Thursday, February 11, 2010

On The Floor Of The Senate

Lean back in your $1,200 chair (it was provided, I did not order it) and you see the most awesome capital ceiling in the country. The ceiling in the U.S. Senate is like the inside of an egg shell. Ours is ornate and personal to WA. The names of the 39 counties are wrapped around the border...high. They are not alphabetical.

It is cold. There is a constant battle with the men. I am sitting with a coat on because the men are not allowed on the floor with their coats off. If they sweat...they call the Sec. of the Senate on one of the floor phones we all have.

''It is really hot out here,'' they complain. ''Is there anything you can do about it?''

''Yes, Senator.'' We will turn on the air right now.

Later: ''It's freezing out here,'' says a female senator. Can you please turn on the heat? My nose is even cold!''

''Yes, Senator,''

Someone is watching everything. And, I don't just mean the cameras of TVW.

The WA State Patrol's campus security has the marble of the chamber spotted with high tech cameras. They zoom in on anything! They are so sensitive that the material on the paper you are holding in your hand can be read. There is no privacy.

Last words of the day:
Senator Eide: ''Thank you Mr. President. I move that the Senate now adjourn until 9:30 tomorrow.''

Everyone grabs their stuff and out the guarded doors we go.......See you tomorrow!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

By 2010 the government should be able to meet from their offices in a virtual environment that projects their faces and the like. There has got to be something in violation with the Americans with Disabilities act that says cooping people up in a room and forcing them to sit like that discriminates against folks who arnt sedentary.

The cost of great intellect is often some sort of social disorder. What if the great mind of our time is Agoraphobic ?