My Take on the Budget Deal, and Other Musings

John Boehner is getting a lot of flak for avoiding a government shutdown and striking a less than perfect deal to pass a budget that should have been passed months ago by the then Democratic majority. I think people are missing the point on this. Boehner has just cleaned up a huge mess left behind by his colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I admit, I'm not so happy about the budget deal as I would like to be, given that we had to give crucial ground in order to make substantial gains, but isn't that what compromise really is? Boehner and the Repubs fought tooth and nail to get this deal, did they not?

I have to say that I'm in agreement with JACG on this one. She has gone into some detail about how this amounts to a win for Speaker Boehner and the Republicans, but some just won't let it go. That said, I admire the sand of the ones who stuck by their principals and voted no in the hopes of getting a better deal. It's those kind of people we need to keep things on the right track. Mark Levin calls the budget deal a scam, but I'm not so sure. The fact that he seems to be the only one doing so seems to lend a little less credibility to the idea that we're being scammed. I don't know, as I don't know the full extent of the budget deal, but if Fuzzy has her head on straight (and I'm sure she does) then we won tonight, and we should be celebrating the fact that we got ANY kind of deal out of the jackasses and averted a government shutdown. Not that the world would have ended, but I honestly can't abide our troops not getting their due pay for putting their lives at risk day in and day out. Politico also reports that, in the words of Charlie the Clown, the GOP is "Duh, WINNING!".

The budget deal wasn't the only occurrence of note, however. Apparently protest god-of-the-left Bob Dylan doesn't like the fact that he's been named protest god of the left. Maureen Dowd apparently doesn't like the fact that he doesn't like it. All in all, if ol' Bobby Boy is pissing off Lefties, then I have a whole new respect for the guy. But what's even better is the method by which he's pissing them off. Apparently he's doing well and making money doing the thing that he's famous for. Horrors. Such a blatantly honest class enemy should be immediately strung up and sent to the gallows. Grab your torch and pitchforks!

And finally, the most absurd act in this three act play: China. Apparently the Reds aren't too happy with our Human Rights record. Why? Apparently because it outshines their own dismal chronicling of the very same subject. In light of U.S. disapproval of China's actions (cracking down on protesters, blogs, and others) in response to the recent catastrophe that the Middle East has become, the Red Chinese have dared reach down and find a pair, and asked We the People to step down as a judge on the Human Rights council. Right. Because China is SO MUCH BETTER at treating prisoners and dissidents well than we are *cough*bullshit*cough*. Tienemen Square ring a bell, anyone? Feh.

And that, dear readers, is my rant. Hope you enjoyed it, many more to come in the future.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has a more balanced approach to the budget deal than my other sources. He calls the budget deal a truce, rather than a victory, but acknowledges that the GOP has gained both credibility and ground in the fight to cut spending and reduce the size of government.

Sounds like a win to me.

Another Dud From Dowd

Maureen Dowd must live in a different part of Literalville than I. I have come to this conclusion after reading her latest column in the New York Slime. Showing her chronic case of Palin Derangement Syndrome, the whole piece is nothing more than yet another waste of editorial space trying to make Palin look like nothing more than a gun-toting hick who would just as likely shoot herself in the foot as shoot the caribou she was aiming to put in the fridge for dinner that night.

To her credit, at least Dowd isn't trying to sound fair while she does this. No, rather than try to come off as a model of journalistic integrity, she lets her rage against Palin show with little more shame than a flasher in Central Park, with a few anti-Palin jabs thrown in just for good measure. Not only that, but she tries to make another central figure in her column, a caribou, seem smarter than the person whom she hates so openly.

her central beef with Palin in this instance is the fact that, on her reality show, Palin said that her father taught her that if someone wants real organic food, they'd have to go out and hunt actual animals. Dowd somehow takes this and twists it as only a liberal demagogue can, saying that Palin was actually expecting Jane Everyman of Suburbia, USA to "load up on ammo, board two different planes, camp out for two nights with a film crew and shoot a caribou so she can feed her family organic food." Now, I could be wrong, but according to the column, Palin was, A: bringing to light a certain way of life for the people of Alaska, and B: saying that the so-called "organic" food you get at the supermarket isn't really as organic as they make it sound. Nowhere in that sentence was there any mention of an ordinary mom from California having to fly to the Arctic to shoot polar bears.

After this "stunning" display of analysis by Dowd, she launches then into her usual rhetoric insulting Dick Cheney's hunting ability and Palin's intelligence in general. Apparently Dowd thought that the fish Palin caught in the last episode of the show should have been sufficient enough to where she wouldn't have to go out and shoot the caribou at all. Does she not realize that people tend to eat three meals a day, seven days a week? The freezer was most likely running low on fish so she went out and shot some caribou to fill the space. Either that or she was just looking for a little variety in her meals.

Metaphor is clearly not Dowd's strong point either, as she goes from ranting about Palin to some sort of comparison between Palin, who represents republicans, taking shots at Obama the Caribou. What?! Could it be that Dowd has become yet more incoherent than she used to be? I believe that is indeed the case.