Emanuel Tires of Budget-Battle Comparisons

Tainted Gems

The last first lady was asked last week during a presidential debate whether she prefers diamonds or pearls. The current first lady wants everyone to say no to both, at least if they come from Burma.

In another step in her campaign against the military junta that rules Burma, Laura Bush last week urged jewelers and customers to boycott the gem show in Rangoon. "Consumers throughout the world should consider the implications of their purchase of Burmese gems," she said in a statement. "Every Burmese stone bought, cut, polished, and sold sustains an illegitimate, repressive regime."

Bush Looks Back

As he heads soon into his final year in office, Bush has begun thinking more about his wins and losses in the White House. During an interview last week with Fox Business Channel, he identified what he is proudest of -- his first-term tax cuts, his No Child Left Behind education program, the Medicare prescription-drug program, homeland security and "the advance of liberty."

"The biggest disappointment," he said, "is not getting . . . Social Security reform, because that truly is the big deficit issue. I'm sorry it didn't happen. I laid out a plan to make it happen, to enable it to happen. I'm the first president to have addressed it as specifically as I did. I wish Congress wasn't so risk-averse on the issue."

Quote of the Week

"Hey, don't forget to get the check before you go."

-- Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller to the White House press pool as it was escorted out of a photo op with Bush after a lunch in Indiana.