Speaking of...

Has the religious right finally gone too far? (The actual title of that article is "Jumping the Shark for Jesus" - funny.)

Speaking of going too far, did the NRA really say that teachers should arm themselves in order to prevent further student attacks? Because, I suppose, it's so clear that more guns are the answer.

And that reminds me (because this is the way my brain works, in a series of leaps) that there's a billboard on the way to work about an NRA gun show, and it's bugging the crap out of me. I didn't even know the NRA had gun shows, first of all - although I certainly don't know why that should surprise me. And this being Texas, I'm sure there's plenty of people for whom the NRA's name is a good selling point. For me, being reminded of the NRA's existence in 10-foot capitals before 8am every morning just makes me want to scream.


Apparently I missed this Wall Street Journal editorial about Our Representative DeLay:

Whether Mr. DeLay violated the small print of House Ethics or campaign-finance rules is thus largely beside the point. His real fault lies in betraying the broader set of principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, sooner or later will sweep him out.

(Found via Burnt Orange Report, because even though I pay for the online Wall Street Journal I don't read it half the time, sadly.)

Schiavo aftermath

Jeff Jarvis has a good roundup of right-leaning weblogs commenting on the split in the Republican party which has been brought to the fore (but not caused, by any means) by the Schiavo case.

Somewhere in one of the links on that page, somebody suggests that the scapegoat for all of this mess could end up being everybody's favorite majority leader, DeLay. Which reminds me that these people think you should pray for DeLay. (Actually, so do I - assuming you're a praying person at all. But probably not for the same reasons.) (Found via Burnt Orange Report.)

And in case you're interested (and you're in Texas), here's some information on living-will-type stuff for Texas.

On the bright side...

I'm beginning to think that the Houston Chronicle is tired of Tom DeLay. And I'm even more happy to see that the public is not fooled by all of the Congressional antics this weekend.

Other than that, I'm not commenting on the whole Schiavo fiasco because it makes me too damn mad.

Texas, our Texas

Texas Lawmaker Wants End to 'Sexy Cheerleading'. Now, in all fairness, the Texas Legislature only meets every other year, and every time they do there's a flurry of ridiculous proposals like this one, most of which go nowhere. So I don't really bother getting to worked up about things like this unless it starts looking like it really might pass. But still.

(Link from Fleshbot - naturally.)

-------------------------------------

And in national news....here's the Wall St. Journal:

If the myth of a cohesively dominant Republican majority in Congress needed any more debunking, last night's dueling budget votes in the House and Senate did so.

Senators reject cuts to Medicaid. Go, Senators! Of course they also added some extra tax cuts for wealthy people while they were at it, so I'm not sure portraying them as the good guys is really warranted. Just the same, anything that involves the administration getting its ass kicked tends to make me very happy.

-------------------------------------

Is it ok if I stop pointing out that the New York Times requires registration? Everybody knows that, right? Because I'm tired of saying it. And they have articles you can't find other places so I just suck it up and log in, myself. You don't have to do that, of course, but just be aware that I'm going to keep linking to them.

'Pixaren't'

From a Wall St. Journal e-mail:

The widely held consensus among Disney watchers is that Robert Iger, its newly named chief executive, will likely make one of his primary tasks the repair of a relationship with Pixar that fell apart under Michael Eisner. But the Los Angeles Times reports that in addition to any ill will between the two companies, he faces a big obstacle: Pixaren't. "That's what animators have dubbed a nondescript white warehouse in Glendale that Disney recently transformed into a factory to produce sequels to Pixar movies, including 'Toy Story,' 'Finding Nemo' and 'Monsters, Inc.,' " the Times says. "Cars," due out in 2006, is the last production under the current Disney-Pixar contract, but Disney has the right to make sequels to all Pixar films made during their partnership, which includes the whole Pixar stable to date. And "some believe it could hinder Iger's efforts to make peace with Pixar chief Steve Jobs," the Times says.

Propaganda, overt and covert

Paul Wolfowitz is a "skilled diplomat" - according to the President - and therefore Bush is nominating him to head the World Bank. That man creeps me out. Therefore, I really don't like the idea of putting him out there where people from other countries have to look at him.

A long piece from the NYTimes (and of course, registration presumably required) about those prepackaged news pieces the administration has been putting together so prolifically. (So many, nobody seems to know how many of them there are, says the article.)

DeLay and deny

Available Light linked to this Washington Post article (registration undoubtedly required) about the Majority Leader's vulnerability in his own district. My mother is now in his district, thanks to that godawful redistricting plan of his, and she is one of the 45% who did not vote for him. Sometimes I really, really love my mother.

Budgets, budgets everywhere

We are entering budget season at work, so it really does feel like the dang budgets are inescapable. Nevertheless, here's some stuff about the federal budget.

First of all, did you know we are running deficits? Well, ok, maybe we all do know that, but $113 billion last month? (You notice this came from Canadians. I haven't seen a word about it in the American press so far.) (Adding on to say that it did turn up later in the day a couple of places.)

And then there's this one, which I'm posting in its entirety since it's (a) relatively short, (b) came in an e-mail and (c) presumably isn't posted anywhere easily accessible:

The Budget Battles Begin in Washington

By JOSEPH SCHUMAN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

Congress's first formal response to President Bush's budget proposals offers to enact much of what he wants and some of what he doesn't – with Senate Republicans rebelling against some tax-cutting plans.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate introduced budget resolutions for the coming fiscal year that would cut billions of dollars in spending for veterans, agriculture, education and health-care programs while making room for as much as $106 billion in tax reductions over the next five years, the Washington Post reports. And for the first time since 1997, the budgets they outline would slow the growth of entitlement programs, including the Medicaid health-care program for the poor, student loans, and veteran health programs. The House plan seeks $69 billion in entitlement savings over five years, more than twice what the president requested, while the Senate would slash $32 billion. Discretionary spending targeted for cuts by the House would include the international-affairs budget, as well as programs for the environment, farming, housing, transportation and education. The Senate approach is more modest, the Post says, but as The Wall Street Journal notes, budget resolutions are typically more fiscal-planning documents than real law. Committees will write the actual legislation in the coming months.

The competing blueprints rolled out by House and Senate Republicans share Mr. Bush's goal of cutting last year's $412 billion deficit in half, and both represent what the Journal calls "a fundamental retrenchment for the government and mark the most ambitious effort in at least eight years to address the growth in benefit programs." Their biggest divergence is over tax cuts. Mr. Bush's plans to extend his tax cuts over the next five years ran into significant resistance in the Senate, where Republican leaders would undo more than a quarter of the cuts Mr. Bush requested, the New York Times reports.

Uneasy about the potential impact on the ballooning federal deficit, the Senate Republicans called for just $70.2 billion in tax cuts in that time, as opposed to the $100 billion sought by the White House. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg suggested reductions on capital-gains and dividend taxes would be extended, the Times says. The proposal to scale back the tax cuts comes at a time when Senate Republicans are "also feeling queasy" about White House plans for Social Security, the Times notes, adding that even the more modest tax cuts weren't enough to mollify some Republican moderates.

I'm glad to know that somebody is worried about the deficit, since our esteemed President doesn't seem to care.

ADD post

Darnit, there was something yesterday that I wanted to post and I don't remember what it was. I need to start calling and leaving myself voice-mails from the car. Or something. (Don't laugh. It's hell having a bad short-term memory!)

Mt. St. Helens burped.

Aww. Domesticated foxes. Just what I need, a new animal to ooh over. (From Heaneyland!)

Spring fever

Maybe I should start a baseball blog, because that seems to be all I'm interested in posting about today. It's the first day of spring training games! (And the Astros lost! but whatever - that's not really the point in spring training games, is it?) More likely you guys are just going to have to put up with hearing about baseball from time to time, just like you did last year, since I think another weblog would be overkill.

Apparently there are an awful lot of people willing to put the time into it, though - get a load of this.