Wednesday -- November 9, 2005
PANDERING TO THE IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE
The big show in Washington today will be
posturing Senators browbeating oil
company executives over their profits. The anti-capitalist left in this country
has been trying for generations to demonize the very concept of profits, and
today we'll learn just how much success they've achieved.
If you listen to your friendly television newsperson you'll see almost
universal approval of the proposal to seize oil company profits. If you asked
one of these people what "inventory profits" were, and why inventory profits
rise and fall quickly, they wouldn't have a clue. I doubt that 10% of them could
correctly state the difference between profits and profit margins, nor could
they come within a few points of telling you what Exxon-Mobile's profit margin
was for the last quarter. These news readers shouldn't feel bad though, they're
right in step with the vast majority of the American public. Ignorance of basic
economic matters is rampant (thanks to government schools) and politicians will
always exploit ignorance to expand their power.
These hearings today will be a huge victory for those who dream of government
ownership and control of the means of production. Profits have long been
described by the left using terms like "obscene," "excessive," and "windfall."
Any way you cut it, profits are an ugly thing to the left. Generations of
American school children, under the loving guidance of their leftist union
school teachers, have either learned that profits are evil, or have learned
nothing about the concept of profit at all. These school children have now grown
into adults with voter registration cards in their pockets ... adults who
couldn't write a cogent paragraph on the role of profits in the creation of our
dynamic American economy. Even Republicans, like Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Charles Grassley, know what the voters don't know and are eager to exploit their
ignorance with calls for evil oil companies to "give back" profits to "the
people."
While we're at it, how do you like that "give back" line? Politicians are so
clever. There is no "give back" here. It's just "give." To use the term "give
back" as it relates to corporate profits is to imply that the profits were given
to the corporations in the first place. Businesses don't receive profits as
gifts. They EARN tem. The whole "earn" concept is something else that is
unfamiliar to the products of our illustrious government schools.
Now ... let's see if these oil company executives have the courage to stand
up to these fascists today. My guess is that they will cower in the face of a
political onslaught. After all, it's all about the goodness of government and
the evil that is business ... right?
DON'T EXCLUDE ILLEGALS? YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?
There was a demonstration on the campus of the University of Georgia
yesterday. Hispanics. The newspaper reports that they were drawing
attention to their growing numbers on campus. Funny, all this time I thought the
purpose of attending college was to get an education, not to call attention to
yourself. But, then, that was many years ago. These Latino students (assuming
they were all students) also wanted to denounce policies that might, as the newspaper puts
it, "limit access to higher education for some Georgia Hispanics." Now just
which Georgia Hispanics would that be? Illegal aliens. The Georgia Hispanics
that are in Georgia illegally. The Georgia Hispanics that are breaking the law
by being here, and breaking the law by staying here. The newspaper doesn't cal
them illegal aliens though. That would be politically incorrect, and above all
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, being a left wing rag, must never ever call
illegal aliens illegal aliens. Speakers at the rally wanted these legislators
who are proposing this law to be voted out of office. Linda Garcia, who helped
found a Latin sorority on the UGA campus, says that they want educate other
people about what the Hispanic culture is all about. Is Linda telling us that
part of the Hispanic culture is to remove elected leaders who actually propose
punishment for people who violate the law? Some culture. I guess it's just me,
but isn't the real purpose here for people to become assimilated into the
American culture? Apparently not for Hispanics.
I'M GLAD JON CORZINE WON.
OK, so he's a Democrat, a liberal Democrat. No matter. I'm still glad that he
won that election for Governor of New Jersey. The clincher was when the
Republican candidate came out with a campaign ad featuring Corzine's ex-wife
saying some nasty things about her former husband. It's pretty hard to get any
sleazier than that. Doug Forrester deserved to lose. Maybe someone will think
twice before they think about bring ex-wives or husbands into campaigns again.
DEMOCRATS TAKE OVER SCHOOL BOARD
Now here's another election I'm happy about. I'm hoping that they'll repeat
this news story on the tube this morning before I post these program notes so
that I can figure out just where this happened. By the time I was paying
attention to the story the first time it came by, the name of the community was
lost in the ether. At any rate, here's the story. Republicans members of this
particular school board initiated a policy calling for mandatory instruction in
something they call "Intelligent Design." Intelligent design, as anyone with an
ounce of logical sense knows, is a poorly-disguised substitute for the Biblical
theory of creation. The teaching of intelligent design in government schools is
nothing less than the teaching of religious dogma. Well ... evidently the voters
weren't all that happy with the school board's attempt to bring religious
instruction to the government schools.
They voted in nine Democrats to replace
the Republicans who proposed the intelligent design curriculum. Good show.
BIG NIGHT FOR DEMS? HARDLY
Much is being made about last night's Democratic victories in New Jersey in
Virginia.....as if it's some sort of referendum on George Bush and his parties'
chances in the 2006. But really, as much as it was somewhat of a Republican
defeat, it doesn't really matter too much in the larger scheme of things.
First of all, the victories in New Jersey and Virginia do not represent a
loss of Republican power. Corzine is replacing the Democratic stand-in who took
over after former Democratic Governor James McGreevey came out of the closet and
resigned. Kaine wins in Virginia replacing another Democrat. The press is
hailing the Kaine win as some sort of embarrassment to the president, since he
campaigned for the Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore. But as you will find in
today's reading assignments, Kilgore ran an extremely inept campaign and
essentially defeated himself.
So...the Democrats retain two governorships...BFD. The Democrats did not
"clean up big," as the Associated Press is declaring today. In fact, according
the AP's own poll, President Bush wasn't a factor in voters' choices yesterday.
We are a political eternity away from the mid-term elections next year, and the
left is going to have to do a lot more to try and fulfill their goal of winning
back the House and the Senate.
Now .. having said that, let's also point out that the Republicans in
congress have been a huge disappointment of late. Today they're engaging in that
anti-capitalistic exercise of browbeating oil company executives. The Republican
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has introduced a new version of profit
sharing, where corporations bow to government and political pressure and
"donate" huge chunks of their profits to government spending programs -- as if
they didn't pay enough taxes in the first place. Then there's the spending.
Republicans have shown absolutely no desire whatsoever to curtail spending.
Frankly, if they lose control of the Congress in the midterm elections next
year I won't be all that upset. They deserve it.
WHO WERE YESTERDAY'S REAL IDIOTS AT THE POLLS?
The voters of San Francisco, that's who. By a 58% to 42% margin they voted to
make the ownership of a handgun illegal in San Francisco, and to require that
every resident of San Francisco who owns a handgun to turn it in to the
government by April 1st. April 1st, by the way, is more commonly known as "April
Fool's Day." Even voters in San Francisco should be bright enough to figure out
that law-abiding citizens will be the ones to turn over their guns, while the
lawless, the criminal element, will not. The number of guns in the hands of law
abiding citizens will go down. The number of guns in the hands of criminals will
not.
It is particularly amazing that 58% of the San Francisco voters would support
this foolish measure after New Orleans. San Francisco faces the prospect of a
natural disaster far worse than Katrina. Do the people of San Francisco think
that the criminal element will just stay home and behave after the earthquake
hits? There will be no violence? No looting? After the experience of the victims
of the lawless in New Orleans it is hard to believe that any logical group of
Americans would voluntarily disarm. But ... I did say logical, didn't I?
IGNORING THE REAL LEAK
For months and months we have heard how outrageous it was that somebody in
the Bush administration leaked Valerie Plame's name to the media. A special
prosecutor was appointed...and no crime was found to have been committed
regarding the "outing" of Plame. All indications are that her identity was an
open secret, and even her husband was running around telling people she worked
for the CIA. But since the imagined "scandal" involves a Republican president,
we will never hear the end of it.
So it is with a bit of hypocrisy that we see the Democrats jump up and down
about the national security implications of the leaking of Plame's name....but
when it comes to somebody
leaking the existence of secret CIA prisons...well,
they don't care about that as much. The CIA has started an investigation into
who leaked the information about the prisons to the Washington Post. One could
assume there are covert operatives working in those prisons at some
point....having their locations outed would put them in danger.
Not that anyone on the left cares. They're more concerned with debating the
existence of the prisons themselves. Suddenly their outrage about leaking
classified information has disappeared. What happened? Liberals only care about
national security when it serves their political purposes. As outraged as the
left was over the leaking of the name of one pencil-pusher at the CIA, they just
can't seem to work up an ounce of indignation over the outing of an entire
operation abroad.
And what if it is found that a Democrat leaked the information to the
Washington Post about the prisons? Will Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi take to the
floor of the House and the Senate and demand they be fired? I wouldn't hold my
breath, though I would like for them to hold theirs.
HARRY REID'S BIG DEMANDS
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to the White House and
demanded that President Bush
promise not to pardon Scooter Libby. He then made
the most ridiculous statement that shows either a.) he has no grasp of the facts
in the Plame investigation or b.) he is capitalizing on the general public's
ignorance and he knows the media won't call him on it. Here's what he said:
"We're demanding President Bush make a commitment to the American people that
he will not pardon Scooter Libby, who was involved in this mess, nor will he
pardon anyone involved in this mess. Unless a pardon is ruled out by President
Bush, the American people will certainly not learn the truth." What?
Not learn the truth about what? Does he not know that Fitzgerald found no
evidence that a crime was committed regarding the outing of Valerie Plame? The
truth has been learned, Senator Reid. Of course, he knows that. Furthermore, it
is an outrageous request that they never made of Bill Clinton.
Where was the letter to Clinton asking him not to pardon his cronies? What
about his last-minute pardon of Henry Cisneros...his former HUD secretary
convicted of lying to the feds? They seem to have forgotten about that one. Well
... they haven't actually forgotten, but their hatred of George Bush overpowers
all other emotions, including love of country and concern over the threat of
Islamic terrorism.
DID I SAY "ISLAMIC" TERRORISM?
Why golly! It would seem that I did! I actually said the "I" word in
connection with terrorism. I've been known to use the "M" word as well. The "M"
word, as in Muslim.
Though these incidents aren't featured in today's program notes, let's just
remind you of a few things before we move on to the reading assignments:
The people who shot those school children in the back in Chechnya were ...
Muslims.
The people who cut off the heads of those Christian school girls in Indonesia
were ... Muslims.
The sniper who terrorized the Washington beltway area a few years ago was a
.... Muslim.
The people who flew those jets into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon
were ... Muslims.
The people who invaded those American-built schools in Baghdad and killed the
teachers were ... Muslims.
The so-called "pirates" who attacked that Miami-based cruise ship off the
coast of Africa were ... Muslims.
The people who are rioting in Paris, shooting at police and paramedics, are
... Muslims.
The people who are rioting and burning cars in Germany are ... Muslims.
One of the first things you should do if you want to stay alive and healthy
is to identify the people out there who want you dead. Pay attention.
Tour Gallery | BUY ONLINE | Audio book at iTunes
REDNECK SCRAP BOOK
I sure hope this thing doesn't go
off. More in the
Redneck Scrap Book.
 Neal and his proud beast Coco at the Bobby Cox Inaugural Homeless Pets Foundation event this weekend. Sent in by William Chandler.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Fired CBS '60 Minutes' producer Mary Mapes is making the rounds.....she
says nobody has proven that the forged Bush National Guard documents were not
authentic. She also says she is still conducting her investigation. Talk
about denial....sounds a bit like O.J. still looking for the real killers.
Our good friend and Senate Finance Committee Chairman
Charles Grassley says there won't be any Social Security reform until 2009.
Talk about a bunch of wimps....so much for that.
Penthouse magazine is trying to get the two lesbian cheerleaders caught making
out in a bathroom to pose nude for the magazine. Their little job for the
Carolina Panthers will soon become a distant memory as they cash in.
The partisan investigation into The Godfather down in Florida continues.
Despite the fact that the prosecutor says he has no idea if Limbaugh broke the
law, he still wants to question his doctors.
Dick Morris weighs in on Arnold Schwarzenegger's referendums in California
and also says the Republican loss in the Virginia governor's race is not George
Bush's fault.
Morris says Kilgore ran a dumb campaign.
The Islamic rioters may succeed in France...all because the French government is
already surrendering.
Jack Kelly weighs in.
Mort Kondracke has realized what we've known for a long time....neither
party really wants to reduce the deficit, much less government spending.
Townhall is stumping for contributions....today,
David Limbaugh asks you to kick in a few bucks if you enjoy reading their
columns and checking out their excellent site.
Michelle Malkin brings us up to date about the media's darling...the former
Marine accusing U.S. troops of outlandish atrocities. As much as the media
wants to believe it, she says he's been exposed as a complete fraud.
Democrats are demanding oil companies give back their profits...and have
rekindled the idea of the windfall profits tax.
Dr. Walter E. Williams provides an education on the different kinds of profits.
The lighter side of serving in Iraq...Brits
have a bit of fun. (4MB wmv) |