If you are like me, you are probably a little sick of the “Shut Down” issue with the Federal Government and the back and forth going on between the two sides. The two major players, Harry Reid and John Boehner, are not exactly the most articulate people in Washington. In fact listening to someone running their fingernails across the chalkboard is more appealing than hearing them speak.

If our Federal Government does shut down, The Western Word already has a column written and ready to go – so stay tuned! I experienced a “shutdown” first-hand back in 1995-1996 and I can bring a unique perspective to this circus…

Although things seem pretty “sucky” right now, you still get your free copy of “Caught My Eye” today! Caught My Eye is my weekly column that takes a look at some of the news that I did not have time to comment about during the week – and sometimes I add a little sarcasm and spice to the stories.

So sit back and relax. There’s nothing you can do about the Federal Government shutting down, but you can read Caught My Eye and take your mind off the silliness…　

Montana Legislature:

I am happy to report that there has been some progress in Helena! Now each side has their own branding iron – with the Governor having a “Veto” brand and the GOP having a “Jobs” brand.

So who are the winners? Probably the Montana Department of Livestock which registers brands for the state. And who are the losers? Montanans who expect the legislature and the governor to actually get something done. Many of us probably have our own “four-letter word” for the Governor and Legislators that would make a good brand…Comments are welcome!

This just isn’t right:

A man visiting a Walmart store in Maryland was glued to a toilet seat. Shameful. OK, it’s funny, too. Look before you sit…

Update on the Bronx Zoo Cobra:

The Cobra has a name! Here’s the Tweet: “So, the vote is in. They want to name me Mia. But in my heart I’ll always know that my true name is Mrs. Justin Bieber.”

Animals on Twitter:

Speaking of the Cobra, it is the second most popular animal on Twitter; they all have more followers than you (and me) Here’s the list.

Federal Workers:

Some folks say Federal workers are overpaid. I don’t agree with that, and here’s a story about this issue. Also there’s a simple solution: Set a cap of, let’s say $50K, for ALL Federal employees. Now that amount also includes all elected officials (including the President), their staffers, the President’s cabinet, doctors, lawyers, researchers, CIA, FBI, etc. I doubt we’d have the highly skilled folks we now have…and if you think the government runs poorly now…

The Political Inbox:

As you might imagine, many of the e-mails from politicians dealt with the looming government shutdown. Some dealt with fundraising. Here are a few of my favs and one that ticked me off:

-Republican Gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill sent me an e-mail with the subject, “We beat the competition combined” where he tells me: “Great news – the latest fundraising reports are in, and for the last two quarters we’ve outraised all of the other candidates for governor combined. And that includes the hesitant Steve Bullock who is not officially a candidate.”

Hmmm… Looks the Hill Campaign will be hiring…and with all the crap in the blogosphere about Hill, this race is gonna be nasty.

-The Cascade County Democrats invited a friend of mine to a birthday party fundraiser for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Denise Juneau. He forwarded me the e-mail. It was Thursday night, and he said he could not really miss comedy night on NBC, especially Outsourced, so he declined.

Believe me – watching a few minutes of comedy is always much more fun than attending a fundraiser or a Lincoln-Reagan/Jefferson-Jackson Dinner…

–Jon Tester sent me an e-mail with the subject “Thank You” in which he tells his subscribers “We did it. This was the first test of our campaign’s strength, and I’m very proud to tell you that on Thursday night we reached our $50,000 goal.”

Hmmm… Looks like the Tester campaign will be hiring…

-The Rehberg for Senate campaign sent me an e-mail with the subject “Support Denny on Facebook” in which they ask for me to “Like” the Denny Rehberg for U.S. Senate page on Facebook.”

The campaign battles between Tester and Rehberg will be waged on Facebook, Twitter, through letters to the editor, in the newspaper comment sections, not to mention on the airwaves…

-And finally the best for last: On Monday, the Montana GOP “discovered” that Jon Tester was vulnerable and sent me an e-mail with a very simple subject about it called, “Tester Most Vulnerable.” I guess someone at Fox News wrote an article saying so, and the Montana GOP ran with it.

A little fact check – Here at TWW, I have written two columns saying the same thing – one was written way back on November 4, 2010, when the Montana GOP folks were still hung-over from their victories. By the way, I’d put my experience in politics up against the goof-ball’s from Fox News and even those in at a certain HQ in Helena any day… Just sayin…

Getting Noticed:

Someone linked to my column “Resolution: Keep the Planes in Montana” from The #mtleg Daily…Check it out and thanks to the person who did it.

Twitter:

Tell your friends that Twitter is where it’s at these days and nothing is much better than following @TheWesternWord on Twitter!

Don’t forget to stretch…