Good News in the Post Today & Fun At Green Mountain Daily

Couple of good stories in the Washington Post this morning.

House Adopts Pay-as-You-Go Rules
Changes Aim to Curb Deficit Spending, Shed Light on Earmarks

On its second day under Democratic management, the House yesterday
overwhelmingly approved new rules aimed at reining in deficit spending and
shedding more light on the murky world of special-interest projects known as
earmarks.
Under the new provisions, the House will for the first time in
years be required to pay for any proposal to cut taxes or increase spending on
the most expensive federal programs by raising taxes or cutting spending
elsewhere. And lawmakers will be required to disclose the sponsors of earmarks,
which are attached in virtual secrecy to legislation to direct money to favored
interests or home-district projects.

And...

"The one thing we can say about George Bush and his economic policy is: 'We are forever in your debt,' " Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) told his colleagues on the House floor. "On day number two, Democrats have said, 'Enough is enough with running up the debt of this country. We're going to put our fiscal house in order.' "

Also...

So far, fiscal restraint appears to be gaining the upper hand. As he left the House chamber yesterday, Rangel said he is scouring the tax code for tax breaks that benefit special interests. If the beneficiaries "don't put their hands up, it's out," he said, suggesting that the money saved could go toward paying for the repeal of the alternative minimum tax.

"It's not good for me to have pay-go, but it's good for the country," Rangel said. "At this point, nobody . . . has convinced me that there should be exemptions from pay-go."

This is encouraging, and I hope we can keep to it.

The other interesting Post Story is headlined:

Pelosi, Reid Urge Bush To Begin Iraq Pullout
President Considering Three 'Surge' Options

At a time when America is questioning the wisdom, or even the possibility of staying in Iraq- President Bush has listened, and he has responded.

He has come up with three options for us to consider:
1) Send 4,000 more troops
2) Send 9,000 more troops
or
3) Send 20,000 more troops

I suppose in their own way, these are "progressive" ideas (at least the numbers keep progressing upwards).

Yesterday, Conservative Vermont blogger "Monday Morning Clacker" posted a diary on Green Mountain Daily in which the argument was advanced that the new Democratic controlled Congress is finding DOING something about Iraq, harder than COMPLAINING about it.

The post is entitled: Iraq, Iraq, Iraq! All People Want To Do Is Talk About Iraq! Where Has All The 06' Love Gone?
Rip and Read had some fun helping to advance the argument that perhaps two days isn't quite long enough to expect results. You can read my response on GMD or on Clacker's blog.

At any rate, when I was finished responding, I came across the above mentioned Post Article:

Pelosi, Reid Urge Bush To Begin Iraq Pullout
President Considering Three 'Surge' Options

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid declared yesterday that "it is time to bring the war to a close" and warned President Bush that sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would be unacceptable to the Democratic majorities that have just taken over Congress.

Directly challenging Bush's wartime leadership on their second day in charge on Capitol Hill, Democrats Pelosi (Calif.) and Reid (Nev.) sent Bush a letter suggesting that, instead of starting a short-term escalation, he begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in the next four to six months. The mission of remaining troops, they said, should be shifted away from combat toward more training, logistics and counterterrorism.

I guess two days wasn't so long to wait for results after all.

PS- Speaking of Fun over at Green Mountain Daily- I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking a look at Ed Garcia's New Lyrics for "Me & Julio Down By the School Yard" I LOVE the pictures of BUSH IN CHAINS!

As a responsible, moderate,level-headed DLC kind of Democrat, I cannot, in good faith, support impeachment yet...but DAMN it sure is nice to dream!