Sci-fi movie analagous to war in Afghanistan:

The 1950’s movie “War of the Worlds” is one of my all time favorites. In one scene the scientist (Gene Barry) and a Marine colonel are in a bunker observing a pit where the Martian fighting machines are gathering and making preparations. The colonel tells Barry he has the Martians surrounded with our best weapons and we are ready to blast them off the earth if they make a move. A General from Washington who is there as an observer tells Barry that what happens here will be a pattern for the war.

The Martian machines start moving and appear to be floating above the ground. A local citizen points this out and says to Barry “Hey look, they’re flyin’ with no wings or anything. That ain‘t possible is it?” Barry replies “If they are doing it, it is.”

After a disastrous battle the Martians remain untouched while their mysterious heat rays completely destroy the Marines. During the rout, the bunker is in chaos and Barry grabs the General and shouts “General! You’ve got to get the word to Washington that this kind of defense is useless against that kind of power!” I wonder if a similar scene may have occurred in Afghanistan when high tech weapons were used by the U.S. against primitive opponents.

What all this buzz about tax cuts favoring the rich?

Do you think federal income taxes unfairly favor the rich? Of course, what is fair is debatable but consider the following: Of the approximately 130 million taxpayers in this country about 48 million pay zero federal income tax. These are almost all low income persons. Is this fair? Another feature of our tax system is the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you qualify you can obtain up to $4,000 back from the IRS over and above any tax you paid. In other words, you can receive a net profit from the tax system. For fairness this credit requires that your income be low and all of it must come from wages. About 20 million returns qualify for this credit.

If your income is over $60,000 you are in the top 25% of taxpayers. This group pays 84% of the total income tax bill. This too is considered fair. Also note that a corporation will pay up to 35% tax on dividends given to shareholders. Shareholders then pay tax on this as personal income. A person in the 39% tax bracket would then see a total of 74% of the dividend go to the government.

Any across-the-board tax cut will have no benefit for people who already pay no taxes. Only persons who pay taxes will benefit. This seems fair to me but as we know, fairness is a very debatable issue.

Update 15Apr2005: According to Rush Limbaugh's website (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.guest.html) 20% of taxpayers pay 80% of taxes and the top 50% pay 96% of the bill.