WHY THE BUDGET WILL NEVER BE CUT

Tax reform, Social Security reform, budget deficits, tax cuts....all the talk in the media these days about spending money in Washington essentially comes back to one thing:  the federal budget of the United States.  President Bush proposed his about two months ago.  It was a spending blueprint for Fiscal Year 2006, that runs between October 2005 and September 2006.  The proposed budget was for $2.57 trillion.   If you're unfamiliar with what a trillion dollars is, think of it this way: $2,570 Billion, or roughly 100 times the net worth of Bill Gates.  That's a lot of money ... more than most people make in their lifetime. 

And yet, with the United States over $500 billion in the hole this year alone, it has become impossible to cut the budget ... even by one-half of one percent!   Dishonest liberals, propped up by the mainstream media, decry the "cuts" in the budget.  Actually, there really aren't any true cuts in the budget.  Most of the proposed cuts were actually cuts in the projected growth of spending.  Right now, Democrats are whining about whether or not to make George Bush's tax cuts permanent.  We're told of the "cost" of being allowed to keep more of our money.  Think about that for a minute.  Imagine somebody mugs you on the street and steals your wallet....and when you ask for it back, the robber tells you he can't afford it.  There!  You got it!

Right now nearly half the budget goes to the Gimme Generation, in the form of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements.  These items are to grow at a rate set by law -- they will never be cut.  All these supposed "cuts" we hear about are window dressing.  And every beneficiary of the federal largess has a lobby, and that lobby gets media coverage.

Right now Republicans in the Senate are getting weak-kneed about making the tax cuts permanent.  Allowing you to keep more of your money is the only way to slow the rate in the growth of government.  It will never cut back itself.  Ever.

MALARIA

OK .. it's not exactly something we worry about here in the United States.  How many of your friends have dealt with a case of Malaria in the past few years?  It's just not on our radar screens.  The number of cases of Malaria in Africa is at an all-time high.  There is also a rather large increase in cases of Malaria in Eastern Europe.  Do you know that at one time Malaria had almost been eliminated around the world?  Now it has returned as one of the biggest killing machines in Africa.  Why?  Well ... here I go picking on the eco-whacko crowd again .. the environmentalists.  In this case they deserve it, big time. 

Here's a science quiz for you. What chemical compound has saved more human lives than any other chemical compound in history?  The answer is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.  (Can you believe it?  That word got by my spell checker!!!)  Most of you know this stuff by its shorter name.  DDT. 

Most of you don't realize it, but there is a book out there that some people call the beginning of the environmental movement.  That book was "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson.  The book was a screed against the use of DDT.  Though that book has now been largely debunked, it led to the head of the EPA banning the use of DDT.  At this point the worldwide effect of the U.S. ban has been millions of preventable deaths. 

Yesterday I told you of the role of the environmental movement in the cost of the gasoline you'll be putting into your car this summer.  That $2.25 you're paying for petrol is nothing compared to the millions the eco-whackos have killed through the DDT ban.

OH .. AND ANOTHER POINT ON DRILLING IN ANWR

Did you know (I didn't, until yesterday) that the small section of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge where some want to drill for oil was actually set aside for that specific purpose when ANWR was established!  That's right!  All we're talking about here is drilling for oil on a section ... a very small section ... of ANWR that was designated for oil exploration from the very beginning!  What's the problem here?

Do you want to see the price of crude oil, and thus the price of gas at the pump, dive for the floor overnight?  Just let the congress go ahead and authorize the exploration in ANWR.  The Oil Sheiks will immediately lower their prices in order to forestall a rapid implementation of any exploration or oil recovery that could cut into their market share. 

I guess this just isn't my week to feel warm and fuzzy toward the environmental crows.

CONSUMPTION TAX NEWS

Or, we could call it Fair Tax News.  Whatever you call it, the idea was featured on Special Report with Brit Hume last night on the Fox News Channel.  Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan had more to say about a consumption tax yesterday, and The Fair Tax has been showing up more and more in newspaper articles and columns.

The problem here is that we have so many people talking about The Fair Tax who are, at best, only casually familiar with the basics of the proposal.  Some compare it to a VAT .. though it most certainly isn't a VAT.  Last night I even heard a reporter talking about a blend of the income tax and a national sales tax.  Talk about a recipe for disaster. 

OK ... as soon as the show's over, back to the word processor.

KOFI ACCEPTS TERRORISTS

Hezbollah, an Islamic terrorist organization (that's right...there are terrorists who practice Islam, in case you've only been reading the New York Times) has been in the news lately.  The other day, they staged a rally in Lebanon, supposedly supporting the Syrian-backed occupation there.  Hezbollah is responsible for suicide bombings, deaths, kidnappings...you name it.  This is quite the evil bunch.

The United States correctly categorizes these bloodthirsty Muslim fanatics as terrorists.  So what says the General-Secretary of the hideous United Nations, Kofi Annan?  He says we have to appease Hezbollah.....recognize them, reward them.  He called them a force to be reckoned with, and by "reckoned" he means "formally recognized."

Soon, Kofi will be calling for Hezbollah to have a seat at the United Nations.  Who's next?  Hamas?  Islamic Jihad?  Al-Qaeda?  It is not without precedent that a terrorist organization would have a seat at the UN....the PLO has been there for years.

The United Nations is an Anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist, anti-American organization.  Why not get rid of it?  Certainly we can come up with something better.

OH COME ON NOW, BUD SELIG.  JUST CALM DOWN A BIT

Not that I really care, but the congress has subpoenaed a group of baseball players to march off to Washington and testify about steroid use.  Called to testify are Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Frank Thomas.

There is a legitimate reason for Congress to look into steroid use in Baseball.  Congress has granted to Major League Baseball a special exemption from anti-trust laws.  If baseball wants to be above the law .. then it owes a special duty to the American people, and that would include cooperating with congress while these abuses are being investigated.

What really bothers me here is the statement by Commissioner Bud Selig that these subpoenas constitute "An unprecedented use of government power."

Unprecedented, Mr. Selig?    Considering all of the lives of Americans that have been destroyed by the enforcement policies of the Internal Revenue Service .. and you call these subpoenas an unprecedented abuse of power?  A DEA agent steps on the head of an infant on a couch while tearing out ceiling tiles looking for drugs ... and you call these subpoenas an unprecedented abuse of power?  Landowners are put in jail for putting sand in a wet spot in their back yard ... and you call these subpoenas an unprecedented abuse of power? 

You've been living in your ivory tower a bit too long.  You need to spend some time in the cheap seats.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Good news today.  Cobb County, Georgia has decided that it will not take the home of Louise and Fred Maloney.  Chalk up one for the good guys.

Goodbye, Dan Rather.....it's been real.  Gunga Dan will ride off into the sunset, liberal bias in hand.  Actually, he's heading over to "60 Minutes Wednesday."  That  is, until it gets canceled.

It's been a real down year for liberals...they're starting to become completely irrelevant.  Ann Coulter is confident the left will be back.  Someday.

A soldier serving in Iraq says there is no confusion about checkpoints along the route to the airport.  They are obvious, and the appropriate speed at the checkpoint is zero.  'Nuff said.

Given the success it is having around the Middle East. Charles Krauthammer says it's time to give three cheers to the Bush doctrine.  By the way, he also says it was right to invade Iraq.

So what's it really like in Baghdad along 'Route Irish,' the highway between Baghdad and the airport?  Austin  Bay reports.

Right now The Hildabeast seems to be gaining favor with the public, but in a bit of a reality check, Tish Durkin reminds the left that Hillary is a lose-lose proposition for the Democrats.

Ever wonder what some of the most liberally biased, outrageous things Dan Rather has said over the years are?  The Media Research Center has assembled quite a dossier.

Thomas Sowell continues his series on judges, this time pointing out the dangers of judges who disregard the written law in favor of their own opinions. Excellent piece.

Will there be meaningful Social Security reform?  Maybe,  maybe not, but watch the next few months.  Robert Novak says we're at a crossroads.

CNN's Lou Dobbs has been on a one-man crusade against companies that outsource jobs to other countries.  Larry Elder says Dobbs is all wet- outsourcing benefits us all.

George Will says that almost everything that is designated as being a civil rights problem ... isn't a civil rights problem.

Yesterday, we asked you how to get rid of annoying chatters at work. Here are some of your ideas.

Also yesterday, Royal and Neal had a knock-down drag-out fight over WMDs in Iraq. Miss it? Listen here: stream | mp3 [12mb]

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