dangerousmeta pointed to this New Republic piece about the budget crisis in Texas, attributable in large measure to Little George’s tax cut mania. Pity more attention isn’t given to this in the current debate.

At least Dubya’s presidency will be of unprecedented assistance to the arts!

And the New York Times today suggests that Dubya’s unsubtle pandering to the right since his inauguration ought to be reinfusing almost every facet of the left end of the American political spectrum with outrage and resolve. Let’s hope progressives, and Democrats in general, can do something with it. I worried after Dubya’s ascendency to the throne that political memory is too short, conciliatory tendencies too strong, and Bush’s handlers too unscrupulous and disingenuous for an effective opposition to grow just when this country (and the world) need it most.Now glimmers of hope, to the contrary, that Bush just might continue to be an effective collaborator in the process. Continue to follow me on this emotional roller coaster ride between political encouragement and despondency…

Barbra Streisand’s call for stepped-up Democratic Oppositon to Bush Agenda: “In late March, Barbra Streisand sent a personal memo to a limited group of leading Democratic
legislators, urging that a more forceful effort be made to resist the rush of legislative proposals and
presidential edicts from the Bush administration which threaten to undermine 30 years of progress in civil
rights, environmental protections and Political process. Since this memorandum was leaked to the
press, primarily the D.C. magazine Roll Call and The Drudge Report, and since it has been angrily
misreported by a wide range of right wing media, we felt visitors to BarbraStreisand.com would like to
read the updated text of her thoughts.” And here‘s Tom Daschle’s response [grin].

The Village Voice, usefully, collects links to all its vitriolic coverage of GB2’s early days in this ‘peek into (his) honeymoon suite’. And the Booknotes weblog neatly sums it all up, with the newfound authority the inauguration has conferred on Molly-Ivins-loving commentators from Texas:

“I just had a horrifying thought. The Bush administration might be up to
something. They spend their 100 day honeymoon ramming though their real
agenda and paying back their money backers, igonoring the polls. Then
they spend the next 3+ years polishing their image for the next election. The
American population is famous for quickly fogetting what at one time
enraged it. Think about it.
And don’t stop thinking about it until you get a chance to vote again.”

After all, somebody’s going to get inaugurated in around 45 months…