Nick Foley's Pear Light

Bozos. Both sides of the aisle.

This tweet by George Takei summarizes the whole situation succinctly.

Tea Party utopia!!!

The best explanation I've seen about the shutdown. And believe me, I've read a ton of them.

Aaand, here comes the Taiwanese Animation treatment of the US Government Shutdown we've all been waiting for!

I guess I'm lucky at this point. I'll be traveling out of the country soon, but at least I already have my passport and will be driving so I don't have to worry about potential airport delays. But I'll have to see if there are any hiccups on the return if the border station has any reduced staffing.

And although the project I am employed by is federally funded, I am a university employee and our project has a budget surplus. If I did get "sent home" I would probably still be in the lab working unless they forced me out, because stuff still needs to get done (as seems to be the policy on furlough days from the state government). Friends at national labs and other places vary from annoyed to now dealing with potentially large extra expenses associated with messed up schedules or pausing work.

I'm not an American, so this is just an outsider's opinion. I don't understand how anyone thinks it does not affect them. Maybe not today, but it will in the long run. Is your government representative getting paid during this "furlough"? Is it possible to find candidates for office that are there to do their job, not there to keep their job?
Not like politics are all rosy here either:(

80% of Federal Employees are still going to work, so sure: Fall for the demagoguery.

http://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-80-of-federal-employees-keep-working-2013-10

As others have said: Worst apocalypse ever.

I'm affected in two ways by the shutdown: as a VA workstudy, I'm locked out of the office so I can't earn money (half my income) or put hundreds of veterans' paperwork in order for them to complete college degrees and/or job training. I'm also a participant in the VA's Voc Rehab program, so if the shutdown lasts through the end of October, I get no stipend (the other half of my income) and my program may come to a halt.

A government shutdown doesn't hit everyone immediately, but it if stretches out, you'll feel a hit at some point. Sort of a trickle down thing.