Proposed Budget Deal: Doing the “Chef Toke” for Giant Deficits
There’s a new budget deal in the works, says Brad Plumer of the WONKblog. Under the proposed deal, we would give up increases in spending and “user fees” (read: taxes). In return, we would receive empty promises of spending cuts “down the road”:
Under current law, discretionary spending is set to fall from $986 billion this year to $967 billion in 2014. The proposed deal would raise that to somewhere around $1 trillion in 2014. The extra money would be split evenly between defense and non-defense programs.
In exchange, the deal would add other spending cuts further down the road and could raise new revenues by increasing some user fees. The goal is to keep the overall deficit unchanged over the next 10 years.
I’ll just go ahead and repeat that last sentence: “The goal is to keep the overall deficit unchanged over the next 10 years.”
That’s the goal.
The Urban Dictionary defines the phrase “chef toke” as follows:
The Chef Toke is performed to salute work of great quality and skill. It is done by making the “OK” sign (tips of the thumb and forefinger touching while the other three fingers are extended) and then kissing the point where the thumb and forefinger meet. The Chef Toke action is often accompanied by an exaggerated “Mmmwah!” kissing sound.
In my experience, the “Mmmwah!” sound is accompanied by a quick flick of the wrist outward, during which the thumb and forefinger are now extended such that the palm and all extended fingers now face the observer.
You should imagine me doing the “chef toke” as I observe that our 2013 deficit level is (“Mmmwah!”) just right at a mere $680 billion.
P.S. If we don’t impose higher tax–, er, “user fees” on people, how can we have money for important stuff like this?
The US State Department on Friday fended off criticism for commissioning a $1 million sculpture for its London embassy, saying it was “a good use of our limited resources.”
The piece by Irish-born artist Sean Scully was purchased as part of the department’s Art in Embassies program and will be reportedly installed at the new mission due to open in 2017.
“This piece was purchased under the market price after considerable negotiation with both the artist and the gallery. This is an important part of our diplomatic presence overseas,” deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
Yes, $1 million is a very small amount in the context of the federal budget. Anyone making that objection, please give me the very small amount of $1 million.
P.P.S. If I’m going to spend a lot of money on a statue, I’m going to take your $1 million and hire a chainsaw artist to turn a tree on my front lawn into a Hook ‘Em Horns sculpture:
Credit: Gene Davis
A carving that turned a dead tree into a “Hook ‘Em Horns” sculpture has understandably generated plenty of buzz in the North Austin neighborhood where it sits and hand-signals.
The sculpture commissioned by Longhorn fan Gabriel Trinidad for his front yard made the news and, on an early Tuesday afternoon, caused multiple people to stop their cars and snap a photo. However, one person is a bit perplexed by all the attention the sculpture has received: Doug Moreland, the Texas Chainsaw Artist and musician responsible the artwork.
I just like the phrase “Texas chainsaw artist.”
Hey, I have an idea! Let’s set Doug Moreland and his chainsaw loose on our national budget!
P.P.P.S. Imagine me doing the chef toke, but instead of curling in the forefinger, I am curling in the middle finger and ring finger, as depicted in the photo above.
HOOK ‘EM MMMWAH!
I didn’t know you were familiar with the mountza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountza, Patterico.
nk (dbc370) — 12/9/2013 @ 7:54 am“I see debt, people.”
It would be easy to reduce the debt, if they actually wanted to.
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/its-simple-to-balance-the-budget-with-modest-spending-restraint/
Patricia (be0117) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:16 amso Paul Ryan is pissing away the work of a previous budget deal … and yet he wants us to believe he can budget ten years out?
this is because he is a lying whore
happyfeet (8ce051) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:17 amI don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m all for this kind of stuff even if it means we have to go low budget on security in places like Benghazi.
Priorities, people.
Steve57 (20c19c) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:21 amDamn Republicans. We’re just not spending money hand over fist fast enough.
Steve57 (20c19c) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:21 amThe firsdt thing to note is that this means that any budget cutting has been postponed, not ruld out for years. This is a compromise. When there is a majority to do something, then something will be done.
The second thing to note is that, in reality, should economic growth exceed CBO projections, or increases in entitlements slow down (unlikely in the case of medical exoenses) the budget deficit would in fact go down.
It is not the bidget deficit that is going to stay the same, but CBO deficit projections
These deficit projections have very little to do with reality anyway.
Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:10 amThis reminds me of the David Eckert compromise with Police Officers in New Mexico.
DejectedHead (a094a6) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:21 amSo…we’re agreeing to raise the spending now…only so that we can cut it (kind of) later? Great. Makes sense.
ratbeach (477e41) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:27 amOh, and you’re going to freak out when you see what this artist’s typical “art” actually looks like. The rest of his collection includes a bunch of block paintings…for a million dollars?
ratbeach (477e41) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:31 amThe State Department is still kicking themselves about not paying $1 million for Fountain for one of it’s embassies way back when.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)
DejectedHead (a094a6) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:38 amBendoverandgrabyerankles. For God and country…
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:49 amBut. But. Free contraceptives!
Isn’t it all worth it if Sandra Fluke doesn’t have to spend $30/mo. on the pill?
I mean, sure, I know of several trendy clothing stores where I can walk in and scoop up a handfull of condoms for free. But why let that get in the way of restructuring the economy?
Steve57 (20c19c) — 12/9/2013 @ 10:04 amAs long as all those useless writers and TV folks who excoriated the Bush girls for making the “Hook ‘Em” sign don’t find out it’s all good.
glenn (647d76) — 12/9/2013 @ 10:42 amAnd for all you folks who don’t know what the sign means you need to be better informed about local culture.
I could do that sculpture for you, but would probably have only one finger extended.
The chainsaw artist Dana (3e4784) — 12/9/2013 @ 10:44 amWell GOP is definitely the invertebrate phylum.
SPQR (39ad84) — 12/9/2013 @ 11:04 amAt one level I can sorta see the Republican’s point: Saving our way of life is long a lost cause. Why not focus on saving their seats and maybe be gifted some to boot.
I would remind the Electabilitymongers tho, that failure to fight ’til now kinda handed the enemy their bloodless victory.
The only way to get my attention now is a promise to slit a few throats. Otherwise, drop dead already.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/9/2013 @ 11:34 amI had a couple of mollusks on my seafood pizza yesterday that I’m sure were smarter than your average member of Congress. Or anybody you’ll find at the EPA. Definitely they had more warmth and personality than an IRS agent.
I’ve never had a mollusk tell me with a straight face that a property on a 30 degree slope was a federally protected wetland. A property in the Arizona desert, no less. I almost felt guilty.
Steve57 (20c19c) — 12/9/2013 @ 11:46 am3, 17. Frankly, I cannot conceive of the calculus by which the GOP insiders are proceeding.
Voter commitment is obviously not a zero sum game. The last election should have at the very least taught them that much.
They won the Indies by eight points and lost bigger than last time.
They are throwing away likely voters with both hands in hopes disaffected low-information voters, who’ve shunned them their adult lives, will say “Oh, what the hell.”
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/9/2013 @ 12:32 pmWell how about them magic beans;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/09/poll-more-americans-dislike-iran-deal-than-support-it/
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 12:59 pmA bad deal is worse than no deal at all.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 12/9/2013 @ 2:20 pmWalk away, Paul; just man-up and walk away.
Make the Dems live with the Sequester Deal they thought they wanted,
because the GOP would never accept it – except they did!
20. “man-up”
At least the Senate were not so brazenly duplicitous: “Let Obamacare collapse under its own weight. It’s up to the American people to defeat this law.”
Whereas the House leadership fakes a fight and then votes with the Dhims.
Do you suppose Reid would give in rather than go nuclear? Men fight, vermin scurry from the light.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/9/2013 @ 2:55 pmOk, I’m going to play the role of right-wing contrarian. I trust that 10+ years of commenting here has established my racist/fascist/white-privledge credentials. Here’s my argument:
JVW (378ca8) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:22 pmWhy not support this deal? It’s tactically a good move. The “fee” increases suck, but let’s remove the possibility of a shutdown so that we can keep attention on the unmitigated failure that is ObamaCare. The media
Damn, my fast fingers hit the wrong button on my phone.
The media is desperate to change the subject from OmamaCare’s failures back to GOP “obstruction” — why walk into that trap?
JVW (378ca8) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:26 pmbtw, the big evil Zimmerman ‘eleventy’ story, not so much, re the Orlando Sentinel.
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:30 pmhttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-zimmerman-girlfriend-wants-charges-dropped-20131209,0,6786314.story
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:36 pmThe Republicans have one job to do while the disaster that is Obamacare is in full flower and the Demsters’ polls are tanking nationwide: The R leadership needs to look competent and responsible and steady and non-scary and non-“extreme”. This is a tactic, and is how they’ll pick up the independents and especially millennials who are fleeing the left and are nervous and are looking for a different and better place to maybe hang their hats and their futures.
elissa (e410e0) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:42 pmSupport the Sequester….
It’s the Law of the Land!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 12/9/2013 @ 3:55 pmOT: Dave Surls hardest hit:
http://bearingarms.com/i-lold-gun-charges-against-george-zimmerman-dropped-media-hardest-hit/
SPQR (768505) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:04 pm22, 26. Don’t get me wrong, I do trust that the informed Republican voter agrees with the Ryan media-cloaking maneuver.
I just think those confirmands have no idea how low their party has fallen in public esteem, 6% approving.
Off-year elections are know for anti-incumbency and diminshed turnout. Like this Xmas season, sales will underwhelm.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:05 pmNothing fundamental will change so long as the Dems control the Senate. I don’t expect much out of this and I’ll probably not be surprised.
Kevin M (536c5d) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:11 pmelissa, no wonder happyfeet is so smitten with you — your opinions are perfect (at least until we disagree; perish the thought).
JVW (378ca8) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:22 pmWell that’s a given, but the House negotiating strategy, which was like that ‘popped’ ball by Gilbert, suggests we’re not going too far, in that direction, even if we win the Senate,
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:24 pmelissa:
Do you think Republicans should agree to amnesty to avoid looking scary or extreme?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:28 pmI can’t imagine why someone upset with Obamacare would vote for Republicans. I can’t imagine many of them just not voting at all, which should benefit the GOP for the time being, at least somewhat.
I do not think the GOP should be too concerned about being ‘extreme’ as defined by the MSM, because it is not possible for the GOP to avoid being labelled that. Anything they do or say will ultimately be called that.
But hey, I laughed when people said it was obvious that Romney was extremely electable because he could never be called extreme (these same people say the election was ‘rigged’ because Romney was called an uncaring extremist soon after).
There’s only one way for the GOP to actually stay relevant for the long term. It’s to follow some basic principles consistently. That’s what the GOP could have done from 2000 to 2006. Those were extremely important years in American history. Greatness could have happened, but didn’t. The GOP became enamored with K street. Deficits ballooned. Domestic spending exploded. Pork got worse. Entitlements were created. Obamacare was born (in MA).
The GOP can ride the wave for a little while by avoiding issues and leadership. Long term, we will be back where we started, on the outside, watching the party that actually stands for something get their (wrong way). Obamacare will lead straight to single payer, and the GOP will have a very hard time recovering from that. How do we win the next debt ceiling hike when the GOP’s ever-weak leadership has to justify an interrupted in single payer medical care?
Anyway, the results speak for themselves. Romney was the test of the strategy of not looking scary.
Dustin (bfbac8) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:42 pmWow, that’s a poor typo. Those two “can’t”s should be “cans”, obviously.
Dustin (bfbac8) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:43 pmI realize that it’s not up to this ditz whether GZ gets charged or not, but how a prosecutor could proceed with a domestic violence case when the victim/sole witness other than GZ is contradicting herself I don’t know.
If GZ is lucky the judge won’t change the conditions of his bond, preventing him from having any contact with this nutjob.
Steve57 (20c19c) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:53 pm#28: GMTA!
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 12/9/2013 @ 4:58 pmSpecially, after the Bashir unpleasantness, I can’t fault her for lowering her profile;
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/12/sarah-palin-to-host-new-tv-series-amazing-america-on-sportsman-channel/#disqus_thread
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 5:00 pmBloody hell. http://imgur.com/lhLpbx4
nk (dbc370) — 12/9/2013 @ 5:24 pm38. Yeah, I think the physical GOP has third party status sewn up.
Anyone remember the last scene of “Scanners”?
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/9/2013 @ 5:55 pmOne of these days, we’ll see this new fangled ‘civility’ thing;
http://twitchy.com/2013/12/09/sarah-palin-set-to-host-new-outdoors-show-haters-hope-she-gets-shot/
narciso (3fec35) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:02 pmJust a quick update on my health. Went in for a heart cath last Thursday. I found out I had a heart attack about 4 months ago. I think it was when I was giving CPR to my brother-in-law who passed away with congestive heart failure. I had some chest pains and shortness of breath and pain in my arms, but attributed it to exhaustion from one man CPR. I did have some nitro that I took at the time, so it probably saved my life.
Dr found one 100% occluded artery, that had already mostly completed its own natural bypass by growing new arteries around the blockage. She was unable to unblock it. She also put a stint in another one that was about 95% occluded.
Have to go back again this Thursday so she can put stints in two on the right side. Maybe this will take care of it for now.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:41 pmblock paintings…for a million dollars?
Comment by ratbeach (477e41) — 12/9/2013 @ 9:31 am
I remember when artists actually had real talent, and you could understand it without having to have some “enlightened” idiot splain it to you! I’ve seen better sculptures and paintings by pre-kindergartners.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:46 pmpeedoffamerican,
I’m sorry about your brother-in-law and your heart attack. I hope everything goes well and God bless you.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:50 pmI remember when we drew pictures in the dirt with sticks. And we liked it! I never heard so much nonsense, you young whippersnappers.
Where’s my warm milk and toast?
I hope all goes well with you, peedoffamerican.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:51 pmThank you all very much. Gonna get off the puter and rest a bit.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:57 pmPOA, what DRJ said. Prayers for your family and for yourself.
Dustin (bfbac8) — 12/9/2013 @ 7:04 pmSorry about everything, poa. Feel better.
Patterico (9c670f) — 12/9/2013 @ 7:41 pmpeedoffamerican, sounds like you caught a bad situation in time. Get well soon.
SPQR (768505) — 12/9/2013 @ 7:45 pmInstead of spending $1 million on a sculpture made by an Irish artist for a British embassy (anyone see the irony in that?) Obama could have just sent them the Churchill bust.
Or hired Doug Moreland to carve a dead tree into a hand with the middle finger extended.
Obama would get his message across and we would save $1M.
retire05 (d291d5) — 12/9/2013 @ 7:59 pmNational Republicans may be anxious to avoid another budget showdown but I’m not sure most Texans share that sentiment. I guess we’ll see, especially now that Texas Senator John Cornyn has a serious Tea Party challenger.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:01 pmDRJ,
I appreciate Rep Stockman’s clever appropriation of the RINO favorite “11th commandment”. Indeed it was shameful that John Cornyn voted in a way that was necessary for Obamacare to happen.
Dustin (bfbac8) — 12/9/2013 @ 8:09 pmpoa- good luck on thur.
mg (31009b) — 12/9/2013 @ 11:27 pmthoughts and prayers for you.
There is no point in a budget showdown. You cannot even say it educates their voters as too their position because you cannot say that what somebody postures for they really want (precisely because they cannot get it.)
Paul Ryan is settling foor hat he can get, but that doesn’t mean that that is what he actually wants to see happen over the course of the next half dozen years.
This is all besids the fact that projections are almost meaningless and a fiction.
Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f) — 12/10/2013 @ 2:56 am43. Comment by peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/9/2013 @ 6:46 pm
I remember when artists actually had real talent, and you could understand it without having to have some “enlightened” idiot splain it to you!
I don’t believe you could be that old. Andy Warhol? Jasper Johns? Salvador Dali? Pablo Picasso?
Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f) — 12/10/2013 @ 3:00 amGo get em Texans.
mg (31009b) — 12/10/2013 @ 3:39 amPrimary that over progressive s.o.b. Cornyn.
I bet Doug Moreland would provide far more value for far less money.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:35 am54. “There is no point in a budget showdown.”
Its time for a Ft. Sumter fusillade.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:50 amWords fail me, and apparently they do to her, too;
http://washingtonexaminer.com/ann-kuster-refuses-to-answer-or-discuss-benghazi-at-town-hall/article/2540410
narciso (3fec35) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:01 am60. So what does one do with a party that when elected refuses to represent?
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365742/impeachment-lessons-andrew-c-mccarthy
Alpo?
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:17 am60. Cont.
We let him retire to a Hawaiian estate and be paid a pension and six-figure speaking fees and throw a national requiem when he finally passes of a torn colon.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:22 am“But hey, I laughed when people said it was obvious that Romney was extremely electable because he could never be called extreme (these same people say the election was ‘rigged’ because Romney was called an uncaring extremist soon after).”
My, my everyone’s favorite Johnny-One-Note.
Get well soon, POA!
Yours truly, from the frozen beach of Carmel, CA.
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:38 am“Do you think Republicans should agree to amnesty to avoid looking scary or extreme?”
Rock-ribbed conservative Rick Perry agreed, but for different reasons, I suspect.
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:43 amPrayers, poa
It would be nice if our “team” did not assume the position of grabbing their ankles as the starting point for negotiation.
JD (176f17) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:46 amAnd just to clear things up for Dustin (although why doing so for the 73rd time would sink in quite frankly escapes me), there were dirty tricks and the full weight of the government surveillance/propaganda machine along with MSM collusion brought to bear in the election of 2012. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I do believe the last presidential election was rotten to the core.
Hopefully, some day we’ll know the full story.
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 6:52 am62. “everyone’s favorite Johnny-One-Note”
So despite general awareness of their existential danger the Loyal Opposition proceeds as before.
Sons of Bushes and Romney’s are feted at their coming out for candidacies. National Chambers of Commerce are given obeisance. The pragmatists drone on about lowered aspirations, flying beneath the media flak ceiling in order that they, the gentry, become competitive once more.
All this, moreover, despite the media’s evaporating reach into greasy public consciousness.
As tho a 10 point swing in generic party preference amounts to tidings of great joy, ‘Peace in our time’.
Wait for it, McConnell deposed, Cornyn vainly blowing his twenty millions. Kindly, read us the zeitgeist ‘johnny one-note’.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:00 am65. “I do believe the last presidential election was rotten to the core”
As were the Republican primaries. You’d think they’d have expected the same.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:03 amAll of your Chicken Little bullsh*t aside, Gary, we’d already be in a better position if we’d had a different outcome one year ago November.
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:03 amThe nonsense and falderal of ‘electability’ aside we all know why McCain, Romney and now, perhaps, Christie are anointed well ahead of the war machine assembly.
Its either that or the big money will be wanting. Four hundred Americans had capital gains of $1.6 Trillion over the last fiscal year.
They select the candidates because they pay the bills.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:12 am68. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, johnny needs a new tune.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:13 amHopeless… the End is near… Buy Gold… No, buy silver… Teh Bilderberg…
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:22 am68. Cont. Check the tape. I was not on board a moment before August 11.
The number one knock against the Anointed was Obamanycare. The number one knock against Cruz and Lee.
“Its the law of the land”.
Insane.
You’re doing it again, hoping for a different outcome.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:24 amA true-blue Bullshevik…
Colonel Haiku (066b42) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:24 amLast week it was announced the Chinese yuan had passed the euro into second place as the most used currency in foreign exchange transactions.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/12/saudis_to_obama_we_will_not_tolerate_a_nuclear_iran.html?
The last domino to fall in convertibility will be oil.
Then it really will all be over.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:28 amLook, Dusty’s point, our point isn’t to say “We told you so”, you were wrong.
Its to say you are wrong. The past is merely an heuristic.
2014 will not be a replay of 2010. The nominal GOP will have but modest gains.
And for the most part they will not be loyal to your hallowed Party.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:33 amDo you think Republicans should agree to amnesty to avoid looking scary or extreme?
The very fact that question has to be asked is influenced by ongoing trends of when liberals are given an inch, they grab a mile. All within the context of a nation whose political mid-point is further to the left than ever before.
Look at how the tentacles of the “progressive” mindset have worked their way so far into social-cultural matters that political correctness is running amok within no less than the US military and private businesses are now being forced by the judicial system to accommodate the whims of same-sex customers.
With or without legislation that deals with immigration, natural, immutable trends mean that Mexico (ie, never-ending corruption, anomie, academic mediocrity, urban-style politics, etc) is a window into the US’s future, and it’s a future I’m not exactly impressed by.
Mark (58ea35) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:40 amA true-blue Bullshevik…
Look, Dusty’s point, our point isn’t to say “We told you so”, you were wrong.
I find myself reserving ire not so much for people who occupy the right-leaning camp but at all the Americans who, even today, still attribute ongoing economic problems to George W Bush instead of Obama.
Although I get irked by squishy Republicans, I also get irked by — for purely tactical reasons — analysts who don’t realize just how ideologically untethered this society has become, in which nonsensical liberal biases are in full bloom. That blindness is why a Karl Rove ridiculously assumed that voters of Latino background in the US were alienated by Republicans and conservatives because of their antipathy to illegal immigration, while conveniently ignoring (or totally oblivious to?) the way such mindless liberalism has been no less evident in Mexican society.
Mark (58ea35) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:52 amWell the Deal is in, such as it is. No extended unemployment benefits and no squeester.
We’ll see what the backbenchers have to say in a month.
Personally, the Whigs will have to convince me they cannot work with the candidate before I’ll vote for the reprobate(like anyone trustworthy would want to go to DC).
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 12/10/2013 @ 4:05 pmI suspect that what Ryan is thinking is that he doesn’t want to do anything that would distract from the Obamacare rollout catastrophe. Being hard core about the budget right now would be the best gift he could give the Democrats.
I don’t know if I agree that’s a good plan, but I think that’s his plan.
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 12/10/2013 @ 4:52 pmThanks to everyone for the sentiments, I greatly appreciate them.
I don’t believe you could be that old. Andy Warhol? Jasper Johns? Salvador Dali? Pablo Picasso?
Comment by Sammy Finkelman (ca4c0f) — 12/10/2013 @ 3:00 am
I’ll name just one, and there are a lot more, Norman Rockwell.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:03 pmSteven–I think this Ryan move is an R version of “never let a crisis go to waste”. And this time the overarching seeping reeking crisis is the Democrat Obamacare rollout which needs to stay in the headlines every single day. Like you, I’m not sure about the longer term, but for the near term (2014) I think the plan to look responsible and competent in contrast to the lying flailing Dems makes a good deal of sense.
elissa (207170) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:06 pmJust read about your troubles, Peed. Hang in there!
elissa (207170) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:08 pmHell, when I was growing up, if you took art classes, they actually taught art! You know, those skills that none of these talentless modern hacks have like painting stills, portraits, and such. Sheit, you can take a blind monkey, put a paint brush in its hand, and the monkey will produce better “art” than the talentless losers that claim to be “Artistes”.
Hell, I have no talent for art to speak of, but what little I do, would be masterpieces compared to what I’ve seen come from these modern day “artists”.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:10 pmWhy do we bother,
http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/12/deal-you-can-keep-your-budget-reform-if-you-like-it/#comments
narciso (3fec35) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:12 pmCrap, even the starving artists that produce paintings of Elvis on black velvet have more talent in their pinkie fingers than all of these so-called artists combined that are in vogue with the liberal elites.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:16 pmyou can hate obamacare and still not go out of your way to slop a bunch of smelly oinking greedy-assed pentagon piggies
i know cause of i do it every day
happyfeet (c60db2) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:19 pmYes, pikachu, if anyone deserves a hit, it’s the ones who’ve been fighting and dying these last dozen years, means testing that’s a bridge too far,
narciso (3fec35) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:24 pmmeans testing is a nakedly redistributionist admission of fail by all concerned
happyfeet (c60db2) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:25 pmDon’t fear the reaper
pdbuttons (c5f696) — 12/10/2013 @ 5:45 pmhttp://youtu.be/YvBN3C2wepY
mr. buttons! i owe you an email mister
happyfeet (8ce051) — 12/10/2013 @ 7:01 pm