No big deal - A House divided

"Even if this bill passed tonight, what would it have done?" "After shutting down the government for two and a half weeks, laying off 800,000 people, all the damage we caused, all we would end up doing was taking away health insurance from congressional employees. That's it? That's what you go to war for? That's what we shut down the United States government for?" Congressman Peter King

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Interesting Pew poll out today. Many believe that the nation can default and proceed past the debt limit without experiencing "major economic problems." And even a majority of moderate Republicans think that the GOP is too extreme.

"Nearly a quarter of all americans including 37% of Republicans and 52% of Tea Party Republicans believe that the debt limit does not need to be raised at all."

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The House Republicans continue to bicker with themselves as we careen over the fiscal cliff.

There is nothing as pitiful to a card player as seeing somebody bluff the whole pile against a full set, risking their life for a pair of measly sixes. Overplaying a worthless hand, the sweat pouring off their faces, when everybody in the game knows that they don't have shit.

They know they don't have shit, we know they don't have shit, and nobody is impressed with their small pair. But we have to witness the charade anyway, if they stare at the cards long enough, maybe something will happen? Jesus might just come down and magically transform them into a royal flush.

Don't ever double down with a losing hand. Especially if the deed to your house or your pink slip is on the line. Thanks for wasting our time, losers. Next time don't bring a dull knife to a gunfight. You are like a chihuahua picking on a pitbull and then expecting people to feel sorry for you.

Unfortunately, the whole country gets to suffer through your temper tantrum and we will all get to experience the crying kid on the airplane, who won't shut up until it gets its way. The House baggers can still do a tremendous amount of damage. Looks like any hopes for a deal are now off, since they can't even agree amongst themselves on anything to vote for.

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I figured out why the medical device tax is the favorite punching bag, it was one of the major mechanisms to fund the ACA. So killing or delaying the tax will help hurt the program. That is what these people want to do, to  hurt anything connected with this presidency, even if they ultimately burn themselves up in the process.

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Of course, the way things are going, even if there is a temporary deal, which looks increasingly doubtful, we can look for more and more of these types of pissing contests for the foreseeable future, at least until the midterm elections. So there ain't no hope in sight.