See You In September

What our do-nothing Congress just did

And we thought we couldn't get any less work from this Congress:

After a Brutal EIGHT DAYS of Work, The GOP-Led House Adjourns Until November 12th!

Absolutely true.

This Congress had been out on recess, came back to "work"--for 8 whopping days--and now just voted to give themselves yet more time, way more than a month, off work. A vacation. Yet another vacation.

Don't you wish you had such options?

Yes, after a bone-crushing eight days of work, House majority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has announced that effective today, school’s out for mid-terms. They’re returning to work on November 12th, one day after the elections. McCarthy himself washes his hands of the matter:

“Unfortunately, while our nation continues to face tremendous economic challenges, House and Senate Majority leaders decided to adjourn Congress early and leave town. This was an unfortunate change in schedule for the American people and small businesses across the country.

My colleagues and I, including more than 40 Democrats, were ready to have a real debate and vote on making sure we have stable tax rates moving forward so that small business owners can plan for the future. However, Congress departed without passing legislation to extend our current tax code and prevent massive tax hikes that arec oming January 1, 2011. Congress also failed to consider a real budget for Fiscal Year 2011.”

So if any of you were expecting, say, a jobs/infrastructure bill because, oh, I don't know, Americans need the jobs and our infrastructure needs the updating and improving (think I-70 alone) and the economy needs a boost?

FUGGEDABOUDIT.

What I'd like to know is, for all this time--I figure 53 days off--what does one do as a member of this Congress, either chamber, to either disappear or to appear as though they're actually doing the "people's work" and earning their pay?

How many county fairs are open right now?

Great news, Kansas City

We're not on "America's Rudest Cities" list, out right now, by Travel & Leisure magazine. The bad news? It's because flocks of people don't come here for vacations. Link: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-40390415

You are freaking kidding me

Justin Bieber gets two tattoos

Someone thought this was news today.

Somebody shoot me.

Observations from a vacation

Literally, observations from a vacation:

--It seems like lots of young women in America--more than used to be--are reading pulpy, fashion and celebrity magazines and it surprised me;

--the Fort Lauderdale International Airport is a nightmare to go through on Sundays, when cruise ships are dumping off their recent passengers;

--the Chicago and St. Louis International Airports are greedy business pigs as they charge for internet access;

--the Fort Lauderdale and Kansas City International Airports don't charge for internet access;

--I have more respect now, for the Kansas City International Airport, after going through Fort Lauderdale's;

--there is no way the Kansas City International Airport should be leveled, in the future, to make way for some other, newer airport. It makes no sense. It couldn't possibly improve the facility and it would certainly not be a "green", sustainable act (tearing it down and replacing it);

--It seems as though some national law was passed in the recent years, requiring young men to wear their baseball caps backward, in spite of otherwise outward good looks and taste;

--I would think the Chili's restaurant chain would either want a better image for themselves, with their "Chili's on the Go" chains or that they'd be ashamed of themselves, given the really awful food they just barely served today at extraordinary high prices in their Fort Lauderdale International Airport facility;

--It seems encouraging to see all the reading I saw this past week, while on vacation on a cruise ship in the Western Caribbean;

--Making cruise ships available to the masses has taken a great deal of "mystique" and sheer, true, real pleasure out of it (I'm not trying to be a snob here, just truthful);

--When people go on cruise ships for a vacation, you'd swear they all think they are the only one on the ship. Virtually all of them seem to act as though they are the only ones in the aisle or walkway and normal awareness and manners, much too frequently, are abandoned;

--CNN no longer gives straight-forward, simple, intelligent and unbiased news on its daily newscast. Far from it. I don't know how long this has gone on but what I saw last week was infotainment, at best and insulting, throughout. It seems the only source for good, again, intelligent, unbiased news reports is PBS--and not enough people watch that;

--There are honest citizens and organizations is the world, in general, and in Florida, more specifically. To wit: I lost my rather expensive digital SLR 35mm camera on a public rail line from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami a little over a week ago. I phoned them YESTERDAY about it and they confirmed by phone this morning that they do, indeed, have it. Yow. Yay! Things like this make you hopeful for mankind.

Careful what you wish for...

At 51 years, I'd not yet ridden on a train. The older I got, the more I made sure to announce this, at the appropriate time (I'm sure), should the topic come up.

Like seeing Paris (not) or travelling Europe, I thought it something important I should absolutely do. And the sooner, the better. It had to be fun and wonderful and thoroughly romantic and exciting. Right?

I should have given it more logical thought.

Being trapped on just a few train cars with Americans, alone, should have given me obvious pause. Far too obvious. And then stuck with them for hours? Waaaayyyy too obvious. With nowhere else to go? No escaping loud, boisterous people? What a fool I was.

The thing about being on a train in America today is that, for the period of time they are on these cars, the space becomes their living room--and we're all along for the ride. Everyone else is just a strange visitor that they can--and do--ignore. Want to take off your shoes? Go ahead! Little one want to run up and down the aisle the whole trip? No problem! Want to stop him? Certainly not his parents!

Is it just me or are we all raised, young, in one era so you grow up with those earlier, stricter rules, standards and expectations, only to assume the world will live up to them later in that same life? I think it's universal but, unless we're careful, we forget that that much earlier time--and its rules--are long gone. It's no wonder people want to stay home more, the older they get. Sure, there are the physical aches and pains of travel as you age that might make you want to stay home--and then there's missing your own bed--and the peace and quiet of home. But more than anything, I think, there is the over-arching desire to not have to put up with the rest of the world's noise and needs (read: crap). We get convinced we're right and that we understand the world and, finally, that the rest of humanity is wrong, misguided, loud and obnoxious.

It gets frustrating.

It can get maddening.

And then there's the fact that the trains are run by the US government. Yi. They are poorly run, for sure. They are dirty--inside and out. They are late. They are wildly inconsistent. One conductor runs the train his way. Another, completely his own and they don't have anything in common, for instance.

So, then, we are forced to be what we don't want to be. Forced to have what we either don't have or don't want to have--that is, patient and patience.

It reminds me of an old cartoon I saw years ago. Two vultures are seen sitting in a tree. One turns to the other and says "Patience my ass. I'm gonna' kill something."

That said, I did have a good time on the trip. Can you believe it? I just don't want to go by train in the United States again.

Now, the Orient Express--that's a different matter entirely.