h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As many people worldwide know, a spending resolution to fund the U.S.
government for the next month failed to get the required number of votes
(60) in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, the U.S. House had mustered the votes to
pass the measure.

Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened, though a different set of
people were involved the previous time (2013). If a Democrat is in the White
House, it seems that Republicans will try to embarass him by threatening a
govermnment shutdown. If a Republican is in the White House (as is the case now),
it seems that most Democratys can't resist embarassing him. I will grant that
there is usually some matter that the "other" party wants to put pressure on the
president for: health care in 2013, an immgirant measure this year.

The net result is the demeaning of the people who can't come to agreement.
There will be some economic harm to millions of Americans (and perhaps others
in the world) if the shutdown lasts long enough.

A pox on both their houses! If there's a virus that has infected the Republicans causing madness, apparently it has crossed the aisle and is now driving democrats equally mad. We need to quarantine all of them to see if the virus can run its course.

Meanwhile, I propose a randomly chosen group of 100 senators and 465
Congressmen/women to take their place for however long it takes to return them to their senses.

AARGH!

Radical reform (spring cleaning of the political closets) always costs more than its worth, but don't you worry, its on the way, only two or three administrations off now.

Trump, at the 100-day mark:

"I thought it would be easier."

Will I live long enough to see it?

Excellent chance if you've longevity like your father.

An era of stick-in-the-mud politics like the current one usually ends when the preponderance of stick-in-the-mud career bipoliticos either die of old age or retire.




[Imagery: one finds a stick in the mud and tries to yank it free.

It won't budge.

In the mind of a day-dreaming kid it becomes the joystick of a jet aircraft.

With sound effects.]

The number of "dreamers" [illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children] is roughly 800,000.

The number of U.S. government employees who will likely be furloughed during the shutdown is also roughly 800,000.

This means that 1 person in every 400 is a U.S. government employee. One other person in every 400 is an illegal immigrant who was brought here as a child.

I thought people would be interested in knowing this

...remember, with longevity, the object is not to live merely to see the desired changes, but to live beyond that and enjoy the benefits of them, same principle, as with karate, your aiming point should be at least half a palm's breadth beyond the opposite side of your target...

If I live long enough, my karate technique will improve?

I wrote a story about gondolas becoming the preferred way to go from Boston Common to Copley Square, after the oceans have risen 20 or 30 feet. Yeah, I'd like a gondola ride without leaving Boston. Though maybe they'd use swanboats instead.

The idea is to die young as late as possible

I have for years suggested wars should be financed by bake sales. Maybe this idea can be used for other things also?

I'm probably the only one I know who thinks Trump's Mexican-border wall idea is okay. Sooner or later, many walls become tourist attractions. Just ask the Chinese. The Great Wall of China gets 10 million tourists per year. Even the Berlin Wall has been known to get 100,000 tourists. Less famous walls get tourist mention, too. When I as on a tour of Paris, the tour guide pointed out the old city walls. When I was in Perugia, the tour guide pointed out the many walled cities. The "old" walls were built in the 3rd Century. The "New" walls dated form the 13th century. When I was in Lucca, I enjoyed the jogging paths on top of the city walls. There were even benches and shade trees up there.

The only reason I would oppose Trump's Mexico wall would be if he didn't hire American workers to build it. That, and the possibility of ridiculously high costs, or Trump personally profiting from the building process .

Please don't jump on me for being okay with this. Robert Frost's poem about walls was one-sided.

Friend of mine just visited Mexico where she found a sign outside a bar saying "Keep calm, you are on the fun side of Trump's wall"

Yes, walls may become tourist attractions. Some 1600 years ago my ancestors built a wall across the southernmost part of Denmark to protect us from hoards from the south. We used it against the Prussians and Austrians as late as 1864.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists have visited it ever since.

Read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danevirke

Now I know why Trump went to visit the Wailing Wall. To get architectural ideas. He obviously is aiming for a 1000 year reign.

Trying to talk him out of it is probably just like talking to a wall

I'm kind of sensitive to job issues. We have a whole generation (sometimes called the "Millennials") that will likely not have great job prospects any time soon. Granted, wall-building tasks are not for everybody, but the thought counts. I'm sympathetic to the angst of many Trump voters who have been separated from their jobs by companies that shifted production to plants in other countries. I'm not going to generalize by saying this was always necessarily bad, but you never know when it might be an advantage to produce things near at hand, saving money in transportation costs.

I've read articles about company owners who go out of their way to avoid hiring American workers. That makes my blood boil!