To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.chuckmuth.com/remove X-ListMember: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
***************************************** Goin' Postal This Week on "Always Right" Unbeknownst to most Americans, earlier this year President Bush established a presidential commission to study the need for various reforms to our postal system, especially in light of the growing use of email as well as the fact that, despite rate increase after rate increase, the post office still loses money hand over fist. The commission will release its formal recommendations on July 31st. To discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of the USPS, our guest on "Always Right" this week will be Rick Merritt of PostalWatch.org. Tune in Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EST (or catch the re-run at 11:00 p.m. EST) for "Always Right with Chuck Muth." The link to listen in is... http://www.theotherradionetwork.com/srv1.asx You can catch previous interviews on "Always Right" by visiting our archives at: http://www.theotherradionetwork.com/pgs/archives-fr.htm **************************************** France's Inferiority e-Complex "Goodbye 'e-mail,' the French government says, and hello 'courriel' - the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents. The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of 'e-mail' in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon." - Associated Press, 7/18/03 **************************************** British Courtesy "An American tourist in London found himself needing to take a leak something terrible. After a long search he just couldn't find any public bathroom to relieve himself. So he went down one of the side streets to take care of business. Just as he was unzipping, a London police officer showed up. "Look here, old chap, what are you doing?" the officer asked. "I'm sorry," the American replied, but I really gotta take a leak." "You can't do that here," the officer told him. "Look, follow me." The police officer led him to a beautiful garden with lots of grass, pretty flowers, and manicured hedges. "Here," said the policeman, "whiz away." The American tourist shrugged, turned, unzipped, and started relieving himself on the flowers. "Ahhh," he said in relief. Then turning toward the officer, he said, "This is very nice of you. Is this British courtesy?" "No," retorted the policeman. "It's the French Embassy." **************************************** Top Ten Tyrants The world is still filled with bad guys, despite President Bush's success at dethroning Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In the August issue of Esquire, the magazine releases its Top Ten list of the remaining tyrants: North Korea's Kim Jong Il leads the list, followed by Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir of Sudan, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Muammar Qaddafi or Libya, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Fidel Castro of Cuba, and. Rupert Murdoch of Fox News. No, I'm not kidding. **************************************** First, Do No Harm "The safety issue is critical to whether and how Congress factors reimportation into its ongoing Medicare debate. Current law permits importation only if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certifies it as safe. The FDA remains adamant that the importing of drugs from outside of the closed U.S. regulatory system is unsafe. "...In executing our oath to enact and enforce laws that serve the people, we must also be mindful of every physician's oath to 'first, do no harm.' Potential harm is everywhere in sight where imported medicines are concerned - opening the floodgates wider cannot be the answer." - Rep. James Greenwood (R-Pa.), The Hill, 7/16/03 ************************************** Returning 2nd Amendment to Nation's Capital "On July 15, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced S. 1414, the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act. This legislation seeks to restore the constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment rights of the residents of our nation's capital. The introduction of this legislation comes on the heels of recent FBI statistics that reveal Washington, D.C., has once again reclaimed the notorious title of the 'murder capital' of the United States." - NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert, 7/18/03 ***************************************** Gun Conference The 18th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC), which will be taking place September 26, 27 and 28, 2003 at the George Bush International Airport Marriott in Houston, Texas. Registration is available online, at http://www.saf.org/GRPCinfo.htm, or you can register over the phone at (425) 454-7012. **************************************** She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named in '04 "Howard Dean's 15 minutes of pop celebrity is just about up, John Kerry's still trying to get the ketchup stains off his tie, Joe Lieberman can't remember whether he's supposed to be a shark or a chicken, John Edwards has lost sight of the ambulance, Bob Graham can't decide whether to write about the bacon or the eggs he had for breakfast, Al Sharpton has lost his rhyming dictionary, and nobody has seen Dick Gephardt since St. Louis quit making shoes. "But it doesn't matter. The real action begins early next year, when Bill and Hillary ride at last to the rescue, but only of their own fortunes. . . . The notion that Ma Clinton can wait until 2008 is nuts, as any pol who remembers his blue-back arithmetic book could tell you. It's in the numbers. If a year in politics is an epoch, four years is eternity." - Wesley Pruden, "Pruden on Politics," 7/18/03 **************************************** Donkeys vs. Elephants "Welcome to the Democratic Party in the 21st century. Actually, the Democratic Party, as understood by most people who think of themselves as Democrats, no longer exists. It has evolved into the political version of a shell corporation. Money flows in and out of something called 'the Democratic Party,' but most of the politicking is now done by literally dozens of largely independent political groups, of which the NAACP is but one. . . . The Democratic Party now resembles a vast hospital nursery, with each colicky baby lying in a separate crib screaming for attention--right now, for ME. "...Republicans may perform poorly as alley cats, but they're better now at wound-healing. George Bush no longer has to pay the sort of obeisance to Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell that any Democrat must obviously still tender to Kweisi Mfume (of the NAACP). The GOP, like any large party, has factions, but it also found a Grover Norquist with the skills to make the factions recognize common goals. Across the aisle, no one seems much interested in bridge-building." - Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Henninger **************************************** In Majority Politics, Size DOES Matter "A major stumbling block to enacting President Bush's agenda is the Republican Party's slim one-vote majority in the Senate. When taking party moderates into consideration, GOP leaders do not even have a practical working majority to pass moderately conservative legislation, particularly on domestic issues. "From tax cuts to government reform to a prescription-drug subsidy for seniors, bills coming out of Congress could be significantly better with just a few more conservative votes in the Senate. If the president's popularity remains high and the economy doesn't soften dramatically before the 2004 elections, the party could pick up those needed seats, and more." - Washington Times editorial, 7/16/03 ************************************** Religious Right Longing for the Left? "Although still held up in conference committee, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban has passed both houses of Congress and for the first time since Roe v. Wade the majority of Americans and the majority of women refer to themselves as 'pro life' according to Gallup Polls. In the midst of this we have social-conservative leaders and organizations (such as Ken Connor of the Family Research Council) discouraging our base by making statements like '...so why elect Republicans?' ".'Why bother?' The problem in the Senate is the arcane rule that any one Senator can block legislation or even a presidential appointment. . . . (Yet) we have social conservative groups calling for fewer Republicans? How does the situation get better if 55 or 60 members of the Senate are liberal Democrats? . . . Presumably, many social conservatives - the Christian Right - want a return to the days of Lyndon Baines Johnson, when the Democrats held the White House and both Houses of Congress, and maybe they want a reconstruction of the 'Great Society.' Well, I don't." - William J. Murray, Religious Freedom Coalition, July 2003 **************************************** Bambi Hunts Drawing Fire "Outraged by a Las Vegas company that claims to offer men a chance to stalk and shoot naked women in the Nevada desert with paintball guns, women's groups and government agencies were scrambling to find a way to shut down such 'Bambi' hunts. ".Real Men spokesman David Krekelberg...said the company has so far hosted 18 'Bambi' hunts in undisclosed locations around Las Vegas. In each, a hunter faces off with two women dressed in nothing but sneakers, each of whom receive $1,000 and can earn up to $2,500 if they make it through the hour without being struck by the paintball, he said. "But Jodi Tyson, director of the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence called the 'Bambi' hunts offensive, dangerous and exploitative. The world's largest paintball products maker, Brass Eagle Inc, has also protested the hunts. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is also looking into speculation that the hunts have taken place without permits on public property. About 90 percent of Nevada is owned by the federal government." - Steve Friess, Reuters, 7/18/03 **************************************** If You Can't Find a Doc, Blame the Democrats "It's a bit baffling to understand why the Democrats are so opposed to reforming medical malpractice laws that are driving up the cost of insurance, forcing doctors out of business and making trial lawyers super-wealthy. A recent Gallup Poll found that 72 percent of Americans favor capping 'pain and suffering' awards in medical liability cases. Common sense dictates that the Democrats would at least allow a vote on the issue, particularly given the state of crisis that the health-care industry is facing. "But common sense isn't at work here. The puppet masters pulling the strings are the trial lawyers - more specifically, the American Trial Lawyers Association. One of the largest contributors to Democratic candidates, the lawyers are vehemently opposed to any reforms that would reduce the 'lottery size' winnings of malpractice victims. Forget that runaway jury verdicts and outrageous awards are drowning hospitals and doctors in red ink - the trial lawyers are more interested in preserving their gargantuan fees than preserving the health-care system. "So long as the trial lawyers have their tentacles wrapped around the Democratic Party, it will be difficult for real reform to take place. And what we'll be stuck with is more cases like Melinda Sallard of Arizona, who was forced to deliver her baby on the side of the road because her local hospital stopped delivering babies due to skyrocketing insurance premiums. If the Democrats don't break free from the trial lawyers soon, they'll be facing a crisis of their own - at the ballot box." - Alan Miller, chairman and CEO of Universal Health Services, New York Post, 7/16/03 ************************************ 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. *********************************** 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] # # #
