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************************************** Happy Birthday By now you all know that I inadvertently hit the wrong button yesterday and sent out "DC Confidential" to everybody rather than just to those who have made a financial contribution to our efforts at Citizen Outreach. Well, consider my "oops" a birthday gift and I hope everyone enjoyed this week's issue. And if you would like to CONTINUE receiving DC Confidential, again all you need do is make a donation of $5 or more by clicking on the "Contribute" page at www.citizenoutreach.com. *************************************** Should Drug Benefit Be "Means Tested"? Day by day we get closer and closer to a showdown over adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare. Conservatives in Congress say that any such benefit should be available only to the poor who can't afford it. Liberals and some moderates are insisting that any new drug benefit should be made available to everyone, regardless of income. What do you think? Cast your online vote by going to the "Survey Says" page at www.CitizenOutreach.com ************************************** Long Live the Queen "As much as we despise her, she cannot be drawn out...the Queen lives!!!!" - Joby Fortson, aide to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), in an email lamenting that Texas redistricting efforts wouldn't eliminate race-hustling liberal Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's district. ************************************** Fish or Fowl "It takes more time and effort to stalk beasts in the backwoods than it does to shoot fish in a barrel. . . . (For this appeal) not much stalking by plaintiffs' counsel was required." - 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting a bill of $76,109 from attorneys who successfully argued for the removal of a Ten Commandments shrine from an Alabama courthouse. The court noted that the lead attorney in the case had focused on First Amendment religious cases for the last five years, including seven other Ten Commandments cases ************************************** Stupid Is As Stupid Does Why is it that whenever we learn of something really, really stupid going on...our government schools always seem to somehow be involved. Here's the latest example, courtesy of an editorial in yesterday's Union Leader: "When federal education officials told states to do something about dangerous schools, they weren't talking about kindergarten finger paintings. That didn't stop Massachusetts from leaping into the void to protect students from their own artwork and poetry. Saying taped-up paper represents a fire hazard, the state forbade teachers this fall from covering more than 20 percent of classroom wall space with any kind of 'flammable material' - otherwise known as cardboard cutouts of the alphabet, postings of classroom rules, educational posters and student reports on explorers or rain forests." Somebody pass me an inhaler. ************************************** Let's Play Hardball "Senate Republicans plan a blitz to confirm President Bush's stalled judicial nominations soon after returning from break next week. Though their first priority will be passing Mr. Bush's $87 billion request for occupying and rebuilding Iraq, top Republicans said the blocked judges will be next on the agenda. Their plans include forcing around-the-clock debate on filibustered nominees, introducing a change in Senate rules that would bar filibusters against judicial nominees and creating a 'judges week,' during which all other legislative issues would be pushed aside to make way for debate on the nominees. . . . Democrats said they've heard rumblings about Republican plans but remain committed to blocking the nominees." - Washington Times, 10/12/03 ************************************** Enough Is Enough "We've been very patient in the face of filibusters against the president's (judicial) nominees, but we won't be for much longer. Much of their obstruction has been limited to committee rooms and unspoken threats. If they want to continue dancing to the tune of special interests, they're going to have to do it live on C-SPAN." - Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and member of the judiciary committee, Washington Times, 10/12/03 *************************************** Time to Buck Up the Troops It appears pressure from conservative grassroots activists such as yourselves on Republicans in the Senate to play hardball and break the Democrats' filibusters of the President's judicial nominees is starting to have an effect. Many of you recently contacted your senators asking them to support using, if need be, the "nuclear option" to clear the judicial logjam. Now would be an excellent time to follow-up with yet another encouraging note or phone call to buck up our troops on the eve of this incredibly important battle. For a list of phone numbers and email addresses for Republican senators who need to hear from you, just click on the "Brushfire Alert" page at www.citizenoutreach.com ************************************** Words Come Back to Bite Limbaugh "'Let's all admit something.' Rush Limbaugh was on his usual tear. 'There's nothing good about drug use,' he was saying. 'We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.' "...When you have a talk-radio show 15 hours a week, you have an awful lot of air to fill. On this particular day, which was Oct. 5, 1995, Rush was roaring about the scourge of illegal drug use. Even though blacks and whites break the drug laws in roughly equal percentages, he noted, black druggies go to prison far more often than white druggies do. But to the liberal-bashing host, this was no reason to ease up on blacks. "'What this says to me,' he told his listeners that day, 'is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we're not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.' " - Ellis Henican, Newsday.com, 10/2/03 ************************************** Dawn of a New GOP Era? "I think, five years from now, you're going to look back and you're going to see this (California recall) election as a turning point where the Republican Party was taken over by Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani - an independent, more centrist Republican Party, that I may not agree with 100 percent. (Schwarzenegger) has his own power base, [and] the Republican Party needs him more than he needs the Republican Party." - Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, Florida Republican, Washington Times, 10/12/03 ************************************** I'll Pass Along Your Concerns Right Here "Do you have Eric Dondero's email? I'd like to give him a piece of my 'religious right mind.' Hundreds of thousands, if not a million, Christian conservatives voted for Arnold (Schwarzenegger in the California recall election), including my husband and myself. Most of our like-minded friends did the same, a few did not. I don't think he would have won without us." - News & Views reader Barb Barrick of Santa Clarita, CA ************************************** A Theocracy, If You Can Keep It "I'm gonna put this bluntly: The Bible says homosexual acts are to be punished by death. Further it not only authorizes but insists governments exercise God's justice on earth; that is a principal role of government in God's eyes as it is that all power comes from Him as do all rights. "Finally, our outward form of government while being that of a Republic, does not diminish the fact that the whole universe is under a Theocracy with not any man as its head; but with God himself as the theocratic head of all governments. God (Jesus Christ) is the King of Kings, whether we accept it or not and whether we believe it or not. Homosexual acts were at one time a capital offense in this and other countries and needs to be again." - News & Views reader "Taliban" Mike Girard ************************************** Who Are the Liberals? "They are the homosexual activists, the teachers' unions, the pro-abortion fanatics, the Hollywood elites, the radical feminists, the burned-out hippie peaceniks, the socialists posing as college professors and journalists, the gun grabbers, the environmentalist granolas, the animal rights extremists, the tax and spend junkies, the vegetarian lesbian atheists, the government bureaucrats, the ACLU lawyers, and the racial agitators like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton." - Vernon Robinson, GOP candidate for North Carolina's 5th congressional district ************************************** NEW Muth's Truths: Just Say No to FMA Top ten reasons conservatives should oppose the federal marriage amendment. Read all about it in the latest edition of "Muth's Truths" at www.CitizenOutreach.com ************************************** Major League Butt Covering The principal at the Texas high school which called the cops on a student who let another student suffering from an asthma attack borrow his inhaler, has sent an "canned" email response to many of us who took the time to write him. Talk about CYA "spin." Principal Poole doesn't exactly deny the story, but instead says it was based on "erroneous information" and blames the Internet...even though all the Internet did was spread the story, which was originally reported by local media, worldwide. This was no "urban legend" on web. Nice try, though, Dr. Poole. The principal's full response/explanation is less than honest, at best. Yes, as he contends, it's apparently true the girl originally went to the nurse for a headache. But it was in the nurse's office where she suffered the asthma attack. Funny how the principal neglects to acknowledge the attack, regardless of where it took place. And as for his contention that no one was in a "life-threatening situation," the girl who had the attack said plainly and simply, and maintains to this day, that the boy who let her borrow his inhaler "saved her life." That's good enough for me. In addition, contrary to Principal Poole's contention otherwise, the boy WAS expelled...but was allowed to return...which resurrects memories of Bill Clinton's "what the definition of is is" defense. I've read two versions regarding the "expulsion": One that the kid could return as early as next week (the principal's version) and two, that he could return after Christmas. Either way, regardless of how you parse it or what you call it, the kid was kicked out of school for a specific period of time for letting a classmate suffering an asthma attack borrow his inhaler. That fact is indisputable. Next, no one...certainly not I...said the boy was still "in jail." However, it is a fact that he was indeed arrested and did in fact face jail time in "juvy" had the state decided to pursue legal action in the matter (which, fortunately, it did not). And as for the bureaucrat's chest-beating that the school in question has produced "three National Merit Scholars last year," so what? What's that have to do with busting a 15-year-old kid for sharing an inhaler with a classmate suffering an asthma attack? Maybe those Merit Scholars can explain to Principal Poole how sharing a prescription inhaler isn't the same as selling heroin, crack cocaine or even pot. Duh. Look, these people got caught with their pants down and are now trying to cover their butts. I don't blame them...but neither will I assist them. These zero tolerance policies are actually zero THINKING policies. Their purpose is to remove common sense and accountability from bureaucratic automatons. And while others might buy into Poole's butt-covering BS explanation, I ain't falling for it. What I WILL do, however, is offer to interview him on "Always Right" and see how he holds up under direct and challenging questioning as opposed to merely issuing a pre-written canned response. What say you, Doctor? ************************************** 4.75 cents-per-minute Long Distance * All state-to-state calls in the continental U.S. * Residential or commercial * 6-second billing increments * 24 hours/day * 7 days/week * No access codes * No minimums * No activation fees * Calling Card Rate is 10 cents per minute * No monthly service charge unless your bill is less than $20.00 a month (then a $1.99 service charge will apply) * No need to change your local phone company * No hassles * Easy sign-up. * And a small portion of each bill goes to help continue publishing our FREE Chuck Muth's News & Views e-newsletter. Just go to: http://www.NewsandViewsLongDistance.com *************************************** 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. 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. To be REMOVED, go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/remove/default.cfm and complete the removal request instructions you'll find there. Or send your request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # #
