Yes...admittedly this has been me since Tuesday.
Because the words that were coming out of my mouth Pre-Shut-Down were, frankly, inarticulate.
Think Lewis Black on a RANT.
The House Republicans (primarily Tea Party) attempt a blatant 11th hour extortion attempt by attaching a defund the ACA or we don't pass a budget and shut down the GOVERNMENT...again...
And then they did.
Shut down the Government, that is.
And the ACA rolled out on schedule October 1st...because the funds for it weren't from the budget they were/are holding hostage.
And their servers were hammered so completely by the millions of people who were trying to apply online they actually had crashes. Yes, obviously the ACA was not wanted by people with kids in college...had pre-existing conditions...or just simply did not have the $$$$ that Anthem, Bluecross and others required.
Go figure.
Then they try to blame the President for "not negotiating with them".
Of course, they also blame rape victims for having the audacity to get raped too...so I guess this tactic isn't a new approach.
And in a couple weeks we have The Debt Ceiling approaching...again.
And who is affected by all of this chaos?
Besides Congress who is getting time off- WITH pay...thanks to the 27th Amendment. (Which we should repeal when they get back to work, immediately. Maybe even make it retro-active.)
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/constitutional-amendment-54.fb31?source=s.fb&r_by=4470814
Be sure to visit and sign.
The 800,000 workers deemed unessential. Including all of the National Park and Museums.
As well as the communities/business/individuals that have built their livelihoods around the tourism these places provide.
The National Health Institute. Bad news if you are starting a clinical trial for...say...terminal cancer.
International tourism. Imagine travelling on a once in a lifetime trip and after spending thousands and thousands of dollars to find that Hawaii has closed the Volcano National Park.
WIC- Which helps with women and infants providing healthy food for babies and pregnant moms.
HUD- and home loans.
Passports and Visas.
and the list goes on and on.
The guestimated costs of the shutdown per week tops 10 billion dollars in lost revenues. We don't have the funds to have Universal Healthcare or make sure children have enough to eat or a clean place to sleep...but we can piss away 10 billion dollars a week because...because...the GOP didn't get to stop the ACA. And lets face it...it isn't like they haven't tried...like 46 times.
And speaking of the ACA...
Watch this...because...nothing I could ever say would make the point better.
http://youtu.be/sx2scvIFGjE
The long and short of it, Jimmy Kimmel out on the streets asking the average American Citizen which he or she preferred...the ACA or "Obamacare" (hint: it is the same thing people...the latter being only a nickname) and the (obviously uninformed opinions) of why they were for and against each one.
Like I said before. You really have to watch it for yourself.
And to the lady at the end...when Kimmel reveals that they are one in the same and she says
"Thanks for making me look stupid"
No honey, you managed that all by yourself.
Bless her heart.
And the Tea Party has gotten so "out there" that even the moderate Republicans are eyeing them warily and sidling away.
And why do I applaud President Obama for standing his ground on this. Because we do not negotiate with terrorists or extortionists.
Foreign or domestic.
Note to Boehner...send the CR down for a clean vote and go back to work, everyone. The little stunt didn't work. The ACA is here to stay. Now get back to work all of you...before we fire you in 2014.
(...or as a buddy JD just exclaimed "Shit just got REAL" as they are reporting shooting outside the Capitol...)
~shaking my head~
The 1% and their buddies might want to remember that things didn't end well for the 1% in France either during the Revolution. Desperate times lead to desperate people.
Made a bit more progress on the second book in my Zen Series although I don't expect to release until next April.
And this week's book. A nice bit of escapism. The first in the new trilogy by Ken Follett: Fall of Giants.
Amazing memorable characters. Carefully intertwined plot and lives. Follett has a gift for making you really care about a character...or in some instances bloody despise them. Like every books of his I have ever read...it requires reading a chapter and walking away to digest it...then coming back for another eagerly. The steamy scene between Maud and Walter in the theater box (condensed to one well written page) is hotter than the entire trilogy of 50 Shades. When Billy is down in the mud and trenches fighting the Germans...so are we. When the mine explosion confirms the company's non-compliance with the Union with no reversible ventilation and no respirator equipment in the lockers...opened in a panic to find them all empty...we cannot breath either. A well researched WWI account. This 1,000 page novel well deserves the term EPIC. Looking forward to starting the second book next week!
So remember...take a moment to contact your Congressman...and remind him we pay his $174,000 dollar a year salary...sign the No Work-No Pay petition to repeal Amendment 27...shake your head at Kimmel's "Man on the Street" video and thank whatever that you are not that stupid...and then go relax with a book.I strongly recommend Fall of Giants :)
Have a great weekend!
(Here, it is the weekend of the Newport Hill-climb and Car Show!!!)