Surf's Up

This is why the federal budget is so hard to trim, tiny cuts and big complaints,

In the context of federal spending that will total something like $3.8 trillion this year, $61 billion is a rounding error. Yet the Democrats resisting that amount in House-approved cuts say it will wreck the economy while leaving children unschooled, taking food from the mouths of the elderly, and casting disabled people into the streets.
Laughter is the only appropriate response to such predictions. In these absurd times, when both parties quibble over crumbs while the layer cake of debt rises higher and higher, laughter is a mark of fiscal seriousness.

Yet, when we talking of a 1.6 percent reduction in spending, you would think the apocalypse is just around the corner.  Want an example?  Here is one from Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and this is pretty mild.

Speaking of accounting problems:  That $6.5 billion in spending cuts proposed by Democrats--yeah not so much.  The Congressional Budget Office says it is really $4.7 billion.  Love that fuzzy math.

Another Governor doing somethings right, this time in Puerto Rico.

Since coming into power in 2009, Gov. Luis Fortuño  (R-Puerto Rico) has cut government spending by 20 percent, lowered taxes and raised the territory’s bond status to its highest rating in 35 years – all during a punishing economic climate.

Impressive, yes.  Not getting a lot of play elsewhere.

Shocking, I know, but college kids have sex.  So why all the hubbub about Brigham Young University suspending their star center on the #3 ranked basketball team in the country?  Because he had sex--really?  Yes, and it is not because he had sex, but because he violated the school's honor code.  Brandon Davies signed an honor code before enrolling, understood that and has accepted the consequences of his actions.  I personally think the BYU code is a tad restrictive, but it is based on the Mormon religious beliefs so who am I to question it.  What I find refreshing is that both the school and the student taking the Honor Code seriously.  If only more schools had and enforced an honor code, we might be better off.

Speaking of higher education--don't be surprised if public and private universities start up an escalator of ever-increasing tuition hikes.  State and local higher education spending hit a 25 year low and with booming enrollement and the coming end of the federal stimulus money to higher education, don't be surprised to see big, big tuition hikes coming.

The end of an era.  The Space Shuttle Discovery landed a short while ago after its final mission and the third to last for the Shuttle Program.  The future of the NASA Space Flight program is in limbo.  I think, though, that private space companies will start to take up the slack.

In soccer/charity news, Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City club announced the naming rights for its new stadium will go to champion cyclist Lance's Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation.  This is just way cool, as a percentage of all revenue at the stadium--ticket sales, concessions, etc., will go to the Foundation.  Sporting KC is one of the 18 MLS clubs and they are all getting their acts together on an off the field (well except maybe Toronto--whose front office is being a joke).

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Check out my soccer blog at Nutmegs and Stepovers