Talk about getting your head in a spin…Today I went through my daily routine of reading email as I listen to yesterdays “news” via podcasts downloaded to iTunes. I do this every morning, without fail…Coffee, email, podcasts.

All of a sudden, it hit me…The incongruousness of what I was doing. I had Rachel Maddow in the iTunes window on the right side of my screen and on the left, I was reading George Will‘s column in Firefox…What an age, liberals on the right and conservatives on the left.

What I was reading though made me go back and reread it over again…

On Day One of his vow to take “meaningful steps to rein in our debt,” Barack Obama asked Congress to freeze portions of discretionary domestic spending. This would follow an astonishing permanent expansion: Republicans on the House Budget Committee say appropriations bills Obama has signed, along with his stimulus spending, have increased discretionary domestic spending 84 percent. He almost certainly will not keep his promise to veto spending bills when Congress, as it almost certainly will, largely disregards his request. (via George F. Will – A growth lesson from China – washingtonpost.com.)

Now, I have just one question on that paragraph…I know George Will is quoting the Republicans on the House Budget Committee, but where does that 84% figure come from? In searching the internet today, I only find references to the number in relation to the Q&A last week the Republicans had with President Obama and on the GOP Website.

Now I am from Texas, but my Great-grandfather was from Missouri…So can someone “show me” where these numbers came from. I would really appreciate it…