The Discerning Texan

All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Not a good day for the President

Some days it just doesn't go your way. For example: Bollywood may not be be swooning to the messiah like Hollywood is:

India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.

“I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world,” Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.

“It’s possible that at this time there are elements, perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era.”

Oh yes, and then there was this:
Iran said on Tuesday it has launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns among world powers already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive.

"Dear Iranians, your children have put the first indigenous satellite into orbit," a jubilant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state television after a launch coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

"With this launch the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space," he said.

The Omid (Hope) satellite was sent into space on Monday evening carried by the home-built Safir-2 space rocket, local news agencies reported.

In the first foreign reaction, France expressed concern because the technology used was "very similar" to that employed in ballistic missiles.

"We can't but link this to the very serious concerns about the development of military nuclear capacity," foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said in Paris.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the satellite programme could "possibly lead to the development of ballistic missiles."

Ya think?? But hey, don't worry: Barack's gonna talk to 'em... Meanwhile North Korea wants to play, too...

As for the Daschle matter, Victor Davis Hanson puts it quite succinctly when it comes to the "new ethics" in Washington:
The problems with Daschle and Geithner are this: If the liberal Secretary of the Treasury and the even more liberal would-be HHS Secretary did not pay their proper taxes, owed tens of thousands in back taxes, and (apparently) were only willing to address this issue when it was a matter of career advancement in Washington, what does that say about our honor-based tax code?

Millions of Americans don't have either Daschle's or Geithner's resources, yet they pay dearly to go to accountants, honestly turn over all their records, and then pay the full amount of taxation in accordance with their understanding of the law, and the advice they receive from professional accountants.

Yet men both much richer and much more informed about the U.S. tax code not only don't do that, but feel no compunction to rectify mistakes unless they cause embarrassment enough to thwart their careers. Two subtexts as well: there must be many more Daschles and Geithners floating around Washington who don't show up on the radar unless they want a top political appointment; and, two, the old liberal creed that taxes are good and patriotic and are avoided by greedy, selfish conservative elites seems shattered by these examples.

Any more of these stories and we will be on very dangerous ground, since the message is a terrible one to the American people: You pay your full amount, but our elites not only do not, but won't unless they get caught.

This is all about as good an argument for a flat tax as one can imagine.

We are two weeks in, folks. Only 206 left to go...
DiscerningTexan, 2/03/2009 11:41:00 PM |