Neal Boortz
Wednesday, July 11, 2001

There's a bill circulating around Congress called the Enumerated Powers Act. This bill, if it became law, would require bill sponsors to cite the section of our Constitution which authorizes or legitimizes their legislation. The Constitution does, after all, specifically set the powers of the federal government, reserving all other power and authority to the people and the states.

Now, there's an appropriations bill out there which includes a half-million-dollar allocation for federal research into how to remove the stink from pig poop. Wouldn't you love to see the congressman who put that appropriations request in the hopper cite the section of our Constitution that sets forth removing the stench from pig crap as a legitimate function of the federal government?

While we're at it, can someone please do something about the stench emanating from Jim Jeffords' office?

Crime Wave in Cincy

I'll bet you haven't heard about this until now. Well, that's why you listen to the "Neal Boortz Show."

April's race riots in Cincinnati did more than bring out the thugs and troublemakers. Black-on-black shootings in the city skyrocketed after April 7, the date of the riot. In the 10 weeks after the riots, predominantly black neighborhoods played host to 41 shootings where 59 victims were killed or injured. All but one of those 59 shooting victims were black. The 22 known and arrested suspects were all black.

These are the same neighborhoods that saw just 10 shootings in the same 10 weeks in the spring of 2000. That's quite an increase, isn't it?

Citywide, there have been 21 homicides this year, compared with 29 for all of 2000. Bank robberies are on a pace to double last year's numbers.

This is what a successful anti-law-enforcement riot achieves. It emboldens predators. The predators know that after having shot an unarmed black man (who just happened to have more than a dozen warrants out for his arrest), the police are going to think twice about going into predominantly black neighborhoods, much less pulling a gun on a black suspect. These police officers have careers to protect, as well as the public. Well, why not protect your own career by focusing your law enforcement activities in neighborhoods where you are actually welcomed?

The leftist national news media have already spiked this story. It's not news. To the media, the April riots were merely "uprisings" that were a justifiable release of centuries of pent-up rage in Cincinnati's black community. The riots were righteous.

The ONLY possible explanation for the increased violent crime in these black communities is that the police, not the criminals, have been routed. The predators see a clear playing field.

Self-Protection = Racism?

Forty-three-year-old Yves Andre had been a Boston cab driver for 17 years. Last Tuesday night, one of his passengers shot him, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Now his colleagues are vowing to avoid high-crime neighborhoods late at night ... and they're catching hell from the usual folks.

City Council President Charles Yancey and neighborhood leaders say it's racial profiling. Yancey told the Boston Globe, "It's very dangerous, quite frankly, for anyone to assume that the only individuals who may commit this kind of crime would be young black males." Yancey is calling for legal action against cab drivers who avoid high-crime neighborhoods.

So, which is it? Is Yancey really that dim? Or is Yancey another politician exploiting race to maintain political power?

Nobody is assuming, as Yancey says, that "… the only individuals who may commit this kind of crime would be young black males." Where does this "only" nonsense come from? The assumption – and it's not an assumption, really; it's more of a realization – is that a young black urban male is more likely to commit a violent crime than a white male. Black men comprise less than 7 percent of our population but account for more than 40 percent of our violent crime. Sorry. Scream "racial profiling" and racism all you want – facts is facts, statistics is statistics. And they speak clearly on this issue.

Boston's cab drivers are worried about becoming victims of crime. They would like to avoid being victims, if possible. To do this they should have the right to make simple, logical choices in where they conduct their business. The simple, logical choice would be to avoid the high-crime areas.

Maybe if Charles Yancey and his "neighborhood leaders" bothered to work toward actual solutions – like countering the culture of violence, predatory sex and anti-achievement in young black men – they might see the cabbies come back someday. It's not racist to want to return safe and sound to your family at the end of your workday.

How Far Will Governments Go to Get Your Money?

There is absolutely no end to the hunger that government has for your money. Money means power. The more money politicians have to spend, the more powerful they are.

Now, you aren't going to believe this one – so, sit down.

Hughes Electronics is located in El Segundo, California. Hughes owns satellites – at least eight of them. These satellites are all sitting in a geo-stationary orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth's equator. None of these satellites are floating in space above California. They were all launched either from Cape Canaveral in Florida or from French Guyana. Each satellite is worth about $100 million.

So – why is all this important? Well, because the Los Angeles County tax assessor has decided that Hughes needs to pay L.A. County property taxes on these satellites. The taxes, according to the tax assessor, are payable because Hughes is located in Los Angeles County and this property is "moveable."

I don't think I have to say any more here. Just stew on this one for a while.

So – What Did This Cost the Taxpayers?

Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell's kid recently made a flight to Pittsburgh on Delta. Now, bear this in mind. When a congressman or senator makes a flight from Hartsfield to, say, Washington, D.C., they go through the terminal and the security just like everyone else. Is that the way it works for Campbell's kid? Hardly. He gets a police escort – an escort consisting of three Atlanta police cars – right out onto the tarmac and directly onto the plane. Any security screening he goes through is private. No mingling with the great unwashed like our mere elected officials do. Nope, not for Billy Campbell!

Does anyone care what this kind of service costs the taxpayers? And while we're at it, what about that Atlanta police officer who is permanently assigned to Coretta Scott King?

So Much for Ethics and Just Common Decency

Julia Emmons wears many hats. She is a member of the Atlanta City Council. She is a possible candidate for president of the City Council. Oh … and she also runs the nation's largest 10K road race – the Independence Day Peachtree Road Race.

Well, it seems the Peachtree Road Race has a bit of a problem with cheaters. These are people with high race numbers (indicating that they're not very competitive) who don't begin at the starting line. They position themselves a mile or so down the race course and just sort of jump on in when the leaders pass by. Then they collect their T-shirts at the finish line as if they had run the entire 10K course.

Is this wrong? Of course it is! Is it cheating? No doubt! So, how does Julia Emmons, potential City Council president, feel? Well, here's her quote: "The charm of the race is lining up with 55,000 people and going down together. If people wish for their own personal reasons to thwart it slightly, I'm not going to question your ethics."

Just dandy. Another politician who doesn't like questioning the "ethics" of cheaters.

Neal Boortz is the hugely popular nationally syndicated radio host.