he following thoughts have been inspired by a lengthy and extremely well thought-out editorial in the New York Times. Come November the Congressional elections take place. Between now and then there will be much political mud hurled and many facts distorted. (i.e, lies told). For the record there is absolutely no likelihood of

a lessening of demagoguing on the hill and the campaign trails. It is a fact that fully 50% of the government's huge deficits can be chalked up to the wasteful spending and programs of the Bush era; by the time Mr.Bush left the presidency, the government had run up huge deficits for seven straight years.

On January 7th.,2009, two weeks before Mr. Obama's inauguration, the economy was on the brink of another Great Depression. How convenient it is for Republican and so-called "Tea Party" supporters to forget that. Mr.Bush cut taxes deeply, while at the same time borrowing to wage two wars and to enact the Medicare prescription drug benefit - all of which the Republicans supported with enthusiasm. When "W" took office in 2001, the federal budget had been in the black for three years, and continued surpluses had been expected and projected for fully the future decade. But in the unwavering eyes of the conservative critics of Mr Obama and his handling of congress, it is all the Democrat's fault.

To avoid a real meltdown, the government, Bush and then Obama correctly decided that they had no choice but to spend many hundreds of billions. If they hadn't taken the actions they did our situation would have become considerably worse.

To quote from the editorial opinion of the New York Times, "There is no way to get deficits under control until our political leaders are willing to acknowledge difficult truths and make even more difficult political choices. We have heard and seen too little of that from the Democrats lately, and none at all from the Republicans". That's a recipe for disaster.

Mr.Obama has been less than candid, pledging never to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000. Republican lawmakers have been worse, calling for tax cuts at almost every possible opportunity. I don't remember hearing a Republican acknowledge that a shortfall in revenue is one of the important causes 0f the gigantic deficits.

More, much more to come on that issue.

All is not lost - New Orleans won the Superbowl.