A headline in the Circuits section of this morning's New York Times reports in all seriousness, "Ban on Nazi Items Upsets Collectors." That's the entire headline. The article reports on bans by Internet auction sites on trading in Nazi flags and uniforms. "The bans make no distinction between legitimate collectors like Mr. Peters and Nazi sympathizers looking for props to promote their cause," the Times reports. Smartertimes.com doesn't support a government ban on trade in these items, but the notion that the whining of "legitimate collectors" about the decision of private businesses not to deal with them merits a full news story with such a sympathetic tone is questionable. This Mr. Peters, recognized by the Times as a "legitimate collector," has an entire room of his house devoted to World War II memorabilia; the Times reports that "flags, most of them with bold swastikas, are pinned to the walls." This is obviously a subjective judgment call, but the way the Times handles this one strikes Smartertimes.com as slightly creepy, or at least naive. Why write the entire story from the point of view of the "collectors"?
Truncated Quote: This morning's New York Times carries an Associated Press report of a speech by Al Gore in Florida (the Times apparently didn't have the resources or the advance notice necessary to staff the event itself). The AP report manages to clean up Al Gore's humor, reporting that Mr. Gore said, "I often get asked the question, is there anything I would have done differently? I say, 'Yeah there is. If I had to do it over again, I would kiss Tipper much longer.'" This rendition leaves out the self-deprecatory and edgy (too edgy?) punch line. To get the full quote, check out the Orlando Sentinel, in which Mr. Gore is quoted as saying, "I would have kissed Tipper much longer at the convention. But she was struggling."
New York Mythology: The Times architecture critic, writing in the arts section of today's New York Times, claims that the Philippe Starck-designed interiors of the Royalton and Paramount Hotels are "the only environments that fully embody the mythology that people hope to find in New York." Guess he's never been on the Brooklyn Bridge or inside Grand Central Station or to Ellis Island.
Gift Tax in the Mouth: An article in the national section of today's New York Times reports, "If the gift tax is retained, the revenue raised would presumably make much more money available for repealing the estate tax." This is a classic: static analysis at its most dunderheaded. The estate tax and the gift tax are two sides of essentially the same coin. If the estate tax is repealed and the gift tax is not, gift tax revenue will decline sharply because instead of giving taxable gifts, people will wait and will their assets away tax-free. Similarly, if the gift tax is repealed but the estate tax is not, estate tax revenue will decline because people will give their money away tax-free before dying.
Tufts President: The national section of today's New York Times carries a full article on the fact that Tufts University has named a new president. The 1999 book "The Trust," about the family that owns the Times, notes that in the early 1970s, "no fewer than four Sulzberger cousins," including the current Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., attended Tufts.