The Minnesota Legislature adjourned yesterday without passing a budget that the governor would sign. If they don’t agree to a budget by June 30, most of state government will shut down and most state employees will be furloughed. Most political observers didn’t buy the claims made back in January by both legislators and the governor that they would end the session on time, so the current situation isn’t much of a surprise. The deep ideological divide between the two sides is unlikely to result in a compromise anytime soon, which means I should start an office pool on the length of this impasse. I was lucky enough to experience the last state government shutdown in 2005 (ugh, I’m becoming an old-timer) and that didn’t last much more than a week. I’d bet on a similar outcome this time around, but I hope to be proven wrong.

For those of you making last-minute preparations in advance of tomorrow’s apocalypse, best wishes and bon voyage. Things won’t be the same around here without you. I’m not sure if they have e-mail or Facebook where you’re going, but try to stay in touch. And it’s cool if I throw a pool party at your house tomorrow night, right? I mean, it’s not like you’ll be coming back. Don’t worry; we’ll keep the orgy participants in the living room and we’ll put plastic over everything. We may be godless heathens, but we’re also good neighbors.

It’s too bad that L.A. Noire is only available to play on consoles because it seems like an engrossing game. I have a weakness for all things noir and getting to play detective in 1940s Los Angeles is my kind of entertainment. I’ll just have to add this to my list of games to play once Sony or Microsoft finally releases it neural interface. In the meantime, perhaps I’ll re-read one of my James Ellroy novels to scratch my noir itch.

Alyssa Rosenberg has got me thinking about Game of Thrones and its portrayal of disability in a rigidly hierarchical society. She writes:

But one of the things the Game of Thrones universe does best is to shake up the fantastical expectation that it’s reasonably easy for unusual people and people with unusual ambitions to make a place for themselves in rigid societies. The show insists that its difficult enough to fit into pre-approved roles if they’re available to you, and even harder to find a place for yourself if you’re unlucky enough not to slot into a pre-approved role at all.

The series features two primary characters with disabilities: Bran and Tyrion. Bran becomes a paraplegic after a tragic fall and Tyrion is a dwarf (reasonable people can argue whether dwarfism is a disability, but it clearly is viewed as such by the denizens of Westeros). Both are lucky enough to be members of wealthy nobility, which offers them distinct advantages in a society whose regard of people with disabilities is decidedly medieval. In one early episode, Tyrion, upon hearing of Bran’s injury, remarks, “If you’re going to be a cripple, it’s better to be a rich cripple.” But even their families’ wealth cannot completely compensate for their status as outsiders. Both Bran and Tyrion, despite their difference in years, are keenly aware that they will always be objects of pity and scorn.

How Bran and Tyrion cope with their outsider gimp status is one of the more interesting narrative threads to be found in the series. Tyrion embraces his otherness, throwing it back in the faces of potential tormentors while unapologetically living the life of a bon vivant. Tyrion also treads perilously close to becoming a disability caricature. His only sexual relations are with whores and he seems to have completely ruled out any chance of having a relationship with a woman that isn’t based on commerce. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Tyrion seems to have accepted his outsider status to a certain extent. Bran’s path has yet to be explored with the same depth (something that the next book will hopefully remedy), but both the show and the books hint that he has some untapped second sight dwelling within him. Bran also experiences some of the depression and loss that accompanies an acquired disability.

Along with Arya, Bran and Tyrion are two of the most sympathetic characters in the series’ sprawling cast. The world they inhabit is one much more hostile to disability than ours, but their efforts to find a place in the world ring true for gimps like me.

Mike Huckabee, potential presidential candidate and defender of national wholesomeness, is concerned that our kids are learning American history all wrong. Rather than learning that America is the bestest country ever, our youth are being taught that America has sometimes exhibited questionable judgment and poor impulse control. Huckabee’s counterweight to all those ponytailed hippies teaching history: cartoons about time travel! Kids will understand the true significance of the Reagan Revolution after watching it through the eyes of a bunch of time-traveling Young Republicans.

I feel deep pity for kids trapped with the kind of parents who would order this stuff. If the preview is any indication, even the animation is laughably awful. As for the content, it’s the standard Reagan=Jesus propaganda that conservatives can never seem to get enough of. I’m pretty sure the hippie history teacher has nothing to worry about. Unless Huckabee becomes president.