My 2 cents: The Shutdown and my take on Congress at this point.

With furloughs in place, the trickle-down effect is being felt down the line.  Tomorrow I find out where I stand.  I’m not a government employee, or even a contractor.  I’m a software developer in a small shop that makes software for government contractors– and since they aren’t getting paid: we aren’t getting paid.

While people on both sides of the aisle play the blame game instead of the “Let’s work this out” game, people are preparing to do without.

They are frustrated and scared… I am frustrated and scared, and it seems that the folks on the hill have become so disconnected that they’ve forgotten: they’re supposed to be representing us not shaking their heads and pointing at the other guys.

By waiting till the last minute, passing the budget becomes a volatile game of finger pointing and name calling.  People aren’t working; people are working without pay… and the congress that failed to come up with something they can agree on or … Oh, I don’t know- working on coming up with some version of this bitter pill we can all swallow… is getting paid (rather handsomely) to pretty much point fingers and call names.

One Congressman (Randy Neugebauer, a Republican representing Texas), even went as far as name calling,  granted, “you should be ashamed” isn’t *quite* name calling, but he was pointing fingers at a Park Ranger, and telling her, “you should be ashamed”.

US Parks in general and the WWII Memorial in particular are closed because of the shutdown, but the folks at the WWII Memorial have been letting WWII Veterans in out of respect, but because they weren’t letting everyone in… this particular Congressman felt wronged and stood in front of a Park Ranger telling her she should be ashamed.

Shame on you, Randy Neugebauer.  You knew the parks were closed, but you went there to grandstand and point fingers at someone else, and get your sound-bite.

Let’s stop playing games like chicken with people’s livelihoods, and do the job you were elected to do.  I know its tight, I know not everyone is going to be happy with what you’re going to have to come up with, but I also know that working… and getting paid for it is a better use of our time than having a Congress waste time and money while they take a supposed high-ground that is going to cost us more in the long run, and then maybe we can get back to having people earn and receive their paycheck.

This is not the time for sound bites, and at this point, there is NO-ONE in congress who’s walking away from this smelling like anything other than the B.S. that has been dished out this week.

Come clean, pass a clean budget and hit the showers.

My 2 cents, and I’m sticking to it.

Until the next time…

(And to the Park Ranger who handled Congressman Randy Neugebauer’s verbal assault with such professionalism and calm… I would like to buy you a tasty, caffeinated beverage of your choice.  You rock!)

October 4, 2013

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  • I’m sorry, Mary, but it’s not both parties fault. It often is, but not this time. Both the Senate and the House passed budgets 4 months ago. The budgets needed to go to Reconciliation. The House Reps have refused for 4 MONTHS!! Now they tack on amendments that demand repeal of a law that’s been upheld by the Supreme Court, that is the President’s signature law, and that they don’t have the votes to win repeal of normally and this somehow becomes the Dem’s fault that they won’t agree?! No. The House has the votes to pass a clean CR, right now, this very minute. All they have to do is send the bill to the floor. It would pass and then go to the President. The Senate has already done their part. But Boehner won’t allow it because he’s afraid of losing his Speakership. That’s the bottom line. You can say a pox on both their houses but as a programmer you are aware that until you find the actual problem in your code, you can’t find a solution, and right now what you have is a small group of extremists holding our government hostage because they don’t like government.

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