hope and change

Change takes time.  Sometimes.  

Budget Surplus

Wow.  In April, the U.S. government had a $59 BILLION surplus!  The first surplus in four years.  The first after the crash-recession of 2008.

I'll bet FOX NEWS is going to sound the trumpet of the good economic news.  No?  Well surely the Democrats will crow a bit about their budget acumen and how Democrats seem to have to continually clean up after reckless Republicans.  No?  At least Obama will have another milestone under his belt and will tout the achievement.  No?  Hello?  Are there any "democrats" out there?

If the Republicans had run a surplus after so many down months, we'd hear no end to the celebrating.  From the Democrats we get nary a whimper.  

U.S. Posted Budget Surplus of $59.1 Billion in April (2012)

by Bloomberg Financial

The U.S. government posted a budget surplus in April, the first in more than three years, as tax revenue climbed and spending dropped.

Receipts topped outlays by $59.1 billion compared with a deficit of $40.4 billion in April 2011, the Treasury Department said today. Economists projected a $35 billion surplus, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. It was the first surplus since September 2008 and the biggest since April 2008.

“The total federal budget deficit is slowly shrinking,” said Steven Wood, president of Insight Economics LLC in Danville, California. “However, this improvement has been halting, due largely to erratic economic and employment growth.”

President Barack Obama, in his campaign to win a second term, is trying to make the case that while the recovery has been uneven, the U.S. is making progress. The administration has said won’t accept any of the dozen spending bills House Republicans are working on unless they agree to abide by a budget deal reached last year.

The dispute may lead to a government shutdown shortly before the November elections unless lawmakers agree on legislation to keep agencies operating in the 2013 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

the rest here

Speak now

I can't wait for this to happen.  Maybe the same thing will happen with weed, although we've been waiting on that for many years now.

new weed feed

I've added two new features to the blog:  

1) a Newsreel on marijuana legalization (at the bottom of the right column) and 


2) a Feed from High Times magazine (in the bottom section, alphabetic).   


These two new features will help me (and you!) keep in touch with what's going on in the world of weed, hemp, and other mind-expanding, life-enhancing natural substances.  

If there is a God, He created hemp, and endowed it with magical powers.

Weed cures cancer?

What if cannabis could cure cancer?  There is mounting evidence that it can do just that.  What is it going to take to get an honest accounting of the potential and effects of cannabis?

Hey, you got a few minutes?

  

Get in my vagina!

Republicans, Get In My Vagina! from Kate Beckinsale