Bob Herbert

He isn't the most eloquent of writers, but he cuts throught the bullshit like a champ. And that's really what's more important, right? I mean, Safire can throw out fifty-cent words all day, but he couldn't string a group of sentences together to make a coherent, logical argument if his life depended on it.

We're holding a terrible hand. There is no exit strategy for American troops in Iraq. There is no plan in our insane tax-cut environment for paying for the war. The situation in Afghanistan, which is part of the real war against terror, has deteriorated. The U.S. military is stretched dangerously thin, lacking sufficient troops to meet its obligations around the world. Homeland security is deeply underfunded. And with the terror networks energized, the feeling among intelligence experts with regard to a strike in the U.S. is not if, but when.

Just one thing--we're not in a "tax cut environment." We have, rather, shifted taxes from the currently wealthy to the currently poor, and to the yet-to-be-born middle class. Somebody has to pay for the gigantic national debt that is only growing like a weed under the current administration. And the powers that are have decided that your children and, likely, grandchildren should foot the bill.

Now, I'm a simple man. I possess no advanced degrees, nor do I know jack about economics. Yet I can grasp that simple truth. It's wonderful, then, that there are intelligent, educated, committed journalists who explain the impact of economic policies to us.

As long as I'm wishing, I should ask for a pony.