1) So I sent this to one of the congressional caucuses last night, and forwarded it as well to one of the news orgs I had an edress for:

Subject: Furloughed folks Vuvuzela protest Friday 10/18 noon, Capitol grounds area 10 (opposite library of congress)
( I am somewhat silly, but really the subject is all you need. Even if the shutdown is (hopefully) over, some of us will be there. And we have extra vuvuzelae. )

So as evinced by the phone post, I am sick. I started with a raw throat last night, but Covert was coming to get the car around 9 anyway, and I planned to be up at the Capitol around 11. I woke before 9 and Covert came closer to 9:30 and somewhere in there I'd started calling congresscritters and media about the Vuvuzela rally/concert/whathaveyou. ( Read more... )

Government is /not/ shutdown. The stopgap (voice vote around 11:30) is /supposed/ to be only to give time to write the agreement and get it voted on. Somewhat whiplashed; my office went so far as to clean out the fridge, and I spent the evening thinking of how many people I know who would be hurting ( Read more... )

cherry blossom parade and street fairs are both on, tomorrow.
http://www.sakuramatsuri.org/

:debates buying tix now...

FAQ from the Post: federal-eye/post/government shutdown 2011 will i get paid what will be open what can i expect

And Could a gov't shut down shut down wall street ( Read more... )

FYI, re LJ & DDOS, from news:As most of you know, LiveJournal has been the victim of repeated, large-scale DDoS attacks over the last two weeks. These attacks are against multiple journals worldwide, several of which are political in nature. LiveJournal believes strongly in the ideal of freedom of expression, and we're working very hard to ensure that ( Read more... )

The current OMG NO WE WON'T AGREE isn't about funding -- that's been agreed by both sides.

Congressional Republicans are digging in their heels to force a shutdown . . . get this . . . over riders that loosen environmental regulations and over their attempt to ban DC from using DC's own money to fund abortion services.

http://robertreich.org/post/4371884779
The President needs to remind us that as members of the same society we have obligations to one another - that the wealthiest among us must pay their fair share of taxes, that any of us who loses our jobs or homes or gets terribly sick can ( Read more... )

NYTimes Food Writer Mark Bittman on Why he's fasting.

Sidebar from MoveOn.org's Budget Fast Signup

When Congress can seriously debate cutting food aid to pregnant women and children while giving tax breaks to billionaires-and the only question the media asks is whether the cuts are big enough-we have a crisis ( Read more... )