A Bit of Venting (with apologies in advance)

Following our government and their actions may be our civic duty, but it should stop short of putting bullets in our brain. Unlike yourselves, this is the feeling I get when I watch/listen/observe too much of it.

So no, I don't talk about it here. I don't want to talk about it at all, usually, or really even think about it. Depression abounds enough. Our little town here is run by people who don't want to pass a budget based on revenue, they do them based on the "level of service" they feel the town ought to provide. It doesn't matter that the town's population is shrinking, that school enrollments are down, or anything else. When that fire truck has its third birthday, they need to get a new one, dammit. I'm sure it will go a town with more frugal management and hopefully serve them for many years to come.

Next month the town will vote on whether or not to go with the selectmen's budget or one that was revised lower. Apparently the lower one has already been voted on and passed and the next vote is some kind of finalization deal. Meanwhile the town is going ahead with their plan to implement sixty-five thousand dollars in raises this year.

Reality seems to work differently here.

In any case, in this, my once every very blue moon political post, here's a link to a set of eight charts that should mean a lot to all of us. Until the day that politicians from both parties see their jobs as sitting down and improving the country as opposed to promoting their own interests and keeping their parties elected, that is. Anytime now...