While you were busy watching looting in the streets of Baghdad, you missed the looting in Washington.
In the dead of night – or morning, it was just before dawn – Congress passed a record $2.27 trillion budget, including ridiculously high tax cuts of $550 billion, slanted heavily toward the richest 1 percent of Americans. Then today, the Senate squeaked it through with a 50-50 tie, destined to be broken by our favorite guy, Dick Cheney. This budget will result in the largest deficit in American history, only 2 years after the largest surplus in American history. Love those small government, low taxes, fiscally responsible Republicans. When the next election rolls around and you are unemployed, deeply in debt, awash in crime, and barely able to breathe because of the air pollution, remember the days when the only worrying thing about our President was whether he was keeping his pants on or not.
And just when you thought we had won this issue:
Also on Friday, the House passed a comprehensive energy package that would allow oil exploration in an Alaska wildlife refuge, one of Cheney’s top priorities. The Senate rejected the Alaska drilling policy last month.
