Wednesday Miscellany!

• Democrats are cheering at what seems to be the end of the shutdown and near-default. See the cheerleading here and here and here and here and here and here. Me? I'm not cheering. I'm breathing a sigh of relief, hoping the damage wasn't that bad, and hoping this shit is easier in three months.


• By the way, the shutdown shrank the US economy by 0.6% according to Standard & Poor. That's a fucking lot.


• The West is continuing to wage peace with Iran. Thank fuck.


• The State of Oregon will now, at least for administrative purposes, recognize all marriages of same-sex couples that are married in other states. This isn't a legal ruling; it's a policy decision that affects state agencies.


• My State Senator, a complete idiot who pushed for an odious Oregon assault weapons law and who lost my vote permanently as a result, has left the Oregon Senate. That's the good news. The bad news is that she's leaving to become a policy analyst for Portland Mayor Charlie Hales. The ugly news is that the party apparatus picks her replacement. We'll see who they pick. Hopefully, it's not another idiot that I will vote against in 2014.

Congratulations Senator Booker!

AP has called it: Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker is the new US Senator from the state of New Jersey.

He was an awesome mayor. Now let's see him be an awesome Senator.

US House approves deal to end Tea Party shutdown

As of right now, 23 Republicans in the House have voted for the deal to end the Tea Party shutdown. That, plus all the Democrats, should end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.

And with that, the nightmare is over...for about two to three months.

Then we're back at it again.

So...yay?