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***************************************** Nobody Goin' Wobbly Here "There will be no return to tyranny in Iraq. And those who threaten the order and stability of that country will face ruin, just as surely as the regime they once served." - President Bush, 7/1/03 ***************************************** Connerly Saddles Up Again "The (Supreme) Court may have allowed racial preferences with their decision, but they did not mandate them. The people still rule in this country, not robed justices. If the people want color-blindness and equality under the law, all they have to do is stand up and say so. I'm sure that they will - and we're going to make sure everybody hears them loud and clear." - Ward Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Institute, announcing a July 8 press conference in Michigan to announce a possible citizen-led initiative campaign to ban the use of race in college admissions there. Mr. Connerly led a similar successful initiative in California a few years ago. Don't bet the farm against him. ***************************************** Miller Time "Dennis Miller has slowly journeyed to the conservative side of the political spectrum. . . . While Bush was on the stump in California, his supporters got to hear some choice words from Miller. . . . He gave some fuel to the recall-Gray-Davis forces when he observed that California is 'now buying energy at mini-bar prices.' He teased the earthquake-prone California by explaining that it no longer has a San Andreas Fault. 'It's Gray Davis' fault,' chimed the comedian. Applying some of his patented political humor to an appraisal of the Democrat slate of presidential wannabes, Miller said, 'I haven't seen a starting nine like that since the '62 Mets.'" - James Hirsen's "Left Coast Report," 7/1/03 ***************************************** The Money Chase Yesterday we noted how the unconstitutional McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform law has devastated the fundraising for the Democrat congressional committee in the House. Well, it seems their brethren up in the Senate ain' t fairing much better. In the just-submitted quarterly campaign reports, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reports having $2 million in the bank, but $4.4 million in debt. That means, for the arithmetically-challenged, they are $2.4 million in the "red." Their GOP counterparts, however, are in MUCH better shape. The National Republican Senatorial Committee reports $5 million in the piggy bank and NO DEBT. That means they're in the "black" - if you can still say that. I guess to be politically correct we'd have to say they're in the "non-white." There. That's better. I'm still adamantly opposed to this campaign finance law, but in its effect, McCain sure has screwed the Democrats royally. Isn't this what happened to the do-do bird? ************************************ 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.GOPLongDistance.com> today. ****************************************** If You Can Read This, Don't Thank More Money for Gov't Skools "By 1940 the literacy figure for all states stood at 96 percent for whites. 80 percent for blacks. Notice for all the disadvantages blacks labored under, four of five were still literate. Six decades later, at the end of the 20th century, the National Adult Literacy Survey and the National Assessment of Educational Progress say 40 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites can't read at all. Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled, despite the fact that we spend three or four times as much real money on schooling as we did 60 years ago." - Columnist Vin Suprynowicz ****************************************** Bigger Isn't Better "I am a teacher and you are right. Drain the government school swamp. The idea that it takes money to improve education is ridiculous. The right teacher, something to write with, and a place for kids to sit. After 34 years in the classroom, it boiled down to that. Some of the best education takes place with the smallest budget." - News & Views reader Tim Magnusson ***************************************** Thanks, Lawyers As if you needed yet another excuse to...is "hate" too strong a word...OK, let's say "despise" ambulance chasing trial lawyers, you can now thank them for smaller portions and bad-tasting food. As reported in the Washington Times, Kraft Foods, Inc. announced on Tuesday it would, "reduce fat and shrink portion sizes in its products to fight global obesity and avoid falling victim to a wave of obesity-related lawsuits." I'm sorry. Somehow I missed all the news stories of people being forced at gunpoint to drive to McDonalds and upgrade their order to "Super-Sized." By the way, isn't there a right to privacy for Americans who wish to freely choose what they want to eat? Oh, that's right. There's no right to privacy in the Constitution, so I guess as long as the state government, rather than the federal government, bans eating fatty foods in the privacy of your home, it would be OK. "Put the Oreos down and come out with your hands up!" ****************************************** States Rights and Sodomy Laws "Miscegenation is inter-race marriage. Until these laws were struck down by the Earl Warren (Supreme) Court in 1967, most states in the nation outlawed interracial marriage. Defenders of these laws, including many southern Democrats who later became Republican (Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms) as well as many who did not, (Lester Maddox, Robert Byrd, Albert Gore, Sr., & George Wallace) claimed 'states rights' as well as 'tradition' and 'antecedent Western History' to defend what was simply legally codified bigotry. Sound familiar?" - News & Views reader "Bill" ***************************************** Don't Scare the Horses "The highest court in the land now has agreed with the 19th century English lady who, when asked what she thought of homosexuality, replied that she had no objection 'if they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses.' Which remains a good rule for heterosexual relations as well, while we're on the subject of the equal protection of the laws." - Columnist Paul Greenberg ***************************************** Spoken Like a True Goldwater Republican "Last week our Supreme Court, in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, had the audacity to rule that what goes on between two consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedroom is not the business of government. "The case involved a neighbor with a grudge who had telephoned the police to report a disturbance in an apartment. When the police entered the apartment they found two men engaged in a sexual act - a sexual act forbidden by law in Texas and about 13 other states. They were arrested and jailed. A lower court upheld their conviction; the Supreme Court did not. And across the country you could hear so-called conservatives bleating like a feedlot full of hungry sheep. You would have thought the end of civilization had finally arrived. "There has been much discussion since this ruling as to whether or not the ruling was justified, either on privacy or on equal-protection grounds. Can someone please explain to me why Americans - Americans who are supposed to be tuned in to the idea of personal liberty and freedom - why these Americans feel the need to expend so much energy trying to come up with a justification to keep the government out of our bedrooms? "As a libertarian, I believe that no action should be a crime unless that action deprives another person of their life, their liberty or their property through the use of either force or fraud. I don't believe a person should be jailed for clipping someone else's fingernails without government permission, and I don't think a jail cell should await two people who are engaging in a consensual sex act that just might be offensive to a third completely uninvolved party. "...Let me tell you of the incredible outpouring of blind, red-hot hatred that I've seen in e-mails from listeners since the court's ruling. These people couldn't care less about legalities. They are driven only about their hatred and pathological fear of 'gays' and lesbians. In short, they want them jailed - and in many cases they want them dead. Amazingly enough, some of these letter writers have even expressed their ardent dreams of my imminent death because I actually agree with the ruling! In almost every case, these correspondents find some place in their letter to tell me what wonderful devout Christians they are. "...What frightens me is that so many of you are so anxious for the government to enter all of our bedrooms to monitor closely the sexual adventures of all Americans if only you can bring yourself to believe that level of intrusion will result in stopping just one 'gay' or lesbian couple from having sex." - Radio talk-show host Neal Boortz, WorldNetDaily.com, 7/1/03 ***************************************** Third Place Is Like Not Even Being There In a Libertarian Party candidate recruitment email this week, the LP poses this opening question: "Wouldn't you like to see a Libertarian candidate in every spot on your ballot next election?" It then advises that "winning isn't the only reason to run." Anyone who has watched the LP's ballot box "success" over the last three decades at the state and national level can certainly attest to that. All too often it appears the LP has no intention or hope of winning and actually taking the responsibility for casting votes, but is in it only as a spoiler. That's something to aspire to, huh? I hate to remind my friends in the Libertarian Party of this old saying: Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. Especially in politics. The LP regularly takes shots at Republicans. Very often, deserved. But it' s easy to sit on the sidelines and heckle with no responsibility to "put up the shot" yourself. Look, I'm a small "l" libertarian and proud of it. But as a political party, the LP makes a good sewing club. If you want to change public policy, you have to change public officials. The LP, as a political party, has been as successful at getting its candidates elected as "She Who Shall Not Be Named" was at keeping her husband's interns from under the Oval Office desk. Until the LP demonstrates some REAL electoral success - getting elected to the water improvement district in a town of 463 people doesn't count - kindred spirits such as myself will continue not wasting our time, our money or our votes on your "party." Sorry, Charlie. For all its virtues as a governing philosophy, the LP continues to be an Edsel of a political party. They need a new model. One that works. One that sells. One that does more than blow smoke and backfire. Something that actually PERFORMS. If you ever come up with such a model, give me a call. In the meantime, you ought to seriously consider shutting down the assembly line for this current clunker. No one's buying. *********************************** 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. 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] # # #
