from The American Spectator:
“There is more good in the budget deal than is revealed in the budget cut number agreed on last night. Measured against the size of budget cutting necessary for the future, the numbers are small, to be sure, but this number was a tactical, not a strategic engagement. The key to the matter is momentum, principle, and precedent, which set up the strategic environment for 2012.

Andrew Stiles at NRO correctly points out the extent of the Harry Reid cave-in.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) didn’t want to cut anything at first. But bowing to political reality, eventually ponied up about $4.7 billion in cuts. He ended up with $33.8 billion less spending than he wanted. And he called it an “historic” accomplishment. (Not surprisingly, the left is appalled).

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), on the other hand, initially proposed $32 billion in spending cuts. House Republicans, led by an undaunted freshman class, bumped that number up to $61 billion ($100 billion off the president’s budget), before settling on $38.5 billion.

“That’s $6.5 billion more than Boehner asked for to begin with, and $5.5 billion more than the $33 billion that Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats claimed had been agreed to less than two weeks ago.

“A.J. Strata highlights the much bigger win that has been foreordained by the fine print, not conveyed in the number aloneThe budget number is pretty good, mainly because it kills programs instead of lowering their budgets for 6 months. so those 6 month numbers expand and grow in the coming year (snip) [emphasis added]

Obama even admitted in his speech infrastructure projects were being ‘delayed’ (i.e., de-funded in 2011). Once de-funded, they will not be back any time soon. As fox News reports, this is a lot farther than the Democrats said they would be willing to go when this all started. (snip)

However, Boehner must have had an incredible stick in those negotiations, because Reid and Obama agreed to put things to vote in the Senate which everyone deemed impossible just last week. That is the truly amazing part of what Boehner pulled off yesterday:

The agreement reached with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would repeal President Obama’s government takeover of health care in its entirety. The House passed such legislation in January as part of the Pledge to America.
…

The agreement with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would end federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The last thing Reid or Obama want is a vote in the senate on Obamacare (or Planned Parenthood). But now they are going to have to vote and this is huge. If this happens, and 4 of those 23 red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2012 vote against Obamacare, then the President will have to veto a bipartisan bill that lines up with the overall will of the American voters. What could be better than isolating Obama and Obamacare from the will of the people and Congress heading into 2012?

The conclusion is inescapable that the Democrats realized they would be blamed for a shutdown, at least as much as the Republicans. The ploy of holding the troops’ paychecks hostage stands as one of the dumbest political moves of the Obama presidency (and that is saying a lot). Sure there would be pictures of families turned away from the Washington Monument, but these would pale in comparison with the pictures of families near military bases unable to pay the rent or buy groceries, going into paycheck advance lenders and payting 22% interest in order to put food on the table.

One thing the American public will not tolerate is using our brave military heroes as political pawns. A.F. Branco summed up the politics thusly:

To: Congressman Sam Farr (for Monterey and Santa Cruz County, CA)
From: Dr. Cameron Jackson, licensed psychologist

I am opposed to the current the Health Care Reform bill which Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership offer Americans. I am worried and concerned how you, Mr. Farr, may vote because per your web site statistics you vote the Democratic Party line 98% of the time.

Now is the time that you, Mr. Farr, need to show independence from the Democratic Party line. Right now America is under one party rule by the Democratic Party. That is not healthy. The basic Robert’s Rules of Order that protect the minority Republican and Independent positions are not respected by Congress. Nancy Pelosi, the Rules Committee and members of Congress need to read or re-read Democracy in America by DeTocqueville. Protect the rights of the minority to speak! Have real debate! And please Mr. Farr don’t push bills down the throats of Americans just because of One Party Rule.

One question every American should pose and which I ask you: do you plan to give up your private health care coverage which all members of Congress get and use the same health care plan that the Democrats offer? If your answer Mr. Farr is No, that you plan to keep your private insurance plan — then the health care plan proposed by Obama and the Democrats is not good enough for We the People whom you represent.

I strongly oppose governmental interference in the health care decisions that people now make with their doctors. Of note in the current bill: The bill requires that medical doctors must have end of life and end of care discussions every 5 years.

I strongly oppose the government – at one swoop — taking over a fifth of the economy. The health care sector amounts to about 20 percent of the economy. The government does not have a good record for keeping down costs nor running anything efficiently.

New business need to grow on shoe-string budgets. This plan will drive small business out of business and prevent new ones from starting. With all the unemployed who have enormous talents and capabilities we need to do everything we can to encourage new business. Saddling on small businesses required costs for medical care is simply dumb.

Each person is a unique person with a unique medical history. Deciding whether to have surgery or not – whether to have chemo or not — is best done without government interference. Do we want the “compassion” of the IRS and the Department of Motor Vehicles affecting important medical decisions? No, we want the compassion and clinical judgment of our doctors without government interference.

written by Dr. Cameron Jackson, licensed psychologist
cameornjacks@gmail.com

Vote YES on IB if you want a multi-billion increase in education spending. Vote NO on IB if you dislike the grip of unions on government. In California, 57 percent of government workers are unionized compared to 37 percent nationally. CA teachers make 25 % more than elsewhere and are highest paid in nation.

Vote YES on IC if you want more people buying CA lottery tickets. Vote NO in IC if concerned about the poor – who overwhelmingly buy the bulk of all lottery tickets. Vote NO if gambling money away is particularly bad during these economic times.

Vote YES on ID which grabs the tobacco money. Vote NO on ID because that tobacco money currently is dedicated to children’s services which you do not want cut.

Vote YES on IE which takes the so-called millionaire tax money. Vote NO on IE because that money is currently dedicated to health services. Vote NO because The biggest cut in Santa Cruz County will be the health services. Vote NO because swine flu, T.B and other infectious diseases must be kept in check.