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Well thank goodness! In March 2006, Congress raised the limit on the government's credit card to nearly $9 trillion. I say, it's about time! Why worry about burdening our children with paying off this future debt, when we can spend (from 2005 expenditures):

$3,973,000 for shrimp aquaculture research even though the USDA has said that the program met it's goals in 1987. A total of $61 million has been spent on this since 1985. What? Are they trying to develop a better breed of Sea Monkeys? But, I'm sure they're spending the money wisely.

$3 million for the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, because without it, children would never be able to play baseball. We are so lucky that they're there to raise our awareness of that sport! Strangely, I don't see any mention of the largesse received on their website.

$5,791,000 for the East-West Center in Hawaii, which "is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States." By golly, I'm glad we've spent a total of $66 million dollars on them since 1991. For that kind of money, I'm betting they're solely responsible for our peaceful relations with the countries in Asia and the Pacific.

$2 million to buy back Jimmy Carter's Presidential Yacht, the USS Sequoia, which was sold by President Carter in 1977 to demonstrate frugality. We will never forget President Carter, whose message will not go to waste.

A mere $900,000 to the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., although their revenue was $20.8 million in 2003 with only $11.4 million in expenses and assets worth $39.5 million. But much can change in 2 years! We know how mercurial the viewing public can be. And I think $900,000 is a bargain if it keeps our congresspersons off the street at night.

$200,000,000 (yes, that's two hundred million dollars) for the Commodity Import Program for Egypt. We're so nice that we even spread the wealth abroad, and subsidize the Egyptians who choose to import products into our country and compete with Americans. This is a fantastic program, which encourages us Americans to get more competitive with our pricing. The problem is trying to convince the American worker to allow us to match the wages, when a cook in Egypt gets paid $230/month and a receptionist gets $45/month. Silly Congress must've forgotten the difference in wages when they passed the minimum wage hike here.

$10 million for the International Fund for Ireland, which has received $439 million total since 1986. This is something to celebrate on St. Patty's Day when we toast the Irish!

And, of course, Congressional analysis places the cost of the Iraq War at $2 billion a week although before the Iraq invasion in 2003, Bush administration officials predicted costs related to the Iraq war would total less than $100 billion. But hey, what price war, huh? I know that *I* couldn't sleep at night without knowing we're over there, instead of over here patrolling our borders and coastlines. Too bad the Coast Guard can only inspect 2% of all imports (including those subsidized Egyptian imports) due to budgetary restrictions. But the government knows best where to spend our tax dollars, and I would be very ashamed if any of you dared to question the war.

It's unpatriotic to question the government. I hope you remember that.

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