THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, May 26, 2011


7


CIVILIANS -- CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE UNITED NA -


by John J. Metzler Syndicated Columnist


TIONS—Amid the maelstrom of vi- olence and up- risings sweep- ing the Middle East like a ma- levolent sand- storm, comes the cherished and oft-naive hope of a Pan


Arab Spring, a kind of political Renaissance from which de- mocracy, human rights, and the sweet nectar of freedom will flow into the long-parched political landscape. Equally in West Afri- ca, the end of a brutal civil insur- rection has led to high hopes but often only produced stark reality of wider bloodshed. What remains a constant, is the humanitarian horror the civil- ian population which has been targeted by their own respective regimes as well as by the collat- eral damage of fighting among political factions as in Libya and Syria and the Ivory Coast. Addressing the “deliberate tar-


geting of civilians an or other flagrant disregard for their well being in violation of interna- tional humanitarian law during hostilities,” Valerie Amos, the UN’s Humanitarian Chief stated. Speaking before the UN Security Council Amos stated, “we have witnessed an unprecedented series of crises in the Middle East, and parts of North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. She cited the situations in Libya, Cote


d’Ivoire and Syria as particularly distressing. For example in Libya the Gadd-


afi regime is using high explosive weapons such as Russian sup- plied Grad rockets and cluster munitions against densely popu- lated areas. In Syria, she admonished, the Assad government has used the “deployment of tanks and reports of shelling of residential areas are alarming.” The ongoing violence against


civilians in the West African state of Cote d’Ivoire continues apace . Valerie Amos admonished, “Di- rect attacks against civilians, indiscriminate shelling, sexual violence, attacks against hu- manitarian workers and peace- keepers have all been reported.” She told the Security Council that even in the wake of the po- litical resolution of November dis- puted elections, “there are still an estimated 150,000 internally displaced people in western Cote d’Ivoire and a further 177,000 Ivorians registered as refugee in several West African nations.” While Amos stressed the com-


pelling reminder of the Secu- rity Council’s “protection of ci- vilians agenda,” she added that measures such as “demanded compliance with the law” and arms embargos and “targeted sanctions” are among measures the world community can use against such transgressors as Gaddafi or Assad. Interestingly India’s delegate Manjeev Singh Puri stated, “my


delegation would like to stress that force is not the only way of protecting civilians. It should be the measure of last resort. There can be no substitute for national will and national efforts in creat- ing an environment where civil-


ians are secure.” Germany’s Ambassador Pe-


ter Wittig stressed, “Regarding the Responsibility to protect, let me be clear: It is first and fore- most the responsibility of each See METZLER on 32


SLAVES TO WORDS We c o u l d


by Thomas Sowell Syndicated Columnist


definitely use another Abra- ham Lincoln to emancipate us all from be- ing slaves to words. In the midst of a his- toric financial crisis of un- precedented government


spending, and a national debt that outstrips even the debt accumulated by the reckless government spending of previ- ous administration, we are still enthralled by words and ignoring realities. President Barack Obama’s


constant talk about “millionaires and billionaires” needing to pay higher taxes would be a bad joke, if the consequences were not so serious. Even if the income tax rate were raised to 100 percent on millionaires and billionaires, it would still not cover the tril- lions of dollars the government is spending. More fundamental ly, tax


rates-- whatever they are-- are just words on paper. Only the hard cash that comes in can cover government spending. History has shown repeatedly, under administrations of both political parties, that there is no automatic correlation between tax rates and tax revenues. When the tax rate on the high-


est incomes was 73 percent in 1921, that brought in less tax revenue than after the tax rate was cut to 24 percent in 1925. Why? Because high tax rates that people don’t actually pay do not bring in as much hard cash as lower tax rates that they do pay. That’s not rocket science. Then and now, people with the


highest incomes have had the greatest flexibility as to where


they will put their money. Buy- ing tax-exempt bonds is just one of the many ways that “mil- lionaires and billionaires” avoid paying hard cash to the govern- ment, no matter how high the tax rates go. Most working people don’t


have the same options. Their taxes have been taken out of their paychecks before they get them. Even more so today than in


the 1920s, billions of dollars can be sent overseas electronically, almost instantaneously, to be invested in other countries-- cre- ating jobs there, while millions of American are unemployed. That is a very high price to pay for class warfare rhetoric about taxing “millionaires and billion- aires.” Make no mistake about it, that


kind of rhetoric wins votes for political demagogues-- and votes are their bottom line. But that is totally different from saying that it will bring in more tax revenue to the government. Time and again, at both state


and federal levels, in the country and in other countries, tax rates and tax revenue have moved in opposite directions many times. After Maryland raised its tax rates on people making a million dollars a year, there were fewer such people living in Maryland-- and less tax revenue was col- lected from them. In 2009, many people special-


izing in high finance in Britain relocated to Switzerland after the British government announced plans to take 51 percent of high incomes in taxes. Conversely, reductions in tax


rates can lead to more tax rev- enue being collected. After the capital gains tax rate was cut in the United States in 1997, the government collected nearly SeeSOWELL on 22


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