The politics of the past week are stranger than the weather. There is no question that we face a huge financial problem in this country. Equally unless we tackle the entitlements and in particular Medicare and Medicaid then there is no solution in sight. Talking about slashing the budget for one’s pet peeve — a million here, a million there — does absolutely nothing. I laughed at one new Congresswoman who apparently told CPAC that she did not understand how Washington worked and frankly did not care. I doubt that more than a handful understand how the budget really works — but I suspect that a majority don’t really care. It is sad days for a (once) great country. The one bright spot was that Progressives and Tea Partiers did kill a defense program — but one that Gates had threatened to kill himself if Congress did not — so while $500 million was cut from defense it was a strange victory.