20070217 Chuck Muth's NEWS & VIEWS

February 16th, 2007 - Chuck Muth's NEWS & VIEWS

H/t: GOP Charley

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TODAY'S DOSE OF "UNCOMMON SENSE"

Why does health insurance cost so much? One reason is the number of unneeded or unwanted government mandates, such as acupuncture, forced into policies by state governments. The Shadegg Solution: Allow residents of one state with a bunch of mandates to buy an insurance policy from another state without all the frills. Read more here

CHILDLIKE EMOTIONALISM

"It takes a lot more integrity, character, and courage to be a conservative than it does to be a liberal. That's because at its most basic level, liberalism is nothing more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues."

Columnist John Hawkins

THE DISHONOR ROLL

"Congress has rarely been distinguished by its moral courage. But even grading on a curve, we can only describe this week's House debate on a vote of no-confidence in the mission in Iraq as one of the most shameful moments in the institution's history.

"On present course, the Members will vote on Friday to approve a resolution that does nothing to remove American troops from harm's way in Iraq but that will do substantial damage to their morale and that of their Iraqi allies while emboldening the enemy. The only real question is how many Republicans will also participate in this disgrace in the mistaken belief that their votes will put some distance between themselves and the war most of them voted to authorize in 2002."

Wall Street Journal, 2/15/07

THE VOTES ARE IN.

"The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq," reports the Wall Street Journal this afternoon. "The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182, with 17 Republicans voting for the measure and two Democrats voting against."

The 17 Republicans were.

Castle, Mike (DE)
Coble, Howard (NC)
Davis, Tom (VA)
Duncan, John (TN)
English, Phil (PA)
Gilchrest, Wayne (MD)
Inglis, Bob (SC)
Johnson, Tim (IL)
Jones, Walter (NC)
Keller, Ric (FL)
Kirk, Mark (IL)
LaTourette, Steve (OH)
Paul, Ron (TX)
Petri, Tom (WI)
Ramstad, Jim (MN)
Upton, Fred (MI)
Walsh (NY)

IMAGINE IF A HONKY HAD SAID THIS

"Every Democrat running on (Obama's) ticket next year would lose because he's black and he's top of the ticket. We'd lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything."

South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford on why he endorsed Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama for the Democrat presidential nomination

NEWT IN TOP TIER, LIKE IT OR NOT

"Press accounts seldom name former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the top tier of aspirants for the Republican presidential nomination, despite polls consistently showing he belongs there. News stories and opinion columns routinely refer to Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the 'top tier' or 'first tier' Republican presidential candidates for 2008. Yet in every recent national poll -- as well as in Iowa, a key early caucus state -- Mr. Gingrich leads Mr. Romney among Republican likely voters."

Washington Times, 2/16/07

THE CHECK IS NOT IN THE MAIL

"As the 2006 tax season approaches, the federal government is still trying to recover nearly $3 billion from 450,000 active and retired federal employees who failed to file income tax returns in 2005. The federal agency with the highest number of delinquent taxpayers is the USPS (postal service), where 56,652 employees owe more than $320 million in unpaid taxes."

Mark Segraves, WTOP 103.5 FM, 1/17/07

A REAL SERIOUS BEEF

"Senate Finance Chairman Baucus called it 'ridiculous!' His freshman Montana colleague, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, said it's 'amazing!' Why the uproar? Well, apparently the Senate dining room serves imported Japanese Kobe beef burgers and the two Montana senators are red-meat mad. 'Ranchers in our state raise the best beef around, and we would like to see it showcased in the Senate Dining Room,' they wrote this week to Robert Savidge, the dining room's general manager.

"Baucus even sounded ready to use his new power as a chairman to rewrite the menu. 'We're going to stop this,' he vowed. When asked about his free-trade stances, Baucus replied: 'Yeah, but we're in America. It's the United States Senate.' Apparently, the benefits of a global economy do not apply to Montana beef."

CongressDailyPM, 2/16/07

ONCE AGAIN, A GUN SAVED LIVES

"This past Monday night, a gunman walked into a popular Salt Lake City mall and opened fire with a shotgun. The trench coat-clad gunman was heavily armed and intended to kill as many people as he could. He killed five people before being challenged by an armed off-duty police officer. Once again, a gun saved lives. . . . The mall was crowded with Valentine's Day shoppers. Doubtless, had the off-duty officer not confronted the gunman, the death toll would have been staggering."

Columnist Chuck Baldwin

REPUBLICANS GO FROM BAD TO WORSE

"The Senate Republican leadership met behind closed doors this week to ponder Majority Leader Harry Reid's audacious power grab on the massive catchall appropriations bill. They decided they could not filibuster the bill for fear of being blamed for closing down the government, but they still wanted enough votes opposing cloture to make an impression. That would seem a formula for defeat, and indeed it was.

"The vote to end debate Tuesday was 71-26, with 23 Republicans -- including the party's two leaders -- voting with Reid. The GOP was accepting a bill that perpetuates earmarks, masks additional domestic spending under the disguise of fiscal responsibility and establishes a precedent of prohibiting the opposition party from amending an appropriations bill. . . . What ails Senate Republicans is lack of principle and lack of will, two reasons why they lost the 2006 elections."

Columnist Robert Novak

TRANSPARENCY ON THE WAY

"U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) praised the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today for taking the first steps in implementing the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. OMB launched an interim version of the required Web site today that includes a full timeline of how the transparency law will be implemented as well as a public comment form so all taxpayers can submit comments on how to best provide federal spending information. The interim Web site can be found at www.federalspending.gov."

Joint Coburn/Obama press release, 2/15/07

SHOULDN'T THEY WORRY MORE ABOUT KILLER SPINACH?

"Lawmakers reintroduced legislation today that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco products. The bill would restrict tobacco advertising and promotions and ban candy-flavored cigarettes and ads targeting children. The measure would give FDA the authority to require cigarette makers to remove harmful ingredients or reduce nicotine levels."

National Journal, 2/15/07

MUTH'S TRUTHS

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