A mix of the heavy and the light. . . Among the heaviest is Iran. Clearly the Iranian regime (1) is stirring the pot in Iraq; (2) supports the rise of Hamas among the Palestinians, just as it long has supported Hezbollah in southern Lebanon - making life ever difficult for Israel; and (3) moves resolutely toward developing its own nuclear weapons. What to do? If a stealth strike on hard Iranian sites building nukes is not an option (compare Israel's strike destroying Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear compound in the early 1980s), then (a) put NATO in a united posture opposing Iranian nukes, and (b) put Israel into NATO so to inform Iran that any actions against Israel will elicit a united NATO retaliation against Iran. XXX Don't you just love the recent biennial Sex Week at Yale? As much of pre-college sex-ed consists of rationalization and how-to, so sex-themed weeks at some of the nation's colleges consist primarily of porn - sanctioned by school administrations and often financed, directly or indirectly, by mom and dad. Porn (or "adult") is everywhere and generating big bucks. For example, Vivid Entertainment of Los Angeles, begun in 1984 with a $20,000 loan, now claims annual revenues of $100 million. Vivid makes about 60 skin flicks a year and releases 30 skin discs a month. It licenses the Vivid name for vodka, videogames, a Vegas night club, virility-enhancement stuff, X-rated comic books and custom car wheels; it partners with cable systems owned by, e.g., Comcast and Time Warner, DirecTV and hotel networks. Says a Vivid exec, "Adult is almost too good to be true." XXX Is the left taking a right turn on tax cuts? In Congress, liberals such as Sens. Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Max Baucus and Rep. Charles Rangel are supporting a reduction in the alternative minimum tax (AMT), enacted in 1969 to guarantee taxation of "the rich." Apparently the AMT requires rich leftists to pay too much. And in heavily Democratic Rhode Island, the Democratic legislature is considering adoption of an optional 5.5 percent flat tax as an alternative to the reigning 3.75 percent to 9.9 percent progressive tax schedule. A concept long dismissed as too conservative, the flat tax is making inroads from Chile to the former Soviet bloc and enlightened parts of old Europe - and now perhaps even to Rhode Island. Much more of this, and liberals may start lining up to repeal the federal estate (or death) tax. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will send the repeal measure to the floor in May. Continued... |