Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2006
4A
Mousiittt Daily .Ijmmutl
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Higher taxes would hurt the
economy
Drumbeats already are getting louder
to soak the rich with higher taxes,
not because it is a sensible thing to
do but because it would appease a large seg
ment of the population that is envious.
Stories are coming from many sources
pointing out the disparity between the real
wealthy and the average American, which
does exist.
However, punishing the wealthy by bur
dening them with higher taxes would hurt
the economy, rather than help it, and it
would discourage entrepreneurship.
The real
wealthy, five
percent of
taxpayers
the 719,910
of them
already pay
about 50 per
cent of income
taxes collect
ed. They are
rich people.
They are a
blessing to
the rest of us,
because they
help keep our
taxes down by
paying so much.
Envying them is a mistake. We say that
we should encourage them to earn more
money, but taxing them so that they lose
incentive to do so would hurt all of us.
Dragging them down with oppressive new
taxes would not help the middle class,
though it might make the middle class less
envious.
Presidents John E Kennedy, Ronald
Reagan and George W. Bush lowered taxes
and the economy benefited. Higher taxes
put brakes on the economy and we fear that
we are approaching a time when that will
happen.
Some who envy the very wealthy point
to Tiger Woods and all the money he earns
each year and claim that is not right. In our
opinion, it not only is right but his success
is an example of the real American spirit.
Placing oppressive income taxes on Tiger
Woods and others who make enormous
amounts of money would be vindictive and
counterproductive.
In our opinion, a national sales tax (called
the Fair Tax) is the right way to tax people.
Tax them on what they spend, not what
they earn.
We should encourage everyone to earn as
much money as possible, according to their
talents and marketability.
Tax everyone on what they spend. The
middle class will be taxed according to its
ability to pay. So will the super rich.
An average man might buy a jon boat
for fishing. He would be taxed on the few
thousand dollars he pays for the boat. Tiger
Woods, on the other hand, would pay the
same percentage of the S3O million he paid
for his yacht. Taxation would be in line with
a person’s spending habits and would not
act as a deterrent to accumulating wealth.
Those who preach and encourage class
envy are not doing any of us a favor. Most
of them want a socialistic country and
can accomplish this only by distribution
of wealth by force, which already is under
way.
When you read and hear about the dispar
ity between the super rich and those of us
who are of the middle class consider the fact
that most of them were middle class at one
time and achieved the American dream.
Letter to the Editor
Flint building not needed
Perhaps you have seen where Flint Energies is building
an (unneeded) multi-million dollar complex on Russell
See LETTER, page $A
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
The real wealthy, one
percent oltaxpayers
the 719,910 of them
already pay about
50 percent of income
taxes collected. They
are rich people. They
are a blessing to the
rest of us, because they
help keep our taxes
down by paying so
much.
Voter ID foes have it all wrong
Opponents of a Voter ID law con
tend that this is an answer to a
problem that does not exist.
Also, they say that requiring a per
son to present a photo identification in
order to vote is racist, which is about
as sensible as saying that a cow jumped
over the moon.
A voter ID law, as proposed in
Georgia and is under consideration
in the United States Congress, is not
racist. It is practical and the one sure
way to be sure that anyone wishing to
vote is actually the person whose name
appears on the list of eligible voters.
Georgia’s not so distant past includes
instances of voter fraud. Dead people
voted in some Middle Georgia coun
ties in elections past. One likes to
believe that the widespread of voting
tombstones is a thing of the past, but
it is possible for one person to vote
under someone else’s name without
any trouble.
A Voter ID law puts up a barrier to
this kind of fraud.
News from New York State on this
subject is interesting, A survey that
was completed recently shows that
more than 2,000 dead people voted in
the last election in that state, most of
them in New York City.
Incidentally, more than three-fourths
of these votes that were cast fraudu
lently were Democrats, according to
the survey. Usually, it is Democrats
who accuse Republicans of tampering
with the voting process. There may be
enough blame to go around, but no rea
son not to require potential voters to
identify themselves in order to receive
a ballot.
It can happen. It is happening in New
York State and can happen anywhere,
even in Georgia, without a sure-fire
way to make sure that a vote is being
cast by a real person and is the person
whose name is on the voter list.
Opponents of the Voter ID law point
out that absentee voting is more vul
nerable to fraud. It may be. If so, this
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©2006 CREATORS
The Democrats' military disdain
The Democrats’ failed 2004 presi
dential candidate, Sen. John
Kerry, may have just sabotaged
his party’s highest hopes for the 2006
midterm elections. Karl Rove him
self couldn’t have engineered a better
campaign reminder of the Democrats’
utter lack of credibility when it comes
to supporting, respecting and leading
America’s military.
Here is what Sen. Kerry told an audi
ence of young people at a campaign
event on the Pasadena City College
campus on Monday held for losing
California Democrat gubernatorial
challenger Phil Angelides:
“You know, education, if you make
the most of it, if you study hard and
you do your homework, and you make
an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can
do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in
Iraq.”
And this man aspired to be our
nation’s 21st-century commander in
chief with that Neanderthal 1960 s atti
tude? Both a local NBC news affiliate
reporter and a Pasadena Star-News
reporter mentioned Kerry’s statement
without fully realizing the condescend
ing slam against our, ahem, all-vol
unteer armed forces embedded in the
remarks. The Star-News did observe
that the derisive comment was met
with “a mixture of laughter and gasps.”
But it wasn’t until after KFI-AM Los
Angeles radio show host John Ziegler
posted the audio on the Internet and a
You Tube user posted video of the event
that a firestorm broke out on the air
waves and across the right side of the
blogosphere.
America has the best-trained, most
professional, most well-educated mili-
OPINION
flaw should be corrected, but should
not be an excuse not to close a loophole
at the polls.
■ ■■
Contrast: Every American life lost
in Iraq is tragic. News media remind
us every day how many have died.
The number for October was 101. We
mourn them. But did you know that
there were more than 1,000 murders in
the state of California during October
that went unmentioned anywhere
except locally?
■ ■■
A new Zogby poll shows that the
average student now takes 6.2 years
to graduate from a four-year college.
Gives them more time to party.
■ ■ ■
Will Rogers once said that he did
not belong to any organized political
party, he was a Democrat. If he were
alive today he could say that about the
Republicans, too. Because of ineptness
and in-fighting they have blown their
opportunity to become the dominant
political party in this country far into
the future.
■ ■■
I’m anxious to see how see how effec
tive President Bush’s campaigning in
tary in the world. But the moonbats
want only to hear the myths of the
soldier-as-victim or the soldier-as-bru
talizer or soldier-as-indentured ser
vant. Never mind that for every two
volunteer recruits coming from the
poorest neighborhoods, there are three
recruits coming from the richest neigh
borhoods, as The Heritage Foundation
recently reported. Never mind that
99.9 percent of the enlisted force have
at least a high school education. Never
mind that 49.2 percent of officers have
advanced or professional degrees; 39.4
percent have master’s degrees; 8.5 per
cent have professional degrees; and 1.3
percent have doctorate degrees.
Kerry’s response to the backlash from
military families around the globe?
An adviser admitted to the National
Journal that his boss’s botched warn
ing to students was “mangled.” But a
Kerry press release instead attacked
Rush Limbaugh, White House spokes
man Tony Snow and “assorted right
wing nut-jobs” (present!) for the words
that came out of his mouth and his
mouth alone. The Associated Press
water-carrier for Kerry and the Dems,
left-wing reporter Jennifer Loven, duti
fully recycled the Democrat line that
Kerry was really targeting President
Bush, not the lazy, uneducated troops
H
Foy
Evans
Columnist
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Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Georgia on hehalf of congressional can
didates pans out. I’d say it is anybody’s
guess today.
■ ■■
Centerville Mayor “Bubba” Edwards’
suggestion that Houston County think
big time and seek to make an airport
in Houston County an alternative to
Hartsfield in Atlanta is real think
ing out of the box. Like he said, you
have to think bold to do big things.
Someday, as Mayor Edwards points
out, there must be an alternative air
port in Middle Georgia to Atlanta. An
airline pilot, he is more knowledgeable
on the subject than most of us.
■ ■■
If you read the Atlanta newspapers
(and the stories from the AJC that
are rewritten an published in other
newspapers) you get the idea that
was something that smelled about the
Oaky Woods property purchase by local
developers and that Sonny Perdue had
a hand in it.
The AJC stories come right out and
say that Sonny”s 100-acre purchase
has more than doubled in value because
Oaky Woods will someday be developed
into a subdivision instead of remaining
a hunting preserve. I don’t believe that
the property has increased so much in
such a short time.
In my opinion, Sonny’s land would
be more valuable if Okay Woods was
not going to be developed because
there would be 20,000 acres less land
in Houston County to develop, making
land that was available harder to find.
This really is a moot point since Sonny
says he intends to come home and live
there once he completes his second
term as governor.
This is all politics. After all, the
Atlanta newspaper did endorse Mark
Taylor for governor after serious soul
searching, according to them.
“stuck in Iraq.”
Nonsense. The intent was clear
enough for at least some in the audi
ence to “gasp,” as the local reporter on
the scene described.
This is no isolated case of Democrat
incompetence and insensitivity toward
the military. Kerry’s party is the party
of Dick Durbin, who likened American
interrogators and Gitmo military staff
to Nazis, Soviet gulag operators and
genocidal maniac Pol Pot.
Kerry’s party is the party of Patty
Murray, who praised Osama bin Laden’s
charity work with nary a nod to our
men and women in uniform who have
sailed and flown to the most far-flung
regions of the world on reconstruction
and humanitarian missions. Kerry’s
party is the party that approved of him
tarring American troops as terrorizers
in Iraq last year.
And Kerry’s party is the party whose
national party website couldn’t even
find an American soldier to illustrate
a page dedicated to “Veterans and
Military Families.” Until a military
reader of my blog called attention to
it, the DNC site erroneously featured
a photo of a Canadian soldier named
“Abdul” in its attempt to show support
for American troops.
Can you trust a party with such
entrenched disdain and contempt for
the military to use that power well and
wisely at a time of war? America made
a choice in 2004. Two years later, the
Democrats have said and done nothing
to earn the nation’s endorsement now.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals
Gone Wild.” Her e-mail address is
writemalkin@gmail.com.