capitol school yard

i required copious amounts of pastries and coffee to recover from headaches received while trying to understand the antics behind the government shut down threat that went down in washington last week. i don't understand the game of chicken partisan politicians play and how once again family planning*, job training, environmental policies** and international aid*** are being used as pawns in this tiring and insulting push and pull. 
this past sunday morning i read nick kristof's nytimes op-ed piece and my headache went away - only to be replaced by bewilderment and anger, which at this point i guess i can live with, because who can expect anything more coming from the school yard up on the hill.  john boehner should walk out to his next new conference, shove harry reid aside, stick his tongue out at the cameras and threaten to beat up the reporters if they don't hand over their lunches. what ever happened to by the people for the people and where are all the hall monitors?

* policy provisions attached to the bill would ban federal and local funding for abortion and birth control

** the environmental protection agency, long a target of conservatives, will see a $1.6 billion cut, representing a 16 percent decrease from 2010 level

*** the bill would cut U.S. contributions to the united nations and international organizations by $377 million, and to international banks and financial institutions by $130 million. it also would prohibit pay raises for foreign service officers, although other federal employees would not be affected    

                                                             * washington post 4/12/11