Washington at its worst

Those of us who live, work in and also love Washington, D.C., get really tired of people making fun of us inside-the-Beltway types. While we are different — we live in a political fishbowl and we don’t do well in snow — we are not bad people. And a lot of us came from the real world (meaning wherever you live).

Except today. Shutdown day. The first one since 2013, which lasted two weeks and was as dumb (and unnecessary) as this one.

Government shutdowns are stupid. Rather than save money they waste it. They are caused entirely by politicians — of both political parties — who fail to do their jobs, then panic at the last minute and play chicken with everything from food safety to our national parks. Half of all civilian federal workers have been told to stay home. Meaning that their jobs or missions aren’t deemed critical by some knucklehead(s) even though many are.

The stupidity comes in part because once the dust settles federal workers who didn’t work because they were locked out of their offices will most likely get paid anyhow.

Contractors who are unwilling participants in the shutdown most likely will not get paid. That’s how it works in the private sector.

Perhaps the most unfair thing is that politicians who made the shutdown inevitable will continue to get paid as they (finally) work to find a solution to the problem they caused.

No telling how long this will last. A day. A week. Three weeks (as during the Clinton era).

However long it’s 100 percent too long.

Keep that in mind this November when you go to vote.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

Tote’m Stores changed their name to 7-Eleven in 1946 to reflect the fact that they were open seven days a week  from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Source: Wikipedia

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