Return on Investment

Tom Perkins (whom you may remember for suggesting that the rich were at risk of being victims of Nazi-style genocide) suggests that we apportion votes to tax dollars:

"The Tom Perkins system is: You don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes," Perkins said.

"But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How's that?"

Just like a corporation! Because the idea behind government is that you should get a cut of the proceeds in proportion to your investment! No, wait, in the public sphere that's known as "corruption". My bad.

Also, if I were more of a mathematician, I'd be (even more) offended by this too:

Pressed for examples of how the rich were being demonized, Perkins said that he feared higher taxes.

"The fear is wealth tax, higher taxes, higher death taxes -- just more taxes until there is no more 1%. And that that will creep down to the 5% and then the 10%," he said.

Yeah, not really sure that's how percentages work.

Distractions

For my money, Donté Stallworth has the best response to the idea that a gay player in the NFL would be a "distraction" for his team. To wit: an NFL season will always have distractions. If you can't handle one that is as clearly anticipated and broadcasted in advance as this one, you're doomed on the field anyway. That being said, Scott Lemiuex's contribution on the history of the "distraction" argument and other like claims which play the "it's not me, it's everyone else" game, is very good too.