Good News for Modern Man

In New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is submitting a lean budget. I don't know if it'll survive his same-party legislature, but check out the details:

Corzine wants to spend less, in actual dollars, next year than this year—something Jersey's managed only three other times since 1951, he said.

… Most noteworthy, Corzine seeks to:

* Axe three entire Cabinet departments and trim the state payroll by 3,000 (though it's a trifle, given that the payroll grew by 23,000 from 2000 to 2006).

* Require state employees to chip in for their own health care.

* Trim Medicaid costs, local aid and higher-education spending.

In Virginia, conservative and libertarian groups are protesting making their presence known outside an annual John Murtha high-five to the contracters who get his earmarks.

Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and the National Taxpayers Union are holding a rally in front of the hotel where the fundraiser is being held to "display their displeasure with Rep. Murtha 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' " according to a press release. 

The groups called Wednesday's event "a swanky fundraising dinner with pork-barrel-seeking defense lobbyists."

"Americans are sick and tired of the wasteful and abusive spending of tax dollars, and … the time has come to shut down the Congressional favor factory," the groups said in their release.

Don't cry for Murtha, though: His opponent fell seven signatures short of making the ballot, so he won't be challenged for re-election.