RuiNation Ruminations

• President Harry S. Truman famously had a sign on his desk reading: "The Buck Stops Here." His successors have added an addendum: "....until we can borrow another one."
• In the Fifties, when you said "Red" in Washington, you were speaking about dirty rotten commies. In the Sixties, when you said "Black," you were referring to civil rights. Now, they refer to compulsive spending and constituents' mood back home.
• They used to administer a simple arithmetic test to incoming members of Congress: addition and subtraction. Now, they just do subtraction. Seems to work just as well.
• Washington D.C. is the only place left in the country still talking about "bi-partisanship." Dems think it's a new Gay Marriage Bill and Republicans are opposed despite not knowing its meaning.
• Oh, how quickly we long for the good old days, before BankBash, before NewJobBank, and TeacherPetEd. We already long for those ancient times when Max, Nancy and Harry were putting the finishing touches on the National Health Reform Bill. Was it just a dream?
• Washington's version of the Hatfields and McCoys: the Do Everything Nows and the Never Do Anythings. This is no longer a zero-sum game. Voters have become the Get Rid of 'Em Alls.
• Wouldn't it be funny of we had an election in November and no voters showed up? Well, maybe not. Perhaps we should take a cue from recent advances in education and pay voters like students. Oops, Republicans just shot that one down: too bad. 
• The Peoples' Representative from Hubei Province has suggested that henceforth China celebrate July 4 each year as Cha-Ching Day, in reverence for our country's collective stupidity.

Note: Doubleday/Nan Talese will soon publish cousin Adam Haslett's novel Union Atlantic. Surely Adam is the only U. of Iowa writer with expertise on the Federal Reserve: must have been the Yale Law School training. Sorry to admit that he's the best writer in the family. Read his book; it's going to be huge, as in Oprah-type huge.