The shutdown ends.

This is word-for-word a comment I posted on an article about the end of our state shutdown here in Minnesota:

I do hope the people of Minnesota can plainly see which party was willing to work and to compromise in this budget battle and which side stuck rigidly to a tired and false economic ideology. Governor Dayton has been trying to work this issue out from day one in office. Do you know what our Republican leaders in the state house have been doing? Getting anti-gay marriage amendments on the ballot for next year, despite the fact that gay marriage is already illegal in this state. That's real productive, guys, and certainly very progressive of you. The vast majority of the state thinks it's unnecessary, and it's likely to fail.

They also sent the governor a number of bills straight out of the Republican party's list of talking points that they *knew* he would veto. A complete and utter waste of time and money, and yet they did it - why? To flex their ultra-conservative bona fides? So they could say to their base, "Look what we tried to do!"

Then, when it comes down to crunch time, the budget they send the governor not only guts our schools and health care for the poor, elderly, and disabled, but has attached to it a number of ridiculous policy-related issues like restrictions on abortions and other Republican talking point goodies. Why? Did they actually think Governor Dayton was going to go for that?

I'm sorry, but these people are nuts. There's not a moderate one in the bunch, and if there is, they've been shut up by all of the crazies. My kudos to our governor for retaining his sanity throughout this process. I can only hope that these fruitcakes don't get reelected. Actually, I should rephrase that... Fruitcake is delicious, and I shouldn't be so disparaging to such a scrumptious dessert by comparing it to these utterly self-serving Republican lawmakers!

Right now in my state, you cannot apply for a driver's license; in fact, the DMV is shut down altogether, I believe. Doctors, nurses, and teachers cannot be licensed, either. I guess that's not important, right? I mean, is a license really that important when putting your life, or that of your child, in the hands of another person?

Oh, and I read a lovely news story about a couple who met while serving in the army and they are scheduled to be married at Fort Snelling in a couple of weeks (I had a friend get married there - beautiful place) and their wedding might be cancelled if this goes on any longer. But, I'm sure you don't mind forcing two hardworking members of our military to just find another venue, this is only the place they dreamed about getting married at when they got engaged to each other over in Afghanistan/Iraq (can't recall which).

Just because something isn't absolutely essential to public safety (i.e. state troopers, prison guards) doesn't mean it isn't important to someone, somewhere, and at sometime. I know someone who works two state jobs - one at the Minnesota Zoo and the other at the Science Museum - and she's furloughed at both of them because of this. But, I'm sure educating our children about the natural world is not really that important; but as someone who was taken on school trips to both places, that I vividly remember even today as an adult and I can proudly say were essential learning experiences for me, I can guarantee the kids WILL be missing out on something incredibly special without those two institutions.

All of this, and for what? To protect the top 1.8% of earners in our state from having slightly higher taxes. Thanks, Republicans. They would rather see more cuts to education and health care. I'm sorry, but we've had enough of your damned cuts and the rich are paying less in taxes than they have in decades. They can cough up a little bit more. As awful as this is, I am thankful that Governor Dayton isn't giving in. He's fighting for what he believes in and what he knows is the right thing to do.

Minnesota is a great state that's been left in fiscal crisis thanks to our previous governor, Tim Pawlenty. Let's not continue the same ridiculous policies that lead us down this road. I want our state to continue to be a place I can be proud of. Admittedly, I am not very proud of my country, but I AM proud of my state. Much of the rest of the United States is, frankly, an embarrassment to me. This state need not go that route. We're better than that.

Rat troubles.

I don't feel like re-typing this, so I'm just going to copy and paste the message I posted to a rat-related Facebook group about what happened the other day. Please ignore the terrible grammar and whatnot.

"So, I haven't posted anything for a few days because I feel like the worst rat mom in the whole world... A few days ago during intros, despite everything going seemingly well up until then, Rasputin bit Rosencrantz, one of my dwarf boys, and left him with a HUGE gash in his side. We rushed him to the e-vet, waited three hours while the people before us had their cats put to sleep (saddest thing to watch EVER... and we saw it twice), and when we were finally seen, we found out they wanted $500 to have him stitched up. We've been in a financial pickle ever since Ross graduated and lost his student job, and although he finally got a seasonal position at Target, he doesn't start until next week. We applied for CareCredit, but we were told we'd have to wait a week and the e-vet requires the money right then. We ended up having his wound cleaned and stapled instead because it was cheaper... ;_; He's fine now, on Baytril and pain meds, and there's no sign of infection. I just feel awful. I shouldn't have been doing intros while we're so poor, but we'd been doing it so gradually and I hardly even noticed Rosie had been hurt until he turned around and saw this big gash... Now I have FOUR male rats in separate cages, since Rosie has to be separate from his brother Gil while he has the staples. Ugh... I'll have pictures in a bit ;_; I feel so awful still, my poor boy..."

The picture is, obviously, to the right. You can see the poor guy's stapled wound. I still feel bad, but I'm just glad he's healing up alright. I hate when my critters get hurt, especially when it's something like this that I feel was somehow preventable.

Get better, little buddy! <3