Have you seen President Obama in "Doonesbury"?

Garry Trudeau pictured President George W. Bush as a Roman general's helmet floating over an asterisk. To many on the right this proved that Trudeau was a liberal and should be on the editorial page.

What they forget is that Trudeau is an equal opportunity satirist and lampooner. He pictured President Bill Clinton as a floating waffle with a pat of butter dripping off of it.

When and how will he portray President Barack Obama? A floating Constitution, a wad of money, some symbol behind a podium? A suit, tie, and flag pin? Whatever he chooses, I hope we get a good chuckle and feel, "Right on!"

Spend or pay off debt, money still goes into the economy

One of the criticisms of the stimulus package that Congress passed and the President signed is that many people will save it or use it to pay off debt. However, the money still "goes" into the economy. Those who save it will be providing capital to financial institutions; they don't put it into a lock box but lend it to others. Those who pay off debt are similarly making more money available to lend.

What the rebate does mean is that the government will have less money to either spend or pay down its debt. That means at some time more taxes will be needed to pay for needed projects or to reduce the debt. In other words, the government is doing what many people did to get us into this mess - living on tomorrow's income.

Astute analysis or lucky guess?

As the fiasco of the fired District Attorney unfolds and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales comes under increasing criticism from Republican Senators, I wonder if I was making a good prediction in my April Fool's column for the Reader Weekly, "Tomorrow's news you can use today" or just a lucky guess.

I started with the premise that Gonzales would resign rather than face a lot of questioning from the Senate or possible impeachment from the House. From there, the President's house of cards would collapse, leading to a surprise replacement for Bush.

I will say that the fruits of giving more allegiance to party than to the Constitution are starting to ripen.

What does "Support our troops" really mean?

Garry Trudeau had an interesting take on "Support our troops" in today's "Doonesbury". Two soldiers are discussing whether support means providing them with ammo and armor so they can keep fighting or letting them come home to their families and friends.