McCain was in Pittsburgh today (Sat., 4/19/08), and CNN was covering part of his speech. He said he would propose a flat and fair tax.

Flat and fair are not synonymous. A flat tax to even begin approaching fairness would have to exclude nothing and would have to go on for infinity. To be fair a tax has to be proportioned.

McCain began talking about what he would exclude from taxation. No Internet tax he said. No tax on cell phones.

McCain said the Dependency exemption in the income tax has not kept up with inflation and he would propose raising it. Hey, McCain, neither has the minimum wage kept up with inflation. His voting record has made sure of that.

In Federalist No. 12, Alexander Hamilton wrote:

In France, there is an army of patrols (as they are called) constantly employed to secure their fiscal regulations against the inroads of the dealers in contraband trade... The arbitrary and vexatious powers with which the patrols are necessarily armed, would be intolerable in a free country.

Today, "contraband trade" would be illicit substances including cannabis. To create laws that call for the confiscation of property, mandatory minimum sentences, the power to put to death for the use and possession of cannabis is "intolerable in a free country."

"A new report (PDF) by the Senlis Council, a U.K. think tank, finds that counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan over the last five years have facilitated insurgency, laying the groundwork for the Taliban to return to power."

The report continues:

"Without alternative means of livelihood, farmers are unable to give up growing poppy."

Darren K. Hipp
Special Assistant to the President
And Director of Presidential Correspondence

Dear Mr. Hipp:

Thank you for your August 14, 2006 letter about The Energy Policy Act of 2005. It was good to hear that additional funding was provided for "the Advanced Energy Initiative...to pursue promising technologies that will transform how we power our vehicles, businesses, and homes so that we can diversify our energy supply and become less dependent on foreign sources of energy."

Sen. McConnell:

Thank you for your August 3, 2006 letter regarding greenhouse gases and climate change.

Global warming does appear to be happening. Whether this is natural or exacerbated by human activity seems a bit moot. The earth has heated in the past without human intervention and can do it again with or without human intervention. However, by legalizing hemp we can restore the natural forces to stem this trend.

The Monday, July 31, 2006 Louisville, Kentucky Courier Journal reported that "Kentucky House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins (D) has asked Gov. Ernie Fletcher to re-establish the state Energy Cabinet." COURIER-JOURNAL

The Los Angeles Times has a series of articles about altered oceans and the damage being inflicted upon them primarily by the overuse of prehistoric fossil fuels. The oceans appear to be undergoing a reverse evolution killing larger species of sea life and sickening people. The oceans are becoming de-oxygenated with the growth of a prehistoric, highly toxic algae that dates back over 2.7 billion years.
ALTERED OCEANS

In Kentucky, it has been proposed that carbon dioxide from coal be pumped back into the earth, called sequestering. Is this not a prescription for another environmental disaster that could leach into our fresh water supply and contaminate it? Historically, rivers have been known to run red with blood, probably a form of red algae.

"Middle East: US Troops, Iraqi Police Seize Marijuana Plants."
DRUG WAR CHRONICLE

Bush's discretionary and unjust war in Iraq has found and destroyed the enemy.

"US troops and Iraqi police seized and destroyed a bumper crop of marijuana plants last week." (7/8/06)

The Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment (HR 5672) would have blocked the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from harassing ill and elderly patients who use marijuana medically to treat their conditions. It failed by a vote of 163 to 259, June 28, 2006.

Congressman David Obey (D-WI) told the White House, the Congress, the Justice Department and the DEA to butt out of meddling in citizens' medical affairs.

Congressman Obey asked: "When is this Congress going to recognize that individuals in their private lives have a right to manage their problems as they see fit without the permission of the big guy in the White House or the big guy in the Justice Department or any of the Lilliputians on this Congressional floor?"