¶ 00:28

  The big topic in the bureaucracy these days is the budget, or more properly the lack thereof. The fiscal year for the federal government started on October 1st, but we're into December and have yet to see an annual budget. The money comes through in the form of limited continuing resolutions. That means that a lot of government activities -- training, new projects and anything that would incur a large expenditure -- are all on hold until the annual budget is finally approved. The scary thing is that some people are saying that there won't be a budget until the primary season is over and all those candidates from the Senate finally go back to their day jobs. You know, the ones for which they are getting paid, for which one of the primary responsibilities is controlling the financial strings.

But it doesn't look like there's any end in sight. And it's not like they're not working on anything important to the nation, like calling for investigations of whatever is on the front page of the Post today, at least the ones who aren't trying to become president.

Although at this point the idea of a furlough for a couple days doesn't sound too bad.  ¶ 08:10