A lot of people have already mentioned this story about how the IRS has erroneously issued slavery reparations in the form of a tax credit.

It strikes me that this opens up opportunities for many more successful methods of reclaiming some of our tax dollars.

Let's see, I probably have relatives who died in the camps in Europe, so maybe I should get a thousand dollars per. How about a tax credit to compensate me for the fact that the government's tax policies have made it more difficult to raise venture capital?

Oh, I know. How about this one? I should be compensated for the pain and suffering of having to listen to the idiots in charge tell me that, like tax collection, health care and airline security should be a government function, because only government is capable of doing this competently.

Hurry and claim your credit--you only have until midnight.

Juan Williams had a good editorial about the politics of the reparations issue over the weekend on OpinionJournal ( http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=105001927 ), in case you missed it.

I can hardly believe I'm saying it, but I agree with him...

Yes, I saw that. I was a little shocked myself.