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Political comedian and provocateur Bill Maher has made some very interesting comments about his friend, the political commentator and provocateur Ann Coulter.

Now, heaven knows either one of these folks can annoy the heck out of me. On the other hand, when they’re on my side, hey, great to have ’em. Because you know they speak their minds, aren’t going waffle all over the place to appease a perceived audience.

And Maher says, “What I love about Ann Coulter is that she’s sort of a version of myself in that she absolutely never pulls a punch. Even when she’s saying something that I think is outrageous, it’s what she really believes and she doesn’t back off of it. That is what I find so refreshing and, unfortunately, so unique. I can’t name five other people who do that, who don’t calculate before they speak. If she believes that nuns should carry guns, then she’ll just say that.…

“She’s not afraid to get booed. You know how wonderful a quality I find that? Not afraid to get a little booing.… And if [people] don’t agree with you, what ‘s the worst that can happen? … I experienced what the worst that could happen. You get fired. So what? You go on.”

Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if all our political leaders lived by the same principles when they speak, they’re gonna just tell you what they really think? My goodness, the voters would know what their choices are. And even if you didn’t get re-​elected, at least you could sleep at night.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

They’re getting there. Working as hard as they can. Don’t worry. If you order stuff over the Internet, they’ll get to you eventually. Or so they hope.

Today you can still buy stuff from out of state through the Internet without paying the sales tax that people in that other state have to pay. But the states want to fix that. Taxing people outside their state is good, they think. So officials from some thirty states got together recently to talk about a way to make it easier to collect sales taxes online. They call it the Streamlined Sales Tax Project.

Streamline getting the tax from you, and getting the data about you from the vendors. Once that’s done, they can load the bazooka, take aim, and fire. Part of the plan is to bribe vendors with part of the tax take so that they’re happier about socking you with the tax.

Critics say that larger vendors, with outlets in may of the states, would make more money off this bribe than smaller vendors. Big companies would also have an easier time handling all the complexities involved. Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform, worries about privacy. He says, “Whether I’m buying prescription drugs or sex toys online, someone is going to have to keep track of what I bought so they can figure out how to tax it. How do you do this without massive violations of privacy?”

Oh, it’s a complicated project. Lot of variables. But they’re working as hard as they can. Don’t worry they’ll get to you.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The journalist Steve Lopez tells a story that now I’m going to tell. Just because I like it so much.

It’s about perfection. Or rather, a healthy attitude about the goal of perfection. It’s about a teacher and sculptor Lopez knows called Armand Mednick, someone who was “adored” by all the students at the grade school attended by Lopez’s son.

When Lopez goes to see him, Armand’s wife, Anita, tells him that the great man was out in back making a pot. The next time Lopez comes, same thing. He’s out in the back making a pot. So Lopez asks the sculptor how often he spends his time making pots. “Often as I can,” Armand says.

Lopez asks, “What do you do with all the pots?” A

nd Armand says, “I just keep discarding them until I make the perfect pot.”

“And how long does it take to make the perfect pot?”

“I don’t know yet. … So far, it’s been 40 years.”

Now, this is a swell story not because it shows the great sculptor being “humble” but because it shows him being ambitious. Nobody can spend his whole life trying to get better and better at making just one thing, a thing he always throws away. And of course, Mr. Mednick does not make pots for a living, he teaches and sculpts.

But his pot-​making is a great metaphor, a fabulous metaphor. It’s about always striving to be better at what you do, no matter what it may be. Don’t you wish the clerk at the local supermarket had that same attitude?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

There’s a strange thing going on at airports these days. It’s called treating everybody like a criminal. And don’t try to object, either, because then you’ll be treated like even more of a criminal.

That’s what happened to Adrienne Bundy. She objected to being searched and apparently was belligerent about it. “Belligerent” is a code word for “upset,” as in “upset about having one’s constitutional rights violated.”

As you may know, over the past year women in particular have lodged many complaints about abusive searches under the new airport security regime. See, brassieres often have a little metal in them. Anyway, Ms. Bundy objected and Ms. Bundy was arrested.

Now, the worst they should have done to her was prohibit her from going on the plane. All she did was refuse to be searched, after all. Nobody claims she slapped around a security guard.

But they did give her a way out, sort of. The judge would dismiss the charge of “aggravated disorderly conduct” if Bundy would appear at the airport and wear a sign for two hours a sign saying, “I am appearing here because I refused to comply with airport security.”

At first it seemed she would agree to that ritual humiliation, to escape a possibly worse punishment. But Bundy has changed her mind, and refused to do that too. Looks like the case will go to trial. All I can say is, good for her that she refused to submit herself to such sick and obnoxious treatment. And good for the rest of us too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Another dang-​fool proposal by a master-​planning columnist. Seems that a guy by the name of Jack Kelly has noticed what everybody notices if you fly at all: it’s torture now. Security procedures have become incredibly ludicrous and petty. I agree. If I have to take off my shoes one more time, I swear I’m gonna stop changing my socks.

Our friendly neighborhood columnist says, “I avoid flying if at all possible, not because I’m afraid of terrorists, but because I won’t put up with the hassles. It frosts me that the hassles do little to make me more safe.”

His solution? Increase the quality of airport screening by reducing the proportion of morons. Myself I don’t think that’s quite fair. The problems have more to do with bureaucratic lunacy from above than lunacy at the ground level.

And this guy would implement his solution by … imposing a draft. The only way to get as many competent people as we need as fast as we need them is “to draft them,” Kelly says. “Screening responsibilities should be turned over to the Army National Guard, and there should be a draft to fill the positions. A 15-​month period of conscription would provide a year of service after three months of basic training.

Draftees would be rewarded for their service with G.I. Bill benefits.” Great, less freedom. So not only would we have to endure the torture of being screened, we’d also have to impose this torture on others? How would I be able to sleep at night?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Jamie Escalante may be the most famous high school teacher in America. In the 1970s and 80s, Escalante developed a calculus program at Garfield High School in Los Angeles. The program was dramatized in a 1983 movie, Stand and Deliver .

Reason magazine reports that in 1979, Escalante taught just five students in his new calculus class even though such a small class was against the rules. Only two passed the Advanced Placement exam. By 1982, 18 students passed.

The Educational Testing Service thought that was so much success that it was suspicious, so they had the students take the test again. All those who did, passed. But such success was no guarantee that Escalante would enjoy a free hand in training other math students.

A new principal came to Garfield, one who was less sympathetic to the calculus program. Some of Escalante’s colleagues were jealous of his fame. A union at the school objected to the growing size of Escalante’s popular classes. Finally, frustrated by bureaucratic hampering, Escalante left the school in 1991. Garfield’s calculus program declined.

What happened? Part of the problem is the public school system, which is more of a bureaucracy than a market. Markets reward success. Markets are ecstatic about success. Markets pay you lots of money for success. Bureaucrats, by contrast, often regard success as too much of a boat-​rocker. Makes the class sizes too large. Gives you too many customers.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.