Timeline, March 2010

Mar 1  American pundit Fareed Zakaria spoke in favor of the Value Added Tax on his CNN broadcast yesterday. This is a tax added to the cost of goods and services -- a national sales tax. Zakaria is upbeat about the United States and claims that the Value Added Tax could eliminate the income tax for 90 percent of taxpayers, balance the federal budget and fund health care for everybody. He adds, we need leadership in Washington. Zakaria points out that the Value Added Tax is used in 130 countries.

Mar 2  In the U.S., drivers are complaining that digital billboards are distracting visual noise and too bright -- in addition to being wasted energy. One complainer describes the problem as a no-brainer for normal people but apparently not for state legislators.

Mar 4  In Texas, the old strategy of running against the bums in Washington continues to play well with voters. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison ran with it in the 1992 election that took her to Washington. In a primary race for governor, she was smashed by her fellow Republican opponent, Governor "Rick" Perry. Perry associated her with Washington and portrayed himself and Texans as outsiders. He finished with a 20 percent lead over Hutchison and campaigned with slogans such as "Quit spending all the money," "Stop trying to take over our lives and our businesses," and "Stop messing with Texas!"

Mar 5  Egyptian author, Alaa al Aswany, is viewed on tape yesterday on the News Hour saying that in Egypt more that seventeen TV channels every day promote Wahabi ideas. He complains that "They are against Shia, people of Iran. They are against even Muslims who are for democracy, like myself, accusing me of being secular, against the religion. They are against Jews, of course. They are against Christians. They are against everybody who is not with them."

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