Government shut down stuff
I’ve been shutting down my portion of the government this morning. It’s harder work than my real job. But some of us got this nice letter from the President; Message from the President to U.S. Government Employees-2. basically none of this is his fault – you know that’s real leadership.
The House passed a funding bill that was rejected, so the compromised – you know that cryptic term, that no one on the liberal (in the neo-liberal sense) side of government understands and the compromise was shot down. But somehow Republicans are “the party of “no”” according to my liberal friends on Facebook. And, oh, yeah, it’s all about race, too.
Republicans only wanted to do the same favor for individuals and families what the administration has done for employers – give us a break on the Affordable Care Act for a year. And, the administration was so prepared for the launch of that healthcare beast this morning that the website for signing up is down for four hours.
We’re in this shut-down mess because Congress hasn’t passed a budget since 2007 – when Democrats took control of the House and the Senate. I listened to Harry Reid call conservatives “anarchists” this morning. And he said that conservatives are doing the same thing over-and-over which caused this. I submit that the Democrats have been doing the same broke-dick things over-and-over for fifty years.
Reid forgot that for two years that the Democrat Congress’ only focus was defunding the Iraq War – a vote they took over-and-over again instead of passing a budget. Who knows what their excuse is now, other than the fact that they don’t want to do their job.
Me? I’m doing fine – I have three months of money stashed in my checking account since this budget mess started. Now I’m going to take a nap.
ADDED: From MCPO NYC USN (Ret.), apparently computers don’t trust the Affordable Care Act either;
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Congress sucks
You’re a punk bitch. Flagwaver’s got more honor than your lying ass.
Settle down Cowboys. All of you. Let’s try to help. Sometimes my satire clouds the issue. But in this case, without evidence to the oh contrary, cut him slack and help him out.
As far as I know, he is no newcomer here!
Hey! Would all of y’all keep it down in there, please? I’m TRYING to take a nap here!
BREAK FOR ATTITUDE CHECK!
Is my memory correct that we have a regular contributor here named Smitty and we have also have a pet troll who drops by occasionally who signs in as “Smitty” only to cause problems for our regular community members, like what just happened above??
There is nothing wrong with food stamps – they’re meant to be used as a temporary safety net. There’s also nothing wrong having a claim at the VA for PTS. I’ve been near destitute at one time, and it was because I was over qualified job for every job that I applied for. It happens to almost everyone at one time or another. This blog is about supporting the troops, in uniform or after they get out. If you can’t run your words by your brain before they get to the keyboard, I’ll do it for you.
I’m not going to sit here and whine, because I’m retired. I have chosen to not return to the paycheck world, although with almost 20 years in A/R I could probably pick up something part-time IF I NEED TO, but I don’t need to JUST YET. But because my retirement savings went down the toilet with everyone’s else’s, my only income RIGHT NOW is my VADC and Social Security. It’s not what I expected to happen, but it did, and I have to deal with it. I hit bottom and so what? Everyone does that at some point, but some give up while others roll with the punch, then pick up and carry on. I consider this idiotic boondoggle in Congress to be a blessing in disguise for me, because it has me so pissed off that I’ve leaned into what I put off doing full-time UNTIL I could retire, and that is write books. I consider this period to be a great motivator for what I’m doing. It is slowly starting to pay off. I’ve got two on the market and more coming down the pipeline. It’s one of the few jobs I can do that let me sit on my ass. I haven’t reached the point where I have to sell Grandpa’s last gold nugget (yes, he went to Alaska and put himself through law school with his pannings), nor have I put up an ad at the local rink to sell my two pairs of SPTeri skates that I used to skate in 10 years ago, and which are barely broken in. That would be the last straw and sheer desperation, because that wouldn’t even generate enough cash to meet bills and groceries for more than six weeks max. I don’t feel sorry for me. I got myself into this pickle, and I can get myself out. But that doesn’t mean other people have the same capacity for self-starter stuff that I do, or that they can do what I do and make a living at it. So when you’re hard on someone like Flagwaver, unless you… Read more »
What I did during the deployment wasn’t secret squirrel shit, but it was necessary that I had a security clearance for it. Being supply, I had a Top Secret. Since I was the only Top Secret E-3 in the Battalion, I was tasked with traveling while armed and having a briefcase cuffed to my wrist. Yup, you guessed it. I was a frakking postal monkey between the Rear and Forward. I don’t know what happened at Walter Reed. I showed up there with my records from Germany and they told me they would send them to my unit when I was sent home to fly a desk for the remainder of my time on orders. But, my medical jacket never arrived. All of my medical history up to the deployment was gone. Go ahead and do a records check, I’ll fill out any paperwork you need. If you can find them, I’ll take you out for a steak dinner! Most of us have been there, done that, and gotten shit for it from various points. I didn’t think this would be one of them, but I’m not taking it personally. Most everyone here are great people who I feel proud to call a brother or sister. Even the shitbirds are entertaining in their ignorance. Getting this thing back on topic, the shutdown is hurting a great many people because of the politicians. There are some who care about the people, but when the Speaker of the House and President say “It’s my way or no way,” then you can blame no others but them. Until that time, I and many others are unsure about our benefits or how we will pay for things that we need to survive. So, whether or not you like me or believe me or whatever, is meaningless. What matters is that the weasels are playing their games while trying to make We The People miserable to push their agenda. Well, I’ve read this book before: ———- “How does one man assert his will over another, Winston?” Winston thought. “By making him suffer,” Winston said. “Exactly.… Read more »
I hold a rather strong view on any government hand outs, i strongly support shutting down the government as i dont think we need most of it anyway. i am opposed to medicare and medicaid, social security, welfare, and all other government hand out programs.
that being said, while we can debate those programs, it must be done with out kicking a fellow vet who is already down. this is a place that vets of all views have always been welcome and by far the wrong place to put one down that opened up about his own issues. Flagwaver, i want to offer my sincerest apologies for all negative statements i made directed at you and your personal issues.
Smitty, this basic guaranteed income coming up for vote in Switzerland is the kind of thing you’re objecting to.
http://news.msn.com/world/swiss-to-vote-on-dollar2800-monthly-income-for-all-adults?gt1=51501
We don’t need that here. A guaranteed income and a ceiling on CEO paychecks, as is proposed in their legislation, takes away some incentive to be innovative and break through barriers that keep other people from trying anything new. Why would you put your heart into something when you have no motivation?
IN regard to Social Security, I have been paying into that since 1963. I just want my damned money back, with the compounded interest that savings (in this case, forced savings) usually accrue.
All this government intrusion into our lives has caused all sorts of insanity for a very long time. It is just now becoming obvious to many who have been lulled into a false sense of security.
We are completely retired. Our social security benefits are enough to almost cover the health insurance policy we maintain simply because no one knows what is coming in the next few years. By the time they deduct my civilian and military pensions from my monthly social security payment, I figure I will get what I have paid into it in 10 to 15 more years – about what I anticipate living, factoring in family history and average life expectancy. So we are good here. Not quite able to do everything we would like to do, and certainly not what we had expected to be able to do, but we are not going to starve either.
Point of all that being that even with careful planning, our retirement income does not go as far as it should, and most of the uncertainty was forced upon us by all those folks who declare frequently how much they care about us. Yeah, right.
Still, without the planning we would be in horrible shape. So, all you young’uns diversify as much as you can and try to balance what you spend now with whatever you can sock away for the future. Enjoy each day, but remember that you may live to be 90, and will want to be able to enjoy life then, too.
Here’s a little piece of news from the commodities market from earlier this week: As wild as stock markets were last week, they paled to what happened in Gold and Silver. On Tuesday, October 1, about 2:00 AM Eastern Time, it was reported that someone put in an order to sell 8,000 contracts of Gold on the COMEX. This is 800,000 ounces of Gold, or about $100M. With no liquidity in that market at that time, Gold plunged sharply, to 1276.90 within 24 hours, its lowest level since August 7. It begs the question: who would do this and why? Who has $100M worth of Gold to sell? As to why, well it is apparent that the intention was to drive the price down sharply. Otherwise, why sell it then, when the volume was so low? If one wanted a high price, he/she/it would sell it when there was liquidity to hold up the price while selling. With the government so aggressively pursuing banks and others who they believe are manipulating market prices (think J.P. Morgan, whom the Justice Department wants to punish because of wrongdoings by Bear Stearns before the government pressured J.P. Morgan to buy Bear Stearns in late 2007-2008), why is it not looking into activities like this in Gold? There is a reason, and it has to do with the desire (of someone) to keep Gold prices low. One more thing, and pay attention to this, from the same source: the US government is negotiating with Iran for the purchase of oil in US dollars, which Iran does not wish to accept. Iran has said it will take only Euros, as per the following: ‘There is so much going on behind the scenes involving money – huge sums of money – and currency itself. It may be one reason why the USA wants to negotiate with Iran, for Iran threatens to accept payment for oil only in Euros – and not U.S. Dollars – and the USA cannot let that happen lest it is prepared to fall.’ Do what you like with this information. It comes… Read more »
I have been away for a while and have now caught up with posts. The discussion about the partial government shutdown is frustrating and boring. The A**holes in Congress and the half-breed socialist idiot in the big white house are not doing what the electorate want. Yeah, I get it.
But what the heck is happening with the poser Monkress and APL? This jerk does not deserve a break. The liar has had a free ride from Boeing, Jacobs, DHS, the SBA, and others for too long. Jonn, pls catch me up and give us a clue about what is going on. Wickre is one topic (I’m not interested in) and Monkress is the main topic.