Posted: Oct. 2, 2013

TOP TEN EFFECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN DELAWARE 

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

1. It figures. Delaware finally gets a national park, and they shut it down.

2. With all the uncertainty, Dover Air Force Base changes its name to Dover Up-In-The-Air Base.

3. State Republicans are secretly relieved. When they are asked about their candidates for federal office, instead of hemming and hawing about not having any, they can say, "Oh, they're on furlough."

4. Joe Biden still goes to work. It makes him the first vice president in U.S. history to be able to prove he is essential.

5. "Forever" stamps become "whenever" stamps.

6. Sorry, this number was deemed non-essential and sent home.

7. As Delaware's lone congressman, stuck in the Democratic minority, John Carney really gets what it is like to be regarded as non-essential personnel.

8. Why did it have to be the federal government that was shut down? Why not Wilmington?

9. Tom Carper cancels his schedule of public events around the state. There goes his chance to show a live voting audience he can still do the pushups to certify his fitness to be Delaware's Democratic senior senator.

10. The "Stars and Stripes" are forced to furlough the white and the blue until further notice and operate only in the red. Just like the government.

RETURN TO COVER PAGE

###