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From: newsandviews_list@chuckmuth.com
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 7:13 AM
To: newsandviews@chuckmuth.com
Subject: Chuck Muth's News & Views - July 22, 2004
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EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT...
MoveOn.org has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
demanding the agency stop Fox News from using its slogan "fair and balanced,”
claiming it to be deceptive advertising. This led our friend and adviser Lyn
Nofziger to write in his blog yesterday: “Perhaps now some conservative
organization can call on the FTC to ban the New York Times’ use of its slogan:
‘All the news that’s fit to print.’ ”
So...we did. And heaped upon MoveOn.org the level of ridicule they so richly
deserve in the process. You can read the letter Lyn & I are sending to the FTC
on today’s News & Views EXTRA page at:
http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm
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OVER-HEARD AT KERRY’S HEADQUARTERS
“Hey, Sandy. Are those security documents in your pocket...or are you just glad
to see me?”
- News & Views reader
IF YOU BELIEVE THIS ONE…
..We have some oceanfront property in Vegas you might be interested in.
Sandy Berger, Clinton’s National Security Adviser, has been caught removing
top-secret information from a secure National Archives reading room, hiding
documents in his coat pocket, pants and socks. One of the key documents he
lifted is now - surprise! - missing. Berger calls the five-finger heist
"sloppiness" and an "honest mistake." He even does so with a straight face and a
certain air of righteous indignation.
According to CNSNews.com, Berger’s lawyer says the missing memo in question was
written by Richard Clarke, the man who wrote a book blasting the Bush
administration for failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Oh, how very
conveeeeenient. The Berger memo now joins that 18-minute erasure on the Nixon
Watergate tapes and Hillary’s magical disappearing billing records in American
political lore.
OPEN MOUTH...INSERT FOOT
John Kerry really stuck his foot in his mouth while brown-nosing the NAACP last
week. Kerry went out of his way to criticize President Bush for refusing to
address the anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-conservative, anti-white uncivil
rights organization at their annual convention. “You need to talk to all of the
people,” Kerry admonished the President.
And what a Pandora’s box THAT has opened! Conservative organizations are coming
out of the word-work demanding that Kerry back up his rhetoric by addressing
THEIR organizations. Talon News reports that Gun Owners of America, Concerned
Women for America and the Family Research Council have all extended Kerry an
invitation to address their memberships. Bet your life more are on the way.
Hoooo-weee! Looks like the French-looking senator’s mouth wrote a check he (or
even his wife) can’t cash. Oughtta be fun watching him try to squirm out of this
one.
POOR, POOR PITIFUL...LINDA
“It’s a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the
audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment.
I’d rather not know.”
- Singer Linda Ronstadt, San Diego Tribune, 7/15/04
NUTCASE REJOINS LOONY-TUNES
“The Islamic world...and this includes those who don't exactly wish us well...is
celebrating today. Radical Islamic causes have now achieved a meaningful
election victory in the United States. It looks almost certain that Cynthia
McKinney will be returning to the United States Congress representing Georgia's
4th District. Yesterday McKinney took more than 50% of the votes in a
Democratic primary election. Her Republican challenger in the November election
stands little chance of an upset.
“You do remember Cynthia, don't you? She is the one who said that Bush knew
about 9/11 before it happened. . . . Cynthia McKinney is a functionally
incompetent far-left nutcase...and come next January she'll be back in
Washington. Now Corinne Brown, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Maxine Waters will have
some good company. Residents of Georgia's 4th Congressional District have every
cause to be both ashamed and embarrassed.”
- Talk show host Neal Boortz
GIVE DRUG CARDS A CHANCE
“Despite enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, some policymakers
continue to advocate for the importation of prescription drugs into the United
States...seemingly ignoring the current Medicare discount card program and the
upcoming 2006 prescription drug benefit. The Medicare Prescription Drug Discount
Card program, a temporary discount card put in place by the Medicare bill, has
already proven to save participating seniors—especially lower-income seniors who
are also eligible for subsidies—between 50 percent and 78 percent. With such
significant savings already reaching seniors, policymakers supporting drug
importation should pause and consider its consequences.”
- Nina Owcharenko of the Heritage Foundation, 7/20/04
BLINDED ON THE RIGHT
Folks, the federal marriage amendment (FMA) is dead. Get over it. Yet some
anti-gay activists just can’t let it go.
There’s a vote on another bill (HR 3313) coming up this week, and the pro-FMA
folks are in full rant. “Anti-family forces and their allies in the militant
homosexual movement have a boot heel on the throat of America,” screams an email
from the usually level-headed American Conservative Union (ACU) president David
Keene, urging members to support the bill. “We must act NOW because too many of
our politicians are writhing and whining and begging for mercy instead of
fighting.”
Oh, dear. “Boot heel on the throat,” huh? Sounds...apocalyptic.
Now for a little reality check. HR 3313 isn’t about defending marriage. It’s
about “court stripping.” It’s about defending DOMA. It’s about defending state
sovereignty. It's about the 10th Amendment. It’s about the proper separation of
powers. It’s merely a bill which says that federal courts can’t strike down the
1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which reserves to the states the ability to
decide the issue of gay marriage for themselves and prevents the federal
judiciary from forcing one state to recognize the gay marriages of another
state.
DOMA was about gay marriage. FMA was about gay marriage. HR 3313 is about
federalism.
It’s a darn shame anti-gay...AND pro-gay...forces are twisting this bill into
something it’s not. It should be debated on its own merits. Court-stripping is a
serious constitutional question which should be discussed without the
demagoguery over gay marriage. The ACU, of all organizations, should know
better. That they’ve resorted to the rhetorical level of Gary Bauer and James
Dobson over this piece of legislation is truly disheartening.
Let’s hope the rest of us can do better.
WHINING AS A POLITICAL STRATEGY
The Democrats have added yet another scalp to their filibuster wall this week,
blocking an up-or-down vote on judicial nominee Bill Myers. In response, the
president issued a rather mild, cookie-cutter statement begging the Democrats to
“stop playing politics with the American judicial system and give judicial
nominees the fair treatment they deserve.”
Oh, PUH-lease.
Meyers is the SEVENTH nominee to be obstructed from a confirmation vote by an
unconstitutional filibuster by the minority party...and Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist, like the president, is just...taking it. “Thank you, sir, may I have
another?” It’s hard to feel sorry for these folks on this issue when they simply
REFUSE to play hardball. It's WAY past time to get mean; plain mad-dog Josie
Wales mean.
What could they do? Well, here’s one place to start.
As an act of good faith (and questionable judgment), President Bush nominated
Dawn Tisdale to fill a vacancy on the Postal Rate Commission. Tisdale is a
former postal worker and labor union activist. His nomination has been voted out
of committee and is ready for a confirmation vote by the entire Senate.
In the meantime, the 300,000-member letter carriers union formally endorsed John
Kerry for president on Tuesday. The union is openly hostile to Republicans in
general, and President Bush in particular. Does anyone in their right mind think
this wouldn’t bias Tisdale’s decision-making should he be confirmed to the PRC?
Some Republican senator somewhere, somehow should use the power they have to put
a “hold” on Tisdale’s nomination and not release it until the Democrats in the
Senate release the president’s judicial nominees. Additionally, the Senate
should NOT vote to approve Tisdale in any event for one very simple and
defensible reason: He has an irreconcilable conflict of interest. Period.
Like I said, if Bush and Frist aren’t willing to play hardball with the
Democrats who are blocking these judicial nominees, it’s no longer possible for
us to feel sorry for them. Bush and Frist need to take off the kid gloves and
strap on the boxing gloves. If you can’t make the Democrats pay for this kind of
unprecedented obstruction, what’s the sense in controlling the White House and
being in the majority?
You can reach Sen. Frist’s office by calling (202) 224-3344. Or send him an
email by going to his website at: http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.ContactForm
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"Life is tough. Life is tougher if you're stupid."
- John Wayne
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Chuck Muth’s News & Views is published by Citizen Outreach, a non-partisan,
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not necessarily reflect the opinions of Citizen Outreach, its officers,
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