I've been telling you about this for some weeks now ... ever since our wonderful Democrat congress started demonizing anyone who uses a private jet in their business.
Nancy Pelosi's business is running the U.S. House of Representatives, and Nancy not only has one private jet at her disposal; she has a fleet. That's right, a fleet of private jets, paid for by the taxpayers, that shuttle her and her friends and family where they please. Nancy's fleet is operated by the Pentagon. According to a report from Judicial Watch, Nancy repeatedly requested military aircraft and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline." Based on e-mails and other documents, Nancy regularly made special demands for high-end aircraft, often canceled at the last minute and racked up some serious expenses for the military .. and ultimately the taxpayers. What's more (and this is no surprise) Princess Nancy and her staff would be just a wee bit abusive when they couldn't get their way. In one email recovered with a FOIA request, Pelosi's aid Kay King wrote "It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are." In other words ... if you can't cough up a G5 for the Speaker, you had better tell her were your G5s are and who is using them so she can make a determination as to whether or not she is being slighted.
In another case Pelosi wanted her husband to tag along on a congressional trip to Iraq. The Pentagon had to remind Madam Speaker that spouses are not allowed to go along on military trips.
Public servant? Yeah right .. these people are our RULERS, folks. We are here to provide for them ...to provide a basis for their power. What good is a ruler without someone to rule? That would be us.
Barack Obama has the teacher's union's thongs in a wad after his speech on education. He said some good things .. and he said some not-so-good things. Like the fact that he believes that spending money on laptops for teachers is going to stimulate our economy. And then there's his belief that the government should get its hands on your children at an earlier age.
But there are two ideas I support. First is merit pay for teachers. The teachers unions despise this one. Unions in general hate the idea of paying for performance. They believe that once they get a job as a teacher, their performance should not be held accountable because they are entitled to keep that job. That's what the teachers unions are there for - to make sure that government teachers remain government employees no matter what. And the idea of being paid on how well you perform goes against the very nature of unions. Unions generally deride anyone who is willing to stand out, work harder, work faster, and try to get the job done in the most efficient way possible.
The second positive? Obama spoke favorably of charter schools. While he won't support school choice, Obama says that charter schools work and they should be encouraged. This, too, is not good news for the teachers unions. They complain loudly that charter schools are competition for them. The government school teachers don't want to have to compete for students and tax dollars. They are entitled to that money! They work for the government! Government, after all, is why America is great!
This leads me to this story which ran on the same day that Obama made his speech on education. Two charter schools in Los Angeles have been awarded the EPIC Silver Gain Award for schools attainting the greatest student achievement gains in the nation. Alliance College-Ready Public Schools' Gertz-Ressler High School and College Ready Academy High School #4 are located just southwest of downtown Los Angeles. These students are the poorest in Los Angeles, and their government schools are the most overcrowded and the lowest achieving. But students who are sent to these charter schools "far outperform the neighborhood public schools that [they] would otherwise attend," according to the press release.
Don't believe me? Here's more, "Since 2004 Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization, has led a highly successful network of small, personalized, high achieving public schools. Alliance students, 97% of whom are poor, live in LA's traditionally lowest performing communities and achieve the highest levels of academic excellence. One hundred percent of Alliance high school graduates were accepted to college - over 80% to four-year universities including Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Mills College, Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford, Pomona College, UC Berkeley and UCLA."
Just a little FYI for you folks. By the way, it occurs to me that some of you might not be sure just how you would define a charter school. We'll take care of that on the Nealz Nuze portion of the Information Overload hour today.
This is an oldie, but a goody. There seem to be many versions of this coursing through the Internet .. so we chose this one to share. Thought y'all might enjoy:
OBITUARY FOR COMMON SENSE
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
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Took the day off Friday to fly to Key West with my friend Bugsy. Here's a picture of cruise ships we took as we were turning base to final for the Key West airport.
On the air the other day, I read a letter from Greg Knox. The letter was simply intended for his mother, but has become an Internet sensation. Here we have another letter that is making the rounds. This one is from Ed Barnett of Wichita Falls and it is a Letter to the Editor he submitted on February 6th to the Wichita Falls, Texas Times Record News...
Dear IRS,
I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15 , but all is not lost.
I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing license tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, Medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 3.3 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle license registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money.
When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake.
Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangel , Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Daschle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest.
P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.
Do you want to know the details of what the Obama administration wants to do with your savings accounts? Remember during his address to Congress, he said he wanted to create "tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans." Gotta be a government check in here somewhere.
The Democrats officially introduced the card check bill yesterday and they are going to try and get this thing passed as fast as they can. My guess? This monstrosity is going to run into a brick wall. Maybe there is some common sense left after all.
Harry Reid says that he expects to get the 60 votes needed to pass the card check bill, but that Republicans are just "saying no to everything" and that is not the way to move this country forward.
Nancy Pelosi says that she is open to a second stimulus bill. Yeah, because the first one is going to do wonders for our economy.
From Forbes Magazine: There is no period in U.S. history where tax rates and the size of government both increased, and yet real GDP growth accelerated as sharply as the Obama team forecasts ....
Harry Reid says that the Fairness Doctrine is a "ghost that doesn't exist." We're being sandbagged on this one. I'll be along in a few months with an "I told you so."
Sweden wants to raise fuel taxes in order to cut carbon emissions .. only a matter of time until that happens in the US. This won't be to save out planet .. it will be to raise revenue for money hungry politicians.
My hometown failing newspaper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, says that it is concerned about its noted liberal bias and is trying to become more "fair." I hope it works ... we need a good newspaper.
If you enjoy Neal's daily chat with Jamie Dupree, you'll love Jamie's Blog! Check it out for analysis of the campaigns and goings on in Washington D.C.
Belinda Skelton, Cristina Gonzalez and Laura Nunemaker assist in the daily preparation of Nealz Nuze!
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Irish economy
Nothing in the Mar. 11 program notes about Neal's praising the Irish economy. Unfortunately his information, while recent is very dated. The Irish economy has fallen hard and fast. Unemployment approaching 10%, high foreclosure rates, etc. It's not the "Celtic Tiger" anymore.
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I've been telling you about this for some weeks now ... ever since our wonderful Democrat congress started demonizing anyone who uses a private jet in their business. 
