I love the person who says that the house has done its job and passed a bill, and it is the senate that is holding things up. Putting aside for a moment the fact that the house is partaking in hostage politics--the senate also passed a bill. At worst they are on equal footing.

Technically speaking, he hasn't voted for the shutdown because his chickenshit Speaker won't let him. That doesn't absolve him of being a complete fucking asshole.

Boehner won't let the house vote on the senate's budget bill. The Republicans are falling apart at the seams.

This is just outstanding. Well said Paul, Holy Shit.

Give me about an hour, I'll totally forget about it, and concentrate on your next post. ADD does a body good.

I think the proper word is "chutzpah," not "balls."

Another teabagging bully. That's all they are.

Stay classy, Republicans.

@2

The House passed a bill, and the Senate voted on it, fair and square. They voted it down. Then the Senate passed another bill. The House leader refused to let them vote on it.

To be on equal footing, the House would now have to vote on the Senate's bill.

@1, they are NOT on equal footing. Not even close.

...A negotiation is between two parties that want different things and come to some compromise. Nobody should want a shutdown or a default and passing budgets and paying the federal government’s debts aren’t Democratic priorities. Rather, what we are seeing now is a “negotiation” in which Republicans are demanding a lot and offering absolutely nothing in return.

@7 - Indeed. And I obviously don't believe them to actually be on equal footing. I just found it amusing that the best possible outcome of her argument (by over-simplyfing, as you pointed out) would be that it was everyone's fault.

@8 - Yeah, for that reason and so many others. I didn't actually say they were on equal footing. I was saying even under the most tortured version of the argument the woman was making, the best she could say was both parties were equal. I am more concerned with the idea that the minority party can hold the government and economy hostage to get concessions or to repeal something that was already properly passed, but for which they do not enough votes to actually repeal or amend. If that tactic is acceptable, what can't they demand?

It's important to understand that the Republicans have no moral underpinnings and feel no need anymore to even pretend to having such. Thus, they can demand anything and everything, and will do so. There's no point wasting energy or time in being shocked by that. However, there is a point to writing/calling Dems in Congress that we're holding them accountable for not losing their nerve and backing down.

It's more evidence the GOP, and their followers, are completely disconnected from reality. They vote for a shutdown, and complain when things are shut down! They complain about Obamacare, which was based on Romneycare, a conservative idea!

There is (to any reasonable approximation) no waste and fraud in the government. When these idiots rant about cutting waste and fraud, they really mean cutting services. So suck it up: you're cutting services YOU and your constituents use, dumbass!

Sloggers: Can you put it on a postcard? Can you make an irate phone call? Can you put it in a Tweet (or is his Twitter already down)?

1424 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4005

611 University Ave. Suite #220
Lubbock, TX 79401
Phone: (806) 763-1611

@RandyNeugebauer

They have no shame. And why should they? CNN will tell us "both sides need spanking".

"Must be nice to be a republican sometimes, because you get the fun of breaking shit and the joy of complaining the shit you just broke doesn't work."
–Jon Stewart

So because the government shut down they had to barricade and staff a previously unstaffed and open air War memorial because they “don’t have funding.”

Makes sense.

Kinda like how Obama administration Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor Jennifer Eberlien has been spending money using bulldozers to close previously unmaintained forest roads on the grounds that they cannot afford to maintain them. Turns out they just want to restrict access.

No no no. You get credit for balls (or ovaries) when you do something brave. The word you are looking for is, as noted above, chutzpah.

So because the government shut down they had to barricade and staff a previously unstaffed and open air War memorial because they “don’t have funding.”

Makes sense.

Kinda like how Obama administration Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor Jennifer Eberlien has been spending money using bulldozers to close previously unmaintained forest roads on the grounds that they cannot afford to maintain them. Turns out they just want to restrict access.

@16

Shhh.

The children are enjoying their play. Don't confuse the little darlings with facts.

"The House passed a bill, and the Senate voted on it, fair and square. They voted it down. Then the Senate passed another bill. The House leader refused to let them vote on it."

Why do people keep calling it the 'Senate Bill'? What the Senate voted on and sent back four times is the House's bill with the ACA "Obamacare" BS removed. Basically the House is not putting their own clean budget extension up for a vote. The blame is 100% on the House Republicans. They could end this in an hour.

@16,19 your crocodile tears taste delicious

Anyone want to take odds that Cascadian Bacon's breathless assertion that the memorial was "unstaffed" before the shutdown is 100% bullshit?

(Yes, CB, you can bet against yourself. The house takes all comers.)

What a complete and utter dickwad.

Whether you want to blame the House, the Senate, or Obama, it sure as fuck isn't this poor ranger's fault. She should be given a medal for not punching that sad asshole in the face.

@22

Being as it is basically a statue and open 24/7 I doubt it was staffed. Also Ther memorial including upkeep is completely paid for by private funds

"
The National World War II Memorial was funded almost entirely by private contributions, as specified in Public Law 103-32. The campaign received more than $197 million in cash and pledges. Support came from hundreds of thousands of individual Americans, hundreds of corporations and foundations, veterans groups, dozens of civic, fraternal and professional organizations, states and one territory, and students in 1,200 schools across the country.

Donated and pledged funds were used to cover the total project costs of approximately $182 million. These costs include site selection and design, construction and sculpture, a National Park Service maintenance fee required by the Commemorative Works Act, groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies, fund raising, and the 11-year administrative costs of the project from its inception in 1993 through completion in 2004.

Remaining funds are held on deposit with the U.S. Treasury in a National WWII Memorial Trust Fund. The funds will be used by the American Battle Monuments Commission solely to benefit the World War II Memorial."

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?…

There are those darn facts again.

@24

ALL the memorials and parks huh?
Source?

Oh yea, you dont have one.

Funny the goverment still has the money to spy on emails and send weapons to Obama's Sunni jihiadist friends in Syria.

@18: Pretty sure they are legally obligated to restrict access because they cannot provide emergency/search and rescue services. Relax, the parks will open again soon. And hey: in a few months you can to go back to bitching with your libertarian friends about "socialist fire bans" and dumping umpteen-billion rounds of lead into the ground next to the rivers you fish from. Although, you know that lead exposure might actually explain some things...

The Congressman's tirade was obviously misplaced. Interesting that the first high profile closure in the sequester was the White House tours and the shutdown was the WWII memorial.

Seriously, you say some pretty smart things sometimes. But then you go and astound me with these feats of cognitive dissonance. Rural Western Washington is developing faster than ever - do you really want more carpet-bagging Eastsiders building Summer-home McMansions in Eatonville? As an outdoorsman and hunter, you must realize regulation and some amount of restriction is necessary to maintain sustainable forests/fisheries. Or do you think: "Gosh, there are so many salmon we could NEVER catch them all!" Cause bad news: that kind of thought has us at around 1% of historic returns. Either we limit development or Wesern Washington is going to be a fucking New Jersey parking lot in 20 years. Once you get over 25% impermeable surface/sq mi, that land is pretty much lost forever.

What a dipshit! Sad to say Randy Neugebauer probably is in a safe gerrymandered district.

I followed the link and one of the comments was critical of someone who supported the ranger. I went to their facebook page and read this post: "Well friends, I cant hold it in. This past friday, my best friend, my fiancee and myself were on our way home around midnight and saw an interesting object. It was a Glowing White Diamond about the sise of a house. It gently lowered itself over the forest about a mile from the highway. It lit up EVERYTHING for about a mile and a half. Needless to say I locked my car doors, put up the windows and increased speed to get the heck away from that area. I usually camp there, but that is now out of the question permanently. And yes we All were sober!"
I guess he took the side of the congressman because he was recently anal probed to vigorously.

@28/26

I think we are on the same page, as an eviromentalist I am VERY anti developement. Parks and Forest land are both a national treasure that belongs to the people and also needed to maintain healthy ecosystems, farms and fisheries.

The federal governemnt closes unmaintained public access roads but hands over land timber and mineral companies with hundered year lease for $1. Also doesn't closing roads further hamper SAR, not to mention that SAR is primarely volunteers and local sheriffs and extraction is usually done by the military.

Though on easterners, I think the problems stems not from Eastern Washington but from the East Coast.

@31 Oddly I agree with you Pig Butt. Sort of. They could have shut down the FAA instead of the National Parks.

@19: Exhibit ס in Seattleblues's inability to distinguish between facts and sweeping unsupported assertions. (Yes, there are so many that we've been running out of alphabets to order them by.)

Where is the open letter to Randy Neugebauer telling him to fuck off?

I love the helmeted gentleman who challenged Neugebauer and pretty much told him to go do his job and stop harassing a low paid park ranger.