"...porque este pais es es es es es es un gran pais."

Waking up to the dulcet sound of this year's Congressional Budget Office's projected budget deficit numbers wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be. At $400 billion dollars, it's only the THIRD largest in recent history. (The first and second, were last year, and the year before last, respectfully)

These figures take into account some of the administration's request today for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, but they do not assume an extension. Nor do they assume the likely extension by Congress of some major tax cuts that were enacted in 2001 and 2003 and are scheduled to expire in 2009 and 2011. CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters that the programs would have to be reined in before that happened. Otherwise, he said, taxes would have to rise to intolerable levels or the government would have to borrow so much money that interest payments would spiral out of control. "You can't borrow it forever," Holtz-Eakin said. "I don't think you can say deficits don't matter. They matter a lot."

In other news, on the I-torture-detainees-because-I-can side of the aisle, it seems like AbuGonzales' nomination will be confirmed by the Senate sometime this week. Despite his pathetic Q&A with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this asshole WILL be confirmed by: Republicans that fear turning their back on the GOP trough that overfeeds them, and spineless Democrats that are too afraid to vote in the best interests of her/his constituents. Thank God for Boxer. Barbara "The Chainsaw" Boxer. Seriously. What's happening? I'm only 25, but I never in my life could have imagined that the word "liberal" would ever be used as a pejorative. I never thought deceiving an entire country into going to war would be rewarded with promotions and "medals of Freedom." I wish I had more in me. I have 50 pages left in a book I'm reading, and a couple of new magazines to digest and regurgitate.