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May 6, 2003
Vol. 6 No. 18
In this
issue:
1. Looking Foreign
2. Uncapping the Gains
3. This Old Man
4. Quick Hits
5. New at Reason Online - Juvenile Delinquent Wrecks
6. Reason's print
edition
7. News and
Events
The Bush administration and some Senate Republicans hope to give the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon power to operate as domestic counter-spy organizations. As disturbing as such plans might be, they cannot really be a surprise. Within the national security state, the distinction between foreign and domestic spheres of influence has been eroding for years. The Drug War has done much to interject military assets into crime-fighting, and the hunt for terrorists has only done more to blur the distinction.
Still, giving the CIA and the military power to issue administrative subpoenas would completely explode any notion that national security matters operate within the bounds of civilian jurisprudence. It would also signal, for all intents and purposes, the death of the FBI. The Bureau would no longer have a monopoly on counterterrorism operations within the U.S. In time it would evolve into little more than a national police force, junior partners in the hunt for evildoers.
And that might be a fitting bookend for the story of the FBI. After all, it was a Wall Street blast in 1920, the work of Italian anarchists, that helped bring the modern FBI into being. Now another Wall Street attack is stoking sentiment to push the FBI out to operational pasture. But as tempting as it might be to say good riddance, what comes after could be much worse.
http://www.radio4all.org/anarchy/galleani.html
President George W. Bush seems determined to stick to his plan to eliminate individual taxes on corporate dividends -- even if it means he passes on a broader, simpler tax cut that could do more for the economy. It is unclear whether this position is simple stubbornness or an inability to grasp the big picture, but the White House is misplaying its hand.
House Republicans are gathering around a plan to cut the tax on both dividends (currently taxed at individual tax rates as high as 38 percent as ordinary income) and capital gains (currently with a top rate of 20 percent) at a new, lower 15 percent rate. Lower-income taxpayers who now pay 10 percent cap gains taxes would see that halved to 5 percent.
Cutting the capital gains tax should give a jolt to all businesses, not just those who pay out dividends. And unlike plans to phase in the president's dividend cut, a simple cut in the marginal rate is much easier to implement and comply with, requiring no army of accountants to figure out.
In all, a cut in the capital gains rate would appear to be easier play for the White House, so much so that current opposition to it may just be so much posturing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62251-2003Apr30?language=printer
The Old Man has fallen. Should the state of New Hampshire help him get back up? Republican Governor Craig Benson thinks so: He has pledged to restore the Old Man of the Mountain, a natural rock formation that slid off Cannon Mountain sometime last week.
The craggy outcrop formed a profile of a whizzened man; it was a state symbol and a popular tourist attraction. Benson calls it "the ultimate symbol of those who would Live Free or Die." If so, best leave the Old Man a memory.
What made the formation at all noteworthy was its spontaneous creation. Anyone can arrange a few rocks into a recognizable pattern. That's called art, and it is not the same thing as natural beauty.
A rebuilt Old Man could never be the same Old Man, just a recreation of what natural forces at one time brought into being. It might be interesting to look at, but no sense of wonder could attach to it. Stacking rocks together is not a wondrous feat of engineering.
Worse still would be a restoration project that used public money or employees. Surely the state has more pressing needs than a fake Old Man. Besides, letting the Old Man slip gracefully into memory would signal acceptance of the fact that sometimes things happen that are outside the government's control.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2678297
http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/2178060/detail.html
Quote of the Week
"You'd be surprised how many producers and manufacturers are Republicans." --porn star Nina Hartley on the political leanings of those who control her $10 billion a year industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,947880,00.html
Settlement List
The Recording Industry Association of America has settled copyright infringement lawsuits it brought against four college students last month. The defendants will pay tens of thousands of dollars apiece. The money will be used to sign more bands that suck.
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/#1051156800
Happy Subcontinent
India pledges to renew diplomatic and aviation ties with Pakistan, a considerable step-down in tensions between the two nuclear enemies.
Stern Medal
The battle for the Baghdad Airport produces a Medal of Honor candidate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10685-2003May3?language=printer
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