Do you remember back a year and a half, when Congress couldn’t agree on a budget? But they did agree to set a date, January 1, 2013, when they would agree on a plan. It looked like a good plan, and it was, but they forgot it would be the same birds in there.
Now, your average fifth grader, in a year and a half, will pick up quite a bit of knowledge. And he’ll likely be a bit wiser.  But not Congress or the President. They drove us another Trillion in debt, learned nothing, and lost whatever wisdom they had, if any.
They should have set the date for Dec. 15 to get this mess settled before Christmas. Or even better, Nov. 1 so we would have known the damage before we voted for ‘em.
So here we are, 300,000,000 of us hanging on the edge of the cliff, and our leaders are on Christmas vacation.
Near as I can figure, this is what those birds expect from Santa Claus. Republicans want: reduced spending so the $16 Trillion national debt decreases; as a last resort, they’ll raise taxes but only if about $3 is cut for every $1 of higher taxes. Democrats want: higher taxes on the rich and spending cut no more than 1%; also ignore the Debt.
What will we get? If you pay taxes, you’ll pay more next year. If you’re worried about the debt, get used to it. Instead of 3:1, the ratio of cuts to income will be more like 1:1.

Congress is ready to allocate $60 Billion for storm victims along the coast of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. That seems like a steep contribution from the other 47 states, considering those 3 are among the wealthiest in the country. My suggestion, if we’re forced to donate the money, is divide it among those who lost their houses, but with the proviso they have to build somewhere inland, and build on rock, not sand. Barrier islands are called barrier islands for a reason. They’re just piles of shifting sand and nothing should be put on ‘em except tents.

Secretary of State Clinton got sick, fell and suffered a concussion. She postponed a talk with the Senate to explain the Benghazi massacre, because, like injured NFL players, she had to sit out a week or two. Maybe she can borrow a helmet from the Washington Redskins. I wonder who is running the State Dept. this week. If her mind is muddled from the concussion, she can’t be quarterbacking the team.

Good thing Mexico released that former Marine, Jon Hammar. Otherwise a bunch of Marines, led by Col. Bill O’Reilly, would have swooped in and rescued him. The whole operation would have taken less than an hour, to fit into his time slot on Fox News.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“I didn’t know that Christmas did mean so much till you have to spend one away off like this one from home.” DT #1693, Dec. 27, 1931
“Spending when we didn’t have it put us where we are today. Saving when we have got it will get us back to where we was before we went cuckoo.” DT #1353, Nov. 24, 1930
“People have just got to get used to debt. If we just let the fellow we owe do the worrying, the United States will be the happiest land on earth.” DT #2421, May 7, 1934