Random Thought, Again

8/10/05

1. The Fair Tax. Neal Boortz has just released a book on the Fair Tax and it seems to be selling pretty good. I just looked on Amazon.com and it is number 4. Not bad. I haven't read the book yet but I have been listening to the author talk about it for over a year and it looks pretty good. Mainly, it would be an improvement to the current system in the sense that we could do away with the IRS and the army of accounts that deal with the paperwork for taxes. You can tell that the income redistributers are against it and that in itself is a good recommendation for the program. I like the idea that it will do away with the idiotic answer that you get if you ask most people how much tax they had to pay and they reply " I didn't pay anything. I got xxxx dollars back." It should at least get people talking about tax reform in a macro sense that might allow major change. (I'm not holding my breath!)

2. The Roberts Supreme Court Nomination. Did anyone really think that the Democrats would allow the President to nominate anyone other than Hillary or Ted Kennedy without a nasty battle? John Roberts is an unknown factor. I believe this president has nominated good people for all sorts of positions. I haven't had much of a complaint for his people. I do not know what happened in the private conversations. I don't know what was said to who. The real shame of it is that we will never know where he stands on any substantive issues because he cannot dare to actually tell anyone where he stands on anything until he is confirmed. Almost any honest and straightforward answer will give ammunition to someone to shoot him with. If he is a strict constructionist that is enough for now. Hopefully, if the Democrats put up a truly ideological battle, the magic Group of Fourteen might totally disintegrate and allow the final destruction of the Senate rule allowing the filibuster for judicial appointments. The constitution does not require a supermajority to confirm noninees. That rule of the Senate will certainly vanish as soon as the Democrats are in power again. The only reason it didn't before is that the Republicans didn't filibuster and the Democrats didn't think of it first.

3. Cindy Sheehan. Cindy Sheehan is the woman that is camped out at President Bush's Crawford, Texas. She had a meeting with the President last year after which she said that "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith." She also noted that for a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle. For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again. "That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," Cindy said. (http://www.thereporter.com/republished/ci_2923921). Now, it is obvious that she is "out to get" the president. She is working with that paragon of honest reporting Michael Moore. Everyone I hear discussing this ( and that is almost exclusively the Fox news and the AM talk show group) says we all understand that she has given up a child and because of this she has a right to say anything. Sure she does. She has a legal right won for her by her son and so many others over the years that have sacrificed their lives and limbs for her right to speak out. That said, the idea that she can be excused in her grief is not acceptable. She must accept the same amount of scorn that anyone would that makes such a fool of themselves. She is clearly politicizing her son's death and that is inexcusable. For Shame.