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From: newsandviews_list@chuckmuth.com
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 8:45 AM
To: newsandviews@chuckmuth.com
Subject: Chuck Muth's News & Views - May 22, 2004
___________________________________
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT...
A recent “Survey Says!” of News & Views readers showed that 92% of us thought
the Senate should block the appointment of Dawn Tisdale to the Postal Rate
Commission. So Citizen Outreach sent a letter yesterday to Sen. Susan Collins
(R-Maine), Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, urging REJECTION of
Mr. Tisdale’s nomination. More to come. You can read our letter on today’s News
& Views EXTRA page by surfing over to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm
_____________________________________
ALL ABUSE VIDEOS NOT CREATED EQUAL
“The U.S. backed Arab-language news network Al Hurra broadcast video on
Wednesday depicting grisly acts of torture on Iraqi citizens ordered by Saddam
Hussein. But so far at least, the shocking new video remains embargoed by U.S.
media outlets.
“The Washington Post admitted on Friday that it was in possession of some of the
gruesome torture images - but did not publish them in a report on the video
buried on Page A21. Instead, Post editors decided to front-page stale images of
U.S. abuse of suspected terrorists held at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
“...In video yet to be broadcast by any U.S. outlet, Hussein torture victims are
shown being flogged and having fingers chopped off. One detainee is filmed as he
is thrown from a roof, another beheaded by a sword-wielding member of Saddam's
elite Fedayeen unit. According to the Post, video of the beheading shows a man
placing the severed head on the victim's prone body. Another scene shows a man's
tongue being cut out.
“As NewsMax.com reported on Sunday, other gruesome images from the embargoed
video include scenes of Kurdish detainees being castrated and babies being
gassed to death. During the beheading, the executioner reportedly sings ‘Happy
Birthday, Saddam.’"
- NewsMax.com, 5/21/04
ALL GENERALS NOT CREATED EQUAL
“We know conclusively that the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is as phony as a Bill
Clinton sex denial because there are no calls for the resignation of the one
individual most responsible for the abuses. That would be the officer in charge
of Abu Ghraib and all U.S. military prisons in Iraq, the commander of the 800th
Military Police Brigade, Army Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski. And why have there
been no calls for her resignation? Let's be honest. It is because she is a
woman. Thus the frightening lesson of the abuse scandal: Political correctness
trumps national security, even in wartime.”
- Columnist Jack Wheeler
TEACHERS SENTENCED TO “COUNSELING”
“Two Texas high school teachers were suspended Wednesday for showing students
the video of the decapitation of American businessman Nick Berg by terrorists in
Iraq,” reported the Washington Times on Friday. “Keith Sockwell, superintendent
of the Northwest Independent School District, said the showing of the video
reflected ‘poor judgment’ and was ‘inappropriate.’ He said the two teachers
would be ordered to undergo counseling.”
Counseling? You have GOT to be kidding me. And you wonder why our kids isn’t
learning?
SURVEY SAYS!
Should high school teachers be prohibited from showing the Nick Berg beheading
in their classrooms?
* Yes
* No
* I’m a Kerry Democrat...Yes AND No
Cast your vote by clicking the “Survey Says!” tab at www.citizenoutreach.com
SUPER-SIZED LARD BUTT
“It would be great if the tub of lard formerly known as Michael Moore were
solicited to light the Olympic flame in August and just stayed over there. Given
his deteriorating physical condition, however, he probably would be only a 50-50
bet to survive the climbing of the stadium steps.”
- Columnist Tom Knott
(UN)PATRIOT GAMES
“What I am telling the [American] athletes is, 'Don't run over and grab a flag
and take it round the track with you.' It's not business as usual for American
athletes. If a Kenyan or a Russian grabs their national flag and runs round the
track or holds it high over their heads, it might not be viewed as
confrontational."
- USOC consultant Mike Moran warning against “jingoistic” displays of patriotism
by American athletes at this summer’s Olympics in Greece
PELOSI UNGLUED: IS THIS UNPATRIOTIC?
“(President) Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he's not a leader. He's a
person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that
he has to decide upon. Not to get personal about it, but the president's
capacity to lead has never been there. In order to lead, you have to have
judgment. In order to have judgment, you have to have knowledge and experience.
He has none.”
- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Tikrit) in a San Francisco Chronicle
interview
AID & COMFORT
“Mrs. Pelosi has the right to disagree with President Bush, and it is clear that
she has a different vision from the President. But her comments questioning the
President's competence cross the line. We are in the middle of a war and in the
middle of a political campaign. Mrs. Pelosi's comments were meant to inspire her
political base. But who else do they inspire? That is the question she should
ask herself. Her comments are also wrong.”
- House Speaker Dennis Hastert
THAT’S A BIG “IF”
“The Republicans are supposed to be a party of free trade and economic freedom.
Bush has been one of the worst free-trade presidents we've had in a long time.
He is a big spender who makes Bill Clinton look like a penny pincher. I doubt
that I'm going to find Kerry to be a viable alternative. This year, if the
Libertarians put up a non-nut, I may end up voting for a Libertarian."
- Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers
IS DASCHLE A GONER?
As we noted in yesterday’s News & Views, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
barely leads his GOP opponent, former congressman John Thune, by a slight 49-47
percent margin. But here’s the rest of the story...and it spells doom for
Daschle if the Thune camp doesn’t blow it.
Fearful that Daschle might be vulnerable, the Daschle campaign has spent a
staggering $8 million on television, radio, newspaper ads and direct mail in
recent months to “reintroduce” Daschle to the voters. By contrast, Thune has
spent just $500,000...and not a penny yet to run a single ad.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Republicans have a well-deserved reputation for
never blowing an opportunity to blow an opportunity, we’d say stick a fork in
Daschle...he’s done.
GOV’T SCHOOL TEACHER ESCHEWS GOV’T SCHOOLS
“Early on weekday mornings, as Lesley-Anne Jones implores her three sons to
button their shirts and knot their ties and tie their dress shoes, they ask why
they can't attend her school. If Ms. Jones wanted to be factual about it, she
could say that the family lives just outside the boundary for Public School 158
in the East New York section of Brooklyn, where she teaches fifth grade.
Instead, she tells them the deeper truth. ‘I'm your mother, and I know what's
good for you,’ she explains. ‘And the public school won't be.’
“Then she drives the children to a nearby private school, the Trey Whitfield
School. Every month, she and her husband send the school a check for $900, the
equivalent of almost two weeks' take-home pay from her job. They make the
sacrifice because Trey Whitfield offers their children a demonstrably safer and
better education than what is available at either P.S. 158 or their local
school, Public School 149.
“...In her decision to enroll her children there, Ms. Jones has plenty of
company among the Whitfield School parents. Probation officers, nurse's aides,
office managers, subway conductors, these are the overlooked legions of the
black working class. . . . Their departure from urban school systems, not only
in New York but also across the nation, represents one of the most significant
and little-noticed trends in public education.”
- New York Times, 5/19/04
STUPIDITY VIRUS STRIKES IN FT. WORTH
“Cory Henson, a sophomore at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School in Fort Worth,
Texas, was ‘immediately suspended, pending a conference with administrators
today,’ when school officials found a miniature baseball bat in his car in the
school parking lot, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The eight-inch ‘bat’
had broken off a trophy, he says. ‘Officials will decide whether the bat is
considered a weapon that would merit punishment, including placement in an
alternative school or expulsion for up to a year.’ Also in Henson's car was a
proper baseball bat, made of aluminum. But that isn't considered a weapon.”
- James Taranto’s “Best of the Web,”5/21/04
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chuck Muth’s News & Views is published by Citizen Outreach, a non-partisan,
501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The opinions and views expressed in Chuck Muth's
News & Views reflect those of the writers, editors and columnists therein and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of Citizen Outreach, its officers,
directors or employees.
Published by: Citizen Outreach
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