"THERE’S a lot of noise and flash in “Mamma Mia!” — both the show and the movie. But the three women responsible — for both the show and the movie — seemed restrained enough as they sat down to what one of them called “a proper English tea” on Central Park South last month." - RAPatton via Bookmarklet
This is playing that last day of KVIFF. It's opened nationwide in the U.S.? - Rick Powell
and the music sounds as a good jazz quintet. Some people call jazz a noisy brouhaha, I call it symbiose :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
I do not follow him (and other social celebrities) on friendfeed, because their relevant content shows up in my feed anyway thanks to my network which acts as a social recommendation engine. As long as enough people in my network follow, like and share them, I do not have to do the same. - Lars Trieloff
directeur that is your method and I hope it works for you! I like to broadcast my message to people who listen and value what I have to say! I do not need millions of ears that do not understand my music. - Igor The Troll
Igor, I'm not talking about "my" music - I'm talking about the music that comes to my ears through the thousand people arround. I didn't meant that it was the best way to "broadcast" (though it may really be) I meant that the people arround him are smart generally and the "noise" they produce by sharing their information, ideas... is very beautiful. - directeur via NoiseRiver
Well if you can filter thousands of people to get a few relevant messages good luck. I have a tight knit selective followers/following that I get my signals from. I guess I follow leaders from the relevant industries. It takes a little time getting to know them, but I value their opinions. - Igor The Troll
I follow Scoble because he has tons of interesting information on an almost daily basis. - Muthu Ramadoss
I follow Scoble cuz he is SMART, techie at heart, and funny! Plus he brings news of good stuff fast and draws amazing conversations around it all...neat! - Susan Beebe
This is true, but Scoble is not the only 'node' in the network. This is an effective strategy if you want to know what is new in technology, but that's often different than 'what matters'. Either way, there's a reason I stay close to him, he's a good person. - Jeremiah Owyang
Jeremiah, of course, he's not the only node. By the way, If you're looking for jazz, Scoble is listening to Eminem :) And yes, I don't know him very much but from the few discussions I've had with him I'd say he's a good person too :) Now, me and him don't agree on some things but I like it when I have someone who brings new arguments to the table. And, yes, Susan's right too: he's smart, funny and techie: a geek :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
I follow Robert Scoble first because his name jumped out of the cloud at me even as a Liberal Arts kind of dude. I continued to follow him as my impression was the same as Jeremiah's. He is a good fella. Plus as has been mentioned he is connected with all that is tech. His many freinds/followers bring in things I would not otherwise be exposed to. - Mathew A. Koeneker via fftogo
I am not against Scoble god, but there are other deities out there! Maybe you will like Amon-Ra or join Trollism! Or whatever other fancy that pleases your social pallet! - Igor The Troll
The obsequiousness towards Scoble can get mighty heavy here on FriendFeed... - Rick Powell
And that is why I have not blocked you or anyone else or their full feeds. But some days you really push the part of troll almost too far. Today, so far, not being one of them. - Mathew A. Koeneker via fftogo
Igor: let's clear this :) I, myself, find him smart, funny and as much as geek as I like people generally. I disagree with him on a few things. There's lots of threads in FriendFeed where me and him have "trolled" about noise and signal for example. We have different (maybe the same finally, who knows) visions of these things. But, still, I do respect the man and he has the merits I said. The most thing that is worth respect in him, IMO, is his humility. Let's tell it, he's just humble to answer, discuss and explain anything techy with just anyone. You can't disagree with this. - directeur via NoiseRiver
Ha Mathew you so kind! But I will not submit to the tyranny of the Scoble god. I have my own God and only He I worship. - Igor The Troll
boy am glad I Blocked that Igor dude! hehehehe! - Susan Beebe
I do often tend to push the envelop, but mark me, it is always for a good cause. - Igor The Troll
Susan, maybe I will block you just for Fun, and tell everyone on the internetz how enamored you are with Scoble! LOL - Igor The Troll
Actually, I just found out de Niro received the Crystal Globe, KVIFF's version of the Oscar, just before the fest presented Scorsese's New York, New York. Impossible to get tix for that. 4000 seats + all sold out! - Rick Powell
"Decrepit tub of paste Jesse Helms was yanked into the underworld by the icy hand of death today. He had just finished penning his fourth unpublished volume of homoerotic poetry when his bile-choked heart farted to a long overdue stop, causing his sagging carcass to declare independence from the world of the living." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
To quote Bill Maher on the demise of Jerry Falwell: Death isn't always sad. - Rick Powell
The Grime Riper! Rick who are you coming for today? lol - Igor The Troll
Who is Rush Linbaugh? (Honest question, I know nothing 'bout US TV) - Yuvi
Yuvi: he's a right-wing, neo-conservative radio talk show host. Have you seen any footage of Fox News? What they do on their network is based on Rush Limbaugh's work. He's one of the forerunners of the idea that news should include the commentary and opinion of the presenter. - Mark Trapp
Good move, Noah. It's the weekend and all. ;-) Yuvi: he's a right-wing radio host. His show runs daily on hundreds of stations. - Chris Baskind
Yuvi - he's got talent on loan from God. A conservative commentator with the largest radio audience in the U.S. - Hutch Carpenter
Hmm. Same thing happens here, kinda. Just that it's fed as *news* itself, rather than as *opinion*. The two major news channels are owned by the two major political parties here. Owned as in physically owned by the party leaders, financed by them, etc. More like propaganda machinery and less like news channels. - Yuvi
Hey, at least they're up front about it. Here, all mainstream media has consolidated into "the big 5:" 5 conglomerate multi-national corporations that are ostensibly privately owned. The one with the most share, NewsCorp (which runs Fox, Fox News, among other properties) is run by Rupert Murdoch, who consistently argues two things 1) that he supports the neoconservative movement and 2) it's not the responsibility of the media to provide objective and unbiased coverage. - Mark Trapp
Mark Trapp very interesting that we tend to agree! - Igor The Troll
Yes, they are "very" upfront - the logos for the channels are the party logos themselves ;) - Yuvi
Igor and Noah. I'm not entirely sure what either of you are doing here on my feed, considering your history and the evil you've spread. Which you are currently engaging in a productive discussion, and have yet to attack me on Friend Feed, you are attacking my friends. You are not welcome in my discussions. - Erin Kotecki Vest
I was willing to let them be civil, for the sake of my current jimmy carter role...but then I looked at their feeds. Apparently nothing has changed - Erin Kotecki Vest
Am I one of the only crack-headed conservative contrarians you allow around your feed? Be honest - how close to blocking me have you come? :-p - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Kids, (Igor and Mark) being upfront about being racists/sexist isn't really a point in their favour. Just sayin'.... - leigh himel
lol Mark. I love a good, intelligent, or at least respectful debate. And I have only ever blocked abusive idiots. If you start doing what they do, and call me a Nazi Whore and make reference to how I need to die, or attack my friends and all...then I'm blocking your Mashable ass. And not even Pete's cute face will save you! lol. But until then it's away too fun to keep you and your silly Ron Paul ways around ;P - Erin Kotecki Vest
Don't worry about Rush: he's going to work forever, since he said he won't stop until every American agrees with him. - steplow
I think the concept of "objective, unbiased" media is total crap. I once had an editor ask me to seek out someone from a known right-wing loon think tank to balance the right-wing think tanker who had expressed a moderate, reasonable (and EXPERT) point of view. Why should I have to be a vehicle for someone's spin when the point is the TRUTH? Murdoch is right. Media shouldn't have to be objective and unbiased, it should report the TRUTH. Truth has no bias. - Andrew Feinberg
I would say blogging, because I count micro-blogging as just a subset of blogging. Meaning...I have really made no choice at all. I still get to do both :) - Rahsheen Porter
Does FF participation count as micro-blogging? I participate in FF a lot more than my blog now. More convenient, easier to start a conversation and keep it going. No self-imposed timetable or post quota to keep up with to make sure enough people are interested in being part of my "audience" (it's built in with FF). Easier to interact with people and get more interaction back. Easier to find the answers to my questions. FF does all I really wanted out of blogging anyway. - Lindsay Donaghe
depends on my mood and what I want to say. it obv takes a lot less cognitive ability to microblog, but many more mainstream people read my blog. - Philip Ryan Johnson
@Lindsay Yeah I definitely agree. FF takes away a lot of my time that I would spend doing other things, that's why I've significantly cut my usage over the past couple weeks. - Shey
definitely would stay with blogging. I can live without things like Twitter. - Rob Diana
If had known micro-blogging / lifestreaming would reach this level, I probably wouldn't blog at all - Charlie Anzman
I can always find time to micro-blog... - Rachel Beer
Micro blogging == FF? If FF posts supported more length, formatting and inclusion of media then blogging would disappear for most people - Brian Sullivan
I don't think we have to or need to choose. Both are great for different things. - Tris Hussey via twhirl
more and more I am falling towards the micro blogging side. I sometimes think I should just get rid of my traditional blog. - (jeff)isageek
Since you did not mention IM, blogging, even though I do little of it, there are times a long public rant is needed for the psyche - Michael W. May via twhirl
Mini-blogging. Creating content while wearing a mini-skirt. - Andy C
98% of my blog's readers do not know what twitter is and they don't care. When I used twitter tools to publish an daily digest of my tweets, they hated it. So: The answer is Blogging. - Rick Powell
I agree with Lindsay. Post directly to FF. - Russellreno
This is destroying world economy and will cause the worse depression since the 1929 market crash the Great Depression! This will be an impetuous to America going to war with Iran. It is geopolitical. America and other countries can stop the Oil prices from going up by selling Oil contract Futures! This is called selling Short! By doing this the oil prices will come down! It is called market intervention and is practiced by FRB with regards to monetary policy! What is the difference with Oil and Currency? - Igor The Troll
Is there an alternative agenda reason brought by George W. Bush and his cabal why America wants high oil prices? - Igor The Troll
Sorry, but it looks mostly like supply and demand to me. I say, let it go higher. It's the only way Americans will ever learn. - Rick Powell
The problem is not about Americans but the rest of the world! When you say supply and demand, do you actually think supply and demand has changed since the 12 usd a barrel in 2000 (approximate date and price) I doubt it has, in any significance to influence the market. The price has been forced up by speculator commodity hedge funds owned by oil companies. - Igor The Troll
It's the Indians and the Chinese. They've all gone car-crazy. But no, I don't believe speculation has that profound an effect. Plus that's normal market economics. These prices are what the world needs, and particularly America needs, to break finally free of its oil dependency. And yet energy demand is never going down again. Never. It's painful but I just don't see any way around it. - Rick Powell
Actually I need to amend myself. In 2000 when oil was 12 usd the cost of extracting oil in Russia was 18 usd. Since the prices went up I would speculate we have more supply, probably much more than in 2000. As far as India and China goes I would say their oil consumption based on new vehicles has only marginally increased. The economic boon in China and India is only based in metropolises. I would speculate that only 10% of total population in these countries can afford a car. - Igor The Troll
I just came back from China so talking from experience. And my wife visited India not too long ago. I would really love to see a chart of supply and demand historical moving average since 1990. Maybe Mu can help us here, he is good with data. - Igor The Troll
Now could it be that the global economic leaders attended @amandachpel business seminar and were told to optimize the supply and demand ROI? I am being sarcastic here! Are they squeezing every drop of blood from us? - Igor The Troll
Rick when you say Americans need to learn that is not fair, because American people have nothing to do with this. It is the government and the oligarchy cabal of corporations that make this problem. Yes Americans relay too much on fossil fuels compare to the rest of the world. - Igor The Troll
America needs to go Alternative energy including Nuclear fuel as the rest of the developed nations do. I think Japan is 80% nuclear energy reliant. I am not sure about Western Europe but I would say between nuclear, solar and other alternative energies it would probably be close to 80% - Igor The Troll
From my remembrance of energy industry research paper I think America is only 30% alternative energy sufficient including 20% nuclear in that 30% I wonder if this is by design to protect the American oil corporations? Bush, Bush, Bush and the Carley Group! Saudis, Rumsfeld, Cheney! - Igor The Troll
Furthermore it cost over 20 usd a barrel comparable to produce Solar and wind energy. Something smells very fishy here! 140 usd a barrel? A geopolitical agenda??? - Igor The Troll
Ok, all this data is approximate but it is not wildly exaggerated by me. It is all verifiable from industry and US government sanctioned agencies. Please let us not be blind to this problem!!! - Igor The Troll
I don't really believe this, but that's probably because I couldn't grow a beard if I was given six months and one of those hair tonics from the Looney Tunes cartoons. If I don't shave, I just look skeevy, like I'm trying to sell someone a used car or something that fell off the back of a truck. - James Ferguson
Not all of us don't. Either grow it out or shave it off, stubble hurts! - Summer
Summer, that is I good point. I think it looks better, but it is like sand paper. - RAPatton
I like stubble, and don't mind that it "hurts." - Rick Powell
/off to return my new straight edge. - Russellreno
I don't agree on their ideas, but, I love articles like these. - Yolanda
@Rick Powel - unless you've found a way to kiss your own face, you don't know how uncomfortable it is! - Diane Ensey
Uh-huh, tell that to my wife... She hates stubble. Honestly, have those women who say they like unshaven men actually tried to kiss them passionately? Do they even know what it feels like? My wife tells me it feels like kissing sandpaper, and that her face gets cut up every time. That article's a bunch of baloney written for doe-eyed teeny boppers. - Raoul Pop
@Raoul Pop - ditto! My wife hates any scruff and is not tolerant of "face time" when I have not shaved. - JA Castillo
They didn't test stylized facial hair, only clean, stubble, and beard. I wish the article had the actual numerical results, I'm sure there were several outliers. Some women hate facial hair, but now at least we know what they're looking for in a man ;p - xero
Finally, being too lazy to shave has its advantages! - Mark Wilson
Summer and RAPatton have a point. Maybe not so much that the scruff hurts, more the fact that a good makeout session may result in bad molting a few days later... - Casey
but for the first day and a half, depending on hair growth rate, the stubble does *not* hurt, at all. bliss... - edythe
There are ways to keep the stubble from hurting. Conditioner is one. :-x - xero
So the stubbler has to time his dates with stubblees, - Russellreno
It seems that my "Stubl" makeup line for men came before it's time. - Dan Kaplan
Must admit there is something about a light stubble (guess that makes me a doe-eyed teeny bopper) but there are limits. Pash-rash is not a look (or ouch) that women want to cultivate. Think Bacall sums it up best with Bogey in 'To Have and Have Not' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... (at 1.46) - Patricia Hanrahan
Not for me... I guess it might look kind of cute on some guys, but in reality, kissing a face with stubble is not pleasant. :P - Cheryl Jones
when one is very, very smitten, one will endure even the microplaner stage of stubble to kiss the sheer adorableness of the one who sports it. - edythe
edythe, I agree :) Stubble can be very attractive in terms of looking at photographs and in good-morning-I've-just-woken-up-stretch-yawn situation but in terms of kissing, erm, not preferred. - Patricia Hanrahan
And when one is very, very smitten one will even endure to shave a beloved beard or even stache (even if one had publicly swore an oath to never do so again). *shrug* It is only hair. - Michael W. May via twhirl
Michael, amen to that. I liked my mustache. And I liked my "petit goatee" as well (weird name, but that's what it's called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...). And I had a beard as well for a while. But my wife couldn't stand them any more, so they had to go. The mustache was the hardest one to let go of, but I did it. - Raoul Pop
"No one disputes that Senator McCain served honorably in the Navy and is to be commended for his actions. He is truly an American war hero. But these events occurred 40 years ago and the circumstances under which he served in Vietnam (both in the country and under military regulations) are very different from those faced by service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Americans should be looking at his current record--and not lingering on his past one to see just how much he understands about this war and how committed he is to this country's troops." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
Is this audio player a new FF feature that just came out? - Tsega D
@Tsega: Sure is, check out their latest blog post. Unless you're referring to FireFox, in which case this whole comment will be confusing the heck out of everyone. - Richard Hemmer
yep and i reblogged Joe Laz's post about it on my tumblr. :D - edythe
@Richard: Man, they're unstoppable. Thanks for the heads up. And yes, as of recent, FF has taken on to mean Friendfeed for me and most others. - Tsega D
this is cool, but unfortunately when i click play the buttons disappear! - Samuel Bostock
alas, the mp3s are not showing up as embedded when they appear here on FF. - edythe
Ok, I have a dead tower for a few days and what music player? I am trying to cheat and get me updates on FF. - Mathew A. Koeneker via fftogo
Showing up for me. Using a Fluid web instance. - Rick Powell
Hey Joe - do you mind if I import the LASTBUTNOT feed into the Shared Tunes room? - Mike Doeff
"It seems to me that we demand accountability from our politicians and we should demand accountability from our intellectuals. Not that they always get things right - but that they give a full accounting when they are wrong. Instead we reward and celebrate those who not only get things wrong - Kristol and Rove now have prominent columns in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal - but those who have never taken personal responsibility for their own mistakes. Until we purge all these tendencies from Washington, we will not learn from history and we will keep repeating it." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
"Hilarious catch of an auto-correction tool for Christianist filtered news-sites. The AP's Tyson Gay is renamed to avoid trespassing on Christianist sensibilities:" - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
"Denmark introduced gay marriage in 1989 and went on to win the European Championship in 1992 - surely (football fans around the world would agree) an impossible event." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
"A senior police officer said action would not be taken against the relatives. "We can't say the relatives pushed the women into suicide. They might have verbally abused them, but that was to bring them back to normal life," a senior police officer said. " - Yuvi via Bookmarklet
As a society, we've come so far, but the people of which society is made will, it seems, never change. - Slippy Lane
Check out the comments on the article too. As good as the article itself - Yuvi
Wow, Ayan Roy really goes off! He says: "Indian culture! Indian Culture!! Indian Culture!!! Indian culture my foot! What the f**k exactly is "Indian culture"?? A culture of cowardliness, casteism, hypocrisy, stupidity, filth, bigotry, discrimination, narrow mindedness, cruelty, laziness, fatalism and superstitions? What is so great in the Indian culture that we should be so proud of?? What glory has India exactly achieved in this world now following it's great culture???" - Rick Powell
I'm pretty proud of Ayan. Never knew him though. (BTW, better quote that, lest someone think it was from you. It *could* turn nasty) - Yuvi
Also people, I would recommend that you comment there as well - FF is not as popular as Twitter (which itself ain't that popular) in India - Yuvi
Good point, Yuvi. Edited now. I have uttered an almost exact same rant before, only inserting American in place of Indian. It feels good to rant some times. Plus, I don't see how anyone could read that article and not feel rage. - Rick Powell
No offense, but many cultures have much about them that we do not like, and while you may feel strongly about it, such an apparently racist sentiment does nothing for the cause, in my opinion. There will be homophobes and racists, no matter what the culture, and each is equally entitled to hold his views. - Slippy Lane
Rick: Actually, American Culture is looked upon here (atleast by the newer generation) I never expected it to be as it is (Racism, Homophobia, Religion/Politics) America (As US is fondly called here) is a dream place.... - Yuvi
@Slippy: http://friendfeed.com/e/f7e599... Being Homosexual is illegal in India (It's an act "against the order of Nature") punishable by imprisonment upto 10 years. - Yuvi
I know, Yuvi, but that's not the fault of the culture, so much as the state. Change the laws, and society will follow. I live in Luton, England, which has a vast, multicultural population, and so am exposed to the positive and negative aspects of many cultures. We all have to live together here, and we do, for the most part. In England, discrimination on the grounds of race, age and sexual orientation are illegal, and this has done a lot to help change the opinions of the people who call this place home. - Slippy Lane
@slippy The progress of the gay civil rights movement in America indicates that laws don't necessarily come first, and that laws don't necessarily change hearts and minds. The fight for marriage equality has taken place in both spheres, simultaneously, and I would say it's the change in the wider culture, particularly the younger generation, that has been the driving engine and not the other way around. - Rick Powell
Rick: I won't speak for other cultures, but you're absolutely right about the U.S. Laws (and the interpretation thereof) follow the culture, rather than leading it. - Roger Benningfield
It's the American way, I think, and not a bad one. - Rick Powell
Fair point, Rick, but I would suggest that in a state which outlaws homosexuality, nothing can change without a change in the law - Slippy Lane
It depends on how consistently that law is enforced. Even before American sodomy laws were struck down, the laws themselves were rarely enforced. A quite lively, and not really so underground gay life exists in a sexually repressive country like Egypt. People live, love, form communities and try to have fun whatever the laws of their countries say be about their sexualities. At some tipping point, those people organize and fight for equality. - Rick Powell
But the culture came first, and an investment in that culture, along with a recognition of the worth of that culture or else there would have been nothing worth fighting for. - Rick Powell
"The targeted offenses: if you are stolen, call the police at once. please omnivorously put the waste in garbage can. deformed man lavatory. For the past 18 months, teams of language police have been scouring Beijing on a mission to wipe out all such traces of bad English signage before the Olympics come to town in August. They're the type of goofy transgressions that we in the English homelands love to poke fun at, devoting entire Web sites to so-called Chinglish. (By the way, that last phrase means "handicapped bathroom.")
But what if these sentences aren't really bad English? What if they are evidence that the English language is happily leading an alternative lifestyle without us?" - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
"Sometimes candidates are cocky for a reason. And behind Obama’s cockiness is a steely ambition that has already upended the formidable Clintons. I wouldn’t bet against him." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
I didn't mean it in that way (I presume you are talking about the post about lesbian couples). Was merely commenting on the odd sounding juxtaposition of "Man, girls" in his sentence :-) - David Adam
I am slow on the uptake today, I guess. - Rick Powell
@Rick: Just that I find Donato faving pics that seem to contain girls a lot more than others. Atleast, that's the narrow minded, short-sighted, ignorant pseudo-conclusion I can come to. - Yuvi
Yuvi: What's your point? Other people fave a lot of puppies, a lot of kittens, a lot of children, a lot of sunsets, etc. I don't get why you have to comment every time Donato faves photos of women. - Michael Hocter
Yuvi: I don't begrudge you broaching the subject... I just hope Donato doesn't let your commentary alter his behavior. He likes what he likes, and the danger of something like Friendfeed is that any of us could end up watering down our POV to suit the audience. - Roger Benningfield
Yuvi: Having said that, what are you really trying to get at? What does Donato's favorite list suggest to you? - Roger Benningfield
@Roger: I was trying to be funny. Apparently, I was a big FAIL. - Yuvi
@Roger Keep in mind that Yuvi and VoyagerXXXX are 17. Humor can a bit sophomoric at early ages for males... Personally, yuvi I liked the "girls" and "man girls" comments. Luckily, I haven't fallen for a "man girl" yet. :-) - Mitchell Tsai
No worries. I know how easy it is for sarcasm and jokes to be misinterpreted online. I can see how his comments could be a joke. I'm sorry if I didn't take it that way. - Donato via twhirl
Yuvi: My apologies! I thought you were joking at first, but as it went on, I started getting the feeling you were serious. Shoulda stuck with my initial reaction - Roger Benningfield
Homosexuality, or more explicitly, a "sexual act against the order of nature", is punishable by either a fine or/and 10 years in prison. http://kalyan.livejournal.com/... - Yuvi
oh my, that's sad. Really really sad. - Rick Powell
check out some quotes from the link: "Added another young man: "Why can't people be normal? This is so weird."" ""There are so many problems and all these people want to talk about is sex."" - Yuvi
The struggle continues. Evidently the first gay pride parade in the Czech Republic didn't go so well yesterday. Skinheads showed up and it turned into a riot. - Rick Powell
"The Federal Marriage Amendment is reintroduced. And with perfect symbolism, its sponsors are Larry Craig, whose own marriage is based on a lie, and prostitute-client and foe of HIV-positive tourists, David Vitter. But it's committed gay couples who threaten marriage! And people wonder why some of us are sick of the Republican party." - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
Some politicians have all the self-awareness of an IKEA table lamp, and none of the irony. - Rick Powell
"Openly Gay Army Sergeant Discharged Under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”" - Rick Powell via Bookmarklet
"Manzella, 30, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While under fire on the streets of Baghdad, he provided medical care to his fellow soldiers, Iraqi National Guardsmen and civilians. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge, and also received several other awards recognizing his courage and service." - Rick Powell
Sullivan: Government's primary concern is to raise money as efficiently and as leanly and as equally as possible. I'm happy with the government then setting up programs to assist the poor, to provide better education for those at the bottom, safety-net healthcare and better policing. i.e. to gear spending toward social ends that might help the poor the most. These are measurable, practical goods. What I'm not happy with is the assumption that tax policy should really be about redistributing wealth, and engineering substantive economic outcomes. Yes, of course, at lower income levels, a 20 percent flat income tax will be more onerous proportionally than at higher incomes. So what? Why should that even concern a government that is not aiming to socially engineer more substantive equality? and the alternative - skewing taxes to target success - is an absurd set of incentives to put into a growing society. - Rick Powell
