"We're not going to be disrespected"Follow

Travelling in the states is amusing right now.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

We're all like "ugh we have to vote again??!??" when this happens up here.

Showing you how government works, in case yours doesn't!
Speaking from one organization that has had an unpopular shutdown to another: America. What are you doing? America? Stahp.

Shutdowns are never popular, and all of the polls show that this is not a big hit with most Americans either. Americans may be looking for something fun to do, since all their parks are closed for the moment. Thankfully your favorite purveyor of digital games is here to help. It occurs to us that one of the problems may be that there are people on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like, so we thought we'd help and point a few out with a special 24-hour 50% off Shutdown Promo.

The Guild: Gold Edition is a great place to see where the term "Machiavellian Politics" originated from. If you're looking to find a land where earning power was the key to success in the political arena, look no further. Meanwhile, in Capitalism Plus and Capitalism 2, you can get the best economic sims that money can buy half off and see for yourself how a demand economy functions. Tropico Reloaded is 50% off as a reminder of what can happen when governments go awry, and Alpha Centauri (with the Alien Crossfire expansion!) has more different styles of governments modeled than you can shake a stick at. So, really, these games are a quick lesson in civic government. Because we're concerned for you guys.

There has been a lot of furor over health care in America leading up to this shutdown, and we think it's a shame so many people are upset about medicine and how to treat each other. To help further our educational mission for this promo, we figured we'd put Theme Hospital in the sale as well, because that way you can judge for yourself just how tricky it can be to balance the needs of sick patients against limited budgets. Finally, for reasons entirely unrelated to who may or may not have been involved in shutting down the US Government, we also appear to have Redneck Rampage on sale 50% off.

Finally, we would like to express our condolences to everyone who's been furloughed by the shutdown. More than that, actually, we'd like to offer you the games pack of our special Shutdown Promo for free. Send an email to thanksobama@gog.com with your picture holding the official furlough letter you received, before Friday 11 October 2013 at 12:00 EDT and we'll give you The Guild: Gold Edition, Capitalism, Capitalism 2, Tropico: Gold Edition, Alpha Centauri + Alien Crossfire, Theme Hospital, and Redneck Rampage free.

My office is over the armory that gets turned into election central. I'd really rather not deal with that many people every three weeks with how our politicritters operate. I mean, maybe they'll figure it out after a cycle or two, but those first few months will be enough for me to start laying at the top of the stairs and taking aim with a rifle.

For all the good it's going to do when the House changed the rules so only Eric Cantor can bring any Senate-sent budget bills to the floor.

The outline of the emerging Senate deal is this: The government is funded until Jan. 15. The debt ceiling is lifted until Feb. 7. There are a handful of small Affordable Care Act changes: Stronger income verification, which Republicans want, and a one-year delay on the reinsurance tax, which Democrats want.

Oh, and there's a bicameral budget committee that needs to report back by Dec. 13.

The timing of all this is designed to create a fight about sequestration. The Jan. 15 deadline means funding for the federal government runs out at the exact moment sequestration's deeper cuts kick in. The Dec. 13 deadline means that the full House and Senate would have time to consider any package of recommendations the bicameral committee comes up with, if the committee actually manages to come up with anything.

The deal isn't official yet. It hasn't passed the Senate yet. And it certainly hasn't passed the House yet. But if it does clear those hurdles -- and, again, that's a big if -- it'll mean Republicans and Democrats have agreed to take what began as a fight over the Affordable Care Act and make it into a fight over sequestration.

That's what the Democrats want. It's also what some Republicans, including Rep. Paul Ryan and Grover Norquist want. But it's not been what the Ted Cruz wing of the Republican Party wants. The question now is how much pull they really have. This, from Robert Costa, suggests the answer might be "less than they did a few weeks ago"