ALERT!: First casualty of the Bush budget: Health care

I told you it would happen, and it has. The first "casualty" of Bush's budget proposal released today appears to be Health care - as if our country could really afford to spend less on it.

The budget, if it is adopted, will cut Medicare spending by $66 billion over five years, and will cut Medicaid spending by $25 billion over five years. Congress still has to sign off on about half of the proposed Medicaid savings.

Thankfully, the sane side of the political aisle has already gone on the offensive against the ridiculous plan.

The president, who said he seeks a balanced budget by 2012, took aim at the two programs, which account for $1 out of every $4 spent by the federal government. However, the president called for smaller reductions last year, and those proposals went nowhere.

Democratic lawmakers were cool to the recommendations. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., described the Medicare and Medicaid proposals as "declaring war" on the poor and on Democrats. Stark, who oversees the House Ways and Means Committee's health subcommittee, said that savings can be achieved by targeting payments to health care providers, but not in the ways that President Bush sought.

Oh please Mr. President, let us cut education funding next! PLEASE!