I was so worried about the shutdown yesterday that it was making me nauseous to talk about it with Andy. By the time I checked my news after a late dinner, and they had something. It’s not great, and it’s another punt, but they made some deals and got ‘r done. How? There’s some pork in there. McCain is grumping about it:

“These people are like alcoholics. They can’t resist taking a drink. It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona to the Daily Beast, referring to the dam project. “It shows that there are people in this body who are willing to use any occasion to get an outrageous pork-barrel project done at the cost of millions and millions of dollars. It’s disgusting.”

You know what? I don’t mind paying a little backpay for a widow, and I’m glad we are sending some money to Colorado. Yeah, it adds up. But these deals have been part of legislation for a long time. I have a feeling that the backlash against pork has been good for us, but we have obviously reached its limits with each and every budget grinding to a standstill. We have hit a point where it really is used to grease the wheels, as it needs to, instead of being an ordinary tactic. That rolls it back from where we we are, but also allows enough to close a deal. I could be wrong, but that’s what I am thinking about this morning.

What are you thinking about? I had a wonderful visit at CU Denver yesterday–wonderful students and bright, energetic young faculty building a program.