Tuesday, July 25, 2006
A SINCERE THANK YOU TO THE FLORIDA AIRPORTS COUNCIL
I was privileged to be the opening speaker to the annual convention of the Florida Airports Council yesterday at the Hyatt Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs, Florida. At last! I could talk for an hour about aviation and nobody complained? Oh, to be sure, I did get in a few words for the FairTax, but aviation was the order of the day. If any of you anti-airport luddites from PDK Watch happen to be reading this, I took special pleasure in telling the gathering of airport officials from across Florida of your antics, lies and distortions in trying to get DeKalb-Peachtree Airport near Atlanta closed and turned into a miniature golf course. I gotta admit, when it comes to amazing BS, PDK Watch is hard to beat. Thanks for the material, Mickey and company! And thanks to the Florida Airports Council and the Hyatt for the warm welcome and hospitality you showed me yesterday. That Miss Florida can flat-out twirl, can't she? STOP THE PEACE EFFORTS
Do I like the idea of peace? Absolutely! But I like the idea of freedom and economic liberty more. Many of the so-called "peace activists" you hear from today will accept any existence, as long as it is an existence without fighting. Living under a despot with no freedom of thought, speech or worship, and certainly no economic liberty, is preferable to some of these people than fighting -- and dying -- to be free.
The Communists had a rather interesting definition of peace back when the Soviet Union was in full bloom. They said that peace would exist when there was an absence of opposition to communism. Nice twist. You want peace? Let me tell you of one of the most peaceful places in the world. A solitary confinement cell in a prison. There you will find no conflict. You can sleep at night without any fear of someone coming in through the window to harm you or steal your stuff. You can spend every day secure in the knowledge that there will be no rockets raining down on you, no fights, no threats, no violence. Oh .. .there's no freedom, to be sure. But these peace "activists" don't seem to be concerned about freedom. It's just peace -- an end to the violence -- that drives them. The want to make sure that women and children don't die. Fine! Rob them of all freedom, of all human dignity, of all liberty -- and move them into concentration camps where they're guarded day and night by armed soldiers ready to turn away any threat. Peace will reign! Women and children won't die! Freedom will. I'm also sick to death of the attempts by the peace-at-any-price crowd to draw a moral equivalence between Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel. Hezbollah and Hamas Islamic murderers hide among their own civilian civilizations and lob rockets into the civilian areas of Israel. The goal? To kill civilians and spread terror. The Israelis fire back to kill those who are attacking them. Civilians die. Why? Because the Islamic cowards are hiding behind their women and children. Yeah ... tell me about your moral equivalence. Hezbollah has fired more than 2000 rockets into the civilian areas of Israel. The goal is not to kill Israeli soldiers. The goal is to kill women and children --- innocent civilians. This is the nature of radical Islam. How could you expect anything else from the Islamic monsters who shot school children in the back in Beslan? You know, of course, that Hezbollah wants Israel to release some Islamic prisoners. But did you know that one of the prisoners Hezbollah wants released killed a four-year-old girl by slamming a rifle butt into her skull? This Islamic goon crushed the skull of a small Israeli girl with a rifle butt, and the radical Muslims want him released. I suppose there is a grand celebration awaiting him in his hometown if, and when he returns. Radical Islamists have watched the left in America and in Europe condemn the removal of Saddam Hussein. They have reveled in the criticism leveled against Bush for his efforts to bring a democratically elected government to Iraq. The vilification of Bush has encouraged the Islamic radicals and made them stronger. They now feel that their jihadist goal of bringing the entire world under Islamic rule can be realized. If those who fight them are condemned, and those who appease them are praised, how can you blame them for feeling emboldened? Israel understands what so many Americans do not. There is a war going on. Islamic terrorists and militants are feeding on the weakness of the West. They're feeding on the weakness shown by the American left that has condemned our president for daring to strike back at Islamofascism. We gain nothing by asking Israel to hold back. CNN --- CHANGE YOUR MESSAGE
During all its coverage of the war in the Middle East CNN has had a banner across the bottom of the screen reading "Crisis in the Middle East." Let's get this right. It's not a "crisis" in the middle east. It's war. It's a battle front in World War III, the war against radical Islam. Let's call it what it is. The sooner the people understand that we're in a fight for the survival of Western culture and basic freedoms, the sooner people will get behind the effort. PEACE PRIZE WINNER WANTS TO KILL BUSH
Here we go with another peace "activist."
Proof again, my friends, that you cannot be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize unless you hate the United States of America, and in recent times, hate George W. Bush. Today's example of this comes courtesy of Betty Williams, who is evidently from Ireland.
In a speech to some schoolchildren (naturally,) she announced that "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." How nice. This she says to school children! A Nobel Peace Prize winner! Perhaps the Secret Service will pay her a visit the next time she's in the United States. And just why does she want to murder the president of the United States?
She's upset about a recent visit to Iraq where she says children lay dying from cancer because the United States and the United Nations are embargoing life-saving medicines. Weren't those embargoes lifted once Saddam was deposed? It doesn't matter...to leftists like Betty Williams, everything is George W. Bush's fault. Ms. Betty doesn't want to mention that Saddam spent millions in money earmarked for medical care for these children on palaces and arms.
So now another recipient of the Nobel Appeasement Prize has announced that the United States is evil. It really is too bad what's happened to this award. It used to mean somebody was an excellent scientist or writer or something. Instead, they give it to Islamic terrorists, failed American presidents and other appeasers.
She did get one thing right, at one point saying "I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize." Sadly the answer is because of her hatred of the United States, which is evidently a qualifying factor. Perhaps they should make that a category.
A NOTE ABOUT POWER OUTAGES
Right now several cities around the United States are dealing with power crunches. New York has power outages...St. Louis...California...and so on. With hot temperatures this summer....that can't be too comfortable. The overall thrust of the coverage is that there isn't enough power to go around...which is true. The power grids are stretched to the max, which is also true. But why is there a power shortage? Why isn't supply meeting demand? This is America, right? We are a capitalist society...why not build more power plants and sell the electricity for a profit.
Just as with high gas prices, the answer can be found by checking with your friendly neighborhood environmentalist. Some of the most common ways of generating electricity are by burning coal, natural gas, using wind or water power...and building nuclear power plants. Burning coal is somewhat dirty and creates pollution...so there's not a lot of desire out there to build more of those plants. Wind and water power...well, that depends on where you live. But nuclear power...that one creates no pollution at all...except for some nuclear waste. We can store that stuff in Chappaqua. Or, in the alternative, we can store that stuff in a safe, secure facility beneath the Earth where we'll never see it for another hundred years. But you see, the environmentalist nutcases don't want to build more power plants. They like to scare people into thinking there is something wrong with nuclear power. They don't want us to build anymore power plants of any sort.
So the next time you're sitting in a pool of sweat in the middle of a rolling blackout, just think of your friendly neighborhood environmentalist. Perhaps when demand gets too high, we should cut off the power to the eco-crazies first! TWEAKING GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS .... AGAIN
Education Secretary Spellings is getting toughparticularly on most states that have failed to meet the federal requirement to hire "highly qualified" teachers. The Secretary was also upset that only 10 out of the 50 states met the requirements for proper testing systems. And now, she is threatening to fine states that don't meet standards soon.
Here we go with our fantastic government indoctrination folks. The federal government wants all of its students to be "the same." What can be easier to control than a nice little homogeneous society? What is the magic in these test designed by and approved by the mighty federal government? Perhaps the feeling is that beyond these tests, what more do our children need to know? Oh that's right, nothing! Just last week, a study released basically stating that private education does not make much of a difference because public school kids were able to perform just about the same on a test written by the Department of Education. Does anyone else not see the irony in this? In public schools, you are taught the material to pass the test where as private schools are able to teach critical thinking skills and other useful qualities beyond what the government expects or requires. It would be like Communist dictator saying that his public education was 10 times better than private schools because his public school children were "able to pass the test." Well duh, of course they would be able to pass the test written by the same people who wrote their school books and lectured each and every day. It's called indoctrination. While we are a far far cry from anything of that level, it is just the principle of the matter. So Mrs. Spellings can get her feathers in a ruffle if she wants to, but I think it would be bad to fine the states that are already struggling with education funds. Because a public school education is better than no education at all ---- I suppose. REDNECK SCRAP BOOK Let's add this mailbox to our ever growing collection. More in the Redneck Scrap Book. READING ASSIGNMENTS You do know that Myrtle Beach was ravaged last week by Hurricane Alberto, don't you? Well, ace reporter Jerry Petrie was there to file this incredible report. It's just fortunate that he got there before the CNN crew did! Fox News Channel ought to hire this guy to do more reports for them! He's a riot! Have you heard of Lady Raptastic? Well, evidently talking about the FairTax has a rather unusual affect on some of her body parts. Another story about a Katrina freeloader. The lovely Keisha and her three children have been freeloading off a church since last September ... and they're not about to leave. Oh .. no word about where the baby-daddies are. Can you spell d-e-a-d-b-e-a-t? Pete du Pont writes that tax cuts are good for everyone ... and everyone seems to understand this. Except Democrats, that is. Here's a poll the mainstream media will bury. A new poll says 50% of Americans believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003. They're right, because WMD has been found in Iraq since the invasion. Looks like the 'Bush lied' crowd just took a hit.
Thomas Sowell wonders what would happen if the Democrats of today had been around during World War II. Would you have had the entire country uniting to win the war, the way they did? No way, not if you their behavior during the war on terror is any indication.
The American Bar Association says President George W. Bush is violating the Constitution and eroding democracy. And how is he doing this? By doing what presidents have always done...include signing statements on bills. Big deal.
One of the peace-loving Muslims in the United States has weighed in on the Israeli-Hezbolllah conflict. The head of something called the Muslim American Society says the whole thing is....who else....George W. Bush's fault.
34 whining, crying, irresponsible "Americans" are suing Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice over what they perceive as their slow evacuation from Lebanon by the United States. Sorry, children but the taxpayers of the United States of America are not your own personal travel agents.
Somebody actually suggested that we should negotiate with Hezbollah. Tony Snow shot that down, saying we're not going to negotiate with a terrorist organization. Sadly, people need reminding of that...since the media will never use the world "terrorist" when talking about Muslims. Ever.
Republican (in name only) Arlen Specter is pushing a bill through the Senate that would allow Congress to sue George W. Bush. This is what the president gets from somebody whose fat he pulled out of the fire in the last election. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Another newspaper has dropped Ann Coulter's column. Despite the fact that this happens all the time with columnists, Editor and Publisher magazine can't resist bringing it up. They seem to have this obsession with her.
The Hildabeast is assembling quite a crew to get her ready for the 2008 campaign. She has 50 staffers and 20 consultants ready to go...including a hair stylist and a makeup artist. She's paid them thousands already this year. Too bad it hasn't done any good.
The Left is usually on the wrong side of every military conflict in history. But as Dennis Prager points out, this latest war between Israel and Hezbollah draws a bright dividing line between what he calls the decent left and the indecent left. Don't miss this one.
U.N. Ambassador John Bolton's temporary appointment is about to run out...and David Limbaugh tells us it's time for him to permanently confirmed. Of course, the Democrats aren't going down without a fight over this one. But Bolton has done an excellent job for us at the U.N. When listening to and reading reports about what's going on between Israel and Hezbollah right now, just remember what the leader of Hezbollah's backer, Iran, had to say just a few short months ago. Looooooow approaches. Man tries to buy goat meat at a Virginia butcher shop. When they gave him chicken instead, he was so upset he cut off his hand. Alan Dershowitz on Hezbollah's use of Lebanese civilians as shields, a terror tactic. |