Politicians seem to be hoping the "lame duck" Congress will solve major budget problems in November and December. As far as I can tell, the only difference between Congress then and now will be the addition of the word "duck."
But Congress did manage to achieve a true bipartisan spirit last week, unanimously rejecting President Obama's proposed budget.
Fresh out of new social causes he can embrace, the president had no real response to that defeat.
The Senate's new motto is: We've done without a budget for three years; apparently it isn't as important to have one as everyone thinks.
Last week Commentary Magazine discovered that President Obama has been inserting himself into the biographies of former presidents that are posted on whitehouse.gov. Mostly, he has been noting how his administration is continuing to fight for popular initiatives others had started. Fair enough, but Photoshopping his face on Mount Rushmore was a little much.
And I doubt many schoolchildren will buy the picture of him playing golf on the moon with Neil Armstrong.
According to Wikipedia, "in about 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km paved road from Knossos in north Crete through the mountains to Gortyn and Lebena, a port on the south coast of the island, which had side drains, a 200 mm thick pavement of sandstone blocks bound with clay-gypsum mortar, covered by a layer of basaltic flagstones and had separate shoulders." I mention this only because it might help the contractors trying to finish the Timpanogos Highway.
The Utah Department of Transportation announced another delay in the 3-year-old Timpanogos Highway project last week. So far we're progressing at almost two miles per year. At that rate, even the Minoans might have just installed a light-rail system instead.
Ron Paul announced last week he is no longer going to spend any money on winning any presidential primaries. His supporters immediately declared victory.
Paul supporters believe their man has enough delegates to take the convention by storm this summer. To them, politics is the art of the impossible.
Jay Evensen is the associate editor of the Deseret News editorial page. Follow him on Twitter @jayevensen.