phew!!

We dodged a bullet last week because Congress decided to be adult and not allow the government to shut down because of a lack of consensus on the budget.  No matter what your political leanings, or how you feel about the Federal Government, this is great news for ME.

In case you don't have anyone who personifies the good work that our government does, use me.  I am the face of "non-essential" government spending that is absolutely essential to me.

The NIH is a federally funded institution whose employees are all federal employees.  If the government shuts down, the employees are furlowed and, by law, completely out of touch and unavailable.  These people are doctors and scientists who are charged with making the medical and scientific discoveries for this country and the world without the confines of having to make a profit by doing it.  In a world where the United States is falling behind more every year in a myriad of scientific and educational categories, is this what we want to be shutting down?  Is this where we want to be slashing dollars? 

I received an email from my doctor on Friday telling me that if a government shutdown did occur she would be completely unavailable and giving me the information on who to contact in case of an emergency.  My condition has been pretty stable for a while, but that doesn't mean that I don't communicate with my doctor regularly and the thought of not being able to do that sent me into a bit of a panic.  And my panic notwithstanding, her biggest concern was not being able to communicate with her patients.  Luckily, this didn't come to fruition.

I don't care if you are a rabid tea-partier or pinko liberal commie.  I ask you to hope/prey (whichever floats your spiritual boat) that the government doesn't shut down.  It looks like we have  6 months until we have to worry about this again, so start sending those vibes now.  We're going to need it.