Good morning . . .
The White House sent its 2006 budget to Capitol Hill today. The $2.57 trillion budget is the tightest in the Bush Presidency. Discretionary spending will only rise 2.1% under the current rate of inflation. There will some spending increases in defense and homeland security, but domestic spending will be cut in a variety of areas.
In the State of the Union address the President said that he will look for programs that some programs would be cut or eliminated. Domestic funding is the primary area for "pork" projects for lobbyists interests and Congressional projects that only spend taxpayer dollars and provide no real benefit to anyone but the Congressman or Senator seeking re-election.
If the President is serious about controlling spending he could save $250 million by cutting funding for public broadcasting.
Bush targets domestic spending in '06 - Aerospace - Financial - Industrial, Diversified - Manufacturing - Financial Services - Industrial Products & Services - Bond Market - Economy
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No sooner is the ink dry on the President's budget than House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelois criticizes it for being "fiscally irrepsonsible, morally irresponsible, and a failure of leadership." Unfortunately for Ms Pelosi her leadership in the House has cost the Democrats seats and will likely do so in 2006.
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In just three months the election cycle has come full circle. There was a presidential campaign, a presidential election, an inauguration, and a State of the Union Address. What's next - - the start of the 2008 Presidential election.
Over the past few weeks several potential candidates have been testing the waters for support and funding.
Some of the likely Democrat contenders include failed presidential nominee John Kerry who as usual cannot take a stand on the issue, failed VP candidate John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Iowa Gov Tom Vislic, Sen. Joe Biden, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
The list is, so far, shorter on the Republican side. Possible candidates are Sen. John McCain, Sen Bill Frist, Sen. George Allen, New York Gov George Pataki, and former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. Absent from the list is VP Dick Cheney who aid on the Sunday news programs that he was not interested in the job. Well, stranger things have happened.
Two other governors have been mentioned as possible candidates, California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger who would need a constitutional amendment in order to run and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who like Cheney said he is not interested in 2008.
Yahoo! News - 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Test Waters
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Here's a story not to be believed. Last week CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC were all waiting outside the Santa Maria Courthouse to get a glimpse of accused child molester Michael Jackson returning from lunch. Yet, the networks all claim that the Jackson trial will not become a national obsession like the OJ Simpson trial.
"It's certainly not going to dominate our air, not the way that O.J. did and not when you think of all the other things that we're dealing with as a nation, like terrorism, the state of the war, the tsunami," said Mark Effron, vice president of news and daytime programming at MSNBC.
If that is the case, why Mr. Effrom were all the cameras outside the Courthouse just waiting for a glimpse of Jackson?
The networks say that without cameras in the courtroom there will not be the chance for viewers and reporters to become engrossed in the action.
Yahoo! News - Networks Pledge Restraint in Jackson Case
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More in the Afternoon Update.
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