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********************************* Shut Up, They Said "A Fox News poll released Friday found that 24 percent of Americans are interested in hearing what actors and musicians have to say about national affairs. Sixty-eight percent wished the celebrated 'would keep their opinions to themselves.'" - Washington Times, 3/2/03 *********************************** Go Forth and e-Multiply 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. ************************************ Human Shields Chicken Out "Almost all the first British 'human shields' to go to Iraq were on their way home yesterday after deciding that their much-heralded task is now too dangerous. . . . Nine out of the 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials yesterday to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in the war or leave the country. . . . Many shields had earlier asked to be stationed at sites such as schools, hospitals or orphanages, but Iraqi officials said there was little point in guarding low-risk targets in any aerial assault." - London Sunday Telegraph, 3/2/03 ************************************ Rather's Blather "(I)n a quest for higher ratings, network anchors continue their efforts to make Saddam appear credible. Last week Dan Rather of CBS deadpanned the dictator about whether he really wanted to debate President George W. Bush on live TV. 'I'm not joking,' Saddam explained. 'This is because of my respect for the American public opinion.' And they call this 'news?'" - Columnist Oliver North ********************************** Some People are Never Satisfied "Each time (President Bush's) opponents have raised the bar for justifying war with Iraq, the president has followed their advice. When they raised it again, he met their new requests. Does this earn him points with his detractors? Far from it. "The president was told by his critics he should not act unilaterally. So he asked other nations to join in a 'coalition of the willing.' About three dozen have offered either direct or indirect support. Critics said the president should get congressional approval. He did. He was told he should take his case to the United Nations. He did. There have been 18 U.N. resolutions, none of which has caused Saddam Hussein to comply. "What does the president get for doing what his critics have demanded? He is called names by those unwilling to forcibly deprive a mass murderer of his power to kill even more people." - Columnist Cal Thomas ********************************** Let the Bombing Begin "I'm for war. I know I'm not supposed to say that. War is hell. War is unpredictable. War is evil. It is all those things. But war is sometimes better than the alternative. "...The war with Iraq is first and foremost a war to prevent a reckless and insanely cruel dictator from acquiring the nuclear weapons he avidly seeks and which would make him invulnerable. As more than a decade of resolutions, reproaches and failed diplomacy have demonstrated, there is no way short of war to remove Saddam or coax him into civilized behavior." - Columnist Mona Charen ************************************ Long Savings on Long Distance * Just 4.97 cents/minute (5.97 cents for some non-regional bell companies) * All state-to-state calls in the continental U.S. * Residential or commercial * 6-second billing increments after the first 18 seconds * 24 hours/day * 7 days/week * No access codes * No minimums * No activation fees * No monthly service charge unless your bill is less than $20.00 a month (then a $2.50 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.GOPLongDistance.com> today. ********************************** Yep, That About Sums It Up "I think it's gutless to use this approach, this filibuster approach." - Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, on continued Democrat obstruction of a vote on judicial nominee Miguel Estrada ********************************* Of Hate-Mongers and Other Weaklings "Former White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta, in a sharp critique of the Democratic presidential candidates, says the Rev. Al Sharpton preaches hate and that the others are making the party look weak." - Washington Times, 3/2/03 ********************************* It's the Message AND the Messenger Stepping up their attacks on the President's economic policies and proposals, Democrats used their response to the president's weekly radio address on Saturday to slice-and-dice what they're referring to now as Bush-a-nomics. My, how clever. "Each week we get more proof that Bush-a-nomics is failing American families," intoned Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the same dim-bulbed woman who recently extolled the virtues of Osama bin Laden as a great humanitarian. Talk about a credibility gap. ********************************* In Search of the Great Liberal Hope "For many on the left, the search for an answer to (Rush) Limbaugh - and to Sean Hannity and Oliver North and Michael Reagan and a host of other radio conservatives - has become something of a quest for the holy grail. Time and again they have put their faith in a Great Liberal Hope, and time and again they have been disappointed. . . . If there is a hunger out there for left-wing radio, it is certainly keeping itself under wraps." - Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby ********************************* Why Liberal Talk-Radio Keeps Failing "Jim Hightower, a man liberals believed would be regarded as brilliant if they just said he were enough times, failed miserably at talk radio. Mario Cuomo, a man who believed the world would consider him incredibly brilliant if he just said he were enough times, also botched his go at talk radio. "...When producers rolled out Hightower, according to (radio exec Jon) Sinton, they tended to sandwich him in between Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. 'That violates expectations of the listener,' he told the (New York) Times. This is a polite way of saying that listeners reacted the way members of Delta House did when Flounder's picture appeared on the screen during pledge week in 'Animal House.' "Another related reason why talk radio is right wing is that most of America - talk-radio-listening America - believes the mainstream media is liberal because, well, it's true. Talk radio serves as a truth-squad for people who don't trust Peter Jennings. "But the main reason liberal talk radio doesn't work is that liberalism isn't working. Oh sure, plenty of liberal politicians, journalists and institutions are doing just fine. Too many, in fact. But liberalism as a coherent philosophy is exhausted." - Columnist Jonah Goldberg *********************************** Black and White "(John U.) Ogbu's book ("Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb) is devastating. It is a study of the racial gap in students' school performances in Shaker Heights, an affluent suburb of Cleveland. Whether measured by grades, test scores or the quality of courses taken, black students lagged consistently behind white students. Why? Black teachers, white teachers, black students and white students all give essentially the same answer: Black students simply do not work as hard. . . . (This means) the time is long overdue for realism and honesty - and for getting rid of racial hype and the claim it is all whitey's fault." - Columnist Thomas Sowell ********************************** Not All Minorities Are Created Equal "According to the 2000 Census, residents who reported as Asian, or in combination with one or more other races, totaled 11.9 million - or 4 percent - of our population. In my book that makes Asians a minority. "If you see things that way, and think Asian-Americans are eligible for preferential treatment, it simply means you haven't kept abreast with modern racial enlightenment. A minority group is not a minority if, as a group, it is successful." - Columnist Walter Williams ********************************** Big Labor's Continued Big Slide "...the Labor Department announced that the ranks of organized labor declined by more than a quarter-million workers last year, falling to 16.1 million union members. As a proportion of total workers, union membership fell to 13.1 percent. (Among workers employed in the private sector, it is now well below 10 percent.) It was the 19th consecutive year that the proportion of union workers to all workers has declined. Over that period, the proportion of workers who are unionized has plummeted 35 percent." - Washington Times editorial, 3/2/03 ********************************** Gun Ban Challenged in Nation's Capital "Six District of Columbia residents want to be able to defend themselves in their own homes. To vindicate their rights, on Feb. 10 three local attorneys and I filed a civil lawsuit in a D.C. federal court. . . . The D.C. government has done little or nothing to disarm violent criminals; yet it has done a really effective job of disarming decent, peaceable residents. "...For starters, no handgun can be registered in D.C. Even those pistols registered prior to the District's 1976 ban cannot be carried from room to room in the home without a license. Moreover, all firearms in the home, including rifles and shotguns, must be unloaded and either disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. In effect, no one in the District can possess a functional firearm in his or her own residence. The law applies not just to 'unfit' persons like felons, minors or the mentally incompetent, but across-the-board to ordinary, honest, responsible citizens. ".(T)he District of Columbia says that if someone breaks into their houses, their only choice is to call 911 and pray the police arrive in time. That's not good enough. The right to keep and bear arms includes the right to defend your property, your family, and your life. No government should be permitted to take that right away." - Robert A. Levy is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, Washington Times, 2/28/03 *********************************** 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" To help promote the "Goldwater Doctrine" in public policy and government, join the Goldwater Project by going to: http://chuckmuth.com/goldwater.htm ********************************* ********************************* 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. 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