Politics

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the President."
- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoened docuements

Signers of the Declaration of Independence
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free! Patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

The Ant and the Grasshopper
"The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold."

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing "We shall overcome". Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Al Gore exclaims in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share".

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: PLEASE VOTE REPUBLICAN

We're trying to find the father of this illegitimate little girl. Any help would be appreciated!

Al Gore's 21 Lies
DO WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER PATHOLOGICAL LIAR FOR PRESIDENT?
(1) FICTION: Al Gore recently claimed that his mother-in-law pays more than $100.00 for the arthritis medicine Lodine; and he claims that his dog takes the same medicine for $37.00, claiming "This is wrong!"
FACT: Gore's aides were quick to apologize for Gore's lie, saying the information was from a Democratic study. Washington newspapers also reported that Al Gore wasn't even sure his mother-in-law was taking any medication and wasn't even sure she had arthritis. And, he doesn't know anything about his dog's "arthritis."
(2) FICTION: Al Gore said his father, a senator, was a champion of civil rights during the 1960s.
FACT: Gore's father voted against the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was a racist who was fond of using the "N" word.
(3) FICTION: Al Gore said that his sister was the very first person to join the Peace Corps.
FACT: By the time Gore's sister joined the Peace Corps, there were already over 100 members.
(4) FICTION: The same sister died of lung cancer years later and Gore vowed to never accept tobacco money as campaign contributions.
FACT: Just four years later, while campaigning for office, Gore spoke to the tobacco industry and said he was one of them because "I've planted it, raised it, cut it, and dried it." He raised over $100,000 in "reported" contributions.
(5) FICTION: While running for office, Gore's campaign literature claimed he was a "Brilliant Student."
FACT: Washington newspapers said he barely passed Harvard and consistently earned D's and C's.
(6) FICTION: Gore claims an extensive knowledge of law as a result of his extensive study at law school.
FACT: Al Gore dropped out of law school.
(7) FICTION: Gore claimed that his knowledge of God and spirituality came to complete fruition while "finishing" divinity school.
FACT: Al Gore dropped out of divinity school.
(8) FICTION: Al Gore claimed responsibility for inventing the Internet in the 1990s.
FACT: Shocked scientists were quick to speak out, explaining that the Internet had been in widespread use by government and educational institutions since the early 1970s.
(9) FICTION: Al Gore claimed the book "Love Story" was based on his life and Tipper's.
FACT: Author Erich Segal called a press conference to deny his claim. (Couldn't he at least lie about a love story where his sweetheart doesn't die?")
(10) FICTION: Gore claimed that as a reporter for a Nashville newspaper, his stories led to the arrests of numerous corrupt criminals.
FACT: He later apologized for his claim and actually said it was untrue (Also known as lying).
(11) FICTION: Gore claims to increase diversity in the staff that follows him daily, especially among blacks.
FACT: Black members of the Secret Service are suing because they claim they are not being promoted to positions guarding the Vice-president.
(12) FICTION: Al Gore said he was the first to discover the Love Canal pollution problem.
FACT: The incident was already discovered, being investigated, and covered widely in the press for many months before Gore was aware of it.
(13) FICTION: Gore said just recently that if elected president, he would put harsh sanctions on the sleazy producers of Hollywood's extreme sex and violence.
FACT: Just six days later, Gore attended a fundraiser by Hollywood producers and radical gay activists where he told them that he would only pretend to "nudge them" if elected. He raised over $4 million.
(14) FICTION: Al Gore said he built his Tennessee home with his bare hands.
FACT: Totally false!
(15) FICTION: Al Gore says parents should not have a choice between private and public schools because public schools are far better.
FACT: Al Gore attended private school and he has sent his children to private schools.
(16) FICTION: Al Gore remembers his mother lulling him to sleep as a baby by singing the popular ditty, "Look for the Union Label."
FACT: The popular ditty was created by the unions when Gore was 27 years old.
(17) FICTION: Al Gore claimed to cosponsor the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act.
FACT: The Act was not sponsored until he had been out of office for over a year.
(18) FICTION: Al Gore claims to be instrumental in keeping gas prices low.
FACT: Gore has voted on numerous occasions to raise the tax on gasoline. In his book "Earth In The Balance" Gore claims that the nation's Number One enemy is the internal combustion engine. (That's the motor in your vehicle that gets you to work and takes your kids to school)
(19) FICTION: Gore pretends to champion the rights of poor women to be tested regularly for breast cancer with the most modern technology.
FACT: While giving a speech on the subject in September, Gore didn't know what a mammogram was.
(21) FICTION: AL Gore promised Florida's senior citizens that they would finally have low-cost drugs with no interference from government.
FACT: Gore's plan calls for the creation of a huge federal agency that would tell you which doctor you are allowed to see in order to get the "special rates."
(22) FACT: Al Gore told NBC's Lisa Meyers that he had never told a lie. When Meyers pressed harder, "You've never told a lie?!" Gore said, "Not that I know of." SOUND FAMILIAR?

FYI... Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US President whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal."
The second? - William Jefferson Clinton

"He shot a 90. At the end of the game, his scorecard said 84."
- NCAA golfer Bryce Molder, a 21-year-old junior from Georgia Tech, after a round
with President Clinton at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock, Ark. June 5, 2000.

Democracy
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."
- Sir Alex Fraser Tyler (1742-1813)

The Palm Beach Legal Precedent
By Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute
According to some Florida Democrats, the particular layout of ballots in Palm Beach was confusing to voters, and resulted in mistaken votes for Buchanan which were actually intended for Gore. The Florida judiciary has already addressed the issue of post-election claims about ballot confusion, and the precedent is unfavorable to those who want the election overturned.

In the September 10, 1974, Republican primary in Pinellas County, several losing candidates brought a post-election suit against county election officials. (Pinellas sits on the Gulf Coast, and includes St. Petersburg.) At issue was the longest ballot in Pinellas County history. To save space so that every candidate and issue could fit on the voting machine, the election officials had created a ballot on which the list of candidates for some offices appeared on two lines. In a particular race, for example, the first three candidates, listed alphabetically, appeared on one line, and the last two candidates, alphabetically, appeared on the next line.

A lawsuit demanding a new election was filed by candidates who appeared on the lower line and lost. The Florida trial court agreed. But on October 15, 1974, the Second District Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the trial judge, and let the original election stand. Nelson v. Robinson, 301 So.2d 508 (Fla. Ct. App. 2d Dist., 1974).

The Court of Appeal explained:
Keeping in mind that we are talking about a claim made after an election, and not one which may have been enforceable before, if a candidate appears on the ballot in such a position that he can be found by the voters upon a responsible study of the ballot, then such voters have been afforded a full, free and open opportunity to make their choice for or against that particular candidate; and the candidate himself has no constitutional right to a particular spot on the ballot which might make the voters' choice easier. His constitutional rights in the matter end when his name is placed on the ballot. Thereafter, the right is in the voters to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to find it; and as to this, it has been observed that the constitution intended that a voter search for the name of the candidate of his choice and to express his choice without regard to others on the ballot. Furthermore, it assumes his ability to read and his intelligence to indicate his choice with the degree of care commensurate with the solemnity of the occasion.

The Court of Appeal also cited a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the High Court explicitly and unanimously affirmed a Pennsylvania federal court which had ruled that an unfavorable location on the ballot was not a form of unconstitutional discrimination against a candidate. Gilhool v. Chairman & Com'rs., Philadelphia Co. Bd. of Elec., 306 F.Supp. 1202 (E.D.Pa.1969), aff'd 397 U.S. 147 (1970).

In Palm Beach this year, the ballot form was approved beforehand by Democratic Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore. This fact relates directly to the Florida Court of Appeal's point that "it has often been held that one who does not avail himself of the opportunity to object to irregularities in the ballot prior to the election may not object to them after."

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it."
- Clarence Darrow

Dangerous to be around Clinton...
[Posted from an email] One hears about these things, but never gets a detailed "handle" on them, so I pass this on as a frame of reference. In spite of the years of economic prosperity, I fear that our country will long "pay" for the eight years of darkness and corruption that the Clinton administration brought to the White House. My feelings have nothing to do with the political party he represented, but with the lack of integrity and character he displayed. In spite of his "repentance," subsequent actions and revelations are not supportive of an inner change.-- It appears that the American people and the press are finally realizing how manipulated they were by the deceptions and "spin" of his support team. CCH
People whom Clinton didn't have to pardon:
James McDougal - Clinton's convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr's investigation.
Mary Mahoney - A former White House intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown. The murder happened just before she was to go public with her story of sexual harassment in the White House.
Vince Foster - Former white House councilor, and colleague of Hillary Clinton at Little Rock's Rose Law firm. Died of a gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide.
Ron Brown - Secretary of Commerce and former DNC Chairman. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in the top of Brown's skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors. (Obvious suicide)
C. Victor Raiser II - & - Montgomery Raiser, Major players in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992.
Paul Tulley - Democratic National Committee Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock, September 1992. Described by Clinton as a "Dear friend and trusted advisor."
Ed Willey - Clinton fund raiser, found dead November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head. Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day his wife Kathleen Willey claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House. Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fund raising events.
Jerry Parks - Head of Clinton's gubernatorial security team in Little Rock. Gunned down in his car at a deserted intersection outside Little Rock. Park's son said his father was building a dossier on Clinton. He allegedly threatened to reveal this information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his house.
James Bunch - Died from a gunshot suicide. It was reported that he had a "Black Book" of people which contained names of influential people who visited prostitutes in Texas and Arkansas.
James Wilson - Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He was reported to have ties to Whitewater.
Kathy Ferguson, ex-wife of Arkansas Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere.
Danny Ferguson was a codefendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit. Kathy Ferguson was a possible corroborating witness for Paula Jones.
Bill Shelton - Arkansas State Trooper and fiancee of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his fiancee, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a suicide at the grave site of his fiancee.
Gandy Baugh - Attorney for Clinton's friend Dan Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January, 1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor.
Florence Martin - Accountant & subcontractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal Mena Airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds. (This must have been a suicide.)
Suzanne Coleman - Reportedly had an affair with Clinton when he was Arkansas Attorney General. Died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. She was pregnant at the time of her death. (Obvious that she shot herself in the back of the head)
Paula Grober - Clinton's speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident.
Danny Casolaro - Investigative reporter. Investigating Mena Airport and Arkansas Development Finance Authority. He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation.
Paul Wilcher - Attorney investigating corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 "October Surprise" was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993 in his Washington DC apartment. Had delivered a report to Janet Reno 3 weeks before his death. (Suicide on the toilet)
Jon Parnell Walker - Whitewater investigator for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington, Virginia apartment balcony August 15, 1993. He was investigating the Morgan Guarantee scandal.
Barbara Wise - Commerce Department staffer. Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death unknown. Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, nude body was found locked in her office at the Department of Commerce. (She must have beat herself to death)
Charles Meissner - Assistant Secretary of Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly thereafter in a small plane crash.
Dr. Stanley Heard - Chairman of the National Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee died with his attorney Steve Dickson in a small plane crash. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on Clinton's advisory council personally treated Clinton's mother, stepfather and brother.
Barry Seal - Drug running pilot out of Mena Arkansas, death was no accident.
Johnny LawhornJr., Mechanic, found a check made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop. He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole. (Must have paid for his own suicide)
Stanley Huggins - Investigated Madison Guarantee. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released.
Hershell Friday - Attorney and Clinton fund raiser died March 1, 1994 when his plane exploded.
Kevin Ives & Don Henry - Known as "The boys on the track" case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the Mena Arkansas airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later reports claim the 2 boys had been slain before being placed on the tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come before a Grand Jury. (Obviously must have been all suicides)
THE FOLLOWING PERSONS HAD INFORMATION ON THE IVES/HENRY CASE:
Keith Coney - Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck, 7/88.
Keith McMaskle - Died stabbed 113 times, Nov, 1988 (Definitely a suicide)
Gregory Collins - Died from a gunshot wound January 1989.
Jeff Rhodes - He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989. (Took him longer than he thought to kill himself)
James Milan - Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to "natural causes."
Jordan Kettleson - Was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck in June 1990.
Richard Winters - A suspect in the Ives / Henry deaths. He was killed in setup robbery July 1989.

Teacher's Response
This appeared in the editorial section of the San Diego Union Tribune on December 6, 2000:
Vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman recently asked the question, "What will we tell our children if every vote is not counted?"
Here is the response of one citizen:

The Careless Press

To: letters@nytimes.com
Regarding your picture on page A5 (Sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the Temple Mount - that Palestinian is actually my son , Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while travelling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed. That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob.
Aaron Grossman, M.D.

To: letters@nytimes.com
Dear Editor,
Even the typically biased and slanted NY Times middle east reporting has hit a new low. Since the Times wishes to convey the belief that the Palestinians are all innocent lambs being tormented by an aggressive oppressor, it can not even conceive that the wounded and injured are NOT Palestinians. The current case in point is very personal to me. In the Saturday's Times on page A6, the picture of the "wounded Palestinian" is, in fact, my nephew, Tuvia Grossman, an AMERICAN Jewish student learning in Israel. His only crime was being Jewish. He was not in "crossfire" but merely the target of Palestinian lambs who stoned his cab, dragged him from the vehicle, smashed his head with stones and stabbed him in the leg. The Israeli soldier, whom you obviously wished to portray as victimizing the poor, wounded Palestinian was actually saving my nephew's life. A casual look at the background of the picture can tell anyone that it's not the Temple Mount at all. I believe that a retraction, in a prominent position in the paper, is neccessary and an apology to the parents, forthcoming.
Howard Gissinger

Thank you, Mr. Clinton
I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, "Thank me, I voted for Clinton-Gore." So, I sat down and reflected on that and I am sending my "Thank you" for what you have done, specifically:

1. Thank you for introducing us to Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Dolly Kyle Browning, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broderick. Are there any others that we should know about?
2. Thank you for teaching my 6 & 7 year olds about oral sex. I had really planned to wait until they were about 10 or so to discuss it with them, but now they know more about it than I did as a senior in college.
3. Thank you for showing us that sexual harassment in the work place (especially the White House) and on the job is OK, and all you have to know is what the meaning of "IS" is. (By the way, it really is great to know that certain sexual acts are not really sex and one person may have sex while the other one involved does NOT have sex.)
4. Thank you for reintroducing the concept of impeachment to a new generation and demonstrating that the ridiculous plot of the movie "Wag The Dog" could be plausible after all.
5. Thanks for making Jimmy Carter look competent, Gerald Ford look graceful, Richard Nixon look honest, Lyndon Johnson look truthful, and John Kennedy look moral.
6. Thank you for the 72 House and Senate witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment and 17 witnesses who have fled the country to avoid testifying about Democratic campaign fund raising.
7. Thank you for the 19 charges, 8 convictions, and 4 imprisonment's from the Whitewater "mess" and the 55 criminal charges and 32 criminal convictions (so far) in the other "Clinton" scandals.
8. Thanks also for reducing our military by half, "gutting" much of our foreign policy, and flying all over the world on "vacations" carefully disguised as necessary trips.
Please give my regards to Hillary, when/if you see her. Please tell her I'm working on a "Thank You" letter for her too.

Al Gore's Comments
George W. Bush doesn't have a corner on screwed-up comments. Gore can match him any day.
"Democrats understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child."
"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." 8/11/94
"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." 9/15/95
"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change." 5/22/98
"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." 12/6/93
"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."
"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made." Al Gore to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/93
"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."
"I am not part of the problem. I am a Democrat."
"When I have been asked who caused the riots and the killing in LA, my answer has been direct & simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame."
"Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it." 5/20/96
"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur." 9/22/97
"For NASA, space is still a high priority." 9/5/93
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." 9/18/95
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
"[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system."
"As many of you know, I was very instrumental in the founding of the Internet" Al Gore to Katie Couric 3/99

You Can't Lead a Nation
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert unloaded on the Clinton pardon scandal in the February 27, 2001 edition: "The Clintons can spin this however they want. But the simple truth is that the way in which some of the pardons were granted seems to fit neatly with the standard definition of a bribe… The Clintons may or may not be led away in handcuffs someday. But whatever happens with the criminal investigations, it's time for the Democratic Party to wise up . . . . You can't lead a nation if you are ashamed of the leadership of your party. The Clintons are a terminally unethical and vulgar couple, and they've betrayed everyone who has ever believed in them."

The Fairness Fiction
From the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, May 3, 2001.
Today is tax freedom day. That's the day, according to the Tax Foundation, when the average American has finally earned enough money to pay his or her tax bill for the year. Tax freedom day falls two days later than it did last year. Ergo, you've worked at least four months solely for the likes of Senators Daschle, Jeffords and the rest of that self-help group called Congress who say the tax cut, compromised downward this week, is "too big." Okay, that's plenty discouraging, but we're just as disheartened by the tone and rhetoric of the debate.

Mr. Bush has offered a proposal that would restructure the tax system to promote economic growth and benefit all taxpayers. Congressional Democrats have responded by yelling about giveaways to the rich and demanding that lower income people get their "fair share" of relief.

This is pure demagoguery, which is obvious to anyone who looks at the status of U.S. taxation. In 1998, the bottom 50% of those who filed tax returns -- roughly ranked by both number of filers and adjusted gross income -- paid only 4% of federal income taxes. That's about $33 billion. The top 5% paid more than 50%. That's about $414 billion. In a steeply progressive tax system, any broad-based reform is going to return, in dollar terms, more money to upper income taxpayers because, quite simply, those are the people who are paying the mega-share of taxes. That's where almost all the dollars are. Thus, it is nonsense to demand that lower-income people receive their "fair share" of a tax cut if, as is apparent, "fair share" is determined in absolute dollars and not as a percentage of total tax payment. Otherwise, the tax cut is not a return of money to those who paid it, but another redistribution scheme. An honest politics would admit this.

Of course, one can make arguments about just how progressive a tax system ought to be. And one can reasonably question the fairness of a system in which taxes at the upper end have gone up over the past two decades, while taxes for everybody else have gone down. One can even reasonably wonder about the fairness of a system in which about 32 million people don't pay any taxes. But, for Congressional Democrats, fairness is coming to mean that the highest income people ought to pay all the income taxes.

There is a hidden issue of fairness here, too. The current, progressive tax system mandates that people with low-end incomes are subject to a de jure marginal rate of 15% and people with high-end incomes are subject to a de jure rate of 39.6%. We put the phrase de jure in that last sentence for a reason. Over the past decade, there has been a fiesta of so-called targeted tax cuts: credits, deductions and exemptions aimed at promoting or rewarding certain types of behavior -- having children, being elderly and dependent or working and disabled, engaging in certain types of education or savings programs and so on.

Thus, while some people in the 15% marginal bracket pay the stated rate, others -- depending on factors such as how many children they have, what age their children are, and how they save their money -- can be looking at de facto marginal rates as low as minus 48%. Moreover, these targeted tax cuts were crafted to reward lower-income groups. They are phased out at various, higher income levels, and these phaseouts can push de facto marginal rates among upper income groups to 45%.

This "fairness" bias was operating full steam last month when the House passed its version of President Bush's child credit. Mr. Bush proposed an increase of the child credit to $1,000 from its current $500 with the phaseout to start at incomes of $200,000 a year. The House, however, approved a bill to keep the phaseout at its current level of $110,000 and threw in some extra benefits for lower-income families. House Republicans pointed out that their bill would relieve another one million families from the burden of paying any income tax at all; House Democrats complained that the bill would "unduly" benefit wealthy Americans.

This Byzantine system of credits, deductions and exemptions, along with their uneven phaseouts, makes it ridiculously impossible to figure out how any broad change will affect specific individuals or a particular bracket of individuals. It really doesn't matter what definition of fairness one is using if one can't figure out who is paying what taxes in the first place. So the notion that the distribution tables that Democrats so love to wave in front of the cameras represent a reliable picture of the impact of any tax change is utter fantasy.

The media as well have been party to tax Fantasyland. News coverage of the tax debate, with estimates of "cost" offered like some third grade arithmetic exercise, makes it sound as though the tax structure was just being invented, not the perversely incentivized monstrosity it has become. In Realityland, where most actual taxpayers live, there is a tax code; it is already deeply progressive, has begun to hinder economic growth and is raking in a historically high portion of the national economy. Mr. Bush's impulse to return that surplus to all those who have created it seems pretty fair to us.

Air Force Service
On January 12th 2000, Ms Cindy Williams (from the Laverne and Shirley TV show) wrote a piece for the Washington Times denouncing the pay raise(s) coming toservice members' way this year, citing that the stated 13% wage gap was bogus. A young airman from Hill AFB responded to her article below.

Ms. Williams:
I just had the pleasure of reading your column of 12 Jan, "Our GIs Earn Enough," and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I'm wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and my bank account. Checking my latest leave and earnings statement (LES), see that I make $1,117.80, before taxes. After taxes, I take home $ 874.20. When I run that through Windows' Calculator, I come up with an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40 after.
I work in the Air Force Network Control Center (AFNCC), where I am part of the team responsible for the administration of a 25,000-host computer network. I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systems equipment. A quick check under jobs for Network Technicians in the Washington, D.C. area reveals what a position in my career field, requiring three years experience, pays in the private sector. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year, nor does it pay less than this. No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum. I'm sure you can draw the obvious conclusions.
Also, you tout increases to Basic Allowance for Housing and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (housing and food allowances, respectively) as being a further boon to an already overcompensated force. Again, I'm curious as to where this money has gone, as BAH and BAS were both slashed 15% in the Hill AFB area effective in January 2000.
Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you have NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in her armed forces. Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigate congressional and DOD leadership for attempting to get the families in the military's lowest pay brackets off AFDC, WIC, and food stamps, I suggest that you join a group of deploying soldiers headed for Saudi --- I leave the choice of service branch up to you.
Whatever choice you make, though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full "deployment experience." As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to note the spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone-obviously they've been squandering the vast piles of cash the DOD has been giving them.
Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites. And when you're actually over there, sitting in a DFP (Defensive Fire Position, the modern day foxhole), shivering against the cold desert night, and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren't enough people on shift to relieve you for chow, remember this: trade whatever MRE you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything.
Talk to your loved ones as often as you are permitted; it won't nearly be long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it. You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your op-ed piece. But, tomorrow from Sarajevo, I will defend to the death your right to say it.
You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment rights and every other right you cherish. On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective nose at us, all on a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can't offer the stability and pay of civilian companies. And you, Ms. Williams, have the gall to say that we make more than we deserve? Rubbish!

*All information and messages above have come to me from various public sources through email over the past few years. They can, and should be, freely distributed and shared with friends of yours. I claim no responsibility for the opinions or facts contained above. I must thank my Dad for many.
Created 5/00; Last updated April 10, 2001; v1.4.