Our loss is the AEI’s gain. His thank-you speech for the 2007 Bradley Prize is priceless.
“I should note Senators Lincoln Chafee and Senator Dodd who did so much to help make me eligible for this award, and the prominent citizens of Pyongyang, Damascus and Tehran, who also pitched in simply by being themselves.”
I am an Iraqi. To me the possible consequences of this vote are terrifying. Just as we began to see signs of progress in my country the Democrats come and say, ‘Well, it’s not worth it.Time to leave’.
To the Democrats my life and the lives of twenty-five other million Iraqis are evidently not worth trying for. They shouldn’t expect us to be grateful for this.
Michelle Malkin has a link to a petition. I know on-line petitions aren’t usually effective. But it’s chicken soup: What could it hurt? If it only annoys someone at PBS it’s worth the time it takes to click.
I can only hope that this hurts the putative newspaper, the LA Times, worse than it hurts, say, Fred Thompson.
Harlan Ellison is an optimist.
The boys a the Patriot Post say keep an eye on Georgia.
Georgia may be on its way to a completely new tax code, courtesy of state House Speaker Glenn Richardson, who proposed legislation this week to completely replace the old code. Currently, Georgia residents pay state and local property tax, estate tax, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation taxes, business and occupational fees, intangible taxes and insurance taxes. All of that would hit the scrap heap in favor of a flat income tax of 5.75 percent and a matching sales tax. The present income-tax rate is six percent and the sales tax is 4.5 percent.
A familiar name is behind it all, as well: Arthur Laffer, economist of the Reagan era. Richardson has strongly advocated such reform, saying, “We must change the burdensome and antiquated tax system we currently have.” He is optimistic about this plan, which if passed by the legislature will be placed on the November 2008 ballot for voter approval. He says, “I believe the [Georgia] House tax reform plan will be the talk of the nation.” If it stirs up federal tax reform, all the better.
I still say that any income tax is a bad idea, but if it has to exist, it must be flat. The idea of a mix between flat income and a sales tax may just be political genius at work. It’s a giant step in the right direction, and probably an easier sell. Let’s hope for the best.
Here’s a terrific project from the Patriot Post guys – a modern English version of the Federalist Papers.
Visualization can be a great way to catch a glimpse of how something complicated works – especially the creative mind. Watching the animated sheet music to Coltrane’s Giant Steps is a fascinating look into how he did it even if, like me, your sheet music reading skills are less than stellar and your music theory knowledge minimal. David Slusser, a coworker of mine and a mean sax player himself, said
Really nice, but music readers should take note that the sheet music switches from concert key (piano part) in the head (melody), to the Bb tenor part a whole step up when Trane starts soloing, and then back again for the out head. Otherwise this person did a great musical service. That’s pretty much what one hemisphere of my brain is doing whenever I listen to this piece (and I’ve been trying to play it on tenor for decades). It also brought out one great aspect of true jazz artistry…did you notice how the rests popped? They swung (the masters always used negative space – it’s just as important what and when you leave something out).
This geometric interpretation is also interesting.
Pretty goram dumb, as it turns out.
(A little Firefly lingo there.)
Buttle's World 