THE FAIRTAX BOOK ... ON THE SHELVES TODAY!

Well, it's finally here. The FairTax Book hits the book stores today. For over 20 years I have been studying and talking about replacing our income tax with a consumption based tax system. My interest was first piqued by a group called "CATS", Citizens for an Alternative Tax System. I spoke on their behalf, and participated in the production of information videos and tapes that they used to introduce the idea of a consumption tax. Later the idea of replacing the income tax with a national retail sales tax was refined by including all corporate taxes and personal payroll taxes. Further refinements were made, like the "prebate" which insures that no individual in this country would ever pay the national retail sales tax on the basic necessities of life.

The list of people who have praised and endorsed The FairTax and the idea of replacing our income tax with a consumption tax is growing every day. That list includes names such as Laurence Kotlikoff, Chair of the economics department of Boston University; Columnist George Will; former MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth; economist Raymond Keating; Jack Valenti, former president of the Motion Picture Association; Stephen Slivinski, Director of Budget Studies for the Cato Institute; Dr. John Berthoud, President of the National Taxpayers Union; Dr. Daniel Mitchell, McKenna Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Heritage Foundation; James Martin, Vice President of the Ironworker International Union; Lee Brown, Clinton's drug czar and former mayor of Houston, Texas; Milton Friedman, economist; Wayne Angell, former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the chief economist and senior managing director at Bear Stearns & Co.; and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

John Linder and I worked hard to make The FairTax Book entertaining and easy to read. Actually, we didn't have to work ALL that hard. The FairTax is easy to understand, so our real task was to make a book on tax reform entertaining. I think we did it.

It's now up to you. Whether you actually go out there and get the book, or just hear about it on the radio or read about it in newspaper columns ... nothing else happens from this point forward unless the people of this country make it clear that they want something to happen. Washington is a city of inertia ... and the current tax system has just about as much inertia as any other Washington institution. There is really only one thing that can overcome that inertia ... and that one thing is the voice of the American people.

Yesterday I visited the offices of Regan Books/Harper Collins in New York City. There I signed the contract to write "Somebody's Got to Say It." That book will be out next summer, and that's the book I'm writing for fun. That's the book where I'll stretch the bounds of insensitivity to say those things that you would like to say ... but just can't bring yourself to do it. And, truth be told, that will be the book where I'll try to make a few bucks. This book, The FairTax Book, was written with an earnest, heartfelt desire that it could actually have an affect ... that it could actually, in some small way, be a catalyst for change. The FairTax Bill, HR 25 and S 25, is before the congress. It's also before the president's Tax Reform Commission. These people are listening. If you don't speak up ... you'll never be heard.

BUSH INSTALLS BOLTON

IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME

THE BRITS GET THE MESSAGE

HEATHER'S CORNER!

Here are some musings from our intern, Heather Jackson. Now ... let's make it clear here, I don't particularly agree with what she's written. The idea that we shouldn't expand stem cell research to using embryonic stem cells because that research hasn't yet produced any results is, to me, just a wee bit absurd. Hey, you have a choice here. Throw those embryos away, or use them for research. To me, the choice is clear. Heather thinks otherwise. So .... Let's set her up on a pedestal here and see what happens!

Vein-ly Induced Life

Stem cell research began back in the sixties, since then it has never 'cured' any disease. Canadian scientists Ernest McCullock and James Till, trained in hematology and biophysics, discovered that stem cells help to regenerate damaged tissues and organs. Together they discovered that if they injected mice with bone marrow cells that a nodule that was produced in their spleen came about as a direct reaction to the marrow growing a stem cell, or that which was proportionate to the amount injected. These men moved on to researching cures for cancer specific to leukemia and variations of it. Chemotherapy treatment for cancer will kill off the stem cells needed to help produce the red and white blood cells.

The debate over stem cells is not that the study should stop, but a debate over the sources for the extraction. There are three types of stem cells, but I am choosing to focus on the source of them and how the life is affected by their removal with adult and embryonic stem cells. Adult cells can come from bone marrow, cadavers and umbilical cords. Embryonic stem cells come from fertilized human eggs at a stage where they consist of 50-150 cells. Adult stem cells do not hinder growth if removed, whereas embryonic stem cells will kill the embryo that it is being taken from. Since there is debate over when life actually begins, I am convinced that a seed from a tree is also alive the second it starts to grow within its seed coat.

Cord blood has been extracted since 1988, from umbilical cords. Even though it is from a newborn baby, the cells are matured and called adult stem cells. These are being used in treatment of Gunther's disease, hinter syndrome, Hurler syndrome, acute lymphocytic leukemia and many other problems with children. In 2004, South Korea credited them with helping a woman with a spinal injury to walk again, but I only found a couple one-sided sources to verify this.

These stem cells can be extracted from a living person as well as a dead one. Studies have shown the highest concentration of matured stem cells come from cadavers. Other studies have used stem cells extracted from umbilical cords. Like blood, we each have our own variety; like DNA, common cells between people are rare unless from the same blood line. Therefore the cells from your own umbilical cord are a direct match for your own stem cells. It's too bad that we have not been saving umbilical cord blood for more than 17 years. If you are reading this, we can assume that your parents did not have the option to save yours, however now you can request it be saved for your own children, at a substantial cost.  

In 2001, President Bush assigned around 30 million tax payer dollars to embryonic specific stem cell research. Our hard earned money was being used by the government to purchase and dissect fertilized eggs (blastocyst) from fertility clinics that no longer need to store them. Three years later Bush ended the funding when he realized that it wasn't a lack of funding or availability that prevented finding a use for stem cells, rather the fact that they were useless in curing any potentially fatal disease. This did not, nor does it currently, restrict private funding if someone feels the need to donate or contribute to it.

Limits are pushed on issues everyday and eventually things that were taboo will be commonplace. In my own (and vastly supported) ideas, once we allow any type of embryonic stem cell research, they will have to wait for more and more mature embryos. In fact, they will one day be so mature that there will be no denying on any side whether or not it was an aborted fetus. Of course, that is assuming they aren't already being bought for adult stem cell research. Allowing federal funding means that one day we will be paying abortion clinics for the later and later developed fetuses. This will make the abortion taboo less of a reason to avoid it as long as the baby is used for science. It would be a 'gift' of life, rather than an abortion, right? No one should be able shirk responsibility and have the easy out of scientific use. And don't write to me about the people who are victims of rape and incest, they only make up less than 1% of abortions.

Neither side is going to change their stance on abortion. You either feel strongly on one side or the other. Sometimes arguing with someone about the value of life is like "trying to teach a pig to sing....it's a waste of your time and it annoys the pig." My biggest problem is those people who support this are trying to make me pay for it. In 1997 Clinton banned cloning in saying that "any effort in humans to transfer a somatic cell nucleus into an enucleatered egg involves the creation of an embryo, with the apparent potential to be implanted in utero and developed to term." About eight months after Bush came into office he put a ban on 'future' stem cell research, being stem cell sources that came about after his policy came into effect. Then in 2004, President Bush signed a law into place that prevents tax payer's mandatory support of such studies . But Proposition 71, passed this last November in California, went against the federal law that Bush had signed now stating that California tax payers money would contribute to 3 billion dollars over the next 10 years, not to mention the interest on that which nearly doubles it. Yes, you Californians get to pay for something you may not support while the rest of us don't. Thank a rino.

Stem cell research has recently come back into the spot light since another politician has apparently become a flip-flopper, meet Sen. Bill Frist. Just before the elections he was debating with Sen. John Edwards against Edwards' support of embryonic research claiming false hope. All of the sudden "it isn't just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science."  Make up your mind Senator.   Didn't you learn anything from Kerry's flip flopping loss?

Heather's Movie Review:

I am a self-proclaimed 'movie narcoleptic:' likely to fall asleep during any and all movies. So it was quite a feat that I actually made it to one yesterday, but for matters of relevance, I decided I had to do it. If you are Conservative and want to see a great movie, with time sensitive themes... you'll wonder how on earth this one managed to sneak out of Hollyweird... go see this movie! The Island is about a man who realizes that science and the gift of life from man, is likely not Utopic at all. Finally, a movie that will make you uncomfortable for all the Right reasons.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Redneck cats are tough. They don't need no stinkin' carpet on their furniture. The Redneck Scrap Book goes on...

ATLANTA AREA FAIR TAX RALLY THIS FRIDAY

Atlanta and Georgia listeners! We want you at the "Fair Tax Rally" and Pre-Rally Luncheon this Friday at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia. Here's the schedule:

Friday, August 5

11:30am-1pm Luncheon and Neal Boortz Show broadcast. You must purchase a ticket for this event. You get to watch the Boortz Radio Show, you get fed, and you get a signed copy of "The Fair Tax" book. The National Retail Sales Tax Alliance is running this. Call today to purchase tickets at 770/448-6311, and hit Extension 100.

1:15pm "Fair Tax Rally" and book-signing. Doors open to the public at 1:00pm.

Neal Boortz, Congressman John Linder, and more. This 1:00 event is free and open to everyone.

Chapter 11 will be there with copies of the "Fair Tax Book" for sale.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

President Bush's approval ratings are apparently down.  He's a lame duck, so it really doesn't matter, but David Limbaugh looks at the reasons for the media's obsession.

Perky Katie Couric is reportedly mulling her future.  Will she stay at the 'Today' show, or take a lucrative offer to anchor the CBS Evening News?  Take the CBS gig, Katie.  Two words: sleeping in.

Saddam Hussein's trial will be broadcast on television.  Expect the media, liberals in the United States and other assorted Euro-weenies to be outraged, call it public humiliation and be more worried about Saddam than the millions he slaughtered.

A group has started promoting The Hildabeast for president in 2008.  The story goes is that she isn't running yet.  Right.  Think she's doing anything to stop it?  The commercial shows her as a garbage woman taking out the trash.  Insert your own joke here.

So just where did Robert Novak get Valerie Plame's name?  According to his column on the subject, it looks like Novak got her name from the Who's Who in America book.  Arrest him now!

Rafael Palmeiro has been busted for steroids.  Perhaps Jose Canseco was right, and they're all on the juice.  Maybe not.  Either way, so much for the Hall of Fame.

More good news from Iraq that the media will ignore.  The Iraqi Constitution is being drafted, and will be finished by the deadline.

A drunk driver in Ohio struck a 17-month-old boy who is in critical condition with his truck.  Perhaps instances of drunk driving would decrease if we lined up all the drunk drivers and shot them.

Al Gore's TV channel has gone on the air.  He's pretty decent distribution...perhaps it will succeed.  The odds are that it won't.

A Brooklyn politician has the right idea...he says it's time to start profiling terrorists.  The description of the suspect is all too clear.

Teddy Kennedy is calling George Bush's recess appointment of John Bolton "devious."  And just what was leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to die in 4 feet of water?  Oh right...that was an accident.

The latest government reports on the economy show that the Bush tax cuts continue to fuel an economic boom.  Jack Kemp explains.

And now a few random thoughts from Thomas Sowell.  As always, brilliant observations.

Morning Sickness: Man's pneumonia caused by his lost dentures found in his bronchial tubes.

Heather's reading assignments

Straight from the "Oh.My.Word.Files."

Trees drink water too. How they may be depleting our sources.

Who gets a pay raise like this? We vote them in, can we not vote for their pay?

Wednesday morning NASA is going to send an astronaut to remove protrusions by cutting them off or gently tugging on them until they come out.

I'm not quite sure what a 'stinkhorn' is, but it was so retched that they thought it might be a corpse.

Even the French hate French fries .

Well, you all made up your own rules to GoogleWhacking , this game may be more of a challenge: GoogleSmacking. This is NOT a contest; please do NOT submit your results. Thanks! J

Returning for his stash on the side of the road near the court house, the police left him a post-it note. His mom says, "I know my son has done some bad things, but I did not train him to be this dumb ."

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
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