Progressive taxation

Lately Barack Obama has been called a Socialist for daring to suggest that the marginal rate on the wealthiest Americans should be rolled back to its Reagan Era level. We have had a progressive income tax system since it began in 1862. Later, Theodore Roosevelt advocated a progressive system of taxation. And let’s not forget that Ronald Reagan himself introduced the earned income credit which provided a negative tax to working poor. Adam Smith, the Father of Capitalism wrote: “It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
It has long been recognized that a progressive taxing system benefits everyone, even the wealthy. So please, let’s not pretend we never heard of it except from Socialists and welfare chiselers.

Obama to expand Faith Based Initiatives

Sorry to rain on the parade, but I think this is wrong. "Faith Based" programs, no matter how well intentioned always favor one group over another. Under the Bush Administration, money has gone exclusively to right-wing Christian organizations. Perhaps it would not be as bad with President Obama, but it would still favor some groups over others. Can anyone seriously imagine the Obama Administration making a grant to a Mosque to establish a Madrassa? If you can get past that, how about a grant to a Wiccan Church? Or the Church of Satan? It doesn't work Folks!! That is why the founding fathers wrote seperation of church and state into the constitution. It is the reason the Supreme Court has time and again said it is better to stay out than to try to treat everyone fairly.

It is bad for religion too. Federal money never comes without strings. Federal non-discrimination laws may conflict with a church's hiring practices, for example.

I love the guy, but this is a bonehead idea.

Eric from Rhode Island

Eric is a jerk. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there is just no getting around it. He is a jerk, and a prime example of what is wrong with political discourse in this country.

Yesterday he called Pete Dominick's show (the best talk show on Sirius, by the way) and argued that the only way to deal with Iran would be to bomb their nuclear facilities. He argued that if Iran got the bomb we would be in deep shit and the only way to prevent that is to blow up their nuclear capability now. OK, I do not agree, but he is entitled to his opinion.

Where Eric crosses the line into jerkdom is when he expresses his attitude toward people who disagree with him. He told Pete he was stupid and naive to think we could talk to Iranian President I'm-a-dinner-jacket. He said things like, "Oh, I guess you think a nuclear Iran is a good thing!" (I don't know how he made that leap.) But worst of all, he told Pete that he (Eric) cared more about this country that Pete did. That is so outrageous that I was amazed that Pete let it go unchallenged. The arrogance implicit in such a statement defies belief. He was saying, "if you disagree with me, you are not only stupid, you are evil, and you don't care if we all die."

I wonder why we cannot all take it as a given that we engage in these conversations precisely because we care about our country. Even Crazy George Bush cares about this country. It will take a generation to recover from the mess he has made, but I believe his actions are motivated by at least some degree of concern for the well being of the United States. He seems to think the best way to keep us safe is to bomb the crap out of anyone who crosses our path. Crazy, I know, but not necessarily evil.

So, Eric in Rhode... SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!!!

1952 Election

My grandfather held Herber Hoover personally responsible for stealing his life savings when Hatboro Savings and Load closed. I don't know if he ever voted for a Republican before that, but he certainly did not after.

On election day in 1952 I had just turned 5, and I went with him to vote. We walked to the polling place which was in the fire house on Easton Road. I asked him who he voted for and he said Stevenson. I asked why and he said because he was the Democrat. I said something like "What if the other guy was better?" and he said: "Then he would be a Democrat." Life was simple for my grandfather. Not easy, but simple.

My mother tells the story of riding with him during a blizzard. A man was walking. My grandfather would never pass someone walking, especially in a blizzard. He stopped and the guy got in. The stranger then started talking about that SOB Roosevelt. So Grandpop put him back out in the snow.

Uncle Pete

Uncle Pete was my father's mother's younger brother. He had a glass eye and the tip of his nose was missing, making him look like Dick Tracy. He usually wore an overcoat and Fedora hat, which hightened the effect.
He lost his eye and a piece of his nose when he fell asleep while driving and hit a tree. I imagine "passed out" would be a more accurate term. Uncle pete surely knew how to drink. He lived in a single room somewhere in New York City. My grandmother wanted him closer so she could take care of him. I am sure there were things not talked about related to his drinking that made her decide to do it. I remember Mom and Dad and Joan and I went to New York to get him. As usually, we arrived much past the promised time. He was not at his room but the door was unlocked. We went in, i remember it smelled of stale cigarette smoke. He had not begun to pack and the place was a mess. We had rented a trailer so we packed him up and waited. Some time later he came walking along with a friend of his. They had been to the bar. He was so worried that we were late that he had to go to the bar and get drunk. I remember his telling my father "I'll never be the same." because he had been so worried. He got in the front seat and fell asleep and did not wake until we got home.
He always smelled of whiskey and cigarettes. He cried watching soap operas. He had to make due with the one bottle of Seagram's 7 that my grandmother bought him each week. He told us it was his cough syrup.
One day he was picking his toes and he tore his big toenail. It got infected and before he did anything about it it was gangrenous. They wanted to remove his leg but he said he was born with two legs, he would die with two legs. So he did.

Like many Republicans, Linda Chavez wants this election to be about anything except what it is

Republicans must have already concluded they cannot win on the merits of John McCain's arguments over the war in Iraq, the economy, immigration, healthcare, etc. Why else would they constantly be trying to draw attention away from these matters and onto associations which are sometimes tenuous at best.
They have become very good at this tactic over the years, because it is all they have. We Democrats have tried to ignore this, assuming the non-relevance would be obvious. Unfortunately, just as a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has its boots on, so does this nonsense. The truth is, everyone in public life has associations they wish they did not, even John McCain. I am sure John McCain wished he never heard of the Lincoln Saving and Loan Association, much less taken $112,000 from Charles Keating. And what type of judgment does McCain show in hiring Terry Nelson? These examples are just bookends; there is plenty more dirt out there on the presumptive Republican nominee. If for no other reason than he has been around longer, John McCain cannot win at mud slinging. So, can't we please make this election about the life and death issues of our day, and not about tit-for-tat irrelevancies?

One of Pete's callers made me think.

Private McGinnis does not look like a fanatic to me.

I benefit much more from callers I do not agree with. One such caller said the Japanese soldiers were fanatics and the Kamikazes were the first suicide bombers. I wonder if this caller thought Pfc. Ross McGinnis, who just received the Medal of Honor for saving his squad mates by diving on a grenade, was also a fanatic? Is the Middle Eastern Suicide Bomber a fanatic? Maybe he is just a father whose child has been blown up before his eyes. Was Thích Quảng Đức a fanatic for setting himself on fire in a Saigon intersection? I think it may be that all of these people thought they were making a sacrifice for the greater good. John the Evangelist wrote: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Was Jesus a fanatic?