The Fed Shutdown Poll and Megathread

[CountDeMoney]

how about we get out of Afghanistan

9/11 Islamopologist pussy.

[Habbaku]

How about we destroy Afghanistan and salt the earth, then leave?

[DGuller]

How about we destroy Afghanistan and salt the earth, then leave?

We should use our explosives to flatten it, literally.  All those mountains are making it impossible for the civilization to seep through.

[Neil]

I'm for sensible cuts in defense spending, but how about we get out of Afghanistan and refrain for any more Libya-type actions first?

That's viable.  It would be better still to eliminate the Air Force.

[Tonitrus]

I'm for sensible cuts in defense spending, but how about we get out of Afghanistan and refrain for any more Libya-type actions first?

That's viable.  It would be better still to eliminate the Air Force.

Bah, it'd just get shoved back under the Army, who would mis-manage to an even greater degree.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Eventually all government agencies will be amalgamated under the DoD, since that's the only department that will receive funding in the future.

[Tonitrus]

Eventually all government agencies will be amalgamated under the DoD, since that's the only department that will receive funding in the future.

Service means citizenship.

[Berkut]

You just don't get the feeling that he wanted to be President because he had any kind of vision of an America that he wanted, or some kind of task he felt he needed to accomplish, or really anything other than "Well, I *can* be President, therefore I will do my best to become President". It is a goal, rather than a means to attain a goal.

Wow, you make Obama sound like, well, like some sort of uninterested and overwhelmed progeny that ran for the office out of a sense of dynastic obligation.  Like it was expected of him by his family's political lineage or something.

Well, whatever faults you want to lay at the feet of the Shrubbery, not knowing what he wanted to do with the Presidency isn't really a bitch that will stick.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, whatever faults you want to lay at the feet of the Shrubbery, not knowing what he wanted to do with the Presidency isn't really a bitch that will stick.

Not all Presidents are lucky enough to have a 9/11.

[Admiral Yi]

Good news, the GOP will get increases in military funding by cutting social services.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/04/defense-spending-budget-as-pa_n_844692.html

Republicans are weird and dangerous, but can we get that from a credible news source?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52508_Page3.html

This link does not say what you said.

[grumbler]

That's a true statement, and tautological to the point of idiocy.

Ultimately, when it comes to voting, it doesn't matter who claims to be on your side, it only matters who votes with you.

[KRonn]

I do think that Obama should work on Plan B.  He should replace Biden with Clinton, and then produce a birth certificate.  From Kenya.

[Neil]

Bah, it'd just get shoved back under the Army, who would mis-manage to an even greater degree.

Perhaps, but at least you could heavily cut their budget.

[garbon]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/04/05/obama-to-gop-we-dont-have-time-for-games/

President Barack Obama stepped out personally to address the impasse on budget negotiations and reject a Republican proposal for another temporary resolution unless it is to give Congress a few more days to pass a permanent deal.

"We are now at a point where there is no excuse to extend this further," Mr. Obama said during a surprise appearance at the daily White House briefing. "I shouldn't have to oversee a process where Congress deals with last-year's budget when we only have six months left."

The president, who has mostly stayed out of the budget debate until now, was visibly irritated over the impasse in negotiations. "There can be some negotiations about composition" of the cuts, Mr. Obama said, but he said he will not negotiate on ideological issues like abortion in the current budget discussions.

"We don't have time for games," he said. "Not on this."

The current stopgap spending measure for fiscal 2011, which began last October, expires at midnight Friday.  The federal government is preparing for a partial government  shutdown to begin this weekend if  another stopgap measure or legislation funding the government through the remainder of the fiscal year isn't approved soon.

Mr. Obama said that the White House has "identified areas where we have made significant cuts," and that he has moved to accept Republicans' "original proposal for how much would be cut."

"We are now closer than we've ever been to getting an agreement," Mr. Obama said. "The only question is whether politics or ideology is going to get in the way of preventing a shutdown."

Mr. Obama said House Speaker John  Boehner (R., Ohio) did not want White House negotiators at a meeting between House Republican leaders and Senate Democratic leaders this afternoon.

"If they can't sort it out, then I want them back here tomorrow," he said. "And I will have my entire team work through the details" to get a deal done.

He sounds a little bit ridiculous with this as one of his main statements about the budget.

[Razgovory]

Well, I wouldn't plan any trips to a national park soon.