The beard is dyed.



Let me take a minute to point out how hilarious this is. The dude supposedly is this ascetic, devout Muslim, but in actual fact, he's an image obsessed preener. I can't imagine that him evidently being so concerned about the color of his beard that he would dye it (while living in a cave, for God's sake) makes him look like anything less than a girlie-man (to steal Ahnold's phrase) in the men-are-men Middle East. And I'm thinking that in addition to trying to hunt him down, a sensible tactic would be for everyone to just make fun of the fact that he's obviously a total vanity queen.

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So, as I mentioned in my story in the American today, Rep. Charlie Rangel has been holding hearings on overhauling the US tax system today. In the crosshairs is the private equity industry, on which Rangel wants to raise taxes (like a lot of people these days, Rangel doesn't understand that asset-based moneys properly correspond to capital gains tax, whereas things like salary properly correspond to earned income tax).

I've just received a clip of Rep. Phil English taking Democrats (led on this issue by Rangel) to task. Check it out.



Phil English is absolutely right that the AMT is the Democrats' problem, and always has been. Only now are Democrats getting to grips with the idea that the AMT is hitting too many voters who they need, in order to stay in office. And with their pay-go rules, if they want to cut the AMT, they have to raise taxes somewhere to pay for it.

And, with all the venom being spewed about the left-wing blogosphere and liberal TV about overpaid executives and modern-day robber barons, private equity is the obvious target (the actual effect of the tax hike under contemplation of course will not be reined in investment gurus, increased revenue, or redistribution, of course, but just damage to the economy and decreased investment activity-- which is kind of ironic, if you consider that it's been private equity doing things like bailing out Chrysler on which so many union, i.e., 80% Democratic, jobs depend).

On a separate...

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For those who haven't heard, former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, my fellow Washingtonian, passed away yesterday. In addition, Rep. Paul Gillmor of Ohio was found dead in his apartment today.

My condolences go out to the families of Ms. Dunn and Rep. Gillmor. Both will be missed, but for me, Ms. Dunn's passing is particularly said. She represented the district across Lake Washington from my house until 2005, and was in many ways a role model to me as a fellow female, Republican Washingtonian (and a very successful congresswoman, it has to be said).

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