Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Where the Money Goes
As Americans suffer through flight delays, furloughs and other cuts blamed on the sequester you might be interested to know the government spends nearly $900,000 a year on nothing -- no really, on nothing.
Almost a million bucks to keep empty bank accounts open.
The Washington Post reports the feds had, at last check, 13,712 bank accounts with a zero balance.
Those accounts incur a $65 annual service charge.
The Obama administration has made some progress in closing those empty accounts.
A controller at the Office of Management and Budget says in 2011, there were more than 28,000 accounts with a balance of zero.
No Such thing as Free Lunch
A West Virginia lawmaker firmly believes there is no such thing as free lunch.
Republican delegate Ray Canterbury is drawing harsh criticism for suggesting that schoolchildren should have to perform janitor duties to earn a school lunch.
The Washington Post reports Canterbury opposed a bill to solicit donations from non-profits to expand the school's free lunch program.
Quote -- "I think it would be a good idea if perhaps the kids worked for their lunches -- trash to be taken out, hallways to be swept, lawns to be mowed -- make them earn it.
If they miss a lunch, they might not -- in class that afternoon -- learn to add, they may not learn to diagram a sentence, but they'll learn a more important lesson.
Supporters of the bill called the comments offensive.
Getting Neutral
And finally, effective immediately there are no more fishermen or freshmen in Washington State.
Democratic Governor Jay Inslee has signed a law eradicating almost all gender-specific language from state laws.
So, freshmen are now first year students; penmanship will be called handwriting; and fishermen are just plain fishers.
There are a few exceptions including "man-holes" -- apparently there's no other word that makes sense for that one.
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