[Editor’s Note: I received this by email, and am posting it here with the author’s permission]

I just came across your blog on the Progressive Democrats’ Sales Tax. One of our supporters found it and posted it to one of our state yahoo group boards so you may in fact receive other responses from supporters. You did a very good job of describing the bill. Now let me confess up front that I am an avid supporter of the FairTax that has been involved in the movement since the mid 1990s.

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When I was a teenager in Springfield, I had a friend who would say anything to convince me to buy a car. “If you had a car,” he said, “you could get all the way to St. Louis in under two hours.”

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The Democratic Party sent something interesting to my house today—a “Proud to be a Democrat” bumper sticker. There’s just one thing: I’m not.

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    I consider myself to be fairly liberal on most issues.  So some of you might be surprised that I am about to take a position that’s usually the providence of hardcore conservatives.  I support HR25—the Fair Tax Act of 2005.  

    Yeah.  The one that would replace virtually the entire tax system with a 23% sales tax.

    I read about it most recently in an unnecessarily hostile editorial by Matthew Holmes.  Truth be told, his article did nothing to convince me that the tax is a good thing.  But it convinced me to wade through the full text of the legislation , and I’ve decided that not only is the Fair Tax Act justifiable, it is the ideal legislation for progressive democrats.  I’ll explain why.

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The whole “betrayal and passion” story, at least in most traditions, passed us by a couple weeks ago. So what I’m going to write about right now might seem a little out of place.

I’m going to write about Judas.

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As an Episcopalian, I do not strictly believe in papal authority. I do, however, believe in the church universal—the single body of all Christians, and I cannot discount the work of Pope John Paul II in his pursuit of, teaching of, and advocacy for the principle and practice of God’s Word, and his efforts to make peace among Christians and throughout the world.

As of this writing, the Pope is reported by several sources to have died. If you feel so inclined, please join me in this prayer to God for the Pope, for the Catholic Church, and for the catholic church¹.

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I fall in and out of doubt. Y’know, with God and all.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t remember ever actually “knowing” for sure that God didn’t exist.

And on better mornings I wake up in awe of the simple miracle that I have survived as many years as I have. On these mornings, I can hear God saying “Yeah, I guess you could call it a miracle… It’s just what I do.” Needless to say, on these mornings, I know with all certainty that God exists.

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This week, the Federal Election Commission released a document called “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Governing Activity on the Internet” (read it here). It’s heavy reading, but the gist of it is clear: the federal government wants to limit political speech on the internet.

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Last year’s controversial film “The Passion of the Christ” was wildly successful, in part thanks to Christians who flocked to the Mel Gibson film in droves. Now that we’ve seen how successful a Christian film can be, it’s high time to milk this phenomenon for all its worth.

It’s time for a sequel.

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I'll be forthcoming here: While the pundits are analyzing whether the president's speech will be politically successful, I really don't care. What I do care about is what direction this country takes over the next four years. In that spirit, here is a political analysis of my own political beliefs, as inspired by the State of the Union Address.

Before you start reading this, I recommend you go read the transcript over at MSNBC if you haven't yet[1]. Pay attention to what he suggests, and what issues he brings up.

And now, here we go. What follows is a list of the major issues, President Bush's position, as articulated in the State of the Union address, and my position. To some extent, I'm playing "devil's advocate." There is, in most cases, reasonable room for compromise between the two positions. (click to read more)

I am tired of hearing people complain that the references to God in George Bush's inauguration ceremony violated the principle of the first amendment establishment clause. It did not. (click to read more)

I was watching the late local news tonight, and they had a story about the tsunami in Asia. They call it "the deadliest natural disaster in history," which, even if that's an exaggeration, paints a pretty rough picture. (click to read more)

"The Terrorists want to kill us."
"The Terrorists are planning new attacks."
"The Terrorists committed an act of terrorism." (click to read more)

What if Jesus had been a writer?

What if instead of a "bible" composed of several books by dozens of authors over the centuries, Jesus had taken time out of his travels to write the parables and blessings himself? What if instead of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we had just one book -- the book of Jesus? (click to read more)

We have a problem in America. We're not talking about the right things. We're trying too hard to remove religions subjects and religious reasoning from politics, and that's a bad idea.

I'd like to see more religion in politics, not less. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the motives behind not talking about religion. Just the mention of it makes people uncomfortable. There's this perception that bringing up religion in a conversation somehow puts you in that John Ashcroft -- Pat Robertson -- Jerry Falwell school of political thought. (click to read more)

Now that he has won the election, we hear the president talk about his "political capital" and we hear conservative commentators talk about his "mandate". Does President Bush have a mandate now, on the heels of 27-vote victory (or a 3% victory in the popular vote)? (click to read more)

People complain to me sometimes about taxes. They say their taxes are too high, and that too much of it goes to government services. Sometimes they say compare taxes to theft, and say they aren't getting enough in return. Those people are dead wrong. (click to read more)

Tuesday's debate was excellent. It was entertaining to watch, informative, and spirited. It was a contest between two intelligent, knowledgeable, articulate men, both entirely up to the task of holding public office. There's just one problem. (click to read more)

As we approach election season, the political dialogue narrows. Talking points change from something the commentators on TV espouse to something that nearly every member of the public can recite, almost to the word. We hear words like "Flip-Flop" from people all over the place. That's not the kind of description that arises spontaneously from the mouths of thousands of individuals. It's a backwards way to approach politics. A politician's job is to represent the people. The people shouldn't be repeating words from their candidates -- the candidates should be representing the people. Maybe people need their own talking points. (click to read more)

Last week, I wrote an article saying that "terror" is a state of mind, and it has to be conquered in the mind, not on the battlefield. I still believe this. However, since then, I have gotten a number of responses saying that the issue is one of semantics, and the real enemy is "terrorists", who can be hunted down and destroyed. I disagree with these people. (click to read more)

What would you say if you could meet President Bush? I suspect about half of you would praise him, and half would silently eye the secret service guards surrounding him and say nothing. This is what I would say. (click to read more)

I have declared war on terror in my own life. Terror is my enemy, and in any war, you have to know the enemy. So I did a little (very little, actually) research, and I have devised a foolproof plan to eliminate terror. It's pretty easy once you know the enemy. So here is my two-step method to eliminate terror. (click to read more)

I have one blue shirt. You have to trust me on this one. Since I'm a long way away from most of you, it would be impractical to, say, deliver your groceries in my blue shirt, so if you don't trust me, I guess you're out of luck. (click to read more)

Well, it seems all hell has broken loose over a comment by the California secretary of education -- all over the news are reports that he called 6-year-old Isis D'Luciano a "stupid, dirty girl" at an event in Santa Barbara (reports vary on exactly what the event was). (click to read more)

I know you've seen them. They're all over the place. Yes, the photos of Iraqi prisoners being tortured, electrocuted, piled naked on top of each other, and so on, in front of smiling soldiers. And if you didn't know about the pictures before, maybe the president, the army, and the British Ministry of Defense's rabid buck-passing tipped you off. The problem with their campaign for public opinion is that it's happening in the wrong country. (click to read more)

In case you don't spend way too much time reading the news, Google is launching a service called GMail -- a searchable email service that advertises that you never have to delete an email. The service has privacy advocates up in arms because they never delete your email, and they scan it to provide targeted ads. WHAT!?!? GOOGLE COULD READ MY EMAIL!?!? Well, technically, yes. But so could any service you use on the internet. It isn't new. The internet has never been anonymous. (click to read more)

Tom Brokaw interviewed Tony Blair last week. And while I still vehemently disagree with his and George Bush's foreign policy, I have respect for the man, who is intelligent, eloquent, and either extremely candid or better than any American politician at playing to cynicism and mistrust. And you have to like anybody whose answers can put Tom Brokaw to shame. (click to read more)

Not only did I not watch the deliberations of the panel investigating September 11, I didn't even know about them until after they were over. Now, you might think that would mean I don't have anything to say about them. But, of course, like every other human being out there, I have to say something about it. (click to read more)

Well, I might be a bit behind the curve on this one. The other day, I joined "Friendster." I have a few friends I know use it, and one of them sent me an invitation. It's a good looking site, actually, but about the most useless thing in the world. This is one that won't make my bookmarks list. (click to read more)

The New York Times can't make a logical conclusion. They run an article called "Minister Killed as Violence Breaks Out In West Afghanistan." Afghanistan was the last time we tried to create a democracy in the middle east. Iraq is playing out like a more visible, more rushed, less supported version of Afghanistan. And the future for Iraq is never mentioned. (click to read more)

George Bush said it. Yes, he actually said it. It was important enough to deviate from the standard procedure of having somebody else say things for him: "I think if you're gonna make an accusation in the course of a presidential campaign, you ought to back it up with facts." Why don't more people think this is funny? (click to read more)

OK, so Urban Outfitters pulled a shirt off of the market that said "Voting is for Old People" after some politically engaged old people complained. That was dumb. The sentiment is out there, and whether or not it is printed on a T-Shirt is not going to change that. I say with all seriousness that the slogan on the shirt is absolutely true. If they want to get young people to vote, they need to change some things. And censoring T-Shirts isn't one of them. (click to read more)

What do CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, BET and all of their variants have in common? Other than being owned by the same company, they've all been pulled off of EchoStar's DISH Network service. At least for now, DISH Network's "America's Top 50" plan is more like "40 of America's top 50". It's always fun to see companies fight (in a Gladiator fight-to-the-death sort of way) because they fight with impunity, but without the side effects of people-fights (like death and stuff). (click to read more)

Well, It's all over the news now -- McDonalds' salads have more fat than their burgers. This article is a wake-up call for all of the people who get their health food from McDonalds (I know you're out there). (click to read more)

Well, after all of the argument and discussion over "The Passion of the Christ," it is finally here. And, as it turns out, there wasn't much to argue about. There hasn't been any violent backlash against Jews. And in fact, since the movie was actually released, there hasn't been much problem with it. At all. From anybody. (click to read more)

In the midst of all of the coverage of gay marriage making submitting this article almost impossible, a court has ruled against California company 321 Studios, in a move that could make DVD rippers illegal, once and for all. 321 Studios made the software DVD X Copy, a program which would take a DVD and either store it to a computer hard drive or to another DVD disk. (click to read more)

Well, the Mayor of San Francisco has launched a fervent verbal and legal scuttle between proponents and opponents of gay marriage. And the sad part of it all is that they are fighting a battle that there is no reason to fight. The prize is one of semantics, and it has virtually no impact on the reality of life, even for those who are directly involved. In short, rational, thinking people really should ignore the issue completely. (click to read more)

A recent media blitz tells us that Ralph Nader is thinking about running for president again in 2004. Now, Ralph, you're obviously a very determined and principled man, but here's the thing -- you're never going to be president. I can understand wanting to make a point. But for the good of the country, make your point in a year when it won't undermine everything you fight for. (click to read more)

"Incidental Stupidity" was an appropriate title for this blog entry I came across a few days ago (and yes, the post really is titled "Incidental Stupidity," although for all the wrong reasons). Now, I've heard people defend the Bush tax cuts on the grounds that they give tax relief "to everyone who pays taxes", or on the grounds that they "just level the playing field," but this poor fellow's defense of the tax cuts deals a serious blow to the credibility of the internet. (click to read more)

The people on TV say Howard Dean is falling like a falling star. Once again, they prove they don't get it on the scale of a fisherman with no hook. Howard Dean is falling faster than a rising star, which is to say (for the more dense of the readers), that he isn't falling at all. (click to read more)

The president's commitment to space travel leaves a credibility gap that tells me that his statement was a political power play, not a sincere commitment. (click to read more)

This author has a weblog at http://www.rocksandpaper.com. You can read more of his writings there.

While the record industry puts more of its eggs in the basket of online distribution, they are moving towards making themselves obsolete. To begin with, individual artists are easily capable of doing everything necessary to distribute a WMA file online without the aid of a recording studio or record label at all. But the major killer will be that the first online music store will see the death of the entire industry. (click to read more)