Column: Buying our favor with our own debt

Congratulations! You and I have just taken part in setting a record.

For the five months that ended Feb. 29, the U.S. government set a record for spending more money than it took in.

If you are keeping track, we spent more than we took in by $263-billion. The way things are going, our total deficit for this year will be something like $410-billion.

Way to go, USA!

Now, whose fault is this?

It's the president's fault, for starters. Like many modern Republicans, he thinks it is "conservative" to keep borrowing money, instead of spending less or raising taxes.

It's Congress' fault, too. Congress is run these days by Democrats. They like spending money, especially if the Republicans are doing it, too.

And, of course, mostly it's your fault and my fault.... [Link to entire column]

It's What's LEGAL That's The Problem

U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney has a column in today's newspaper saying that his trip to Scotland where he played golf with lobbyist Jack Abramoff was legal, that he followed all the ethics rules, and that he didn't do anything as a member of Congress in exchange for any personal gain.

Good for him for speaking, instead of continued to have his spokesman say he would wait until an "appropriate time." I would just continue to point out, politely of course, that a member of Congress jetting off to Scotland where he hangs out and plays golf with a big-shot lobbyist, legal or not, is the problem in the first place.

Mr. Feeney Could Not Be Reached For Golf-Related Comments

Recent press releases from U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, who is under a cloud for his golfing outing to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff:

4/26/2007: Feeney Thrilled the Dow Opens at Record High

4/24/2007: Feeney Reacts to Alarming Entitlement Report

4/18/2007: Feeney Recaps the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Tax Day 2007

4/18/2007: Rep. Feeney Applauds Supreme Court Ruling on Partial Birth Abortion

4/17/2007: Rep. Feeney's Statement on Virginia Tech Tragedy

4/11/2007: Feeney Responds to U.S. Trade Cases Against China

4/9/2007: Rep. Feeney Announces District Art Competition Winners

On the other hand, this paragraph from an article by my colleague Anita Kumar:

On Tuesday, his spokeswoman, Pepper Pennington, said he would not comment further except to say, "Rep. Feeney is anxious to discuss this matter at the appropriate time."

Tom, Tom, Why Not Just Say No?

No matter the result of the FBI's questions, here's have an underlying question for U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, and the golf trip he took to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Why did you go at all?

I don't give a flip whether Feeney has a legalistic explanation about how he thought Group A or Group B was paying for the trip, instead of Abramoff himself. I don't care. I want to know, what made Tom Feeney think, "My goodness, the people of Florida have sent me to Congress as a sacred trust -- so I think I will fly off to Scotland to play golf with a big-shot lobbyist!"

By the way, the other two House members who went on the trip: former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, now serving prison time for corruption, and former House Republican leader Tom DeLay, indicted in Texas for alleged improper fundraising. To paraphrase Borat: Very very nice, Rep. Feeney.

I Like Kicking Around Congress As Much As The Next Guy, But...

U.S. Rep. Bill Young is getting personally blamed in some circles -- many of them disgruntled anonymous e-mailers, I have to say -- for not doing enough to fix the problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that were revealed recently in The Washington Post. The charge is especially jarring since Young and his wife Beverly have been selfless in their devotion to helping wounded service men and women individually.

The venomous nature of the attack looks like misplaced second-guessing to me. Even if Young (1) had direct knowledge of all the problems revealed in the Post, which he didn't for the most part, and (2) had stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to declare the outrage to the world, how much attention would it have really gotten? Members of Congress call news conferences to declare their outrage dozens of times a day on all kinds of important issues and nobody gives a damn. It took the Post expose to grab the nation's attention.

Having said that, of course we should hold our members of Congress accountable not only for Walter Reed, but everything else about the way the federal government runs. That's their job. The whole dang government is their "fault,'' in a general way. We are right to criticize both their priorities, and what they choose not to make their priorities.

It's just the highly personalized, sneering, anonymous nature of modern criticism that stinks -- the seeming claim that Young sat in his office and said, "Heh, heh, I am aware of moldy walls at Walter Reed, but I will uncaringly ignore it because I am an evil do-nothing'' is just... well, just stupid.