IN THIS EDITION #22

We Need Your Help.

WHEN WILL WE STOP THIS ZERO TOLERANCE IDIOCY? 

MASSIVE DECLINE IN CHILD ABUSE FORECAST.

ANOTHER GOVERNMENT RIP OFF. 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! 

TEXAS SCAPEGOAT.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CAN'T DEFEND YOURSELF?

HAVE YOU HEARD OF GOLD STAR MOTHERS? 

OUR PRESIDENT WANTS A BIPARTISAN BILL...EDUCATING YOUR CHILD COMES SECOND.

MEANWHILE – DEMOCRATS CONTINUE CLASS WARFARE OVER TAX CUTS. 

MISPLACED POLAR BEARS.

We Need Your Help.

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WHEN WILL WE STOP THIS ZERO TOLERANCE IDIOCY? 

 Lindsay Brown is getting ready to graduate from Estero High School in a few weeks. What’s more, she’ll be wearing a gold tassel on her graduation gown, a tassel which honor’s her position as a National Merit Scholar.  After summer vacation Lindsay will start at Florida Gulf Coast University where she was awarded an academic scholarship.

Well, not really.  Yes, she’s a National Merit Scholar.  Yes, she has an academic scholarship.  But she won’t be wearing that gold tassel.  She won’t even be wearing the graduation gown.  Lindsay, you see, is our latest victim of the hysterical and intellectually vapid zero tolerance rubigo that permeates our insipid government schools across the nation.

A few weeks ago, Lindsay Brown moved some of her belongings to her new apartment.  During the move a kitchen knife – not a steak knife, not a butcher knife – just a simple little kitchen knife fell out of a box and became wedged under the front passenger seat.

When Lindsay drove that car to school on Monday the knife was spotted by a security officer.  Lindsay was arrested and taken to jail.  Taken to jail because there was a kitchen knife in her car.  The local Sheriff’s office considered the presence of this kitchen knife to constitute probable cause to believe that Lindsay intended to use this knife as a weapon to hurt someone.

Lindsay Brown spent nine hours in jail.  Nine hours in the custody of the state because of a kitchen knife in the car!  Now she won’t get to graduate with her friends.  She won’t go to the Senior class breakfast.  She won’t get to go to the yearbook party.  Yeah, she’ll get her diploma – and a record -- a record for bringing a “dangerous weapon” onto school property.

This is nothing less than mindless hysteria.  The leftist mania over guns has brought us to the point where common sense is virtually lacking in the operation of our government schools.

A kitchen knife is a weapon?  Consider this.  If you had to retrieve a weapon from your car, which would you chose?  A kitchen knife or the jack handle?  How about the tire iron?  Every single car in that parking lot at Estero High School has a tire iron.  They have transmission dip sticks that could be used as swords .  They have spark plug wires that could be used as garrotes.  The car itself could be used to mow down a fellow student.

Aren’t we supposed to be trying to teach our kids how to think rationally?  Is there anything rational about this zero-tolerance nonsense?

Lindsay is just one in a long list of victims of these idiotic zero-tolerance policies.

There was that Eagle Scout in Florida.  Remember him?  He had a Scout meeting one night at which he taught young Boy Scouts the proper handling of a hatchet.  The hatchet was in the trunk of his car, along with the rest of his Scouting gear, when he went to school the next day.  Suspended.  Kicked out.

How about that girl in Atlanta who was kicked out of a government school because she had a Tweetie Bird key chain?  The school principal said the chain could be a weapon.

Then there was that boy who took a knife away from a young girl who said she was going to use it to kill herself.  He locked the knife in his locker.  He got kicked out of school for four months.  Two days later that girl did try to kill herself, but failed.  Maybe if she had tried with that knife the kid took from her she would have succeeded.   Maybe he saved a life!  Doesn’t matter, kick him out of school.

This left-wing generated mindless politically correct hysteria over weapons in our schools MUST STOP!

The first line of defense? Getting your kid out of government school and into a private school where administrators actually think before they act. 

MASSIVE DECLINE IN CHILD ABUSE FORECAST .

It is with a sense of certainty that I can predict a massive drop in incidents of child abuse at around 3:30 or so this afternoon.  Government schools will close their doors for another summer.

ANOTHER GOVERNMENT RIP OFF. 

Perhaps you saw this one on a recent CBS 60 Minutes broadcast also.  Just another in an endless series of revelations as to how the taxpayers of this country are being taken advantage of by federal power brokers.

We’re talking about the Federal Crop Insurance Program .. largely run by private insurance companies.  I know, sounds dull.  Let me try to make it interesting.

This story takes place in Tillman County, Oklahoma.   You need to know that they don’t grow corn in Tillman County.  They don’t grow corn there because corn doesn’t grow there.  Seems like a good enough reason.

So, what does the U.S. Department of Agriculture do?  Why, they go marching out to Tillman County and announce to the farmers there that the USDA is now authorizing crop insurance companies to insure corn crops in Tillman County.  In other words, they’re going to authorize the insurance companies to promise money to farmers if they plant a crop that doesn’t grow there and then, in fact, that crop doesn’t grow there.

What happens then?  Well, farmers plant acre after acre of corn and then rush off to the crop insurance companies to insure their crops.  Over the course of two years the number of acres in Tillman County planted in corn rise from 500 to 150,000.  And, guess what?  Most of the crops fail!  They die!  No corn! The farmers march off to the insurance companies and claim their big, fat insurance checks!

OK --- here’s a question.  Why would an insurance company write a policy on a crop the insurance company already knows is going to fail?  Wouldn’t that be like writing a life insurance policy on a man with terminal cancer?  Only government does idiotic things like that --- writing flood insurance policies on property with an expected flood crest two days ago would be an example.

You’ve already guessed it.  You’re right!  Under federal law these crop insurance companies can decide which of their own policies are the riskiest and pass them off to the federal government to pay --- with taxpayer dollars.  These insurance companies know the corn crops are going tango uniform – so they pass them off to the feds, and to you.

You, then, were paying farmers in Tillman County, Oklahoma to plant crops that they knew were going to fail.

Your tax money at work.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! 

Another dangerous predator has been removed from our midst.

It all happened on Monday at a shop called the Beeper Stop in Lake Worth, Florida.  A man came into the store, apparently to "case" it.  He returned at 5 p.m. saying he wanted a beeper.  The store's owner, 47-year-old Noe Brewster, turned to get paperwork--and turned to face a handgun. Brewster had a handgun of his own.  He got his chance to reach for the gun when the robber pointed his gun at a woman and baby who entered the store.  The woman was Brewster's daughter-in-law and the baby was his grandson.  The robber threatened to kill them if he didn't get money.

Noe Brewster grabbed his gun and shot the punk once in the face.

The would-be robber, 35-year-old Orlando Guadalupe, is now dead.  Police say his death is similar to the end result of another attempted holdup on May 11, where a jeweler at a Lake Worth pawnshop killed one of the two men trying to rob him.  Brewster and the jeweler know each other.

The dead predator also chose to rob a shop that's right across the street from the Lake Worth police station.  Not smart.  Guess he couldn't read the big sign that reads "Police."  No matter--he won't need to read ever again.

How would this potentially deadly situation have resolved itself if Noe Brewster had been required to keep the gun separated from its ammunition?  Or if he'd had to put a trigger lock on the gun?  Or if the Imperial Federal Government didn't allow him to own that gun?  Would he, his daughter-in-law, and her baby have survived?

TEXAS SCAPEGOAT

As expected following the release of the Bush Energy Plan, California Governor Gray Davis went off on the administration for not putting price caps on wholesale electricity prices. He even tried to link California's energy woes to George W. Bush. He said, "We are literally at war with energy companies who are price gauging us, many of those companies are in Texas." But of course the Press simply reported the Governor's rant without any challenge - they could only see one shade of 'Gray'.

Ahhh. Let me give you some facts to put in this equation. April 11, Governor Davis signed an $850 million Bond Package that he claimed would ease California's power pressures - it didn't. April 18, Davis admitted the truth, he said, "We all have to make up for the mistakes of the last 12 years when no major power plants were built." April 24, Davis promised we are providing steady and reliable leadership, and I believe this thing will be behind us by the end of fall. We'll see.

And don't forget the day before, Pacific Gas and Electric, a major California energy company went belly up in early April. Governor Davis was too busy to deal with it - he was out fundraising. In short, Governor Davis wants a Texas scapegoat upon which to blame his mismanagement. He, and not President Bush or Texas companies have been in charge of the California mess. Every action he has taken has made things worse, either because of his leadership or lack of it. The bottom line is when he comes out and blames Washington, he is admitting to his own inability to run the state.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CAN'T DEFEND YOURSELF?

Remember the story of the woman who stopped a knife-wielding attacker at a
Wal-Mart in Spring Hill, Florida?  Last May, Sandra Suter pulled her licensed .40-caliber handgun to quickly stop a shoplifter's assault against store employees.

Now Robert A. Waters (author of "The Best Defense") brings us a recent story that shows us what happens when no one has a gun for self-defense.

At midnight on May 6, at a Wal-Mart in Lexington, Kentucky, Jorge Soto Luke walked out of the store.  The buzzer went off, indicating that he had been shoplifting.  A cashier, Aswana Waddy, yelled for Luke to stop.  He didn't.  No employees followed him out of the store.

Luke returned 15 minutes later with a knife.  He rushed Waddy and punched her, knocking her to the floor.  He began stabbing her. Two customers who tried to stop the attack were also stabbed.  Two store employees then tried to help, but Luke stabbed them too.  Another employee tried to pull Waddy away from Luke.  He stabbed her in the shoulder and slashed her face.

After nearly ten minutes, several male employees rushed Luke and subdued him.

Police say as many as eight store employees and customers had been knifed.  All of the victims except Waddy were released within 24 hours.  Waddy's injuries were severe enough to require surgery and a long hospital stay.

Later, the police investigation revealed that Luke was a crack addict with a history of mental illness.

No one in that Lexington Wal-Mart was armed.  There was no Sandra Suter there to stop this crackhead from injuring eight people.  Every single employee or customer who tried to stop Jorge Soto Luke was stabbed...and the attack seemed to go on forever.  It's unlikely that the attack would have gone on for so long if even one customer or employee had been carrying a gun.

All you anti-gunners out there...since you believe Sandra Suter shouldn't have been carrying that mean, nasty gun in that Wal-Mart in Florida, tell me how this situation in Kentucky--where the armed assailant was allowed to continue his rampage for ten minutes--was any better since no one had a gun.

HAVE YOU HEARD OF GOLD STAR MOTHERS? 

Gold Star Mothers is an organization made up of women whose sons were killed in military combat during service in the United States armed forces.  Recently a delegation of New York Gold Star Mothers made a trip to Washington D.C. to discuss various concerns with their elected representatives.  According to NewsMax.com there was only one politician in D.C. who refused to meet with these ladies.  Can you guess which politician that might be?  Was it New York Senator Charles Schumer?  Nope, he met with them.  Try again.  Do you know anyone serving in the Senate who has never showed anything but contempt for our military?  Do you happened to know the name of any politician in Washington who’s husband once wrote of his loathing of the military?  Now you’re getting warm!  You got it!  None other than the Queen herself, Hillary Clinton.  She refused repeated requests to meet with the Gold Star Mothers. 

Now --- please don’t tell me you’re surprised.   

This woman wants to be president of the United States --- and there is a huge percentage of the voters who are anxious to help her achieve that dream. 

OUR PRESIDENT WANTS A BIPARTISAN BILL...EDUCATING YOUR CHILD COMES SECOND.

All that refuse weighing down the education bill?  You can thank the Democrats for inserting the garbage...and the Bush administration for going along with it, all in the name of a "bipartisan" agreement.

Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, said the bill was designed to appease California Representative George Miller.  Weyrich described Miller as "to the left of Ted Kennedy on education."  Miller and his friends took Bush's bill and turned it into a big-government, big-spending, socialist piece of legislation.  Weyrich adds that they did so "with the blessing of the White House."

Under the education bill, the Department of Education's budget will increase by 22 percent.  Government school students will be treated to more mediocre instruction.  They'll be prevented from escaping; the provisions for private-school vouchers are gone.

Republicans who didn't like what was going on went to the Bush administration.  The administration replied "the president wants to sign a bipartisan education bill."

All of which means your child's education is going to go to the dogs for one more year...just because the president wants a bipartisan education bill.  Image trumps substance yet again.

George Bush may have brought decency back to the White House, but he still can't overcome the apparent Republican gutlessness.

 

MEANWHILE – DEMOCRATS CONTINUE CLASS WARFARE OVER TAX CUTS 

The Republicans and their six or so Democratic supporters in the Senate are trying to get a tax cut bill on the president’s desk as soon as possible.  The Democrats chose yesterday to ratchet up the class warfare rhetoric in an attempt to stall, perhaps kill the tax cut. 

One of the favored Democrat class warfare themes is to tell their constituents that only lower and middle income people actually work; the rich don’t.  Consider the words of Democrat class warlord Byron Dorgan from North Dakota on the Senate floor yesterday:  “We’re not going to apologize to anybody for fighting for a fair share of this tax cut for the people who work for a living in this country.” 

The message?  Rich people don’t work for a living.   Therefore, they’re not entitled to keep any more of their own money.  After all, it’s not like they worked for it or anything. 

MISPLACED POLAR BEARS

The Washington Post thought it a good idea to join in the slamming of George Bush over his plans to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  The Post, a notoriously left-wing newspaper, went for the “awwww, isn’t that cute!” factor with a picture of a female polar bear and her two cubs.  The Post told its readers that the picture of these cute bears was taken smack in the middle of the ANWR.  The desired result?  Readers will be outraged at the thought of disrupting or threatening the lives of these bears and will turn against the evil Bush and his energy plan.

So --- now there’s a correction!  Alaskan officials knew the truth about this picture, and the Post hurried to print a correction --- which read, in part, “The file photo, taken in the early 1980s, actually showed bears on pack ice 30 miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea, about 200 miles northwest of the ANWR.”

Neil Boortz is a syndicated talk show host based in Atlanta Georgia. You can visit his website at http://www.boortz.com.