All right, folks, I'm getting a bit pissed off.

If my husband and the folks he worked with decided to start bickering over how to do their jobs do you think it would be allowed to continue? No way. If they caused the company to go so far over budget they might never get back in the black and brought production to a grinding halt, you can bet your sweet butt that they'd all be canned. No questions asked. No second chances. But our government? Nah, they can do what ever they please.This is ridiculous. I'm seeing this post all over Facebook today: Dear Mr. President, I hear you would like to freeze pay rates for soldiers starting next year. Would you also consider cutting your own pay to save more money for our country? While you're at it, lets cut down all congressman's pay too. If the people who risk their lives don't get an increase in pay, why should we continue raising pay for those who take no risks and reap the benefits? REPOST if you support troops. Can't say I disagree. Another friend posted the following: ... if Planned Parenthood were really the great organization that so many people claim it to be, it should have no problem securing private funding so that it can remain open...low-income women aren't the victims here. it's the entire nation. both sides are pointing at the other, but that's just what they want us to do. if those responsible for budgeting in the private sector kept the budget in the red year after year, they'd be fired. or not paid. the people should be clamoring for a refund for their tax dollars from ALL elected officials. none of them should have been paid since October 1. including the president. I am honestly floored by the mere mention of the military pay being suspended while our government officials bicker like a bunch of preschoolers. You cannot tell me that a congressman sitting in a plush chair in a huge office deserves his pay on time while my cousin's husband will have to wait for his pay while he fights in Afghanistan. You want my two cents? Here it is. All members of government should have term limits...none of this 14 terms in office crap. No sitting as a judge until Alzheimer's has so addled your brain that you function like a 6 year old. No one should hold the same elected position for 30 years. No one. If it's your job to vote on bills or laws or anything at all, you darn well better show up and vote. No walking out. No skipping votes. No playing hooky. You were elected to govern our country. You're being paid to do so. Now do it. I think any congressman or senator who chooses not to vote on a bill should immediately lose his position. We have to do our jobs. You'd better do yours. As for this lovely practice of hiding riders in legislation...STOP IT!! It's dirty. It's underhanded. It should be illegal. If you want to pass a measure, write a bill about it. Do not hide it in another one that is totally unrelated. And stop this "if you don't pass my bill, I'll veto yours" crap. Grow up. NASA, Planned Parenthood, government funded arts programs, and other non-essentials, I'm sorry, but in the current economic conditions, you need to fund yourselves. If we cannot pay our troops and cannot take care of the people living on social security, we don't need to be pouring billions of dollars into space exploration, government funded abortions, or art exhibits. If we are in such a horrible fiscal place, why are we spending millions and millions of dollars on a war in Lybia? If there are no plans to get rid of Qaddafi (and can we please come to a consensus about how we're spelling his name?!), what's the point in being there? Can NATO not handle this one without us? Why are we there in the first place? If it's for humanitarian reasons, I'm positive we can find ways to help people in this country without sending our men & women to die overseas. I'm all for fighting for our own protection or for protecting the truly un-protected, but how do we justify borrowing money we cannot repay to fight a war half way around the world when folks are starving to death right here? Boys & Girls on Capitol Hill, if you don't do your jobs, don't expect to be paid...and I don't mean "if you are affected by the shut down." I mean, do not allow a shut down to occur or do not expect to be paid. Period. This is your job. Do it. I know that the term Shut Down is being used in the very loosest sense of the words. I know this is going to effect state parks and non-essential workers the most, but it still makes me very angry.