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Terry’s Tidbits

By Terry Gray

 “Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.”

Dutch Proverb

Bush Comments

          Bush addressed his children on Thursday night, letting us know that he and the government let us down.  In 911 fashion, he assured us that everything would be better next time.

          He told us that poverty surfaced during Katrina.  I guess we should thank the hurricane for bringing this to our attention.  Apparently we didn’t know that there was poverty in New Orleans.  I guess now we’ll venture out into this vast nation and seek out and destroy poverty wherever we find it, at the expense of working people.

          Bush wants to give federal property in Katrina stricken areas to the poor so that they may build houses.  He views property ownership as a great pride builder and believes that a great land giveaway will pull many up from the depths of poverty and launch our nation into a new era.  Maybe he should meet with Supreme Court Justices Souter, Kennedy, Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer to let them know that eminent domain is off limits for these poverty stricken property recipients.  Even if the people receiving the property are able to get money to build homes, in a short time the properties will once again be run down and easy prey for the first word in eminent domain – blight.

          Bush wants us to know that he is doing what he can to get the federal government more involved in domestic catastrophes.  He thinks that the feds could have done a better job in the wake of Katrina if the government had more power.  He hopes to rectify this by appealing to the American people to give up some of their rights so they may be protected.  And why not?  It worked with 911, well, everything except the protection part.  He will likely alter the definition of the word “catastrophe” so that government troops, authorized by Homeland Security, can be sent anywhere on a presidential whim.

          The president wants to encourage minority businesses and will work to provide incentives for loans for minorities to open new ventures.  The “Gulf Opportunity Zone” will help break the cycle of poverty that prevails in our Gulf communities, according to Bush.  Minority incentives that have been in place for years are just not enough.  White folks need to move back in the line a little more so that we can take better care of the minorities in this great country.  In fact, we may expect two lines to develop, one for those who can pay back loans and one for those who can’t.  In fairness however, both lines will be called “loan lines” so that an official distinction cannot be made between “loan lines” and “gift lines”.

          The cycle of poverty exists because of government incentives that the poor receive to help them stay poor and dependent upon government.  His proposal isn’t going to break anything but the backs of working people.

          I would like to thank the president for keeping me posted on the status of my dwindling rights.  If rights were stocks, I would have sold long ago.  I am curious about something Mr. President, where is all of this money going to come from?  Our economy is not doing so well, in case you haven’t noticed, and it is getting worse by the hour.  You said you wouldn’t raise taxes, but that is your only source of income.  You have spread yourself very thin with two Gulf fronts, Iraq and New Orleans, and all you can do at this point is spend money that you don’t have.  We are pretty confident but disappointed that our next president will be a Democrat and one of the first things he will do is raise taxes to bail out the former administration.  In the end, taxpayers will pay and pay and pay, and the poor minorities in the American Gulf region, who will be much favored by our next administration, will continue to be dependent upon the government.

Real Sheeple

          Crotia has launched a new reality show featuring sheep instead of people.  Its goal is to demonstrate how reality shows treat people like animals.  Well, it takes the brain of an ameba to watch so called reality shows so I guess this is reality television with animals for animals.  You can watch it at:  www.stado.org.  Have fun.

More Anti-Tobacco Lies

“The Hunter Medical Research Institute says the study aims to identify the causes of inflammation in the airways of children with asthma and the results will be compared to the lung functions of healthy children.

Dr Bruce Whitehead says by establishing a link between passive smoking and asthma in children, it is hoped their exposure to tobacco smoke, particularly in the home, will be reduced.

"So-called passive smoking plays a major role in asthma, certainly clinically we know it does and it would be good to get some scientific basis for why it has the effect on asthma," he said.  (ABC News Online, 9-13-05).

The point of the research is to find a correlation between secondary smoke and asthma.  It is completely subjective.  The second paragraph foreshadows the true purpose of the study’s goal:  to ban smoking in private homes.  The third paragraph trivializes the phrase “passive smoke”, a nomenclature that was first uttered by anti-smoking fanatics.  More importantly is the association that the writer is trying to make concerning “passive smoke” and asthma.  These researchers apparently don’t read about what is going on in the world around them.  Smoking rates are going down while asthma in children is on the rise.  Maybe that is what they should be researching. 

          The third paragraph also establishes the fact that these researchers have no valid scientific basis for their Nazi agendas.
          Another group, “Ohio Tobacco use Prevention and Control Foundation” says that second hand smoke in a bar is more dangerous than exhaust fumes during rush hour.  In a new television ad, they use a particular bar as an example to illustrate their point.  The bar they picked sits on the shoulder of a congested freeway.  The exact quote used is, “The air in a smoky bar is 50X more toxic than a rush-hour freeway”.  The group has a $10 million annual advertising budget and is being investigated.

          As I mentioned, asthma in children is on the rise.  In the U.S. in 1970 the childhood asthma rate was 5.8% and the smoking rate was 40% of the population.  In 1997 the smoking rate was 24% and the rate of asthma in children was 35.8 %.  If exposure to second-hand smoke causes asthma, why is there such an inverse relationship between smoking and asthma?

          Antis are not stupid, just obtuse.  They know that they are in trouble with the asthma and smoking relationship.  So they invent stuff.  A recent study suggests that smoking and “metabolic syndrome” are connected.  “Metabolic Syndrome” sounds bad doesn’t it?  Doctor, how long do I have?  “Metabolic Syndrome” is a prediction tool.  It predicts who may be at risk for coronary heart disease and diabetes.  With the secondhand smoke/asthma connection in jeopardy, Antis immediately seek something else on which to blame secondhand smoke.  The “study” is published by the American Heart Association, the same group that lobbies for smoking bans.  This, folks, is what Antis refer to as an independent study.

Antis also like to use the bandwagon approach to smoking bans. They tell us that there are hundreds of cities in America with smoking bans but what they don’t tell us is that the vast majority of those cities have bans because they are sub-cities that fell within the jurisdiction of bigger cities.  Louisville Kentucky has dozens of smaller cities that would be affected by a Louisville smoking ban.  So when Antis say that there are 1700 cities with smoking bans, there really aren’t.  There are only a handful of metropolitan areas that have smoking bans, and those areas happen to have sub-cities like Louisville’s Shively, Fairdale, etc.  The bandwagon doesn’t exist except in the minds of the little Nazis who want their way.

          Along those lines, Champaign Illinois voted down a smoking ban while the little cities around Champaign eagerly awaited the vote in order to decide what they were going to do.  The mentality of nanny city leaders around the country can be seen in the response given to Champaign’s veto of a ban by 1^st Ward Alderman Charlie Smyth (D) of Urbana when he said, “I thought we made it clear to Champaign we were looking to them to provide leadership on this issue so we could have a level playing field.”  Hey moron, they did provide leadership.  They said that they didn’t want a smoking ban.  Is leadership only leadership when it goes your way?  If you think they are wrong, then go ahead and lead by enacting your own ban.

          You see, the problem with this is that Urbana can’t afford to run their smokers out of town.  If they enact a ban solo, smokers will take their business elsewhere.  Once again, so much for NO NEGATIVE ECONOMIC IMPACTS from smoking bans.

          Louisville is going to experience the same problem.  Be forewarned that the little ban that the city council enacted is just a taste of what is to come.  Antis are notorious for getting any kind of smoking ban they can on the books and then, once they’ve set a precedent, pushing for more and more oppression.  I predict their next step is to gather together the restaurants that will be impacted by the ban, those serving less than 25% alcohol, and inciting them to protest to the city council that they are being hurt economically because the ban restricts them but not other restaurants.  However, instead of requesting or demanding that the ban be revoked, they’ll call for a stricter ban, to “level the playing the field”.

Who Are You?

          Katrina taught first lady Laura Bush a valuable lesson that she wants to share with all of us, make sure that your kids know who they are.  

No Haven Louisville
          Louisville city leaders geared up for an influx of hundreds of Katrina evacuees last week and still maintain readiness in the event any displaced Katrina victims show up.  It amazes me that this world-class city wanna-be equates a smoking ban and new arena with attracting white collar businesses and white collar workers when in reality they can’t even attract poor evacuees from a major disaster.
          While I’m on the subject of Louisville and world-class cities, weren’t we told that the merger would make Louisville number 16 on the U.S. list?  It is really #26, according to Info Please.  It declined in population by 4.3% between 1990 and 2000.  I guess we won’t really know what is going on until 2010.  Let’s hope that Abramson isn’t Mayor still; we don’t want the census bureau misled.

How Prudish
          What is all the noise about breast feeding in public?  Listen, a kid is eating and a mom is nurturing.  I can’t imagine who would find fault with a combination of food and bonding.  Of course, I never understood this flesh taboo thingy that only “civilized humans” seem to have.  It is quite acceptable to show most of our appendages, and men are allowed to show their breasts.  Would it be taboo for men to breast feed?  Well, that could be gross.  Seriously, there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding a hungry child with one of the most nutritional meals that most kids get in a lifetime.  If you don’t want to see a mom breast feed her kid, then look the other way.  

Cherry Picking

          In the John Roberts confirmation hearings, I heard a Senator, when questioning Roberts, tell us that political speech on the internet should be protected by our 1^st amendment but vulgar pornography should not.  He was asking for Roberts’ view on this.  Roberts was elusive as he should have been given the set up of the question.  However, I would like for this senator to know that I’ve heard political speech that is far more vulgar than any pornography.  Any time that a politician wants to limit my freedom to make me safer, a goal for which he has no guarantees except the guarantee of the loss of my freedom, that is just plain vulgar.  You can’t have it both ways Senator.

Background Checks

          Stanley Steamer advertises that it conducts background checks for all of its employees.  This does not guarantee that they don’t hire criminals.  It just means that any murderers that they employ are warned not to murder while at work.

Betting It All

          What is wrong with gambling?  We do it at horse tracks, dog tracks, bingo, and in the hundreds of lottery games that are state sponsored.  What is the problem?  I can answer that question just like I can answer most questions that revolve around individual freedom.  There are a lot of people who don’t understand what freedom means.  They have an agenda and their agenda is the only agenda.  I heard an opponent of Kentucky gambling say that “gamblers are people with families”.  Is that supposed to mean something?  Most people have families, from murderers to priests.  Some people spend their entire budgets on alcohol.  Others spend it on Nascar.  Some go to the corner gas station and hold up the lines for long periods of time spending all of their money on lottery tickets.  Some lose it all on Bingo in the name of God.

          So Mr. Goody, come up with something else other than a morality stance against something that goes on every day in every walk of life.  Maybe you should crusade for minding one’s own business.  Or even better, campaign for the U.S. Constitution to be used as a text to teach children to read in schools.

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