Letters:   Writing to the editor of our local paper is a fun diversion.  Read some past missives.

"Political Correctness is a doctrine which holds forth the proposition that  it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Airport Security Measures:

Irritating, right?   Wouldn't it be nice if it were all actually serving some valid purpose?

Let's face it:  We took care of the hijack-and-crash problem on September 11th before the fourth airliner hit its target.  The problem initially stemmed from the fact that all flight crews were given a hard-and-fast policy on how to treat hijackers who tried to take over their airliner....give it to them.  Don't irritate them, you might endanger the passengers.  Wait and negotiate.

No one anticipated a situation where the hijacker wanted the plane to use as a kamikaze weapon.  Well, before plane #4 hit whatever it was booked for, a few passengers got the word, threw out the old policy and whacked the hijackers.  A little earlier, or a little luckier, and that plane would have returned safely with some damaged hijackers to question.

So why are we taking fingernail clippers from old ladies?  Is that old lady really going to use those clippers to overpower 147 pissed-off passengers and a crew with orders to resist at all costs?  Why are we inspecting shoes but not underwear?  What can you hide in a shoe that won't fit in your underwear? Insanity!

The answer, of course, is that it is all eye-wash, very aptly termed "Security Theater".

Ultimately it is all a product of the "we gotta do something instantly, who cares what" syndrome, followed up by "here's a marvelous new government empire we can expand ad infinitum and no one will dare oppose us!". 

It has been pointed out over and over that the Israeli approach to airline security is the best in the world because it emphasizes behavior rather than things. The Israeli security folk are trained to zero in on the people most likely to need additional scrutiny and do so with great efficiency.  We, on the other hand, cannot "profile", so the proverbial 12th generation American grandmother gets exactly the same randomized "things-based" examination as the 22 year old Middle-Eastern male with the twitchy demeanor.  Dammit, for once let's get real, America!

AND MORE SECURITY FOLLIES:  See Security Theater, at left

Who Pays?

One of the key points in liberal dogma is that the "lower classes" are overburdened with taxes which go to support those evil "rich" Americans who, according to the liberals, don't pay their way.

Is this true?  Of course not, and the better informed among the liberal establishment know perfectly well it is not.  However, this is one of those BIG LIES that repeated often enough becomes truth to the gullible.

Here are the actual numbers directly from the IRS income tax statistics (2008):

    The top 1% of earners pay 38.02% of the tax collected.
    The next lower 4% pay another 20.7% of the total
    The 5% below that pay 11.22% of the total
    The 15% below that pay 16.4% of the total
    The 25% below that pay 10.96% of the total

THIS TOP HALF PAYS 97.3% OF THE INCOME TAXES IN AMERICA!

And what do the lower 50% of America's earners pay?  A whopping TOTAL of 2.7% of the income tax collected. AND, this minuscule share DECLINED MORE THAN 32% (from 4.0% to 2.7%) between 1999 to 2008, a trend which continues!

And don't fall into the trap of thinking these top tiers are all multi-millionaires.  To be in the top 10% of taxpayers you only have to have $114,000 in AGI, a level reached by, as has recently been pointed out, many, many government workers.

Note from the above that just the top 5% of earners pay almost 60% of the income tax collected.  These are the "rich" Americans whose AGI (adjusted gross income) exceeds $159,700. So you can pardon me when I reply to those who whine ad nauseam that the so-called "upper class" in America doesn't pay their way...BULLSHIT.

And here's another (and cuter) version of this rant:

Bar Stool Economics

As a conservative whose friends are mostly also conservative, I get a LOT of forwarded email trash, invariably annoyingly rendered in BIG TYPE of various colors and always expressing a state of extreme high dudgeon about something or other.  I am sure the liberal crowd passes the same sort of stuff around to some degree even though they have the journalism establishment to carry their heavy lifting.

The problem is that at least 90% of the content of this forwarded stuff is either total bullshit (lies) or has facts altered and multiple elements of untruth inserted to make it 'read' better.  Much of it is so patiently ridiculous you don't even need to check it out, and for the rest a few seconds fact-checking is sufficient to show even the parts with a grain of truth have been compromised out of recognition.

My gripe with it all is that (1.) there are 'way too many people out there who are flat-out intentional liars, a class of person I have no respect for at all, and (2.) they are being supported by a vastly larger group of people who are so blinded by their social viewpoint that they are willing to believe anything without question, no matter how ridiculous it obviously is. 

I know this isn't going to change, but if any of my conservative friends are reading this, I ask that you PLEASE consider the fact that when you pass along bullshit it actually detracts from our "street cred" rather than augmenting it.  Spend at least a few seconds evaluating the stuff you are thinking about forwarding!  There is enough hard truth out there to keep the pot boiling without making stuff up or altering facts to "spice it up".