Good morning and greetings, October fans. Word has filtered back to me that our federal government shut down last week. Now I normally try to stay away from writing about these types of subjects, as I want folks to come to this site to get away from the depressing news that pervades our daily lives. But the elephant in this room needs to be diapered.

Now what we have is a certain band of morons, er politicians, who have gotten together to prove just how selfish and removed they are from the reality of the people they are supposed to represent. I will not refer to them by name. Let’s just say I haven’t had a cup of tea since the Carter Administration, and if I had, you can imagine where I’d like to shove those two lumps of sugar.

But who am I to judge?. This small group of taxed enough alreadyers think they are standing up for the little guy. They are holding Congress hostage as we look like a joke to the rest of the world. Who elected these idiots? You know we’re in trouble when the Somali government is laughing at us.

So who is affected by this shutdown? Well, let’s start with employees of the Departments of Defense, Special Teams, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Claire Danes, the Smithsonian Institute, Jamba Juice, the White House, White Castle and National Parks. We’re talking about 800,000 federal employees who are now enjoying unpaid vacations courtesy of their local Club Feds.

Now it’s not all the politicians in Washington who are at fault, just a small group of conservative Republicans who are trying their best to wreak havoc with the American economy in the name of no health care. Or as my favorite philosopher Plato had to say about the people responsible for the shutdown, “Those who are too smart to engage in politics will be punished by being governed by those who are dumber.” Added the diminutive one, Napoleon Bonaparte, “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”

Now 17 years ago during the last shutdown, or shutout for you sports fans, the stalemate lasted for 20 days. According to my sources inside the NBA, there are tears and fears that this latest lockdown is going to be a doozy and that it could take weeks for certain members of Congress to remember that they were elected to help run the government, not bring it down. This stalemate has the employees of the birth certificate office in Kenya laughing in hysterics.

So let’s bring this situation back home to our Golden State. Last time I checked my GPS, there were no national parks located in Santa Cruz. But if you head northeast, you will run into a lovely little meadow the locals like to call Yosemite National Park. Or as photographer Ansel Adams described it, “Yosemite Valley to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and gold wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” Where photographers dreams really do come true.

So with no one inside the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon closed due to lunacy, where does that leave our national jewel we call Yosemite?

In a story by Pete Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was reported that there the was no joy in the Sierras, as last Wednesday, tourists, survivalists, employees, squirrels, concession workers and some tule elk left the famous park amid the confusion, delusion and absolution from the disappointment of the first government shutdown in nearly two decades.

Families from all over the world had come to Yosemite to experience the grandeur of this internationally famous park of wonders. Instead, rangers closed the roads to their hearts, shut down the hiking trails and put the kibosh on what should have been an experience of a lifetime that many had traveled thousand of miles to experience. And all because of some fools playing the role of politicians back in our nation’s capitol. Or as the saying goes, “Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”

So Washington is playing politics and punishing the tourists. Sara Turse, a visitor from Florida, said she had waited a lifetime for this trip. “There are a lot of international travelers here. It’s embarrassing for our country to be so dysfunctional that the government has to shut down the national parks.” All this from a small group who want to prevent health care reform. That sound you hear is the Canadians chuckling.

Yosemite has been closed over the years due to floods, snowstorms, wildfires, political disagreements over appropriations of funds back in Washington and last year’s 49ers’ loss in the Super Bowl. Over the weekend, at least six weddings, bar mitzvahs and toga parties parties were canceled in the park due to the childish and spiteful behavior of these Koch brothers supported individuals.

For the families who had planned these events for months, it was a major inconvenience. However, with the closing of the National Institute of Health, 200 people a week, including 30 children, who were waiting to start new clinical drug trials that will hopefully save their lives, were turned away from these clinical studies due to a lack of funding. I’m sure their cancer will understand.

And with the loss of federal funding, we’re talking no paychecks for workers. But not to worry. When those federally funded foodbank shelves are empty, they’ll just magically refill themselves. No one should go hungry because of politics. Shame on you, Congressman. Or in the words of Henry Cate VII, “The problem with political jokes is they get elected.”

And if you like coincidences, and you know I do, the first day of the government shutdown on Tuesday coincided with Yosemite’s 123rd anniversary. What better way to celebrate and showcase our most famous national treasure by closing it down on its anniversary? The last word on the elected officials wreaking havoc in Washington goes to one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who so eloquently said, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” And rest assured, these guys are working overtime.

On a lighter note, my wife Allison has penned her first E-book, entitled “Mothers Have Needs To.” It is available online for sale and would make a lovely Halloween gift. To check it out, go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/363706. Photographs in the book were contributed by yours truly. She is now busy working on her second book, “Fathers Have Needs Too, But Who Cares?”

For today’s photo segment, we are clearing out the showroom floor to make room for the 2013-14’s. This was the last 2012 sunrise remaining in the archives from last season. I didn’t necessarily save the best for last, but this would definitely be one that I wouldn’t mind bringing to the dance.

So from this day forward, all future sunrises and sunsets, will be, in the words of those Jersey boys, Kool and the Gang “fresh, exciting, so inviting to me.” What’s going to be coming down this photo pike is “a celebration to last throughout the year.” The sky’s the limit. And in case you missed it 49er fans, last night’s sunset was fantastic.

On to the late night humor. “People are saying now that before the government shutdown congressmen went out and got drunk – celebrating that they had shut down the government. This is the kind of thing that could damage their 10 percent approval rating. They say it’s a partial government shutdown, and I can remember something similar happened. It was like the government was shut down for eight years when Bush was president. When you sign up for Obamacare you choose between the bronze program, the silver program, the gold program, and the platinum program. If you sign up for the platinum, you actually get to drive the ambulance.” –David Letterman

“People are mad at Congress because of the shutdown. According to a new poll, 69 percent of Americans say that House Republicans are acting like children. I think they may have a point because when asked about it, Republicans said, ‘Ha ha you said 69.’ Because of the government shutdown, President Obama has had to scale back his planned trip to Asia. Now Obama’s just going to cross the street and eat lunch at a Panda Express. People have events in the national parks and they’re canceled because of the shutdown. There was a KKK rally scheduled to be held in a national park that was canceled. This was bad news for the KKK but good news for the park’s black bears.” –Conan O’Brien

“So far the ones hit hardest by the government shutdown are tourists because all the national parks are closed. Where will people go for anonymous sex? We still have the airport bathrooms, but that’s only for Senators, and we can’t all use that.
At least here in America, crucial agencies like the U.S. Border Patrol are still on the job. That’s a good thing. The last thing we need is an influx of Canadians, with their politeness and a government that’s open every day. The shutdown means the national zoo is closed. Who’ll feed the animals? Is anyone even there to lock them up at night? Pretty soon starving lions and tigers could charge out of the zoo. They’d devour the fattest, dumbest people on Capitol Hill. Actually that might be the answer to all of the problems.” –Craig Ferguson

“Scientists in Stockholm say hundreds of jellyfish have shut down a nuclear reactor. Hey, that’s nothing. In this country, a bunch of spineless jellyfish have shut down the entire government. This is unbelievable. The government is shut down. Even Al Qaeda couldn’t do that. Do you realize that?” –Jay Leno “The Los Angeles district attorney has decided not to press charges against Justin Bieber for spitting on his neighbor because it was the neighbor’s word against Bieber’s. The D.A. said, “Frankly, I don’t know who to belieb.” – Conan O’Brien

So enjoy the baseball playoffs. We’ll catch you you giving up just four hits and throwing eight shutout innings in your first-ever postseason game Saturday night. Aloha, mahalo and later, Sonny Gray fans.

On to the late night.  “They say President Lincoln once walked three miles to pay back a penny. That makes him the last president to do anything about the debt. There’s a real threat to tyrants who have used brutal tactics to seize power. The one who should really be worried is Leno.” –David Letterman “Bill Clinton recently revealed that he only sent two e-mails while he was President. Then he added, “And it turns out those pills are just a scam.” –Jimmy Fallon

“Jennifer Lopez broke down crying on “American Idol,” saying she “can’t do this anymore.” That’s what I say every night.”–David Letterman   Sarah Palin is going to a political conference in India next month. Palin said she’s loved India ever since she saw “Hoosiers.  Borders Books has filed for bankruptcy and will close all 200 of its superstores. When Sarah Palin heard that she went, ‘Finally, we’re closing the borders.'” –Jimmy Fallon

So that’s our show.  It was a wild week of weather as we didn’t get that snow that was predicted, but instead saw black-eyed pea sized hail fall from the sky.  So enjoy the last day of February and we’ll catch you for some March madness.  Aloha, mahalo and later, Kendrick Perkins fans.