Retro Tech, Clothes lines

Despite having a perfectly good electric drier atop my washing machine, I have gone back to  hanging the wash on the line, in the sun.  'Cause it feels so crisp and smells so nice when I bring it in.  Much nicer than the drier does.   And it's green green green...   Saves 5 kilowatt hours of electricity, each load of wash.  If I was as hard core as my mother, I could dry the wash on the line all winter, she did.  But I probably will load up the drier over the winter. 

Pass appropriation bills, avoid shutdowns

This much bally hooed government shutdown happens because Congress stopped appropriating funds by law.  Used to be, Congress would pass separate appropriation bills, one for defense, one for Agriculture, one for State, one for each cabinet department plus one for each extra cabinet operation like NASA and FAA.   Used to be hard to get the votes to pass these, and they came thru late, and got later as time went on. But at least each bill could be debated on somewhat limited terms, i.e. the domain of ONE department.
Political impasses on a single bill just effected a single department.
    Over the years Congressmen grew stupider and more narrow minded and lost the ability to come to agreement on appropriation bills.  So one year when NO appropriation bills had passed, they invented the Continuing Resolution.  This handy invention says "All you government operations can keep spending this year, like you spent last year".   After a Congressional session of budget wrangling the Congress critters were exhausted, and would vote for anything just to get it over with. 
   The downside, as we are seeing today, is any attempt to exert the power of the purse requires shutting everything down, rather than just a single department.  The continuing resolution is the ultimate "must pass" bill, so any riders you can tack onto it, get passed.  Except for now and then. 
   First interesting question:  How long can the country go with the government shutdown?  Could keeping the government shut down save enough money that we don't need to raise the debt ceiling?  Mail is getting delivered, social security checks are going out. 
    Second interesting question:  Who wins and who loses?  If anyone.  We will know after the election next year.

Procedural Votes, Flim flamming the voters

With a government shutdown only 5 hours away, the House is conducting three procedural votes.  This should not be happening.  The only thing a legislature should vote upon is passage of a bill into law.  "Procedural votes" are a way to kill a bill with out seeming to.  The procedural issue is cloaked in bafflegab so we voters and the ignorant media have no idea what such a vote means.  Members can vote to kill or pass something controversial without appearing to do so. 
   If we wanted a functional Congress we should outlaw procedural votes of any kind.  Members get to vote on a published bill, yea or nay, and your vote is counted and reported to your constituents.  No mystery votes allowed.  Truth in government. 

Will the young buy Obamacare insurance?

Probably not.  Most young people have jobs with big companies that already offer health insurance.  Obamacare is selling to the less fortunate who lack employer health insurance, and the self employed. Most of these people lack the money to buy any kind of health insurance.  They will sign up if it is free, but they can't afford  to pay for much.  They just don't have the money. 
   Plus, when you are young and single, and in good health, you don't really need insurance.  If you get sick, probably a single doctor visit and a prescription  will fix you up.  Maybe $400, every couple of years.  Why insure against that?
  Plus, if there is an accident, and the ambulance drops you off at the emergency room, they will bandage you, stop the bleeding, and set the fractures, whether you have insurance or not.  

Obama REALLY wants to negotiate

With Iranians that is.  With House Republicans, not so much. 
I hear TV pundits, even on Fox, claiming that the Iranians are just going for nuclear power.  Yeah right.
Iran wants the bomb, has paid out plenty so far, and isn't going to give up.  So what's to negotiate?

Road Trip to Rutland

Vermont that is.  Long trip, left the house at 8 AM, didn't get back til 5 PM.  Didn't feel like posting last night.  Rutland is way over on the other side of Vermont, the only way there is old US4, 42 miles from White River Junction.  It's scenic, very scenic.  The leaves are on the verge of turning, but not quite there yet.
  US4 is only two or three lanes, curvy, lotta No Passing signs.  Traffic moves along until it piles up behind some leaf peeper doing ten miles under the speed limit.  Since everyone up here drives ten miles above the speed limit, that is really slow.
    A good big engine makes the passing game less white knuckle.  The 4.6 liter V8 in the Mercury is adequate, but could be better low down.  The slushbox doesn't downshift as far as it ought to.  A good four speed manual would help the car, but they haven't made those for 30 years.  The DeVille, with the same size engine had 30 more horsepower and was quicker, much quicker.  Got better gas mileage too.  To its credit, the Mercury handles better than the DeVille.  I could wrap it around mountain curves at 70 mph no sweat.  The DeVille always felt a little twitchy doing the same thing. 
   Oncoming drivers are more uptight these days.  I had one pull over on the shoulder, and another one blow his horn and wave his fists at me.  I guess few people pass anymore.
    Rutland is big for an upcountry town.  Has a branch of UBS and one of Morgan Guarantee, both pretty fancy high finance outfits.  We don't have anything like that in Littleton. I took in the train show at the Howe Center.  Then I checked out the two book stores that showed up on Google maps.  They were both literary stores, shelves full of main stream fiction, poetry and left wing political rants.  Me, I'm looking for light reading, science fiction, adventure, history, or science.  I didn't find anything.  Business was slow for a sunny Saturday afternoon. 
   

Obama is eyeball to eyeball

with the House of Representatives.
When it was Assad of Syria, Obama blinked.   How scary is John Boehner?   Will Obama blink for him?