• Obama is just pretending to have any sway within the Obama/Hamid Karzai powercouple. [New York Times]
• A bunch of people in the Army were very encouraging of Nidal Hasan’s religious phase, and some even suggested he take college courses about Islam. Should we purge the Army of anyone who self-identifies as a “supportive friend” too?? [Washington Post]
• The Malevolent Balloon People of Colorado will plead guilty when they are charged with being the worst parents ever not even in the usual hyperbolic sense. [CNN]
• Americans might not buy as much useless garbage for their loved ones this holiday season. [AP]
• Obama may dip into TARP funds to help out with the huge deficit. [WSJ]
• The weak dollar has consequences other than all the rich Europeans coming to New York to shop “because it is so cheap here”: oil prices could go up, like way up. [Reuters]

• RAISE TAXES ON ALL VAGUELY RICH PEOPLE ASAP, SRSLY: “For the first two months of the fiscal year, Treasury reported a record deficit of $401.6 billion.” And all because of… Obama. [Marketwatch]

John McCain’s web site features a challenging video game called “Pork Invaders,” which is designed to illustrate how he will balance the $900 trillion budget deficit by cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks and “waste.” And because he is John McCain, he will use War to veto these earmarks. See for yourself in the game — you, President McCain, “fire a veto” with the spacebar at little piggie space monsters to prevent them from shitting firecrackers on your subprime mud huts. [John McCain]

* Henry Paulson and Rob Portman have been “unleashed” on Democrats who’re loud-mouthing about deficit reduction. [WP]
* Democrats thumping Bible on march to political center. [NYT]
* New “Sportsman’s Alliance” conservation group to advocate wildlife habitats be kept as pristine places to stroll about blasting animals with shotguns. [WP]
* Wayne Allard plans the work, works the plan, and marks the wall to count the days til he’s just scheduling tee times. [WP, NYT]
* President Bush maintains that law enforcement has the authority to look into exactly when and where terror suspects saved 39 cents on garlic hummus and triscuits. [WP]
* Interior Department Mineral Manager Johnnie Burton isn’t quite “perfect at everything.” [NYT]
* Condi’s looking forward to a threesome next month. [LAT]
* MLK day was inspirational for Russell Simmons, who now has an idea for a great new reality show. [NYT]

There’s great news for America: The federal deficit has finally fallen back to early-2002 levels, meaning things are now only as bad as they were immediately after 9/11. Why the not-so-bad news? The surge, obviously:

The federal deficit has improved significantly in the first three months of the new budget year, helped by a continued surge in tax revenues.

The actual good news is that federal spending “only” went up by 0.7% over last year — and that’s because Congress spent much of 2006 imploding from one bribery or sex scandal after another. Let’s hope for more of the same in 2007. MORE »

Many readers note that Hungarians are rioting because the prime minister was caught telling lies. About fiscal policy. Seriously.

Some 150 protestors have been hurt battling with the cops and a furious mob of bookworm citizens bum-rushed the State Television headquarters. The whole crazy story and why Washington needn’t ever fear such an uprising, after the jump.

MORE »

The very last thing we want to do at 5 o’clock on a Friday is start reading freakin’ budget reports from the Treasury, but this seems possibly horrifying enough to briefly consider before we turn to “Weekend Wilma,” which is a just-now made-up code name for being drunk until Monday.

Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee claims the real deficit is $760 billion, not $318.5 billion as claimed by the White House. And the national debt is actually $49 trillion, not $8.3 trillion.

More numbers-based fear-mongering, after the jump.

MORE »

* Two top judges questioned the legality of warrentless eavesdropping twice in the past four years. [WP]
* White House agrees to provide additional information to House Intel Committee about NSA eavesdropping. [WP, NYT]
* Bush condemns violent reaction to cartoons that mocked Islam as Condoleezza Rice says Iran and Syria “have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and have used this for their own purposes.” Bush: “We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press.” [WP]
* Years of “significant cuts” will be necessary to meet deficit goals. [WP]
* Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) proposes that a special court provide oversight of eavesdropping. [USAT]
* Bush, aiming to “bring fiscal sanity” to Washington, signs bill limiting growth of Medicare and Medicaid. Bush: “People call it a cut in Medicare. That’s not a cut. It’s slowing down the rate of growth. It’s the difference between slowing your car down to go the speed limit, or putting your car in reverse.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Democrats strive for “understandable” agenda with their own “Contract for America.” Paul Begala: “If it were up to me, I’d be tougher and meaner. But you’re trying to unite a diverse party.” [USAT]

MORE »

• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) claims to have over 100 of the 116 votes necessary to be majority leader. [WP]
• Bush visits the Gulf Coast for the first time in three months: “Four months is not all that long, and a lot’s happened in that four-month period. And a lot more is going to happen in the next four months, and then the next four months.” [WP, NYT, W$J]
• Leadership races “are a special kind of art form”; Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Blunt “barely waited for the ink to dry on DeLay’s farewell letter earlier this month before jumping into the race for the second-ranking job.” [WP]
• Administration may set standards for domestic intelligence. [WP]
• Deficit could top $400b, White House official says. [WP, NYT]
• Rumsfeld considered Bremer’s request for additional troops. [WP]
• 200 private school girls rally to encourage Bush to improve New Orleans levees. [NYT]

• FISA judge resigns to protest warrant-less eavesdropping. [WP]
• Eavesdropping program accidentally captured purely domestic calls, officials admit. [NYT]
• Secretly briefing 14 lawmakers about the eavesdropping program may not have been enough legally, officials contend. [NYT, LAT]
• Congressional inquiries “blamed interagency communication breakdowns

• Supreme Court agrees to review Texas redistricting; Justices may want to impose new guidelines. [WP, LAT, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Bush says 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war. Bush: “Knowing what I know today, I’d make the decision again. . . The long run in this war is going to require a change in governments in parts of the world.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
• Bush is “confident” that a deal can be reached with Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) regarding the treatment of detainees. [NYT]
• Bush says race was not a determining factor in the government’s response to Katrina. [NYT]
• Federal budget deficit hit a record-high for November, up 43% from last year. [WSJ]

MORE »