Did you play “Go Fish” as a child? Of course you did. Remember how wonderful it felt when you could shout out:
“I Got What I Asked For!”
How’s it feelin’ long about now? Because many folks got exactly what they asked for by electing folks to government who don’t believe in Government. What did they get?
A Defunct Government.
From Dailykos.com
And now the House GOP, it a temper tantrum has voted to shut it down because the Senate and the President won’t defund the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare.
That is a law that went through all three branches of our government as established under the constitution.
Passed by the House of Representatives (Authorized under Article I of the Constitution);
Passed by the Senate. (Also authorized under Article I);
Signed into law by the President (Granted that authority under Article II of the very same Constitution); and
Upheld by the Supreme Court (Ditto — Article III).
The GOP lost the 2012 election over this issue (in large part). [Yes they did. The House retained the majority because of gerrymandering. They lost the popular vote.]
Parts of Obamacare became effective long ago. The part that allows us to keep our kids on our policies until they’re 26, for example. Great provision, isn’t it?
THE REST OF IT GOES INTO EFFECT TODAY IN SPITE OF THE SHUTDOWN.
So they are doing all of this for nothing. Except for show.
Sums Up the GOP nicely, don’t you think?
(Photo: NY Daily News)
I saw the perfect description of what they are doing in a column by Michael Tomasky:
Republicans Aren’t Hostage Takers, They’re Political Terrorists
Because if they win, they will do it again and again.
Vote out folks who
(1) do not understand how our government works; and
(2) do not believe that there really is a point to having a government; and
(3) think that by stamping their feet long and hard enough, they can erase the results of elections.
Elections matter. Vote the GOP OUT.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
The best thing to do with a child having a temper tantrum? Ignore them first. Then banish them to their room. Withdraw affection – vote them out!
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My mother used to say “I’ll give you something to cry about!” I don’t advocate spanking children unless they are over 30 and are Tea Party members. Then bend over!
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My mother used to say the same thing. Unfortunately, with the morals of most politicians, they may enjoy the paddling instead of feeling punished by it 🙂
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There was a great pace in the Huffington Post about a reporter who when out on the street asking people what they liked better Obamacare or The Affordable Care Act. Sadly, no one knew they were one in the same! Yes, these same people vote.
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Yes, folks are all up in arms about things they know nothing about.
Same thing with regulations. Some folks think it is like a monster, stealing their “FREEDOM” when in fact it is what government has put into place to protect them. Putzes.
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In case you needed more winding, it’s not just the vets at the DC World War II memorial who were getting turned away. The shutdown closes ALL military cemeteries around the world. Wanna go visit grandpa in the Phillipines, where he died on the Bataan Death March? Great-grandad who died in the Meuse-Argonne? Great-great-great-grandad who fought “in the halls of Montezuma”? Tough crunchies.
I’m gonna shut up now, before I start swearing like ‘Rants!
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Yes everything is closed. We are expecting friends from overseas due in a week. And everything may still be closed. I did notice through that the Iwo Jima is open …
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What bothers me right now? Switching from channel to channel, it is mostly the GOP getting airtime, mostly them getting their spin out there. Soon it will be the Democrats and the President blamed for the bad behavior of the GOP.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
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I’m about to post on that right now. I am sooooo very angry.
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I can hardly stand to watch the news – this is like one of those stupid dreams where you do the same thing over and over. When I saw that they weren’t going to let the honor flight vets visit the WWII memorial – well – this is all so adenine.
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The part I find most irritating? When a business can’t pay its’ bills, the employees are the first to lose their pay. If Goodyear stops working, they don’t stiff UPS. Yet in this situation, the idiots putting us in this whole mess will be one of the few actually getting paid. Betcha if the Fed froze their paychecks, the House GOP would pass something decent REAL fast!
You know, we could put together a faux group supporting the Tea Party, then get the top 5 or 10 of ’em together at a “fund raiser” at the top of the Empire State building. I’m REAL good with a bolt-cutter, grease, and the firm-but-“accidental” elbow in the ribs. 😉
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Sadly, in order to change the fact that Congress still gets paid, the Constitution would have to be amended. Or actually an amendment (I think the 29th) would have to be repealed That’s less likely than John Boehner becoming President.
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Don’t you mean “less likely than John Boehner being classified as “human”? I think he’s technically a sunburned Simpson – yellow + red = orange, no?
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Welcome back!
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Many thanks, Your Majesty! 😀
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The media ( CNN, etc( always wants a “balanced” narrative. They don’t want to tell the truth, what really is going on. So the people are confused.
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And Fox News is calling it a “slimdown” of the government.
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Amen!
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You are spot-on. Those that don’t understand, those that don’t care and those that place Personal and Party values over National interests should be fired… and we can do that.
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They are closing down a whole lot of websites as a result of this. And you know, I think they should. Make people realize what happens when you elect these Tea Partiers.
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I’m just glad that Obama finally expanded the “no negotiation with terrorists” policy to cover Congress. And I hope that he doesn’t budge – I know that shutdown will hurt some people, but many of those people are the same people who wanted it to happen. Until they will personally feel the need for a functioning government, they will not learn – and if they will not learn, they’ll just shut the government in the near future when whatever funding they agree to will eventually expire.
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I just read something that really ticked me off.
A group of WWII vets were let into the WWII Memorial. Now, I get it that they’re all old and that they won’t be able to go again, etc. But this was a group from Mississippi. Who the hell do you think THEY voted for?
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/10/government-shutdown-2013-world-war-ii-honor-flight-veterans-to-be-turned-away-94711.html
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As far as exceptions go, I don’t mind this one so much – the people that fought in WWII probably deserve special treatment even if they voted for the craziest Tea Partiers on the ballot.
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My Dad was a WWII vet. I do get it. However, I just read that it was Steven Palazzo (R-MS) and Steve King (R-IA) who opened the barricade. Both voted with the crazies. I don’t know Palazzo, but King is, well, King of crazies (or one of them) They should be arrested. Seriously.
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Arrest sounds too harsh – but, of course, there’d probably be some trespassing-related charges. But if King and Palazzo insist on doing the jobs of people they just furloughed, we should make them to cover ALL these jobs until shutdown ends.
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I am feeling rather harsh. They demanded the shut down and then they violated it. Throw away the key. Of course, I would have advocated that for King last week.
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You put it so well. It’s just sad.
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Thanks Wren. I’m not sad, I’m mad. I will be sad in 10 days when my friends from Scotland arrive here in DC and it is out of business …
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there’s a whitehouse petition open to have the GOP declared a terrorist organization.
I read something (haven’t verified it) that said that because of the way the legislation was written, they can’t defund Obamacare, and that all this is just noisemaking.
Danger, irresponsible noisemaking, but still…
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Where do I sign?
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Ha! Went to pul the link, got this instead.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/we-the-people-temporarily-disabled
Google Petition Republican terrorist Group, one of the links near the top should bring you to the page *when it’s up).
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I think it is theoretically possible to defund it, BUT such action would need to pass the Dem-controlled Senatesnd the ummmmmm President. You know, the Obama of Obamcare fame. Ain’t gonna happen.
Open my guv’ment, dammit!
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The best part of getting the card you asked for was when your opponent got overanxious and asked for something before you made the announcement. And inevitably, he’d ask for something you had, and you could screw him over!
And yeah, the GOP really sucks right about now.
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Yeah. The GOP certainly DOES suck right about now. And where I come from, it’s always now.
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I woke up this morning, turned on the news while I got ready to work out, and hoped beyond hope I wouldn’t hear what I heard. Arrgghh! So, so frustrating.
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Me too. I have friends coming in from overseas to visit DC.
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Guess they won’t get to visit some of the US’s best museums. What a shame.
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I like the way you outline the political process. Clear and succinct.
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I actually teach Civics. Mostly I sing “I’m just a bill!”
But that is one of the things that irks me. Louie Gomert (contender for stupidest rep) keeps insisting that obamacare is a bill. It is not. It is the law of the land. Get over it, GOP.
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It’s beyond sad. It’s pathetic. Goes to show you what ideology-maniacs will do, with no consideration “for the people.”
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Absolutely.
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Still, you have to admit that listening (while cringing) to Ted Cruz reading Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of the Senate was a spectacularly ironic moment.
Can we vote in some grown-ups sometime soon?
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Wouldn’t it be lov-er-ly.
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