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Do As We Say, Not As We Do
"Another big euro-gripe concerns Bush's renunciation of the Kyoto
treaty on 'global warming.' Here is a complete list of European countries
that have ratified Kyoto: Romania."
- Best of the Web, 6/12/01
*********************************
As Goes France, So Goes ... No One?
"Shock of the week: 'The toughest criticism (of President Bush
during his European trip) came from Prime Minister Wim Kok of the
Netherlands and President Jacques Chirac of France,' which is great news
for President Bush as most of the known universe waits until France takes
a position ... and then goes the other way."
- Rich Galen, "Mullings," 6/15/01
***************************
False Security
"According to a March 2001 CBS News/New York Times survey, 64 percent
of adults believe America 'has a missile defense system to protect against
nuclear attacks,' Wrong! Imagine that China or Iran lobbed an
atomic bomb at the U.S., or even that a British submarine accidentally
launched a nuke at America. President Bush could do absolutely
nothing but click on the news and watch his constituents sizzle.
Bush's ballistic missile defense (BMD) proposal is designed to prevent
this grim scenario. Meanwhile, most Americans confide in a BMD program
that does not exist. Simply put, the U.S. is as vulnerable to atomic
warheads as skinny-dipping soldiers are to machine-gun fire."
- Columnist Deroy Murdock, Scripps Howard News Service
*****************************
We Ain't In Kansas No More, Toto
"The big difficulty I have--you know, when I was governor, I'd have
an idea in the morning and I'd have people working on it in the morning
and have it partially implemented by the afternoon. Here in Washington,
it's interminably slow. Everything has got to be vetted and vetted and
vetted. .
. . And then after it's vetted you found out there's a super god in D.C.
called OMB, and then after OMB of course it goes to the White House and
you get through there and it goes to Congress, and it gets through
Congress and you're ready to retire. So it's a strange process. . . .
States move so much faster and solve problems so much quicker. . . . I'm
frustrated by the slowness of it."
- Secretary of health and human services, Tommy Thompson, describing his
adjustment to Washington after being governor of Wisconsin
*******************************
First Amendment's Weakest Links
"Before passing President Bush's education bill yesterday, the Senate
votes to approve an amendment by Jesse Helms that will bar federal funds
from going to schools that violate the First Amendment rights of the Boy
Scouts. But it passed by a razor-thin margin of 51-49. Only eight
Democrats—all from states Bush carried--voted to support the First
Amendment...
Republicans voting 'no' were Maine's Olympia Snowe, Nebraska's Chuck Hagel,
Ohio's Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter and
Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee. The Senate's lone independent also voted
'no.'"
- Best of the Web, 6/15/01
*************************
Another Innocent Gun (Control) Victim
"Eighteen-year-old Leaman Lewis was kicked out of Osbourn Park High
School in Manassas, Va., and a judge refused to allow him to attend
today's commencement. Lewis's crime? 'Pupils walking through a school
parking lot said they saw what they thought was a gun in the back seat of
Lewis' locked car on Jan. 31,' the Associated Press reports. 'Lewis said
he played paintball with his brothers the previous weekend and
accidentally left the gun in the back of his car. It was not loaded and
had no firing cartridges. He did not take the paintball gun into the
school or use it on school property.' A court is scheduled to hear Lewis's
lawsuit against the school in August."
- Best of the Web, 6/15/01
***************************
Flag Burning: A Private Property Issue
"Conservatives are once again calling for a constitutional amendment
that would permit the government to punish people who burn the American
flag. Opponents of the amendment contend that such an amendment would
constitute an assault on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of
speech. Actually, however, the flag-burning matter is not a
free-speech issue but rather a private-property issue. If a particular
flag is owned by the U.S. government, I have no right to burn it because
it belongs to someone else, not to me. The same holds true for a flag
owned by my neighbor or anyone else.
"But if I own a flag, it belongs to me and that means I have the
right to do anything I want to it, including destroying it. The same
principle would hold true, of course, with respect to a
Constitution-burning amendment. People don't have the right to burn the
Constitution that resides in the National Archives because it is owned by
the government. But everyone is free to burn their own Constitution
because it belongs to them. Come to think of it, have you ever wondered
why Republicans and Democrats never call for a Constitution-burning
amendment?"
- Jacob Hornberger, Future of Freedom Foundation, 6/14/01
*****************************
Conservative Surges Ahead In NJ Guv Race
"Schundler for Governor campaign manager Bill Pascoe today released a
new poll showing that Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler has surged into the
lead over Bob Franks in the race for the Republican gubernatorial
nomination. The poll, conducted for the Schundler campaign by Public
Opinion Strategies, Inc., of Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday and Thursday
evening, surveyed 400 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of
error on the poll is plus or minus 4.9 percent. A similar survey
conducted for the campaign a week ago showed a 36-31 Franks margin among
likely primary voters, itself representing a 21-point Schundler surge over
the previous six weeks.
- Schundler for Governor news release, 6/15/01
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Harsh Reality Hits Family Farm
"Look, part of the wisdom you get from experience is knowing when to
quit, knowing when something has run its course and is finished.
Failure to recognize this can be very costly. Think about the
so-called 'farm problem' in the U.S. You know what the 'farm
problem' really is? It's simply we don 't need so many farmers
anymore. The big farms are so productive and so efficient the little
farms aren't needed.
"'But we want to preserve our way of life,' cry the small farm
owners. 'We' ve got our pride,' they say. Pride? What
kind of human being takes pride in insisting we pay him for NOT producing?
Preserve a way of life? One that's not viable anymore? Well
hey, what about all those buggy whip manufacturers driven out of business
by the automobile? Should we have subsidized THEM? What about
all those typewriter repairmen who, because of PCs and word processors,
don't have any typewriters to repair anymore? Should we subsidize them,
too? So they can 'preserve their way of life'?
"To put a twist on what philosopher Yogi Berra used to say, Guru Gary
says: When it's over, it's over!"
- Gary Halbert, "The Gary Halbert Letter," 5/31/01
***************************
Spare the Textbooks, Jail the Mom
"In Maryland, local prosecutors are moving forward with a
little-noticed case against a dedicated mother. Mary Simmons faces
criminal charges for refusing to let government officials dictate how,
what, and where her child is taught. . Ms. Simmons and her husband, John
Stafford, wanted to direct the education of their youngest child,
6-year-old Mary Sharon, in their Laurel, Md., home using a nationally
respected Catholic curriculum. . But the Howard County, Md., school system
decided that Ms. Simmons' educational choices for her daughter weren't
good enough. . After Ms. Simmons...told school officials her daughter's
curriculum was 'none of their business,' the county slapped her with 72
counts of criminal truancy."
- Columnist Michelle Malkin
*******************************
If You Outlaw High School Football...
"Welcome to the brave new world of 'zero-tolerance' schooling, where
young minds are molded to abhor aggression. Schools are banning
dodge ball and tag because the games encourage 'violent behavior.' Some
schools are removing any references to the military from their libraries,
and some high schools are banning military recruiters.
"Elementary students in Texas and Louisiana have been suspended for
pointing pencils and saying 'pow' and drawing pictures of soldiers.
Students in Mississippi were held in jail for trivial infractions, such as
throwing peanuts at one another. A fifth-grader in St. Petersburg, Fla.,
was arrested for drawing pictures of 'weapons.'
"Recent victims of this witch hunt include an exemplary high-school
student, a National Merit Scholar, jailed in Fort Myers, Fla., because
school authorities found a kitchen knife under her car seat. The knife had
accidentally fallen there during a move between apartments. 'Terrorist
threat' criminal charges were filed against two 8-year-olds in Irvington,
N.J., for 'playing cops and robbers with a paper gun.'
Second-graders have been arrested for bringing toy guns to school. And
while juvenile records can be expunged, in some cases, such as for Brady
law background checks, they last a lifetime.
"Fear over school shootings is legitimate, but common sense is
needed. Since the most recent school shootings started in the fall of
1997, 32 students and three teachers have been shot to death at U.S.
elementary or secondary schools, an annual rate of less than one death per
4 million students. This includes deaths from gang fights, robberies and
accidents as well as from incidents such as at Columbine High School in
Colorado. By contrast, during that same period, 53 students died playing
high school football."
- Columnist John Lott, Los Angeles Times
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Guns Don't Kill People.
"Whether the president's (crime) initiatives become law or not is not
nearly as important as the knowledge that his priorities are in order.
This may well be the result of the fact that Mr. Bush, a veteran, is
familiar with, as a wag has aptly put it, 'which end of the tube the round
comes out of.' As such, he knows that guns are not the problem.
People are, at least, those people who misuse guns and obtain them
unlawfully. They are the proper object of government's attention,
and Mr. Bush's policy choices reflect this admirably."
- Washington Times editorial
*Your Gummint Skools At Werk
"Hernando Lakes High School in Brooksville, Fla., is one of the
Sunshine State's 20 specially designated 'New Millennium Schools.'
But at its graduation last month, the school passed out 262 embossed
diploma cases with the word millennium misspelled with only one N."
- Best of the Web, 6/18/01
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The Establishment Strikes Back
"Former congressman Bob Franks must think Jersey City mayor Bret
Schundler has a real shot at winning the GOP gubernatorial primary next
week in New Jersey, judging from his harsh attacks over the last week.
During their debate on Thursday, in fact, Franks stooped so low 'he even
insinuated that Mr. Schundler had stolen money from needy children' (in
the words of the New York Times). This is insulting and dishonest - the
sort of ugly attack that ought to disqualify Franks even in the eyes of
his supporters, barring a sincere apology.
"Both campaigns say the race is neck-and-neck. Franks is a liberal
Republican who will have a difficult time distinguishing himself from his
Democratic opponent, if he wins the nomination. Schunder will offer voters
a real choice - stark enough that this Democrat-leaning state might
actually send him to Trenton. He is a committed and creative conservative
who deserves victory next week, and again in November.
"It's hard not to feel sorry for the guy. Schundler made clear his
intention to run for governor long ago, only to have his plans complicated
by Christine Whitman's departing for the EPA and leaving behind a
Republican acting governor who wasn't term limited. As a lifelong Trenton
insider, though, Don DiFrancesco had plenty of problems, and his candidacy
sank in a swamp of ethical questions in late April. That should have left
Schundler the last man standing, but GOP-establishment types then fixed
election rules not only to allow Bob Franks to get in the race past the
filing deadline, but also to inherit the bulk of DiFrancesco's campaign
account.
"That was dirty. By most measures of fairness, the Republican
nomination ought to have been Schundler's without a fight. Instead, he's
now the underdog in a primary for the second time. Although Schundler
never really lived up to his advance billing in national circles - many of
his friends perhaps set impossibly high goals for him - he has been a
force for good in a troubled city. If he is able to accomplish as much in
Trenton as he has in Jersey City, he will be a great success."
- Columnists John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review Online,
6/18/01
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Jesse's Final Lap?
"Sen. Bill Frist, the Senate Republican campaign chairman, is being
quoted by political insiders as saying that 79-year-old Sen. Jesse Helms
will not seek a sixth term from North Carolina next year."
- Columnist Robert Novak, Chicago Sun Times, 6/12/01
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Sen. Clinton, Meet Sen. Dole
"Bracing for the possible retirement of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.),
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Bill Frist (Tenn.) has
approached Elizabeth Dole to gauge her interest in a 2002 Senate bid. ...
Dole, 64, a 2000 presidential aspirant and the wife of former Senate
Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), was 'interested but non-committal,'
even though recent GOP polls showed she remains highly popular in her home
state, party insiders said."
- Roll Call, 6/14/01
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Sen. Clinton, Meet Rep. North
"Republicans are trying to carve out a congressional district in
Virginia for Oliver L. North. ... The plan calls for Mr. North, the
retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who became a national hero for
many Americans during the Iran-Contra congressional hearings in the late
1980s, to go up against incumbent Democrat Rick Boucher in a district that
Mr. North carried in his 1994 senatorial race."
- Washington Times, 6/13/01
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McCain Recall Likely Won't Pass Muster
"As Arizona activists attempt to mount a recall drive against Sen.
John McCain (R) for what they deem insufficient loyalty to the GOP cause,
legal experts dismiss the efforts as unconstitutional and say there is
little chance that the recall would be successful. ... Although the
Arizona Constitution allows the recall of 'every public officer in the
state of Arizona holding an elective office,' including Members of
Congress, the U.S. Constitution does not permit such actions, according to
historians and legal experts."
- Roll Call, 6/14/01
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A REAL Yellow Dog Democrat
"Mabel Briscoe, an 82-year-old Democrat from Calvert County, Md., had
been receiving what she calls 'conservative propaganda' in the mail,
asserting that the 'motor voter' law made fraud easier. She decided to
test the claim. When she renewed her driver's license in 1999, she filled
out a voter-registration card for 'Holly Briscoe,' her dog. When Holly was
called for jury duty, Mabel informed county officials of the hoax. They
passed word on to the state attorney's office which threatened to
prosecute her. Now they've decided to back down, and Democrat Thomas V.
Mike Miller Jr., the state Senate president, says he supports changing the
law, 'possibly requiring those registering at motor vehicle offices 'to
present a picture ID,' ' the Washington Post reports."
- Best of the Web, 6/18/01
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The Kinda Republican Jim Jeffords Could Love
"President Bush has given him a push to run for California governor,
and an army of GOP partisans is eagerly circulating letters to nudge him
into the race -- but Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan, an unorthodox
politician by any measure, has hardly been as supportive to his own
Republican Party.
... Riordan, 71, a multimillionaire businessman, has been a far more
generous donor to Democratic candidates than Republicans. His recipients
include a 'who's who' of the most liberal -- and most virulently
anti-Republican -- Democrats. And last year Riordan gave $12,500 to Gov.
Gray Davis, his potential opponent should Riordan make a gubernatorial
campaign run."
- San Francisco Chronicle, 6/12/01
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