The Baehr Essentials

By Richard Baehr

Rick Richman responds to the argument that America's tax system is not progressive enough. In fact, it is the most progressive in the world - 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all federal income taxes, and half of Americans pay no federal income tax at all. Of course, that is not nearly progressive enough for several progressive groups, who are about to offer their own ideas for deficit reduction. This may come as a shock to you, but they have modeled their program on the recent proposal of that deep economic thinker, Jan Schakowsky-much higher taxes on people with higher incomes, big cuts in defense spending, and much more domestic spending. What is also of interest, is that the progressives argue that there can be no cuts on essential programs (entitlements) for the middle class. At one time, the left pretended to care about the poor. Now they stand for middle class entitlements, and defend lavish spending on some of America's least needy- the public employee unions. Richman also correctly identifies the ponzi schemes now at work for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

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How many new taxes can you find in the progressive proposals?

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Maybe if the SEIU did not spend $75 million every cycle on campaigns to elect Democrats, they could afford to provide health care coverage to the children of their union members. The alternative explanation is that the policies they back are leading to ruinous inflation in the health care premiums they have to pay.

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The Palestinian "moderates" have come up with a new list of non-negotiable items, including limits on how Israelis may govern themselves." Thou shalt not have a referendum on....."

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"The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won't be posted here."

This was the explanation offered by the New York Times today , explaining why they would not publish any illegally obtained Wikileaks documents. . Sorry- my mistake- ,the explanation was offered to explain why the Times would not publish Climate-gate emails months when these became available.

I am sure there is some consistency in the Times' approach.

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Which has been a bigger failure - Keynesean economics as a cure for the ills of Western economies in a deep recession, or the Euro as the way to help create the European super state? Pick one.

Keynes

The Euro

Free speech appears to have become an historical relic in Europe as well.

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Portland, Oregon is coming up strong on the outside, but still trails San Francisco, as the most politically correct city in America. When I visited there several years back, the park on the west bank of the river where the homeless slept, had been renamed by the Mayor "Dignity Field". Mohammed Mohammed Mohammed, (sorry if I got the name wrong), hoped to kill many people in Portland this past week, presumably in a dignified fashion.

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The Canadians believe they know who killed Rafik Hariri

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A Nobel winning scientist who is 82, believes cancer can be cured in his lifetime.

Too late for Jill Costello, the remarkable Cal coxswain, profiled in an article this week in Sports Illustrated. Triumph amidst tragedy is an oft used sports cliche that works this time.

The Henley regatta is the best attended sporting event in the world, aside from a few marathons. But at Henley, half a million people line a mile and a third race course, not 26 miles plus.

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Sweden gets something right. Show this to the children and grandchildren.

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Pamela Geller gets it right in discussing how the IRS is now treating the applications for tax exempt status of various Jewish groups, including Z Street.

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Please support the Irish flotilla.

Caroline Glick on how American weakness inspires aggressive behavior by our enemies.

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Jim Ceaser, Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia is a fellow alum of Kenyon College, and preceded me by one year in the first ever U.S. Yugoslav exchange program in Slovenia. In the article below, he describes the 2010 midterm elections as the great repudiation (note this is a word with a p, and not an f).

Slovenia has been little heard from since its valiant effort in the World Cup. Now, thanks to Wikileaks, it is back in the news. His holiness, the almighty Obama, offered to visit Slovenia if the country would accept just one prisoner from Guantanamo (the prisoner to be selected by the Americans, of course). The Slovenes objected, and demanded a lottery pick. Given the current weeks-long attempted bribery of Israel (really more of a bait and switch), the same impulses of the Administration are at play.