December is a Dark Month

 

 I haven't posted about the suckularity lately because to me, living in "pandemic time" only meant becoming wrapped up in the passing of so many lives and I never wanted to turn the blog over to obituaries and eulogies, but December hits hard, sometimes. Harry Reid, George Madden, April Ashley, bell hooks, Joan Didion, Mike Nesmith, even Bob Dole. Anne Rice, E.O. Wilson, Sarah Weddington. I note their passing, but just can't bring myself to write the damn things about them. 

Their time and mine intersected, and for their merits and their flaws, you can look anywhere, but as for me, it's memento mori as much as anything else. We carry the good in our memories and follow their positive example. 

That's all I've got.

I Guess I'm Happy About the Cromnibus?

Usually, some deep, conservative, procedural-correctness malaise comes over me when talking about budget measures, continuing resolutions, looming government shut-downs, and all that. That our chambers of Congress have gotten so polarized that "shut-downs" and, my personal favorite, threatening to default on the national debt, seem like plausible moves over working together is the kind of reality that makes me want to hang up the old blogging-gear and think about going back to writing pornographic fanfic.  There are worse hobbies.

But this is the dawning of the age of the cromnibus--a portmanteau of "continuing resolution" and "omnibus spending bill", which possibly signals an end to the shenanigans (for now) on one hand, but which on the other hand makes me think helplessly of "cronuts".

This vote wasn't entirely shenanigan-free, apparently. Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were looking to hold the whole thing up for an up or down vote on "Obama and his amnesty--shamnesty, amirite!" but apparently, there was an overwhelming vote for "Jesus, Ted, not everything has to be about you." This bit of maneuvering seems to have allowed for some votes on Obama Administration appointees for different cabinet positions through some kind of procedural magic I do not understand. So--yay?

Well, not strictly "Yay!", no. The bill also loosens bank regulations (like they were so tight to begin with, ahem, 2008).  Warren, Sanders and Whitehouse voted it against it, so I have reason to believe the loosening of bank regulations part is not a good thing.

But hey--no government shut-down! (This is exactly like being glad the puppy did not pee on the rug, tonight.) So I will put this in the "win" column for congress functioning almost like a functional thing. Cronuts for everyone, you guys.