Tax Cheats R Us

President Obama's cabinet is shaping up to be populated with quite a few tax evaders. First, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner didn't pay Social Security and Medicare taxes from his employemnt with theIMF.

Now we learn that former Senate Majority Tom Daschle, Obama's nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, recently paid $140,000 in income taxes and interest to correct previous tax returns: he had unreported imputed income on an employer-provided car and driver, unreported consulting income, and improper charitable deductions.

Contrast the pass the Senate gave to Geithner with what happened to Linda Chavez, President Bush's nominee to be Labor Secretary in 2001. Chavez withdrew her nomination after withering criticism from the left because she gave money to a woman who was an illegal alien after the woman suffered domestic abuse. She did nothing illegal.

Likewise, Zoe Baird, Bill Clinton's nominee for attorney general in 1993, withdrew her nomination after it was learned she hired an illegal alien as a nanny and chauffeur and failed to pay Social Security/Medicare taxes. She paid $2,900 in fines.

One tax cheat in the cabinet is enough (actually, more than enough). Daschle's nomination should be derailed.

Surely, the Democrats can find qualified cabinet members who have no run-ins with the law. Hopefully, that isn't too difficult a challenge, even in light of the Blagojevich impeachment.

Atlas Continues to Shrug

State Farm Insurance announced it will drop coverage of homeowners in Florida after being denied a rate increase by Florida's insurance commission.

State Farm is the second largest insurer to Florida homeowners; its policyholders may now need to get insurance from a state insurance fund. The already-strapped state government will now contend with the ever-increasing liabilities it is accruing in its insurance fund.

If a company can't make money, eventually it will flee the market. There is no clearer measure of the failure of government intervention when businesses cease operating due to restrictions and limitations imposed on their activities.

And to show you that economic idiocy isn't limited to Democrats, although they sure do have quite a bit of it, Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist said, "Well, they probably charge the highest rates in the state anyway. I think Floridians will be much better off without them." And he wants to kick State Farm's auto business out of the state in response.

The UN: Jokers' Wild

A recent incident speaks volumes about the ability of the world to take serious steps to thwart Iran and other thuggish regime - ultimately showing how dangerous the UN is to world peace.

The U.S Navy recently intercepted and searched a suspicious Iranian-chartered ship. The search revealed it contained weapons, purportedly bound for Syria but suspected by the Navy to be bound for Hamas.

In either case, UN resolutions prohibit Iran from exporting weapons and allow nations to inspect ships suspected of smuggling them - but do not allow the ships to be seized.

So our Navy let the ship go.

This is the type of "pressure" on Iran we have secured from the UN. It is a joke: if the Navy can't seize the ship, Iran won't stop attempting to arm the terrorists Even worse, it deludes us into thinking UN actions are effective in pressuring Iran when they are not.

This is what happens when the authoritarian and anti-American regimes in Russia and China have veto power over coordinated international action. Along with outrages such as the UN Commission on Human Rights being populated by the worst human rights abusers, giving Russian and China such veto power and creating the false impression of "doing something" generally makes the UN a force for ill in the world.

This is Stimulus?

The Congressional Budget Office estimates 20% of the $825 billion "stimulus" bill passed by the House will be spent in fiscal 2009 (year ending September 30). The balance will be spent in fiscal 2010-2011.

Since the plan doesn't include elements that change economic behavior for the better, such as cuts in marginal tax rates, the purported benefits are directly related to what is actually spent.

So stimulus isn't really the issue.

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's chief of staff, said shortly after the election, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."

I wrote about this at the time, and now events confirm what he meant: pass a bill that gives subsidies to the Democrats' favored groups and pet causes.

But There's No Media Bias

The Wall Street Journal reports the Israeli army allegedly prevented medics from assisting a Gaza town during fighting in the recent war. The Journal's attempt at balance is one paragraph that says "human rights advocates by no means only cite Israel's conduct in the war."

But that one paragraph compares to the article's 22 paragraphs on Israel's alleged transgression.

Israel is a western democracy and Hamas is a blood-thirsty terrorist group who killed Palestinian "collaborators" during the fighting. Naturally, for the left, Israel's actions in defense of its citizens are terrible, while Hamas' actions to brutalize Israel and Palestinians are glossed over and minimized.

The Israeli military called Palestinians' cell phones to warn them to evacuate certain areas to minimize risk to their lives. Israeli hospitals treated Palestinians during the fighting. Never before in the history of warfare did an army do more to reduce civilian casualties.

In the meantime, Hamas purposefully violated the Geneva conventions that prohibit combatants from hiding among civilians, including UN schools and facilities, hoping to provoke Israeli counterfire to create civilian casualties - with the goal of achieving a propaganda victory.

And news organizations wonder why they are experiencing collapsing consumer demand. It isn't just technological changes, although that is a very important part of the problem. This bias infuriates many and has encouraged readers and viewers to explore other sources of news than the traditional media outlets.

The Line of Pigs at the Trough is as Far as the Eye Can See

The House of Representatives have approved a pork-laden "stimulus" bill that satisfies a Democratic-party wish list of subsidies and give-aways. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it is a pig fest.

For those who have been thinking it is a modern version of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps or Works Progress Administration, it isn't. Instead, it is laden with subsidies for Amtrak, mass transit, cable TV boxes, National Endowment for the Arts, child care, renewable energy, carbon capture research - if it is on the liberal agenda, it is in the House bill.

Special Envoy-Itis

Barack Obama has wasted no time in using one of the tactics from the "do something" playbook, by appointing former Senate majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy for the Middle East and former diplomat Richard Holbrooke as special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Special envoys create the impression that America "really cares" about a foreign policy matter and that we are doing everything we can to resolve a problem. As I discussed in a recent column, this may be good politics and media relations but may not be helpful.

After all, isn't this the job of our new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton?