I guess it’s not really surprising. When companies have to lay off workers in order to remain in business, I think any cuts to upper management happen last. I think because there’s such a disconnect between the people running corporations versus those that make the corporation run – as well as pressure from stockholders – that it just make the decision to cut the jobs of 100 people making $20,000 versus a single, well paid executive.

I don’t know. I don’t claim to know economics very well. It’s on my list of things to learn.

Do you know what those things equal for Matt, even if the federal government hadn’t closed?

Snow way for me to get into work at all.

You’d think getting snowed in would be good for writing, but I think it dredges up a bunch of other, real world concerns. Like fighting the roads and shoveling your sidewalk and finding parking spaces and making sure that you’ve got enough food to survive and praying to God that the next storm doesn’t make your roof collapse in on itself.

But can I say that Groundhog Day was pretty awesome? We even discussed it in morality class in high school.

Just so long as we don’t have to repeat it while these two duke it out.

This is genuinely good news. Granted, I’ve not done the research, but it does seem like quite a while since the Smithsonian has seen an increase in its budget. The arts and culture weren’t exactly a big thing under the previous administration, go figs. I remember back in 2005-2006, during which time I was with my first boyfriend, the Smithsonian had just made a round of cuts to its staff pretty much well across the board. My boyfriend had survived those cuts: his supervisor had not.

It’s this sort of gesture that leads me to believe that there just might be hope for this country yet. I’ve often believed that America really doesn’t have Culture. We have different kinds of cultures, granted, such as sports culture, military culture, the cult of celebrity, but we don’t have Culture. Yes, notice the capital C. I think the reason we don’t is because America, technically, is only a little over two centuries old. Even if one were to count the extra century or two of formative, exploratory years, America still isn’t all that old. We’re not like Italy, or Persia, or China, all countries whose Culture can be traced back thousands of years.

But I think it’s the sort of thing we ought to be aiming for; a supreme goal. Wars will be won and lost, the battles and soldiers forgotten in the wash of time. On the other hand, the ancient Egyptians have been long dead, but everyone knows who the pharaohs were. They were able to place their mark on history and they won’t be forgotten. In a few millennia, will our predecessors be able to say the same about us?

I think this case proves an interesting point about the mindset of some of these apparent “Pro-Lifers.” First of all, I must state that I abhor the terms Pro-Life and Pro-Choice to define the sides of this debate. Having said that, I think the term Pro-Life shouldn’t be used within this debate. Last Friday (January 22, 2010), Washington saw the March for Life, a “Pro-Life” event. But the majority of these people, besides not fully understanding all the issues on both sides of this debate, simply aren’t Pro-Life: they are Pro-Birth.

Roeder has proven that he is not for life when he murdered Tiller. By his own admission, Roeder committed the crime in order to defend unborn children. Scott Roeder is Pro-Birth.

One might inquire to the difference, and it is substantial. The same people that are Pro-Birth sometimes also happen to be pro-Capital Punishment. Some of them, such as Roeder, are willing to commit violence in order to make their point. No one that has a true regard for the sanctity of life at all stages could support any act of violence against another human being.

Of course, being Pro-Birth reframes the entire argument, and that’s a good thing. The opposite side isn’t Pro-Death, and it’s still not Pro-Choice. Honestly, I’m not sure what it is… Pro-Leave-my-Body-Alone? Pro-Mind-your-own-Business? Pro-America-doesn’t-Afford-me-any-better-Options?

Speaking of better options, if the Pro-Birthers would like to reduce the number of abortions occurring, it’s not going to happen through trying to overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s also not going to change the course of our society by killing abortion doctors. Both of those kinds of actions only wastes time and money. What America needs to do is offer women a better option. Information. Free pre-natal care. Revamping foster care and child welfare services. Making it easier to adopt.

Until we push for these kinds of reforms, many Americans on both sides of this issue will continue to yell and shout and send their money to organizations that aren’t going to change the system, because as it is, the system helps them gain a whole lot of money. It’s a complicated issue that’s been boiled down to sound bites, bumper stickers and campaign posters. And that’s the worst thing that can happen to ensure that nothing is done at all.

Here’s the thing: it was the wrong decision but in the right direction. Metro needed to bump the fare, that’s for sure, but $0.10 for only three months? That’s just silly. They should have raised it by a greater amount, but not in a standard way across the board, and it should have been permanent. Because all that’s going to happen is that we’ll face another fare hike at the end of this one, and Metro will take another hit to their PR when they will have just gotten over the hit they’ll take for this action.

Currently, DC probably has some of the cheapest public transportation in the country, but clearly it isn’t sustainable. Worse, no one has any faith in the Metro system, rail or bus. It’s always late. It isn’t safe. It doesn’t run long enough or often enough or well enough and the equipment is old and the workers are crotchety.

I guess all I’m saying it this: I’ve ridden trains and buses in Cleveland, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. They cost much more than what I pay for Metro, but you know what? They didn’t annoy me for any of the problems I listed above. I think our society has proven that if you offer a good service, people will be willing to pay for it. But at this point, Metro isn’t offering a good service, and no one believes that raising prices is going to fix it. All this will do is put too small a band-aid on a budget shortfall which will still swallow it all in the end.

So they need to just get over it all: hike prices where they need to be, take the PR hit for it, offer up some sort of service through the DC government to help low income persons ride Metro, and then get to work on fixing the cruddy service that you offer. It will be painful but it’s the right thing to do for your constituents.