I’m writing for tomorrow, and for now, the standoff continues.  Tick-tick-tick… Fantasy players, be sure your lineups are ready for Thursday night’s game.

Update: Woooo Hoooo!!!!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:36 (average 4:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Esquire: Are You in the New American Center?

An Esquire/NBC poll.

It’s really quite interesting.  Click through to take it.  I’m not in the so-called New American Center.  This is me:

From Upworthy: Congress Did Something So Spectacularly Creepy That It’s Too Unbelievable To Make Up

On the House floor, Congressman Chris Van Hollen decided to get a clarification on the rules of the shutdown. Apparently, normally any congressperson can call for a vote on any bill at any time. But just before the shutdown happened, the GOP quietly passed a measure that said only House Majority Leader Eric Cantor can call for the shutdown to end (unless he gives a designee permission).

If nothing else, this should show you that, on October 1, the Republican Party leadership anticipated that their sedition would comprise a minority position, even in the House where Republicans hold the majority.  They acted to prevent majority rule, thereby rendering the democratic process in Congress moot. Seven pieces of DINO dog crap betrayed America and goose-stepped with the Republicans in support of HR 368: Ron Barber AZ-2, John Barrow GA-12, Dan Maffei NY-24 Sean Patrick Maloney NY-18, Jim Matheson UT-4, Mike McIntyre NC-7 and Collin Peterson MN-7.  Of one of them is yours, tell them what you think of what they did.

From The New Yorker: Adding his voice to the eleventh-hour debate about the government shutdown, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) today proposed reopening just enough of the government to hold new hearings on Benghazi.

“Across this great nation of ours, people are suffering,” he told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly. “Suffering, Megyn, because they still don’t know what really happened in Benghazi.”

Noting that the government shutdown had furloughed investigators who could be looking into Benghazi, he said, “If there’s something in our government more worthy of funding than that, I can’t think of it.”

Andy may have just given Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot an idea.

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I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling more tired than I did earlier.  I’m going to take some extra rest today. but I still have articles for you.  I’m not ignoring the talk of a temporary Debt Ceiling extension.  It’s still just too tenuous to get a grip on it.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:13 (average 4:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Bernie Sanders: It is not acceptable that a handful of right-wing extremists in the House have shut down the government and are now pushing for the United States, for the first time in our history, to not pay its bills — precipitating a likely international financial crisis. It is widely believed that there now exists in the House a majority of members (virtually all Democrats and some moderate Republicans) who are prepared to vote for a clean continuing budget resolution which would immediately re-open the government. House Speaker Boehner must allow the House to have that vote.

Bernie remains the best Democrat, who isn’t one. As usual, he is spot on in his analysis that Republicans are holding America hostage.

From The New Yorker: In an escalation of the stalemate gripping Washington, House Republicans voted today to shut down the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls reasoning and impulses.

The resolution, which passed with heavy Tea Party support, calls for a partial shutdown of the brain, leaving the medulla and cerebellum, sometimes referred to as the “reptilian brain,” up and running.

The Tea Party caucus cheered the passage of the bill, which was sponsored by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who called the measure “long overdue.”

Andy actually missed it this time. How can Republicans vote to shut down something of theirs that was never, ever started up, not even once?

From TPM: …In a thinly veiled reference to the House GOP’s relentless attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kaplan noted that his beloved team "sent batters to the plate at least 40 times" in Monday’s 4-3 Dodgers win, which eliminated the Braves from the playoffs.

"But just because we couldn’t score enough runs, the Dodgers refuse to relinquish the title — and worse, they won’t even discuss it," Kaplan wrote. "LA’s stubborn refusal to even talk to us about reversing the results of this series is un-sportsmanlike and un-American. But there is an answer: If the Dodgers won’t listen to the cries of average Americans like you and me, then Congress should outlaw Major League Baseball until the Dodgers cave."

He then called on Kingston to take a stand.

"Just because the Dodgers had more hits, scored more runs, and won more games doesn’t make them right," Kaplan wrote in closing. "You can help them see that."…

Earth to Republicans! Earth to Republicans!! Hello? Is anyone home under those tinfoil hats?!!? Strike three! You’re OUT!!!

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