Maybe Sioux City needs a monorail

Do the means justify the end?

If you're trying to get there, does it matter how you get there as long as you arrive?

Exactly how much do you give up to get what you want?

These questions, by the way, have absolutely nothing to do with anything going on in my life right now. They are just questions brought up by an episode of WW we watched last night.

To get a budget passed without a particularly idiotic resolution, upper-level staffers were prepared to dole out millions in pork projects (a nicer way to say it is "earmarks") to appease the resolution supporters, an attempt to get them to drop said idiotic resolution from an otherwise reasonable budget. For instance, someone wanted funding for an indoor rainforest in Montana.

Methinks this happens quite often in American politics, which is unfortunate. Is it simply a "cost of doing business" though? Can it be avoided? Is this what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created their system of checks and balances? I think not. But, it is what it is, and at least our Constitution is robust enough to withstand the ever-shifting tide of politics, moral obligations, economic factors and now world events that used to camp out on our doorstep but now invite themselves in and make a cup of tea.

This flexibility, the very concept of the Constitution being a living, breathing document open to continual interpretation in a society that allows free speech and open debate, I think, is only part of what makes America great.

I really need to watch something with less gravitas. Someone lend me a copy of Talledega Nights.