Adults Only.

McClatchy's Kevin G. Hall writes one for the grownups...

At a time when Washington is wrestling with how to end federal budget deficits and trim the national debt — huge questions that are expected to dominate the nation's politics through the 2012 elections — the fact that Americans are under-taxed compared with U.S. historic norms is central to the discussion.

In fact, if you can remember a time when things were better, you're doubtless thinking of a time when taxes were higher.

A slight quibble - that fact that certainly should be central to the discussion, since it's essential to the solution, but I'm afraid Mr. Hall's maturity is largely absent in the forums where the discussion leads to decisions.

Always nice to see the truth in print, though...

It ain't the stuff they don't know…

...it's the stuff they know that ain't so. Roy Edroso offers 10 Historical 'Facts' Only a Right-Winger Could Believe.

Good summary of what we're up against. Forewarned is forearmed. Go read.

A factual random ten.

If I were to randomly pluck ten songs from my hard drive, they might be these ones...

The Mammals - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Pete Seeger - The Girl I Left Behind
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
The Shaggs - Philosophy Of The World
Emmylou Harris - The Price You Pay
Allen Toussaint - Yes We Can Can
Donovan - Wear Your Love Like Heaven
John Prine - I Just Want To Dance With You
Johnny Mathis - Wonderful, Wonderful
Greg Brown - Tequila And Me

In fact, they were.

These, too, are facts…

...real fact-checked facts. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)...

"Mr. President, in the year 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income. The top 1 percent earned 23.5 percent of all income--more than the entire bottom 50 percent. That is apparently not enough. The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent has nearly tripled since the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, the top 1 percent earned about 8 percent of all income. In the 1980s, that figure jumped to 14 percent. In the late 1990s, that 1 percent earned about 19 percent."

Slight satisfaction, I suppose, in knowing I'm not alone down here.

(And more thanks than I can possibly express to the faithful reader who hit the PayPal button and bailed me out for another day. There's milk in the fridge, bus fare in my pocket and my teeth have been securely attached to my mouth. Really, thanks!)