Wednesday -- September 14, 2005
NEAL HAS LEFT THE BUILDINGNeal has headed out for a little R&R. Jay Severin will be filling in a bit on the air and the Nuze has been left in the hands of the webwench. None of you want to hear my views on politics so we'll be staying away from that. Instead, expect morning sickness style stories, entertaining tidbits, maybe a few nerdy things and whatever else I might find on The Internets. If none of this interests you, then come back September 19th. Neal should be well rested and "loaded for bear" as he'd say. Neal checks in!  FAIR TAX UPDATE
My friends, you have no idea of the impact that The FairTax Book is having on our elected officials in Washington. Officials at the highest levels are expressing their surprise to Congressman Linder of the success of the book, and you can believe that they are ready to take some action. While on vacation I'm writing some items to clarify portions of the book --- and I hope to have them posted in the Nuze by Thursday. In the meantime, if you haven't yet bought or ordered The FairTax Book, please do so. The link above will take you to amazon.com or see if your local book store has any left. Hey ..I'm not trying to pad my own pockets here. I've already told you that my royalties age going 100% to charity, including a rather large check to the Red Cross for Katrina relief. My interest here is in promoting a tax reform plan that I sincerely believe will bring about a positive change in the life of virtually every American, except, perhaps, for the K Street lobbyists who have been making hundreds of thousands a year gaming the present tax system for their clients. The longer we keep The FairTax Book up near the top of The New York Times Bestsellers List, the more attention we get in Washington DC, and the greater the chance that HR 25 is going to get serious consideration in Washington.
Last weekend I was sitting in a restaurant near the west coast. At the next table was a man I knew to be well connected in Washington and Hollywood. (Not mentioning names here.) I actually overheard him telling his luncheon guests about the FairTax! The word is getting around, my friends, and politicians are finding this movement harder and harder to ignore.
As soon as I'm back off vacation I'll be heading out for more book signings. One week from Saturday I'll be at the Republican Leadership Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. I'm told that almost every Republican with presidential aspirations will be there. When I get up before that group to make my presentation on The FairTax I want to be able to tell them that the book is still right up there at the top of the list. The books that are sold between now and Monday afternoon will make the difference ... so you know what to do.
MORE ON SAM MARIE ENGLE
I'm very gratified by the fantastic email response I received about Monday's rant on the musings of Emory academician Sam Marie Engle. In truth I can say that Web Guy hasn't forwarded one single email taking me to task for taking her to task --- and believe me, if the negative emails were there, Web Guy would make sure that I saw them.
One Nuze reader sent a copy of Engle's letter to the editor and my response to a professor friend of his at an Eastern University. His professor friend responded with an email that I think pretty well opens the door into the minds of people like Sam Marie Engle. Here's the response. I believe that it is one of the most brilliant explanations I have ever read on what happens to someone who decides to make the university their career ... I thought you might like to read it:
Dear ____________ The source of "Sam Engel's" dissatisfaction is one of those things that I think few people have considered. Professors are a relatively small minority of the population and few people think about their oddity. Academic accomplishment in no way relates to being well-adjusted or happy. There are lots of horribly unhappy people teaching at Universities. Universities attract people who are good at school (period). Being good at school takes a real enough but usually a very small talent. All those A's earned through their young lives encourage such people to remain at school, getting more A's and more degrees and signing on for teaching jobs (whether they are any good at teaching or not). They have fantasies of their own importance, leading rich careers of writing important books or doing important research, living out their days in cultivated leisure.
But something, inevitably, goes awry. By the time they turn 40, they notice the students aren't terribly appreciative, the important books haven't been written, the teaching begins to feel repetitive, the collegiality in the department isn't anywhere what they hoped for (they usually want lots of admiring friends who will flatter them a lot--kind of like all those A's they earned in school). Meanwhile, their classmates "back when" who usually got B's in school are driving around in Mercedes, buying million-dollar beachfront properties, enjoying freedom and prosperity in a manner that strikes those good students, now professors, as not only unseemly but something that a "just" society should never permit. So a deep and entrenched unhappiness and dissatisfaction sets in, and they start complaining about every social ill they discover, convinced that their own under-appreciation is proof of the injustice of America. And once they fall into this deep funk I'm describing, they rarely get out. It becomes the mid-life crisis that never ends. This, in spite of the fact that they have more discretionary free time than
any other regular-salaried occupation I can think of. I'd say at least 30% of the faculty wind up there.
A few others cling to the notion that because they are SO SMART they are a kind of social avant-garde, a precursor to the next cool thing because they are so enlightened (yes, most of these grew up during the 60's, and the word then was "hip"). One colleague is so passionate about his backyard bonsai garden that you can hardly talk to him without it coming up in the conversation. He has over 40 trees now, all in pots, in his small backyard. He never talks about his students or his research, just his trees. And yes, you guessed it; he wears a very short beard and ponytail, jeans and "Birkenstocks."
So when I see something like this in the paper, I scan it quickly, dismiss it as another manifestation of the same academic malcontent, and pass on. It's a good lesson to remember the next time you see a headline that some researcher at a university has discovered something--don't react until you can check the validity of the data. (Name Withheld)
Neal checks out! YOU ARE NOT A VEGETARIAN IF... Here's a special little pet peeve of mine. Why is it that people are so eager to call themselves vegetarian even when they're not? Seriously, most people seem to look on vegetarians, and god forbid vegans, as an oddity at best and with scorn at worst. Why are people so eager to join that club? Besides, it really muddies things up. If you really are a vegetarian, you'd like people to understand what that means when you say it. Not, "oh, do you eat fish?" A few articles have been published lately that are not helping. The subheading of this one states "meat-eating vegetarians transform the movement." Um. By definition, if you eat meat, you aren't a vegetarian. This one is particularly annoying because the subject of the article says she "has no trouble sticking to her vegetarian regimen" because she eats meat. What?? How is that sticking to your "vegetarian regimen?" And why would a so-called journalist let her get away with that? Another article about a 15-year-old girl talks about how she doesn't "find it difficult to be a vegetarian". Later it says she eats "fish, dairy and eggs." No, it shouldn't be difficult for her at all. Because she isn't a vegetarian! Probably the worst one I've run across is this article about foie gras being banned in California in 2012. In the last line of the article, we get this gem of an admission: "I'm a vegetarian, but I do like foie gras." This one just really leaves me speechless. She refers to at as "buttery" and "nutty". Sounds like denial to me. Hmm...if I pretend it isn't really part of an animal, then maybe it isn't! Oy. LISTENER EMAILS Because it is free, nearly effortless content, here are a few more listener emails. Remember, we always include a few in the Boortz Blast newsletter if you aren't already signed up. I post 'em exactly as they're sent. So any typos belong to the authors. Chris hates the FairTax: I agree with you on Katrina, but your support of the "fair tax" is very sucky. Neal, I played by the rules, saving my money, investing it, putting it into bonds and stocks and Roth Ira's. No fed handouts for me. I saved and saved and paid taxes on all of it, and retired with my own self-designed, non-employer, non-government, non-nobody-but-me pension, and paid taxes on all of it. At rates above 50% at times. And now you want to tax me again when I spend it?? I've seen you on Kudlow, and heard you on radio, and you always seem to artfully dodge this issue. Thanks for your wise thoughts on Katrina, and thanks for nothing on 'fair tax.' I believe you are A Great American, but with mush for brains on the tax issue. Otherwise, I continue to be a Neal Bortz fan. Chris M.
We think we'll take Vim J. up on the offer to make fun of him: wow, great job. When 100,000 or more are dead and the rest in FEMA concentration camps . . .
When will it be the President's call?
does he have to eat your young and drop the bones from Air Force One before you will admit . . .
YOU ARE COMPLICIT!
YOU - RADIO JERK
ALL OF YOU YOU WHO KEEP THIS MONSTER AND HIS SICKENING CRONIES AFLOAT . . .
DID THIS. YOU KEEP HIS HATRED AFLOAT.
Tell me, when are you going to complain that the detenntion centers aren't producing enough NIKE's - or let's bring jobs back to the USA - make the hurricane victims assemble our CD players
Well, time for you to make fun of me now..
Chris H. wants to tell us why it's all Bush's fault: Neal,
It really has nothing to do with whether the President was on vacation or what idiotic photo ops he was engaging in while New Orleans was being destroyed. That stuff might not exactly inspire my confidence in the man, but it isn't a deal breaker. Bush still declared a State of Emergency when it was appropriate to do so and authorized DHS and FEMA to move in.
However, DHS and FEMA screwed up. Bush appointed those men to their jobs. He thought it would be a good idea to put someone with more knowledge of horse semen than disaster relief in charge of FEMA. He would rather reward his cronies than give someone a job who is capable of actually doing that job. The buck stops at the top.
Another point: In a television interview Bush claimed that nobody anywhere could have predicted that the levies in New Orleans would be breached. We both know for a fact that this was not the case. Was Bush lying or was he incompetent? Either way, he doesn't deserve his job.
Chris H.
NEAL LIVE Neal has a few live appearances scheduled in the next month. September 23rd, there's a Boortz Power Lunch in Atlanta, GA, September 30 is WDBO's Meeting of the Mouths in Orlando, FL, and October 1 is WSB's Meeting of the Mouths in Marietta, GA. Keep an eye on the Neal's Appearances link on the home page for these additional book signing dates he keeps promising everyone and the details on these events. 
Tour Gallery | amazon.com reviews
THE FAIRTAX BOOK BOOKPLATE If you ordered your book online or you couldn't make it to a book signing near you, Congressman Linder and Neal will send you an adhesive-backed autographed book plate to place inside your copy of The FairTax Book. Just send a self-addressed and stamped letter-sized envelope to: Neal Boortz - Book Plate
1601 W. Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
REDNECK SCRAP BOOKEven redneck marriages might benefit from a little marital aid from time to time. Don't worry, this link is work safe. The next link, not so much. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.
READING ASSIGNMENTS Morning Sickness 1: Football (not soccer! :P) player plans to have finger amputated to improve his game. Morning Sickness 2: Man sues because doctors failed to notice that he contracted a flesh-eating infection after an ingrown toenail was removed. It resulted in amputation of his leg. Morning Sickness 3: Football (soccer) player has penis ripped open, gets 6 stitches, and goes back in the game. Hardcore. Today's cover isn't really bizarre. But it is a particularly nice one. I don't believe this has ever been released. The only mentions I can find of it is on live bootlegs. If I'm wrong, let me know. I have word that you can find this as a bonus track on Heather Nova's 'Truth and Bone' CD single off the album 'Oyster'. Neil Young's Like A Hurricane [4.6mb mp3] covered by Heather Nova. How about some cubicle camouflage to make it look like you're hard at work. Ingenious. This guy is going to think twice before he tries to snatch another woman's purse. Slam! [warning, site has pop-ups even in firefox] This has to be one of the most offensive things I've seen in a long time. I'm sure you'll all love it. Use your mouse to toss the woman if she gets stuck. [Flash] What can you put in a condom besides the normal stuff? Here's a gallery full of ideas from the department of time suck. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania has come up with a novel fundraising idea. Pledge for each picketer outside their clinic. It's a way to make money off of the protesters. The Smurfs meet Law & Order. [Quicktime] Pictures from WSB's reporter Richard Sangster down on the ground in New Orleans.
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