Tuesday 1 October

All day yesterday it was "will they - won't they" and whose fault is it.  Today the Shut Down came and they are still debating who is to blame.

It isn't entirely shut down though.  Astronauts can't be left to their own devices up in space, so although the lights have gone out in NASA, there are still a few there, keeping in touch with the spaceships.   The Mexican drug cartels aren't making hay across the border, no border guards have been sent home.  Air Traffic Controllers are all still working.  The United States Postal Service are still delivering letters.  From Shawnee, Oklahoma nothing looks any different, but then I don't get out and about very much anyway.  I do know however that there are other parts of the country where the impact has been significant, and hundreds of thousands have been sent home without pay, for goodness knows how long.  

I think this well illustrates the fact that our parliamentary system is a far superior form of government.  The worst that can happen to us is that the government seriously messes up, the Opposition calls for a Vote of No Confidence, the Government falls, and there is a General Election.  In other words, as someone said, it goes back to the people.

Not only is this 'Government Shut Down Day', it is also the 'First Day of the Affordable Care Act'. 

Obviously I am all in favour of universal health care, but I don't think it is going to work here, for the same reason the NHS is collapsing in Britain.   Both here and in Britain a smaller working population is supporting an increasingly ageing population - and healthcare is one aspect of it -  but it can't continue to do so.  Even I - innumerate as I am - can see that the maths are never going to add up.

So that's my two cents worth on the current crisis in the US.   Simplified.  Some might say oversimplified.

Turning to more mundane matters.   It was the Kiwanis bake sale this morning.  I made some little fruit cakes, moist ones with crushed pineapple in them, as well as dried fruit.   Louise tells everyone they are English cakes.   I think that's supposed to be a selling point, people think they are getting something foreign and exotic.  

I helped Louise set up as I usually do, then thought I'd hang out with them for a while, until I had to go and see someone at the hospital. 

I am getting a little testy at the lack of leadership in the chaplaincy, but that's a story for another time.  In the meantime I was told that interviews are being held next week, so a senior chaplain will be appointed soon.