Steven Senne/The Associated Press
On Monday, March 14, members of the U.S. Senate sleepily trudged into work, after the “spring forward” time change, their body clocks not having adjusted to the bi-annual time clock finagling when we are deemed, some might say doomed, to steal an hour or our nightly sleep in the spring and magically add an hour of repose in the fall. In their state of Monday morning grumpiness, compounded with their lost hour of sleep, the Senate reacted in a flinching manner, by initializing talks to keep daylight savings time permanent, which was passed unanimously on March 16, and to be enacted in the spring of next year. The proposal is now being considered by the House of Representatives.
I think most folks agree, including myself, that this twice a year time torture test should be abolished. But what is needed is a proactive measure, in the form of a compromise, to adjust the clocks, say one half hour back in the fall of this year, with no more getting handsy with our clock hands, ad infinitum.
Another instance of our government being reactive versus proactive is that in the middle of December last year, President Biden mentioned the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, more than two months before the Feb. 24 invasion started. This means that our military leaders and our state department had over eight weeks to construct various scenarios and devise plans to counteract or deal with the impending invasion. Instead, our government officials reactively flinched after the fact, running about the hallowed halls of Congress like headless chickens, to finally decide to supply Ukraine with weapons days after the invasion started. Then our nogginless flock of poultry decided to publicly air the dirty laundry list of weapons supplied, as if Russia wouldn’t take notice. Was the publication of the list of weapons supplied merely a reactive case of braggadocio by our legislators or was it a leak of classified information bordering on treason? This act of military support with the list of weapons was passed three days before the time change, so Congress can’t be afforded the excuse of pilfered sleep for their buffoonery.
Ironically the military weapons support of Ukraine was folded into another trillion dollar spending bill so, if a legislator voted against the pork laden spending bill, they would have been painted as being pro-Putin and supportive of the Russian invasion, an obvious political trap. The Ukraine issue should have been carved out as a separate issue, as it obviously is, and the spending bill should have been voted on separately. The sly incorporation of the two issues comes under the heading of “never letting a good crisis go to waste”. Instead, we and generations of taxpayers are burdened with another massive expenditure of government avarice.
This latest spending bill was finalized in the middle of the night on a Wednesday, and then put to a vote on Thursday, all 2,741 pages, which weighed in at 5 pounds of printed paper. No one could have had the time to actually read and comprehend the gluttony of monies, which is the point.
As our lawmakers in Washington enrich themselves with insider trading and enjoy the foie gras lifestyle, foie gras, a luxury food that is created when force feeding waterfowl using a tube, our tax burden is being force fed to create an abominable bloated beast of burden. We, the people, can only hope that our stored supplies of Hamburger Helper will be paired with the necessary hamburg, due to the imposed inflation of these numerous trillion dollar spending sprees by the government. Could I interest you in a serving of Squirrel Helper?
We have now become so bogged down in the gender quagmire that Judge Jackson, the present nominee for the Supreme Court, flinched during the hearings, when asked what her definition of a woman is. The judge claimed that she couldn’t answer the question, as she was not a biologist. Perhaps all she needed was a bit of self reflection.
David Kittredge is a regular Lifestyles contributor to the Eagle Times. You can send comments to him via the editor at [email protected].
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