Howdy folks.  The Queen and I are wrapping up our Mediterranean travels in Venice, Italy today, then some time in Atlanta and back home.  After breakfast we’ll head over to the market by the Rialto bridge ... some of you have been there and you’ll know what a spectacle that is.

Fact is, we’re being nailed by the weak dollar over.  It’s the worse I’ve seen it.  One Euro is $1.42.  Last night we sat at one of those outdoor cafes in Piazzo San Marco -- the ones with the small orchestras playing -- had two ham and cheese sandwiches, one glass of wine for the Queen, coffee for me, and two bowls of ice cream, and the final tab with tip was 100 Euros.  Even those of you who went to the Atlanta government schools can quickly figure out that the tab was $142.00.  Just Damn.

Finally yesterday I was able to do some catching-up on the so-called debt deal.  The house has now passed something calling for what congress calls spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling.  Liberals, as I understand it, hate the deal.  Oh, to be sure, they absolutely love the idea that they will be able to borrow more money to spend on various vote-buying programs, but they’re furious beyond words over the fact that there are no “revenues” in the bill --- and by “revenues” we mean tax hikes.  That word -- “revenues” -- is the newest progspeak for “tax increases.”  Just as “investments” is progspeak for “spending.” 

Before I head for the Rialto market ... just know this.  Nothing is more important to progs than taking money away from high achievers.  Class warfare is their religion and calls for tax increases on high-achievers are a form of prayer.  The moocher class, with their complete dependence on government, is their congregation and the producers of our society are the pagans; with the “millionaires and billionaires” playing the role of a collective Satan. 

Progs believe that the all people are the property of the state.  The poor are to be taken are of in exchange for the votes that keep the left in power, while the veins of the producers are to be drained of the products of their labor right up until the point that their very economic lives are threatened. 

George Bush is a object of blind, searing hatred for the left.  The reasons go back to the election of 2000.  His tax cuts are a wrong that must, at all costs, be corrected.  No matter what harms befall our economy, the despised Bush Tax Cuts must be eliminated and the evil rich --- who pay the vast bulk of all personal income taxes --- must be made to pay “their fair share.”  

I know that many tea partiers and conservatives are are livid that there is no balanced budget amendment in the deal and that some -- or most -- of the so-called spending cuts are actually reductions in future spending increases.  Well take heart that for the first time in decades there was actually a true battle over raising the debt ceiling, and the tea parties -- the people behind less government, lower spending and lower taxes-- won the skirmish.  But know this:  To make real progress turning around the disastrous direction we’re traveling the Democrats are going to have to be turned out of power in the Senate as well as the house.  When those who appreciate fiscal discipline and a personal responsibility control the house and have 60 votes in the Senate, and when Obama is back organizing on the streets of Chicago, then we can make some real progress in extending the life expectancy of this country.

Off to the market.