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______________________________ Oh, NO! Now We're Really Screwed "Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter may visit North Korea in September in an attempt to break the stalemate over Pyongyang's nuclear programme, a Japanese TV network said." - MSNBC, 7/23/03 _______________________________ How to Subscribe If you know someone who might like to receive News & Views, you can sign 'em up at: http://www.chuckmuth.com. _______________________________ Drat! "The Howard Dean campaign was forced to cancel events this week in response to events in Iraq. Donations to the Odai and Qusai Hussein Memorial Fund can be submitted directly to the Dean campaign." - Columnist Ann Coulter _______________________________ Eisenhower's Air Force Congress is currently deciding whether to approve an Air Force request to lease 100 new air refueling tanker planes to begin to replace its decrepit, forty-year-old fleet. That is not a misprint. The Air Force is indeed supporting all air operations in the war on terrorism and in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan with Eisenhower-era planes (Eisenhower was an American president in the 1950s for those of you currently trapped in a government skool). The USAF critically needs to begin replacing these planes, and the White House, Pentagon and most Members of Congress agree. At the same time, there are some Washington groups, led by Sen. John McCain, who are opposing the proposed tanker leasing program to shore up the air fleet. This is an extremely important national defense matter coming before Congress very soon and we're starting to look into it for you. In the meantime, you might want to begin familiarizing yourself with the issue by checking out: http://www.nationaldefensetrust.com/airforce.htm ________________________________ Grasping for Straws "'He's going down,' sang Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe in reference to the now-famed 'Niger' sentence in the president's State of the Union address. Sen. Bob Graham, Florida Democrat, has called for impeachment hearings. Someone needs to get these fellows some Valium. This must surely be the thinnest excuse for scandal-mongering since Nancy Reagan bought new china for the White House - with private funds." - Columnist Mona Charen ________________________________ Lying Dem Ad Yanked "A Wisconsin television station has declined to air a political ad that accuses President Bush of misleading the country about Iraq's weapons program, drawing the ire of the Democratic Party chief. The ads show Bush, in his State of the Union address, making the now-disavowed statement about Saddam Hussein seeking uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapons program. "The Democratic National Committee paid about $20,000 to air the ads on stations in Madison, Wis., a strongly liberal college town. WMSN, a Fox affiliate, issued a statement saying the ad was misleading because it omitted the phrase, 'The British government has learned' about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium in Africa. 'WMSN gave the DNC the opportunity to edit the ad and include the British government's involvement, but that request was denied,' the statement said." - Fox News, 7/23/03 ________________________________ Liar, Liar...Pants On Fire "After years of defending Clinton, liberals love the piquant irony of calling Bush a liar. . . . This is virgin territory for Democrats - they never before viewed lying as a negative. Their last president was called 'an unusually good liar' by a sitting Democratic senator. Their last vice president couldn't say 'pass the salt' without claiming to have invented salt. Having only just discovered the intriguing new concept of being offended by lies, the Democrats are having a jolly old time calling Bush a liar. But they can't quite grasp the concept of a lie as connoting something that is - at a minimum - untrue." - Columnist Ann Coulter _____________________________ Campaign Hot Tips New to campaigns and grassroots activism? Seasoned veteran who recognizes there's always something new to learn? Then sign up for Mark Montini's FREE "Campaign Hot Tips" e-newsletter at: http://www.campaignsecrets.com/hot_tips.asp ______________________________ Screwing the Citizens for Political Profit "In a meeting they thought was private but was actually broadcast around the Capitol on Monday, 11 Assembly Democrats debated prolonging California's budget crisis to further their political goals. Members of the Democratic Study Group, a caucus that defines itself as progressive, were unaware that a microphone in Committee Room 127 was on as they discussed slowing progress in an attempt to increase pressure on Republicans to accept tax increases as part of a deal to resolve the state's $38-billion budget gap." - Los Angeles Times, 7/22/03 _______________________________ Greens Could Go Black "Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has begun the campaigning process for the Green Party nomination for President or Vice President of the United States, a Green Party press release noted on Monday. . . . Supporters of McKinney say that she can provide the Party with the legitimacy, publicity, and expertise it needs to further expand. . . . McKinney's supporters place most of their emphasis on McKinney's race and gender, however. Her campaign feels that a black, female, Southern candidate will be difficult to ignore during the presidential campaign and will prove that the Green Party is concerned about minorities." - Talon News, 7/23/03 _______________________________ DiFi Embraces Vouchers "The plan to bring vouchers to the District of Columbia got a much-needed boost Tuesday when liberal Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime critic of the idea, publicly expressed her support. 'This issue is not about ideology or political correctness,' the California Democrat wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. 'It is about providing a new opportunity for good education, which is the key to success.'" - CNSNews.com, 7/23/03 ______________________________ White Liberals Vote Against Poor Kids "Back in 1997, both Republican Arlen Specter and Democrat Mary Landrieu voted for D.C. (school) vouchers, though the move was later vetoed by Bill Clinton. But now, at the moment of truth, with a president in the White House who has made clear his eagerness to make such a bill a reality, Sens. (Arlen) Specter and (Mary) Landrieu upset a critical Appropriations Committee vote by switching from yea to nay. What makes their flip-flop especially nasty is that this move to undercut choice to the overwhelmingly black and Latino students of the district comes from two white senators who each chose private schools for their own children." - Columnist William McGurn, Wall Street Journal, 7/24/03 ________________________________ 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> today. ______________________________ Lancing Armstrong "The Postal Service's 20-rider pro cycling team has dominated the Tour de France for the last four years, and its leader, Lance Armstrong, could well win a fifth straight championship. Think of it. The world's greatest cyclist rides for our post office. Maybe the future of the Postal Service is not in selling stamps at the mall but in making the United States a superpower in sports that Americans don't play. "Think of it. U.S. Postal Service teams dominating world cricket, swaggering off the grounds at Lord's after wiping out England or the West Indians in a test match. Or leaving Wembley triumphant after dethroning New Zealand or South Africa in rugby. Or graciously accepting the premiership after winning the finals of Australian-rules football. Or crushing the Canadians at curling." - Columnist Dale McFeatters ______________________________ Colossal Waste of Money 'It's Tour de France time again and Lance Armstrong is out for his fifth consecutive victory, which has never been done. As exciting as that is, I wonder whether I'm the only one who has a problem with the United States government sponsoring a professional bicycling team. "...A Feb. 25 report by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General obtained by Citizens Against Government Waste says the Postal Service has spent $40 million on the team between 1996 and 2002. "...The fact is that Americans are universally aware of the U.S. Postal Service. We know that there are post offices; and we know we can put a stamp on a letter, drop it in our mailbox and expect it to get to any address in the United States. Furthermore, we have all pretty much decided when we'll use the Postal Service, and we figured it out long before they changed the logo and started playing Steve Miller songs in commercials. "Therefore, marketing the U.S. Postal Service is a colossal waste of money, especially considering the fact that the visibility of the team does not seem to be accompanied by any strategy designed to increase revenues. Nor is it accompanied by any visible improvement in the services offered." - Chris Wilson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/21/03 ______________________________ Little to Show for $40 Million "(W)hile details of (Lance) Armstrong's life are familiar to most, there is one minor mystery surrounding his cycling success: Why is the US Postal Service the title sponsor of his team? What exactly does letter-carrying have to do with pelotons, time trials and saddle-soreness? With the post office hemorrhaging money, a small but vocal group of critics is wondering the same thing. And now that it has emerged that the organisation has spent more than $40m (£24m) on tyre pumps and red, white and blue jerseys and has little to show for it, they are frothing mad." - Financial Times, 7/22/03 ______________________________ No Oversight "(A)s Lance Armstrong races through France with the United States Postal Services logo emblazoned on his jersey, some are questioning why the agency has spent $40 million over the last six years sponsoring him and his team when it has been losing money. Why, critics ask, does the Postal Service need to advertise anyway, when it has a monopoly on letter mail and is a highly recognizable name brand? "...The problem is that the Postal Service has little oversight. Because it is an independent federal agency with commercial responsibilities, it does not have to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, comply with the Federal Trade Commission's truth-in-advertising rules or face shareholder scrutiny. Last week a commission appointed by President Bush announced recommendations that include a call for greater financial transparency. This is a good start." - Postal Rate Commissioner Ruth Goldway in a New York Times op/ed ______________________________ Having a Gay, Ol' Time at Your Expense "I find it particularly disheartening that at the same time the President's Commission on the Postal Service is burning the midnight oil trying to come up with a plan to prevent the USPS from self-destructing, postal executives are jet-setting around France staying in the finest hotels, sipping French wines and hobnobbing with the world's cycling elite." - PostalWatch executive director Rick Merritt _______________________________ Affordable Campaign Websites! Now you can get professional-looking campaign web sites for as little as $10 a month. That's right...just ten smackeroos a month. Here's what's included in this fantastic new program from Campaign Secrets, Inc. (available ONLY to Republican candidates): * Free Hosting * Unique Domain Name * Personal Email Accounts * Credit Card Processing * Unlimited Edits * Event Calendar * Volunteer Sign-up Page * Built-in Bulk Emailer Campaign Site Builder can be used for political organizations and non-profits, as well. For more information, just go to: http://www.campaignsecrets.com/websites.asp ____________________________ How to Subscribe If you know someone who might like to receive News & Views, you can sign 'em up at: http://www.chuckmuth.com. Also, occasionally, the automatic listserve we use will "bump" subscribers off the list if your mailbox is full or experiences some other technical glitch. If you suddenly stop receiving News & Views, the first thing you should do is try to re-subscribe using the link above. 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