While my heart goes out to Jack Kingston that he won't be able to spend four whole days of the week at home with his family come January, the story should really have been about how the previously institutionalized short work week helped facilitate all the things that people, including politicians, complain the most about politics these days; the "permanent campaign" and the primacy of raising money over actually governing.  To be honest, the system worked well for Republicans like Kingston because the extent to which the House GOP Leadership centralized political and legislative decision-making in the leadership left most rank and file members with little to do but vote the way Tom Delay wanted and run around campaigning in their districts on the taxpayer's dime.  Roy Blunt's quote is particularly instructive as to his party's priorities which evidently revolve exclusively around playing political games to trip up the work of the new Congress for the next two years. 

Ed Kilgore reminds us that before the ease of commercial air travel most members of Congress lived in dorms in Washington D.C. for the entire Congressional session.  Not only did the Union survive, but Congress did more, relations between members were generally better and at the end of the day most Congressmen were forced to run on what their Parties did or didn't accomplish instead of the shallow hot-button issues/personal destruction crap that is standard fare today.  I don't want to idealize the past and I don't know what the effects of the new five day week will be, but I do applaud the shift in tone signalled by the new legislative calendar and given the Republicans purposely left a whole slew spending bills and other legislative issues unfinished it will probably prove a practical move to boot.