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January 26, 2004
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT WHOLE BALANCED BUDGET THING?
Remember when there was a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, and the Republicans made such a huge deal out of the Balanced Budget Amendment? They believed in fiscal responsibility so much back then, that they made it the very first law they promised to bring forward in their Contract on America (oops, I mean, Contract WITH America, silly me.) That's not me making it up or being partisan; they still have that Contract posted on the House Web site. See for yourself.
Now, less than a decade later, and they're in charge. And suddenly, balanced budgets don't mean so much to them. In fact, under their control, we've run up the greatest budget deficit in American history - $477 billion. Worse yet, thanks to Dumya's tax cuts for the rich, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that by 2014, we could owe as much as $3.5 trillion. Now, before the Republicans start whining about biased numbers, remember that a) the CBO is non-partisan; and b) even if it were partisan, the Republicans control the Congress right now - it's their own body reporting the numbers!
Guess it's a good thing for the Republicans that they haven't delivered on their 1994 promises despite being in charge for 9 years now, huh?
SHOUT OUT TO A NEW FRIEND
Just wanted to give a shout out to Marine's Girl at Across the River. Stop by and pay her a visit - and thank her for the sacrifices she, her Marine, and all our armed forces and their families have made in order to serve.
PATRIOT ACT RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
The best part of the State of the Union was when the Democrats applauded when Bush mentioned that parts of the Patriot Act were going to expire next year - which visibly preturbed GeeDub. Well, the Patriot Act might disappear a little faster than that. You see, Ass-croft and Bush seem to have forgotten about a pesky little thing called the Constitution. Thankfully, this federal judge remembered it.
HOW THE GERMANS SEE US NOW, THANKS TO DUMYA
You'd think that a president who sees the world in terms of "us or them" would be more intent on making sure there's more of "us" in the world - shoring up our alliances and making sure that we had friends who wanted to stick with us through thick and thin. However, this is GeeDub we're talking about, so the MO is rather that we try to piss away our credibility and alienate everyone who might otherwise be inclined to support us.
Thought I'd share the thoughts of Christian Hingst, who works as a speechwriter for Germany’s health minister, as quoted by Michael Moran on MSNBC. "Many of us don't accept the American way of doing this, that you ask the world's opinion and when you get an answer you don't like, you say 'to hell with the world.' I think we trust America less now."
Thanks, Dumya.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NON-POLITICAL
"The Manchurian Candidate" was on TV the other night - one of the ten best movies ever made. Outstanding film. Sinatra was never better, Laurence Harvey gives a great performance, and Angela Lansbury is a great villian. Then I read that they're making a remake out later this year, starring Denzel Washington. You know... I like Denzel, but man - can't they leave anything alone? Is there no creativity left in Hollywood? I'm writing Fortune 500 boring business speeches for a living, but the hacks out there who get paid twice what I do to write their own stuff can't even come up with their own material? They're an insult to writers.
You never want to see anyone get hurt... but as a Sox fan, I have to think that a little Instant Karma struck today. Aaron Freaking Boone, the guy who took his place along Bucky Dent in Boston sports lore, today ripped up his knee while playing basketball - in violation of his contract. He's out for 2004 - which leaves the Yankees without a starting third baseman. Right now, the Opening Day 3B for New York is Drew Henson. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I watched about 10 minutes of a new show today, and it is the singularly least funny thing ever aired on television. "The Jon Henson Project" is so freaking stupid, even the footage of Lawrence Taylor snapping Joe Theismann's leg like a twig gets bigger laughs.
We have more snow and cold forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday... which makes it official: winter sucks. I miss Florida more with each storm.
Tomorrow: before 5:00 EST, I'll post my New Hampshire predictions, and we'll see if I can get a little closer to accurate than I was in Iowa.
