More $$ for the Military

Surprise! Defense spending is going up again. According to the Washington Post, the "Pentagon has prepared a $399.1 billion defense budget for fiscal 2004 as part of a spending plan that grows by about $20 billion annually over the next five years and surpasses half a trillion dollars by the end of the decade."

How they'll be able to maintain this ascending budget while the tax cuts eviscerate the spending base is to be determined. It will probably require a magician's act, but the old Reagan accountants are primed for the task, I'm sure.

Steven M. Kosiak, director of budget studies at the CSBA, observes, "We've come full circle. We're not only not cutting defense anymore, but we've come to the point where we're spending more money than we spent during the Cold War. Whether this is sustainable over the next six years is questionable."

Despite such skepticism, Bill Kristol and his cronies will, of course, keep begging for more.