Conservative Review |
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Issue #19 |
Kukis Digests this Week’s News and Views |
April 6, 2008 |
McCain’s a Man
On the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, John McCain went to the hotel where King was shot, and he spoke to a primarily Black audience. He apologized to audience for not supporting Martin Luther King Day (which elicited a number of boo’s), and then he walked out into this moderately hostile audience to speak to the people there individually.
McCain did this without any Secret Service agents. McCain is a real man. One might even argue that Hillary is a man, sine she tried to join the Marines and faced sniper fire during her husband’s presidency (she is at least willing to live about being a man). Obama bowls a 37. You decide.
I think it was McCain who suggested that Clinton and Obama arguing about who has the most experienced is like two chihuahuas arguing about who is the big dog.
Obama Abortion Quote
When speaking of his daughters, Obama said, “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby or with an STD.”
Don’t forget, Obama supported a bill which allows a doctor to kill in cold blood a baby born accidentally during a botched abortion.
Obama, a Typical Politician
Obama promised us that, if chosen the Democratic nominee, that he would be willing to run on public funds, if the Republican would agree to that. McCain agreed to that up front as well.
This was before Obama found out that he could raise a phenomenal amount of money. So, that is one promise he will not keep.
McCain spoke of keeping troops in Iraq for a 100 years if necessary, much like our keeping troops in Japan, German, and Korea. Even though Obama has complained about having his positions misrepresented by Clinton, he has gone to rallies telling his faithful that McCain wants to fight the war in Iraq for a 100 years if necessary.
McCain responded like the man that he was. He explained that Obama probably does not really understand strategy, tactics or American history, and therefore, the concept of keeping troops in this or that country for a long time is not the same as waging war in that country over that same period of time.
Obama has backed off on his original misrepresentation of McCain’s position; but he still distorts McCain’s position—just not as badly as he originally did.
Obama is not someone new and refreshing; he is a typical politician.
R Skools Suk Reel Bad
I was a school teacher for nearly 30 years. I spent about 25 years in the same district in suburban area near Houston, Texas, and, for many years, this was a phenomenal district. Each year, one set of students actually built a house from the ground up. Some treated us to a weekly meal which they prepared. I had absolutely wonderful honors kids in mathematics who were exceptionally bright and hard-working.
In the early 90's, our legislature began to tinker with our school system. Each year, we would gather in the auditorium to find what new improvements had been mandated by our government.
Somehow, H. Ross Perot was involved with this, operating under the notion, if memory serves, that all students can and should take Calculus. George W. Bush, our governor, was also partially to blame for what happened, as was our legislature and the previous governor, Ann Richards.
A number of things happened. Not only were our students subjected to very poorly designed standardized tests, but these tests began to become more and more meaningful.
Spanking was removed from our schools, and it became much harder to simply expel a child from out school district. Where I live, there are a lot of school districts. Imagine, if you will, a 16 year old boy who has been expelled from our district, and imagine the daily conversations which he would have with his mother or father when driving him 15 or 20 miles every single day to another school district or to a private school. Do you think that his parents might during this daily drive express a little disapproval? I suspect that they would. in the days when we expelled students for almost anything, our students had excellent behavior.
Now, I know that some of you think that spanking (swats) are inappropriate for high school students. One of our early principals was Gayle Watkins, and he did a lot of swatting. He came down hard on trouble-makers. As a result, students loved him and we teachers loved and respected him.
Our school did another thing: if it was the end of the year, and a student was due punishment, he had to work out a deal with his grade-level principal to deal with that punishment. Often, there would be an exchange of whatever Saturday classes they were supposed to attend for swats. At the end of the year, virtually every student left for the summer with a clean conscience. They had paid for their sins and they began the next year with a clean slate.
Things changed. Swatting was removed and now the school has several policemen on campus all the time, and a myriad of cameras. Behavior is far worse. Expelling a child is quite difficult, and, as a result, most of them know they can do anything without serious consequence.
Academic expectations were raised—so is the story, anyway. In my area, students could not longer graduate with one year of mathematics, they now needed 3 years; and these would be higher level courses: Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. No longer can they take a fundamentals of mathematics course or a real-life application math course. Are they now smarter? Of course not. All of these courses had to be dumbed down for the additional students. So, no longer are these college prep courses college prep courses. They are extremely basic courses with the same name. This is not that big of a deal, as we were expected to spend the greater part of several months of every course preparing these kids to take a poorly-designed math test.
The increased requirements results in several things: low-level students are essentially ignored. We do not have courses in school for low-level students, which make up about 30–40% of the student population. Low-level and mid-level students are all put on a college track with so many requirements that our school moved to an 8 period day from a 6 period day. That means less time with a teacher in each course; that means less homework for each course; and that means far less freedom for a student to take courses that he or she wants to take. They are stuck taking what are supposed to be college prep courses. They have very little freedom in choosing electives. A kid can no longer go to school and be an auto-shop kid or a building-trades kid; he is college tracked. Since only 30–40% of our student will go to college, that means that the needs of the bulk of our students are essentially ignored.
In our 50 largest cities in the US, about half of the students who begin high school as Freshmen will graduate. Individual cities are even worse:
Houston Independent School District 54.6%
Cleveland Municipal City School District 34.1%
Detroit City School District 24.9%
Sacramento City Unified 66.7%
Read this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080401/ts_alt_afp/useducationsociety_080401184532
Here’s the report:
In about 5 years time, the spending per student in my area has doubled, and my taxes have gone up even more. Is this the solution? Just pour more and more and more money into our public school system?
When a parent can afford to do it, and they care about their child’s education, what do they do? They send them to a private school where the cost is typically about ½ to ⅔ the cost of a public school. Or, if the parent is really strapped for cash, they home-school, which is even cheaper. The results for both alternatives are invariably better.
Several years ago, I talked to an old friend of mine who was a principal at an all girls Catholic school and I asked her how many of their students went to college. 100%. It never occurred to me to ask about graduation rates back then.
By the way, federal earmark spending for education is at an all-time high:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/washington/24earmarks.html?ref=todayspaper
What are the solutions? Hillary Clinton says we need to send kids to school at age 4. That will fix the problem. More public education.
What does Barrack Obama say we need to do? Pay our teachers more money, ignoring the fact that private schools with better results pay their teachers a lower salary.
Both of them want to subsidize college education in one way or another. So, does this mean that the kid who graduates from high school and starts his own business is less important or inferior to college students? Apparently. Neither of them seem to want to subsidize students who drop out of high school or graduate high school and go no further.
Our school system sucks and it sucks worse now than it ever did, and we are pouring more money per student into this black hole of public education and getting less and less for our dollar. We cannot even keep many of these kids in school.
Clinton and Obama do not represent change in this area. They represent more of the same; more money, more public education, more taxes, with some kind of promise that, we will hit some dollar figure which will magically turn our schools around.
The Court and the Schools
In California, one of their higher courts has decided that, if you are going to home school your kid, then you had better be degreed to do it. I do not know if a simple teaching degree is required or whether a parent needs to be qualified in all subjects.
My very conservative Poly Sci teacher of 30+ years ago used to lambast the court system, warming us students that they had too much power. This is an example of what he meant. A handful of people who are not elected have essentially made law for California. They have, for all intents and purposes, outlawed home schooling. This is evil. What was their problem? Were home schooled children out-performing public schooled kids to the point where it had become embarrassing?
By the way, this decision was made by a 3 judge panel. 3 judges! California, you are in trouble when 3 judges have this kind of power.
Liberals often have the point of view that, if government does not do it, then there is something wrong. Government is more and more involved in our school system, and every parent knows, it is getting worse and worse. Furthermore, it is costing us more and more money. Everyone who reads this news review can attest to the fact that their local taxes have skyrocketed over the past decade or so. They can also attest to the fact that the public schools in their area have not gotten any better (there are a few pockets of excellence, but not many anymore).
If you are a liberal, you will need to understand that:
■More taxes does not give you more freedom.
■More taxes do not improve the public school system.
■More money poured into schools do no appreciably improve these schools.
■More government involvement does not make things better.
■People ought to make the laws, not our courts.
Read:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200803/NAT20080328a.html
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=69177
They will probably rescind this decision; but when 3 judges can make this kind of decision, we no longer live in a democracy.
Hillary is a Whore!
For the past 6 or 7 years, I have received a lot of hate-Bush email. Hatred, from the left or the right, is unacceptable and will never move our country forward. There are a huge number of liberals who think that continually lying about Bush and spewing forth hatred will win them the election. It is possible that it might. But we are not going to like the end results.
The left, fuming with hatred, has turned against itself. Randi Rhodes, a liberal talk show host and, apparently, a stand-up comedian (?), recently went on a rant against Clinton and Ferrarro, calling both of them whores in a routine.
Imus calls some girls "nappy headed ho's" and is fired; Rhodes says much worse than this, and is only suspended.
This apparently was some sort of a benefit for Obama. Will Obama apologize? I doubt it.
Here is one of the routines, unadulterated and uncensored:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfdhWi5MILo
the shorter also uncensored version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4FBYwz_UjA
At One Time, Rhodes liked Hillary
Back when Randi and Hillary were friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVEOwP4DyuI
Obama Bowls a 37
Obama bowled a 37 to show that he was just like everybody else. Someone pointed out (I forget who), "Can you imagine if Gerald Ford had bowled a 37? This would have been the punch line for a 100 jokes on late night tv for a week or two." With Obama, maybe some shows might use this one night.
What is surprising is, only Saturday Night Live consistently spoofs Obama, something that many late night shows are apparently afraid or unwilling to do.
Mary Katherine Ham tries to bowl at 37:
http://townhall.com/video/HamNation/1450_040408Bowl
Hillary Issues Bowl-Off Challenge
Hillary challenges Obama to a bowl off, and I have to admit, I was moderately entertained by her challenge. Too bad he doesn’t have the nerve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqO19JYOmY4
FoxNews Gets Better and Better
FoxNews is getting better and better every day. Two recent additions to FoxNews who can be seen on about every other program: Geraldine Ferrarro and Karl Rove. Ferrarro speaks uncensored on FoxNews, giving her opinion, expressing what a lot of people think, but are afraid to say. Karl Rove has been surprisingly non-partisan in his approach, evaluating each candidate on their merits and actions, and providing clear and concise analysis of this election. It is easy to see why Bush chose him to run his two campaigns; he is intelligent, engaging and objective. Both Ferrarro and Rove can be seen on almost any FoxNews show.
Speaking of interesting commentary, Bill O'Reilly brings Kinky Friedman on his show on Monday nights, and it is always refreshing to here what the Kinkster has to say. Last week, Kinky explained the meaning of politics: "Poly means many and ticks are little bloodsucking creatures." I only agree with Kinky half the time, but I always smile during his commentary.
A friend of mine a year or two ago suggested that I watch Brit Hume and the Fox All Stars (which are a variety of conservatives and liberals giving their opinions about this or that). This is about 5:40 pm central time, which makes it about 3:40 on the west coast. After seeing this the first time, I have watched this commentary almost every show since. When I am gone, I record this show. Charles Krauthammer is my fave. He appears to be in severe pain much of the time, and has a stare of your meanest teacher, but he says the most profound and interesting things.
On Saturdays, there are the Beltway Boys and FoxNews Watch; and on Sundays, there is Chris Wallace's FoxNews Sunday. These are great shows and Chris follows in his father's foosteps when it comes to asking probing questions.
By the way, O'Reilly was particularly pleasant toward Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich. We may or may not like these candidates, but they will take tough questions and give their real opinion without spin. That is all that O’Reilly asks.
If you are not watching FoxNews, do not buy into that falsehood that this is a newstation of racist Nazi conservatives--it is addictive, interesting and provocative. You will see all views presented here; and, those candidates with kahunas will show up on O'Reilly or Wallace's shows for tough questions.
Just Ask Obama
A question for Obama: most people can, by doing a little research (30 minutes to an hour or two) get a good idea as to what the Trinity Church of Christ is all about. We can see the enthusiasm in the faces of the congregants when horrendously anti-American things have been said in that church. When blatantly false statements are made about our government, we see them clapping and gleeful. How can you tell us with a straight face that you, after 20 years, did not understand what this church was all about?
Why has your organization not come up with an endless loop of pro-American statements made by your pastor, Reverend Wright? After 40 years of a ministry, there must some 5 or 6 statements made by minister Wight which express profound thankfulness to live in the United States of America? There must be a few statements which reveal a deep appreciation for the freedom which is found in this nation? You must be able to put together an endless loop of statements which the reverend Wright has made speaking of the blessings and privilege of living in America, right? You must be able to put together a few statements where he has said good things about, for instance, President Bush and what he is doing in Africa. You must be able to gather up, after a 40 year ministry the reverend speaking a few words here and there as to the blessings which America has brought to the rest of the world.
Given that you have raked in pretty much more money than all of the other candidates combined, don’t you have enough money to put someone on this task? Or do you realize that Wright has never made any patriotic statements in his church?
Does the World Hate US?
The mantra on the left is, we are hated around the world, we have lost our status in the world, and, Bush is the cause of this (he seems to be the cause of most of the evils in this world).
Recently, Bush got 100% ratification from NATO concerning missile defense system there.
The first two paragraphs from the Yahoo news read:
BUCHAREST, Romania - NATO allies gave President Bush strong support Thursday for a missile defense system in Europe and urged Moscow to drop its angry opposition to the program. The unanimous decision strengthened Bush's hand for weekend talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was "a breakthrough document on missile defense for the alliance." At Bush's first NATO summit in 2001, "perhaps only two allies gave even lukewarm support for the notion of missile defense," Rice said.
The complete article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080403/ap_on_re_eu/bush
Another article on the same thing:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080403/D8VQCM180.html
This will provide great military security for us and all of Europe and you probably will not hear anyone give Bush any credit for this.
Should Obama Drop out of the Race?
Someone made an excellent observation today. They said if Hilary and Obama's positions were reversed in terms of delegates and popular votes, NO ONE would be calling for Obama to get out of the race.
Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship
Dozens of Clinton supporters, including even those on his cabinet, have publically come out in favor of Obama (Bill Richardson is just one of many). I know personally of many Democrats who loved Bill Clinton, but voted for Obama.
I am probably the only commentator in the US who thinks that Clinton has better than a 50% chance to be the candidate for the Dems (most give her a 10% chance), although her stupid statements about coming into Bosnia under sniper fire screwed up what should have been a sure thing for her, after we found out a little about Obama’s American-hating 20 year pastor. Now the polling is back to where it was before we knew anything about Jeremiah Wright.
Is Hillary Clinton really that smart? In my opinion, she had this candidacy in the bag, and then threw it away in order to lie to us.
Sound Byte: Senator Lindsay Graham
“History will judge us not by when we left Iraq but how we left Iraq."
60 Minutes, Big Al and Global Warming
On 60 minutes, there was a segment on Al Gore and global warming. Just so the viewers would assume that this was not some suck-up, puff piece, nearly a minute was spent dealing with the opposing view. Now, did they mention that this degree climb over the past 100 years was lost this last year? Did they mention how there were places where it snowed this year for the first time in recent (and even far) memory? Did they mention the conference of 300 scientists who were skeptics who met for a conference recently in New York? Did they mention one of the films put out in Britain which rebuts "An Inconvenient Truth"? Of course not. The entire other side of the picture was, "You know, Dick Cheney, the sitting Vice President, disagrees with you?" (not an exact quote).
You know what they also forgot to do? They did not mention Al Gore's own business, which sells carbon credits; and they did not ask Al Gore why he will not debate anyone, anywhere, at any time over this issue.
That, my friends, is hard-hitting, no holds barred, take-no-prisoners journalism. Hats off to 60 Minutes for keeping us so well informed.
Jane Fonda Supports Obama
Perhaps the Vietcong tank which Hanoi Jane sat upon was used to shoot at McCain?
http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/jane_fonda_obama.html
http://www.tmz.com/2008/04/02/whos-hanoi-jane-backin-for-08/
Puff Piece of Reverend Wright
You know the media is going to run interference for Obama and tell us that Reverend Wright is not that bad of a guy.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYL_ICCVB3g8UAtMxocStkw0uwOgD8VQEMF80
Baby's for Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlPsuzCjPiM
Rush on Operation Chaos
Rush Limbaugh has encouraged some traditionally Republican voters to vote in the Democrat primary to keep Hillary Clinton in the race; he dubs this Operation Chaos.
Rush: An Operation Chaos battlefield update, this from Indiana: "Indiana's Democratic chairman said his party is ready to challenge the votes of any lifelong Republicans who attempt to vote as Democrats in the May 6 primary. Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said he is concerned Republicans may try to cast crossover votes to skew results in the close presidential primary between US Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. 'I'm only talking about crossover with mischievous intent,' Parker said of his party's plans to challenge suspicious voters. 'If there is a coordinated effort by Republicans to affect the outcome of our primary, that would be something the party would try through the challenge process to keep those voters out.'" Mr. Parker, the Republican Party has nothing to do with this. This is Operation Chaos.
CARL: Please stop the Operation Chaos. Please stop -- talk about the economy.
RUSH: No. We're not stopping Operation Chaos. It continues to gain steam, and as I say, there are plenty of wounded Democrats on the Operation Chaos battlefield. Snerdley wants to know how they're going to single this out. This story gets better, as it goes. He said, "'I'm only talking about crossover with mischievous intent. If there is a coordinated effort by Republicans to affect the outcome of our primary, that would be something the party would try through the challenge process to keep those voters out.' Lake County GOP Chairman John Curley said he finds that appalling. 'I haven't run into too many Republicans interested in a Democratic race, but you can't stop someone from voting a 'D' or an 'R,"' Curley said. 'This is America.' Lake County Elections Supervisor Michelle Fajman said challenges to voters can be made by party officials armed with voting records for the past 10 years. The challenge process would work like this: Voters must declare their party affiliation in spring primary elections. Local party officials watching the polling locations then could check the names of voters against a list of all registered voters that shows past party declarations. Fajman said any voter whose party affiliation is challenged can either decline to vote for the party in question or sign an affidavit, swearing under oath that they voted in the last election for a majority of the regular nominees of the party."
This is incredible! This is Stalinist! Party officials at the polling place trying to read your mind and determine your intent by comparing your votes and your registration for the past number of years? "She said a grand jury could investigate anyone who signed a false affidavit, but challenges are rare. Fajman said she hasn't received any indication of state or local Democrats mounting a serious voter challenge at present." So there you have it. The Democrat Party. I don't know if they all wear brown shirts in the Democrat Party in Indiana or not. The Republican Party, Mr. Parker, couldn't mount this operation if they tried. The Republicans have nothing to do with this, Mr. Parker. This is Operation Chaos.
CARL: I wish you would stop the Operation Chaos. It's ridiculous.
RUSH: That's Carl, by the way, from Philadelphia and Nashville. He's an official Obama organizer and campaign official, and he's desperate for us to stop Operation Chaos. So if you are an Operation Chaos operative, and you go vote, they're going to try to find out if you have malicious, mischievous intent. This is your modern-day Democrat Party. And of course keep in mind, and I keep saying this, it is just amazing to me, Democrats have been doing this for years. They did it in 2000 for McCain; they did it in 2008; they did it this year for McCain. The Democrats are always worried about who's being disenfranchised and not being allowed to vote, they're always claiming fraud. They're now the agents of fraud in Indiana by attempting to stop people from voting, intimidating them into not voting. Believe me, they know exactly what's going on here. I want to create a picture for you of what it's going to be like at polling places in Indiana on their primary, which is on May the 6th.
Democrat storm troopers will be out there raiding your house in the middle of the night, trying to find evidence that you are an Operation Chaos operative, that you are engaged in mischievous intent. Will there be a standing guard with dogs outside the polling place? Will there be roadblocks outside the polling places in Indiana? (laughing) The next thing that they will do, they will get hold of your kids, if they suspect you, if they find you on this list and see you've been registered Republican for ten years and all of a sudden you registered Democrat this time around, they're going to find your kids, they'll hang around outside the school and they'll ask your kids to snitch on you. They'll ask your kids, "Did you hear your parents, mommy and daddy talking about Operation Chaos? Did you hear your parents talking about Rush Limbaugh? Did you hear your parents having fun talking about crossing over and voting for Hillary Clinton?"
Now, what's interesting about this is throughout the rest of the country in remaining primary states, the Drive-By Media is doing their best -- and you'll hear sound bites of it today on the program. In Pennsylvania, for example, the Drive-Bys are still marveling at all of the late Republican registrations in the Democrat Party, and they're trying to chalk it up to the fact that Republicans are enamored with Obama, they love Obama so much, and some of them love Hillary so much, they're trying to say, "This had nothing to do with Operation Chaos. This had nothing to do with Limbaugh. It's just that our candidates are loved by everybody, including Republicans." Now, you Democrats in Indiana, that's a tack that you ought to take. But here you are, you're following in the footsteps of the great Democrats of Cuyahoga County in Ohio, and you're trying to intimidate people into not voting. I mean, this is just great. This is one of the great results of Operation Chaos, and that is that the Democrat Party is being forced, tricked, if you will, by us into openly displaying precisely who they are.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You people in Indiana, those of you operatives in Indiana, don't panic here. We at Operation Chaos headquarters are ready and prepared for any of these eventualities. By the way, we had a Drive-By Caller (a Drive-By Caller is somebody that calls with a great point, but can't stay on the air to discuss it himself or herself) pointing out that Democrats across the country are spending more time and energy on Operation Chaos voters than they do checking valid driver's licenses! (laughter) What a great point. This is how discombobulated we have them. Now, those of you members of Operation Chaos in Indiana who have registered -- you're a Republican, and you have registered to vote in the Democrat primary on May 6 -- you probably knew it before I announced it today that the Democrat Party is going to be on the prowl looking for you, intimidating you into not showing up and not pulling off your attempted crossover. Now, this is very simple to combat. It's all you have to do on Election Day, as an Operation Chaos operative. When you vote that day, don't bathe! Don't take a shower the night before, and don't take a shower the day of the election. Don't shave.
In other words: no grooming. Go out and get a pair of beat-up jeans, maybe some Birkenstock sandals or whatever. Tell 'em you don't really know what Obama thinks about immigration but you love it when he talks. You just love it. You love "the future." You love "change," and you are sick of Bush. Get some anti-Bush bumper stickers and put 'em on your car. Get a "Bush Lied, People Died" button. Get a "Bush lied, people died" bumper sticker. Some wacko lib website is sure to have this type of merchandise available. If you have an SUV, that's okay. Show up in it. Make sure to get a bumper sticker that says "W is Still the President," and you're mad about that and you've had it with the Republicans any number of ways. Don't wear a wedding ring. There are any number of things that you can do, ladies and gentlemen. All you have to do is fool their template. You know, they're going to be trying to find you. You know who the Democrats and the liberals are; they judge people by the way they look. So if you show up and look like a liberal. You're not even going to arouse suspicion.
But if you show up looking clean-cut, buttoned-down conservative type, that's going to attract attention. Don't smile! You are not happy, unless you start talking about Obama. Other than that, you're not happy. You walk in there with a frown, your head's kind of hung over. Especially because you're a Hillary voter. You don't think she's got a prayer, but you believe in the electoral process and the Democrat process. We will have further advice and tips for those of you in Indiana as Operation Chaos continues and as the date of your primary, May 6th, approaches.
April 3, 2008
Dems Vow to Crackdown on Crossover Votes
This is real.
Rush: Do not Accept Liberal Premises
RUSH: To Cincinnati. This is Alan. I'm glad you called, sir. It's great to have you.
CALLER: Hey, mega dittos, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I gotta tell you I'm a Rush Baby, and I'm doing my best to make sure that my kids are Rush Babies as well.
RUSH: Amen, bro. I appreciate that.
CALLER: No problem. My question, Rush, is basically I want to know why such a small minority of people, like the environmentalist wackos, can stop drilling in ANWR and they can stop us from making new refineries, but issues like tax cuts and border security are clearly supported by the majority and are ignored by people in Washington. What's the deal?
RUSH: I'm going to answer the question for you. It's a good question, and the answer is: it's not such a small minority. The environmentalist wackos -- if you just take them and the Sierra Club and all these groups -- that would be a minority, but that's not the problem. The problem is politicians. Politicians generally poll and focus group and find out what people want, and give it to them. That's how you stay elected. That's what's so frustrating to people like us. We want leadership. We don't want people bending and shaping with the wind. We want leadership. We want somebody challenging Democrat liberal premises. It's the cover commentary of the latest Limbaugh Letter just off the presses today: "Stop Accepting Liberal Premises." But that's what we do. Look, you couldn't get the ANWR vote defeated to drill in ANWR without some Republican votes. Because Republicans are in districts where there are a lot of people who think oil is destroying the planet and that we're using too much of it. This is the result of a 20- to 25-year campaign, and it has infected the minds of the American people. Let me give you a little story as an example here from the San Francisco Chronicle today.
They went out and they took a poll of people. "Californians support the idea of charging 'green' vehicle fees that would make drivers of gas guzzlers pay higher taxes and offer discounts for those driving less-polluting vehicles, according to a survey by a transportation researcher at San Jose State University. The state [of California] now charges drivers registration and licensing fees and gasoline taxes at rates that do not take into account vehicles' pollution levels. But the survey, conducted by Asha Weinstein Agrawal, a research associate with the university's Mineta Transportation Institute [named after Leon Mineta], found that Californians would support a variety of taxes and fees to raise money for transportation improvements as well as combat global warming, including: Raising vehicle registration fees, which now average $31, to an average of $62," doubling them, "and having higher-polluting vehicles pay higher rates and cleaner cars lower rates. ..." They also believe in "Levying a mileage-based tax that would replace the 18-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax. The per-mile amount would vary depending on how much a vehicle polluted the air. 'The public is very supportive of these green taxes and fees,'" said the researcher at San Jose State.
This is how it's worked. They have created all this guilt, and you've got people in San Francisco who think this has to be done, or has to be done, and when you have linguine-spined politicians who simply care about being reelected and doing what polls well. "But, Rush! But, Rush! That's what democracy is: the people, the will of the peoples." No, we are a representative republic. We are not a full-fledged democracy. We're not mob rule. We're not simply majority rule. We are a representative republic, and the idea used to be we would elect leaders -- leaders who might believe in their hearts that all of this is a giant hoax and a scam and would have the guts to stand up and say so and fight it. We have precious few of those people around. They might think it, but they don't have the guts to stand up and say it. So we go along and we get this notion that all these things have to... This is San Francisco. This is California in general. Don't forget the news out of LA yesterday, which was going to bump up similar registration fees and the gasoline tax to nine cents a gallon and so forth, in addition to whatever price hikes are down the road just from the market forces.
It's not a minority of people that are getting things done. It's not even a small minority of people that are getting things done. Washington Post today: "Washington Inaction on Polar Bears Criticized -- Democrats Blame Interior for Delay in Addressing Climate Change." Now we got food prices skyrocketing out there; we got energy prices skyrocketing out there. We got any number of problems that people are facing, and "Senate Democrats yesterday" spent a lot of time beating up George Bush for "failure to meet a legal deadline for determining whether global warming is pushing polar bears toward extinction and lashed their scheduled star witness -- Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne -- for declining to appear in his own defense." James Inhofe is one of these that will stand up, the Senator from Oklahoma, and tell people that the whole thing is a hoax and it's a rip-off and it is nothing more than an attempt to expand government by virtue of raising taxes and limiting people's liberty. James Inhofe said that the environmentalist wackos "are trying to use the act [the polar bear business] 'to achieve global warming policy that special interest groups cannot otherwise achieve through the legislative process.'"
So you've got little kids watching Algore's movie, they go home, and say (doing little kid impression), "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! The polar bears! The polar bears, they're dying! I saw a picture in the Gore movie! Polar bears, two polar bears on piece of ice, and it's buried six feet. They're gonna drown, Mommy! They're gonna drown." Parents don't want their kids frightened like that, so they join the cause, and this is not small minority. That's why this is something that's going to have to be fought, day in and day out. But I think there's progress on this. Algore announces on 60 Minutes a $300 million initiative to really get people to believe what's going on. What, the movie didn't work, Al? I guess the movie didn't have the impact everybody thought it was going to have. So there is hope here, and there a lot of scientists who are doing their best, but they get squelched and they get impugned in the Drive-By Media when they speak up. But, I'm telling you, this is the thing about democracies and representative republics: People generally get what they want. The environmentalist... This is the thing. Liberals get hold of something, and they don't stop. No matter how much of it they get, it's never enough. They want to keep going. This is traceable to 1980 to 1982, '83. This is when the modern global warming movement began, and it's been steady, and they just keep plodding away, and here we are now 28 years later, 25 years later, and it's taken hold. So we're accepting the premise and trying to refute it a little bit. We shoulda stomped on it way back when.
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Steve in Guntersville, Alabama, you're next on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, you're doing a great job.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: Listen, I just wanted to go over something very similar to what you just stated. I'm amazed at how dumb the American public has become. We tend to want to blame the White House on everything, but actually the Congress is killing us. They have $17.2 billion in earmarks and Social Security is going bankrupt. I mean, we've got to vote these people out --
RUSH: Wait a minute, wait a minute, you misunderstand.
CALLER: Oh.
RUSH: Congress issued a report late last week that there is no Social Security crisis. It's been really overstated, no problem.
CALLER: Oh, really?
RUSH: I'm not kidding. They did. It was a particular Democrat, and I think it was from the Senate, "There's not a problem. It's no big deal, everybody in a crisis mode about Social Security. We don't have a problem."
CALLER: Of course they're on a different retirement system.
RUSH: Of course they do, different retirement -- but you know, here's the point. I don't care whether we got a Social Security problem or not. The one thing American people don't want is earmarks, and both parties are doing nothing. They have no desire to stop 'em. That's why I have to laugh when I hear these guys constantly talking about budget cuts and deficit spending, all these other things. By the way, Steve, it's not the American people are dumb, it's not that. It's where Senator McCain was wrong yesterday. The American people aren't dumb. What is happening here is, and has been for much longer than this radio show has been around, a constant daily bombardment from the government and from the media of pure, unadulterated liberalism. A lot of people sit around and over 20 years of a bombardment, watching television every day, you're going to soak some of it up. You're going to start to believe it. And then if your friends believe it, nobody wants to argue with their friends, and then you couple it with the fact that a lot of people want their lives to have meaning and all these liberal causes, supporting them, can make people think their lives are going to mean something. Liberals are very smart about this, and they're patient. Because they're content to dominate news cycles, set the agenda, and as long as it takes, they're still controlling everything because there's not a political party around that's refuting the agenda or the premise.
I wish there were somebody besides Ronald Reagan that I could return to and cite as an example of how you fight and beat these people. And since it's such a great example, why our party has no desire of replicating it has been something that confounds me. I understand it, but still it confounds me. I don't agree with it, don't misunderstand, but it confounds me. Lee Atwater was one, too. Lee Atwater refused to accept the agenda and the premise -- just went out there, it was a political war, and he was out to destroy 'em politically, and he did, and they hated him, they despised him. We got too many people on our side that want to be liked by these people, appeasers and so forth. But if nobody's going to reject the premise on any issue that liberals put forth, then all we're going to be doing, it's like Mr. Buckley said way back early in his career, he had this phrase: "Standing athwart history and saying, 'stop.'" Meaning, we put the brakes on it for a while but we never get control of the agenda ourselves and start advancing it. That's what everybody wants, and for that, you need leadership. And it just isn't there.
Now, we have to do what we have to do, and right now stopping them is what we have to do. Stopping global warming, stopping the premise of manmade global warming, establishing that as a hoax. But then what do we do after we stop it, if we succeed in stopping it, what do we do? Well, then we generally, okay, we declare victory and we move on to the next liberal premise and try to stop it. They don't give up. They'll try an end around, illegal immigration, amnesty, a great example. We stop that cold, the whole thing, meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform, stopped it, and so Congress wised up and they start doing little incremental things like the S-CHIP program, sneak a little immigration amnesty in there, other little pieces of legislation. They just keep going, folks, they're Energizer bunnies, and right now we're in a mode where we just have to stop them, stand athwart history and shout, "Stop." It would be so wonderful to be in control of the agenda and bombard the American people every day with our beliefs. Look, I'm not trying to depress you. As you know, I'm optimistic. If we don't give up the fight we're going to eventually prevail, and it's going to go on long after we're gone but your kids and grandkids are going to be around as either beneficiaries or as victims of whatever happens today as we battle these issues ourselves, so it's always going to be an ongoing thing.
Who's next, Hayne in Mount Shasta, California. This is where the giant harmonic convergence was back in the eighties. Hello, Hayne. Nice to have you with us.
CALLER: Hello, Rush.
RUSH: Wayne. I'm sorry. I didn't have my glasses on. The "W" here in our 1970s computer looks like an H.
CALLER: No problem. Speaking of California politicians and fees, I got blindsided last Thursday when I received my registration fee for my ATV. The fee had gone up 100%.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait just a second. For those of you in the Northeast, ATV is all-terrain vehicle.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Okay, continue there, Wayne.
CALLER: So I was a little perturbed, I called DMV and said, "Hey what's this, I got a 100% increase in my fee." And he said, "Yes, the California legislature approved the rate hike." So I called my state senator, who said that --
RUSH: Hey, Wayne, Wayne. Speak right into the phone. Sounds like you've got your hand over the microphone on your phone.
CALLER: Okay. Is this better?
RUSH: Much better, yeah.
CALLER: Okay. I called the state senator, and I was told that DMV raises the fees, and that the legislature has nothing to do with it, which I know is not right. And she did not know how my state senator voted on it. I called my state assemblyman and was told that the person told me that she did not know how the assemblyman voted on it but he probably voted against the rate hike. So I called the governor's office and the governor's spokesman told me that he did not know how the governor voted on it, but blamed the Democrats because they control the legislature out here. So, in any event, California fees keep going up, and the buck keeps getting passed, and they won't even tell you how they voted on it or what their stance on these tax hikes are out here.
RUSH: And you're surprised by this?
CALLER: Not anymore.
RUSH: Good.
CALLER: Not anymore.
RUSH: Remember, you are a supposed to bend over and grab the ankles. You people that drive these ATVs, I mean you know how dangerous they are, those things could roll over, kill you and your kids and so forth, they pollute. You gotta pay the price for global warming, Wayne. You gotta pay it.
CALLER: I was told that it was all off-road vehicles. Now, it encompasses, you know, I think motorcycles and those boats, I forget what they call 'em --
RUSH: Same thing.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Big-time polluters, not necessary for people to get to work and to the grocery store and back. You don't need that ATV; you don't need an off-road vehicle; you don't need a motorcycle. If you want one and have one, by God, you're going to pay for it because that extra vehicle is making a bigger carbon footprint. I know how these people think. And of course you're not going to find any accountability.
CALLER: And probably they figure that if you own one, you're rich and you should pay the extra fees anyway.
RUSH: There's all of that. But I tell you what's going to happen, especially with this new proposal that I see that this researcher I just mentioned that's in the Chronicle today, San Francisco Chronicle, raising registration fees, and then getting into a sort of a two-tiered or three-tiered tax plan based on the kind of car you drive. They're going to raise taxes on the gas guzzlers. They're going to reduce gas taxes on what are called environmentally safe, nonpolluting cars. This is going to affect their tax rate income. If it doesn't go up, it's like when the gas price went up and the state was urging people to drive less, save the planet, drive less, be more economical, people, like sheep, did what the state said. It didn't take long for the state to realize, "Hey, our gas tax revenue's plummeting here." And so they raised gas taxes to make up for people following orders to drive less and go by more economical cars.
So the bottom line is, when you have a state government like yours in California, Wayne, which is run by liberal Democrats, you can make book on the fact that your government expenses, taxes, are going to go up every year regardless what you do to reduce them. If you follow your orders to drive less, if you got rid of your off-road vehicle, a lot of other people did, too, they would lose the tax revenue associated with it; they would raise taxes on the remaining vehicles. You live in a state totally run right now by liberals, including the governor, and I don't know what you can do. It's a fact of life for everybody that lives in states and cities totally run by liberals. Now, you look at the cities in this country that have been run by liberals for decades, you wouldn't want to live there. They are an absolute mess, the schools are a mess, jobs are being lost at a rapid rate. It's just frustrating. The evidence of not just the failure, but the damage that liberalism does to people is just all over the place. They ought not even exist is the point; they ought to be to discredited.
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RUSH: Who's next? This is Harry in Anderson, South Carolina. Hi, Harry, nice to have you with us.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Rush, I'm an initial subscriber to The Limbaugh Letter.
RUSH: That would be a charter subscriber, yeah.
CALLER: Yes, I am. I want to compliment you on its increasing content and volume. I remember when it was a four-page thing. But, Rush, I also subscribe to the military magazine. I'm a World War II vet. In February's issue, there was an article about how we spent 50 billion -- that's a "B," billion dollars -- since 1990 and found no human cause to change. The Taleo, I don't know, T-a-e-e-o climate scientist stating this is Bob Barker. So, that's a lot of money we spent, and yet its finding is being suppressed, and I just heard what you're saying on this last attempt.
RUSH: Yeah, but, see, you could have that finding publicized. You could have that finding put on the Associated Press. It could be the lead story of the nightly news cast tonight: "$50 billion dollars spent since 1990, no manmade cause for global warming has been found!" They'd run to Algore or some other global warming proponent, you know what they would say? "We've never said that there is direct evidence, and we can't afford to be wrong. We can't afford it! We have to take steps now. If we don't, 30 to 40 years from now, we're all going to be turned into cannibals!" There's ways around it. That's why nobody will come out and say definitely. Some of the wackos do, but that's why the 30-or-40-year variant.