It's a pretty shady way of doing the accounting. Ryan's budget, of course, has a ten-year window, and his office couldn't provide me with a 12-year window because that's not how it was calculated. Obama presumably has to do this to get to $4 trillion, but based on his speech, I don't even believe he can get to $4 trillion. You can't save anything if you don't reform anything.

Obama is going to be in trouble if his new plan doesn't consist of substantially more than just soaking the rich. He already assumed several big tax hikes on high-earners in his February budget, which nonetheless ran trillion- or near-trillion-dollar deficits every year for the next decade..

I think you've got it with this comment. This could partly explain election 2010. When you look at the exit polling, it does not support a "vote-the-economy" interpretation as much as a "vote-against-big-government" interpretation.

Yes, you can go to court, but the court standard gives the NLRB much deference. The board wins 85 percent of the challenges.

Indeed, it can always get worse.

But did you notice that Turkey's parliament at least voted on its involvement in Libya? We cannot say that of our own Congress.

We really agree on this, but let's take it for what it is. I like the fact that we're actually discussing spending cuts, which is an improvement from the last time Republicans controlled everything. The good result isn't here yet. In fact, we haven't even stopped digging yet, and even under the best scenario -- the Ryan budget -- we won't have stopped digging (which means balancing the budget) for decades.

But the first step is always to acknowledge that you have a problem. That's where the Congress is now.

You are absolutely correct. Chicago and Illinois are great examples of this. The state government is now a deadbeat -- not even paying its bills. The city is so far behind on its pension contributions that Mayor Rahm is going to have to take drastic measures that make Scott Walker look like Cesar Chavez if he's going to save the city from itself.

People see Chicago's beautiful downtown -- built on billions of borrowed dollars -- and fail to understand that underneath the golden pavers is the story of a city experiencing a large (if not quite Detroit-like) population loss. Chicago's neighborhoods have been emptying out -- the Census shows a 7 percent population decline in the city over the last decade.

Specter was still a Republican at that time, and in fact he cited the hatred he received from that vote as one of the main reasons he switched parties.

Speaking of which, doesn't it give you a wonderful feeling to look back at his party switch? Remember how that was supposed to be the end for Republicans? They had pushed away all of the moderates because they were fanatics? Somehow, it didn't end up that way.

It's so funny to see that Specter dug his own grave that way. I was devastated by his narrow victory in the 2004 primary (I was in Allentown covering it that night), but pleasantly surprised by his subsequent service as judiciary chairman. Specter's proudest moment probably came during the Alito hearings, when he told off Sen. Kennedy (God rest his soul).

With that service and with his 2009 party switch, Specter did immense good for a conservative cause he didn't even believe in. It serves as a lesson for how a conservative primary challenge can succeed, even when it fails.

Thanks! I don't know how many people here are fans of "The Wire," but in the second season, there was an incredible quote from the head of the stevedores' union -- something about how "We used to make s---- in this country, we used to build s----. Now all anyone does is reach into the next guy's pocket." Truer words are rarely spoken.

Thank you, sir. And I'm sorry it can't be more pleasant -- just as I could say about the Obama presidency in general. :-)

Everything I know about the Pendergast Gang I learned from a cranky 80-year-old sports writer at my old neighborhood newspaper in Brooklyn. So I feel unqualified to comment on the topic. It's an interesting idea, though.

Quite true! What's most incredible now, though, is to see the GOP in Congress actually cutting spending below last year's level. Mind you, it's not much of a cut, but go back five years and look at how far talk of spending cuts went then. DOA, and mostly because of Republican appropriators.

I'm not much of an optimist when it comes to our system, but for my mere decade in DC, we're on uncharted ground. I will be very surprised if conservatives win on entitlements, but obviously we've gotten somewhere. Entitlement reform has just been proposed with specifics and numbers by one of the two major parties. This is also a completely new development.

Thanks, Diane! I'll have things rolling shortly!