States’ Rates—As Mark Twain put it, the only difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector is that “the taxidermist takes only your skin.” Now the Tax Foundation, a conservative anti-tax research group in Washington, has compiled a new list of how much skin state and local governments take from their taxpayers, and of course […]

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There are two sides in the ongoing political and technical scrap over efforts to reform the voting process, a move begun after the 2000 election scandal in Florida. The Florida election gave—or alleged—a 537-vote edge to George W. Bush over former Vice President Al Gore. Remember? With the help of the 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision […]

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A Media Meltdown—In a lengthy report, the non-partisan Project for Excellence in Journalism describes a field of endeavor in decline, in terms of the quality and quantity of newspapers, newsmagazines, and radio and television news programs. “The State of the News Media in 2004” finds that “Americans think journalists are sloppier, less professional, less caring, […]

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In our last issue we recalled the famous Democratic slogan: “It’s the economy, stupid!” It originated in an outburst from James Carville, a former Clinton campaign aide nicknamed “the Ragin’ Cajun.” This campaign year we’re hearing a variation of that Clinton classic from the Democrats: “It’s the intelligence, stupid!” Last month Senator John Kerry of […]

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Missing Millions—Like the government’s billions of dollars in solid gold bars buried in underground vaults at Ft. Knox, KY, the underground pelf in Washington would be invisible if it were not for one of America’s most journalistically excavating weekly magazines, the National Journal. The cover story in its February 21 issue reports in devastating detail on […]

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