howdy folks longtme no here, no internet' using mobil,im in texas' native, and i hate it, yes to broke to leave at this time, but 1 day i will, god bless all my old friends" still luv ya, take care,

@ rass,
i feel connected to germany having served there for 3 years as a young soldier but i dont think germany would have afforded me the space or freedom to build two different homes in the countryside in my lifetime. our election process is sick but this sure is a great place to live. when i drive my maniacle homemade vehicles thru the countryside and see bullet holes the size of your fist in the road signs it makes me feel like a freakin american.. apple pie bitches !! lol

Yep every American deserves the right to carry a gun and shoot at stop signs.

Our government needs a enema.

I just heard that Arizona is the only State that withheld Welfare checks~

you heard right, cass -- I was already ashamed to be an American - and now the state I live in is the ONLY state in the country to with-hold welfare checks - so the very poor will be very hungry very soon - or not be able to feed their animals because what few dollars they have "saved" need to go toward something essential for the survival of their human children. I'm adamantly against "entitlements" but a lot of people on welfare need it to survive. So who gets the damn entitlements - one group would be CONGRESS and oh, our President, for abject failure in doing their jobs. THEY get their huge salaries while dirt poor families in AZ get NOTHING.

makes me sick

I should have stayed in Germany - I knew it. I was welcome there - 30 years ago - living as a teacher/civilian after leaving the Army the first time because I loved Europe so much. I was respectful, tried to speak German (and we all had a good laugh) out of courtesy, didn't act like a stoopid loud American.

I am beyond disgusted with what is happening - but this latest - no welfare checks in AZ - tragic. How can those buffoons in D.C. accept their huge paychecks during this time - have they No SOULS? No, most of them don't. The world laughs at us for good reason. Wait until the Chinese Yuan becomes the international currency.

no welfare checks but the congress still gets their pay.

no head start preschool - so low income working moms won't be able to work or will resort to unsafe care for their kids. but congress gets paid for not doing their job!

URGGGHHHH!

Well, yeah, exactly, CatMagic and Rass, it is terrible. Shouldn't orgs like The Red Cross(and Non-Profit orgs like that) be setting up a donation center, to send things like healthy food and pet-food to them? This would be the case in a natural disaster, wouldn't it?

Holding the US hostage:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-8-2013/republican-hostage-negotiation

Tweet Your Representative
Tell the elected official from your district that you've fucking had enough.

http://fuckyoucongress.com/everyday-the-government-is-shut-down-it-hurts-the-economy

Now I heard somebody on my FB say they are considering stopping SSI check payments? I noticed the SSI office wasn't taking any appts today~
Also, Federally funded Housing isn't being paid for...just wow
looks like there is going to be more homeless people now. And from what I understand, homeless people cant keep custody of their children, so the Foster-Care System will be making tons of $$, and these Foster kids can then graduate to homelessness themselves, and as we all know, sleeping in an area that a person doesn't own is considered trespassing, so the Prison Industrial Complex will have many new slaves to run~

I heard that too - shut down means no s/s payments. Well, isn't that just fucking GREAT? NOT. How many people (including my hub and I although he does have VA compensation - but cripes, will THAT be stopped too?) will be totally destroyed - not even be able to pay utility bills - if that happens? Miss a payment and you might have NO LIGHTS, so to speak - worse - we can all manage without lights - but HEAT? FOOD? WATER? I hope it's not true - I hope those morons in D.C. get their heads out of their asses (although it will be difficult - they have very large heads) real damn soon. Time to get out our pitchforks people - we ARE peasants to them, ya know. Serfs.

Our SSDI checks will not be affected as they are exempt from any Gov. shutdown. So don't worry, our checks will come on time. There are several rumors going around touting this myth. It is being used as a scare tactic and it has not teeth. "How do you know that MG?" you might ask. I follow this stuff very closely and I have someone on the inside at the Social Security Administration.

Have a little faith in this country people Sam takes pretty good care of his citizens. Peace

Okay, but.... VA disability compensation pay is on the chopping block: http://www.stripes.com/news/va-secretary-if-shutdown-lasts-until-nov-1-benefits-cease-for-5-2-million-veterans-1.246135

For us, not receiving that means financial disaster. My husband is a Vietnam vet with 25 total years of active duty service - I won't go into why he has an 80% VA rating for disability, but he certainly "earned it". The VA benefit encompasses most of our income.

I am so furious (and afraid) that "they" are holding vets (and others) hostage. Is this not terrorism? I realize that scare tactics are being used - the old trick - however, the cessation of VA payments seems to be very real and very possible.