Anyone else (possibly) getting a mandatory vacation come Tuesday?

[Ben Kenobi]

Yet when you are 'forced' to pay for an Afghani child to have her arms and legs blown off in an airstrike, you seem to have remarkably few religious based qualms. Why is that exactly?

Couple things. One, I wasn't here when it started. Two, I was in Canada. Three, I was opposed to the war in afghanistan, unlike many other poly Canadian posters, (asher, etc), who supported the war in Afghanistan.

[DaShi]

[Sava]

Both

Thanks.

You have the logical consistency of BK.

[The Mad Monk]

Well let's see how this works.

GOP Begins Search for Broad Deal On Budget

WASHINGTON—Senior Republicans in Congress, frustrated over their inability to strike a deal to reopen the government, began shifting from their drive to undercut the 2010 health-care law, which has been the central element of the dispute, toward a broader budget deal.

The new focus comes as Congress is beginning to confront the need to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, which the Treasury said must be done this month in order to pay the nation's obligations. With federal agencies largely shuttered for a third day, some GOP lawmakers were exploring whether the political stalemate over funding the government could best be resolved by crafting a broader fiscal package that would include an increase in the debt ceiling.

House Speaker John Boehner, (R., Ohio), on Thursday signaled he would follow that course. He told a group of his closest allies over lunch that he doesn't want to broker a deal to fund federal agencies and reopen the government only to face an immediate negotiation over raising the debt ceiling, participants said. The speaker expressed optimism at the lunch that he might be able to combine the two issues to embark on broader budget negotiations with the White House and Senate Democrats.

Unlike the summer 2011 debt-ceiling debacle, President Obama and his administration appear to be pushing for market unrest, with the hope that it will spur Republicans to end the current budget standoff. WSJ's Sudeep

Meanwhile, some House Democrats also sought to pressure their leaders to take additional steps to reopen the government. A group publicly endorsed repealing the health-care law's tax on medical devices—a long-held Republican priority—as a way out of the budget battle. The idea was quickly rejected by Democratic leaders but signaled lawmakers' growing frustration with the stalemate.

President Barack Obama has said that he won't negotiate terms for raising the debt ceiling—that Congress must pass it with no conditions—but Republicans have said they won't back an increase unless deficit-reduction measures or other GOP policy goals are included. That has raised concerns that lawmakers and the president wouldn't come to an agreement in time to avoid dangerous financial and economic consequences.

Late Thursday, Mr. Obama canceled a planned trip to Asia because of the government shutdown, the White House said. The president had been scheduled to visit Indonesia and Brunei to participate in two regional summits. Earlier in the week he had called off stops in Malaysia and the Philippines.

In recent days, Mr. Boehner has been talking with Republican House members about raising the debt ceiling, insisting to them it must be done. By taking that stance, he has raised questions about how much leverage he could take into negotiations—should any materialize—with Democrats over the debt ceiling.

In a session with centrist Republicans, Mr. Boehner suggested that debt-ceiling legislation would likely have to have some support from Democrats, acknowledging that any such measure would be opposed by at least some conservative Republicans.

Some House Republicans were openly dismissive of suggestions that Mr. Boehner might turn to Democrats to pass legislation raising the ceiling without extracting demands from Senate Democrats and the White House.

"I don't think there are 218 votes to raise the debt ceiling without some sort of effort to deal with the deficit," said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.). "Who are these Republicans who are going to vote for the debt-ceiling increase with absolutely no effort to deal with the deficit?"

Louisiana GOP Rep. John Fleming, an outspoken conservative, was even more direct: "I don't see any way he would get a debt ceiling passed in the House without some conditions."

A Boehner spokesman, Michael Steel, said the speaker "has always said that the United States will not default on its debt—but if we're going to raise the debt limit, we need to deal with the drivers of our debt and deficits."

Some GOP lawmakers openly pleaded for their party to get past the government-shutdown standoff and look to broader budget issues. "Let's put this behind us and move on as a nation,'' said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) on the Senate floor, shortly before the tension of the day was heightened by police action that led the Capitol to be locked down for more than a half hour. Authorities said a woman had tried to ram her car through barriers at the White House and near the Capitol before she was shot and killed.

The House GOP plans a closed-door meeting Friday morning to discuss strategy for budget and fiscal matters.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) has said he wants to include a "down payment'' on reducing the deficit—including cost-cutting changes in Medicare—as part of a debt-limit increase. But Mr. Obama on Thursday repeated that he wouldn't negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.

If the borrowing limit isn't raised, "the whole world will have problems, which is why, generally, nobody's ever thought to actually threaten not to pay our bills,'' said Mr. Obama in an address at a construction company in Rockville, Md., on Thursday.

"I'm going to repeat it: There will be no negotiations over this,'' he said. "The American people are not pawns in some political game.''

Mr. Boehner, in response, repeated his party's demand that Democrats agree to changes in the health-care law, the Affordable Care Act. "We want to resolve this dispute as soon as possible, but that will require Washington Democrats to realize neither side gets everything it wants,'' Mr. Boehner said.

Democrats highlighted a comment by one GOP lawmaker, suggesting it showed that Republicans were extending the impasse with no clear policy goal.

"We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is," Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.) had told the Washington Examiner newspaper.

Mr. Obama mocked the comment on Thursday, saying, "What you get is our medical researchers back on the job'' by resolving the budget stalemate. "What you get is little kids back into Head Start.''

Mr. Stutzman on Thursday stood down from his remark, saying he had "carelessly misrepresented'' the budget debate.

Write to Janet Hook at janet.hook@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303722604579113143884854458.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

[Ben Kenobi]

Man, Boehner ain't getting it. Obama says no negotiations. Shut 'er all down boys!

[The Mad Monk]

Government is useless and the shutdown won't matter.

or

OMFG THANKS OBAMA YOU MONSTER

Which is it?

If the governement were truly shut down, who would be there to erect the barricades?

[Sava]

If the governement were truly shut down, who would be there to erect the barricades?

That's what is so funny about this whole situation. Right wingers have no ground to stand on. And this can't be spun in any manner that makes it not a horrible thing.

You guys are taking a beating. You know it. Some may be in denial. Some may be delusional. It's just the continuing disintegration of the Republican Party and conservatism in general.

Conservatism is an ideological hiccup in American history. And it's coming to an end.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Just wondering - isn't the Daily Caller that has been quoted in this thread Tucker Carlson's answer to the Huffington Post? We all remember Tucker Carlson right? The guy who has less credibility than Geraldo Rivera? At least he doesn't wear those douchy bow ties anymore.

[The Mad Monk]

Just wondering - don't people resort to ad hominums when they have no better argument at their disposal?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I've never seen Republicans on this board every question an article written by the Huffington Post or TPM or DailyKos or NY Times for bias. Nope. Never

[Dinner]

Just wondering - isn't the Daily Caller that has been quoted in this thread Tucker Carlson's answer to the Huffington Post? We all remember Tucker Carlson right? The guy who has less credibility than Geraldo Rivera? At least he doesn't wear those douchy bow ties anymore.

I still remember when John Stewart pwnd Tucker Carlson so badly CNN cancelled his show.

[The Mad Monk]

x-puppy'd

Certainly not I. I've been known to even quote them.

[Imran Siddiqui]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/04/1244117/-Republican-shutdown-leads-to-canceled-blood-drives

But it's entirely of a piece with many of the things they did intend, like taking nutrition assistance from low-income women and their babies, depriving domestic violence shelters of funding, and, of course, taking pay from the same federal workers who now won't be donating blood because their offices are closed and the blood drives are canceled. The shutdown is just the latest manifestation of the Republican drive to purge our society of any idea of the common good, to ruthlessly strip us of the notion that helping the vulnerable—with food, with safety, with blood—is valuable or even worthwhile. Tragically, they're in a position to make these things happen even if they can't convince most of us to be as morally withered as they are.

Treat this as objective fact

(FWIW, I don't quote Kos, TPM, Huffington for bias reasons - same reasons I wouldn't fully trust Daily Caller, RedState, etc)

[The Mad Monk]

I find it depends on the writer and what's being reported. Generally people writing "against" their perceived interest are granted more trust.

[DaShi]

x-puppy'd

Certainly not I. I've been known to even quote them.

Well-known, biased sources that rarely offer any true insight and in-depth analysis and are commonly cited by people lacking any critical intellect. Yes, it's no surprise that you quote them.