactly what the critics have been saying. The polar bears are just a stepping stone to using the Endangered Species Act as a means of regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

They are doing this in spite of the fact that there are more polar bears today than there were in the 1970s. A lot more. In fact, there are 20,000 more polar bears today than in 1972. But that's not what these pseudo-environmentalists really care about, is it?

By the way .. the polar bear population in the Arctic is growing.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

John Edwards is endorsing Barack Obama ... Birds of a feather

Hillary says that it would be a "terrible mistake" to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama. Yeah ...we're all interested in what Hillary has to say at this point.

Obama made a speech to working class voters in Michigan yesterday. And guess what is going to solve their problems ... More taxes, of course!

Iran's Ahmadinejad says that Israel is dying and its anniversary celebrations are an attempt to prevent its "annihilation."

ABCNews wants to know if Barack Obama is too liberal when it comes to his tax policy. Do a hog love slop?

So Barack Obama is doing the Lord's work ... does anybody see a double standard here? Remember the Huckabee commercial?

John McCain has introduced "eco-friendly" campaign merchandise. Just doing his part to pander to the warming cult.

Here's a theory from the New York Times ... Hillary will agree to quit the race if Obama agrees to adopt some of her policies such as her universal healthcare plan.

According to this opinion piece, we should be thankful for high gas prices and accepting of a carbon tax (with rebates for the "poor") because "it's time to pay a price to curb global warming."

Brazil is now reaching out to countries to promote its sugarcane ethanol as a better alternative that corn-based ethanol.

I mentioned this on the program yesterday, but Democrats are proposing yet another surtax on the evil rich in order to fund an entitlement program.

Here's a great look at the pathetic progression of government education in this country.

When the government needs someone to manage all the moonbats at the Democrat convention in Denver, guess who foots the $9,000 a week bill? The taxpayers!

I've been saying that we should allow know-it-all college students the chance to run a country like Haiti ... well it looks like one University of Oklahoma freshman will now have the chance to run the town of Muskogee.

You'll be thrilled to know that Michael Moore is going to do a sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Now that Germany has passed a law prohibiting Muslim teachers from wearing head-scarves, the courts are extending that law to include Catholic nuns who wear veils.

What do you get if you are a successful, Christian doctor in Pakistan ... that would be a hanging.

A government school teacher has been fired for calling the dad of one of his students a terrorist. The dad is Muslim.

We have another government school lock down after a raccoon bit a school crossing guard.

They are having some real issues in Florida right now ... like trying to decide how many potbellied pigs should be allowed as legal pets in a household.

If you are riding in a New York City taxi, drivers will now be fined and possibly have their license suspended if they cuss.

I'm so glad they increased the funding of the food stamp program. I mean, "poor" people need lobsters and crab too.

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