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**************************************** Don't Let the Facts Get in the Way "Democrats prefer their politics fact-free." - Columnist Jack Kelly **************************************** Isn't This Hate Speech? "This recall (of California Gov. Gray Davis) by the Taliban element of the Republican party will be defeated whenever it is held." - Democrat party strategist Bob Mulholland **************************************** How to Subscribe If you know someone who might like to receive News & Views, you can sign 'em up at: http://www.chuckmuth.com. **************************************** Political Economic History 101 "One of the enduring political myths of our generation has been the claim that the rise of federal deficits during the 1980s resulted from President Ronald Reagan's 'tax cuts for the rich.' . . . Why then were there federal deficits during the Reagan administration? Because Congress spent even more money than the rising tax revenues brought in. There is no amount of money Congress cannot outspend." - Columnist Thomas Sowell **************************************** Democrats-in-Training "The more time young children spend in day care, the more likely they are to be aggressive or disobedient, says the latest report from an ongoing federal study, released today. . . . Problem behaviors, according to the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) study, include disobeying adults, destroying other people's possessions, arguing, fighting, lying, cheating, screaming, bragging or bullying." - Washington Times, 7/16/03 **************************************** Acting Like Babies The race-baiting whiners of the Congressional Black Caucus threw a temper-tantrum over the fact that President Bush didn't "consult" with them before his recent trip to Africa. Waaaaahh! But upon his return, the president invited CBC head Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) for a post-trip briefing. Cummings blew him off and refused to attend. You just can't win with these people. **************************************** Senatorial Hissy Fit Earlier in the week, the White House had planned a meeting for the leadership members of the Senate-House conference committee on the prescription drug bill. Not being a member of leadership, Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller - along with fellow GOP conference members Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Don Nickles - were not included in the meeting. Rocky, however, had a cow. "I'm a conferee and I wasn't invited to it," he whined to The Hill. "It's outrageous." Hmm. Didn't the press have a field day with Newt Gingrich over a similar fit of pique? Where are they now? **************************************** Marylanders Hit By Friendly Fire from Michigan Dems Michigan's two Democrat U.S. senators, Levin and Stabenow, are throwing their own little hissy fits these days, using "blue slips" to stop the judicial nominations of four highly-qualified individuals from their home state to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. However, their use of this weapon of mass obstruction appears to have screwed two of the senators' Democrat colleagues in Maryland. Rather than risk the possibility of having yet another nominee "blue slipped," this time by Maryland Democrat Sens. Sarbanes and Mikulski, the White House has named a Virginian to fill a vacancy on the 4th Circuit - a seat previously held by a Marylander. This, of course, has Sarbanes' and Mikulski's pantyhose all up in a bunch. But they have no one to blame but the childish, obstructionist behavior their fellow Democrats in Michigan. Actions do have consequences. **************************************** Turkeys of a Feather. "(Democrat presidential candidate) Rep. Dennis Kucinich has been endorsed by actors Ed Asner, Eric Roberts, Hector Elizondo and Elliott Gould; country singer Willie Nelson, ice cream baron Ben Cohen, writer Studs Turkel and California protestor-turned-politician Tom Hayden. Ralph Nader has urged his followers to vote for the Ohio Democrat. The four-term congressman is lauded by feminists, animal rights activists, antiwar protestors, environmentalists, spiritual healers, artists, human rights advocates and farmers who stubbornly look to the former Cleveland mayor and occasional amateur ventriloquist as the long-shot candidate of their dreams." - Washington Times, 7/16/03 **************************************** NEW Bumper Snicker! Get the HOTTEST bumper sticker in the country today: "Conservatives Are >From Mars, Liberals Are From Uranus!" $2.95 each. Buy 3...Get 1 FREE. No charge for shipping. Limited supply. Go to: http://chuckmuth.com/merchandise.htm **************************************** Founding Wisdom "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be." - Founding Father and right-wing extremist Thomas Jefferson **************************************** Beef Stew and Gatorade "There was a time when we had so much confidence in the superiority of our way of life that we aggressively taught our values to new immigrants and insisted they master the basics of American history, the English language and civics before being eligible for citizenship. Today, we're not even teaching history to our own schoolchildren. And we are in the grip of a truly frightening collective ignorance. "As (National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bruce) Cole warns, when you don't know your history, you're more inclined to believe the kooky versions of it served up by everyone from Oliver Stone to Michael Moore. . . . In grades K-12, history has been replaced by 'social studies,' which is like replacing beef stew with Gatorade." - Columnist Mona Charen **************************************** Great Moments in Publik Educashun Angela Lipsman never went to high school. The 15-year-old kid genius went straight to college after graduating from the 8th grade, where she has already earned an associate's degree and is well on her way to her bachelor' s. But as the New York Daily News reports, "she can't have the sheepskins because she never got a high school diploma" due to the "state Education Department's edict that kids have to stay in school until age 16 and can't get general equivalency diplomas until they turn 17." And to add insult to injury, our old friends at child protective services are actually investigating little Angela's dad for educational neglect since he allowed her to go straight to college without holding her back in high school. Daniel Lipsman, a retired teacher, says he'll "go to prison before my daughter goes to a city high school." ************************************ 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. **************************************** Supreme Ruling Could Nail Reid "Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who as minority whip is the most powerful Senate Democrat after Tom Daschle, has just had his re-election thrown into jeopardy by five fellow Democrats who sit on the Nevada Supreme Court. The justices, joined by the court's lone Republican, threw out a constitutional amendment that required state tax increases be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, saying it was superseded by the Nevada Constitution's mandate to fund public education. . . . The man who wrote the constitutional amendment the court struck down is Rep. Jim Gibbons (R), who has been wavering on whether to challenge Mr. Reid (next year). "...A recall (of the Supreme Court justices) is difficult but doable in Nevada, requiring the signatures of 25% of those who voted in the previous election for that office to reach the ballot. For Supreme Court members, that would mean about 125,000 signatures. Upon certification, the recall election would take place within 30 days. 'Rep. Gibbons would be getting free media you could only dream of,' says Chuck Muth, president of the grass-roots lobby Citizen Outreach and a former Nevada political activist. 'His signature achievement--the two-thirds vote requirement--will be talked about for months now, and don't forget it was passed by over 70% of voters as recently as 1996.'" - John Fund's Political Diary, Wall Street Journal, 7/17/03 **************************************** Docs Fire Back Yesterday we included a note from reader Don Lehman lamenting the cost of "sodium hyaluronate injections in a knee joint" as well as the doctor fees charged for each office visit. Mr. Lehman suggested he could save the money by just doing the injection himself at home. Today, we present the other side of the story. Dr. John Gassaway, orthopedic surgeon, writes: "The man could no more do his own shots than he could take his own appendix out. I have known family practitioners who could not get a needle INTO the joint where the medicine belongs. Anywhere else and it is a chemical irritant that will produce serious skin and soft tissue damage. So you are paying for the doctor's EXPERTISE, just like you pay a transmission specialist for his expertise for your car and not some backyard mechanic who will ruin your transmission for a much reduced cost." Adds our friend Dr. Michael Clifford of Nevada: "As a Rheumatologist I feel obligated to comment on Don Lehman's comments about the injections he receives. It is true the hyaluronate is expensive, and the doctor must pay for this first and then be reimbursed (maybe) by insurance later. The breakdown for the charges is probably about $80 for the office visit and $70 for the injection. The actual reimbursement, however, may be a fraction of that amount. "As far as a 3-minute encounter goes, Mr. Lehman is doing what study after study has shown: he is grossly underestimating the amount of time the physician spent with him. It's simply not possible to explain the procedure, get the patient on the table, prep the joint and do the injection in 3 minutes. "Finally intra-articular injection cannot be 'handled at home.' Performing this one procedure alone increases my malpractice by about $4,000/yr here in Nevada even though I believe there has never been a serious complication from this procedure. Ever, anywhere." *********************************** 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] # # #
