Russian tax cuts, bowling miscues

Tax cuts? Da! There are two ways of increasing tax compliance. One is to create a more intrusive government by giving the IRS more power to snoop into our affairs. The second is tax reform. Ironically, America can learn much from Russia on this topic. Two years ago Russia decided to junk [its Western-style "progressive" income tax] and replace it with a 13 percent flat tax. The results have been spectacular: Inflation-adjusted tax revenues have jumped by nearly 30 percent.

If former communists can implement a flat tax, maybe there's hope for the U.S. Congress. It certainly would mean less tax evasion, as lower tax rates and tax simplification reduce both the incentive to evade and the opportunity to avoid. And while it may not be good news for the thousands of IRS bureaucrats and the legions of well-paid tax lawyers, lobbyists and accountants, it would make life better for the American people. -- Daniel J. Mitchell, Heritage Foundation

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Bowl-o-drama: Michael Moore's Oscar-contender documentary, "Bowling for Columbine," pokes fun at corporate creeps and hypocrites in his crusade to figure out who is to blame for the gun-related violence in America. But we've found Moore's facts a little slippery.

TITLE: Moore titled the movie "Bowling for Columbine" because, he suggests, the two kids who shot up Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., went to a 6 a.m. bowling class on the day of the attack.

ACTUALLY: Cool story, but police say it's not true. They say the shooters skipped their bowling class that day.

MISSILES: Moore wonders whether kids at Columbine might be driven to violence because of the "weapons of mass destruction" made in Lockheed Martin's assembly plant in Littleton. Moore shows giant rockets being assembled.

ACTUALLY: Lockheed Martin's plant in Littleton doesn't make weapons. It makes space launch vehicles for TV satellites.

WELFARE: Moore places blame for a shooting by a child in Michigan on the work-to-welfare program that prevented the boy's mother from spending time with him.

ACTUALLY: Moore doesn't mention that mom had sent the boy to live in a house where her brother and a friend kept drugs and guns.

BANK: Moore says North Country Bank & Trust in Traverse City, Mich., offered a deal where "if you opened an account, the bank would give you a gun." He walks into a branch and walks out with a gun.

ACTUALLY : Moore didn't just walk in off the street and get a gun. The transaction was staged for cameras. You have to buy a long-term CD, then go to a gun shop to pick up the weapon after a background check. -- Daniel Lyons, Forbes magazine

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Appropriate first step for anti-missile system: With growing missile threats, the United States needs to move forward in developing an effective defense system. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appropriately called plans to begin a new missile defense deployment by 2004 a "first-step" effort.

No one is denying the technology needs work, but early deployment of workable parts of the system makes sense. Even a primitive anti-missile system could deter adversaries from attacking the United States.

The system would try to destroy incoming warheads by crashing into them at high velocity in space. Performance has been inconsistent so far, but it's improving: The last four of five tests were successes. In the unsuccessful test -- which was also the most recent -- the interceptor failed to separate from its booster.

Research and development should continue. And the administration should not discount threats of the low-tech variety, notably radioactive "dirty bombs."

But even a flawed system has value. A rogue state contemplating a launch would have to consider the possibility that its missile might be intercepted.

As the nation's anti-missile system evolves and its capabilities increase, the potential for an enemy state to blackmail a future president will steadily dwindle -- a benefit of incalculable value.

The limited system to be deployed, said Rumsfeld, is "better than nothing," a reference to the current lack of any missile defense.

The plan announced by President Bush this week would install six ground-based interceptors in Alaska and four in California in 2004. The following year, 10 more would be installed in Alaska and 20 would be placed on Navy destroyers. Work would continue on a sophisticated radar system, which officials hope will be ready by 2005.

Meanwhile, research will continue on anti-missile laser systems as well as a network of space-based sensors. The long-term goal is a "layered" system capable of intercepting missiles both in their boost phase and in space.

Decades ago, only the United States and the Soviet Union had credible ballistic missile arsenals. Now the technology is spreading throughout the Third World. Potential adversaries know they stand little chance of defeating U.S. forces tank for tank or plane for plane.

Missile technology was an end run around America's conventional military superiority -- and naturally, missile technology is where states such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq have been investing big chunks of their military budgets.

Cheapening the value of that investment will greatly increase the security of the Unite States. Bush has taken an important step toward that goal. -- The Kansas City Star

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Clinton sows racial discord: Bill Clinton has barely a passing acquaintance with the truth. He is a confessed liar and a disbarred lawyer. So when Clinton goes on CNN to spew ugly, baseless accusations, his remarks should not be allowed to stand unopposed. Referring to Sen. Trent Lott's controversial remarks, Clinton charged that "he just embarrassed [Republicans] by saying in Washington what they do on the back roads every day." This is the same old libel that conservatives are closet segregationists who speak in racist "code" to send secret signals to white voters. In fact, the GOP historically has stood for racial equality and a colorblind society, while Democrats such as Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Neas and Al Sharpton prefer to sow racial discord and play the race card for personal profit or political advantage. These provocateurs don't want racial reconciliation. They benefit from racial turbulence and, in calculating fashion, recklessly fire scatter-gun charges of "racism" against any who dare to disagree with the left's political agenda. In campaign after campaign, these race-baiting Democrats have fostered racial division to demonize Republicans and divide Americans. Many will remember, for example, the unconscionable TV ads that aired in Texas in 2000 linking then candidate George W. Bush to the heinous lynching of a black man, James Byrd. Sadly, such tactics are common on the Left. Yet Bill Clinton has the gall to accuse conservatives of exploiting race for political advantage. -- Washington Update