By Tribune-Review

Published: Monday, February 25, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Updated: Monday, February 25, 2013

The great “sequestration” battle comes to a head this week. But whether Congress has the guts to pop the pimple of deception and lies that it is remains to be seen.

The Obama administration is threatening all manner of Nanny State Armageddon on Friday if Congress doesn't undo the mess of his making and, in the process, raise taxes yet again. Federally subsidized life as we know it will be severely threatened, goes Leviathan's talking points.

But the bottom line remains this: A government drowning in debt, fueled in no small part by nearly incomprehensible waste, is threatening to pare “essential services” if the Congress allows budget “cuts” — that aren't cuts but reductions in the rate of spending increases — to kick in on March 1.

It's despicable behavior. And it's no more evident than in claims that our military readiness and national security are at stake. To wit, “cuts” in Pentagon spending will apply only to the rate of growth in spending. “In other words, defense spending will increase in every year, even with sequestration cuts,” notes The Washington Examiner's Byron York.

The sequester debate also has exposed anew how the federal government has its tentacles wrapped around the states' throats — taxpayer dollars laundered through the Washington middlemen and back to the states to pay for everything from teachers and teacher aides (a local function), to Head Start services (a failure), to tuition subsidies (that only jack up the cost of tuition).

Washington debates never have been more intellectually dishonest than this one.

1. The Thursday wrap
2. The IRS & ObamaCare: Leviathan threatens
3. Pittsburgh Tuesday takes
4. Your government: More thuggery
5. ObamaCare lies: Shocking truths
6. Oklahoma’s sorrow
7. Saturday essay: Banana bike curls
8. Sunday pops
9. The Box
10. Go with the flow
11. Missile defense: Enabling Russia

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