shutdowns wikipedia has a nice list of government shutdowns going back as far as i can remember. lotta people have counted up the days or instances and assigned blame. who the fuck cares? the interesting question is why did the government shut down? let's review: spending - okay. funding for abortion - okay. funding for abortion again. and again. and again. and again. sheehs. average shutdown: 11 days. kinda ouchie. especially considering one party (dems) controlled all three branches of government. then there's the reagan era. spending - okay. missiles - hrm. missiles again and abortion again - sheehs. quibbling - gah! funding civil wars in foreign countries - wtf? and again. these shutdowns lasted 2 days. and ended with compromise. let me say that again. they ended with both sides quickly getting most of what they want. without looking like complete jackasses. sheehs. continuing... deficit reduction - go bush1! balanced budget - okay. balanced budget again. but this time compromise took 21 days. ouch. have we so quickly lost the art (and point) of negotiation? one president has "success" being belligerent and suddenly everyone thinks it's gospel. most such folks find themselves at the end of noose. anywho. here we are today. will there be compromise? i hope not. i'm hoping a sufficient number of republican representatives tell the leadership to go fuck themselves on this one. sheehs. honestly, shedding the radicals would be the best thing for the republican party.  ¶ 8:00 AM