The New Yorker has an interesting article, “So Long, Pardner” that notes the April 15th tea parties (taxed enough already) which were attended by a couple of hundred thousand people. (Many of whom I don’t think will see their top marginal rate go from 35 to 39.6% since they don’t make over a quarter of a million dollars, in fact most will get a reduction, so what were they protesting?)
The magazine focuses on Governor Perry of Texas and his being at a tea party talking about opting out of the union. It appears, according to the NYer, Perry has confused his facts a bit, when Texas joined the U.S. it was not with the option to opt-out, but with the option to divide itself into five states. It seems Perry would need either a constitutional amendment or a Supreme Court ruling to leave.
The magazine notes that if the idea spreads and Texas leaves, taking the former Confederacy with it, Texas would lose a bit (it currently gets $0.94 back from the feds for every $1.00 it pays) but other southern state currently living on the dole would lose out (South Carolina, for example, receives $1.35 for every dollar it sends the federal government).However, the newly formed “Federated States” (Confederacy having too much baggage, according to the NYer) could get on with the business of protecting the sanctity of marriage, mandating organized prayer sessions and the teaching of creationism in schools, clearing out their death rows via increased executions (currently, while they conduct 86% of the executions in the U.S., meddling judges often keep prisoners alive and so crowd southern prisons), and giving the theory that eliminating taxes increases government revenues a fair test.
I think they might have a bit of a border problem with Mexico, however. I am not sure if the border security amount is factored in to what Texas gets back from the government or if that is viewed as a federal expense.
AmericaBlog mentioned that, when asked about gay marriage, Miley Cyrus: "Everyone deserves to love and be loved and most importantly smile."
"Jesus loves you and your partner and wants you to know how much he cares! That's like a daddy not loving his lil boy cuz he's gay and that is wrong and very sad!
"Like I said everyone deserves to be happy."
"God’s greatest commandment is to love. And judging is not loving."
"I am a Christian and I love you - gay or not - because you are no different than anyone else! We are all God's children."
AB noted that the American Family Association released this in response: “Such statements will send the wrong message to our children who are influenced by this teenage megastar. Parents need to realize that Cyrus is not the positive role model she was once thought to be.... Clearly she is confused and does not understand the Bible.”
While checking one of my online email account, I see that Mexico has closed down all non-essential businesses because of Swine Flu. Earlier today I read that the industry lobbyists were concerned that the name of the flu would impact the pork products. They urged it be called 2009 H1N1. The Associated Press reported that the outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, according to an Israeli health official.
CNN notes that Carrie Prejean, Miss California has continued her time in the spotlight by appearing in a commercial for the Nation For Marriage. The ad says that “Gay marriage activists attack people for supporting marriage because they don’t want to debate the consequences of same-sex marriage. They want to silence the opposition.”
YouTube has the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1DWVTJ_gBo
A number of sources reported on Joe Biden’s recommendations about the Flu on NBC’s Today Show. The Veep said he would tell his family to avoid going anywhere in confined spaces. His office explained that “If people are sick they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways.”
Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be what Joe said. I don’t think there was any mention of his advice being given to a sick family member, just to members of his family.
I wonder what happens in DC where thousands of people who work for Joe’s government take the subway to and from work every day.
“Where were you all last week?”
“Joe told me not to ride the subway, so I stayed home.”
Google News reports that Microsoft says Vista taught them valuable lessons to ensure that devices and applications run smoothly on it’s new operating system. I hope this means my Microsoft word processing program will stop crashing my Microsoft Windows E-mail.
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