Computers, Pledges, and Syria in Massachusetts

So, what's been happening in the Commonwealth over the past week?



Governor Deval Patrick is back at the tax of things, and Governor Patrick likes to tax, and taking things is what Massachusetts residents are getting tired of. Massachusetts has the country’s highest computer software services tax (6.25%). Business leaders have complained not just about the cost, but also about the enforcement of this tax.



In California, no one gets taxed for computer services, but the tax revenue is declining in my state, and the Boston Crème Pie is well, not much to talk about.



Besides voter discontent, the businesses in the Bay State are not buying into this computer tax.So, “Mister Governor” Deval and his Democratic posse sat down with business leaders to discuss the tax, which means that they will not be doing anything about it any time soon. "We believe that the tax will bring in $161 million in revenue!" Don't you just love it when legislators project that a new tax will bring in new money, and then the money never comes in? Economics is definitely not a strong suit for politicians. Instead of taxing computers, perhaps the body politic in Boston should step up some cash for calculators for every Massachusetts residents. Let them figure out the cost of doing business or minding one's own business in the Commonwealth, and they will all find one thing in common: they don't have the wealth to live there, except if you're a mobster like Whitey Bulger, who now gets free room and board in prison.



While Beacon Hill is still looking for other people's bacon to spend, Massachusetts Republicans have united against the computer software tax (yes, they agree on something!). The two Peters (Blute and Torkildsen) should step up and take back their Congressional seats, and help the GOP win back the corner office in Boston (plus more legislators). Massachusetts GOP has found that computer games and politics can work in their favor. Republican Gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker may have backed away from a "No New Taxes" pledge, but he definitely wants the computer tax repealed.



Baker is cooking and looking good for the corner office already! In office, he and a rising Republican caucus (with stateholder Ryan Fattman) can end the Pac-Man shuffle, in which Massachusetts Democrats have been eating up tax dollars like the 1981 yellow video game star that never quits.



I Pledge Allegiance to No One



Massachusetts and California have too many Democrats taking other people’s money (if they have any), and we also deal with once-in-a-while militant atheists offended that their children must recite the Pledge of Allegiance with reference to the deity. In Northern California, one unbelieving litigant sued all the way to the United States Supreme Court to have "Under God" removed from the pledge. He lost because he did not have the proper legal standing to stand against the pledge. Incidentally, the same argument allowed the Justices to strike down California's Prop 8. Justices love to hide behind procedure as an excuse for activism.



In Massachusetts, an anonymous atheist couple filed a complaint against the Acton-Boxboro Regional School District, contending that since they do not believe in God, that they do not want their children to believe in God, therefore they are entitled to act like God Almighty and demand that no one else should mention God.



Besides the fact that previous courts have ruled “under God” a de minimus intrusion (it doesn’t matter, so quit crying), where does anyone get the idea that they can tell people that they cannot share or state their religious beliefs (and not mention their names)? A mere mention of God is not an establishment of religion, for a man’s freedom to believe or not believe is not harmed.



Have the parents ever considered telling their children to stay quiet for the “under God” part? Then they could keep quiet and allow the courts to do their job: strike down bad legislation (how about that software tax, Middlesex?)



Besides, atheists, Someone must have created this fun, (though too often tax-filled) world. Civic religion has its place, including a general reference to God (even if Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, has made war on Christmas and calls the evergreen with gifts beneath a “Holiday Tree”)



Markey Present (Not Accountable) on Syria



Recently elected US Senator Ed Markey (D-Maryland) toured the Commonwealth, and then voted “present” as a new member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Usually, a “yes” or “no” vote is customary, but the committee was voting on whether to authorize President Obama’s military strike against Syria. Such matters are too important for a middling legislator form Malden to meditate upon, apparently.



“Present” is new for Markey, since he was never present in Malden (or Medford). Former (and future?) US Senator Scott Brown frowned on Markey’s uncommitted cowardice. He should replace him in 2014, then pledge with Baker to protect Massachusetts from the ungodly tax-and-spend Democratic statehouse. Let the Commonwealth have tax-free software!



As for Syria, Massachusetts (and the country) have other tyrannies to topple (tax-and-spend statism at home and abroad).