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___________________________________ EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT... Making legislation the old-fashioned way - a mess - is how Congress is handling a trio of issues these days: avoiding an international trade war, returning tobacco farming to the free market and giving the FDA brand-spanking-new authority to regulate tobacco. Big issues on the Hill right now...and very confusing. But in the spirit of mixing unrelated items into one, I�ve combined a new �Muth�s Truths� column with an edition of �Smoke Screen� to make this mess something that even Michael Moore fans can understand. Read �Making Legislative Sausage Out of Tobacco� on today�s News & Views EXTRA page at: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm. _____________________________________ WE�LL DRIVE OFF THAT BRIDGE WHEN WE COME TO IT �The opening night of next month's Democratic convention in Boston is set to feature an emotional party tribute to hometown hero Ted Kennedy, who has served in office longer than every other senator but one. Guess no one at the Democratic National Committee took a close look at the calendar: That July 26 salute to Teddy just happens to coincide with...the 35th anniversary of Chappaquiddick.� - New York Post columnist Eric Fettmann DON�T LET THE DOOR HIT YA ON THE WAY OUT �Carlos Santana is furious that the (May 18, 2004) death of jazz drum icon Elvin Jones didn�t receive much media coverage. . . . �For them to play up Ozzy Osbourne and other corny...white people, but not Elvin, is demeaning, and I�m really embarrassed to live in this country.� � - New York Post THEY SHOULD CALL IT �CANNON�S LAW� �A plan is being considered that allow non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in San Francisco school board elections.� The San Jose Mercury News reported Monday the proposed November ballot measure was aimed at getting more parents involved in their children's education by waiving California's requirement that voters be U.S. citizens.� - Peter Roff, UPI Newstrack, 6/21/04 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE �It is clear there were no circumstances under which France or the U.N. would have supported America in Iraq. France had negotiated too many secret, profitable and illegal business deals with Saddam Hussein. The U.N. was skimming millions from the �Oil for Food� program. France and the U.N. did not oppose Bush because they thought his policy was wrong. They opposed him because his policy would expose their illegal dealings and end the flow of Saddam�s blood money.� - George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom, OpinionEditorials.com, 6/19/04 LET�S GO TO THE VIDEO �Like (Fox News Channel's Neil) Cavuto, I hope news organizations will show what actually happened to Paul Johnson, and for that matter Nick Berg (beheadings). Should the network use disclaimers?� Maybe.� Should they use discretion? A little, but as Mr. Cavuto suggests not too much is needed.� Americans need to be reminded, as does the world what savages do.� In fact, we need to replay newscasts of planes flying into buildings daily.� - Columnist J.C. Bowman SURVEY SAYS! Should the U.S. government prohibit the use of torture against terrorists, even if it could save American lives? * Yes * No * Not Sure Cast your vote by clicking the �Survey Says!� tab at www.citizenoutreach.com INVADE CUBA? �If we can do it for the Iraqis, if we can do it for the Afghans, why not the Cubans? It's time to remove Castro by force, if necessary.� - Florida U.S. Senate candidate Larry Klayman pandering to the state�s Cuban-American vote in a debate last week, reported in Politics1, 6/21/04 THE REVEIWS ARE IN: �FAHREN-HYPE 911� IS A STINKER �To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. (Michael Moore�s) Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of �dissenting� bravery.� - Columnist Christopher Hitchens THE REVIEWS ARE IN: �MY LIE� IS A STINKER �The (Bill Clinton) book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull - the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.� - New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani BUBBA LOSES HIS COOL �Bill Clinton loses his temper with David Dimbleby during a BBC television interview to be broadcast this week when he is repeatedly quizzed about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The former American president, famed for his amiable disposition, becomes visibly angry and rattled, particularly when Dimbleby asks him whether his publicly declared contrition over the affair is genuine. His outrage at the line of questioning during the 50-minute interview, to be broadcast on Panorama on Tuesday night, lasts several minutes. It is the first time that the former President has been seen to lose his temper publicly over the issue of his sexual liaisons with Ms Lewinsky.� - Telegraph (UK), 6/20/04 PAPERS, PLEASE �The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names. The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish people who won't cooperate by revealing their identity. The decision was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who argued that the government could use this power to force people who have done nothing wrong, other than catch the attention of police, to divulge information that may be used for broad data base searches. . . . Tim Lynch, an attorney with the libertarian-oriented think tank Cato Institute, said the court �ruled that the government can turn a person's silence into a criminal offense.�� -Associated Press, 6/21/04 ( Surprisingly, it was the court�s LIBERALS who disagreed with this decision: Souter, Stevens, Ginsberg and Breyer) SWEDISH-REPUBLICANS �On Labor Day last year, Mr. Bush said: �We have a responsibility that when somebody hurts, government has got to move.� With conservatives like that, who needs Sweden? �It may be that there are good sound arguments for federalizing education spending or creating a huge new prescription-drug entitlement, but, if so, Mr. Bush never makes them - or, to be more precise, he never bothers to place these programs within any kind of coherent political philosophy.� - Columnist Mark Steyn REAGANISM LIVES IN SC �Unlike so many Republican governors today, (South Carolina Gov. Mark) Sanford and his team take limited government seriously. While New York's George Pataki outspends Mario Cuomo, his liberal Democrat predecessor, and Nevada's Kenny Guinn initiates a 5 to 10 percent live entertainment tax, Sanford promotes the Reaganite, market-friendly principles that distinguished him as a self-limited, three-term U.S. congressman. Sanford aggressively advocated Social Security choice and earned Straight A�s and the �Taxpayers' Best Friend� honor from the National Taxpayers Union. �...Sanford issued 106 vetoes to close (a) $16 million (budget) gap. The House quickly overrode 105 vetoes. Sanford responded May 27 by walking into the Statehouse Rotunda with a squealing piglet under each arm. . . . While many legislators and pundits frowned, talk radio hosts loved it. Letters to local newspapers mainly approved. Despite - - or perhaps because of - - this, Sanford's approval numbers exceed 70 percent. . . . Free-marketeers seeking someone to carry Ronald Reagan's banner in 2008 should keep their eyes on Columbia.� - Columnist Deroy Murdock (EDITOR�S NOTE: We often jump at the chance to scold elected officials who do wrong - and there are so MANY - but we don�t often take the time to give an �attaboy� to those who do right. Might want to take an opportunity to give Gov. Sanford an e-pat on the back. You can reach his �Contact� webpage at: http://www.scgovernor.com/Contact.asp?sitecontentid=33 ) GAME ON Following the strange Supreme Court rulings earlier this year allowing some forms of affirmative action in college admissions - at least for the next 25 years - our friend Ward Connerly launched a petition drive in Michigan, home of the two court cases which made it to the Supremes, patterned after his hugely successful efforts in his home state of California and Washington. The initiative would bar the use of race in admissions and state hiring. The pro-quota race-hustler crowd, naturally, went to court to try to stop the effort...but lost their appeal last week. The decision means the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative will move forward. Organizers have until July 6 to gather and turn in the required 317,757 signatures needed to qualify the measure for November�s ballot. Where do we sign? BUT I DON�T LIKE SPAM �It's bracing to encounter a rare government agency that knows when it has met its match. So a tip of the hat to the Federal Trade Commission, which this week declined to go mano a mano with spam. . . . Nice as it would be to think that the FTC could rid us of this annoyance, that feat is sadly beyond its powers. Chairman Tim Muris said a do-not-spam registry would be a �waste of time.� Worse, spammers might steal the registry and we'd all be hitting the delete button faster than ever. Mr. Muris is hopeful that private Internet providers will soon figure out how to curb spam.� - Wall Street Journal, 6/18/04 ARNOLD IN PRIME TIME? Unbelievably, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that there is actually a serious discussion in the Bush/Cheney campaign as to whether or not California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should be given a �prized prime-time speaking spot� at the GOP convention later this summer in New York. Gee, duh. �The Governator� isn�t just a former actor. He isn�t just a successful actor. He is a MEGA-STAR. Featuring Schwarzenegger in prime-time would send a message to millions of Americans that Republicans aren�t just pencil-necked geeks in three-piece suits and blue-haired ladies in pearls (not that there�s anything wrong with that!). Arnold is a veritable people magnet and he�s the living embodiment of the quintessential immigrant American success story. The public loves the guy...and the guy loves Ronald Reagan. This decision is the very definition of �no brainer.� So naturally, there are some in the GOP who object. Some folks are reportedly afraid the governor might �outshine� President Bush. And others worry that the religious right will get its collective panties in a twist because of Arnold�s more moderate views on abortion and gay marriage. These are the same people who pitched a fit over �The Rock� - another powerhouse crowd pleaser for South Park Republicans - speaking at the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia. The Rock rocked. The Chronicle reports that Bush/Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman tried to tamp down the growing controversy by �suggesting that the governor is one of many stars in the party.� No he�s not. He�s THE star. No other Republican anywhere in the country possesses Schwarzenegger�s unique popularity and celebrity. The closest second, and a distant one at that, is probably Rudy Giuliani (who the religious right ALSO doesn�t particularly care for). If you set up two autograph tables on opposite ends of a hall - with Arnold behind one and ANY other Republican behind the other, which line do you think people would flock to? Exactly. That there is even a discussion about this is a sign of serious trouble in the GOP�s �big tent.� Share your comments on this by surfing over to: http://blog.chuckmuth.com/blog/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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