Nice wrap-up of the situation...Mr.Speaker, my vote is 555

Except for the part where a supposedly small minority of Republican Congressman shut down the part of the government administered by the Executive Branch. How exactly did they do that? Wasn't that a decision made by Obama?

@ Lennie - I think the executive branch should be cut off...Knot ! . . @.Warren - Someone's Behind in their duties to pay off debts, some would say....Butt all Ends well as they all went out for lunch together...then put it on Our tab.....( I'm in the wrong business )

AFW- thanks for the comment. Of course, I'd love to count that vote, but I have as much power as the current Speaker of the House (rimshot...)
CML- Hmm. You are technically correct, sir, but 'technically' when spoken in politics always has strong currents underneath that carry the actual story. It's like a film noir movie plot about the government: a bit of extortion, some parliamentary slight of hand, a big bluff, and a mystical and crazy political faction full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But all in all, it doesn't matter what I say or what you say. It's what dulcet and indignant tones are preferred by the electorate's favorite echo chambers.
Dave- You're here all week, I take it ;-)

You show your ignorance Warren when blaming the Republicans and Tea Party for the shut-down and threat of not raising the debt ceiling. What happened to stopping Obama's Big Government spending and his almost doubling the debt in his first term? WHEN is it time to reign-in out of control spending and get to Entitlement reforms? Or should we live in a socialist nation where everyone is on a government check and no one works anymore? The Tea Party is no more radical and demanding than Obama and the Democrats are ultra-liberal and obstinate to any type of reform or spending limits. Obama would rather see the USA crushed under debt that exceeds our GDP and mandate Obamacare than do HIS job and compromise as well. When he said he would not compromise on Obamacare at all, he slammed the door on the Republicans willing to compromise and elevated Ted Cruz's crusade. For many days he sat idly by and watched the memorials close and Feds lose their wages when HE and Reid could have made a deal with Boehner on simple deals; instead, all we got was 16 days of agony and $24 Billion lost, angry vets and citizens marching in D.C. and a last minute rush to avoid default... only to have to go back and do this again in a few months. And Obamacare? So pathetic in sign-ups and glitches that official numbers won't be available for a while- guess they are too low and embarassing since he promised that millions would be signed up. So far, that is not the case and the individual mandate doesn't get the same fairness as the delayed corporate mandate. Healthcare btw is a service and should not be taxable with income and product taxes. Chief Justice Roberts just wanted to make controversial history. He is but a traitor to the nation. So spare us your ass-inine parody- 1s all around.

Patriot (or whatever the last two letters of your name is): You are attacking the wrong Entitlements. The real ones are entrenched in your winner-take-all Randian capitalism. I now quote liberally from Prof. Joseph Stiglitz. Last year, the top 1 percent of Americans took home 22 percent of the nation’s income; the top 0.1 percent, 11 percent. Ninety-five percent of all income gains since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent. Recently released census figures show that median income in America hasn’t budged in almost a quarter-century. The typical American man makes less than he did 45 years ago (after adjusting for inflation).

American inequality began its upswing 30 years ago, along with tax decreases for the rich and the easing of regulations on the financial sector. That’s no coincidence. It has worsened as we have under-invested in our infrastructure, education and health care systems, and social safety nets. Rising inequality reinforces itself by corroding our political system and our democratic governance.

American innovations in rent-seeking — enriching oneself not by making the size of the economic pie bigger but by manipulating the system to seize a larger slice — have produced a 500-1 gap in income between top CEOs and ordinary workers. That is the biggest gap among industrialized nations.

Thanks so much for your comments, Patriot and Real Patriot. I'm tickled you both took the time to stop by for a chat. Patriot, please feel free to break up your paragraph a little like Real Patriot. It would make your tirade so much easier to read.

If views are not mine I will bite
My chamber of echoes I'll cite
Don't say that the sky
Is blue, I'll deny
For you being wrong is my right

Warren, were you living under a rock through these twin crisises?
Both sides showed a total lack of leadership and an unwillingness to compromise until the very last minute.
Obama's approval rating dived into the 30s and Congress to a new low of 5%!
Obama whined about the Repugnians wanting Obamacare defunded while Boehner played dog on a leash to his Tea Party fanatics.
Face it, D.C. is a train wreck! No one won in this disgraceful display of ineptitude.

Nice of you to stop by, USSP. Compromise is an interesting term especially when one equates it to a ransom. Well, maybe not a ransom. Maybe more like, I'm going to burn down your house if you don't do what I want. No? Maybe if I just burn down two rooms in your house. No? How about one room? No? Good Lord, man, why can't you compromise?

I did not live down under rock
I did not live down under block
I do not like the dark down there
I do not like it, friend, I swear!
I do, however, like the light
I like it lots, it helps my sight
The chamber, yes, I hate it lots
Its echoes make for thoughtful rots
But if it brings one joy, feel free
Those echoes, though, aren't right for me.

More verbal diarrhea with a spin on Dr. Seuss. Hear the ratings toilet flush- 1.11 gallons

So happy to have you stop by Republican. It's so nice to see a display of bright wit and amazing insight, so when you truly have either, feel free to share it with the rest of us.

When this Constitutional REPUBLIC, not a Democracy, crumbles from within due to Democratic hand-outs, bail-outs, and Unconstitutional mandates that will raise the national debt to critical default in the next 3 years, far exceeding the sluggish GDP growth... what will you do then? Still blame GWB in 2016???!!! We Republicans will soon be vindicated, not villified ;-)

To explain how the national debt is supposedly burdened by all those free goodies called Entitlements, get a load of this dynamic graphic on just how rotten hand-outs are doing for the poor and how effective bail-outs are for the rich. Then explain, Republican, why your policies always scapegoat the poor and further distort income distribution toward the wealthy. The national debt is largely a failure to tax the unearned income of the wealthy (ask Warren Buffett) and stop the creation of mathematical figments such as "derivatives," which are bets designed to push all the chips to the wealthy side of the table. http://www.utrend.tv/v/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact/