Oh Bully! The reprising sequel!

The Sankei Shimbun is reporting that Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo will be offering a formal apology for the expiration of the gasoline levy this evening.

Like one needs to apologize for a tax cut primarily benefiting the rural areas and businesses...and during an economic slowdown, too.

In other news, the compromise legislation extending all the other otherwise expiring budget-related measures for another two months swept through the Diet today as though carried aloft on wings.

Diet Passes Stopgap Bill To Extend Tax Measures Until May
Kyodo

TOKYO --The Diet passed a stopgap bill Monday to extend until the end of May various special tax measures which would have expired the same day, in a bid to avoid confusion across wide areas of commerce including used car and land sales and financial transactions in the Tokyo offshore market...

I guess the Democratic Party of Japan is willing to be flexible and responsible on matters of national importance--it just considers beyond the pale unpopular and utterly corrupted (and utterly corrupting) programs that have long deserved to die.

So there.