Shutdown watch

[pondwater]

^^^ Right, left, bla bla bla. Go cry about it. Here are your leaders. Maybe you should join them as #4.

[Sunstroke]

^^^ Right, left, bla bla bla. Go cry about it. Here are your leaders. Maybe you should join them as #4.

What a well-considered and reasonable response... Your logic is refreshing.

Oh wait, I mean the opposite of all that.

[Fau Teixeira]

^^^ Right, left, bla bla bla. Go cry about it. Here are your leaders. Maybe you should join them as #4.

hey if you made that yourself .. good photoshop skills .. pretty creative too.

if you didn't you're just boring and unoriginal .. yawn

i'm betting on you being boring and having no original ideas .. just like the republicans

[pondwater]

Who shut down the government?

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2013/10/04/who-shut-down-the-government-n1716292

[Spider-Dan]

pondwater, the kinds of arguments made in the link you cited were tried in 1995 (the last time Republicans shut down the government).  They didn't work then, and they won't work now.

Using the logic above, the House could put anything they want in the CR (like, say, this) and if the Senate doesn't sign it exactly as written, I guess it's the Senate's fault!

What the constitutional scholars you are citing seem to have forgotten is that the Senate is also constitutionally empowered to modify bills and send them back to the House, which is what the Senate did.  The House did not pass the modified bill that the Senate sent back.

But the most important fact that is going unmentioned by you: the House GOP is attempting to extract a HUGE concession (defund Obamacare).  In exchange for this enormous concession, is the GOP offering a huge concession of their own?  Are they, perhaps, willing to return to Nixon-era tax rates, or to address the recent Voting Rights Act ruling by making it apply to all states?  Hell no.  Here is what the GOP put on the table:

N O T H I N G

That is, unless you believe that agreeing to fund the government is a "concession" by the GOP, which is difficult when nearly every Republican on record has said that it is important to fund the government.

So then, when you attempt to extract major concessions while offering nothing in return, and the result of this attempt is that the gov't shuts down, every person with a working brain cell correctly attributes the cause of the shutdown to your absurd extortion-like attempt at forcing 1.5 branches of the government to bend to the wishes of one-half of one branch.

[Buddhagirl]

Who shut down the government?

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2013/10/04/who-shut-down-the-government-n1716292

L to the O to the L at this link. You say you're not a Republican and then use a ridiculously conservative rag to support your bullshit positions.

[Spider-Dan]

Not to beat a dead horse, but from California Representative Mark Pakano (D):



Again, this sums it up.  The GOP wants everything and is giving up nothing.  It's a joke.

[CF DolFan]

Just got this and thought it was pretty interesting

Alert Seminole from CNN (National Breaking News):

CNN Breaking News
A majority of Americans say the federal government shutdown is causing a crisis or major problems for the country, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll. That's a higher level of concern than in late 1995, during the previous series of government shutdowns.  And while the survey also indicates that slightly more people are angry at Republicans (63%) than Democrats (57%) or President Barack Obama (53%) for the shutdown, it is clear that all sides are taking a hit.  Read the story here. Follow complete coverage of the shutdown on CNN TV, CNN.com and CNN Mobile.

[Spider-Dan]

Interesting.

Some outlets have been trying to play the "what shutdown?" angle, as if it doesn't matter.   Looks like the public isn't buying it.

[Dave Gray]

I'm all for blame to go around, when it comes to the amount of debt and the deficit, but this particular shut down is squarely on the GOP (really, the Tea Party in the house).  They are causing this current problem.

Pass the CR and debt ceiling, balance the budget by cutting and taxing.  But it requires us to make some changes to our view of the world.  We can't be spending like we do on military and expect to be able to pay our other bills here at home.

[pondwater]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/05/list-obama-closures-for-shutdown

Not only has the spiteful King Barack closed open air war memorials that are open to the public 24/7 and only staffed for part of the day. No federal employees are needed for the memorials to remain open and it cost more to close the memorials than just keep them accessible. Not to mention he has closed parts of the ocean. Yes, Obama and Dems can’t even close borders but are trying to close parts of the ocean!

White House chefs, Camp David, and his military golf course are essential for his private pleasure. However, last-chance experimental cancer treatments for children suffering from cancer are non-essential. The GOP has offered to compromise with Obama and fund the National Institues of Health and the White House has threatened a veto. Yes, you read that right. Obama is refusing treatment for children with cancer in order to play political games.

The National Park Service placed cones along state highway 244 that goes by Mt Rushmore to prevent visitors from stopping and viewing the attraction.

The Republicans have offered to selectively fund these parts of the Government to ease the inconvenience to the American public. However, Obama and the Democrats are having none of it, as seen below.


An angry Park Service ranger in Washington says of the harassment. “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation, We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”  This sentiment from Obama and his administration has been confirmed by several federal employees.

[Spider-Dan]

So you're saying that the GOP has graciously offered to fund lots of different things in the government, as long as they are not Obamacare?  How is this any change at all from their original position of "we will fund everything in the budget except Obamacare"?

An individual park ranger saying that he has been instructed "to make things as difficult as possible" is not really a meaningful statement, particularly if contrasted to what many conservatives would have liked federal employees in his situation to do during this shutdown: make things as easy as possible.

Federal funding for national parks and monuments has been cut off.
National parks and monuments are therefore closed.
If conservatives believe that national parks and monuments don't actually need any funding, maybe they should eliminate the budget for them after the shutdown.  I mean, since those things obviously run themselves.

[Fau Teixeira]

the republicans have a clean CR to vote on if they want to fund national parks and children's cancer research and other things.

They've refused to do it and now want to just fund the politically expedient parts so they look good while holding the rest of the country hostage in a backhanded way to either defund obamacare or slash federal spending without having to pass any laws to do so.

political shenanigans .. is all there is to it


if i was harry reid i'd be doing what the republicans are doing .. the current CR .. attach an amendment mandating an assault weapon ban, a mandatory background check for any and all gun transactions and a ban on high capacity magazines and refuse to budge until the republicans compromised and gave in on your demands

[Spider-Dan]

Fau, if the Dems do that then it plays into the media's favorite narrative of "both sides do it, one side says this and the other side says that, therefore the reasonable position must be halfway between.  We should delay Obamacare for two years and make a two-year background check law."

Screw that nonsense.  Obamacare was duly passed, went through a Supreme Court trial and another Presidential election to confirm.  It's time for the Republicans to live up to their "death panels" claims and own their position as the party that wanted nothing to do with Obamacare.  Even they know that a short 3 years from now, their anti-Obamacare lies will have been so thoroughly exposed that any GOP presidential candidate that proposes repealing it will make 2008 look like a nail-biter.

[CF DolFan]

John Stewart grilled Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Obamacare and accused her of lying to him.  It was pretty interesting coming from someone who adamently attacked Republicans for their stance on wanting to delay implementation a year.

He said that there is a 'legitimate criticism' over the fact that big businesses are allowed to wait a year before getting their employees coverage while individuals face a fine if they don't sign up by December 15. "What you're saying to the American public is that some of you will face a penalty for the greater good,' he said and Sebelius agreed.

He also critiqued the tech problems that have plagued the Obamacare site and signed off by saying that he thought 'she was lying' to him

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449671/Jon-Stewart-grills-Health-Secretary-Kathleen-Sebelius-Obamacare.html#ixzz2hA68UoYq
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