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A bit of sarcasm
By Susan Olling

Be warned, this writer is a firm believer in the use of sarcasm on occasion.  If sarcasm isn’t your cup of tea, you don’t have to continue reading.
 
Thirty-six hours before the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, the POTUS signed a continuing resolution (CR) from the gang in the big, domed building.  What does this mean?  Your federal government will be open on 01 Oct.  Shutdown averted. For now.  Why do the 535 in the big, domed building on the hill cut things so close with funding deadlines?  Can’t read a calendar?  Lose track of time?  Perhaps they like playing with peoples’ lives? Those would be all the federal employees who folks outside the Beltway seem to like to malign.  In any case, this end-of-fiscal-year game has become an unfortunate, annual ritual.  The TWT (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Club, so coined by a local observer of the federal scene, will get to do another funding exercise again in December.  No doubt, it will be yet another CR.   By the way, TWT are the days the people you’ve elected to “work” in the big, domed building on the hill are present in that structure.  Be still my beating heart, they were working this past Monday.
 
The federal government’s been operating on CRs for years.  Yearly budgets used to be a no-brainer.  What changed?  Who knows?  I’m not certain any of the 535 elected ones could answer that question.
 
If you’re interested in, or care why, government shutdown threats can create an increase in stomach acid, you might want to read this insightful commentary:  http://federalnewsradio.com/federal-report/2016/09/shutdown-jitters-again/.  Another local observer of the federal scene provided these timely comments:http://federalnewsradio.com/tom-temin-commentary/2016/09/shutdown-returns-playlist/.
 
Our little subway system has been undergoing yet another massive repair project  that’s caused headaches for anyone who uses it.  Service disruptions have become commonplace. Ridership has declined. I’ve avoided it like the plague. When the latest Smithsonian Institution museum  opened last weekend, a track fire caused suspension of train service for a time on the three lines that move under the National Mall.  The system closes at midnight every night so that more work can get done.  However, these midnight closures might cause problems for fans of the local MLB team.  This bunch seems to be in the playoffs and could be playing night games.  Yawn, yawn.  The subway should be open later for all of those baseball fans, some say.  There won’t be any track work done during the inauguration and during the weed fest, so this little baseball tournament should be an exception, too.  My question: if the powers that be at our little subway system have already decreed that there will be no early opening on the Sunday of an annual marathon that draws thousands, why keep the trains running late for a baseball tournament?  A  D.C. government official said that all eyes will be on D.C.’s baseball team.  I know two eyes that won’t be.
 
The quarterback for whom the local NFL franchise mortgaged so much went to play along Lake Erie.   The fans of the local NFL franchise were looking forward to his return on 03 Oct.   I was quite amused to hear that there were fans who wanted the departed quarterback to be recognized.  News flash folks, he no longer plays for Mr. Snyder’s bunch.  There’s a new quarterback in town.  Move on.
 
Finally, the further adventures of the Washington Monument elevator.  The structure was repaired after the 2011 earthquake, but there were no elevator repairs.  Problems with the elevator worsened this summer.  There were a few times when tourists had to walk down all those steps when the elevator stopped working.  The obelisk was closed in August after three elevator incidents in one week  and was supposed to reopen on 13 Sep.  On Monday past, with the obelisk still closed, it was announced that the monument will be closed indefinitely.  No one can figure out what’s causing the elevator problems, but they apparently don’t believe the earthquake was the cause.  Closing this thing makes sense to me.  This machine operates 364 days per year and is not regularly maintained.   (Does anyone own a vehicle they don’t maintain?)  It should be closed until it’s fixed or repaired properly. Then put it on a regular maintenance schedule.  However, the closure announcement brought the displeasure of a government official.  Tourists’ visits won’t be complete without going into the monument.   Wait just a minute.  Did I miss something?  What’s more important, a picture or a safe visit?   Knowing that there are problems with the elevator, do you really want to be in the monument waiting to take the elevator down, or in the elevator going in either direction, and the elevator becomes cranky?   There are plenty of other places for tourists to take pictures to remind them of their D.C. trips.  For those who must do that O-H-I-O thing, the monument can be the I.  Oh wait, that’s already been done.  Too many times.
 
Only in America.



 
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