4/26/12 BUT I WON'T HOLD MY BREATH

AN ALMOST BITTER MORNING

YEP, I'M A POINTER!

Thursday, 8:15 AM.  35 degrees F, wind NW, light to moderate.  The sky is mostly overcast with dark gray clouds but they are breaking up and the barometer is high.  It is an almost bitter morning, and since I neglected to wear gloves my fingers were stiff with cold by the time Buddy and I got back from our walk.
    Bayfield’s daffodil display will be at its peak this weekend and I will spend some time this morning photographing them.
    The dangerous budgetary nonsense that has become the hallmark of the federal government goes on unabated.  We have now, as everyone knows, existed three years without a federal budget.  No business, no state, no family could do so and survive.  It is the constitutional responsibility of the administration to work with congress to propose a budget for the various departments and agencies of the government and approve one by a date certain each and every year.  The House, which has a Republican majority, has proposed serious budgets on time.  The Senate, with a Democratic majority, has proposed nothing, and President Obama  has not put forward a plan, ever, and has said he will propose no budget before the November election.  All this is unprecedented dereliction of duty, and although I will cast the blame for the budget crisis on the Democrats as the majority party, I have a simple, straightforward, and non-partisan solution to the problem.
    No pay for anyone in the federal government, with the exception of the military, if a budget is not passed on time.  Not congress, not administration, not justice.  Not the President, not a janitor.  Threatening to close parks and other services in a budget impasse does nothing but punish the taxpayers, while the culprits snicker.  Shut off all funding  and use the  money to pay down the national debt. 
    I realize that the only way to accomplish my plan is through  a constitutional amendment, but I think it is time for some brave and patriotic congressman or candidate to propose it.  But I won’t hold my breath.