I shouldn’t be surprised by the chutzpah of the teabaggers and the Republicans they’re holding hostage over this shutdown shit, but, by golly, I am. How they can call Obama and the Democrats unreasonable, irresponsible, and unwilling to negotiate with straight faces is beyond me. And of course the media, predictably, covers the whole thing as a “stalemate” with “both sides” being intractable.
I really hope Obama doesn’t cave in, or we’ll just keep going through the same shit over and over again. The only way I’d be down with some sort of negotiation would be if they passed a long-term CR (like, a year) to fund the government with a statutory requirement to begin the process to reconcile the House and Senate budget bills by, say, October 15, no recesses for Thanksgiving or Christmas unless a budget is signed into law, and language that would permanently repeal the 1917 Debt Ceiling law. Then, maybe, I’d compromise on something or other (though I don’t know what – I can’t see Obama agreeing to delay the implementation of the mandatory insurance requirement, let alone repealing the ACA). But, sadly for America, I am not running the show.
The wife left for Minneapolis yesterday, so the dogs and I are on our own (other than the cats, of course, but they don’t really count, other than I suppose I have to feed them and stuff; I’d probably have to clean the litter box, too, but Bud seems to have taken that chore upon himself). This means that tomorrow I actually get to watch football on the big screen for a change, though that might not be all that fun considering the #3 team in the nation (Clemson) is coming to town, and SU has not exactly looked like a top ten team so far this year (at least, not against teams that don’t suck, though they did kick the shit out of Joe Montana’s kid with Joe looking on, so that was good).
If I was the type of person who actually did shit, I’d probably attend a few things at the Syracuse International Film Festival (hey, don’t laugh) that began Wednesday. Bob Goldthwait will be here (he normally comes back with his latest movie – in this case it’s “Willow Creek”), as will Joel Schumacher and a bunch of other folks. And it closes with a showing of “Adult World” with a “special surprise guest” (John Cusack maybe?).
But I try never to leave the house if I don’t have to go to work (except to buy beer). For one thing, it would mean getting dressed, and for another, it would mean having to use gasoline and what with my paycheck getting smaller all the time, I have to cut somewhere (and I am certainly not willing to drink cheap beer, though I really need to get back to home brewing).
It seems that in three weeks or so I have to go to a ColdFusion conference in Las Vegas. I really have no desire to go, to be honest. I hate flying these days (plus, who knows if we’ll still have Air Traffic Controllers and TSA people in three weeks – though w/o the TSA, flying will be easier and somewhat more thrilling), and Las Vegas really holds no appeal for me. Still, I’ve never seen it, and never would have the opportunity to go if I had to pay for it myself. So, I’ll go. The hotel we’re staying at looks pretty nice, and there’s a Yard House not too far from away. Oh, and there’s, like ColdFusion-type stuff, too. Fortunately, it’s only a two-day conference so I won’t have to be away from home for too long.
Oh well, I suppose I’d better get back to work. Have a good weekend.
It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve been to Las Vegas and really the only time I was there I was passing through on the way back to NY. But, I remember that the casinos served good food at reasonable prices as everything is geared to getting people to come in and gamble. Unfortunately, I don’t gamble and so I just took advantage of the decent eats.
Yeah, I don’t get the whole giving somebody your money and getting nothing in return thing.
I went to Atlantic City once, put, like a silver dollar in a slot machine, and it spun around and blinked and that was about it – no money came out.
So I said to myself, “that sucked.” And that was the last time I ever did that.
It sounds like it would be more fun if they called it the Gillis Summit. If it has been a long time since one has been there, you may not recognize LV because there are a lot of newer theme hotels and a lot of the old ones blowed up real good. The Mandaly Bay is very nice although a little bit older of the new breed.
Well, it’s certain to be a lot nicer than anything I’m used to. The hotel rooms are actually pretty cheap (especially the conference rates) – at least during the week. They get pricier on the weekend.
Lola, like all the dogs I’ve known, likes to chase squirrels. Now we have a squirrel who seems to like being chased. She waits for Lola to cross the yard and get within about 4 feet before taking off. Somehow, in spite of those short little legs, the squirrel never gets caught.
Let’s just get one thing straight here. There are congress critters like Eric Kantor and Tim Kaine who are merely asking that their salaries not be paid during the shutdown. They will likely take their money after it is resolved. Then there are many like Al Franken and Lindsey Graham who will be donating their pay to charity. I assume it will be tax deductible. I am not sure if those giving the money to their church will also be claiming against their tithe.
Which lawmakers will refuse their pay during the shutdown?