NoisyRoom.net

By: Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach

BLUE, 98! BLUE, 98!

“In an effort to win her over, the Post reported that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was given a ‘one-on-one briefing on details of the emerging Democratic compromise.’

“Wait. What? The Ds gave Snowe a secret briefing on what is in the bill?

“Harry Reid is calling the plays on health care like an NFL coach holding a big white card in front of his face so the opposition can’t read his lips. If this is really the biggest thing since Social Security, why not have a meeting of ALL the members of the U.S. Senate and let them in on the secret? And why is it a secret anyway?”

- Rich Galen, Mullings.com, 12/16/09

REID USING MAFIA-STYLE PERSUASION TECHNIQUE

“In a phone call this morning to KKOH News Radio in Reno, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) reported that Democratic senators who want to vote against the current health care reform bill are being threatened by the Senate Majority Leader.

“Ensign told the northern Nevada radio audience that his colleague, Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV), is so desperate to get the 60 votes he needs to pass the bill, that opposition Democrats are being threatened with the loss of key programs in their states if they do not support the bill. Reid threatened one Democratic senator with the closure of an Air Force base in his state, if he did not vote in favor of the bill, Ensign said.

“According to Ensign, in addition to threats, Reid is making ‘backroom deals’ with Democrats to secure their votes, similar to the one he made with Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana. She was promised $300 million of additional funding for her state if she cast the deciding vote to take the bill into debate on the Senate floor, where it is now.

“Despite Reid’s claims otherwise, Ensign reiterated that the health care reform debate has not been open, and Republican opponents have been barred from discussions, meetings and amendment development.”

- Kelly Anderson Wright, Examiner.com, 11/16/09

CRIST’S HEFTY LEAD VANISHES IN THIS AIR

“Voters are apparently paying attention to Florida’s U.S. Senate race and that is good news for candidate Marco Rubio who is now tied in a dead-heat with Charlie Crist who has squandered his lead by acting like a Democrat and showing zero leadership on important issues.

“According to the Rasmussen Report, ‘A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters finds Crist and Rubio each with 43% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.’”

- Republican strategist/blogger Chris Ingram

OH, SHOOT…PARACHUTE, THAT IS

“A total of $95,000 in government support for new exhibits and video equipment at Aviation Trail Inc.’s parachute museum has been appropriated from federal funding for museums… The museum details the development and history of parachutes and the people who used them. . . . The project will add TV touch-screens that will show film footage of parachutes in use…”

- Dayton Daily News (OH), 12/11/09

WHAT THE HECK, IT’S ONLY MONEY

“The Maryland Division of Unemployment Insurance overpaid more than $30 million in jobless benefits this year, a figure state officials attribute to both fraud and human error. . . . (T)he state is facing a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall and will likely borrow money from the federal government to prop up the unemployment insurance fund. . . . (T)he majority of the cases cited for overpayment are a result of human error.”

- Baltimore Business Journal, 12/11/09

ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS TO PROSECUTE NAVY SEALS

“A former military lawyer now serving in Congress called the court martial of three Navy SEALs who captured a terrorist suspected of killing four Americans ‘absolutely ridiculous.’

“Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) served four years in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and served as the special assistant U.S. attorney at Fort Hood, Texas, prosecuting all civilian crimes at the post. He later taught constitutional and criminal law at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He believes the SEALs case represents a larger systemic problem.

“The SEALs are accused of allegedly abusing terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed by supposedly punching him and then lying about the incident. Abed is the reported architect of the murder of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, the bodies of whom were burned and hanged from a bridge.

“’Never before in the history of this country, as much as now, does somebody [in the military] have to wonder is this going to get me thrown into Leavenworth for the rest of my life?’ Rooney told CNSNews.com. ‘Certainly, we want to take the high road, and we want to have the highest standards…(but) court martialing three SEALs for maybe or maybe not punching some guy in the stomach without any kind of corroborating evidence I don’t think is sending the right message.’

“…The government has not produced evidence for the defense, the defense attorneys said. However, (accused SEAL Matthew) McCabe’s attorney, Neal Puckett, told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that he has an unconfirmed report that the evidence is in the mail. Puckett said he has not yet received it.”

- CNSNews.com, 11/16/09

MUTH’S TRUTHS

Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the American Family Association, is throwing a hissy fit over a gay Republican organization, GOProud, co-sponsoring next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC, scheduled for February 18-20.

The conference is hosted annually by the American Conservative Union (ACU) whose longtime chairman is longtime conservative David Keene – both of for whom I once worked (is that tortured grammar, or what?).

Some of the gay guys, while staunch fiscal conservatives, hold different points of view on such issues as gay marriage (it should be a state issue), domestic partner benefits and Bill Clinton’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy regarding gays in the military. And homo-hostile social conservatives such as Mr. Fischer aren’t even willing to tolerate that such views to be held, let alone communicated at a conservative conference where, one would think, freedom of expression and ideas would be welcomed.

So Mr. Fischer is stomping his feet, holding his breath and throwing a temper-tantrum. And joining him is Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel who is reportedly “drafting a letter to be signed by top social conservative leaders pledging to boycott CPAC if they permit GOProud’s sponsorship of the event.”

How, um….intolerant?

Now, times and money are tight. So my organization, Citizen Outreach, wasn’t planning on co-sponsoring CPAC this year. However, Chairman Keene, if any of your co-sponsors back out and boycott this upcoming CPAC because you stand your ground and allow GOProud to proudly continue as a co-sponsor – we’ll be glad take one of their spots.

Conservatives shouldn’t be afraid of dissenting conservative views.

SURVEY SAYS!

Should Senate Republicans pull out all the stops and use every “trick in the book” to block Senate passage of the Democrats’ heath care reform bill?

• Yes
• No

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. You can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients.”

- Ronald Reagan.”