Smirky's budget has been submitted and it feels like deja vu all over again, except this time the enemy is not the "Evil Empire" of the Soviet Union. It's my/your/our kids and their kids and maybe their kids. How irresponsible can one person be? How uncaring and addle-pated can one president be to saddle all the future generations to come with debt and anguish that's hardly imaginable?

via Yahoo

Bush's fiscal blueprint will estimate this year's deficit at $307 billion, with the 2004 shortfall dipping only to $304 billion, said congressional and administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Until now, the historic high was $290 billion in 1992, when Bush's father was president.

Runs in the family, and it might have been larger under Bush 1, but he raised taxes seeing the inevitable economic damage that had been inflicted (well, maybe he didn't).

Some of the programs that Smirky wants to push even harder and fund more include that perennial favorite of the Carlyle-owned Defense establishment, the alleged Missile Defense program. But, the 1600 Crew's desire to fund that worthless program does not jibe with this statement:

Democrats blame Bush-backed tax cuts and say war with Iraq and other problems could drive actual shortfalls even higher; White House officials and congressional Republicans play down the numbers and say the weak economy and fight against terror must be confronted first.
...
"I can tell you one thing about our budget estimates," said Mitchell E. Daniels, the White House budget director, in a recent conversation with reporters. "They won't be accurate."

Did I miss something here? Priorities that do not mention that dumb-ass missile program? Confronting the War on Terror first? Did the 1600 Crew get a cash grant from the Saudi Royal family or something to put together a Terrorism Task Force that looks the other way? The more you hear from the 1600 Crew, the War on Terror seems like an excuse and a PR opportunity, not a National Priority. And yet we're getting stuck with stupid tax cuts, programs that benefit no one and a future so well mortgaged it makes Grover Norquist and Co. positively orgasmic.

At least they finally tossed in a pay raise for the military...small, but something.