Thursday, April 16, 2009

The lady doth protest too much

Several days ago a letter writer to the Duluth News Tribune claimed there was irony in an icebreaker being needed during global warming. Today in the Star Tribune a woman at one of the anti-tax "Tea Parties" was holding up a sign:

"My father fought 4 freedom, not socialism. Support our vets."

Hm! Does anybody see the irony? Wars need to be supported with taxes. Our vets pensions and medical care need to be supported with taxes. In fact, the Veterans Administration hospitals are the original "socialized medicine" in this country.

A letter writer to the Star Tribune pointed out that the Boston Tea Party was not a tax protest but a protest against a monopoly on shipping tea. The monopoly was putting many small tea merchants out of business. Many of the organizers of these tea parties are supporters of large corporations; many of these corporations have put small merchants out of business.