If we can get proper tax reform out of this current congress (doubtful), maybe we could abolish taxing income and wealth creation (abolishing the need for an IRS) and replace it with a simple, flat consumption tax such as the "Fair Tax" (HR-25) proposal.

There are numerous jobs that I wouldn't want to do (mortician, septic tank pumping, trash collector, IRS agent, etc) but somebody's gotta do it.

Although I can't imagine a viable use for hemorrhoids, I can still find useful jobs in society for attorneys (drafting contracts, closing real estate deals, probating estates, etc). :-)

John Mellancamp

We need lawyers like we need hemorrhoids.

"That is a lawyer's job and liberal or conservative labels have nothing to do with it." - Plantation Massah Mikey
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Wow, I find myself agreeing with the Plantation Massah twice in the same day! This is getting scary!

Everyday, attorneys "extort" concessions for and from corporations but that is apparently good lawyering...

That is a lawyer's job and liberal or conservative labels have nothing to do with it.

The usual charge that the ACLU is anti-religious always amuses me.{UNQUOTE}

I don't believe I've ever heard that the ACLU was all bad, or never did anything good - and, as I have said before, I used to think the ACLU was a force for good, I don't think that anymore.

And the point of your comment was......, er....uh....., well, just what in the flying hell WAS the point of your comment?

That must be the amusing part.

Guess civil rights suits in southern states during segregation was extortion too.

The ACLU is definitely anti-religion, believe me. Here's a partial quote from an article that appeared in the Daily Breeze.com website. If you go there you will only be able to read what I have quoted below. To get the rest of the article,ya gotta pay for it. I have it on my computer, and could quote the whole thing, but it is copyrighted, and I can't legally do so. If I had your E-Mail address, I could cut and paste and E-Mail it to you. The "Harvey Gittler" quoted in an earlier post here is very ignorant on the subject, and that is why he is so easily "amused" :

ACLU taking 'God' out of U.S.A.
Stan Katten. Daily Breeze. Torrance, Calif.: Dec 24, 2004. pg. A.13
Abstract (Document Summary)
The ACLU, once an organization that stood against the infringement of the civil rights of any individual or group regardless of color, sex, religion, origin or politics, long since has been captured by liberal attorneys who use legal extortion to gain their ends. Take, for example, Los Angeles County wasting nearly a million dollars to remove a small cross from the county seal that merely ...

And, yes, you will hear about ACLU defense of 2nd Amendment rights just about as often as you see P. Diddy at a NASCAR event.

Thanks for the inclusion of the Chronicle's op/ed piece.

With mixed emotions, I have to agree with Plantation Massah Mikey on this issue. (SHOCK!)

Although the ACLU occationally makes some questionable choices in WHICH legal battles it chooses to fight, I would not want to disallow their right to fight their chosen battles.

As the Chronicle's op/ed points out, the ACLU does to good works, especially for those without the capacity to fend for themselves in defending their own interests. But I do occationally question why the ACLU expends resources on some issues, while not taking on other issues. (Second Amendment self-defense rights come to mind, in numerous cases.) They are often quick to defend the First Amendment, but tend to drag their feet in the defense of other rights guaranteed by the constitution.

To my knowledge, the ACLU is privately, voluntarily, funded, and as such, I cannot throw stones at them other than sometimes question WHY they choose to take on the cases that they do, while ignoring other more pressing (in my opinion) issues at hand. But as long as my coerced tax bucks aren't being used, I'm not complaining nor would I support using the force of 'gummit' to disband this organization.

You certainly don't understand our Constitution.

But, if the reality is that these groups are adopting highways and marching peacefully, we should consider that great progress from their violent past.

When you respect the constitutional rights of people, the violence option is less attractive.

Please send your contribution to www.aclusc.org.

Thanks

Good job in Skokie!But try to spin that one.It sure increased ADL funding, thanks.

Here is an op-ed piece from the newspaper in the town I grew up in.

Story from the Monday, January 17, 2005 Edition of the Chronicle Telegram

ACLU supports religion
Commentary

Harvey Gittler
As sure as December brings Christmas, the letters to the editor bring messages telling how the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, is destroying the moral fabric of America and taking God and religion out of our lives. Let me explain a little about the ACLU.
In more than 85 percent of cases taken, the ACLU represents individuals who come to the ACLU, believing that their civil liberties have been violated by a government entity. In each of these cases, all work is done pro bono, for the good of the public, without charge by the ACLU or by cooperating attorneys.
Allow me to retell three interesting cases from the years I was active with the local chapter. The first concerned a North Ridgeville fireman who became a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. As such, his religious beliefs prevented him from raising the flag — a position upheld by the Supreme Court back in 1943. When it came his turn to raise the flag at the firehouse, he refused and was fired. A county attorney volunteered to represent the fireman. He was reinstated with back pay — all in the name of his First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
Years later, a class of sixth-grade girls in an Elyria school were strip-searched when one student reported some jewelry missing. Parents of 13 of the students called the ACLU, claiming the children’s constitutional rights against unreasonable searches had been violated. A local lawyer was willing to represent the 13 students — without charge to the students or to the ACLU. The case never went to court because the board of education’s insurance company settled, for a large sum of money, out of court. Again, neither the ACLU nor the cooperating attorney received any compensation.
Another time, members of Lyndon LaRouche’s political party were barred from distributing their literature — a violation of their freedom of speech. Another cooperating attorney had the charge dismissed by the judge.
The usual charge that the ACLU is anti-religious always amuses me. Many religious leaders have served on the board of the North Central Ohio chapter. Years ago, an Episcopal priest was a board member. I personally recruited a Catholic priest to serve on the board. He did so on the grounds that he could and did state that he was anti-abortion. For several years, a Unitarian minister served as our president and most recently a Lutheran minister from Lorain was an extremely active president.
The membership of the local chapter is representative of the state and national membership and includes practicing members of all religious persuasions as well as those who embrace no religion. The ACLU is not anti-religious. The ACLU believes in everyone’s right to follow his or her religious beliefs without the state’s becoming involved in religion, or religion becoming involved in the state, and without individuals imposing their religious beliefs on others.
Incidentally, the ACLU is representing the city of Hudson’s GOP chairman whose family has been prohibited from displaying a Bush/Cheney sign in their yard.
Many of the small cases the ACLU takes at the local level may well seem hardly worth the effort. But the ACLU acts on the principle of keeping the camel’s nose out of the tent. The loss of so-called minor civil liberties at the local level leads to the loss of major civil liberties at the state and national level. Or put more succinctly, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Harvey Gittler’s column appears on Mondays. He can be contacted at