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From: newsandviews_list@chuckmuth.com
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 8:47 AM
To: newsandviews@chuckmuth.com
Subject: Chuck Muth's News & Views - March 20, 2004
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CHUCK MUTH’S NEWS & VIEWS
March 20, 2004
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OINK, OINK
“I hate to say it, but the NIH (National Institutes of Health) is one of the
best agencies in the world. But they've turned into pigs. You know, pigs! They
can't keep their oinks closed. They send a senator down there [to] argue as if
they're broke."
- Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) on Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-PA) proposal to boost NIH
spending by $1.5 billion
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
If you believe what Democrats are saying these days (in which case you ought to
seriously consider putting down the bong or seeking professional help), then you
believe that the February 2004 jobless rate of 5.6% is just...well, terrible.
No, worse than terrible. The pits. And that means only one thing: Bush has got
to go.
Umm...let’s hop into the Wayback Machine, shall we Sherman? Set the date for
February 1996. Bill Clinton is gearing up for his re-election effort. The
jobless rate back then? 5.5%. Hmm. I don’t recall the Democrats clamoring for
Bubba’s head because of such a miserable jobless rate back then. Wonder what the
difference is now?
MONKEY TRIAL COUNTY REVERSES COURSE
“Yesterday we wrote about the Rhea County Commission's plan to block gay
marriage from spreading into their community by criminalizing homosexuality and
entirely banning gay persons from living in Rhea County (Tennessee). Only two
days after the Rhea County Commission unanimously passed that resolution -- and
in the face of a national firestorm of ridicule -- they met in a special session
on Thursday to revisit their vote. In just minutes, they unanimously repealed
their previous action with little public comment.”
- Ron Gunzburger, Politics1, 3/19/04
A REAL MAN OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE
“Sen. John Kerry sold his foreign mansion in Italy just weeks before he
announced a run for the White House in January of 2003. Actor George Clooney
purchased the stunning 18th-century mansion located in the Italian village of
Laglio (50 miles north of Milan) from Kerry and his wife for $7,800,000. Clooney
first learned about the listing from Brad Pitt, who had been holidaying with his
wife, Jennifer Aniston, at Versace's compound nearby.”
- The Drudge Report
THEY DON’T CALL HIM “EFFING” FOR NOTHING
“The image-conscious candidate (John Kerry) and his aides prevailed upon
reporters and photographers to let him have a first run down the mountain solo,
except for two agents and Marvin Nicholson, his omnipresent right-hand man. His
next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on
skis--just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men,
who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow. When asked
about the mishap a moment later, he said sharply, ‘I don't fall down,’ then used
an expletive to describe the agent who ‘knocked me over.’ "
- New York Times report on Kerry’s snowboarding trip in Idaho
HOME OF THE WHOPPERS
“Hi Chuck! Just finished reading Thursday's News and Views and loved it as
always. Got a huge LOL from the story of John Kerry’s “VC”, the Flying River
Hound, because it reminded me of a similar whopper once told by a fraternity
brother of mine who could have bested the Gore/Kerry ‘oral tradition’ in
spades.
“This guy claimed that after a night of drinking in various bars along the
Monterey, CA waterfront, he fell into Monterey Bay, where he was rescued by a
dolphin, who somehow took hold of him and carried him across the bay to Santa
Cruz, where he dropped him off on the beach at the foot of the UC Santa Cruz
campus he attended! The image of this drunken college boy being carried cross
bay by one of Flipper's fellows is right up there with VC's aerial feat. Have a
good weekend and be well.”
- News & Views reader Mike German
BOSTON FOG REPORT
“John Kerry’s unsteady leadership on Iraq is like the weather of his native New
England. If you don’t like his position, wait a minute and it will change.”
- Bush/Cheney campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt
UNCLE TED’S PREDICTION
“(The) prime minister of Spain paid a high price Sunday for supporting us in the
(Iraq) war, and for misleading the Spanish people. President Bush is likely to
pay a similar high price in November"
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)
HOW TO FIGHT TERRORISM
“You fight it with helicopter gunships and artillery, not hot air at the United
Nations.”
- Talk-show host Neal Boortz
QUEEN FOR A DAY
“(John Kerry) said a lot of world leaders want him to be president. Then the
Bush administration said, ‘Yeah, like who?’ . . . The only name he could come up
with: Queen Latifah.”
- Late Show host David Letterman
ONE OF KERRY’S FOREIGN SUPPORTERS
Those secret foreign leaders who John Kerry says want John Kerry to beat George
Bush in November are coming forward, starting with Spain’s new prime minister
and latest inductee into the Axis of Weasels. Now another foreign leader has
joined the Kerry cheerleading squad: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad.
You remember Mahathir, don’t you?
“In October 2003 at the Islamic Summit Conference,” reminds Talon News, “Mohamad
gave a speech where he said that Muslims will ‘forever be oppressed and
dominated by the Europeans and the Jews.’ He also called on Muslims to unite
against Jews towards a ‘final victory’ and further added that ‘the Jews rule the
world by proxy.’" Lovely.
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PRICE CONTROLS FOR DRUGS
“Why not have price controls on pharmaceuticals? . . . Many Americans will
remember the ‘energy crisis’ of the 1970s, which began when Richard Nixon
imposed price controls on energy in 1971 — everybody needs energy, right? — and
ended when Ronald Reagan finally lifted those price controls in 1981. Since
then, the price of energy has gone up and down, to be sure, but at least energy
has always been available — with no more gasoline-pump lines.
“And that's the problem with price controls on prescription drugs. (Sen. Ted)
Kennedy (D-MA) and his crew don't like to mention the certainty that drug price
controls will lead to drug shortages; they prefer to act as if pharmaceuticals
grow on trees. But the root fact is that the pharmaceutical companies spend $30
billion each year on research and development. If Uncle Sam cuts down their
prices, will they really continue to invest so much in the medicines of the
future? Will they develop drugs that improve and save lives? The answer could be
a matter of life and death for millions.”
- Columnist James Pinkerton
THE ONLY GOOD MONOPOLY IS A GOV’T MONOPOLY
“Imagine an enormous company – an organization with the largest workforce of any
U.S. company except Wal-Mart. Yet it doesn’t pay taxes, ignores SEC guidelines,
and sells fraudulent products to consumers. It has a complete monopoly in its
own industry and makes predatory raids into others. Now imagine that the Supreme
Court declares this company can’t even be sued in a court of law. Well, guess
what? This organization exists. It’s your friendly Postal Service.”
- Sam Ryan of the Lexington Institute (http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/postal/040315.asp)
EU PICKING UP WHERE JANET RENO LEFT OFF
“Microsoft Corp. failed in last-ditch talks to reach an accord on its business
practices with European antitrust regulators and now faces rulings that could
affect the way it sells software for an array of products, from servers now to
mobile phones in the future. The European Commission next Wednesday is expected
to order Microsoft to offer computer makers a version of Windows without its
Media Player multimedia software for sale to European consumers -- and that
could lead to such a choice being offered world-wide.
“The commission also is expected to require Microsoft to release enough new
information about Windows to allow rival companies, including Sun Microsystems
Inc. and Novell Inc., to make software that works as well in a Windows-dominated
world as Microsoft's own software does. It also will likely levy its largest
fine, widely expected to be at least $200 million to $300 million.”
- Wall Street Journal, 3/19/04
GETTING THE MICRO-SHAFT
After being hounded for years by Janet Reno’s (In)Justic Department, Microsoft
now finds itself in the cross-hairs of the European Union. After settlement
talks revolving around Microsoft’s media player broke down this week, it appears
the EU will slam the software giant with a huge fine and other yet-to-be named
sanctions. Is this just green-eye-shade jealousy by European weenies trying to
make a name for themselves at the expense of a highly successful American
company? Or is Microsoft really the devil dressed in a floppy disk? Is this
Microsoft’s just desserts...or an international miscarriage of justice? Weigh in
on our Discussion Board at: http://blog.chuckmuth.com/blog/
TAKING BAD HABITS BACK HOME
Some time ago, Congress found a way to blow off all those pesky constituents who
found email to be a quick and inexpensive means of communicating with their
elected officials. Hey, if your congressman wanted your stinkin’ opinion, he’d
ask for it (just before ignoring it).
Anyway, rather than actually receive, read and respond to easily submitted
emails, congress-critters set up “web forms” on their websites, forcing people
to visit their online propaganda machines and filling out a “form” in order to
petition their government. Oh, yeah. And you MUST include a lot of personal
information which can be recorded and tracked by Big Brother for future
reference.
Get ready to suffer similar indignities and roadblocks at the state and local
level. For example, former Kentucky Rep. Ernie Fletcher was recently elected
governor there. And just this week emails to the governor began getting kicked
back with an auto-responder instructing the great unwashed to...yup, go to the
governor’s website if they wish to communicate with his highness. “If you choose
not to visit the site above,” says the notice, “we will not be able to receive
your comments.”
Well, of course they *could;* they’ve just chosen not to.
This apparently isn’t the only bad habit the former congressman brought home
after drinking the water in our nation’s capital for a few years. One of his
first acts as governor has been to embrace the notion of raising the tobacco tax
on Kentucky residents...proving once again: You can take the boy out of
Washington, but you can’t take the Washington out of the boy.
AMENDMENT MADNESS
A dozen House Republicans introduced a bill last week which could allow Congress
to overrule by a 2/3 vote a Supreme Court decision upholding the right to keep
and bear arms, thereby amending the Constitution with no vote of the people
through their state legislatures. This is the slippery slope we’re heading down
with all this foolish talk about a federal marriage amendment. Read Neal
Boortz’s entire column on this subject, including the names of the Dirty Dozen
GOP’ers pushing this dangerous idea at: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Boortz20040319.shtml
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__________________________________________
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