I like how everyone thinks it's the end of the world.

funny thing is that the people who will get the blame will be the republicans and their teabag element is screaming for the government to shut down...wonder how pissed they will be when they don't get their foodstamps/welfare/social security.

I'm betting it shuts down...but comes back before the first to avoid a wave of angry senior citizens

thoughts?


old news?

raviolis?

Good?

heres a thought....NOT GOING TO HAPPEN

"foodstamps/welfare/social security" - none of this would shut down. Also police/fire/military wouldn't shut down either.

i want a shut down, make people realize they don't need the government everyday of the week. Hope this leads to a smaller government that stay out of my buisness.

happened in 1994 if i remember correctly.

Looking back, we were fools to think that it was impossible; that it was never going to happen...

Hope they get pissed, and realize that unless we cut social spending entirely, we'll forever be in an inflation-recession cycle.

Fuck welfare. Technology should have us all working 4-hour days, instead we're working twice or more that so we can include everyone.

Hail natural selection... and racial/class/caste segregation of course.

Damn... I should have done my taxes earlier.

Free camping in National Parks and Forests for me. Also, start fires and don't give a fuck in national parks; steal that picinic basket, no ranger will stop you.

good old american political showmanship. make sure the other party does nothing by doing nothing and get re-elected for showing that the other party did nothing.

The militia is meeting at the Grange at 6pm sharp. Our coup will be a success!

We must secure the existence of our Myatt in a future for sexy children. 14/813

you would think this would cause both sides to get their respective heads out of their asses and get shit done....guess not

here's to hoping there is no governmental restart. they need to delete their system32 folder.

I read this as "Government shitting down tomorrow" which would have made sense too.

To many chache folders... not enough money to hire employment to delete them

I "won't" be there and "won't" be bringing a ridiculous amount of firepower to contribute.

Social security checks will be on hold.

student loans will not be processed

taxes will not be processed

non emergency visas/passports will not be processed

military paychecks will be late

most public employees will be on unpaid furlough

but at least the senators get paid!

honestly, let's hope the market crashes, America gets divided and carved up many pockets of free zones, like parts of Ukraine were after ww1, and we can all live like savages/barbarians.

I need to stop dreaming primitive-Anarchist fantasies

WIN!

let me edit that, new social security applicants will be on hold, people who already have it will still get them.

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/07/ways-shutdown-hurts-economy

I would argue that I spend most of my time in an 8 hour work day making sure that technology you speak of is still working. It's not that streamlined yet.

Pretty pissed if my tax return doesn't get processed though.

gay

Imma pay taxes WITH MY ASS this year

Dear IRS, it's not a turd in the mail, it's a sculpture I made with my ass.

So is the government cancelled? Did someone post its address?

Dudes, we've finally achieved ANARCHY!

Allright!

this can only be a good thing

put a picture of the White House on a milk carton

our whole government is raviolis. nothing will ever get done because both "parties" do the same shit, bitch and moan. this is also why i never vote.

Not voting means you don't have the right to bitch and moan either.

i don't bitch and moan, i speak my mind.

I'm saying in general. People wanna complain about the state of our country but no one wants to get involved. Voting actually does matter. Apathy is what is ruining politics.

Uhhh... Isn't "us all" the same as "everyone"? And do you support like a $30/hour minimum wage? Cause, like, the only way employers are really likely to implement a 4-hour-workday, without some statutory enforcement, would be if people are only taking home $9/hour.

Also, FTFY...

Reread your 1st Amendment, genius.

I would get all worked up about voting if the Federal and State Constitutions required periodic, binding, direct referenda that allowed states, counties, municipalities, etc. to opt out of the republic. As it stands, we have a one-sided "social contract" that forces acceptance of the outdated, mutated robber baron state or you're a terrorist.

Consent of the governed is sexy.

Active protest will get a hell of a lot more done than voting if you get enough people involved anyway. If something bothers you, don't wait to take action by voting in federally-sanctioned elections. Take a fucking stand on your own terms.

I know what the First Amendment says but you obviously get my point. If you don't plan on being part of the solution instead just standing on a busted soapbox than, by all means, continue to waste your time. In fact, if anyone has a problem with the government, instead of joining domestic terrorist groups or starting protest events, run for office yourself. That's what I plan on doing some day down the road. Sure, I hate what the government does too and a lot of our elected officials are nothing but babbling baffoons. I can just as easily vote them out of office.

Deal cuts $78.5 billion from Obama's 2011 budget

didn't happen.

signed into law on saturday, translation, gvn shut down for 47 minutes.

bennyhillifier

is govt broked? can i not pay taxes?

Wrong, statist parasites like you in the military and people who believe in the magic of the ballot box are what is wrong.

fuck politics, Anarchism is the only way to be a real, free, hoomin being!

I'm an anarchist and I vote. Perhaps the prime purpose of voting has long been lost and perhaps even politicians don't make their decisions on voting demographics. But what is true and always will be true, is that voting instills a habitual feeling of involvement and individualism. Without that, your spirits are broken and you are a prime target for subjugation.

If nobody voted, we would swiftly move towards fascism.

I shouldn't have to draw a Pascal's wager diagram here. It takes five minutes on your way to work to vote. If it doesn't "do anything", who gives a fuck?

I honestly don't care who our president is. I'm more interested in voting in local politics—people I will actually meet and can talk to.

"The strongest point to be made in behalf of even such rudimentary political forms as democracy has attained, popular voting, majority rule and so on, is that to some extent they involve a consultation and discussion which concerns social needs and troubles." -John Dewey

What annoys me is people who say "even if you don't like either candidate you should still vote". BULL FUCKING SHIT I should vote. A vote is supposed to be a representation of your approval of a candidate being the leader of our country. If I feel neither candidate will do good job I will not vote, period.

this.

I only vote for the lesser of two evils, as far as I am concerned politics is a disease and all politicians are corrupt, just some less than others hence why I vote so as to make sure the lesser of evils is elected and not the born again anti-evolutionists...as I'm not ready to die or go to the gulag/Guantanamo for my beliefs.



I agree with Emma Goldman that the masses are a bunch of fearful sheep who don't want to support themselves, they want the government in their lives and directing them. In fact I blame the ignorance, contentedness, laziness of the people for their oppression more than I do the people who exploit them. Everyone knows that the banks, government, military industrial complex are screwing them, most people are just too afraid of what life would be like without a strong central government or fail to understand that shit would still get done without a bunch of geriatric farts hanging out in a dusty building arguing about shit and denying science.

cool story bro?

I usually write-in "Batman" or something. Once I voted for "Keith Mars" for Sheriff.

Nobody should vote for someone if they don't think that person represents them. But it's stupid not to show to vote at all just because you don't want to vote for a president etc. There's many other political positions besides president and governor in case you haven't noticed.

It's also a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Young people and certain other demographics don't vote because they feel that no candidates represent them, and candidates don't direct their campaigns to these people because they know they don't vote.

If you're too lazy to vote, you're too lazy to start a revolution when the time comes.

Shit just got real. Or not.

I'll be sure to remember your lack of support for the military when I'm overseas protecting your rights.

Nothing is infallible.

lawl

FTFY

That's all fine and dandy, and indeed there is some wiggle room for local politics, but national electioneering is not a contest in democracy and policy, it's a matter of commerce. I'm sure if you adopt the right agenda, national office is possible, I just hope you support:

- Unimpeded Israeli expansion and war crimes
- Environmental and financial deregulation
- Corporate tax breaks
- Poorly regulated nuclear power
- Mountain-top coal mining
- Locking up millions of non-violent drug offenders
- More bases, more wars, more depleted uranium, more torture, wider and wider definitions of "terrorism" (to include peaceful political protest)
- Continued bailouts to industries ranging from banking to health insurance to airlines to energy production to telecommunications
- All PATRIOT Acts, current and future
- Prison-terms for whistleblowers
- Courts weighted strictly in favor of corporate/monetary power against civil/employee/environmental interests
- Death to Social Security, Medicare and public schools

As long as you're on board with this All-American agenda, you'll really go places!

I am on board with this, and I'll explain:

Environmental change is not going to come without a cultural mandate. Most of our society does not give a shit. Only middle class WASPs do. No amount of government regulation will fix this; in fact, it will backfire, by sabotaging industry and as a result necessitating its eventual removal.

I support conservation, but not the bureaucracy that is faking it.

Our public schools are dead. They teach to the dummies, the ESLs, the speds and the ADHD, and they ignore and bore everyone else. Let's get rid of them. Most of our "literate" people are idiots, so having them read just makes them bigger idiots, since IQ does not increase by learning.

If it weren't for the patriot act and other horrible things, you would see more terrorist attacks. This is why Obama didn't suspend them. He may be underqualified (hehe) but he's not stupid.

All entitlement programs need to go. Since 1950, these have expanded, and our country has gone to shit in that time. Our defense budget is not the problem. Entitlements are. Burn 'em.

You're basically just rallying against the Republican party according to this post. I am a registered Independent. I've been voting for Ron Paul since he's been running but of course the ones who make the most sense get pushed to the backburner. Presidential elections are based on superficial popularity which is why Sarah Palin gets a lot of attention.

All of those planks are pretty much part of the Democratic Party platform as well. The Dennis Kucinich's and (formerly) Cynthia McKinney's of that party are merely tokens to sate the liberal/progressive base, while the Obama/Clinton/Biden/Reid consensus is much more Reagan than Roosevelt. On an objective policy-analysis basis, Barack Obama makes Richard Nixon look like Huey Long in comparison. Obama's actions have supported every policy I listed above, though it's true that he's not as enthusiastic as the Republicans are about corporate tax-breaks and environmental deregulation. He's on board with the general program though.

I get the feeling that Ron Paul is kept around as a token as well, to keep paleoconservatives and Libertarians in the Republican fold. I would hold out a lot more hope for our electoral system if Paul was capable of getting the GOP nomination for Pres. or VP, but his current limited career (compared to how popular he is amongst self-identified "conservatives") is pretty much rock-solid proof that the RNC, by design, is out to co-opt and quash conservative populism (just as the DNC does with progressive populism).

As long as big money can push candidates and ideas down to the back burner (or up to the front), national elections are a kabuki act to enforce the illusion that voting really offers people a voice in the system. It's a Coke/Pepsi "republic" and people who ask for juice are simply not tallied in the end.

I don't know that there's an ideal solution, but as much as the idea of paying for shitty politicking out of tax money irks me, I think fully publicly financed elections may be the only way to remove the disproportionate influence of PAC and corporate money from the equation.

LOL protecting what rights? I protect my own rights, keep letting the military and this country indoctrinate you. All you do is support and strengthen the barons of industry and the leeches of society who work in the state for a measly 20k a year and a few benefits, most of which you will never see a cent of because the military is run by some shrewd business men who know how to save money and cut costs, which includes sending you over there without much protective gear.

Name one right the military has protected that a man couldn't protect himself. Try to tell me that I need a dude in camo killing darkies on the other side of the planet to protect my speech, freedom of religion, press. There hasn't been a legitimate threat to my freedoms other than the self same government and it's lackeys in the military haven't already limited. In fact if anything the military has been used more times to limit free speech and freedom of assembly in this country than it has protected them.

Sorry to say this Captain America, but the military hasn't done anything legit since WW2 and it can even be argued that we only got involved in that one because we were afraid Germany and Japan would carve up all the resources and markets.

and for the point I am not saying you as a soldier or any serviceman as an individual is bad or that I think you guys suck. I think the system that uses you guys to line their pockets with gold sucks.

P.S. I have three uncles who served in Korea with honors, medals, all that jazz, and they themselves told me never to join the military because it is an imperialist machine used by rich dudes. Your blood, their profit.

Some retards think the presidential election is the only time they let us vote around here. Guess what, if you don't like either candidate, it's because you should have gotten involved LONG BEFORE it got to that point. Vote for local elections, local govt., senate, etc... and keep educated on who these people are. Because by showing your voice early at this level, you can help vote these people up and help them on their way TOWARDS running the country. Also, at the early level you have the opportunity to learn about the candidates and spread the word to other non-voters as well. Many people like yourself don't understand there's lots of other people in the government than the president.

Arrowhead makes several valid points. It's still a dumb and chronically under-examined position. "YEEWWWW DIDN'T VOTE SO YEEEEWWSS KIN JUST SHUUUUT UP." Suck it, Trebek.

It's also why no president in the last two generations has been able to do SHIT.

All the retard 20 somethings cry about CHANGE, and vote for barrack obama. Problem is, they then go home and celebrate while mom, dad, and the same douchebags that have been running EVERYTHING in the country continue being the only ones at the polls in the elections determining all the congress people and politicians who are just going to stand in the way, and not let ANYONE change a THING.

The president is NOTHING. A FIGUREHEAD. We need more say in the supporting cast. Even getting Ron Paul for president would do nothing but show america several years of a beaten down, worn out, and roadblocked president.

Its not just the national elections, the local elections have the habit of having shitty candidates on both sides as well. Seriously though do you really expect me to go and vote for some 30 year old in a local election in the hopes(which probably wont happen) that in another 20 years he'll be president? Yea I've lost so much hope that I won't do that. No point. When something radical happens and I mean earth shatteringly radical happens within our government I will start actively researching, following, donating and giving a shit more than I do now. There really is no point at this time when both sides play the same games and never get anything done.

that is my stance. Arrowhead is correct, but it's just not going to happen in current politics. anyone who believes the government, be it local or national, is anything but a big smoke and mirrors show with it's own hidden agenda that solely stands for profit is gloriously deluded. i have zero faith that anything but a massive, and i mean MASSIVE catastrophe has any chance of steering us away from the ridiculous hubris we wade through daily.

I think a lot of you have gotten anarchism mixed up with apathy. Stop fucking victimizing yourselves. It's making me feel sorry for you.

Just be happy you have a socialist in congress for now. Because when we secede from your dumb country, we'll be absorbing him into our own government.

We need a Constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the same rights as people. This would start a domino effect that would fix a lot of problems with our broken and corrupt government (corporatocracy under the guise of democracy).

If I make a sandwich can it count as a person, as a corporation is something made by a person that now counts as a person

Ron Paul approves to fiscal conservatives.

And social conservatives? Well... not so much. He's trying, by outing himself as pro-life.

Social conservatives are evenly divided between morons (the abortion people, the prayer in schools people, the dinosaur-riding-jesus people) and the most intelligent group of people I've ever met.

Many of those are, like me, unreconstructed Platonists...

Uhhh... What? What does that have to do with anything at all? Why try to cloak your fascist sympathies under lofty terms like "unreconstructed Platonists", especially when you can't even really use kindergarten/Fox News political-analysis terms like "fiscal/social conservatives" accurately?

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/1evw/

I don't buy this.

Corporations are businesses that represent their interests, but the real problem is that the voters are ignorant and easily swayed.

Blaming corporations is like blaming the Jews: maybe there's truth in there somewhere, but you haven't gotten to the root cause, so it's just a distraction.

you're kidding right? the root cause is money. unregulated free market creates oligarchy. i don't blame corporations for wanting to get richer and cornering markets, but just as voters are easily swayed by rhetoric, politicians are easily swayed by $.

Corporations have the ability to represent their interests at the political level in a way that groups of individuals do not: fucktons of money and the ability to generate more at the expense of individuals. They aren't people, they're profit machines, and they should not be represented as people in government.

And the voters don't seem to catch on. In fact, if anything, the voters are the reason the money is flowing so freely. When you have a nation of people who buy big macs and the "trim package" (for $10k) on fancy trucks, you've put power in the wrong hands.

This problem is inherent to democracy. Most people aren't ready to make political decisions, so they're easily swayed and inattentive. Further, they're not in control of their own desires, so they buy the really stupid products that return the super-high margin. Compare the cost/profit curve on a Big Mac versus, say, a "real meal" of steak, fries, broccoli (and/or Bova penis).

So, what, the Tsar makes the decision for them? What solves the education problem if the corporate government does not?

I know, I know, http://www.eugenics.net, solves everything

When 80% of the population opposes the Citizens United decision, yet it still exists, it's not really a democracy. Powerless in the face of death.

this country needs more Bova penis. it would alleviate all of our woes.

GENIUS!!!!

This TOWN needs an ENEMA.