Deduct This

The purpose of taxes, as I've said before, is the influence behavior and buy votes. This is just the latest example. This guy (or girl?) wants to deduct $25,000 for a sex change operation. Seriously. The IRS has denied the deduction but the IRS is being sued as a result. The allegation is that it's discriminatory.

On one hand it seems completely ridiculious that you and I could have to pay for this guy's sex change operation. And yes, I said we have to pay. If his taxes are lower then mine are higher. That's because we're helping him pay for the operation. On the other hand I kinda hope he wins. If he wins maybe people will see how silly this whole aspect of allowing taxes to influence behavior is and we can change the system.

FairTax anyone?

That's an Apology?

I don't know a thing in the world about Cynthia McKinney other than the fact that her politics are extremely liberal. For those that haven't been following along, when people enter the Capitol building in Washington they have to go through a metal detector and be screened, much like what happens at an airport. Members of Congress are allowed to bypass this screening process and are given a special pin to wear on their lapel to help the security teams identify them. McKinney was not wearing her pin as she bypassed security the other day. According the the Capitol Police officer, she was asked three times to stop. She ignored the officer's request to stop and he approached her from behind placing a hand on her arm or shoulder (where exactly the officer placed his hand is a matter of dispute). McKinney immediately turned around and struck the officer. Some reports say with her hand, others say with her purse. In any event, she struck a cop.

Initially she said she was "acting in self defense." No joke. That was her claim. The next day she claimed that there was "inappropriate touching." I'm not sure who's touching was supposed to be inapproate but again, that was her claim. This morphed into "racial profiling" with McKinney claiming she was stopped only because she was black. Today the press is claiming that she's apologizing. Her exact words were, "I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all and I regret its escalation and I apologize."

Now I don't know about anyone else but my mom used to tell me that I had to say it like I meant it. It doesn't sound to me like McKinney meant it. Of course she's sorry that the misunderstanding happened at all. Everyone is. Of course she regrets its escalation. Everyone does. What is she apologizing for? What did she do that she wishes she had not done? That's the real mystery here. My mom wouldn't have considered that an apology from me and Idon't think we should consider that an apology from McKinney.