What truly amazes me in all this is that people have allowed the Federal Government so much control and influence in their day to day lives that this is a crisis.

The Federal Government was never supposed to be the overarching solution to people's problems in the United States, but rather a solution of last resort. When the Government taking a few days off is a crisis, we really need to look deeply into the problem, and get beyond the hysteria.

Had the Senate and the House been able to do their Constitutionally mandated job and pass a budget without the hyper-partisan poison pills that BOTH sides immerse into the legislation, we wouldn't be here.

NO BUDGET for 4 years is an unacceptable situation. There shouldn't have to be any continuing resolutions, shouldn't have to be constant debt increase crises, but both sides prefer to score political points rather than enact a semi-permanent solution.

Unless most of the Congressional incumbents fail to win reelection, they've proven that the voters of this nation are fools. As it is, they have single digit approval ratings, but a 90%+ reelection rate. The proof is in the election results. As a nation, we're irate with the status quo when polled, but we're too damned lazy to DO anything about it.