Morning, All. I won't say 'good' because the news is already depressing. I just found this almost first thing this morning. The article by James Ridgeway in the Baltimore Sun has links to the Washington Post story. I have written about this notion of appointing a commission to deal with the budget deficit by cutting Social Security, Medicare and other such programs. It was and is a coward's way out for our Congress Critters. My only hope is that given the structure of the commission it will be in as much of a deadlock as our legislature is. Unfortunately, given Obama's track record I am afraid he will appoint a couple of Democrats who are Republican except for the label.

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It is Friday now. Not much has changed. We get a bit of sun and everyone's mood lifts a bit and then it gets overcast again. About half of the snow we had has disappeared but we are supposed to get more over the weekend along with cooler temperatures.

Along with the potential 'Deficit Reduction Committee' (I put that in quotes because it should really be named 'Let's Get Rid of Social Security and Screw Everyone Who Has Paid Into It' Committee) was another story in which the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down the regulations on corporate political donations. Susan Albert reminded everyone that Clarence Thomas (who voted with the majority) had been a Monsanto corporate lawyer before he became a judge and then a justice. I would dearly love to see the court or, barring that, our legislative representatives do away with that pernicious fiction that corporations are 'individuals' entitled to most of the rights of individuals. Corporate speech is not the same as individual speech and, because corporations enjoy the advantage over individuals of being deathless, have accumulated massive amounts of money they would much rather give to candidates who will push their agenda than to the workers who made their money.