As another weekend approaches, our staff is hungrily planning their staycations and events, to try and get away from the sheer insanity of the past week. While there have been some good things going on in the political world, many of the actions that have happened may have never needed to happen - and have us shaking our heads at the pure stupidity of them all.
Take the battle over women's health rights in Virginia.
After all the howling in the media, after the sneaky underhanded actions used to get the bill to the Virginia Legislature in the first place, the invasive transvaginal ultrasound bill died this week after massive protests, as we noted earlier in the week. The ridiculous personhood bill in Virginia also got scuttled, which we were glad to see.
The ultrasound bill itself was stupid, mean-spirited, and as any just person can see, a poorly-disguised attempt by right-wing extremists to raise a huge barrier to a procedure that is legal under Federal law, and has been for nearly forty years. For our staff living in Virginia, it was an embarrassment, and wasted state funds unnecessarily.
In Nebraska, our legislature didn't do much better in avoiding stupid actions this week.
On Thursday, a constitutional amendment to lengthen term limits cleared a first round hearing easily, and will likely eventually end up on the 2012 ballot - where 'common wisdom' is that it will likely also pass. What we can't understand is that a short dozen years ago, Nebraskans voted in favor of the original constitutional amendment which set up term limits in the first place, and pushed a large number of Nebraskans who were highly skilled public servants out of the Legislature.
Many of those former state senators simply ended up working elsewhere in state or local government, and more than a few became members of lobbyist organizations in Nebraska. If the intent of the original law was to force those individuals out of government completely, it failed miserably - as many said it would, a dozen years ago.
Don't even talk to us about how mind boggling the actions of state government are down in Florida. We'll have to explain some of those actions soon enough - and we're heading for the weekend, so we're simply filing those stories for another day.
Too many of the good media folk we know get so caught up in the stories we all cover that sometimes, it's hard for them to pull away and look at the good things in life. advancement
A friend of one of our staffers adopted a little girl a few years ago, who - this past week, at the proud age of nine-and-a-half learned to ride her bike without training wheels. We've got new flooring in one of our offices, and it looks great. We also have some new technology toys to play with - and our staffer Amy hosted her daughter's second birthday party this week.
We have a friend of the staff in Maryland who will begin planning his wedding soon, thanks to the Maryland legislature's actions this week. And a couple of our friends in radio earned national honors - and promotions.
We even know someone who will be involved in the Lincoln Polar Plunge at Holmes Park this weekend, to benefit the Special Olympics - though the weather is looking is be a fairly balmy 48ยบ on Saturday.
No matter what insane things our elected officials do, there is so much more to our lives than what we focus on here, five days a week. Whether you're involved in politics or in the media - as many of our readers are - or you're simply retired and loving it, we sincerely hope that you remember your lives are more than just the political battles that we all so often focus upon.
The things we focus on are important, yes, - but they're not worth bashing one's head over, every single day.
Get out and enjoy the weekend. The insanity will resume on Monday, guaranteed.
