Doom and Gloom

NaNoWriMo has come and gone, and yet I still feel the need to blog a bit.

My iPod recently suffered a fatal attack to its display, so I was forced to listen to CSPAN Radio on my commute into work. If you've ever thought about doing this, don't. It will depress you immeasurably.

The Senate GOP has apparently vowed that it will do nothing more than ensure that all the Bush tax cuts are extended indefinitely, despite the fact that nobody has the faintest idea how to pay for them.

I therefore feel confident in predicting that not only will all of the tax cuts be extended, but a repeal of DADT and passage of the DREAM Act will both be thrown on the chopping block by the Democrats in the faint hope of getting the GOP to negotiate in good faith on the New START treaty - which they are unlikely to do, since all they have to do is run down the clock to get a stronger hand in Congress next year.

Meanwhile two million people just lost their jobless benefits in the middle of a recession, less than a month before Christmas. And the one thing the lame-duck session has achieved so far, a food safety bill, will likely be recalled due to a procedural clustersnuggle.

All of which is to say that I am packing my iPod into a bag of rice, in hopes of sucking out some phantom moisture behind the screen that might be causing the issue. If I have to pay any more attention to Congress over the next month, I will in all likelihood subject myself to a twenty-four hour Jersey Shore marathon, in the hopes of scrambling my brains so thoroughly that I lose the ability to feel outraged on any level.

I may also lose the ability to speak, recognize simple shapes, or form a coherent thought. I would consider this a small sacrifice to make.