Troubling week

Did you think, for one moment, they wouldn't raise the ceiling? Did you sense that the political bordellos of DC were out to milk the limelight yet again? I watched the debt ceiling debacle unfold from afar. No, I don't have cable TV. Yes, I'm just a little eccentric. I digress.

At the end of the day, the shogunate in our heralded capital got nothing accomplished that could not have been accomplished by just deciding to cut the this year's budget immediately. We have cemented that it is quite alright in this country to live beyond one's means and then celebrate jubilantly afterwards. The political cranes did very little heavy lifting this past week. They simply pushed the mortar around. You know it. I know it. Sadly, they know it. So what's new?

• The tea party folks certainly stood their ground. As a libertarian, I'm a little put off by the tea party crowd. But that's just me as many in my party appear to be moving in that direction. I do see their influence growing, not ebbing, as we approach 2012. That spells danger for centrist Republicans. Splinters in the offing?
• Obama further distanced himself from his core, or did he? He managed victories in the weeks and months prior: gays in the military (what a waste of breath...like we didn't already know that to be the case) and Osama's demise. Though the latter is not a core ideology closer, it certainly doesn't detract from Obama's role as commander-and-chief.
• There seemed to be very little noise from Republican presidential candidates. They all pretty much said the debt ceiling raise was dead on arrival, but then, well, even they had to relent when their fellow Republicans voted for the increase or shuck and jive to kowtow to the tea leaves.
• Tim Geithner continues to leave me unimpressed. Well, perhaps that one's not really new.

At the end of the rainbow (and you thought I'd let the gay rights issue alone), we all have a government that's running and will be able to pay its bills. Awesome. There's still very little discourse on moving heaven and earth to lower our expenses, passing along more of the people's hard-earned income to, wait for it, the people, and limiting the role and power of government in our daily lives. It's a glass ceiling if you ask me. You and I, well, we are, tragically, the rats in the hold.

As always, be thankful for what you have, buy only what you need, and work diligently for peace and bounty for all. It's far less expensive than regime change.