What is most missing from the left in America is an element of grace–of civic grace, democratic grace, the kind that assumes disagreements are part of the fabric, but we can make the fabric hold together. The Democratic Party hasn’t had enough of this kind of thing since Bobby Kennedy died. What also seems missing is the courage to ask a question. Conservatives these days are asking themselves very many questions, but I wonder if the left could tolerate asking itself even a few. Such as: Why are we producing so many adherents who defy the old liberal virtues of free and open inquiry, free and open speech? Why are we producing so many bullies? And dim dullard ones, at that.
Just as torturing helpless animals as a child is a good sign of a psychopath, corrupt politicans usually cut their teeth on land deals.
And in an email, Dennis Wingo explains what Harry Reid did:
First, Harry buys the land for $400k in 1998.
Second, he sells it in 01 (before the Bush tax cuts) for $400k, with no net capital tax gain.
Third, he sells it again in 04 and pays personal capital tax gain at 15% the rate in 04.
This is a $165k tax on a $1.1M sale.
If that had been a sale through a company, the sale would have been taxed at the corporate tax rate of 35% or $385k. The difference is $220k in his pocket by the way that he accounted for the sale.
Frankly, I would love to see the Republicans lose power, because they deserve to. Unfortunately, there’s no way to do that without having the Democrats win, which they don’t deserve, and the country would suffer for it. And not fake, hysterical suffering like the fantasies of the Bush haters.
Oh, and if we had more Republicans like Dick Armey, who came down with both feet on idiotarian bully James Dobson, the party would be in a lot better shape. What we need is an army of Armeys.
The illustrator for The Flintstones, and many other classic Hanna-Barbera hit cartoons, has died. I’m dating myself, but I remember being allowed to stay up and watch, and if I was good, watching Jackie Gleason and Crazy Guggenheim.
Of course, back then, we didn’t realize that Huckleberry Hound was so gay. But it seems obvious now.
The illustrator for The Flintstones, and many other classic Hanna-Barbera hit cartoons, has died. I’m dating myself, but I remember being allowed to stay up and watch, and if I was good, watching Jackie Gleason and Crazy Guggenheim.
Of course, back then, we didn’t realize that Huckleberry Hound was so gay. But it seems obvious now.
The illustrator for The Flintstones, and many other classic Hanna-Barbera hit cartoons, has died. I’m dating myself, but I remember being allowed to stay up and watch, and if I was good, watching Jackie Gleason and Crazy Guggenheim.
Of course, back then, we didn’t realize that Huckleberry Hound was so gay. But it seems obvious now.
“Grim” has some thoughts on the dismal state of the federal government. I agree with most of them, including repealing the Seventeenth Amendment, except for this suggestion:
I suggest the elimination of Congressional districts, so that all representatives are elected in a single statewide election. If a state were to have ten representatives, then, a hundred people could run — the top ten vote-getters would take office. That would restore the force of electoral pressure to the House, where it is designed to be. It would increase turnover of Representatives, and cut down on the corruption in the government.
It would do those things, and those are good things, but it would have undesirable consequences as well. Like eliminating the electoral college, it would effectively disenfranchise rural voters, leaving them at the untender mercy of the voters in the big cities who would elect all representatives, and not just their own.