Good morning to you all.  We did get a bit of sun yesterday--enough to tease.  They say rain today but sun for the next three.  Good.  That covers the holiday when we will be driving over to my sister's for dinner.  Hope the weather is good for your holiday.

The news said that the Republicans have another (the 11th they say though it seems they have had 1000 or more) 'debate' tonight.  I am using quotation marks because the candidates don't really disagree on much of anything--except which of them should be the nominee.  I saw a cute cartoon yesterday which showed a pair of Republican voters looking at three little scaly creatures (one labeled Newt).  One comments: 'Great!! We have a choice between a newt, a chameleon, and a horny toad.'  That about sums it up.

I am totally amused by all of the talking heads and Repthuglicans blaming Obama for the failure of the not-so-Supercommittee.  He, they say, should have inserted himself directly in the process and got this thing done.  Point one: that is not the job of the President.  It is the job of the legislative branch of the government to propose and pass legislation, particularly budgetary bills.  The President can propose and can push for his pet projects which Obama has done.  Point two:  even if Obama had taken a more active role there is no guarantee he would have gotten a deal.  The committee was created out of an ongoing stalemate that, in the end, doomed the committee itself.  Remember the debt ceiling debate?  The formation of the committee did absolutely nothing to change that dynamic.

However, this story indicates that the impasse might actually accomplish what the committee was supposed to do and do it better, or at least produce deeper cuts in the deficit sooner.  I noticed the 'Catch-22' in the story, however.  In a recessionary economy where the consumer isn't consuming to the same heroic extent as in the recent past and business is sitting on as much of their cash as possible, government spending is the only factor keeping it from sliding from recession into depression.  The cuts will probably result in a further deterioration of the economy.  Damned if you do; damned if you don't.  But I hope Obama keeps his pledge to veto any measure each party's partisans have been floating to reduce the impact on their pet programs and thereby evading the repercussions of their failure.

I sympathize with you completely on the effect of the do-nothing committee on the blood pressure.  I think that is why I have taken to limiting my exposure to the broadcast media news.  I keep wondering how those talking heads can 'report' on the clowns  and keep a straight face.  And I am not talking about 'ha ha' funny.  It is more of an 'I can't believe that moron really said that.'

My aren't we such a shining example to the world!!!  I can't say more without raising my blood pressure to dangerous levels and with out becoming totally and profanely incoherent.