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GOING TO GALT’S GULCH This will be the last daily News & Views for a while. I’ll explain in more detail in the days to come, but suffice it to say that, as you can well imagine, it takes a LOT of time to read, research, write, edit and publish a daily newsletter of this type...especially when you’re a one-man band publishing for free. And the sheer amount of information available to sift through daily, especially all the new stuff on the ‘net, has increased tremendously in the TEN YEARS (seems like only yesterday) I’ve been publishing. So it’s taking a LOT more time than it did even a couple years ago. And with 2– and 4-year-old daughters, I’m actually having LESS time every day than I used to. Not only do these selfish kids expect to eat EVERY DAY, they expect MULTIPLE MEALS! And not only do they expect me to FIX those meals for them, they think I should take time to play hide-and-seek, Candyland and “Go Fish” with them rather than read the latest edition of John Fund’s “Political Diary.” In fact, they actually think I should be reading “The Cat in the Hat” to them instead of Lyn Nofziger’s “Musings” to myself. I mean, what’s with these kids these days? Seriously though, I’ve found that after ten years it’s time for me to step back, review what I’m doing...and how, re-evaluate my priorities, re-charge the batteries and then decide where and how to move ahead. This lull between conventions - while Congress is on vacation and unlikely to do us any serious harm - seems the most opportune time for a little “soul-searching.” In the meantime, here’s a little DOUBLE-issue of News & Views to keep you going for a few days… THEY CAN RUN...BUT THEY CAN’T HIDE It appears Subway got tired of getting all your phone calls complaining about their anti-American tray liners in Germany, so they shut the main toll-free number down. If you haven’t fully vented yet, here’s some new contact information: Kevin Kane 203-877-4281 ext. 1329 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Les Winograd 203-877-4281 ext. 1683 [EMAIL PROTECTED] For details on this international food fight, in case you missed it yesterday, surf on over to our website at www.citizenoutreach.com THIS FALL ON FOX “Someone on ‘The Simpsons’ is coming out of the closet and could get married. ‘Simpson’ producers, including creator Matt Groening, let the news slip out at the San Diego Comic Convention over the weekend. But they did not say who it would be. . . . In the wedding episode, Homer becomes an ordained minister over the Internet and begins performing gay marriages.” - New York Post, 7/27/04 MISCONCEPTION? Washington Post reader in a July 14 online chat: “Why do you think the media spends less time on the political parties that aren't the main two in this country?” Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik : “Because of the misconception that I can't win…” WHERE ARE THE F-ING BALOONS? “'Go balloons, go balloons! Go balloons! I don't see anything happening. Go balloons! Go balloons! Go balloons! Standby confetti. Keep coming, balloons. More balloons. Bring it- balloons, balloons, balloons! We want balloons, tons of them. Bring them down. Let them all come. No confetti. No confetti yet. “No confetti. All right, go balloons, go balloons. We need more balloons. All balloons! All balloons! Keep going! Come on, guys, lets move it. Jesus! We need more balloons. I want all balloons to go, goddammit. Go confetti. Go confetti. More confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons. “We need all of them coming down. Go balloons- balloons? What's happening balloons? There's not enough coming down! All balloons, what the hell! There's nothing falling! What the f*ck are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down, more balloons. More balloons. More balloons…” - Don Mischer, Democrat convention director, overheard and broadcast worldwide via CNN at the end of Kerry’s speech Thursday night, Drudge Report, 7/30/04 (Gee, I wonder if anyone from the speech police will file and f-ing FCC complaint against CNN over this?) LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL “…(A)nother DNC official tried to save face by saying they planned it that way, that they wanted the balloons released slowly so that they lasted a long time. Suuure...if that were the case, I think the convention director would have known. My goodness! If they're going to lie about a balloon drop...where does it go from there? Somebody was asleep at the switch...must've been a couple of union guys.” - Talk show host Neal Boortz ALL THE BOUNCE OF A LEAD BALOON “…(R)arely has a convention ended on such a wheeze, whine and whimper. The early tracking polls showed Monsieur Kerry leaving town with almost no ‘bounce,’ certainly not the seven or eight points almost any challenging candidate reasonably expects.” - Columnist Wes Pruden WHERE HAVE ALL THE VIEWERS GONE? “The star-spangled Democratic National Convention has not proved to be must-see TV for mainstream America, despite all the manufactured optimism and shrill promises of the four-day event. . . . Four years ago, ABC, NBC and CBS had a combined audience of 17.6 million during the 2000 convention; that number shrank to 13.4 million this year, according to preliminary ratings numbers from Nielsen Media Research. . . . ‘Dems leave audiences cold. The general public remained indifferent, even after two days of impassioned party rhetoric,’ the show-business news magazine Variety noted Wednesday.” - Washington Times, 7/30/04 THE DONKEYS’ MASQUERADE BALL “The Democratic National Convention, designed for television with so many flat-screen TVs in use that it looks like Circuit City on steroids, is trying to steal Ronald Reagan's optimism. Behind the party's smiling masks, though, is the traditional Democratic cynicism that says people can't do much for themselves without the help of government.” - Columnist Cal Thomas REMINDER FROM THE REAL RON REAGAN “Government is not the solution, it’s the problem.” - Ronald Reagan (the GREAT one; not one in tights) DIARRHEA OF THE MOUTH “Number of words in (Al) Sharpton's remarks (at the Democrat convention) as prepared for delivery: 943. Number of words in Sharpton's remarks as transcribed: 1879.” - The Hotline, as noted in Political Diary, 7/30/04 DID YOU KNOW? “For all the competing poll numbers, there is one irrefutable fact which should sober up Democrats leaving Boston. Since Republicans and Democrats began facing off in 1856, there have been 26 presidential elections. With the exception of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, no Democrat has won more than 50.1% of the vote in American history. Democrats can and do win national elections, but there is scant evidence they have a natural majority in a two-person race.” - John Fund, Political Diary, 7/30/04 A RATIONAL BALANCE “We believe in God, we believe in this country, but we do not believe in shoving God down peoples’ throats; everybody has different beliefs.” - Southern Baptist Julia Hicks of Westminster, Colo., at the Democrat convention, Washington Times, 7/30/04 IRRATIONAL IMBALANCE “A federal appeals court judge in Cincinnati says a lower court's decision to remove a small poster of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse is an ‘absurdity’ because the judge in that case rendered the decision in the shadow of a mural containing the commandments. Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was in the minority, however, when both of her colleagues on the three-judge panel voted July 14 to uphold the lower court's decision to remove the poster.” - Washington Times, 7/30/04 CURSE OF THE BAMBINO STRIKES POSTAL REFORM “Like the postseason dreams of the Boston Red Sox, postal reform legislation appears doomed to fall short of victory once again. Few are saying publicly that a postal reform bill will not pass this year, but this is the private reality.” - Business Mailers Review, 7/29/04 INQUIRING MINDS WANNA KNOW The Washington Times reported on Friday that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency used tools enabled by the Patriot Act to nab ten illegal aliens in Minnesota who are accused of paying a woman “to have sex with her 14-year-old female relative in exchange for cellular telephone minutes and money.” Two questions come to mind: 1.) Will the illegal aliens be held until trial...and then punished and deported after serving their time, if convicted….or will they be released to skip on bail - like 70% of illegals ordered to appear for deportation hearings these days - or will they be released outright for lack of prison space? 2.) We thought the Patriot Act was passed to catch terrorists. Not that we’re not happy to have these scuzzballs off the street, but folks who have been warning that the Patriot Act was a “camel’s nose” piece of legislation which would result in mission creep into law enforcement areas it was never intended for appear to have had a valid point. IF YOU THINK BUSH IS BAD… “Longtime readers know of my dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's unwillingness to get serious control of our immigration chaos. But if you are unhappy with the lack of progress on securing our land, air and sea ports of entry, it will only get worse under Kerry-Edwards.” - Columnist Michelle Malkin LOUSY CHOICE “The politically disgruntled are saying, ‘There's not a dime's worth of difference between Kerry and Bush.’ That could certainly be true as seen through the eyes of a fiscal conservative. There is very little light at the end of the discretionary spending tunnel given these two presidential choices. A call from either candidate for systemic change in the appropriations process is as necessary as it is unlikely.” - Jill Farrell of the Free Congress Foundation GUMMINT SKOOLS BROKEN, NOT BROKE You hear it from Kerry. You hear it from Bush. More money for education. But a new study shows that “mo’ money” definitely ain’t the answer. Read all about it in this Wall Street Journal column: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005418 WE HAVE SMOKE...IS THERE A FIRE? “An internet newspaper called Capitol Hill Blue is pushing a story ( http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4930.shtml ) that asserts that President Bush is being administered strong anti-depressant drugs to control erratic behavior, depression and paranoia. “...The story is running around the Internet--I have gotten it from two different and entirely unrelated sources so far--and while the Internet is loaded with misinformation this story has a certain credibility because it is being carried by a purported news organization and has a reporter‘s byline. “There is no way that senior White House staffers and administration officials cannot be aware of the story, but it may be they figure if they don’t comment on it, it will go away. If this is the case their judgment is faulty and they are flat out wrong. This is an election year and Bush haters whose names are legion will spread it whether or not it is true. “If it is false the White House needs to quash it quickly before its failure to deny it gives it added credibility. If it is true they have a serious ethical problem on their hands. To try to keep the truth from the American people would be a disservice of the worst sort to the nation and to the Republican Party. If, indeed, it is true, an honorable man’s only choice would be to step down.” - Lyn Nofziger, “Musings,” 7/30/04 WITH CHOICE COMES RESPONSIBILITY “It's called ‘selective reduction.’ It means killing one or more babies when a woman is pregnant with ‘multiples.’ It is a difficult decision of great moral moment. But not in the view of freelance lecturer Amy Richards, whose account appears in The New York Times Magazine. “She was living with her boyfriend and decided to go off the pill. They agreed to have the child if one showed up. Alas, three babies appeared. Now what? Her income would take a hit. ‘There was a part of me that was sure I could work around that,’ she allowed. But, ‘Do I want to?’ “No. There were health risks. Moreover, ‘I'll have to start shopping only at Costco and buying big jars of mayonnaise.’ So she went off to the specialist, who would shoot potassium chloride into two of the fetuses. “When looking at the sonogram, her boyfriend, Peter, thought: ‘Oh my gosh, there are three heartbeats. I can't believe we're about to make two disappear.’ But the doctor pushed him out of the room and did the deed. In Richards' view ‘it's the woman's choice.’ " ‘Choice.’ Making two heartbeats disappear is simply a ‘choice.’ “...Yet abortion really is not about choice. It is about consequence. The consequences of choices freely made. Consider Richards. She chose to have sex with someone. She chose to go off the pill. Choices appropriately left to her, unregulated by government. But having enjoyed the freedom to make those choices, she wanted to avoid responsibility for the results: becoming pregnant with triplets. “If you want the right to choose to have sex with whomever you want whenever you want, you can't act surprised when a child (or children) shows up. Especially if you knowingly dropped birth control. “It is life. Maybe not fully formed. Maybe not fully conscious. But even (John) Kerry admits that it is life. . . . And life should not be terminated because one fears having to shop at Costco. Especially while adoption is a positive alternative. “...Men and women are free to choose to have sex, without birth control, as often as they like with whomever they like. They seek the ‘right to choose’ abortion in order to escape responsibility for their other choices.” - Columnist Doug Bandow THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REAGAN “I've noticed that everybody who is for abortion has already been born.” - Ronald Reagan DON’T YOU FEEL SAFER NOW? “A key overseer of the Bush administration's unsuccessful efforts to create a more comprehensive screening process for airline passengers resigned in disgrace four years ago from the New Hampshire Supreme Court to avoid prosecution over his conduct on the bench. W. Stephen Thayer III, who left New Hampshire's high court in 2000 under a deal with prosecutors, is now serving as deputy chief of the Transportation Security Administration's Office of National Risk Assessment. “...The administration's selection of Thayer, made with no fanfare last summer, has raised some eyebrows. 'To appoint someone who had to resign in public disgrace in lieu of being indicted is incredibly offensive,’ said Charles Lewis, executive director the Center for Public Integrity, a private ethics watchdog. CAPPS II (a screening process for airline passengers which Thayer supervises) has been 'one of the most sensitive projects in the U.S. government,' because 'we are talking about data-mining the records of millions of Americans. The people in charge have got to be beyond reproach in every way.' “Thayer declined to be interviewed. “...Thayer's fast-moving legal career - U.S. attorney at 35, state supreme court justice at 40 - came to an abrupt halt March 31, 2000, when he resigned from the state's highest court in a deal with New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin. In return for Thayer's resignation, McLaughlin agreed to drop plans to indict him. “In a public report, McLaughlin criticized Thayer for participating in deliberations on a case he was recused from. He also said he would have sought felony or misdemeanor charges against Thayer for allegedly trying to influence the choice of a judge to hear his wife's appeal of their divorce and threatening fellow justices if they allowed his conduct to be reported to judicial oversight groups. “...In a rare public appearance last fall, Thayer did not supply a biography like other witnesses who testified before a Pentagon advisory committee on privacy and computerized data-mining. When asked about his qualifications to supervise CAPPS II, Thayer said then he had been executive director of a nonprofit group that reviewed privacy rights in post-Sept. 11 legislation and was a lawyer and former U.S. attorney. He made no mention of his 14 years on New Hampshire's highest court.” - Associated Press, 7/28/04 (Editor’s Note: In the interest of full disclosure, Steve Thayer worked for me a couple years ago. All I can say is, based on my experience with him, Charles Lewis raises absolutely legitimate concerns here. Knowing what I know now, I would NEVER hire Thayer for such an important and sensitive job. Privacy and ethics groups have every reason to be worried, if not outraged, about this.) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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. 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