"The Democrats, naturally, want to see the new health plan fully funded . and the PResident really doesn't care as long as he looks like te mature one of the group. In the end it's all posturing on both sides and we are the ones being hurt by it."

More bullshit false equivalence. What's happening is the tea party hijacked the Republican leadership and won't allow them to compromise on anything. Democrats have given concession after concession and have gotten nothing in return. The Republicans are openly bragging about shutting down the government. To pretend that both sides are equally at fault is a lie. This tactic of always splitting the difference and pretending to be 'reasonable' got old a long time ago.

I'm less pessimistic about the Tea Party. Sure, there are a bunch of Sarah Palin wanna-bes and psychotic libertarians in the Tea Party. But I think the Tea Party movement has good intentions. Contrary to media portrayal, they are not a bunch of slack-jawed gun-toting racist white trash pigs. Most of them are ordinary conservatives who are tired of voting Republican and not seeing results. They're tired of the government spending money like, as Donald Trump said, "a drunken sailor"

Anyway about the issue of the Democrats 'never passing a budget'. They waited for the bi-partisan panel that investigated the structural problems that were causing the deficit to produce their findings and proposed solutions. In the meantime, they passed a budget enforcement resolution. You do not need a budget to be passed to avoid a shutdown. You need a continuing resolution. The Republicans won't even pass that. So this excuse about 2010 causing Republican recalcitrance in 2011 is pure nonsense.

"I am in favor of a strong defense to A) Defeat Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, B) Deter a future military threat from China, C) Assist the overwhelmed Border Patrol in securing the porous US-Mexico border and D) Create stable American jobs in the defense industry"

The problem with the defense budget is 1- it's full of waste that nobody will touch because of stupid fears about being 'soft on defense' and 2-we fought two wars that weren't paid for. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are in large part responsible for this mess we're in. Nobody who seriously claims to want to reduce our deficit can do so without tackling the defense budget.

I agree that the Republicans are at greater fault. In fact, I would say at 95% fault. They need to accept that the helathcare bill passed and was signed into law and, instead of trying to subvert the system by refusing to fund it, get it reversed later. this stupid posturing on their side is getting old. But there has to be some reachable compromise that both sides can life with *for now*.

The REPUBLICANS are at greater fault??? You people are FUCKING MORONS!! When the Democrats controlled the HOUSE, the SENATE AND the White House they DID NOT EVEN PROPOSE A BUDGET!!! The Republicans are only trying to pass another Continuining Resolution to clean up the mess the Democrats left by NOT DOING THEIR FUCKING JOB!!! Any stupid half-witted jack-ass that can't figure out that IF THE DEMOCRATS HAD DONE THEIR JOB WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS DEBATE is not worthy of a vote. Crawl back into your hole and keep sucking that Liberal Kool-Aide. This is **100%** the fault of an IRRESPONSIBLE DEMOCRAT PARTY. There is simply NO debate on that given their past failure to perform their BASIC duty to the American People.

Putin - Funding the "new health care plan" would be ILLEGAL, since a Federal Judge has ruled it UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Until his ruling is overturned, there IS NO "NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN". Idiot....

@Putin -- I have not heard *ONE SINGLE REPUBLICAN* brag about shutting down the government. ON THE CONTRARY, I ***HAVE*** HEARD THE AUDIO OF DEMOCRAT OPPERATIVES ENCOURAGING THE SHUTDOWN ***ON HOPES*** that Republicans will take the blame. But, sad to say, most Americans (other than core/base Democrats) will put this one ALL on the backs of Obama and the Democrats.

Other federal judges have ruled it was constitutional. Sorry, hoss. You lose.

You sad lies just won't fly, moron.

I don't believe there WILL be a shutdown.

It'd be disasterous for both parties, the ultimate sign that the Democrats and Republicans are equal culprits in the federal gridlock, and after the Japan fiasco, I'm not buying into CNN, they apparently blew Japan out of proportion--though now with that 7.4 earthquake I'm starting to wonder if Japan's cursed--so I think this is jsut a ratings ploy.

You evidently didn't see the Tea Party rally with Mike Pence.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/shut-it-down-mike-pence-and-afp-tea-

"Lies."

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133379810/federal-judge-health-care-overhaul-unconstitutional

"Two other federal judges have upheld the insurance requirement"

Anything else?

@Putin - sorry....maybe you ought to study a bit...ONE judge is all it takes to say no and make the law *void*. After that, ONLY the Supreme Court can reverse it and make it legal. 10,000 judges can say yes, but when one says No, it is done until the Supreme court rules otherwise...despite what Obama and the daily KOS and such want you to believe. God damn it is so sad how you fucktard liberals will deny reality AND the law when you don't like it...

@Putin - NPR....government-sponsored Obama radio. Good source. Maybe I'll quote Fox News back at you for a fair and balanced reply. It isn't about idiot reporters, you fool. it is simply about American LAW and the Constitution. You are simply ignorant and/or willfully stupid.

It won't matter because the states will make the decision independently and force a constitutional crisis. That particular aspect will get stricken in the end. I'll put $100 down that it never gets implemented nationwide and Obama lets go of that part of the plan.

Bored....Putin is just a Democrat/Liberal talking point machine. I can only imagine the left-wing blogs he has open to copy & paste his replies. <yawn...> have fun losing one battle after another over the next 2 years, concluding with the ultimate decline of your socialist democrat party in the 2012 elections. Maybe, with any luck, you will move out of the country...but, like most fucktard liberals, you will only *threaten* to leave, but never do. sigh....to bad for all of us.

Draug - the states ALREADY have done what you say. Both with independent laws AND with a Federal Lawsuit which (I beleive) 26 states participated in which resulted in the ENTIRE LAW being struck down as UnConstitutional. It is really on Obama now (Holder) to fight it in the Supreme court....or siply act as dictator and try to implement it anyway in spite of American law (oh...which they are trying to do...)

Ah right, I forgot anything other than Fox News is Obama state television.

A little problem for you, the 11th district granted a stay for the healthcare law. So sorry, federal judge decisions haven't blocked the law.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/147283-judge-grants-stay-of-decision-striking-down-health-law

You lose again.

Putin...I don't even hvae cable, let alone Fox News. For the record. But...that being said, I ****gaurantee**** that you never listen to Fox News, and thus all of your bitching about it (like a spoiled brat) is simply peer pressure from your fellow lefties, and is not based AT ALL in actual intellectual experience. that tends to be how it goes with you lefties.

That being said...the striking down of Obamacare is not a matter of news opinion, be it Fox OR NPR. It is simply a fact, dumbass. If you are incapable of comprehending that FACT of the American Legal System, then any discussion with you is simply pointless. It is now a matter for the Supreme Court. Period. End of Discussion. If you think otherwise, you are either in favor of Authoritarian government and the death of our representative republic - or are simply to blinded by left-wing rhetoric to have a rational discussion. Either way, you are a pathetic, delusional fool.

Jackass -- he gave that stay on MARCH 3 --- it was a 7 day stay so that Obama could appeal. GOD you are fucking stupid.

And while the appeal process is going on, the healthcare law continues to be implemented/

"Vinson's ruling allows the administration to continue implementation of the healthcare law while taking their appeal to the next level."

Learn to fucking read.

"Putin...I don't even hvae cable, let alone Fox News"

Heh, yet you yelled at everyone for not watching Glenn Beck? Hilarious.

Fucktard - the law HAS BEEN STRUCK DOWN. The RULING JUDGE says it is struck down. it is ILLEGAL to implement it PER THE RULING JUDGE. I could give a shit what your leftist opinion rags have to say. All *I* need is what THE JUDGE said.

You are **clearly** too stupid to comprehend the law and excercise your own brain cells. Of course opinions vary. FORTUNATLEY, in the American legal system, the JUDGE that issued the ruling has the ONLY opinion that matters...and HE said the law is dead. It is NOW a matter of the Supreme Court and ONLY the Supreme Court.

How pathetic you fucking left-tards are. Since the last elections, from Wisconsin, to Washington - all actoss America, you fucking Socialist, Authoritarian leftists are *actively* disregarding LAW in an attempt to force your demented, UNWANTED ideology down the majority's throat. How disgusting and pathetic you people are.

THAT attitude is why you lost the last election THAT attitude is why, in 2012, you will lose whatever remnant of power you have remaining and will be rendered impotent for a decade, at least. I laugh at clueless dumbasses like you.

krellin, please keep you tone more civil. Everyone else is doing it, so why can't you? You can be emotional on an issue and still not be disrespectful in your writing.

I have a few things I want to comment on...

@Putin - I would like to consider myself a moderate, albeit a fiscally conservative one, but I still don't want to believe your attacks on the defense department. Congress may keep granting it a big budget, but look at what Gates is doing. During my sister's time as an intern at the Pentagon, they were shuttering whole departments, consolidating, getting rid of contractors, and now are in a hiring freeze - downsizing in a sense. You are also forgetting the fact that whether we like it or not, we are in multiple conflicts around the world and need to keep fueling the planes over Libya, or the helicopters in Japan, or the tanks in Afghanistan, etc. We need to replace the 150 or so cruise missiles that we launched, as well as the bombs we've dropped. Its the conflicts we're in that are costing us a lot of money, and we are gradually getting out of those.

That being said, I want to balance the budget. Tax cuts are completely stupid, cutting billions in revenue. What we need is tax reform, so people aren't penalized for earning more and companies such as GE can't get away will $44 billion in revenue and $0 taxes paid. Our tax system is so backwards compared to that of most of the rest of the developed world. Most other countries don't even have corporate taxes. I forget what my accounting teacher said they had in place, but he just bashes our tax system every lecture.

Still though, what the Republicans are doing is wrong, its disgusting. Using this crisis as a chance to take out welfare systems is poor form. We need to reform welfare, not cut it. At the same time, Democrats should have taken care of this while they were in office. Political parties disgust me. Compromise is dead because everyone caters to their constituents and not to what is best for the country. It makes me want the people to have less power, because the most vocal ones are also the dumbest, and THEY are the ones our politicians listen to.

@krellin - NPR should not be cut. It is decent programming and actually delivers the news. Frankly, it is the only American news station I will listen to anymore. For television, I turn to foreign news channels because they actually are about what's going on in the world, and not about analysts and consultants fighting each other on air. Its disgusting, yet its what the masses want. I say fuck the masses.

"With no budget deal on the horizon, the Obama administration warned today that a federal government shutdown would spark layoffs of as many as 800,000 federal employees and "could stall tax refunds, close national parks and museums, and put tens of thousands of Californians temporarily out of work,"

http://sfist.com/2011/04/07/what_the_government_shutdown_means.php

Great, and it's already hard enough to find a job outside my independent tutoring business...

I've HEARD Glen Beck, I've read Glen Beck, just like I've listened to NPR, etc. Perhaps you are too stupid to seek out a varietyu of media resources yourself. I, on the other hand, seek a wide range of opinions. sorry that you are too stupid to graps the concept of "the internet", so that one can be aware of people without actually buying the channel. God...once again...you are so pathetic it almost makes me feel sorry for you.

@krellin -didn't the dems think that the republicans were impotent after the 2008 elections? All it takes is two years for majority opinion to switch.