Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2007 > April > 20
Friday, April 20, 2007
Virginia Tech; senior taxes; black males
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s free-for-all Friday. Pick a topic:
• Sexual abstinence classes don’t work, critics contend. Their view gained some support when a research group examined four classes and found no dramatic difference in those who attended and those who didn’t. So drop them, right? Definitely not. Government has an obligation, as does the middle class, churches and the entertainment industry, to discourage some behaviors and encourage others.
• Not surprising, prisoners object to a reduction in daily calories, down 130 to 2,900 for men and down 250 to 2,200 for women. It’s being done to improve their health. Taxpayers spent $163 million on inmate health care. But … if those behind bars made good choices in their lives, chances are they wouldn’t be where they are.
• If we wish to stop taxing one segment of the population, airline passengers, for the benefit of another, small airports used by private jets, let’s do it. But while we’re at it, we should also stop taxing the poor suckers who rent automobiles at Atlanta airport over a 42-year period starting in 1996 for the benefit of a downtown sports facility they are unlikely ever to use.
• During a three-year World War II pen-pal relationship, Mildred Denman fell in love with British sailor Arthur Earnshaw. Their marriage lasted 61 years, until death parted them. There’s something to be said for slow mail, anticipation of correspondence and long reflective waits. Text messaging produces hook-ups. Chat rooms, trouble. Slow mail, seriousness. Arthur died in 2005, Mildred last week.
• Being in the company of Ralph McGill is high honor, indeed. My colleague, Cynthia Tucker, is there, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for commentary. From any vantage point, left or right, her’s is a lifetime achievement. Congratulations, and well-deserved.
• In its annual “State of the Black Male,” the National Urban League offered up an array of government “solutions” for the education, employment, crime and violence problems of black males. One that didn’t occur to them was to lead the charge for marriage, so that babies enter the world with a mother and a father in the home.
• No form of gun control would have prevented the Virginia Tech murders. Every tragedy involving guns becomes a launch for anti-gun agendas, even when the dots don’t connect. America simply cannot make every potential target secure.
• Sudan agrees to accept another 3,000 U.N. and African Union troops to stop the bloodshed and protect 2.5 million people in Darfur, though it could be six months before they get there. U.N. officials are hoping the force will eventually total 22,000, though nobody’s holding their breath. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would send American troops. “I think it’s a moral imperative,” he said. It is. For the world community. The United States is not the world’s policeman. No American security interests are at stake here.
• Eliminating retirees state income taxes appeals. So, too, does anything that allows me to keep more of my money. With every choice, however, elected officials ought to be able to articulate clearly why one group of taxpayers is preferred over another and what desirable public policy objective is being advanced. The goal here, I suppose, is to get financially independent oldsters to move to Georgia, thereby, stabilizing rural towns and counties. If so, limit it to poor counties, those that aren’t growing, or those south of Atlanta and west of the coast.
• Openness leads to accountability which leads to better government. The pork kingpin who now chairs the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd, agrees under pressure from conservatives Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), two leading lights of the anti-pork effort, to require that all earmarks be clearly identified. The requesting senator, the recipient of the earmark, and its purpose must be posted on the Internet. Senators also have to certify that they and their spouses are not beneficiaries. The good fiscal conservative Joe McCutchen of Ellijay, a vigorous pork opponent, will be a bit happier today. Do what you think necessary, but do it in the open.
Permalink | Comments (333) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
