(click on ads for more details)

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A Color-Blind American Dream

"To ... say (the Bush tax cut) is a tax plan for the rich, well, last time I checked, black folks would like to be rich too."

- Maryland GOP Chairman Michael Steele, FoxNews.com, 5/31/01

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Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’s Secret Meeting Place

"President Bush's tax cut finally has passed, but there's no time for the true believers in this downtown conference room to celebrate.  Grover
Norquist calls on a White House official, who rises to thank more than 100 conservative activists for their help in passing the sort of sweeping tax
relief this group has been pursuing for years at weekly strategy sessions known as 'the Wednesday Meeting.'

"But the agenda is full with other issues as well: confirming conservative judges. Battling curbs on guns. Boosting Republican congressional hopefuls. And, of course, cutting more taxes.  This nondescript room in an L Street office building is the incubator for Bush's political strategy, one that puts his conservative base first and foremost. That strategy has succeeded in winning a tax cut much bigger than experts once thought possible, but it also helped tip control of the Senate to the Democrats by pushing moderate Sen.
Jim Jeffords from the GOP fold.  And it has put Norquist, 44, at the center of action. Short and owlish, a master networker and ebullient believer in the therapeutic value of cutting taxes, Norquist launched the Wednesday Meeting eight years ago to wage guerrilla warfare against the Clinton administration.

" ... These days, with Bush in the White House, Norquist just may be the most influential Washingtonian most people have never heard of.  'Winston Churchill said when Allied troops landed in North Africa, 'This isn't the end and this isn't the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the
beginning,'' Norquist began the meeting last Wednesday, one of three invitation-only sessions USA TODAY attended. With the tax cut, Norquist told his troops, 'This is the end of the beginning of the Bush administration, and I think we've set ourselves up for specific wins in the future.'
 
'And Jeffords?  Many analysts say the Vermont senator's defection is a warning that the administration has paid too much attention to conservatives. But Norquist argues that White House aides should count their blessings, not
change their strategy. Jeffords was never a reliable vote for Republicans, he says, yet his party affiliation helped create the 'pretense' that the GOP could be held accountable for actions by a 50-50 Senate.  Now, Norquist vows to step up efforts to dismantle an 'immoral' and 'wasteful' government subsidy program: the New England Dairy Compact, which happens to be a priority for Jeffords' bovine-dependent constituents.

" ... Norquist's exuberance has helped bridge divisions and suspicions within the movement. ... A leader of a group of gay Republicans regularly attends the Wednesday Meeting, as does the head of a group of Republicans that supports abortion rights.  Norquist calls it a 'leave us alone' coalition, divided on some individual issues but united by a desire to limit the size and power of government.  'As long as the Christians don't steal anyone's guns, the anti-tax activists don't violate anyone's property rights, the property owners don't interfere with the home-schoolers, the home-schoolers don't want to regulate the small businessmen and the gun owners agree not to
throw condoms at the Christians' kids, then we can all work together,' he says."

- USA Today, 6/1/01

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Your Cheatin' Heart

"The hubby had been cheating with the neighborhood floozy for years. Lately, the philandering was out in the open for everyone to see. When the divorce was announced, the whole neighborhood knew it was coming. And thus, Jim
Jeffords left the GOP.  

"Was it the Teacher Awards snub? Hardly. Few Senators bother to show up at such ceremonies. Was it the big tax cut? Please! This tax cut is like a deck chair off the Queen Mary. School spending? Can't be. The budget calls for an 11% increase, largest in American history. Nasty treatment by fellow Senators? C'mon ... who can seriously call Trent Lott a whip-cracker?  Like any divorce, the issues are deeper.

" ... But if this is a matter of conscience, it cannot be a matter of principle. Jeffords (has) been an unprincipled Republican all along. Now he's
an unprincipled Independent. And he'll never be an honest man until he finally marries those Democrats he's been sleeping with all these years. 

"Like any marriage, this is what happens when mates are chosen because they look good in tight jeans. The GOP accepted an attractive 'moderate' to hang on their arm, softening a toughening image. And Jeffords relished his 'maverick' label, voting liberal while a registered Republican. But like all marriages built on looks and charm, the deeper rifts get glossed over until the compromises get ugly and public. Then, like all divorces, blame gets spread all over. Bush should have coddled Jeffords. Jeffords was a traitor.
Lott should have played kissy-face.

" ... Principled George Bush made no mistakes with Jeffords. His party did. Republicans married the town harlot, and were shocked when she went bad. This is a classic example of how compromise hurts in the long run. We claim to be the party of principle. Now, some conservatives have the gall to castigate Bush for not patting Jeffords on the bottom and giving him a taffy. Upon
principle, we should applaud Bush's indifference. ... (He) has provided a subtle opportunity to build loyalty and attract fresh blood. Forget Jeffords.
After all, he's been cheating with the neighborhood floozy for 27 years. Why fight to keep the marriage together? Let someone else build allegiances with
men of no principle."

- Tom Adkins, "The Common Conservative," 6/1/01


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If You Outlaw Fingers, Only Outlaws Will Have Fingers

"Remember Billy Barnes? He's the eight-year-old Nova Scotia boy suspended from Nova Scotia's Ragged Island Consolidated School for pointing a breaded chicken finger at a classmate and saying 'Bang.'  Well, it turns out this isn't Billy's first offense. Chillingly, as the Halifax Herald reports, his first offense involved not a chicken finger but a human finger, which he also pointed and said 'Bang.'
 
"Clearly Canada (and perhaps the U.S. as well) urgently needs finger-control legislation. If children weren't allowed to have fingers, it would be the end
of most of the problems these zero-tolerance policies target. Without fingers, no kid would be able to hold a chicken finger, raise his fist, draw
pictures of soldiers, send threatening e-mails -- the list goes on. We urge legislators in Ottawa and Washington to take up this matter now. This is a
time for action, not more hand-wringing and finger-pointing."

- Best of the Web, 6/1/01

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My, How Honorable

"Sen. Jim Jeffords is offering to return campaign contributions from donors who are unhappy about his abandoning the Republican Party. But the Associated Press reports the offer applies only to individual Vermonters; if you're a political action committee or you live in another state, he'll keep your money, thank you very much."

- Best of the Web, 6/1/01

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How About Subway Tokens for Marathon Runners With Asthma?

"Now that professional golfer Casey Martin has won his Supreme Court case and will be permitted to ride around in a golf cart, what's next: Four strikes for nearsighted batters?  How about rowboats for would-be Olympic swimmers
who suffer from hydrophobia?  How about a head-start in the 100-meter dash for runners with chronic fatigue syndrome?"

- Libertarian Party news release, 5/29/01

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Cleaning Up Another Clinton Boondoggle

"President Bush's team has dumped an $860,000 federal program that taught public-housing tenants to burn incense, carry lucky gemstones and wear
feel-good colors like apricot to reduce stress.  Launched under former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, the New Age-style 'Creative Wellness'
program, which was to be taught in public-housing centers in 26 cities, including New York, identifies people as one of 14 different 'types,' depending on their 'corresponding glandular points.'  A process of 'applied kinesiology,' in which the individual is poked in the glands, would let designated 'wellness trainers' identify whether a man is an 'Apollo' or a 'Hermes' and whether a woman is an 'Artemis' or a 'Minerva.'

"Public-housing residents in pilot programs in Philadelphia and other cities were taught to surround themselves with certain colors and gemstones and burn appropriate aromas - all under a program entirely funded by taxpayers. ...
The program was funded from the housing agency's drug-fighting budget.  President Bush's housing officials axed the program just before it was set to go national - and are trying to figure out how Cuomo's staff ever let it get funded in the first place."

- New York Post, 5/31/01

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Union Workers Win One Against Union Bosses

"The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announced Wednesday that
approximately 71,000 communications workers are being offered an opportunity to reclaim about $70 million in forced union dues that they say were
illegally seized over a nine-year period by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).  A federal court in Washington forced union officials to mail the rebate out to members in the wake of a 1998 case.  In that case, the court found that union officials broke the law by failing to give workers
lawful notice of their right to object to payment of full union dues, including dues spent for partisan political activities."

- Jim Burns, CNSNews.com, 5/31/01

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Safety Nazi Roadblocks

"If you were stopped at a roadblock or ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt this past Memorial Day weekend, you weren't alone: Millions of Americans were inconvenienced by what the Libertarian Party says was the 'largest highway harassment campaign' in U.S. history.  'It is an outrage that 10,446 law enforcement agencies wasted their time and energy to browbeat motorists for
not wearing a seatbelt -- in a nation where 90,000 women are raped annually; 15,000 people are murdered; 400,000 people are robbed; and 900,000 people are assaulted,' said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director.  'That's not
public safety -- it's public harassment. It's a criminal misuse of law enforcement resources, and Americans should be outraged by it.'"

- Libertarian Party news release, 5/30/01

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Stupid Is As Stupid Does

"Henri Brooks, a Tennessee state representative, refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance before the state House opens its sessions. Brooks, a Memphis Democrat who is black, 'says she hasn't recited the pledge since third grade,
because the flag represents a nation of former slave owners to her,' WATE-TV reports. Speaker Jimmy Naifeh asked Brooks to wait outside the House chamber if she didn't want to recite the pledge. 'Brooks says that request violates
her constitutional rights,' WAET reports. 'The ACLU agrees.'  Hey Henri, would that Constitution you're citing be the one written by a bunch of dead,
white, male slaveholders?"

- Best of the Web, 6/1/01

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Defending the Herd Mentality

"Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress, denounces President Bush's efforts to reach out to black voters, as, in the words of a FoxNews.com report, 'an effort not to help African-Americans but to dilute black political power.'  In Norton's own words: 'They're trying to peel off just enough to weaken the forceful effect of the African-American block vote. We're not going to let that happen.'  If Norton has her way, the Democrats can keep taking the black vote for granted and the Republicans can continue writing it off.  That's how to strengthen black political power?"

- Best of the Web, 6/1/01

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As Simple As Black & White

"Do NOT substitute 'African-American' for 'black' anywhere in this or any subsequent piece of my writing. Except when it appears in a quote as someone else's words, I NEVER use this offensive expression. Thank you."

- Admonishment by Scripps Howard News Service columnist Deroy Murdock to editors reprinting a recent op/ed column on charter schools in San Francisco

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Eeek!  Eeek!

"You lock the door and she (Hillary Clinton) comes in the window, you lock the window and she comes up the floor boards.  This is like 'Alien' - she
lives in Tom Daschle's stomach.  Just as the music gets soft and the scene winds down you hear the wild 'Eeek!  Eeek!' and she bursts out of Tom and
darts through the room.

" ... (Hillary's actions in the Senate are) a threat to the Republic.  But in a narrow sense it is also a gift to the GOP base, to the party's hackocracy,
to those Republicans on the street who've never really been comfortable sitting back and just hoping Mr. Bush will do well.  They can now jolt awake with the super charge of adrenaline that only Hillary - Eeek!  Eeek! - can give them."

- Columnist Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal

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The Next Weakest Link

"The American Spectator's 'Online Prowler' column reports speculation on Capitol Hill that Rhode Island's Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the Senate's most liberal Republican, 'is informing fundraisers and close advisers back home that he plans to follow friend Jim Jeffords and become an Independent.'"

- Best of the Web, 5/31/01

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The Party of Virtue ... If Naiveté Is a Virtue

"The latest news is that the new structure that transfers control of Senate committees from Republicans to Democrats will not include a mechanism for the now minority Republicans to force floor votes on decisions like President
Bush's judicial appointees.  Surprise. Surprise.  Despite the efforts of Trent Lott and the Republicans to act in a  bi-partisan manner and share power with the Democrats during the evenly divided Senate, Democrats decline to return the favor.  President Bush and the Republicans work to water down conservative bills like tax relief and education reform to appease Democrats.  Still they decline to return the favor.  When will we learn?"

- Ted Miller, Colorado Springs, CO

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The Real Senate Minority

"As for the Democrats' new role as the majority party in the Senate, 'I think the real minority in the Senate right now is not so much the Republicans as it is the liberal Democrats,' (Georgia Sen. Zell) Miller (D) said, 'because they have to have these eight or 12 centrists to do anything.'"

- Greg Pierce’s 'Inside Politics,' 5/30/01

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Keeping Personal Behavior Personal

"President Bush is opting out of Gay Pride Month.  White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush will not, as President Clinton did, issue a
proclamation with such a designation for this month.  Nor, as another White House official put into writing this week, will the executive office of the president sponsor an observance.  'The president believes every person should be treated with dignity and respect but he does not believe in politicizing people's sexual orientation. That's a personal matter,' McClellan said Friday."

- Associated Press, 6/1/01

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Drop That Chicken Finger!

"Proving that Canadians are no smarter than Americans, a Nova Scotia school has suspended an eight-year-old for pointing a breaded chicken finger at his classmate and saying 'Bang.' The Canadian Press reports Billy Barnes, a
second-grader at the Ragged Island Consolidated School, was told to stay home for a day after, as Billy puts it, 'somebody told on me.'  Back in February we noted an almost identical case in Jonesboro, Ark."

- Best of the Web, 5/31/01

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In the Line Of Duty

"One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. It was covered with names,
and small American flags were mounted on either side of it. The seven-year-old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the boy and said quietly, "Good morning Alex."

"Good morning Pastor," replied the young man, still focused on the plaque.

"Pastor McGhee, what is this?" Alex asked.

"Well, son, it's a memorial to all the men and women who have died in the service." Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque.  Little Alex's voice was barely audible when he asked, "Which service? The 9:00 o'clock service or the 10:30 one?"

- Forwarded by GOPN&V reader

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Will Legislate for Food

"An ousted Michigan state senator is applying for unemployment benefits. The Detroit News reports David Jaye, a Macomb County Republican, was ejected from the Senate 'because of three drunken-driving convictions and accusations that
he assaulted his fiancée.' ... 'They fired me, shut off my phones, changed the locks and told eight people on my staff to get out,' Jaye tells the News.
'It's not like this was an election loss. I was paying unemployment taxes before I was a legislator, but I'm not going to get anything.' Our heart bleeds."

- Best of the Web, 5/31/01

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Dumb and Dumber

"Plenty of Washington politicians support the idea of requiring a standardized test before students can graduate from high school," reports the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter.  "Now a group of educators and parents plans to turn the tables, hoping to require all candidates for public office
to take the 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning exam, and have their results -- just like those of students -- posted on the Internet.
They're hoping to put that idea to a public vote with a ballot initiative in November 2002."  Interesting idea ... but with one HUGE flaw in its logic. 
Intelligence has never been a pre-requisite for holding public office.  In fact, quite often it seems, just the opposite.

- Chuck Muth, Editor

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If You Outlaw Chicken Fingers...

"Suspending a child for pointing a chicken finger and saying 'Bang', as a Nova Scotia school recently did, creates a dilemma for mothers.  If a child brings to school a sack lunch containing chicken fingers, is he carrying a concealed weapon?"

- Merrill Matthews, American Conservative Union, 6/3/01

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Guess It Depends On Your Meaning of "Hunger Strike"

" ... (Al) Sharpton continues to languish behind bars (for trespassing on the U.S. Navy bombing range on the island of Vieques).  He claims to have been on a hunger strike since early Tuesday, although no one has yet claimed to have noticed a change in his waistline."

- "Nobles & Knaves," Washington Times, 6/2/01

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President on Right Course for Energy...

"As summer approaches, some no doubt will be tempted to exploit energy shortages for political gain.  When, inevitably, frail people perish in
summer heat for lack of air conditioning, somebody will blame Mr. Bush and the GOP.  Gov. Gray Davis needs to focus on helping Californians practically, rather than playing the blame game.  He could start by giving a break - a tax break - to hard-pressed Californians.

"Our energy problems are a result of long-term neglect of the need to develop new energy supplies.  Getting out of this mess will take time and patience, two commodities in short supply in politics.  Mr. Bush is taking a big political risk by choosing not to pander to demands for immediate,
large-scale government intervention that might deliver short-term relief at the expense of long-term solutions.  But this is the better course for the
country."

- Art Linkletter, former TV icon and spokesperson for United Seniors Association, Washington Times, 6/2/01

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... But Off Base on Education

"President Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' school reform proposal passed in the House last week.  Considering what a colossal black hole the U.S. Department of Education has become, the $24 billion plan would be more appropriately dubbed:  No Dime Left Behind.

" ... Federal education aid has been embezzled to pay for luxury cars, real estate, diapers and rent.  If this agency were a private company, it would
have been shut down by federal regulators long ago.  Instead, it grows fatter and more unaccountable every year.  Republicans, who once led the crusade to eliminate the department, are now tripping over each other to feed the beast."

- Columnist Michelle Malkin

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People's Republic of Santa Monica

"Santa Monica, California, is a fancy beach town that, for decades, has succumbed to every temptation against sound economic principles, and the latest outrage is going to cause anguish like never before.  This past week, the city council passed a 'Living Wage' measure that requires a minimum wage of $10.50, which is a 68 percent increase over the state-mandated living wage. But it doesn't apply to everyone: it is imposed against the most profitable businesses only.

"If you operate in the tourist area on the beach or downtown, and your
revenues are $5 million and up, you must pay the wage. In addition, the law
imposes a mandate that employers pay health-insurance coverage up to $1.75
per hour, increasing to $2.50 per hour in July 2003.  Anticipating that
businesses would likely cut back hours and employees under the strain of the
law, it further mandates that employers not 'retaliate' against them. Many
businesses face the choice of either cutting the hours they are open or
closing their doors."

- Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute,
6/1/01

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The Essence of the Game

"With its subpar ruling on golfer Casey Martin, the Supreme Court
demonstrated that many of its members are playing with an excruciatingly high
handicap on the course of common sense. ... Writing for the majority, Justice
John Paul Stevens announced, 'The essence of the game has been shot-making.' 
That comes as a surprise to most scratch golfers, who mistakenly believed
that the essence of the game was swearing and hitting things ... sometimes
even the ball ... with sticks."

- Washington Times editorial, 6/2/01

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Hey, It Worked for Casey Martin

"An Alabama man is suing his 14-year-old daughter's school district, claiming
'his daughter's rejection from the high school cheerleading squad despite
professional coaching has caused her humiliation and mental anguish.' James
P. Smith says 'Vestavia Hills High School discriminated against Laura Brooke
Smith, deprived her of due process and equal protection and violated rights
guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.'"

- Best of the Web, 6/1/01

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Activist Alert from SixtySecondActivist.com

Since renegade Jim Jeffords' betrayal of the Senate Republicans, the liberal
media has been crowing about the Vermont senator's  "'principles'  and
'courage.'   The propaganda pundits of the press are also using Jefford's
defection to relentlessly hammer President Bush with one message:  You lost Jeffords because you're too far to the right.  Make no mistake, they want to
bury his conservative plans for America and push his agenda to the left.
Don't let this happen.  Email President Bush today and urge him to ignore
the liberal media's campaign to move him from his conservative agenda. We've
set up a quick way for our Sixty Second Activists to do this at our Contact
Center, including a pre-written letter (that you can modify if you'd like
to) that you can just Click and Send.

     http://www.ConservativeHQ.com/060401.htm

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He May Be a Lot of Things . But He Ain't No "Centrist"

"In spite of his personal denial on Friday, Democratic - and some
Republican - staffers spent the weekend fanning the flames of a 'Will John
McCain Leave the GOP' story.  For context, Mullings went to the source for
all things Liberal, the Americans for Democratic Action.  On its web page,
the ADA lists how Senator McCain voted on issues giving him (and every other
Senator) a score.  Since 1983 McCain has averaged a score of NINE percent.
In the years 1999 and 2000, McCain scored just FIVE percent.

"Jeffords, for his part scored 55% last year.  The Special 'K' twins of
Massachusetts, Kennedy and Kerry, as a comparison, each scored 90%.  Five
percent on the ADA rating chart is enough, however, for the LA Times' Greg
Miller to refer to McCain not once, not twice, but three times in his Sunday
piece as a 'centrist' comparing him with another 'centrist' Lincoln Chafee
(ADA rating 70 percent) which, as it happens, is the exact same rating as
that other famous Senate 'centrist,' Diane Feinstein of  California."

- Rich Galen, "Mullings," 6/4/01

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WH Vandalism Stories Finally Confirmed

"The Bush administration has for the first time released a detailed list of
alleged vandalism in the White House by outgoing employees of the previous
administration, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.  The White House
made the list available to the newspaper Saturday after days of questions
about its cooperation with a General Accounting Office investigation, the
Post said, as well as accusations by Democrats that the reports of vandalism
had been exaggerated.  The White House damage list included obscene graffiti in six offices, a presidential seal ripped off a wall, 10 sliced telephone
lines, pornographic or obscene messages left on 15 phone lines and 100
inoperable computer keyboards, the Post reported."

- Reuters, 6/3/01

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Do We Have Clearance, Clarence?

"I can't help but believe that the California Energy Crisis is George Bush's 'Air Traffic Controller's Strike'.  If he stays his course and continues to operate from principle,  he'll reap big benefits.  His detractors need to fear him, not like him.  I hope he understands that."

- Richard Merriner, Okemos, Michigan, 6/4/01

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Putting Things In Perspective

"You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive?  Try these:

Diet Snapple 16oz $1.29              $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16oz $1.19             $9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20oz $1.59                  $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray 16oz $1.25               $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid 12oz $3.15               $33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil 6oz $8.35             $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4oz $3.85              $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7oz $1.39                   $25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5oz $0.99                    $84.48 per gallon

And this is the REAL KICKER......

Evian water 9oz for $1.49            $21.19 per gallon

. $21.19 FOR WATER! ....and the buyers don't even know the source."

- Forwarded by a GOPN&V reader

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Ur Gummint Skools At "Werk"

"Test results released last week revealed that 43 percent of Ohio fourth-graders would have had to repeat a grade if they had been forced to meet the 'reading guarantee' ... which the Legislature earlier voted to abandon."

- "Voice for Choice," 6/4/01 (http://childrenfirstamerica.org)

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Home-Schooling Rescues Another Victim

"Meet Ryan Oleichi, a 13-year-old student at Labay (Goverment) Middle School
outside Houston, Texas.  He's one kid the government won't be 'educating'
anymore.  Back in February, Ryan got in trouble with the school administration.  He dared to wear a shirt with a Confederate flag patch on it.  The patch measured one inch by one and a half inches.  He'd worn the shirt to school several times before without incident--but this time he was
to serve three days in detention.  He was then forced to apologize to all of
the school's black students for being a racist. . A week after Ryan returned
to school, his mother withdrew him.  He'll be schooled at home from now on."

- SierraTimes.com, 6/2/01

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**************************
Who?

"Jim Jeffords is now at the end of the 14th of his 15 minutes of fame."

- Rich Galen, "Mullings," 6/5/01

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Bushwhacked At Chuy's

"Was Jenna Bush the target of a political vendetta? It would appear so,
based on this report from yesterday's New York Post:  'Jenna got in trouble
Tuesday night when she allegedly tried to buy a margarita at Chuy's Tex-Mex
restaurant using someone else's driver's license.  The restaurant's manager,
MIA Lawrence, recognized her and called the cops, who suggested she
confiscate the fake ID and leave it at that.  But Lawrence demanded that the
police 'do what they normally do.' . Patrons of Chuy's charged that the
restaurant management was really trying to make trouble for Dubya.  'The
only reason that Chuy's called the police is because the management doesn't
like Bush, and that's not fair,' said customer John Ormberget.'  In fact,
The Post learned that Lawrence told a friend that is just what happened--she
doesn't like the president, so she didn't cut his daughter any slack.
Lawrence could not be reached for comment."

- Best of the Web, 6/4/01

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Porn Over Politics

"This week's Human Events has an eye-opening compendium of numbers 'for John McCain to ponder.'  We spend 'more on porn than politics,' they point out, after analyzing data from such sources as the Center for Responsive Politics and the World Almanac.  We shell out more money on snack nuts, baseball
salaries, beer, the New York Times, tortilla chips, student loan defaults,
potato chips, bottled water, Mercedes Benzes, communist Chinese-made shoes and pornography in that order than on political interests.  We spend, in
fact, $11 billion on porn, compared with $1.2 billion on total party fundraising, including hard and soft monies, for both parties combined."

- "Inside Politics," Washington Times Weekly, 5/27/01

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Your Union Dues At Work

*  U.S. Dist. Judge Dean D. Pregerson in L.A. sentenced Teresa E. Sanchez,
admitted union embezzler, May 24 to twelve months at a federal community
confinement center and ordered her to pay more than $210,000 in restitution
to Int'l Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 20A in Wilmington, Cal.

*  H. Jeannine Selvaag, bookkeeper for the S. Cent. (Wis.) Fed'n of Labor,
was charged May 22 with embezzling almost $40,000 from the union federation. She stole the money from SCFL bank accounts in 1998-99, including proceeds from the SCFL's Labor Day picnic, according to the criminal complaint. She told Madison police that she used much of the money for gambling, drinking, and house payments.

*  Joseph C. Rider pled guilty May 24 in U.S. Dist. Court in Kan. City,
Kan., to one count of union embezzlement. The ex-business manager and secretary-treasurer of Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. Local 1290, admitted to using a credit card to spend more than $15,000 in union funds for the personal benefit of himself and others.

*  Two bosses of Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees Local 2018 in Twentynine
Palms, Cal., have been sentenced in Cal. Superior Court in San Bernardino
for grand theft to one day in county jail and five years probation.  Dannie
S. Dickerson, ex-local president, and Tara D. Alexander were also ordered to
pay a $200 fine and $21,000 in restitution. Both were charged in Jan. 2000 with embezzlement and grand theft. Dickerson was initially charged with
stealing $11,975, and Alexander $5,117. Both later pled guilty.

*  Manuel Lujan, Jr., ex-business manager and secretary-treasurer of Int'l
Bhd. of Boilermakers Local Lodge 92 in Bloomington, Cal., was sentenced Mar.
13, 2000, to twelve months and one day in federal prison for embezzling
union funds. Lujan, who entered a plea agreement in Apr. 1999, acknowledged
using his union credit cards for unauthorized purposes during a two-year
period ending in Sept. 1997, when he resigned from office because of
mismanagement of union finances.

- Union Corruption Update, 6/4/01

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Times To Scouts:  Take a Hike

"The Los Angeles Times has kicked the Boy Scouts out of the newspaper's
program to help send poor children to summer camp, CNSNews.com reports,
quoting a Times statement: "Because of its policy regarding sexual orientation, the Boy Scouts will no longer receive funding through the campaign." The Times is a private company and has every legal right to refuse to do business with the Scouts. But there's something awfully unseemly about a newspaper, of all things, boycotting a group simply for exercising its First Amendment rights."

- Best of the Web, 6/4/01

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New Sheriff In Town

"For the first time in four years, the Power 25 (list of Washington's most
powerful lobbying groups) has a new No. 1.  The heavily Republican National
Rifle Association has replaced the non-partisan American Association of
Retired Persons as the group with the most clout in the capital.  Although
city slickers might be aghast at the ascendancy of the NRA, this is a highly
focused, well-financed organization.  Despite high-profile school shootings
and unrelenting pressure from gun-control advocates, the NRA has held
control legislation at bay.  How?  By electing its supporters to Congress
and, last year, to the White House.  In particular, the NRA was pivotal in
defeating Al Gore in Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia, all states that usually vote Democratic.  If Gore had won just one of them, he would now be
president."

- Fortune magazine

***************************
 # Disorder in the Court

"When Democrats take Senate control today, they will shut down the
confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees. . Never mind Mr. Daschle
's soothing rhetoric.  Look at the evidence.  Democrats have obstructed, are obstructing and will obstruct the president's judicial nominees.  They will
shut down the confirmation process."

- Thomas L. Jipping, Free Congress Foundation

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No One Wants a Tax Cut, Huh?

You know how the left and the media (as though they were two separate
things) keep telling us that Americans don't want a tax cut . especially the
one the president is signing today?  Well, as you and I know, that's a lot
of flapdoodle . but we got just a taste of irrefutable proof in election
results from Las Vegas on Tuesday.

If you made a list of possible government projects that taxpayers just
couldn't possibly say "No" to, floating a "revenue neutral" bond issue to
build a children's hospital has got to be right up on the top . if not #1.
I mean, how in the world do you vote against a children's hospital, right?

Well, a shameless Clark County Commissioner (commissar?) named Erin Kenny (D-Labor) . the same woman who recently championed a measure at the behest of unions to ban Wal-Mart superstores in Las Vegas . pushed an $80 million bond onto the Tuesday ballot to fund construction of a government-run
children's hospital . hoping to parlay that success into a congressional
seat next year.

And while the pundits, pollsters and soothsayers all predicted an easy and
overwhelming victory (after all, who would vote against a children's hospital, right?), the leaders of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus decided not to let it go without a challenge . despite being told they were wasting their time (you can't persuade people to vote against a children's hospital, right?).

Undeterred, NRLC Chairman George Harris ... along with long-time GOP
activists Dan Burdish and Tony Dane ... planned and launched a last-minute,
"hail Mary" telephone campaign urging voters to vote against the bond issue.
In the final 48 hours leading up to election day, over 100,000 highly-targeted automated phone messages to core Clark County Republicans went out urging voters to just say "no" to more government spending . even for a children's hospital.

On Tuesday the government-run children's hospital bond went down in flames, 54-46%.

Congratulations to Clark County voters who just voted themselves another tax
cut that everyone said they didn't want by rejecting a government intrusion
in the private sector for a service the community didn't "need."  And kudos
to the leaders of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus for ignoring the
"experts" and taking their fight against big government directly to the
people anyway.  The lessons of the day, boys and girls:  Never listen to the
left, especially when you're right . and you're never gonna win unless you'
re gonna to fight.

- Chuck Muth, Editor

***************************
It's Big Government, Stupid

"Stick with that anti-big government message and the GOP will prosper.  The
majority of Americans agree with us, not Jim Jeffords, on economic ssues.  . Republicans must not capitulate to the left wing.  Alas, there's a very real danger that this is precisely what the GOP 'leadership' intends to do.

"What's left of the left wing of the party is in an agitated state now. .
The emboldened Lincoln Chafee threatens that unless he sees a more
accommodations attitude for his far left-wing views on economic issues, he
may be the next out the door.  Olympia Snowe says the party needs to move
away from its conservative message.  I fervently hope that Chafee and Snowe
remain Republicans, but not at the price of neutering the Republican
message.  The GOP cannot retain the White House and regain the Senate by
enticing voters with servings of vanilla pudding.

"Chafee's ransom isn't worth paying.  It will reduce the party's voter base,
rather than expand it.  No, for a political party to survive and to thrive
it must stand grandly and unwaveringly for something.  Tax cuts and economic
growth are signature issues for the Republican Party.  If liberals in the
party don't want to cut taxes and create a vibrant economy, then why are
they Republicans?"

- Stephen Moore, Club for Growth, 6/6/01

***************************
Children Suffer Most from Black Lock-Step Voting

"An education bill seems to be moving through Congress to some sort of
bipartisan consensus.  Like many other bipartisan measures, it serves the
short-term interests of Democrats and Republicans, not the long-term
interests of the public.

"Despite some largely cosmetic reforms, what the pending legislation
essentially represents is spending more money on the status quo.  'Improving
education' is political Newspeak for producing more expensive incompetence. There will be no vouchers and nothing to force the education establishment to start educating, so that American children do not continue finishing at or near the bottom in international tests.

" . (I)f the public has lost, then at least they need to know that they
lost, if only so they can keep that in mind when next year's congressional
elections come along.  Nobody has lost bigger than blacks, because nobody
needs better education more.  Ghetto schools are too often dumping grounds
for teachers who could not make it in middle-class neighborhoods, where
parents are better able to get what they want for their children or to put
those children in private schools if they don't.

"Blacks have become the most politically expendable group in America,
because the black vote is so automatically and overwhelmingly for the
Democrats that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are under any real
pressure to take what blacks want seriously.  Polls show repeatedly that
blacks are the strongest supporters of vouchers, as they should be, since
their children get the worst deal in the public schools.  But not even the
Congressional Black Caucus takes that as seriously as they take the teachers
' unions, which bitterly oppose vouchers and are the 800-pound gorillas of
the Democratic Party."

- Columnist Thomas Sowell

***************************
It's the Teachers' Union, Stupid

"Education is an issue on the front page of most news outlets daily.  Yet I
search but cannot find anyone reporting the relationship between teacher
unions and educational failure.  Most agree that 'Johnny can't read' but
fail to see that Johnny is wearing a union label on his sweet little empty
head.  Teacher unions are a monopoly.  They engage in illegal political
activity and, by their very design, do not act in the students' best
interest.  The union wants to grow its membership and strength.  How does it
go about doing this?  Hire more teachers to do less so more teachers are
needed."

- Mickey Jones, Washington Times Weekly, 5/27/01

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Tales From the Left Side

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