I'm catching up on messages and just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the recent interesting discussions, including the one about the death tax.
The only thing I have to add is that even though the death tax won't be on a ballot anywhere, it's definitely being used as a campaign tool to again say that the Republicans will reduce taxes. That's extremely deceptive since very few voters will benefit by that tax break. In case anyone's interested in another view of taxes, including the death tax, and the widening "prosperity" gap in this country, there's info at http://www.responsiblewealth.org/tax_fairness/index.html, including info about small businesses and farms, issues which were brought up here. If people think their taxes are high now, wait until the shortfall from the tax rebate Bush insists on continuing needs to be made up. Especially after the painful cuts in social services in order to get a balanced budget during Clinton's years, it's a horror that this country is already in such financial trouble, and it's not just because of the war. So guess who's going to be paying more taxes soon? It won't be the wealthy. They may pay a larger dollar amount but it's usually a much smaller PERCENTAGE of their earnings than middle-class people pay, and the Republicans would like that percentage to be even smaller. Why hard working, sometimes paycheck-to-paycheck, people think the Republicans are on their side when it comes to taxes is a mystery to me. It's one of those myths that the Republicans keep exploiting. Believe me, there are plenty of ways for wealthy people to avoid paying taxes. Hard working people do not need to worry about that. There are major differences between the parties this time, just as there were for the 2000 elections. There are some similarities, especially in the getting enough money for campaigns and then being beholden to special interests, but to say there are no differences in philosophy, and how that philosophy is expressed, is not accurate. The current Republicans' agenda is very conservative, and things such as faith-based social services (one of Bush's first acts was to establish a new agency to oversee that--repugnant idea that government and religious organizations would be so entwined); the attempt to abolish abortion (and Bush's nominees for judges shows how active that is); the willingness to let business do anything (any surprise there's no longer any money in the budget for lawsuits against tobacco companies?), are just some of the ways that the conservative agenda is being played out. And Bush would like all that played out without being bothered by any Democratic disagreement and having to compromise. More than ever before, loyalty to the Republican party is demanded, and any Republican who does not toe the party line is punished, which is one of the reasons Senator Jeffords left the party. So, it has become a numbers game. A moderate Republican (and partisan as I am, I know and appreciate that such beings exist) would have a hard time voting their conscience if it did not match what Bush wanted. Anyway, that's all I have to say about politics, except vote vote vote on Tuesday. Yes, as many times as you can, and all for the Democratic candidates (yeah, just some wishful thinking on my part). The one good thing if Congress ends up controlled by Republicans after this election is that the country will fall apart that much faster, so everyone will be ready for a new president in 2004. The current fiscal "policy" has us halfway there already. And, maybe even more important than all that because it's soothing to think of beauty continuing no matter what happens on election day, after reading so many recent comments about Judy Collins I found the cds of hers that I have and thoroughly enjoyed listening to them again this afternoon. "Wildflowers" was one of my first albums, but after I discovered Joni I didn't pay a lot of attention anymore to Judy. I bought the cds I have, "Trust Your Heart" and "Sanity and Grace", years ago based only on the titles but never listened to them a lot, mostly because I didn't like the 80s style production. After reading the comments here, I'm going to get some of her earlier albums, where her voice is deeper and the production sound is clearer. I especially liked the comment (and, sorry, I forget now who made it) about listening to "early Judy" early in the morning, wonderful idea to start the day with such clarity and beauty!! And Will, what a moving story you told about Judy's emotional purging during that concert. That must have been wonderful to experience such an open heart. Debra Shea NP: TV prelude to the U.S. Olympic Committee deciding between San Francisco and New York for the 2012 games. Yikes, the Olympics here?!
