. . .a provision buried in the Bush administration’s tax reform plans. According to a very well-connected economist who is meeting just about every one with the word “economic” in his or her administration title, the administration is planning to disallow the exemption on federal taxes allowed now for state income taxes paid.

Oops, I meant the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This highest civilian award in the U.S. recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” Today, L.

First of all, democracy via the ballet box in this country is fragile. Look at this mess in Washington State. A friend caught this on NPR this morning. Some King County election official disqualified a number of ballots because their local computer did not have electonic copies of signatures for all those voting stored.

From my perspective, Donald Rumsfeld had some good ideas on technology and modern war at one time — and his and other’s notions on modernization and the revolution in military affairs made some sense to me.

Check out the New York Times Magazine this Sunday (page 96). Jason Zengerle has profiled my notion of “Stock Options for Soldiers.” I like the entire article — which ran among many in the annual New York Times Magazine ‘The Year in Ideas: A to Z’ issue.

I am in Chestertown, Maryland this weekend where I have a place situated in some back woods. I am at one of those points where I have two feet of articles and papers to plow through and want to comment on lots of what I’m reading.

Down at Cary Christian School in the Raleigh-Durham area, students are (well, WERE until yesterday) reading a book suggesting that slaves lived “a life of plenty, of simple pleasures.

Since the several posts I have written about how important it is to help those soldiers returning from America’s Iraq and Afghanistan operations, I have been flooded by notes from those wondering where they can send checks. Some soldiers’ familes are economically undermined because of the long-term deployment of the man or woman deployed abroad….

Any long-term readers of this blog will know that I am a great fan of Bill Condon and his masterful work on Gods & Monsters as well as his latest thought-provoking film, Kinsey. My previous posts on this are here, here, and here.

Christian Bourge at UPI is reading the legislation he is reporting on even if Members of Congress are not.