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____________________________________ CHUCK MUTH�S NEWS & VIEWS February 26, 2004 To view the HTML version of today�s News & Views, just go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm To subscribe, just go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsletter/ To reach our 7-day News & Views archive, go to www.citizenoutreach.com _____________________________________ THE NEVER-ENDING CONGRESS The Democrats are unconstitutionally blocking a number of President Bush�s judicial nominees, refusing to even let their nominations come to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Left with no other alternative (the GOP Senate has been no help, thank you very much), the president has now �recess-appointed� two of his blocked nominees. In response, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle is threatening a new tit-for-tat: No more recesses. That�s right. In order to keep the president from appointing any more judges while Congress is in recess, Daschle is now threatening to keep Congress in session IN PERPETUITY. Oh, the humanity! Aren�t Americans suffering enough already? According to a story in Roll Call on Wednesday, Sen. Trent Lott said that that if Daschle makes good on his threat, he wouldn�t be surprised if Senate Republicans buckle and give him whatever he wants. Sheesh. Who would? Buckling to the Democrats is what Senate Republicans DO. It�s what they�re GOOD at. Just look at how they�re handling �Memogate.� Why would they change now? ________________________________________ GOP SURVIVOR SERIES Welcome to Round Three of the 2008 GOP Presidential Survivor series. The top two finishers in Round One were former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (37%) and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (12%). Joining them in next week�s Super Tuesday final are the top two finishers from Round Two: Texas Rep. Ron Paul (39%) and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice (21%). Balloting for the Third and final elimination round is now underway, so cast your vote by going to the Survey Says! page at www.citizenoutreach.com. The choices for this round are... Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney Former Alabama judge Roy Moore PA Sen. Rick Santorum SC Gov. Mark Sanford Gary Bauer Alan Keyes Chuck Muth (I�m hoping to at least get my mom�s vote!) __________________________________________ THOUGHTS FROM LA-LA-LAND �I don't think condemning people who murder and then killing them necessarily sends out the right message." - Actress Charlize Theron GORE�S REGRET �I don't want to say Howard Dean's Internet campaign was disappointing, but today Al Gore said he's sorry he ever invented that Internet thing.� - Tonight show host Jay Leno GORE�S REVENGE �Ralph Nader rejected claims Sunday that his entry into the race ensures President Bush's election like it did four years ago. There's only one way Al Gore can get even with Ralph Nader. He's got to wait for the crucial moment in the campaign and then endorse him.� - Comedian Argus Hamilton TANKS FOR NOTHING James Taranto notes in his Best of the Web column that John Kerry voted against funding for the M-1 Abrams tank...the same tank his former boss Michael Dukakis was famously photographed driving back in 1988...which was the last time a Bush beat a liberal Massachusetts politician for the presidency. REPUBLICANS FOR GUN CONTROL �Three Republican senators agreed Tuesday to support renewal of the soon-to-expire assault weapons ban, a small victory for gun control proponents as the Senate prepares to wade into several contentious gun issues this election year. . . . Getting the 1994 assault weapons prohibition renewed has been a Democratic priority this year. They picked up support Tuesday from GOP Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.� - Associated Press, 2/24/04 GUNNING FOR GUNMAKERS �Reasonable people do not believe that Ford or General Motors should be sued when a drunken driver speeds into and kills a pedestrian. They understand that the manufacturer should not be faulted merely because its product is used improperly and illegally. It is obviously the driver who needs to be punished. Similarly, the predations of arsonists do not prompt litigation against matchbook makers any more than the maker of Swiss Army knives is responsible for stabbings or the makers of Louisville Sluggers are to blame when their product is used in a beating. Yet a minority of people and politicians believe that the manufacturer should pay when a gun is used improperly or illegally.� - The Hill editorial, 2/25/04 TAXING JOBS OUT OF EXISTENCE �John Kerry blathers about �Benedict Arnold CEOs� who move jobs overseas in search of lower taxes. Duh, why worry only about jobs moving overseas? The same domestic taxes are responsible for businesses that never get started and businesses that grow more slowly and create fewer jobs than they otherwise would.� - Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins SENATE BACKS AMBULANCE CHASERS OVER DOCS �An important proposal to cap pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice cases and reduce the contingency fees that lawyers rake in from such lawsuits was shot down for the second time in the Senate yesterday. The defeat came even though the GOP watered down the bill to apply only to obstetricians and gynecologists -- a group whose runaway insurance premiums have forced many to give up delivering babies or treating pregnant women altogether. Fuggedaboutit, said the trial lawyers' retinue of friendly Senators. Three Republicans joined the 48-45 vote that prevented the chamber from considering the bill. Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Shelby of Alabama all sided with lawyers against doctors.� - Elizabeth Crowley, �Political Diary,� 2/25/04 ________________________________________ NEW!! FREE!!!!! �THE TECHNO-TROGLODYTE'S GUIDE TO BUILDING A CAMPAIGN WEBSITE� � Chuck�s latest step-by-step Special Report for using Campaign Site Builder's online software program for designing professional-looking, fully functional campaign websites in less than an hour for pennies on the dollar...including a free 30-Day Trial.� No web knowledge needed.� No need to know HTML code.� Just follow these easy-to-read, step-by-step "dummy notes" and you, too, can become a bona fide political webmaster overnight!� This program is perfect for under-funded and novice candidates...and even local political parties and organizations.� Don't waste another dollar or another day not having a presence on the Internet.� Read this "Special Report" and get your campaign online today! _________________________________________ NEA = FAILURE �Education Secretary Rod Paige was very wise to characterize his calling�the NEA�a 'terrorist organization', as 'an inappropriate choice of words.' However, before the Democrat spinmeisters fall all over themselves in attacking him, they ought to consider what sparked his comments. The National Education Association controls America's educational system, whose students score among the lowest compared to students in other developed nations. Most inner-city schools have a 50 percent drop-out rate or more, and many who graduate are not prepared for college. The results of this failed education are destroyed lives, high crime rates and blighted cities. Yet, the NEA will not allow parents to choose a better education for their children.� - Israel Teitelbaum, co-founder of Parents for Free Choice in Education, 2/24/04 THEY AIN�T JOBS IF THEY AIN�T UNION JOBS The Aladdin resort in Las Vegas is in bankruptcy. Robert Earl, owner of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, is trying to rescue the resort by buying it and keeping the doors open. But as the Wall Street Journal pointed out this week, the Culinary Union is aggressively trying to block the sale because the Aladdin management refuses to recognize it as a bargaining agent for food and beverage workers. So the union is throwing mud at Mr. Earl in an attempt to prevent him from getting a gaming license, preferring that the business go out of business - and all those workers lose their jobs - rather than allow a non-union business to operate and employee non-union workers on the Strip. And people still wonder why many businesses decide to move overseas rather than deal with these fanatical and irrational unions? FINANCIAL & SYSTEMIC DISTRESS �The U.S. Postal Service is in �financial and systemic distress,� a coalition of mailers said in a letter delivered yesterday to four members of the House of Representatives,� reports DM News. �The letter was sent to Reps. Tom Davis, R-VA, and Henry Waxman, D-CA, of the House Committee on Government Reform, and John McHugh, R-NY, and Danny Davis, D-IL, of the Special Panel on Postal Reform and Oversight.� Congress is expected to take up the matter of postal reform later this spring, but the postal unions are already mounting a full-court press to kill any meaningful changes in the way the post office does business. Four union bosses told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee this week that the recommendations made by the president�s commission on postal reform were �unfair� to union workers. We�re shocked. GAY MARRIAGE SONG & DANCE Tuesday�s White House press briefing with spokesman Scott McClellan focused almost entirely on the president�s announcement that he was backing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The first question out of the box went like this� ��(F)our years ago, in the South Carolina primary debate, the President was asked, �So if a state were voting on gay marriage, you would suggest to that state not to approve it?� And the response of the President was, �The state can do what they want to do.� When did the President change his mind that the issue of gay marriage was not a matter for states and, in fact, was a federal issue?� Hmmm. A VERY legitimate question. That�s when the ol� Washington two-step took the stage...and never left. McClellan ducked the question, danced around it and never addressed it directly - along with many other valid, related questions - for the duration of the briefing. You can read the full masterful performance of McClellan�s song-and-dance transcript by accessing the �In the News� page at www.lawfullywedded.com. NONE OF WASHINGTON�S BUSINESS �President Bush made a political calculation on Tuesday when he endorsed a yet-to-be-drafted amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would ban same-sex marriages. While the move may invigorate the president's support among social conservatives, this was a mistake. Mr. Bush did say he could back an amendment allowing �civil unions� or other arrangements that are accorded a lesser legal status than marriage. Even so, amending the Constitution for such a frivolous purpose would bring the federal government into an area that's none of Washington's business.� - Las Vegas Review Journal editorial, 2/25/04 REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE �Our preference would be for a more modest (gay marriage) amendment, one that would prevent the federal courts from imposing same-sex marriage on the country, but would not foreclose the possibility of its establishment (at the individual state level) if proponents could succeed in the democratic process. (O)ur amendment would read as follows: �Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to require any state or the federal government to recognize any marriage except between a man and a woman.� This would not solve the current problems in Massachusetts and California, but it would prevent them from becoming problems for other states--and in that case, there's no reason to make a federal case out of it.� - James Taranto, Best of the Web, 2/25/04 PANDORA�S BOX IS OPEN �Claiming divorce -- not same-sex unions -- is undermining the sanctity of marriage, a group of gay Democrats on Monday asked (Indiana) state GOP Chairman Jim Kittle to identify Republican legislators who have been divorced. The request comes as House Republicans are attempting to force a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The amendment -- which Republicans last week called �the most important issue we're dealing with this session� -- was approved by the Senate but has been stalled in the House by Democratic leadership. �We think it is fair to ask during this debate how many legislators who are demonizing gay marriage have actually committed the most grievous possible injury to the institution they claim to want to protect,� said Linda Perdue, president of the Indiana Stonewall Democrats.� - Indianapolis Star, 2/24/04 __________________________________________ Chuck Muth�s News & Views is published by Citizen Outreach, a non-partisan, 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. 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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