MadisonMan says he notices...
... because I work with noaa.gov people, and even have a noaa.gov email account. I'd check it to see if I have email, but that's apparently against the law today, or something.I sense a shutdown vibe. They shutdown. We shutdown.
I think the training I have scheduled for Thursday will likely be cancelled. I'm kinda curious how my big meeting next week will go if the shutdown is persistent.
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Shut down, shut up, and get working.
Volunteer of your own volition.
What if they shut down the government but it turned out people weren't especially bothered by it?
Of course, the folks drawing their pay from the government, directly or indirectly, will be in trouble, but I suspect there's a large segment of the population thinking, "Good. Now we'll see how much of the Fed we won't miss!"
With all due respect to our hostess, I'm reminded of the old saying "What do you call a bus full of lawyers going over a cliff? ...a good start."
I found myself thinking of that saying frequently after the sequester went into effect earlier this year. It was a good start.
Oddly, I find myself thinking of the same saying this morning. Maybe this is a good next step.
If the government is shut down, it's not actively doing any harm. That benefit needs to be weighed against whatever problems may arise because of the shutdown.
I noticed the shut down on my way to work today (but, I take the Metro, so, there's that.) A lot of angry people, especially the ones who found out by email or phone call that they were not essential.
It's strange. It's as quiet this morning in my Silver Spring, MD neighborhood as if it's 2:00 AM.
Maybe we ought to shut down the government more often.
The shutdown has me wondering: Why does the Government run the National Parks in the first place? Wouldn't it be more economical to have these run by a business that then pays taxes? And it has to pay a fee as well to the Govt to, say, run the Smithsonian?
What is the argument for having the Govt run these places? It's not like the various monuments around DC (for example) are essential Government services, so why have the Govt involved at all?
Why not have the non-profit Lincoln Foundation (or whatever) run the Lincoln Memorial. Some non-Government entity is already running Mt. Vernon, for example. Expand that idea!
800,000 "non-essential" government employees have been furloughed. If they're "non-essential," why are they there?
They were trying very hard on the morning TV shows to have extra frownie faces and, love it!, they showed a locked zoo and a locked Statue of Liberty. How pathetic. 800,000 government workers, non-essential government workers (love that designation!!), will be sleeping in the next few days on paid leave.
The national zoo has shut down Panda-cam (and other live animals cameras).
Once they're up and running, what resources do they consume? Don't these people see that acts like this exacerbate public cynicism of government?
Why should government ever do anything that is "non-essential?"
I understand that Dairy Queen, Givenchy and iTunes are non-essential, and if their customers tire of them, they'll shut down. But if government does something non-essential we gotta pay for it? And it will wreck the economy if we don't???
This whole government racket is starting to look fishy to me...
This isn't the first time that Obama has threatened granny and the children. He did it before in order to pass Obamacare by threatening to withhold retirement and lunches, respectively. Reid is notorious for drawing red lines and uncompromising direction. Pelosi demanded that we submit in order to learn Obamacare's burden.
The federal government has $2.7 trillion in receipts. It operates with over $1 trillion deficit. It does not have a budget. Neither a shutdown nor a default are justified. Someone is lying. Obama is watching a video, again.
Love how this is playing out in the Washington Post...the house organ of the Imperial City. Convinced of its own importance, convinced as well that America is helpless without its "heart and brains" in DC keeping the shambling creature alive.
To the Washington Post, a day without full pay for all Federal employees is like shooting a movie the day all the "talent" - the film stars - walk off.
However while some make fun of the term "non-essential employees" many organizations required to be functioning during an emergency are familiar with the term being used. My wife deemed essential as a nurse to be on duty at the hospital for her reg shift and such during a hurricane...as a production engineer..me as well at a certain point in my career..while the hospital billing and records staff and oil/gas sales workforce was deemed "non-essential"
Doesn't mean that a hospital can work in the long term without clerical/billing people or an energy firm sans a sales dept.
So too much of the Fed gov "nonessential" people are long term essential while various people in the country by ideology or need see some of the rest as essential, while others see them as useless.
Many think the Army employees, the "Heroes with boots on the ground" , don't deliver well considring their cost and can be greatly cut back. Blacks see 2800 "Diversity oversight" Fedgov people as essential, most others want them shitcanned. White people want the parks open. Lawyers want the lobbey access open again..And so on.
"Once they're up and running, what resources do they consume? Don't these people see that acts like this exacerbate public cynicism of government?"
-- The worst part is that there are actually staff on hand to care for the animals, and I bet they'd all take the extra three minutes to make sure the camera hadn't fallen off the wall. It is nothing more than an attempt to annoy people into giving in to the government's demands.
Lets all acknowledge that the Panda cam not being on is not going to make me lose sleep.
But lets also acknowledge that govt shut down leads to people not getting paid. If the govt stays closed for too long it will hurt republicans. And what are they getting out of it? Are they going to repeal Obamacare? Hell no.
And as much as I hate Obamacare it's not realistic for the Ted Cruz's to assume that obama would go along with gutting Obamacare simply because otherwise govt will shut down. He's actually looking forward to it shutting down so he can call repubs terrorists.
When sequester happened, nobody noticed.
When the govt. shut down, nobody cares. We all need a breather from Big Govt. We may even like it. Most govt. functions, e.g. firefighters and police are provided by states anyway. The less the Fed meddles with our lives the better. Best bonus, a hiatus from NSA snoops.
I got a tag! I got a tag! I got a tag!!!
Madison Man said,"
Why not have the non-profit Lincoln Foundation (or whatever) run the Lincoln Memorial. Some non-Government entity is already running Mt. Vernon, for example. Expand that idea!"
You dear sweet man. You are a treat to know.
Because,MM, if the government let out running of our national parks and monuments there would be no more patronage jobs in those areas. And therefore no reliable Democrat votes.
See how it works.
In fairness to federal workers, some of whom are neighbors of mine here in Northern Virginia, it has been true in the past that furloughed workers were given back pay for their days off but that is by no means a guarantee, least of all this time. So there is a degree of angst going around here.
And many federal employees do continue to work -- nearly everybody at the Department of Justice is exempt from being furloughed (or so I've read), not to mention social security and the postal service. Even the employees who are not furloughed probably won't get their next paychecks, though they will eventually be paid. Just in the meantime they may be sweating mortgage or rent payments, food, minor things like that.
75% of the EPA is furloughed, SWEET!
The states have their own departments.
Let them handle it.
I was late to work this morning because the government was shut down so my bicycle wouldn't start.
I happen to think the shut down is a losing position for repubs, so I'm not saying its a good thing. But its really dems that are shutting down the govt. repubs have offered measure after measure to fund govt while the debate goes on, but dems have rejected those. So its the dems doing this. But I I think the repubs are fools to think defunding will work.
HOWEVER, for all the people talking about how republicans are terrorists and extremists, were the dems terrorists when , led by Tip Oneill the were involved in mutiple shutdowns during Reagains administration.
And not e the number of shutdown over abortion. We're these pro choicers terrorists? I'd imagine Inga would be supportive of such actions by liberals.
When Tip did it
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