Irrelevant But Awesome

Joel:  The Hoynes storyline in this episode is upsetting. Not for the character himself, but because it shows a reality of Washington. The Presidential election cycle just ended. It’s going to be four years before another election is held. We are literally as far away from a Presidential election as we can get, and yet for Hoynes (and I’m sure several other people in Washington) it’s time to start campaigning all over again. Sure it’s not the “Vote for me,” on the road type of campaigning we see during the actual year of an election, but make no mistake, it’s still campaigning. I remember being a kid and thinking that four years was forever (mind you, I was six at the time so it was two thirds of my lifetime) and surely we needed to hold elections at least every year. But now, it seems like half of the first four years is focused on getting the second four years. And even then, some of the second four years is focused on the making sure the next guy is from the same party. A...

Joel:  There’s a lot that’s going on in the show right now, what with the election happening, Sam getting ready to leave the show, a new character being introduced, and the thing that really sticks out for me in this episode is the $400 dollar ashtray. A stat like that sounds like something that would come up during an election. A creative way to look at an opponent’s budget so that their ideas will look silly to the voters. You the kind of ad that says something like “Candidate X’s proposed budget is so ludicrous, that it allows $400 to be spent on every ashtray in the pentagon.” even though we all not that some fancy math was done to make the numbers come out that way. Then to see that a supporter of said candidate not only doesn’t refute the idea of a $400 dollar ashtray but in fact defends the idea, seems straight out of left field. With a hundred guesses I never would have come up with a reason why an army ashtray should cost so much, yet the second it’s presented I, l...