Webguy and Cristina tell me that I have a lot of thongs in a wad over a caller to the show on Friday. We haven't seen hate mail like this in a long time. Someone went to the Church of the Painful Truth and apparently didn't like the sermon. I love it! So if you want to hear how I stirred the puddin', listen to Nealz Nuze today during the Information Overload Hour at 12:35PM ET. Or if you missed it, just listen here. In the meantime, here is a taste of the emails:

• Name: john
  Subject: your attitude
  your conversation with the unemployed construction worker with 4 kids was so degrading!!! not everyone can be a college grad nor does that guarantee success in life. you are such a snob. i could see you treating the poor & unfortunate as hitler did the jews. my grandaughter just graduated gov school with a 4.2 average & started univ of central fla as a sophmore due to college accredited honor classes in high school. her parents were not irresponble but wonderful loving parents. not everyone can afford a private school. get real neal!!!
  Right ... invoke Hitler. That's always a good move for small minds. And would someone please teach John where the "shift" key is?

• Name: Robert
  Subject: todays show
  Today I was unimpressed with your show, in paticular the call from the construction worker, the one you cut off and railroaded for have 4 kids. You called him uneducated which just because someone didnt or couldnt go to collage does not make him stupid. I myself am a electrical contractor and take alook around your office and tell me could you do what you see? I bet not. We, like it or not are middle class America so you slamming us that make your privileged world go around isnt helping a thing, most times I can listen in , Today I think you crossed a line that I found offensive
  Huh? Slamming construction workers? This has nothing to do with the things in my office. It's about people, construction workers or airline pilots, having children they can't afford to raise. So many of our national problems can be blamed on this one behavior.
   

• Name: Jo
  Subject: Food stamp caller
  Your tirade against the father of four who now uses food stamps was a disgrace. His taxes, for years, went to pay for others to eat; now that he has need, you dare rail against him like he is some low-life deadbeat? You shot yourself in the head as far as I am concerned, pal. This listener is gone for good.
  Ahhhh ... another one of those "I'm never going to listen to you again" emails. If I lost a listener for every one of these emails I get I would have been off the radio years ago. By the way ... there is no evidence this man has ever paid income taxes.
  
  
• Name: Cecilia
  Subject: unemployed construction worker on today's show
  Iknow part of your spiel is "in your face" dialogue, but I just want to say I was disturbed with your message to the construction worker who called in and said he was currently unemployed. Your diatribe against him personally was shameful. Whenever one has to belittle someone and attack their personal integrity to try and make a point, really in my opinion has no valid point to make ... Your words to that gentleman were cruel and unnecessary. You could have given your perspective without the name calling (Mooch?) and insults. Blatant disrespect towards any human being will never further your agenda because it reveals a degraded heart. I hope you are really not that bitter towards your fellow man. I will pray for you!
  Sorry, Cecilia. I had a point to make, and it wasn't going to be made by me stroking this guy and telling him everything was going to be OK.

Well ... there's the reaction to that call from the construction worker. Now .. my response:

THE CONSTRUCTION WORKER VISITS THE CHURCH OF THE PAINFUL TRUTH

As you can see from those emails, more than a few of you were upset with my conversation with the construction worker last Friday. To recap: We had an out of work construction worker with six mouths to feed ... and he had made the decision to use the police power of government to seize someone else's property for his personal use. In other words .. he was on food stamps.

Ohhhhh .... that upsets you? Aw ... I'm sorry! Want me to kiss it and make it all better for you? What are you here for? Do you want me to just say things on the air that will make you nod your head and say "attaboy Neal!" You don't like your way of thinking challenged? Tell you what, why don't you write a set of rules and parameters for looters? Why don't you tell us when its OK to use the government to force the transfer of wealth from someone else to you, and when it's not. The world awaits your list of reasons that it would OK for you to use force to seize someone else's property. Theft is theft. Looting is looting .. no matter whether you do it for yourself, or use an agent like the government. Need is not a defense that will help you to escape punishment for your crime. If you hire someone to kill for you, you're guilty of murder. Why is it so different when you hire (vote for) someone to steal for you?

Your whining and moaning emails reminded me that this poor construction worker was out of work. He's not alone. You were upset that I have him a hard time for having four kids he couldn't feed.

Let's look at this situation without all the emotion for a minute. You ready? It's time for the PAINFUL TRUTH!

The estimate of what it takes to raise a child from fetus to 18 ranges from $200,000 to $250,000. That means our construction worker needs up to one million dollars to do an adequate job or raising his four kids. More than a million if he wants to put them through college.

I spent some time over the weekend on the Internet trying to learn a bit more about just what the average construction worker brings home. CareerBuilder.com has a website where you can research salaries and wages for thousands of jobs. The average salary for construction workers across the country is $29,805. In Atlanta that number is $26,746.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services issues poverty guidelines referred to as the "federal poverty level." Our construction worker has a family of six. The federal poverty level for a family that size is $29,530. In other words, the average wage in Atlanta for our construction worker with his family of six is below the federal poverty level. And that is IF he can find work.

You want some reality? Try this: Looking at these average wage figures, this man needs to work steadily for over 37 years just to pay the cost of raising those four children. He's a construction worker! What are the chances for this type of steady employment year-after-year for 37 years! No construction worker with any sense expects to be employed week after week, year after year. Oh .. and buy the way, that 37-year figure is somewhat bogus. Let's say these kids are three years apart. The oldest was nine when the youngest was born. That gives him 27 years, not 37, to earn that million bucks ... or end up over his head in debt. That $37,000 a year. You're not going to do that on a construction worker's wages.

Here's the bottom line. Our construction worker made a conscious decision to have four children. He knew, or he should have know if he had paid any attention at all, that his chosen field of construction work was not barley going to allow him and his family to live at the poverty level. A college education for his children? Well, you can pretty much forget that unless they excel in sports, or they have a rich grandma somewhere.

Well here's someone who deserves our pity, right? Look at the decisions he's made. Education? Maybe high school. If there was a college degree in the picture he wouldn't be a construction worker. (Well .. he could, I guess, be one of those brainiacs who pursued a degree in English or history.) Then ... after deciding to forego higher education, he gets married and starts downloading children - each with a $200,000 or more price tag - at a pretty fair clip; stopping at four. He's chosen employment in an industry where continued and steady employment is, at best, problematic, ... and he starts having children like a hamster; children that he cannot afford to raise. Then the inevitable happens. The work dries up. He can't feed his family ... and he decides it's time to take advantage of the willingness of the political class to seize property from private citizens and give it to him in return for his support and vote. Then, of course, I'm the bad guy when I point all this out!

I'm sorry folks, but you can meekly submit to this looting, but I'm not going to. If a person asks my help, that's one thing. Most Americans are more than willing to step forward and offer help to people in a tough spot; especially when children are involved. There are many private charities out there; and a community of churches, synagogues and mosques more than willing to help. But that's not what our construction worker has done. Instead, he has gone to the government - the only entity out there that can use deadly force to accomplish its goals - and, pointing a finger at his more productive neighbor, tells the government to "take that guy's money and give it to me. I have mouths to feed." One person's good decision-making and hard work should not set him up as a target for plunder by someone who has made poor decisions.

No excuses. If you're using food stamps - by whatever name - you are using the government as an instrument of plunder. You are instructing your political representatives to steal - to transfer wealth from those who earned it to you. Make all the excuses you want .. but you're a thief. Ditto for Section 8 housing and a variety of other government welfare programs.

One more thing ... there's this argument which says "Well, he paid his taxes, so now there's nothing wrong if he goes on food stamps for a while." Oh really? How about a shoplifter saying "Hey, I shopped at this store for years and paid for everything! Now I don't have the money, so it should be OK for me to take a few things I need." Yeah .... Works for me.