THE DEATH TAX

This seems to be the debate of the day in Washington.  The Republicans have taken a break from being our moral watchdogs and interfering in private family affairs and are pushing to make the repeal of the Death Tax  permanent.  The Democrats, of course, are fighting to keep the Death Tax.  

You could possibly be a victim of the Death Tax .. though you might not be aware of it.  Just own a simple farm in the Midwest and you're in the crosshairs.  You might expect that your heirs will be able to keep the farm when you die.  Not with the Death Tax hanging around.  In far too many cases the farm is just worth too much.  It has to be sold so that the family will have enough money to pay the Death Tax.  Now that's the American dream, right?

I have to give the Democrats an attaboy here.  They've come up with a nifty little rhetorical gimmick to make any attempt to permanently repeal the Death Tax nothing more than pandering to the rich.  They're making Paris Hilton the symbol of repeal of the Death Tax.  If the Death Tax is repealed Paris Hilton will be able to inherit her share of the Hilton Hotel fortune without forking over half of it to the feds.  Never mind the thousands of small farmers, land owners and small business owners who will be victimized by the Death Tax this year .... let's focus on that ridiculous tart Paris Hilton.  

So ... how is the measure to kill the Death Tax doing?  Not so good.   It looks like the tax-and-spend Democrats in the Senate will succeed in killing it, just as they have the last three times.   Filibusters are wonderful things.  So, this means that you're not working to make life easier for your heirs; you are working to give politicians more money to spend to buy votes so that they can keep the privileges and perks that go with serving in Washington.

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK

Starting today you cannot take a cigarette light on board a commercial flight.  No problem with that.  You can't smoke, so why do you need lighters?  But ... now get this ... you can carry matches.  You can carry four matchbooks.  

Now ... let's spend a few moments trying to see if this makes sense on any level.

First --- cost.  Lighters, especially collectibles,  can cost quite a bit more than matches.  You can replace a matchbook for a quarter or so.  Not so for a lighter.  So ... ban the lighter, let the matchbooks go.  

Second --- safety.  Anyone from my generation can tell you that you can cut the heads off of four matchbooks worth of matches and create quite a nifty little incendiary device.  In fact, tightly packed they can really do some damage.  We want that on airplanes?

Do you know why the TSA is going to let matchbooks go?  Because they're hard to find in your luggage, that's why.  So, there's your standard.  Ban dangerous items that are easy to find, allow items that are difficult to find.

Your government at work.

ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH.

This is going to upset some of you.  So it goes.  The truth hurts.  But Eric Robert Rudolph, the man who had no apologies to make when he was pleading guilty to bombing women's clinics, gay nightclubs and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is the ideological cousin to Randall Terry, the so-called "spokesman" for the Schindler family and the media darling of the Terri Schiavo debacle of three weeks ago.  

THE 60 MINUTES TRADITION CONTINUES

Last night on '60 Minutes Wednesday' (yes, it's still on the air, despite the forged documents fiasco) they kicked off the show with a story about the shooting of Giuliana Sgrena's car in Iraq. That's the communist journalist from Italy whose freedom was bought from her Islamic captors by the Italian government. By the way, she is a communist and she works for a communist newspaper, something you won't hear too much of from the mainstream media (although 60 Minutes did get that right.)

At any rate, the piece last night by Scott Pelley included an interview with Giuliana Sgrena. In it, she continued to advance the lie that the U.S. Army attacked her on purpose, and that the official Army response was a lie. She says they weren't speeding, that there were no warning lights and that the troops just started shooting for no reason. What a crock (more on that in a minute.)

In giving Giuliana Sgrena a platform to spew her leftist hatred against the United States, CBS and 60 Minutes continue their America-bashing tradition. The overall impression left from the broadcast last night is that the Coalition troops shot at Giuliana Sgrena's car on purpose and killed the Italian intelligence agent on purpose. But wait...there's a bit of news.

NBC is reporting that a preliminary report from the joint U.S.-Italian investigation concludes that the American soldiers did nothing wrong, and the Italians failed to coordinate the rescue with the U.S. Military. That would also mean they didn't stop at the checkpoint.

In other words, Giuliana Sgrena lied, and CBS was right there to give her lie as much coverage as possible! A communist with a political agenda? Imagine our surprise!

TOM DELAY TAKES IT BACK

Tom DeLay continues to twist in the wind over the ethics charges being made against him. The Democrats are playing this one for all it's worth, and the media is propping them up all the way. We've got ourselves quite the movement to oust Tom DeLay from office.  The Democrats want a head for their wall, and DeLay is the target.

The point has been made that what he is accused of is practiced by other members of Congress. The charge that he employs family members...it was disclosed yesterday that many other members of Congress do the same thing, both Democrats and Republicans. So much for that.

But the biggest outrage when it comes to Tom DeLay has to be his behavior in the Terri Schiavo fiasco. Not only did he support and drive the hijacking of her case by the Congress, but he actually made threatening comments to the judges when his efforts failed. He said they would pay for their actions. Not exactly the right thing to say in a system of checks and balances.

So now he has decided to take it back. Yesterday DeLay held a press conference and apologized, saying: "I said something in an inartful way and I shouldn't have said it that way and I apologize for saying it that way." He also says he believes in an independent judiciary. 

Still, if the past is any indication, he could still be on the way out. If the issue fades from the headlines, he might stay on. But if he continues to be a lightning rod for bad publicity, he'll most certainly have to go, no matter what he says.

Neal and Sean Hannity at the Boortz Power Lunch 4/8/05. More pictures.

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