More priorities

Well, having been down the last week with a case of gout, I haven't been following the news as closely as I might have. No, I didn't watch the SOTU the other night; it was a choice between it and an edition of Dirty Jobs, and naturellment I chose the grime, feces and garbage that was on Discovery rather than that on CNN.

Anyway, I did notice that the Preznit had some nice things to say about rising medical costs and education. So what's his party doing today? Cutting Medicaid and student loans, of course.

"Once again, House Republicans are on record as defending budget discipline," said Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo. "We have achieved $39 billion in savings, while streamlining government."

Well, after all, that's $39 billion saved, right? Proves the GOP are actually responsible spenders, right?

Oh, wait, I guess not:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House has told Congress to expect requests for about $70 billion in additional funding for the ongoing budget year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more for hurricane relief, a Senate GOP aide says.

Lesse... $39 billion "saved" and $100 billion spent equals... $61 billion more than before they "achieved savings". Gosh. More Bizarro math - "us spend more so us saved money!"

I know this isn't unique - it's the same damn shell game they've been pulling for the last five years. It's just that one thinks, maybe, just maybe, someone in the media would - I dunno - call them on it?

Oh, and special bonus from CNN.com: Rummy wants us to know the bad guys still want to kill us all:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite progress in fighting terrorism, the threat today may be greater than ever before because the available weapons are far more dangerous, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

So what the hell have you clowns been doing for the last four-some-odd years, then? I thought we were safer than before, what with the terraists all flypapered down in Iraq and spying on al-Qaeda and the PATRIOT Act and stuff. Make up your damn minds already.