August 2006 Weddings
caden
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I'm a little disgusted that Congress went on vacation
I had no idea they were recessing today. Are they returning tomorrow?
I fully respect the right of Jewish reps to take off today. Only a majority is needed to pass the bill so they could have left and the rest of congress could have voted on this in their absence. All these votes are planned in advance so it's not like the Jewish members of Congress were not heard. Plus they probably voted in round 1 anyway, so they are on the record for this issue.
This is supposedly a crisis. Everywhere else in the country workers don't get to leave in the middle of a crisis for a holiday most of them do not even celebrate. Frankly, I'm appalled at their selfishness.
Re: I'm a little disgusted that Congress went on vacation
I'm with you. Guess what happens at 4:00 when the boss wants me b/c the OIG sent us a notice. That's right, I'm in her office going through files & folders.
This is probably going to hurt the average American's thoughts on this too. We've been hearing for a week that this MUST be passed and something MUST be done. Then you take a holiday? Nice.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I do not get it.
They're taking tomorrow off too???
W.T.F.
ETA: I'm stupid. Obviously they'd take the entire holiday off. But I still don't see why holidays are necessary for people who don't celebrate them while we're in the middle of a economic crisis that supposedly requires their immediate attention.
I guess I shouldn't tell you then, about how on Monday, they almost decided to not vote in it at all until Thursday?
Yep, they've recessed until Thursday.
My initial thought, as a Christian, was that if today was Christmas Eve and tomorrow Christmas, I would want my reps in there plugging away. Religious holiday or not, regardless of the religion, it's a bad time to take off.
On the other hand, perhaps a cooling-off period is a good thing...?
But they didn't. They voted, it didn't pass so they have work to do.
I completely agree. There is no excuse.
Actually I do slightly disagree on one point, about the holidays - if this were happening at Christmas, I would expect them to stay and work Christmas too. Sorry, but this is your job and the American people are depending on you to put aside your personal obligations and work through this crisis. The world doesn't stop just because it's Rosh Hashana or Christmas or whatever. Police officers, emergency room doctors, firefighters, EMTs, they don't get to take holidays off and they get paid far less than Congressmen. Considering what's going on in this country right now and how handsomely compensated they are for doing this job, I think they need to get their asses to work.
I thought about that too. Personally, as a Christian, I would attend a service and then go back to work. But I still respect the right of people of the religion to take the entire day off even though I wouldn't. I wouldn't force anyone to work when it goes against their religious principles. But since this is a religious holiday and most members are not celebrating the holiday their asses should be on capitol hill getting this resolved.
Those members of congress who had to leave could have made their positions well known to a member who was staying. This could have been worked around.
Hmmm...I don't think voting without the Jewish members is appropriate.
I agree and disagree. If this were Christmas, I would expect them to still work. BUT I do have different expectations for Orthodox Jewish people. These are people who don't even turn lights on or off on the sabbath - their religion and interpretation thereof has stricter requirements. I'm totally fine with those individuals peacing out for the holidays. (Note: I'm not sure of the specifics, but there are exceptions to the laws if it's a lifesaving measure. So doctors can work on the sabbath and touch members of the opposite sex).
Yeah, I tend to agree. This is a HUGE crisis of, at the very least, confidence, and this does nothing to help.
However, if this was Christmas Eve, and tomorrow Christmas Day, I wouldn't expect them to work, so I don't know.
I think the point is that the non-Jewish members of Congress could be doing SOMETHING rather than NOTHING.
Good point - they don't have to be voting, but thwey could still be drafting.
There is no way to avoid a trade-off in this instance. I would not force anyone to violate their religious principles, so for me that's out. So it's either deal with the crisis without them or prolong it. IMO since this is a crisis that requires immediate attention (so we've been told) they must pick the lesser of two evils and that IMO is continuing the debate/voting. In this case, there has already been a vote. We don't know if the Jewish members of congress would even change their vote. They might not, in which case voting again is moot. Their opinions could be accounted for behind the scenes, which is exactly what happens with every other bill (it's not like every member votes on every bill).
Exactly. I jumped the gun by assuming there would be a vote. There might not be. In debates it would be simple to account for the opinions of absent Jewish members. All they have to do is write their thoughts down and have someone else deliver them.
Agree. They should have voted on Sunday. That way they had Monday to deal with it in case the first vote failed.
Today/tomorrow is also Eid al-Fitr aka the end of Ramadan. I get why people are annoyed that reps would take the day off, but many of them have Jewish and Muslim staff who are taking the holiday. My office is half-empty today, only the Christians, Hindus and atheists are around even though it is the last day of the fiscal year and we are really busy.
I have a friend who works for a Jewish Congressman who represents a heavily Jewish district. I think his constituents would be really mad if Congress were to vote on such a critical issue on one of their biggest holidays.
I'm just playing devil's advocate here really, I think it's kind of annoying too.
I am torn on this. Given that Rosh Hashanah is an extremely important holiday, I think it would be insensitive to go on business as usual. While there aren't votes on the House floor, I am sure many Members stuck around (especially those who do not represent heavily Jewish Districts) and there is work going on behind the scenes. While I can understand that it looks like they are just slacking off, I think it has more to do with the way Congress has historically acknowledged these holidays and given Members who are Jewish or have Jewish constituencies a chance to worship in their districts.
But you're still working mxolisi! I'm not annoyed at all at the members of congress celebrating holidays this week. I'm annoyed that people who are not celebrating the holiday would take off - in the middle of a meltdown. If these were normal times I would applaud congress for shutting down in celebration something other than the typical government holidays. But it's a crisis. I would say the same thing if this were a Christmas Crisis.
I find it hard to believe no work can be done without every congressperson's full staff there. If Jewish (or other religions celebrating holidays) members of congress requested Congress not vote then I respect waiting to vote. But I see no reason at all why another compromise bill cannot be reached/worked on in the meantime. Their opinions can be accounted for so it's not like they would be left out. Personally, if I were Jewish and a member of Congress I'd want them to vote without me b/c this bill is radioactive and no one wants to touch it with a 10 ft poll. But that's me. Whatever they requested before they left is fine.
I agree.
I think whether it's this or Christmas or whatever, these people need to be honest with themselves and ask themselves how to best divide their time between their god and their country. For some, that might mean they need the whole day or two days to worship. For others, it's attending a service and breaking your fast, and that's it.
Skip the cocktails and the visit to Grandma. Either you are observant or you are drafting a bill. Anything else is an insult to your constituents.
I have such mixed feelings on this, particularly because of some of the things that have come up regarding Orthodox Jews and their beliefs. They really are forbidden from doing any kind of work on the Sabbath or major holidays and for Congress to exclude them in votes or debates is kind of extreme IMO.
But I think the non-Jewish members of Congress should be in DC right now, at least in committee meetings or SOMETHING trying to hammer out a deal that can be voted on as soon as the holiday is over. And I agree that Jewish members of Congress could have let their intentions be known with a written statement or SOMETHING.
Oh for sure, I think even the 5% of Congress that is Jewish is probably working, too. I think the holiday was an excuse to delay the vote and engage in some trading of back-scratching promises.
"As of page 2 this might be the most boring argument ever. It's making me long for Rape Day." - Mouse
fwiw - how do you know they aren't working somewhere drafting something?
I really do think most people are working. They are not technically in session, but I doubt most members went back to their districts for 2 days in the middle of the week (although maybe it would have been useful for some of them to do so to drum up support for the bill). I mean people have been making speeches on the floor all morning!
I only know one person on the Hill who has the day off, and she works for a prominant Jewish rep. (and she didn't even go home from the office Fri. through Mon...so at this point I think she is showering, sleeping and that's about it!).
I completely understand this sentiment and I'm not trying to be insensitive. I hope it doesn't come off that way.
It's just that for the past few weeks we've been told repeatedly that this is an epic crisis that requires immediate action. Now if that was an exaggeration then by all means shut down. But I, personally, don't believe it was hyperbole as evidenced by the market yesterday. If the entire economy is dangling in the balance then the trade-off must be made.
If nothing else I guess we will see if this really did require immediate action.
This makes me feel better.