So What Exactly Happens During A Govt. Shutdown?

Not as much as you might think. Here's a quick primer for you.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/09/23/225462813/8-things-to-know-about-a-government-shutdown


8 Things To Know About A Government Shutdown

by Adam Wollner
September 23, 2013 5:38 PM
An empty Senate meeting room, just outside the chamber, is seen Monday in Washington. Only a week remains for Congress to pass a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.

An empty Senate meeting room, just outside the chamber, is seen Monday in Washington. Only a week remains for Congress to pass a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

In seven days, the federal government runs out of money.

While the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a resolution Friday that keeps the government funded through Dec. 15, the measure also defunded President Obama's signature health care law — which means it has virtually no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.

If a budget resolution doesn't hit President Obama's desk before Oct. 1, that's a big problem: The government will be forced to close its doors.

With that prospect looming, here are eight things you should know about the possible shutdown:

It won't be the first time

Since a new budgeting process was put into place in 1976, the U.S. government has shut down 17 times. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan each dealt with six shutdowns during their terms in office, lasting anywhere from one day to 2 1/2 weeks.

The last actual shutdown came in 1996 — though the government came close during budget negotiations in 2011.

The last shutdown lasted three weeks

The three-week shutdown that lasted from Dec. 16, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996, ranks as the longest in U.S. history. As a result, about 284,000 federal workers were furloughed, and around 475,000 essential employees went without a paycheck, although they were eventually reimbursed.

They weren't the only ones inconvenienced. Some benefits for military veterans were delayed, and cleanup at more than 600 toxic waste sites was stopped. The government also shut down for six days in mid-November 1995, initially resulting in the furlough of 800,000 federal employees. The Congressional Research Service reported the shutdowns cost taxpayers a combined $1.4 billion.

Only the "essentials"

Only federal employees deemed "essential" would continue to come to work during a shutdown. Employees who qualify as essential include those involved in national security, protecting life and property and providing benefit payments.

That means members of the military, border control agents, air traffic controllers, the FBI and the TSA are among those who would remain on duty. The president and members of Congress are also exempt from furlough and must decide which of their respective staff members to keep around during a shutdown.

The checks are in the mail

Even in the event of a shutdown, Social Security beneficiaries will still find their checks in their mailboxes and doctors and hospitals will receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. However, if the government does not resolve the budget situation by Nov. 1, those entitlement program payments could be delayed by up to two weeks.

Even in a shutdown, the Postal Service delivers

One reason Americans will get their entitlement checks: A government shutdown would not hit the operations of the U.S. Postal Service. Government agencies that the Treasury Department does not directly fund, like USPS, would be relatively unaffected in the short term by a shutdown . Some postal employees would very likely face furlough, but it wouldn't be enough to completely close down the agency.

National parks and museums? Forget it

Have plans to visit a national park or go sightseeing in the nation's capital? You might want to cancel them. During the Clinton-era shutdowns, 368 national parks closed, resulting in the loss of 7 million visitors. In Washington, D.C., the public would be unable to visit the monuments and museums that millions of tourists flock to every year. The Capitol building would remain open, though.

Visa and passport delays

Those hoping to enter or leave the country during a shutdown would most likely experience some difficulty. The government was unable to process around 200,000 pending passport applications and a daily average of 30,000 visa and passport applications by foreigners during the 1995-96 shutdowns. This would result not only in a headache for would-be travelers but a loss in millions for the airline and tourism industries.

Who would be blamed for a shutdown?

Generally speaking, no one comes out looking good if the government shuts down. A conducted Sept. 19-22 shows 39 percent of Americans would blame Republicans if a shutdown were to occur, compared with 36 percent who would fault the Obama administration and 17 percent who would hold both sides responsible. According to a Pew poll from a comparable period during the 2011 budget battle, the public spread the blame around nearly identically.

The D.C. Rampage

Straight up for all of you gun owners, don't go getting all worried about another anti-gun crusade coming out of this.. Remember that shooting out in California a few months back where the guy in Santa Monica shot and killed his father, his sister and wounded some local college students?
No Play on that one.

And then there was Chris Dorner, the crazy ex-LA cop. No play there either.

You want to know why?

Because the first guy's name was Zwahiri, and he was a Moslem. The mainstream media wasn't going to touch that one with a ten foot pole. The story died in 3 days.
As for Dorner? An African-American ex-cop,so that sure as shit wasn't going to happen either.
Once he was dead, the story was gone in a couple of days. Do you really think Law Enforcement wanted some politicians screaming that ex-cops or retired cops should be subject to the same gun laws as everybody else?

And as for this new bloody mess? The shooter is again an African-American who had a top Secret Security clearance and had been vetted by no less than NCIS, so don't expect any hype about gun control from this either. What are the feds going to do, admit they're own incompetence in doing a background check? Shit, they even knew that he had psychological problems, but they kept him on. Most likely because there are so many extraordinarily intelligent people out there who have mental/emotional problems, and the Navy was willing to put up with it.

I doubt this story will last a week.

Shit, even Nidal Hassan, the Moslem Ft. Hood shooter was written off as workplace violence, and no beating of the drums for gun control. Once he's executed, that will be end of that and the Ft. Hood shooting will just be another forgotten footnote in history.

The only time the press is interested in using this sort of tragedy as anti-gun fodder is if the shooter is a male Caucasian, preferably an NRA member.

Otherwise, nothing to see here, move along, move along..........

And So It Begins

I guess the eyes of Texas will only be upon you if you're not a Plain Jane citizen or businessman.

http://www.myfoxny.com/Story/23432701/texas-law-gets-tough-on-public-private-drone-use

More On (Non) Climate Change

The new U.N. report on Climate Change is due out in the next few weeks.

And Al Gore is NOT going to be happy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324549004579067532485712464.html

And On The Climate Change Front....

Al Gore is laughing all the way to the bank, as he smokes his Nobel Peace Prize.....

http://www.climatedepot.com/2013/09/14/earth-gains-a-record-amount-of-sea-ice-in-2013-earth-has-gained-19000-manhattans-of-sea-ice-since-this-date-last-year-the-largest-increase-on-record/

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/wrong-al-gore-predicted-arctic-summer-ice-could-disappear-2013

Colorado Recall Of Anti-Gun State Senators Successful

It was a blip in the mainstream news for just one day. I gues the Anti-Gunners don't like publicizing their defeats. With the usual screams of 'voter suppression' and the like, the Democrats tried as hard a sthey could to spin away their loss. The best part is that Democratic State senators Morse and Giron received $3,000,000 (yes, that says three million) mostly from out of state anti-gun groups and rich anti-gun supporters, whule the recall proponents were only able to secure $540,000.
The interesting part is that while the NRA contributed $316,000, Mike bloomberg put up $350,000.
Proof that his name is poison in almost any pro-gun state where he sticks his nose. His bullshit Mayors Against Illegal Guns group has a dismal record of political victories, and it's membership is dwindling precipitously.

The new laws in Colorado that instigated the recall effort will probably stay on the books, but this was a wake up call to other anti-gun pols to be careful which bills they support,oppose or sidestep in the future. It also points up that if you want keep from being abused by the Anti-Gun groups, stop pissing and moaning about the NRA, and instead, write a damned check instead of whining about how unfair things are.

Here is a link to an article. There are others, just use your Google-Fu skills to find them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/colorado-recall-results_n_3903209.html

Obama Says "I'm Syria-Ous"

Screw Syria, we have absolutely nothing to gain from sticking our noses in over there. The people over there who genuinely want change will wind up being kicked to the curb by the Radical Islamic groups and Syria will just become another addition to the list of "Regime Changes" (in the name of democracy of course) that will not go well for the united States.
As far as this undermining "our" credibility,the only "credibility" being undermined is our illustrious Commander In Chief's. (As though he actually had any left)

This is TRULY GROSS!!!!

FUCK Diet Soda. Can it get any worse than this?

Aspertame is made from E. Coli bacteria!!???!!?!

http://www.naturalnews.com/041766_aspartame_GM_bacteria_patent.html