Sunday, October 6, 2013

And we caaaaan't stop...

"PSYCHE!" - The US Government


If you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'd probably wondering, "The government shut down?! Why?!" Worry not, little oblivious one, for I shall bring you up to speed:
  • The government annually budgets money during the "fiscal year," which runs from October 1 - September 30.
  • Congress has to pass bills that fund the government, or else some agencies won't have money to spend.
  • So far, none of these appropriation bills have been passed because Republicans and Democrats are mad at each other.
  • "Why are they mad?" Because of Obamacare.
  • Republicans insist on passing bills that undermine/defund Obamacare.
  • Democrats refuse to pass these bills.
  • ???????????????????????????????????
  • fight fight fight
So while this hodgepodge of hullabaloo is taking place, employees of "nonessential" federal programs, like National Parks and NASA, have been furloughed.

"Houston, do you copy? Anybody, do you copy?"
Hate to break it to ya, Sandra Bullock, but they've been furloughed. 

The "essential" civilian employees working during the shutdown will at least receive delayed paychecks, however. Yet prolonging this shutdown may cause it to slam headfirst into the debt ceiling on October 17, when the ceiling must be raised in order for the US to pay its bills on time. Else, America's just going to default on its debt. Yikes!

@barackobama #realtalk

In short, this government shut down is absolutely ri-donk-ulous. Time and time again, the Republican party has fought against Obamacare, calling it unconstitutional and trying to get a presidential candidate to repeal Obamacare once appointed in office. But they lost, every single time.

What do they do when they've lost? Suck it up? Try to negotiate? No, they plan on releasing financial chaos by shutting down the whole goshdarn government. Why? Because Obamacare MARKS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT!!!!!!!!!!1!!1!

"Did you see the Giants game on Sunday? They lost 31-7. Do you know what the Giants didn't say after the game? 'If you don't give us 25 more points by midnight on Monday, we will shut down the [expletive] NFL."

But now, the American people are the ones experiencing the most backlash from the government shutdown. Oh, and Congress is still getting paid. 

"huehuehuehuehuehuehue" - John Boehner
So basically, the government shutdown is a futile, last-resort attempt by the Republicans to repeal Obamacare. It's impractical and affecting the economic status of the country and the American people. TL;DR The government shutdown hella dumb and y'all need to stop.

#preach



GOP Congressman: You should be ashamed for not opening the national park during the shutdown that I caused.
The rest of America: ??? ? ? ?? ? ???????!?!??? !?!? what is logic

Oh, but in the midst of all the hubbub, the Senate passed a bill recognizing National Chess Week!

I can feel the freedom already #progress #thefuture #MURICA



Media Citations

GOP Congressman Makes Park Ranger Apologize for Shutdown. YouTube. YouTube, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
Gravity. Dir. Alfonso Cuaron. Perf. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. YouTube. YouTube, 24 July 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-UEca2W9U>.
Guy, Romain. Chess. 2006. Photograph. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, CN. Flickr. Yahoo!, 4 Aug. 2006. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://flic.kr/p/mmWRA>.
John Boehner Smiling. N.d. Photograph. Business Insider. Business Insider. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
Jon Stewart on Government Shutdown 2013: Jon Stewart Blasts GOP Over Government Shutdown #Obamacare. Perf. Jon Stewart. YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
We Did Stop. Perf. Miley Cyrus. Saturday Night Live. NBC, 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik1bdoufPt0>.
Yan, Holly. "Government Shutdown: Get up to Speed in 20 Questions." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.html>.
You Are so Dumb. N.d. Photograph. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.



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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 9, 2013 at 10:54 AM

    I like how you focus on the conflict between Republicans and Democrats, and especially how the Republicans have repetitively tried to repeal Obamacare in any way possible, even if it seems to harm others. I enjoyed the many media moments I experienced through reading this blog. I wish I understood the chess picture. I feel as if I've missed a big laugh in my life, and I can't get it back without your help. Anyway, I like the presentation of the timeline and what will happen if we don't shut "up".

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  2. AnonymousOctober 9, 2013 at 5:13 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 9, 2013 at 5:14 PM

    forrealz dis govment shutdown b outta wack. y da gop tryna harm merika??? ahem, sorry, i didn't realize my kenny voice was on. I totally agree with you though Kenny, the GOP stance on the whole government shutdown has been very puzzling. They are the reason for its cause, however are trying to make it seem like the Democrats and Obama are the ones refusing to compromise. One thing that I saw Colbert comment on was how the mainstream news can have a bias towards the perception of the news delivered. Fox News and other conservative news outlets have been referring to the government shutdown as a government "slimdown" to try to lessen the harshness of the impact. MEDIA MADNES!!! I also agree that the debt ceiling debate is going to be an event with much dire consequences, and if this past interaction for the shutdown was any indication, America might be in for a wild ride. Anyways, your post was hilarious as always and demonstrated the ineptness of our federal government. #GOPocalypse

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  4. AnonymousOctober 9, 2013 at 8:14 PM

    I'm bugged by the "it's a law the GOP should suck it up" argument. Throughout American history democratically elected Congresses have passed dozens of laws that were awful. We passed a law that made it a crime not to be complicit in slavery, for Christ's sake.

    Now, let's just purely abstract this government shutdown issue from the context of the ACA/Obamacare. One faction of Congress has passed a law that another faction believes is not in the interests of their constituents--and the ACA does benefit some to the cost of others. If you're rich, you get taxed more. So this isn't some wildly outlandish scenario. Isn't Congress designed to make sure that it's as hard as possible for one "faction" to take control? Federalist papers, yo. That being the case, I think that one party, especially a party as large as the GOP, which (purports to) represent the interests of a lot of Americans (the ones that aren't dirty commies), should be able to put their foot down and force compromise. Or...dialogue, conversation, whatever. If they see fit to do so.

    So what's the cost? It's not too big. We're still playing the game of chicken. But imagine this--you're in Congress and our representatives pass a bill that is not only bad policy, it is morally bankrupt. It's really not too hard to imagine this happening. Wouldn't you use every single tool at your disposal to prevent the passage of that bill? And if that bill were passed, wouldn't you continue fighting to water it down as much as possible?

    Of course, the GOP might end up worse off for playing chicken than they would be otherwise. And the ACA certainly isn't some apocalyptic bill. But hey, our Congress is inefficient and polarized. It's been that way for centuries, and we're still the world hegemon. Ob la di, ob la da, life goes on?

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  5. AnonymousOctober 10, 2013 at 2:08 PM

    Great blog post Kenny!! I loved all of your media components!!
    Also, I totally appreciate the stance you've taken in this blog but can see where Albert is coming from. (nice Beatles reference by the way Albert). At the same time, it is rather unfair, as you have mentioned Kenny that the Republicans are trying to pass off the government shutdown as "Obama's shutdown". As is demonstrated in this Jon Stewart clip from his episode on 10/8/13.
    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-8-2013/the-shutdown-blame-game

    In response to Albert's comments though, I totally agree that their stance is warranted, and they truly feel that they are representing their constituents; however, I think the point that Kenny was trying to make is that they should be accepting responsibility for their failure, and that it should not have taken the government shutting down for the two parties to work out a compromise. The fact that it did take a government shutdown and the fact that the government is still not back up and running demonstrates an unwillingness to compromise, and it is hard to ignore this fact and just objectively look at their hatred for the Obamacare bill because the GOP has made Obamacare and the government shutdown intertwined. We cannot look at one without the other because the GOP has made it so. It is understandable to a point, but the line should be drawn at the government shutting down. Here is a clip also from the same Jon Stewart show demonstrating how difficult it can be to understand where the Republican party is coming from:
    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-8-2013/republican-hostage-negotiation

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  6. Mrs. CranstonOctober 10, 2013 at 4:01 PM

    I haven't read anything this moving since I gizoogled the Declaration of Independence (http://www.gizoogle.net/xfer.php?link=http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html). Thanks Kenny.

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