How the media distracts us from real issues

I'm often insulted when I see in the media that the most important issues are brushed under the rug and petty bickering makes the headlines.

On MSNBC's Martin Bashir program Friday (Oct. 27), Democratic analyst Karen Finney said of the white Republican base, "They think [Cain is] a black man who knows his place."



A cohort of mine subsequently shared a link to a Weekly Standard web page featuring the exchange and remarked, "Left wing racism rears it's ugly head again. Disgusting!"

Putting aside for a moment his misuse of the contraction, my friend uses circular reasoning to arrive at a conclusion that the Democratic analyst is racist for accusing the white Republican base of holding a racist viewpoint.

This is also a classic example of feigning dismay in order to arouse the right-wing base and distract them from the truly important issues of the day, like the poor economy and the high unemployment.  Anyone that's paying attention should recognize that Finney was exhibiting GOPism and not left-wing racism.

Finney's remarks are reminiscent of Rush Limbaugh's racial overtones when he made disparaging remarks about Philly quarterback Donovan McNabb:

"Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go," Limbaugh said. "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Was Limbaugh the racist here?  Or was he accusing the media of using race as a criteria for their desire to see McNabb do well?  I don't often come to the big guy's defense, but in this case, his statement was not racist.

Now onto a lesson on the use of its and it's in American English writing.

Spotify

In this rant: Why I dislike Spotify.

It's spyware and malware and junkware all wrapped up in one cute package.  Plus it incessantly announces to which song certain friends are listening, further advancing the wholesale distribution of useless information.

Join me next time as I rail against multiple entities reposting the same information to dozens of walls.

Fundamental Restructuring of the Tax Code

Michele Bachmann, John Huntsman and Sarah Palin are all saying how they'd help businesses create new jobs by lowering or eliminating corporate taxes, which would shift more of the federal revenue burden on the individuals.  They all mention a fundamental restructuring of the tax code.  I agree.

But how is shifting the responsibility for generating government revenue to the individuals good for the American people?

I'm running for president and I have my own plan.  It comes in two easy steps.

Individual income tax came about within the last century and it's resulted in a power and wealth shift toward big business and an explosive growth of government.

The fact is, the earners in this country that have the biggest need and the most to gain from lowering the federal overhead, but are the ones with the least power to influence a change, which creates a fundamental (some say fatal) flaw in the system.

Money flows in a circular fashion, from manufacturers to individuals to retailers and back to manufacturers. Government taps its revenue from various spigots to varying degrees. But because of special interests and corporate lobbies, the demand for more federal revenue is exploding because more of the money flows back to them from the tax coffers (through subsidies, loophole exemptions & reductions and bailouts). So the only way to reduce the governments appetite for money is to give big business incentive to encourage a more efficient government. And they will under my plan.

Step 1.  End individual taxes.

Since all government tax money is coming from the same stream, we're simply proposing that the corporate spigots be the only ones turned on...essentially pushing the taps upstream.

Initially business will shoulder a larger tax burden because government is top heavy. But as the heat is felt in Washington, new policies will be proposed that will shrink the size and scope of government and thereby lowering the overall tax burden on society.

• End all taxes levied on individuals (not including capital gains from investments like stock, bonds, commodities, etc.)
• End all corporate taxes on foreign business.
• Uniformly tax all revenues derived from the US market without regard for the country of companies' headquarters.
• Fairly assess a sustainable road use tax on all commercial vehicles based on objective road wear studies.
• Insist on local community ownership of businesses where ever possible. This should not affect manufacturing, distribution, communications network backbone providers and the like.
• End federal drug laws.
• Criminally punish business owners for hiring illegal aliens and deceptive pricing and advertising practices.

Taxes include all money any government agency assesses on individuals, their purchases and property, including fuel, property & sales taxes, licensing & registration fees, telecommunications fees, etc.

Step 2.  Restore backed currency.