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____________________________________ CHUCK MUTH'S NEWS & VIEWS April 29, 2004 To view the HTML version of today's News & Views, just go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm _____________________________________ ANOTHER DOG BITES MAN STORY Democrat Govs. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Jim Doyle of Wisconsin and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Sen. Hillary Rodham and Rep. Charlie Rangel at a summit of union leaders to discuss foreign trade. The message was. Never mind. Who cares what these losers have to say? Suffice it to say they dumped on the President and offered no credible alternatives, as always. So let's just "move on." BABHDAD JIM BAGS GOD Remember Rep. Jim McDermott, the Washington Democrat who went to Baghdad and then came back to tell ABC's "This Week" that we could trust Saddam Hussein's word but not President Bush's. Yeah, that bozo. Well, McDermott is also one of just 7 congress-critters who voted against a House resolution condemning that 9th Circus Court ruling that the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance were unconstitutional. And on Tuesday, he added insult to injury when he deleted the words "under God" from the pledge as he led its recitation from the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Washington voters must be so proud. BAD HAIR DAY "Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry flew his Washington hairdresser to Pittsburgh for a touch-up on the Friday before his recent appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Matt Drudge writes at www.drudgereport.com. Cristophe stylist Isabelle Goetz was flown to Pittsburgh at great cost, Mr. Drudge said. . . . 'The total expense for the hair touch-up is estimated to be more than $1,000,' Mr. Drudge said, citing 'insiders.' . . . The hairdresser, who grew up in a small town in eastern France, also does the hair of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat." - Greg Pierce's "Inside Politics," 4/28/04 MEDAL MANIA To tell you the truth, I can't keep up with this John Kerry medal story. First the story was he threw his medals over the White House fence in 1971. Then the story was that he didn't throw HIS medals over the wall, but somebody else's. Then it morphed into throwing his ribbons, but not his medals, over the wall. The guy just can't seem to get his story straight...or get the story behind him. I think I heard last night that Kerry has now refused to show Boston reporters the medals which he now says he didn't throw over the fence. Well, if he really didn't toss 'em away, then why not produce 'em? If Kerry wasn't changing his story as often as his socks (or his positions on issues), maybe his word would be good enough and proof wouldn't be required. But as it is: Show us the medals! SEND IN THE CLOWNS "Bob Kerrey already turned the 9/11 commission into 'Comedy Central' when he chastised National Security Adviser Condolezza Rice for forgetting specific details of brief conversations held three years ago - all the while, he was unable event o remember her name." - Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Kerrey's Monday night appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" A BUG'S REVENGE "CNN founder Ted Turner once famously mocked Murdoch, saying he'd squish his cable news rival like a bug. We all know now who has squished whom. Just check the Nielsens: When the president gave his prime-time press conference last week, 5.2 million viewers watched on Fox News, compared to CNN's 1.7 million and MSNBC's 867,000 viewers. For the year, Fox ranks ninth among all cable networks in prime time, averaging 1.4 million viewers. CNN and MSNBC don't even make the Top 20. In 20th place: The Home and Garden Network." - Salon.com columnist Geraldine Sealey BACK DOOR TO HILLARY-CARE ".(S)ome people in Washington do look reality in the eye and pursue rational solutions. Then we have Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Trent Lott and Byron Dorgan, who last week announced bipartisan legislation to allow 're-importation' of drugs sold to Canada. We're not in business to give Congress even worse ideas than it can come up with on its own, but if the Canadian system is so great, why not just enact our own Canadian-style price controls here? . . . What's the point of simply sanctifying ad hoc hoops and hurdles that permit a few Canadian Internet pharmacists to get rich by arbitraging between our system and theirs?" - Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins BIG BROTHER USING PIZZA TO TRACK YOU DOWN "It's dinnertime, and you're hungry and tired, so you pick up the phone and order your favorite pizza. But you might have just landed yourself a lot more than pepperoni and cheese. If you owe fines or fees to the courts, that phone call may have provided the link the state needed to track you down and make you pay. "That's one of the strategies of firms such as a company being hired by the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator to handle its fine and debt collections. David Coplen, the state office's budget director, said he discovered that pizza delivery lists are one of the best sources such companies use to locate people. "...Databases compiled by private companies and government agencies are a key tool for firms such as ACS, Coplen said, and 'one of the databases they find to be most helpful are pizza delivery databases.' 'When you call to order a pizza, you usually give them your correct name, your correct address and your correct phone number,' he said. Just which pizza companies' databases might be mined is unknown." - USA Today, 4/27/04 MAKE EVERYBODY A CRIMINAL "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one MAKES them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt." - Government functionary Dr. Floyd Ferris in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" BENEDICT ARNOLD REPUBLICANS 17 Republicans of the Republican-controlled Virginia General Assembly flipped voters the bird and voted with the Democrats to pass a billion dollar-plus tax hike on Tuesday. The state sales tax will jump from 4.5 percent to 5 percent and the tax on cigarettes will balloon from 2.5 cents per pack to 20 cents per pack this year...and then to 30 cents a pack next year. You know, there is REAL opportunity here for a legitimate third-party or independent movement to offer an alternative to these faux-Republicans nationwide. Too bad the Libertarians can't get their political act together and actually offer credible alternative candidates at the state legislative level (the operative word here, LP'ers, is "credible")...even if they have to run initially as Republicans in GOP primaries. The ground is fertile...but the Libertarians are AWOL, as usual. Talk about wasted days and wasted nights. 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" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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