Photos by Jeff Laydon, Pagosa Photography.
Things tend to slow down in Pagosa Springs after the last big event of the tourist season: ColorFest. Wine-drinking, beer-drinking, balloon ascending, music-playing.
Did I mention, drinking?
We all need a bit of alcohol after the heavy tourism seasons we’ve been experiencing lately.
Alcohol is also helpful, if you’ve been watching the news coming out of Washington DC. Wine is suitable, or beer. But tequila is faster, in my experience.
Or maybe, smoking something from the local dispensary?
It seems like our Congressional representatives may have been smoking something from the local dispensary, these past few weeks. Especially Speaker Kevin McCarthy. (Yes, recreational marijuana is legal in DC.)
If you can believe the lamestream media, Speaker McCarthy has spent the past eight months trying to get the House Republicans to agree on a plan to keep the federal government operational, with an actual approved budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Governments typically function better if they have a budget. Or so I’ve been led to believe.
A budget tells the federal government how much additional money to print each year, since it’s systematically adverse to living within its actual financial means.
I know a little bit about how that feels… being unable to live within your means, I mean. When Darlene and I were married, we had sort of a friendly competition going on, to see who would be first to max out the credit cards. Funny thing was, once we hit the limit, a half dozen offers for new credit cards would appear in our mailbox.
Of course, we were only two people, whereas Congress has 100 Senators and 435 Representatives, all vying to max out the nation’s credit cards. Except there doesn’t actually seem to be a limit. And the competition isn’t always friendly.
On Saturday, Speaker McCarthy did something a bit unusual. 12 hours before the federal government was going to shut down, he turned his back on a bunch of his fellow Republicans and made a deal with the House Democrats to keep the government running for 47 more days… until November 17.
More than 40% of the House Republicans opposed the deal. (126 in favor; 90 against). The Democrats were nearly unanimous in support. (209 in favor; 1 opposed.)
But what did we expect from Kevin McCarthy… a Republican from California?
And why November 17? I have no idea. Who can figure these guys out… If it were me, I would have kept the government running until Christmas, and the given everyone a long holiday. But that’s probably why I haven’t been elected to Congress. (Yet.)
President Biden signed the continuing resolution the same evening. He posted a photo of himself signing it, and he wrote:
I just signed a law to keep the government open for 47 days. There’s plenty of time to pass Government funding bills for the next fiscal year, and I strongly urge Congress to get to work right away. The American people expect their government to work. Let’s make sure it does.
I had to laugh. Ha! The American people don’t expect their government to work. We only expect it to keep us entertained.
Another news story I came across, over the weekend…
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed down indefinitely in 2017, after 146 years of touring American cities and towns.
Remarkably enough, the circus came back to life after a six-year hiatus, on Friday, September 29, with a new 50-city tour kicking off in Bossier City, Louisiana.
But it’s a different circus, in 2023. No animal acts. No elephants, or tigers, or dancing dogs.
And without any clowns. The circus has concluded that clowns are actually frightening, rather than funny.
We’re wondering where all the clowns went?