US government shutdown - your thoughts?

[Mguy]

They should pass a law that it is illegal to have a shutdown because the only reason they do that is for political manuevring only and has no benefits whatsoever. It can be subject to abuse.

[Monseratto]

The first shutdown had the opposite effect during the presidency of Clinton. The Republicans led by then Speaker Newt Gingrich were blamed for it and Clinton's popularity rose enough to win him his second term. The Tea Party is testing the patience of the public...

[CVT]

Oh well,- one uncertainty after another.....

The true test of the market system.



21.2K:tomato:

[oj88]

If that happens here, I don't think there's going to be a big difference.... LTO, always offline, senate and congress, at least half the people are asleep or playing games.

And don't get me started on PNoy. ;)

[lowslowbenz]

If that happens here, I don't think there's going to be a big difference.... LTO, always offline, senate and congress, at least half the people are asleep or playing games.

And don't get me started on PNoy. ;)

I like your thinking. Might as well have a government full of clowns or mimes .........

[safeorigin]

People blaming only the tea party and libertarian party are kinda like drug addicts throwing tantrums at another person for refusing to give them money...

[safeorigin]

Politically Speaking UPDATED: King helps vets push past barricades at shuttered D.C. memorial

There was an interesting scene Tuesday morning at the World War II Memorial in Washington. A bunch of elderly military veterans, some Iowans among them, pushed past barricades that were placed at the memorial as part of the partial government shutdown that began today.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was among the people cheerleading the vets.

King tweeted this message, which included a link to him smilingly holding hands with a veteran: "Proud of Story Co, IA #WWII veterans at the Memorial. They were locked out. We opened it 4 God Bless them."

But the sole Democrat running to replace King in Iowa's 4th congressional district, Jim Mowrer, was critical of King's role at the monument.

"He didn't help those people, because he was the one who put the barricades up. I'm guessing he didn't point that out to the veterans who were visiting Washington and wanted to see their national monument," Mowrer said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference in front of King's Sioux City office.

One report recounted that the veterans "ignored National Park Police instructions not to enter the site as lawmakers and tourists cheered them on." For some of the elderly visitors, it was perhaps a last chance to see the memorial, so they weren't about to let a shutdown of some services prevent them.

King, a six-term congressman, apparently played some sleight of hand to help the crew: "As Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, distracted a Park Police representative, other lawmakers and their staff helped topple the metal fences."

The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in D.C. are also currently barricaded.

The two chambers and the President couldn't get on the same page, so there is no funding for the federal government for the new fiscal year that began Tuesday. The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate remain at odds on passing a continuing resolution, which would fund the government at the same level as the year that expired.

Meanwhile, nationwide surveillance takes precedence over other services...