Yep, we should!
It is time to take religious institutions off the public dole and remove all their tax exemptions. You should not need any more justification than this but in addition there is no good reason why your and my taxes should be higher just so these folks don’t have to pay their fair share.
And if this means removing tax exemptions from non-profits so be it.
Via Pandagon and Norbizness.
James Joyner finds this NYT article “interesting if somewhat chilling” and then goes on to say that he’s pretty much bought into the idea of feeding the maw of the information brokers:
I make all manner of similar choices. For example, I use credit cards rather than cash virtually everywhere that doing so is an option. Theoretically, this creates the ability for Big Brother to track my spending habits and movements. I take comfort in the ubiquity of such information and the belief that it’s incredibly unlikely that government resources will be allocated to track the purchase habits of 290-odd million citizens.
Well, James, its not for lack of desire. The Total Information Awareness project in its 1st bush term incarnation was squashed but there is no reason to believe that this work is not ongoing and that federal and state folks are not eager for more similar tools to accomplish their ends, for example, a database of all 16-18 year olds for military recruiting purposes.
You should take discomfort in the ubiquity of such information.
Use cash as often as you can. It is often but not always quicker and leaves no electronic tracks…though you are probably on the security cam anyway. Disrupt the flow of information about you whenever possible.
After 4 volumes and 15 stages the outcome is still uncertain. Will I be able to complete this reading of the Harry Potter series by the end of Le Tour?
Today I completed The Goblet of Fire and picked up a copy of The Half-Blood Prince at Costco ($16) and watched 4 1/2 hours of Tour de France with Hincapie’s deserved win and Armstong’s solidification of his position in yellow. There are only a few with any chance left to challenge Armstrong and I believe they must do it on Tuesday, Stage 16, and do it significantly given Armstrong’s time trial strength.
Tomorrow, a rest day for the cyclists, I’ll get a good start on the Order of the Phoenix and should be on to the The Half-Blood Prince by Friday.
Hey, with six books to read, 2-5 hours of cycing to watch 6 days a week, work, family and chores around the house where is the time for blogging? Well, it turns out there is little…
In closing:
It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies,…
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, 722
Cats, Dogs, Spiders and ? every Friday.
We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and….?
We will add your post to the list if you do one of the following:
Of course, if our staff goes on strike then we will link only those posts someone tells us about.
Check back regularly for updates throughout the day on Fridays and somewhat less frequently over the weekend. We seldom add links after Sunday’s Carnival of the Cats goes up.
Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey’s Musings.
Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and will be hosted this week by Boxing Alcibiades.
Bird folks: Check out the inaugral edition of I and the Bird hosted by 10,000 Birds.
And, check out Laurence’s fine graphical analysis of Friday Ark boardings.
Arkive editions of the Friday Ark.
Cats
Tyler Cowen notes this Denver Post article which states that:
In 2004, … Translated into consumer spending, readers spent $3.7 billion on religious books, a category that includes Christian books. That is an increase of nearly 285 percent from 1983.
This is impressive but perhaps not quite as impressive as it looks.
There is no indication in the article that the author made any adjustment for inflation so let’s do it for her. First, by her numbers sales of religious books in 1983 would be $1.29 billion ($3.7 B/2.85). The CPI inflation index for the period 1983 to 2004 is 1.897, i.e., 1 1983 dollar equals 1.897 2004 dollars. Therefore 1983 sales of religious books in terms of 2004 dollars would be $2.447 billion and the increase in sales from 1983 to 2004 is about 51% not the 285% stated in the article.
Impressive? Yes! But not near as impressive as the article would have us believe.