And In Other News...
Sep. 28th, 2015 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kv0925And I do mean news! So this Boehner thing, shocker, right? I'm of two minds about it. Well, three, even. On the one hand, I despise the guy, so I'm glad he will be gone. He's always been so smarmy to me, with that special blend of arrogance and ignorance I so loathe. So him being gone is good. And I am also happy that with the announcement of his departure, he is now free to utterly ignore those in his caucus who are calling for a government shutdown. He's free to ignore his own rule that says he can't bring up any legislation for a vote that can't be passed by his caucus alone, and instead seek Democratic votes to override his right flank and avert the shutdown. I am hoping that will happen early this week, so I can at least eliminate that particular worry about our NYC trip.
But the bad side of it is that despite his smarminess and despicability (is that a word?), Boehner was at least a pragmatist. He would occasionally stand up to the lunatic fringe of his party when it made sense to do so, and he would occasionally compromise for the greater good. Not often, but sometimes. And he got grief for it from that same lunatic fringe, of course--the people who think compromise is a dirty word, the people who got elected to government because they think government is evil and dysfunctional, and spend their time in office trying to prove it. And those are people who will have a fairly loud voice in picking the next Speaker, so I think it's all but certain that the next one will be even worse when it comes to compromise and pragmatism, and we'll end up with even more polarization and paralysis in the House, which is bad news for all of us. So it's great that the GOP is tearing itself apart these days, I suppose--but it's gonna be messy and dangerous while it happens, and what emerges from the ashes might just be pretty awful. We'll see. I just hope liberals show up at the polls next November (and in the primaries, for that matter) to check the steady rightward drift of the past few years.
Speaking of NYC, we leave in 3 days! Yikes. I'm still scared/excited, of course. Agenda-wise I guess I'm feeling okay. I figure to toss out the detailed itineraries I'd drawn up, and we'll just make sure to hit the highlights I've drafted up and see what else in each area we have time for. I don't want to script it too much, you know? I want to hit a lot, but I also want to be able to explore at our leisure. The weather is becoming a concern--for a few days the extended forecast was looking awesome, but as it gets closer it looks like the temperatures are dropping and the rain chances are increasing, neither of which is ideal. And now I see there's even a tropical system heading that way, which may well bring rain as well. So everybody face east and blow, okay? Meanwhile, Hermione's been complaining that one of her ankles hurts, which is not music to my ears when I think that we'll be walking a LOT for 5 days, and climbing a lot of stairs to boot. So I'm hoping that will go away, or maybe it's just something minor that doesn't bother her that much. I certainly don't want to call off the trip (again) at this point, but that is still an option. And I'm sure Heather wouldn't mind if I did, at least from an expense perspective. I guess I'll see how rainy and miserable it looks in a day or two. But the girls would be bummed, so we might just have to grin and bear it. Which makes it sound like I don't want to go, probably. I do! I just want it to be awesome, and I don't want to start out with strikes already on the board, you know? Bah.
Hm, can't think of anything else to mention presently. So have a great Monday, people!
But the bad side of it is that despite his smarminess and despicability (is that a word?), Boehner was at least a pragmatist. He would occasionally stand up to the lunatic fringe of his party when it made sense to do so, and he would occasionally compromise for the greater good. Not often, but sometimes. And he got grief for it from that same lunatic fringe, of course--the people who think compromise is a dirty word, the people who got elected to government because they think government is evil and dysfunctional, and spend their time in office trying to prove it. And those are people who will have a fairly loud voice in picking the next Speaker, so I think it's all but certain that the next one will be even worse when it comes to compromise and pragmatism, and we'll end up with even more polarization and paralysis in the House, which is bad news for all of us. So it's great that the GOP is tearing itself apart these days, I suppose--but it's gonna be messy and dangerous while it happens, and what emerges from the ashes might just be pretty awful. We'll see. I just hope liberals show up at the polls next November (and in the primaries, for that matter) to check the steady rightward drift of the past few years.
Speaking of NYC, we leave in 3 days! Yikes. I'm still scared/excited, of course. Agenda-wise I guess I'm feeling okay. I figure to toss out the detailed itineraries I'd drawn up, and we'll just make sure to hit the highlights I've drafted up and see what else in each area we have time for. I don't want to script it too much, you know? I want to hit a lot, but I also want to be able to explore at our leisure. The weather is becoming a concern--for a few days the extended forecast was looking awesome, but as it gets closer it looks like the temperatures are dropping and the rain chances are increasing, neither of which is ideal. And now I see there's even a tropical system heading that way, which may well bring rain as well. So everybody face east and blow, okay? Meanwhile, Hermione's been complaining that one of her ankles hurts, which is not music to my ears when I think that we'll be walking a LOT for 5 days, and climbing a lot of stairs to boot. So I'm hoping that will go away, or maybe it's just something minor that doesn't bother her that much. I certainly don't want to call off the trip (again) at this point, but that is still an option. And I'm sure Heather wouldn't mind if I did, at least from an expense perspective. I guess I'll see how rainy and miserable it looks in a day or two. But the girls would be bummed, so we might just have to grin and bear it. Which makes it sound like I don't want to go, probably. I do! I just want it to be awesome, and I don't want to start out with strikes already on the board, you know? Bah.
Hm, can't think of anything else to mention presently. So have a great Monday, people!
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