GEN. CLARK: Well, first of all, they were not efficient in terms of stimulating the kind of demand we need to move the economy back into a recovery mode, a strong recovery and a recovery that provides jobs. There are more effective ways of using the resources. Secondly, the tax cuts weren?t fair. I mean, the people that need the money and deserve the money are the people who are paying less, not the people who are paying more. I thought this country was founded on a principle of progressive taxation. In other words, it?s not only that the more you make, the more you give, but proportionately more because when you don?t have very much money, you need to spend it on the necessities of life. When you have more money, you have room for the luxuries and you should?one of the luxuries and one of the privileges we enjoy is living in this great country.
No, General, this country was founded on the principle of no federal income tax at all. We had to pass a Constitutional amendment, within the last century, in order to levy it.
[Update on Thursday morning]
There’s a debate ongoing in the comments section, but in the meantime, Professor Volokh has some thoughts.
GEN. CLARK: Well, first of all, they were not efficient in terms of stimulating the kind of demand we need to move the economy back into a recovery mode, a strong recovery and a recovery that provides jobs. There are more effective ways of using the resources. Secondly, the tax cuts weren?t fair. I mean, the people that need the money and deserve the money are the people who are paying less, not the people who are paying more. I thought this country was founded on a principle of progressive taxation. In other words, it?s not only that the more you make, the more you give, but proportionately more because when you don?t have very much money, you need to spend it on the necessities of life. When you have more money, you have room for the luxuries and you should?one of the luxuries and one of the privileges we enjoy is living in this great country.
No, General, this country was founded on the principle of no federal income tax at all. We had to pass a Constitutional amendment, within the last century, in order to levy it.
[Update on Thursday morning]
There’s a debate ongoing in the comments section, but in the meantime, Professor Volokh has some thoughts.
It’s amazing (and obviously just a coincidence) how many prisoners who might be able to tell us about Al Qaeda’s plans and operations (and Saudi complicity in them) seem to have unfortunate accidents.
A hundred and forty one years ago, the prelude began to the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg, to those south of the Mason-Dixon line). Many focus on Gettysburg as a turning point in the War Between The States, but this was another, and an earlier and in some sense a larger one.
It was the biggest bloodbath of the war to date, and it was a cusp, in the sense that the Army of the Northern Virginia (and hence the Confederacy itself) was on the ropes in the aftermath of it. A steadfast follow through by McClellan could have ended the war there, and preempted three more years of it, but he always saw the enemy as ten times the height of reality, and reluctant (as always) to use his army, he refused to finish Lee off.
Since I’m not king, and can’t do it by diktat, this is a plea to all of the reporters and columnists out there who are writing about NASA. Can we please have a permanent moratorium on the hed “Lost in Space”? Same thing for “The Right Stuff.”
It’s really, really old.
And yes, I know that the latter was the title of my guest column in NRO a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t come up with it–they did. The original title was “The Right Thing.”
I just got the following email from a “Joe Wander” (joe_1der@hotmail.com)
Hello There,
I hope this email finds you well. My name is Joseph Wander and I am an Advertising Coordinator for an Internet Company. I am currently working on increasing our products and services presence on the internet. I came across your site and found it to be very useful. I am very much interested in advertising my product on www.interglobal.org/weblog/ and any others that may be part of your network.
We can pay you $20/month for 2 static text links or if you already have your media kit or advertising rates I will appreciate it if you can send it to me. Thank you again and I hope to hear from you soon.
Best Wishes,
Joseph Wander
It’s clear that he hasn’t actually visited my site. At least there’s nothing in the email to indicate that–it reads like a form letter. Note that it doesn’t address me by name. Also note that the email address is hotmail.
Any other bloggers out there gotten one of these, and do you have any idea what the deal (or catch) is? I’m hesitant to reply, because it may just be confirming my email address to a spamlist.