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*********************************** The Junto Is Alive and e-Kicking Longtime subscribers will recall last September in Baltimore that we resurrected an old idea pioneered by Ben Franklin called the "Junto." The Junto was a regular meeting of like-minded folks who got together to discuss the issues of the day, break bread and maybe tilt back a tankard or two of ale. It was an idea that many of you outside the Baltimore area expressed an interest in for your own town. Well, here's your chance. Townall.com has taken this ball and run with it on a national basis. Called "Meetup Days," Town Hall is using the power of the Internet to facilitate conservative "juntos" all across America on the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. local time. The next meeting in a city/town near you will be next week, on January 6. And yes, I'm planning to attend the one here in Baltimore...and encourage you to attend the one nearest you (or start one yourself if one doesn't already exist). You can get all the details by visiting: http://townhall.meetup.com/ *********************************** Subscribe FREE to News & Views If you or someone you know would like to receive our FREE daily News & Views e-briefing, just go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsletter/ And if you want to read past issues of News & Views, you can do so by going to: http://www.mail-archive.com/newsandviews%40chuckmuth.com/ *********************************** In Readers' Hearts, Good Guy Comes in First Regular readers will also recall the name of Capt. Chris Carter, a true hero of the Iraq war and a soldier's soldier whose actions have been chronicled here in News & Views from time to time. You might also recall that we urged folks to vote for Capt. Carter as the top local newsmaker in the Athens Banner-Herald poll a couple weeks back. Well, good news! Although the paper's editors selected the local college president who's been under fire for some questionable financial shenanigans on top of a sports scandal as their top newsmaker, the paper's readers themselves selected our guy who was under fire...well, literally. You can read all about it by going to: http://onlineathens.com/stories/122803/new_news.shtml Congratulations, Chris! *********************************** Navy to ACLU: Pound Sand! "The ACLU is targeting the voluntary lunchtime prayer that has been a tradition at the Naval Academy since its founding. . . . But the Navy did not retreat. In August, it announced it would keep its prayer, and the ACLU went ballistic. 'We tried things the nice way, and they've told us to pound sand,' ACLU lawyer David Rocah told the Baltimore Sun." - Columnist Terence Jeffrey *********************************** Dissing Dixie "(Presidential candidate Howard Dean's supporters) don't believe in much, but they are fervent on the subject of their own superiority. To them, America's red states - as identified in TV maps on Election Night 2000 - are populated by ignorant cowboys, unwashed swampies, hellfire preachers, beauty parlor bimbos, redneck sheriffs, Confederate flag wavers and retarded hillbilly kids sitting in trees playing the banjo. This picture of Southern inferiority, like all articles of faith, is immune to both empirical observation and personal experience. To guys like Dean, Dixie is and will forever remain a vast county fair where a slick Yaleman can sell 5-gallon jugs of snake oil in return for votes." - New York Daily News columnist Zev Chafets *********************************** Howie's Energy-Efficient Glass House "Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, who has criticized the Bush administration for refusing to release the deliberations of its energy policy task force, as governor of Vermont convened a similar panel that met in secret and angered state lawmakers." - Associated Press, 12/29/03 *********************************** Goin' Goldbergean "Arthur Goldberg was a fine public servant . but a dreadful candidate for governor of New York in 1970, when it was said that if he gave one more speech he would lose Canada, too. Howard Dean is becoming Goldbergean." - Columnist George Will *********************************** Break Out the Kool-Aid "Will they really do it? Just 22 days until the Iowa caucuses, and the Democrats show every sign that they are going to plunge into the abyss by nominating Howard Dean for president. At a time of war, one of our major political parties seems on the verge of abandoning any pretense of national unity and choosing a candidate who seemingly hates the president of the United States but is blasé at best about the country's enemies." - James Taranto, Best of the Web, 12/29/03 *********************************** '72 Déjà Vu "Even though doubts about Mr. Dean's national security policies run deep, his feisty antiwar attacks on the president remain as popular as ever among liberal Democratic activists who turn out in disproportionate numbers in the party's primaries. If he wins the nomination, as now seems likely, that sets up a wartime election, not unlike 1972. Just ask George McGovern about that one." - Columnist Donald Lambro *********************************** Ah, The Good Ol' Days of Gridlock "The budget surplus (of the late 1990s) was the result of a bitter standoff between Clinton and Newt Gingrich's GOP over fiscal policy; for a brief moment, both sides decided they would rather let accumulating revenues just sit there than let the other side use them." - New Republic Online columnist Jacob T. Levy *********************************** This Ain't Your Daddy's Conservative GOP "Fifty years ago, the modern movement to defend the principles of liberty, outlined in the United States Constitution, began. That was when conservatives and libertarians began to stand up to those who advocated government as the answer to the basic questions of life, as opposed to individual responsibility. The new conservatives advocated individual freedom, free markets, entrepreneurship and limited government intervention into the everyday lives of American families. "...However, somewhere along the way, conservative principles got watered down with 'Republican' policies. The once-mighty conservative grassroots activists have been reduced to taken-for-granted pawns, warned to speak no evil of a fellow Republican. Above all, don't be so childish as to 'stand for principle.' Do so at the risk of finding the label 'extremist' permanently tattooed to your name. "We are warned that the alternatives to the Republicans are the devil Democrats - and you know what that means! Big government. Uncontrolled spending. Higher taxes. Greater regulations on business. Assaults on family values. In fear, we comply. Conservatives shuffle their feet, look down at the floor, bleat the party line, accept the 'compromises' and acknowledge their fate on the backbenches. "Republicans now have a new agenda. It started with the label of the undefined 'compassionate conservatism.' . . . According to this new policy, big government isn't bad - it just depends on who is running it. 'We can make government great for the American people as long as we're in charge' goes the party line. Three years of complete Republican rule have given us a clear understanding of its meaning. Close inspection will show that this is not your father's GOP. And it's not conservative! "...Remember 1994, when the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives? One major battle cry was their determination to abolish the Department of Education. Why? The federal government has no business being involved in education, which should be controlled at the local level. That's a point of fact in the Constitution and a conservative principle. Today, under Republican control, the issue is simply no longer on the agenda. "The Bush administration, under the 'No Child Left Behind' Act, has created more regulations and more funding for federally controlled curriculum than ever before. Ted Kennedy basically wrote the act itself. 'No Child Left Behind' is simply the permanent solidification of the failed policies of Goals 2000, School to Work and the Workforce Development Act. As a result, American education is now completely controlled from Washington. The federal education bureaucracy just got a whole lot more powerful under Republican rule. "...By the way, the German translation of the phrase 'Homeland Security' is 'Schutz Staffel.' The Nazis shortened it to 'SS.' A massive, intrusive cabinet-level agency with power beyond the wildest dreams of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson combined has just been established under Republican rule. "...Conservatives, Libertarians, Americans who believe that the Constitution was and is the best document yet devised to protect human liberty, it's time to come out of your trance and begin anew the fight for 'principle before party.' It is not wrong for you to oppose these actions. It is not wrong to speak ill of a party that has lost its way. It is not treason to oppose these outrageous excesses of the Republican Party. Indeed, it may be treason if you do not." - Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center *********************************** We Have Met the Enemy...And It's Voters "Americans have a tendency to think the problem with politics lies with their candidates and not themselves. The truth is Americans deserve the blame for the state of our politics and the state of our media. I know it's not savvy to criticize the customers, but perhaps especially at Christmastime, we should still have a few Scrooges left. "First of all, if you only get your news from television, I can speak freely because that means you're probably not reading this. Second, you're an idiot. "OK, maybe not technically an idiot in the sense you're only qualified to be an assistant spellchecker in an M&M factory. But, to the extent you take being an informed citizen seriously, you get a failing grade. Whether you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, if your only news source is the boob tube, you are simply underinformed - though not necessarily misinformed. "...The ignorance of the typical American about politics is often staggering. . . . For example, we are constantly told by extreme left-wing groups and more than a few right-wing groups that there's no difference between the political parties. As anyone who pays attention to politics knows, this is monumental nonsense on stilts; informed people understand a Dean administration will be very different from a Bush administration. "...But Americans don't like being told they're the problem. So when they eventually tune into politics they tend to blame the candidates, as if it's the actors' fault you don't understand the play when you arrive for the last 5 minutes. "...Now, as a conservative I don't mind that Americans aren't consumed with political fervor. In fact, I tend to like low voter turnout on the principle that the people not voting are probably the people I don't think should vote. My problem is with a political culture that tells everyone they're bad citizens if they don't vote but doesn't care if they don't know why they're voting." - Columnist Jonah Goldberg *********************************** Put Your Two Cents In Today on the Discussion Board... * Gay Marriage * Kwanzaa * Big Bucks for Big Education * Illegal Immigration * The Patriot Act Weigh in. Share your opinion. Comment. Inter-activate. Just go to: http://blog.chuckmuth.com/blog/ *************************************** The Goldwater Doctrine "I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can." - Barry Goldwater, "The Conscience of a Conservative" *************************************** About Us Chuck Muth's News & Views is published by Citizen Outreach, a member-supported 501(c)3 non-profit corp. If you enjoy News & Views, please make a tax-deductible contribution using your Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover card by going to: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=donations%40citizenoutreach.com&item_name=Citizen+Outreach&no_shipping=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD Published by Citizen Outreach Chuck Muth Editor/Publisher 611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, #439 Washington, DC 20003-4303 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
