01 July 2009
Summertime
It is quite overwhelming and I will not pretend to understand it all.
The Yanks have pulled out of urban areas in Iraq, or at least enough of them to give the Maliki government the patina of a victory.
The people of Minnesota- or at least their supreme court- have delivered a reformed comedian to the Senate, giving the Democrats a possibly filibuster-proof margin of sixty Senators on the floor as legislation of stunning breadth and scope advances through the House.
As the White House and Congress move left, the Supreme Court is veering right, one of those quaint demonstrations of the dead hands of the Founders reaching out to apply checks and balances.
California appears to be headed for bankruptcy. As the new fiscal year arrived at Midnight, their budget deficit was a couple billion dollars. I don’t know what to make of it, and neither did my pal, the high powered Lobbyist.
He is between administrations at the moment, and out in the public sector and doing well. We agreed that there was nothing to be done, and poured tall vodkas and repaired poolside at Big Pink for high-level discussions.
It was as close as we could get to what the Government is doing. They are getting out of town while the getting is good. The climate change bill alone is enough to boggle the mind. It has grown and morphed. It now contains a billion dollars earmarked to Congressman Bobby Rush’s ideas about global warming, which are apparently highly valued.
I had thought the matter was settled, but the 1200-page bill is now much longer, by several hundred densely-packed pages.
I peered at the clouds that we rolling in from the west.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” I said.
“Not supposed to make sense,” answered my pal. “It is about the votes. I don't like going up on The Hill anymore. It is too nuts.”
Death Junior appeared from the parking lot, and joined the party. We extended the discussion on the Health Reform discussion to the logical connection to her industry at the Funeral Home.
The Intern got back from her jog to cool down from the cutting-and-pasting she is doing for the State Department this summer and came down to take a plunge.
Chad, the ex-Air Force Honor Guard and Dollar Store Security Manager stopped by and joined the conversation from the other side of the link fence, as though one or the other of us was in a minimum security lock-up. Montana the Pool Deck Queen sensed rain from her nest at the back of the deck and stopped by the table with her cart full of cushions and lounge equipment as the raindrops began to fall.
I love the summer. It is the only time all of us Pink Pinkers get to hang out and the water is bad for electronic devices, so the Blackberries stay in the briefcase.
We figured out a business case for flying hospitals, among other things, discovered that an old pal from Health and Human Services is at FDA now, and taking on Tobacco Regulation as a new portfolio. I lit up a Lucky and contemplated how that is going to change things.
“Does Betty smoke?” I asked. “That would make it a complete package.”
“I don’t think so,” answered my pal owlishly. “Not that it would make any difference.”
“I was just thinking it would be funny if the tobacco regulator had to go down the elevator to the loading dock to puff with the other pariahs.”
We had thoughtfully filled the orange Thermos with additional Vitamin V and Schweppervessence, and the rain didn’t seem to impact the mood at all.
We are all Washington creatures, after all, and don’t know enough to come in out of the rain.
We laughed like crazy under the yellow umbrella until the first roll of thunder boomed. Cuba the Polish Life Guard had permitted us to ignore one of the pool rules, or at least turned a blind eye to it, but the thunder was something no one could ignore.
A bolt of lightning onto the pool deck would have been the perfect link to the issues confronting us: climate change, sudden need for health care, and ultimately, if things went wrong, a long one-way trip with DJ.
Cuba would get in trouble if we got killed, so he gave us the Polish stink-eye.
We evacuated the pool without incident. We may be fools here, but we are not stupid.
Copyright 2009 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com