I Know Scrooge When I See Him
The recently approved budget cuts

I am sick and tired of hearing the Right claim they are trying to "teach a man to fish." Cutting health, education, and labor programs doesn't provide much in the way of poles, hooks, or bait. See the LATimes article GOP Leaders Bargain Cuts Through the House :

The House, which a month ago rejected a compromise bill to reduce spending, reversed course Wednesday and approved a $602-billion measure that would cut or freeze funding for an array of health, education and labor programs — but a two-vote margin of passage signified the challenge facing Republican leaders in their drive to lower the federal budget deficit.

The bill, which would cut spending on these programs by about $1.4 billion from last year's level, now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

[ . . . . ]

On Wednesday, every Democrat again voted no, objecting that the legislation would make the first cut in education spending in a decade and shortchange such programs as aid to low-income families for their heating bills. They also pointed out that spending cuts were being considered just a week after the House passed $94 billion in tax cuts.

Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said the specific cuts in this bill — along with an expected Republican effort to enact across-the-board reductions in spending before adjourning for the year — reflected GOP "Scrooge-onomics."

"The holidays are supposed to be a time of generosity — a time when Santa Claus fills children's stockings," Obey said. "Instead, this Congress is emptying them in order to provide a tax cut that gives 50% of the benefit to people making more than $1 million."

I'm all for putting Christ back into Christmas--the one who tells us that to fail to feed, clothe, and shelter people truly in need is the same as denying all three to him. He also said to care for the sick and visit those in prison. In addition, he taught people to pray in private and not make lavish displays of their piety. Where is that Christ in the Christmas wars?

If I'm a bleeding-heart liberal out of touch with reality, I guess Jesus was, too.