February 13, 2003 Headlines taken from today’s Wall Street Journal, with a few of my comments thrown in: The House, 230-192, passed Bush's tough new welfare rules to put more single mothers to work and set up a fund to promote marriage. Congress also pushed for passage of the $397.4 billion 2003 spending bill. [Congress is a mere 4.5 months late doing one of the few jobs it should be doing – passing a budget.  I wonder if they’d mind if I pay my taxes 4.5 months late.  It’s also encouraging to know that our money is being confiscated to “promote marriage.â€�  Would anyone like to place a wager that this silly effort will fail abysmally?] High Security was in evidence after bin Laden urged Muslims to defend Iraq. The U.S. told industries to watch for infiltrators among workers. [If we follow the example set by the Dept. of Transportation, industries will be frisking wheel-chair bound grandmothers and wanding children – just in case.] A Rapid, portable test to measure immune cells in AIDS patients could soon be available in poor countries, in a move that will make it easier for doctors to identify patients in need of medications. [Care to guess who will be paying for this test?  Hint: Hold your wallet.] Presidential hopeful, Rep. Dick Gephardt and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with more than 100 House Democrats, filed briefs in support of the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policy. [The Democrats believe that racial discrimination against dark-skinned people is bad, but racial discrimination against light-skinned people is good.  Understand?  Meanwhile, I’d like to file a brief in support of Rep. Gephardt getting a pair of eyebrows.] A U.S. Government plane crashed in Colombia, and rebels may have captured some of the five aboard. The U.S. refused to identify them. A massive rescue effort was mounted. [Yet another success story from the drug war.  Our ridiculous policy has devastated Columbia, not to mention turned our own cities into battle zones.  Admit defeat after decades?  Never!] Enron manipulated tax laws to achieve $2 billion in tax and accounting benefits over six years, a congressional report found. [I’m waiting for Congress to find the trillions of dollars it squanders, but I won’t hold my breath.]