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.
