Well, we made it past the Mayan day of doom, but still no deal – in fact, we’re further away from a deal than ever.

On the third day of Christmas,
My True Love Gave to Me
Three French Hens…

Three French Hens

Last night the Republicans refused to go along with Plan B. Speaker Boehner has left the building, and with him any likelihood of reaching consensus on a plan before the end of December.

So, on day 10, we will continue to count down to the end of the year, with full expectation that the problems will continue to pile up until some Deus Ex Machina comes in to shake Washington politicos from their absorption in dogma and gamesmanship.

Back to the hens – three birds from France. Well, we’ve already gotten the bird twice – now we get it from the French. Francois Hollande, the French President, is a lifelong Socialist (no, really – not a socialist like Obama ..ha .. but a real, card carrying member of the Socialist Party.)

Elected last May, he has separated from his partner of 30 years with whom he had 4 children, threatened to nationalize Arcelor Mittel as a blackmail attempt to prevent layoffs in their steel unit in the northeast section of the country, and raised taxes. Apparently rich folks are turning in their passports to avoid the tax increases Hollande would impose on them – e.g. Gerard Depardieu, the French actor. And all this since just last May!

So the Republicans think Obama is bad? How amusing…but the point is this: the Republicans have failed in their bid to try to gain some leverage in these negotiations. Speaker Boehner has, in typical Republican fashion, stated that it’s now up to the Democrats to come up with a deal. He knows full well that his caucus will never agree with anything the Democrats develop – criminy, they wouldn’t even agree with his suggestion! So all roads inevitably lead to a great big goose egg (zilch)…

So the weekend will be days 9 and 8, Monday is Christmas Eve – day 7: nobody works on Christmas Eve..Day 6 is Christmas, day 5 is Boxing Day in England, so maybe Wednesday of next week will start the next round of pugilistic shenanigans.

Whatever comes of all this, I am ashamed of my country’s government. We should be better than this. What if we had real problems? Because it’s exceedingly clear the House of Representatives does not believe this is a real problem, or it’d be solved by now. What about those nationally-elected women talking with Diane Sawyer, assuring her that if they were in charge, something would be done by now? Well, gals – stand up & be counted! Take the reins and lead this horse to the barn!