Over at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week:

• The only way to get rid of the fraud and abuse at HUD is to dismantle it and get the federal government out of the housing business altogether.
• Instead of wasting more taxpayer money on a nationwide system of intercity rail that doesn’t make economic sense, Amtrak should be privatized.
• Fox News’ Glenn Beck Show recently spent a week featuring Chris Edwards and the Downsizing Government website.
• The president’s fiscal reform commission started off with some breathtaking chutzpah from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad.
• The Obama administration says it’s planning a rural “renaissance.” That’s wonderful news considering what an awesome job HUD has done with urban America.