Grateful Dead

5 MINUTES AGO ON THE WEST LAWN OF THE WHITE HOUSE THERE WERE THREE LARGE BOOMS AND CONGRESSIONAL POLICE ARE REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN INJURED! FURTHER REPORTS ARE THAT 15 SHOTS OR SO HAD BEEN FIRED AND CONGRESSIONAL POLICE CARS TOOK OFF IN PURSUIT OF THE BAD GUYS. A HELICOPTER HAS LANDED ON THE WEST LAWN, NEAR THE REFLECTING POOL. "IT'S A WILD THING TO SEE!" TOURISTS WERE HERDED INTO LAFAYETTE PARK AND THEN TAKEN ELSWHERE. CONGRESS IS IN RECESS AT THE MOMENT THOUGH THEY ARE IN THE CAPITOL AND IN SESSION.

Would have to be at a private campground. Looks like a stalemate at the moment (passing a bill that would open up the government is not in the cards). In fact, this looks like a perfect opportunity to do it on the taxpayer's dime, GTed. Leave this afternoon, come back Sunday night... Everybody knows that during these Congress-created fiascoes (shutdowns due to partisan issues) government furloughed workers are made whole again. Not this time. The mainline Republicans teamed up with the Tea Party are building momentum not to pay for the days government workers are missing (those deemed non-essential). The ones still working will get paid. The one's not working, well, they aren't essential -- why pay for days they missed? Have a good camping trip GTed.

GTed. Better to take a short camping trip to Whichita and protest outside the Koch Brothers headquarters! Don't imagine you would get much of a reception there. If they'll spend millions fighting against somebody who sold them a fake bottle of wine, they'll make mincemeat of anybody opposing them on this issue. The Republicans are hell-bent on erasing the Obama legacy from US History. There is a very ugly hint of racism here.

Well, the furlough is here to stay it appears, as no progress on a clean CR has reached the Senate yet. My wife and I keep busy locally, as long distance traveling or camping is not feasible if by some miracle Congress passes the budget and the workplace reopens. Until then we'll keep encouraging our rep and Senators (R-KS) to get to work!

Each time we go through this gyration it costs the taxpayers billions (a couple) of dollars.

Most of federal government was temporary shut down.

I would agree with you in general, however, the Republicans in the Senate have perverted the rules so that everything needs a super-majority. The 60th vote in the Senate for ObamaCare (years ago when it passed) was the good Senator from Nebraska. His price, oh yes, it was good old-fashioned extortion, was that the Federal government picked up all of Nebraska's share of Medicare premiums like, forever. I would disagree that MSNBC is in any way comparable to Fox News. MSNBC has professional standards and Fox is a bunch of Nazi's. That is not just because I lean to the left. You don't see MSNBC broadcasters browbeating their guests saying "I'm in charge! I'll ask the questions here!" At MSNBC, the lesbians know they have to stay up till 9pm to see Rachel Maddow. I will say that after the Boston Terrorism incident ALL networks got the THE WORD to go easy and provide "soft, soothing entertainment to the masses" so we could all have nice, solid bowel movements while we sheltered in place. Even Rachel Maddow played the same clip of cute young marathon girls in skimpy halter tops over and over again while she giggled lasciviously. Well, I'm getting off-track here. You're right Parkas, they're all to blame. From radical right-winger Ted Cruz to Independent socialist Bernie Sanders. (All right, I'm outta here, no more rants this week!)

Let's be honest, people. As long as slanted and skewed media outlets like Fox News, MSNBC, and the rest continue to twist and contort the facts to suit their personal agendas, the American people who remain glued to their television sets each and every night won't have the slightest clue as to what's really going on. They'll be told by the talking heads that everything's okay and that the government will play together nicely while honest, hard-working people continue to struggle to make ends meet while trying to figure out how to put food on the table and pay their bills at the same time. The truth is that it's all our Congress(wo)men and Senators' fault for the shutdown, not just the Republicans. Sure, the Tea Baggers have been continually throwing gears into the machinery since the first knuckle-dragger got elected into office, but it's the responsibility of BOTH parties to keep things running smoothly regardless. I'm tired of the finger-pointing; I just hope the right people in the right positions take the time to remind the American public of what Congress and the House have done to this country: hold a gun to its head and hold it hostage.

Republicans are to blame. Their maddening, sheep-like bleating that this is the fault of the Obama Administration because the people are against ObamaCare (The Affordable Care Act). The latest poll (1 week ago) shows that 50% of the people DO NOT want to defund the President's signature health care act while 38% are in favor of eliminating government funds for it. 12% remain unsure. This shows that the Republicans on the extreme right have completely lost touch with reality. They are committing political suicide when everybody in their districts finally realizes they are a bunch of loonies who don't want people treated with pre-existing conditions or have insurance without lifetime caps (Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Smith, little Jimmy has already used up his $100,000 in lifetime benefits and our company will no longer cover his totally curable cancer care.) Now the Republicans are threatening not to approve a modest increase in the debt ceiling if they do not get what they want on health care. They are threatening the full faith & credit of the United States. That is, the US will not make interest payments on Treasury Bills if the debt ceiling is not raised. That will happen some time around November 1st. The talking heads are saying that this will never happen because these are the mechanisms that force deals to happen in Washington and voices from the business world shall become very, very shrill to do something about the matter. How real is the chance of that happening? Well, US Treasury Bonds are the #1 safest investment in the world. People from all over the world RUN to put their money in T-Bills when the shit hits the fan in their own country. There is insurance called "credit derivative swaps" (sound familiar from 2008?). Well, you used to be able to get 100k in insurance through this financial instrument for 7k. Now, the same insurance as of last week cost $40,000. That is almost a six-fold rise in the cost of insuring the safest investment in the world - a US treasury Bond with historically low yields. When our creditors from well-off countries decide to raise interest rates through their actions or inaction's (of buying or not buying) they will not come down easily and will have drastic effects on our economy. All because of these tea-party idiots who want to slash government spending more than it already has been, all bankrolled by billionaires like the Koch Brothers. Unbelievable.

My wife motored off to work this morning, through the fog, to receive instructions on shutting down her work station. She's not to use her "work" computer and managers are not to use their "work" cell phones, as they are property of the U.S. government. How about those Republicans refusing to back down and be a part of the game, acting with widespread futility and maybe leading us all into another real market buster??!!