The Beasts Learn More Vile Facts About the US Government Shutdown

Here we are, 12 days in, and the Beasts and magical Beings I live with are still trying to understand the Shutdown.

They have even more trouble getting it than the human "Giants" in our household. After all, we "Giants"--as they call us humans--at least have some context. We (sadly) are used to politics--and the politicians who perpetrate them.

But this idiocy is completely alien to Beasts. See, in the Beastly world, it is understood that no one can go it alone.

So everyone helps each other.

They share.

They want everyone to be happy and well-cared-for.

They know, instinctively, that this is the key to survival.

And just as importantly, it's the key to happiness.

Most of the Beasts and magical Beings have thrown up their hands about the Giant Eejits in Washington, assuming (correctly) that they will never understand.

But Friend hasn't.

(And not just because he doesn't have hands. 
He thinks he can BeFriend Congress, 
and get them to act Beastly. 
How I wish he could!)

Burlie hasn't given up, either.

He is determined to understand...

...no matter how stupid it is.

My housemates and I were watching the news, and he came in and asked us about the Shutdown.

Are we SURE, he asked us, that the Giant Eejits shut down the government on purpose??? They didn't do it by mistake?

They may yet decide it was a mistake, one of my housemates told him, but they definitely did it on purpose. They planned it for months. Dave then read to Burlie from the New York Times: In a lovely Valentine to America, dozens of "conservative" groups (who are anything but) signed on to a February 14 letter outlining the plan to derail the Affordable Care Act at all costs.

Are we SURE, he asked us, that the Giant Eejits shut down the government...because they wanted to stop everyone from getting healthcare?

Yes, we told him. That's what they said. Unless the president agreed to defund the Affordable Care Act, they would defund the government.

He didn't, so they did.

What's that about? Burlie wondered. Don't they believe in healthcare? Healthcare is good!

(See  "Beastly Ears" for more on this.)

They do believe in healthcare, we told him. They all have excellent healthcare.

So...they are just against OTHERS having healthcare? THAT can't be.

We told him that, yes, that was really pretty much it. Basically, they think it costs too much for everyone to have healthcare. They also believe -- as indicated in that self-same letter (and for reasons they do not bother to explain) -- that the Affordable Care Act "is an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty."

This left Burlie stunned. 

(That's hard to do.)

But it never lasts long. He was soon hopping mad.

(We decided to tell him about the whole debt-limit thing another day.)