On Begging Your Pardon...
"President Clinton complained before a television audience Monday night that the independent counsel investigating Whitewater, Kenneth Starr, was more interested in inflicting political damage than in determining the truth. ... [Clinton's] remarks undercut a legal process that is going forward in an orderly way and was necessary because he and the White House chose not to be forthcoming about Whitewater and related issues. ... In the same Public Broadcasting Service interview with Jim Lehrer, Mr. Clinton said he had given no thought to pardoning any Whitewater defendant, then laid out in some detail how the system for considering pardon petitions works. That had the disconcerting effect of hinting that loyalists might be rewarded for not testifying. Both comments create the impression that it is the White House that wants to use partisan thrusts to disrupt the legal process, not Mr. Starr and others who remain legitimately curious about the full story of Whitewater."
--The New York Times editorial for 9/26/96. Received via C-News on
9/30/96.
On Fulfilling the Contract...
"As the 104th Congress heads for adjournment, here's something you won't see reported much: Some two-thirds of the Contract With America has been enacted. Instead, Democrats and some allies in the media are everywhere calling the Contract a manifest failure of the 'Gingrich Congress,' which even Republicans are hiding from. This is a hoot, because we watched Bill Clinton, still in the thrall of Dick Morris, stand before the Democratic Convention and claim parts of the Contract as his own accomplishments. Even today, as he blathers about the 'extremist' GOP Congress, he simultaneously brags about Contract provisions that he signed into law."
--The Wall Street Journal editorial for 9/27/96. Received
via C-News 9/30/96.
On Selective Law Enforcement...
"Whoever shall during parturition of the mother destroy the vitality or life of a child in a state of being born and before actual birth, which child would otherwise have been born alive, shall be confined in the penitentiary for life or not less than five years."
--Article 4512.5, V.T.C.S, of Texas state law that has been on the books
since before 1973. By nature of its wording, this makes the performance
of a "partial-birth abortion" a criminal offense in Texas. In 1974, the
Texas Attorney General issued a formal opinion that this article was
unaffected by the Roe v. Wade decision. According to Texas Right to
Life Committee, subsequent case law has upheld the attorney general's
interpretation of the statute. Received via C-News on 9/26/96.
On Parents vs. Government...
"The parents of an eighth-grade girl in Washington State grounded her because she intended to smoke marijuana and sleep with her boyfriend. The girl asked the local child welfare agency to place her somewhere else. This government agency agreed, the state supreme court backed them up, and the girl was removed from her home against the wishes of her parents (who were not accused of any abuse)."
--In a letter from the Heritage Foundation dated August 16, 1996.
On Our New Obligations...
"September is Baby Safety Month. It is also Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month (readers take note). September also represents Children's Eye and Safety Month, International Gay Square Dance Month, Library Card Sign-Up Month, Marriage Health Month, National Chicken Month, National Cholesterol Education Month, National Honey Month, and don't forget, National Gum Care Month. It is also the month in which we are supposed to celebrate National Religious Reference Books Week, National Financial Services Week, Subliminal Marketing, and Saving Tigers."
--Penny Nelson Bartholomew of United Press International, according to
Stephen Goode, Insight, September 30, 1996. Outrage du Jour for 9/23/96.
On Focusing on the Goal...
"The class of 12 cadets and six alternates contained a disproportionate number of whites and did not match the ethnic and gender makeup of the county. As you know, the policy of the Board of Supervisors and the board of directors of the Fire Department is that the work force reflect the makeup of the community. The mix we had available to us would not have helped us in our goals."
--James Sewell, Fire Chief of Ventura County, on why the department decided
earlier this week to pull the plug on the academy class -- which had been
culled from 1,600 applicants who entered the process back in 1994 and was
scheduled to start training Oct. 7th -- and to start a fresh search.
From the Los Angeles Times, Ventura County edition, September 14, 1996.
Featured as the Outrage du Jour for 9/19/96.
On Hill Hypocrisy...
"When they discovered Republican leaders were passing out campaign checks from a tobacco PAC on the House floor, Democrats were incensed. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Minority Whip David Bonior called a press conference to denounce the practice of distributing special-interest money on the floor. But when reporters repeatedly asked Gephardt and Bonior whether they'd ever given such money to their members on the House floor, the duo wasn't so dynamic. At first they refused to answer the questions. Then they grabbed a couple of freshman Democrats to tell the press they'd never taken money under such circumstances, while Gephardt and Bonior left the room."
--Charles Oliver, Reason, October 1996. Featured as the Outrage du Jour for
9/13/96.
On Blasphemous Claims...
"I'm hanging on the cross, right now. I'm on Calvary, right now. and I'm ready to go all the way. Because I know that by my stripes everyone of you will be healed. You don't have to look anywhere for your Jesus. I represent Him... He wasn't born in Bethlehem of Judea, He was born in Sandersville, Georgia... Who is Jesus, who is Elijah? Jesus and Elijah are one in the same ... I am that Elijah that was to come and now is."
--Louis Farrakhan, In His Own Words. 700 Club Fact Sheet is titled:
"Radical Islam: Growing Threat To Black America?" as featured on
CBN's Newswatch Today, March 6, 1996. Received via ConChr-L on 10/4/96
On Humor with a Serious Side...
"Today, Bob Dole accused President Clinton of stealing Republican ideas. You know, I think he's got a point -- how many of you think Clinton is stealing Republican ideas? Okay, how many think he's just borrowing them until after the election?"
--Jay Leno, "The Tonight Show," 9/18/96. Received via ConChr-L
on 10/3/96.