Office of the Independent Blogger

Tort reform is a genuine issue, but to write an op-ed about “rein[ing] in the monster” is a little over the top, particularly considering that Republicans already “reformed” tort practices earlier this term in legislation. Perhaps if Republicans did their job in the Congress, legislation that bans practices as this article calls for would’ve been passed. Once again, the Republicans prove that they’re a do-nothing Congress even when they do-something.

A subtitle of a Slate piece reads, “Will you like McCain when he’s not angry,” and my simple answer is, “I don’t like him at all.” That aside, it’s a fascinating article about the dynamics of a political campaign which has to court the mainstream and party line while seeking to be that “something new” which most “reformers” and self-proclaimed “mavericks” want to be. For my money, George Allen is the Republican to beat in 2008, should he run.

On the RealClearPolitics blog there’s an indignant piece about taxes, the ball and chain of American society. It becomes indignant at the tax rates and says, “And Democrats want to raise our taxes even higher” with an indignation worthy of Scalia. In the next paragraph, however, it trips itself up:

This pillage and plundering of American wallets becomes an even tougher pill to swallow when we witness the extraordinary waste of our hard-earned money towards earmarked pork like the infamous $223 million Alaskan “bridge to nowhere.”

Perhaps intellectual integrity is a ball-and-chain to trip over for these bloggers? You can’t assail Democrats for wanting to raise taxes and then not mention that Republicans are building a bridge to nowhere in Alaska. Next it declares that “the tax system is a huge ball & chain tied to the feet of hardworking American entrepreneurs and ordinary workers and savers. They can barely get to work or invest because of this enormous weight” and that’s hyperbole to my ears. There are millions of people who’d be considered “workers andd savers” that benefit greatly from our tax code, and plenty of entrepreneurs who benefit from tax exemptions and credits. Give me a break.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 9:01 pm and is filed under Outside Retort (Current Affairs).