from the front: fallujah revisited press 11-30-6.pdf · book review page 13 pet of the week page 15...

Penny Press

Las Vegas, NV Volume 4 Number 10 N

OVEMBER 30, 2006

From The Front:

FallujahRevisited

See Page 3

THE PENNY PRESS, NOVEMBER 30, 2006 PAGE 2

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Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Diane Grassi Al Thomas Circulation: Doug French Bill HereCharlotte Weinberg John Getter Pat Choate Joyce Meyer Bob Jennings

The Penny Press is published weekly by 5010 Productions, Inc. All Contents © Penny Press 2006

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be sent to our offices at 418 1/2 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas 89101. They can also be emailed to: [email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable let-ters will be printed.

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By MAj. GEN. WiLLiAM B. CALdWELL, iV

Special To The Penny Press

If you follow the news com-ing out of Iraq, you have seen too many headlines about the blood-

shed in Baghdad in recent days. As American servicemen and women prepare to spend a fourth holiday season trying to help build a new Iraq, these headlines have led some people to conclude that our mission may be hopeless.

However, my recent visit to Fallujah has reaffirmed my strong conviction that as bad as the situa-

tion may sometimes appear, there is still reason to be optimistic for Iraq’s future.

Although it has been out of the headlines for some time, take a min-ute to recall why the name Fallujah resonates so strongly in our col-lective memory. Perhaps the most disturbing images of Operation Iraqi Freedom emanated from Fallujah on March 31, 2004, as the bodies of four murdered American contrac-tors were desecrated and the charred corpses hung off the Euphrates River Bridge for the world to see. The “Fallujah Brigade,” a unit comprised of former Iraqi army officers, failed to prevent warlords allied with Al Qaeda in Iraq from effectively tak-ing over the city. Foreign fighters and terrorist insurgents imposed a Taliban-like regime over the city, torturing and beheading innocent

people who just wanted to enjoy the freedoms that resulted from the fall of Saddam Hussein. (One torture chamber later uncovered included cages in the basement and a wall covered with bloody handprints). With more than 100,000 explo-sive rounds stockpiled in weapons caches throughout the city, these invaders of Fallujah exported scores of suicide bombers bent on mass murder. The population of Fallujah fled in droves, reducing the number of residents to only 50-60,000. By October 2004, Fallujah was a city without security, without stability, and seemingly without hope.

In order to rescue the people of Fallujah and eliminate it as a base of operations for Al Qaida, Coalition forces launched Operation Al Fajr, or “The Dawn.” Led by American Marines, Coalition Forces battled

2-3,000 terrorists in fierce and sus-tained urban combat. Although Fallujah was liberated, half the city was decimated by the intense com-bat.

What has happened to Fallujah since that ferocious battle?

Last week, I saw a city of 350,000 people who have made incredible progress over the past two years. In the aftermath of Operation Al Fajr, in March of 2005, there were 3,000 United States Marines and only 300 Iraqi Security Forces in Fallujah. Today, the people of the city are protected by 1,500 members of their own Iraqi Security Force and only 300 Marines. The police are com-prised of native Fallujans, and enjoy strong support from the local popu-lation. They are able to patrol their own neighborhoods, enforce their

Penny PressLAS VEGAS, NEVAdA 16 PAGES VOLUME 4 NUMBER 10 NOVEMBER 30, 2006

Penny Wisdomi know not with what weap-ons World War iii will be fought, but World War iV will be fought with sticks and stones. —Albert Einstein

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of Las Vegas

Inside:Chasing Away Good SoldiersSee Editorial Page 6

PAT CHOATE PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7BILLHERE PAGE 8AL THOMAS PAGE 10WYATT COX PAGE 11JOYCE MEYER PAGE 12BOOK REVIEW PAGE 13PET OF THE WEEK PAGE 15

From The Front: Fallujah Revisited

Commentary

Continued on page4

own laws, and handle the transition to responsibility for their own security and growth. Despite the sectarian violence which plagues other parts of the country, I saw the commander of the local Iraqi army unit, a Shi’a, sit and work productively with the local police chief, a Sunni – a relationship few would have believed possible in Fallujah just a year ago.

I attended a city council meeting, where a democratically elected mayor and city council led the deliberations about the peoples’ business. To be honest, the Council’s discussion of traffic control was not exciting. But the mundane business of a functioning democracy can be uneventful when its institutions are working properly. At the same time, it was exciting to witness democracy in action on soil that once seemed entirely inhospitable. Membership of the Fallujah Business Association has grown from only 20 members last February to over 350 today, demonstrating optimism for eco-nomic growth. I even saw a processing center where Fallujah welcomes persons displaced by instability elsewhere.

Fallujah’s transition has not been easy. Terrorists and insurgents are waging a brutal campaign of murder and intimidation against the city’s gov-ernment and police force. Unemployment remains high, and there is still much rebuilding to be done. But Colonel Larry Nicholson and the young Marines of Regimental Combat Team-5 firmly believe they have turned Fallujah into a model of what Iraq can become. Iraqis themselves support this hope, as families have been arriving in Fallujah en masse to seek shelter from instability in other parts of Iraq.

In October 2004, the world saw the incredible courage of the Coalition Force, as Marines did their part to create hope for Iraqis. Today, visitors to Fallujah can see the courage of Iraqis for themselves.

Difficult times remain ahead for the U.S. and Coalition Forces in Iraq. Many sacrifices remain to be made by both U.S. servicemen and women and their Iraqi partners in Fallujah. But the city is an example of what can be achieved when courageous leaders, brave security forces, and hard-working citizens unite for a common goal – a secure and unified future. The progress in Fallujah demonstrates that with time and effort, recovery is possible in Iraq in the wake of brutal violence. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV is spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq and is based in Baghdad.


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Fallujah Revisited

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Open Letter To The DemocratsDear Democrats:

I am pleased that you won con-trol of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. I urged vot-ers to throw out the GOP on these pages.

The Republicans had become arrogant and forgotten why the American people put them in control in 1994. It was time for them to be out of power for a while.

All Americans hope you learned much during your years in the politi-cal wilderness. But just in case the messages of 1994 and 2006 are still

a little vague, let me explain what they were.

First, we are tired of political corruption.

You work for us, but both par-ties seem to think that big contribu-tors to your campaigns are all that matter and that those who give the most should get the largest part of your attention. If you really want to hold your control over Congress, you should enact a series of ethics reforms. The most basic of those is that at a minimum all political contributions must be made public immediately upon receipt. If you are embarrassed by the sources of your campaign funds don’t take the money.

Second, the American people

realize that globalization is a scam by a wealthy few in the financial com-munity, offshore manufacturers and transnational corporations to make big bucks off the downsizing of the American living standard. If you are unwilling to reverse the giveaway trade deals such as NAFTA, we will find someone who will in the next few elections.

Third, the Iraq war has been lost. The people of that region do not want us there. They want to fight a religious war. They are willing to kill each other for the simple fact of the differences in religion. We should not be there. We have given the Iraqis a chance to have democ-racy and a better life. They do not want it. We should not force it upon them. Bring our troops home now.

Domestically, we hope you real-ize that we are quite dissatisfied by the almost criminal way that you run our elections. The very idea that two

to three percent of all votes cast are discarded because our political lead-ers cannot figure out how to count the votes or hold an honest elec-tion is simply unacceptable. Again, Democrats, if you cannot give us full and honest counts, we are fully prepared to replace you with people who will.

Finally, I hope that both parties recognized that the largest block of voters was independents.

I am one. We are sick and tired of the two

parties and their games. A massive block of we voters have no alle-giance to either party, but only to our country. We will go with the best candidate – Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Independent in the next and succeeding elections.

I wish you success and will be watching what you do.

PAt ChOAtE


Commentary: Pat Choate

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:

Stanford Washburn, a 48-year-old homeless man who, with a few of his friends picked up a 5,000 pound Cadillac which was on top of a nine year old girl after a Saturday accident in North Las Vegas. Heroes come from everywhere. Sometimes they don't have houses, but they always have hearts.

Judge William Voy who ordered five juveniles accused of arson to remain in custody until risk assessments can be presented to the court later this week. Their lawyers made all the usual arguments but it appears that Judge Voy has the requisite cojones for dealing with this nonsense.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The City of Las Vegas for closing what should forever be known as Oscar's Bum Park after spending millions to build it. The park, in the traffic circle at Maryland and Charleston has been a painful location for the city because nobody in cityhall is smart enough to figure out how to stop transients from staying there. How about using some of those overworked city marshalls we pay huge sums of money to for doing mostly nothing? Why not hire Bill Walters to find a solution? He's smarter than everyone in cityhall put together.

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If you ever wondered why I freely give our space over to General William Caldwell, our military spokesman in Iraq, as I have this week’s cover story, it is because had our civilian leadership been a little smarter in Viet Nam, I might have been in his position, sometime in the last ten years.

I never served in the United States’ military.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a tail-edge baby boomer which made me a 20-year-old, as accomplished in the media as 20-year olds got in 1972.

I knew that I’d be willing to die for my country but, unlike John Kerry, I didn’t see military service as a requirement for a future political career.

I didn’t have a fundamental disagreement with the war in Viet Nam. I had a fundamental disagreement with getting into a war in which what then passed for our civilian leader-ship set up our military to lose.

You don’t think that’s the case?

Take aside any of our then best and brightest who served there as officers and ask them.

By the time I was eligible for the draft in 1972, even my 20-year old mind could comprehend that our civilian leader-ship would not let us win in Viet Nam. They didn’t have the stomach for it.

Under those circumstances, as committed as I was then and am now to a strong defense, I decided that if I was drafted I would, of course, go but I would not enlist so I could be part of a losing effort.

As luck would have it, since then, I have had the opportunity to work closely with the all-volunteer force which resulted from that debacle.

They are first rate.

But, once again, I see the signs that what passes for our civilian leadership doesn’t really want to do what is neces-sary to win a war and the victims happen to be our all vol-unteer forces.

If I can see this, so can they.

Here’s what that attitude on the part of the civilian leader-ship cost us in the early 70s.

Officers and enlisted men like me.

We might not have been career military. We might have been. I now find myself older than all but the most senior personnel and wonder what might have happened had I not made the very conscious decision that I didn’t want to be part of an organization that however necessary was con-signed to losing a war because our civilian leadership lacked cojones.

I certainly was not alone.

A whole generation of folks my age chose not to serve because we didn’t choose to be forced to lose a war.

As a result, our military was deprived of some very promis-ing eventual leadership.

I’m not denigrating those who served. Military service in the 1970s was like trying to push an egg uphill with your nose. It took a very special individual to become a leader under those circumstances. And we have some very special people in senior command capacities today.

But not enough.

And we are in danger of decimating our future leadership corps by making the same mistake we made in Viet Nam. Fighting a war which we had no intention of winning.

Cutting and running is NOT a winning strategy.

It wouldn’t have worked in World War Two and it won’t work in Iraq.

And if that offends some of our newer members of Congress they should read something about Viet Nam. And remem-ber that he who ignores history is condemned to repeat it.

FRED WEINBERG


OPINIONFrom The Publisher...No Cojones? We Lose. It's That Simple.


Commentary: Doug French

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In Memoriam…Sort ofPeople ask me what is the one policy change I would make that I think

would lead to smaller government and more freedom. That one thing would be to do away with the Federal withholding tax. Imagine if everyone had to pull out their check books every April 15th and write a check in the amount of 20, 25, 30 or 35 per cent of their income to the Internal Revenue Service? Do you think every Dick and Jane out there would happily fire off four, five, or six-figure checks to the government figuring that they had received their money’s worth of government services the previous year?

“Yep. The Feds were sure there when I needed ‘em last year. I like what they’re doin’. Those folks in Washington sure have a handle on the war on drugs and the war on terrorism. They’ve finally straightened out the airports. Plus, they’re takin’ care of those crooks on Wall Street. The TSA and SarBox have finally made it safe again.”

Uh: Probably not. Without the use of employers as being unpaid tax collectors, the Federal Government would not only not receive the amount they are raking in currently, but what they did get, they’d get later. More importantly, the collective Boobus Americanus might wake up as to just how much they are handing over to a run away government that is unac-countable to its citizens. Maybe someone could run for office on a cut government and cut taxes platform again and win.

So just who on earth dreamed up withholding tax? Before WWII, few Americans actually paid income taxes, but those that did wrote a check for the entire amount each spring. But, in order to pay for the Big One, the Revenue Act of 1942 lowered exemptions, raised income tax rates, and also instituted a 5 percent “Victory Tax” on all wages above an exemption of $624. The new tax was to be collected by the employer and deducted from the employee’s paycheck, just like the Social Security tax that was instituted in 1935.

As economics instructor Laurence Vance explains, “the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 then revolutionized the income tax by making with-

holding taxes universal.” The withholding tax was part of the new tax plan offered by Beardsley Ruml, the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and treasurer of R.H. Macy and Co. Within two years, three-fourths of Americans were paying federal income taxes to pay for the war. At the time, the withholding tax was sold as a wartime emergency. But, like most expansions of government instituted during wartime (or anytime), it has been a way of life for wage earning Americans ever since.

Interestingly, one of the supposedly great champions of freedom also had a hand in instituting the withholding tax. The recent passing of Chicago School economist Milton Friedman at age 94 generated an outpouring of adulation from conservatives and libertarians alike. But, one little item has not been mentioned often: Friedman played an important role, while work-ing as an economist in the Treasury Department, in the implementation of the withholding tax.

Conservative journalist Linda Chavez recounted recently that dur-ing an interview with Friedman, she made the point with the Nobel Prize winner: “I have to write a check every quarter to pay my taxes because I’m self-employed,” and “If more Americans had to do that instead of having the money automatically deducted from their paychecks, people would quit thinking of taxes as the government’s money rather than their own. We’d have a huge tax revolt,” Chavez asserted.

Chavez writes that she then heard Rose Friedman’s voice from the kitchen. “See, I told you what mischief you were causing,” Mrs. Friedman hollered.

“The withholding tax was my fault,” Friedman told Chavez, admitting that he helped design the federal withholding tax.

And we still live with the consequences: bigger government, expensive wars and higher tax rates. “The whole ghastly [tax] system would have happily broken down long before this,” Murray Rothbard wrote back in 1971. “In many ways, we have Milton Friedman to thank for the present monster Leviathan State in America.” DOUG FRENCh


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LAS VEGAS OPENINGS COMING UP. =============================2006++++Dec. 4= 2006 Billboard Music Awards - MGM Grand Garden Arena [FOX-TV].+++++++++ Dec.13= Steve Wyrick opens his often delayed 430-seat theater with the Ronn Lucas(the comic ventriloquist)Show, the Martin Nievera (Filipino pop star) show and his own Steve Wyrick (magic) show in the Desert Passage Mall inside the Aladdin.++++++++++Mid-Dec= Magician Rick Thomas (formerly at the Stardust) opens his show at the Orleans.Dec.??= REVOLUTION Lounge, inspired by the Beatles, opening in the Mirage.2007++++Jan.29,2007= MISS AMERICA PAGEANT - Aladdin.++++++++++Jan.31,2007= A 90-minute version of The Producers, the smash Mel Brooks musical will open. The Las Vegas version will have no intermission. The musical, which won 12 Tony Awards, is in its sixth year on Broadway. David Hasselhoff will be one of the stars of the show - Paris Las Vegas.++++++++++ Feb.18,2007= NBA Basketball All-Star Game in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center.+++++++++ Feb.??,2007= Klondike Hotel & Casino closed 6/30/06. Present plans call for 25 stories, 1,200 hotel & condo units with 90,000 sq.ft. casino. Construction could start Feb., 2007.

++++++++++Sometime in early 2007, the Lady Luck, which closed February 12, 2006, will reopen after major renovations have been com-pleted.++++++++++ Mar.9-11,2007= NASCAR Weekend.+++++++++++LAS VEGAS CLOSINGS COMING UP.============================= 2007= Noted architect Paul Steelman has been hired to design Montreux, the resort that will rise after the NEW FRONTIER is imploded in 2007. Montreux, given a Swiss mountain theme, will cost $1.9 billion, with 2,750 rooms and include a big shop-ping mall and dining and entertainment amenities. It will open in 2009.+++++++++ 2007= Sometime in mid-2007 Imperial Palace will close and will be demolished. Harrah’s will then be connected to the Flamingo.+++++++++2007= Sometime in late 2007 Caesars Palace headliner Celine Dion is closing her show as she is planning for a second child at the end of her Las Vegas run. Dion, whose 4-year deal expires in early 2007, told Tele 7 Jours, a French entertainment magazine, “I’m approaching 40 years old, and I have to tend to that.” Her son, Rene-Charles, was born in January 2001 after in vitro fertil-ization. The frozen embryo of her second child awaits in storage at a New York clinic. CHER, MADONNA, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel ETC. are rumored to replace her.+++++++++ ====================================Please e-mail errors, omissions and additions to:[email protected]


Commentary: Albert ThomasWhen To Sell A Fund

Very few brokers will ever call to tell an investor it is time to sell a mutual fund or Exchange Traded Fund. One of the basic reasons is he told his client it was a great fund and now that it is doing poorly it would make him look bad to say “get out”.

Brokers have not been taught that a small loss is much better than a big loss. It is better to be embarrassed than let a client lose a big chunk of his equity.

If the investor had been smart in the beginning he would have chosen a no load fund. That’s one with no commission. Why would any person want to start 5 to 8% in the hole when hundreds of no load funds outperform the load funds? They fell for brokers’ lies.

There are a few services that do advise selling, but most I have reviewed wait until the loss is severe before pulling the plug. The investor should not have to sustain a 20% loss to be told to sell. Five to 8% is more than suf-ficient. The patient can live with having a finger amputated rather than wait for gangrene to set in and have the arm removed.

Most brokers will look at 3, 5 and even 10 year performance records to determine if a fund is good or not so good. They compare its performance against the S&P500 Index. This is pure nonsense. During any 10 year period the S&P will have had periods of 20 to 40% losses. That is not why a person buys a fund. Don’t fall for that one.

There are times when the best position is in an interest bearing money market fund even if it is paying less than 1%. If a fund is following the S&P and it is headed into the tank with your money attached it is time to bail. Money under the mattress at no interest is better than riding a fund down 40% or more. Get out.

When a fund is dropping or not going up even when the S&P is rising the investor might call his broker to ask why. He will get the stupid answer, “It is just a temporary period. The manager has an excellent 10-year track record. Hang it there. It will come back” And pigs can fly. It is not his money.

Beating the S&P is about as dumb a benchmark as there is, but it has been told so many times it has become conventional wisdom. In a recent study by Litman/Gregory Research they found that of 266 funds nearly all underperformed their benchmark index for 36 months during a 10 year period. They don’t mention if they made it back to the old high prices. Many did not.

It might not be a bad idea to compare what a fund has done for the past 5 and 10 years to the return of a plain bank CD. At least you know you will get all your money back. AL thOMASAl Thomas’ book. “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has helped thousands of investors make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step meth-od. Read the first chapter at www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he is the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.


Liberty, Freedom Or Not

Nevada voters have proven once again, that they are throughly schizophrenic.

They claim they’re for liberty and freedom, but their choices at the polls prove otherwise.

While there were fewer independent and third party candidates running this time around, it is worthwhile to note that in the major races, fully 10 to 20 percent of voters cast ballots for neither of the major party candidates, casting bal-lots for Independent American Party candidates, Libertarian Party candidates, independent candi-dates, or the ludicrous “none of the above” which should be removed from the ballot as it means nothing!

The esteemed publisher of this paper took what struck me as a highly inconsistent position for him in favoring Question 5. Given his usual “Small Government” position, adding another layer of regulation struck me as odd. I opposed it for all the reasons that are being stated these days. It puts businesses in the position of having to enforce a law that makes no sense.

If government truly wanted to eliminate smoking, they could just legislate it out of exis-tence by banning tobacco. Wouldn’t that make the most sense? Make the sale and possession of cigarettes illegal and you wipe out the problem overnight.

It makes so much sense. But it’ll never hap-pen. No, it’s not because of smokers rights. It’s because of something more insidious.

Money.Seriously!The federal government currently gets 39

cents per pack of cigarettes. That’s a ten per-cent sin tax to Washington. Nevada has the 26th highest cigarette tax in the nation at 80 cents per pack. That means if you paid $3.85 (which one of my friends just paid) for a pack of cigarettes, 30 percent of the price you paid went exclu-sively to big government! Smoke a pack a day for a year, and that’s over $430 the government extracted from you due to your nasty habit.

Is there any wonder that they don’t want ciga-rettes banned?

But what about the burden on our hospitality industry? You know, that “wide open” Las Vegas that everyone comes here for? The following is a memo from a local casino boss to his employees. (Names removed to protect the source)

---------------------------------------------------To: All Employees

From: PresidentDate: November 17, 2006Re: Smoking BanDue to the passing of Question 5 during this

last election, we are forced to enact the following

measures effective December 8, 2006. Customers: No customer will be allowed

to smoke in any corridors, retail areas, conven-tion areas, Restaurant and Bar, the Buffet, Food Court, show rooms, elevator lobbies, hotel room corridors, front desk lobby or in any offices or any other non-gaming, indoor area. Customers will only be allowed to smoke in the casino prop-er, at bars located in the casino and in designated smoking areas on the exterior (outside) of the convention center and pool area.

Employees: Team members will not be allowed to smoke in any public area (indoor or outdoor), offices, any break room, help’s hall or any other indoor area. We will be designating three smoking areas for employees, which will all be outdoors. Each area will be equipped with climate relief (heat in the winter and air circula-tion in the summer), chairs, tables, smoking urns, etc. Please help to keep these areas clean by dis-posing your smoking materials in the appropriate disposal units in these three locations. As stated above, employees are not allowed to smoke in the casino or any other public area.

We are forced to take these measures as we are obligated to enforce the Clean Air Act. Thus, anyone who is caught smoking in a non-smoking area will be confronted and asked to put out their smoking materials. In the event that they don’t comply, they will be asked to leave the area.

There are penalties that can be assessed for violations of the provisions of Question 5. Penalties may be assessed against: (1) the person who is smoking in a non-smoking area; (2) the operator of a business that fails to enforce the non-smoking requirement; or (3) both the smoker and the business. Any person who violates the provisions of Question 5 could be liable for both criminal and civil penalties. A person who vio-lates the new law can be cited for a criminal mis-demeanor and be assessed a $100 civil fine per violation.

The business operator must take reason-able affirmative steps to ensure that patrons and employees smoke in designated smoking areas. As an employee you should handle these situ-ations with care. First, advise the person that he/she is in a non-smoking area by referencing the non-smoking sign and kindly direct the person to an area where smoking is permitted. If the person continues to refuse to comply with the law, remind the person that he/she and possibly you, as the business operator/employee, can be sub-ject to criminal and civil penalties for violations of the non smoking law. If all else fails, politely request the individual to leave the premises.

You should also be aware that under Question 5, local governments, including counties and cit-ies, have the ability to pass more stringent smok-ing prohibitions than those already contained in the current Question 5 restrictions. It is impera-tive for all affected businesses to keep informed

of any changes in local smoking provisions as these provisions could be more prohibitive than the already stringent requirements contained in Question 5.

I sympathize with the many of you who will be impacted by these new requirements. That is why we as a company have decided to cre-ate three smoking areas for your convenience. Please do not smoke in any area other than the three designated areas.

One of the things that attracted people to still come to Las Vegas was the libertarian attitude of the wild west. Now, a slice at a time, those things that people came to Vegas for will disap-pear. As it is now, they already can gamble at a riverboat or Indian casino nearby. Why come to Vegas?

Why indeed.This last week on my podcast site (http://

wyattcox.podomatic.com) I posted a commentary that I did in 1995 bemoaning the rise in broadcast ownership caps. At that point the number of sta-tions that could be owned by an individual com-pany was still under 100.

I took this week’s news that the biggest of the big, Clear Channel (Locally “The party” 93.1, Sunny 106.5, KWNR 95.5 and “La Preciosa FM” en espanol) was pulling itself private and selling off all 42 TV stations it owned and 448 radio sta-tions. That sounds like a lot, but after the dust settles, the company will still own over 700 radio stations in the 100 largest radio markets in the nation.

Clear Channel has also dismissed many of their staff, opting to pre-record much of it’s pro-gramming.

So much for community service.Not to say that in the old days when I ran a

local radio station that we didn’t run a lot of pre-recorded programming. But we were ready to go live in a heartbeat should we need to. I was able to take to the air live from my apartment using two telephone lines (one to control the computer at the station, one to broadcast on) and I even had a number of pre-recorded emergency announce-ments that I could put on the air in a second, faster than going live.

Remember the earthquake a few years back? Or the massive west coast power outage in 1996? From the start of that outage for ten hours, we broadcast start to finish, and were one of the few radio stations to deviate from their normal week-end programming. We earned a lot of new friends that weekend.

Will Clear Channel or other broadcasters who pre-record their stations have the ability to go live quickly in an emergency? For our sakes, I hope so. WYAtt COX

Commentary: Wyatt Cox

Are You Wearing The Badge Of Busyness?

When was the last time you ran into a friend you hadn’t seen in a while and your conversation went something like this:

“Hey! It’s great to see you. How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine…how about you?”

“I’ve been so busy! You know how it is.”

“I know. Me too. It’s been crazy around my house. It seems like I never have any time any more.”

Saying we’re busy has become part of the way we greet each other in this country. “Busy-ness” has become so much a part of our lives that we just offer that simple expla-nation whenever someone asks how we’re doing or what we’ve been up to. “I’ve been so busy!” It’s like some kind of badge of honor that we throw out to show others how much we’re doing. The problem is that often the people who are busy all the time seem to accomplish less than anyone else we know.

Before I say any more, let me tell you what I mean when I say “busy.” To be busy generally means that you are full of activity, lots of moving around, fully engaged with no time to devote to other things. But for all the activity, there aren’t a lot of things being accomplished. That’s what I mean by just being busy…confusing activity with accomplish-ment.

Being busy in many cases actu-ally keeps us from being produc-tive. We put off doing the things we know we really ought to be doing because we are so busy doing those other things. We fall too easily into the trap of allowing our schedules to dictate our lives. We cram way too much activity into way too little

time. The result is that days and weeks (and maybe even months and years!) can go by and when we look back we can’t really name a single thing we’ve accomplished in all that time. Does that sound familiar?

I used to complain all the time about my busy schedule. I couldn’t understand how anyone could actu-ally do all that I was trying to do in the allotted time. I felt like I was going crazy! Then the light bulb over my head went on. I realized that I was the one in charge of set-ting my schedule! I was the one who was guilty of planning my time and I had planned too much. I was doing a lot of things that I didn’t have to do. Those things were taking up valu-able time in my life and keeping me from bearing the fruit God intended

me to bear.When I read John 15, verses 1

and 2 in the Bible it all began to make sense to me. It says, I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bear-ing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeat-edly prunes every branch that con-tinues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit (The Amplified Bible).

God not only wants us to bear fruit but He wants us to bear excel-lent fruit. He tells us in these verses that the way to bear more excellent fruit is to go through the process known as pruning. We commit to clearing away those things in our lives that are not producing fruit.

When we are able to trim away all those unproductive things, we leave more time and energy for the things that really matter in life. And that’s important.

What are the unproductive branches in your life? What are the things that constantly seem to be stealing time and energy from the really important things? Don’t wear your busyness like a badge of honor. It’s time to prune away those things in your life that aren’t bearing fruit. Start today! JOYCE MEYERFor more on this topic, you may order Joyce’s four-part series, Are You Too Busy? which is available by calling 1-800-727-9673 or visiting www.joycemeyer.org.


Commentary: Joyce Meyer

“Truck: A Love Story” by Michael Perryc.2006, HarperCollins $24.95 282 pages

Have you paid attention to your TV lately?

Specifically, have you watched the commercials?

Along with the usual holiday ads for toys and jewelry, you’ll probably see lots of ads for cars and… trucks. But these aren’t your Grandpa’s trucks.

Today’s pick-em-ups have high-end stereos, luxury extend cabs, and leather seats. They come with

cup holders and adjustable steering wheels. You could drive these trucks to the opera without blinking.

And then there’s Michael Perry’s truck: a ’51 International Harvester with pink paint in between the rust and running boards that couldn’t possibly run another mile. In his new book “Truck: A Love Story”, Perry writes about falling in love with a truck, and falling in love.

What is it about a man and his pickup? Michael Perry says that he’s always had a fondness for his old IH. It got him around, back when he was in nursing school. It was, as the old timers say, held together with baling wire, duct tape and prayer, but Perry couldn’t part with it. So when the IH began its decline in reliability, it ended up parked in the driveway in front of Perry’s house with the notion that, someday, the old truck would be road-worthy again.

On a spring evening, just before the promise of green in the garden, Perry and his brother winched the

truck up on a flatbed and took it over to their brother-in-law’s garage where, as Perry says, the resurrec-tion “officially commenced”. The goal was to have the vehicle fully restored in time for deer hunting in November.

That might’ve happened, had there not been a monkey-wrench in the plans.

Michael Perry fell in love. For real.

They met at a book event at a local library. She emailed him. He got a haircut. They went out. He met her daughter. She met his bud-dies at the Fire Department. They circled the “L” word with caution. Finally, just after the newly-reborn International Harvester pick-up took its first trip up the road to Farm & Fleet, Michael Perry and his girl took a trip down the aisle.

Oh, my.There are three “don’ts” you

need to keep in mind when search-ing for and reading this book:

Number one: don’t look in the Romance section of your bookstore when you go buy it. Even though “Truck: A Love Story” is one of the most wonderfully romantic, delight-ful love stories you’re ever going to read – a completely charming heart-melter – you’ll probably find it in the memoir section.

Number two: don’t discount this book as a gift for a man. Even though “Truck: A Love Story” is a love story from a man’s point of view, it’s also a darn fine book about trucks and gear-heads, garages and gardening and things that will make a man want his own beater to refur-bish.

And number three: don’t miss this book. It’s that simple.

Truck on out and get “Truck: A Love Story”. Haul home multiple copies. This book is a gift you’ll never tire of giving this Christmas. tERRI SChLIChENMEYER


Book Review: Truck


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