Stonewalling

Here's the problem with the two party system in America:

"Guess what America? It's Voting Time!"

"You tell me, America - are you satisfied with the job the current government is doing?"

".......*.......*."

"Two blinks means no! America has Spoken! Repeal Everything!"

"......"

...when one side loses, the other side thinks it's won.


Maybe it's been this way all along and I just haven't been paying proper attention. But I'm getting pretty frustrated with the stonewalling tactics employed recently in Congress. The whole point of having a congress is to debate and find a middle path, not issue ultimatums. The guys from the other party were ALSO elected by Americans! They are ALSO representatives of the population! It's true you aren't obliged to deal with them, but only because it was assumed that grown-ups paid to argue wouldn't try to give their opponents the Silent Treatment!

So please, Congress, I know character attacks are how you keep your jobs, but think about this: if you all pledged to debate instead of all pledging to be uncompomising, if you can make that integral in both party's policies, no one will get thrown out over it, and you might actually make some headway in, you know, doing your jobs.

The Clothes Make the Man, Part Eleventy

I've got this super sweet cowboy hat. It keeps the rain and sun off, does a fair job of keeping light and noise out when I'm staying at hostels, and makes a pretty decent pillow on the airplane. Needless to say, it goes everywhere with me.

I'm not the most stereotypical Texas guy you'll ever meet. Lots of you reading this are thinking "duh," and the rest are probably thinking "ha, really, you told me the only reason you don't ride a horse here is that they wouldn't let you through airport security with it." To those of you in the latter category, it's just the hat, I promise. To all of you, check this out.

Whenever I meet someone outside, we do the whole handshake-a/s/l dance. I'm wearing my hat since I'm outside so when I say I'm from Texas, without fail, my partner says something to the effect, of COURSE you are! can you show my your rifle?

Whenever I meet someone inside, it's usually at a pub, so I've left everything leavable at home to keep from possibly losing it (that can be read many ways, and all are good reasons to leave things at home). In this case, once I say I'm from the land of jerky and jackalopes, people get a little skeptical. By which I mean, they argue I can't possibly originate any closer to Texas than the Netherlands. One dude WOULD NOT believe me that I was even American until I showed him my Texas ID. Come on, guy.

Despite my hat and apparently Dutch accent, however, I have managed to convince the BBC I'm English. Effort and knowledge count... when it really matters!