Our staff members have rarely been more excited about having a couple days away from the ridiculousness of the political world than we do this weekend - a feeling we bet you've had about your job, at least once or twice in your life.
It's not as though we're worried something unusual is going to happen in Congress over the weekend. House Republicans are already following the script that Greg Sargent forecast they would on Wednesday. The Hill's Alexander Bolton also confirmed on Thursday afternoon that the plan Greg described appears to be falling into place.
As of this morning, that plan looks like this. The House will likely vote today to send the Senate a Continuing Resolution with several pieces of legislation attached that neither Senate Democrats or President Obama would ever allow to pass, including language on the Keystone XL pipeline and the defunding of Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will then use a procedural move to strip that tea party extremist language from the bill, in a way that will let Senate Republicans vote against Obamacare, while still losing the final vote to Senate Democrats anyway. Then the Senate will pass a clean Continuing Resolution, and it will go back to the House - where John Boehner and the Republicans will finally have to act responsibly, and choose either to fund the government, or be dragged off the long end of a metaphorical short pier by the tea party nuts.
As Molly Ivins used to say, you got to dance with them what brung you.
Some of our staff may indeed be dancing or at least walking down the streets of Marceline, Missouri for our favorite mid-September event, the Disney Hometown Toonfest. As one of the Toonfest's oldest sponsors, we're proud that once again the we can help promote this great event. If you're anywhere in the Midwest this weekend, we highly recommend you plot the course into your GPS, take the scenic drive, and join us.
As always, there will be the aforementioned parade, along with contests and events for both adults and kids, and a cartooning gallery with work from some of the nation's best cartoonists. This year's all-star panel of cartoonists includes Sandra Bell-Lundy of Between Friends, Steve Kelly and Jeff Parker of Dustin, and animator Stephen Silver - and those are just the official cartoonists on the docket. We're well aware that several other highly talented cartoonists from around the nation will be there too, enjoying both the camaraderie and the Toonfest events.
No matter where you're at this weekend, if you get some time away from your work, spend it with the people you love, doing things you love. Don't get dragged around doing things that frustrate you.
The people that love you, after all, are the ones who've helped you get to where you are today - and as we noted already, you should dance with the ones that brung ya.
Get your dancin' shoes on. The weekend is here.
