MUTH’S TRUTHS

My idea that members of Congress and their staffs…particularly those in Leadership positions and on security committees…should undergo background checks and training in handling sensitive information…isn’t something new. Rep. Henry Hyde proposed similar reforms almost 20 years ago…long before 9-11 and long before the Democrats tried to put a guy on the Homeland Security Committee who was caught with ninety large in his freezer!

* TIME magazine features Ronald Reagan on its cover this week, photo-shopped with a tear running down his cheek next to a headline reading, “How the Right Went Wrong.” Yes, TIME is a liberal rag; however, many of the points raised in this story are, in the immortal words of Mona Lisa Vito in the movie My Cousin Vinny, “dead on balls accurate.” A worthwhile read

* For a good laugh, check out this video on YouTube where comedians Penn & Teller get a bunch of environmentalist goofballs to sign a petition banning…water. What ‘shrooms!

* Unfortunately, Ann Coulter’s “faggot” comment at this year’s CPAC over-shadowed the far more positive and substantive speakers and issues featured at the event, including the very deserving winner of this year’s Reagan Award. In case you missed THAT story, click here

* Mexican President Felipe Calderon acknowledged this week that he has relatives picking lettuce in the United States, without revealing whether or not they were illegal aliens. Bush told Calderon at a meeting in Mexico that he thought his plan to pass some kind of amnesty program…er, guest-worker program for Calderon’s relatives was now possible thanks to Ted Kennedy riding herd on the issue. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it?

* On the other hand, conservative Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby made some valid points in his column last week on the illegal immigration issue when he wrote:

“If tens of millions of drivers consistently break the interstate speed limit, do we assume that they are all criminals who should lose their licenses and be banned from the highways? No: A more plausible explanation is that the speed limit is too low for safe highway driving and ought to be raised. By the same token, if hundreds of thousands of immigrants come here illegally each year, is it realistic to conclude that we have a massive crime problem for which a ferocious crackdown is the only solution? Perhaps it is the case instead that America’s immigration quotas are simply too low for the world’s most dynamic economy. And perhaps the persistent influx of industrious workers is not a plague to be cursed, but a blessing to be better managed.”

Hmmm.

* Gen. Peter Pace - who I believe is the first Marine to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - said last week that he thought being a little “light in the loafers” was “immoral.” So what? Pace is a general, not a bishop. People should probably just give the general’s opinion on morality about the same level of consideration as we give Sean Penn’s opinion on running a war. Let Gen. Pace get back to breaking things…like the enemy.

* Congressman John Shadegg, Arizona Republican, is truly a radical. In a good way. Which is a sorry reflection on the state of Congress in this day in age. Shadegg is pushing a bill called “The Enumerated Powers Act” which would “require Members of Congress to include an explicit statement of Constitutional authority into each bill that is introduced.” This one bill alone could potentially reduce the overall numbers of bills introduced by Congress each year to…well, maybe zero. I like, I love it, give me more of it!

* Get this. A court in These United States actually ruled that the Constitution actually means what the Constitution actually says. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the 2nd Amendment right of citizens to keep and bear arms means citizens have the right to…well, keep and bear arms. Even in Washington, DC. In so ruling, the court shot down the toughest gun-control law in the nation. Maybe there’s hope for the republic after all.

* The 9th Circuit Court ruled in a medical marijuana case this week that federal law trumps state law no matter what the individual citizens of the state voted for. Tommy Jefferson rolled over in his grave. Again.

* Ah, the old Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. Will Congress ever learn? Last year it stuck its nose into the horse slaughtering business, prohibiting the sale of horse meat overseas for human consumption. Horse sent to slaughter were usually old, run-down nags. But now that the unwanted horse can’t be sold, owners can’t get rid of them or afford to continue feeding them. So many are simply “letting them starve” or “turning them loose in the countryside.” Way to go, Congress. Talk about making a bad situation worse.

* Speaking of which, columnist Michael Franc writes: “In 2006, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget, state and local education bureaucrats spent 6.7 million hours and more than $140 million complying with No Child Left Behind paperwork.” Isn’t it past time to pull the plug and leave NCLB behind?

THE UNION LABEL

WARNING: If you are easily offended by foul language, especially the “f-word,” do NOT surf over and watch this short commercial parody on YouTube. However, if you can handle a few f-bombs and want a good chuckle at a government employee union’s expense, just click here. What a hoot!

Posted on March 17th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National