MIKE VICK HEARS THE WORD TODAY

And the word shall be delivered by a federal judge. Vick is going to be sentenced to day for his participation in a dog fighting operation out of his home in Newport News, Virginia.

Have you ever seen an episode of insane self-destruction such as this before? All in the name of "keeping it real." Michael Vick just had to convince his homies that he hadn't forgotten where he came from, so he financed and participated in this dog fighting scheme. God forbid he should buy them a legitimate business to run.

Vick should get around 12 to 18 months for this. It will be enough to keep him out of yet another NFL season. Some will scream that others have received much harsher sentences, and in a sense they're right. The difference is that when you take someone who is driving a truck and sentence them to five years for dog fighting, that person will be able to come out of prison after five years and go right back to driving a truck. Their standard of living isn't going to change all that much while they're behind bars. Fact is, it may actually improve insofar as food and medical care are concerned.

Vick, though, is a different matter. Some estimates put his financial losses at well above $100 million, possibly approaching $200 million. Plus, there is no guarantee he'll be able to return to NFL form and earn anywhere near what he was earning before his incredible stupidity brought him down.

Yeah ... let's all get out there and keep it real, know what I'm saying? Bright. Really bright.

EVEN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL DOESN'T GET IT.

As Mike Huckabee advances in the polls, the attacks on him escalate as well. Since the attacks on his Christianity don't seem to be doing all that well, many are looking for other areas of vulnerability. They see Huckabee's support of the FairTax as one of those areas. This past week The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial calling the FairTax "the most radical tax plan imaginable."

"FairTax: The Truth; Answering the Critics" will be in bookstores on February 11th, and most of the WSJ objections will be answered there. But you know me, I just can't sit still and watch these mindless attacks on the FairTax go without some response. So I've picked out three statements from the Wall Street Journal editorial to answer. Here we go:

"But while proponents use that 23% figure as an easier political sell, the rate is closer to 30% when it's calculated like any other sales tax, with the levy on top of the price."

We really do hate to break it to the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal, but the simple fact of the matter is that the FairTax is not calculated like other sales taxes. The FairTax is included in the price, not added on top of the price. Perhaps the board would be less inclined to misstate the terms of the FairTax if they actually read the book or H.R. 25, but we're patient people, so we'll explain this one more time:

(a) Current state sales taxes: You look at the item on the shelf. The item is priced at $100.00. You take that item to the cashier. The cashier adds the state sales tax to the $100. If that sales tax is 7 percent, you pay $107, take your receipt and walk out.

(b) FairTax: You look at the item on the shelf. The item is priced at $100. You take the item to the cashier. The cashier asks you for $100. You pay your $100, take your receipt and walk out. You look at the receipt. The receipt tells you that 23 percent of the $100 you paid for that item is the FairTax and will be forwarded to the federal government. You call upon your years of education and quickly calculate that $23 is 23 percent of $100.

Our next excerpt is particularly vexing. It clearly shows that whoever wrote this editorial for the WSJ editorial board really didn't know what in the world he was talking about:

"....the fair tax would offer a bull's-eye for Democrats, who would love to run against a plan that would instantly make most purchases 30% more expensive."

As I said, here is where it becomes patently clear that the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal simply does not understand the basics of the FairTax. You would think that an august publication such as The Wall Street Journal would be a bit more thorough in their research before they put an editorial in their newspaper, but here we know that was not the case. We have people scrawling "FairTax.org" in the dust on the backs of their 18-wheelers who know that the FairTax will replace the embedded tax that already exists in virtually everything we buy. The final result will be that the consumer goods we will purchase after the FairTax will cost essentially the same as they did under our present tax system.

Then there's this line:

"The fair tax has been knocking around GOP precincts for years and has been heavily promoted by Texas millionaire Leo Linbeck,"

When a newspaper – any newspaper – describes a person in this manner as "millionaire so-and-so" they are using the word "millionaire" as a pejorative. You could describe Leo Linbeck as a "Texas businessman," but that wouldn't create any ill-will among the people reading the editorial. Attaching the world "millionaire" to the name of a person you wish to discredit in some way is simply a play on wealth envy.

By the way .. we're starting to get word that bookstores are once again running out of copies of The FairTax Book. Do not fear ... you can order a copy right here. We also have word that Harper Collins is going to rush "FairTax: The Truth; Answering the Critics" to the bookstores, and the debut date is now set for nine weeks from now.

A QUARANTINE FOR AIDS VICTIMS

The Republican and media establishments are eager to do something to stall the Huckabee advance to Iowa. There seem to be two or three headlines on the Internet every day. One big "revelation" over the weekend was that Mike Huckabee once suggested isolating people with fill-blown AIDS.

We'll let Huckabee respond to the charges ... but I did want to point out that there have been several instances in the last year where we have quarantined Tuberculosis patients. In one case we even tried to lock a TB patient out of his own country.

So .. what's the difference? Simple. The reason Huckabee is taking such heat here is that while AIDS has a political constituency, Tuberculosis does not.

NOT EVERYONE LOVES THE TALKMASTER!

Yeah .. I know. Imagine that!

Here's the edited text of an email Web Guy forwarded to me. Web Guy wanted me to see this particular piece of "hate mail" because he says the writer, whoever he is (he left no valid email address) has such a succinct way of expressing his feelings and his dreams for America. We're more than happy to share these thoughts with you today: I'll admit, we did correct a few spelling and punctuation errors. We didn't want this gentleman's message to get lost in some typos.

"Why don't you go out and try to buy yourself some f***ing manners you stinking f***ing coward? You have got to be one of the most disgusting, moronic ***holes on the face of this planet you stupid f***ing p***y! When you aren't busy hiding out in your wife's panties, you are hiding behind your microphone protected by your cowardly security. It's no wonder that you have to walk with a concealed weapon. You are an obnoxious, bullying, loud-mouthed COWARD! I take great comfort and delight in the knowledge that sooner or later you are going to depart this earth. You will not be able to take one stinking penny of your ill-gotten money with you. In all likelihood, you are facing an eternity of blood curdling, fire driven hell! That day simply can't come soon enough you disgusting, f***ing, puke filled dope."

Do you think that there is even the slightest possibility that I've said something to upset this fine, upstanding citizen? Golly! I sure hope not! Keep those cards and letters coming, my friends!

SEE FOLKS, I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE!

AND HERE IS YOUR LATEST GLOBAL WARMING NEWS!

They're into their second week in this "nail the rich" United Nations conference in Bali. This being the final week, look for a flood of proposals to cripple the economies of wealthy nations and to redistribute wealth from capitalist nations to poor nations run by assorted dictators. By no means is this a complete list, but thus far we've heard that both Indonesia, the host country for the conference, and Brazil have hundreds of millions of dollars coming to them as compensation for NOT cutting down their rainforests. We've also heard that wealthy nations owe poor nations no less than $85 billion a year to help poor people cope with global warming and those rising oceans. The share to be paid by the taxpayers of the United States? That would be $40 billion a year ... for starters. We can certainly look for that figure to increase every single year, and any reluctance on the part of the United States to continually up the ante will be blasted as evidence that we just don't care about poor people.

Well .. as the third world makes its demands of the United States down there in Bali, and as the left rejoices in their amazing success in pushing this global warming scam on our fellow Americans ... here is your latest global warming news:

First .. just in case you don't know, there are ice storms today making driving miserable and dangerous from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes today.

And speaking of ice, how would you like to know the latest on the status of the ice cover in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? Well, we're 12 days away from the start of Winter, and the ice and snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is within one percent of normal. That one percent can be taken care of with one snowstorm. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, the ice cover is now at the same level seen during the last winter. Additionally, there are two million additional square kilometers of ice right now as compared to December of last year. That's right, global warming cultists ... two million more square kilometers of ice in the Southern Hemisphere right now than there were one year ago.

In the meantime OwlGore is in Norway still screeching about a "planetary emergency" that is threatening "civilization as we know it."

Give it a rest, Al. Take your peace prize and go away. People are catching on.

HOW ABOUT A BABY TAX!

In the meanwhile, a medical expert in Australia has come up with a nifty little idea. It's a baby tax. He wants families to pay a $5000 "baby levy" for each child they have, and then an annual carbon tax of up to $800 every year for each child they've brought into the world.

Now this idea is only for Australia right now. You know, Australia. That continent in the Southern Hemisphere where the ice cap is growing. But we can certainly look for the leftist environmental moonbats to pick this one up and run with it. We have to be careful, though, to make sure this baby levy doesn't become a burden on the poor, right! So this would mean that we'll have to levy a new tax on evil, disgusting, pathetic, horrible, putrid rich people to build a pool of money that poor non-achievers can use to pay for their new babies.

All in the name of the global warming scam.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

I guess Santa has a few different sleighs. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Hey Atlanta area listeners, win $5,000 Diamond Earrings! Win a pair of $5,000 earrings from Solomon Brothers and many more prizes in Neal Boortz's 12 Days of Christmas contest. Register to win now!

Mark Steyn on "Worshipping at the Church of Freedom." Freedom .. now there's a word that you don't seem to hear from almost anyone, Republican or Democrat, during this election season.

Three Atlanta area hotels get nailed by a Fox TV investigation. You ought to see how the housekeepers clean those drinking glasses in your room. Thanks to a listener for sending in this one.

No .. Andrew Young didn't really say this, did he? Say what? Well ... say that Bill Clinton is "every bit as black" as Barack Obama and that he has "probably gone with more black women than Barack." Oh, right. He was just kidding.

Here's Frank Rich from the New York Times saying that the Republicans have found their own Barack Obama .. and that would be Mike Huckabee!

Democrat candidates for president are having a huge contest with one another. They're each trying to prove that they will raise taxes, on the evil rich, of course, more than any other candidate. Democrats worship taxes the way Christians worship God.

George Will doesn't seem to be much of a fan of the "No Child Left Behind" act. Too bad he doesn't just come out and admit that the whole idea of government education has been a failure.

Well now, here's an interesting guy. Doug Giles lists "Seven Ways Young People Can Keep Our Country from Becoming Officially Screwed."

Hillary's lead in the New Hampshire polls is starting to go south. I just can't tell you how distressing that is.

Very cool video of a deer being rescued by a helicopter in an unusual way.

Subject: Somebody's Gotta Say it
Name: Carl Campbell

Message:
Just wanted to say that your latest book is the best book I have read in a long time. I don't always agree with you, but have to really examine my position on things when our opinions differ after you lay out your reasoning. Thanks for making me stretch my brain, and keep up the good work.

By the way, I don't blame you for not wanting to run for president but this country needs someone who is not afraid to do what is best regardless of the offenses that it would cause so long is it made America better. You could be the shot in the arm that this country so desperately needs.

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