Today, Mike Huckabee called in to the show to talk about his new book Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. Oh, and you know the FairTax came up, of course. Find his book tour schedule here.

We got dozens of emails yesterday to Nealz Nuze saying that I must see this video about a Ford plant. Okay you are probably thinking "big deal, Boortz." But if you watch the video it explains how Ford has created a new, innovative manufacturing plant that streamlines production and makes operations much more efficient. They can make 5 different types of vehicles at this plant. It does this by allowing Ford suppliers to be integrated into the assembly line process. So the suppliers making the seats, the dashboards, the fuel systems ... they have assembly lines right inside the Ford factory. Makes sense, rather than relying on shipments of parts. No waiting. No shipment costs or delays.

Oh but there is one thing I forgot to tell you. This Ford plant is in Brazil.

Yep. And do you know why it is in Brazil? Unions. The UAW is opposed to this type of innovative manufacturing. They are opposed to innovation that would actually help their employer because they stand the risk of losing jobs. And if they lose jobs, they lose power.

I'm sure another reason, although it doesn't say it in the video, is tax rates. But that's a whole other issue.

That question comes from an elected official in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That person would be Tonya Payne, a Democrat member of the Pittsburgh City Council. Apparently there has been brouhaha in Pittsburgh concerning the right to bear arms. It would be a little thing called the Second Amendment ... not that this woman has heard of it. I wonder what she would score on that little civics quiz we talked about yesterday?

Anyway, Tonya and her fellow council members approved legislation that would require anyone to report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours. If not reported, the person would face a fine. You see, right now in Pennsylvania there is a state ban on local laws on "the transfer, ownership, transportation or possession" of guns. The question is whether that extends to reporting lost or stolen firearms.

So that's when Tonya, who can't seem to wrap her bureaucratic head around the concept, comes up with this line: "Who really cares about it being unconstitutional?"

She goes on to say, "This is what's right to do, and if this means that we have to go out and have a court battle, then that's fine ... We have plenty of dead bodies coming up in our streets every single day, and that is unacceptable."

So according to Tonya, it is okay to defy the Constitution if your city councilwoman thinks that "it is the right thing to do." Is this the type of respect for the Constitutional law that we can expect from a Barack Obama administration? Remember, under an Obama administration with Obama appointed judges ... the Constitution is just a formality, what really matters is making sure that judges rule the way they feel is "right."

The unions are feeling a little slighted right now. They haven't gotten the praise and thanks they deserve for getting Obama elected. Particularly after Obama announced his top economic advisors ... and none of them have any real ties to the labor unions. Also, the unions are upset that Obama has yet to appoint a secretary of labor. They see this as a suggestion that whoever is appointed secretary of labor won't be a key player in the administration and economic policy.

But no matter who is appointed as labor secretary ... the unions already know what they are going to push for. The Employee Free Choice Act. Otherwise known as the card check bill.

Environmentalists cannot wait to have Barack Obama in the White House so they can begin to "right the wrongs of the past" and enact a liberal agenda. So here is what we are looking forward to under an Obama administration ... considering that there won't be much to stop the Democrats who have control.

• Capping gasses and emissions that are "blamed for global warming" (remember Obama's bit about bankrupting the coal industry?)
• Basing environmental decisions on "sound science" (because man-made global warming is 100% proven scientific fact)
• More cautious approach to energy production on federal lands
• Cutting funds for nuclear energy
• Banning all offshore drilling

What is stopping Nancy Pelosi's crusade to "save the planet"? It will be interesting to see how far Obama is willing to take this man-made global warming horsesqueeze and allow it to dictate legislation.

This financial bailout could end up being the most expensive single expenditure in American history.

Did you know that not only is Barack Obama not yet president, but technically he isn't even our president-elect. Sure is playing the part though. What an ego!

Barack Obama's plan to curb this phony man-made global warming could hurt our economy even more than what we are already going to experience.

The FDIC just keeps piling banks onto its "problem list."

The CEO of AIG will earn a $1 salary next year.

This newspaper wants to know why Nancy Pelosi isn't calling for an immediate impeachment of George Bush.

They are still counting ballots in Minnesota and the Democrats are still trying to steal this election.

Here are some reasons why liberals should also reject the Fairness Doctrine. I wish I could agree, but liberals nowadays are too in love with government.

A government school district in Tacoma, Washington wants to change the rules on how it is allowed to name schools so that they can name a school in honor of Barack Obama.

A Vietnam veteran was threatened with arrest because he was handing out memorial flowers at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

The United Nations passed this Combating Defamation of Religions resolution ... Muslim countries are ecstatic.

A government audit found that rich US farmers are still getting taxpayer subsides. And you are surprised by this? It is a government operation.

We now have a new "right" to add to our list: the right for your children to wear traditional Thanksgiving costumes at their government school holiday celebration.

A toddler managed to get a set of car keys lodged in his brain ... luckily this story ends well.

Some elementary school boys draw lewd pictures on the bathroom wall and laugh about it. That's when the police are called in to investigate. Seriously, the police? Your tax dollars at work.

This is just disgusting. Florida Gulf Coast University has pretty much banned Christmas from the campus. Obviously this school sucks.

You gotta love the next president of the European Union.

Oh great, a FairTax hater. Guess he's too chicken to enable comments.

Do you know more about civics than the average citizen? How about college educators? Take the civics quiz and see how you stack up.

A Zogby Poll asked people what they thought the most reliable source of news might be. The results are a little disarming. Some 37.6 % said the Internet; 20.3% said national TV news and 16% said radio news.

Please, people ... give this some more thought. Where were newspapers in this equation? Look; I post program notes on the Internet five times a day, and I'm flattered that over a million people look at them. Advertisers like it as well --- but while I provide links to newspaper stories, this is not a news site. This is commentary - opinion - and I do not pretend to be objective. Frankly I think that Internet should be at the bottom of the list, not at the top ... unless, that is, you're referring to Internet sites for recognized and long-standing newspapers and other legitimate news sources.

My God! The unions are actually going to pull this one off! Their unionization-by-intimidation bill is actually going to pass! Now just ask yourself .. what would you do if you were an employer and you felt that the Democrats were on the verge of passing the union's "card check" bill. Well .. I'll tell you what I would do. I would be looking at any automation that I could find that would reduce my workforce. I would then go with all of the offshore options I could find that would allow me to get rid of more employees. Then I would go to staffing agencies for the rest of my workforce. The people working in my place of business would not be working for me. They would be working for a staffing agency. If they want to unionize something, they can unionize the staffing agency. If the Democrats bring us "card check" along with an expansion of the Family Leave Act my guess is that there are a lot of employers out there who will do everything they can to get rid of employees.

Unions played a big part in destroying the big three automakers. Now they can play a similar role with your business. Aren't you workers glad you voted for Obama? You might have voted yourself right slap out of a job.

My gag reflex gets triggered big time every time I hear that absurd "the public's airwaves" phrase when a discussion of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" comes up.

Do any of you really doubt that if broadcasting had been around when the Bill of Rights was written that the broadcast freedom would have been included in the protections of the First Amendment? You know the answer to that one. Of course it would have been there. Back then there were only two ways to spread information. You either spread it by word or in written form. Both were protected. Today you have electronic communication. The same protections should be offered there.

One of the first lessons despots learn is that they must control the means by which information is disseminated if they are to cement their hold on power. By the time broadcasting came along the politician's love for freedom of the press had subsided somewhat. They knew what a powerful force for information broadcasting would be, and they just had to come up with a way to exert government control. This brought us the precursors to the FCC. The excuse? This ridiculous "public's airwaves" nonsense.

So ... here is the question I want one of you liberal bedwetters to answer. If broadcasting should be controlled by the government - including content control - because it comes over the "public's airwaves," then why should your morning newspaper be similarly controlled? After all, your newspaper comes to you over the public's roads. In fact .. the people actually paid for those roads with their tax money, unlike the airwaves, so the argument for control of newspapers should actually be a stronger one! OK all you brilliant liberals out there ... your response is ...????

Just yesterday I was setting myself up for a little "I told you so." There is a street down in Miami that will be renamed Barack Obama Avenue. And you just wait for the activists to cry "racism!" if your town refuses to rename a street in honor of Barack Obama.

Anyway, now get this report out of Atlanta ... since Barack Obama was elected, the number of hate crimes is on the rise. That is according to a civil rights group. Hundreds of incidents of abuse and intimidation have occurred since November 4th, and they seem to have been motivated by racial hatred. However most of them have not involved violence. Now this report comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center ... so I'm skeptical. Are we having more incidents? Or are more being reported. Or are more ordinary indicants being categorized as hate crimes? I don't like the concept of "hate crimes" anyway. If it's a crime, it's a crime. Punish the perp. You punish these people for what they did ... not for what they were thinking when they did it.

On the campaign trail, we quickly spotted two Barack Obamas: one with a teleprompter and one without. One man with an excellent ability to deliver one helluva speech and one man that hmmms his way through a jumble of thoughts that lead to nowhere.

So now we have the next step: staged press conferences. The president-elect has already had several press conferences and he will have another one today. But it seems that when it comes time for him to take questions from reporters, Obama already had a "game plan" of who exactly he was going to call on. Does that mean he is taking staged questions and has prepared answers? Well .........

Now that just ain't right.

And it's not just Citigroup, folks. AIG pays a British soccer team $125 million to put "AIG" on their uniforms. This is the same AIG that just got a $150 billion loan from the taxpayers. Someone from a group called Taxpayers for Common Sense says it would be more accurate for the soccer team to put "US Treasury" on their uniforms. How about "U.S. Taxpayers"?

There are more examples. Bank of America took a $25 billion loan for the Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program. Meanwhile, Bank of America wants to pay the New York Yankees $20 million per year to be their sponsor. Bank of America also has its name on the Carolina Panthers football stadium ... that cost them $140 million.

Look, folks ... I'm sure that there are a lot of companies out there that have done it right. But there are a heck of a lot, especially on a larger scale, that just don't seem to get the message.

Here's a letter from a scientist in Australia, David Bellamy. He is a global warming skeptic, and guess what? He can't get work anymore, because nobody wants to listen to someone who doesn't believe in this man-made global warming hoax. But here is a little bit of what he has to say:

When I first stuck my head above the parapet to say I didn't believe what we were being told about global warming, I had no idea what the consequences would be. I am a scientist and I have to follow the directions of science, but when I see that the truth is being covered up I have to voice my opinions.

According to official data, in every year since 1998, world temperatures have been getting colder, and in 2002 Arctic ice actually increased. Why, then, do we not hear about that? The sad fact is that since I said I didn't believe human beings caused global warming, I've not been allowed to make a television program ...

People such as former American vice-president Al Gore say that millions of us will die because of global warming, which I think is a pretty stupid thing to say if you've got no proof. And my opinion is that there is absolutely no proof that CO2 has anything to do with any impending catastrophe. The science has, quite simply, gone awry. In fact, it's not even science any more; it's anti-science ...

Global warming is part of a natural cycle and there's nothing we can actually do to stop these cycles. The world is now facing spending a vast amount of money in tax to try to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist.

If you want to read the whole thing, and I suggest you do, you can read it here. Look, folks. I know that believing that man is responsible for global warming makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I know that it makes you feel cool and hip to drive your SUV to the grocery store just so you can use your reusable grocery bags. The fact is that man-made global warming is a hoax. At some time you are going to have to understand that this is all a leftist scheme to destroy capitalism and capitalist economies.

Where's the proof? And I don't mean computer models.

Alan Colmes will be leaving Hannity and Colmes at the end of this year. I like Alan, though he always took great in an occasional Boortz ambush.

The stock market rallied again yesterday, posting the biggest two-day gain since the 1980s.

Did you know that The Washington Post celebrated the demise of The Fairness Doctrine in 1987? My guess is that they'll celebrate when the Obamabots try to bring it back.

The governor of Delaware has appointed Joe Biden's replacement in the Senate: Ted Kaufman, one of Biden's top aides.

What kind of "change" is Obama planning to bring to a White House filled with Clinton administration veterans?

Barack Obama really seems to be channeling Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm for his ideas on a green economic stimulus.

CEOs of the Big Three auto makers are working out plans to carpool to Washington for their next hearing. A bit of an overreaction, don't you think?

Speaking of the auto makers, Tiger Woods will no longer be the face of GM because of budget cuts.

Here's an interesting interview about the creation of welfare societies. That's what our nation is slowly becoming - a nation of government educated fools who rely on the government.

Some states are very interested in the idea of raising the gas tax to make up for their shortfalls in the state budget.

The new mayor of Detroit, Ken Cockrel, is under investigation. Imagine that.

It's official, Minnesota State University officially has footbaths for Muslims in its student union. Hope nobody mistakes them for urinals.

Muslims in UK prisons complain that their curry isn't tasty enough. So prison officers drive 40 miles to a restaurant to get them food that won't violate their human rights.

And now, according to a moonbat, we have a list of 10 Republicans Who Should Go Away. I guess they knew I wasn't a Republican, that's why I didn't make the list. Read the comments ... and then remember that these people accuse conservatives of "hate speech."

Here's your list of Bush pardons ... so far.

Daniel and Adam spotted this beauty on an Georgia Alabama road yesterday. Daniel says "dear GOD if you are going to go hunting, please have a hunting appropriate vehicle."

Well ... here we go. Opa-locka, Florida .. near Miami .. is going to rename Perviz Avenue to Barack Obama Avenue. Well isn't that special. So ... let me tell you what's coming. Opa-locka won't have the last Barack Obama Avenue, or Street, or Road, or Trail, or Boulevard .. or whatever. You're going to see more; and before too long you're going to see various "activists" screaming "racist" if their local community doesn't designate its own Barack Obama Something-or-other by the end of 2009. I'm just setting myself up for a sweet "I told you so" down the road a bit.

And please - don't forget. For the next four years any statement uttered by someone not black in opposition to any Obama initiative will either be (a) hate speech; or (b) a racist diatribe. Take your pick.

Citigroup seems to be next. Remember the announcement last week that Citi was laying-off about 52,000 workers? Well now the government ... that means US ... is going to absorb tens of billions of dollars in Citibank losses.

Who's next? Well, how about the airlines? Oh, and the TV Networks are complaining about lost ad revenue, and since they were some of the largest consumers of the Obama Kool-Aide maybe some money ought to go their way. My guess? Look for some plan to bail out consumers over-extended on their credit cards.

Oh you betcha! There's Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin preparing to go to Washington to attempt to glom on to some of that bailout cash. I live in Atlanta and I've been watching Atlanta goings-on for about 40 years now. So let me send a message to the taxpayers of America. Bailout cash for Atlanta? No way!

For at least two decades Atlanta has had a reputation for one of the most over-staffed and bloated city governments in the nation. The City of Atlanta has been a glorified jobs program for the poorly-educated graduates of one the nation's worst school systems (Atlanta Government Schools) for years. Before the taxpayers of this country fork over the money to cover these years of mismanagement there are just a few things the City of Atlanta should be required to do. Work on these goals and then come begging:

• Sell the Paulding County and Dawson Forest. Oh! Never heard of these massive City of Atlanta land holdings? It seems that Atlanta owns 10,000 acres in Paulding County, Georgia and another 10,130 in North Georgia near the city of Dawsonville. The Dawsonville property is extremely valuable North Georgia mountain land. The 10,000 Paulding County acres were purchased for $935 an acre 33 years ago. Before Atlanta comes begging for taxpayer money these two giant holdings should be sold. If the city wants to wait until the real estate market improves it could pledge to sell these properties within five years and use the proceeds to reimburse the taxpayers .. with interest. What do you think? Five thousand an acre? Let's see ... that adds up to about $100 million?
• Privatize Hartsfield International Airport. This idea was first floated by former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and it's been bouncing around ever since ... to the distress of Atlanta political types. Here's a link to a 14-year-old study from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation which indicates that revenues from the sale or lease of Hartsfield could amount to $166 million a year - and, as I said, this was 14 years ago. You can only imagine how much that figure would be today.
• As this presently stand it is illegal for the City of Atlanta to take one penny in revenue from the operation of Hartsfield. This is past asinine. By leasing of selling that airport Atlanta could be taking in hundreds of millions a year. Until the city is willing to take this step there should be no federal bailout.
• Privatize a few other things. Garbage collection and maintenance on city-owned vehicles, to name two. That would be a good start.
• Fire Some Folks. After all of the above has been accomplished .. then start sending out the pink slips. And don't give me that horse squeeze about how it would affect essential city services. How many times has some local TV station sent out undercover reporters to video city employees at work .. and how many times have we seen these people doing private errands, sleeping, and gobbling down Krispy Kremes while they were on the clock. Give me a break ... some of these people need to be collecting unemployment.
• Adjust pensions for city executives. Everybody else is taking it on the chin with their retirement funds ... why not the officials of any city coming to the federal taxpayers for a bailout?

There's your short list. You can forward this to your favorite elected official and tell them that you don't want Atlanta in your pocket until these things are done.

Barack Obama has announced that he has a grand plan to save our country. His solution ... this shouldn't surprise you ... is more government. He wants to save or create 2.5 million jobs by investing billions of your tax dollars into government works projects. These projects include building roads and bridges, developing alternative energy sources and making efficient cars. This investment also includes a "modernization" of our government schools.

Well ... that's our new president for you. Anything worth doing is worth doing through government. Government: Bringing All Things to All People.

Even Chuckie Schumer called this what it is, it is "a little like having a new New Deal, but you do it before a depression occurs, not after." And how much is this new New Deal going to cost? Well this is government we are talking about. So what you can assume is that it will be expensive, inefficient and the results more likely than not unsatisfactory.

Perhaps the best news to come out of all this was the prospect that Obama may delay his promises to increase taxes on the evil, putrid, hated, disgusting, rancid, rotton-to-the-core rich. The liberals and wealth envy crowd are furious. But two Obama aides over the weekend said that Obama may consider delaying a "roll back" on the Bush tax cuts that are set to expire in 2011. Remember, the phrase "roll back" is the catchy way to say "increase taxes." Keep in mind that Obama's current website says, "Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility." I just love that phrase "give back." Oh, and "fairness." Fairness is when someone else has a claim to what you have earned. Remember ... if a wealthy American wants to keep their money, that's greed. If someone wants to take it away from them by force, that's fairness.

Just a question though ... if Obama wants to create these public works projects, and implement universal healthcare, and spend more on our government schools ... where is he planning to get all of this money for new spending?

You'll get a kick out of this. Oklahoma is really taking to heart the idea of universal health insurance coverage. Oklahoma State Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has proposed a plan to make sure that all Oklahomans have medical coverage - make it mandatory. And if you fail to comply, the government will take away your driver's licenses, take away your state income tax deductions, and (hold your breath) take away college football season tickets.

Naturally, people are immediately upset because it "unfairly targets" the poor people who can't afford medical coverage. Don't worry, I'm sure that a tax on the evil rich to pay for the poor people to have medical coverage is part 2 of this story.

I've been telling you for months about a 2001 letter written by Congressional Democrats to the Mexican government. In this letter, about 11 Democrat politicians urged the Mexican government to use a secret ballot in all union elections. Now let's fast-forward to 2008. Barack Obama has been elected. The Democrats are in control of Congress. And the unions want to be rewarded for their efforts. What they want is for Congress to pass the card check bill. This bill would be crippling for American businesses because it would do-away with secret ballot union elections. The unions expect this bill to be passed within Obama's first 100 days in office. And the Democrats seem willing to comply. After all, they pandered to the union vote to get elected ... now they have to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Even if that means changing your tune on an issue like secret ballot elections.

Let's not here that when the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to replace John Dingell with California's anti-business icon Henry Waxman in the Chairman's seat .. the vote was by secret ballot.

The Wall Street Journal has now caught wind of this letter from the Democrats back in 2001. Good read. If they had been reading the Nuze they would have known about this a month ago.

Alright so this auto bailout bill is in a holding pattern. But just remember that it doesn't mean it is dead. So here are some facts that should keep you seething ...

The Big Three currently pay 85% of union benefits to UAW members ... who aren't even working. Yep. Remember how I told you about the Job Banks for union workers? If a union worker is employed at a plant that closes, the auto makers still pay 85% of their union benefits. Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, says that his company must reduce operating costs ... but his company must continue paying for union employee benefits for employees NOT to work. Does this sound like a smart business plan for you? As a business owner, this asinine agreement to pay for the benefits of people who aren't currently working should be the first to go.

I've talked about this idea of a "right" to a job where you live. It seems that the unions have already done their part to make that a reality. Let's say that you work at a plant in Detroit and it closes. Meanwhile, a new plant is opening in Missouri. You don't have to move to Missouri to keep your job. But guess what, you also won't be fired! You can opt to go on Job Banks where you can sit on your butt in Detroit, do crossword puzzles for eight hours a day, and collect 95% of pay for the rest of your life.

That business model is the one asking for your tax dollars. And you are telling me that these union contracts, these Job Banks, have nothing to do with the Big Three's current situation?

Meanwhile, the legislative director of the UAW says that the problems with the auto industry are because of a series of bad trade and healthcare policies, along with the current credit crisis.

At least someone at GM learned a lesson ... GM will be returning two of its leased corporate jets.

Short and sweet: Send these automakers into bankruptcy if for no other reason than to give them the means to bust the unions.

Name: paul engler
subject: neal boortz

Listened to your show the other day. You cleverly tried to imply that the recent downward trend in the stockmarket is caused by Obama not Bush. Soon you and your political hacks will try to blame the whole miseable economic saga on Obama. Oh my gosh--the day after your negative comments on Obama the stockmarket rose nearly 500 points. Neal your a miracle worker keep up the good work! Also please remember to get to Walmart this week before it becomes unionized and their prices go up. Your agenda, like other idealogical neo-cons, is becoming more increasingly irrelevant every day.

Next up to the taxpayer trough: Citigroup.

The wooing seems to be complete ... Hillary Clinton will be Obama's secretary of state. Here we go with the traveling pants suits!

Obama has chosen Timothy Geithner to be his Treasury secretary. The market initially responded well to this announcement. Obama will announce the rest of his economic team sometime during the show today.

George Will reminds us of a rare conservative victory this year ... the Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. Thank goodness for small favors

Mark Halperin says that the media coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign was "the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war."

A columnist for the New York Times wants President Bush to resign immediately so that her messiah can get to work on solving the world's problems. Someone tell this clown that if Bush resigns Dick Cheny takes over. Hey! Come to think of it ......

The Obamas have chosen a private school for their girls to attend in Washington. The same private school that Chelsea Clinton attended. As for the rest of you? Pound sand. Remember, Obama says that vouchers and school choice are frauds.

Barack Obama's limo is a gas guzzler ... but environmentalists seem willing to forgive him.

NBC fired its Weather Channel Environmental Unit ... during "Green Week.

The Bush administration is working towards tapping into our oil shale resources in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. If he can do it in two months .. fine. If not, count on the Democrats to call a halt to this.

A store in Maine thought it would be cool to bet on the date Barack Obama would be assassinated. Sick.

State police in Illinois must now call a supervisor to ask for permission to drive 20 miles over the speed limit.

A Florida man is sent to jail and facing felony charges after trying to save his pets from his burning home.

Folks, we already have a Barack Obama Elementary School in New York.

In true "government-knows-best" fashion, New York City officials have ordered 22 churches to stop providing beds to homeless people because they don't fit the government definition of a "shelter." Behind a shrub next to the expressway is OK though.

As states cut their budgets, government officials are also looking for ways to make a buck: selling items online.

And budget cuts for this government school teacher forced him to come up with creative ways to pay for printing materials for his tests ...

The stock market was down another 400 points or so yesterday. People are wondering where in the world this will end. Retirement funds are being devastated. People are losing jobs. The picture certainly isn't rosy right now, and nobody can really explain why. The media, on the other hand, is certain that there is one recent event that is having no effect whatsoever on this economic slide; and that would be the election of Barack Obama.

OK ... why don't you try to put on an investor hat for a moment here. Let's say you're considering getting back in the stock market. You know that some stocks out there are at historic lows, and they're bound to bounce back ... right? So why don't you just take some money out of your savings or out from under your mattress and plow it back into the market?

Let's see if we can find any reasons why you might hesitate.

We have a president-elect who ...

... has promised to raise capital gains taxes, perhaps even double them. So this guy is just waiting for you to jump into the stock market and make some money so he can seize a huge portion of it. Why jump now? Obama has been asked if he plans to go forward with his capital gains tax increase, but he's not saying. Just hold off on your investments for a while until he tips his hand. If he goes the tax increase route you might want to consider trying to move your money offshore to grow until he's out of the picture.

... has promised to sign the so-called "Card Check" bill. Now again, you're smarter than the average voter, and you realize that this unionization-through-intimidation idea is going to have an adverse affect on American business. As soon as the bill is signed union thugs (organizers) will start their petition drives at thousands of businesses across the nation. Large businesses and small businesses. America's largest employer, Wal-Mart, will be one of the first targets. You don't know how far this will spread, but you do know that every business that is unionized will be a poor investment for you. So you wait .. you wait to see what is going to happen with card check.

... has promised to raise income taxes on the largest jobs producing segment of our economy, small businesses. During the campaign you heard him say that he would not raise taxes on 95% of small businesses, but you know that most of the jobs rest with the remaining 5%, and that's where most of the new jobs would be created. The ignorant voters bought his 95% line, but you're not that stupid. You saw through his rhetoric. So, again, why jump into the market now? Wait until we see what Obama is going to do with these tax increases on America's jobs-producing machine.

... has promised more business regulation. Obama is no fan of free enterprise. He loves government. Obama believes America is great because of government. You really think you need to wait before you make your investment moves until you see just what regulatory punishment Obama has in mind for the free market.

So .. think about it. We've only scratched the surface here. We could also talk about expanding the family leave act and many other little federal anti-business goodies. Invest now? Why? Doesn't it make more sense to wait until you get a true measure of our new anti-capitalist president?

Check this out. Click here and take a look at this one ballot in Minnesota. Minnesota, in case you don't know, is where the Democrats are busy stealing a Senate seat. Just 150 or so votes separate the incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and ultra-leftist Democrat Al Franken. Al Franken is actually taking this one particular ballot to the courts saying that the voter was obviously voting against Norm Coleman. Again ...just look at the ballot to get a clear idea what is going on here.

Are we going to allow the Democrats to use tactics like this to get their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate? Well, that depends on the voters in Georgia. On December 2nd Georgia voters can prevent that 60-vote majority, no matter what Al Franken manages to pull off in Minnesota. The Minnesota Senate race will be determined by politicians ... the Georgia Senate runoff between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin will be decided by the voters ... and it's all going to rest on just who heads to the polls.

There is going to be much gnashing of teeth of the last roadblock - the possibility of a Republican filibuster - is removed from the path of Obama, Pelosi and Reid. There is absolutely nothing in Martin's past that indicates he would be anything other than Obama's dog washer and Reid's sock puppet in Washington.

Weeks ago I was saying that the political focus was going to be on Georgia after the general election. Finally I get something right. We need something to slow down the big-government goals of the Democrats. Georgia voters are that something.

You probably don't remember it, but earlier this year Pew Research did a poll in Europe questioning European attitudes toward the U.S. Poll results showed that 58% of Europeans wanted to see the United States weakened. Could that have been one of the reasons Europeans were so solidly behind the election of Barack Obama? Did they suspect that he was a key to a weaker America?

Now I call your attention to this story from Reuters. The National Intelligence Council has produced an analysis entitled "Global Trends 2025." The basics? The economic and political clout of the United States will decline over the next 20 years resulting in a more dangerous world with a plentitude of advanced weapons and scarcities in food and water.

The Europeans may well get what they wanted. How far into this process do you think we will get before they start screaming and begging for help from the U.S. as either Muslims or Russia embarks on a grand new adventure?

"If we give you this money, just how are you going to spend it?"
"Well, we're not actually sure."
"Go get in your private jet and get the hell out of here."

The bad news is that one the Execs may be back in Washington in just a few weeks. Congress says that auto execs have failed to show the American people that this bailout would be the last. But there will be another chance. They are being given time to re-group and come up with a business plan to prove that this bailout will work.

Question: Do you think they'll fly commercial when they come back to Washington for their second bite at the apple?

Here's the plan: break the UAW contracts. These unions are crippling your business and you know it. You know that you are adding thousands of dollars to the cost of your cars because of outlandish union contracts. If you really want to prove to the American people ... after all, it is our money you are asking for ... that you mean business, do what you need to do to emasculate the unions. Stop allowing them to dictate your business model. If you can't even manage to do that, then there is no reason for any American, much less Congress, to believe that you are serious about restructuring your businesses.

Congress plans to reconvene in December to tackle the issue again. There are a few things that could happen. Congressional Democrats could be relying on the American people to lose interest. By December, you will be focused on Christmas and stuffed from Thanksgiving. At that point, will you still be as adamant about this auto bailout as you are now? I sure as hell hope so. Because unless these auto execs return to Washington (on freaking commercials airlines) and say that unions will no longer be dictating their business models, then let them fail.

Remember a few days ago I gave you the link so that you could apply for a position in the Obama administration? You would have to fill out some 63 questions about some very personal issues. One of which the Obama camp chose to include was about gun ownership. Under the headline of "Miscellaneous," the question reads: "Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage."

A question like this did not exist for the Bush administration. But many people, including the NRA, are upset by this question. Apparently one Republican Senator has already considered legislation that would make it illegal for a president to use an applicant's gun ownership status to deny anyone of employment.

Yeah, that's not going to get far with 60 Democrats in the Senate.

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, has decided that he is going to be a bailout fairy. He is going to make sure that private businesses in his state get their own piece of the taxpayer pie. In this case, Rendell says that the state has secured a $35 million federal loan to bailout a regional department store. Boscov's is some sort of Northeast chain that has filed for bankruptcy. But rather than going belly up, it went to the government to help. And guess what? The government came through ... thanks to your tax dollars. The $35 million loan will be financed through a program that allows the states to guarantee loans for economic development by using federal community development block grants.

Just some more of your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen. Private businesses, you would be foolish not to line up at the government trough. Individual tax payers, your chance is coming.

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that airlines must offer a free extra seat to people who are disabled or obese. The policy called "one person, one fare" was upheld by the Supreme Court, despite the airlines' desire to charge more to people who take up more than one seat. What this means is that the government is telling private companies how to run their businesses. The government is making decisions as to how airlines should charge their customers.

Now I don't know if there is an actual advantage to posting emails to Nealz Nuze. Sure .. it's fun to take a peek into the thinking processes of some of my more ardent fans out there ... but it does encourage others to just gin up some hate mail to see if they can earn a place of honor in the news. But ... what the heck. It's Friday. So here we go:

Name: Nathaniel

Subject: open minded

City: Harrisonburg, VA

Your views are so narrow minded it's an embarrassment you are even on the air waves. Open up your mind and start thinking about the world with a global view. Did you see the rest of world celebrating the fact that we as a nation are willing to change our global view and become a respected nation again. Hello!!!!!!!!! You are the one that thinks you are almighty, not Obama!

Get off the radio.

There's some character in Tucson named Hill who is engaged in an email campaign right now. Unfortunately we've deleted all of his offerings so I can't share one with you. He's upset because I stated that I want some sort of a test to keep ignoranus voters away from the polls in presidential elections. Mr. Hill is writing my affiliates and my employer telling them I need to be removed from the air because of my "racist rants." That's right ... just suggesting that voters ought to have a clue before they cast a vote is racist. Mr. Hill has demanded that 104.1 "The Truth", my Tucson affiliate, remove me from the air immediately. He is also working on the NAACP and the FCC to get something done about me.

I've been at this for almost 40 years now. To you know how many leftist idiots have preceded Mr. Hill in their efforts to get me taken off the air? Who knows? Maybe this guy will have the magic bullet! Gotta love it!

Rep. John Dingell was defeated by Rep. Henry Waxman for control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Are you ready for the government to step up its efforts to fight this phony global warming?

How is Obama going to handle the fact that Iran is continuing to build its nuclear program?

I told you about the video, How Obama Got Elected, and many of you were upset because you say McCain voters wouldn't fare any better. Zogby says that he is not going to do an equivalent poll with McCain voters.

If Barack Obama makes a poor choice for one of his cabinet members ... it's not his fault, it is just history.

Antiwar activists are concerned that Barack Obama's cabinet is going to be too "hawkish." Are we talking about the same president-elect?

House Republican Leader John Boehner gets it ... If the secret ballot is good for lawmakers, why would those same Democrats deny it to employees taking part in union elections?

Barack Obama is the new face of the DC metro system.

A school board member in Maryland wants to make Barack Obama's Inauguration Day a holiday for government school children.

A new Cornell study says that global warming predictions are overestimated. Gee, ya think?

Things are rough for the state of New York right now. Budget cuts. New taxes. And a 9 $21,000 antique Turkish rug for the governors mansion.

We have gotten to the bottom of why our children are becoming obese. It's not the parents who feed the kids ... it is the commercials they see on television.

Don't forget to get your building code so the kids can build a tree house.

In Europe, legislatures are actually considering making it illegal to steal things ... in the virtual world.

Egypt is arresting teenage boys for flirting with girls.

This morning, Neal started up the national show with a few "great moments in parenting." In case you wanted to learn more about these stories, wanted to put in your $0.02 or missed it entirely, here are the links to the stories and you know what to do in the comments, if you are so inclined.

• MySpace suicide case
• Parents send kids out to collect $3,000 in volleyball scheme
• Mother convicted of ordering a hit on the mother of daughter's cheerleading rival

Have you heard the excuses? Something about CEO security, I believe. Right! Just give me a break here. These CEOs are just so conditioned to their perks that it never occurred to them to take a (yuck) commercial flight to go on their begging mission. Welcome to the real world guys.

Perhaps you haven't heard about this one. It's an older story ...but I would like an update, especially since our U.S. Marines are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the 2004 election the United Auto Workers were a bit upset about Bush's reelection. They took their angst out on our Marines. It seems that some Marine Corps reservists working at a base in Detroit were parking in the lot at the UAW Solidarity House. After the Bush reelection the UAW went into the parking lot looking for Marines driving foreign cars or cars with Bush bumper stickers. These Marines were told they were no longer welcome to park their cars on UAW property.

Now the UAW is pushing for a taxpayer-funded bailout of their employers. Marines, even Marines who drive foreign cars, are taxpayers. Has the UAW changed their tactics at Solidarity House?

Now we have a nice nasty little internal Democrat tinkling contest in the Congress. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan is currently the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. But that may no longer be the case. The Democrats want a more aggressive global warming agenda. They want to save the planet ... and John Dingell may put up too much of a fight. When I say "fight" I mean that he won't necessarily be Barack Obama's grocery bagger when it comes to global warming policy.

So who do the Democrats want as their guy? Henry Waxman of Beverley Hills. He's generally an anti-business kinda guy. He's the head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Waxman is the guy in change of government investigations on everything from oil company profits to steroid use in baseball.

Where the battle gets interesting is the fact that Dingell is from Michigan and has made it difficult for the government to impose stricter fuel standards on automakers. Meanwhile, Waxman is a fan of tough environmental regulations and an overhaul of the auto industry. Does this auto-union bailout have anything to do with this vote?

Either way, a committee secret ballot of 25-22 recommended that Waxman be the new chair of the energy committee. The entire House still has to vote on whether or not they want to accept that recommendation ... but I think the message is clear. Barack Obama has made promises on key issues: healthcare reform and climate change. We'll get to healthcare in a minute, but having Waxman as the chair of this committee would be one less minor bump to deal with ... it would be a sign from Congress that they are eager to work with Obama in passing climate change legislation.

How are your preparing for life under nationalized healthcare? It is coming quicker than you think, folks. I'm talking within the first 100 days of a Barack Obama administration ... you will get exactly what you voted for. Obama has tapped former Senator Tom Daschle to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Beyond that, Daschle will also serve as the White House "health czar." He will be the key in healthcare legislation.

The announcement couldn't come at a more perfect time. Last week, Senator Max Baucus introduced his plan for healthcare reform - similar to Obama's but making it illegal for you to be without health insurance. Somewhere in the Constitution Baucus has found a clause which states that the Imperial Federal Government can order citizens to buy things. If this is OK for health insurance, why not just solve this whole automobile mess right now by requiring every citizen to buy a Ford, Chevy or Chrysler?

On Monday we have Ted Kennedy coming back to Washington and vowing to make healthcare legislation his priority. On Tuesday Kennedy asked Hillary Clinton to be a key player in drafting healthcare legislation. Yeah .. that really worked out for us before, didn't it? And yesterday we have a meeting of the minds in Washington to begin drawing up official plans. Not to mention Daschle's selection.

Max Baucus says, "I think we have to move very quickly ... We have to seize the opportunity, build momentum, because it's difficult to anticipate what else is going to come up next year." I'll tell you what is coming next year, a country that is in no way ready to pay for the costs of a government healthcare system. Remember that Obama's healthcare plan is estimated to cost $75 billion in the first year alone.

There is one industry that has jumped on the bandwagon. The health insurance industry. They say they will support a requirement to accept all customers, despite any pre-existing medical conditions, if lawmakers mandate that everyone buy healthcare coverage. Everyone buys into the system. Prices go up because health insurance is forced to cover chronic medical conditions. Government sets price limits on the insurance industry because it would be unfair to charge more. The evil rich are denied any tax breaks for medical coverage, perhaps even taxed, in order to pay for the medical coverage of the many. Do you see how this is working out, folks?

Just remember this ... all of this ... all of this nationalized health care talk ... is about one thing. Gaining more control over you. Nothing more. When politicians control your health care they have you by the short hairs. Get the picture?

At least Barney Frank is being honest about this bailout. He has admitted, it is not about the auto industry, it is about the unions. And he doesn't think that $25 billion is enough to save them. In fact, he doesn't think that number is "fair" because companies like AIG have been given more of your tax dollars in the form of a bailout. And this is "biased" towards white collar workers.

Here's Barney Frank on NPR:

"Well, AIG, which I don't think anyone would think was as important to the American economy as the auto industry ... got $40 billion just now to make it up over $100 billion. To some extent, let's not have a white-collar/blue-collar bias in our public policy. You know, those who say, hey, go bankrupt so you can cut back on what the unions have won -- the unions have already made some concessions. But, you know, we've had enough anti-union activity, and enough increase in income inequality in this country. I don't want to set a precedent that bankruptcy now is a way in which you undo what gains unions have been able to hold on to."

Wow, he really hits on all the high points here. Wealth envy. Income inequality. Anti-union activity.

Then we have Senator Carl Levin. He says that it would be "unthinkable" for Congress to let a "dispute over the source of the funds" be the reason not to bailout the auto industry. A dispute over the source of funds? Those funds don't just magically appear, Mr. Senator. Those funds are the tax dollars of your constituents. That's the issue here .. not just an ancillary dispute.

And finally, we have GOP Rep. from Michigan Joe Knollenberg. He says that the money funding the auto bailout "isn't your money." Do you hear that? It's not your money. Someone needs to remind this guy, who thankfully lost his bid for reelection, that the government is not independently wealthy but funded by the taxpayers.

The Wall Street Journal says that Obama's real problem is "the crack-up of the world FDR built."

According to Dick Morris, the recent G-20 summit was nothing but a Socialist welcoming party for the United States, hosted by the EU.

Is DC really going to go broke trying to accommodate all of the people who want to be present for Obama's inauguration?

It's official. Ted Stevens has conceded his race in Alaska. The Democrats are busy stealing the race in Minnesota. It is all up to Georgia now, folks.

RINO Arlen Specter says that Marc Rich will be a big issue when it comes to the confirmation of Eric Holder.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says that he wants to work with the Obama administration to implement a four day work week for federal employees.

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of American politics: Chelsea Clinton.

You'll be sad to hear that the plan to open a gay high school in Chicago has been dropped.

The taxpayers will fund the rebuilding of these homes in California, despite the fact that there is a good chance these fires could happen again. Some people never learn.

A major department store in London has been banned from playing Christmas carols because they create "noise pollution."

Cell phone jammers are becoming popular in Canada. I assume that they are still illegal in the US.

Did you know that in Pennsylvania it used to be illegal to operate an adult video store on state-recognized holidays? Yeah, that was unconstitutional.

Atlanta folks, and anyone familiar with YouTube, will remember the Grape Stomping Lady:

Well, The Family Guy has dredged that back up. I'm sure that woman is thrilled. We certainly are though.

Now that the election is over, this report by John Ziegler is making some waves. Maybe because it exposes some of the Obamamania. Also because it shows how the lamestream media was in the tank for Barack Obama in this election. And also because it demonstrates the fruits of our government education system.

Now I really don't care what else you do today .. so long as you don't abuse any small animals .. but please watch this video. On Election Day some Obama voters were chosen by the producers of an upcoming documentary "How Obama Got Elected." These voters represented a cross-section: young and old, black and white, male and female. They were chosen based on their verbal abilities and willingness to express their feelings to a large audience. Listen to these people. I promise you, you will be entertained.

Certainly it was hard to judge the true nature of Obama supporters based on the random ones selected for this video ... So the Zogby people were commissioned to conduct a telephone poll to ask a greater number of Obama supporters the very same questions asked of the people in the video. Oh and one other thing to keep in mind. The people were given multiple choice answers to these questions. Even with multiple choices, here were some of the results.

• 94% of Obama voters correctly identified Sarah Palin as the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter.
• 86% of Obama voters identified Palin as the candidate who spent $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe.
• 86.9 % of Obama voters though that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though the quote actually came from Saturday Night Live.

Now for some news about the candidate they were supporting ....

• 57.4% of Obama voters could not correctly say which party controls congress.
• 82.6% of Obama voters could not correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot
• 88.4% of Obama voters could not correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket
• 56.1% of Obama voters didn't know that Obama started his political career at the home of Bill Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist.

Now you have a measure, for good or bad, of some of the voters who went to the polls on Election Day awash in Obamamania. Do some of you now think that there are people voting who shouldn't be allowed to vote? Remember, there is no constitutional right to vote in a presidential election. Shouldn't we be weeding some of these people off the voting rolls?

Also, here's an interview with John Ziegler by Nate Silver. Oh my is it full of bad words! 

A listener Rose from Orlando says that she logged on to AOL yesterday and was greeted by an ad from GM asking people to support the auto bailout. Yep. GM has launched a campaign ad saying that our national security is at risk if we don't bail them out. Rose brings up a good point: They could be using their time and money bailing themselves out. Apparently this ad links you to a website gmfactsandfiction.com where you can see about a 3 minute video on why the Big 3 need to be bailed out. Also note that the video was put on YouTube by GM Blogs, which happens to be General Motors' home for corporate blogs.

We'll keep a sharp lookout today as the Senate votes on the automaker's bailout to see who is next to the taxpayer trough. My guess? Airlines.

This whole financial crisis started with the mortgage meltdown. And for that you can thank the policies of the Clinton era, pushing for more Americans to have the American Dream. Now we are paying the price for that dream ... the total outstanding balance for all US mortgages that have been incorporated into mortgage-backed securities is $6.6 trillion. Just a little bigger than $700 billion, don't ya think?

These outstanding balances account for 59% of all money that Americans owe on home mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac processed $4.6 trillion of the $6.6 trillion. So even if the entire bailout package - all $700 billion of it - had been used to buy back mortgage assets, we would still have a long ways to go. That's $5.9 trillion ways to go.

Did you catch all of the stories surfacing about pirates seizing ships off the coast of Africa? What do you think Obama is going to do about this? Maybe he should go to those seized ships and just talk to these Muslim pirates.

Eric Holder will be Barack Obama's attorney general ... pending approval from the Senate. Why do you care? Well the guy was involved in President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. This is change you can believe in.

So Joe Lieberman will get to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

How much money have we, the taxpayers, already spent on government bailouts?

Your tax dollars are also helping to fund a $23 million mural for the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The recount for the Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken has been approved and the theft will begin today.

Ted Kennedy has tapped Hillary Clinton to help him pass healthcare reform legislation ... assuming she stays in the Senate.

Obama is playing it up for the global warming crowd by promising to stick to his plans to reduce emissions sharply by 2020. Easier said than done.

Remember how the material on Obama's transition website - change.gov - mysteriously disappeared last week? Well some of it is back.

Will conservative bloggers play a role in the reshaping of the Republican Party?

Newsweek magazine in Russia has been warned by the government never to insult Islam ever again, after publishing two stories that could be deemed offensive.

How are "white communities" dealing with a president-elect Barack Obama?

A man who has filed more than 400 lawsuits under the Americans With Disabilities Act will remain unable to waste any more of your time or tax dollars.

So there have been some changes around here. Keep in mind this is NOT the site redesign. We are going to get a site redesign in 2009. These are a few upgrades we had to make in order to accept industry standard ad sizes. But we know you don't care about that. Here are some other things that you might care about:

Commenting. Yes, you can have your say. All comments are moderated. So it may take a while to show up. Because the moderator, yeah, that's just me at this point, does not work 24 hours a day. A few guidelines to get your comments through:

1. Keep it clean. The site is blocked for enough reasons, let's not add profanity to the mix.
2. Keep it on topic. For example, comments about the web site changes will not be approved for a post about unions.
3. Also, we reserve the right to not let a comment through at any time for any reason. This site is not a democracy.

RSS. Hey, look, now we have an RSS feed that works even when I'm too busy to hand code the thing. Gee, and I so enjoyed doing that the last 5 years.

Google-powered search. Seriously, now the site search actually works. Sure, there's a box of Google's ads at the top of the results, but they're clearly marked. Check it out, here are the results when searching for eminent domain abuse.

The format. Okay, yes, the center well did shrink a little. For some of you, a lot. I think some people are seeing a more squished format than others. I've asked if we can change it so the center content well stretches with your browser width. In the meantime, if it is excessively squished for you, leaving your browser and version and your operating system and version in the comments is much more helpful than "this sux!"

Font size. On many browsers, if you want the font on the screen to be larger, just hold down the Ctrl key (Command or cloverleaf on an Apple) and hit the "+". Each time you hit "+", the font grows a little. Hit Ctrl "-" to shrink it back. If your web browser doesn't do this, you may want to upgrade it if you can.

Archives. Yes, the archives are different. On the archives page, you'll find a bunch of different ways of looking at Nuze posts. If you want a view more like what we used to have for past days, look at the monthly archives. Click on November 2008 and you'll get all the November posts back to back. An easier way of catching up than clicking on each individual post. I know some of you hated that. See, you just didn't click around enough on the archive page!

Okay, I'm tired of typing. Hope some of this information helps you with the changes to the site.

Today, we had Jeffrey Toobin on the show, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. The topic discussed was, oddly enough, the Supreme Court, including Kelo vs. New London.

This is for all the managers and business owners out there. Anyone in a position to have employees under them. We're doing something fun on the air today. We want to hear your stories of dumb things employees have done either on the job or during an interview. You can't all get on the air to tell your stories, so tell 'em in the comments!

Just to start you off, Neal told the story of someone he knew that would have a ruler, a pen and a piece of paper at every interview. He'd ask the applicant to draw a 6" line. You can't even imagine how many applicants that actually weeded out.

Things seem to be in a headlock in Washington right now ... at least over this auto bailout bill. But this auto bailout ... more appropriately called a union bailout ... won't be the Democrats only chance to pander to the unions.

The labor movement has already declared their intentions: they want the Employee Free Choice Act (unionization by intimidation) to be passed in Obama's first 100 days in office. Some even want it attached to the next economic stimulus plan. I don't think that's going to happen ... but you never know.

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on why the labor unions shouldn't be so quick to try and pass their legislation. For those of you who aren't familiar with this Employee Free Choice Act, the WSJ sums it up:

The Employee Free Choice Act has three main components: certification of a union as the bargaining representative if a majority of employees sign authorization cards; mandatory arbitration on the terms of a contract if the parties cannot reach agreement; and stronger penalties for unfair labor practices during a union organizing campaign or while the parties are negotiating a first contract.

Over the weekend, the Denver Post came out against the union card check law. It says that Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats would essentially be silly to focus on this "unnecessary" card check bill when there are clearly more important issues to tackle at the moment. That hasn't stopped Congressional Democrats from working on a bailout for the UAW ... so in this case, I'd say the Denver Post got it half right. The union card check law would be a job killing machine. That's because employers aren't going to want to put up with this, so they'll pick up and move elsewhere or head to staffing agencies to get workers. But I think that Democrats see this as a very "necessary" bill for the first 100 days, along with healthcare reform.

Speaking of healthcare reform ...

Teddy Kennedy returned to Capitol Hill yesterday. Glad he is able to do so. But it is no secret that he has one big fish to fry: socialized medicine. Teddy is already meeting with Senator Max Baucus, who just last week outlined his plan for universal health insurance. His plan is pretty similar to the one Barack Obama campaigned with, only Baucus' plan would mandate that every American have health insurance. Don't you just love the word "mandate?" That means the government ... the taxpayers ... are going to be stepping up in a big way to fund the dreams and schemes of Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy, and Barack Obama. How much are we talking? Try $75 billion in the first year alone. Within ten years, the tax payers will have forked over more than $1 trillion to follow through with a government mandate that all Americans be insured.

Question: Just where in our Constitution does the Imperial Federal Government get the right to mandate that any American buy anything? Let alone health insurance. But then what good is the Constitution when politicians want to flex their muscles. Answer: Less and less.

Today in Washington, Senators will be sitting down and figuring out their game plan for how to get this legislation passed. What they are relying on here, folks, is your government education. What is happening today in Washington is a handful of politicians are figuring out how they are going to divvy up the power between them ... they are planning a war against a dying cause: self reliance.

Just yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided that it does not plan to make the taxpayers pay for weight loss surgery for diabetic patients who are not dangerously overweight. Did you know they were even considering this? What would stop these back-room Senators from determining that weight loss surgeries should be included in their efforts to provide "adequate" healthcare? You may think it's a stretch, folks, but it is only a matter of time once the government gets more of its hands on the healthcare industry in this country.

Wait until plastic surgery gets on the list.

Am I beating a dead donkey here? When it comes to universal healthcare, where better to look for a shining example than Great Britain. The National Health Service of Great Britain costs the taxpayers about $200 billion per year. And by the way, that is more than double what it cost ten years ago ... but that is beside the point. The NHS is getting to the point where it must choose between buying expensive drugs for terminally ill patients or providing more care to more people.

Is that really a choice that you want anyone to make about your healthcare? Even worse, why should the government be the one making that choice for you? Well I can answer that ... because you've virtually begged for it. Americans now think that their health care is someone else's responsibility: either their employer or the government. The very idea that we should be responsible for anything more than a Q-tip or a bottle of aspirin brings howls of outrage. We're asking for it ... begging for it ... and we're not going to be pleased with it at all. Politicians will live it though. Ohhhhh .... Just think of the power! How powerful you must feel when you tell an elderly American that they can't have a specific drug or medical procedure because someone younger needs it more.

In Great Britain, 800 out of every 3,000 cancer patients lose their chance at getting life-saving drugs because it would cost too much for the NHS budget. And that number is only going to get bigger and bigger. In fact, the UK is now considering making a permanent ruling that certain medications that are "too expensive" should be excluded from government-funded treatment. So even if there are better treatments out there, you can't have them because the government doesn't want to pay for it.

And you people in American actually want this. You have the ability to stop it, but you won't because you've been taught all your life that government is the answer. That government can go it better. That government is there to solve your problems. You are setting up your children for a rude awakening.

Looks like the Talkmaster finally got off his duff and wrote another column yesterday. That ought to hold off the dogs for a while.

George Will says that the best way to save Detroit is to let it go bankrupt. Here here!

The big news of the week: The Obama girls will have to wait until after they move into the White House to get a dog.

Bush is going to leave half of the $700 billion bailout for Obama to decide what to do with it. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders wants to make sure Bush sticks with that plan.

John McCain and Barack Obama sat down to talk yesterday. They say that they are going to work together in the coming years. Work together for what? Did anyone bother to ask that question?

Here's the latest on our Georgia Senate run off. You knew this one was coming - Jim Martin admits that he will be Barack Obama's dog washer. Add those duties to being Harry Reid's sock puppet and Martin will be a very busy man indeed .... Unless, that is, you actually show up at the polls.

Rupert Murdoch says that the media has dug itself into a hole because it has failed to maintain the readers' trust.

Mayors across the country are looking for Barack Obama to implement FDR-style public work projects to help their cities get back on their feet.

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware says that there should be significant consequences for Joe Lieberman, who supported John McCain for president.

This statistic should astound you (then again ... maybe not): Since 2000, government spending has increased by more than55%.

A sign of the times from the San Francisco Chronicle: "Are you an idiot to keep paying your mortgage?"

There is an Irish film out there challenging the current global warming hysteria.

Apparently it is "Green Week" on the Today Show so you can see first-hand the affects of climate change. I'm sure this is must-see television.

A church in Kansas refuses to remove a sign saying "America we have a Muslim president. This is sin against the Lord." Sigh.

Here's the story we've been discussing on the air this morning about an Lorenzo Jimenez, an illegal immigrant with his house in his daughter's name. When a deal to sell the house failed, the buyer outed him as an illegal alien to his employer, the police, the FBI, and more. What are your thoughts on this case? Hey, you can actually leave them in the comments! If you didn't hear me this morning, I actually have compassion for Jimenez. Shocking, I know!

Here's a video from our local TV station covering the story.

We expected 1000. We had room for 1500. We filled the place .. and more. The FairTax rally yesterday in Gwinnett County was, by any measure, a great success. The crowd heard from Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss (Yes, Jim Martin was invited), Congressman John Linder, and I had the honor of introducing former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to the crowd.

Now is EXACTLY the wrong time for you to be tired of hearing about the FairTax. Bear with me and read just a few bullet points here. Then you can read the comments and hear from all of the naysayers who will tell you that it just can't be done. Bear in mind as you read those comments that during the entirety of the Revolutionary War the majority of the Colonists were telling that ragtag army of farmers and merchants with borrowed rifles and worn out shoes that it couldn't be done. They didn't listen. I'm not listening to them now. OK ... bullet points.

The crowd just LOVED Mike Huckabee. I suspect many of them were thinking that things might have been a bit different if he had been the nominee. Now he has a top-rated TV show on Fox and a twice-daily commentary on ABC radio .. really positioning himself for 2012.

• Do you want to talk about a bailout plan? Fine. There is about $13 trillion dollars in U.S. wealth working overseas to escape our punishing tax system. Pass the FairTax and that $13 trillion starts flowing back into our economy. Care to consider the consequences?
• Middle class tax cut? Hey ... what if much of the middle class and all of the poor had their federal tax burdens eliminated entirely? And what if every single American household could purchase their basic necessities every single month with no federal tax consequences at all?
• If Obama does what he says he is going to do, and that would be raise taxes, then we're going to see more American jobs going overseas and small businesses and corporations outsource jobs and run from our second-highest-in-the-industrialized-world corporate taxes.
• Obama won this election by delivering his "tax cut for 95% of the American people lie" loudly and often. If we had the FairTax politicians would not be able to lie to the American people on tax issues. Now you see one of the reasons politicians will have to be drug kicking and screaming to the FairTax.
• I'm told that the FairTax people approached another (and much more successful) talk show host about getting on board with the FairTax. The response from that host's producers? "What makes you think we want to help Boortz sell more books?"
• Foreign political leaders don't like the FairTax. I had some journalists in Ireland tell me personally that they were scared to death of the proposal. Why? Because they fear that businesses would flee Ireland to relocate in the United States.

Now .. here's an interesting twist. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine was there yesterday. Oxendine has started a movement to get various states to call for a Constitutional Convention to eliminate the 16th Amendment and bring us the FairTax. Now THAT is an interesting idea. I can tell you what would happen here. Once the congress realizes that there is a good deal of steam behind the idea of a FairTax Constitutional Convention they would trip over themselves to enact the FairTax and begin the repeal process on the 16th Amendment on their own. Why? They don't know what else the people might chose to do at such a convention. Term limits anyone?

Now, if you are one of the few out there who are really not up to speed on the FairTax, here are two books for you to read. The FairTax Book, and FairTax, the Truth. Answering the critics. Yup .. the money still goes to charity.

... and 70% of the American people do not.

Democrats are insisting on bringing an auto bailout to the table, even though the Bush administration says that the $700 billion bailout was not intended for this purpose ... and even though it is going to be a very tough fight for Harry Reid in the Senate. But fight they will and this week on Capitol Hill we will hear from auto executives and the United Auto Workers.

Nancy Pelosi came up with a plan that she believes will be enticing enough to get enough Republican support. This plan includes adding certain strings to the auto bailout: new fuel-efficiency standards, development of new technology "to compete in the domestic and global market" and restructuring company finances. The Democrats also want to include limiting executive pay. In other words ... the Democrats feel that they, rather than the consumers, are the ones who know just what kind of cars the manufacturers build. All this is going to do is force the automakers to build cars that the American people have already shown that they just do not want to buy.

The Democrats also want to limit executive pay ... but what about the over-inflated pay of the workers at these auto companies, thanks to union contracts. I've told you this statistic before, but $1,600 of every GM car you buy goes toward the healthcare costs of union workers. For companies like Toyota that aren't unionized - that cost is only $200 per car. GM also spends another $1,000 per vehicle on holiday pay, work rules, plant-shutdown-pay and line-relief to UAW workers. Those are costs that auto makers such as Toyota don't have to worry about. The average Ford, GM or Chrysler union worker makes about $71.00 or more per hour. For Toyota, Nissan and the rest ... about $48.00 per year. Do you detect a small problem here?

If the Democrats are truly concerned about "restructuring company finances" they should start with union contracts. What is clear from this situation is that these companies can no longer handle the burden of unionization ... so why should the Democrats allow this practice to continue if they succeed with their bailout? It will be the taxpayers funding the system that broke these auto companies to begin with.

Of course, this is not how United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger see things. He said over the weekend that union contracts are not the problem. He says the problem is out of his control because these auto makers are suffering from the housing slump, credit crisis, etc. He says, "The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract ... We're here not because of what the auto industry has done ... We're here because of what has happened to the economy."

Nonsense. The bailout would only delay the inevitable.. and unless something is done right now about the union stranglehold on the auto industry the inevitable is bankruptcy. Let them go bankrupt. That doesn't mean they go out of business ... it means that union contracts can be voided unilaterally by the auto manufacturers and they can then get about restructuring their businesses based on consumer wants rather than political mandates.

By the way ... have you heard of the auto worker's "Job Banks Program?" Well, click here, read this, and then tell me how much you support a bailout.

Have you noticed these articles lately? I've seen more and more popping up around the Internet ... declaring talk radio to be, essentially, dead. My advice to these naysayers is don't count your chickens. Remember when much of talk radio (excluding the Talkmaster) once declared liberalism to be dead? Yeah, that was stupid. And look where that got us.

But this is an example of what I am talking about. Here's an article from the Boston Globe declaring "The rising irrelevance of talk radio." It says that one of the most significant outcomes of the 2008 election is to declare that talk radio had no major impact on the election. And this is apparently because people grew brains "that are available for persuasion."

The reasons they site include the rise of opinion television programs, the fact that talk radio "no longer pretends to be a 'town meeting on the air,'" and because Americans no longer expect talk radio hosts to be reasonable or rational.

Gawd, wouldn't it be boring to turn on your radio every day and be subjected to my rational arguments? Guess this is just the warm up article. The next one I expect is why this is justification for the Fairness Doctrine. But wait a minute, if talk radio is so irrelevant, why would liberals even care we say?

If you have been listening to me for a while, or have been a regular reader of Nealz Nuze, you know how I feel about the Pledge of Allegiance. Particularly the idea of anyone expecting government school children to pledge allegiance to their country.

So apparently there is a little brouhaha in Vermont over how and where children should say the Pledge of Allegiance. This departs from the typical - whether or not they would be allowed to say it or forced to say it. Here's the brief scenario: A parent by the name of Ted Tedesco wanted his child's school to return to the daily practice of saying the pledge. So school officials say OK, but they decide not to have the children say the pledge in the classroom. Instead, they assign a student to go around the school and gather anyone who wants to say the pledge ... then they all walk to the gym and a student leads the pledge. Apparently about half of the students participate. This wasn't good enough for Ted Tedesco. He says that this solution is "disruptive to routine and inappropriate." He says, "Saying the Pledge in the classroom is legal, convenient and traditional ... Asking kindergarten through sixth graders who want to say the Pledge to leave their classrooms to do so is neither convenient nor traditional."

So the school changed its routine, again. This time all of the students came out into the hallway at 8am and said the pledge. Then the filed back into their classrooms. People aren't happy with this solution either. They want to know why the children can't just say it in the classrooms.

Look, folks. If we put this much passion and interest into what students were actually learning in the classroom, maybe our education system wouldn't be producing a nation of burger flippers.

How does this sound ... Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Now this certainly has to be the most amazing story of the day. I mean, who in their right mind would expect something like this to happen? Like what, you ask? Like someone being stabbed at an Urban Music Awards show.

Obama has been warned to prepare for an early assault from terrorists during this transition period.

NASA calls October the hottest October on record ... then admits that it goofed. Can you believe people out there still believe this global warming nonsense?

Iraq's cabinet has approved a pact to allow US troops to stay in Iraq until December 31, 20011 2011.

Mayors around the country are asking for their piece of the bailout pie ... including our own mayor here in Atlanta, Shirley Franklin.

Newt Gingrich says that Sarah Palin will not be the future leader of the Republican Party.

OPEC will probably be lowering its supply soon as the price of oil continues to drop. Amazing how that supply and demand thing works. Someone ought to tell politicians about it.

I told you about this little last week ... Nasa's Goddard Institute proclaimed this October to be the warmest on record, only to discover that they used the data from September.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered for California to begin preparations for rising sea levels due to global warming. Too many steroids when he was younger?

Here's what the government schools in Dallas have been up to ... using fake social security numbers to hire teachers who are illegal aliens.

Meanwhile in Houston, thousands of illegal aliens who are convicted of violent crimes are not deported after they leave jail.

Two police officers say something derogatory about Barack Obama on a social networking site ... now they are under an internal police investigation.

Should there be a political litmus test for reporters? Deborah Howell of the Washington Post seems to think so.

A private art school in New York was told by city officials to remove a banner displaying a picture of Josef Stalin ... now the New York Civil Liberties Union wants answers. Who's side do you think I'm on here?

A highway superintendent in New York turned down his $25,000 raise because he didn't feel right getting a raise in these economic times.

Environmental groups are going to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because it is not designating enough land for the endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rat.

After the incident at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics where the little girl turned out to be lip-synching, China has decided to make miming illegal.

Is the sale of handgun really on the rise?

Gotta love these DRT stories. This one from Philly where a man tried to rob a barber.

We're outraged that people would compare a political figure to Jesus! Wait, what if the political figure was this person?

Someone has put together a site where people can voice their priorities for the new administration. Hey look, the FairTax is #19! I bet we could make it higher...

Here's a video union supporters are using to try and take away secret ballots. I don't see where they tell people that part in the video.

At 11:30am ET, Dick Morris will be on the show. Find out his thoughts on the future of the nation.

Barack Obama wants Congress to approve $50 billion for the auto industry. He also wants to appoint a czar or board to "oversee the companies." This would be the person or committee in charge of restructuring the auto industry.

I can't make this any more clear: it is not the government's job to restructure the auto industry. The auto industry got itself into this mess, and it doesn't need government or the tax payers to get it out of this mess. And besides, what makes the auto makers believe that government could do a better job of restructuring their industry? Politicians aren't in the industry ... let the companies that once enjoyed such great success build on the ingenuity that made them great. The only guarantee you will have from government is mediocrity.

With Obama and Democrats it's all about government. What is he going to do, set up a Department of Automobiles? Who will he name to be the Secretary of Cars? Will there be an Undersecretary of Trucks? What's next? How about a homebuilding czar? Is it too late to appoint a steel czar? Come on my friends, get in the game here! Every industry is going to have its own czar in Washington to oversee operations! My God! Could this guy possibly love government any more?

Do you remember the words of one of Obama's transition czars? Obama will be ready to "take power and rule from day one." Rule? I guess we're beginning to see what this person meant.

If you'll notice, the Democrats are suddenly so focused and so worried about this auto industry bailout. That can be explained by two words: unions and votes. If they are the heroes of the auto industry, they can guarantee a win in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois for years to come. The line will be "we saved your job at a time when the Republicans wanted to let your employers fail."

There is no doubt that this $700 billion bailout is serious money. And by the time all is said and done, and all the pigs have fed from the trough, this is going to cost the taxpayers at least a trillion dollars. In fact, Forbes magazine estimates that the full impact of the financial crisis is going to cost the taxpayers upwards of $5 trillion.

For right now let's stick with an original estimate of $0.84 trillion. Now take that figure and multiply it by 50 and you get over $40 trillion. Now THAT'S a lot of money. So who cares, right? You should care. Because that is how much it is going to cost to pay for government benefits for Medicare and Social Security.

In order to pay for these government entitlement programs, the Heritage Foundation estimates that it will require three things:

• Doubling all tax rates.
• Eliminating all other federal programs, including defense and education.
• Running massive budget deficits that eventually would capsize the economy.

That's unless the Congress decides to do anything about massive government growth and entitlement spending. But don't count on it with this new Congress. You can bet that there will be a lot of changes, but entitlement spending isn't going anywhere.

There were rumors that an airline based Canada, WestJet, was considering a $10 fee for people who wanted to be guaranteed a seat in a section without infants. Question ... why just infants? There are a lot of parents who can't control their 4, 5, 8-year-old kids! And how about the fleshy fliers? You know, the big brutes with arms the size of your thighs covered with tattoos and wearing sleeveless shirts! But you will be sad to hear that the airline says the rumor is false. They say the notion is so ridiculous that they wouldn't even considering asking their guests if they would want something like this.

Let me send a little message to WestJet - go for it. This could send your business over the edge. Think about all the publicity. More importantly, think about all the people that would want that option!

Updated info! Mark your calendar and come to a FairTax Rally on Sunday, November 16! John Linder, Mike Huckabee, Saxby Chambliss and ... ME ... will be there. It'll be 2:30-4:30pm at the Gwinnett Center. Hey ... I was heading to Naples on Sunday, but plans change, right? Anything to promote the FairTax.

The Swedish government must have a lot of time on its hands. I mean A LOT. First let's set the scene. An 8-year-old boy shows up to his government school with invitations for his birthday party. He starts passing them out to friends in his class. Everyone in the class is invited, except for two students. You know where this is going ... don't you? The government school teacher notices that the boy did not invite all of the students in the class to his birthday party, so the teacher forces the students to hand over their invitations. "That's not fair! You have to invite every student in the class or someone could get his feelings hurt!"

The incident is then reported to the Swedish parliament. The father of the boy says that the teacher should not have confiscated the invitations. The school says that it has an "unwritten policy that either all children, or all the boys, or all the girls in a class, had to be invited to parties when invitations were handed out at school." Well isn't that convenient?

Finally, the Swedish parliament ruled that the school was wrong to take the invitations but it will not be sanctioned for its actions.

... Coming to the United States government education system soon. In fact, I'll be you situations like this already happen in the United States in efforts to wussify our youth. The difference in the United States is that cases like this wouldn't be sent to the federal government to handle. Although that could change, too. Remember that the idea of a federalized education is a historically recent phenomenon. The days of states' rights and local control are over.

Here's part of an email that has been sent to MediaMyrmidons by the Democrat Party's MediaMatters. It would seem that now with complete Democrat control of the government apparatus in Washington the liberals want to step up their attacks on freedom of expression .. especially expression of ideas with which they do not agree. When and if the Democrats get the idiotically-named "Fairness Doctrine" implemented again it is clear that MediaMatters wants to be THE clearing house for challenges and demands for equal time on the nation's talk radio stations. This message to their followers is part of that process:

I'm tellin' ya ... I would have been very disappointed if they hadn't included me in their examples. Glad to know that all my hard work isn't going for naught. Now you folks sign up out there! There's no sense standing for freedom of expression when Erin Hofteig and MediaMatters is standing ready to help you strike it down! The people they're signing up here will be the shock troops when Pelosi gets her Fairness Doctrine. MediaMatters will send them their ACTION ALERT! emails and they'll be instructed as to just how to contact their local Limbaugh, Hannity or Boortz affiliate to make a demand for equal time.

They don't have the skill to play with the big boys, so they want to close the playground.

Chuck Schumer says that the Republicans are deliberating meddling in the Minnesota Senate race.

After the knee replacement I have to get felt up by some TSA guy every single time I fly commercial. So ... I'm all for this. Which line do I get in?

Al Gore says that he does not want to be Barack Obama's "Climate Czar."

I told you about this yesterday, but the Democrats are planning on investigating George Bush and his administration once he leaves the White House. Didn't they do this to the Romanovs?

George Soros wants Barack Obama to regulate hedge funds and to tax hedge fund managers at higher rates.

Obama will officially resign from his Senate seat over the weekend, paving the wave for the likes of Jesse Jackson Jr.

The GOP is going to file federal lawsuits to repeal McCain-Feingold campaign finance regulations.

Want to work in the Obama administration? All of you folks who claim you have that phony ADD, there is no way in hell you could sit still long enough to fill out this application.

Sarah Palin addressed fellow GOP governors yesterday in Florida and she is not too happy about the growing list of industries lining up at the government teat for a bailout.

Vladimir Putin discusses Georgia onions with Nicolas Sarkozy.

When a bus driver hits three pedestrians, what would be your first thought? Fire the SOB. Not according to the union that thinks it is "unfair" to fire someone for killing pedestrians.

A government school student did a little experiment. She wore an Obama t-shirt to school one day and a McCain t-shirt another day ... you can imagine the reaction from fellow students AND teachers.

A Marine put pumper stickers on his car with sayings like "Islam=Terrorism" and "We Died, They Rejoiced." His car is then He is then banned from all federal installations. So he drives his car to Arlington National Cemetery to visit his son's grave and guess what happens

The Postal Service isn't doing too well ... what did you expect? It's a government operation.

It seems we have less idiots wandering around these days ... the number of adult smokers has dropped below 20%.

A US company is being accused of gender discrimination in Sweden because of an advertisement that says wives will get beauty treatments if their husbands buy power tools.

Despite reaction from the market (the Dow dropped 410 points yesterday), some Wall Street analysts think that this is actually the right move ... first you make sure the banks can survive, then you give them loans.

Along with this change in plans came an announcement of a new goal for the bailout program to support financial markets that supply consumer credit for credit card debt, auto loans and student loans.

So what is this REALLY costing us? That $700 billion seems like a lot, but a research firm has calculated the running total of the government's response to the credit crisis ... and it says that the United States government (aka. the taxpayers) has put itself on the hook for $5 trillion in order to save our financial system. And that figure is just $5 trillion, so far ...

Meanwhile, every lobbyist is chomping at a piece of the bailout pie. Here's a prime example: the National Marine Manufacturers Association is asking whether or not boat financing companies are eligible for a bailout. They want to make sure that dealers have access to credit so that they can stock their showrooms with boats.

... now here come the hedge fund managers. Five of the nation's top hedge fund managers will appear before a Congressional firing squad today to determine if they had a hand in the current financial crisis. Financial columnist Jesse Eisinger says that this is the end of the evil rich, secretive hedge fund era. The government is on its way to regulating hedge funds and the IRS will be taxing the hedge fund manager fees "just like they would Joe the Plumber's salary."

What are we really seeing here? Could it really just be an all-out attack on capitalism? But you wouldn't expect that from Democrats led by a man with Marxist tendencies, would you?

Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States. He is an AMERICAN president, not an AFRICAN-AMERICAN president. There's no disrespect intended here ... but it's time to pay some attention to the words of a former president on the issue of hyphenization:

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else." Teddy Roosevelt

Jesse Jackson's experiment in nomenclature (yes, he started this mess) needs to end.

Next year, the Congress will absolutely address the issue of universal healthcare. And it seems they are already getting the process underway. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, has unveiled his own healthcare plan. It happens to be very similar to Barack Obama's plan that he touted on the campaign trail. Except there is one large difference ... Baucus' plan would require that all Americans have health insurance. In other words, it would be illegal for you to be without health insurance.

The proposal would create a new insurance exchange for those 47 million uninsured Americans - many of which are illegal -- some of which can afford to pay for medical expenses out of pocket, and some of which are too lazy or cocky to buy their own health insurance. But don't worry, there will be government subsidies available to people who can't afford it. Employers will be required to provide health insurance to employees, meaning healthcare would no longer a benefit but a government mandate. If the company did not provide health insurance, it would be required to pay into a fund to cover the uninsured.

God forbid we should ever promote the idea that individuals are responsible for their own health care. Oh .. wait. That's right! We're at war against the concept of individuality here. Almost forgot.

An analysis of Barack Obama's healthcare plan was also released yesterday. A consulting firm estimates that his plan, which is similar to Baucus' proposal, would cost the tax payers $75 billion in the first year. By 2018, we will have spent over $1 trillion to fund this government insurance scheme. The analysis also found that Obama's plan may worsen some problems like shortages of primary care doctors. The report said, "Unless costs are cut, growing health care costs will increase the costs of Obama's plan dramatically over time and reduce the effectiveness of mandates. This could make the federal costs unsustainably high."

Yesterday we talked at length about the auto industry and how it is completely drowning because of unions. Here's a small scale union story for you ...

Detroit is trying to clean up its image. In efforts to do so, the city council wants to give a $200,000 contract to a non-profit organization dedicated to the reforestation of the city. It's being called The Greening of Detroit. The group made up of volunteers would plant 2,000 saplings in neighborhoods that have been plagued by some invasive species.

Enter the local union: AFSCME Local 542. This union has now stalled the City Council from authorizing this agreement for The Greening of Detroit. Why? Because the local union sees this as competition for the city's 50 forestry workers and they believe that the city is outsourcing THEIR jobs by allowing this non-profit organization to plant trees. Instead, this union would rather the government spend the $200,000 on trees and then pay the union workers to do the labor on top of that ... rather than allowing these volunteers to plant the trees for free.

John McCain should be in town today campaign for Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. Things are looking bad for Norm Coleman in Minnesota .. the Democrats are working their magic on the vote totals. Saxby Chambliss may turn out to be the most important man in the U.S. Senate.

From Chuckie Schumer and Barney Frank ... screw the economic stimulus, let's make sure we bailout the auto industry. There are unions to be rewarded!

Georgia Congressman Paul Broun says that he is sorry for comparing Barack Obama to Hitler. When's the last time you heard a liberal apologize for constant Hitler and Nazi references to conservatives?

John Stossel says that the excitement surrounding an Obama presidency is good but it is also scary because of "the assumption that all progress comes from Washington."

Barack Obama did in fact appoint Henry Rivera to head the team that will select the next FCC chairman. This man is not a fan of freedom in broadcasting.

Businesses are asking Congress to relax requirements from a 2006 law that requires companies to meet new pension fund levels ... considering the current stock market.

So much for Nancy Pelosi's pledge to "govern from the middle" ... her new House leadership team is even more liberal than before.

The Supreme Court has lifted restrictions on Navy sonar training, ruling that national security trumps environmental concerns for whales.

Even though it probably won't matter under an Obama presidency, the Interior Department is closer to opening waters off the Virginia coast for oil and gas drilling. As soon as they do the environmental socialists will step up with their lawsuits.

For those of you who care, Mark Foley has decided to speak.

You are going to love this. Studies now say that parents who have kids with that phony ADHD are more likely to get divorced. I would guess that is because one parents (the one who doesn't buy this ADHD stuff) thinks the other parent (the one who does) is a moonbat.

The latest victim of the economic times ... your office holiday party.

Typical mentality of an Obama supporter. "Housin' is a human right."

And for a bit of fun ... The 10 wackiest tax write-offs according to Bankrate.com.

Nancy Pelosi says that she wants "immediate action" to give the auto industry additional help with taxpayer money. And as the United States gets closer to bailing out the auto industry ... here's an interesting piece of news. Australia has given a $6.2 billion industry assistance package. American owners of local Ford and Holden (a subsidiary of General Motors) plants in Australia will be "laughing at the Australian 'suckers'" who gave them a bailout package, according to former car company executives.

Veterans in Australia's auto industry say that the money will ultimately end up in Detroit, rather than bailing out their own local industry. Melbourne Business School professor Paul Kerin says that car makers "were masters at playing off naive governments around the world." Kerin says that there are two theories as to why Australia was willing to shell out so much taxpayer money to the auto industry. The first reason is that the government is naive. The second reason is that the government is pandering to the unions because the auto industry is a highly unionized sector.

If you want a good laugh ... and some insight into the mind of a liberal who just can't stand the thought of me "spewing hate" out of a microphone for 4 1/2 hours a day ... just read this column by Douglas Turner in The Buffalo News. Here's the title, "Virulent talk radio may be a loser, too." I'll give you a little taste, maybe with some of the usual Boortz commentary.

"Talk radio lost this federal election in two big ways. Its candidate, Republican John McCain, got creamed. And its most dedicated enemies, who want to trim talk radio's sails, were massively empowered.

Elements of the team of President-elect Barack "Hussein" Obama, as they were fond of calling him, and the expanded Democratic majority will move to remind broadcasters of a fundamental tenet of broadcast law.

That is, that the airwaves do not belong to the station "owners," as they call themselves, but to the people of the United States of America ... As station ownership became more consolidated, talk radio became more virulent, if not violent, and one-sided ...

The basic service that a broadcast licensee owes a community is truth. As the election neared, that commodity was in short supply.

Obama was compared to Hitler on the "Mark Levin Show." Obama would open the United States to an "invasion" of Muslims, according to the "Gunny" Bob Newman show. On the Lee Rodgers show, critics of Obama were going to "be jailed or killed." Host Neal Boortz wanted to know how many prayer rugs Obama owns ...

There are constitutional issues related to imposing equal time. So the Democratic route seems to be to roll-back media consolidation."

We really need to put this stupid "the public's airwaves" nonsense to rest - but that idiotic idea has been hammered into the heard of Americans for so long it's going to be difficult. This whole "public's airwaves" stuff came about with the ascendancy of broadcasting. Politicians realized the great information dissemination potential of radio (and then television) and intuitively knew that if they did not find a way to control broadcasting it could spell big trouble for them. There can be no doubt that the framers of our Constitution would have included broadcasting in the protections offered by the First Amendment - if they could have foreseen broadcasting. By the time broadcasting came around the goal was more about protecting government than it was protecting free expression .. hence this "public's airwaves" idiocy. Any excuse ... the political class just needed any excuse.

Note, please, that whenever despots try to seize control of a government, and with it a country, they first seize control of the means of communication. How can you observe this in country after country with despot after despot engaged in coup after coup and not understand that this is exactly what our own politicians do when they try to increases their control over broadcasting? How will the Democrat's looming attempt to reign in talk radio be any different than Hugo Chavez' attempts to shut down opposition newspapers in Venezuela? And trust me ... the Republicans would have tried the same thing during the Bush Administration if talk radio had been overwhelming liberal. Richard Nixon used to brag about how he used the "Fairness Doctrine" to harass left-wing commentary on television. Democrats and liberals generally fail miserably at talk radio .. therefore it must be destroyed.

One more point about this "public's airwaves" dog squeeze. How does your newspaper get to you every day? Do you think it just magically appears at your doorstep? Hardly .. it is delivered over --- guess what? --- publicly owned highways and roads! Yeah! The "public's highways!" How about a Fairness Doctrine for newspaper editorial pages! Oh, wait .. there's that darn Constitution in the way again. Don't you just hate that?

In Washington County, Oregon the sheriff wants to know whether 10,000 people with concealed handgun permits want their names made public if requested ... by the liberal media. Wouldn't that be great? A newspaper could publishing the names of you, your neighbors, your loved ones, your co-workers who register their handguns with the government. Sheriff Rob Gordon says that people who get a license for security purposes would be exempt from public record. So the taxpayers are going to spend gawd knows how much money mailing letters to these handgun owners and asking them whether or not they have their license for "security reasons" and whether or not they want their information kept confidential.

And why would the newspaper want to publish those names in the first place? Harassment, pure and simple. There can be no other reason.

Subject: government schooling
Name: jerry
Message:
neal, your as full of crap as a christmas turkey. you have spent, who
knows how many years, telling us how bad the government school system is
and yet don't have any idea how a privately conducted school system
would fair in our nation.surely you jest...you have more opions than i
have hairs on my backside...come on brainiac, tell me how much better it
would turn out. you've been saying the same thing ,word for word, for
years now...i should know since i can recite what you're going to say
and the examples you use over and over again (maybe not word for word).
same drivle different day.

why do i continue to listen to you? beats me...i guess i like hollering
at you untill i'm hoarse...maybe i'm just bored...maybe i don't have
have anything better to do while driving this truck.

luvyaforever you jerk

Some of you wanted to know how Coco is doing since he had an eye removed. Well, not at all bad for a 16 year old beast. We took a picture for you ... and we are proud to present One-eyed Coco!

The Al Franken / Norm Coleman recount debacle continues in Minnesota. Read this story and tell me you don't think something stinks up there.

Energy independence? Check this out! We have more oil than we ever imagined in the Bakken Formation .. and it is inside this country! The environmental groups had better get busy before we actually start recovering this stuff!

Iran thought it would be a lot of fun to test a new type of missile near the Iraqi border.

So .. waddaya think? Will the Obama's send their children to government schools? Are you freaking kidding me? Government schools are for YOUR children, not the Obama's!

America lurches left ... Mark Steyn. Lefties hate this guy .. all the more reason you should read this.

Gotta love P.J. O'Rourke. He says conservatives "blew it." Golly, ya think?

It looks like Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, will probably be running for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.

What is shaping up to be trouble for president-elect Barack Obama, Cuban president Raul Castro is going to visit Russia next year.

The polls show that Jesse Jackson Jr. is the favorite to replace Barack Obama in the Senate.

The FEC will not be auditing the Barack Obama campaign because it doesn't want to conduct a messy audit of a sitting president. Meanwhile, there is a rigorous audit of the McCain campaign going on.

Obama wants Congress to accelerate the confirmation of his top appointees. Something tells me that won't be a problem.

How about Secretary of State Al Gore?

More talk of the Fairness Doctrine from Democrats. One Democrat Senator says that he believes technology has moved beyond our ability to regulate things. Well isn't that comforting.

Here's something for you to consider ... Google is teaming up with the government in order to help federal officials "track sickness."

The New York Times picked up on my comments about MSNBC's new slogan "experience the power of change."

The latest from Time Magazine on Barack Obama: "Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope..."

According to CNN, 59% of Americans think that Democratic control of both the executive and legislative branches will be good for the country.

Gas prices are falling so guess what happens ... people start buying SUVs again! Amazing how that happens.

As you read this story, I want you to think about all of the people employed by this ski resort rather than the wealth envy: Ski resort for super rich files for bankruptcy.

A local paper in Oklahoma didn't report that Barack Obama won the election. The paper says it's because the story isn't local news. Other people say it's racist!

You might get a kick out of this ... Where whiteness meets race: The Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere -- yes it's real -- tackles the notion of white privilege and white people's responsibility to challenge racism, but can it help move people beyond race?