Far-Reaching

So yesterday the government shut down.  Seems the children we put out there to work for us blew it and can't play nicely together.  I'm thinking that calling them children is appropriate here because I know that being an adult means you sometimes do things you don't want to do, but you do it for the greater good.  That means sometimes working with people you don't like and trying to get along even though you really don't.  It sucks, but you do it anyway.  That's part of being an adult--one of those "unfun" things.  Just FYI, Congress. 

I blame lack of parenting.

Anyway, the implications of this shut down are far-reaching and there were many articles yesterday about how the shutdown will affect the average American.  Interestingly, there was a blurb in one of the articles that caught my eye:

Twenty-eight poison ivy-eating goats were removed from the Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey after their owner became worried that a government shutdown would shutter the park where the goats had been recruited to eat the pesky weed, according to the Asbury Park Press. The goats had been a “tremendous hit” with parkgoers, the president of the Sandy Hook Foundation told the paper.

WHAT??  UNEMPLOYED GOATS?????  This has gone too far already.

Kudos to NJ for using non-chemical methods to control things like poison ivy, and double kudos on finding goats who will eat the stuff, because mine won't go near it with a 10 foot pole.  But now unemployed?  People!  Something's got to be done.

As I'm pretty sure sarcasm doesn't come across in writing too well, let me say this in all seriousness:  In a time when most people (76%) are living paycheck to paycheck, essentially "laying off"--even temporarily--thousands of workers is a big freaking deal.  If this thing lasts a week, these people lose 1/4 of their monthly pay, as there's no plan in place currently (from what I've read) to pay them back what they're missing.  Ouch.  I have to imagine that's got to hurt everyone hit by this, and my heart absolutely goes out to everyone.  I hope that there will be a speedy end to this for all our sakes.

Dear Congress,

Get your shit together and play nicely.

Ok?  Ok.

Sincerely,