Of course that headline is a rhetorical question since the idea of raising the debt ceiling is a Democratic idea, however, since the hostage negotiations have begun none of the political leaders have offered any Democratic ideas. Both sides keep talking about spending cuts, mostly from programs that benefit the poor and elderly. The President keeps stating that cutting everything, including Social Security and Medicare is on the table.

Really? We’re going to cut programs that actually put money back into the economy. We’re going to cut public jobs like teachers, police and fire fighters during the longest period of high unemployment since the Depression. We’re going to kill public works programs to fix our decaying Haiti-like infrastructure. We’re going to cut money for research in medicine, natural sciences and agriculture. We’re going to close our National Parks and Galleries. May as well close down NASA. Oh, right, they did.

And why? Because less than 5% of the nation either agrees with or identifies with the Tea Baggers, who want to cut all the programs that make up these somewhat United States. The 5% Mandate that has a Democratic controlled Senate and a Democratic Administration held hostage. It’s enough to make Speaker Boehner weep like a wuss. It makes you wonder how St. Reagan was able to raise the debt ceiling 17 times when he was president.

How did we get here? Iraq and Afghanistan. A spending spree that makes the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills seem frugal by comparison. Look at all the Budgets during the W years and you will not find line items for either war. Nothing. Not bullets. Not troop transport. Not even cash to thaw out Captain America. Spoiler alert! These wars are our national debt and somehow Seniors and the poor are at fault.

Please save us, Sufjan Stevens:

So now I’ve met both of these cats who go by Steve Wynn. They may be the same bloke but I’m not positive. I met Wynn One at his private art gallery featuring his personal Impressionists collection at his then hotel Bellagio on the famed Las Vegas strip. Etouffe and I were under the influence and I told a security guard to tell Steve we were in town. He said, “Tell him yourself. He’s right there.” So I did. “Nick and Jim from Pittsburgh,” I said extending my paw. Oddly, he reacted like he knew us. “Hey, guys. How’s it going?” I made a grab for his wallet and a Renoir and ran like the Juice. Long story short, socks full of coins do hurt.

I met Wynn Two at a free concert where he was promoting the latest Baseball Project CD. If you are not familiar, then I’ll educate. The Baseball Project is a musical collaboration that writes and performs songs about baseball players. The band is comprised of Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Linda Pittmon on drums. Other Indie dignitaries appear on the new record, including a song written and performed by the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn. No, it isn’t about a junkie Catholic who played for the Twins.

Wynn has been writing great music since the early 80s when he fronted the Dream Syndicate. They were part of an early Indie movement in L.A. known as the Paisley Underground, which also featured bands The Three O’Clock and Rain Parade. The music was ethereal and more reminiscent of “Rubber Soul” than punk rock. If you’re not familiar it’s probably because the sound was co-opted by Prince (“Raspberry Beret” anyone) and the Bangles. Too bad, because each of those bands was awesome. We saw the Three O’Clock open for R.E.M. during their “Fables of the Reconstruction” tour. We also saw Rain Parade at the defunct Graffiti circa 1986, and I remember it as one of my favorite shows of all time.

Steve still knows how to shred, and has been performing with Steve Wynn and Miracle Three for a decade or so. Check out his entire catalog and buy some damn records, you damn baseball fanatics!

One final thought: Prince also ruined neo-soul. Oh, and Morris Day.

Second final thought: I was on vacation with her Mims and her family in 1985 and actually walked to a record store to buy 2 copies of “Fables” even though our beach house didn’t have a turntable. Had to have it the day it came out. Sadly, I did the same thing in 1991 in Myrtle Beach with Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls.” Couldn’t someone have stopped me? Where was the sock full of pennies then?

So July, 2011 is the month that all 2 year olds will have to start sleeping with one eye open. Holy crap, but you can use accidental drowning and driving around with a corpse in your trunk as a defense? And get acquitted? Sign me up.

Casey Anthony, pictured with an anonymous friend, beat the kid, the odds and system. Like the worst episode of “Law and Order” ever, the prosecution built a strong case on circumstantial evidence and lost. Apparently in our justice system you can google ways to kill your child, then kill your child and get acquitted. However, of you have an email conversation with an undercover officer pretending to be a child who claims they want to have sex with you then you go to jail for 10 years. And please don’t read that as an endorsement for crime, just an indictment of our criminal justice system.

Of course, while Casey was preparing to rock her freedom, an authentic mama grizzly protecting her cubs in Yellowstone devoured a 57 year old man and his pic-a-nic basket. Park authorities decided not to kill the bear because the attack was not predatory but an attempt to protect her young. Just like when Sarah Palin growls at President Obama.

Great, now we need 2 posses! What a perfect opportunity for Tim Pawlenty to prove he has testicles!

And speaking of offspring of Mama Grizzlies, Bristol Palin continued her fat, drunk and stupid tour by appearing on “The View” to discuss her memoir, “Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far.” Look out, Proust, but it sounds like she may be journaling. The biggest revelation in the book is that she claims her one-time fiancee date-raped her after a night of wine coolers. Two holes in this story, though. First, she wasn’t alive in the Eighties when people drank wine coolers. And, second, if he raped her then why was she willing to get back together with him. Wanted a bigger family and he was the only one in Alaska with a garage full of Bartles and Jaymes?

Of course, the Palins are liars and media hounds, but I expected more from a “Dancing with the Stars” finalist. Bristol once said in PEOPLE., “If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex.” “Trust me.” How could I?

Bristol should talk to the American historian and Bizarro Presidential Candidate, Michelle Bachmann who had 28 kids (23 rentals, and 5 egged and hatched) about consequences. Michelle, who believes fatherhood begins at age 8 (otherwise, how could John Quincy Adams be a Founding Father), is building her entire campaign on motherhood. That and the inspiration she takes from sharing the same hometown as serial killer, John Wayne Gacy.

Well, at least the Justice Department is spending millions to send former baseball players to jail for using steroids. Priorities!