Dem
51
GOP
49
We're going to run only one selection today, since it's somewhat long. However, it really captures the big news of the week. G.L. in Winter Park, FL, offering apologies to Joyce Kilmer, calls it "2022 Year-End Christmas Spending Tree":
I think that I shall never see
A Budget grander than this Christmas tree
Whose piney branches hold high aloft
Shiny gifts from the Nation's pig trough.
A monument to one Dick Shelby,
Foraging senators and Pat Leahy;
Such largesse fit for pigeons and dogs,
No shame, this game, let loose the hogs!
A tree to amend the Electoral College Act
And aid for disaster victims cruelly whacked;
More funds to charge Jan Six-ers run amok
And while we're at it, let's ban TikTok.
Grand new housing for the FBI,
Their Brutalist barn, a sorry pig sty;
And let's not forget the War on Ukraine
Forty-five billion again and again.
A tree to fix your retirement plans
But no banking soup for you, marijuana stand.
Medicare and vet care and turtles to aid
Year-end brinksmanship—America on parade.
And in the House, McCarthy counts in despair
While Boebert & MTG tear each other's hair.
You think this Christmas tree is sorely out of whack?
Wait til 2023—there's no turning back!
Tomorrow will definitely be more Christmas-themed verse; here's the address for submissions. (Z)