Isn't it odd
That Cheney can make it back from halfway around the world to break a tie in the senate essentially devastating student loans, welfare work requirements for state funding, child support enforcement and medicaid co-payments for the poorest people in this country, and Bush can't come off vaca inside the US while hundreds of the citizens he is leading are drowning next door. Impressive.
The most shameful thing of all about this latest attempt at budget cuts is that not one cent is going towards bringing down the deficit. No no no. It will offset the impending tax cuts for whom, you ask? Surely you know the answer to this by now. Oh, that's right, you don't live in the same area as me. Where the number of hummers has doubled in the past year, SUV sales are UP, and luxury items, well you can't keep them in stock! To the wealthiest people in America. Golly, they pay so much! Giv'em a break, y'all!
Now real quick for some good news....

The Washington Post
GOP wins on budget cuts, not oil - Democrats send bill back to House for new vote, block Alaska drilling provision
By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray

The vote was 51-50, with five Republicans and one independent joining 44 Democrats in opposing the measure.
Final victory was denied, however, when Democrats used a parliamentary objection to strike three small provisions from the 774-page measure, forcing it back to the House for a new vote, which may not occur until early next year. That denied President Bush a quick White House signing ceremony and guaranteed more division about the measure but allowed GOP leaders to claim a victory on Capitol Hill in the effort to reduce the deficit.
The Democratic budget maneuver was quickly followed by the Senate's failure to cut off debate on legislation to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. It was another defeat for oil companies and for Alaskan lawmakers who have sought access to the refuge's coastal plain for more than two decades. Despite rising oil prices and growing concern about the nation's dependence on foreign oil, lawmakers still appear unprepared to buck theardent opposition of environmentalists and allow drilling rigs into the Alaskan wilderness.
After hours of negotiations and a bitter denunciation by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who added the drilling provision to the bill, the Senate voted 93-0 to approve the defense bill without the drilling authority. Stevens angrily complained to his colleagues that they were sacrificing billions of dollars in oil royalty revenues that could have gone for domestic priorities such as Hurricane Katrina disaster aid, homeland security funds and heating bill assistance for low-income people.
"I'm going to go to every one of your states, and I'm going to tell them what you've done," said Stevens, the leading advocate of drilling in Alaska. "This was wrong."

Now, I have to say, I would have loved to see Stevens as he blew yet another gasket. When asked about possibly removing that ridiculous "bridge to nowhere" allocation from the last porking he flew into a convulsive fit of "NO!" that had all of us on the floor. Good times. Wonder if he's going to have re-election issues? Hmmm. One never knows. Important to note: it's good to see some repubs doing the right thing - regardless of the motives
Anyway, write and contact your reps and let them know what you think of cutting programs for health and education of our people. The more you speak out the better.