IS THAT LATIN?
Welcome to the first installment of IS THAT LATIN?, the brief roundup of things I feel like rounding up whenever I feel like rounding them up:
House Passed the Estate/Death Tax – This week the House – the scrappy sidekick of the legislative crowd – approved permanent dissolution of the so-called Death Tax, which is actually called the Estate Tax, for all but the tiniest little portions of the rich. A percentage so small that you usually on see these numbers accompanied by the word 'asymptotically.' We can all rest easy knowing that the heirs of dead million- and billionares won’t suffer the injudicious loss of a percentage of whatever portion of their inherited estate they don’t instruct their accountants to find protected status for. Phew!
What else is nice that the Senate, where the real vote will take place, has tagged on a lovely incentive for the logging industry, which is in need of “tax relief” in order to compete on the global market. It seems unrelated, but there is a necessary connection between the need for more logging to keep up with the accumulating need for paper money.
What this all really means is that the House has deferred to the Senate, where there is likely to be an unstoppable Democratic filibuster sure to capture the hearts of Americans looking for strong leadership. House Dems don’t have to vote against an unpopular measure and can hopefully retain the seats they gained through this same pandering.
What it also means is that the legislature is dicking around with a fringe issue at a time when we are at war, losing jobs, kids are fat, climates are changing, dogs and cats living together, etc., &c.
A few questions and contradictions on this issue to come.
An Inconvenient Truth – I saw the movie last night, and as it told me to do, I encourage you to do the same. It’s a good movie, and hopefully very important. Go here.
The salient question of course is not whether the sky is falling but rather what indication the film gives of Gore’s plans in 2008. Could go either way really, I say. The fact that a politician made a movie is indicative of one (inconvenient?) truth: that the political landscape has shifted to the point where politicians are making policy movies. Gore is legitimately passionate about climate change, and I am not accusing him of diabolical maneuvering, but this movie is not a martyrdom of his political prospects on the altar of the issue. He definitely didn’t do or say anything to indicate that he wouldn’t be running for President.
Two New Books - Richard Brookhiser, author of biographies of Hamilton and Washington, and Gordon Wood, who Matt Damon used to intellectually smack around a Master-Race Ivy leaguer in Good Will Hunting, have both recently released books about the founding fathers.
Wood's book is Revolutionary Characters and is about character, that abstract thing you build when something sucks to do, and Brookhisers's book What Would the Founders Do? is about the founders' presumed response to modern-day problems and, no doubt, the lighter of the two.
Review here.
I Have To Go To Work – Right Now.
House Passed the Estate/Death Tax – This week the House – the scrappy sidekick of the legislative crowd – approved permanent dissolution of the so-called Death Tax, which is actually called the Estate Tax, for all but the tiniest little portions of the rich. A percentage so small that you usually on see these numbers accompanied by the word 'asymptotically.' We can all rest easy knowing that the heirs of dead million- and billionares won’t suffer the injudicious loss of a percentage of whatever portion of their inherited estate they don’t instruct their accountants to find protected status for. Phew!
What else is nice that the Senate, where the real vote will take place, has tagged on a lovely incentive for the logging industry, which is in need of “tax relief” in order to compete on the global market. It seems unrelated, but there is a necessary connection between the need for more logging to keep up with the accumulating need for paper money.
What this all really means is that the House has deferred to the Senate, where there is likely to be an unstoppable Democratic filibuster sure to capture the hearts of Americans looking for strong leadership. House Dems don’t have to vote against an unpopular measure and can hopefully retain the seats they gained through this same pandering.
What it also means is that the legislature is dicking around with a fringe issue at a time when we are at war, losing jobs, kids are fat, climates are changing, dogs and cats living together, etc., &c.
A few questions and contradictions on this issue to come.
An Inconvenient Truth – I saw the movie last night, and as it told me to do, I encourage you to do the same. It’s a good movie, and hopefully very important. Go here.
The salient question of course is not whether the sky is falling but rather what indication the film gives of Gore’s plans in 2008. Could go either way really, I say. The fact that a politician made a movie is indicative of one (inconvenient?) truth: that the political landscape has shifted to the point where politicians are making policy movies. Gore is legitimately passionate about climate change, and I am not accusing him of diabolical maneuvering, but this movie is not a martyrdom of his political prospects on the altar of the issue. He definitely didn’t do or say anything to indicate that he wouldn’t be running for President.
Two New Books - Richard Brookhiser, author of biographies of Hamilton and Washington, and Gordon Wood, who Matt Damon used to intellectually smack around a Master-Race Ivy leaguer in Good Will Hunting, have both recently released books about the founding fathers.
Wood's book is Revolutionary Characters and is about character, that abstract thing you build when something sucks to do, and Brookhisers's book What Would the Founders Do? is about the founders' presumed response to modern-day problems and, no doubt, the lighter of the two.
Review here.
I Have To Go To Work – Right Now.
posted by Mike | 10:28 AM
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