America's Ruling Class: Truly Vexed by Seemingly Intractable Issues

Remember that recent essay at the American Spectator by Angelo M. Codevilla on “America’s Ruling Class?” Finally, John Kerry, the ol’ Winter Soldier himself, has solved their long national yacht parking nightmare:

Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.

Isabel – Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage – was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.

But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabel’s hailing port is listed as “Newport” on her stern.

Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven – like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau – for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

Meanwhile, at Ricochet, Adam Freedman alerts us to another pressing issue vexing elites in the New England region:

Greetings all — just back from ten days on Martha’s Vineyard, and ready to report back to my fellow earthlings. Aside from Obama bumper stickers, what I mostly saw around the Vineyard was the following sign:

Cape Wind is the massive wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. The windmills will spoil a lot of oceanfront views and so the otherwise uber-liberal residents of the Cape and Islands have united in a classic NIMBY protest.

Personally, I think Cape Wind is a massive white elephant. But I still find myself cheering for it, because I so dearly want the liberals to live with the consequences of their nonsensical promotion of “alternative” energy.

Just take a look at the website for the “Save Our Sound” organization: it’s hilarious to see liberals tie themselves up in knots to justify their opposition to Cape Wind. The organization objects that the windmills aren’t economically viable and it decries the “special privileges” being granted to the wind industry by state and federal government. So far, so good. But then, under the heading “Alternatives to Cape Wind” the organization promotes solar, geothermal, and even windmills — as long as they’re someplace else (no, I’m not kidding). No mention of oil, gas, or nuclear.