×
- President Obama has requested $83.4 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30, although the administration was quick to note that this was not a reestablishment of the Bush administration's practice of omitting war funding from the budget in favor of making repeated "supplemental" requests. California Rep. Lynn Woolsey has come out against the request, although I don't see any evidence of the bait-and-switch she implies is happening.
- As this Politico piece details, the party's over for taking principled stands against receiving federal stimulus dollars. But in an effort to criticize the Gates budget that supposedly "cuts" Defense spending, Sen. Saxby Chambliss reminds us that government spending via the military is always efficient, economically stimulative, and downright desirable. (The budget actually represents an overall 4 percent increase in military spending.) Finally, Chris Good asks whether stimulus dollars will actually be used to shore up badly dilapidated infrastructure.
- I know Barack Obama sees "glimmers of hope" for economic recovery, but this Time editorial that boldly proclaims "the great banking crisis of 2008 is over" ought to be sealed in a time capsule. We'll laugh about it someday -- when we stop crying.
- I tell you, I'm really looking forward to watching these astroturf "tea parties" (or is it "tea bag parties?") unfold on April 15. I especially like that Fox News is openly shilling for these protests because they can't quite come to grips with the fact that there is no "popular wave" supporting them, and that many House Republicans are helpfully tying themselves and their party to this nonsense. But like Steve Benen, I'd really like to know what on earth these people are protesting, exactly.
- Let it be known that not only is Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) a bargain-basement McCarthyist for claiming to know that there are 17 socialists currently serving in the U.S. House, but that he is also a coward if he refuses to name names. Glenn Thrush, meanwhile, thinks he might know who Bachus talking about.
- Remainders: The Gates Defense budget gets a high-profile supporter; Olympia Snowe makes a big signal toward substantive health care reform; Rep. Paul "magical unicorn budget" Ryan has no idea what progressive taxation means; Ramesh Ponnuru, like most conservatives, apparently believes Barack Obama wants to expand the government for its own sake; and honorary degrees are pretty silly, but would it kill ASU to have a standard for distributing them other than "and ye shall hail from Arizona?"
--Mori Dinauer
