The Emporer's New Clothes: We've all heard the story about the emporer who got hoodwinked into walking around nude, while his flatterers told him how good he looked in his new clothes. Then he encounters a young boy who doesn't know enough to keep his mouth shut and spills the beans. Fortunately, the emporer wakes up and corrects the situation.

When, you must be wondering, will Mr. Bush wake up and realize that his advisers are selling him a bill of goods? When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you ain't saving Social Security. The "plan" is to take tax money and enrich Wall Street bankers. It's that plain and simple.

Mr. Bush's problem is that he won't listen to that little boy telling him that he's walking around in plastic wrap. His handlers won't even allow the little boy close enough to him to be heard. The only people who can wake Mr. Bush up to the fiasco are Laura, the twins, or Momma. The twins are too enraptured with their own "princess-dom" to help out here, Laura doesn't seem bright enough, and Momma … well, it appears that she doesn't really care about what happens to this country as long as her set is okay.

It is certainly a shame that the one tax that has worked in this country, the tax that has supported the rest of the government for the past twenty or so years, is about to be flushed by someone who thinks he's actually doing good.

Isn't there someone left in the administration with a shred of decency? Is everyone in the Republican party so enamored of Argentina that they have to force it into that round hole? (See Paul Krugman's "The Iceberg Cometh" on yesterday's NYTimes Op-Ed page.)

Basball:The New York Mets signed Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran for over 170 million dollars. They'll get one trip to the World Series out of it and a load of debt. And I wouldn't bet on the Series trip. They're in what might be the toughest division in baseball, with at least three other serious contenders. Think what the Marlins could do with that kind of money to throw around.