pinions of buddy don: last vacayshun chore

i couldnt git everthang dun yesterdy, so this mornin i will git back on that bus n go over to man hattan sos i kin finish off a lil presentayshun. tiz wurth it on a counta i will be off fer so long. i also gut my evaluwayshun yesterdy n seems lack thar a'gone keep me round n give me a lil better assinement. so thays minny a blessin to be counted. thays also these stories ...

• how ye a'gone balants that budget? furst, ye gut to cut sum thangs, $54 billyuns wurth -- jes medicaid, food stamps, student loans, child support enforcement, farm supports, them verr wasteful items that dont nobidy need. then, to satisfy the futher greed of them that pays fer yer offus, ye gut to give em sum money back, witch how bout $70 billyuns? that should cut that deficit! lease we wont be drillin in alaska, rite? rite? i mean, i hope thats rite. GOP to Strike Arctic Drilling From House Bill:

  House GOP leaders agreed last night to strip plans to permit oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the offshore continental shelf from a $54 billion budget-cutting measure, probably securing the votes to pass the bill today.
  
  The move is a blow to President Bush, who has made expanded oil exploration a priority since he took office. Lawmakers said the White House applied pressure yesterday to Republicans to save the drilling provisions, especially in Alaska, even wooing conservative Democrats who have steadfastly opposed the GOP budget package.
  
  But the Democrats did not budge, and at least 22 Republicans told the House leadership they would not vote for the sweeping bill unless the drilling provision was removed and they were given assurances that it would not return after House and Senate negotiators hash out a final measure. Even then, several moderate Republicans have said they still would oppose the bill, which would allow states to impose new costs on Medicaid recipients, cut funds for student loans and child support enforcement, trim farm supports, and restrict access to food stamps.
  
  Those measures and others would save $54 billion over five years, but moderates have complained that those savings would be more than lost if the House moved forward with a $70 billion tax-cut extension bill next week.

• how bout the news fer them publicans? whut gits me is ifn ye make a list of our biggest problems, witchns did we have in 2000? gigantick deficits? no, twuz that trublesum surplus! how bout that war in iraq? no, we had that peace n such. hmm. partisan strife? thats it! we had it then, we gut it now. For GOP, 2006 Now Looms Much Larger:

  In a season of discontent for the White House, Tuesday's election results intensified Republican anxiety that next year's midterm contests could bring serious losses unless George W. Bush finds a way to turn around his presidency and shore up support among disaffected, moderate swing voters.
  
  Off-year gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey have proved to be unreliable predictors of elections, as Republican officials were quick to point out yesterday. But as short-term indicators, Tuesday's results confirmed that nothing happened to alter a political climate that now tilts against the GOP and that the president remains in the midst of a slump.

• could it be thay dun fergut how to game the system? seems lack them publicans dun shot tharself in the foot. now they wonta back off. Senator Seeks to Defer Probe of CIA Prison Leak:

  The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told Senate leaders yesterday that Congress should hold off on a probe of the disclosure of classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post until the Justice Department completes its own inquiry.
  
  Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said he will "respectfully" request that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) back off a strongly worded request that a bicameral investigation into the disclosure be convened immediately. Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said the majority leader had not decided how to respond. "He always takes what his chairmen say into consideration," she said.
  
  Frist and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) surprised both Roberts and House intelligence committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) with a joint letter demanding a House-Senate inquiry after the Nov. 2 publication of a Post article detailing a web of secret prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, maintained by the CIA to detain suspected terrorists.
  
  The CIA general counsel's office also has notified the Justice Department that a release of classified information took place in connection with The Post's report. After the CIA details what it sees as the damage done by the article, Justice prosecutors will determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted.
  
  Asked how long that could take, Roberts joked, "Decades," indicating he is in no rush to convene his own inquiry. Hoekstra said he has not decided how to proceed.
  
  After months of partisan charges over the White House release of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name and false information on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, disclosure of classified information has become an issue among Republicans.

• how much duz it cost to meet mr bush? Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting:

  WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.
  
  The African leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, met with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004, 10 months after Mr. Abramoff made the offer. There has been no evidence in the public record that Mr. Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon.

whut a worl! time to go. hope to see ye agin soon.