Earthquake in DC, and Deficit News.

So, did anybody feel the earthquake yesterday in DC? Actually, it was centered in Virginia, but that's close enough for government work. Here's a photo of just some of the devastation.

The horror.

Here's a surprise: our current budget deficit isn't the result of large numbers of baby boomers hitting retirement age and drawing Social Security all at once. You knew that already. Not that that's not a problem, but it's not the main driver of the debt.

Spending is, as Byron York reminds us. And it's all Obama's. Here's a tidbit...

There's no doubt federal spending has exploded in recent years. In fiscal 2007, the last year before things went haywire, the government took in $2.568 trillion in revenues and spent $2.728 trillion, for a deficit of $160 billion. In 2011, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government will take in $2.230 trillion and spend $3.629 trillion, for a deficit of $1.399 trillion.



That's an increase of $901 billion in spending and a decrease of $338 billion in revenue in a very short time. Put them together, and that's how you go from a $160 billion deficit to a $1.399 trillion deficit.

This isn't hard for anybody to understand, if you can balance your own checkbook, that is. And that's not hard, either. Ace has more here.

Want some more good news?

Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further.



Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000.


When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.

That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever.

You're welcome.

So, let me see if I have this right: Democrats (Progressives, actually, which are just the American version of Communists) take power, go on a wild spending spree under the illusion that massive government spending will pull the economy out of the doldrums, and discover that they did more harm than good. The populace begins to insist that Washington tighten its belt like everyone else and start to reduce spending in a modest way. A movement rises from the heartland called the Tea Party, which stands for Taxed Enough Already, makes huge gains in a short length of time, elects its own politicians who proceed to actually do the will of the people (what a concept!) and said Progressives call it the enemy, and tell it to "go straight to hell" ?

Alllll righty, then.

Maybe someone should say this out loud, but it's clear to a large and growing number of Americans who the real enemy is, and it ain't the Tea Party. It's the Progressives who have spent an awful lot of money that doesn't belong to them to fix a problem that they themselves created through an ever-larger and more intrusive government. As the Blogfather is fond of saying, if it can't last, it won't.

Well, that's your daily dose of good cheer. As of this writing, I still haven't heard back from the author of that Forbes link from yesterday about my question of foreign governments subsidising their takeovers of American manufacturing. Confidence remains high, however.

Y'all have a good day.

Pat Robertson's Disgraceful Distortion of Christianity

In the aftermath of the strongest earthquake to strike the island of Haiti in over 200 years, Pat Robertson had this to say about it:

They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.

It's tough to find a place to begin addressing this idiocy. I could just let this quote float, buoyed by its own insensitivity, but I'm a little more inclined to request that Dr. Robertson please refrain from ever saying anything again. He just lost what little credibility he had as a spokesman.

I'm not alone in my criticism. Peter Wehner over at NRO's The Corner denounces his words, as does Founding Bloggers. Ace and my fellow morons chime in here.

The most disturbing aspect of this assault on Christianity is that he is considered by many on the left to be the voice of American Christians, mostly due to his presidential run. I can assure them, he does not speak for me, nor anyone else I know. His words will be repeated in order to further distort the image of Christians as knuckle-dragging, gun-toting inbreds. Thus, a false image will be reinforced, ironically, by a preacher.

Pat Robertson may have his own TV outlet, many followers and lots of money, but his unthinking criticism of innocent victims reveals that he's only interested in hearing his own words.

He is an embarassment to the Christian faith.