I was reading this post on Digby about Peggy Noonan and her sudden desire to be a "real conservative" and how George Bush had let them down. Here ...The best part of the whole thing was this in the comments:
"You can see his heart"? What the hell does that mean? That strange woman cannot write to save herself.Pechorin 10.29.06 - 1:03 pm #
She's assuming her audience gets how Republican Jesus, his favorite philosopher, changed his heart.Greg T. 10.29.06 - 1:06 pm #
Funny! Republican Jesus.....There it is. I instantly knew what he ment when he said that. That is sad. A perfect example of why there shouldn't be too close of a mix of politics and religion. When your religion is no better than your politics what does that necessarily say about your religion? Religion should be something you use as personal standards. Politics insists on the art of compromise in the larger picture. Voting for what one finds moral makes perfect sense. The question is who is the arbiter of what is moral? Is a simple majority of the voters going to suppress the moral convictions of the minority? Or are the rights of the minority maintained? Doing this requires the art of compromise. That should be what politics is about. I think most people could agree that we want a government that uses its resources to move the country forward . I don't want the government to skimp but I want them to do it in a manner that will be fiscally prudent. I also want to see work rewarded ahead of wealth. I think you call that incentive. Knowing how morality plays in a general way and expecting your specific morality to be adhered in detail is the line religion and politics should not cross. Republican Jesus has gone way over the line. Far more to the detriment of Republicans than to Jesus.
posted by Ron at 11:40 PM
1 Comments:
Ron, you mentioned about "I also want to see work rewarded ahead of wealth."
Well, it sure ain't happening now.
Here's what looks like may be gone:
Deductions for teachers' out-of-pocket expenses. This is worth $250 for America's teachers.
Deductions for college tuition and fees. This has allowed up to $4,000 a year in deductions for parents of college students who don't qualify for the Hope or Lifetime Learning tax credit.
Deductions for contributions to Archer medical savings accounts. These accounts are designed to help people save money for future medical expenses. About a half-million taxpayers have used these.
Deductions for state and local sales taxes. This affects residents of Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming who pay no personal state income tax (New Hampshire and Tennessee do tax dividend and interest income). This has been worth billions of dollars in deductions for residents of these states.
Business lost out, too
While individuals are getting hosed, so are businesses. Here are some business tax credits that are out, at least for now:
Corporate Research and Development Tax Credit. This is an important credit for businesses.
Work Opportunity Tax Credit. This has provided a 25% credit on the first $6,000 in wages paid to workers who worked at least 120 hours but less than 400 hours a year. It bumped up to 40% for workers who had worked at least 400 hours in their first year.
New Markets Tax Credit. (Looks like I'm starting mine way too late. Sigh. --D) This has provided a tax credit to people who invested in qualified funds that spurred economic development in low-income communities.
But that's not all. Business is losing deductions for:
Corporate contributions of computer technology.
Costs of brownfield remediation.
Investment in oil and gas production from marginal wells.
We paid them how much this year to get this stuff done?
Don't think I feel too sorry for the current Congress right now. They've done anything & everything but work.
Don't expect it to happen even if the Dems get control again. It's said that they're just the behind-the-scenes people in this not-so-wonderful radical Repug scheme against America (or, to put it more succinctly, one's just the same as the other).
We need someone who is extremely powerful, wealthy, and not from either party to get us back to where we should be.
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