THE REPUBLICANS' SHUTDOWN MISCHIEF. Reader help - has the Ramsey VA socialized medicine outlet shut its doors, or has reason prevailed with some way to keep it open to meet appointments schedules despite the GOP?

Strib reports Paulsen might be suffering buyer's remorse on this peccadillo. But he still appears set to take one for the team:

Paulsen willing to 'look at anything' to end government shutdown

Article by: KEVIN DIAZ , Star Tribune
Updated: October 1, 2013 - 10:06 PM

[...] The following is a lightly edited transcript of an interview on Tuesday.

Q: Who is going to shoulder the blame for this shutdown?

A: We’re all going to shoulder some of the blame. I took some calls myself in the office. We had about 100 calls in D.C., about 60 in Minnesota. People obviously are saying, “Hey, the government doesn’t need to be shut down.” “Why is this happening?” A handful say, “Stay strong.” It’s a little bit of a mix … The bottom line is it’s not good to have a government shutdown, folks expect government to work …

[...]


Q: Is there a way out besides putting off Obamacare?

A: There is an opportunity where there are Democrats that have indicated that they might support some delays of some components of the health care law, particularly around the individual mandate. However, the one vote that has garnered the most bipartisan support was repeal of the medical device tax. … If we can look at some ideas there, maybe that will break up the logjam.

[...]

So, also willing to whore to Medtronic. Good for Erik. He knows who butters bread in Minnesota.

But that headline, "willing to 'look at anything' " is encouraging in a way, so even while honked off over the stupid gamesmanship, I figured, take the guy up on his "willingness."

This is his congressional contact website link.

https://paulsenforms.house.gov/contact-me/

I used that page to send an indication of my judgment on the situation. That webpage asks first for, (and will not transfer the message without), private information, some of which I felt okay to provide, but street address, to me that is private enough that I put in "666 Noneofyourbusiness Ave." and the message got through - and if he abuses the franking privilege the way Bachmann has, there will be at least one undeliverable frustration of the guy's propaganda opportunity mill. I did give my email, since if he has staff contact me I can post of it, and if he puts me on a roto-email list, I know how to mark spam as spam. You have to pick a topic, and on quick scanning the list "SHUTDOWN" was not a choice so I picked "Social Security" since I was already in the "S" part of the options list.

Here is my message:

Stop being a duck on this shutdown.

I want my check on time.

Tell Kline to stop too.

I thought simplicity best, using few words rather than many, but I fear in haste I may have typed an "i" in place of a "u" but otherwise I think the intended message got through, since he claims he's willing to consider anything.

____________UPDATE_____________
Never forget: The VA is single payer, and proof single payer works without bankrupting the coffers in DC.

It is as much socialized medicine as is the well-functioning Canadian system; which in turn is similar to what exists in the rest of the affluent world, aside from our US of A.

Some accepting and using VA healthcare may not have the Mercedes Benz they'd want for themselves, but it surely is no Yugo. It works. Plainly so. Simply so. It exists and is proof of single payer working. Make no mistakes over that truth.

__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
I expect most of those Republicans would as soon as not screw over VA benefits too, but realize it would be political suicide to try it. Kline, as a veteran can tell it as it is to any GOP fellow travelers who might doubt that the VA, and its single payer socialized medicine, is sacrosanct.

So, they simply avoid it as if it were inappropriate to all discussion, and they do that despite it being a glaring beacon of reason for any who think. They aim to delude by channeling the discussion away from what's there to prove them wrong. Bless their mendacity. They have to be that way. They are Republicans.

And, in passing, I would as soon see government bureaucrats "pull the plug on granny's life support," as seeing it as it now is being done by UnitedHealthcare bureaucrats, who everyone knows are far more heartless, enslaved as they are to their bonus plans - i.e., to their greed and shareholder greed, hand in hand against granny staying on the machines unless there proves to be more cash left in play to be funneled their way from her and family. I expect health insurer coverage restrictions and denials are a major cause of death in our nation.

Reporting seems to say so.

With misdirection a developed art form in DC, what else is going on, back burner?

There's been little said about Syria, Putin, Iran, the Excelsior pipeline, or sulfide mining these days.

What's happening?

As in Monica times, what else is being flown in low key?

NSA? Who's asking anymore?

Single payer. Well, gee, that entire question seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Nothing to see there.

Shutdown is today's top song. And it is less who is singing it, as why, and name another tune getting attention on your Internet and mine. Woo.

Almost forgot. The new iPhone.

They ran out of money, before they could build on the trunk, arms and head?

This link.

Six years ago, more or less, is when the Fed began jazzing up the bills to make counterfeiting more difficult.

Or is it from Walt's other barrels? This link. Or - look for involvement of the Koch brothers, Bain, Clear Channel.

Editorial Board of the New York Times calls it as it is. Boehner's the one.

This link.

Blackmail's always been an ugly thing. This Boehner move is no different. May it Zeller out against him, "Zeller" being a new verb meaning to have a negative backlash.

"When the storm settles, there's only one clear choice." THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.

website logo, from here

This link, to view the headline quote in context.

AP feed coverage by Strib and Tri-City Herald.

Some lines from the Grateful Dead, that I originally recalled thinking of Boehner, but even more Emmer's earned notice:

Come shake the hand.
That shook the hand.
Of P. T. Barnum,
And Charlie Chan.

The AP feed states, "Emmer adviser David FitzSimmons said in a written statement that the remodeler worked on the campaign's new office and the candidate was merely offering a testimonial." We await the illustrious gentleman's presence, here. Presumably it is only a matter of time ... Emmer time is testimony time, so can a testimonial, an Emmer special on YouTube, for enterprises here or here be far behind? That latter firm - heavy duty, top shot, "to fit your operation." It sings "Emmer" to me.

I am hoping to see next a Krinkie testimonial for Micro Control.

_____________UPDATE_____________
Hat tip to Big E at MPP, this link. Insightful? I believe so.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Aside from the incident showing Emmer's uncanny ability to be Emmer, I expect Brodkorb's detailing of his investigation of Emmer being Emmer is correct. It is a tempest in a teapot, and should not distract too much from the Emmer, Sivarajah, Krinkie sweepstakes for who might be best for the GOP this next fall.

Given the fact of Sixth District demographics, progressives cannot minimize the importance of others making a choice among that trifecta of hopefuls, one to be the fall candidate.

Hopefully those people pick dispassionately the best of the three, since the likelihoods are as they are. One Bachmann was one too many. We do not need a repeat.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________
A blog view, from the GOP party insiders around Anoka County, here. The St. Cloud guy I cannot take seriously, the other one from over there, Emmer being the one with gravitas - such as it is. The other one is the one with the bible college background, and he'd make a fine dog catcher, somewhere over there. Between the three serious ones, I see Krinkie running a distant third in the primary. Rhonda and Tom are the action.

The trailing horse always wants a debate, the frontrunners want that suggestion to go away. Money can't buy you love, so Honour's looking at Jeff Johnson in that race of regulars. Thompson's a windbag, but ambitious enough to poison the well. Expect more of Mark, as Governor.

Al's almost certain for a reelection, making that GOP consideration largely moot.

DC is full of clowns and wolves with Ted Cruz having a foot in both camps.

Not that Cruz is particularly unique that way, the golfer heading his party is equivalent.

Obama? Playing in the band.

Dayton seems to have nailed it with his cesspool comment.

The entire "reform" of healthcare was a joke from having Big Pharma and single payer off the table at the start, and with Max Baucus having a free hand. Make that a free paw.

Bachmann fits in. Paulsen more so. Kline - all wolf, through and through.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders do not fit in. That is a big BIG part of what's wrong.

I admire the tenacity of each of that pair. They should be the norm. Not the exception.

As things stand, Zygi should move there.