Final Word from Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Michal Horáček, a hard-working Czech entrepreneur and lyricist, told MFD that any progressive tax is a terrorist act. He wasn't entirely serious, of course, but he was onto something. Governments have so overused the threat of "terrorism" to deprive us of liberties and waste our money that it's time to fight back. If terrorists are those intent on destroying our way of life, today's politicians and other public officials qualify in many cases just as much as the inmates at Guantánamo. Instead of resolving the world's problems, public officials are amplifying them by making decisions that miss the mark or that benefit a chosen few. Budget-skimming has become the biggest growth industry. Just read the newspapers: Czech ministers, lawmakers, judges and mayors are making decisions on a daily basis that resound like small weapons of mass destruction. Time to add them all to the terrorist watch list.[Czech Republic parliament]
Glossary of difficult words
lyricist - a person who writes the words to a popular song or musical;
to be onto something - to have an idea or information that is likely to lead to an important discovery;
to deprive - to deny someone the possession or use of something;
inmate - prisoner, captive;
to miss the mark - to miss the target, fail to achieve the desired result;
to skim - to take, steal or embezzle money;
to resound - to echo, reverberate.