The Bush "Budget"

I put "budget" in quotations because this document insults a normally boring, staid word like "budget." I'll have lots to say about this "budget" in the coming days, but let me start by highlighting one little example of how the president's campaign for re-election was built on a whole new batch of falsehoods:

"We will double the number of people served by our principal job training program." -- President Bush, during his speech accepting the GOP nomination

"In his fiscal 2006 budget request for the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, Bush is asking Congress to approve $5.16 billion in spending, down from $5.34 billion this year. Programs to retrain and find new jobs for fired workers and the youth-oriented Job Corps are both cut." -- Bloomburg News, today

CUT TO: Twice as many unemployed people receiving just half the training they need??

And why oh why oh why oh why is there even any question that the president's wrongheaded, misguided tax cuts (a) didn't create real job-creating stimulus, and (b) are the reason we have huge deficits? Again (for the trillionth time), fully FIFTY PERCENT of the cost of the 2001-2003 tax cuts comes from benefits granted to the wealthiest ONE PERCENT of Americans. Can we roll some of those back to cut the deficit and make sure we're properly funding the things that should be properly funded? You betcha.

There's so, so, so, so much more disappointing news in the budget proposal, including cuts in a variety of programs to properly fund our nation's first responders. Those of you who guzzle ginko biloba or blueberries or fish oil, creating brain power and good memories that go all the way back before Election Day, may recall the many gauzy speeches by the president and others about our firefighters, police, and EMTs. Didn't mean a whit, it seems. Amazing, eh?

Sadly, more to come on this...