Shut down and shut up

All over but the shouting II: With no budget deal in Washington, D.C., the government shutdown is on. But the debate continues.

Among tactics Republicans in the House and Senate are prepared to use to delay or defund Obamacare:

• Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Mulberry Street, promised another multi-hour filibuster and pointed to a big stack of Dr. Seuss books he just borrowed from the children’s lit section at the Library of Congress.
• House Republicans will vote yet again to defund Obamacare, but this time they’ll change the bill’s typeface in Microsoft Word and hope Senate Democrats think it’s something else.
• House Speaker John Boehner, R-Newt Gingrinch, will pull out a pistol, point it at his head and declare, “Defund Obamacare or the idiot gets it!”

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You’ve got a lovely little aerospace industry here; it’d be a shame if something were to happen to it: Gov. Jay Inslee is appointing 12 state lawmakers to a special panel to devise a campaign that will convince Boeing to design and build its 777X in Washington state. Boeing has made it clear it could move jobs out of the state unless officials make concessions on tax breaks and other deal sweeteners.

Boeing, watching the Congressional GOP’s flailing attempts at extortion, shook its head and muttered to itself, “Amateurs.”

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