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*************************************** Kudos for RNC Chief "Chuck: I have to tell you I was really impressed with the way Ed Gillespie handled this whole matter over that Union Leader editorial. I was personally emailed a copy of his response, which indicated to me that the RNC recognized how important this was to 'little' folks like us in the grassroots. Thanks for bringing this to our attention...and thanks to the Chairman for addressing it so 'cheerfully.'" - Janice B of Las Vegas, NV *************************************** Weapons of Mass Obstruction Kill Estrada... "It is with regret that, at the request of Miguel Estrada, I have today withdrawn his nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. I understand and respect his decision, and wish Mr. Estrada and his family the best. "Mr. Estrada received disgraceful treatment at the hands of 45 United States Senators during the more than two years his nomination was pending. Despite his superb qualifications and the wide bipartisan support for his nomination, these Democrat Senators repeatedly blocked an up-or-down vote that would have led to Mr. Estrada's confirmation. The treatment of this fine man is an unfortunate chapter in the Senate's history." - President George W. Bush, 9/4/03 *************************************** ...With Senate Republican Complicity "(Judicial nominee Miguel Estrada's) withdrawal should embarrass Republicans who have been outwitted on judgeships by Ted Kennedy and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are orchestrating the first filibusters of appellate-court nominations in American history. Democrats have paid no political price for raising the 'advice and consent' standard for Senate confirmation to 60 votes from a simple majority. "In Mr. Estrada's case this is all the more outrageous because his only sin is being a smart Hispanic conservative. . . . Republicans may rationalize this defeat by noting that Mr. Estrada is just one nominee. Except he's one of many. Democrats are targeting for filibuster the best and brightest judicial conservatives, especially women and minorities." - Wall Street Journal editorial, 9/4/03 *************************************** Operation Air Conditioner "This week, about 1,000 air conditioners will be airlifted to U.S. soldiers in Iraq, thanks to the efforts of Frankie Mayo and the generosity of Americans all across the country. Mrs. Mayo set up Operation Air Conditioner earlier this summer, with the purpose of providing as many cooling units as possible for the U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq. American civilians have responded by opening their hearts - and their wallets - to her call. "...As a consequence, a shipment of 500 donated air conditioners arrived yesterday in Baghdad, sent via a private shipping company. . . . Mrs. Mayo had to resort to such air conditioner air lifts after the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) abruptly decided to stop shipping her machines due to alleged safety concerns." - Washington Times editorial, 9/4/03 ************************************** Losing bin Laden "Clinton Administration counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke helped develop a daring covert-operation plan..(to) surprise bin Laden's guards and kill or capture the arch-terrorist. But the plan had to run a bureaucratic obstacle course. "The first hurdle was cleared in the spring of 1998. In the middle of 'Monica-gate,' Clinton signed a secret memorandum of notification - informally called a 'finding' - that explicitly allowed the CIA and other U.S. armed forces to take actions that might lead to bin Laden's death. . . . Unfortunately, the finding was not a death warrant. Clinton's order did not overturn a long-standing ban on political assassinations. The legal distinction was Clintonesque: Bin Laden could be killed accidentally, but not on purpose. So, a covert team could accidentally shoot bin Laden in the crossfire, but not aim at him. "...America was at war with bin Laden. But on America's side it was a phony war, while America's adversaries were waging a real one." - Author Richard Miniter, "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" *************************************** French-Looking Candidate's Firewall "I understood Nixon's and Mr. Reagan's southern strategies. I even understood father and son Bush's South Carolina firewall strategy. But Mr. Kerry's South Carolina strategy is nuts. . . . South Carolina is not going to be John Kerry's firewall - but a firestorm. A strategy for a New England liberal to lose in New Hampshire and win in South Carolina is not a strategy at all. It is a delusion. Politically speaking, Sen. Kerry is campaigning while dead. Johnny boy, we hardly knew ya." - Columnist Tony Blankley *************************************** The Two Faces of John Kerry "Candidate Kerry's rhetoric doesn't match up with Senator Kerry's voting record. Before he was a presidential candidate, Kerry voted to slash billions in defense spending and supported proposals to cut everything from Navy submarines to Air Force fighter planes. If Senator Kerry's cuts to our armed forces had become a reality, the men and women in our nation's military would be dangerously underfunded in facing the security challenges in the world today. President Bush's policy of preemptive self defense has made Americans safer. Senator Kerry's latest conversion on national security comes too late to be taken seriously." - RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie *************************************** Mother of All Lawsuits "Just when you thought no lawsuit could be more preposterous than the one filed by families who tried to sue McDonalds for making them fat, along comes evidence that lawsuit madness has taken hold in Egypt in a truly unique fashion. . . . Nabil Hilmi, dean of the faculty of law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq,...in concert with a group of expatriate Egyptians in Switzerland, is preparing perhaps the largest lawsuit in the history of the world. Mr. Hilmi, et al., are going to sue 'all the Jews of the world' for items stolen by the biblical Hebrews from the Egyptians during the Exodus from Egypt." - Columnist Mona Charen *************************************** A Bloody Good Idea, Bloke "Immigrants seeking British citizenship will be required to show basic knowledge of the country's history and take a short written test under proposals published by the government yesterday. . . . (It's) imperative that a would-be citizen have a knowledge of how the nation developed, an appreciation of its institutions, and an awareness of its customs and laws, (Home Secretary David Blunkett) said." - London Daily Telegraph *************************************** Going Too Far "Defenders of CAPPS II and other intrusive Bush administration counterterrorism measures like the PATRIOT Act say critics are falling victim to pre-September 11 'head-in-the-sand' thinking. That's always a possibility. But it's also downright certain some government officials will take advantage of post-September 11 fear and anger to expand government powers and sacrifice personal privacy rights beyond what is necessary to fight terrorism." - Columnist Clarence Page *************************************** New Lease On Life "When Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain opens a hearing today on an Air Force proposal to lease 100 Boeing 767 tanker aircraft, he will cast himself as a defender of the public interest against wasteful defense spending. It is, therefore, no small irony that this hearing - and the dilatory, many-months-long process it culminates, is the real waste of time and energy, to the detriment of the national security. "After all, as members of the Commerce Committee surely know, most Americans understand full well the nature of leasing. Tens of millions of them have taken advantage of this practice to make use immediately of cars and other products that they could not otherwise afford to buy for some time, if ever." - Columnist Frank Gaffney *************************************** Another McCain Goose Chase "No one denies that the U.S. Air Force needs more refueling tankers. The only questions are how and when to get them. Senator John McCain calls the Pentagon's answer, a leasing arrangement with Boeing, an unsavory example of the modern 'military-industrial complex,' a mistaken argument. "(T)he leasing arrangement used to get them to the Air Force is similar to the way foreign militaries buy planes, selecting off-the-shelf technology and then signing a contract for rapid delivery. This is how Israel and Singapore get the latest F-16s five years before the U.S. Air Force. "We're as opposed to sweetheart deals as anyone. But it seems to have escaped Senator McCain's notice that Boeing's main competitor here, the European consortium that produces Airbus, virtually defines corporate welfare." - Wall Street Journal editorial, 9/3/03 *************************************** NEA Spooks Three GOP'ers Over Vouchers "House Republican leaders are moving ahead on a $17 million school-choice plan for the District (of Columbia), amid concerns that some lawmakers may have been swayed by the National Education Association's anti-voucher campaign during the August congressional recess. . . . So far, only three House Republicans have announced they will vote against the plan: Reps. Sam Graves of Missouri, Timothy V. Johnson of Illinois, and John M. McHugh of New York." - Washington Times, 9/4/03 *************************************** Chalk One Up for Religious Freedom "A federal court in Kentucky has ruled it was improper for a public library to fire an employee for wearing a necklace featuring a Christian cross pendant. "The American Center for Law and Justice, a public-interest firm specializing in constitutional law, said in a statement yesterday the federal court in Bowling Green ruled the action violated the free speech and free exercise of religion clauses in the First Amendment. "'This is a very important decision that underscores the fact that employees have constitutional rights to express their faith in the workplace so long as that expression does not interfere with the work setting,' said Frank Manion, senior counsel for the ACLJ and the attorney who represented the employee." - WorldNetDaily.com, 9/4/03 *************************************** Terminator Says: No Butting In Line "Austrian-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican candidate for California governor, called for a clampdown on illegal immigrants from Mexico. 'What (California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante) doesn't understand is that people like myself waited 15 years to get citizenship,' Schwarzenegger, who came to the United States from Austria in the 1960s, said. 'There are people who have been waiting 20 years. I find it unfair to all of a sudden push the whole thing with undocumented immigrants and say they should immediately get citizenship.'" - Reuters, 9/2/03 *************************************** I Knew Seabiscuit...And Senator, You're No Seabiscuit "A non-actor, state Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican who also wants to be (California) governor, and his conservative supporters love to suggest a comparison to the story in the movie Seabiscuit. This leaves me feeling like Cher in Moonstruck, admonishing an infatuated Nicholas Cage to 'Snap out of it!' "...I cannot help but believe that McClintock supporters are living in their own screenplay if they think their man can win ... with or without a horse. I've seen Nicolas Cage ... and I've seen conservatives lose statewide races with good lines and bad delivery again and again. Believe me, McClintock is no Nicolas Cage, or for that matter, Seabiscuit. "...Conservative purists only help their opponents when they marginalize themselves. The 'my way or the highway' conservatives, those who would rather be right 100 percent of the time than win an election and make incremental gains, need to take stock of what they believe and what they really want for California." - Cheryl Felicia Rhoads is an actress and pro-life conservative political activist in Los Angeles who is supporting Arnold Schwarzenegger, UPI, 9/4/03 *************************************** 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 *************************************** How to Subscribe If you know someone who might like to receive News & Views, you can sign 'em 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] # # #
