Needlenose

Remember way back when — oh, just over a week ago — when I mentioned that the bad news on the federal budget deficit was going to get worse? Well, that didn’t take long, did it?

“The U.S. budget outlook continues to deteriorate,” wrote William C. Dudley, an economist at Goldman Sachs, after analyzing the government’s latest revenue data. “Our estimate of $300 billion for fiscal 2003 looks somewhat optimistic.”

If you were planning on receiving Social Security in about 20-25 years, I’m afraid it’s time to start making other plans. After an eight-year break, the Republican strategy to reduce your reliance on government programs (by systematically bankrupting the government) is back in effect.

A crypto-rascist is more dangerous than an overt rascist.I’m gonna miss Trent Lott as leader of the Senate. Now don’t get me wrong, I deeply abhor his politics and beliefs. But at least he’s made it pretty clear where he stands. Contrast that with the new Republican Senate majority leader Bill Frist. Until he ran for senator in 1994, Bill was a member of the (at that time) whites-only Belle Meade country club in Nashville Tennessee. I find his claims that he knew nothing of the policy and that he retired from the club to focus on his election campaign disingenuous in the extreme. How much time and energy does driving around the golf greens take? And how could he not notice the total absence of any minorities in the club?

So look for more of the same attacks on affirmative action and minority rights from the upcoming Republican-majority senate and its new leader, although with fewer overt rascist statements. And, in a worst-of-both worlds scenario, Trent Lott is still on Capitol Hill, operating in the shadows.