Are there any plans afoot to get Madison on their asses if Republicans shut the government down next Friday? Saturdays are great days for large rallies. Is anyone looking into this? There will be a lot of people looking at a lot of time on their hands if this shit goes down.
With apologies to everyone who will be furloughed, I’m firmly in the “I wish a motherfucking Republican would shut the government down” camp now.
joe from Lowell
If we’re in the “wishing” stage here, I wish the Republicans would come to their senses and pass a responsible budget that appropriately funds a humane, responsible government.
But just in case I don’t get my wish, golly gee, it looks like I’ll have to settle for kicking the living shit out of them politically when they shut down the government.
David in NY
No.
Comrade DougJ
@David in NY:
Somebody needs to get on this. I’m emailing my peeps in Rochester to see if they can get something going there.
We need to hit them we’ve everything we’ve got.
beltane
Saturday is not the best day for a rally because it will guarantee a giant yawn from the media. This is serious business and a proper rally ought to disrupt the routine of the Village to have any hope of getting someone’s attention.
SteveinSC
I was furloughed in the first shut-down. I called up my republican congressman’s office and told the receptionist that her son-of-a-bitch boss better get the government going or instead of going back to DC he could just call the fucking movers because his ass was headed to retirement. Me an a few thousand others. He worked to reopen the government.
Comrade DougJ
You’re right, demonstrations outside their offices are the way to go.
Lolis
I am in that camp too. Dems need to stop compromising. Seriously. Sometimes you need to stop, make your case, and then embrace the consequences.
beltane
@SteveinSC: Yep, they need to be exposed to a collective howl of rage, shouted at and spat upon. There is a time and place for civility but this is not the time and this is not the place.
barkleyg
Isn’t Saturday supposed to be a National Rally Day for Labor?
Maybe wrong date, but I read on DKOS, and on the linked site, and it already had about 15 rallies within 50 miles of Laguna Beach. This is from about 2-3 weeks ago.
Anyone else know anything?
WaterGirl
If we wait for “the media” to put together information about how real people will be affected by this, it will never happen.
How about if a BJ front-pager or some knowledgeable Bj commenters start making a list of what gets shut down during a government shutdown?
Comrade DougJ
@WaterGirl:
I will try to get on this. I don’t know anything though so I will need help.
James Hare
The continuing resolutions have caused a huge drop in government travel that has led to a 25% reduction in my fiancee’s salary. I know we’re lucky to still be getting anything in this economy, but it’s an unwelcome development while we’re planning our wedding.
The budget BS is already hurting people. A shutdown would be catastrophic. It might make my commute easier, but it would seriously damage our “recovery.”
cleek
i wish a shut-down was really a shut-down.
no mail. no SS checks. no pay for the military. shut down the FAA, the FBI, the NSA. no FCC, no Treasury, no USDA, no Amtrak, no nuclear regulatory commission, no nothing. lock the House doors, bar the Senate chamber. turn off the lights in the White House. shut it all down.
people (who are not US govt employees) will never learn what the US government actually does for them, if a shutdown is merely inconvenient.
in other words: quit giving the GOP a free ride. if they want to play the “small government” game, give people a taste of a really small government. see how they like it.
khead
I already said I’m not hosting. My wife doesn’t want to piss off the cats.
Barb (formerly Gex)
As I said in the other thread, I don’t want to let it all burn. But if they insist…
I’m going to enjoy the popcorn. And I will say “told you so” to anyone who I think deserves to hear it.
joes527
@cleek: this.
barkleyg
Here is the California Link ‘We Are One’ – Nationwide Day of Action and Solidarity
http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/event/903/
April 4 is the sad Anniversary day of Martin Luther King’s Assassination.
Martin
@cleek: Yeah, I agree. No flights. No mail. Shut down the Fed Reserve so banks can’t get money. Shut down the interstates, everything operating on federal land, shut down all universities that rely on federal student loans to operate.
SteveinSC
@cleek: Well they make some exemptions, like military, but a whole lot of stuff does stop. For example we didn’t get paid for the days we were furloughed and it was just gone. Later they restored what we weren’t paid after the populace beat the republican’s asses black and blue. Contractors, oddly enough are not affected, since they are not actually U.S. Government employees. I think they will close the National Parks, no passports, no Social Security checks. It depends if an appropriation bill for this department or another has been passed and signed by the President. Since they are on a continuing resolution, there are no funding bills passed and signed for the current FY. Therefore pretty much everything closes except those excepted, like DoD, I suppose. (I’ll amend that, since there are no passed appropriation bills, even the contractors will be laid off, I would say.)
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
Anybody know if Dave or Chuck Koch are speaking anywhere or attending any public events? Might be a nice time to throw an anarchy rally (along with a cocktail party).
ppcli
(Posted at the end of an earlier thread. Didn’t know the topic had migrated to this thread till it went up.)
Maybe (despite all experience pointing me in the opposite direction) I’m just a starry-eyed optimist, but I think this is different from almost every other problem that gets blamed on Obama. A government shutdown reminds people, in a very harsh way, just how much they depend on government services. It gives the lie to the Republican refrain of “less government is better”/”Government is the problem, not the solution”, etc. It gets people to think a bit about what the teahadist “paradise” would really look like.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i don’t think the conservatives are all that concerned, they have outsourced all responsibility to the dems, why should they make a deal, when they know the dems will cave, give them all they want, and a few chits for gop donors, if they wait out all this capricious sense of duty. we have given them no reason to expect anything less than a massive cave in.
Mr Furious
I think you guys are all high if you think the Dems can effectively manage the message and blame the GOP. And even if they do, will the media just just go ahead and blame it all on a “two-party stalemate?”
joe from Lowell
@Mr Furious:
You mean, we’re crazy if we think it will work the way it worked last time, when the GOP Congress started out much more popular than it is today?
James Hare
@Yevgraf (fka Michael): that’s one I’ll give Bill Gates. Somebody threw a pie at him in a public forum and he continued to be a decent fellow. The Kochs get mildly criticized in public and they turn their whole media apparatus against the suggestion they’re self-interested.
And if you’ll excuse Windows, Bill Gates doesn’t pollute the environment.
Mr Furious
I think the media is far more complicit now. And the Democrats are much more quick to embrace the wrong frame.
Anne Laurie
If government workers have “free time” because the Rethugs put them out of work, why not a big DC rally timed to disrupt the rush hour for everybody else? I don’t know the city, but every time there’s a big event — from the inauguration to the Stewart/Colbert rally — there’s a ton of complaints about bottlenecks.
Baud
@Mr Furious: Here is a crazy thought: Instead of kvetching about how the Democrats might handle the shut down, let’s focus on how irresponsible the Republicans in causing the shutdown.
James Hare
@Anne Laurie: Some of us do live here, and are not part of the Village or any of our government. Some of us really have no choice about living here too.
ericblair
@SteveinSC:
Depends what the contractor is doing: depending on the contract, you might be able to continue working but won’t be able to be paid until after the shutdown is over. Which means your company’s cash situation is probably an issue right about now.
Most physical security at government installations (like security guards) and server room dweebs are contractors now. You’d think that these people are going to have to get paid somehow, or fuck it, walk off the job guys, you’re not slaves. Military officers and enlisted personnel, you’re Uncle Sam’s bitches, sorry ’bout that.
Mr Furious
Baud@28: Yes! If all of us here in the comment thread are on the same page everything will be great!
You and I and everyone else here know who’s (ir)responsible, but the frame that cutting spending is necessary is now set n stone. A good portion of blame will be laid at the feet of Obama and the Dems for not making a serious effort to cut. I won’t be surprised a bit if the GOP is treated like they had no choice.
Baud
@Mr Furious: I’d actually be thrilled if everyone in this comment thread is on the same page. It’d be a start.
Nutella
If the government shuts down then the air traffic controllers and the TSA will all have to stay home because they are all federal employees. That could be a really interesting feature of any shutdown. Will transatlantic flights be turned back or diverted to Toronto? Will thousands of people take up temporary residence in airports?
Other effects may be more damaging but this one will be particularly dramatic.
Mr Furious
Baud@32: Touché.
Wilson Heath
@Anne Laurie:
The old saying is that idle hands are the Devil’s playthings. The more precise modern version will be that the idle hands of federal employees will be speaking Neopolitan in the Congressional galleries. Stuff that would make Scalia blush.
OzoneR
@Lolis:
Tell that to Bill Clinton circa 1994.
OzoneR
@Mr Furious:
that frame has existed for decades. It’s not going anywhere, even a lot of liberal voters support cutting, so make the best of it.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
Gubmint takes some of my candy. GOP Daddy promise more candy for good rich boys and girls, no more candy for loser poor boys and girls.
I wanna be rich, I gonna be rich someday real soon! I don’t wanna be loser poor boy or girl, so more candy for me if GOP Daddy takes over. I luves GOP Daddy!
But GOP Daddy wouldn’t be mean and take away my gubmint candy, wudd he?
Victoria
I sometimes think that the only way we are going to get the corporate media to report on progressive action is to mob their buildings, demonstrate inside and around them so that they can’t get in or out the f&&king doors. Shut down the gd corporate media by throwing whatever sand will effectively stop the gears. I’m talking big, organized demonstrations demanding that the revenue problems in this country be addressed NOW. WTF GE??