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************************************** Due to technical difficulties, News & Views did not go out over the 'net as normal and most people haven't received an issue for the last couple of days. The problem appears to be resolved, as today's issue appears to have finally posted this afternoon. Well...better late than never, so below are the two back issues from Tuesday and Wednesday. We now return to our regular programming... Chuck - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OCTOBER 7, 2003 ************************************** >From the South Lawn of the White House. As Grand Imperial Pooh-bah of Citizen Outreach, I was honored with an invitation to the White House to attend yesterday morning's welcoming ceremonies for the state visit of Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya. I was situated about ten yards from the Coast Guard contingent during President Bush and President Kibaki's review of the troops on the South Lawn. Pretty cool. The ceremony included a 21-Gun Salute - but Howard Dean's request that the cannons be aimed AT the White House were denied. By the way, on the drive down to DC I was listening to Ronald Reagan's autobiography on tape. He is STILL "da man"! But he said something I'd love to confirm if any of you can track it down. He said that in FDR's first campaign for president, his platform included a call for a 25 percent REDUCTION in government spending. Hoo-hah! Of course, he ended up doing the exact opposite thing once in office, giving the country the RAW DEAL. Still, I'd like to find confirmation that FDR actually proposed this at one time. If anyone can track this down, please forward to my attention. Thanks! ************************************** News You Won't Find in the "Mainstream" Press "More than 1 million girls in Afghanistan have entered schools since the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime - which had forbidden the education of girls - according to a UNICEF survey issued last week." - Betsy Pisik, "The U.N. Report," 10/6/03 ************************************** The Rush to Sack Limbaugh "(Rush) Limbaugh charged the media...with practicing a kind of affirmative action toward (Eagles quarterback Donovan) McNabb -- holding him to a lesser standard of excellence than white quarterbacks would be held to. If he had been talking about the University of Michigan's admission policies, or about Jayson Blair's career at The New York Times, nobody would have raised an eyebrow. But he said it about professional football, and for that he is being denounced as a vile bigot." - Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby ************************************** Racial Double Standard "In the wake over the Rush Limbaugh flap on ESPN, it's clearer that the double standards employed by the political correctness police are doing more to harm race relations than any effort since Lester Maddox's. . . . Just last month, Chicago Cubs Manager Dusty Baker claimed that 'blacks and Latins take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latins. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that.' While the ignorance in this statement is shocking, neither resignation nor apology were necessary. You see, Dusty Baker is black." - Horace Cooper of the Centre for New Black Leadership ************************************** What's Up With This? "Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, who recently accused President Bush of perpetrating a fraud on the American people in regard to the prewar threat from Iraq, will receive the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. . . . . Former President Bush has sole discretion on who receives the award, said Penrod Thornton of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation." - Greg Pierce's "Inside Politics," 10/6/03 ************************************** The Mean Dean Tax Hike Machine "I think (President Bush's) tax cuts are a disaster, and I'd repeal all of them." - Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean, The Jewish Week, 10/3/03 ************************************** Donkey Infighting "I love watching Howard Dean attack Wesley Clark: a Gingrich Republican debating a Nixon Republican over who's the better Democrat." - David Wade, spokesman for John Kerry, "Washington Whispers," U.S. News & World Report, 10/13/03 ************************************** Smelling Blood "The political feeding frenzy over the White House/CIA leak story spotlights just how desperate the Democrats are to find an election issue with legs. For nearly three years, they have repeatedly attacked this administration, hoping by sheer numerical odds to find the one issue that would politically damage George W. Bush. Naturally, not one - the corporate accounting scandal, the tax cuts, the Iraq war or the failure to find weapons of mass destruction - has had any long-term traction. Now, three months before the opening bell for the 2004 election year, the Democrats claim they smell blood in the water." - Columnist Donald Lambro ************************************** Why the "Leak" Actually Happened "The leak (about Joe Wilson's wife working for the CIA) was not to discredit Wilson in the eyes of those who might otherwise agree with him. It was to explain the administration's baffling use of a former Clinton administration official to take on this sensitive assignment--a decision that eventually led to the publication of Wilson's incredibly vain, incredibly partisan and incredibly damaging July 6 op-ed in the New York Times. In other words, the leak was intended not as an attack on the left. It was intended as a defense against attacks from the right." - New York Post columnist John Podhoretz ************************************** The Goon Squads "Chuck, I was a Teamster once, until I got promoted into management. Then I got to experience some of the things they do to management personnel they target, like flattening or slashing our tires, cutting our brake lines, and harassing obscene phone calls. They're nothing but a bunch of damned thugs and lowlifes, and nobody in their right minds would want to be involved with them." - Greg Harrod of Fredericksburg, Va. ************************************** Hello, This Is Al Gore. "Need more proof of why the Do Not Call Registry is sought by many? We hear that 2000 loser Al Gore is helping embattled California Gov. Gray Davis fight the recall election by recording a pro-Davis message that's being phoned into 1 million California homes - twice." "Washington Whispers," U.S. News & World Report, 10/13/03 ************************************** This Bud's For You, Cruz "I got a taped call from Al Gore last night. There was something strange about it. Here's what it said: GORE'S VOICE: This is former vice President Al Gore calling to urge you to vote no on the recall. Gray Davis has been a solid progressive governor and deserves to finish out his term. We simply cannot let the right wing Republicans roll back the progress California has been making under Governor Davis. It is very important that you vote no on the recall. Also, as insurance against a strong pro-recall turnout, and to keep a Democrat in the governor's office, continue on the ballot and vote "yes" for Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante to keep the governorship in Democratic hands. So remember, vote no on the recall, and then vote for Cruz Bustamante, who is located on your ballot under the letter "B." Thank you. WOMAN'S VOICE: Paid for by Progressive Democrats and Independents against the recall. Major funding by Anheuser-Busch.' "So what was strange about it? The last line--'Major funding by Anheuser-Busch.' What's America's largest brewer doing going to bat for Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamante? Is that legal? Maybe so--perhaps the cost is somehow apportioned between the 'recall' message and the 'Bustamante' message in a way that gets around whatever campaign limits apply. But is it smart? "Anheuser-Busch has put its name and its precious brands, nurtured at a cost of billions of dollars, behind two of the most unpopular politicians in the nation's largest state. How does that make business sense? Aren't opponents of Davis and Bustamante--probably a majority of the population--going to think twice about ordering up a Bud? Even if they're only 40 percent of the population, does Anheuser-Busch want to alienate 40 percent of the market? And what about proud 'right-wing Republicans'? Don't they drink beer?" - Mickey Kaus, Slate.com, 10/6/03 (NOTE: You can let Bud know how you feel about their support of Davis/Bustamante by going to http://contactus.anheuser-busch.com/contactus/talktous.asp) ************************************** Thanks, Bubba "(A)ssuming the polls are right and tomorrow night finds Schwarzenegger governor-elect, he will owe his office in significant part to Bill Clinton. Schwarzenegger's alleged history of boorish, even assaultive, conduct toward women is a legitimate topic of journalistic inquiry. It does tell us something about his character, and it's a perfectly respectable reason not to vote for the man. Clinton's defenders, however, argued otherwise when their man faced allegations of the same type. . . . Democratic partisans, having employed the groping-doesn't-matter defense with such great success in defending Bill Clinton, they can hardly expect people not to apply the same argument to the Schwarzenegger case." - James Taranto, Best of the Web, 10/6/03 ************************************** Body Parts "Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamante couldn't grab your breasts even if they wanted to: Their hands are too full of Indian casino money and tripled car tax and giveaway driver's licenses for illegal aliens. . . . The only bottom that's an issue in this election is Gray Davis', and on Tuesday all it will be feeling is the electorate's boot." - Columnist Mark Steyn - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OCTOBER 8, 2003 ************************************** California Wins! The people have spoken. The system works. Congratulations to Republican GOVERNOR Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hasta la vista, Davis. Maybe now some of those Gray skies are gonna clear up. ************************************** French Insignificance "The French, it isn't a question that they are not our friends anymore, they are leading the world against the United States every time that we turn around. It just wasn't against us going to war in Iraq, every single time that they turn around they are subverting the efforts, to try and make themselves more important in the world. France is insignificant to the world." - Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Jon Ralston's "Flash," 10/7/03 ************************************** Panic City "In a sharp reversal, Republicans who just months ago daydreamed about a 2004 election landslide now worry that President Bush is losing control of events at home and abroad and faces a real chance of leading the party to defeat." - Miami Herald, 10/5/03 ************************************** >From Wesley Clark's New Party "The liberal website democraticunderground.com called (talk show host Rush) Limbaugh a 'vulgar pigboy' who may turn out to be a 'terrorist-supporting, hillbilly-heroin addict.'" - CNSNews.com, 10/7/03 ************************************** Al Franken Is a Big-Mouth Idiot "(I'm) looking forward to the perp walk. I'll be switching channels to get it from every angle. My favorite part is when they push their heads to get them down into the [police] car." - "Comedian" Al Franken hoping to see Rush Limbaugh arrested on drug charges ************************************** Turning the Tables on Wilson "I assume that if (Joe Wilson) went into this job for the CIA, he had to sign an oath of secrecy - a confidentiality (agreement). And if he did, then he violated it and he should be prosecuted. He conducted a so-called 'secret' mission for the CIA. [However] he's talking about it all over national and international television - undermining the president of the United States. ... Why wasn't this guy called in before a grand jury?" - Rep. Pete King (R-NY) to WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, 10/5/03 ************************************** The Penalty for "Puke Politics" "There is, of course, another debilitating facet of the mudslinging brand of politics that seems to have become ever more popular. It not only discourages voters but does the same thing in spades for candidates. Who wants to run for public office in an atmosphere that holds one accountable for every silly remark or minor insensitivity in his or her life. The answer is, quite simply fewer and fewer qualified men and women, that's who." - Columnist Dan Thomasson ************************************** The "Right" to Feel Comfortable "In a scene reminiscent of the Wild West, about 75 people paraded through Northside (Ohio) with handguns strapped to their sides Sunday. Unlike the Old West, though, it was a modern-era media publicity stunt to protest last week's Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding the state's ban on carrying concealed weapons. "...There was heckling, however, from a half-dozen counter-protesters, some of whom carried plastic 'Super Soaker' water guns and walked alongside demonstrators packing real guns in their holsters. On numerous occasions, counter-protesters poked their water guns in the faces of marchers and asked, 'How do you like a gun pointed at you? You gonna murder somebody?' "...Anti-gun protester Jacob Hand of Walnut Hills, who taunted marchers with his 'Super Soaker' water gun.(said), 'Guns don't make me feel safer. They make me uncomfortable. These people are violating my right to feel comfortable.'" - The Cincinnati Post, 9/29/03 ************************************** The Bigger Dangers to Marriage "This marriage protection week does NOTHING to reduce the rate of divorce, illegitimacy rates, adultery, gambling, and other behaviors that seem to be rather epidemic in the heterosexual lifestyle. It's so much easier to just blame the gays." - News & Views reader Eva Young ************************************** Bigger Fish to Fry "Amending the Constitution is a rare thing -- it's only happened 27 times in America's history. Does establishing marriage rules, traditionally a function of the states, really merit altering the federal Constitution? And are voters well-served by an election that centers around the issue of who can marry and who can't, at a time when the nation still faces very real terrorist threats, is struggling to revive the economy and must shoulder the enormous task of rebuilding Iraq?" - Detroit News editorial, 10/6/03 ************************************** Brits Declare War on Junk Mail "Dannii Minogue and Pat Cash have joined forces to rid Britain of unwanted junk mail. The Aussie celebrities have called on frustrated residents to sign up to the Mailing Preference Service - a free scheme which stops people receiving unwanted advertising mail. The pair are helping to promote the UK direct marketing industry service in a bid to cut the 76,000 tonnes of junk mail which end up in British landfill sites every year. . . . . People can register their name and address free of charge on the Mailing Preference Service online." - Ananova.com, 10/7/03 ************************************** Adoptions & Home Schooling As a follow-up to a story we covered a few weeks ago about a couple who were told they couldn't home-school adopted kids, Dr. Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services - and a recent guest on "Always Right" - asked his staff to look into the matter. Here's what Dr. Horn was able to find out for us: ***QUOTE*** When asked whether Indiana has a policy prohibiting foster parents from home schooling foster children placed in their care, the state answered that, as a general rule, Indiana sends foster children to public school unless the parent, guardian or custodian objects and wants them in a private or home school and the judge approves that arrangement. We also asked whether the State had a policy of prohibiting home schooling parents from becoming foster or adoptive parents. We were told that Indiana would not object to a person wanting to become a foster or adoptive parent who home schools their biological children. It would only be an issue if the parents wanted to home school school-aged foster children placed in their home. Whether or not a parent could home school a child after an adoption is finalized would, of course, be up to the adoptive parent. Nevertheless, the state official who answered these questions commented that "home school is a controversial issue in Indiana," and the state "struggles " with establishing clear practices with regard to foster parents who home school. The individual responsible for setting policy when it comes to foster care and adoption, and who provided these answers is Stephanie Beasley-Fehrman, Director, Policy & Programs, Bureau of Family Protection/ Preservation. She can be reached at 317-232-4622. ***UNQUOTE*** Thank you, Dr. Horn! ************************************** Opening Pandora's Ten Commandments Box "Anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps has announced intentions to erect a monument to Matthew Shepard the gay college student brutally murdered five years ago near Laramie (Wyoming). But, the monument will be no memorial. Phelps says the monument would be 5 to 6 feet tall and made of marble or granite. It would bear a bronze plaque bearing the image of Shepard and have an inscription reading 'MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22.' "The monument would be erected in downtown Casper, Shepard's home town. Phelps has sent details of the monument to the city of Casper city council, and there may be nothing the city can do to prevent it. Phelps said he intends to put up the monument in City Park, already the location of a controversial statue of the Ten Commandments. "The Ten Commandments statue was donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1965. After a court battle over a similar monument in the city of Ogden, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on public property must also allow monuments espousing the views of other religions or political groups on that same property." - 365gay.com, 10/3/03 *************************************** How to Subscribe If you'd like to receive our FREE News & Views e-newsletter, you can sign up at: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsletter/ Published by Citizen Outreach Chuck Muth Editor/Publisher 611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, #439 Washington, DC 20003-4303 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Citizen Outreach is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public policy organization and does not endorse candidates or lobby for specific legislation. 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