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___________________________________ EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT... The House Government Affairs Committee will hear testimony today on �The Supersizing of America: The Federal Government's Role in Combating Obesity and Promoting Healthy Living.� The Committee is considering what more, if anything, the federal government should be doing. We kinda wonder why the feds should be doing anything AT ALL on this issue. Read our �Dear Congress� letter to that effect, which we blast-faxed to Capitol Hill last night, on today�s News & Views EXTRA page at: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm _____________________________________ SUPER-SIZED CLOWN �If I wanted the fat taken out of my hamburgers, I'd join the granola-munching tofu crowd. If some schmuck can't restrain himself enough to turn off the Big Mac tap after he's downed 3 or 4 of them, that's his own business. The occasional junk food binge shouldn't be denied to anyone else because a clown like (�Super Size Me� filmmaker Morgan Spurlock) has a bit of a problem with self-control.� - Columnist Rachel Marsden, GOPUSA.com, 6/2/04 THIS WEEK�S SURVEY SAYS! Will the new Medicare prescription drug discount cards be of significant benefit to senior citizens once they learn about and start using them? * Yes * No * Not Sure Cast your vote by clicking the �Survey Says!� tab at www.citizenoutreach.com MORE ON THE BIG SKY STUPIDITY VIRUS Our Brushfire Alert yesterday about that government-school principal out in Montana who turned in an 11-year-old kid to the cops for turning in an unloaded, broken handgun he found caused quite a stir...as it should have. And yes, the police chief there should probably have been taken to the woodshed, as well, as many of you suggested. Anyway, one News & Views reader, a retired government school teacher (naturally), wrote me trying to rationalize the behavior of the principal. Sorry, no way, Jose. The woman ratted out a kid who thought she was a responsible adult and authority figure. Nice lesson taught there, huh? However...what the boy did was, in fact, WRONG. The way the adults handled it was even WORSE, but here�s what the boy SHOULD have done (had he been taught this in the first place): He should have left the gun where it was...and then led a responsible adult (or, absent such, his principal) to it. Now, where have I heard this before? Hmmm� Oh, yeah. I remember. The NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION! You see, they have this gun safety course for kids called �Eddie Eagle� (http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/). �The Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program teaches children in pre-K through third grade four important steps to take if they find a gun. These steps are presented by the program's mascot, Eddie Eagle, in an easy-to-remember format consisting of the following simple rules.� Those simple rules are... If you see a gun: STOP! Don't Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult. �The program may be readily incorporated into existing school curriculum, taught in a one- to five-day format, and used to reach all levels or simply one or two grades,� explains the NRA website. �The purpose of the Eddie Eagle Program isn't to teach whether guns are good or bad, but rather to promote the protection and safety of children. . . . The Eddie Eagle Program has no agenda other than accident prevention -- ensuring that children stay safe should they encounter a gun.� Does anyone want to bet whether or not the government school in question in Montana has allowed the NRA�s Eddie Eagle program to be taught in its classrooms? Do you think maybe it�s time they DID? And every OTHER government school, as well? Don�t hold your breath waiting. DON�T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HIS-TOR-Y �From a May 28 report in The Washington Post, we learned that Tiffany Charles got a B in history last year but is not sure what year World War II ended. She can't name a single general, or one battle. Neither is she able to name the president of the United States at the time. �...What DOES young Tiffany know? Apparently World War II has gone through the filter of political correctness, because Tiffany can tell you about Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps. . . . Is this what we're getting for record education spending: kids who know more about the few wrongs America has committed than they do the many rights? This girl and apparently many others like her in the monopolistic government schools aren't learning the truth�� - Columnist Cal Thomas NAH, THERE�S NO LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS, IS THERE? �Bush, who avoided combat in Vietnam while serving as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard, calls himself a war president for his re-election campaign against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran.� - From a Reuters news report on President Bush's Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery KERRY GIVES GREEN BERET THE FINGER �Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, spotted (John) Kerry and his Secret Service detail at about 9 a.m. Monday morning at the (Vietnam Memorial) Wall. Sampley walked up to Kerry, extended his hand and said, 'Senator, I am Ted Sampley, the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, and I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here.' "At that point, a Secret Service officer told Sampley to back away from Kerry. Sampley moved about 6 feet away and opened his jacket to reveal a HANOI JOHN T-shirt. . . . Kerry then began talking to a group of schoolchildren. Sampley then showed the T-shirt to the children and said, 'Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam.' �Just then, Kerry - in front of the schoolchildren, other visitors and Secret Service agents - brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley�� - NewsMax.com, 6/1/04 THE TROUBLE WITH W �According to the latest poll by ABC News and The Washington Post, almost all of Mr. Bush's decline in support has come from his base. He is not losing support from moderates, nor is Mr. Kerry gaining at his expense. Rather, Mr. Bush is simply losing his own people. I believe this has nothing to do with Iraq. I think it is because conservatives have slowly come to the conclusion he is really not one of them. It is the cumulative effect of a great many issues dating back to the 2000 campaign. Among them: ������President Bush supported �compassionate conservatism,� which implied unqualified conservatism is uncompassionate, as liberals have always charged. �� He rammed through Congress an education bill written by Ted Kennedy that did almost nothing to improve education. It just threw more money at the problem. And now liberals complain he didn't throw enough. ����� He signed a campaign finance �reform� bill that almost all conservatives view as blatantly unconstitutional, the Supreme Court's endorsement notwithstanding. ����� He has supported vast increases in domestic spending, including a huge, utterly unjustified pork barrel and an unconscionable expansion of Medicare, adding trillions of dollars to unfunded U.S. liabilities. And he has asked for more spending on ridiculous programs like the National Endowment for the Arts, which ought to be abolished, not expanded. ������ Although he twisted arms strenuously to get the Medicare drug bill passed, President Bush has done almost nothing to get conservative judges confirmed. ������ He has been ambivalent on trade � some days a free trader, other days a protectionist. He has succeeded only in alienating all sides on this issue. �I could go on. But the point is there are many reasons for conservatives to be upset with Mr. Bush that have nothing whatsoever to do with Iraq. Fortunately for him, John Kerry is worse on every one of these issues.� - Columnist Bruce Bartlett ROY�S REVENGE A MIXED BAG �Roy Moore, who was expelled last year as chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court for ignoring a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a judicial building, had a mixed record in electing allies in yesterday's Republican primary. He backed four candidates for the state Supreme Court. One, his former aide Tom Parker, scored an upset victory over Justice Jean Brown; and another, Circuit Judge Jerry Stokes, was able to force a runoff election for another High Court seat. But two other Moore-backed candidates fared poorly, as did Philip Jauregui, Mr. Moore's lawyer, who received only 13% of the vote in a quixotic challenge to GOP Rep. Spencer Bachus of Birmingham whom he criticized for being insufficiently supportive of Mr. Moore.� - John Fund, Political Diary, 6/2/04 LOSER�S LIMP At the risk of beating a dead horse, I just can�t let this thing about the Libertarian Party go. Not yet. An unknown and unfunded candidate, Michael Badnarik, wrested the LP�s presidential nomination away from two better-known and better-funded candidates last weekend with something like 423 votes (out of a population of, what, 250 million or so?). To which Michael Dixon, the LP�s national chairman, boasted, �I think it is a positive statement for our party, it is the American Dream, where a guy can grow up and run for president.� No, it�s not. This is the LOSER mentality of the Libertarian Party and the prime reason they don�t win races of any significance. It is NOT the American Dream to merely �run� for president. The American Dream is that anybody can WIN the presidency. You know, actually BECOME the president. All kinds of kooks and wingnuts �run� for the office every four years. 2004 is no exception. The goofballs are coming out of the woodwork...like that Las Vegas piano player, Westclod, or whatever his name is. The LP has developed a self-defeating mentality that it�s enough to just show up for the game (or worse, just sit in the stands and heckle)...not to actually compete in it to win. I hate to say it, but it appears they�ve bought into that self-esteem crap the liberals are teaching our kids in the government schools: �There are no winners and no losers; every kid is a winner just by participating. Now let�s give everybody a nice round of applause and make them feel really, really special.� Bleeccchhh. Now, if anyone wants a refresher course on what Americans - REAL Americans who still possess that rugged frontier spirit of our forefathers - think about winning, hop into the Wayback Machine and relive this particular segment of the opening speech by Gen. George Patton in the 1970s film classic, �Patton�� �When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn�t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That�s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.� Does THAT sound like the attitude of the Libertarian Party? Yeah, right. Look, when the Libertarian Party starts taking WINNING as seriously as Patton-Americans, libertarians such as myself might start taking the LP seriously. Not until. TODAY ON THE DISCUSSION BOARD Heck, why not? OK folks, what do YOU think of the Libertarian Party? If you think I�m off base, let me have it. Persuade me and the rest of America that you are truly America�s best hope for regaining our constitutionally limited federal government and renewing respect for individual rights�and how you intend to get us there. Or if you think the LP has problems over and above even what I�ve written, put it on the table. Let it all hang out. Join the Discussion Board on this subject by surfing over to: http://blog.chuckmuth.com/blog/ NOW, IF YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT REAL ELECTORAL SUCCESS� In last week�s DC Confidential, I told you about New Mexico Republican National Committeeman Mickey Barnett who...and you ain�t gonna believe this...actually thinks that when you�re elected to a party leadership position, you should LEAD...and lead your team to VICTORY. What a concept! Go figure. And that means getting involved in GOP primary races to help assure that the candidates with the best chance of winning and advancing the party�s philosophy get the party nod. One of Mickey�s ground troops informs us that the candidates in three of the four targeted state legislative races Barnett backed won Tuesday night...including taking out two �RINO� incumbents! One of the RINOs, soon to be ex-legislator Bob White, blamed (credited?) his defeat on Barnett�s support for his challenger and threatened to quit the GOP. Gee, I sure hope he doesn�t let the door hit him in the butt on the way out. Anyway, congratulations Mickey. If the LP wants to join the major leagues, they might consider forgetting about recruiting more egg-headed philosophy geeks and devote more time to recruiting the Mickey Barnett�s of the political world. WEASEL ALERT Heck, since I�ve devoted so much time to losers in this issue already, it seems only appropriate to check in with our buddy Nathan Tabor, that Clown Prince running for Congress in North Carolina 5. Frankly, it�s just not worth spending much time on his campaign any longer because it�s going...well, nowhere. The kid�s an empty suit and the voters in the district have found that out. However, we can�t let the most recent bit of Tabor campaign deception go by without comment. The boy sent out a mess of press releases and website announcements recently touting again his so-called �Tabor Plan.� What a crock. The real TABOR plan is a legislative proposal to restrain government. The letters stand for �Taxpayers Bill of Rights.� It was established in Colorado LONG ago; back when Li�l Nate was still trying to steal kisses from Betty Sue under the high school bleachers. It�s a rock-solid plan which has helped Colorado immensely in weathering the economic downturn of recent years and which is (finally) spreading across the nation. So what Nathan Tabor has done is craft an economic plan for his campaign based on the principles of the Colorado TABOR plan. Get it? Tabor...TABOR. He then gets folks who have been long supporters of TABOR to embrace his Tabor-version of the TABOR plan and is trying to fool people into thinking he�s some kind of Milton Friedman prodigy by confusing and twisting statements by folks over the Tabor/TABOR plan. The dictionary definition of this kind of behavior is found under the word �weasel.� Anyway, the REAL TABOR plan is something you should be pushing your state to adopt...and you can get the full skinny on this legislative proposal from the people who REALLY invented it by going to the Independence Institute�s website at: http://www.i2i.org/TABOR2003.aspx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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